Karl > Recent Status Updates

Love me some Wodehouse

"On seeing Stravinsky in tears at her husband's funeral, [Mme Rimsky-Korsakov] made a remark that Stravinsky later characterized as the cruelest ever made to him: 'Why so unhappy? We still have Glazounov.'"

"... the Greyhound Bus Terminal waited wanly at the corner for the tired, lost and defeated and welcomed the temporarily hopeful into the dispiriting vista of another heartless city."

"...specialty shops catering to a certain kind of golfer's wife...."

"Maybe Kat would enjoy a nice drive into the desert. Especially of I might be in danger."

"That Old Devil Haydn had folded his Quartet and andante-ed away."

("Papa" in the literature!)

"I was sure it was a saucer, from the way it hummed and there were aliens. They had those eyes and they were inside my head."

"You mean, the little Gibberson boy I ran over this morning?"

—"Well, that would explain the skidmarks on his little tombstone."

"Unbelievably, the Owl & Octopus Show opened with 44 distinct pieces in 64 pages, and I personally played 22 different characters, all with their own costumes, eyeglasses and props. It was an explosion of ideas going in too many directions. We cut more and more."

"Tables piled with pulp publications lined the corridor...."

"All acting went well & no arguments — an observer remarked that he'd never seen anything like it — hadn't heard a 'no' all night. Engineers also put us in a class by ourselves — & I felt we belonged there. Rich Parker quiet and terrific as usual, w/great timing.

"So it was done — a real anniversary event — & it made me feel good."

Just starting ... but I note that this eminently practical volume includes all necessary U.S. Air Force UFO Identification Forms. Get 'em now!

The weed of crime bears bitter fruit.

"What this country needs is a President who can tap dance." [Quoth Ron Reagan]

"I suppose you're also going to deny that you and Reagan are lovers!"

"What?" She got out of the chair and stood over me. "Have you lost your mind?"

"Irv Pendleton's recollection of costume minutiae was apparently bottomless. Crater Lake would not contain it. Lake Michigan would overflow,"

(I'm not really 63% done; see below) I've at last begun reading The Confidence-Man.

Aristotle, of course, was frequently right, for it is almost impossible, under the laws of chance, to be wrong all the time. Thanks to him we know that the Weasel does not bring forth its young by the mouth, as held by Anaxagoras. He also denied that Hyenas change their sex every year. He was only guessing, but it sounds like a good guess.

Pythons are even larger than Anacondas and they swallow larger animals. They live in India, Malaysia, and Africa. You can avoid Pythons by keeping out of such places. Pythons are oviparous. The female Python often sits on infertile eggs. She doesn't know that eggs have to be fertilized before they hatch. She's funny that way.

The Neanderthal Woman had no charm but she had a club. The Neanderthal Man was so difficult to rouse that one wonders if it was worth it.

(Footnote 5:) It is surprising how many people resemble Tapirs when you get a good look at them.

I am often asked, "What do Garter Snakes think about?" They think about sex and Earthworms.

The mysterious narrator is stalked by increasing physical peril, school administration is partly implicated, we are not quite certain whom to believe.

& every human being has had the experience of not telling someone 2 go 2 hell.

"Snakes, in a word, are well worth knowing, unless you'd rather know something else."

"Do snakes make intelligent pets?" and "How intelligent is a snake?" are questions I am often asked, sometimes by people you wouldn't expect to bring up the subject.

“Does every brat your age need to be smacked across the face ...?”

I didn’t believe it, but how well does anybody really know anybody?

"Mr Pickwick congratulated the fortunate owner of the irresistible garments on their acquisition ...."

I half-hear Frank Zappa speech-singing, "Boutique frame of mind; gee, I like your pants."

"Obsessed with finding the killer, the narrator goes too far. Sometimes people begin to think the end justifies the means, the old idea that two wrongs really can make a right."