"Stencil had called from a Hungarian coffee shop on York Avenue known as Hungarian Coffee Shop. At this hour, the only customers were two elderly ladies and a cop off duty. The woman behind the pastry counter was all tomato cheeks and smiles, looking like the type who gave extra portions to poor growing boys and mothered bums with free refills on coffee, though it was a neighborhood of rich kids and bums who were only accidental there and knew it and so 'moved on' quickly"

—excerpt from V by Thomas Pynchon, 1963

Dear Diary:

You won't believe this! Clarice Dorchester looked at me in gym class today. I mean she gave me THE look. I got all wobbly for a second and Kyle Storch nailed me right in the face (we were playing dodgeball). Totally sucked because I got a bloody nose and the nurse had to come so I looked like a total flit. How do you know if you're cool enough to get with a girl like Clarice? Is there a test or something I could take? I am totally in the dark about this and need help now!

More later.



Lost Gem: The very funky and surreal Vegetable Soup, a lost Saturday Morning cartoon gem from 1975 featuring the voice of James Earl Jones.