ridehorsey, roofing, and edward

Let's talk about "ridehorsey" again. For example, how would you pronounce ridehorsey? Is it ride horsey (two words)? Is it ridehorsey! (exclamation point)?

The exclamation point that ends up on the name on the site from time to time is sort of a joke - the joke being that putting an exclamation point on something makes it somehow more exciting, which we all know is generally not the case.

This reminds me of an old radio advert in St. Louis that went like this (just like you're about to read it): Hi-Fi. Fo-fum. Hi-fi-fo-fum, Exclamation point.

That's Hi-Fi Fo-Fum's tagline. Catchy, quick, and somehow unforgettable.

St. Louis had some catchy a few catchy ads - like this jingle (mp3) - "For a hole in your roof or a whole new roof..." which I just pulled from the html code of the Federic Roofing website. Try getting that out of your head - it's catchy, but somehow not annoying.

In Indy we get Broad Ripple Heating and Cooling's "Billy", a fake child character who harrasses everyone he knows about who they chose to work on their ducts.

And we've got Ed's mother, another poorly done voice, who thinks the world of her son Edward. Edward is so embarrassed he ends every commerical with "Oh Mom".

But as for jingles, or even taglines, I can't think of any that jump out for Indy. In fact, I'd say we've got a serious glut of jingles.

Of course I haven't forgotten "I am Indy", a sort of jingle propaganda campaign put forth by Gene Simmons and the Indy Racing League - but that's the worst kind of jingle: confusing, frightening, annoying, and (hopefully) forgettable.

So back to "ridehorsey". How do I think you should say it? I'd just say it's ridehorsey - one word, said very quickly and almost under your breath, like you're embarrassed to say it. That's how I've been saying it forever.

Are you aware of the Unlawful Accommodation of Donkeys Act of 1837?

It's probably bad form to just take the complete text of an article for a blog, and possible plagerism or something... ask me about how I passed half my college classes. I can't resist bolding some of this...

A man who was found dressed in latex and handcuffs brought a donkey to his room in a Galway city centre hotel, because he was advised “to get out and meet people,” the local court heard last week.

Thomas Aloysius McCarney with an address in south Galway was charged with cruelty to animals, lewd and obscene behaviour, and with being a danger to himself when he appeared before the court on Friday. He was also charged with damage to a mini-bar in the room, but this charge was later dropped when the defendant said that it was the donkey who caused that damage.

Solicitor for the accused Ms Sharon Fitzhenry said that her client had been through a difficult time lately and that his wife had left him and that his life had become increasingly lonely.

“Mr McCarney has been attending counselling at which he was told that he would be advised to get out and meet people and do interesting things. It was this advice that saw him book into the city centre hotel with a donkey,” she said. She added that Mr McCarney also suffered from a fixation with the Shrek movies and could constantly be heard at work talking to himself saying things like “Isn’t that right, Donkey?”

Supt John McBrearty told the court that Mr McCarney who had signed in as “ Mr Shrek” had told hotel staff that the donkey was a family pet and that this was believed by the hotel receptionist who the supt said was “young and hadn’t great English.”

Receptionist Irina Legova said that Mr McCarney had told her that the donkey was a breed of “super rabbit” which he was bringing to a pet fair in the city. The court was told that the donkey went berserk in the middle of the night and ran amok in the hotel corridor, forcing hotel staff to call the gardai.

McCarney was found in the room wearing a latex suit and handcuffs, the key to which the donkey is believed to have swallowed. He was removed to Mill St station after which it is said he was the subject of much mirth among the lads next door in The Galway Arms.

He was fined €2,000 for bringing the donkey to the room under the Unlawful Accommodation of Donkeys Act 1837. Other charges were dropped due to lack of evidence.

we all suck

I've noticed a decline in the number of posts and comments at many of the blogs I read on a regular basis, especially those that are Indianapolis based. While this does make it a little harder to find ways to waste away the day, it also brings a warm feeling to my heart. Because I know what it is to have nothing to write about. And I'm no stranger to a lack of comments. And I've been running with it for quite a while now.

I wouldn't call this lack of material writer's block, because it's not like I'm having trouble with the writing. I think a better term might be material block. The strength of a good blog is focus, but moreso an unending sort of attention to your focus. Du Nord's focus is on soccer in all shapes and sizes, and the material never runs out. He does a fantastic job in covering pretty much everything soccer related, and he once called me an idiot in an email.

I'm still reading his blog.

Circle and Squares is going to work because of its focus on architecture (as long as the material doesn't run out). Inhabit works because of a focus on design.

Dooce works because everyone loves attractive yet attainable looking housewives. Ok, I really have no idea why Dooce works, but I think it's probably got something to do with the cussing. Shit cock motherfucker.

Anyway.. My point. I don't have one. (I'm trying out using bold today, feel free to comment. Except you, Dave.)

When asked to describe ridehorsey for the Indianapolis Bloggers page, I said it was about "normal 30-something white guy nostalgia". Seriously? How horrible does that sound? I should have said it was about horsefucking.

fulham 2 - goochi-toons 1. and a superbowl

Fulham got the win this weekend, McBride scored again. Gooch played well for a lackluster Newcastle side. Dempsey got on in the 80th or so minute and played confidently. All smiles at my house.

One of these days I'm going to readdress Carlos Bocanegra.

Superbowl viewing at my house was underwhelming. I wonder if I was alone in thinking that there was no way Rex Grossman was going to lead the Bears to victory - he looked like a boy among men out there.

It was nice to see Beckham in a commercial.

* * * * *

I've been wondering who I'm writing this blog for for a while now. I think that perhaps I'm in a similar boat to the one Jim (formerly 11 am Air Raid, now He Writes About Words) found himself in... lack of direction or lack of audience or lack of motivation or lack of... lack of something. I could be totally off with the Jim reference, but I kind of got that vibe by reading his new stuff - which is just as good as his old stuff, just with a little more focus.

Anyway, I'm considering starting a different blog, but I don't really have any direction for that, either. Other than I could move the Fulham/RSL stuff there. And that'd leave me with this. Where I could post pictures of funny monkeys.

another big car/ridehorsey jam

Check it out.

And don't forget to check out bigcar.org for more comics, art, words, and stuff.

a ridehorsey/big car colab

For those of you who aren't familiar with Big Car, here's a description:

Big Car is a non-profit 501c3 arts organization with a gallery and performance venue in the Fountain Square neighborhood of Indianapolis, Indiana. In our space in the Murphy Art Center, we host live music, spoken word events, and a new art show each month. We prefer work -- be it visual, words or music -- that is doing something new, that is taking a chance, that bends reality into something that wasn't there before. We like experiments. We like darkness. We like work with an edge. We like humor. We like to have fun doing something new.

A couple weeks back, Jim at Big Car started doing a daily comic on the Big Car website based on reader submissions, but after about four comics, it seemed that he was already running out of submissions.

Because I've tried the reader submission thing myself before, I knew that that can be a little frustrating. So I pulled a few stories out of my old blog posts, and sent them to him. And today he used one of them, which I would post here, but I think it's better that you head on over to the Big Car website and check it out yourself (the comic is about halfway down the page - Rip Roaring #6). For my friends Brent, Jim F, and Dave, it's especially relevant. And while you're there, check out some of the comic archives here.