Eat me...
09 October 2008
08 October 2008
03 October 2008
A member of my family said that clearly Palin won because Fox News kept flashing that 86-12% of their viewers said she did. Well, you just can't argue with that. The anti-intellectual bias in this country runs so deep. Complete sentences are suspect- what is he hiding behind that slick eloquence? Facts are suspect- he's trying to dazzle us with Senator-speak. Fully developed arguments are condescending- his professorial arrogance puts me off.
Fine. Keep smart folks out of power because you can't trust 'em and probably feel intimidated by them (for a Party that mocks the idea of self-esteem, their collective insecurity in the face of real intellectual rigor reveals a staggering hypocrisy). I want cousin Nana to do my brain surgery cuz she just regular folk.
In other news, a Nebraska police department, in an attempt to slow a rash of Dumpster babies, encouraged potential babykillers to drop off little junior at the police station. Instead, they got 15 teenage deliquents. Given my past two weeks, I find this only half-funny.
Fine. Keep smart folks out of power because you can't trust 'em and probably feel intimidated by them (for a Party that mocks the idea of self-esteem, their collective insecurity in the face of real intellectual rigor reveals a staggering hypocrisy). I want cousin Nana to do my brain surgery cuz she just regular folk.
In other news, a Nebraska police department, in an attempt to slow a rash of Dumpster babies, encouraged potential babykillers to drop off little junior at the police station. Instead, they got 15 teenage deliquents. Given my past two weeks, I find this only half-funny.
02 October 2008
A cocksucking lawyer I endorse
A Stanford Law School graduate married to the co-founder of Ask.com has been charged in federal court with tax evasion for allegedly running an escort service to help pay her bills and student loans, court records show.
Cristina Warthen, 35, maintained a Web site called "Touchofbrazil.net," on which she advertised her services as "Brazil," discussed pricing - up to $1,300 for two hours and $15,000 for three days - and posted erotic pictures of herself, according to documents filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in San Jose.
Warthen is to appear in court later this month. Her attorney, Brian Getz, declined to comment.
Starting in 2001, the year she graduated from law school, Warthen met with clients in numerous cities around the country, authorities said. She used clients' payments for rent and bills as well as installments on more than $300,000 in student loans, authorities said.
Warthen "engaged in sexual acts in return for money" and grossed $133,717 in 2003, authorities said. She has not been charged with prostitution.
Cristina Warthen, 35, maintained a Web site called "Touchofbrazil.net," on which she advertised her services as "Brazil," discussed pricing - up to $1,300 for two hours and $15,000 for three days - and posted erotic pictures of herself, according to documents filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in San Jose.
Warthen is to appear in court later this month. Her attorney, Brian Getz, declined to comment.
Starting in 2001, the year she graduated from law school, Warthen met with clients in numerous cities around the country, authorities said. She used clients' payments for rent and bills as well as installments on more than $300,000 in student loans, authorities said.
Warthen "engaged in sexual acts in return for money" and grossed $133,717 in 2003, authorities said. She has not been charged with prostitution.
I Go To Bakeries All Day Long
Is there a bigger smile-inducer than the Modern Lovers' first record? This is one classic I haven't played into the ground, and each time I pull it out I wonder why I don't spin it more before realizing that occasional contact enhances each listening experience. From the greatest ode to convertibles, "Roadrunner" to the only straight edge song you nod along to, "I'm Straight," to the toe-tappinest tale of girlfriend insanity, "She Cracked," to the creepiest premise for soap opera dialogue, "Hospital," this is relentlessly catchy, painfully funny and wonderfully enjoyable. If you've forgotten about it while yet another hyped modern next-big-thing drops flat in your ears, yank it out. Guarantee yourself at least one grin today.01 October 2008
Yanks Too Narrow For Nobel
Nobel judge attacks 'ignorant' US literature
Alison Flood
guardian.co.uk,
The Nobel prospects of Philip Roth and Joyce Carol Oates may have been dashed after the prize's top jury member described American writing as insular and ignorant.
Permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy Horace Engdahl told the Associated Press that US writers were "too sensitive to trends in their own mass culture", which he said dragged down the quality of their work. "The US is too isolated, too insular. They don't translate enough and don't really participate in the big dialogue of literature," Engdahl said. "That ignorance is restraining."
"Of course there is powerful literature in all big cultures, but you can't get away from the fact that Europe still is the centre of the literary world ... not the United States," he said, later adding that "what I said expresses a conviction resulting from more than 10 years of assiduous labour". Toni Morrison was the last American to win the prize, in 1993.
Contacted by guardian.co.uk this morning, Engdahl claimed a misunderstanding had occurred and that the Swedish Academy strictly adhered to Alfred Nobel's wish "that in awarding the prize no consideration whatsoever be given to the nationality of the candidates". He added: "It is of no importance, when we judge American candidates, how any of us views American literature as a whole in comparison with other literatures. The Nobel prize is not a contest between nations but an award to individual authors. It is essential to remember that when national feelings run high." He maintained that there was "no reason for any particular author to get upset by my observations.
This year's winner is expected to be announced in the next few weeks and has not yet been selected, according to Engdahl, who told AP that "it could take some time" before the academy settles on a name.
Engdahl, a professor of Scandinavian literature and a literary critic, has been permanent secretary since 1997 of the secretive committee of 18 Academy members who select the winner. Over the course of a year, the Academy will whittle down nominated authors from 200 to a shortlist of five, which is not made public. An author must receive more than half of votes cast to take the prize.
Ladbrokes' frontrunner is currently the Italian scholar Claudio Magris, who is 3/1 favourite to take the SEK10m prize, trailed by the Syrian poet Adonis at 4/1. Joyce Carol Oates and Philip Roth are the highest placed Americans, at 7/1, while Don DeLillo is at 10/1 and Thomas Pynchon at 20/1; Ladbrokes is also offering 40/1 odds on the generally reclusive Pynchon both winning and attending the prize-giving on December 10.
Last year's winner was the UK's Doris Lessing, a rare female choice. Over the last 10 years the Nobel laureates have had a distinct European flavour, with Turkey's Orhan Pamuk, the UK's Harold Pinter and VS Naipaul, Austria's Elfriede Jelinek, Portugal's José Saramago, Hungary's Imre Kertész, France's Gao Xingjian and Germany's Günter Grass all taking the prize. South Africa's JM Coetzee won in 2003.
In 2005, Knut Ahnlund, a member of the Nobel committee, resigned over the choice of Elfriede Jelinek as winner, describing her writing as "whining, unenjoyable public pornography". Engdahl gave no indication as to what he might do should an American author take the prize this year.
Alison Flood
guardian.co.uk,
The Nobel prospects of Philip Roth and Joyce Carol Oates may have been dashed after the prize's top jury member described American writing as insular and ignorant.
Permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy Horace Engdahl told the Associated Press that US writers were "too sensitive to trends in their own mass culture", which he said dragged down the quality of their work. "The US is too isolated, too insular. They don't translate enough and don't really participate in the big dialogue of literature," Engdahl said. "That ignorance is restraining."
"Of course there is powerful literature in all big cultures, but you can't get away from the fact that Europe still is the centre of the literary world ... not the United States," he said, later adding that "what I said expresses a conviction resulting from more than 10 years of assiduous labour". Toni Morrison was the last American to win the prize, in 1993.
Contacted by guardian.co.uk this morning, Engdahl claimed a misunderstanding had occurred and that the Swedish Academy strictly adhered to Alfred Nobel's wish "that in awarding the prize no consideration whatsoever be given to the nationality of the candidates". He added: "It is of no importance, when we judge American candidates, how any of us views American literature as a whole in comparison with other literatures. The Nobel prize is not a contest between nations but an award to individual authors. It is essential to remember that when national feelings run high." He maintained that there was "no reason for any particular author to get upset by my observations.
This year's winner is expected to be announced in the next few weeks and has not yet been selected, according to Engdahl, who told AP that "it could take some time" before the academy settles on a name.
Engdahl, a professor of Scandinavian literature and a literary critic, has been permanent secretary since 1997 of the secretive committee of 18 Academy members who select the winner. Over the course of a year, the Academy will whittle down nominated authors from 200 to a shortlist of five, which is not made public. An author must receive more than half of votes cast to take the prize.
Ladbrokes' frontrunner is currently the Italian scholar Claudio Magris, who is 3/1 favourite to take the SEK10m prize, trailed by the Syrian poet Adonis at 4/1. Joyce Carol Oates and Philip Roth are the highest placed Americans, at 7/1, while Don DeLillo is at 10/1 and Thomas Pynchon at 20/1; Ladbrokes is also offering 40/1 odds on the generally reclusive Pynchon both winning and attending the prize-giving on December 10.
Last year's winner was the UK's Doris Lessing, a rare female choice. Over the last 10 years the Nobel laureates have had a distinct European flavour, with Turkey's Orhan Pamuk, the UK's Harold Pinter and VS Naipaul, Austria's Elfriede Jelinek, Portugal's José Saramago, Hungary's Imre Kertész, France's Gao Xingjian and Germany's Günter Grass all taking the prize. South Africa's JM Coetzee won in 2003.
In 2005, Knut Ahnlund, a member of the Nobel committee, resigned over the choice of Elfriede Jelinek as winner, describing her writing as "whining, unenjoyable public pornography". Engdahl gave no indication as to what he might do should an American author take the prize this year.
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