Scanning the Headlines
Arthur C. Clarke and Paul Scofield have left us. Filmmaker Anthony Minghella, who brought us big-screen adaptations of Michael Ondaatje’s The English Patient and Patricia Highsmith’s The Talented Mr. Ripley, has also passed away at the tender age of 54.
China is making more arrests as Tibetan protests widen. Not much the Dalai Lama can do about it.
The economic index suggests what everyone already knows: the U.S. is slipping into a recession.
Jobless claims jumped by 22,000 last month.
Torrential rains across the midsection of the U.S. have left at least 13 dead. We’re talkin’ a foot of rain in the Midwest.
Bin Laden is accusing the Pope of leading a “new Crusade” against Islam. He’s also pissed at the Danes for political cartoons that defame The Prophet. Bad day to be a Danish editorial cartoonist.
Rudyard Kipling’s Gunga Din is on Turner Classic Movies tonight.
Chico: Do you like Kipling?
Groucho: I don’t know. I’ve never kippled.
And David N. Scott has a song stuck in his head.
UPDATE: And what the hell is this? Someone arrived at Carver’s Dog this morning from the following search string: How to dry clean a business suit with embalming fluid.
March 20, 2008 at 9:18 am
And the nation’s most power-mad whore is sinking Demo chances of taking the White House, further, every day.
March 20, 2008 at 9:22 am
Yup. Looks like McCain’s gonna be The Man.
Damn.
March 20, 2008 at 9:34 am
I learned about myself last night that as much as I hate McCain, I just couldn’t vote for Hillary if she got the nomination. I’d have to leave it blank.
She’s fucked up nearly everything she touched, she hung onto a bad marriage for power’s sake alone, she feels she has even more license to lie than her husband did, and worse, as a “victim” she feels she has license to to victimize anyone in her path. She’s the dirtiest, most craven candidate we’ve had in a while. But the wind has shifted, and people who don’t follow politics are easily deceived.
When that Harvard woman called her a “monster”—well, there’s an old saw in politics: “You lose your job when you tell the truth.”
March 20, 2008 at 9:50 am
She’s a political animal in the cruelest sense of the phrase. And the Dems don’t know what to do about it. Obama? Ain’t gonna happen, ‘fraid to say.
Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?
March 20, 2008 at 9:54 am
Rodger
Over a foot of rain here in the midwest…my house is an island, but too many friends are out of their places–mud and water moved in… Bad news.
But wait–Bush just declared it a disaster—look FEMA.
We are saved…
no just a leftover drunk from St. Patrick’s Day
March 20, 2008 at 10:01 am
Build an ark, Scott. Collect animals. Change your name to Noah. They’ll write a book about you and the Pope will canonize you.
March 20, 2008 at 11:00 am
I’m curious about a person who would actually have enough embalming fluid to dry clean a suit (assuming it was possible). It’s downright disturbing… but an oddly fascinating concept. You should write a story about it!
And thanks to you, I now feel the urge to watch Duck Soup tonight. Excellent.
March 20, 2008 at 11:06 am
That was from Duck Soup? I wasn’t sure.
I dont even want to think about why anyone would want to dry clean their clothing with embalming fluid.
Wha … ?
March 20, 2008 at 11:11 am
I’ve pretty much given up on this presidental election. Now I wish I could just stop hearing about it.
Hopefully FEMA won’t screw up dealing with the flood too badly. We pulled out of the fires okay, though - I think they are trying very hard to fix their rep post-Katrina.
Rodger - David appreciates the linkage. He seems to have taken up Zel-Kun’s writing as some kind of challenge. He’s churning out pieces at a surprising rate, anyhow. I think your compliment had much to do with it, he’d been feeling a bit discouraged on the short story front lately.
March 20, 2008 at 11:24 am
Both of his recent efforts are very good, Julie.
March 20, 2008 at 12:55 pm
“How to dry clean a business suit with embalming fluid.”
I recall a Dick Tracy strip where a street hawker, Hawker Jones, tried to clean honey from Flattop’s suit using little bottles of “Miracle Cleaner,” which was nothing but gasoline.
Your random comment for the day.
March 20, 2008 at 1:04 pm
Dah, things are going to crap. But at least we know lots and lots about Obama’s pastor’s weird political views. Or something.
And… people are discussing me in the third person. I’d say ZK and you posting again was a nice kick in the butt, and I sure appreciate the feedback, but I think a big part of it was hard to describe… I sort of tried to relax and take a break from writing and it turned into a big rush!
Or something like that…
March 20, 2008 at 1:18 pm
Don’t think so. Maybe Animal Crackers?
Duck Soup is the only one I own.
March 20, 2008 at 1:25 pm
A most enjoyable random comment, Joe.
I think maybe it was Animal Crackers, RS.
Whatever it is, David, your last two pieces were excellent. Just write when you feel like writing. Don’t try to force it.
March 20, 2008 at 6:32 pm
Yeah, I think I was letting the ‘REAL writers write something EVERY day’ crowd get to me a bit too much…
March 20, 2008 at 6:40 pm
Oh, and thanks, RJ! I appreciate it. I should also say that I’m really, really glad to see you back up and running at full steam. It’s good stuff.
March 20, 2008 at 7:31 pm
Thanks, David. Look, don’t be intimidated like writers like me, churning out new product every day, not to mention the material I write professionally. It takes time and discipline to be able to do this. You’ll get there. You’re good enough. Just let it happen naturally. The more you write and the more you hone your craft, it eventually will become instinctual.