Bubblegum


So, without getting into the details of how this circumstance came to be, I was watching WWE Monday Night Raw during a hurricane with an elderly Thai couple.

My friend Rocky, who now has a respectable(ish) job is a big fan of this kind of wrestling (I also have a friend, Paul, who’s a big fan of the actual sport of wrestling, as practiced at the Olympics, for example).

About seven years ago, my father took me to see a wrestling program at the Staples Center in Los Angeles and Rowdy Roddy Piper came out and wrestled.

Piper, of course, starred in what has been described as the ‘Marxist movie par excellence in the history of the seventh art’ by Christos Kefalis, editor of the Greek journal, Marxist Thought.

The movie has, of course, one of the greatest, longest, and most head scratching fight scenes ever filmed (two friends in their early middle age slug it out for ten minutes in an alley over one of them not wanting to wear sunglasses).

But this whole post exists just quote Piper’s character.

I have come here to chew bubblegumand kick ass…and I’m all out of bubblegum.

 

Ted Joans Lives! (The Movie)


Almost, But Not Quite


Today would have been Ray Bradbury’s ninety-second birthday. He came very close, but I can’t imagine he’s disappointed at what he accomplished.

I’ll have to re-read my favorite, A Sound of Thunder. My mother was a big Bradbury fan and gave me a collection of Bradbury stories featuring dinosaurs when I was child containing that one. And we’ll just pretend that heinous movie never, ever happened. I don’t even know what you’re talking about if you mention the movie. I may even have you committed to an institution on account of your crazy delusions.

Monday Morning Staff Meeting – I’m Afraid I Can’t Let You Do That, Emily


‘Neats’ and ‘scruffies’ in AI research.

Emily Dickinson is not an AI… yet.

Rise of the Tweet!

LA isn’t that bad for dating, but yes, DC is better.

Saved by twitter.

Thursday Morning Staff Meeting – KHOJ ÖZEERI


“A last speaker with no one to talk to exists in unspeakable solitude.”

I only know automats from Edward Hopper paintings.

Something is always in decline (but yeah, book reviewing is in decline these days; the St Pete Times got rid of its old, full spread of Sunday book reviews years ago and the Washington Post has followed suit).

But it might help if so many contemporary novels weren’t such c–p.

It’s Happening (Again)


I still can’t believe that the first movie hasn’t yet become a midnight screening classic. Still. Give it time. I took my date to see the first one and the audience was mixed. Of the half dozen of us, two were taking it seriously and four (including us) laughed uproariously.

Tuesday Morning Staff Meeting – Kristen Stewart Loves Surrealist Poetry, Apparently


Book Expo America 2012 was all about grown ups reading young adult (teens and tweens) novels – and what’s up with that? Were Michael Crichton’s childlike scribbling too tough on your brain?

Barnes and Noble takes a stand in ebook pricing case.

Kristen Stewart talks about contemporary poetry and maybe I’m getting a little bit closer to respecting Kristen Stewart. But those Twilight movies are still stupid.

The incredible craptitude of Jonah Lerner.

The Little Blue Book… no relation to little black books.

A poet on the Norfolk school board? Maybe someday, but not today.

That’s Right… A Science Fiction Musical Western Starring Gene Autry….


A Country Doctor


Tuesday Staff Meeting – It’s A Psychotronic World, My Friend, We’re Just Living In It


For me, it was the monster movies and black & white sci fi that played on Saturdays at noon on channel 33 (pre-cable days) in Norfolk, Virginia.

Another paean to the demise of the public intellectual (not to be confused with vapid public pundit) in America.

Liberals take to the barricades via the printing press.

Where does Slavoj Zizek live?