Greetings and salutations, as that wise and eminent sage Charlotte the Doomed Spider said (or at least I think she did; haven't read that puppy in many a year). Assuming the relative techno-dunce that is I can get this thing to work properly, this is the inaugural post of Tosy and Cosh, my virgin entry into the remarkable world of blogging. The plan, such as it is, is to use this space to spout off on any number of things that interest me, and, the hope would be, others; said things to include all things pop culture, with an especial focus on movies, comic books, musical theater, TV, the odd book; the occasional entry into politics; random commentary on the news of the day; a little NBA talk - you get the picture. No real guiding principle, no real credentials to spout off, no - in the end - real reason for you to read at all. The hope is that folks who may stumble upon this blandly designed, blogspot-faceless site will return because they found the conversation, one-sided as it may (certainly at first) often be, engaging.

The other, ulterior, motive is that, as a fledgling and still-hopeful writer, this blog will enable (and, more crucially, force me) to flex those writing muscles on a near-regular basis. The obligatory background on me would indicate that I am, in a technical sense at least, a professional writer by trade; I write business proposals for a financial services company. I've dabbled in the odd bit of commentary and criticism out there in the web ether and have pie-in-the-sky hopes of parlaying what, thus far, has been a pretty much private and unshared (apart from the classmates and family who've read my stuff (under obligation, of course) career as a fiction writer into a real thing, whatever form that might take. So, if writing on a regular basis my thoughts on a wide range of topics can make me a better, more versatile writer, then, well, I'll take it, won't I?

One last thing - that title. Tosy and Cosh is the title of a song from the musical On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, music by Burton Lane and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner (of My Fair Lady fame). Sung by our heroine, the song details her desire for a man to "set (her) feeling all tosy and cosh," by which she means, not a strong man, not a heroic man, but a cozy and warm man. The connection to the spirit, intent, take your pick, of this blog is pretty much non-existent; I've just always liked the sound of the words “tosy and cosh“ - take of that what you will.

That's about it for a beginning. Time will tell how much (if at all) this thing of mine progresses, in the meantime I, by all means, encourage any stumblees to write with thoughts, questions, criticisms - pretty much anything but spam will do.

Until whenever.