The recent arrest of ten alleged Russian spies, agents who were said to be on a years-long deep-cover operation in which they were expected to assume American identities and lives, was cause for amusement. A typical reaction came from the teen-aged neighbor of one of the couples. Standing outside the… Read full post »

In my recent post about my struggle to find a literary agent, an interesting discussion arose in the comment thread that I would like to answer in a whole post. Thanks to y'all for raising the issues.

Among other things, @tomreedtoon said:

I mean to say that in a short… Read full post »

From 1998 to 2003 I worked on what would become my first finished novel. This book, set in 1960 (I was there before "Mad Men"!), was about a fictionalized Joey Bishop, his relationship to the other members of the Rat Pack, and the 20-year-old would-be dharma bum he hired to drive… Read full post »

The Associated Press reported today that 2.5 million Beatles albums were sold in the five day period beginning with the September 9th re-issue of the group's catalog in digitally remastered versions.

I'm not sure what to think about that. On the one hand, I adore the Beatles, as… Read full post »

When I was asked to write a book of sex stories in which the narrators were all straight men, I faced a challenge: What was interesting about straight men?

For years I'd written erotica in which the whole point was to blur the boundaries of traditional sexual identities, to take… Read full post »

On Sunday the New York Times ran a profile of a 58-year-old man who was laid off 18 months ago from a $225,000 job in the loan industry. Expecting "a glut of interviews," he bought two new suits with his severance pay but has never used them, because he hasn't had… Read full post »

Budd Schulberg, a son of Hollywood whose iconoclasm led to his being ostracized by the industry not once but twice, died Wednesday at 95.

Schulberg is best known for two works: the screenplay for "On the Waterfront," with its immortal line "I coulda been a contender," and the novel "What Makes… Read full post »

When I was a high school teacher in the mid-80s, each of the teachers was allowed to make x number of copies per semester. I had 5 classes of about 28 kids each. Want to know how many copies I was allowed to make for the whole semester? 150. That's right.… Read full post »

Americans hold 10.8 jobs between age 18 and 42 -- Bureau of Labor Statistics (and courtesy @kmsalon).

I'm not surprised by that at all. Between 18 and 42 I was a cafeteria worker, school bus driver, dishwasher in a bar, sandwich cook, movie reviewer, messenger dispatcher, delivery tru… Read full post »

The former actress Tippi Hedren now runs an animal sanctuary for exotic beasts -- retired circus lions and such -- and took the tigers from Michael Jackson's small zoo when it was closed down in 2005. She let a reporter know that she took the trouble to inform the tigers of their… Read full post »

South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, whose recent unexplained absence from his state for four days was first explained that he was hiking the Appalachian Trail and then that he was "writing something," admitted today that he had actually spent the weekend in Argentina, fucking his girlfriend.

The w… Read full post »

Last night we were supposed to observe Earth Hour, I know. Lights out from 8:30 to 9:30...  Why? Because nothing's on at that time anyway.

Earth Hour was a simple, compelling idea -- simpler than my idea to impose, then take away, an extra hour of daylight savings time each… Read full post »

James Dobson, founder and head of the Focus on the Family religious education and lobbying organization, is stepping down, the Associated Press reported.

The 72-year-old Dobson, a psychologist by training, has been one of the most powerful religious conservatives in the U.S. for decades. His Focus… Read full post »

Today the publishing blog GalleyCat has a piece on the author Molly Jong-Fast and her decision to leave writing and become a literary agent. It's full of arresting statements about the life of a writer and why she doesn't want to be one anymore. 

Jong-Fast is the author of two autobigraphical… Read full post »

Last week on the day following the inauguration, radio talker Rush Limbaugh took batting practice with fellow gasbag Sean Hannity, working himself up into his customary lather and declaring he'd like nothing better than for new President Barack Obama to "fail."

Republicans, said Limbaugh:

have n… Read full post »

According to a columnist for the Advertising Age website, newspapers are dying not so much because their advertising model has failed but because they have too much serious content and make readers feel guilty that they can't consume it all. 

Simon Dumenco, who writes "The Media Guy" c… Read full post »

Ted Haggard appeared yesterday before the press to promote the HBO documentary about him, "The Trials of Ted Haggard." (An ironic title, by the way, since Haggard has never been charged with any crime despite admitting to buying and possessing methamphetamine.) Among the entertaining statemen…

Read full post »

Of the self-immolators during the Vietnam War, Denise Levertov said¹:
     We need them.
     Brands that flare to show us
     The dark we are in,
     To keep us moving in it.

That was forty years ago. Another war now blinds us, illumina… Read full post »

All along, President Bush said his main goal was to spread American democracy in the Middle East. By democracy, most people understood, he meant capitalism.

Well, he can now claim success, as the shoes thrown at Bush by that Iraqi journalist have suddenly become a big hit. A Turkish shoemaker re… Read full post »

 

Ted Haggard, the disgraced megachurch leader whose outing as a meth-snorting Big Gay embarrassed the Christian Right just prior to the 2006 midterm elections, has agreed to promote an HBO documentary about his rise and fall. 

The documentary, "The Trials of Ted Haggard,"… Read full post »

There's some suggestion that among the changes to be wrought by the coming president should be ending Daylight Savings Time. Among the reasons offered is that it doesn't save energy, it plays havoc with people's biological clocks, it's difficult for computer programmers to take into account, and it m… Read full post »

An article by Drake Bennett in yesterday's Boston Globe has some suggestions for what a 21st century New Great Depression would look like: Instead of people lining up at soup kitchens, Bennett says, people will be lining up at emergency rooms.

He's half right -- no doubt people without health… Read full post »

I'm reluctant to admit it, but I am sort of in agreement with this sentence in the LA Times today on today's nationwide protests against anti-gay marriage ballot initiatives such as California's Prop. 8:

And it remains uncertain whether the aggressive tactics ultimately advance the activists' goal:… Read full post »

North Carolina congressman Robin Hayes -- whose official website is bannered with a cotton boll, a scowling soldier, a National Forest sign and a line of racing stock cars -- told a crowd waiting to see Sen. John McCain Saturday that "Liberals hate real Americans that work and achieve and believe… Read full post »

Many articles in the last few days, such as this one on Politico and this one in the Washington Post, have focused on the cathartic anger being expressed at McCain and Palin rallies this week, and at the hint of mob mentality in shouts of "Get him!" and "Traitor!" 

But while… Read full post »