The Sport of Torero Goring
Excentric World staff members take a look at the sport of Torero Goring. The rules of this new sport include a brightly dressed human armed with a cape and a sword. Thrust into an arena, the human’s goal will be to tease a large, agitated bull with the cape and, after a number of passes and close calls to the cheering and jeering of the stadium audience, the matador stabs the bull for no apparent reason other than to kill him. If he misses the spot aimed to disable the bull, the bull is finally able to use tools given…
Words are the Horses a Writer Rides
Just as a jockey wonders about and studies horses, so should a writer study words; for words are the horses a writer rides. Language that was perfectly acceptable a couple of hundred years ago has fallen into disuse and I wonder why. Take the word thither for example. I will never have the opportunity to say, “I shall hasten thither to the Seven-eleven for a Slurpee.” I suppose the reason is that all too often it comes out: “I thall hasten thither to the theven-eleven for a thlurpee,” but that’s not reason enough to kill off a perfectly good word…
Cyanide Cloud
MENTAL ENVIRONMENT NEWS: Authorities arrested a woman who told people at gas stations and hotels in the Village of Oak Creek, near Sedona, AZ, that they needed to evacuate because a cloud of cyanide gas was approaching from Phoenix. There was no cyanide cloud, and 55-year-old Christine Ann Long of Scottsdale was arrested on charges of disorderly and unreasonable noise. The only cloud turned out to be the fog in the woman’s mind. SUCKING NEWS: A 70-year-old man was charged with grand theft after police watched him siphon off more than 900 gallons of gasoline from underground storage tanks at…
On the Refrigerator Door
Dear Dogs and Cats, The dishes with the paw prints are yours and contain your food. The other dishes are mine and contain my food. Placing a paw print in the middle of my plate of food does not stake a claim for it becoming your food and dish, nor do I find that aesthetically pleasing in the slightest. The stairway was not designed by NASCAR and is not a racetrack. Racing me to the bottom is not the object. Tripping me doesn’t help because I fall faster than you can run. I cannot buy anything bigger than a king-sized bed. I am…
A Winery’s Best Friend
I’ve easily been to over 100 tasting rooms at various wineries around the world. I’ve probably easily been to over 200. I can’t really say as I lost count a long time ago. How many wineries I’ve been to isn’t important though, as this article isn’t about how much wine I’ve had to drink. I wanted to talk about something I think is a must have, necessary, arguably mandatory requirement for having a great winery: cool pets that give a friendly greeting and enjoyable experience to everyone that visits the winery. Most tasting rooms, especially the ones in the well…
Ghostly Things
Q: Some people claim to have seen their dead relatives standing at the foot of their beds late at night. Are they really communicating with the ones crossed over or do you think perhaps they are just dreaming? A: It’s all a dream. You wouldn’t truly recognize anyone due to the fact that people’s images change when they are astral and, therefore, all humans look alike. Some people feel this is ethereal bigotry, but it is true. All ghosts look alike. Q: I recently went to a website that showed pictures of what people thought were ghosts or unexplainable sources…
Leprechaun Mugging
Q: I am a tour manager for a rock band. While washing my hands in a bar in Ireland, I spotted something in the mirror. Not worried, I turned and looked around. There was a small humanoid with bright tufts of red hair grinning manically at me. Its hair was matted and it was completely naked apart from a piece of fur around its waist. I reached behind for something to protect myself with when he leaped. With shocking speed it was on my head and “bang!” one swift crack to the skull. I woke up in a hospital bed….
Frog Doc
Once upon a time in the swampy, soupy, humid, snake-infested, stinking, goopy, dismal swamps of the Old South, there lived a man called the Frog Doctor. Nobody knew what his real name was. They just called him “Doc.” Doc had been around for as long as anyone could remember. Nobody could think of a time when Doc hadn’t been around and nobody could imagine the swampy, soupy, humid, snake-infested, stinking, goopy, dismal swamps without him. Doc was a fixture in the swamps. Doc was a legend in the swamps. Doc was known throughout the swamps and was sought out by…
Pelican Trust
PETA has declared Arizona BPUF or “Brown Pelican UnFriendly.” PETA in this case, stands for Pelican Enlightenment Trust Alliance, and the whole story started this way. For some unknown reason, brown pelicans have started showing up in Arizona. Either they were blown off course by the monsoons, they were brought over as pets by migrating Californians and have since outsmarted their captives, or their California captors released them once the unpolluted air allowed a couple of brain cells to kick in and they realized that a brown pelican makes a pretty lousy pet. My personal theory is that they, as…
Strange Invertebrate Animals in Vegas
Q: I read about a woman who saw a bunch of strange holes near a dumpster in Las Vegas while emptying her trash. Invertebrate animals started poking their heads through the holes. The eyes opened, then the creatures began to move, and she instinctively stepped back. The animals slowly began to sway the top of their bodies back and forth as they stretched upward toward the sky, all the while slowly blinking. Have you heard of such creatures? A: I had a dream exactly like this after spending hours at a five year old’s birthday party in a Chucky Cheese…
