"When I do not want to say things in real life I often say them here." — Mimi Smartypants
From Nancy Nall’s blog yesterday, a righteous rant about a/an agreement, prompted by the typo in this sentence: “Lawmakers on Thursday evening announced they had reached an budget agreement to end the shutdown.” As Nancy puts it: “The hell you say.” Few will come right out and say it, but this is a class thing. […]
Very sore this morning. Yesterday the dermatologist removed a sebaceous cyst from the top of my scalp. There must be a lot of stitches … I can’t count them yet because the bandage doesn’t come off for another hour … but however many there are, they’re tight, tight, tight. A poor man’s facelift! I’m sporting […]
You Can’t Read That! is my new title for banned book reviews and news roundups. From a previous banned book news roundup: Conservative groups who believe in and fear the so-called gay agenda accuse the American Library Association of suppressing books with pro-hetereosexual themes. But 99% of books in libraries implicitly or explicitly endorse heterosexuality, […]
The scandal du jour is how the gathering of tabloid gossip has escalated from eavesdropping on insider chitchat to outright espionage. In Britain, reporters from Rupert Murdoch’s News of the World are accused of trying to get the dirt on royals, politicians, and sports stars by bribing bodyguards and household staff, hacking phone lines, and […]
“The sun peers over the rim of the earth, casting its blaze across Bangkok. It rushes molten over the wrecked tower bones of the old Expansion and the gold-sheathed chedi of the city’s temples, engulfing them in light and heat. It ignites the sharp high roofs of the Grand Palace where the Child Queen lives […]
“Kindness. That can kill you here.” — Ed Harris as Mister Smith in The Way Back Reversible Errors (TV 2004) Strong cast, weak movie. To be fair, it’s not really a movie … it’s a TV miniseries. Because it was made for TV, Reversible Errors is full of “pause for commercial break” setups and an […]
A friend wrote the other day and asked me if I’d ever read anything by Stuart Archer Cohen. I fear for my friend’s mind, because just two years ago … on her recommendation … I read Cohen’s The Army of the Republic and sent her a copy of my brief review, which I’ll repost here: […]
Last week I noticed they’d moved several outdoor aircraft at the Pima Air & Space Museum, opening up a big empty area behind Hangar One. When I showed up for my tour yesterday there was our F-15A, once hidden in the back reaches of the museum’s 300 acres, newly on display alongside the path between […]