The Rebel Black Dot Songs of the Day
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, "Leaving on a Jet Plane" from Have a Ball (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: "Tell me that you'll wait for me."

Donnerstag, 25 März
The University of Michigan Marching Band, "Only the Good Die Young" from A Saturday Tradition (T.L.A.M.)

The Rebel Black Dot Songs of the Day
Goldfinger, "Superman" via iTunes (T.L.A.M.)

Dienstag, 23 März
The Aquabats!, "Throw Away the Trash!" from the Yo! Check Out This Ride! E.P. (Captain Thumbs-Up)

The Queue
Recently
P. G. Wodehouse, Mike at Wrykyn
Ian Fleming, Casino Royale
Ian Fleming, Live and Let Die

Currently
Ian Fleming, Moonraker

Presently
Ian Fleming, Diamonds Are Forever
Ian Fleming, From Russia, with Love
Ian Fleming, Doctor No

The Rebel Black Dot Songs of the Day
John Williams & the London Symphony Orchestra, "Flight From Peru" from Raiders of the Lost Ark: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: One day I'll explain Peru. Hee hee, Peru.

Sonntag, 21 März
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, "Stand by Your Man" from Blow in the Wind (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: The Blues Brothers' choreography: index fingers point down on "stand," palms out on "by," index fingers point out on "your," thumbs toward yourself on "man." Also, and you had to know this was coming:

A short skirt,
A Gimmes shirt,
A Jones soda,
Ain't life grand?

Note to self: find a Me First and the Gimme Gimmes T-shirt for The Impossible Ingenue.

Scarcely can I recall an occasion when I needed a day of rest as sorely as I needed today. I woke up this morning exhausted and achy, feeling progressively better throughout, but I am still weary down to my bones. I should have died without today's respite.

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
Jay Unger, et al., "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" from The Civil War: Original Soundtrack Recording (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: The 12 Hours of Sebring was grand, but during the commercials I wandered through the other offers, as is my habit. On one such jaunt I happened upon Stalag 17 on Turner Classic Movies; Stalag 17 is one of my favorite films, and I tuned in just as the men embarked upon their exuberant rendition of "When Johnny Comes Marching Home." Thus, despite having seen The Aquabats! & Mustard Plug in concert on Thursday and The Loose Ties last night, today's R.B.D.S.O.T.D is not a ska song.

Also, the proper lyric at the conclusion of each verse of "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" is "We'll all feel gay when Johnny comes marching home!" Beware of homophobic mutilations of the song that render that last line as "We'll cheer the day when Johnny comes marching home!" There are times when I do not know which facet of homophobia is more offensive, the naked bigotry or the enthusiastic ignorance.

By Lucifer's beard, why am I awake? Oh, because I was up and out of the house before the Accursed Sun rose, at school playing the jackass before the television cameras for charity's sake. However did this happen to me? Is this the comeuppance for my many sins?

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
Mustard Plug, "On and On" from In Black and White (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary:

"By now, you think it's over,
Countdown, it's getting colder,
Come on, tell me it's over,
Goes on and on and on and on again."

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
The Aquabats!, "Red Sweater!" from The Fury of The Aquabats! (Captain Thumbs-Up)

Commentary:

"I'm in love, it's great!
See you again, can't wait!
There's so much to do!
You're such a pretty girl,
We'll travel 'round the world
To see, to see this love through!"

There is no rest for the wicked. I am grieved to type these lines, treasured readers, but there is every chance this will be the last time I bloggy blog before Saturday at the earliest. I am weary, so very weary, and the Thursday & Friday I see before me bear the terrible aspect of being a man-killing buzzsaw. Or a sort of daily Scylla & Charybdis. I will return when I can, and with as much vim as I might muster. There is so very much I wish to recount to you, and more every day.

Operation AXIOM
The American orgy of inebriation known as St. Paddy's Day has naught to do with Eire, Irish culture, nor the Catholicism that is so central to Irish ethnicity. I'll gladly join anyone in celebrating Saint Patrick's Day, but to blazes with all and sundry who engage in the St. Paddy's Day festival of bigotry and ignorance. I never wear green on the 17th of March, but this year I've upped the ante: I'm wearing black & brown (or, for those so inclined, black & tan).

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
Jerry O'Sullivan, "Colonel Fraser" from Green Linnet Records: The Twentieth Anniversary Collection (T.L.A.M.)

This Week in Motorsport
The 2010 Formula One season has begun! Woo hoo! Watching the videotaped Bahrain Grand Prix was just about the only thing I liked about yesterday. Ferrari scored an impressive one-two finish, but were gifted those top two spots on the podium by a return of Red Bull's '09 bête noire: engine reliability, or the lack thereof. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) was dominant from the first, his RB6 starting from the pole position and pulling away from the car running second, Fernando Alonso's Ferrari, until something went suddenly awry with his engine; Vettel was helpless as he was passed by first Alonso, then the other Ferrari of Felipe Massa, and then the McLaren of Lewis Hamilton. Given the wounded condition of his car, it is actually quite impressive that Vettel was able to fend off those Kraut bastards from Mercedes, Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher (who finished fifth and sixth), and limp home to fourth place. I will never understand why Red Bull stays with Renault engines after the tendency of those engines to fail catastrophically was a major reason why Vettel didn't win the World Drivers' Championship last year. Bog forbid Red Bull should choose Mercedes power, but what about Ferrari engines? Ferrari powers the Red Bull "B team," Toro Rosso. Alas. I don't begrudge Ferrari their victory, the F10 is an impressive car, but you hate to see a race decided by the failure of a spark plug. (I know, I know, kingdoms have been lost for want of a nail.)

So, with the hopes of an American team competing in Formula One gone up in smoke, where do my loyalties lie? I should dearly love to cheer for McLaren, but cannot so long as they are powered by Mercedes engines (the team is officially called Vodaphone McLaren Mercedes, though now that the Huns have their own team in Mercedes G.P., last year's Brawn G.P., they are to divest themselves of McLaren over the next few seasons, though that doesn't necessarily mean McLaren will cease using Mercedes power). I admire Ferrari, there is no F1 without Ferrari, but am unprepared to join the ranks of the tifosi. My top three teams, though I am uncertain of the proper order of the second and third (engine in parentheses):

Red Bull (Renault) - Sebastian Vettel & Mark Webber
Lotus (Cosworth) - Heikki Kovalainen & Jarno Trulli
Williams (Cosworth) - Rubens Barrichello & Nico Hulkenberg

It's going to be another great year in Formula One, folks! Catch the second race of the year, the Australian Grand Prix, in less than a fortnight, televised in American only on Speed. Formula fun!

Coming this weekend: the opening round of the American Le Mans Series, the 12 Hours of Sebring, your first chance to get a look at the Peugeots and Audis that will contest the legendary 24 Heures du Mans in June. "By endurance we conquer."

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
The Aquabats!, "Tiny Pants!" from The Aquabats! vs. The Floating Eye of Death! and Other Amazing Adventures, Vol. 1 (Captain Thumbs-Up)

Yesterday was one of those days when you rue having ever emerged from bed. The cherry on top? The house's wireless internet chose the exact moment I sat down at my HAL to blog to cease functioning.

The Rebel Black Dot Songs of the Day
Montag, 15 März
Fountains of Wayne, "Better Things" courtesy ***VERBOTEN*** (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: "I hope tomorrow you'll find better things."

Sonntag, 14 März
The Wombats, "Here Comes the Anxiety" from A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary:

"Why'd you have to wear skirts and heels like that?
She's blinding anyway, but now she's floodlighting up the mat."

Samstag, 13 März
David Bowie & Queen, "Under Pressure" via iTunes (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: "This is our last dance."

The Rebel Black Dot Songs of the Day
Freitag, 12 März
Less Than Jake, "Overrated (Everything Is)" from In with the Out Crowd (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: "How can I be satisfied when everything is overrated?"

Donnerstag, 11 März
The Romantics, "What I Like About You" via iTunes (T.L.A.M.)

Happy (Belated) Birthday!
Happy birthday to my father, two days late! My problems with my father are legion, but first, last, and always he is my father. And my father is now sixty years old, old beyond any reasonable objection. Let's hear a few thoughts from Dr. Tolian Soran, the insufficient villain of Star Trek Generations: "[Time]'s like a predator; it's stalking you. Oh, you can try and outrun it with doctors, medicines, new technologies, but in the end time is going to hunt you down… and make the kill." Happy birthday, Dad!

The Rebel Black Dot Songs of the Day
Johnny Socko, "Hasselhoff" from Full Trucker Effect (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: "Seemin' more like David Hasselhoff everyday!"

Dienstag, 9 März
Paul Simon, "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" via iTunes (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: A song I sang at karaoke the weekend before last, and which I had not heard in years, though it was always warmly regarded.

Montag, 9 März
They Might Be Giants, "Older" from Mink Car (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: In commemoration of my father's sixtieth birthday.

"You're older than you've ever been
And now you're even older,
And now you're even older,
And now you're even older.
You're older than you've ever been,
And now you're even older,
And now you're older still."

And it's always true.

Operation ÖSTERREICH
While a rock show should almost always be cataloged under Project MERCATOR, I had to go to Friday, February 26's Loose Ties show by my lonesome. The Impossible Ingenue was granted her spring break wish of being allowed to go visit family in rural Indiana, ferried to the Hoosier State by her cousin-cum-sister the Drama Queen. The Cowgirl spent the evening at home with her son (no complaint on my part there, her adorable little boy's case was far stronger than mine). Frankenstein's Monster cited foul weather and worsening road conditions as excuses, though foul weather and worsening road conditions hardly stopped him from so spectacularly flummoxing up New Year's Eve with his puerile dramatics; so, to blazes with him. The Most Dangerous Game is a whirling dervish of frenetic energy until she suddenly and completely crashes; that night, she crashed and was in no way up to coming out. Ska Army was there, but of course he's one of The Loose Ties.

So, I went to the show alone, though the blow was softened when my somewhat tardy arrival was greeted by a collective cheer from The Loose Ties, "Superfan!," reflecting the status with which I was honored after the previous weekend's show at Churchill's. And I did encounter at Woobie's a lad we'll call Hats McGee, for his habitual pairing of those atrocious modern trilbys, the patterned ones, with T-shirts and shorts. Hats is a member of the Econ Club, though not really a member of my Econ Club-centered social circle; he is, however, quite a fan of live music (though his own taste is highly suspect) and an enthusiastic skanker. Because of my abandonment by my faithless friends, I decided early on, as I skanked my way to exhaustion, that I could not really blog about the show as part of Project MERCATOR; due to the exercise I was getting, I could reasonably count the evening toward Operation ÖSTERREICH.

Project MERCATOR
But perhaps I arrived at that judgment a shade too quickly. As mentioned above and at the time, I was invested with the title of "Superfan" by The Loose Ties after their show on Friday, 19 February; when I belatedly walked through the back door to Woobie's Bar & Nightlife one week later, the band greeted me as if I were Norm Peterson entering Cheers (or Morn entering Quark's). Between sets, I chatted not only with Ska Army and Hats McGee, but with Jameson the Bass Player and Matt the Drummer, at their instigation. Now perhaps it's just something wrong with me, but I'm always slightly uncomfortable when interacting with The Loose Ties. The ongoing transition from fan to pal has been slow and cautious and I've watched closely for any sign that I'm the annoying fan the band secretly hates and detected nothing; so, I suspect this lingering ill-ease is a trap of the dark bastard's device, one that now spotted can be readily sidestepped.

In the midst of the third set, as Hats McGee and I skanked away, I suddenly became aware of the presence of Lord Luck, lord high muckamuck and my old manager from my days as a minion at the comic book store. I'd seen him and his party enter, but somewhere between my eyes and my brain the significance of what I was seeing became lost. But he and the pair of girls with him slipped past my skanking hulk to access the short end of the bar and I performed a literal double take. My face lit up upon recognizing him, and he, too, seemed pleased to see me. I was introduced to his girl, Amy, and we three engaged in a lively discourse for a few minutes before I excused myself to turn back to the band and resume skanking.

Just a song or two later, The Loose Ties played (for the second time that evening as they were running long on time and short on songs) their romantic reggae ballad, "Where's the Girl?", and I was inspired suddenly to play social director. I leapt over to Lord Luck & Amy and said to him, "If you're going to dance with her, this is the one." Without a moment's hesitation, and that is what's great about Lord Luck, he slid off his heavy leather jacket and began dancing with his girl. I turned to an attractive couple who had been sitting, nodding their heads to the music all evening, and pointed two fingers at them. After only a moment, they rose from their table and made their way to the dance floor, such as it was. Two couples slow danced where before three single chaps had skanked (Hats McGee; the brother of one of The Loose Ties, who had been the drummer of their previous, largely overlapping band Another Misprint; and yours truly). But why stop there? I mentioned that Lord Luck had with him a pair of girls, his gal Amy and her sister, who I came to learn is named Stephanie. I strode over to Stephanie and offered her my hand. She gave me a brief, quizzical look, then set down her coat, took hold of my offered left hand, and accepted my right hand as it settled upon her waist. We danced for the remainder of "Where's the Girl?" and she mentioned that she'd seen me skanking, but had failed at her one attempt to learn the moves from Lord Luck. When the faster music resumed, I took both her hands in mine and we stood facing each other. Then we started kicking out our legs to the rhythm, both our right legs then both our lefts. It wasn't quite skanking, but it was only just short of the mark.

When The Loose Ties were finished, having no other obligations, I elected for the first time not to leave Woobie's right away, but to stay and have a drink.

Project PANDORA
I was carded when I ordered a Woodchuck earlier in the evening, but by the end of The Loose Ties' set, I was able to order a gin & tonic from a different bartender (who looked like he was sixteen) without producing identification. Andre the Saxophonist boggled at my choice of drink and I offered my favorite facetious explanation, "You need the gin to cut the bitterness of the tonic water, and the tonic water to cut the bitterness of the gin."

We were discussing the vagaries of bar I.D.ing practices when the bartender returned with my G&T and chimed in, "Yeah, ordering a drink like this kind of proves that I don't need to check your I.D." I then offered that this might be a perfect plan for seventeen year olds who wished to imbibe. I soon found myself next to and engrossed in conversation with Ska Army when an idea began to form in my head. 'Twas a bold plan of action, too bold by far for the Mike of days gone by, but after only a few moments of deliberation I put it into effect and excused myself from Ska Army's company.

I found Lord Luck & Amy at the pool table and put my questions to him with only minimal preamble. The aforementioned Stephanie had no boyfriend, no obvious obstacle to my asking her out save her residence in Ann Arbor. No problem, I love Ann Arbor! I know this was quick, damned quick, but even before learning that she lived in A² I was resolved to ask her out that very evening. Yes, we had shared only one casual dance and I could not say that I really knew anything about her, but we'd made each other laugh and she was cute and I simply could not count on this chance ever again presenting itself. I have lost years of my life—years!—pining away for girls, being too afraid of rejection to act, getting to know them over a periods of months and psyching myself out from ever asking them to accompany me for an evening out on the town. That's no way to live. I won't be cowed any longer. I'd rather roll the dice, even an a stupid, reckless toss with no real chance of success. In the immortal words of Admiral Farragut, "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!"

So, I sidled over to the table where Stephanie sat with her friends (the move to Ann Arbor turned out to be recent) and set myself down in an empty seat next to her. After a short conversation about the then-underway Olympics (Woobie's had several of its wall-mounted televisions tuned to coverage of the Games, and one and all had cheered in vain for Slovakia to triumph over Canada in men's hockey, thereby keeping our neighbors to the north out of the gold medal game), I made my radical proposal: I would give her my mobile telephone number and on a night of her choosing I would drive down to Ann Arbor and we would have dinner together. She asked if I liked vegetarian cuisine and I replied that I'd love to try vegetarian. She evaded with a rather lame, "I'm not really dating right now," but I was already satisfied with how events had unfolded. I'd been charming, I'd been bold (yes, arguably too bold), and if she wanted to pass up the splendid opportunity being presented to her, well, that was her loss, nothing to do with me. I told her to call me anyway, should it strike her fancy, that regardless of anything else we'd have a nice meal and lovely night out.

In the week and a half since she has not called, but really and truly aside from composing this past I have not thought about her; so, I am unperturbed. (For those who are curious, nothing substantial could ever have existed between us in any event. Not only did she allude to being a vegetarian, but during the Olympic discussion she explicitly stated her admiration for the nefarious Apolo Ohno; entirely separate for my disdain for the "Olympic Movement," I despise Ohno as a showboat and, worse, a cheater. It is an embarrassment that that scoundrel has been allowed to represent this great country not once, not twice, but thrice at the Winter Games, and I could never harbor any significant affection for someone who so idolized him.) She hasn't called, but that's out of my hands. I acted decisively, a significant victory for Project PANDORA given my sorry history of hesitation and paralysis.

Proud Europa
The Swiss are still crazy, but all hope is not yet lost: animallink.

The Rebel Black Dot Songs of the Day
The Blues Brothers, "She Caught the Katy" from The Blues Brothers Original Soundtrack Recording (T.L.A.M.)

Samstag, 6 März
Less Than Jake, "Conviction Notice" from GNV FLA (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: Yesterday, as I stood in the corridor awaiting my turn to compete in the Impromptu speaking finals at the Michigan Intercollegiate Speech League (M.I.S.L.) State Championships, "Conviction Notice" came to mind, discernibly apropos of nothing, and I paced up and down the hallway singing quietly:

"Money can't buy happiness, but it sure can pay the rent!"

I desired to work those words into my speech, which, as the name Impromptu suggests, is devised "on the spot," but could find no opening. Instead, I delivered by my own estimation a highly satisfactory speech and, in only my third weekend in competition against seasoned forensics speakers with years of training and experience under their belts, was adjudged the third best Impromptu speaker in the State of Michigan. Woot!

Freitag, 5 März
The University of Michigan Marching Band, "Temptation" from Hurrah for the Yellow and Blue (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: And because "you can't have one without the other…"

The University of Michigan Marching Band, "Hawaiian War Chant" from Hurrah for the Yellow and Blue (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary (cont'd): Go Blue!

The Queue
Note that the title of the fifth Bond novel is From Russia, with Love while the title of the second Bond film is From Russia with Love. The Secret Base codename of my old college pal Olga is, after the film, From Russia with Love. Is there a connection between my fondness for the film From Russia with Love, my warm memories of From Russia with Love, and my favorite sushi roll at Sagano also being named From Russia with Love? Yes, yes there is.

Recently
Marshall Jevons, The Fatal Equilibrium
P. G. Wodehouse, Mike at Wrykyn
Ian Fleming, Casino Royale

Currently
Ian Fleming, Live and Let Die

Presently
Ian Fleming, Moonraker
Ian Fleming, Diamonds Are Forever
Ian Fleming, From Russia, with Love

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
The Eyeliners, "The Promise" from No Apologies (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: An atypical little song in which it is the distaff half of a male/female friendship who wants to be something other than just friends.

"But if you wait around a while
I'll make you fall for me,
I promise, I promise you I will."

The following, and more, was part of a massive post I intended to publish last night, but just as I was getting into the rhythm of the work the wireless internet here at the house ceased normal operation. I had been in the middle of a pair of I.M. chats, one with bearing on Project PANDORA. As the outage persisted, my level of frustration rose, blunting any notion of working on my post offline and storing it until publication became possible. By Lucifer's beard!

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
Mittwoch, 3 März
The Littlest Man Band, "It's You" from Better Book Ends (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary:

"Take a breath and let it out,
If you want go ahead and shout,
'Cause today you've opened up your eyes.
Look around, what do ya see?
It's what you've always wanted to be;
So, get ready for the best surprise.

And this is only gonna get better.
Victory never tasted so sweet.
Now stare directly into the mirror
'Cause there's someone I'd like you to meet,
And it's you.

I know he looks a lot like you,
He even talks the way you do,
But there's something in his face
That you've never seen before.
Faith and hope give a glow
To let everybody know
That he's gonna rock their asses
Down to the floor.

And this is only gonna get better.
Victory never tasted so sweet.
Now stare directly into the mirror
'Cause there's someone I'd like you to meet,
And it's you.

It's you.
It's you.
It's youuuuuuu (and various whoa-whoas)."

The Banzai Beard Bonanza II: Bonsai's Revenge
Day 67: Not much has changed since yesterday.

Day 66: Same day service from my dad, he snapped the photographs below this afternoon and within hours—hours!—they were sitting in my emailbox. Sign of an impending apocalypse? No, I rather think the time he's been spending with the kitty is softening him (and more on that later).















Remember, kids, we've got two more solid months until the beard faces the axe, heralding the start of the Massive Moustache Mistake!

The Queue
I spent the afternoon & early evening finishing Casino Royale in a marathon session. Man alive, what a page-turner! Of all the 007 novels, Casino Royale is the story with which I was already most familiar—the benefit of having seen both "Casino Royale," an adaptation for an episode of the 1950s television show Climax!, and Casino Royale, the first picture starring Daniel Craig as Bond—but even so Fleming's writing fairly leapt off the page. And, holy smoke, Fleming's James Bond is a human person (I love it whenever they say that on Psych), not the demigod I grew up watching on the silver screen.

There's so much more that needs to be said about Casino Royale, but I need to take a little time to ruminate, to let sink in all I read, to let my thoughts take shape. Plus, and let's be frank, I'm not feeling at all an able communicator at the moment, I command none of my required eloquence and wit. But I can say this, I already know that Casino Royale is going to have a discernible influence on Project PANDORA going forward.

The Impossible Ingenue as Vesper Lynd?

Recently
Marshall Jevons, The Fatal Equilibrium
P. G. Wodehouse, Mike at Wrykyn
Ian Fleming, Casino Royale

Currently
waiting for…

Presently
Ian Fleming, Live and Let Die
Ian Fleming, Moonraker
Ian Fleming, Diamonds Are Forever

Go ahead and unleash the hounds, Brenda. What is it you wanted to say about your relatively recent experience reading several of the Bond novels?

What's Eating The Last Angry Man?
I relished the feast for the senses that was the gorgeous B.B.C./Discovery Channel nature documentary Planet Earth. That Planet Earth was narrated by Sigourney Weaver, an actress best known as the voice of the Planet Express Ship in the Futurama episode "Love and Rocket"? A bonus! I'd love to be excited about the forthcoming thematic sequel to Planet Earth, Life (Where are Damian Lewis and Sarah Shahi?), but for the American broadcast Sir David Attenborough was replaced as narrator by… Oprah Winfrey, whose voice is much akin to the sound of fingernails shrieking across a chalkboard. So, I shan't be watching Life, though if it is made available I may at some point rent or borrow from the library the B.B.C. version.

Watching a bit of To Kill a Mockingbird this evening prior to the start of the new episode of Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe, I saw that the broadcast of the film was being "presented" by Maya Angelou, reputed to be one of our time's premiere thinkers. Dr. Angelou said "the greatest theme" of To Kill a Mockingbird is "social responsibility." Also, "the greatest theme of the film is family. The greatest theme is love… not sentiment, but love." The greatest theme is social responsibility. The greatest theme is family. The greatest theme is love. Forgive me if I'm completely mistaken, but how can a film have three themes as its singular greatest theme? Is not the entire idea of "the greatest" anything to stand alone, apart from all else? Is that not the operational definition of "the greatest"? To Kill a Mockingbird is a phenomenal novel, and To Kill a Mockingbird is a phenomenal motion picture. Must we celebrate them by butchering the English language? Whatever respect I might have had for Maya Angelou was washed away once she became a public proponent of ignorance and idiocy. For shame!

The Banzai Beard Bonanza II: Bonsai's Revenge
Day 65: I apologize for the exceptionally long delay since the last round of photographs. I will try to have my father take a new round of snapshots tomorrow. The beard has come a long way in the more than three weeks since the last photos were posted: The L.A.W. has become… almost complimentary. At the very least, she seems to accept that she'd prejudged the beard without giving it a chance to come into its own. I expect no such softening in Mrs. Skeeter, Esq.'s or The Watergirl's attitudes.

The greatest challenge remains the propensity for moustache hairs to insinuate themselves into the eating and drinking processes. I am walking a fine line between encouraging the moustache to flourish and trimming back those hairs that overhang my lips and pose an, as it were, hazard to navigation. No one ever said the Bonanza would be easy, but, by Jove (who's always represented with a beard, mind you), it's worth the inconvenience!

"Man, I can't wait until tomorrow!"
"Why's that?"
"Because I get better looking every day."

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
Chris Cornell, "You Know My Name" (the theme song from the 2006 film Casino Royale) via iTunes (T.L.A.M.)

Happy (Belated) Birthdays!
Happy birthday to Ska Army! Belated only by a technicality, because he was born on 29 February, obviously during a leap year. As a consequence, he celebrates his birthday "the day after February 28th," which most years works out to be today, 1 March. What are the odds of not only meeting but befriending a lad who plays in, of all the preposterous things, a ska band? In this day and age? I lead a charmed life. Happy birthday, Aaron!

Happy birthday to The Cowgirl! Her birthday is 28 February; so, these well-wishes are belated, but as I was on hand yesterday to help celebrate her 21st birthday, I am confident I've done my duty as a friend. Yes, it's a little unnerving that The Cowgirl was born one year less one day after her boyfriend, Ska Army, but they're so sickeningly cute together that that coincidence is the least of our worries. Happy birthday, Vanessa!

The Rebel Black Dot Songs of the Day
Mu330, "Jason" from Crab Rangoon (The Guy, sort of)

Commentary: Swell bloke and all around lucky devil The Guy heard "Jason" on the radio—the radio!—in his adopted burg of Saint Louis, the mighty city on the mighty Mississippi. As he wrote, "My radio station is better than your radio station." Hands down, amigo, hands down.

Sonntag, 28 Februar
Fountains of Wayne, "Bright Future in Sales" from Welcome Interstate Managers (the as-yet-uncodenamed Brenda, sort of)

Commentary: "Bright Future in Sales" was the R.B.D.S.O.T.D. just a few weeks ago and I wish not to repeat songs too often, but Brenda complimented my relentless efforts to promote the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and there you go.