The Adventures of LitBoy: Bill Brent's Blog

FOR SALE: Robber-Stabber Bowling Trophy!

Now what, you ask, could be better than a BURGLAR-BONKER?

Well, how about a ROBBER-STABBER?

yes Yes YES! you You YOU! could be the NEXT! proud OWNER! of this vintage 1963 teak wood bowling statue! (A statue such as this was often awarded in days of yore as a "bowling trophy" for successful league participation.)

Furthermore, you should know that in ancient Bowlingia -- "ancient" meaning, back around 1963 or so -- nearly every household had a Tiny Bowling Man posed near a sacred entryway, often a "Rumpus Room" or "Den," as a guardian sentry protector spirit against evil Beatniks and Mortgage Bankers! (Would I lie to you? Now would I say something that wasn't true?) So believe in the ancient Bowling Man, and he will protect you! With this giant spike! Right through the eye of any intrusive Beatnik or Robber Baron Banker! You can use the rounded easy-grip base with both hands for maximum control.

Or, order the Robber-Stabber Bowling Trophy WITH the Burglar-Bonker, and you can own BOTH, for just $32 postpaid in the USA! That's a savings of 20%, sports fans. Such a small price to give your home the protection it deserves. So buy it now!

Now, since this gorgeous addition to your retro lifestyle is only half the weight of the Burglar-Bonker Bowling Pin, it costs me much less to ship it to you! So you can save big on this beauty! Just $15 postpaid in the USA! Email me a note, and it's yours! (I'll send you a PayPal invoice you can pay from.)

Outside the USA? Please email me for a quote ... and be sure to include your ship-to address so that I can get you an accurate quote.

(If you are set up to use Revolution Money Exchange, we can use RME instead of PayPal.)

---

Wishing you a beautiful day,

Bill Brent

[this page last updated: 2011.04.02, 2:32 p.m. Hawaii time]

FOR SALE: Burglar-Bonker Bowling Pin!

You've heard of the wife-beater? Well, here is my burglar-bonker! And you can buy it now! $25 postpaid in the USA, delivered via super-fast Priority Mail. Just email me a note ... and I'll email you an invoice. Be sure to email me from an address with a PayPal account attached to it. Or if you are set up to use Revolution Money Exchange, we can use RME.

(Outside the USA, please contact me for pricing... and be sure to include your ship-to address so that I can get you an accurate quote.)

It's quite fetching, isn't it? And just the protection you need for those nights when you're home alone. Yet this lacquered lovely weighs in at just over three pounds.

---

Wishing you a beautiful day,

Bill Brent

[this page last updated: 2011.04.02, 12:47 p.m. Hawaii time]

ON SALE NOW: My Life, For A Limited Time!

We've all heard of clearance sales, right? Well, friends, this is my semi-centennial SALE OF SALES! That's right, sales junkies, bargain hunters, and lifestyle groupies! I've turned 50, and I'm clearing it out! ALL OF IT! YES, REALLY!!! Before I turn 51! What a great deadline!

Now, just what is going on here, you might ask? Well, I'm retooling my life for the next several years. I want to be more mobile. In a time of diminishing returns, mostly I want to return to traveling and touring as a writer and creative writing workshop presenter. And I want to go bowling again. In many different places. Bowling helps to keep my head clear, amidst the writing and public speaking. I miss it a lot.

And I want to blog about all of that -- and about retooling our lives -- a lot. This is one thing I know a lot about, and I want to learn what you know about it too.

I've written here before about clearing crappe, and I'm a one-man revolution in motion. Ever since I prepared to move to the Big Island of Hawaii in 2005, I've been clearing my own crappe. I still brought way too much of it with me -- nearly everyone who moves here does, live and learn -- and so I've been giving it away and selling it off ever since!

You see, this is what poor people do. We collect stuff because it helps us to feel less poor. We can always point to our stuff and say, see, I'm not so poor. But I'm not here right now to lecture on that topic. Let's just say that I'm a poor person in recovery, and leave it at that.

One of my dreams when I moved to Hawaii was to set up a home music studio and make demos of some of my songs. A lot of my current crappe is related to that dream. Well, life got livelier, and so I had to choose one dream over another. And so I chose writing over music. Maybe I'll return to music someday.

Meanwhile, I've been very busy writing novels. I finished one a while ago, and I will post the details here, as soon as it's ready to be published. Currently, I have a trilogy well along the way, as well as some other book length, non-fiction work.

But for now, ALL THIS STUFF! IN MY WAY! Yes, most of it is gorgeous, valuable, and useful, yet no longer useful TO ME! By now, I have managed to pare down to the stuff that is pretty choice. But now, I'm selling it all! Not just vintage music gear -- I still have some way cool vintage bowling stuff, and plenty of great books from my personal library -- so mostly, this is what you'll see me posting about here, over and over, for the next several months: trips down memory lane! I hope you'll tag along for the adventure. It's gonna be a fun ride.

I've made it easy for you to subscribe to this blog! Please see the top of this page at www.LitBoy.com for your options. And thank you to my recent new subscribers.

Now, I have a number of online stores. The quantity and variety of inventory has fluctuated over the past decade, but I have always drawn outstanding ratings from highly satisfied buyers. Below are links to ALL my online stores. Please Tweet, Like, forward, re-post, or do whatever magic you can to help spread the word!

[1]  eBay

[2]  Etsy

[3]  Amazon
-  NOTE: This bookstore includes some adult-oriented literature. And nice gift books. More soon!

[4]  LitBoy.com! Last but not least, here is a link to any items I have posted for sale right here on my site. Often, my sales copy will be tongue in cheek, but all of it is genuinely ON SALE. And you are welcome to contact me directly to make your payment arrangements.

[Again, please help me to spread the word! You could post my nice short link to this article you are reading now:]  http://is.gd/mylifeonsale

-  NOTE: Even if the listing is way old, some items are still available, like this gorgeous black and blue vintage 1976 AMF bowling ball (undrilled). Just ask me!

---

AND FINALLY! If you buy an item during a visit to Amazon based on a search from this blog (see the Amazon keyword search window in the left sidebar, here at www.LitBoy.com), you will give me a 4% Amazon Associate (affiliate) commission; somewhat less if you order via one of Amazon's 3rd-party vendors. Hey, it took four years, but I just made my first ten dollars! Go me! w00t w00t w00t!

- The hardest part is to train yourself to start searching for Amazon items here at LitBoy.com <--then scroll down a bit, since most of us start right at Amazon, or search for an item using Google, which then directly links to Amazon. But let's try! It all adds up! And that starts me out on the road to get to you. Cool, huh?

Thank you very much for your time and attention today, and if you can do anything to spread the word or otherwise support my career, I will be doubly blessed.

---

Wishing you a beautiful day,

Bill Brent

[this page last updated: 2011.04.02, 11:10 p.m., Hawaii time]

Buy Vintage Bowling And Music Gear

Hi, everyone --

Just a quick note to let you know that I'm retooling the LitBoy blog for the new decade ahead! Or at least the next ten months, ha ha. We are all quick-change artists of Life in the Fast Lane of the Internet. Last year, I never thought I'd succumb to Facebook fever, either.

So, since I am in the process of getting rid of my unused stuff in preparation of a likely move in the less than distant future, I am re-inventing this blog to express the theme of "small footprint": Take what you need and leave the rest. Or, if you want to get all Net-jargony about it, you can say that I am re-branding LitBoy.com as a blog for the "small footprint, frugality mentality" niche. Or maybe as a "save my money and simplify life" blog. (Let's see -- what other likely search engine keyword phrases can I cram into one post before this gets tedious, not to mention painfully obvious?) :-P

Anyway, I'm sure you get the idea. Likewise, I'm sure there will still be some Hawaii-specific content to enjoy, which has been the other major theme here.

Really, though, this transition is just an extension of some of the posting I've been doing online, both to this blog and elsewhere, over the past five years. We're just getting more focused now on simply living the simple life, that's all. Hey, I've always been a trendsetter -- so naturally, I was broke before it was a national condition, right? [cue rim shot]

Stay tuned, then, and you might even pick up some ways to save on the cost of living and have fun while doing it.

Meanwhile, as you may have noticed, there is new sidebar content here. Click to the left, if you like, and see if you like any of my stuff for sale at either Amazon (books, CDs, DVDs) or Etsy, which is a great site for handcrafted goods, crafting supplies, and cool vintage items over 20 years old. On Etsy, I have started to sell vintage bowling gear and home music studio gear in both analog and digital flavors. In fact, some kind soul just blogged this here retro piece of music-making home décor I put up for sale, within 24 hours of my listing it! Like I said, we're Livin' La Vida Internet here. VRUUUMZ!

---

Wishing you a beautiful day,

Bill Brent

[this page last updated: 2009.07.13, 2:30 a.m. Hawaii time]

LitBoy.com is the brainchild of writer Bill Brent. If you enjoy this blog, please consider a donation in support of my work. You can send money via PayPal to info [AT] litboy [DOT] com, or better still, use Revolution Money Exchange. Unlike PayPal, RME pays me 100% of your donation. It's quick and easy!


Here's the button for that:

A Memoir of Sexual Self-Discovery, and a History of Religious Bowling

Probably I should break this entry into two or three separate posts, but lately it's tough enough for me to prod myself into doing even a monthly post to this blog. So today you get three for the price of one.

---

FIRST, I want to pass along a link to an online excerpt from ENTANGLED LIVES, the erotic memoir anthology that features my true story along with six other erotic memoirs, including MARILYN JAYE LEWIS, IAN PHILIPS / GREG WHARTON, and "Adam Greenaway" (the pseudonym for a well-known gay author who chose anonymity for his self-disclosure), BILL BRENT (moi -- just including the name for the search engines), AMIE M. EVANS, ROB STEPHENSON, and RACHEL KRAMER BUSSEL.

This piece, excerpted from Rob Stephenson's "Exuvia (1977-1980), is featured on the VELVET MAFIA website:

CLICK FOR "EXUVIA" (NOTE: for mature readers only.)

This excerpt contains depictions of gay male S/M sexual activity. What I love about it is how Rob describes the rush of discovery and sexual power from an activity that is not genitally focused.

---

SECOND, here is a plug for a new book from editor Russ Kick and the great folks at THE DISINFORMATION COMPANY, who publish a series of encyclopedic books that challenge our cultural assumptions. This one is provocatively titled EVERYTHING YOU KNOW ABOUT GOD IS WRONG, and it contains my article, "Martin Luther Goes Bowling," all about the little-known connection between bowling and religion. For instance, there is substantial evidence that bowling, as we know it today, originated in part as a ritual in German churches several centuries after the death of Christ. The original bowling pins may have been some combination of walking stick and club that the parishioners used to defend themselves against "heathens" (robbers) enroute to Church.

Want to know more? HERE'S A LINK TO THE BOOK.

The book contains a plethora of articles by well-known authors, most if not all of which explore little-known facts concerning religion, religious fallacies, or other meditations on the topic, including one of my favorites, "Comforting Thoughts About Death That Have Nothing to Do With God," by my blogging pal GRETA CHRISTINA. That one's a freebie, in fact, because you can read it on her blog, RIGHT HERE.

A few other articles of the dozens in this anthology: Richard Dawkins shows us the strange, scary properties of religion; Neil Gaiman turns a biblical atrocity story into a comic (that almost sent a publisher to prison); Erik Davis looks at what happens when religion and California collide; Mike Dash eyes stigmatics; Douglas Rushkoff exposes the trouble with Judaism; Paul Krassner reveals his "Confessions of an Atheist"; and best-selling lexicographer Jonathon Green interprets the language of religious prejudice.

---

LAST BUT NOT LEAST, I've been putting up new items for sale in my online bookstore, BooksFromHawaii. Browse, if you wish, and see if there's something you like!

---

 

Thanks for tuning in, and in case I don't post again before the Solstice, Christmas, or whatever your celebration of choice may be, have a wonderful and life-enriching holiday.

Wishing you a beautiful day,

Bill Brent

[this page last updated: 2007.12.08, 11:05 a.m. Hawaii time]

LitBoy.com is a professional blog. Keeping it online costs me $200 per year. That's before paying me for my writing, photography, or anything else I do here. If you enjoy this blog, please use the Tip Jar at the top of this page. Your two-dollar minimum donation helps keep this banner-free site alive. It's quick and easy!

80.99 / $199.90 (40.5%)

This meter displays this year's contributions to date in U.S. dollars (after the funds processor takes its cut). Make a donation, watch the meter rise! Usually I post your contribution on my next blog post.

All original materials here on LitBoy.com (writing, photos, drawings, graphics, etc.) belong to Bill Brent. If you want to re-use something here, please ask. Higher resolution images are available.