Author Archives: bookdwarf

For a good time, go here…

First, there’s a great discussion of David Foster Wallace going on over at TEV’s blog. So visit here. Some readers love him and some don’t like him as much, but the discussion itself provokes a lot of thought.

Second, I am being bombarded with comment spam. It’s exploded this past week. I deleted 25 this morning, only to find 15 new ones just now. So email this asshole: bertadaniels@rediffmail.com. He’s behind it all. I am hoping the same technology that blindly searches for email addresses finds this one. Fucker.

Doesn’t anyone listen?

Seriously, it needs to stop. If I receive one more piece of We-are-totally-screwed-because-George-W-Bush-is-president-for-4-more-years email, I will hurt someone. I get it. We’re screwed. Stop sending me stupid emails about it and get off your ass and do something then. Get involved. That’s the lesson to be learned this past week. No more should we sit as armchair commentators as the extreme right takes over our country. Stand up, shake off the crumbs, and get moving. And stop sending me fucking emails.

Sorry to rant.

I’m majoring in Naked.

College kids are funny. I love that their biggest fears are their political careers. And only college kids can be this pretentious: “Sean Tice, a junior who is majoring in both English and religious studies, said that talk also circled toward how philosophers like Heidegger might interpret their acts before coming to the realization that harnessing Heidegger to naked sprints in public seems, at best, a reach.”

Raise Your Hand if You’re Sick of Self Pitying Posts (say that 5 times fast)

Okay, I’ve had it. It’s been 2 days. Enough already. We got screwed. Instead of focusing on what we might lose over the next few years, let’s instead try to protect the things we want to keep. Let’s not wallow in our misery. Stop the red state this, the blue state that. People are different, accept it. I don’t know if I will ever understand why so many people voted for Bush, but maybe I’ll read a few books on the subject now. There are some good posts out there with great arguments for picking ourselves up off the ground and dusting off the dirt. Let’s get back to work and show the other side that they haven’t beaten us down.

In an effort to get back to books, but unfortunately, it’s Bush themed

The NYT Book Review has drawn the ire of Jonathan Bush apparently. He objects to their reveiwing the Kitty Kelley biography of the Bush family. He doesn’t object to the review itself, merely that they ran a review of a book that *gasp* “consists for the most part of quotations and commentary lifted from other writers, themselves also quick to seize upon the protection of New York Times v. Sullivan to write a litany of lies not only about our mother and father and the two presidents, but the entire family as well.” Sorry, I can’t feel sorry for you there Jonathan. Not just because of the election yesterday, but also for the fact that your family’s been in the limelight for years. And y’all put yourselves there. And that you are “surprised and deeply offended to see your review, which treats this rotten book seriously” also suggests that you are not a regular reader of the NYT Book Review, at least not of late.

Exercising my motha-fucking constitutional rights

Unless you’ve been living in hole on Mars for the past 6 months, you know today is the end of a giant race. I am not going to wax on about how the race is close, and what we are trying to win, etc. All I really want to post about is my excitement that so many people seem to be voting today. It’s great. My polling place is a senior home across the street from my building and is usually staffed with senior residents. They can be a bit on the slow side when it comes to checking your name off the list. But that does not account for the huge line that ran 2 or more blocks this morning. I feel luckier than some New Yorkers though. I am dreading this evening. But I hope it is all decided tonight. So it takes a shitty president launching an even shittier war to get people out to the polls (yeah, I am saying it. So what? It’s my blog and my opinion). At least we’re getting out there.

Finally, what you’ve all been waiting for…..

With the help of Mr. Bookdwarf, I finally got the audio ready for uploading. I had to compress it a bit, but it sounds good still. The event was actually pretty interesting. I went into it not knowing too much about Graham Greene, having only read The End of the Affair years ago. The audience seemed really excited to see the two of them talk. About 30-40 people showed up (that’s a lot considering most of the Boston area is still recovering from the Sox’s World Series win even today). Michael Gorra started out with some prepared stuff and then James Wood did the same. After that, they opened the floor for questions. But rather than my inelegant retelling, here is the audio file. It is about 8 MB and over an hour long. Also, the quality may not be great as it is the first time I have used this recorder. It begins mid-introduction. Good listening.

Trying to get my life back

Now that the Red Sox have won the World Series and I no longer have to stay up late at night to watch games, I am left worrrying about the upcoming election. Great. I am sure no one will be surprised that I lean towards the left, though sometimes I think I lean about halfway and sometimes I worry that I am going to fall over from all the leaning. What I do know is that I don’t want George W. Bush re-elected. I believe he’s done a terrible job as president, leading us down the dark and narrow path of self-righteousness, self-aggrandizement, and bullying everyone else around. Maybe some people think that’s the right path, but I do not get it. Anyway, before I get on some rant, I am merely saying all this to try to convince everyone out there to vote. Even if it is for Bush, exercise your power as a voter. One vote does matter. Read this interview with Seymour Hersh on Alternet. Maybe what he has to say about Abu Ghraib, the media and the current administration will fire you up. He’s a great interview.