Too clever by half

An editor I once worked for would use a putdown for headlines that tried too hard, and just never got there.

That’s too clever by half, she would say, as drily as a date in the sun.

Too clever by half has since, been a default headline checker over decades of giving and appreciating smart headlines.

HuffPo US today goes with ‘Hill Yeah’ – for Hillary Clinton’s victory.

Too clever by half.

Sure, we do get all the word play, but it reads like striving for clever, rather than smartly delivering the pun(ch) [see how this worked].

Watching you HuffPo.

A(nother) Slice of life no more

One by one, they die. This year a bunch of my teen heroes are no more.
Ali, Prince, Bowie… and now Kimbo Slice.
I’m walking a lonely road, no cellphone, cigarette in my hand, and a bunch-full of bitter-sweet memories.
I feel like I don’t belong now, but I did once.
Once when I tried desperately to be cool and wanted not to belong, I belonged.
Now, I will happily settle for belonging, but I don’t.
A part of me dies as each great star burns out.
Life becomes slow moments of fast times and a gentle, burning thankfulness.

The Ali I knew

I grew up with a Holy Trinity.
One of them was Jesus. One was Elvis. And the other was Muhammad Ali.
My dad was a boxer and that set the stage for my childhood perception of life to be coloured by three great men – one a God.
Be like Jesus, but dance like Elvis (I could not sing) and box like Ali.
I never did box, but the charisma of Ali forever imprinted on my mind what it meant to be a world-famous champion.
My love for boxing came from my dad. And Ali.
And for that I’m grateful.