Lest anyone should doubt the pedigree of their obscure obsession, both men are quick to mention their hobby's most distinguished member, now a late member: Frank Sinatra, whose house in Rancho Mirage, Calif., had a room filled with model trains, among them five very expensive cars of the type of train that first ran on the A line. "Of course," Mr. Gerstein said, "Frank had to have the A train".
Shaw is obsessed with obscure obsessions and turning bizarre trash into artful treasures.
What his characters share is obsession, over obscure texts or unattainable objects of desire.
His obsession with obscure popular culture and his grumpy disconnection from just about everything else ("I can't relate to 99percentt of humanity") fascinate her; he seems like a kindred spirit, the grown-up version of herself.
Today the Internet has turned a once obscure hobby into an obsession shared by 10.8 million Americans, who log on to sites like Yahoo.com and ESPN.com and sit glued as fantasy standings get updated in real time.
It follows a graduate student and a feminist professor who discover that two obscure poets, their mutual obsessions, once actually met – and had a secret affair.
A happily married pope with a strong spouse and children could think more clearly on sexual and reproductive issues and not let the church get mired in obsessions that obscure the message of justice and peace that Jesus preached.
With no small amount of trepidation, I lay open here the first page of my diary — high-schoolish stabs at intellectualism, fleeting girlish obsessions, deliberately obscure annotations and all.
In the Sunday Book Review essay "My Life With Bob, Pamela Paull describes her habit of writing the title of every book she's read since high school in a journal she calls Bob: With no small amount of trepidation, I lay open here the first page of my diary — high-schoolish stabs at intellectualism, fleeting girlish obsessions, deliberately obscure annotations and all.
I am here because of childhood obsessions, and obscure events concerning a man, not personally known to me, who died, having transmitted a DNA code via my mother to me, a woman with whom I passed my first 18 years, engaged in a conversation.
What other mainstream TV presenter would mix Bowie obsession, Morrissey references, obscure Roxy album tracks, in-depth discussion of Jackie Chan martial arts movies and ribald chatter with David Beckham about Posh Spice's knickers?
