Entries from January 2008

January 31, 2008

Hamzeh and Loghman

Two young men in Iran face death by stoning or hanging for having confessed to being in a sexual relationship. There’s a petition here to sign, asking for the Iranian government to show leniency, as well as to spare the life of a lesbian woman whose case is being appealed. I’ve signed it, and I [...]

January 31, 2008

Hello, Rookie

The other night, I was watching a television show while I ate my dinner and I thought, This is terrible. I put another one on, and watched for a while, and then realized of the new one, This also is terrible. So I shut it off. I went online. I went to Hulu, where I [...]

January 29, 2008

State of the Union, As Experienced By Most People

An unusually honest message from the 75-year-old winner of the DCCC Real State of the Union Video contest.

January 29, 2008

Christopher Hitchens On The Clintons’ History With The “Race Card”

How can one equal Bill Clinton for thuggery and opportunism when it comes to the so-called “race card”? And where does one even start with the breathtaking nastiness of his own conduct, and that of his supporters, in the last week? Barack Obama carries South Carolina having made no sectarian appeal to any specific kind [...]

January 29, 2008

From The Liar’s Diary, by Patry Francis

There was so much talk about the new music teacher that her coming was almost anticlimactic. However, I would soon learn that Ali Mather never allowed herself to be upstaged — not even by her own advance publicity. The very first day of classes, she wrinkled her nose when a student called her Mrs. Mather. [...]

January 29, 2008

Briefly Noted: This Week’s Header

Yes, this week’s header is a picture of me as a small child, reading a magazine. I can only make out the ad with a promise of a 5,000 scholarship. The only things I remember with ads like that were comic books. Note the amazing blue corduroy couch, my favorite place for over a decade [...]

January 28, 2008

Time To Pretend

My newest object of desire, the MGMT,  in their new video for Time To Pretend.

January 28, 2008

I Want To Hurry Home For You

My friend Shauna Seliy sent me some songs in the mail last week, something she does every so often. Here’s the playlist: 1. Nantes, Beirut 2. Slow Show, The National 3. God’s Gonna Cut You Down, Johnny Cash 4. Chinese Translation , M. Ward 5. Rain, Bishop Allen 6. Mr. November, The National 7. Starálfur [...]

January 26, 2008

“Grow” and “Develop”: James Woods on Characters In Fiction

But a great deal of nonsense is written about characters in fiction – from those who believe too much in character and from those who believe too little. Those who believe too much have an iron set of prejudices about what characters are: we should get to “know” them; they should not be “stereotypes”, they [...]

January 21, 2008

Reading Ender’s Game

In the airport right before Christmas I found a copy of Ender’s Game in the book kiosk next to my departure gate. I hadn’t brought any books with me, an accident of packing too quickly. My copy of War and Peace was in the trunk of my car, where it would be ferried around Brooklyn [...]