"Well, art is art, isn't it. Still, on the other hand, water is water..."

I'm in a book club.

Now, you might be saying, "But Russell, aren't book clubs for women?"

Yes. Yes, they are.

Especially since the one I belong to is named Books 'N Booze: The Classy Book Club. I constantly misread that title as A Sassy Book Club, which is simultaneously correct and disturbing. But, as it turns out, it's quite enjoyable. We get to read books we'd never read on our own. I've read two (well, one and a half) Stephen King books ever, and it's because of the book club.

And I'm sick of them...

ANYWAY Tonight we're kicking the winter book-ing season off with a bang over at Queen Halloween's house and it reminded me of our meetings we had in the summer. The first book we read was Cujo, and that one was pretty good. By the way, spoiler alert, the book: way different from the movie. In the movie the dog is a large St. Bernard with rabies. In the book, the dog is a mildly temperamental kangaroo who terrorizes the mother and child with Broadway showtunes. True fact from Truthland. Next we read my choice, Early Bird: A Memoir of Premature Retirement.

I chose this book because I genuinely enjoyed the heckfire out of it, and thought everyone else would as well. But of course one person didn't, so I proceeded to become more and more incensed that I not only had failed to produce a book everyone can enjoy, but that I couldn't convince this person they were wrong about their opinion of art. The brain knows things the heart does not, and it took me a long time to reconcile the fact that arguing with someone about art is ludicrous.

That's what makes it art. I love love love Impressionism, and pretentious cheesedicks love modern abstract, but I don't go chasing them down the street telling them they're pretentious cheesedicks. That job is for their disappointed father who worked at the mill for 40 years. 'Tis the season! So from this point on, I'm going to push for my choice, and if I win, I win, but I'm certainly not going to get upset about it anymore. I've got better stuff to do with my time. Like look for youtube videos. Speaking of youtube videos, here comes one now!!

Does this clip of Groucho mention art? Yes. And that's enough for me to put it in this post. Now, Hello, I must be going...