Six Word Saturday

Ring out old; ring in New

Happy New Year, my virtual friends.

L.A. Times Crossword Puzzle Blogging

Wednesday December 28, 2011 Don Gagliardo & C.C. Burnikel

Cross posted - with some corrections - at The Corner

Theme:  Knock-knock.  Who's There?.  For good or for ill, the root of many jokes.  Share your favorites in comments.  Theme song No. 1.  Theme song No. 2.  Here, the theme answers end in a word that is synonymous with KNOCK.  Knock can be a forceful physical contact, or severe criticism - as used here.

17. Ice Cube genre : GANGSTA RAP.   Ice Cube is a rap artist.  I will not link.  But OTOH, I will not give him a bad RAP.

25. It's not as bad as the fire, metaphorically : FRYING PAN.  From the FRYING PAN to the fire is just making a bad situation worse.  A critic would PAN that action.

 37. Bases loaded opportunity : GRAND SLAM.  This occurs when you bid and make a contract to take all 13 tricks.  Wait.  Hold on - this is from C.C. so we must have baseball.  That GRAND SLAM is a home run hit with the bases loaded.  Would you SLAM me for referring to bridge?

52. All out : FULL BLAST.  Holding nothing back.  Amping it up to 11.  Blogging this puzzle is a BLAST, so I won't BLAST it.

And the unifier:  61. Start of a joke, eitrher part of which is synonymous with the ends of 17-, 25-, 37- and 52-across : KNOCK-KNOCK.   Who's there?  Jamaican.  Jamaican who?  Jamaican me stand out in the cold.  (I was Jamaican that up.)

Hi gang, it's JazzBumpa, and that's no joke.  Our dynamic - and prolific - duo has come up with another Wednesday challenge.  Are we up to it?

Shadow Shot Sunday

 Christmas Eve Day

A dusting of Snow

Whitens and brightens the way

To Grandmother's house

Stockings were hung by

The chimney with care, and soon

The grandchildren came.

Have a joyous and blessed Christmas!

Jesu Bambino

Six Word Saturday - The Christmas Song

Merry Christmas, everyone.  Have some music.

My arrangement of Mel Torme's Christmas Song.

Or, in case you're feeling Grinchy

My arrangement of Mr. Grinch

L.A. Times Crossword Puzzle Blogging

Wednesday, December 21, 2011 Donna Levin

Theme: Je suis chaude* aka FEVER, aka "I got the hots!"

17 A. Crisp cylindrical appetizer : SPRING ROLL.  Translation from the Chinese, 春卷 (Thank you Wikipedia.) A rolled, filled appetizer common in Asian cuisine, with lots of local variation in wrapper, filling and nomenclature.  SPRING FEVER: an ill-defined feeling of restlessness, excitement or laziness, brought about the onset of Spring.

27 A. Tango necessity : DANCE PARTNER. One with whom you dance, natch.  Example.  DANCE FEVER: a disco-era TV variety show featuring couples in dance-off competitions. 

46 A. Pleasure craft : CABIN CRUISER.  A power boat with inside accommodations for passengers and crew.  Pick the one you like.  CABIN FEVER.  A feeling of claustrophobia, restlessness, boredom and/or depression resulting from being confined for an extended period with little or nothing to do.

And the unifier: 63 A. State of excitement (generated by the starts of 17-, 27-, 38- and 46-Across?) : FEVER PITCH.   This also implies energetic or frenzied activity.  Origin is not well known, but feverish can relate to an over-wrought or delirious state, so there might be that kind of connection.

* We recently had a discussion about how one must be careful in translating "I am hot," into German, with obvious opportunities for unintended misunderstanding.  I believe the same hazards exist with translating into French, but will defer to the resident expert on such matters.  Kazie?

Hi, gang.  JazzBumpa here.  Let's try not to get too overheated as we explore today's entry.

Mellow Yellow Monday / Sensational Haiku Wednesday

12/21Update: I'm not above combining memes, when doing so suits my purposes.  By coincidence, this week's yellow shot also fits this week's haiku theme.  Some times you're just lucky.

Back in September

SPIRIT

Falcon Cheerleaders

Lifting up Falcon spirits

For their team and fans

Shadow Shot Sunday

This shot was taken on October 6th, the day of our Michigan color excursion. 

Other pics from that day can be found here and here.

Blue Michigan sky

And the bright orange glow of

The fruits of Autumn

Shadow Shot Sunday has moved to a new location.

Many thanks to Tracey for starting and maintaining
this terrific meme for so long.

Many thanks to our new hosts, Mystic, Rose and Gemma
for continuing the tradition.

I'm delighted to add that one of my shots (third photo here) made the collage
on the last posting at the original site.

Six Word Saturday

Seeing WICKED with two granddaughters tonight.

Plus my wife and their mom.

(None of whom are pictured below.)

Picture Source

 

Sendational Haiku Wednesday

PREPARATION

Performances On 

Friday and Monday; have four 

rehearsals to go.

Mellow Yellow Monday

Playing BLOCKHEAD with Nate and Em.

Making a tower in Seussical style;

Will it fall down or stay up for a while?

And who could imagine blocks piled so tall?

And whose little fingers will make those blocks fall?

Shadow Shot Sunday

LIGHTS

In shadow of night,
Lighted trees are like beacons,
Showing us the way.

The way in

The way out

Since these are just lousy cell phone shots, here's another look at the mysterious figure who cast this enigmatic shadow at the entrance to the Novi Civic Center.

Six Word Saturday

Going to The Nutcracker Ballet tonight.

Granddaughter Amanda is the Snow Queen.

 Picture source

Mellow Yellow Monday

My Mother's Peace Rose

Photo taken 9/17/11

Peace Rose, your yellow

Glow flows from pink center,

Announces new hope.

Shadow Shot Sunday

Burning Bush in Autumn

Photo taken 11/15/11

Burning bush, your flame
Is extinguished; your naked
Branches still flicker.

Update:  For Mystic.

Burning bush, do you 

Call to Moses? Do your flames

Cast shadows of God?

Six Word Saturday

My market outlook is exceedingly grim.

Interested?  You can find it here.

Sensational Haiku Wednesday

ABSENCE

I

When you are gone, what

I desire more than presents

Is just your presence.

II

Tatted like white lace

Voids in the wet snow adorn

patio pavers.

Photo taken this morning

L.A. Times Crossword Puzzle Blogging

Wednesday, November 30, 2011 David Poole

Theme: MONKEY BUSINESS.  Since it's actually a double theme, I'll also go with APE IN THE MIDDLE.  Second things first:  The four longest answers each contain the hidden word APE, split between the first and last names of a real or fictional woman, consistently parsed as -A  PE-.

18 A. Early Mary Tyler Moore role : LAURA PETRIE.  Fictional Woman - Mrs. Rob PETRIE was a real dish on a favorite TV show from the distant past.

54 A. She played Carla Tortelli on "Cheers" : RHEA PERLMAN.  Real Woman.  You'd have to be, to be married to Danny Divito.

 3 D. She played Nicole Chapman on "Fame" : NIA PEEPLES.  Real Woman, who I've never heard of.  Cute.

 28 D. 1996 Madonna role : EVITA PERON.  Real woman, fictionalized.   Wow.  Has it been 15 years?!?

Plus the extended unifier:

4. With 36- and 62-Across, kids' ball game, and something this puzzle's four longest answers have in 
common : MONKEY

 36. See 4-Across : IN THE

 62. See 4-Across : MIDDLE.  In my neighborhood, we had a failure of imagination, and just called this often cruel game "keep-away." 

Hi gang, it's Jazzbumpa, reporting from somewhere in APE country.  Now, this dual theme is tight, cute, clever, and original.  High marks for every bit of that.  The only problem is that it's dead wrong!  And thereby hangs a tail, so to speak.  With that hint, I'll reveal why at the end, (which is sort of another hint, come to think of it.) 

Let's see what other kinds of MONKEY BUSINESS we can uncover in APE country.  Onward!

Shadow Shot Sunday / Mellow Yellow Monday

At the OSU - Michigan Game 11-26-11

Both teams were well represented

I was not the only CONFLICTED person there.

Wolverines hung on for a 40 - 34 victory.

Six Word Saturday

Going to the Wolverines - Buckeyes game.

Thanks to Son-in-law Joe!

From Ohio, live in Michigan -- Conflicted! 

 Oh, my - what colors to wear?

Puttin' On The Ritz

Performed by The Ad Hoc Trombone Quartet





From our performance last Saturday.

Sensational Haiku Wednesday

PONDER

Thinking deeply on

The Vikings quarterback

Situation - Hmmmmm . . .

Photo credit: USA Today: 

On second thought, I'm

A LIONS fan; we've got the

Pack, so why Ponder?  

Shadow Shot Sunday

STRANGE BIRD?

Strange bird . . . (or lizard ?)

Hovers (or hangs?) thrusting its 

Beak (or snout?) in --- What?

Here's the answer.

Once more at the entrance to the Novi, MI civic center, we find this wire sculpture of a figure holding a globe of the earth.  It's still a bit enigmatic, though.  Is that a dancer?  An athlete?  A frolicking child?






Last week's shot made this week's collage. Very cool.

Six Word Saturday

Playing in a Book Store Today.

Part of our annual fund raiser.

Here is one of our selections.

L.A.Times Cross Word Puzzle Bloggging

 Wednesday, November 16, 2011 Julian Lim

THEME: GO OFF, don't GOOF OFF!  Common phrases starting with the words, "GO OFF" are clued* as if the words showed up in the theme answers; but instead, they are reserved for the unifier.  This results in some odd-looking partials until you pull it all together.   Then, you find that the theme questions define the answers quite nicely.

* With asterisks.

A 17. *Get carried away : (GO OFF) THE DEEP END.

A 64. *Act prematurely : (GO OFF) HALF COCKED.

D 11. *Lose it : (GO OFF) ONES  ROCKER.

D 28. *Digress : (GO OFF) ON A TANGENT.

And the unifier:  A 40. Explode, and words needed to complete the four starred answers : GO OFF.   This filled in partially from the perps, and it was not immediately obvious how to parse the goofy-looking  "_OOFF" until I took a good look at the clue.  

Hi, gang.  Reporting here from the DEEP END, it's JazzBumpa, the HALF-COCKED trombonist.  I don't recall seeing a theme approach quite like this before, so high marks to Mr. Lim for a creative and tight theme.  With that in mind, let's GO OFF exploring it.  We'll find some other gems, for sure.

Mellow Yellow Monday

Autumn Leaves

Japanese Maple

And other downed maple leaves

Mingle in my yard 

Shadow Shot Sunday

Reflections

The morning sun's reflection 

off my storm door cut into the

shadows of the hedge row,

while making shadows of its own.

  

Six Word Saturday

This long day is almost over.

Some of it was good, though.

Too much time in the car.

Was ready for home hours earlier.

Good night all - off to bed.

Shadow Shot Sunday

Opera House - Fayette, Ohio

I played there yesterday.

Charming venue, and a very appreciative audience.

Old Opera House

In a fading little town:

Echos of days past.

Mellow Yellow Halloween Monday

An Autumn greeter

From the pumpkin patch says, "Hi." 

To trick-or-treaters

Here's granddaughter Em as a zebra at her kindergarten Halloween parade