Everybody's got one of 'em

Overrated- Wine
Underrated- Whiskey

Overrated- "I Love Lucy"
Underrated- "The Honeymooners"

Overrated- Metallica
Underrated- Black Sabbath

Overrated- Jessica Simpson's tits
Underrated- Jessica Biel's ass

Overrated(by the entire world excluding the USA)- Soccer
Underrated(by the entire world excluding the USA)- American Football

Overrated- Deepthroat
Underrated- Kissing

Overrated- Marriage
Underrated- Partnership

Overrated- The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
Underrated- The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson

Overrated- Obama
Underrated- Gen. Wesley Clark

Overrated- Bluejeans
Underrated- Khakis

Overrated- "Citizen Kane"
Underrated- "Groundhog Day"

Overrated- friends
Underrated- solitude

Overrated- E-mail
Underrated- letters

Overrated (sometimes)- Dylan, Lennon, Hendrix
Underrated (sometimes)- Dylan, Lennon, Hendrix

Overrated- the Yankees
Underrated- the Cubs

Overrated- Lohan
Underrated- Selma Blair ( great good god how I love her and if you're reading this S please call)

Overrated- cocaine
Underrated- marijuana

Overrated- offspring
Underrated- A life alone

Overrated- University
Underrated- Hard Knocks

Overrated- Tea
Underrated- Coffee

Overrated- The Ex
Underrated- The Ex

The only thing that can't be overrated- Life
The only thing that can't be underrated- Death

A Little Lick of Japan

I've been waiting half of forever to turn my Western Friends (who may have missed the News) onto the Yoshida Brothers and I finally managed (after much searching) to find the Whopper most proper. The Brothers play the very traditional Japanese 3-stringed instrument known as the Shamisen but they work 'em with, what I think, is a very unique vibe.

Enjoy.




Hope you liked my vocals.

Got 4 minutes?

Because I need to remember that on rare occasions in this game we call Life the Skies open, all the Planets converge, the Stars align then the Gods grab our souls and someone sings.

Mama don't take My Polaroid away

As far as I can remember the year was circa 1996. I was slaving at a Design Factory (interiors, high-end retail shops, displays) and steady nailing the 20-year old Sexdream who worked there. Long legs, luscious lips, swinging hips, perfect ass. She would later fundamentally alter my life in ways I could not imagine at the time but that's a very different story.
We were collaborating on a Bloomingdales display and, on that day, we had a new toy.

A Polaroid Instant Camera! Our first.

We giggled and gawked at our work. One press of the button from that somewhat bulky box, a flash and then the magic arrival of an INSTANT PHOTO, however grey and blank it was, sliding out to meet me. Then the almost mystical reveal, a gradual yet compelling recreation of the image just snapped most suddenly, amazingly developing into a hard copy in my sweaty little hands and in front of my wondrous eyes. A transformation from nothingness into captured reality. A technological Abra-ka-dabra! A 2 minute miracle!
She glanced at me slyly, locking eyes.

“This could really be fun…….after work.”
I was embarrassed that I didn't think of it myself.

And thus began my career as a Polaroid Maniac.

The artless immediacy, the erotic urgency, the vibrant fleshiness, the ugly/beautiful/stark, true and undeniable verite quality of the reborn bodies, faces and forms always and forever satisfied, electrified and fascinated me. I’m Analog, Man. Those scraps of fat chemical paper were better than gold and more honest than money, at least to me. I never did advance into the Video era and never wanted to. Those frozen moments of ecstasy were enough and more than enough to satisfy my deepest desires and quench my most illicit thirsts.

Yes, I was very late to the party but then again I’ve always been a slow starter. Had I not proceeded to indulge my Polaroid obsession in the following years I most certainly would’ve regretted all the missed opportunities of my sordid past but all in all, I must plead Instamatic Satisfaction and neverending gratitude to the beautiful subjects/objects of my camera play and more specifically to my gorgeous, loving, generous GF from that lovely day.

Thanks always C.

Remember that tired question- If there were a fire what would be the one thing you would grab before you run out of the house?
I don’t even need to think twice or even once, I know exactly what I’m saving.

But now, sadly, like so much for the MTG Generation, the end is more than near, it's here.

In Feb. of this year (yes I realize I'm a step slow) Polaroid ended all production of the cameras and their expensive film. It would seem that there is no place for these clumsy, clunky, slow and pricey pieces of nostagiala in todays Digital Universe. As so often happens in this 50-yard Dash we call Life, my World just got a little darker, a trifle smaller, a bit sadder. Win some, lose some.

But fortunately I can still hold those fragile pieces of memory in my hands and recall the touch, taste, scent, lust and the love of all my yesterdays and fever dreams of all my tomorrows- My trifling treasure that I'll happily take to the grave.

And then, today, I remembered that I live in Japan, a fact I forget more easily than one might imagine.

A crazy, compulsive land that could surely define obsessive mania (indeed it may be the norm) and where, miraculously, Instant cameras are still the rage and remain in mass production for freaks like me and maybe even you.

http://fujifilm.jp/personal/filmcamera/instant/index.html

WE LIVE! WE BREATHE! I SEE THE LIGHT!

Thank God for the O/C Japanese. Long may they reign!

'Cuz it's Monday...That's why.

And I need a Lesson in Courage.
Hemingway defined it as "Grace under pressure".
So here's my example.
Smokin' Joe Frazier taking it to the One and Only Muhammad Ali.

Back when Heavyweights were Heavyweights and everyone was glad of it!



I think just witnessing the fierce anger, intense menace and unstoppable determination of the Pitbull Frazier as he mauls the gallant, graceful and regal Ali makes me more informed on Valor, Will and the Great Nature of us all-too-Human Beings.

Watching the elegant Ali get up off the canvas to valiantly soldier on is surely the definition of Heart and a crystal clear message to anyone paying attention.

We may not be able to win every battle but we can certainly fight hard...

And Look Good doing it!

The Skin We're In

I was recently rereading “The World According to Garp” and was struck once again by a particular passage- Garp, having just discovered his wife’s recent infidelity as he simultaneously bathes his youngest son and prepares for a night away from home, engages her in a nasty, running, rather one-sided duel of wits. It is his intention to verbally and emotionally cripple her before hitting the door with the kids in tow in a somewhat shortsighted attempt at Payback. He begins dressing after the bath but manages to put on only his shirt when his Wife, Helen, abruptly walks into the bedroom.
He, freshly wounded, bitter and bottomless, hopes to inflict maximum pain on his now unsteady spouse as he rips into her.
She, deeply guilt-ridden yet calmly aware and gaining strength with each passing second, neatly ends the conversation with a simple, sincere plea.

“Please put on some pants.”

Helen (Irving) has come to the immediate conclusion that a Man partly dressed is somehow……incomplete, inconclusive, incorrect. Neither as handsome/masculine as when he is totally nude nor as powerful/capable as when he is fully dressed.

But a Woman…….
A woman who is only partially clothed…..
She exudes Mystery.
Intoxicating allure.
Feverish desire.
Magnetic Sex.
She has Power!

I have to agree with Irving’s keen sense of sexual dynamics although with some reservations.

Because the essential pull of the fully dressed woman is fueled exclusively by my own imagination when focused on that blissfully mysterious but achingly familiar form. The electric jolt of that small display of skin- a short skirt flashing ripe thigh, a scooped blouse offering a soft bounty, a brief top almost covering a lean belly that is leading to an eruption of hips- this is the real Fountain of Youth flowing through the streets and pumping hot blood through my veins and may it never end.
Praise to all Gods!

But what can we Older men (who the Hell am I trying to kid,,,OLD MEN) do about it?

Precious little as we watch our Youth drift away on an uncaring tide while almost every action we may take will most likely turn out to be much more than wrong.

Whistle and you’re a cad.

Leer and you’re a Lech.

Peer too long and you’re a Perv.

Reach out to touch that beautiful bounty on display and you’re open to arrest, prosecution and a public flogging or possibly a Date depending on your financial and social status- which is to say if you happen to Rich and/or Famous then it's an all-you-can-eat buffet Baby but if you're like the rest of us 40ish males then you most likely have slightly more choices than a concentration camp prisoner.

And so for almost all of us we must lean back, relax and try to recall the days (or at least review the videotape and polaroids) when we were the objects of admiration and desire and when sweet girls looked at us with open invitation instead of blatant discomfort because this rapidly fading memory may provide precious moments of solace as we watch long legs, bouncy breasts, swinging hips and kissable lips nonchalantly, painfully pass us by.

Oh… the agony/ecstasy of being a 21st Century Dirty Old Man! Publicly handcuffed in a Girls Gone Wild World...

Still virile and ravenous at 4 and 1/2 decades while simultaneously, inevitably and ever so slowly turning more grey, craggy, crabby and all too shamefully mature with the passing of each wonderful, terrible day as the world continues to become fleshier, sexier, younger and more delicious if also more distant and untouchable.
Every year young girls are encouraged to flaunt their beauty, their power, their pleasure more openly, brazenly without concern or regard and every year I get older and further from their invitations just as my mind longs and my body hungers for the taste of that lush life ever more acutely.
Yes, with each more casually revealed inch of precious feminine flesh my position grows weaker just as surely as theirs grows stronger and more vital. Trapped in a hot, sweaty city full of candy stores without a dime to my name and I can’t savvy the lingo so any approach is a no-go.

It may not be the only game in town, it's just the Best One we got.

You must realize, of course, that the Male world is full of brash talk and tough posturing about big words like Power, Control, Action, Victory but don’t let us fool you Ladies.

Lean over your desk…

Bend over at the waist to pick something up…

Cross your legs and casually adjust your skirt…..

And Our World is all Yours…..for whatever it’s worth.