Mickey Z
Cool Observer
Friday, May 26, 2006
For whom Tarbell tolled
The one and only time I’ve wished I had a picture phone was last Sunday, when I walked into a local Buns and Nubile to see six copies of 50AR piled on the “Summer Reading” table. I wanted to give visual evidence of the fact that not every faceless, soulless chain store lacks a heart.
Posted by Mudge on from Austin 05/26 at 09:08 AM“Once you label me you negate me.”
--Soren Kierkegaard, philosopher
(1813-1855)Apparently I never knew that Kierkegaard died at 42. Absurdly young.
Posted by Mudge on from Austin 05/26 at 09:18 AMHello Mudge!
Great story...I saw a copy of a Disinformation book with an entry by Mickey Z in a Barnes and Nobles the other day.
Some words of wisdom concerning God and Religion by Homer J. Simpson:
For example, in the episode Homer the Heretic, Homer gives up church and decides to follow God in his own way: by watching the TV, slobbing about and dancing in his underpants.
Throughout the episode he justifies himself in a number of ways.
“What’s the big deal about going to some building every Sunday, I mean, isn’t God everywhere?”
“Don’t you think the almighty has better things to worry about than where one little guy spends one measly hour of his week?”
“And what if we’ve picked the wrong religion? Every week we’re just making God madder and madder?”
Posted by JOS on from Chicago 05/26 at 09:53 AM“Most men pursue pleasure with such breathless haste that they hurry past it.”
Got that right, Mudge-- my people can have it rough sometimes.
Posted by James on from Hell's Kitchen 05/26 at 10:01 AMHey there Big Country! In this book I’m working on, “God” as we puny earthlings know the concept is actually our own limited perception of a higher-dimensional being for whom we’re puzzlingly brief flashes of coherent string-vibrational energy. Oops...now no one here needs to buy the book! Silly faggot.
Your people, CatLady, are a contented bunch by and large, and rightly so...they live in a middlin’-rich country in a very rich part of the world, and so escape a lot of demands on their resources simply by not having enough to be attractive to the needy places of the world. If I could learn Danish, I’d move there. The climate is very agreeable to me, the men are *GORGEOUS* and Norse culture’s very interesting to me, moreso now than ever.
“summer” as in “it’s now actually” here in the Southlands
Posted by Mudge on from Austin 05/26 at 10:24 AMSpinoza’s last house is a block away from my place. There’s a statue of him over there. To one side are a pair of grimey food joints; to the other side is The Hague’s little block-long red light district. Poor guy.
Posted by Keir on from The Hague 05/26 at 12:21 PMHi Keir! Weird, weird juxtaposition: Spinoza and sex. Less weird, sex and fast food.
Great quote I just found, and one that should spread balm on Our Host’s wounds inflicted by the indifferent masses of book non-buyers:
“Carl Lennertz coins a great phrase: judging a book by its lover. In other words, the habit of a significant amount of readers to rely solely on recommendations from trusted sources. Thanks to Tom Campbell of the Regulator, Durham, N.C., whose e-mail prompted Carl’s latest act of wordsmithing.”
From Shelf-Awareness.com’s Thursday issue, which I am just now reading.
Posted by Mudge on from Austin 05/26 at 01:29 PMThanks for the great news, Mudge. Do you know 6 people in town who can go in and empty that summer reading table of it 50AR contents? I could use the sales.
Hello JOS, James, and Keir…
Busy day for me “today.” I’ll be back later to chat.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 05/26 at 01:41 PMKeir, How’s it going today? Is everything alleft?
Hi JOS,Mudge,James, and Mickey.
A while back I went over the mountains and through the woods to the other side of the State, Brattleboro. There, in a tiny obscure book store (one of my favorites) sitting right along side of the cash register was a pile of 50 AR. I got so excited that I made everyone in the store come over and I proudly told them that my friend was the author.
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 05/26 at 01:57 PMI’m so glad to hear these stories about people finding 50 AR in bookstores. Of course my favorite story about it is getting to introduce MZ at the Astor Place B&N.
You’re right, Mudge-- ‘by and large’. I guess you know what I meant… now Keep… on… Writing…
Posted by James on from Hell's Kitchen 05/26 at 02:47 PMBut .. I have got ‘50 AR’ already, Mickey! And a great read it is, too. In July I’m going to order more.
A cool but sunny day dawning in Daylesford, so no complaints.
Hello, Mudge, JOS, James, Keir and Rosemarie and .. have a great long weekend, all of you.Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 05/26 at 03:33 PMLOVE the ‘Buns and Nubile’ pun, Mudge!
re the supposedly ‘best-known gay writer in the world’, Edmund White: I met him last Tuesday - an absolute pleasure to meet and to talk to. I hope I stay in some sort of contact with him. Am reading ‘The Farewell Symphony’ at the moment; he called it his favourite book in an interview
Edmund is still in Sydney as a guest of the Sydney Writers’ Festival but will go back to NYC tomorrow.Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 05/26 at 03:36 PMOr to put it another way, Mudge:
Edmund White is simply GORGEOUS not to say FABULOUS - and so friendly to boot!Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 05/26 at 03:38 PMHellos and how-lows to all of you Expendables.
@ Mudge - Current weather in The Buyou City: 89.6 F, feels like 99.1. And to save energy, my a/c is set to 84… Now I’m trying to prepare for the 100 degree days where it feels like 115 (thanks to the damn humidity). So, for those of us near the coast, “summer in the Southlands” is certainly nothing to get excited about (Vermont sounds really nice about now)...
Oh, and speaking of corporate crime… check out ‘The Scariest Predators in the Corporate Jungle’ : http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=13610
catcha = air (yeah...)
Posted by RT on from The Buyou City 05/26 at 03:56 PMHelga #12: Yes, White’s a very personable man. I’ve met him only once or twice in crowds of publishing types. His man is a little younger than I am, brave soul...White’s in his sixties. What could they find to talk about? (I am parodying those who criticize me for dating a series of 20-somethings.) You liked Buns & Nubile? Got more where that came from....
RMJ #9: yeah, that’s always a cool feeling, fame-by-association. And it never hurts the author to have folks trumpeting his/er work to a storeful. How’s my friend today? Working on The Fifty-Dollar Studebaker yet? Ya know, RMJ, what I personally see is a dramatic road story of a movie...and the unspeakable crime committed against you as a catalyst for a feminist-friendly anti-Thelma and Louise ending. What thinks thee?
CatLady #10: “now Keep… on… Writing…” Is this addressed at me or thee, sweetness? I am writing my lungs out!
I’m off to work until midnight. Yikes.
Posted by Mudge on from Austin 05/26 at 04:02 PMRT #14: simultyping...yep, Houstonium is the element of hot water. Horrific climate. Ain’t no fan of Nawlins’s soggy damp moldy heat either. I’m the only person I know who had an allergy attack in Venice. Gorgeous, but moldzilla.
Posted by Mudge on from Austin 05/26 at 04:06 PMRMJ (#9) thanks for asking. I’m feeling fine as I had a moment to do some lefting today at my blog. Rare occurence.
And I checked out JOS’s place. Disabled comments, huh? I was still thinking about your Iran post from yesterday and bumped into this. Very interesting indeed.
So Canada’s PM says: “It boggles the mind that any regime on the face of the Earth would want to do anything that could remind people of Nazi Germany.” Right back atcha bub. Call off the attack dogs. Reminds me of a nice Harold Pinter line a few years ago:
"If you are not with us, you are against us,” President George W. Bush has said. He has also said: “We will not allow the world’s worst weapons to remain in the hands of the world’s worst leaders.” Quite right. Look in the mirror, chum. That’s you.
Posted by Keir on from The Hague 05/26 at 05:13 PMHello again, everyone. Did Keir just say “quite right”?
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 05/26 at 05:17 PMThat was Pinter. I said “right back atcha bub”.
Film quote…
“Am I right or am I right? Or am I right? Right. Right.”
...any guesses?Posted by Keir on from The Hague 05/26 at 05:27 PMHow does “Human Lefts” sound?
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 05/26 at 07:02 PMIt sounds silly.
What a day. I got threatened with death over parmesan cheese. The police were called. It was a whole huge crappy thing, and the insane drunk person who wanted all our parmesan cheese blamed ME for the fact he only got some (7 packets, I think) and that I am in league with Satan against him or somesuch.
Murrica. Love it or lump it.
Posted by Mudge on from Austin 05/27 at 12:43 AMMudge, could that possibly be a reason to encourage veganism? How many death threats over tofu do you hear about?
Yes, I was talking about myself in my earlier comment. Can Hela be as interesting as Skuld? Let’s hope so…
Posted by James on from Hell's Kitchen 05/27 at 02:38 AMMurrica. Love it or left it.
James: or this.
Posted by Keir on from The Hague 05/27 at 04:20 AM
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