As you may have noticed, I took a three year hiatus from posting movie and book reviews here. My book reviews migrated to Goodreads and my weekly reviews of movies ended with the suspension of weekly movie night. Well, it is back and so am I ( Read more... )

REBOUNDING on the trampoline of life ( Read more... )

The very label of postmodern and the term postmodernity implies that which comes after modern, and denotes the terminus of the modern or modernity. Whereas modernity was a plurality of loosely connected philosophies which typically employed similar methods of reason to reach divergent conclusions to a group of common questions about the nature of ( Read more... )

I keep seeing phrases in mainstream periodicals and newspapers such as ( Read more... )

The late, great Isaac Hayes was better known in later years for his film and television roles, especially that of the voice of Chef in the Parker/Stone animated comedy series South Park. While Hayes reached the pinnacle of his popularity and influence on western pop culture during the 1970's, his greatest body of work was produced before the peak ( Read more... )

I work in an institutional, public service environment. The physical environment is that of a middle-sized office building in the low-rent part of town. The building is divided into twelve roughly equal sections with some offices and lots of gray cubicles. As a part of my job I have to walk through one of the twelve sections on a regular basis. ( Read more... )

Oh my goodness... so many great opening lines, so little time...

I'll stick to printed fiction...

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."

"As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a monstrous vermin."

"Life is one long tedious descent into hell and this is my travelogue."

"Many ( Read more... )

Three way tie,
Me, myself and I
 

 Flippant, whimsical and (hopefully) humorous response: I wouldn't so much serve "what" as "who." At The Long Pig Bistro (alternate name: "To Serve Man") people would be garnished with delicacies from their native land and cooked in the traditional styles of their nation of origin. Every nationality, ethnic group and style of cuisine would be ( Read more... )

 Dostoevsky's Raskolnikov (Crime and Punishment). Runner up: the "subway Satan" from Bulgakov's Master and Margarita (the concept of a Mephistopheles-like character riding public transit amuses me). Holden Caulfield bugs me.