The auteur

August 8, 2008 By Fred Clark

Imagine you are a filmmaker, an auteur who has just released a short film to the waiting public. Every image, every word was painstakingly chosen to convey a single message. This single-mindedness of theme is reflected in the tiniest details — down to the style and coloring of every letter that appears onscreen. You edit and re-edit until every second, every frame reinforces this single theme. Your finished product is seamless, relentless, forceful and uncompromising. Now imagine that after all... Read more

Many Rivers to Mars

August 8, 2008 By Fred Clark

This isn’t the way I figured it would be … “Many Rivers to Cross,” Elvis Costello & The Attractions “Many Rivers to Cross,” Harry Nilsson and John Lennon “Many Rivers to Cross,” Jimmy Cliff “Maps and Legends,” R.E.M. “Maralinga,” Midnight Oil “March of the Clouds,” Phil Keaggy “March on Down the Line,” Erasure “Marie,” Randy Newman “The Mariner’s Revenge Song,” The Decembrists “Mark’s Song,” Randy Stonehill “Mars,” Lori McKenna “Mars Needs Women,” Tonio K. Read more

Change the rules

August 6, 2008 By Fred Clark

So what we seem to have here is a no-win situation, a conflict between fundamental rights. Millions of people in America live in manufactured housing. Most of those people own their homes, but not the land underneath those homes. Those millions of people are thus in an extremely vulnerable situation. Landowners might evict these homeowners at any time, or they could raise the rent on the land so that the homeowners could not afford to stay there. When that happens,... Read more

Canada too

August 4, 2008 By Fred Clark

It seems that manufactured-home owners in Canada may be just as ill-served by their laws and governments as their U.S. counterparts. Here’s an article from British Columbia’s Ladysmith Chronicle, “Seaside residents lose arbitration“: Residents of Saltair’s Seaside Trailer Park will have to uproot by next May. Following a June 4 arbitration hearing in Victoria, Seaside residents received notice that the arbitrator ruled in favor of the new landowners. … In April, the landowners gave Seaside their one-year eviction notice and... Read more

After the flood

August 4, 2008 By Fred Clark

Yep, we’re back. Sea Isle City, N.J., was lovely. The weather was just about perfect the whole time we were there. Except for one day. That one day — Sunday, the 27th — was a doozy. Severe thunderstorms, hail the size of dimes and about two inches of rain in a single afternoon. That rain fell at high tide, so the water had no where to go, flooding streets higher than the wheels of parked cars. But despite that little... Read more

On the line

July 23, 2008 By Fred Clark

American Public Radio’s Media’s “Marketplace” yesterday featured a report on the unglamorous but eminently sensible technological apparatus known as the clothesline. You can read a transcript of the report at this link — “Clotheslines: Energy saver or eyesore?” — but you really owe it to yourself to click on the “listen to this story” link to hear for yourself the voice of the appalling Ceil Bell, a board member of a Timonium, Md., “homeowners’ association” that prohibits clotheslines. “Clothes drying... Read more

FICO, FICO un day

July 20, 2008 By Fred Clark

The Associated Press apparently frowns on bloggers linking to AP news articles and quoting the first paragraph in its entirety. I’m about to do just that. It’s unavoidable in this instance, since my whole point in linking to this AP story by Christopher S. Rugaber is to note that it’s inaccurate, insulting and full of misplaced condescension, beginning with the very first paragraph: Americans can save billions of dollars annually on credit card and other interest payments by raising their... Read more

L.B.: Pistol-packing pacifist

July 18, 2008 By Fred Clark

Left Behind, pg. 456 We left off here: Carpathia raised the .38, cocked it, and stuck the barrel into Stonagal’s right ear. The older man at first jerked away, but Carpathia said, “Move again and you are dead.” We’ve discussed how disappointing it is that the Antichrist’s first on-screen kill should involve something as mundane as a handgun. I was hoping for something creepier, something a bit more supernatural or cinematic. A second disappointment here involves the death of my... Read more

Kalhoun, Ky.

July 18, 2008 By Fred Clark

Don’t know exactly what it meansIt’s just a sacred kind of thing … “Kalhoun,” Daniel Amos “Kamp Krusty medley,” Krusty, Gene Merlino “Kamphopo,” Esau Mwamwaya “Kare Kare,” Crowded House “Karma Police,” Radiohead “Kathy’s Song,” Simon & Garfunkel “Keep Me in Your Heart,” Warren Zevon “Keep Me Runnin’,” Randy Stonehill “Keep Out the Chill,” Vigilantes of Love “Kentucky Avenue,” Tom Waits Read more

It knots you

July 16, 2008 By Fred Clark

Reporter Jonathan Starkey finds a fresh angle for the high gas prices story: “Even Amish fret about high fuel costs.” It may be hard to imagine that the Amish, known best for their horse-drawn buggies, are as susceptible to the sting of rising oil prices as people who rely on gas for everyday transportation. But for those who milk cows, build cabinets or saw timber for a living, the pinch is real. Pressure from fuel prices even reaches into Amish... Read more