Bite Me, Tony

The 10:42 To West Palm (Part 2) It was with a sense of relief that we piled out of the Uber vehicle upon our arrival at the Norton.  Expecting to enter a chill cocoon of frosty air when the Hyundai Tucson arrived at the corner to pick us up, we instead found ourselves descending into the seventh circle of hell. It was 91 degrees outside, and still cooler than the interior of that car. I own a Tucson so I know that the a/c in these vehicles works remarkably well, especially since mine continuously runs at absolute zero. And yet, here she was, a young woman swathed in heavy sweater and jeans, apparently heralding the onset of nuclear winter, or some other frigid calamity, while the Tucson's dashboard issued lukewarm gasps of the kind usually reserved for priests delivering last rites. I am not a religious man but I remember thinking please God, let this 0.4 mile journey be brief . But, as usual, God was in an ill-humor this day. Per the instructions of the virtual a...

The 10:42 To West Palm (Part 1)   Saturday was C's birthday so we decided to take the train up to West Palm Beach and go to the Norton Museum of Art, which reopened last winter after a major expansion and renovation. Conveniently, a fast rail service from Miami to West Palm began a couple of years ago as Brightline and we'd been meaning to check it out to see how it compared with the fast rail service in Europe. Recently, mega-billionaire Richard Branson partnered with Brightline and now it's called Virgin Railways or Virgin Trains—something virginal, at any rate. A month or so ago, they announced that on this specific day, May 18—coincidentally, C's birthday--there would be $5 one-way tickets to the three South Florida Virgin destinations (Miami, Ft. Lauderdale and West Palm Beach) and we realized that it was our absolute duty to check it out. It also didn't hurt that the Norton Museum is free on Saturdays. C and I are big museum-goers but it was...

The Curious Incidents of the Pills In the Nighttime “ I rise when the sun goes down Cover every game in town A world of my own I'll make it my home sweet home “ These are a few lines from “Deacon Blues”, my favorite song by Steely Dan, from their wonderful album, Aja . Steely Dan is my favorite musical group of all time—EVER—and this song is perfectly suited to those of us who never slept that much anyway. Its relevance to this tale, however, remains to be seen Like my father before me, I am a night owl. Right around 10:00 every night, my brain kicks into high gear, my eyes pop open, my heart beats a little faster, and I am ready for what may come. If I were a wolf or bat or some other nocturnal creature, I would be perfectly attuned to the midnight labors of my species. However, I am a human, something you may already have surmised. My species, as a whole, doesn't operate in the way of bats and wolves, and like my father before me, my labors often begin long before...

About Bite Me, Tony. This is a blog about a little bit of everything and nothing much, in particular. It is my third attempt at writing a blog, the first two having dealt with movies, which I found fairly limiting despite my passion for the subject. My ADHD also probably played a key role in the limited lifespan of those blogs.  So, here I am again with a little something to say about whatever pops into my head whenever I set down to write. It also gives me good practice in case I ever decide to write the book I've been chasing around in my head for decades. (FYI: I have written a few screenplays [unproduced], as well as co-written the pilot for a proposed television series that, alas, never came to fruition. It is what it is, as my sister is fond of saying.) What I don't want this blog to be about is politics. God knows, I express my political opinions enough on other online outlets and I am, frankly, sick of talking and hearing about it everywhere I go. My hope...