in a 1960s French film somewhere…

Huh?

humor of the dark

This Queer Life

  • Hellrider

    In the primordial state, before gelling into the being I am today, I oozed with enthusiasm for amusement parks. Crowds back then didn’t bother me as much because those parks were where rides lived. Even those supposedly scary, yet instead were shlocky, filled me with glee. The so-called houses of horror were always more silly… Read more

  • A View to Die From

    At present I sleep on a lumpy, folded futon because my sleeping loft is out of commission. My spine despises me, & rightfully so. This is all my own stupid doing. I have to tear out my makeshift ceiling & insulation (again), install a roof vent, screen the soffit vents (again!), & reinsulate & rebuild… Read more

  • Sea Monkey

    [Tale of the All Weather Infrared Camera] The idea was to provide a deterrent. Didn’t have to be believable upon closer scrutiny. But it had to be waterproof to be outside. It would be accompanied by a sign to alert of its presence. I swore I read the fine print, but I ordered it online.… Read more

  • A recent article says fertility rates are down in ‘developed countries.’ My quote marks, because that’s just a euphemism for greedy nations. Even if one of those countries is China, supposedly communist. I’ve yet to believe the true spirit of communism has ever been achieved. Those regimes never accomplish a “dictatorship of the proletariat.” They… Read more

  • Howl for the Banned

    There are some riled up folk putting stories under attack. Those fearful of ideas, with their twisty troll logic, only draw more attention to the very stories they’re trying to ban. More effective than glowing reviews! If a book’s been forbidden, that is the book I seek. But then I don’t outsource my thinking. I… Read more

  • The Art of the Sleep

    Somewhere around the 4th decade, slumber & I became estranged. Up until then I was sleep’s patsy. I took after my father, a man who could drift off despite the quarts of coffee he downed. Just shy of narcolepsy, he & I were known to fall asleep if sitting still. On long drives to campgrounds,… Read more

  • Curiouser & Curiouser

    Curiosity was what spurred me to commit certain illegal acts of my youth, for which I am unrepentant. Sure there might be a different hobby I could’ve taken up, but mine was essentially harmless snooping. Except that time when a friend & I graffitied the top several floors of the Westin hotel stairwells with anarchist… Read more

  • The Leed’s Apartments got a facelift. It was still the same crappy roach-infested old building as before, just with a shmancy new awning over the entrance, stating the new name: Chateau Margeaux. This was my sister Du’s first apartment after she moved out of her boyfriend’s place. Also, it was where I came to visit…&… Read more

  • Come Into My Parlor

    The squatter & I were in a standoff. She had made herself at home in the corner, 1 foot from the pillows at the head of my bed. I was fairly certain she was the one who had run across my face at 4 a.m. a few nights ago. Coffee is not nearly as jolting,… Read more

  • It’s no revelation that someone who can’t swim & has ‘the hydrophoby’ (couldn’t resist the reference to rabies from movies like Old Yeller) might not muse rhapsodically on water. Though I don’t recall my early bath times, my family likes to tell the story of toddler-me running naked through the house yelling “Betta hide!” when… Read more