Victor D. Infante's Blog, page 198

Blogger Bait ...

Nicole, Worcester seems to have caught the blogger bait poll I put in the newest "Weekend Starts Now."

Simple poll: What's your favorite Worcester blog? The contenders are WormtownTaxi, Nicole, Worcester, Worcesterite (and yes, I know about the typo), Dark Matter and Wormtown Punk.

Obviously, I omitted this blog on purpose, along with the crazy person I'm not fond of, and any number of other personal blogs I read, including the excellent Outpatient Clinic. I do regret leaving off Pie & Coffee,...

Odds and Ends

I am well aware that most of the readers of this blog are not soccer fans, and only slightly more are basketball fans. Unfortunately, this will not dissuade me from talking sports, so many apologies.

As the United Kingdom reels from its ignoble tie against the United States, Group C at the World Cup is beginning to look a bit like Clown College. What else is one to think when Slovenia, of all countries, is leading the Group? And of course, that's who the United States needs to beat to move...

Things That Are Making Me Happy on Television ...

It might seem odd to say, but I much prefer mid-season programming to the regular season. That's where you get the shows that are a little quirkier, that have more personality. And of course, there's nothing that says quirky-with-personality more than True Blood, in all its trashy glory. I had a smile on my face the whole season premiere tonight. The whole thing just clicked right into place: Sookie & Bill were Sookie & Bil, as always the case presenting a straight backdrop to the wonderful s...

Draw ...

Damn. I was kind-of hoping for a USA upset. Still, we usually lose outright to the UK, so there's that ...

For those Americans who want to root for the USA team but are still learning how to follow this, here's what you want to happen next:

*A draw in the upcoming Slovenia-Algeria match.
*A loss for the UK against Algeria in the following matchup
*And of course, a US win against Slovenia, which will be hard.

But of course, there is one image which will forever immortalize this game:



Go Dempsey! On ...

Writing long ...

I have, in the past week-odd, put what I think are the finishing touches on my short story "Baby Detonate For Me," and  my poem "Boys' Own Stories." The first is a more-than 25,000-word take on the witch archetype, the latter is a seven-page long poem digging into Arthurian mythos and the Western literary canon. Neither are my usual thing -- both are longer than I normally write, and they're both laden with gender issues, which have never been my strongest subject. But obviously, there was so...

"Work of Art"

Not a whole lot of time to blog today -- busy, busy, busy -- but I wanted to take a second to talk a bit about the new Bravo reality TV show, "Work of Art." It's basically "Top Chef" or "Project Runway," with visual artists. Better still, they''re all in different mediums.

I approached the show suspiciously, but I found myself rather fond of it. But after reading NYC gallery owner and art-world blogger Edward Winkleman's comments, I felt I had to weigh in a bit.

Writes Winkleman:

"The...

"Work of art"

Not a whole lot of time to blog today -- busy, busy, busy -- but I wanted to take a second to talk a bit about the new Bravo reality TV show, "Work of art." It's basically "Top Chef" or "Project Runway," with visual artists. Better still, they''re all in different mediums.

I approached the show suspiciously, but I found myself rather fond of it. But after reading NYC gallery owner and art-world blogger Edward Winkleman's comments, I felt I had to weigh in a bit.

Writes Winkleman:

"The...

Blogging Worcester Media

Is that love in the air? The dawning of the age of Aquarius? The Obama effect finally settling in? Whatever it is, it seems everyone in Worcester is being nice to each other, and if we don't put a stop to it immediately, we soon won't have anything to write about!

I kid ..l I kid ... it was pretty nice meeting Jeff Bernard, actually, when he stopped by the newspaper to be interviewed by Dianne Williamson. Jeff was met with a sort of jovial curiousity -- he's much read in the office, even if h...

Morning Internet

A quick look at goings-on around the culture, both near and far ....
The Onion takes a look at drastic measures at the Boston Globe:

Boston Globe Tailors Print Edition For Three Remaining Subscribers
Andrew Sullivan takes on a subject I've touched on a few times myself, "Counter-Culture As the Engine of Capitalism." Quotes Sullivan, "In the 1960s, it took months before someone figured out they could sell tie-dyed shirts and bell bottoms to anyone who wanted to rebel. In the 1990s, it took weeks...

Inner Sports Fan ...

There are only a few times a year when sports catch my attention, and those are usually benign and easily socially acceptable. Being a Red Sox fan in New England? You might as well be telling people that you like food. "Why, yes," they reply. "I like food, too."

Being a Lakers fan in New England? When they're in the finals against the Celtics? I might as well be wearing a "swear at me, please" sign.

To make it worse, my absolute worst sports addiction, the World Cup, is quickly approaching...