Recently I’ve been reading Son of Hamas by Mosab Hassan Yousef the oldest son of Sheikh Hassan Yousef, one of the founders of Hamas. Yousef is a Christian convert who worked for years for the Israeli Shin Bet, feeding them information about planned terrorist attacks and so preventing countless deaths. [Read more →]
This summer, during an all-too-brief stop in Philadelphia, I hiked down to the riverfront to visit, once again, the U.S.S. Olympia … at the time, I didn’t know that it may have been a farewell visit.
A grand old ship that stayed the course in the face of the Spanish Navy more than a hundred years ago, the Olympia has been ravaged by time, the relentless barrage of the elements and — admittedly — an inadequate maintenance program. She’s the oldest steel warship still afloat, and the last of her kind in all the world. But, barring a dramatic change in her fortune, she may soon go to the bottom forever.
Because I’ve already promised my fans (my mother, my toddler upon occasion, etc.) that my next book will be an in-depth study of American writers and their lack of integrity, I felt it was not out of character (or desperation only) to conduct an interview with a gentleman I am most grateful to for bringing my first published novel to print. So in honor of in-house propaganda everywhere—fuck it; Dan is crazy enough to throw some dollars down on my novel, so why not?—I give you an interview with life-long book guy Dan Cafaro. This October, his new imprint Atticus Books will publish its debut title, Fight for Your Long Day, and follow with fiction by Joe Zeppetello and Randall Devallance. What I like most about Dan is his unabashed love of literature; it takes courage to profess open affection for anything in these cynical times, but Dan isn’t one to hide his passion. Despite the demanding schedule of an independent press, he found time to respond to each of my prompts. Yes, at times, in excess, but that’s only because I pay by the word. You’ll learn that Dan Cafaro is a former sports journalist and bookstore owner, well read, bald, and able to add self-deprecatory humor to the mix. Not necessarily in that order. Enjoy.
Alex: You’ve worked in the book trade in many different capacities—store owner, acquisitions editor, writer, and publisher. Could you describe what you’ve enjoyed the most and liked least about your various occupations within the book business? [Read more →]
In the last embarrassing installment of the “The Conversation,” the New York Times’ pandering online ‘dialogue’ between columnists David Brooks and Gail Collins, readers overheard David and Gail chatting philosophical on the progress of humanity. Regardless of the deplorable state of American, well, everything, they assured each other in alternating heaves of optimism, at least the present is better than the past.
Not that we should be surprised. David Brooks could find the silver lining of industrial capitalism in a radiation cloud. Nuclear technology, after all, is clear evidence of economic growth and human creativity. No, we shouldn’t be surprised that this country’s supposed intellectuals are finding new ways to dumb down discourse with rancid chestnuts about progress. But we should be disappointed.
10. “Did you catch Hillary’s lace pantsuit?”
9. “Bill and one of the bridesmaids are missing.”
8. “Look! It’s the Salahis!”
7. “Who’s playing the part of Chelsea?”
6. “This is the closest we could get to a royal wedding?! We never should have left the British Empire!”
5. “Bill and another one of the bridesmaids are missing.”
4. “Reinforce the perimeter! Roger Clinton’s trying to crash the wedding!”
3. “This is even bigger than the Bristol Palin-Levi Johnston wedding!”
2. “Now Bill and all of the bridesmaids are missing.”
1. “Who let that Marc Mezvinsky in here? Oh, he’s the groom?”
Bob Sullivan’s Top Ten Everything appears every Monday.
By now, this article has been completely ripped apart, picked apart, debated, agreed with and utterly denounced. At this point I’ve read “All Joy And No Fun: Why Parents Hate Parenting,” and I have to say — what a total piece of shit.
I don’t know anything about the writer and to be honest I made no attempt at learning a thing about her because I wouldn’t waste my time.
Listen — you don’t want to have kids? More power to you. But those of you who go out there, get married and have kids — and then blame all of your problems on the fact that you had kids — are total assholes. You’re selfish, ego-maniacal douchebags. And deep down, I think you know it. [Read more →]
According to this post by the Wall Street Journal reporter and blogger Benoit Faucon, “the April 20 spill on the Deepwater Horizon is being reinvented in Planet BP as a strike of luck.”
According to Faucon, the article in BP Planet — a BP online, in-house magazine — reports “much of the region’s [nonfishing boat] businesses — particularly the hotels — have been prospering because so many people have come here from BP and other oil emergency response teams.”
Well, that’s one way of looking at it, I guess. So what do you think? A gutsy and uncompromising move by BP’s media office in the face of withering criticism, or a level of spin that would put even a West Texas tornado to shame?
Bugs Bunny knew. Perception is reality. Or at least it is as close to reality as you may need to get. Who cares if it is Wabbit Season? That is merely the arbitrary designation of some bureaucrat somewhere who probably never held a shotgun in his life. The problem is Elmer Fudd. If he thinks it is Wabbit season then Bugs is skinned and fried. If he thinks it is Duck season, well, then it is time for a larf and the relish of the crackle of roasted duck.
The President currently suffers in part from a similar problem to Daffy Duck. [Read more →]
10. Once you start driving a Toyota, you’ll never stop!
9. Look out, we’re comin’ through!
8. Toyota. Moving forward! Whether you want to or not!
7. Click! Vroom! Yikes!
6. Have you driven into a Ford lately?
5. Toyota. Get the Feeling. Of Terror!
4. Accelerating the future!
3. Holy cow, even we had no idea the Prius could do 100!
2. The power of dreams! The reality of nightmares!
1. Give us a break!
Bob Sullivan’s Top Ten Everything appears every Monday.
Abby Sunderland, the sixteen year old who was feared lost at sea, is safe. Sunderland had been attempting to become the youngest person to sail solo around the world when her boat went missing on Thursday. After an agonizing stretch of twenty hours with no contact from the teen, a search plane spotted her boat and confirmed her safety. Sunderland will abandon her voyage and return home to California. This is truly wonderful news. And now that we’ve all breathed a huge sigh of relief, I have one question: Why the hell was a child allowed to sail around the world by herself? [Read more →]
A man named Alvin Greene won the democrat senate primary in South Carolina on Tuesday, for the right to take on the republican incumbent Jim DeMint in the fall. The man is, according to this Yahoo! news story, a “Mystery SC nominee with a pending felony charge.”
Greene, a 32-year-old unemployed military veteran who lives with his parents, defeated Vic Rawl on Tuesday for the Democratic Senate nomination despite having run essentially no public campaign – no events, no signs, no debates, no website, no fundraising.
The result has baffled political observers, who had heavily favored Rawl – a former state legislator, attorney and prosecutor who had the edge inasmuch as he actually campaigned and tried to win.
The New York Times, one of the most famous news-related advertising-delivery publications in the world, has exercised some serious journalistic muscle in bringing its readers the lowdown on one of the most important issues of the day.
Facebook’s privacy policy.
Because, you know, that is some serious stuff. The article, entitled Price of Facebook Privacy? Start Clicking reveals that people who voluntarily choose to partake of the social networking site have to read and click on a few things to ensure that some of their information is kept “private.”
If it is true that the greatness of men and nations is measured in the greatness of their enemies, what are we to say of the numberless but talentless hoard sent against us? Yes, truly we can say “sent” now. This week’s Jihadi Jihaderson as much as the Christmas Day Underwear Bomber and the now quaintly convicted Shoe Bomber has demonstrated fandom if not straight employment beneath the ragged parasol of International Jihad. And it is easy and quite hilarious to wonder, is this all they’ve got? The not so hilarious but plain answer is, yes. Yes it is.
For now.
I watched an interesting piece on Fox News where Ann Coulter, an amusing verbal bomb-thrower, spoke to Bill O’Reilly about the liberal media’s sympathy for Faisal Shahzad, the would-be Times Square car bomber.
I hereby challenge you, dear reader, to explain in plain language the Securities and Exchange Commission’s allegation against Wall Street firm Goldman Sachs. Prizes will include the respect and admiration of your peers, along with that reassuring feeling of a job well done.
Are you game? Good. There’s a catch, of course.
One of the reasons for which we can be grateful for the 2008 election campaign is that it revealed to young people who might have been contemplating a few years at journalism school what a waste of time, money and effort such an ‘education’ represents. [Read more →]
I just read an interesting piece in the London Times about Captain Graf, the Navy captain who was relieved of her command of a warship due to her cursing and other mistreatment of her crew.
It is a noble thing to dedicate your life to educating the young, even if our society doesn’t value teachers the way it should. And yet at the same time, teaching can also provide a shelter for all manner of time-servers, frauds, phoneys, creeps and even perverts. [Read more →]
Shocking news from Russia: a man claiming to be a member of the Romanov dynasty recently tracked down and beat to death an 82 year old ex-KGB officer for his part in the murder of Tsar Nikolai II and his family. [Read more →]
When I originally saw the headline in Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper that President Asif Ali Zardari sacrificed a black goat a day in his presidential compound I was quite excited- could this be another entry for Lucifer Watch? After all the goat, especially a black one, is a beast often associated with the Lord of the Flies. But then again, Pakistan is a country which is 98% Muslim or thereabouts, and I just couldn’t see the people (or military) of that nation feeling all that comfortable with a leader paying tribute to the one they call Iblis; indeed I can’t see the people of any country feeling all that relaxed with a head of state openly in cahoots with Satan. [Read more →]
