Riley's Farm Journal June 20-29, 2009

Riley's Farm Feed Summary June 20-29, 2009

 

The Timeless Standard

Why It's Difficult to Redeem the Standard in Media June 20, 2009

Your correspondent is not a big fan of the beach, (I'm more of a beatnik, lounge-loving Calvinist) but his kids dragged him down to Newport/Balboa last night for hot dogs and s'mores. The company and the conversation was good, and it was a cold night, so it didn't quite seem as much like the running of the bikini salmon as usual. I marveled to see Ruby's still out there at the end of the Balboa pier. Concept Eateries always seem to change every few years in trendy, high-rent spots and there was the same Ruby's I remember on college trips down to Balboa--clean, polished, stainless steel with homage to swing era Coca Cola advertising. Some of our extended circle of home-schoolers even did a little impromptu swing dancing next to the machine-age appointments, and I took it as proof of my contention that if you adapt some sort of classic standard, family pictures will save you from being memorialized in baggy, prison-inspired beach gear.

My friend, Mike Lewis and I discussed the goal of starting a kind of film academy and center..read more.

Making a Day of it on the Farm (Video)

June 22, 2009

A Restaurant Commercial (Video)

Based on a John Adams Story June 24, 2009

They Just Aren't Man Enough to Say It...

The Anti-Human Agenda of Cap & Trade June 25, 2009

I've written about this before, but the zero population, anti-human, "global village" band of policy freaks know they will never be able to sell what Earth Day baby-hater Paul Ehrlich once tried to pitch when he wrote:

"(We need) compulsory birth regulation... (through) the addition of temporary sterilants to water supplies or staple food. Doses of the antidote would be carefully rationed by the government to produce the desired family size."

Only a tenured half-wit, or an S.S. field marshal could write that sort of thing. In practice, the way to keep people from read more

Patriots and Parishioners

June 29, 2009

We had a full public house on Saturday with the Pasadena Patriots and our larger than normal read more.

 

 

 

Riley's Farm Journal June 14-19, 2009

Stupid I-Phone Tricks - June 14, 2009

We attended a home school high school graduation last night, and two different celebration parties afterwards. Mary volunteered to pick up a cake for one of the graduation moms and the Iphone GPS pointed us to a non-existent Sam's Club on Perris Blvd, a full 8 miles from its actual location. Borrowing the language of "Galaxy Quest," I kept doggedly advising Mary to allow the "little blue thingy" (indicating our position) to overtake "the little red thingy" (the non-existent Sam's Club). We bowed to this new technology right until...read more.

Pinning Hope on Beasts - June 15, 2009

It might work at birthday parties, but in real life, you would never pin a tail on a donkey, and you certainly wouldn't do it blindfolded. I've watched enough election cycles to know that is exactly what we do as voters. We pin our hopes on a candidate, or, even worse, a party, and we usually get kicked in the teeth. It doesn't matter if..read more...

Shaping Fate - June 16, 2009

One way of remembering the weddings of your life is to chronicle the roles you've played at them: guest, ring-bearer, usher, videographer, present-boy. All of those parts, even that of a guest, has a kind of peril attached to it. People want weddings to go just right, and what if you are the guy whose cell phone blares "La Bamba" right at the "husband and wife" moment? What if you stretch your legs at the wrong.. read more.

Heah, kids, gather 'round the set!

It's time for another episode of..

Customer Service in the

Post Christian World - June 17, 2009

I'm not in the habit of giving consumer financial tips, because I don't know what I'm talking about, but I will extend this advice with respect to dining out and credit cards: if the waiter makes a fishy mistake, have him void the ticket and give you a receipt for the void, then sign the corrected ticket. The other night, at a high concept restaurant called The Inquisition (not really), the waiter handed me a sub-total..read more.

Flat Out Gorgeous This Morning ..AND..

Four Riley's Farm Web Scripts - June 19, 2009

The farm is beyond beautiful this morning--a whole leafy-green salad field of strawberries out there, climbing red roses everywhere, grapes fattening up. You just have to see it... read more.