Literature, both high and low.
Rodney Ascher’s Room 237, a documentary (well, actually, a film essay, but why should we split hairs?), has recently come to Netflix Instant after a run on the festival circuit that generated a noisy buzz. Ascher’s film concerns itself with a number of convoluted, complicated, possibly brilliant and definitely insane theories …
“Welcome once again to BookTalk, where my guest, inexplicably, is Tyrell Hokus. He has been our guest twice before, under a policy by my previous booking agent of not bothering to find out anything about potential interview subjects. It’s a policy I had hoped would be reversed, but we don’t …
“Good morning, and welcome once again to BookTalk. Today our guest is the always-controversial arts biographer, Mr. Tyrell Hokus. Mr. Hokus, good day to you.” “Good morning, Ross.” “Tom.” “Ross.” “I can assure you.” “Well, hell. Sorry about that. I could have sworn it was Ross.” “Think nothing of it. …
“Mr. Tyrell Hokus is our guest in the studio today on BookTalk. Mr. Hokus is the author of a controversial new biography of Impressionist French composer Maurice Ravel. Good morning, Mr. Hokus.” “Morning, Salvatore.” “Tom.” “Sorry, Tom.” “Mr. Hokus, you are without a doubt one of the most talked-about arts …
A novel is in many ways a lonely, solitary endeavor. But, curiously, it is also a collective enterprise — a seeming contradiction for which I am extremely grateful. The following acknowledgments are long overdue. – Shout out to God. Peace to all the gods and the earths. As-salamu alaykum. – …
Each year at this time, the Grady McPhailey Foundation releases a list of the annual recipients of the McPhailey Foundation Scholarship Grant, popularly known as the ‘Grady Train’. Mr. McPhailey, heir to the McPhailey Ear Shortener fortune, spent his 72 years on Earth attempting to be a poet. Although he …
LARGEST FINANCIAL COMPENSATIONS I HAVE RECEIVED FOR WRITING THIS BLOG 1. $280,750 from Henry Kissinger: for keeping my mouth shut 2. $55,000 from Paragon Electrical Sex-Novelties of Daegu, South Korea: for dropping the lawsuit 3. $1,000 per week for the duration of the blog from Raymond “Benzino” Scott: for continuing …
ALTERNATE INSTITUTIONS SEN. JOSEPH McCARTHY HAD CONSIDERED CLAIMING WERE HEAVILY INFILTRATED BY COMMUNISTS BEFORE SETTLING ON THE ARMY, THE STATE DEPARTMENT AND HOLLYWOOD 1. The National Forest Service 2. Ventriloquists 3. The cement industry 4. The Idaho Department of Weights & Measures 5. Bozeman, MT LITTLE-KNOWN ROMAN GODS 1. Capitata …
“You can’t tell me this shit can’t get done without people beatin’ on each other, killin’ each other, doin’ each other like dogs — and without all that, you ain’t got Five-0 down here on our backs every five minutes, throwin’ us around and shit. You think Five-0 care about …
When is food too more cooked, lick with ice. Problem areas will be rapidly discarding. When is food not enough cooked, cook for more. When is food too salty, cut raw potato and add to bubble. Discard when bubbling is of the past. When is food to sweetly, put in …
The first of an occasional series of posts about crime, both in its real-world manifestations and its portrayal in popular culture. The title of the series comes from the great 1950 noir The Asphalt Jungle, in which the moneyman Roland Emmerich describes crime as “a left-handed form of human endeavor”. *** …
Sofia Coppola, after an initial period of wunderkind delight, seems to have settled into the role of a director that people want to like more than they actually like her. She followed up the very good The Virgin Suicides with the great Lost in Translation, but that was chased by the problematic Marie Antoinette …
Dealing with the death of famous people is an emotionally thorny proposition. No matter how much you might have cared for their work, you didn’t really know them, and it seems almost intrusive to mourn them the way you would a friend or a family member. And, of course, death comes …
Dear Ben, The news is nothing but good! Finally got a tenure-track gig, and at a school on the east coast, too! Miskatonic — ever heard of it? Their sciences departments are supposed to be top-rate, but I don’t know a lot about their liberal arts school. Ah well; a …
Harken, she who is called ‘Sue’! Conan has no need of your foolish tonics and potions. Is this the way of civilization? Are all the men here so weak and womanly that they must anoint their steel with herbs and magics in order to please their women-folk? Bah! A pox …
