...when I read this one ( Read more... )

It's really hard to understand why Brian De Palma would chose to adapt such an uncinematic screenplay. And sadly, as beautiful as Scarlett Johannsen is, she's no Faye Dunaway. Inevitably, you see her straining to 'act.' Yet despite the completely undramatic nature of the film, there is a hint of the vigor that energizes the book, an energy that ( Read more... )

At my parent's house beside a state park, I hear deer walking on our gravel drive throughout the night. I know suburbia has come to hate the deer and their voracious ways, but as a city boy, I'm always astounded by the sound of cloven hoofs displacing stones. Even if they are on they're en route to devouring my mother's ornamental plants. That and ( Read more... )

A website by an M.D. devoted entirely to disproving the theory of evolution in impressive detail. http://www.detectingdesign.com/. What makes it so fascinating is that he's obviously intelligent and does his research, yet is at the same time oblivious to the fact that he's attacking the ( Read more... )

While living in Zurich, Joyce tutored two young women in English. He read to them from Ulysses, of all things. He did this to demonstrate to the girls that English was inadequate at times.

The girls asked him: Aren't there enough words for in English?

Joyce replied: "Yes, there are enough, but they aren't the right ones."

While far from being ( Read more... )

The song 'I Will Always See Your Face' off Love's fourth album 'Four Sail' is one of the greatest love songs I've heard: simple yet elusive, heartrending yet transcendent, with a complex arrangement that seems completely effortless. Of course it received little or no attention on its release in 1969, another neglected masterpiece from Arthur Lee's ( Read more... )

Gene Savoy, the subject of my current book project, passed away last week. I was fortunate enough to meet him and to travel to the Andean rain forest with his son on an expedition. As can be seen from the press release below, he led a remarkable life.

FAMED AMERICAN EXPLORER, RELIGIOUS LEADER DIES AT 80

“Real Indiana Jones” Discovered Lost City of ( Read more... )

"Here's some real insight on the whole region: I hate this fucking place."
                                                     - SSG. Paul Wasserman

"Hey, this place sucks."
            -  SSG. Paul Wasserman

Paul should be be back by Christmas and, although he's Jewish, I have a feeling he's going to want to celebrate.

I'm writing an article about drug dealers that deals with cocaine. Whenever I mention this to friends and acquaintances, they shudder and talk about how much they dislike the drug and the people who use it. Yet I'm sure if you threw a bindle down in front of many of them, they'd dash off to the bathroom and huff it up. Cocaine has a social stigma ( Read more... )