Since I ranted about this point, here's I Hate The Conservative Media's Coverage Of Phil Robertson, And Here's Why by Red Dawn on Chicks on the Right.
"Instead of writing about the substance of Phil Robertson's CPAC speech, which focused on addressing his critics who accuse him of being 'too religious,' they focused on a line he said about STDs and how to eradicate them. Of course, the liberal media went crazy too. But I expected better from conservatives. …"
That's what you think.....
Posted by: Flannery O'Connor
Well, what I thought then. I never imagined "write what you know" meant what I knew.
Never read anything by FO'C, though, sorry. Had to wickie
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flannery_O%27Connor
Joe F: "I've always though that the advice given to young writers--'Write what you know' to be misplaced. They should write 'what they WANT to know.' Then do the research and write...."
I was discouraged from writing by the former advice, and might have appreciated yours. Write what I know? Write from experience? I was a nothing with no experience. So I thought. I was in awe of young writers who seemed worldly and experienced.
Today, I think, what I knew then was dysfunctional families, decaying relationships, and the nobility and struggles of small town life in the mid-20th Century. Nobody would want to read about such pedestrian stuff.
"You haven't really read a book until you've read it at least twice."
(Down to that's as far in the post as I've read so far.)
Books I've managed to read through twice or more.
I read in High School, then later re-read with Milady, still later we read to the kids: Tolkien's magnum opus and the Wrinkle in Time series.
I don't suppose comic book series count? I re-read the original Ditko Spider-Man series (hooray for reprints) with our young kids, studying how to read, nobility of purpose, and what makes fine comic artwork.
Been a long time, but I know I read some Twain works at least twice, Tom, Huck, and Conn. Yankee fer sure. Moby Dick was much better the second time around (third, really, but I can't count the not-finishing-it in HS). Read that fat Urantia Book through, despite being hassled to do so; then I hassled Milady to read it with me as soon as we got together. The marriage and family life part helped us to appreciate those as spiritual purposes, a memo neither of us had really received. Forty years and three kids later, still learning.
As I said last week, I just finished Twain's autobio (part 1) and now I want to read it again already. So many great little things I'm trying to remember from it, but they're just a bit fuzzy. Or I want to recall the context. Or quote him on AoS.
At the moment, I'm re-reading "Will the Real Me Please Stand Up," which I think I mentioned many weeks back. As you might guess from the title is a self-helpish book. Another of Milady's thrift store bargain bin acquisitions. "25 guidelines for good communication."
It's just good, basic advice on not presuming someone means something they haven't explicitly expressed, being honest with yourself about owning your feelings and reactions, not blaming others for how you took or mis-took something they said or did. Amazing how hard some plain things can be, compared to habitually complicatin' ever'thin' with presumption and exaggeration.
When I read it before, I recommended it enthusiastically to my wife & kids, with whom and among whom communication can sometimes be, um, complicated, believe it or not. I wanted to see if the book was all I remembered. I find I'm getting different things out of it on this reading. Still, good guidelines if you can follow them.
Then there's the books I'd like to re-visit. I sometimes think about all the classic SF I plowed through when I should have been studying or working in HS & college. I can't imagine having time to re-read all of Asimov, just for one example. Bradbury, maybe...
Especially when there's so much I haven't read yet...!
Like.. the rest of the post, and comments!
rickl: "I wonder what date future historians will assign as the beginning of WWIII? I'm inclined to say Sept. 11, 2001, but who knows?"
Morning of 9/11/2001, I told the kids, "This is your Pearl Harbor. Everything changes after this." I haven't had reason to think otherwise.
J.J. Sefton: "I think we got more than enough."
"At some point, you've made enough m-words."
-Barry "Red Diapers" Soetero
"Just give me too much!" -coke freak, 1977
Since rickl mentioned it, per Wickedpedia:
Great Blizzard of 1888
"The Great Blizzard of 1888 or Great Blizzard of '88 (March 11 - March 14, 188
was one of the most severe recorded blizzards in the history of the United States of America. Snowfalls of 20-60 inches (51-152 cm) fell in parts of New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, and sustained winds of more than 45 miles per hour (72 km/h) produced snowdrifts in excess of 50 feet (15 m). Railroads were shut down and people were confined to their houses for up to a week."
I imagine damages much worse today. Much worse.
steevy: "I did the SCOAMF thing for his entire first term.Which I thought for sure would be his last.When it wasn't I stopped bothering...."
And it was a sad day when you stopped. Not only the end of an era, but it left room for bizarre variants like SCOAMT to take over and replace the proper and popularized term.
Actually, neither Failure not Traitor is quite right, as he seems quite a successful alien infiltrator. But for my linguistic preference, SCOAMF just rolls off the tongue better. Almost sounds like backwards kcuf.
(Hey, JJ, what about Manchurian malefactors?)
J.J.: "I think it's [the countdown's] now an OCD thing, but what the hey."
Well, we're all stuck watching it with you. Like watching the file transfer meter on Windows 95.
But, it has been a long time since you've even suggested adding new M-words. Alas, Ebola et al. wasn't enough of a thing so we could get those, what was it, menacing microbes?
Machete-wielding malcontents? (If only wielding started with m. Or scimitar did.) Maladroit misanthropes?
Anyway, the daily countdown is appreciated, however perverse it may be to torture ourselves with it.
Could be worse OCD. You might come in saying "Obama is a SCOAMF" every day. Or "I found Waldo."
Hey! February is history!!!
Happy New Month!
Wickedpedia says:
"The name of March comes from Latin Martius, the first month of the earliest Roman calendar. It was named for Mars, the Roman god of war who was also regarded as a guardian of agriculture and an ancestor of the Roman people through his sons Romulus and Remus."
So, good month to plant a garden, start a war, have twins....
Morning, Glories!
Vic: "Rand comes out on top again at CPAC straw poll,"
Paulbots do better at stuffing ballot box than Jebbites. More practice.
[kicks off cats & covers, crawls out to face the day]
okay, I'll quit talking out loud to myself now.
Good night, Gracies.
Years ago, had a feral mom cat show up, birth a litter of five, and die almost before they were weaned. Three of the cats were white triplets.
All white, except, one had a small gray steak on the top of her head on the left, another same but on the right. Third had no stripe. After the all white cat and one of the others had died, the remaining cat lost her gray stripe - no longer needed to differentiate them.
They sure were cute as kittens. Long ago now. All gone.
Evening, patriots.
Milady webworker and I just got home after a date! We tried to recall the last time we'd been out to dinner together. Sometime before August, we realized. It's been... a weird bunch of months. Freezing temps, icy roads, 20mph much of the way, but worth the effort.
I had the green chili cheeseburger. Fresh Oklahoma beef. With fries. And a Guiness. It'll do for tonight.
Now it's early but I'm ready to sleep, no doubt to dream of diving on ice.
And Phil Robertson, I love ya man, but, what a cheap applause line. (Did not watch, just read about it.) No, you indecently long-haired, bearded old goat, you can't blame the "hippies" for what generations before and after the "hippies" (that tiny, short-lived clique of longhairs, much less their multitude of poor imitators, wannabes, and like-a-look degenerates) worked so hard to accomplish. My parents' generation was full of "Playboy" wantonness and the "liberalization" of "progressive" sexual culture (actually regression to immoral behaviors) was practiced aplenty in suburbia before Haight-Ashbury. One could even reach back to the "roaring twenties" for the origins of the popularization of immorality.
Having myself been suckered in badly by the "sexual revolution," with a consequent garage full of regrets (mostly about how women were treated), I think it's important that the true perpetrators of the debauchery get the blame. Regressives, Communists, and of course their diabolical inspiration are a much broader coalition than just hippies.
Okay, rant mode off. Maybe I can watch Phil now.
I really liked how Walker handled the protesters, rousing the crowd to overwhelm the obnoxious minority. That's what we need nationwide.
!!!
Ingraham says "Why Don’t We Just Put Hillary and Jeb on the Same Ticket"? Got the posters right here: "Hillary-Jeb 2016 — Yeah! That's the ticket!" (an April, 2014, webwork; still not back in the game yet).
Spock's most memorable moment
Leonard Nimoy in a pop culture clash
Zachary Quinto vs Leonard Nimoy
Morning, Glories!
Thanks for the headlines, Vic.
I notice evil dies not take the weekend off.
Guess that's why it's called evil.
. . .
Crazy state. Temps actually climbed from low teens to 20° overnight. Might get up to freezing for a high today. Swimmin" weather!
Daughter was mentioning today that someone told her about Nimoy's lamentable musical release, which included a song about hobbits. Then I pulled up that video and played it for her cold. Got to his gravelly voice talk-singing the song. Extra funny.
RIP Lenny. Thanks for the way you brought the character of Spock to life. Spock will be remembered forever. If only for this.
