Category Archives: Creative Expression

The 12 Days Of Micro Fiction – The Fourth Day

Photo by Pwlps

THE BOY WHO REFUSES TO BE WRITTEN

The boy who refuses to be written may not be a boy at all. Maybe he’s a wolf, tornado, dragon 90-feet tall. He could also be an avalanche, submarine, he could be the moon. He’d prefer to be the time of day, tomorrow, someday soon.

The boy who refuses to be written may not always know his name. Maybe he’s unsure, the rules always seem to change. He wonders if he’ll ever feel at home inside the world. The boy who refuses to be written is happiest when he’s a girl.

The 12 Days of Micro Fiction – The First Day

Photo by Bob Collowan

THE SIMPLE LIFE

Turns out the monster taking refuge in the windmill isn’t eating our livestock and demonizing our children. Turns out all these years we’ve been doing it to ourselves. To a one, we gawp, and remove our hats and slap them across our knees. Then we torch that sum bitch and move on to the next windmill.

Future Headlines (I Don’t Want To See)

Photo by Texas State Archives

Photo by Texas State Archives

Hey there, wow, it’s already Thanksgiving again, a time to reflect on all that we’re grateful for in our lives. Granted, in America, this is either the best or worst of times, depending on whether you were angry before Nov. 8 or if you’re angry right now. One person’s hope is cause for another’s sheer panic. In this moment, however, I am trying to avoid hysteria. But as thankful as I am for all that is beautiful in my life, I’ll be really thankful if I never read these headlines in 2017.

Man Thawed After 60 Years in Cryogenic Freeze Demands Money Back – “Sheesh, I’m still in 1957,” says Lester Hudgins.

Muslims Registered in U.S. To Receive Lifetime Subscriptions to Guideposts Magazine – “They’re saving a big league 53% off the cover price,” says government official.

Vampire Sects Exploit American Exodus, Pose As Canadian Host Families – “They were all so pale and polite,” says a survivor from San Francisco, “how the hell were we to know?”

White House Outsources IT to the Crimea – Putin Yelp review “made this one a no-brainer,” says government spokesman.

EPA To Privatize, Suitors Include Dow, BP, Volkswagen – “We’d be just as happy selling it to Shell, or to a shell company,” says latest press release.

Executive Order Mandates Scott Baio To Play All Parts In ‘Hamilton’ Forever – “Baio, that sounds about as diverse as we want to get,” says The Great White Way.

‘DREAM Act’ers Deemed Too Inspirational, To Dream For Real In Medically-Induced Comas – “It’s better they stay out of sight while we craft a new ‘rapists and murderers narrative’,” says Homeland Security.

Philippines President Granted U.S. Asylum, Cabinet Post – “I think we have been a little too precious here at HHS about the sanctity of human life,” says a deputy director. “Secretary Duterte is going to do wonders for our budget.”

Bannon Militia Installs Former Access Hollywood Host as Publisher – “Don is always saying the New York Times can use more ‘bush’ in it.”

U.S. Nuclear Codes Break Re-Tweet Record – “G-d autocorrect,” says top adviser to the President.

What I’m Handing Out This Halloween

Photo by The Culinary Geek

Photo by The Culinary Geek

Happy Halloween everyone! If you’re in the area trick ‘r treating, stop on by and get loaded up with some of the good stuff:

  • Nestle’s Milk Chocolate Ball Bearings – You know the jingle: So much fun going in, so much adventure coming out.
  • Gobstopper Existential Dread Flavor – Because you’re never too young to fret about how insignificant you and your purple tongue are in the greater scheme of things.
  • Popcorn Balls from 1986 – Even back then they tasted like they were 30 years old.
  • Boston Baked Beans – Not the candy, actual Boston baked beans, steaming hot from my ladle into your bag.
  • Topps All-Star Candy Bars Trading Cards – Something nice for the diabetic kids. All the favorites tastefully photographed.
  • Game-day decision – Pamphlets advertising my sinkholes for sale in Florida, or my frosted corned beef hash squares made with fresh Florida sinkhole water.
  • Willy Wonka’s Gummy Anatomies – Squish a large intestine between your teeth. Oh no, somebody didn’t fully digest that piece of cod!
  • Cliven Bundy’s Gummy Manifestos – Reserved for the parents who dress up their kids as Donald Trump un-ironically. So they’ll skip over my house when the election doesn’t go their way.
  • Nougat whippets – Mini aerosol cans good for three sniffs of straight up, unfiltered nougat scent.
  • Spike strips – For use at the end of the day when you commandeer the family car in a fit of sugar-induced rage.

What will YOU be handing out this Halloween?

 

The Greatest Commencement Speech of 2016

Photo by wz

Photo by wz

Howard U hosted President Obama and University of Pennsylvania boasted Lin-Manuel Miranda.

But no graduating class of 2016 will quite experience the bounty of inspiration that swept the 300 students departing this year from the Hobart J. Warthong Manhattan Graduate School of Business Ethics.

Last Sunday’s ceremony was highlighted by an uplifting and soul-stirring commencement address by an Epson MX-80 dot matrix printer. Blog correspondent Philangeleo Cubbins (also covering the orange creamsicle wars in the Bronx) crashed the party to capture some audio of the MX-80’s remarks.

Here’s an especially poignant moment:

 

Oh, and here’s a hilarious yet instructive anecdote:

 

Ah, but nothing brought the Warthong Class of 2016 to its feet like the MX-80’s rousing conclusion:

 

Rest assured, America, the future of business ethics has never been brighter!

Bryan’s Summer Preview

Photo by Alan Light

Photo by Alan Light

With the official start of Summer fast approaching, it’s my obligation as a blogsman to offer a sneak peek of what I’ll be up to during the longest days of the year. Here we go!

JUNE

  • Agree to give lost tourists directions but only if they rub in the sunscreen on my back.
  • Post bail after being arrested for insisting lost tourists rub in the sunscreen on my back.
  • Attend the annual Boil Boil. In Crapahatchee, Alabama they feed a cold, starve the flu, and, at the county fairgrounds over the last weekend in June, pour pots of scalding water on the boil-inflicted.

JULY

  • Dine and ditch in Philadelphia dressed as Ben Franklin
  • Attend my local Air Horn Concert in the Park series
  • Visit the Lawn Darts Hall of Fame/Texaco Station and Speedeez Car Wash; off the I-90, head north on Truedatt Blvd. until it dead-ends – 2 for one Hall admission and complimentary scent tree

AUGUST

  • Train a pack of wild dogs to lead my chariot through downtown while I scream “The dog days are here! The dog days are here!”
  • Reattach the appendage that wild dogs inevitably chew off during training sessions.
  • Produce PSA about how to tell if a wild dog just wants to eat you or if it’s genuinely interested in learning how to lead a chariot through downtown.

Whew, well, some busy times are ahead for me. What will you be doing this summer?

Let’s Get Serious

Photo by Ananian

Photo by Ananian

*September fades into October and with it any last traces of the frivolity and mindlessness of summer. We make our last fart noises of the season and then lock away childish things inside the vacation home that is our immaturity. When the temperature drops and the leaves change and Jean-Luc Godard has a new film coming out, the time has come to get serious.

Time to reengage the intellect and flex the brain, challenge ourselves away from the intravenous drip of unreality, from the quick easy morphine shots of J.D. Robb and “Sing Your Face Off.” We are no longer glazed doughnuts passively gazing through the cellophane window of our doughnut box. We are thick, layered pastries out of our cages; we are thinkers and we are brooders; we start using semicolons in our sentences, and that can only mean we are getting very, very serious.

Seriously.

No, really. For example: I’m getting serious and putting on my business hat with one novel and my deep sea diving gear in the creation of another. And of course continuing to work on my treatise concerning the vagaries of quantum foam theory.

How about you? What are you getting serious about this very serious Fall season?

 

*Hooray, we’re back online! BryanHilson.com settled its case with Internet and has been reinstated on the World Wide Web. And all of us here are getting along famously with our new intern, Irwin Chattendale. When he’s not bored with the Kim Kardashian: Hollywood app or writing “Outlander” fan fiction, Irwin makes a mean cinnamon raisin bagel breakfast sandwich. Great to have you aboard, Irwin!

Summer’s Guilty Pleasures

Photo by Judy Zechariah

Photo by Judy Zechariah

Hooray, summertime is here! And what is summertime good for? Sun and fun and maybe an indulgence or two. An extra scoop, one more cocktail, a quick stroll down Low Brow Street. What’s a little junk food for the body and the mind going to hurt? We’ll make up for it after Labor Day, right? If we make it to Labor Day alive, that is.

Here’s hoping and here’s my Summer Guilty Pleasure To-Do List. Do you have one? Share it with me!

Bryan’s Summer Guilty Pleasure To-Do List

Movie: “Slow Motion Explosion VII: San Diego Zoo 3D”

Beach Read: I Just Ripped My Bodice; No Seriously, I Ripped It Pretty Bad

TV Series: “Matlock Undead”

Concert Festival: Swamp Music Acid Nightmare 2014

Dessert Topping: Sugar-coated sugar sauce

Dessert Topping for my Dessert Topping: Dexedrine

Adult Beverage: Coors Factory Recall ‘87

Catch-Phrase: “Talk to the hand because that’s my face right now SWAMP MUSIC ACID NIGHTMARE FESTIVAL!”

T-Shirt: I’m With Stupid…Melvin J. Stupid, And He Said He Put Me On The List. Don’t Give Me That Look, Check It Again Smart-Ass!

Recreational Sport: The two-legged race where I’m ankle-cuffed to the machine they sell at Walmart that both draws your blood and feeds you liquid cheese intravenously

Serious Commitment Sport: The softball team that skips the game and drives straight to McSporty’s for fried chicken sticks and beers the size of windsocks

Vacation Spot: Global Warming Village – “We’ll Leave The Lights On For You…Forever”

Campfire Story: Man With The Hook Hand’s Botched Colonoscopy

Sunburn: Third Degree Equator Bake

Fast Food Restaurant: Risk Burger

Snack Food: Candy Toothpaste – Now With 38% More Whitening Frosting!

Unnecessary Surgery: Kidney rotation

Hobby: Checking off the items on my To-Do List while cackling with the bear driving us the wrong way on mountain switchbacks