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Black Sky Thinking

Black Sky Thinking: What We (Don't) Need is an Alternative Oldster
Steven Wells , May 6th, 2008 10:54

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Kill all the baby-boomer music journalists. Line them up on the edges of mass graves (that they've been forced to dig themselves by AK 47 toting tweens wearing black pajama bottoms and sandals made out of old tires, and Los Campesinos! T-shirts) and then neck-shoot the moldering, old, in-the-fucking- way, saw-the-fucking Clash-at-Victoria-fucking-Park-in-1977 fucking geriatric bastards. And then send their weeping mothers the bill for the bullets.

That, in a nutshell is the radical plan to reform music journalism proposed by 25-year-old gunslinger Dom Passantino in a blistering attack on the generation of festering music-writer zombies that the snarling young turk says are cluttering up the music journalism landscape with their annoying Werthers Original sucking noises and their constant tedious fucking non-stop muttering about how it all used to be Fields of the Nephilim around here when back they were lads.

Dom Passantino in action

Passantino is part of a new exciting wave of fresh young writers who argue - with some justification - that they are being smothered by a festering, piss-reeking, wrinkled-flesh blanket of old cunts who, if they had even a shred of self-respect, would just fuck off and die and leave the dance floor to the juves.

Dom Passantino and his fellow oldsterphobes are calling for a new year zero - A Dom's-day if you will. And the date they have chosen isn't 1977 (oh will you shut the fuck up about punk fucking rock you boring old tart) or even 9-11 (which yet another generation of-used-to-be-radical old farts like Martin Amis and Christopher Hitchens and Dennis Miller have chosen as the-day-that-changed-everything).

No, the new year zero - says Passantio - is 1997. Why? Because that was the day Britpop died (at fucking last) and paved the way for the seminal (in the literal sense of that word) album of the fucking millennia, the record that made Lemmy out of Motorhead say: "That's it, I retire": Belle and Sebastian's epic, epoch molesting, planet shattering, cosmos birthing, atomic thunderclap of a stone cold rockin' classic Chicks, Drugs and Harleys - Bring it the Fuck On.

Passantino's logic is impeccable. Why are all these old cunts with their Weller haircuts and coke-guts and eyeglasses and badly-fitted dentures that make a really creepy clacking noise still fucking writing? Why aren't they fertilizer? Why aren't they literally pushing up the daisies - daisies being an artful metaphor for a fresh, young, exciting, new crop of writers who don't secretly do the baggy-trouser skank to Madness' Greatest Hits when they get home to their disgustingly pokey piss-and-cats reeking old people's flats after a hard day's kicking the shit out of Los Campesinos! for an audience of similarly senile old punk cunts who should just fucking die of cancer or AIDS or Alzheimer's or some other fuckin disgusting old peoples fucking disease or ah who gives a shit just die you old cunts just DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE.

But does he go far enough? I have argued for a long time for the state-subsidised mass-murder of all music journalists over 25-years-old. True we'd lose some cracking writers and cause a lot of human misery and suffering, but on the plus side we'd live in a universe where Q didn't exist.

And when I say "we", of course, I mean you. Because I'd be dead.

Frankly I think it's the only way to shut me the fuck up. I mean who gives a fuck what I think anyway? I certainly don't. And next year I'd be joined by Dom Passantino. Can I request now that we be buried together, intertwined like Ancient Greek warrior lovers, thus causing the alien robot squid archeologists in the year 4012 to scratch their throbbing giant computer-brain-cages with their super-advanced semi-liquid-space-metal tentacles as they wonder how these two obviously brutally murdered men - one old and the other, like, rilly rilly rilly old - were intertwined in life as they are in death?

Or even better, every year open that grave up and sling in the next generation of 25-year-old, past-their-fucking-pontificate-date music hacks so that when the Angel Gabriel blows his horn to signal the dead to rise on the day of judgment, this huge interlocked mass of creaking hack bones will rise from the grave like some enormous skeletal super zombie which will then engage is a mass fuck-in-a boney post-mortem sex and drugs and tediously over-told fucking anecdotes fucking orgy where slime encrusted femurs rasp chitinously into flyblown sockets and worm-gnawed fists are rammed repeatedly into crumbling pelvic girdles. Oh fuck me I've just come all over the fucking keyboard. But it was worth it.

Mike DiS
May 6, 2008 11:04am

Brilliant. mx

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Dom Passantino
May 6, 2008 11:19am

u mad, doggie

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max r
May 6, 2008 11:44am

with exciting new writers like dommy p and max gogarty, the future of journalism in the uk is looking bright.

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Steven Wells
May 6, 2008 7:07pm

My only wish is that Dom liked music as ideological, articulate, angry and vocal as he is. Actually my other wish is that there was lots of music as ideological, articulate, angry and vocal as he is.
Twee finally (after how many years?) gets a spokesman who doesn't just gaze at the floor and mutter some smug, insipid, unexamined and unchallenged nonsense about "integrity". And he's a punk. Oh irony.
Lastly, while I think Dom is absolutely right to hate me and my generation of blithering old punk cunts, I wonder if he's half as fucked-off with the blandroids of his own generation. He should be. It's like we're growing fucking generations of plodding, born-middle-aged, please-stop-reading-now spewing future Q writers.
Burn the greenhouses! Destroy the pod hacks!

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B'dum B'dum
May 6, 2008 8:41pm

Aren't most of the NME's current batch of writers reasonably young?
Problem is that a lot of the older writers generally had more interesting things to write about(eg. Nick Kent and all the Rolling Stones stuff), while the younger journalists can write about albums and whatever type of activism the band is involved in.
They just don't get as close to the artists as they used to.

Q's the devil though.

1997 is the best choice of a new year-zero in my opinion.

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Steve Cheney
May 6, 2008 9:15pm

"Lastly, while I think Dom is absolutely right to hate me and my generation of blithering old punk cunts, I wonder if he’s half as fucked-off with the blandroids of his own generation. "

I know him and he is.

For what it's worth though, I kinda agree. The "spirit of punk" thing isn't just dumb, it's putting a retro-stamp on any kind of innovation or experimentation, effectively trying to claim it as part of a youth that isn't their own. As a musician, it's kinda hard to get excited about "the spirit of punk" when it's attributed to the arse-end of just about anything, and it's not really something that anyone I've worked with empathises with anymore. Punk may well have pissed off the hacks in the 70s, but now it's what they want, and I can't help but think that the blandness is a response to that, kinda like trying to piss off liberal hippyfag parents by joining a New Labour thinktank (there's that '97 again...)

As a musician, I also empathise with your desire to see music journalists as far underground as possible, but that's another matter entirely. But basically, if you want music to be exciting again, your best bet would be lower your expectations accordingly and possibly eat a load of sugar.

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May 6, 2008 11:20pm

Fuck twee. Fuck it royally. I'm 28 and...

...whatever, i'm missing the point here.

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henry gay miller
May 7, 2008 12:07am

man, imagine if dom was into some real insurrectionary future-punk shit like atari teenage riot or asian dub foundation or even primal scream's XTRMNTR? that would BLOW THE FACIST TORY SCUM'S MINDS.

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Steven Wells
May 7, 2008 2:00am

That's the ticket, youngster (ruffles hair).

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Steve Cheney
May 7, 2008 9:18am

K, I only skim read the original article, but wasn't the point not that old folks should die, but more that they should just stop acting like wankers? At best he's offering both as options.

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DJ Punctum
May 7, 2008 1:16pm

Time to DUMP grimy grandad DOM and bring in radical ROSIE SWASH as voice of Boris Youth has PENSIONER PASSANTINO even HEARD of JACK PILATES??!?

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May 7, 2008 1:40pm

I can't think of anything more tedious than getting close to artists.

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Keith Mandement
May 7, 2008 3:05pm

Two bald men fighting over a comb, this.

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B'dum B'dum
May 7, 2008 3:37pm

Alexander Narkiewicz, have you read Nick Kent's rolling stones articles?

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Jacques Rigaut
May 7, 2008 4:38pm

I'll do you one better: kill ALL music "journalists." They're ALL empty-headed blowhards who have fallen so low in life the only thing they have to offer is their ill-reasoned and ill-informed opinions on something as completely beside the point as "popular music."

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John Doran
May 7, 2008 4:41pm

Shake your hips sugar!

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B'dum B'dum
May 8, 2008 1:28am

but jacques... with internet blogging and all, that could be potentially a modern holocaust!

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Dom Passantino
May 8, 2008 1:35pm

The original Year Zero (Pol Pot not Rat Scabies) was about the violent removal of anyone who was liable to pose a threat to the status quo (the religious, intellectuals, foreigners), yes? So, in cultural terms, the last movement that would have needed a Year Zero of its own would have been the punks, because they were the final footsoldiers of the Baby Boom. And if there’s one thing Boomers love above all else, it’s putting forward the belief that their generation was the last one that had any opportunity to change anything, and if they failed at anything, then there’s no chance any future generations will succeed (qf Hillary and Obama). Therefore, for this schtick to wash, the punks had to remove all evidence that the previous boomers (greasers, beatniks, hippies, to a lesser extent the disco kids) had tried to change the world and pretty much crapped out. If anything, I’m arguing for the complete opposite: mans who are prepared to stand up and question the current Big Cultural Ideas are, on the whole, a Good Thing.
And of course I’m disgusted by the music writing of my generation, but I think the hopeless writing being churned out by hacks in their 20s isn’t so much because they’re ideologically flawed, but just because they’re bad writers. Although, sometimes, I wonder whether or not the people doing the hip-hop articles in The Guide are in fact engaged in some sort of long-distance trolling of Chinua Achebe. But anyway, surely the reason the lunatics got the chance to take over the asylum with regards to modern music hackery was because those who were on the grind at IPC in the late 90s left the place floundering so badly that the NME was forced to employ a “throw as much shit at the wall and see what sticks” approach. And sadly, the faecal matter currently on the masonry is Does It Offend You, Yeah?, and we get journalists who match the quality of the music with their writing.
At the end of the day, the majority of music writers over 30 in this country strongly resemble generals fighting the previous war. I mean, it’s 2008, fucking Mojo runs six-page features on The Wu. All the old battles have been won, maybe it’s time you started fighting some new ones?

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Steven Wells
May 8, 2008 2:40pm

Firstly - what the fuck are you doing writing at such length for free? Make them pay.
Secondly, are you kidding? With shit like the Decemberists and Los Campsinos! around? With the hip kids in Philadelphia flocking to the Belle and Sebastian disco (this Saturday, I will be there). With the evil that is twee on the rise again? With the vile and ghastly Morrissey defended by legions of fans so docile, dedicated and disconnected that they'd excuse him anything, no matter how revolting? With the soul of so-called alternative culture slipping still further into an inspipid, reactionary, anti-intellectual, disempowering, consumerist coma?
(You tilt at imagined punk windmills. The swine who dominated the music press from about 1981 onwards hated everything about punk. Except maybe the fucking sleevenotes)
Looks like the forces of righteousness lost those particular battles. (That'll be 50 pounds please, to the usual address),

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Dom Passantino
May 8, 2008 4:32pm

Oh come on, you know as well as I do the era for anyone getting paid for writing shit of this length about music in the UK is long dead. I’m assuming this is part of the reason dudes like you and Grimey Simey fucked off to America the first chance you got, even at the current exchange rate Spin pays 600% more per word than the NME, and you get exactly the same amount of money for writing a major review for Pitchfork (which is a website run near-entirely off of the will of Seattle-area indie kids to work for free) as you do for The Guardian (who have the highest paid management staff of any newspaper in the country). If I wanted to make decent money off of writing about music, I’d start pitching “I think this is gonna be the year MIA breaks through, guys!” articles to every section head in the country. Then shoot myself.
I don’t think you *get* Los Campesinos. They’re to indie what The Game is to hip-hop, they approach music as fans of the genre above all else. Really, you can just replace Sarah Records with Death Row and they’re pretty much the same group. So the former shouts out Ian MacKaye, the latter namedrops MC Ren. The former sets out to write a song that sounds like Ballboy, the latter Above the Law. You can even draw parallels between The Game’s “beef with everyone” approach and LC’s “WOMYN’S RIGHTS NOW” schtick if you’re desperate. Of course, if you’re not fucking with tweecore or West Coast Hip-Hop in the first place, it’s not going to be for you. And Morrissey’s half-Chuck D, half-BBC Have Your Say forums poster gimmick is dictionary definition of “ignore him and he’ll go away”.
Who do you mean by the swine of 81? The new-pop/Sade mob? Do they really have any influence nowadays, in a musical sphere at least? Surely they’d all fucked off to lifestyle journalism by 1987 (kinda like the Britpop gang by 1999, then). I believe that your gang actually give a shit, which is why you're still around. I'm just not sure that you've "helped".
You do realise that the video for “Rockstar” by Nickelback proves that pretty much anything anyone from the 90s fought for is wrong, yes?

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Steven Wells
May 8, 2008 5:32pm

My gang? Good god. I've got a gang? And I don't think you *get* Nickelback. Do you *get* Lily Allen and Jet, by the way? I always find them to be acid tests of cuntdom. Ditto Meatloaf. If you don't like them, you're probably an indie-borg. Ah, but - you see what we're doing here? Monkey dancing for free. Giving it away. I'm a whore, Dom. Not a slut. This nonsense has to stop.
All I've ever asked is that concepts like "authenticity" and "credibility" be tested and examined against some real world criteria now and then, so they can't be used as a smokescreen to disguise indie's glacier-like slide into the unquestioned and unchallenged white/male, middle class comedy of conformity.
You've conflated that with my flippant use of the terms "punk" and "punk rock" as bloggy/blokey shorthand for empowering and/or transgressively poppy and/or bottom-up and/or self-organised DIY culture stuff, and then lumped me in with a bunch of shoegazers and Manc-humpers and "rock's rich tapestry" types, which was terrifically unfair and a lot of fun and well overdue.
I like pop, Dom. That's (one of) my bag(s) . I like teasing pop haters (who are more often than not women-haters) because it is they who have—for decades now—fucked thing up with their cloth ears and mild autism and unexamined racism, sexism, homophobia and privilege (and yes, I know, kettle-pot, but the plank in my fucking eye is scrutinised on a daily basis.
I am more than willing to see Los Camps or twee in general redefined as genuinely subversive. Would you do it for me? With reference to queer theory or culture or Carry On films or the Pet Shop Boys or Jilted John or David Beckham anything other than some slap-dash ramshackle comparison to another genre?
Seriously, I'd love to read it. But not here. Somewhere where you get paid for it. (Another reason music jounalism is fucked - trustifarians who can afford to work for peanuts.)
Your point about punk being the sting in the tail of baberboomdom, by the way, is brilliant. Esp. as we saw/see/sold ourselves as the enemies of babyboomerdom (aka the hippies).
But you've got 20 years at least before the bulge in the demographics starts dying in numbers significant enough to allow gens x thu z the chance to breathe.
Wadya gonna do in the meantime? Bitch and piss and moan? Good idea. Or you could go look at the culture being made by "the kids" in those places where they're in the majority—where the babyboom is happening right now. Francophone Africa for instance. The French African rap scene is amazing is like todally punk rock. Oh shit, I done it again.
That's a another 75 quid's worth of pontificating I've spunked.

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Steven Wells
May 8, 2008 6:23pm

A freind just sent me this extract from a five year old web conversation Dom had - and is oh my god. scroll to the bottom,—still having. About me. Awesome!

Basically Dom has been stood on a soabox screaming how he hates me for a half a decade. And I've just noticed. He must be so excited.

How awesome—and how flattering—is that?

You can read the entire screed here:;boardid=41&threadid=16998#msg51

But here are the unedited highlights:

YOU ARE a RACIST who DOESN'T appreciate GOOD POP music you INDIE NAM namby pamby SOFT useless PONCE.

Steven Wells is the Anti-Christ of music writing, a man pushing his own ill-conceived, badly informed political agenda onto his own third-rate interviews, which reveal little about the musician in question.

The nadir would obviously be the Belle and Sebastian interview, where Stuart Murdoch plays him like Ace/Jack suited, and Wells' response basically amounts to "Haven't you even read "No Logo"".

Steven Wells entire existence basically resembles that "Yoof TV" show in the Young Ones. Shame he didn't realise it was a piss take.

-- Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Thursday, 8 May 2003 14:18 (5 years ago) Link

did you actually read that interview dom?

-- Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Thursday, 8 May 2003 14:43 (5 years ago) Link

Actually - Stuart Murdoch didn't 'play' him at anything - he came across as genuinely a bit clueless in that piece (yes obv. it was Wells writing it but...)
-- Matt DC (Matt DC), Thursday, 8 May 2003 14:45 (5 years ago) Link

stuart murdoch is a twat. Then wrote a letter abt that interview and he came across as even more of a twat.

-- Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Thursday, 8 May 2003 14:48 (5 years ago) Link

I love how when the editor of "Bang" was called to task on his magazine being hopelessly out of touch with what music fans want from a magazine nowadays, his first line of defense was "Steven Wells" writes for us. It just needed to be accompanied by the chorus of 30,000 football fans chanting "NME reject"
-- Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Thursday, 8 May 2003 21:31 (5 years ago) Link

My main objection is that he actually doesn't discuss politics, and instead uses dumb, 6th form Socialism as a stick to beat bands he doesn't particularly like with.
-- Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Friday, 9 May 2003 12:24 (4 years ago) Link

Possibly the worst article on football ever:
What do you mean, "possibly"? My grandfather could write a better article than that, and he's been pushing up daisies for 20 odd years. Sheesh, that's some bad writing.

-- Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Wednesday, 14 May 2003 11:01 (4 years ago) Link

"possibly the worst article on football ever:
what do you mean "possibly"? my grandfather could write better than that, and he's been pushing up daisies for 20 odd years. sheesh that's some bad writing

-- Dom Passantino"

sigh, haha unreal! remind me how the fuck your own brand of lame off-the-peg wit is any different to wells'?

-- Chip Morningstar (bob), Wednesday, 28 May 2003 17:25 (4 years ago) Link

or maybe you just reached a sublime transcendent level of self-effacing irony?
-- Chip Morningstar (bob), Wednesday, 28 May 2003 17:28 (4 years ago) Link

There's a really good piece by Swells in Bizarre this month, a history of group onanism. Where's most of his stuff been since leaving the NME anyway? And how come he didn't write for the Ianucci/Morris axis post-The Day Today?
-- Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 4 September 2006 11:47 (1 year ago) Link

I was rereading 98-00 NMEs at the British Library the other week, as part of a potential article, and what it struck me was that Swells was a fantastic interviewer (his Sonic Youth piece was amazing), but an awful, awful reviewer.

-- Dom Passantino, Sunday, 2 September 2007 13:38 (8 months ago) Link

The nadir would obviously be the Belle and Sebastian interview, where Stuart Murdoch plays him like Ace/Jack suited, and Wells' response basically amounts to "Haven't you even read "No Logo"".

I'm glad I mocked this statement at the time. Stuart Murdoch 'playing him like Ace/Jack suited' actually entailed Stuart Murdoch writing a really stroppy letter to the NME the following week, going "Dear Steven Wells, I haven't read your piece about us in the NME but people have told me about it you're a lousy journalist... (babbles on for a bit) ... okay, I've read your piece now, maybe you're not such a bad journalist but you're still wrong."

Even when I didn't agree with him (about 75% of the time) he was always worth reading and in retrospect I kind of agree with what he was trying to do - eg using the singles column to slate every single hyped arse-end-of-1998 indie band and then giving Single of the Week to En Vogue.

-- Matt DC, Sunday, 2 September 2007 13:39 (8 months ago) Link

f anyone is interested in commissioning a 10,000 article about the NME between the releases of "OK Computer" and "Is This It", holla.

-- Dom Passantino, Sunday, 2 September 2007 17:33 (8 months ago) Link

Also, if you're reading this and you're the cute Swedish girl who was photocopying the indie charts from back issues of Music Week for your dissertation, I would like to nail you.

-- Dom Passantino, Sunday, 2 September 2007 17:38 (8 months ago) Link

Stevie, was D*niel B**th specifically hired as an erstatz Swells or did he adopt that style of his own accord?

-- Dom Passantino, Monday, 3 September 2007 11:16 (8 months ago) Link

It's kinda embarassing to see dudes to still "PUNK MUSIC WAS SO REVOLUTIONARY, MAN", considering that the Ramones' sole contribution to music has been hockey theme tunes and The Donnas.

-- Dom Passantino, Monday, 29 October 2007 11:41 (6 months ago) Link

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B'dum B'dum
May 8, 2008 7:50pm

here's a short reply, it doesn't really say anything but at least people are reading it.

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May 13, 2008 1:54pm

Sigh. We can't teach Dom anything, folks. He clearly knows it all.

Let him eat cake.

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cockney wag
May 15, 2008 8:55am

er, by applying the logic of this argument then Swells who surely must be about 50 and has been out of touch with music for two decades shouldn't be writing...

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Steven Wells
May 15, 2008 3:53pm

er, what argument?

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cockney wag
May 19, 2008 10:19am

c'mon old codger...

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Steven Wells
May 20, 2008 1:12am

No, really, which of the several score arguments sprayed around this page are you referring to?

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cockney wag
May 21, 2008 9:42am

Kill all the baby-boomer music journalists!

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Steven Wells
May 22, 2008 3:26pm

Do you have a reading problem?

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May 29, 2008 7:03pm

SWells, why do you hate twee pop exactly? I don't get it.

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Jan 8, 2009 9:48am

The thing is Dom Passantino is a certified online bully.

His track record online would be considered illegal, probably worthy of a criminal record, in the real world. He picks on random people online for the pettiest reasons and he stalks and smears them. Online. How brave.

Look how Dom Passantino stalked this person, someone who was guilty of nothing.
Not to mention that Passantino's stalking habits reveal a distinct lack of social life.

Someone should blow the whistle on this horrible little man.
Because all he does he libels people and smear them for his own sweaty excitement. For reasons such as "the music they like". Playground stuff last seen on Year 7 at school...
Don't forget Mr Dom Passantino is 26!

Why is he doing that? In his perverse, warped mind, he probably hopes that some x-rate tabloid will employ him thinking that he's wacky or flary. But in reality he's losing job after job.

First the GUradian got rid of him after two or three articles because they didn't fancy being done for libel. Especially over music reviews. (see here From :

Then The Stylus received loads of complaints over his review of a Tori Amos record (see which contains the following line:

"the only way that were going to get a good
album from her in this day and age is if someone has
the decency to abduct and kill her daughter".

Understandably people went as far as threatening to kick his head in. But alas, someone as psychotic as Passantino was probably chuffed that he got loads of complaints and then kicked out by the magazine.

More recently, he referred to the killing of innocent girl Sophie Lancaster by writing that she was gagging for it, humouring that "it's a laugh" when a 'goth' wearing those clothes gets beaten to death.

Immature? Or simply horrible? Do you believe that a person can be simply horrible inside? After looking at Passantino's track record we are starting to believe so...

Then it emerged from several sources that Dom Passantino is a homophobe too (see (see

He also started a blog called "I hate you too bitch" (in which he was doing the same old crap again), until several complaints forced to shut it down.

Whoever will leave comments on his current blog (which I will not advertise with a direct link) trying to defend their reputation after some Passantino's defamatory exercise, will not be allowed to post.

What the devious little oddball does, he posts the comment, but he changes the content entirely, so in the end the post looks sympathetic to what Passantino wrote.

This is Dom Passantino. Watch out for him. And report him to ISPs or whoever if necessary.

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Mirnum Jeff
Mar 27, 2009 8:26pm

In reply to AJ J:

If anyone comes upon this by googling Dom Passantino's name, please take heed of the warning above. He is a stalker and a sociopath.

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Aug 15th, 2013 | By | Category: Canadiens, Latest News
D-Nathan Beaulieu - Canadiens 2011 First Round Draft Pick

D-Nathan Beaulieu – Canadiens 2011 First Round Draft Pick

Nathan Beaulieu’s hockey future is intact, at least for now.  Whether he has a future with the Montreal Canadiens is wide open for speculation.

Beaulieu and his father got off with a conditional discharge and probation on assault charges in London Ontario court Wednesday meaning no criminal record which would have impacted on his ability to enter the United States.

Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin attaches a great significance on “individual character” and clearly neither Beaulieu nor his father demonstrated much of the quality in the ugly and nasty sequence of events leading up to the assault charges.

According to the London Free Press account of court proceedings, the incident started during an alcohol-fueled garage hockey game following a charity golf tournament in Strathroy Ontario. The two men assaulted were brothers-in-law David VanGeffen and Wesley Vanderwal. According to testimnony Beaulieu father and son were seen damaging hockey equipment belonging to their host’s children.  Vanderwal told them to stop which “seemed to enrage Jacques Beaulieu.” who said “who the (expletive) do you think you are?”  Beaulieu reportedly then grabbed him and ripped his shirt sleeve off and punched him eight times in the face.  According to the London Free Press report,

(Vanderwal) was chased to his pickup truck by the father and son and had to lock the doors to get away from them.

Vanderwal was home shortly after 11 p.m. and immediately got a call from VanGeffen, who was still at Hackney’s (their host), (Assistant Crown attorney Steve) Monaghan said.

VanGeffen reported he was assaulted by the Beaulieus because “he would not tell them Vanderwal’s address.”

Jacques Beaulieu had grabbed VanGeffen’s shirt and “rag-dolled him around the garage,” tearing it, Monaghan said. Nathan Beaulieu joined in and punched VanGeffen under the right eye.

Police were called and the Beaulieus were charged at the Strathroy-Caradoc police station the next day.

Beaulieu won’t turn 21 until December.  Boys will be boys and it is said ‘everyone deserves a second chance’.  A second chance from the Canadiens may be all he gets.

Earlier this summer Bergevin traded forward prospect Danny Kristo to the New York Rangers for Christian Thomas. Kristo had a long list of alcohol related run-ins with authority during his four year stint at the University of North Dakota.  He graduated in April and the Canadiens signed him to a two year contract then traded him to the Rangers three months later.  Bergevin has never revealed the motivation for the deal but it’s fairly safe to say, considering his attention to character issues, Kristo’s off-ice record was a prominent factor.

With millions of contractual dollars on the line, teams are demonstrating little patience for the conditioning problems associated with alcohol abuse witness Boston’s quick disposal of Tyler Seguin.  If Beaulieu has a potential problem there is off-ice support and counseling the Canadiens would happily supply.   Ultimately the direction and success of his hockey career is up to Beaulieu himself.

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Monday, September 25, 2006

On the Street.....Via Montenapoleone, Milano

Comments on "On the Street.....Via Montenapoleone, Milano"

Anonymous ben said ... (4:29 AM) :

he look great love the turn up of the jean and the subtle check in the jacket

Blogger brigitte said ... (6:35 AM) :

so you are here now... let's meet if you have time..
I have a blog about milan..

Blogger Kristi-Lea said ... (6:43 AM) :

mmm the men in milano never seem to dissapoint me!

Blogger Jeremy Lagrange Gryffoyn said ... (7:01 AM) :

What sneakers are those?

Anonymous Anonymous said ... (7:46 AM) :

Blogger Butch said ... (7:47 AM) :

Nice palette: small but pleasing tonal variations. Pants are a little too stiff for cuffs like those, though....

Anonymous vorono said ... (8:14 AM) :

well, ive been in milan for 2 weeks this summer and young people dress horribly there. eurotrash would be an understatement. the only people with a great style are older men but the dominating street look was my biggest dissapointment ever.

Anonymous Anonymous said ... (8:29 AM) :

I will be in London next week and I am looking for a nice men's overcoat, maybe an overjacket is a better term, covert jacket I have seen used. Buttons all the way up to the collar, knee length at most. Are these being shown yet or is it too early, and if so, where?

you can email me at

Anonymous Anonymous said ... (9:08 AM) :

Those sneakers are terrible! This man lives in Milan, for goodness sake. Can he not find some decent shoes?

He must have forgotten "bella figura" that day.

Blogger Tamberk said ... (9:25 AM) :

Anonymous Anonymous said ... (9:34 AM) :

not feelin those turn ups.
the guy in the red trousers and funky shoes looks more stylish

Blogger PJS said ... (10:04 AM) :

I didn't realize we were doing this with our cuffs again...

Blogger Rafe said ... (10:45 AM) :

I'm loving this navy and black combination. Saw it quite a bit in my recent trip as well.

Blogger Jonathon said ... (10:55 AM) :

I agree with Ben -- I really think he pulls the whole look together very well.

Anonymous Anonymous said ... (11:38 AM) :

Something about this guy's overall demeanor says 'hobo' to me. A handsome, fashionable hobo to be sure, but he looks like he just woke up from a nap on a nearby bench. Probably just an awkward hobo moment.

Blogger Maria said ... (11:38 AM) :

The hair again! Great personality in the hair, that is one fashion statenment that makes some people on that side of the globe unique.

Anonymous Anonymous said ... (11:42 AM) :

Yes :]

Anonymous George G said ... (12:16 PM) :

I think cuffs are perfect on unwashed denim. I find them ill-advised on anything but. Now rolled pants hems, that's a different story.

Blogger Dreamer said ... (12:32 PM) :

Even the pizza delivery guys are hot in Milan???

Blogger Mathieu said ... (12:38 PM) :

aren't those the Dior Homme low/silver sneakers by HSlimane? I love them-
Sartorialist I always enjoy your photos, keep them coming :)

Anonymous positively the same dame said ... (1:27 PM) :

oh golly, he's so great! talk about fit -- this guy has it going on. i think he knows who he is, and he certainly makes me want to know who he is. more, please. and then come home. as a new yorker, i'm beginning to feel jealous and possessive ;-)

Anonymous positively the same dame said ... (1:47 PM) :

i had to go back and look at him again -- so sue me, i'm only human -- and eventually noticed that there were other people in the photo as well, every single one of them looking very good indeed. there is an attitude about them that implies that that's just the way it is, capice?

Blogger hoi polloi said ... (3:49 PM) :

Why is everyone going crazy over the turned up jeans and sneakers? Number 1: People have worn their jeans that way before [think Marlon Brando in the Wild One] Number 2: Just because not eveyone wears their jeans that way doesn't make it any less. He's doing what he wants good on him not copying everyone with their little tapered legs. Number 3: not everyone wants to wear hard dress shoes. Sneakers are hip and comfortable get a clue

Anonymous Anonymous said ... (3:55 PM) :

Oh yes!

Blogger The-E-Babes said ... (4:25 PM) :

I like the combination of smartly pulled together with a touch of dishevel...a little rough around the edges. I bet he has an interesting story.

Anonymous Jill said ... (4:29 PM) :

Thanks for the great blog - so interesting to see people on the street. Your mix and your eye are fabulous. Here's my new theory -- I think your work is inspiring people to dress better, in the hope of appearing on your blog. Like the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle applied to fashion - the act of observing changes the behaviour of the observed! Keep up the great work!

Blogger EMNH said ... (5:35 PM) :

Paninaro all grown up.

Blogger Zaydoun said ... (6:51 PM) :

Jill... you're so right. Last month I dressed up and stalked the streets of Manhattan hoping to be caught by the Sartorialist's camera, but alas my efforts were in vain...

Blogger Gemstone said ... (10:26 PM) :

oooh... he looks so great! This look works for me. Unexpected. I love that he doesn't look like anyone else on the street.

Blogger Tamberk said ... (11:05 PM) :

Anonymous Anonymous said ... (12:22 AM) :

uhhhh why do you think he looks good?

Blogger savvylondon said ... (5:41 AM) :

the cuffed denim seems so italian.

Anonymous Anonymous said ... (5:56 AM) :

nothing wrong with turn ups, just that his are terrible. and the sneakers naff, they aint so hip anymore either, they are played out! get with it!

Anonymous Anonymous said ... (10:20 AM) :

Those sneakers would look good under my bed . . . .

Blogger JA Firebrand said ... (10:28 AM) :

Nice, nice - a bit of Milanese attitude with each touch; the hair, the roll up cuff, etc. Call it hobo chic if you like but he is pretty hot.

Anonymous Anonymous said ... (10:57 AM) :

if you're not cuffing unwashed denim, what are you cuffing? does anyone else think we are going to start seeing a lot more black and blue combinations? i can't even remember why that got labeled as a no-no thing so long ago.

Blogger Crash said ... (5:34 PM) :

Is it just me, or does it seam that he was in 2 minds?

Waist up does not gel with waist down...

Maybe I'm old fashion, but there is a time for sneakers & now is not the time...

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Tuesday, 28 February 2012

You may be wondering why I have not posted for a while. Well this is because my best creation yet has finally arrived! My beautiful baby boy was born at the beginning on February so I will be taking a break from making my animals for a bit. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have a commission or project in mind for later in the year.

Wednesday, 22 February 2012


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Volume 78 - Number 24 / NOVEMBER 12 - 18, 2008
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Coming Soon
May 16, 2014

Christopher Nolan tends to keep his cards close to his chest — so while Interstellar has been in the works for nearly a year, audiences have known virtually nothing. Finally, with the release of the first trailer for the film, we can get a sense for what the Dark Knight trilogy's director has in store next.

Interstellar is set in a dystopian near-future where the earth's food supply has run out — and Matthew McConaughey's Cooper has been selected to travel into space to find a new world for humankind to inhabit. "We're not meant to save the world. We're meant to leave it," says Michael Caine in the trailer. "We must reach far beyond our own lifespans. We must think not as individuals but as a species. We must confront the reality of interstellar travel."

Christopher Nolan hasn't directed a movie since The Dark Knight Rises, and Interstellar reunites him with several of that movie's cast members, including Caine and Anne Hathaway. But for many moviegoers, an even bigger draw than Nolan might be Matthew McConaughey, who's coming off a Best Actor win for Dallas Buyers Club and a highly acclaimed performance in HBO's True Detective. If that's not enough to get you excited, remember: the last time Christopher Nolan released a totally original movie, we got Inception — so expectations are very high for November, when Interstellar will finally arrive in theaters. --Scott Meslow

last night on late night
4:34 a.m. ET

Jimmy Kimmel's "pedestrian question" on Tuesday's Kimmel Live was whether the random people his crew stopped on the street had any nude pictures of themselves on their phones. The game involves stopping the interview right before the pedestrian answers and having the audience guess yes or no. There's not a lot to go on — first name and where he or she is from, and of course, what they look like — and there's some sizable element of the audience that seems to pick its response based mostly on what they want the answer to be. What to guess about an attractive young woman from Canada, for example? Or an older, bearded man from Australia? You can play along below. Peter Weber

The Daily Showdown
4:01 a.m. ET

All those questions you wanted Jon Stewart to answer (and many you never considered) about The Daily Show? On Tuesday, he said he was happy to answer them — but he's kind of a joker, so it took a bit of duress for him to come out with the truth.

The heavy hand was administered by correspondents Hasan Minhaj and Jordan Klepper, using their bad-cop, bad-cop routine. And the forms of torture are for the Daily Show fans. First comes the New York pizza cut with a knife and fork, then a short reel of Jon Stewart's acting career, bad Springsteen improv, and then the coup de grace, which really is disgusting. Watch below and learn what Stewart draws on those blue pads, who his favorite guests have been, and what finally makes Minhaj and Klepper end the interrogation with cries of "TMI." Peter Weber

3:24 a.m. ET
G.N. Miller–Pool/Getty Images

New York prison worker Joyce Mitchell confessed to helping inmates Richard Matt and David Sweat escape from the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, NBC News reports, drawing from documents obtained through a freedom of information act. Her confessions, made June 7, 8, and 10, contain some pretty lurid details.

Mitchell told state and federal investigators that she had smuggled Matt and Sweat in contraband and agreed to pick them up after their escape "because I was caught up in the fantasy." She knew, she said, that after the escape, Matt was going to kill her husband, Lyle, whom the inmates called "the glitch." She sent sexually explicit photos of herself to Sweat, she said, but only had sexual contact with Matt.

That started in April, Mitchell said, when she and Matt were alone in the prison tailor shop, where both Mitchell and her husband worked. "It startled me, she said. "He kissed me with an open mouth kiss. I didn't say anything because I was scared for my husband, who also works for the facility."

At Matt's request, she later performed oral sex on the inmate and "also groped his genitals in several instances, using a large prison coat to disguise their activities," The New York Times summarizes, citing the same statements from Mitchell. NBC News provides more detail: "Matt would come to her desk wearing a big coat in which he had cut a hole so that Mitchell could touch his genitals."

Mitchell told investigators that she "enjoyed the attention, the feeling both of them gave me and the thought of a different life," but got ill from worry as the escape neared, ultimately going to the hospital instead of picking Matt and Sweat up in her Jeep with supplies, as planned. Matt was later killed, Sweat captured. "I know I had agreed to help them escape and run away with them, but I panicked and couldn't follow through with the rest of the plan," Mitchell said. "I really do love my husband and he's the reason." Peter Weber

The Daily Pre-Showdown
2:15 a.m. ET

Sometimes at the beginning of The Daily Show, Jon Stewart obliquely brings up some conversation he had with the audience before the show. And now that Stewart's long run is ending, Comedy Central is pulling back the curtain a bit, posting a short highlight reel of Stewart's warm-up banter before the show begins. In the Q&A sessions featured in the video below, Stewart fields questions about his New Jersey game reserve, hummus, and whether he will return to stand-up comedy after he leaves The Daily Show (it sounds like 'yes').

And then somebody asked him about his "worst or funniest mistakes as a rookie on one of your first shows." Stewart started out philosophically, insisting that he never considers any flubs mistakes, but then he told this story:

We did do, my second week of doing a talk show at Paramount, we did a Hitler sketch.... We thought this would be really funny... that Hitler had just been in hiding, and was now coming out to do the talk show circuit. So I just said, "Ladies and gentlemen, unbelievable guest tonight, you know, I can't believe it: Adolf Hitler." And he comes out dressed as Hitler, with the mustache, and he does this [Nazi salute] to the crowd, and you can imagine, the crowd is like, "Booooooo! Boo Hitler! We don't like Hitler!" So we throw to commercial — two seconds later, the stage managers goes, 'There's a phone call for you.' Paramount executives in Los Angeles had been watching it and, like, literally said, "We will cancel you tonight if you don't pull that." [Stewart, Daily Show]

If you've never seen a taping of The Daily Show, this is probably the closest you're going to get, at least in the Jon Stewart era. Watch below. Peter Weber

1:06 a.m. ET
Alex Wong/Getty Images

Late Tuesday, Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) filed a "motion to vacate the chair," a parliamentary measure seeking to unseat House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio). In his motion, Meadows accused Boehner of having "endeavored to consolidate power and centralize decision-making" and using "the power of the office to punish Members who vote according to their conscience instead of the will of the Speaker."

Meadows should know — he was briefly stripped of his chairmanship of a House subcommittee after voting against a measure Boehner backed, being reinstated only after fellow House conservatives caused a ruckus. But he says he isn't sure he will ever try to bring his motion to a vote, intending it more as the "impetus to have a discussion, a family discussion," among House Republicans about "how we can make sure that every voice, every vote matters."

The move is extremely rare but not unprecedented. In March 1910, Rep. George Norris (R-Neb.) tried to oust Speaker Joe Cannon (R-Ill.), but failed after a two-day marathon session that ended with Cannon himself moving to declare his chair vacant and winning the vote when it failed to pass. Cannon was reputedly much more domineering than Boehner, but the failed coup did succeed in greatly curbing his power in the House. As Meadows is surely aware. Peter Weber

last night on late night
12:20 a.m. ET

Harry Potter, the fictional boy wizard, turns 35 on July 31. To wish him an early happy birthday, and scar any Harry Potter fans watching The Tonight Show, Jimmy Fallon had Simon Pegg on to imagine the mess that would be a 35-year-old inebriated Ron Weasley. "Drunk Ron Weasley" draws pretty heavily from the Dudley Moore school of drunk Britons, but Pegg's "10 points for Gryffindor!" ad-lib is pretty good. Watch the debauchery and shattered childhood dreams below. Peter Weber

election 2016
July 28, 2015
Joe Raedle/Getty Images

The top 10 Republican presidential candidates, as determined by Fox News polling, will still appear on stage for the prime-time Aug. 6 debate in Cleveland. But thanks to a modification to its rules announced Tuesday evening, Fox News will allow all of the second-tier candidates to participate in the happy hour debate earlier that evening, at 5 p.m. ET. Previously, only candidates polling at 1 percent or greater were allowed in the 5 p.m. debate.

The change in requirements means that you can watch former HP chief executive Carly Fiorina, ex-New York Gov. George Pataki, and Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C.) face off against Ohio Gov. John Kasich, Rick Santorum, and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, according to Politico's tally. The nine Republicans competing for air time with Donald Trump from 9 to 11 p.m. are Jeb Bush, Gov. Scott Walker (Wis.), Gov. Chris Christie (N.J.), Rick Perry, Ben Carson, Mike Huckabee, and Sens. Marco Rubio (Fla.), Ted Cruz (Texas), and Rand Paul (Ky.)

The "kid's table" debate will also be moderated by lower-profile moderators, Bill Hemmer and Martha MacCallum. The later one will feature Megyn Kelly, Bret Baier, and Chris Wallace. Peter Weber

See More Speed Reads


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TZR Spotlight: Got Jewels?

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Being a stylist, I can knowingly say that mixing and matching jewelry into an outfit can really make or break a look. With JewelMint, you can shop without worry, because each piece is specifically chosen to complement your style. Fabulous! Ready to jazz up your wardrobe with some jewels? Duh! Surf over to JewelMint now and treat yourself to something shiny. xoRZ

Availability: Join the exclusive jewel club at JewelMint and use the promo code Zoe50 to get 50% off your first purchase now through Tuesday, April 5th.

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Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Deep and Vast...and My Sin

The words of hymns are playing in my mind and heart this week as I reflect upon His great sacrifice. This newer song, too, has rich and meaningful words describing His love.

Vast beyond all measure
And then the words which cause me to feel remorse.

Ashamed I hear my mocking voice call out among the scoffers.

It was my sin that held Him there.

Would you like to join me in meditating on the words of this song?

Stuart Townend

How deep the Father's love for us,
How vast beyond all measure
That He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure.
How great the pain of searing loss,
The Father turns His face away.
As wounds which mar the chosen One,
Bring many sons to glory.

Behold the Man upon a cross,
My sin upon His shoulders
Ashamed I hear my mocking voice,
Call out among the scoffers.
It was my sin that held Him there
Until it was accomplished.
His dying breath has brought me life
I know that it is finished.

I will not boast in anything
No gifts, no power, no wisdom;
But I will boast in Jesus Christ
His death and resurrection.
Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer,
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

If April Showers Bring May Flowers...

...then what do NovemberDecemberJanuaryFebruaryMarch showers bring?

Monday, March 29, 2010

In reading Matthew 21 recently, I was struck with this verse about Jesus, the Cornerstone.

"And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder." (Matthew 21:44)

The idea that penetrated my spirit was that of brokenness. If we fall on the stone, we are broken. If the stone falls on us, we are still broken, but to the point of no repair—ground to powder!

Oh, let me fall on the stone! Being broken hurts—broken will, broken pride, broken desires, broken plans—but His plan is full of mercy and grace.

Thursday, March 25, 2010

To Young Moms

I am going to tell you something that I would have liked for someone to tell me when I was a young mother with very small children.

It is hard.

Oh, I love babies and would have welcomed more of them. Snuggling with a newborn, rocking my babies to sleep in a darkened room, smelling their sweet baby smell and seeing their adoring smiles...all are precious memories.
The toddler years are full of joys too. Chubby cheeks and hands, wobbly toddler walk, expanding vocabulary rendered in toddler talk, belly laughs, sharing book after book after book (or sometimes the same one time after time after time).

But all of the joys do not take away the fact that it is hard. Is it worth it? Yes, a thousand times yes. But is it easy? No.

I so clearly remember an interchange I had with a slightly older mother at a time when I had two small children (at the time, around ages 1 and 3). This mom was a member of my church, and I was shopping in the Christian bookstore where she worked. I don’t remember what began the conversation; but I recall that I said that being a mother was hard. I am not sure what I expected—maybe some helpful hints, maybe some Godly advice, maybe the assurance that the training would pay off in the long run. But I got none of that. Instead she raised her eyebrows and said, “Oh my. Well if you think it’s hard now, just wait until they get to be teenagers.” At first, I felt ashamed that I had thought life with my sweet babies was hard. But almost immediately, something in my heart said that she was wrong. That right here—these days of initial training and winning their hearts—was where the battle would be won or lost.

So, yes, I believe that life with little ones is hard—full of joy and delight, but hard nonetheless. These are the days when you are establishing authority. These are the days when you are laying down the rails of habit. These are the days when you are laying the foundation of spiritual awareness, and manners, and denying self. These are the days when you are testing some of these same ideas in yourself, for it is indeed an unselfish thing to train a child. It is much easier (at the moment) to give in to them, to make the demands easier, to turn your head at disobedience or a bad attitude. But the unselfish parent will deny her own flesh and lovingly demand what is right.

Those who know my daughter Kristin now may find this hard to believe, but she was such a little chatterbox. She had so very much to say. One evening, as our family walked through the local mall, Ron and I were trying to have a conversation. But we could hardly string together a sentence before Kristin had something (or somethings) that “needed” to be said. Finally, after many attempts at continuing his discussion with me, Ron stopped Kristin and pointed to the Sears anchor store at the end of the corridor. “Kristin, “ he said, “if you will not say a word until we get down to Sears, I’ll give you a quarter.” Little Kristin walked in silence for about four steps...then came to a screeching halt and moaned, “Oh Dad, it’s too hard!”

We have laughed at that many times over the years...but sometimes I have found myself saying to my Heavenly Father about some thing or another that He is requiring of me, “Oh, it’s too hard.” And yet His words to me are, “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.(II Corinthians 12:9)

So to young moms, I would say...yes, indeed, it is hard to train little ones. It requires love, selflessness, wisdom, patience, diligence, and tenacity...sometimes long days and longer nights...often going against others’ advice and against worldly wisdom...always prayer and seeking His wisdom. But it is a job for which He gives His grace...and it is a job that is full of reward.

“And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.” (Galations 6:8 NKJV)

My duty is never measured by what I feel is within my power to do, but by what God's grace enables me to do.
~ Andrew Murray

Monday, March 22, 2010

Morning Time: Spring Term

Morning Time currently looks something like this...

We are still reading through the Gospels, now in Matthew. (We're not reading that slowly; we didn’t do them in order. :-)

We are learning Psalm 90.
Bekah, having memorized the books of the New Testament, is now learning the books of the Old Testament. (After hearing about this learning glitch, my sweet daughter-in-law mailed us a CD with a song for the OT books, which should be a big help!)

We are singing “This Is My Father’s World” with Bekah accompanying us on the piano. This is a first as we usually sing a capella, but she wanted to play for us and it is good practice to learn to play while people are singing.

Kati: “The Pasture” by Robert Frost
Bekah: “Eletelephony” by Laura E. Richards
Mom: “Depth of Mercy” by Charles Wesley

We're enjoying selected poems by Robert Frost and reading Robert Frost: America’s Poet by Doris Faber.

This term we are listening to the music of “The Waltz King,” Johann Strauss II.

We are looking at the works of 15th century Flemish painter Jan Van Eyck.
~ ~ ~
For further reading about Morning Times, visit:

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Spring Has Sprung!

I think that there is something about hardship that causes one to be more grateful during the good times. Perhaps that is why the coming of spring feels especially wonderful this year. Here on the East Coast, winter has been shivery and snowy, wild and wooly, and l-o-n-g. (Those who are accustomed to such winters may scorn my reference to it as a hardship, but it was far more ~~wintry~~ than any I can remember.)

So we have been joyfully celebrating the impending arrival of The First Day of Spring this week.

We continued with our Spring Cleaning.
We've been working on the bookshelves...taking the books off the shelves, culling out collections, cleaning each shelf, and even rearranging and reorganizing some. (We also secretly removed some books that were hidden behind the stacks. You know, the ones that the children/grandchildren ask you to read, but ones that you can hardly bear to read because they are boring or lifeless or tedious. Like Ten Green Bottles, for example. Don't tell.)

So now we have two big boxes of books that are looking for good homes...

We enjoyed a Mother/Daughter Springtime Tea Party.
We invited some homeschooled teenage girls and their moms over for some girl time...and it was delightful. In fact, it was so delightful that I totally forgot to take any pictures until everyone had left! But we did have a lovely time of chatting and sipping tea and nibbling teatime treats and laughing and telling stories. An afternoon of refreshment. We need to do it more often.

These are some post-tea pictures...

First-Day-of-Spring Baskets were presented.
We used to do Easter baskets, but several years ago we changed plans. Resurrection Day is such a glorious beautiful day of rejoicing, that it almost seemed to trivialize the significance of the holiday to make a big deal out of chocolate bunnies and marshmallow chicks. But chocolate bunnies and marshmallow chicks are such fun, and my children had always received such treats...so Ron and I decided that, as the first day of spring is exciting and something to celebrate, and bunnies and chicks and flowers certainly represent the spring of the year, we would begin the tradition of the Spring Basket.

Here are this year's Spring Baskets (although Kati's "basket" this year is actually a new Martha Stewart batter bowl ;-)...

And then on to Rita's for (free) Italian ice...

How have you celebrated spring this week?

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Something to Think About

In A Charlotte Mason Companion: Personal Reflections on the Gentle Art of Learning, Karen Andreola suggests that each day a child should have:
  • Something or someone to love
  • Something to do
  • Somthing to think about

Bekah's copy work for today was this short poem which certainly provides the "something to think about", wouldn't you say?

Hear ye the Master's call, "Give Me thy best!"
For, be it great or small, that is His test.
Do then the best you can, not for reward,
Not for the praise of man, but for the Lord.

~ S.C. Kirk

Thursday, March 11, 2010

What Book Is That?

Bekah (8) is continuing to learn the books of the Bible during Morning Time. The books of the New Testament came rather easily thanks to the old Sunday School song that sings the names. The Old Testament...not so much. We still have a ways to go.

Actually, I thought that Bekah had learned the first eight books of the Old Testament until Sunday. When her dad asked us to turn in our Bibles to Genesis 32, I noticed her flipping pages all through the Bible. So this week during Morning Time, I asked, “Bekah, what is the very first book in the Bible?”

“What letter does it start with?” asked Bekah, searching for a clue.

“G,” I replied.

“Guh...guh...guh,” said Bekah, trying to jog her memory. Then, as if her memory had come through for her, she exclaimed, “Gertrude!”

We all had a round of hearty laughter...including Bekah who very quickly realized that her memory had indeed failed her this time. If laughter is the best medicine, then it was a very healthy day!

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Girly Girls

Isn't it good of God to send Bekah a kitty who is not only willing to wear pink and watch "Little House" with her, but will play dollhouse too?!

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Take a peek over here to see what we're all excited about!

(Hint: We have six grandchildren now. ~wink~)

Monday, March 8, 2010

The Beauty of Hymns

I can never get enough of the beauty of hymns. After the Word of God, hymns feed my soul like nothing else.

I recently read a comment by a woman who grew up in church, but had never heard the old hymn "Fairest Lord Jesus" until she was an adult, so I feel richly blessed that we sing hymns every week in our home fellowship. I also make it a point to sing and memorize hymns in our homeschool, and to play beautiful renditions of hymns in the house and in the car. (My sixteen-year-old daughter Kati also loves hymns and posts the words to a chosen hymn weekly on her blog.)

This lovely post that I came upon in Blogland puts into words some of my own thoughts about hymns and why I love them.

What are your favorite hymns?

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Imagine That!

Bekah (almost 9), talking about Eloise of the children's books and movies: "I can't imagine having temper tantrums to get what you want."

Mom, remembering that her youngest was the only one of her four children to ever do just that: "Well, Bekah, when you were very little, you used to have temper tantrums. You'd throw yourself into the floor and kick and scream."

Bekah, with a look of consternation: "Thank the Lord I have sense enough not to do that anymore!"

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Pray Without Ceasing

"Pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:17). There is a great difference between prayer and the life of prayer. Almost everyone prays, but very few pray without ceasing. This is the habit of devotion. This is the altar of incense ever burning in the Holy Place. This is the fragrance of a heart that lives in the presence of the Holy One, and breathes the very life of God. This is the deep undertone of a sanctified life. It is from this that the sweetness, the gladness, the holiness, and the helpfulness come. Lord, teach us the habit of prayer, the prayer that springs spontaneously from the heart, and which neither secular duty, satanic temptation, nor the waves of sorrow, can interrupt, but which is only stimulated by the things that try us, until every experience becomes transformed into an occasion for communion and fellowship with God.
~A. B. Simpson
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Indiana House Passes Mandatory Drug Tests For Welfare Recipients

Indiana’s House of Representatives on Monday approved a bill that would require all welfare recipients to undergo drug testing, despite the fact that several courts have ruled such measures are unconstitutional. Public assistance would be denied to any applicant who refused to undergo rehabilitation treatment.

The bill would require recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) who tests positive for illegal substances to pay for their own drug tests out of their assistance checks. It would also force anyone with drugs in their system to enroll in a treatment program, but the bill offers no additional funding for such programs:

If the individual tests positive on a drug test administered under this chapter, the amount of the cost of any subsequent drug test the individual is required to undergo will be withheld from the TANF assistance the individual receives, if the individual continues to receive TANF assistance, regardless of whether the individual tests positive or tests negative on the subsequent drug test.

In 2011, Indiana approved a similar requirement for people to apply for unemployment insurance, and just one percent of applicants failed. Similar numbers have come from Republican-led drug testing efforts in Florida.

What’s more, it’s not likely that such requirements actually save the state any money.


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In this month’s episode of Rep. Walter Jones’s (R-NC) TV show, Washington Watch, Jones hosted Dick Armey, former House Majority Leader and current chairman of the right-wing astroturf group FreedomWorks. About halfway through their conversation, Jones suggests that President Obama could have benefited from taking several months off in the beginning of his presidency to study public policy with “experts.” Armey disagrees, saying that Obama has no interest in “understanding of how the world really works” and warning that Obama “may be the greatest economic illiterate of any president of modern time”:

JONES: I was hoping that Mr. Obama…would say to the American people, “You know, these problems…are so complex that I’m going to take the first two or three months, I’m going to bring in certain people from different parts of the country who are experts with this and this and that. And then I’m going to try to come back to you the American people the first of April with some ideas and plans for this country.” … I wish he had just maybe taken a little bit of time and try to analyze some of these deep seeded problems. […]

ARMEY: I think with this president its even worse than that. He is more interested in income redistribution than he is in prosperity. … He’s got a whimsical notion of how things ought to turn out. Without any understanding. Economics is a very deep and complex discipline of understanding and I’m afraid we have a president right now who may be the greatest economic illiterate of any president of modern time. Not that he’s not capable of understanding. But I don’t believe he cares to understand.

Watch it:

Armey’s own views on the economic crisis are often dictated by his lobbying interests. He has been a vocal critic of the Bush administration’s creation of the toxic asset relief program (TARP) in his capacity at FreedomWorks. But despite that, Armey’s lobbying firm DLA Piper has represented several of the greatest beneficiaries of TARP and other government interventions in the last year: AIG and Merrill Lynch. As Pat Garofalo writes, “it’s a safe bet that DLA Piper wasn’t enlisted to push for tougher regulations or more stringent capital requirements.”

As the Obama administration works to devise effective and nuanced regulations to prevent a financial crisis like that of last fall’s from recurring, Armey is advocating more of the same tired deregulation ideas that set the American economy up for failure in the first place. “We want to end burdensome government regulation and rely on the marketplace as an efficient regulator of business activity,” Armey’s FreedomWorks website states.


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Category Archives: Comic Run

Comic Run 1: Trencher

This is a new series that we’re doing here at This Cage is Worms called Comic Run. My friends and I read bad comics from the 1990s and talk about them in that kind of way. This post is written … Continue reading

Posted in Comic Run, Comics, Guest Post | Tagged | 1 Comment


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art scene: sprATX store opening!

This weekend, get ready to welcome an awesome new addition to the East Austin gallery and retail scene, because SprATX is opening the doors to its new store! The store will house a gallery space, office, and retail establishment at which you can buy unique screen-printed shirts and prints by artists in the collective.

SprATX (pronounced Spray-TX) is a collective of street artists, muralists and creatives in Austin, TX. The imaginative members use their talents and visual art to impact our city in positive and beneficial ways.

The SprATX family is comprised of individual artists who unite as a whole to perform live street art exhibitions, pop up galleries, and custom mural painting for businesses, private events and charities. The collective also oversees the community art project known as #atxfreeartfriday, where participants gift free pieces of art every Friday to members of our community.

(Check out our previous feature about Free Art Friday.)

For the grand opening celebration, the first 50 customers will get a free art print. Drinks are sponsored by PBR, and there’ll be a mini-exhibition featuring work by SprATX artists. Doors open at noon and the party starts at 6pm on Saturday, January 4th. SprATX is located at 501 Pedernales Street, Suite 2A.

Follow SprATX on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. (While you’re there, you should also “like” our Facebook page!)

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    […] pop up galleries, and custom mural painting.” A couple of weeks ago, SprATX officially opened a gallery/store/office in East […]

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‘Envelope’ Yourself

I am all about re-purposing things. I’ve talked many times on here about how you can recycle, reuse, and upcycle things all around you. And I’ve got another tip for you! Many months ago (too many to count) I found a set of envelope templates at Paper Source (a fantastic place if you love papercrafts and beautiful keepsakes) and bought them along with their insert template counterparts. This has made making my own custom envelopes so easy and fun. Anything I can trace onto I can make into an envelope. I’ve even made fabric ones!

I recently checked out Trader Joe’s, which is like the cheaper, smaller version of Whole Foods. They had a great selection of wine so I purchased a couple bottles for a Wine and Dine Monday ritual my husband and our close friend Bryan started. I fell in love with their quirky bags and wanted to keep them instead of just recycling them. So I used my templates and turned them into quirky little envelopes just waiting for letters of love to fill them.

1. Brown Grocery Bags (preferably with a print for fun but can be any brown bag)
2. Scissors
3. Pencil
4. Envelope Templates (I purchased mine through Paper Source)
5. Craft Paper
6. Double Sided Tape

Step 1

Cut your bag along one seam and along the bottom. Be mindful of how you cut so you get the most out of your bag. Lay flat and begin tracing your preferred envelope size. Put it as close to the edge and each other as you  can so you get as many envelopes as possible.

You can trace the fold lines but I usually don’t cause I don’t want them showing.

Using double-sided tape I fold my envelopes together and tape them along the underside of their meeting seams. Be careful not to leave anything hanging over those seams of it will stick to itself or attract items on the outside.

Using the corresponding insert template cut out a piece to fit the inside of the envelope. These papers give your pieces a POP! of color and fun. Use the double-sided tape to affix the insert to the inside of the envelope flap.

group1Group9 Group2

Now for new pretties! I happened upon a sale of charms and pendants at Hobby Lobby and stocked up on some beautiful pieces along with several glass vials, vibrant yarn and some interesting new products that yielded some interesting results!

I have often contemplated trying out Water Slide paper as a way to get images to my bamboo tiles and while I’ve found a work around right now I still yearn for the original look I fell in love with. And Water Slide paper is not cheap. I had to know if the stuff worked the way I hoped it would. Hobby Lobby to the rescue! They released an artist line of water slide decals and I grabbed up several to try. I was really pleased with the results.

I’m crocheting away on several new projects and so much of my other DIY has hit the backburner in lieu of these pursuits so hopefully soon I’ll be back in my full DIY swing. Hope everyone is have a fabulous week! Happy Making!

  1. Joy says:

    These are cuuuute. You explained it so well, I think even I could make one…maybe… :)

    Maybe I should just wait until they are in your etsy shop. :)

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