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{ Author Archives }

“Poor people aren’t supposed to want nice things”

Problem Chylde explains the proper etiquette of poverty.  Something to consider if you’re tempted to go on about how poor people in America aren’t “really” poor because they have color television. (h/t unusualmusic)

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Why I could never have majored in English Literature

Shakespeare is one thing, but there’s a reason the whole Great American Writers passed me by, and Garland Grey nails it.

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“So should I leave work early to get married?”

The above e-mail today from a friend was how I found out about the results of the Proposition 8 ruling (which the District Court apparently slipped under the door into the court’s press room and then ran like hell; it wasn’t read aloud in court). I am bummed that I am out of the city [...]

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Movie review: Inception

The only negative about this movie is that it doesn’t follow the Mo Movie Rule. This is offset by the fact that the female member of the heist team is present because of her brains and skill, not her cleavage, and while pretty in a well-scrubbed Midwestern sort of way, is not a model and [...]

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Book review: The Arcanum

A great disappointment, particularly as it was a “Staff Pick” at my local independent bookstore. The author, Thomas Wheeler, is a screenwriter by trade, and boy does it show. A trivial example: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle takes a ship to America in order to meet with H.P. Lovecraft. The chapter starting on his arrival is [...]

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Recipe Minute: Tea and Incense Cookies

Finally got the tea cookies right! Or so Samwise tells me. I hate tea. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment or grease lightly. 1/4 cup loose darjeeling tea leaves 1/3 cup boiling water 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1 cup sugar 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 [...]

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Ōoku

I admit I was interested in picking up Ōoku: The Inner Chambers for less-than-literary reasons, given the cover copy and the “Mature” rating, but then there was the whole nomination for the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize thing which suggested hey, this probably wasn’t just well-written porn. In fact it’s not porn, and it did (quite [...]

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About time

If I never see 2009 again, it’ll be too soon.

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Elmore Leonard

He writes some pretty good mysteries, sure, but the man is the Ernest Hemingway of Westerns.

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So it’s like this

I’m really too tired to go around punching people in the mouth today. So: if you find yourself tempted to post one of the following things to the Internet, or God forbid saying one of them sincerely in conversation, would you kindly punch yourself in the mouth? Thanks. “IANAL, but….” Anything describing how when you [...]

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