I love his description of the USS Enterprise as “a charnel house full of ghosts.” I also can’t wait to crack open this book on my nook.
Read the whole thing here:http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/24/books/24mieville.html?pagewanted=2
Entries categorized as ‘bringing the crazy’
Great Interview with China Mieville in the NYT
July 24, 2010 · Leave a Comment
Categories: bringing the crazy · favorites · writers
A Seriously Skewed Worldview Is Not Just A Series of Gaffes
June 11, 2010 · Comments Off
The press is primarily obsessed with appearance, with politicians’ performance as opposed to the views they actually hold. Often they confuse crazytown viewpoints with errors of performance–or conflate the two. And that can be dangerous, as journalists fail to get to the bottom of radical political philosophies like that of Rand Paul or newly-minted GOP candidate Sharron Angle. Jonathan Chait explains:
To the political journalist, a gaffe is any impolitic statement. But, of course, Sharron Angle hasn’t committed “rhetorical screw-ups.” She has made numerous expressions of a lunatic worldview.
More here.
Categories: bringing the crazy · politics
Really, Glenn Beck? Rudyard Kipling?
June 10, 2010 · 3 Comments
Then again, it sort of makes sense, in a totally batshit way. The prophet of new American racism and the poet of imperialist racism. Together at last.
Then again, Rudyard Kipling would have taken a dump on Glenn Beck’s new book. At least the poet could write.
Categories: Books · bringing the crazy · politics
F**k You, Arizona. Seriously.
June 4, 2010 · 1 Comment
This is so unbelievable that the gall and rage is rising in my throat and choking off all breath. The stabbiness is reaching epic proportions. This must be what apoplexy feels like.
From Wonkette:
An Arizona elementary school mural featuring the faces of kids who attend the school has been the subject of constant daytime drive-by racist screaming, from adults, as well as a radio talk-show campaign (by an actual city councilman, who has an AM talk-radio show) to remove the black student’s face, and now the school principal has ordered the faces of the Latino and Black students to be changed to Caucasian skin.
That’s right. Racist white bastards in Arizona are so hopping made about black and Latino faces on a goddamn school mural that the school principal has now CAVED to their demands to make those students white. Real students of color, turned white. WTF. WTFFFFF. What will this do to the self-esteem, to the psyches of those kids–having their OWN IMAGES PAINTED OVER IN WHITE?
The only thing that gives me bitter satisfaction in this is knowing that these people are all mostly old and will be dead soon enough, and a more diverse, tolerant, multicultural melting pot of a nation will emerge from the people who are young now. It’s not much satisfaction, but I’m going to have a heart attack if I don’t give myself something to grab onto here.
Categories: WTF? · bringing the crazy · political idiots
Badass Rainbows
May 26, 2010 · Comments Off
No, seriously. A whole site devoted to them, in fact. (Via Andrew Sullivan.)
Categories: bringing the crazy · cool stuff
The Misleading Myth of the Conservative Utopia
May 25, 2010 · Comments Off
Great essay by J.C. Hallman on Ayn Rand, Rand Paul, Glenn Beck, and why conservative utopias aren’t really utopias at all:
It’s fashionable at the moment to conflate Glenn Beck, the Tea Party movement, and, now, Rand Paul. What’s not been discussed so far is the wide range of open religious sentiment apparent in all of these. Ayn Rand was a famous atheist. Glenn Beck is a curious and dangerous mélange of talking head and televangelist. And the Tea Party wants to regard the Constitution as sacred document.
There’s a reason they’re all in bed together.
In In Utopia I make the argument that extreme conservative utopias (everything from Theodore Hertzka’s Freeland to a range of twentieth century novels suggesting that the path to peace runs through holocaust) are not really utopias at all. Rather, they are reconciliations to an imperfect world. These “utopias” reject the idea that government or planning of any kind can make the world a better place. Much better is a policy of not planning, small government, the invisible arm of the market, social Darwinism as nature’s intent, and so forth. In short, no plan is a better plan.
Read the whole thing here.
Categories: bringing the crazy · essay · politics
Things to Do on a Friday Afternoon
May 14, 2010 · 2 Comments
Because we know you’re not REALLY working, right? You can thank me later:
Read the new issue of PANK, including this very sly story by Kyle Minor.
Get outraged over Arizona’s latest racist move.
Send xTx, writer and blogger and mistress of awesome, a poem or story or thingamajig about ZOMBIES! Because this is the summer of ZOMBIES and she will be featuring these things on her site.
Shout “I declare you to be AN OUTLAW!” every time you answer the phone. God, that movie looks like a dried piece of crap, doesn’t it? Poor Cate Blanchett. It’s not her fault. She is beautiful and talented. And it’s her birthday, so please be nice to her. And why does everyone have to SHOUT so much in movies nowadays? Russell Crowe is probably standing right next to that guy. Although if Russell Crowe were standing next to me, I would shout at him, too. I would shout, MAKE A GOOD MOVIE! But he probably wouldn’t.
Categories: bringing the crazy · cool stuff · film · literary mags · political idiots · smart people
A Big Basket of Awesome
May 13, 2010 · Comments Off
Why a basket? I don’t know. Maybe because it’s freezing-ass cold here in DC, and it’s making me think more of Easter than May Day. But let’s not get too deep into my subconscious mind today. Let’s dig around in our big basket of awesome and see what we come up with.
The always fabulous and talented Ethel Rohan is doing interviews for Dark Sky Magazine. So far, so very good: the first two happen to be two of my favorites, Kyle Minor and Amelia Gray. In other awesome Ethel-ness–did you know? Ethel is a “hot opener” at the Potomac Review. Day-um. That is pretty impressive. So is her story. So read it here.
One of my favorite favorite lit mags, alice blue, has a new all-fiction issue up with fabulous stories from the likes of Brian Evenson, A.D Jameson, Michael Kimball, and Amelia Gray.
Matt Bell has a great post up on his blog giving us the good news: Dzanc Best of the Web 2010 is finished! I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy of this. Yes yes yes. Congrats to Dzanc and Matt and to guest-editor Kathy Fish and to all the fine folks featured in this year’s edition. There is so much good writing on the web it makes my head vibrate with happiness.
In news of the shallow, the new British P.M.’s wife may be a Tory (or maybe not, actually, I shouldn’t assume) but her style is anything but conservative. In fact, it’s kind of fabulous, and young and fresh, and high-low, and…anyway, nice job, Samantha Cameron. You’re pretty hot.
And speaking of fashion, what’s worse than Obama’s mom jeans? How about whatever-the-hell the prime minister of Japan is wearing (pictured above) here? Seriously. I’m pretty sure I had this exact shirt back in 1990. I guess at least we can be greatful the dude’s not wearing it like I did, tucked into some acid-washed black jeans with the cuffs tight-rolled and a pair of unlaced Eastlands to finish off the ensemble
And please. No one remind me that the 90s are back in style. This is a basket of awesome, not a basket of lukewarm, leftover 90210-flavored puke. Thank you.
Categories: Books · Writing · bringing the crazy · fashion · favorites · literary mags · politics
All You Need to Know About the Arizona “Show Your Papers” Law
May 7, 2010 · Comments Off
From the Huffington Post:
Categories: bringing the crazy · political idiots
Oh, Michigan.
April 14, 2010 · Comments Off
This is why we love you. You don’t just have militias–you have militia babes.
Our forefathers would be so confused.
Categories: WTF? · bringing the crazy
