Archive for 1/4/2008 - 26 Tevet, 5768

Here are some publicity photos from the London Stage Play - Equus.

These photos are not safe for work, not safe for kids. And thousands of words have already been written about them, and thousands more will be written. Though few mention what I’m going to mention.

Yes, Daniel Radcliffe, who has played Harry Potter in the movies, and is only 17 years old, is going to appear naked on stage in a few weeks, and the publicity photos show a lot (but, naturally, not all). Since the age of consent as I understand it in the UK is 16, this is perfectly legal.

However, the actress Joanna Christie is in a couple of these photos, and she is being ignored by a lot of commentators. I can’t let that happen. I can say with comfort that I find her damn attractive, and would like more publicity photos with her in them. I am comfortable saying this as she is 24. True, fourteen years separate us, but she is still an adult.

So yes, if I were going to be in London, I would probably try to buy tickets to the play. I hear it is a good play, and won some Tony awards back in the 1970s.

note: for completeness, I have changed the link at the top of this post to the one on the play’s official website, where they have all the photos. Some I have seen nowhere else. Unfortunately, no additional Joanna Christie ones

First there was Chocolate Beer
Recently they announced Caffeinated Donuts
Bubblegum Cigarettes, which you may recall as a kid, are still available

So, what’s next? A Jelly Bean wine bar? (done.)

Caramel flavored no-doz?

A friend and I have had a discussion on the relative merits of pictures and poetry in the comment section of a previous post. You are welcome to join in (here or there).

Here are some fun illustrations of various arguments … such as a picture that is worth only 7 words.

We also learn on that site the origin of the phrase. It turns out to be a fake Chinese proverb from an old advertisement.

Acclaimed Author, David Eddings, almost became an entry for the Darwin Awards. Luckily, he survived his stupidity. (Though at age 75, he may not meet the technical eligibilty requirements anyway.)

An acclaimed novelist lost his office in Carson City on Thursday when he threw a lit piece of paper into gasoline.

Fantasy writer David Eddings, 75, said he was using water to flush out the gas tank of his broken-down Excalibur sports car, when some fluid leaked. In a lapse of judgment he readily admitted, Eddings lit a piece of paper and threw into the puddle to test if it was still flammable. The answer came in an orange torrent.

First there was: National Novel Writing Month
Then there was: Book-in-a-Week
Now there’s: The First Annual Novel-in-a-Weekend

The creator refers to it as “pulling a Moorcock.” I gues Michael Moorcock is known to have written a novel in 3-days. I prefer calling it “pulling a Voltaire” as 3 days is allegedly how much time it took him to write Candide. And I’d much rather think I am emulating Voltaire than Moorcock.

But I have already promised that I would watch the Superbowl this weekend with some friends, so that eliminates most of Sunday, so I am going to have to sit out this year.

For about six months or so, the network clock on the computer is ten minutes fast.

You get used to that, and learn to subtract ten minutes whenever you look at the clock.

Then they change it to fifteen minutes fast.

That’s OK. You’re earlier to a couple of meetings than you normally would have been, but nothing’s wrong with early. And you learn to subtract fifteen.

Then a couple months later, over the weekend, it’s set to two minutes slow.

I think I need to buy a watch.

An 11 question quiz to determine which Science Fiction author you are.

I discovered I’m Olaf Stapledon. The name was completely unfamiliar to me. Possibly because he’s British, and died in 1950. Maybe I really am Olaf Stapledon. (see previous entry)

Since his works are ‘public domain’ in plus-fifty nations, some of his novels are online. So at least I can satisfy my curiousity cheaply.

Other possible results from the quiz include: Robert Heinlein, Gregory Benford, Ursula K Leguin, Hal Clement, Cordwainer Smith, Isaac Asimov, Samuel Delaney, and Philip Jose Farmer. There are a total of 26, all listed in the page’s source code, if you know how to look, along with some interesting trivia on the results for a handful of SF authors surprised to discover they’re not themselves.

Heaven’s Witness - Joseph Telushkin & Allen Estrin - 2004

I cut my ‘eyeteeth’ on Agatha Christie mysteries. My parents had a huge collection, and I went through them all. Late high school or early college I found a copy of Harry Kemelman’s Friday the Rabbi Slept Late (1964) in my parent’s storage boxes, and after reading his initial Rabbi Small novel, I went in search of Saturday-Thursday, Someday, and One Fine Day. I enjoyed that they were solid, well-crafted mysteries, but the reader learned stuff about Judaism along the way. In 1992 I was pleasantly surprised with the release of The Day the Rabbi Resigned. (I actually thought that was the last Rabbi Small mystery until a few minutes ago, but The Day The Rabbi Left Town was published in 1996, two years before Kemelman passed away.) I’ve also read a handful of Margaret Truman and Martha Grimes. A couple years ago I discovered Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, who has published several encyclopedic volumes of Jewish knowledge and philosophy, has also published a series of mysteries around a character named Rabbi Daniel Winter. I’ve read two of the three, and they are also well-crafted mysteries. When I saw he had published a separate mystery with Allen Estrin, I decided to give it a look.

The theme of the novel centers around reincarnation. An actress is having problems with her voice, and she asks a psychoanalyst to try to use hypnosis to cure her. While under hypnosis, it appears she regresses to a past life, to a teenager who was murdered several years before she was born. The details of the crime are eerily similar to some current murders, providing the psychoanalyst with some difficult decisions to make. I shouldn’t say too much more.

I was definitely hooked, and read through the novel quickly. The characters felt real, as I laughed and cried with them. There are definitely teary moments, as most of the victims are teenagers, and we are forced to watch the police notify the parents. There are also some happy-tear moments. Most of the character-threads are tied at the end, but a sequel would be possible. I felt at the end the body count may have been too high, but that’s my only negative.

The book doesn’t solve the issue of reincarnation. It’s a novel; it can’t. However, the characters aren’t even in 100% agreement at the end on what really happened. I liked that. There are references to Bridey Murphy, Charles Manson, and Guillain Barre. Only the first of which is reincarnation-related, but the other two were interesting to me. I had no idea Richard Nixon declared to the press pre-conviction that Manson was guilty, but apparently he did. Guillain-Barre is one character’s “favorite disease.” It’s not mine. (Or perhaps it is…depends on how one defines, ‘favorite.’)

Television notes:

The inside-back-cover mentions that Telushkin’s Rabbi Winter novels were the basis for several episodes of The Practice. Estrin is a screenwriter and producer and has collaborated with Telushkin apparently on episodes for The Practice, Boston Public and Touched by an Angel.

In 1976 Harry Kemelman’s novels were the basis of a short-lived series Lanigan’s Rabbi. It only lasted four episodes, but Art Carney played Chief of Police Lanigan. Rabbi Small was played by Stuart Margolin (aka Angel Martin from the Rockford Files). Robert Reed (aka Mike Brady) was in the cast, as well as Andrew Robinson — he is now known to legions of Star Trek fans as ‘Garak’, and he’s written one Trek novel.

this is where I’d like to be tonight. I just received a ‘bulletin’ on MySpace telling me that that is where the celebration of the Oscar Nomination I mentioned a few posts back is going to be held. And my cousin will be there, of course. I have five hours to get there, before the party begins, but it’s in LA. According to the Lambert website there’s an airplane leaving in 1.5 hours. I could probably do it. And I would try. If I had won the Powerball.

But alas, I didn’t. So if you are in Los Angeles right now, and drop by St. Nick’s tonight, buy my cousin a round. Tell him it’s on me. I’ll pay you back next time I see you. Whoever you are.

Note to anyone doing the math…the time/date stamp is an hour off. It is currently 4:30 California time.

I’ve just submitted two poems for a contest being held by Flashquake. These poems are Fibs. A new poetry form created back in April of 2006 by Gregory Pincus.

They also are taking flash fiction under 100 words for the contest, but I don’t have any fiction that short. I did submit an under 1000-word piece for their Spring issue. I’ve tried publishing it elsewhere, but it’s somewhat unusual, and it’s been hard to place. Their normal line limit for poetry is under 35 lines, and almost all of my poetry is under 35 lines, so I might also submit a poem.

I should know the results for both the contest and the Spring issue by the end of February.

I am going to begin metioning my submissions in this blog. That way, when you, my adoring fans, and friends, notice I haven’t mentioned submitting anything for a few months, you can ask me whether I have discontinued the practice of posting the information, or whether I have idiotically stopped submitting stuff; I have a backlog of about 500 poems written (not that all of them are of publishable quality, but many of them are). I should be submitting much more often.

I began writing an essay early this month, and never finished it. I meant to finish it by this past Sunday…didn’t happen. So I figured I’d at least post what I have written so far, as it does comprise a “Part I”, and I can post future parts of the essay as they are written.

—–
167 years before the common era, Mattathias and several sons, including Judah Maccabee, revolted against the Seleucid ruler, Antiochus. This revolt, which lasted until 160 BCE, is commemorated every year in the holiday of Hannukah. The success of the revolt, and the rededication of the Temple which had been desecrated by the Seleucids is celebrated. What is usually not taught to kids is what happened a few years down the road.

When Judah died, leadership passed to his brother Jonathan, and then it passed to their brother Simon. Judah, Jonathan and Simon were good leaders, I beleive, but then the leadership of the Hasmonean Dynasty passed to the next generation. John Hyrcanus, the son of Simon, is known for forcefully converting the Idumeans to Judaism. Judaism is proud that there are very few times in our religion’s history that we forcefully converted anyone. This is one of those few sad times. When he died, leadership passed to his wife. (That is something positive to note — women were allowed to lead.) However, their son, Aristobulus, wasn’t satisfied with High Priest, so he threw his mother into jail, and took leadership. At least he didn’t commit matricide, right? His reign lasted only a year, though, and he died a painful illness. (G-d works in not so mysterious ways sometimes.) He was succeeded, unfortunately, by a brother, Alexander Jannaeus. Alexander Jannaeus slew 6,000 Pharisees, starting a civil war that resulted in 50,000 deaths, which was a lot back then. He is considered so wicked a tyrant, that his death on the 2nd day of the Hebrew month of Shevat, in the Hebrew year 3685 (76 BCE), is recorded as a day of celebration. I don’t believe the death of any other Jew has been recorded as a day of celebration for us.

2045 years later, to the day on the Hebrew Calendar. I was born. (You were wondering what this was leading up to, weren’t you?) I can guarantee you that my parents had no idea who Alexander Jannaeus was, and I was not named after him, even though it is assumed that his Hebrew name was Jonathan. This year my birthday on the Roman calendar coincides again with my birthday on the Hebrew calendar.

[I should briefly mention Alexander Jannaeus’s wife, who was also the wife of his brother before he died the painful illness, and who took over the reigns of power after Jannaeus died. She healed the rifts that her husbands had caused. She has a rather famous name. Salome, but she should not be confused with the New Testament Salome.]

Just what the area around the Galleria needs: 2 hotels and more retail. Traffic is already a mess due to the Galleria, Borders-Circuit City-Kinkos shopping strip, and the Target/Dierbergs/Metrolink/Best Buy along Eager road.

Now that I own my home, I think I need to get involved in community discussions more.

[of course, the hotels and retail are going up in Richmond Heights, and I don’t live there. So going to any community meetings likely wouldn’t have helped.]

To the individual who bought the winning powerball ticket at Dierbergs on Tesson Ferry:

[Wait! You bought a ticket there and didn’t hear the news yet? I’ll wait for you to go to powerball.com and see if you won.]

OK, back now. You did win? Great!

I will gladly write your life story in epic poetry form.
Or ghost write your autobiography.
Or ghost write a novel for you.
You get the idea.
Can’t guarantee it will sell.
You’ll have to pay someone to market it for you.
But heck, you’re the one with the money.

I have no qualms whatsoever about returning to the days of writing on commission. Commissioned art isn’t inferior.

Of course, if you’re willing, I’d prefer a system of patronage. You pay me to create, whatever I will, and in exchange, your name goes into the history books as my patron.

From the Jerusalem Post

And finally there’s the real dark-horse nomination of “West Bank Story” in the Short Film-Live Action category.

Director Ari Sandel tags his work as “A little singing, a little dancing, a lot of hummus.”

Dark-camel. They should have said dark-camel.

Here’s the picture of my cousin from the film that I posted 2 years ago:

Free funny music downloads from a handful of dementia artists

The Funny Music Project

If you ever attend open mics, or performances by local bands, you hear it often.

“I have a chapbook for sale”
“I have a CD”

That sort of thing.

Well, over the years I’ve said it often. Not the CD one, but the chapbook one. But the open mic audience is limited. And with a blog, and Paypal, I figured I could expand the audience a bit. Maybe reach 5 or 6 more people. I only have one of my chapbooks — Politics, Religion and Drew Barrymore — listed so far (it’s the most recent one). Follow that link, or the one in the sidebar. (Warning: There are a few poems in this chapbook that, if they were acted out on film, might receive an R or NC17 rating from the MPAA.)

A participant in my Tuesday night writer’s group, who performs at the Hartford Coffee House open mic on Friday nights as well, also put together a chapbook recently, and when he heard I was putting the page together, he asked if he could be on it too. I readily accepted. His poetry is in a style very different from my own, but quite excellent. (No R or NC17 poems to my recollection.) Sample poems are available for both chapbooks.

We’re both handling our own chapbooks through separate Paypal accounts, so unfortunately, it’s not possible to combine the two chapbooks in one order.

One further note. The average size of a poetry chapbook is 20-24 pages. These sold for $3 when I first started out in the early 90s, but they normally sell for $5 today. My chapbook at 48 pages is actually at the maximum recommended size, as any larger, and it would become difficult to staple. Thematically it’s three small chapbooks in one. Due to this I considered a higher price, but due to the shipping and handling charges I had to add, I left it at $5.

And yes, there were many things I could have put in the title of this entry besides the title of the book. And there were many other things I could have titled the book. But this was the title of my blog for awhile. And while it’s been two, maybe three years since Drew’s name has been part of my blog title, entries that mention her still get a lot of hits. I might as well use this to my advantage.

Complete list of Academy Award nominations

I haven’t seen any of the movies up for Best Movie, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Anything, or Best Director. I’ve seen one of the nominees for Best Adapted Screenplay, and I hope Borat doesn’t win. I’ll be rooting for Cars in the Animated film category, and Pirates of the Caribbean in the handful of technical categories it’s nominated for.

Excerpt you might otherwise not notice…

23. Live Action Short Film:
“Binta and the Great Idea (Binta Y La Gran Idea),”
“Eramos Pocos (One Too Many),”
“Helmer & Son,”
“The Saviour,”
“West Bank Story.”

It’s unfortunate there’s no category: Best Actor in a Live Action Short Film.

I’m particularly proud of my results considering the sheer number of questions based on several books from the ‘alleged’ NT.

I’ve mentioned a friend before who drives a ‘Mini’.

here’s a picture of that Mini.

Did I mention that my friend is a dwarf?

Fan of Stephen King?
Fan of the Dark Tower series?
Did you know that there’s a comic book series being released by Marvel based on The Dark Tower?

Issue #1 is hitting comic bookstore shelves on Wednesday, February 7th, though Marvel is allowing stores to open at 12:01 am. And about 150 stores are doing it.

In Missouri three stores are:

Comic Relief
1325 N 2nd Street
St. Charles, MO 63301
www.comicbookrelief.com

Comic Relief
15425 Manchester Rd.
Ste. 8
Ballwin, MO 63011

Dragon’s Lair Comics
1400 W. Battlefield
#100
Springfield, MO 65807

King was smart, and instead of writing the comics himself, when he has no experience writing comics, which is a different medium than novels entirely, he let Marvel select one of their top writers — Peter David.

I’m not going to be there. I will likely pick up a copy of the first issue at least. I used to read a lot of King’s novels. Haven’t for several years, though. I’ve read several Peter David novels, and comics, and have enjoyed them immensely. But none of the stores are close, and this is a weeknight. I’ll be getting my copy from All American on Chippewa.

Today was my birthday. One of my gifts was another gift card to Borders. Already spent. The books won’t arrive for a week, but they seem to follow a theme…

144 years ago today, Edgar J Helms was born. He was the founder of Goodwill Inustries. (link is to a Senate resolution to honor EJH with a stamp in 2002)

198 years ago today, Edgar Poe was born. More of you are probably familiar with him.

The Washington Post has a great article on Art Buchwald.

My favorite Buchwald column isn’t mentioned in that article though, perhaps because Buchwald didn’t write it. Buchwald’s friend, Theodore Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss, did. Buchwald published it in his column though, and it possibly had historical, as well as hysterical results. A 2003 Natiional Review article has the story:

The next year [1972], Seuss published Marvin K. Mooney Will You Please Go Now! Like The Cat in the Hat, it’s an early-reader book meant for kids who are just getting started:

The time has come.
The time is now.
Just go.
Go.
GO!
I don’t care how. …
Marvin K. Mooney,
I don’t care how.
Marvin K. Mooney,
will you please
GO NOW!

Here’s how the Morgans describe the book’s political legacy in their biography: “In the spring of 1974, as the Watergate scandal neared its climax, Ted met the satirist Art Buchwald at the San Diego Zoo, and they became mutually admiring friends.” Soon after, Buchwald dared Seuss to write a political book. Eager to comply, Seuss “grabbed a copy of Marvin K. Mooney and, with a few strokes of a pen, deleted each mention of that name and substituted the name of the president.” On July 30, Buchwald’s syndicated column was based on Seuss’s revisions: “Richard M. Nixon, will you please go now!” Nine days later, Nixon really did go — he resigned — and Seuss was delighted. “We should have collaborated sooner,” he wrote to Buchwald.

Victor Hugo, in 1864, published a work entitled William Shakespeare. He began to write it as an introduction to a French translation of Shakespeare’s plays written by his son, Francois Victor. But it got longer and longer, and by the time he finished it, he realized 300 pages is too long for an introduction. So he wrote another introduction for his son, and published his work separately.

[Now you may understand why Les Miserables is 1500 pages. Victor Hugo was unfamiliar with William Strunk, Jr.’s sage advice: Omit Needless Words. Mostly because Elements of Style was first published 33 years after Hugo died. Strunk’s advice however wasn’t for Hugo. It was for the average writer. No one really cares if John Newmark thinks St. Louis’s sewers are symbolic of a tortured mind. However, Hugo can take the reader on a journey through the sewers of Paris, and the reader is enchanted. (Or some readers at least.)]

Sorry, I digressed a bit there. There were some French critics who suggested that the work, William Shakespeare, was mistitled. They suggested it should have been entitled Myself. I’ve only read the first chapter so far, but I suspect they’re right. But I’m going to keep reading, because I’m more interested in that subject anyway.

For those who think something written 150 years ago can’t speak to today, here’s one quote from the first chapter:

“That arrogance in commanding, which proceeded so far as to give orders to men’s thoughts, characterized certain ancient governments newly arrived at one of those firm situations where the greatest amount of crime produces the greatest amount of security.”

I’m trying something new. I am reading a book simultaneously with typing it in. This could take me awhile. Most of what I’ve typed in for my Victor Hugo site has been short, like poetry, and essays. Some might point out that one can read it online, though that’s scanned text, which is less easy to read. There are also programs that can convert PDF to text via “optical character recognition” but the resulting file still needs to be read line by line and edited because there are always mistakes. And when I’m done, I can give the text to WikiSource, like I did with Claude Gueux.

My birthday’s approaching so I thought this could be fun. Three Parts.

Part I Found on Blog on the Edge of Forever

NSTRUCTIONS
1. Go to http://popculturemadness.com/Music/index.html, and find the greatest hits for the year you turned 18 (on the left-hand side)
2. Select at least the first 40
3. In some way categorize them into these 4 categories (Some people like bold, italics and strike-thrus. Others like lists.

(I threw in two songs lower than 40 on the chart because I felt like it.)

Like

8. La Bamba - Los Lobos
9. You Can Call Me Al - Paul Simon
20. (You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party) - Beastie Boys
47. Dude (Looks Like A Lady) - Aerosmith
61. Touch of Grey - Grateful Dead

Hate

Indifferent

1. Living On A Prayer - Bon Jovi
2. Mony Mony - Billy Idol (1st released in 1981)
4. Lean On Me - Club Nouveau
11. Faith - George Michael
13. Bad - Michael Jackson
18. Girls, Girls, Girls - Motley Crew
26. Funky Town - Pseudo Echo

Not Familiar With

3. (I’ve Had) The Time Of My Life - Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes
5. Songbird - Kenny G
6. Always - Atlantic Starr
7. Oh Yeah - Yello
10. With Or Without You - U2
12. Don’t Give Up - Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush
14. It’s Tricky - Run DMC
15. You Got It All - the Jets
16. U Got The Look - Prince
17. I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For - U2
19. Didn’t We Almost Have It All - Whitney Houston
21. Keep Your Hands To Yourself - Georgia Satellites
22. I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me) - Whitney Houston
23. The Lady In Red - Chris Deburgh
24. Brass Monkey - Beastie Boys
25. La Isla Bonita - Madonna
27. Girls - Beastie Boys
28. Wanted Dead Or Alive - Bon Jovi
29. The Final Countdown - Europe
30. True Faith - New Order
31. Open Your Heart - Madonna
32. Where The Streets Have No Name - U2
33. Casanova - Levert
34. Looking For A New Love - Jody Watley
35. In Too Deep - Genesis
36. Let’s Wait Awhile - Janet Jackson
37. Tonight, Tonight, Tonight - Genesis
38. Somewhere Out There - Linda Ronstadt & James Ingram
39. Rhythm Is Gonna Get You - Gloria Estefan & Miami Sound Machine
40. Shake You Down - Gregory Abbott

Part II and III are based on the above, but I had to do a little searching to find the lists.

Part II

1. Go to http://www.hawes.com/no1_f_d.htm and find the list of #1 books (NY Times Bestseller List) for the year you were 18
2. Select all of them (Since books stay #1 on the NYTimes Bestseller List for multiple weeks, there might only be ten or so)
3. Categorize them similarly to the music above

Like

The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King (Viking) - February 1, 1987
Misery by Stephen King (Viking) - June 7, 1987
Presumed Innocent by Scott Turow (Farrar, Straus) - July 26, 1987
The Tommyknockers by Stephen King (Putnam) - November 29, 1987

Hate

Indifferent

Unread

Windmills of the Gods by Sidney Sheldon (Morrow) - February 8, 1987
Fine Things by Danielle Steel (Delacorte) - March 29, 1987
The Haunted Mesa by Louis L’Amour (Bantam) - May 31, 1987
Patriot Games by Tom Clancy (Putnam) - August 2, 1987
Kaleidoscope by Danielle Steel (Delacorte) - October 25, 1987

Part III

1: Go to http://theenvelope.latimes.com/extras/lostmind/ratings/ratings.htm for the top rated television shows for the year you turned 18 (stats for 1950-2004) Since the seasons run Fall to Spring, if you were born in the summer, choose the season before or after.
2: Categorize them into the following: Those you watched regularly, those you sometimes watched, those you never watched, those you’ve never heard of.

Watched Regularly

1 - The Cosby Show
2 - Family Ties
3 - Cheers
7 - Night Court
8 - Growing Pains
10 - Who’s the Boss?
12 - Newhart
30 - Head of the Class

Sometimes

5 - The Golden Girls
14 - 227
16 - CBS Sunday Night Movie
17 - NBC Monday Night Movie
20 - NBC Sunday Night Movie
28 - Alf

Never

6 - 60 Minutes
4 - Murder, She Wrote
9 - Moonlighting
11 - Dallas
15 - Matlock
18 - Monday Night Football
19 - Kate & Allie
21 - L.A. Law
22 - My Sister Sam
23 - Falcon Crest
24 - Highway to Heaven
25 - Dynasty
26 - Knots Landing
27 - Miami Vice
29 - Hunter

Hunh?

13 - Amen

Now you know a lot about what I was interested in 20 years ago.

There are a couple reviews over at Amazon that talk about the sexism in this novel. I may need to add my own review to counterbalance them. This was written in the 1950s, and while the male characters from Earth are chauvinistic, it’s clear the author knows they are chauvinistic. A truly sexist novel is oblivious to the sexism of the characters. The female characters in the novel don’t universally accept the roles they are ’supposed’ to fill.

This same issue comes up in discussions of some of Robert Heinlein’s early works — viewed as sexist by many today, but the female characters are mostly strong, shown to be equally intelligent as the men, but forced to live in a chauvinistic society.

It can certainly be argued that the novel is anti-Collectivist. The back cover blurb describes it as a humorous parallel between Communism and bees, and that’s appropriate. However, I’d argue that de Camp goes beyond Communism, and if the book is intended as an argument for anything, it is an argument about the superiority of individualism over collectivism. There is a strong thread of Libertarianism that runs through Science Fiction, and Libertarianism is strongly individualistic, so this isn’t surprising.

This was the first novel I’ve read of de Camp’s, and he definitely displays a sense of humor in it. Encouraging me to search out some of his other books. It also reads like a novelization of a Star Trek episode; though de Camp wrote it a decade before the series appeared on television. Earth spaceship lands on primitive planet. Terrans have a philosophy of non-interference. They end up interfering. Chaos ensues. The fun lies in the details; and I left the book caring about the characters and wondering what happened to them.

Abraham, Martin and John - Dick Holler

Has anybody here seen my old friend Abraham?
Can you tell me where he’s gone?
He freed a lot of people,
But it seems the good they die young.
You know, I just looked around and he’s gone.

Anybody here seen my old friend John?
Can you tell me where he’s gone?
He freed a lot of people,
But it seems the good they die young.
I just looked around and he’s gone.

Anybody here seen my old friend Martin?
Can you tell me where he’s gone?
He freed a lot of people,
But it seems the good they die young.
I just looked ’round and he’s gone.

Didn’t you love the things that they stood for?
Didn’t they try to find some good for you and me?
And we’ll be free
Some day soon, and it’s a-gonna be one day …

Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he’s gone?
I thought I saw him walkin’ up over the hill,
With Abraham, Martin and John.

–

National Brotherhood Week, when it was celebrated, was in February, the exact week seems to have changed. Wiki says third week, but Malcolm X was shot on Sunday, February 21, and if Tom Lehrer (see below) was right, then it was the fourth week in 1965. In 1970, Nixon’s address suggests the fourth week, and in 1982, Reagan’s address suggests the second week, so it seems to have moved around the month of February a bit. The introduction below appeared on the album, That Was the Year That Was

National Brotherhood Week — Tom Lehrer

One week of every year is designated National Brotherhood Week. This is just one of many such weeks honoring various worthy causes. One of my favorites is National Make-Fun-Of-The-Handicapped Week, which Frank Fontaine and Jerry Lewis are in charge of as you know. During National Brotherhood Week various special events are arranged to drive home the message of brotherhood - this year, for example, on the first day of the week, Malcolm X was killed, which gives you an idea of how effective the whole thing is.

I’m sure we all agree that we ought to love one another, and I know there are people in the world who do not love their fellow human beings, and I hate people like that! Here’s a song about National Brotherhood Week.

Oh, the white folks hate the black folks,
And the black folks hate the white folks;
To hate all but the right folks
Is an old established rule.

But during National Brotherhood Week,
National Brotherhood Week,
Lena Horne and Sheriff Clark are dancing cheek to cheek.
It’s fun to eulogize
The people you despise
As long as you don’t let ‘em in your school.

Oh, the poor folks hate the rich folks,
And the rich folks hate the poor folks.
All of my folks hate all of your folks,
It’s American as apple pie.

But during National Brotherhood Week,
National Brotherhood Week,
New Yorkers love the Puerto Ricans ’cause it’s very chic.
Step up and shake the hand
Of someone you can’t stand,
You can tolerate him if you try!

Oh, the Protestants hate the Catholics
And the Catholics hate the Protestants,
And the Hindus hate the Moslems,
And everybody hates the Jews.

But during National Brotherhood Week,
National Brotherhood Week,
It’s National Everyone-Smile-At-One-Another-Hood Week.
Be nice to people who
Are inferior to you.
It’s only for a week, so have no fear;
Be grateful that it doesn’t last all year!

Coyote Blue - Christopher Moore - 1996

This book felt like it got off to a slower start than Lamb or Bloodsucking Fiends. But once it got going it was fun. I was first introduced to the Native American trickster-god, Coyote, around about the time Moore was writing his novel. It’s been a few years, but he’s just as I remembered him. I took several religion classes while in college, and due to Coyote, the Dine Bahane was the only scripture I recall reading where I laughed. [The protagonist in Moore’s novel is a member of the Crow tribe, but several Native American religions share Coyote.]

I did learn in the opening pages of Coyote Blue that I have been pronouncing the god’s name wrong for ten years. The god’s name is only two syllables. You learn something new every day. I also learned the name of Coyote’s brother…though I am suspicious that there is no confirmation of the genealogy in a Google search. I feel tricked!

I have a strong desire to pick up my copy of the Dine Bahane, and reread it now. Of course, I will skim through it and only reread the sections with Coyote. Unfortunately, if I were to reread Coyote Blue, I’d likely do the same. Fortunately, he’s in a lot of the novel.

The email I received these pictures in had a lot of funny taglines but I have complete faith that my readers are capable of coming up with their own.

Finally…For those of you concerned about those imprisoned unjustly around the world, here’s a photo from a friend’s photoblog, which reveals an injustice not covered by many newspapers.

For those who haven’t heard….The Natl Weather Service has released a
warning of freezing rain all weekend, mixing with sleet on Sunday.
(Freezing rain starting tonight between 6-8 pm) and an accumulation of
an inch of ice.

Leave work tonight as soon as you can, and drive safely.
My car’s de-icer will not be left in my car’s trunk this time.
Though I am going to stop by Schnucks on my way home, pick up some food for the weekend (stuff that won’t spoil if the power goes out), and buy a powerball ticket.

The week’s almost over, but if you’ve never left a comment here, you’re encouraged. Let me know what you like about my blog. What you would like to see more of. Less of. Or tell me what color your shoelaces are. Anything.

Robert Anton Wilson’s final blog post

I hope I have his humor when my time comes.

I haven’t read his works, but he is best known for The Illuminatus Trilogy.

Drew is available, again. Since she gave him the boot, I’m not sure whether to send her my condolences or my congratulations.

I won three dollars yesterday in Powerball. It’s going to be reinvested.

Here’s a USA Today article on people who refuse technology.

The most interesting paragraphs are interesting to me not because of what they say, but because of what they don’t say.

Alan Moore, 53, a writer in Northampton, England, has no e-mail, no Web access, no cellphone. His PC is a “glorified typewriter.”

He knows all about blogs and Google and MySpace; an imposter even put up a MySpace page in his name. He understands the convenience of cellphones and knows that people can have hundreds of channels on their TVs rather than his few broadcast ones.

Despite this, “I don’t think I’m missing out.”

Instead of Googling every question, he refers to books. Instead of toting a cellphone on a walk, he just walks. “Not being able to be phoned when I’m out: that is blissful,” he says.

“We live in a culture where we are completely swamped with information. It’s like some invisible fluid. I try to control the flow of information through my life.”

Alan Moore is identified simply as a “writer, 53, Northampton England.” No mention that his fan-base is comprised of comic book and science fiction geeks, which I think would add to the story. Yes, I am assuming this is the Alan Moore who wrote V for Vendetta, Watchmen, and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. There could be more than one 53-year old writer named Alan Moore living in Northampton, England, with a faked MySpace page. I doubt it.

Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story - Christopher Moore - 1995

It’s been a very long time since a book about vampires kept me up at night.

Of course, if you read my post Tuesday morning, that opening sentence isn’t a perfect setup. You already know I was up until 2 am reading it.

Bloodsucking Fiends isn’t scary, but it is, as the San Francisco Chronicle said, “bloody funny”, so Moore is 2-for-2 for me. One of the back-cover blurbs compares Moore to a combination of Kurt Vonnegut Jr. and Douglas Adams. There are some passages where I felt he might be imitating Adams, though they are rare, and it is in mostly his own comedic style. He wrote this 8 years prior to Lamb, and it was his third novel. I’m reading his second novel next. (Coyote Blue)

I was unable to catch Moore in any factual errors this time. While this is solidly a work of fiction, since few people know how vampires truly behave, there are always places for an author to make a mistake. The novel is set in San Francisco. I’ve been to San Francisco, but I am not conversant in its streets. One of his main characters, C. Thomas Flood, wants to be a writer, and there are literary references made. For example, one of Poe’s characters, Montressor, is mentioned by Flood.

There was one passage I feel was written purely for me. I don’t think there is any way for Moore to know me — now, and certainly not back in 1995. However, it was still written for me.

Flood is talking to a dead guy in a freezer as he types on a typewriter.

“When I write about the little farm girl in Georgia walking barefoot to school on the dirt road, I sound like Harper Lee, but when I write about her poor father, unjustly sentenced to a chain gang for stealing bread for his family, I start to sound a little like Mark Twain. But when the girl grows up to become a Mafia don, I’m falling into more of a Sydney Collins Krantz style.”

The idea of writing Les Miserables in the style of Mark Twain may be the scariest thing in the novel.

In 6 days, a new Christopher Moore novel is being released. It is actually a sequel to Bloodsucking Fiends. If you haven’t read Bloodsucking Fiends, don’t follow the link below, or if you do, don’t read the Publisher’s Weekly or Booklist review, because even the short descriptions give bits of the previous novel away. (As well as bits of the new novel I’m not sure I wanted to know.) Booklist’s review is worse than Publisher’s Weekly in this regard. While it has been mentioned in the comments of a few of my earlier entries that Moore reuses characters, this new book appears to be a sequel in the usual sense, where it would be unwise to read them out of order.

Awhile back an individual on my blogroll emailed me. They said they could understand why they were categorized under non-local, since they didn’t live in St. Louis, but no one had ever called them ‘friendly’ before. I could understand their concern.

I have since then realized that my previous categories, while they were somewhat descriptive of how I knew the individual bloggers, really weren’t helpful to visitors of my blog. So I came up with some new categories.

I still have a ‘local’ category for a handful of blogs that really defy any other category. I dropped the word ‘friendly’, not because of any relationship demotions, but because it’s not really very useful information.

Odd⁴² was created specifically for the individual who emailed me above, but others fit into that category as well.

I could have separated my category of Actors, Artists, Musicians, and Writers into two, but then I would ultimately have to make some really difficult decisions I never want to have to make. So there’s only one category.

Everything else should be self explanatory. There are a few blogs that I do frequent regularly if not daily that aren’t on the list and will be added shortly.

Mid December: Cisco announces that it is releasing an IPhone, and that it has had the trademark to that name since 2000.

This morning: Steve Jobs announces that Apple is releasing an IPhone, and calls it that.

IANAL, but this ought to be interesting.

I thought I had cured myself of my bad habit of staying up until 2 am surfing the net. It’s really difficult to get enough sleep, and stay awake at work when I do.

I wasn’t up surfing the net last night, but an old habit kicked in, and I was up until 2 am reading a book. Damn you Christopher Moore, you sleepsucking fiend, I’m no longer on vacation.

You know the movie: March of the Penguins?
Well, it’s about Emperor Penguins.
And in France, the title of the film originally translated to March of the Emperors.
And the French came up with an absolutely hilarious advert.
It should be noted that I ‘listened’ to this at work, where I have no audio. It’s not needed, due to English subtitles.
It should also be noted that there is one line in the video that some might feel contains a word that is inappropriate for children.

As seen on Peter David’s blog

I just added my 1001st book to LibraryThing.

Here are some of my latest acquisitions (beyond that which I have reviewed over the past few days)

I just made a trip to Borders today to cash in a Gift Card. Here’s what I got:

Bloodsucking Fiends by Christopher Moore
Coyote Blue by Christopher Moore
Refiner’s Fire by Mark Helprin
The Complete Stories by Franz Kafka

I like vampires, and I remember Coyote from reading the Dine Bahane (the Navajo Creation story) in college, which is the primary reason I selected those two over the other choices I had for Moore. My uncle recommended Refiner’s Fire. He recommended that I read Helprin’s A Winter’s Tale several years ago, and I have always been grateful since. He claims this is better. There were several editions of Kafka’s stories to choose from, but the word ‘complete’ is what sold me on the one I bought. After finishiing it, I will only have the novels left. It has an introduction by John Updike, which is much less surprising than Anne Rice.

Last night I was at Harford Coffee Company and there were several boxes of free books - mostly Science Fiction. I did my best to leave stuff for others. I picked up:

Rogue Queen by L. Sprague de Camp
The TOR SF Sampler - 1993 Hugo Nominees Edition
This Immortal by Roger Zelazny

I’ve heard good things about de Camp, but never read any of his work. The TOR sampler contains a selection from Maureen F McHugh’s novel, China Mountain Zhang, and Vernor Vinge’s novel A Fire Upon the Deep. I read China Mountain Zhang ten years ago, and it was great. I haven’t read any Vinge. This Immortal won the Hugo Award, and I remember enjoying Zelazny’s Princes of Amber series as a youth, so I thought I’d try it out.

Finally, there was one book that I received as a gift that I haven’t read yet, so I haven’t reviewed it yet. It wasn’t given to me on vacation — it was waiting for me on my return home.

A Bilingual Edition of the Major Epics of Victor Hugo — Volume II (Translation by EH Blackmore and AM Blackmore)

I don’t have Volume I. If you follow the links to the pages at Amazon you will discover that the entries are very poorly written, and you don’t realize you are only getting one of two volumes. Actually, since each volume is approximately 400 pages, and both entries suggest what you’re buying is 800 pages, it implies you’re getting both volumes. The only clue that they’re different is different ISBN numbers.

However, accordiing to the Table of Contents in Volume II, the first volume in the series contains The Legend of the Ages. While it contains more of this poetry volume than has been previously translated, it holds less interest for me than the works in Volume II, so of the two volumes, I ended up by chance putting the one I prefer on my Wishlist. Volume II contains: The End of Satan, God, The Pope, and Reliquat (Material Left Over). When Hugo edited his work, he never deleted anything. He just put it aside in a file he called ‘Reliquat’ to be used later, or picked over by his literary executors. The literary equivalent of ‘deleted scenes’. The selections in this volume were from The End of Satan and God.

The Diagnosis – Alan Lightman – 2000

I finished the vacation with another work of science fiction you are unlikely to find catalogued in that section of a bookstore. Like Kafka’s In the Penal Colony, Alan Lightman’s The Diagnosis is thematically focused on the dehumanizing effects of technology. The quotes from critics on the opening pages mention Kafka several times, though most compare it to The Metamorphosis, as Lightman’s main character, Bill Chalmers, suffers a mysterious illness which slowly transforms him into a condition that both his wife and teenage son have difficulty dealing with.

There is nothing fantastic or magical, however, in the pages. Chalmers’ world is our own. All business communication is by email or cell phone. He looks up his symptoms on the internet to self-diagnose. The son takes an internet course on Plato, hacks the copyright protections, and sends his father copies.

I enjoyed the novel, but not as much as Lightman’s other novel, Einstein’s Dreams (2004). It didn’t equal the later work in poetic language. However, I was successfully drawn into the lives of the characters, and I am left contemplating technology’s effect on our lives. Chalmers lived at a much higher level of work-related stress than I do. I have intentionally chosen jobs where I don’t have to take my work home with me every day, knowing that I need downtime. Still, much of Chalmers’ life resonates.

Coincidentally, some of the symptoms of Chalmers’ illness are shared with Guillain-Barre syndrome, which gets mentioned twice in the novel. First, in Chalmers’ internet research, and second, by a doctor. It’s rare enough that any appearance in what I am reading catches my attention.

The Metamorphosis, In the Penal Colony, and Other Stories - Franz Kafka

After Lamb, I decided to read some Kafka. My mother had brought a collection of his short stories along on the vacation as In the Penal Colony had been assigned in her reading group. I suspect many people probably think I read Kafka in college. They think I have read all the great works once they learn I have a degree in English. Of course, Kafka didn’t write in English, and my degree is in English Composition. I learned early in my scholastic journey that I have great difficulty finishing a book I am not enjoying, which creates a serious hurdle in Literature classes. I’ve read a lot of great literature over the years, but it has mostly been by choice, not assignment.

Without reading Kafka, I already knew about Gregor Samsa, and how he woke up one morning as a cockroach. It’s hard to escape allusions to The Metamorphosis. So the first sentence of the short story was no surprise. And if by chance you’ve never heard of Gregor Samsa, then that is all I have ruined for you. The opening sentence. Like I, when I began reading, you have no idea what is to follow. It’s worth it. I was drawn in, and wasn’t released until I was finished. The reading isn’t difficult at all. There are no Joycian or Faulknerian sentences to decipher. The actions of all the characters propel the story to its unnatural conclusion.

I don’t know if any particular translation is superior. This edition has an introduction by Anne Rice. Yes, the author of the Vampire Chronicles. Not exactly the first author you’d expect to write an introduction to Kafka. However, apparently reading Kafka was a great turning point in her early writing career. She had been taught in all her studies that any works worthy of writing had to be written in a realistic universe, preferably about middle class, normal people. Because that was what all serious writers wrote about. She picked up Kafka in a bookstore and he gave her the courage to write using the nightmarish characters that populated her dreams.

Genre? “Literature” is a cop-out, and somewhat infuriating. Those who classify any work that reaches a certain level of critical success as “literature”, and then turn around and dismiss genre works as a whole as ‘unliterary,’ are quite correct, but only because they are defining the terms to fit their prejudice. Orwell’s 1984, Zamyatin’s We, and Shelley’s Frankenstein are all literature, and all Science Fiction. (Sometimes Frankenstein is also classified as Horror.)

Both The Metamorphosis and In the Penal Colony could be classified under horror, as aspects of both stories are horrific. The Metamorphosis could also be classified under Fantasy or Magical Realism. Though the latter term is often abused, and is usually applied to Latin American fiction, it does seem appropriate. Gregor’s transformation is the one magical part in an otherwise completely realistic world. It reminded me of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s Very Old Man with Enormous Wings, in that respect. In the Penal Colony could be classified as Science Fiction. Often people will look at this genre as limited to stories set in the future, or on other planets. There are examples, however, where the story can conceivably take place in our own time. In the Penal Colony’s thematic focus – technology’s dehumanization of man – is squarely in the realm of Science Fiction.

Finally, if I were to create a reading list for the modern abolitionist, In the Penal Colony would definitely be on the list. I might even place it higher than Victor Hugo’s Last Day of the Condemned.

These were the only two Kafka stories I read from the collection, though I intend to find my own collection, and read some more.