The Berkeley scene reminded me of an incident many years later that related back to Bloody Thursday. When the US invaded Grenada, one of my seminary classmates said, “How could Reagan invade a country like Grenada?” I responded, “After all, he invaded Berkeley.”
The most indelible thing I've ever read is probably The Hitchhiker's Guide trilogy by Douglas Adams, which was my personal definition of hilarious from roughly the ages of 11-14, and from which I can still quote verbatim large passages (in one case an entire chapter) from memory. The second most indelible thing I've ever read is either Slaughterhouse-Five or Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut, both because they are powerful books that tell incredibly human stories through the lens of science fiction, and because they forever changed my writing cadence.
I almost met Vonnegut once. He was in town doing a presentation or something at the undergrad campus of where I went to law school, and while I was walking home after classes I saw a tall and very recognizable figure walking towards me. There was a moment when our eyes met, and I could see the recognition in his eyes that he saw the recognition in MY eyes; then he blanched and sharply looked away, and slightly changed his course so that he wouldn't have to walk directly past me. And that was the moment that I knew he was and always would be my literary hero.
Most incongruous fact about Kurt Vonnegut: When he was just starting his career, he submitted sketch ideas to the radio comedy team of Bob & Ray. When I listen to my Bob & Ray CDs, I often wonder if his bits ever made it into the show and which ones they are.
Vonnegut also submitted a lot of short stories to Cosmopolitan Magazine, back when it was still a medium for such content before it became (in his words) "a shockingly explicit sex manual."
All books I both love and quote regularly. Almost meeting, indeed, you have great self-control. I'd have made the mistake of tracking him down at that age.
Yes! The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy! I wrote in about the Concept of the SEP (Someone Else's Problem) that had a great impact on my career in Federal IT Consulting. Sometimes, you are asked to solve a big problem and when you ask a question about it, basically you get an answer that "THAT'S not my problem; it's somebody's else's problem" and the problem can never really get fixed because the problem is so big that it just gets ignored.
Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, KBE. Yeah, it was P.G. Wodehouse --- all of him --- who changed my life. Made me realize I could never be a serial humorist. The best I could hope for was to occasionally "kill" on a drive-by basis---and had to get a real job.
I survived a year of depression many years ago by reading nearly everything he wrote. I recently enjoyed listening to recorded versions of a lot of his books. (Available on Hoopla via your local library)
I got it. But I only said that the last sentence should be removed b/c that stated it too baldly. Looking at it again I realize that a couple of the middle sentences could go too.
Just so I'm not completely shunned by the "Pick-a-Nit Caucus" here, allow me to point out that Bosox catcher Russ Nixon could very well have called for a changeup (looks like a fastball, but comes in slower) rather than the fastball Maris hit for 61. He did on Maris' first at-bat which, I'm infomed, resulted in a soft flyout to left. But Stallard had fallen behind 2-0 and needed a strike. The last thing he wanted to do was walk Maris (in a scoreless game at that point) with Mantle up next. "The Mick" had 54 home runs himself that year. As it happened, the Evil Empire won that last game of the season 1-0 thanks to Maris' historic shot. Turns out, through a number of degrees of separation (and a fanciful delusion), I have a relationship with that Cooperstown moment. The "M&M boys" both shared a Queens apartment with left fielder Bob Cerv, who served in the Navy with my father during WWII and whom I met.
Leave it to Gene Weingarten to slander both a pet and Jimmy Breslin within the space of a few paragraphs. Breslin was great until he began believing his own press and became a Damon Runyonesque "NY Character." As for the "Case of the Phantom Fart," you going to tell us how the broccoli got in the chair or would that embarrass er...uh...Lexi again ?
Since les mots justes are the coin of the realm here in Wordie World, I feel it is my civic duty to provide freshly minted ones as they are officially issued. The Merriam-Webster dictionary people have accommodated me with their recent stamp of approval on some 700 new words, among them:
*rizz, a slang term meaning “romantic appeal or charm”
*padawan, a word borrowed from the “Star Wars” universe to describe a younger, inexperienced person
*simp, a verb meaning “to show excessive devotion to or longing for someone or something”
*bussin’, a slang adjective meaning “extremely good”
*mid, another slang adjective meaning mediocre
*nerf, a verb often used by gamers, meaning “to reduce the effectiveness of”
*rage quit, a verb describing the action of abruptly quitting an activity out of anger
*thirst trap, a slang term used to describe a photo or video shared to social media in an effort to attract attention
And, the now culturally significant "cromulent" (a synonym for acceptable or satisfactory) first coined in a 1996 episode of "The Simpsons."
To embiggen one's vocabulary is cromulent indeed ! But yes --- I agree, they may just be making shit up.
I'm informed it can be both a noun and a verb (to "simp" or show excessive devotion to) As for editing comments, you'll see what is called a "meatball menu" --- those three horizontal dots to the far right of the line below a comment (that is, to the far right of "Like", "Reply" and "Share") --- at least on my screen. Click on that and you'll be given a choice to edit or delete the comment in question.
Just part of the superb customer service here at the Pool. No need to grow old attempting to navigate a decision tree the size of a redwood. A simple comment, et voilà ! Any offense to your sensibilities or question is immediately addressed.
I say we do a prospectus and sell you, (Pat and the feature) to a journalism school, where you will actively edit a weekly feature magazine, for $120k per annum.
There are two bad paragraphs in the Breslin piece, actually. The first, which I think is the one you’re referring to, is the single line “‘Into’ Nintendo. Listen to me,” which is a distracting and self-indulgent comment that adds exactly nothing to the piece. That line just needs to be killed with fire.
The second is the paragraph about Sal who talks like an awful ethnic stereotype and his customers who also talk like the worst ethnic stereotypes the reader can imagine. The writing in this paragraph is bad not because it’s necessarily offensive, although it arguably is—it’s bad because it’s lazy.
I think it was the daugher, not JoBeth, that rocked the underwear scene. She was an actress named Dominique Dunne and she was murdered right before her 23rd birthday
I remember JoBeth Williams in Poltergeist because she was the hostess of a children's TV show in Boston called Jabberwocky. Her co-host was, and I'm not making this up, Tucker Smallwood.
The Berkeley scene reminded me of an incident many years later that related back to Bloody Thursday. When the US invaded Grenada, one of my seminary classmates said, “How could Reagan invade a country like Grenada?” I responded, “After all, he invaded Berkeley.”
The most indelible thing I've ever read is probably The Hitchhiker's Guide trilogy by Douglas Adams, which was my personal definition of hilarious from roughly the ages of 11-14, and from which I can still quote verbatim large passages (in one case an entire chapter) from memory. The second most indelible thing I've ever read is either Slaughterhouse-Five or Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut, both because they are powerful books that tell incredibly human stories through the lens of science fiction, and because they forever changed my writing cadence.
I almost met Vonnegut once. He was in town doing a presentation or something at the undergrad campus of where I went to law school, and while I was walking home after classes I saw a tall and very recognizable figure walking towards me. There was a moment when our eyes met, and I could see the recognition in his eyes that he saw the recognition in MY eyes; then he blanched and sharply looked away, and slightly changed his course so that he wouldn't have to walk directly past me. And that was the moment that I knew he was and always would be my literary hero.
Most incongruous fact about Kurt Vonnegut: When he was just starting his career, he submitted sketch ideas to the radio comedy team of Bob & Ray. When I listen to my Bob & Ray CDs, I often wonder if his bits ever made it into the show and which ones they are.
Vonnegut also submitted a lot of short stories to Cosmopolitan Magazine, back when it was still a medium for such content before it became (in his words) "a shockingly explicit sex manual."
It ended up being a trilogy of five books, but I could have done without the last 2. I loved the concept of the Restaurant at the End of the Universe.
All books I both love and quote regularly. Almost meeting, indeed, you have great self-control. I'd have made the mistake of tracking him down at that age.
Yes! The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy! I wrote in about the Concept of the SEP (Someone Else's Problem) that had a great impact on my career in Federal IT Consulting. Sometimes, you are asked to solve a big problem and when you ask a question about it, basically you get an answer that "THAT'S not my problem; it's somebody's else's problem" and the problem can never really get fixed because the problem is so big that it just gets ignored.
Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, KBE. Yeah, it was P.G. Wodehouse --- all of him --- who changed my life. Made me realize I could never be a serial humorist. The best I could hope for was to occasionally "kill" on a drive-by basis---and had to get a real job.
I survived a year of depression many years ago by reading nearly everything he wrote. I recently enjoyed listening to recorded versions of a lot of his books. (Available on Hoopla via your local library)
According to several sources, bra burning in the 1960s is a myth.
https://www.thoughtco.com/bra-burning-feminists-3529832
I'll take a stab at it....was it the paragragh about how the men talked?
it is the paragraph about what the men hated. the 34 years. an error. I should have implied that, not stated it ham-fistedly.
I got it. But I only said that the last sentence should be removed b/c that stated it too baldly. Looking at it again I realize that a couple of the middle sentences could go too.
Guess I need to enroll in your course.
My guess, too. Sent a question about it.
Just so I'm not completely shunned by the "Pick-a-Nit Caucus" here, allow me to point out that Bosox catcher Russ Nixon could very well have called for a changeup (looks like a fastball, but comes in slower) rather than the fastball Maris hit for 61. He did on Maris' first at-bat which, I'm infomed, resulted in a soft flyout to left. But Stallard had fallen behind 2-0 and needed a strike. The last thing he wanted to do was walk Maris (in a scoreless game at that point) with Mantle up next. "The Mick" had 54 home runs himself that year. As it happened, the Evil Empire won that last game of the season 1-0 thanks to Maris' historic shot. Turns out, through a number of degrees of separation (and a fanciful delusion), I have a relationship with that Cooperstown moment. The "M&M boys" both shared a Queens apartment with left fielder Bob Cerv, who served in the Navy with my father during WWII and whom I met.
Calling Trump an asshole is an insult to assholes. Unlike Trump, assholes have a function and are generally competent.
Leave it to Gene Weingarten to slander both a pet and Jimmy Breslin within the space of a few paragraphs. Breslin was great until he began believing his own press and became a Damon Runyonesque "NY Character." As for the "Case of the Phantom Fart," you going to tell us how the broccoli got in the chair or would that embarrass er...uh...Lexi again ?
3% don’t think he is an asshole? What do they think? Better or worse?
No, 3% don’t think that he is a “gigantic” asshole. My guess is that they disagree with that word, since his assholishness is incontrovertible.
Exactly. Like his mouth, frequently. Tight little puckered asshole, to be such a disgusting huge lump.
Since les mots justes are the coin of the realm here in Wordie World, I feel it is my civic duty to provide freshly minted ones as they are officially issued. The Merriam-Webster dictionary people have accommodated me with their recent stamp of approval on some 700 new words, among them:
*rizz, a slang term meaning “romantic appeal or charm”
*padawan, a word borrowed from the “Star Wars” universe to describe a younger, inexperienced person
*simp, a verb meaning “to show excessive devotion to or longing for someone or something”
*bussin’, a slang adjective meaning “extremely good”
*mid, another slang adjective meaning mediocre
*nerf, a verb often used by gamers, meaning “to reduce the effectiveness of”
*rage quit, a verb describing the action of abruptly quitting an activity out of anger
*thirst trap, a slang term used to describe a photo or video shared to social media in an effort to attract attention
And, the now culturally significant "cromulent" (a synonym for acceptable or satisfactory) first coined in a 1996 episode of "The Simpsons."
To embiggen one's vocabulary is cromulent indeed ! But yes --- I agree, they may just be making shit up.
“Excessive devotion to or longing for someone or something” is not a verb.
But what really interested me about your comment is that it was "edited" -- how does one edit a comment that they've already posted here?
I'm informed it can be both a noun and a verb (to "simp" or show excessive devotion to) As for editing comments, you'll see what is called a "meatball menu" --- those three horizontal dots to the far right of the line below a comment (that is, to the far right of "Like", "Reply" and "Share") --- at least on my screen. Click on that and you'll be given a choice to edit or delete the comment in question.
Thanks a ton for the info on editing! (I see you used it to turn "excessive devotion" into "show excessive devotion.")
Just part of the superb customer service here at the Pool. No need to grow old attempting to navigate a decision tree the size of a redwood. A simple comment, et voilà ! Any offense to your sensibilities or question is immediately addressed.
Cheap at twice the price!!!
I say we do a prospectus and sell you, (Pat and the feature) to a journalism school, where you will actively edit a weekly feature magazine, for $120k per annum.
There are two bad paragraphs in the Breslin piece, actually. The first, which I think is the one you’re referring to, is the single line “‘Into’ Nintendo. Listen to me,” which is a distracting and self-indulgent comment that adds exactly nothing to the piece. That line just needs to be killed with fire.
The second is the paragraph about Sal who talks like an awful ethnic stereotype and his customers who also talk like the worst ethnic stereotypes the reader can imagine. The writing in this paragraph is bad not because it’s necessarily offensive, although it arguably is—it’s bad because it’s lazy.
I think it was the daugher, not JoBeth, that rocked the underwear scene. She was an actress named Dominique Dunne and she was murdered right before her 23rd birthday
My bad - it was both of them! Must have had a kinky director
I remember JoBeth Williams in Poltergeist because she was the hostess of a children's TV show in Boston called Jabberwocky. Her co-host was, and I'm not making this up, Tucker Smallwood.
I am not a genius, I cannot find the paragraph. Crestfallen. But I did know that Stallard only threw the heat, so there!
Hint: It is a paragraph that reveals too much. That openly states what should be implied.
Ah, I got it. Hmmm, interesting. I thought you were stating it as the realization of the 9-yr-old kid, which made it seem fine.
And yet, the Aashole (yes, with capital "A") never seems to misspell "Ron DeSanctimonious."
OK, I admit it....*Asshole.* With capital "A".