Big Ed's Place

Lost Girls, by Alan Moore and Melinda Gebbie, is beautiful, thought provoking, and a bit disturbing. A very thick graphic novel, it’s not cheap nor, surprisingly, a quick read.  The basic premise is that Wendy (of Peter Pan), Alice (of Wonderland fame), and Dorothy (of the Wizard of Oz) all stay at the same hotel in Europe in 1914.  It doesn’t take long for their paths to cross and then… things go through the metaphorical looking glass. read more »

Up front, I must state that my work is entwined with Nick. He hosts this site on his server. He lets me play in his Universe, writing Summer Camp stories. I return the favor by serving on his reality team and reviewing his rough drafts before he releases them. Does that bias this review? Probably, but I’ll let you the reader judge how much.

read more »

Sometimes a single song fits a mood and a time better than anything else. For me, Poe’s Hey Pretty (the Drive-By Mix) is the ultimate song to listen to late at night, driving alone on the highway. There’s something haunting about the music mixed behind the narrative of a guy being seduced by a girl in a fast car, and lines (“too bad dark languages… rarely survive”) that stay with me when I’m finished. It gets me ‘in the mood’–not for sex, but to pick up the pen and write. Which is often what I do when I pull off the road and have a chance to relax.

It’s not quite as good in the day, or sitting anywhere than behind the wheel. But there, it’s perfect–five out of five stars.

The movie Shortbus has such a whimsical, happy heart that it’s fun. It’s the first explicit (orgasms are shown on screen, both male and female) non-porn film I’ve seen that left me smiling at the end. read more »

The web is filled with free dirty stories. If you’re willing to wade through a swamp of crap, you can occasionally find decent freebies. But some sites make it easier than others and storiesonline (www.storiesonline.net) is one of the best. read more »

ZZ Top sings Blues? Absolutely! And very well, I might add.

Of their blues songs, my absolute favorite is A Fool for Your Stockings. Why should be obvious to anyone who’s read my stories or done even more than a cursory skim of the artwork on this site. The subject and title do a damn good job of describing who I am. Doing so in a funky, saucy, struttin’ blues style? I’m just a quivering mass of putty, enjoying the ride. This is one of the top songs for getting me in the mood to write, and I recommend it wholeheartedly. Five out of five stars.

Eye of the Hurricane, by David Wilcox, is a haunting ballad from the late 80′s, mostly just voice and guitar. It tells the story of a girl who rides a Hurricane motorcycle as a way to forget her pain. I believe it’s beautiful and one of the best “I’m depressed because I got dumped” songs around. Five out of five stars.

Bird by Bird, by Anne Lamott, is accurately subtitled “Some Instructions on Writing and Life.” I picked it up as a writing guide, and found it far more interesting as a window into Anne’s life and her own approach to writing.  That said, much of the advice is quite good… read more »

The Shape of Things (2003 film, based on the play of the same name) aims to stir things up and provoke conversations about art, relationships, and morality. It does that, but with one major flaw. The characters just aren’t likeable. If you’re willing to watch past that…

read more »

9 Songs is a sexually explicit Indie Film, released in 2004.  Not a porn film, nor one that fades to black, it captures the mood of its characters through the music of the concerts they attend…

read more »