There is a man who is stuck in a crowded room. He doesn’t fit in and feels uncomfortable. He had a similar feeling a few hours ago. He had just arrived at the train station. The last time he had been there was 30 years ago when his brother dropped him off. As he walked […]

“Nevertheless, in capitalist countries financial success, for those who succeed as for those who do not, is still, if not a truly satisfying adventure, at least a symbol of adventure. Americans are known for the importance they attach to money, the simplicity with which they say what everything they buy costs them, and their tendency […]

“We are confronted by an interesting literary phenomenon: a literary hero losing gradually contact with the book that bore him; leaving his fatherland, leaving his creator’s desk and roaming space after roaming Spain. In result, Don Quixote is greater today than he was in Cervantes’s womb. He has ridden for three hundred and fifty years […]

He is an old man, weary from years of yearning. Looking into his eyes, I see a glimmer of a younger man’s dream, and a head full of possibilities. He reminds me of my neighbor Tim, dressed in drab and dreary clothes, covered in dust and dirt. Jim is old beyond his years, from the […]

A man’s greatness is determined by where, and how, he pees. And how can a man be truly Magnificent if a woman is constantly telling him he’s doing it wrong? “You left the seat down” “You sprinkled everywhere!” Leave all that behind, by peeing right out front. A man is nothing if he is not […]

This is a stupid mustache. The kind of stupid mustache and goatee my brother has. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say this was a painting of my brother, surrounded by the thickness of PB&J flavored vapor from his ridiculously large, rectangular, electronic cigarette. My brother is the kind of guy that is always right. […]

This is an idea. The idea that the collective is greater than one. Around the surface sits the brilliant mind of individuals. Minds filled with ideas, passions, love, hate, and despair. From Jesus, the disciples and loved ones in your kitchen, we share bread, we share wine, we share victory, we share defeat. Isn’t it […]

This is cherry citrus lips and a kaleidoscope of spice and hugs. The soft smell of a ghost’s hair. Eye ponds twinkle, hinting of forbidden fun and the promise of salty transgression. Blood and thunder, love and war, ascetic and sybaritic. From the senses to the mind to the knockout punch commencing a pleasantly vertiginous […]

I was drawn to it because of the smooth wear of the old wood. Today it stands in an insignificant place tucked into the corner near the bathroom past the main entrance. Forgotten and useless and not ornate, one really needs to stop and question what its purpose is. It takes less than a millisecond […]

It’s always easier for me to just do a thing myself. I don’t mind if you travel with me for a bit, I really do enjoy the conversation and suggestions. Do not feel hurt when I walk under the bridge while you are crossing over. It’s better that way, that you don’t see me when […]

This is my personality. It is raw. It is strong. It is Elemental. It is bold. It is simple. There is nothing particularly striking on the surface Yet, looking deeper, subtle details emerge. There are high points, and there are lows. There are surfaces which have been worked to a bright and polished sheen, Still, […]

There is only one person who lives there now, the widow Vickers. And while she no longer can tend to the rhododendrons, she still has Miguel, her gardener, who used to help her with just the minor, tedious work, and even though he has worked for Mildred for over 30 years, he can only copy […]

It was ornate, perhaps grandiose even at one time, but dulled by age and thick with glaze of tannins in the air. While garnering a second glance was rare, deserving a third was impossibly so. By and of itself, hardly a prize, but within, it held infinite possibilities. A treasure trove of wonder awaited the […]

This is your recurring dream. The one where you timidly fly among the cotton clouds, unsure of your ability to stay afloat in a sea of powder blue. Unsure of your ability to avoid the gravitational pull of the sepia-toned world below. You are a swallow whose broken wing has recently healed, you are re-learning […]

This link will take you to the Muffin Man page at Amazon.

Monday, May 19, 2014 at 12:23 PM Roy, I was reading one of your great articles about using radio, and there was a statistic how each of us might have 250 people that know us by our first name. And if 10% of them would tell their friends about us (or our product) that somehow […]

To Indiana Beagle: Sir, I noticed on the almost-last page of the rabbit hole today that you offered to walk into a photo or painting and retrieve information. This photo is from a rabbit hole post a few years ago and for the life of me I can’t find out who painted the scene. What […]

Quixote and Dulcinea 3 (1993) by Ana Maria Pacheco of Brazil

Quixote and Dulcinea 2 (1993) by Ana Maria Pacheco of Brazil

Quixote and Dulcinea in the Gazebo at Wizard Academy’s Tuscan Court photo by Bill Peary Photography Until next week, Aroo. Indy

Ron, It’s 1948. The woman in the painting is supposed to be Anna Christina Olson of Hathorne Point near Cushing, Maine, but it’s not. The person pretending to be Christina is actually Wyeth’s wife, Betsy. The real Christina was 55 years old in 1948. She died 20 years later. Wyeth painted Betsy’s arms and legs as […]

Rose, this trip turned out to be one of the weirdest visits ever. He wasn’t thrown by the fact that I can travel back in time. He wasn’t even freaked out by a talking dog. He acted like this stuff happens to him all the time. Here’s how it went down. I grabbed his pants leg […]

Arlene, not knowing how to answer your question, I found a 1965 photograph of John Wayne and walked into it and said, Mr. Wayne, what do you think cowboys will learn from you when they look back at your movies 50 years from now?” He said, If you choose the right name, the right facial expressions, the […]

John Steinbeck was a contemporary of Hemingway. But whereas Hemingway wrote about fishing and bullfighting, Steinbeck wrote about poor people in California. Senora Teresina Cortez and her eight children and her ancient mother lived in a pleasant cottage on the edge of the deep gulch that defines the southern frontier of Tortilla Flat… Teresina was […]

Last week marked the 70th anniversary of the most famous accidental photo of all time. You should take a look.

 After the Old Man has returned with only the skeleton of the fish… When he sailed into the little harbour the lights of the Terrace were out and he knew everyone was in bed. The breeze had risen steadily and was blowing strongly now. It was quiet in the harbour though and he sailed up […]

Devin Wright, a 9-year member of the wizard’s team, just took possession of this new Mercedes with a custom front tag. I’ll post a photo of Sean Taylor’s new Porsche convertible as soon as the weather gets warm enough for him to drive it with the top down. I think Europeans call it a “Cabriolet,” but I […]

Hi Andrew, The question for Indy… Do puppies go to heaven with their Mommy ??? I’ve attached a picture  of my late wife Bonnie with her late service dog Vicious. Just wondering. Tom Dewar

Indy, I’ve always loved Rockwell’s Shiner for the number of untold stories surrounding the obvious one. The empty portion of the bench… are we waiting for someone who may not arrive? Where is the the second person (or perhaps more than one other person) involved in the fight? Why is the filing cabinet partially open? […]

Andrew! Thanks for passing this on to Indy so I can finally put my question to rest. I am under 2 years old in Germany when the bear and I meet. I was not old enough to ride the bumper cars (besides they drove from the wrong side) so the bear was consoling me. She […]

Playtime at Wizard Academy. Brittington demonstrates awkward junior high dancing with his wife, Halle, while a sneak peek is playing from his album-in-progress. The really excellent dancers in the video are Michelle Paris and Peter Seville. Late to the party are Jean and Andrew Backus but they embody junior high awkwardness admirably.

 My Dearest St. Indy, Oh my! You have been named a Saint. Wikipedia says that means “exemplary model, extraordinary teacher, wonder worker or source of benevolent power.” Notwithstanding your steampunk top hat, I am impressed. Uncle Uno told me about you before I left for the uppity Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. He explained that very few […]

Indy, you will live forever in our minds and our hearts, but so many of your type are homeless, in shelters, and need a better lifestyle.  I send out a newsletter to folks who signed up to get one from us. My bribe is to save one of your tribe. Mention me in your rabbit hole and I’ll reciprocate […]

One of the things that irritates me far more than it should is any painting labeled “Adoration of the Wise Men,” or “Adoration of the Magi,” when it’s obviously “The Arrival of the Shepherds.” You’d be surprised how often this occurs. Seriously, how hard is to tell a tall shepherd’s crook from little containers of […]

Public Speaking 101 – March 4-5 Portals and the 12 Languages of the Mind – March 18-19

There’s no one in here to chat with but I was able to look through the books beside the desk and read the unfinished letter that lies on top of it. The books were: Norman Rockwell, Behind the Camera, by Ron Schick E.W. Cooke, 1811-1880, by John Munday Vivian Maier, A Photographer Found, by John Maloof Caravaggio […]

After 18 years of life on the road as a touring musician, Brittington has attended enough after-parties with crazy, colorful, memorable people to last for 20 lifetimes. He says the time has come for laser light shows and strobe lights glittering off disco balls to disappear, replaced by tuxedoed waiters carrying scotch and cigars on silver trays. Heh, […]

One last thing about my ability to walk into paintings and photographs to experience that place and time: I can’t do it with films or videos. Moving pictures capture an element of the 4th dimension – Time – which prohibits me from bringing my own special type of Time into the scene. (If you must know, humans live […]

1970: Amos Moses by Jerry Reed became the second big hit in a new genre known as swamp rock. Most swamp rock songs are story songs.

“But there is one photograph that has a person in it, and the person is Naya herself. It is winter and there has been a thaw. Wet snow clings to the bare branches of the trees, and the air is full of mist. Naya is standing on the front terrace in profile. She is looking pensively […]

“Literacy is a very hard skill to acquire, and once acquired it brings endless heartache – for the more you read, the more you learn of life’s intimidating complexity of confusion. But anyone who can learn to grunt is bright enough to watch TV… which teaches that life is simple, and happy endings come to […]

Speaking of portals, the Wizard’s once-every-other-year class, Portals and the 12 Languages of the Mind is coming up next month and at the time of this writing there are still a few free rooms left on campus.  This is one of those classes that will melt your brain. But in a good way. You should […]

Do you have a bribe for me? Send all relevant details to Andrew@WizardOfAds.com and be sure to specify your bribe. It can be anything except money. Beagles don’t do cash. Hey there Indy, Please find attached a Halo as my bribal-offering to you this week. I know that you are fond of the many lids that […]

“Sir,” I said to the wizard, “what do you hear when you taste that…?” He replied before I could say wine. “Neil Sedaka, Laughter in the Rain.” Then he played the song on his iPhone, poured me a glass, and I tasted it, too.

The laws of duality seem to be inescapable. We read about them in the eighth chapter of Genesis, the book of Beginnings: Speaking to Noah, God is reported to have said, As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.” Jesus spoke of […]

 If you’d like to see your company in the rabbit hole, please send all appropriate details to my assistant Andrew Harrison at Andrew@WizardOfAds.com  And be sure to specify what you’re offering as a bribe. [Note: the Wizard has prohibited me from accepting cash. Besides, cash ain’t my thang anyway.] Dear Indy, Enclosed, please find a […]

Alice Bach, author of Women in the Hebrew Bible, well understood the Jungian anima. What do we know about the goddesses, those elusive female figures, stronger than human males, more dangerous than male deities, who represent not real women but the dreams of real men?”

The Karmann Ghia was available from 1955 to 1974, when it was superceded by Volkswagen’s new Porsche 914 (below,) another extremely, very cool car – Indy.

This car was 11 years old when Sweet City Woman was released in 1971. The group is the Stampeders. They’re Canadian. Bet you didn’t see that comin’, did you? I’m going to try to convince Brittington to sing it all slow and sad like a blues song. (Magical.)

Volkswagen’s Karmann Ghia debuted at the 1953 Paris Auto Show as a styling concept created by the Italian designer, Luigi Segre. This car is contemporary with Don LaViere Turner’s Don Quixote and the Hounds. (This particular car is a 1960 model that’s about to be auctioned in Britain. I think Karmann Ghias are extremely, very cool.)

Disproportionately Important A strange and self-indulgent little essay by Roy H. Williams, appearing here by permission of Indiana Beagle, Supreme Master and Undisputed Ruler of the Rabbit Hole. There are certain things that are important to you that seem very unimportant to the rest of us. Do you know what they are? More importantly, do you know why these little things are so […]

I’ve never been a big fan of Hemingway because Hemingway wasn’t a dog person. Steinbeck was a dog person. Steinbeck was cool. Hemingway can kiss my little doggie butt. Indy Mungo Jerry is a British rock group whose greatest success was in the early 1970s, though they have continued throughout the years with an ever-changing line-up, always fronted […]

The Old Man and the Sea is Hemingway’s story about an old man, Santiago, fighting an 18-foot marlin for 3 days and 3 nights. He was wounded on his back and his hands bled before finally overcoming the fish. He strapped it to the side of the boat because it was too big to pull inside. And then […]

When I walked in on the Whitmeister, he was watching this video of an encore by Sade (shahDAY.) I said, “What up, Brittington?” He said, “Lighting.” I said, “April concert?” He said, “Yeah, the band’s getting back together to help me.” “The one that opened for Aerosmith?” Brittington just nodded and began writing notes to himself about […]

This is the wizard’s latest acquisition of offbeat Quixote images. At 4 feet wide, it’s the biggest woodcut print I’ve ever seen. It’s called Don Quixote and The Hounds and it was done in 1956 by Don LaViere Turner when he was just 26 years old. The style is usually referred to as German Expressionist. Looks […]