The Year of The Ox

Hurry, get the firecrackers out of the box
Get dressed, don't forget the red socks.
With hard work we won't falter,
Let's hope this year to prosper
Come, let's welcome the Year of The Ox.

Happy Chinese New Year.

Oil: Black or Red?

Rising gas pump prices have consumers seeing red.

How about the human cost of oil? It has me seeing red - in a different way.


The petrol I pour in my car looks red
From a war that claims its weekly dead,
Will our appetite for the oil
That springs from blood-soaked soil
Forever curse an innocent mother's head?

Jason Bourne: "Run as job one"

This week I am writing a limerick for an actor in one of my three favorite film trilogies. Matt Damon became the unexpected success in the Bourne franchise and redefined the action genre with his portrayal of Jason Bourne - an intelligent, vulnerable and kinetic action hero on the run. The hunter and the hunted.

If you have not, I fully recommend seeing all 3 movies. Or see them again. The latest one won 2 Oscars in 2008.

Here's one for Matt Damon.

The Bourne trilogy has achieved a feat uncommon
Made a star-celebrity of 'baby-face' Matt Damon,
No longer chained is the action-hero
To cracking skulls at climes sub-zero
Appearing vulnerable is an emotion, he too can summon.

Ben Shalom Bernanke: "He's Nobleman Banker"

(March Madness or Work Insanity. March was a wash due to a heavy workload. Or was it writer's block? Catching up now.)

With the bleak economy on the front page, "Doctor" Bernanke has his work 'cut out for him.'


His brows furrowed, his mind sharp for action
A troubled outlook, he readies for a contraction.
"Should I utter the "R" word,
While falling on my sword?
And move quickly for a chop-chop C-section."

Angst About French Cinema

I watched a French movie called La Moustache recently. The entire movie dwells on a man and his (missing) moustache.

Now mind you, the critics have loved it. Here is the limerick it inspired...


In French movies, the practice is widespread
To examine characters while not much is said,
They angst about the mundane
And dwell over the inane,
The abrupt endings leave me scratching my head.

Sir Edmund Hillary: Mind Hardily Rules

Reaching any mountain's summit is a triumph of mind over body.

Sir Edmund Hillary("Mind Hardily Rules") was the first man, with Tenzing Norgay, to climb Everest on May 29, 1953. He died recently on January 10, 2008.

I had thought of writing a limerick in his honor and finally got around to it.


Raising my head in respect, is something necessary
For a man whose achievement is quite legendary,
It was his purposeful determination
That captured our imagination,
When first on Everest's summit, stood Sir Edmund Hillary.

Laphroaig: Single Malt Gestalt

Sometimes my friend calls me up and says, "let's have some of that smoky stuff...". I know what he has in mind. Here's to the old smoky!


Here's an ode to THE seductive single malt
From a scotch drinker that's worth his salt,
With it's smoky taste from peat
And just a touch of sweet,
Laphroaig is the choice; my default.


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