An idea, & indeed much of the story, for a movie sprang into my mind as I read this article: riotlink. (A motion picture instead of a book because of the magnificent visual potential.)

Operation ÖSTERREICH
I've been going to the gym with Nick Andopolis this last week, & I am conflicted. He's an excellent fellow, supremely friendly & a straight-shooter, & I enjoy our grumbling, supportive banter. Yet, I'm me: there is a significant faction within me that would really rather be flying solo. This faction has been ignored, though, because coordinating gym times with Nick Andopolis makes it impossible for me to weasel out of going; so, for the nonce fellowship & ruthlessness are conspiring to trump my unsociable instincts. Only the dietary half of Operation ÖSTERREICH today, no exercise: a day of fasting & abstinence isn't the best time to be pushing my elephantine bulk to its limits. The Rec. Center is closed on Easter; so, Saturday draws the short straw.

I'm going to have to stop drinking pop if I want to lose eleven stone, aren't I? Scheiße! Would such a lifestyle even be worth living?

Objective SCHWEDEN
Four months until I "run" the Crim for the second time. Viewed another way, eight months have passed since I "ran" the Crim for the first time, thus completing Objective FINNLAND. (I haven't yet decided if the '12 Crim will be Objective NORWEGEN or Objective DÄNEMARK. Probably NORWEGEN in '12 & DÄNEMARK in '13.)

Urbi et Orbi
I wept on Sunday during the Passion play, I wept today during the old Negro spiritual "Were You There." Signs of devotion, or have I become a basket case and/or pansy? I earned a plenary indulgence by exercising the Stations of the Cross today, but I'm pretty sure I never successfully completed the vague, squishy penance Father Steve assigned me the last time I gave confession; so, apply the indulgence to that penance & it's a wash. (Father Tim's penances were explicit: x number of "Hail Marys" & "Our Fathers.") Side note: I really should partake in the Sacrament of Reconciliation far more regularly.

Project GLOWWORM
The last week has been unseasonably cold & gloomy, which I have enjoyed very much, but it has also been persistently rainy & windy, which I have enjoyed much less. I have found that my fedora is magnificent protection against the rain, with the caveat that the broad brim which so effectively thwarts the rain is particularly vulnerable to the wind. Once, back in February or March, the fedora was blown off my head; that hasn't happened during the last week, but more than once I've put a gloved hand atop the fedora's crown to make sure it stayed put. Yesterday was cold, but so sunny that the mind thought the temperature was higher than the wind-chilled skin insisted; befitting the lightness of the day, I eschewed my heavy-duty felt fedora for the linen trilby I intend to wear until it becomes truly hot enough for this year's straw trilby. I hope to have hat & spectacle snapshots taken this weekend, swiftly developed, & posted to the FaceSpace by next weekend.

In the continuing search for the proper maintenance length, I've let my beard grow for a few weeks longer than I normally & discovered that I desperately need a trim. The case may simply be the same as with my head hair: I have to cut the beard slightly shorter than I'd like & wait a week or more before it looks its best. I'm off to trim it now.

Addendum: "Success! Success! They've done it! They've done it!"

The Rebel Black Dot Songs of the Day: SKApril
Five Iron Frenzy, "Far Far Away" from Five Iron Frenzy 2: Electric Boogaloo (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: There isn't a great deal of popular music dealing with Easter, much less Good Friday specifically, & ska proves no exception to this dearth. How best, then, to mark the holiest day of the year, the day upon which the wages of sin were paid in full by the Christ? Why, with Five Iron Frenzy, one of only two explicitly Christian ska bands in my collection, of course! (The other is the awfully-named The Insyderz.) "Far Far Away" makes specific mention of Saint Peter & Saint Paul & Judas the betrayer.

Donnerstag, 21 April
Edna's Goldfish, "Veronica Sawyer" from The Elements of Transition (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: The curious case of "Veronica Sawyer": The Reel Big Fish covered Edna's Goldfish's most famous song on R.B.F.'s album of covers, Fame, Fortune, and Fornication. R.B.F. are noted for their excellent covers of 1980s standards such as "Take on Me" & "Kiss Me Deadly," songs they improved immensely. The same does not hold true with their version of today's R.B.D.S.O.T.D. There's nothing per se wrong with R.B.F.'s "Veronica Sawyer," but neither is there anything particularly right. It's a ska song… played as a ska song. I've always thought it a curious choice. Maybe it's a lament for the too-brief careers of Edna's Goldfish, a tip o' the hat, as it were? Edna's Goldfish might have been broken up by the time I became aware of their music, sometime around the turn o' the millennium. If they weren't already kaput by then, they were soon after. Some of Edna's erstwhile Goldfish formed a band—What would I call that genre of music? Indie rock? What in blazes does that even mean?—a non-ska band called The Reunion Show, but it wasn't as much fun as Edna's Goldfish. Why? (Come on, folks, this is SKApril, surely you can guess the answer.) Because nothing else is as much fun as ska!