RAMPO by Steven Steinbock While I had three teenagers visiting me in Seattle, we had to make a couple trips to Uwajimaya, a massive supermarket and gift shop specializing in anything Asian. It’s fun going through isles of produce, baked goods, prepackaged meals, candies, and bizarre sea creatures that we can’t find in Maine. One […]
ROAD TRIP (part three) by Steven Steinbock It’s been almost three weeks since Nate and I completed our cross-country drive from Portland, Maine to Seattle, Washington. It already feels like a lifetime. After we arrived in Seattle, we were joined by my younger son, Sam, and his buddy who flew out from Maine. Sam’s friend […]
ROAD TRIP (part two) by Steven Steinbock Click on picture to see more detail. In last week’s column I told you about the first half of my epic cross-country road trip from one end of Interstate 90 to the other. Our trip took us through Massachusetts, upstate New York, along the southern shore of Lake […]
TRIPPING 90 (part one) by Steven Steinbock My last two columns had been written in haste a week before they were posted. At the time I was preparing for a cross-country road trip with my son. Nate starts school at the University of Washington in Seattle this fall. Some kids have security blankets. Others have […]
(GIVE ME THAT) ARMCHAIR DETECTION by Steven Steinbock Last week I told you about two mystery fan publications, C.A.D.S. and Old-Time Detection. In order to avoid using the word fanzine, I dubbed them both portmanteaus. My suggestion was cheeky, and my dislike of the f-word overstated. But I’ve had time to think about it, and […]
PORTMANTEAU MANIFESTO by Steven Steinbock Last week, while following on the (high) heels of Melodie’s WORDY column, I mentioned that I found the word “fanzine” to be awkward. As unpleasant-sounding as it might be, at the time I could think of no better alternative. The term “fanzine” was coined in 1940 within the science fiction […]
lol by Steven Steinbock Earlier this week, Melodie got WORDY on the subject of unpleasant sounding words. She dissed does, gunt, green, and gas among other words. I understand Melodie’s lingual discontent, but frankly I can think of a lot more irritating words. In the comment section on Tuesday, I kvetched about cummerbund. Something about […]