Howard Owens

As far as I can remember, "To a Young Poet I Once Knew" is the last poem I ever wrote.

I had pretty much quit writing poetry by this time because I had grown bored with my own voice. It was too much like Eliot, too much like Crane. I felt I had failed to develop my own cadance, my own poetic expression, and I was frustrated.

With this poem, I attempted to change my rhythms, change my approach to metaphor. In some spots, I think I succeeded, but it still reads too much like a "Howard Owens" poem.

I now forget the initial inspiration for the poem, but its not hard to imagine that I had recently read some morose poem and thought it a bit overwrought. The whole goth thing is not very interesting to me. Reading it now, I can't help but think of Kurt Cobain.

I can't really afford it, but I bought a digital camera. It is not the one recommended by my digital camera advisor, but it looks pretty good and, thanks to her advice, I got a good deal on it.

So, as soon as it gets here, you can expect more pictures on this site. There are things in Ventura that I want to take pictures of and write about (as time permits), plus you'll probably get the obligatory pictures of my cats and wife (as she permits). Maybe I'll even pull a Tony Pierce from time to time and do photo essays.

Today's search term: "Jim Beam and the Atkins diet"

Other favorites from the last few days:

 The Truth is Out There (I get this one quite a lot -- I wonder what they're all looking for ... truth? Well, they've come to the right place ... )
 "powell doctrine" (another daily favorite)
 charles shaw merlot (yup, keeps popping up)
 "political parties suck" (I agree)
 pete's place la mesa (dive bars rule)
 cure for "leg cramp" (if you find it, let me know)
 famous old bars dives (yup, howardowens.com is quickly becoming dive bar central)
 bono, jesus (cool ...)
 "global news" eat all you want (no thanks ... )
 russia orphanages boys rape (I have Pete Townshend to thank for this one)
 sex with children is not illegal in russia (ditto)
 aaron haspel (Aaron, are you ego surfing?)
 truthful news (still looking?)
 what's so great about america (I alredy know, do you? -- also a very popular search term for this site)
Trent Lott recently praised which man's segregationist presidential campaign? (just ask, I'll tell you)
"atkins doesn't work" (really? could have fooled me)
bukowski dive bars (need I say more ...)

My blog roll pretty much serves as my bookmarks for which blogs I visit regularly.  Unfortunately, the bigger the roll gets, the harder it is to visit every site as often as I would like.

On the other hand, every site on the is a site I still want to visit once in a while, at least. Plus, some times I discover (or visit for the first time) blogs that I do not necessarily want to add to the blog roll just yet.

So here's how my blog roll works now:

1) Blog Roll: Sites that I either visit everyday and/or sites that are run by people whom I know visit howardowens.com regularly. My favorite bloggers are generally those I have a relationship with. They read me, I read them ... we leave comments on each other's blogs, and we exchange e-mails. Exceptions are guys like Glenn Reynolds and Tony Pierce, whom I'm pretty sure never visit this site unless I send them a link to something specific, but I still love these blogs and visit as often as I can.

2) Reciprocal Blogs: These are blogs that I like, but I don't think the blogpritors read howardowens.com very often, and I don't necessarily read them everyday, but we link to each other. I appreciate the relationship. I just wish they would link to howardowens.com instead of one of my former domains.  I've shoved Armed Liberal and Arnold Williams down into this category only because they are not regularly updating their blogs often now, so I visit them less often. If you have a blog in this category and think I've been unfair to you, leave me a comment or drop me an e-mail. I would love to move you up and know that we're reading each other regularly.  If you don't belong in this second category, you're only there because I never hear from you and you never blog anything that links to one of my posts.

3) Newish Blogs: These blogs may have been around for a long time, and I may even have known about them for a long time, but I've decided to start visiting them a little more often. They aren't linking to me, and I haven't established a relationship with the blogpritor, so they don't fit in either of the other categories, so this is where I'm sticking them -- for my own surfing benefit.

If you have a blog and you're not on any of these blog rolls and you want to be ... let me know.

I don't like corporate names on sports stadiums, but I guess it's just one of those economic realities we need to accept. I must say, though, "Petco Park" has a nice ring to it.

Leslie Wade, a spokeswoman for the East Village Association, liked the moniker Petco Park but couldn't resist having some fun with it.

"Does this mean they're going to have free flea dip when Dodgers fans come to town?" she said. "It does offer some exciting new possibilities for promotional giveaways."

And cat sand for Giants fans.

A deal with the devil, a meeting at the crossroads and a man named Johnson appearing on the scene with Blues Power. Does the story sound familiar? It should, it's the legend of Robert Johnson.

But before there was Robert Johnson, there was Tommy Johnson, a near contemporary of Charley Patton and a falsetto-wailing blues singer who reportedly put on a wild show and lived a wildier life.

I have an MP3 of Johnson singing "Maggie Campbell Blues," which I downloaded from Napster a while back. I picked the song mainly because Dave Alvin did such a masterful job of covering it on "Public Domain." Johnson's version is nothing short of haunting. Give it a listen. And if you would like a whole CD of Johnson's music, you can order it here.

What happens when you read too much Hart Crane? You write poems like this. Not that "this" is a bad thing.

I don't know what the hell is wrong with San Diego Stadium. It is well configured for football (better than baseball), seats something like 70,000, has plenty of luxury seats, and after all the rancor over giving the Padres a new park, along with the way the Chargers basically ripped off the City of San Diego on the last stadium deal -- I don't have a lot of sympathy for the team's desire to build a new stadium.

Let Alex Spanos move the team to Los Angeles. I'll become a 49ers fan. At least they win, usually.

However, this story almost sounds like a good compromise.

The San Diego Chargers want taxpayers to pay half the cost of a $400 million stadium that would be built on the current 166-acre Qualcomm Stadium site.

As part of the deal, the city would get a good portion of the stadium property back to develop and collect revenue from -- potentially worth more than $100 million. When you factor in the other potential economic factors, it almost sounds plausible ... until you consider the times we live in and you think, the Chargers must be crazy to think this deal would ever fly.

Councilwoman Donna Frye, whose district includes Qualcomm Stadium, said, "When we are facing a $100 million deficit (in the city), facing layoffs and cuts in basic public services, given those financial realities, to say their timing is poor is likely the understatement of the century."

If the Chargers want a new stadium (for God knows what reason), they're going to need to big up a bigger portion of the tab. And in the era of salary-cap-ensure profitability, that's not too much to ask.

As part of any deal -- I hasten to add -- if the city pony's up even $1, the Chargers should be obligated to San Diego for another 25 years, at least.

I just can't believe anybody would say anything this stupid:

"He presents opinions of people who agree with him as facts and distorts the positions of people who disagree with him," said Martin Wisse, who runs the Progressive Gold blog. "In short, he poses as an objective journalist when he's not."

I mean, how much of an idiot do you have to be to think that any BLOG!!!! is "objective" journalism??? That's like expecting an Islamofascist to be pro-American.

Let's take this apart piece by piece ...

-- He presents opinions of people: Yes, he does

-- who agree with him: yes, he does

-- as facts: um, well, I don't see how that can possibly be true since, um, all he does is quote and link ... and the opinions of other people pretty much speak for themselves as opinion ... ummmm

-- distorts the positions people who disagree with him: All I can say is, prove it. As near as I've ever seen is Glenn provides quotes and links to people who disagree with him, and sometimes provides a counter argument. That's hardly "distorting."

ILLOGIC ALERT. ILLOGIC ALERT ILLOGIC ALERT

I suggest Mr. Wisse do a little class time in journalism and argumentation.

Oh, you gotta love this search term somebody used today to find this site: "charles shaw wine + nutritional"

For public transport to be effective, it must be ubiquitous, inexpensive to use and the alternatives (private cars) must be a hassle in comparison.

Four rail lines in a major city like Dallas is far from ubiquitous.

I'm not sure how many lines San Diego has, but I know that when I lived in East County and had to go to downtown San Diego for any reason, I much preferred the trolley. It was cheaper than paying for parking, made the trip only 10 minutes longer, gave me a chance to read and relax, and since I was usually going to the courthouse to cover a story, convienent.

I don't have strong feelings about public transport, but I think it's a good thing. San Diego is adding on new lines (currently under construction is one that will connect the west-side of the downtown line with Mission Valley (shopping), the stadium, SDSU and once again wind up in El Cajon) and I expect to see those ridership numbers increase. The easier the system becomes, the more congestion increases (and San Diego seems more crowded every trip I make down there) the better the alternative the trolley becomes.

Cool, somebody came to the site today through Google by searching for "barvision."

And the Charles Shaw traffic seems to be dying down. Only one Charles Shaw visitor yesterday and none so far today.

Poet Henry Gould has a fine new blog. Much fine writing about poetry and poetic process, as well as a few damn fine poems (very little of the po-mo crap in Gould's writing). I'm blog rolling him now. (via Joseph Duemer)

I've updated the recommended books section (scroll down, look right).  I've dumped many of the political titles (left over from when this blog was "Global News Watch") and added many fine literary titles.  I'll update recommend music when next I have a little free time.

And with Ken Layne moving to Nevada, I thought adding "Blackjack for Blood" was particularly timely.

I've also added a menu of links to Poems and Journalism. These links will grow as I continue to dredge out old writing and post it.

Colby Cosh, ever good with words and observations, has some fine ones about Tom Hanks:

Somehow it's exasperating that Hanks doesn't stick to the script for Hollywood Existence: not only does he not make bad movies or deliver cut-rate performances, he's never been "hospitalized for exhaustion" or caught carrying a handgun through an airport.

I haven't seen Catch Me yet, but I saw Hanks interviewed on Charlie Rose, and one of the most impressive things about Hanks and this movie is that Mr. Big Shot didn't mind taking the "supporting" actor role, letting Leo, the kid, be the lead.

Of course, it was mighty smart of Leo to do the movie anyway after Hanks said he wanted a part in it. Most actors would be majorly concerned about being upstaged by a major star.

All the world needs is love -- and more Beatles music. This sounds promising.

Blogs just got a bit cooler ... now William Gibson has one. (Via Sean Hackbarth).

Somebody arrived here from Google today with this search term: "motivating newspaper reporter."

Now there's an optimist.

Ken Layne's moving to the state of libertine extravgance and no personal income tax. And he's just the man for the job. I see him running every brothel in the region in a few years.

Today I learned about the "Arnold Palmer," a drink that contains half iced tea and half lemonade. I'd never heard of it before, but it turns out that it's the preferred drink of Armed Liberal (at least at lunch on a work day).

AL and I met for lunch today, and it was quite a lunch. There certainly wasn't a lull in the conversation as we covered aspects of writing, blogging and every conceivable hot-topic issue in the news.

As I've said before, meeting smart, friendly people is one of my favorite pleasures in life, so lunch with AL today great fun. One of the most rewarding aspects of blogging is that its given me the opportunity to meet some really fine people. Bloggers are rarely dullards.

We were originally supposed to dine at Wood Ranch -- my favorite BBQ place, and appropriate after the BBQ posts of last week, but we got there and found out that WR doesn't open until 4 p.m., so we had to drive over to the nearest sports grill for a burger.

We did raise our Pepsi cups (his filed withe Arnold Palmer concoction, and mine with Diet Pepsi) in a toast (at my request) to Glenn Reynolds. It was my thank you to Glenn for today adding me to his permalinks. Glenn, sorry the toast wasn't with a little something hardier, but we both had to go back to work.

Good news for those hoping to launch or rely on paid-content models. Resistance to paying is decreasing.

I wonder if people will ever pay for blog content? Ken Layne might make a living at this yet.

(via Jermey Allaire)

Interesting new blog on things technical and defense/national security related.

For example, here's an interesting post that makes the point that ricin arrests in London are no big deal.

Here's one for the nerds, like me ...

The programming language used to build this blog is Cold Fusion. I coded it all myself. I make my living coding, largely, as a Cold Fusion programmer. It's a great language for building Web sites. It makes it easy to build powerful, feature-rich, scalable, heavy-duty Web sites quickly.

CF was created by Jeremy Allaire.

So I thought it was very cool today when I found Allaire's blog. But I wonder why it's a radio blog and not a CF blog. Surely if JA doesn't have time to build a CF-based blog on his own, he could get somebody to do it for him.

Like maybe, um, me, or Christian Cantrell (on who's new blog I found JA's site).

A little bit on consternation this morning over the future of weblogs. The question, will they go the way of UseNet, e-mail discussion lists and Web forums; and, has SlashDot fallen prey to the same decay?

First, about SlashDot. I still find it a useful service, but then I'v never spent a lot of time on the comments anyway. I use it as a news filtering service, more than anything. Generally, it's a place where smart people bring interesting stories to the attention of others. But if the comments are as bad these days as some say, then I would like to offer an alternative explanation for why. First this comment from RC3

Now, if you want to read visionary stuff, Slashdot isn't the place to look. You're better off hitting technical blogs.

Aw, the technical blogs. Could it be that one reason the noise-to-signal ratio has gotten so out of hand at SlashDot is that some of the previous contributors are now putting their primary efforts into blogs? If you take the smart people away from SlashDot, then won't the dumb people seem louder?

I don't think it's unreasonable to expect a lot of former SlashDot contributors are now dedicated bloggers. I know that I scarcely visit the online forums I used to participate in prior to starting a blog.

And will blogs descend into a UseNet/SlashDot flamer fest? I don't think so, and for reasons given by Jeff Jarvis:

... weblogs are different because they are not, purely, a community. They are media, produced by people who publish and care for -- and control -- each element. Together, they act like a community in some ways because they all talk to each other (like this).

Here's how I would put it: When you publish a Web log, you own it. Pride in ownership. When it's your name on it, even a pseudonymous alter-ego, you want to present a positive image of yourself (however you might define positive). You want people to make return visits. You don't want to make enemies. The basic human instinct to want to be liked takes over. People without those impulses aren't likely to start weblogs. And if they do, they are likely to be ignored.

Advantage, blogs.

UPDATE: Eric Coe has some comments on SlashDot, as well.

I was 15 years old and my parents bought me my first stereo.

Being the AM-radio kind of guy I was, the first LPs I bought were Aerosmith's "Toys in the Attic" and Van Halan's debut disc. But while I was in the Warehouse that day, I spotted an album cover that looked interesting. The singer wore heavy-rimmed glasses that made him look like Woody Allen and his name was Elvis.

Here, I thought, was a nerd -- just like me.

I thought about that album cover for two weeks, until my next paycheck. Then I bought "My Aim is True" by Elvis Costello.

I knew nothing about EC. I had never heard his music. I had only a vague notion of Punk Rock from a Newsweek article. I probably would have given punk a try at some point anyway, but it was Elvis that really drew me in.

And "My Aim is True" was truly a stunningly magnificant album. It changed my life. Because of it, I started trying to write song lyrics, which got me interested in writing in general. I started writing for the school paper (doing album reviews). But just as importantly, a whole new world of music opened up to me. I discovered that not only was there a world of music not being played on AM radio, there was a trove of stuff not even making it to the FM airwaves.

I discovered acts like the Talking Heads, Blondie, the Ramones, the Clash, the Sex Pistols, Iggy Pop, the New York Dolls, Devo, the B-52s, the Cars, Roxy Music, David Bowie, the Police, Nick Lowe and Ian Dury.

Somehow, I also made the connection between this "alternative" music and early rock and roll, and I began to listen to Buddy Holly, Carl Perkins, Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent, as well.

But it all began with Elvis.

I mention this now because I've been reflecting on Joe Strummer's death. Also, Ben Orr's, which happened quite a while back, but I've also been revisiting that Cars debut album recently (which remains brillently conceived and executed in both its originality and its glistening pop sensibilities).

If you had asked me in the late 1979 (three years after getting that stereo and just before I entered the Air Force) to list the music most important to me, the list easily would have gone like this:

1. Elvis Costello
2. The Clash
3. The Ramones
4. The Cars
5. The Sex Pistols
6. David Bowie
7. Buddy Holly
8. The New York Dolls
9. The Talking Heads
10. Eddie Cochran

Look at how much death is on that list. Joe Strummer is gone. Joey Ramone is gone. Dee Dee Ramone is gone. Ben Orr is gone. Sid Vicious is gone (though, he was only really a bit player in the Pistols). Johnny Thunders is gone. And of course, both Holly and Cochran were dead by the time I discovered their music.

The point is, back then I never would have believed that before I turned 42, so many of the heroes of my youth would be dead (and David Bowie might as well be with all the crap he turns out these days).

In 2003, what's the most important music to me? I can't categorize it like that ... I now realize there is so much great music out there it's hard to memorialize all-time lists (though it's fun to try, and fun to argue about). I just thank God I live in a world where I can still make my own musical choices. Corporate CEOs still don't have as much power as they think they have, nor as much control as they want, to make those choices for me.

And guys like Joe Strummer helped make my freedom possible.

After the recent unpleasantness, I felt like retreating into some poetry. For some reason, the following came immediately to mind.

"Dulce et Decorum Est "

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,

Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,

Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs

And towards our distant rest began to trudge.

Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots

But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;

Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots

Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.

Gas! GAS! Quick, boys! -- An ecstasy of fumbling,

Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;

But someone still was yelling out and stumbling

And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime . . .

Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,

As under I green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,

He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace

Behind the wagon that we flung him in,

And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,

His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;

If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood

Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,

Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud

Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues, --

My friend, you would not tell with such high zest

To children ardent for some desperate glory,

The old lie: Dulce et decorum est

Pro patria mori.

-- Wilfred Owen (1893-1918)

I have posted another of my old poems. It is "I am not Judas ..."

The exact details of how this poem came to be written escape me. I remember drafting it out in my head during a solitary and blue moment on the Ocean Beach Pier. I remember taking it through a couple of drafts.

The general theme is born out of my fascination with Judas -- one of the most misunderstood figures in the Bible. But here I just concentrate on the theme of betrayal, and whether in my own Christian walk -- which I have long conceded is rather shaky -- I have fallen to Judas' level.

Thank God, I don't think I have.

You know, the more people we have, the more food we have. Michael Fumento tells us all about it.

Fumento and I have exchanged a couple of e-mails on Atkins. We're still not seeing eye-to-eye, but he seems like a good guy. Too bad all of the Atkins idiots (i.e., those who don't know what they're talking about, so they resort to bombast) are flooding him with hate mail.

Fumento has what looks like a complete archive of just about everything he's ever written. There's some good stuff there. I recommend a visit, even if he's wrong about Atkins.

Survey says .... Outlaw Spam!

I have five e-mail addresses I use daily. I get about 600 spams per day. I'm sick to death of spam. I'm all for making it illegal. Its frustrating to deal with and a waste of time. I don't need my penis enlarged, thank you, and I need no help picking up girls, or losing weight, or getting rich, or hooking up DirecTV, or buying CDs or DVDs -- I don't need any of it. I don't want any of it. And I didn't ask for any of it.

The most frustrating spams to get are those that say -- "You're getting this because you told one of our marketing partners that you wanted to get special offers such as this one. Our e-mail list is 100 percent opt-in!" BULL SHIT!!!!. Double Bull Shit. Bull Shit with Whipped Cream on Top!!!! I have opted-in to nothing and I have given permission to no one to send me this crap, marketing partners or otherwise. I swear, I'm never buying anything from Omaha Steaks. Ever.

Adelphia Cable has a commercial they run locally ...

Paraphrase: "I was going to get a satellite dish until I found out that I was going to have to pay extra for installation, and buy the dish, and not get all my local TV stations, and be responsible for my own repairs, and lick my cat's balls ... "

Lies. Lies. Lies.

But it all makes sense now ... Cable is losing to satellite.

Frankly, Adelphia would have a slim shot at getting my business (DirecTV has given me great service, and since I just bought an integrated receiver/Tivo box, I'm not eager to switch) if they offered the Major League Extra Inning package and NFL Sunday Ticket. But they don't. DTV does, so I'm sticking with DTV.