Good Old Neon

But the prose: And the answer, said the judge. If God meant to interfere in the degeneracy of mankind would he not have done so by now? Wolves cull themselves, man. What other creature could? And is the race of man not more predacious yet? The way of the world is to bloom and to flower and die but in the affairs of men there is no waning and the noon of his expression signals the onset of night. His spirit is exhausted at the peak of its achievement. His meridian is at once his darkening and the evening of his day. He loves games? Let him play for stakes. This you see here, these ruins wonde

You are dead to me – so very fucking dead.

I’ll third or fourth everyone on The Confederacy of Dunces, though hate is much too strong a word – my problem, is that after multiple attempts, I cannot get past the second chapter. I started Palahniuk’s Snuff, but put it down before finishing it – that one I did hate. His first few books were fun, Fight Club, Survivor and Lullaby, hell, Choke was ok as well, but his writing and characterizations are so one dimensional, that all his stories, and all his characters sound and feel like copies of a copy of a copy. I could probably list a half dozen Stephen King novels, but it really would

Though I'm not positive, I believe that was an excerpt from Chronic City, or, maybe just part of an early draft.

The book loses some momentum towards the end with the shift to the present day and the first person, but as you pointed out, the first section is killer. Lethem’s characters are heartbreakingly dimensional, and the locations, fully realized. I only read it once, and I've been putting off a re-read because I fear a second go through will drain the book of some of its magic and emotional punch, but now that we're discussing it, I think I'm ready.

Dunham’s (or at least his stage persona) shtick strikes me as the sort of stuff you might be subjected to by the clueless guy in any given workplace, the sort of guy who cracks racist jokes by the water cooler, at the expense of x minority, whereas Silverman would make a similar joke, but rather than it be at the expense of the joke’s subject, the vitriol would be aimed at the sort of ass whom I just described. Silverman’s humor is definitely not for everyone, though in all fairness, the same could be said for Dunham, but on stage and in character, she says the opposite of what she actually th

Dunham is, of course, free to practice his brand of comedy however he sees fit, but the difference, I think, between a good socially aware (though that’s probably a drastic overstatement) comedian and a bad socially aware comedian, lies in the comedian’s willingness or ability to explode stereotypes, rather than confirm and/or strengthen them. Or, if you’re going to go the other way, and play to stereotypes and broad generalizations, at least come up with some actual fucking jokes. Though there are about a million and one stylistic differences between Sarah Silverman and Dunham, she also wo

It’s not really a problem, he just sucks ass. Most of his material is so old, and so tired, that I think it has pretty much passed into the public domain. Dunham: “Do you have a drinking problem?” Everyone: “No! I’ve pretty much got it figured out!” My grandfather used to say that, when he was like, 84. And outside of grade school, who the hell laughs uproariously at “bodacious ta-tas”?

From the New York Times - http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/01/magazine/01ventriloquist-t.html An excerpt: Recently, Forbes listed him as the third-highest-earning comedian in America, after Jerry Seinfeld and Chris Rock, both of whom make their piles largely on television syndication and film royalties. Dunham has neither; his first series, “The Jeff Dunham Show,” had its premiere on Comedy Central on Oct. 22. Instead, he has toured relentlessly for 25 years. In the past year, he has played 150 shows and grossed $38 million in ticket sales, far more than any other comic. Peanut, a hyp

I’m roughly a third of the way through, but unless it takes an unforeseen (and at this point, almost unimaginable) lurch into shitty territory, Lethem’s latest is shaping up to be my favorite novel of the year. If you’re not familiar with Lethem’s work, I’d start with Fortress of Solitude, one of my all time favorites.

The Road has a new, improved trailer: http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1810037227/video/16377428

Beltmann has the sorts of opinions that you pretty much want to marry someone for having.

Who was it that said "Just remember what was yours is everyone’s from now on"?

I did – my dentist is finishing up the root canal on Saturday. The crown will go on in January, when my benefit’s reset. All told, for one tooth, my out of pocket expenses will near two grand – ouch! I appreciate your concern Crow.

Though it’s 4 years old, this Malcolm Gladwell essay does a great job of summing up many of the issues surrounding health care policy. http://www.gladwell.com/2005/2005_08_29_a_hazard.html

It was already decided in another thread that Wilco’s path to the future passes directly through the new Flaming Lips LP, so, y’all can stop discussing the future, as I’ve seen it, and it is Embryonic. Which is sort of odd because the Embryo in Embryonic is suggestive of the past, which is now the future, according to that other thread, the one I’ve already talked about.

I’m not going with the Twin Towers costume – that was more of a goof, an idea that popped in me craw. And even if I went with it, my friends are not the sort to get all hung up on a tasteless Halloween costume. And but besides even if I did, who’s going to just stand around and watch while the World Trade Center is attacked for the second time, without mounting some sort of defense?

You should have been at the outdoor Halloween party in which we all dressed as porn stars, and then projected Deep Throat onto the side of my friend’s neighbor’s 3 story colonial, unbeknownst to his neighbor - it was pretty fucking epic. Or the other time, in which his house was split into three zones, heaven, purgatory, and hell. When you arrived, someone dressed as god determined where your character belonged (the theme was historical figures), and you were then assigned to that floor, and you weren’t allowed to leave - but then later in evening, after recruiting the folks in purgatory. t

Scout Niblett + Will Oldham = Kiss http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_z7_JIHksI&feature=related Palace Music (Will Oldham) + the woman who's name I forgot = Lost Blues

Jane Mayer’s book is based on facts, again, you can choose to ignore facts because they do not comport with your personal political beliefs, but facts are facts – our government engaged in the use of torture, sought to cover it up, and actively sought to circumvent the laws outlawing its use – these are facts. That you are not aware of them, or choose to ignore them, doesn’t change the fact that they are facts – period. Referring to the deliberate use of torture as a simple “mistake” is simply ridiculous. How does one mistakenly torture someone, over and over again – up to an including killing

Where I stand, is with what’s been well documented. It doesn’t matter what you believe, what matters is what transpired, and the fact is, our government tortured detainees. Your personal feelings to the contrary amount to little more than that, your personal feelings. You may choose to allow your mind not to go there, but go there we did. You can begin your education with Jane Mayer’s exhaustively documented, The Dark Side.

You’re assuming, incorrectly, that everyone imprisoned at Guantanamo is guilty of a terrorist act. It has been well documented that some prisoners were guilty of little more than being at the wrong place at the wrong time - including minors.

If playing music loudly for extended periods of time was the only coercive technique employed to make detainees uncomfortable, I’m willing to bet there wouldn’t be such an uproar from musicians. However, it has been well documented that some truly evil shit has taken place at Guantanamo and elsewhere, up to and including death, so, in that context, I can understand why musicians - especially those who strongly opposed and continue to oppose the sort of shit that has transpired – are incensed that their music may have played a part in Bush’s little torture scheme.

Perhaps, if the doctor was literally attempting to use Denver’s music to cause an abortion – but, as far as I know, that’s impossible.