kristiculation

[kristiculation]

Once upon a time...

Once upon a time … there was a magical city, Las Vegas, in a desert valley in the United States of Nevada. Buffets were delicious and inexpensive. If someone didn’t have a job, they didn’t want a job. Hotels, schools, and homes were built and filled, immediately. Cellular telephones were as large as an adult’s forearm and weighed ten pounds. No one had ever heard of a text message. Photographs were developed from film. An hour was the soonest you could see them. A wonderful new invention, caller ID, stopped crank callers in their tracks. The World Wide Web was just coming onto the scene. Al Gore was still claiming its invention – or was that an urban legend? It was so long ago that the word, windows, referred only to glass encasements in physical structures. Rich kids had Apples and Atari. That is when this story begins, in the last days of the pre-digital world. You see, before one could sneak a look at a cell phone or emails, Google a name, access cheaters online, or hack a Facebook account, people dared to fall in love, and even then, it often ended badly, and at times, in tragedy. For in that magical land, just as in all the best fairytales, love rarely ended in, “Happily Ever After.” Read the full article

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Pavao on cross-examination

Pavao on cross-examination only underscores to the jury and the rest of us how broken and paralyzed by this tragedy the mother is, which is always a big mistake. He finally aborts the attempt to discredit her somehow, but only after he wrings her out over whether or not she knows where her coffee table is. This woman looks like she can barely remember her name and address. Jake and I look at each other and exchange expressions of disgust. When he figures Pavao has made himself look bad enough, he stands and objects. The Judge looks down at Gregor Pavao, as though the Wizard has been struck with a spell of retardation.   THE COURT: The objection is well taken. Mr. Pavao, does this coffee table prove or disprove any of the issues of this case? PAVAO: Well, your Honor -- --   He stammers because he wants his response to save him from looking like an ass, but he cannot think quickly enough.   THE COURT: Well, I tell you what, we are going to take a brief recess. If you come up with anything, we would all like to hear about it. Be in recess for five minutes by this clock. THE BAILIFF: Everyone please rise.   Gregor Pavao’s not perfect -- -- which really pisses him off. Granted, minutia can be very important, but you had better be damn sure it is before you grill a grieving mother in front of a jury. The best wizards keep their eyes on the map at all times and never forget where it is they are trying to lead the jury. “For if you don’t know where you are going, any road will lead you there.” Read the full article

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Once upon a time...

Once upon a time … there was a magical city, Las Vegas, in a desert valley in the United States of Nevada. Buffets were delicious and inexpensive. If someone didn’t have a job, they didn’t want a job. Hotels, schools, and homes were built and filled, immediately. Cellular telephones were as large as an adult’s forearm and weighed ten pounds. No one had ever heard of a text message. Photographs were developed from film. An hour was the soonest you could see them. A wonderful new invention, caller ID, stopped crank callers in their tracks. The World Wide Web was just coming onto the scene. Al Gore was still claiming its invention – or was that an urban legend? It was so long ago that the word, windows, referred only to glass encasements in physical structures. Rich kids had Apples and Atari. That is when this story begins, in the last days of the pre-digital world. You see, before one could sneak a look at a cell phone or emails, Google a name, access cheaters online, or hack a Facebook account, people dared to fall in love, and even then, it often ended badly, and at times, in tragedy. For in that magical land, just as in all the best fairytales, love rarely ended in, “Happily Ever After.” Read the full article

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Picture it.

Picture it. Right-handed Cheyenne, pointing the gun to her head with her left hand -- because the cigarette and lighter are in her right -- how in the hell does this not fly in the face of reason? What is she thinking as she does this? Should I light my cigarette or blow my brains out? Unlikely is putting this scenario kindly. So, the close-up of her cigarette and lighter in her right hand is an obstacle for Justin’s Wizard to avoid stumbling over. Oh, but if it had been impounded, it would have been a mighty battlement. Why you ask? Because. Jurors love physical evidence. It is good the paramedics remember and the I.D. tech. took pictures of the objects in her hand, but it is not the same for a jury in deliberation. Admit it: When I mentioned an imaginary box of evidence to go with the book, you wanted it! So, they love their evidence, that is, their physical evidence. Even smart juries commonly forget or disregard testimony. Testimony is not tangible. It is subject to interpretation and human recollection. That is hard work for 12 separate minds over days, weeks and sometimes months. The first thing every jury does is elect a foreman. The second thing they do is take their evidence out of the boxes and get it up on that table.   Read the full article

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Once upon a time...

Once upon a time … there was a magical city, Las Vegas, in a desert valley in the United States of Nevada. Buffets were delicious and inexpensive. If someone didn’t have a job, they didn’t want a job. Hotels, schools, and homes were built and filled, immediately. Cellular telephones were as large as an adult’s forearm and weighed ten pounds. No one had ever heard of a text message. Photographs were developed from film. An hour was the soonest you could see them. A wonderful new invention, caller ID, stopped crank callers in their tracks. The World Wide Web was just coming onto the scene. Al Gore was still claiming its invention – or was that an urban legend? It was so long ago that the word, windows, referred only to glass encasements in physical structures. Rich kids had Apples and Atari. That is when this story begins, in the last days of the pre-digital world. You see, before one could sneak a look at a cell phone or emails, Google a name, access cheaters online, or hack a Facebook account, people dared to fall in love, and even then, it often ended badly, and at times, in tragedy. For in that magical land, just as in all the best fairytales, love rarely ended in, “Happily Ever After.” Read the full article

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Bon Festival & Bazaar

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[kristiculation]

Once upon a time...

Once upon a time … there was a magical city, Las Vegas, in a desert valley in the United States of Nevada. Buffets were delicious and inexpensive. If someone didn’t have a job, they didn’t want a job. Hotels, schools, and homes were built and filled, immediately. Cellular telephones were as large as an adult’s forearm and weighed ten pounds. No one had ever heard of a text message. Photographs were developed from film. An hour was the soonest you could see them. A wonderful new invention, caller ID, stopped crank callers in their tracks. The World Wide Web was just coming onto the scene. Al Gore was still claiming its invention – or was that an urban legend? It was so long ago that the word, windows, referred only to glass encasements in physical structures. Rich kids had Apples and Atari. That is when this story begins, in the last days of the pre-digital world. You see, before one could sneak a look at a cell phone or emails, Google a name, access cheaters online, or hack a Facebook account, people dared to fall in love, and even then, it often ended badly, and at times, in tragedy. For in that magical land, just as in all the best fairytales, love rarely ended in, “Happily Ever After.” Read the full article

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Back in the Day 2

Back in the day, one of the original Foley Brothers, who shall remain nameless -- although, I will allude that he was the black sheep and the favorite son – well, that favored Foley Brother made his beautiful Hispanic bride feel somewhat insecure.  She took that emotion and translated it with the use of a little .22 that he had always encouraged her to carry, “just in case.”  She shot at him as he drove his get-away car from the scene of the jealousy.  The Sheriff’s Department never even commented on the incident, back in the day. Today, however, we have the grim story of a woman killed by a Metro officer.  It is sexist, I admit.  However, I think most Americans are taken aback when the victim is a defenseless woman.  In this case she was not apparently completely defenseless.  She had a shovel. So our bad guy is a broad with a shovel.  Don’t laugh.  A Metro officer unloaded his weapon into her.  She had been threatening a security guard and another woman, apparently.  Metro was on scene less than one minute when the officer emptied his gun at her, hitting her seven times, at best count. Back in the day, all that I am going to say is times have changed.  Even twenty years ago, officers would have laughed about the crazy broad and the shovel, but they would have found a way of de-escalating the situation without gunfire.  But then, that was back in the day. Read the full article

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Flickering Images

Loose hips, Wet Lips, Green Eyes that hypnotize, Ex-cocktail waitress/manicurist, Missy’s momma, Angie’s friend, Kristy’s sister, Nights that don’t end. Rolling Stones, An off-the-hook phone, Hip-hugger jeans, It seems that yesterday you were a baby. With long blond hair, And that haunting stare, You see in your Jenny’s eyes. And Stephanie’s smirk, I can still see it lurk, In your smile, But mostly your lies. Rock-n-roll ballerina, Yukon Jack or a shot of tequila, Chicken casseroles, Whose recipe? I don’t know. You should know just how much I miss you. Read the full article

[kristiculation]

Once upon a time...

Once upon a time … there was a magical city, Las Vegas, in a desert valley in the United States of Nevada. Buffets were delicious and inexpensive. If someone didn’t have a job, they didn’t want a job. Hotels, schools, and homes were built and filled, immediately. Cellular telephones were as large as an adult’s forearm and weighed ten pounds. No one had ever heard of a text message. Photographs were developed from film. An hour was the soonest you could see them. A wonderful new invention, caller ID, stopped crank callers in their tracks. The World Wide Web was just coming onto the scene. Al Gore was still claiming its invention – or was that an urban legend? It was so long ago that the word, windows, referred only to glass encasements in physical structures. Rich kids had Apples and Atari. That is when this story begins, in the last days of the pre-digital world. You see, before one could sneak a look at a cell phone or emails, Google a name, access cheaters online, or hack a Facebook account, people dared to fall in love, and even then, it often ended badly, and at times, in tragedy. For in that magical land, just as in all the best fairytales, love rarely ended in, “Happily Ever After.” Read the full article

[kristiculation]

Ghetto Lancelot

I watch you, Stand in the doorway contemplating the wet outdoors, Thinking yourself alone, Prescient and past memory painted on your face. Walk into the wetness with that walk of yours, Strut with a long stride, rippling like a puddle, As though the sun caressed your glistening flesh. Walk, Lancelot, Into the projects, your Camelot. You make me wonder if the rain is really there, And make me sure that princes do appear, And are not be bred. Read the full article

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Ghetto Lancelot

I watch you, Stand in the doorway contemplating the wet outdoors, Thinking yourself alone, Prescient and past memory painted on your face. Walk into the wetness with that walk of yours, Strut with a long stride, rippling like a puddle, As though the sun caressed your glistening flesh. Walk, Lancelot, Into the projects, your Camelot. You make me wonder if the rain is really there, And make me sure that princes do appear, And are not be bred. Read the full article

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MGM did burn down

Three days later the MGM did burn down. My father, then the young king of structural steel in Vegas, had the contract for the MGM’s big expansion going up. His men broke into the locked stairwells with sleever bars and ran into the smoke and fire in the casino with hardhats and handkerchiefs as protective gear. They were the first rescuers on the scene. My father and his superintendent heard about it on their radios and arrived with the fire department. As they watched, people strained out of broken windows begging for their lives, while others jumped to their deaths. My father told us that night that while he was watching from the sidewalk, a suitcase thumped to the steps, feet from him. He looked up and saw a sheet rope dropped from several floors up. Then down came a big cowboy in his sixties, wearing a Stetson, dressed to the nines. The cowboy dropped the last few feet, picked up his suitcase, and walked in my father’s direction. As the cowboy passed my father, he remarked, “I’m going to the Goddamn Dunes,” which is the only funny thing about that tragedy. Read the full article

[kristiculation]

Once upon a time...

Once upon a time … there was a magical city, Las Vegas, in a desert valley in the United States of Nevada. Buffets were delicious and inexpensive. If someone didn’t have a job, they didn’t want a job. Hotels, schools, and homes were built and filled, immediately. Cellular telephones were as large as an adult’s forearm and weighed ten pounds. No one had ever heard of a text message. Photographs were developed from film. An hour was the soonest you could see them. A wonderful new invention, caller ID, stopped crank callers in their tracks. The World Wide Web was just coming onto the scene. Al Gore was still claiming its invention – or was that an urban legend? It was so long ago that the word, windows, referred only to glass encasements in physical structures. Rich kids had Apples and Atari. That is when this story begins, in the last days of the pre-digital world. You see, before one could sneak a look at a cell phone or emails, Google a name, access cheaters online, or hack a Facebook account, people dared to fall in love, and even then, it often ended badly, and at times, in tragedy. For in that magical land, just as in all the best fairytales, love rarely ended in, “Happily Ever After.” Read the full article

[kristiculation]

EGYPT IN YOUR EYES

Columns, Sphinxes, No one near, Toasted skin veiled like sand dunes, In the hot white sun. Pitter-patter, Pitter-patter, Scurry across the smoldering Stones, Duck swiftly, As the cobra, Through the secret passageway. Within the pyramid, Slowly striding, Silken stone licking naked feet, Soothing sand-scorched soles, To the golden antechamber, Quietly she goes. Resting peacefully, On crisp cool cotton sheets, Pharaoh’s lover pauses, In silent sweet repose, Poignant melting memories enveloping her soul. Read the full article

[kristiculation]

Once upon a time...

Once upon a time … there was a magical city, Las Vegas, in a desert valley in the United States of Nevada. Buffets were delicious and inexpensive. If someone didn’t have a job, they didn’t want a job. Hotels, schools, and homes were built and filled, immediately. Cellular telephones were as large as an adult’s forearm and weighed ten pounds. No one had ever heard of a text message. Photographs were developed from film. An hour was the soonest you could see them. A wonderful new invention, caller ID, stopped crank callers in their tracks. The World Wide Web was just coming onto the scene. Al Gore was still claiming its invention – or was that an urban legend? It was so long ago that the word, windows, referred only to glass encasements in physical structures. Rich kids had Apples and Atari. That is when this story begins, in the last days of the pre-digital world. You see, before one could sneak a look at a cell phone or emails, Google a name, access cheaters online, or hack a Facebook account, people dared to fall in love, and even then, it often ended badly, and at times, in tragedy. For in that magical land, just as in all the best fairytales, love rarely ended in, “Happily Ever After.” Read the full article

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Perfect Teeth

John walks through our door, grinning through his perfect teeth. Read the full article