by John the BasketI come from a long line of Ocean People. These are not people who venture out to the high seas in search of adventure or fish or marine mammals, but rather people who prefer making annual pilgrimages to an ocean beach, rather than a steamy desert or a cold mountain range.  … [read more]

CRANKY OLD FART #229 leftovers & links   Saturday, Nov. 12, 2022

Same as every Saturday morning, I had breakfast with some of the family today, and Mom asked each of these five questions. … [read more]

CRANKY OLD FART #228 leftovers & links   Friday, Nov. 11, 2022

A few blocks from my destination, the southbound #99 bus was idling in front of a grocery store, waiting for a green light. … [read more]

THE NEVERENDING FILM FESTIVAL #106

Today’s movies include a 1980s noir, merging people with plants, fucking your way to the top, hiring a hooker to entrap your husband, a wordless stop-motion horror story, and two movies about outsmarting or succumbing to your genetic destiny. … [read more]

I haven’t mentioned my fourth flatmate L much, because I haven’t seen him much. I’m a hermit, but compared to him I’m downright sociable.His room was originally the master bedroom, so he has his own toilet and shower, so we never bump into each other on our way to the john. … [read more]

THE NEVERENDING FILM FESTIVAL #105

Today on Siskel & Ebert & Doug at the Movies: a sci-fi conspiracy theory, a scatterbrained werewolf flick, love and anarchy in London, a half-clever short subject, sci-fi that just sits there, and two movies with the same title, one of which is brilliant and the other… isn’t. … [read more]

At the transit center yesterday, a middle-aged white man wearing combat camouflage walked around the station, saying something to each obviously homeless person. I couldn’t hear what he was saying, but after he’d said it, one-by-one most of them got to their feet and walked toward the parking lot.  … [read more]

THE NEVERENDING FILM FESTIVAL #104

Today, a bad sci-fi, a worse sci-fi, an even worse martial arts flick, an amazingly awful movie based on a sit-com, sweet memories of Grandma, Phyllis Diller in an unfunny musical, and W C Fields comes to California. … [read more]

CRANKY OLD FART #225 leftovers & links   Sunday, Nov. 6, 2022

Someone had been in the bathroom just before me. It’s a shared house. Three guys, one toilet, so sometimes there’s a stink. … [read more]

THE NEVERENDING FILM FESTIVAL #103

Today, a ‘true story’ of pinball-related crime, a Brit comedy about sidewalk advertising, a dated documentary about skid row, Bruce Willis as a sci-fi killer, Sean Connery as a sci-fi cop, another sci-fi that might’ve been made by space aliens, and Sylvester Stallone with a rope and pick axe. … [read more]