It’s a weird time for America, isn’t it? It just feels so dismal. Two wars that feel like one fetid, ever-growing quagmire. A dollar that feels more like bad Kleenex than good money. Stranded polar bears having to figure out how to use sun screen. A pervasive media that screams at us all day like a coke-crazed banshee starring in the new reality show that’s hot, hot, HOT!! called Let’s Degrade Everyone! It’s so depressing. These are depressing times. I’m so depressed I may not... Read more
These stark pictures are the emotionally wrenching evidence that a nefarious renter in my apartment complex is shamelessly exploiting their elderly cat for the visual gratification of even the most mildly curious passers-by on their way to the laundry room. Loving your cat is one thing. Turning your cat into an illegitimate zoo display is another This entire display was almost too cute cruel to contemplate. ********************************************************************************************************** Email: johnshore@sbcglobal.net Follow: http://twitter.com/johnshore Befriend: http://www.facebook.com/john.shore1 Be Fan: http://www.facebook.com/pages/John-Shore/89494795412?ref=s Read more
As of today, it is illegal in California to drive while talking on your cell phone — unless you are talking on your phone via a hands-free device. This, when every study in the universe shows that people who are simultaneously driving and talking on their cell phones — hands-free or not — are exactly as dangerous as people who are driving drunk. People can drive just fine with one hand. What they can’t do just fine is drive and talk on... Read more
For years now I’ve been waiting for Ye Oldye Ecology Symbol to once again become the ubiquitous cultural icon it was in the late ’60’s and early ’70’s. Has it, though, and I just … don’t know that? Has The Little “e” That Could* become huge again, by any chance? I figure by now it must have. Symbols from the ’60’s seem quite the rage these days. And, except for the peace sign (which of course we now see everywhere), you can’t... Read more
If you’re just joining us, see How To Write A Book Proposal, Part 1. Even though this post should be called, “How To Write A Book Proposal, Part 2,” I changed it to, “Why A Book Proposal Is Everything,” because … well, because “why?” most naturally comes before “how”? Sorry for not thinking of that sooner. There are three Major Reasons for which you have to write and submit to your literary agent or publisher a book proposal instead of a finished... Read more
I just finished and sent to my agent a book proposal. So now I have book proposals on my mind. How fascinating, I know. Actually, because I am a very famous writer known far and wide throughout my apartment complex, people very often ask me why I’m staring into their window how to do a book proposal. And when they do I’m always kind of surprised, because wanting to get a book published and not knowing anything about book proposals is... Read more
I believe the most consistantly compelling motivation, the most determining factor in the human experience, is the fear of death. The core, most primary thing we know about being alive is that somewhere along the line we won’t be anymore. Everything we are, do, think and feel is necessarily founded upon and grounded within the terrible, brutal fact that we — or at least the we as we are now — are as temporary as temporary gets. At some level, this abiding (if unconscious) surety of the tenuousness... Read more
My Hero I used to be a broke underachiever. Thank God those days are over. Now, instead, I’m green like Kermit. I drive an old Ford Focus that I never wash or change the oil in. Whereas before this meant I was monetarily challenged and adverse to effort, now it means I’m a dedicated environmentalist. I’ve always lived in compact, vertically stacked, densely-arranged residential units. Too poor to buy a house? Wrong. Habitatilly (I’m sure it’s a word) green. When the choice is between steak... Read more
I’ve never owned a home. I’ve never really had any money to speak of, and there seems to be some sort of connection between the two. Plus, I hate yard work. When I was a kid, my dad was forever making me do yard work. I hated it so much that I swore one day I’d be too poor to afford property. That’d show him. Anyway, there comes a moment in every person’s life when they realize they’re going to grow old and die... Read more
Ineffectually threatening. Operates underground. Totally blind. Slings mud. Grabby. Extremely uncuddly. Probably the result of inbreeding. (This, by the way, is a star-nosed mole. They can smell underwater, are impervious to weather, and are the fastest-eating mammals on the planet. Be afraid. Photo [and article here] by the great Kenneth Catania.) Related posts: What Obama Supporters Look Like To McCain, How John McCain Sees Barack Obama, How Barack Obama Sees John McCain, What Hillary Looks Like in Obama’s Dreams, What Obama Looks... Read more
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