Ape Man

There are two things that I think make for great writing. The first is honesty and the second is simplicity. Both of these things are far harder to pull off then at first it might appear. We are not by nature honest creatures. When we talk with others we put on masks and we filter […]

J.R. R. Tolkien was once accused (and is still by many) of peddling nothing but lies. His response was this…. “Dear Sir,” I said—Although now long estranged, Man is not wholly lost nor wholly changed. Dis-graced he may be, yet is not de-throned, and keeps the rags of lordship once he owned: Man, Sub-creator, the […]

What is the difference between good writing and bad writing? Or to be more precise, what is the difference between great writing and merely functional writing? And is there even any profit in considering the question? It is often argued that great writing is just a matter of taste. And to a certain degree this […]

Yesterday I got one of those reminders of what people with real imaginations can do. I came across a web comic called “Order of Tales” and I thought “how bizarre.” I don’t want to pass it off as being a great work of art that will stand the test time. I don’t even want to […]

Today the challenge will to come up with something that resembles a rational thought. It is a pity that it this way. There is so much on my mind that I could talk about. I know this is so because I spent most of last night thinking about it while I was trying to sleep. […]

Yesterday I wrote a post that was misleading. It’s all my sister’s fault. She won’t let me write a post that is longer then 300 words long. I am pretty good at listening to females. I hear most of the words that they say. So my posts have been in the neighborhood of what she […]

I am no fan of Obama. But I felt a little sorry for him give all the abuse he took for saying… “You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them. […]

This was originally going to be a response to a comment that Mr. Corbusier left on this post. But I got a little carried away so I decided to make it a post of its own. Mr. Corbusier, The quality of your response was far more than my off-the-cuff comment deserved. I only wish that […]

Corbusier and I had (or are we having?) an exchange of views over at Articture + Morality on New Urbanism. I am re-posting something that I wrote in his comment section for the benefit of those who like to keep tabs on what I am up to. Corbusier, Thanks for the reply. I am sorry […]

While Corbusier and I have some similar criticisms of New Urbanism he takes issue with my statement that New Urbanism is doomed to failure. He argues that New Urbanism should be considered successful because of its commercial success. As he puts it… Although I’ve expressed skepticism on some of the results promised by proponents of […]