Poetry: "My Toaster" A work in progress

Poetry: "My Toaster" A work in progress

My toaster became self-aware

It burned my face, my hair, my easy chair.

It also burned my bread

And ignited my blankets and bed... (tbc?)

Poetry: "Don't Get Killed On Craigslist"

Poetry: "Don't Get Killed On Craigslist"

Don't get killed on Craigslist

Don't respond to ads

Where you might get ambushed

By people that are bad

Don't click on e-mails from strangers

You know it is a scam

Or it could be a virus

Which ruins computer RAM.

Poetry: "Just Give Thanks"

Poetry: "Just Give Thanks"

Just give thanks

To the New York Yanks

Whenever they do lose

When they win

It's not a sin

That is just bad news

Don't take bets

On the New York Jets

When they play the Pats

We'll beat them almost every time

On gridiron flats.

Poetry: "Broken Drier"

Poetry: "Broken Drier"

My laundromat has a broken drier.

At least the lint has not caught fire.

The drier salesman is a liar.

I'm wasting my change when times are dire.

A repairman my landlord will have to hire.

When my laundry is cleaned of mire.

The machine should die inside a pyre

[Then] a chorus of joy would be sung by a choir.

This happens so often it ought to be retired

Or, if not, [it] should be rewired

Our laundromat's drier is broken

It won't accept quarters or tokens

My clean laundry is all asoaken

At night my neighbors aren't awoken

My Goddamned drier won't dry.

To it we should say goodbye

In agony I could cry

The machine ought to be replaced or to die

Shakespeare would say of it "Fie".

I am one ticked off guy.

I put the machine thrice on high

Another drier's not nigh.

For clothing of even one ply.

All I can do is just sigh

or yell and swear to the sky.

Poetry: "Maynard G. Krebs" A work in progress

Poetry: "Maynard G. Krebs" A work in progress

I'd rather be a ne'er-do-well

Than have to go to work.

I'd much rather drink the wine

Than have to pull the cork.

Sure I'm still thankful I'm alive

But mention "work"

And like a jerk, I break out in hives.

Poetry: "Keeping Up With E-Mail"

Poetry: "Keeping Up With E-Mail"

Keeping up with e-mail

Is really quite a chore

Every time I turn around

My inbox has some more

Ninety-Nine per cent of it is

What is known as "Spam"

I ought to just delete it all

But all I say is "damn".

Poetry: "Wait Until It's After Dark" A work in progress

Poetry: "Wait Until It's After Dark"

Wait until it's after dark

Alone in the safari park

Bring some rifles to your tent

For the lions smell your scent... (tbc?)

Poetry: "Kenso Sword" A work in progress

Poetry: "Kenso Sword" A work in progress

Never sheath a Kenso sword

Until it has drawn blood.

Stand over your opponents

Writhing in the mud... (tbc?)

Poetry "Infomercials"

Poetry: "Infomercials"

Infomercials, full of lies

Inducing folks to buy, buy, buy

When your credit card bill comes

You'll want to cry, cry, cry... (tbc?)

Tribute: "R.I.P 'Iron Mike' Pusateri

Tribute: "R.I.P. 'Iron Mike' Pusateri

The same week that renowned one-time heavyweight champ 'Smokin' Joe' Frazier died of liver cancer, locally former light heavyweight contender 'Iron Mike' Pusateri, formerly of Dedham, Mass. succumbed after a long battle with non-hodgkins lymphoma with a lot less fanfare. Pusateri graduated from Dedham high with my late father and my uncle Billy. According to the internet Iron Mike was a "Protege' of Rocky Marciano", he fought professionally from "1961 to 1972", and he had a respectable record of "30" victories, "24" defeats, and "4 draws." After retiring from the ring, Mike worked a long time for the MBTA. When I was about 13 years old my younger brother and I briefly took boxing lessons from Mr. Pusateri. He was a class act, and he will be missed by many.

Poetry: "Why Is Wood Frail?"

Poetry: "Why Is Wood Frail?" A work in progress

Why is wood so frail?

It oft breaks when the wind is a gale.

Strong as bone, but weak in tone.

Trees are fragile when the wind is agile... (tbc?)

Sci-Fi Bri's Movies: "In Time"

Sci-Fi Bri's Movies: "In Time"

Dir.: Mike Niccol ("Gattaca")

Characters/Actors: Will Salas (Justin "The Social Network" Timberlake), Rachel Salas (Olivia TV's "House" Wilde), Timekeeper (Cillian "28 Days Later" Murphy), Sylvia Weis (Amanda "Jennifer's Body" Seyfried), etc.

In a dystopic future, human beings are genetically engineered to live to the ripe old age of 25, unless they have the means to extend their time on earth. In the future, the only currency is time. People work, barter, pay and steal or kill for time instead of money. How much time they have is digitally displayed on their forearm for everyone to see. People work for an increase in time, and when they make purchases, time is deducted from their display. If you have an excessive amount of time you can be targeted by robbers, thieves and ruthless time gangs, who often resort to violence or murder. Once your arm displays zero you die. Naturally, the well-off can theoretically live forever, while the poor must struggle by toil to gain time.

Will Salas (Justin Timberlake), the protagonist of this film, must beg, borrow and steal to gain enough time to live beyond his 28 years. He is wanted by the authorities for a crime he didn't commit. Not only that, but a well-off man (Matthew Bomer) gives him most of his supply of time and commits suicide soon afterward. Having all this extra time puts his life in danger from thieves and time gangs. A great quote of the movie was: "Noone should live forever if even one person has to die." The rich and powerful hoard lots of time for themselves, while forcing the poor to struggle or die. While on the run from ruthless 'Timekeepers' (future cops), Salas goes on a crime spree and manages to both avenge his mother's unnecessary death and to rebel against and bring down a system where the Haves live forever, while the Have-Nots usually die before their time. I really liked the premise of this film.

Sci-Fi Bri's Movies: "Let's Scare Jessica To Death" (1971)

Sci-Fi Bri's Movies: "Let's Scare Jessica To Death" (1971)

Characters/Actors: Jessica (Zohra Lampert), Emily (Monticlare "The Waltons" Costello), Mystery Girl (Gretchen Corbett, etc.

I recently caught this eerie movie on Turner Movie Classics. Although not particularly gory and only intermittently scary, this is one of my favorite vampire movies. Jessica, a young woman who has recently been released from a psychiatric hospital, moves with her husband and a male friend to a farm in Connecticut. While rubbing gravestones she starts to see a woman who promptly disappears. When they get to the farmhouse they find a young woman named Emily who is a squatter at the house. They invite her for dinner, and she ends up staying. Emily is the spitting image of a woman in a photograph who drowned in the 1800s, and who is rumored to roam the land as a vampire. At first the four seem to live in harmony, but after a while Jessica hears strange whispers, and notices townspeople with weird scars on their necks. Eventually, while swimming, Emily's ghost tries to drown Jessica. The scariest part of the movie was the last fifteen or twenty minutes, when Emily kills the male friend and turns her husband into a vampire. I would recommend watching this movie after dark.

Poetry: "Corporations Aren't People"

Poetry: "Corporations Aren't People" [Note: Previously posted on my Political Blog "Rage Against the Regime]

Corporations are not people

They don't have a mind

They don't deserve the tax breaks

That politicians find

Corporations are not people

They can't go to jail

When they screw the people

By what they do or fail

Corporations are not people

They don't deserve to vote

Or influence our Leaders

With millions in bank notes

Corporations have no heart

Not compassion, that is true

Their actions seldom help the many

But benefit the few.

I don't care what [Mitt] Romney thinks

For corporate policies have brought our

Nation to the brink.

Poetry: "Certain Things"

Poetry: "Certain Things" A work in progress

Certain things you can't forgive

Some folks don't deserve to live

It's not right to seek revenge,

But your rights you must defend... (tbc)

Poetry: "Breaking Bad" A work in progress

Poetry: "Breaking Bad" A work in progress [Note: I am a huge fan of the AMC tv drama series "Breaking Bad"]

Walter White had lung cancer

He thought he was to die

So he started 'cooking meth'

To get the tweakers high

He went in remission

Found he'd stay alive

But he kept on "Breaking Bad"

At least from 9 to 5... (tbc?)

Poetry: "Clowngress: The Jokes on You"

Poetry: "Clowngress: The Joke's On You" Note: This poem recently appeared on my political blog Rage Against the Regime: http://www.themidnightrambler-the iconoclast.blogspot.com/. An earlier version of the poem also may have appeared on this blog.

Clowngress, the Joke's on you

Vote for them, you know you're screwed

Count on them to overtax your pay,

While voting for their own pay raise.

All the while, they're funding wars,

Into which your money pours.

Tax Breaks for the very rich,

As you Dreams go in a ditch.

Cutting programs you may need.

If you're poor they fail to heed

Congress are a bunch of boors.

Vote them all right out the door!

Take away their unearned perks,

For they are a bunch of jerks. (tbc?)

Poetry: "Incantation' A work in progress

Poetry: "Incantation" A work in progress

Tears of Sadness

Tears of Joy

Tears of Fabric on a toy.

Whorls on fingers,

Whirls of wind

Worlds of women drinking gin.

Praying mantids

Preying priests

Demons coming

From the East... (tbc?)

Sci-Fi Bri's Movies: "Real Steel"

Sci-Fi Bri's Movies: "Real Steel"

Characters/Actors: Charlie Kenton (Hugh "X-Men" Jackman), Max Kenton (Dakota Goyo), Bailey Tallet (Evangeline Tv's "Lost" Lilly), Hope "Next Stop Wonderland" Davis, etc.

Dir.: Shawn Levy "Date Night", "Night at the Museum', etc.

Charlie Kenton, a one-time pugilistic contender turned ne'er-do-well once human prizefighting becomes obsolete, barely makes a living in the underground world of robotic fighting. A lot of money changes hands between those who wager on the result of multi-ton automatons beating each other like human boxers once did. After a while, Kenton finds out that a former lover has died, and he is due in court for a custody hearing of his abandoned son. Instead of fighting for custody of his child, he leverages his abandoned son to manipulate the boy's future adopted father to get a large amount of money to purchase a fighting [ro]'bot' to try to pay off some of his debts. He gladly gives up custody of his son, but reluctantly allows the boy to tag along with him for the summer. The father and son bond over an underdog sparring robot the boy names Atom, who with the help of the father's boxing skills; has the chance to become a champion fighting robot against much bigger and more advanced machines. Boxing fans, sci-fi fans, sports fanatics, video gamers and anyone who has ever played rock 'em sock 'em robots will likely really enjoy this film, but it is hard to get emotionally invested in a fighting automaton compared to a human fighter. Dakota Goyo as Charlie Kenton's son Max holds his own with Hugh Jackman. Also, Kevin Durand plays a memorable villain in the film, a former fighter who once beat Kenton in the ring and now pursues him to try to extort money that Charlie owes him. I enjoyed this film.

Poetry: " Atrophied" A work in progress

Poetry: "Atrophied" A work in progress

My Social Skills have atrophied

From lack of use.

I avoid certain people

Due to their verbal abuse.

If my tv were a female

She I would seduce.

Perhaps my time in front of 'her'

I really should reduce. (tbc?)

Poetry: "No Income, No Job, No Assets (NINJA)

Poetry: "No Income, No Job, No Assets (NINJA) A work in progress

There's another kind of NINJA

That doesn't have a dime

So desperate for money

(S)He might just turn to crime.

There's another kind of NINJA

Who cannot pay their bills

When the taxman cometh

They head right for the hills.

There's another kind of NINJA

Who doesn't own a sword

If you ask them to repay you

They take off in a friend's Ford.

We're all a bunch of NINJAs

We can't afford a home

Our politicians fiddle

While our way of life it burns. (tbc?)