Author's Note: This is not a happy story. It does not end well. In spite of all this, however, it is a love story. 





This is perhaps the greatest and most important mystery of them all. You must not try to solve it. But by thinking on it, you may come a little closer to something beautiful, and true. 



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Paddy the bear sat slumped on the corner shelf under a press of thin, hard-cover books; which leaned against his back and…

Want to rub me the wrong way? Call me buddy.

I could never figure out why guys use that term so loosely: at best it is unnecessary, at its worst it smacks of insincerity (I need something from you, so you are my new best friend).

For me it hits a bruise, for anyone knowing me well enough to call me buddy in the true sense would know that I have no buddies, in the classic male sense.

I've looked up the definition and it does say someone considered a friend or…

Great story-telling hinges on irony and the unexpected. Great tragedy has as its protagonist a man in a position just a bit better than average - a bit more money, a bit more virtuous, etc. He's like us, so we identify him. He makes a mistake we could all make, but it has huge unintended bad consequences, and we feel for him.

We don't have an excellent analysis of comedy because a heretical Benedictine ate it, but it also hinges on irony and the unexpected. Reading the comedies that…

So I watched the movie Gran Torino over the weekend. It was my second time and since them I've strove to look for examples of Manliness everywhere. Here are my impressions of examples of Manliness from Walt Kowalski.

Self-Reliance.

Walt Kowalski rearly ever asks for help. He strives to go all he can on his own. He is a capible handy man. Able to fix any normal houshold repair. Walt mows his own lawn with his push mower. He never admits to his own weakness and failing…

Summer is in full swing, and it has once again come in all-you-can-eat portions.

Work has been busy, but sane. A photoshoot took me out to completed, established work for a week and was a huge ego booster. I met clients who said almost literally "your design, your work has changed my life outside". Pictures were taken that would look right at home in Architectural Digest. 

My bosses, our crews, our company, our work kicks ass.

Socially things are not very…

I'm very aware that once the day's wardrobe is replaced with mostly non-descript gym clothes, identities are lost and wehave trouble sorting each other out because the visual cues that tell us about people's occupations, social standing, etc. are missing. I find gyms really interesting for this…

"I have always felt that although someone may defeat me, and I strike out (in a ball game), the pitcher on the particular day was the best player. But I know when I see him again, I'm going to be ready for his curve ball. Failure is a…

Opponents of the Civil War draft began three days of rioting in New York City on this day in 1863, resulting in more than 1,000 casualties.…

Democracies/Republics

• No democracy, in the history of the world, has survived more than 300 years
• The record is not much better for republics.
• All human beings are not equal.
• Majorities often error.
• Not everybody is able to judge every political question.
• Intelligent and honest men are not always popular. 
• The functional value of the ignorant and the learned are not the same.
• Majorities are not necessarily the better…

I can hardly express the extent to which I *hate* reality TV.  Even the most benign I find bafflingly pointless.  What is so entertaining about watching people living their “normal” lives just because the people are morons, have 30 kids or are 2 ft tall?  For one thing, it is simply lazy television; it is something quick and lucrative networks can slap together on the cheap because (we are told) they don’t have to hire any writers or actors (after all, both groups have unions and are thus…

Well the last week has been great (with the exception for work.) I had a great weekend with my family.  I took Hiyoshi to see Cars 2.  It was a great movie. It had lots of actin which kept him interested plus anything with a car in it and he gets mesmerized.  If you have kids I highly suggest you bring them to see it and if you don't go see it anyway you will like it.

After the movie I put down some more grass seed in an effort to make my yard better.  I was just filling in some spots…

The first Etch A Sketch went on sale on this day in 1960.

An Etch A…

The abandoned U.S. space station Skylab returned to Earth on this day in 1979. It burned up in the atmosphere and showered debris over the Indian…

This article really "hit home" for me.  I've read and learned so much from the Art of Manliness site and can relate to many of the articles big ways, but this particular article really got to me.  I had the idea of going above and beyond society's accepted capabilities for today's man, but in the "back of my mind," I always felt a bit childish, as if I was trying to become a superhero or something fictional, and my personality pulls kept telling me "that isn't real life...you can't learn…

The highest temperature ever recorded in the U.S. was 134 degrees in Death Valley, CA, on this day in 1913.…