"The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter." —Mark Twain
Unsolicited opinions on books, movies, TV shows, consumer products
“They went up there alive and came back down dead! Did you notice that? The difference, I mean: alive, dead, dead, alive, that sort of thing? It wasn’t difficult to spot. He killed them both.”—Ewan McGregor as Alex Law in Shallow Grave God Bless America (2012, USA) God Bless America nails everything that is debased […]
You Can’t Read That! is a periodic post featuring banned book reviews and news roundups. The 30th annual Banned Books Week (September 30-October 6) dominates the news this month. In the leadup to BBW, the American Library Association offers an interactive timeline covering 30 years of book banning attempts in the United States. Nice Banned […]
“You’re a dinosaur, Date Rape. You’re a classic racist, a bigot, a sexist, a womanizer, a chauvinist, a misanthrope, homophobic clearly, or maybe you don’t like yourself.” — Brie Larsen as Helen in Rampart Young Adult (2011, USA) That Charlize Theron, what an actor. Her character here, a writer of young adult fiction named Mavis, […]
“I spend the months following my grandfather’s death cycling through a purgatory of beige waiting rooms and anonymous offices, analyzed and interviewed, talked about just out of earshot, nodding when spoken to, repeating myself, the object of a thousand pitying glances and knitted brows. My parents treated me like a breakable heirloom, afraid to fight […]
“Now, as Ross runs up the engines, I remove the safety pin from the gear lever. I watch Ross anxiously. I am pathetically eager to perform my co-pilot’s duties quickly and efficiently. As he shoves the throttles forward and we start down the runway, I place my hand ready on the gear lever. I feel […]
“When you get upset, when you get mad, you turn red, right? When you get envious, or sick, you turn green. When you become cowardly, you turn yellow; and ya’ll got the nerve to call us colored? ” — Kevin Phillips as Leon “Neon” Edwards in Red Tails Into the Abyss (2011, USA) The great […]
“The Drowned Cities hadn’t always been broken. People broke it. First they called people traitors and said they didn’t belong. Said these people were good and those people were evil, and it kept going, because people always responded, and pretty soon the place was a roaring hell because no one took responsibility for what they […]
Arizona: Tucson Unified School District is still in damage control mode, denying that it banned any books. But the story’s out of the box … unlike the books TUSD rounded up and put in boxes labeled “banned books.” Banned books, cancelled classes, fired teachers — when anti-intellectuals who hold learning and scholarship in contempt take […]