Photoverio #307: The Ironworks

________________________________________________________________________________________________

© Oliverio
Alloyed Intimacy

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Photoverio #306: Vertically Under Wraps

________________________________________________________________________________________________

© Oliverio
East Ocean Bull
90802 

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Mr. Green Said: I Cussed Him, He Cussed Me ... And That's Great

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Kevin Durant and Draymond Green

Mr. Durant coigned a term
to describe such encounters
with his teammate
but this being
a family-friendly page,
we will describe
his term as
We motherpluckered each other 

For the fourth consecutive year,
their team
—The Golden State Warriors—
will meet
The Cleveland Cavaliers
for the NBA Championship
and
the Cavaliers feature
a mega-motherplucker
named
Lebron James   

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Donate Dollars For DALI ... If You're A Down-Under Victorian

________________________________________________________________________________________________

The National Gallery of Victoria 
is calling on all Victorians
to help support the acquisition
of Australia’s first and only
painting by Salvador Dalí.

The title of the painting is
Trilogy of the Desert: Mirage

© Art Daily
5/29/18

________________________________________________________________________________________________

There's Something Seriously To Be Learned From Mr. Kaepernick

________________________________________________________________________________________________

The problem with getting down

on one knee

as an act of protest

is

There is not enough of it

For example,

IF

some of the gazillion people

who fill their days

by taking selfies

protested the urge

to do so

by getting down

on one knee,

THEN

ego and vanity

wouldn't have to work so hard

AND

senseless self-centeredness

could be locked up

in the attic

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Spelling Grade = F But His Grade For Predicting the Future = A+

________________________________________________________________________________________________

In the 21st Century,

President Assad of Syria

used biochemical warfare
to kill 1,500 Syrians

BUT

the results were witnessed by

Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer

in 1894

Mark Twain
Tom Sawyer, Abroad 

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Six Quotes From Three Sources With One RIP

________________________________________________________________________________________________


1.
America's oldest communal passion,
its most subversive pleasure:
the ecstasy of sanctimony

2.
All that we don't know
is astonishing.
Even more astonishing
is what passes for knowing

Philip Roth
born: 3/19/33
died: 5/22/18

3.
The danger with hatred is,
once you start in on it,
you get one hundred times
more than 
you bargained for

4.
The secret of nobody's knowing
what was going on in your head,
thinking whatever
you wanted to think
with nobody's knowing—
that's where the power
and the pleasure
are to be found

5.
A poet and a novelist
have as much in common
as a jockey
and a diesel driver

6.
Mammary Envy:
a churning longing to be
utterly and blessedly hopeless,
to be a big breathless bag of tissue,
acted upon instead of acting,
hanging there, as a breast hangs
and is there 


________________________________________________________________________________________________
Footnotes
The first four quotes are from THE HUMAN STAIN

The fifth quote is from MY LIFE AS A MAN

The sixth quote is from  THE BREAST

To refer to Philip Roth  as an iconic American  Novelist
is like referring to the sun as a big yellow ball. 

Rest in peace, Mr. Roth
and give my everlasting love
to all the usual suspects.
________________________________________________________________________________________________

I Probably Would Have Been Jealous Of This Guy

________________________________________________________________________________________________

The photographer

featured below

was unknown to me

until my better half read

her alumni newsletter

from Pratt Institute,

yesterday

 

Paul Diamond

was a classmate

of Mrs. CarPeo

 

She remembers him

as a "teddy bear"

who may or may not

have been hitting on her

 

Be that as it moo,

these are four of nine

Diamond photographs

that have been purchased by

the Smithsonian Institute 

Paul Diamond
was also a poet
and a YouTubian

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Rebranding The Acronym POTUS In The Trumposphere

________________________________________________________________________________________________

For two-hundred twenty-seven years,

and forty-four Presidents 

—from George Washington through Barack Obama—

the acronym POTUS meant

President Of The United States

But then Donald Trump

was elected President

and this word describes

too much of what he

says and does:

!!!

Today,

POTUS means

President Obfuscating The United States

The next

GoFather/Trump

page is

here 

________________________________________________________________________________________________

STREET ART UTOPIA (#36): Four By Sam3

________________________________________________________________________________________________

a/k/a
Silhouette Sammy

To see more art by SAM3
(or Silhouette Sammy)
click
here

SAM3
is a 
wonderfully
whimsied
student
of
Aaron Douglas








The next
STREET ART UTOPIA
page is
there 
 

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Newly Discovered Lyrics From Frances Steerling

________________________________________________________________________________________________

SOMEONE ELSE WILL

Shake it if you make it

Fake it if you don't

Cuz someone else will

if you won't

Take it if you can

Fake it if you can't

Cuz someone else will

pick up the chant

Show it if you're good

Fake it if you're bad

Cuz someone else will

be good or sad

***
***

FRANCES STEERLING
(1965)

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Footnote
SOMEONE ELSE WILL
is the copyrighted property of LCSoL
and Frances Steerling

Mr. Steerling's next page is
here 

________________________________________________________________________________________________

A Threatening Michael Cohen Email From 2013

________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Onion

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Not All Autobiographies Are Created Equal

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Asking William Saroyan

to write an autobiography

is like asking Salvador Dali

to paint a bowl of cereal.

FRANCES STEERLING

William Saroyan
Here Comes, There Goes, You Know Who
An Autobiography 

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Footnotes
Another quote from this book:
"Does it matter if the river flowing to the sea
doesn't understand the fish in it?"

The next Saroyan page is
here

The next Steerling page is
there
________________________________________________________________________________________________

The 101st Bullet: The Helpful Risk

________________________________________________________________________________________________

The biggest risk
in helping people
is leading them to believe
they can rely on anyone
but themselves

________________________________________________________________________________________________

 Footnotes

THE 101st BULLET 
is the copyrighted property of  LCSoL.
 
Only the first 45 Bullets are linked together
because we do not want to make life easy
for our favorite thieves.
 _______________________________________________________________________________________________

Question + Answer ... About At Least 69% of Everything We Say

________________________________________________________________________________________________

QUESTION

Was it  Dostoevsky 
who said

The Lie is the Truth's best friend

because without the Lie,

the Truth would have no place to hide

ANSWER

No

***

But the source is identified

on the very first page of

the GodFather of Math Trilogy

The source is  just another

uncomfortably retired

alter-ego

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Footnotes

The number in the title coincides with

the birthday I celebrated yesterday. 

 

In the fourth chapter of his autobiography,

William  Saroyan wrote:

Love of Truth

has made a liar out of me

The next
GoFather/Saroyan
page is
here  

________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

When Asked If He Enjoyed Being A Target ... The Donald Said ...

________________________________________________________________________________________________

If I ever stopped being a target,

I would be a very unhappy camper

≈ DONALD TRUMP ≈

Season 3 ... Episode 5
At approximately the 1:50 mark
of this episode, Donald Trump
approximately says
those exact words

The next
GoFather/Trump
page is
 here  

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Once Again, ONION NEWS Reports On The Big Boss Man

________________________________________________________________________________________________

This essay continues
here 

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Were I On Speaking Terms w/ My Feet ... I'd Still Say This Prayer

________________________________________________________________________________________________

R. I. P.
born: 3/2/31
died: 5/14/18

Almighty God,

As we sail with pure aerobic grace

and striped orthotic feet

past the blind portals

 of our fellow citizens,

past their chuck roast lives,

their implacable inertia

...

To achieve the White Moment

of slipping through the Wall

...

Lord, we beseech thee,

as we sail past this  

cold-lard desolation,

to be big about it.

TOM WOLFE

The Jogger's Prayer 
(1978)   

________________________________________________________________________________________________

It May Be A Punishment But Consider The Alternative

________________________________________________________________________________________________

This article
is from a British tabloid
but Koku is from Russia

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Photoverio #305.5: Vertically Vined And Bleached

________________________________________________________________________________________________

© Oliverio
Palm Tree on 1st Street
(90802) 

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Photoverio #305: Perpendicular Palm

________________________________________________________________________________________________

© Oliverio
Palmistree Entwined

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Lois Lane Has Been Reunited With Superman

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Rest in Peace,

Margot Kidder

Born: October 17, 1948
Died: May 13, 2018

________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Sugar Bowl And Tony's Uke

________________________________________________________________________________________________

    
1.

I had the uke
in my mouth
and ran through
the parking lots:
Tony's and B'hack

I was anxious
to get to the Bowl:
Linda was already there


2. 
We went to confession together

yesterday at St. Anthony's.

Mother drove us there

at exactly 4PM

and made certain,

by sitting in the last pew 

of the church,

that we actually stepped

inside the confessionals

and spent the requisite time

confessing our sins.

I could easily get

my older sister to think

just like me:

Mother (and sometimes  Father)

knew all of our sins, even before 

we commit them.

Of course, we did not actually
believe this to be fact 
but imagination is truth's
dance partner.

We imagined Mother would consult 

with Father Eugene in the rectory

—delivering him a Saturday Night

home-baked creme pie—

with a checklist.

Father, did Paul confess to all of the following...

Father, did Linda  confess to all of the following...

She would deliver

the creme pie 

sometimes as late

as 10:30 but the rectory

always opened

its doors wide for

the most beautiful 

woman in Rocky Point,

despite the fact 

that she virtually never

attended Mass.

But she was always present
in the church on Saturdays,
supervising her penitent
son and daughter.

The vote to determine

the most beautiful woman

in Rocky Point was decided by

exactly two people:
Paul and Linda. 

There would have been 

a third vote but Father 

refrained because he opposed

belaboring the obvious.

And he was not made of mud 

but he sure could 

sling the slang.

He called St. Anthony's church

Tony's place where the Eucharist

was the uke.

B'hack was his name

for Bohack's Supermarket ARS
(And Record Store)

The Pasquale Pasta family,
our next-door neighbors
were delighted by the nickname
Ronzoni because they were all born
in Italy and learned a lot of English
by reading adverts for Ronzoni's
enriched spaghetti.

The Sugar Bowl Soda Parlor,
which is where most of the action
in this story takes place,
was crowned The Bowl
by my mother.

Everyone in Rocky Point
called it that but she said it first.

Only the summer residents
used my Father's slang names
for places, things, and people.




3.
The year-round residents
of Rocky Point, for the most part,
shunned the summer people.

They regarded us as rich city folk
who could afford a second home.
 
It was commonly said 
that our parents looked like

brother and sister which may explain

why my sister and her brother

were closer than
the spots on the dice.

But any hanky-panky between us
ended at Linda's eighth birthday party
—July 9, 1954—
when a boy kissed her behind a tree
and she socked him in the nose,
drawing blood and breaking
his glasses.

(Nine years later, they deflowered each other.
Something she had secretly yearned for
since the first kiss after his family
moved out of Rocky Point.)

She had no shortage
of kissing buddies during
those nine years.

Billy Nevin was the only one
to get beyond first base
but never hit a home run
with my sister.

Or so I want to believe.


3.

Anyway, I was saying
at the beginning of this story
that my sister didn't receive
Holy Communion that day

—August  17, 1962—

despite having gone to confession

the day before.

I had seen her the night before

rolled up in a beach blanket

with Billy Nevin, whose father 

had just taken us
to our first Yankee game.

Yogi Berra and Mickey Mantle both hit

grand slams while Whitey Ford shut out

the Baltimore Orioles.

The final score was 15-0.

Yeah, I was with Billy

on the beach and it was a full moon.

Of course, I let him touch my titties.

After receiving the Communion wafer,

I walked straight out of the door

of St. Anthony's, ran across the parking lot.

Then I ran across Bohack Supermarket's

parking lot and then

I was in the Sugar Bowl.

But I had covered my face

when I ran by the front

of the supermarket

because of the main reason

I had to go to confession

yesterday.

Father forgive me...
I shoplifted at Bohack's
on Tuesday
 

Father Eugene asked for specifics: 

I stole a 45RPM
It fit so easily inside my shirt.

Which song?

STAY by Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs.

That's a great song, Pa...

He almost said my name which is a no-no

because the confession is supposed
to be totally anonymous.

That's why there was no lighting
in the confessional booth. 

No lighting when the priest

slides open that thing in front
of the screen where you can barely
make out his silhouette
and vice versa.

(But, of course,
the confessor always knew
which priest was there.) 

It was time 
for Father Eugene
to give me my penance:

That's a great song...

STAY is an essential...
like Elvis' Hound Dog...

but that doesn't justify stealing it. 
Say three our Fathers and six Hail Marys...

Not a bad price to pay
for a great piece of music.


4.
I arrive at the Sugar Bowl

but the group we loved the most
—Dion and the Belmonts—
had disbanded and Mr.
or Mrs. Sugar Bowl
removed all their songs
from their fabled jukebox.

The day before, however, 
Dion's Run Around Sue  
had just been added
to the "Sugar Box."

 

Father Eugene had administered 
the Eucharist and probably
because he liked Maurice Williams
so much, he gave me
a supersized communion wafer.

It was still stuck
to the roof of my tongue
when I sat down

Linda is at the front table with Billy,
his cousin Marie and Nicky Lomangino
who was the only one of our friends
who had more records than I did.
All 45s as in 45 RPM's.
Those thin slices of circular vinyl.

commonly referred to as "singles."

He had maybe three hundred
and I had almost two hundred
but I also had a bunch of albums

mostly thanks to my mother
who was a big time
Miles Davis fan.

At the age of eleven,
I liked to think of myself
as sophisticated enough

to appreciate jazz.

But, in truth, I had
as much sophistication
as poison ivy.

No sophisticated Catholic
would ever walk out
of church with the Eucharist
clinging to his/her palate. 

5.
Billy, Marie and Nicky had all been
to the 9 o'clock mass and were sitting
in the Sugar Bowl for over an hour.

Their breakfasts consisted
of three egg nogs.

TO BE CONTINUED ________________________________________________________________________________________________

Then And Now

________________________________________________________________________________________________

If tailfins were wings
a 1957 Plymouth Belvedere
would get you into the sky

And a 1959 Cadillac
would have been
a jumbo jet
 

Those car existed in an era
when all American cars
had features that gave them
personality
—Consider the Mustang,
the Thunderbird
and the Dodge Charger—
and 
Honda was only a word
that rhymed with
Henry Fonda

 BUT

personality

could make those cars

dangerous or

—worse yet—

"gas guzzlers" 

AND THEN
along came an era
when American cars
were all "streamlined"
to improve gas mileage

Personality features
of American cars
were replaced with
smooth curves
to make
"aerodynamically sound"

BUT
that is just a fancy way
to say these cars were
lobotomized

In 2018
IRONY WEARS
HIGH HEEL SNEAKERS
because most families own SUV's
which are twice the size
of the legendary gas guzzlers.

The average gas mileage of
these behemoth station wagons
is approximately thirteen miles
to the gallon
which is no better than
the 1959 Cadillac
or
the 1957 Belvedere.

But is much worse in appearance:
Looking as if
the big fat class bully
swallowed the prettiest girl
in the school.
 

________________________________________________________________________________________________
Footnotes
THEN AND NOW
is the copyrighted property of LCSoL.

The cartoon is from  Harry Bliss.

The car images are from  Jay Pegg.

An earlier version of this page
—which I ultimately thought
to be embarassingly bad—
is  here 
________________________________________________________________________________________________

Zack To Zack ... And 38,000 Happy Campers In The Ballpark

________________________________________________________________________________________________

There is no more satisfying ending
to a team sporting event
than to have the home team
win on the last play
of the game

Basketball calls it
a buzzer-beater

Baseball calls it
a walk-off win 

Los Angeles Angels 2
Minnesota Twins  1

Yesterday was the first time 
in the history of
Major League Baseball
that a walk-off game
involved
a hero and a goat
both named Zack 

It happened when
Zack Cozart
got the winning hit
in the bottom of the ninth
on a pitch thrown by
Zack Duke

Mr. Duke walked off the field with his head hung down.
His fielding teammates, did the same, as if on a death march.

But Mr. Cozart's teammates 
ran onto the field 
to smother him
with love and affection
and Gatorade

________________________________________________________________________________________________
Footnotes
Zack Cozart has played for the Los Angeles Angels
for less than two months and he already has two walk-off hits.

He had played for the Cincinnati Reds for seven seasons,
during which time he had zero walk-off hits.

In the his two months as an Angel, he already has
two more walk-off hits than Mike Trout has had
in the past two seasons.

Yet, Mike Trout is considered to be
the greatest baseball player in the game.
Go figure.

Mr. and Mrs. CarPeo were lucky enough
to be amongst the "38,000 Happy Campers"
at Anaheim Stadium on this day.
________________________________________________________________________________________________