The World According to Leon

Forgive me, blogosphere.  It's been too damn long since my last posting.  I repeat: Too. Damn. Long.


For those of you who were not aware, for the last 2 months I have been sequestered in a  witness protection-type of program with the members of my immediate family. Although I cannot divulge the exact location of said program nor the reason why I was sent there (I might blow my cover, people.  My deep, deep cover...), I can say that the time spent away from the rigors of my normal, every day existence were beneficial to my general well-being and psyche.  That it coincided with the beginning and ending of the school holiday break was only a coincidence, really.  Just a coincidence. That said, a big shout out must go out to my good friends, Wolf Blass and Kim Crawford for getting me through this difficult period.  I could not have done it without you.


I did have occasion this summer to host a fair number of guests at my top secret domicile and it gave me occasion to ponder the very nature of the houseguest.  The mark of a good one, I've been told, is their ability to stay for a good time, not a long time.  (There is another homily about guests and fish, too, that you often see embroidered on pillows in your finer homes but I'm not a lover of fish analogies of any kind, so I'll it leave it to your imagination. )  I prefer, instead, to draw my best illustration from the murky pond of popular culture and in the pantheon of fictional houseguests that span from Blanche DuBois to Mork from Ork, perhaps none has wreaked as much havoc in the lives of their hosts as the character of Leon Black.


Leon, from my favorite show Curb Your Enthusiasm, is the underdressed layabout and willfully vulgar foil of the producer and main character Larry David. Leon landed on the show when his family moved in with Larry after being displaced from Hurricane Katrina and his job - besides eating Larry out of house and home and never paying rent - seems to be to lay down the wisdom on Larry.  Leon, with his aggressive posturing — in one episode Leon literally steals the shirt off the back of a pedestrian because Larry believed the shirt was his — and hilarious one liners ("You have to bring the ruckus, Larry!")  seems to exist to transgress as many taboos as possible.  He has no deeper agenda beyond bringing on what he does best.And what is that exactly, you may ask?


Keeping it real.


Here is a perfect example of that:

Consider me inspired. Look out blogosphere! This year, I intend to bring the Leon.