As I announced last week, I have a new book out, Brief Lives, available here, both as a ebook and a print on demand paperback. Brief Lives is a collection of 32 short stories, many of them quite short, only a few pages, but some of them run on for a dozen or more. An…
Pseudo New Yorker
Legal humor here. All cartoons here. and here “Just think of this little sweetheart as eighteen feet of soul, tightly wound.” “Yeah, I could play “Rock-a-bye My Baby With a Dixie Melody,” but why the hell would I want to?” “I don’t play ‘oom-pah, oom-pah, oom-pah’. I play ooooouuuuuummmmmmpoooooowwwwwwwww!” “I can’t break a glass, but…
The time the U.S. blew up an airliner and lied its ass off trying to cover it up
A serious hat tip to Slate’s Fred Kaplan for refreshing our memory of an unsavory episode from America’s recent past, in July 1988, when a missile launched from the USS Vincennes blew up an Iranian airliner flying a regularly scheduled flight, killing all 290 on board. Fred, in his account, uses a slightly less inflammatory…
James Thurber, A Reader’s Guide, Part 19
INTRODUCTION This is the 19th episode of “James Thurber, A Reader’s Guide,” a rambling consideration of Thurber’s works, examining his life and work in some detail. Generally, these appear every Friday. The links to the first part and the most recent part are given below. Part 19 discusses the genesis of Thurber’s one and only…
Roy Haynes David Kikoski John Patitucci—“Trinkle Tinkle”
Alan Vanneman, not a reliable guide to Eastern Europe
OK, I’m not. In my last foray east of the Elbe, I hoped/opined that Vladimir Putin’s muscle-flexing re “break-away” Ukraine was just that. Little did I know that Vlad would pull a Bush (or an Obama) and decide that war is fun. Like them both, he’s discovered that the ultima ratio regnum1 is chockfull of…
Brief Lives
I have a new book out, Brief Lives, available here, both as a ebook and a print on demand paperback. Brief Lives is a collection of 32 short stories, many of them quite short, only a few pages, but some of them run on for a dozen or more. An “Afterwords” includes (usually) brief descriptions…
Pseudo New Yorker
Legal humor here. All cartoons here. or here “Is that a gay thing?” “As a matter of fact, I wouldn’t mind changing yours. Of course, I’d have to give you a good spanking first.” “Nice quads! But the gluts could do with some work!” “Oh, you know, the usual—excessive use of precious nicknames, a Chablis…
James Thurber, A Reader’s Guide, Part 18
INTRODUCTION This is the 18th episode of “James Thurber, A Reader’s Guide,” a rambling consideration of Thurber’s works, examining his life and work in some detail. Generally, these appear every Friday. The links to the first part and the most recent part are given below. Part 18 discusses Thurber’s career as the Thirties drew to…
Department of Unintentional Irony/Hypocrisy/Stupidity Department: Kyla Wazana Tompkins, not thinking importantly
You’re Anna North and you have to write an “Op-Talk” for the New York Times called “If You Read This, You Might Never Drink a Latte Again” So how the hell are you going to fill up a column with that? If you’re smart, you’ll talk to Kyla Wazana Tompkins, a professor of English and…