"The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter." —Mark Twain
Toni Morrison’s Beloved is a difficult read. Difficult, at first, for mundane reasons. Names you don’t know how to pronounce (Sethe, Halle). Irritating, non-standard diction (whitepeople, blackpeople). A narrative structure that jumps without transition from character to character, time to time, location to location, leaving you to catch up as best you can. A general […]
“Round up the usual suspects.” — Claude Rains (as Capt. Louis Renault), Casablanca (1942) Easy Virtue (2008) This had promise, being that it’s based on a Noel Coward play, but it didn’t deliver. It comes across as a parody of a typical BBC drawing room comedy, minus the humor. I honestly think the movie is […]
As of today, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is implementing a military-wide modification to current Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, pending congressional repeal of DADT. Gay servicemen and women who have been outed by jilted partners or third parties will no longer be forcibly discharged, so long as they don’t out themselves. Since President Obama […]
I thought the fix was in, that Democrats in congress wouldn’t pass health care reform. But they did. Nancy Pelosi, you go! Have you considered running for president some day? Toward the end, the Republican refrain was that passing HCR would hurt Democrats. But you know what? Everyone loves a winner, and right now congressional […]
I recently set up a news feed to follow reports of book banning, challenges, and censorship. This is a roundup of current book banning news from the USA: Good news for kids who’ve been missing Captain Underpants Why they’re still freaking over Catcher in the Rye RIP Bruce Roberts, a champion of banned books Come […]
. . . from our weekend with the kids and grandchildren in Las Vegas (click to enlarge): But that’s not all! Here are a few more (click to enlarge): Top row, left to right: Donna & Beth coaching Polly in the kitchen Quentin & Taylor (OMG Taylor’s 5′ 10″ & still growing) Bottom row, left […]
During our weekend visit with the kids in Las Vegas, my son Gregory and I once again checked out a pair of BMW motorcycles. We did the same thing last year (when we rode an R1200RT and an R1200 GS). This year we rode a K1200GT and another R1200GS. Neither of us had ridden the […]
Unconnected thoughts and observations which don’t rate separate blog posts, but when aggregated together might amount to something: We’re in Las Vegas, visiting the kids. Gregory’s birthday was the 10th; Polly’s is the 16th. Of course we’re spending time with our grandson Quentin, too, and campaigning to have his parents send him down to Tucson […]