Dispatches, thoughts, and miscellanea from writer Jon Konrath

Month: March 2011

  • Review: My War by Colby Buzzell

    I wasn’t set to go down the military history wormhole and start reading books about Iraq, but while I was going through one of the Henry Rollins journal books, he mentioned Buzzell’s memoir, and I picked up a copy.  Going into it, I knew nothing about it, none of the background, his history, and I…

  • Strange Nostalgia for Lost Electronics

    I get a lot of shit for the “museum of obsolete technology” I have in our storage locker right now, the electronic toys I’m paying $30 a month to not see.  But I’ve pared down almost all of that inventory now, and it’s down to a single C-64 and 1541 drive, and a Sony Magic…

  • Escape from Alcatraz

    Last night, we took the night tour at Alcatraz.  The night tour is the best time to go; it leaves the dock at about 6:45, and they have more tour guides there, plus you get to see everything at night, or when the sun’s setting, which lends to some amazing views.  Unfortunately, we went during…

  • Rare reports of tongue discoloration

    I’m sick.  Strep throat.  It happened suddenly, this urge to drink a gallon of water every five minutes, then a difficulty swallowing.  I didn’t wait for it to play out, and got in to a doctor right away.  They’ve had so many cases of adult strep throat, they were out of the test kits, and…

  • List: possible zombie book ideas for future use

    Zombie Jesus Zombie Ernest Hemingway Zombie Mama Cass Zombie Jethro Tull Zombie Joey Ramone Zombie Jesse Ventura Zombie Jerry Lewis Zombie Veterinarian Zombie Les Paul Zombie Ayn Rand Zombie Kim Jong Il Zombie Slum Landlord Zombie Transvestite hooker picked up by Eddie Murphy Zombie Illegal immigrant Zombie Midlist genre author Zombie Tax preparation assistant Zombie…

  • Plane wreckage in the 49th state

    There are currently two things that every single show on cable must be based on at this moment: either making cupcakes, or Alaska.  I went to AK in 2006, and found it interesting, although now it’s a much harder sell to get people up there, given that a certain someone has branded the state as…

  • Snow White and Enduraflex

    I watched a documentary a bit ago on the Baltimore Colts marching band, which I guess continued to exist after the Colts left town for Indianapolis in 1984. (It was part of ESPN’s “30 for 30” series. I find that even though I don’t like or understand all sports, I love pretty much any well-done…

  • OV-103

    I don’t know how I remembered it, and managed to do the time calculation correctly, but last week, about five minutes before it happened, I suddenly realized it was the day of the last Discovery Space Shuttle launch.  And my Roku box now has the NASA channel (which will be essentially useless after this mission,…