by Bruce Townley

Sight: What William Kinsella calls `the thrill of the grass'. For me, personally, that's when you first emerge from one of those tunnels in the bowels a major-league ball yard into the actual stands and there's the field laid out before you like an immense emerald, a precious jewel.

Various SF vistas, including the fairly urban view from my apartment windows that includes the apartment across the courtyard that used to be occupied by a bulbous pink-boy who paraded around nude in front of open, uncurtained windows and reprimanded his numerous pets in a really shrill, lisping bitchy tone. Well, I guess I don't really miss him.

The look of certain machines, designed for living. This ranges from sculptural eye candy of some classic autos (the Cord 810, the Studebaker Lark) to some objects so well designed you hardly know that they're there, almost (Bell's standard handset phone, designed in the 30's to replace the old "candlestick" upright model). Of course a certain visual muscularity of machines can be eyecatching too, viz. the American design of steam locomotives versus the British mode. On the US engines, everything was visible, every compressor or widget up `til the `30s when streamlining changed the look of passenger locos. The Brits always had very clean engines, somehow tidied of all of the attachments. Makes one wonder if they could do the job or not.

Sound: In the movie Crumb, one of the most affecting scenes is when lovable crank cartoonist (and man born out of his time) Robert Crumb goes through the ritual of selecting one of his treasured 78s and tenderly placing it on the turntable in his barn/studio. The scene is washed in a delicious, congenial amber light, some of which appears to be projected by Crumb himself as he settles himself down and gets immersed in the delightful fiddle band music that billows from the speakers. He has allowed the music to enfold himself in pleasure. You feel good just watching the guy. I get blissful myself, pottering amongst my records. The music stops me, grabs me, and I think: "This is a fuckin' great record!". Performers/bands as diverse as Link Wray, Slim Gaillard, The Dickies, Bob Wills, The Cramps, Duke Ellington, The Velvet Underground, Washboard Sam, Hank Williams, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Blind Blake, Bix Beiderbecke, The Bonzo Dog Band, Howling Wolf (well, maybe you get the idea) all have the power to hold me in their spell.

The crack of a wooden bat hitting a horsehide baseball.

The wail of a steam train's whistle (if you stand near a fired-up steam locomotive, it seems alive, breathing, exhaling vapor).

Smell: Freshly mown grass (only if the mowing is done by somebody else).

That special yeasty aroma present at wineries and breweries.

The way a Dell map-back (or any other vintage paperback book) smells when you open it to the center and inhale. I know of at least one other bookperson who shares this guilty pleasure. He too is wary of doing this in the store.

Antithesis: Hot tar, rendering plants in the summer.

Taste: Hangin' out in a brewpub, whiling away an afternoon with my buddies, sucking down beers and telling tales.

Almond bearclaws or pecan pie from Ahrens' Bakery around the corner from my place.

Pizza home delivered (Pesto, Feta cheese, extra garlic, pepperoni--and no pineapple--from SF's own North Beach).

Touch: This faculty should be viewed as the ability to lay your hands on a desired item, to find something, to get in touch with it. Anyhow, that's how I chose to approach (and distance) this most intimate of senses.

Retail entertainment: Going to the comic book store and finding a new title by a favorite author/artist (e.g., Chris Ware, Heather McAdams, Jim Woodring, Charles Burns) or going to the book store and seeing that the Vintage/Black Lizard Crime folks have released another batch of Jim Thompson novels. Also picking up Tiki mugs, post cards or vintage neckwear at the flea market/thrift shop.

Extrasensory: Film and video combine at least two distinct sensory apparati (Sight & sound, what did you think?) and even though people are such distinctly visual critters I think I'll stick the following lists here because I don't really know how to split it up, otherwise: My top 20 list of all time favorite TV programs (as always, in no particular order): TWILIGHT ZONE; STAR TREK; THE SECRET LIFE OF MACHINES; MONTY PYTHON'S FLYING CIRCUS; MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATRE 3000; NOVA; THE ROCKFORD FILES; THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW (the first series with Mary Tyler Moore);THE SIMPSONS; PEE WEE'S PLAYHOUSE; FRANK'S PLACE; GREEN ACRES; CAR 54; TWIN PEAKS; I, CLAUDIUS; HOMICIDE; HILL ST. BLUES; THE CIVIL WAR (Ken Burns' PBS series); PERRY MASON; THE PRISONER--Top 10 Double Features: Maltese Falcon/Chinatown; Citizen Kane/Rashomon; Eraserhead/Cabinet of Dr. Caligari; 400 Blows/World of Apu; M/The Thin Blue Line; Diner/Pulp Fiction; Stagecoach/La Strada; Duck Soup/The General; Apocalypse Now/Das Boot; Dr. Strangelove/Sweet Smell of Success
Addendum to above: video fun--a psychotronic film (Ed Wood's Plan 9 from Outer Space is an example) or great old comedy (Three Stooges, Laurel and Hardy, classic Warner Bros. or Tex Avery MGM cartoons)

Getting cool stamps at the PO. In the past year or so there've been stamps honoring Muddy Waters, Richard Nixon (which should all be cancelled with a word balloon the reads: "I am not a crook!", you can now buy a rubber stamp commercially to add this comment yourself) and, of course, (Sun Records, pre-Vegas) Elvis. Upcoming are stamps for Krazy Kat and Little Nemo. Almost makes it worth waiting in line.

Filing away my recent book or record purchases and encountering great old books or records already on the shelves and getting sidetracked browsing.

Rearranging the stuff stuck on my refrigerator with magnets.

None of the Above: Avoiding writing sci fi fanzine articles.