Left Behind, pp. 115-121 Chapter 7 of Left Behind does not begin with a phone call. Instead, we are treated to another detailed explanation of travel plans. In the first 100 pages of this book we've learned about a nuclear war (it's OK, no one was hurt), and the disappearance of 2/5 of the world's population. Yet these same 100 pages are strangely uneventful — the story of a man whose flight to London is detoured to Chicago, so he... Read more
Set iPod to random. Hit play. Report results. Why? Because it's Friday: Ricky Lee Jones, "Someone to Watch Over Me" Maria McKee, "Can't Pull the Wool Down (Over this little lamb's eyes)" Jeff Buckley, "Lover, You Should Have Come Over" The Lemonheads, "Bit Part"* Suede, "Trash" Cameo, "Word Up" The Shins, "Caring Is Creepy" Garbage, "I Would Die For You" Aimee Mann, "Deathly" The Pogues & The Dubliners, "The Irish Rover" – – – – – – – – –... Read more
Left Behind, The Video Game My thanks to everyone who tipped me off to the upcoming release of Left Behind: The Video Game, which seems like such a horrible idea that I'm tempted to say it's a sign of the End Times. Potentially much worse: the Left Behind Games site features a photo of their CEO posing with Mel Gibson and praising his film, The Passion of the Christ. Why is Mel talking with video game designers about that movie?... Read more
THE DOCTOR: How come I've never seen you people before? OKWE: Because we are the people you do not see. We are the ones who drive your cabs. We clean your rooms. And suck your cocks. — from Dirty Pretty Things,written by Steven Knight To begin to answer the important question "What is a newspaper for?" we must also address a related, and also largely ignored, question: Who is a newspaper for? In comments to the previous post, Dave suggests... Read more
The free weekly tabloid that the paper started in order to reach "younger readers" is now a year old. (See earlier: "Reaching Younger Readers.") After reading it for a year, I've finally realized what it reminds me of. It reminds me of Pippin. I don't like Pippin. I've seen three different amateur productions — all of which were seriously lacking Ben Vereen.* And I've seen the movie version with Vereen, which also features lots of Fosse, Martha Raye and the... Read more
Darryl Pearce wrote the following in comments to an earlier post: I've already sent my letter-to-the-editor for this month (they've been rationing me). This got me thinking. I work for a medium-sized newspaper (one coworker tells me it's actually the 96th largest paper in the U.S.). We seem to publish pretty much any halfway-well-written, halfway-civil letter we get. I imagine the same is true for most small- and mid-sized papers. I've neglected the letter-to-the-editor as a part of my responsible-citizenship/change-the-world... Read more
Got team-tagged for the infamous Book Meme — both by Patrick Nielsen Hayden of ElectroMakingLite, and by James Martin of the wheatblog. Total number of books owned: About 1,500. (The total number of books owned and read would be somewhat smaller.) Last book bought: Perfectly Legal: The covert campaign to rig our tax system to benefit the super rich — and cheat everybody else, by David Cay Johnston. Last book read: "Neverwhere," by Neil Gaiman. I'd always suspected something like... Read more
Still don't own a cat or a digital camera, but I did get me an iPod, so I can now participate in another of those Friday traditions that are all the rage on the Internets. 1. Patty Griffin, "Mad Mission" 2. Green, "Fingerprints" 3. Terry Scott Taylor, "Startin' Monday" 4. Paul Westerberg, "Dyslexic Heart" 5. Mark Heard, "Nod Over Coffee" 6. They Might Be Giants, "Birdhouse in Your Soul" 7. Victoria Williams, "Summer of Drugs" 8. Lucinda Williams, "Blue" 9.... Read more
Left Behind, Chapters 1-6 When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened. But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry. He prayed to the Lord, "O Lord, is this not what I said? … I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, O... Read more
That's what I call it. It's a rhetorical gimmick that's actually much more effective for self-deception than for the persuasion of others. It's a way of telling yourself that "Everybody thinks I'm wrong — therefore I must be right!" It's easy once you get the hang of it. Feel free to play along. Simply find two extreme views roughly equidistant from your own along whatever spectrum you see fit to consult. Declare one the thesis and the other the antithesis,... Read more
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