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Wednesday, August 06, 2003

Standing by Peaceful Waters Many years later we found ourselves in Canada Trying to save our marriage And perhaps catch a few fish Whatever came first -- John Prine 10:26:05 PM  Permalink  comment []

As clever as a coyote ACME is a worldwide leader of many manufactured goods. From its humble beginnings providing corks and flypaper to bug collectors ("Buddy's Bug Hunt/1935") to its heyday in the American Southwest supplying a certain coyote, from Ultimatum Dispatchers to Batman outfits, ACME has set the standard for excellence. [Craig's BookNotes] 4:36:37 PM  Permalink  comment []

Gary for Governor!. Gary for Governor! The East Bay Express helped put former child actor/current online advice columnist Gary Coleman on the ballot for the upcoming California gubernatorial recall election. Their extensive coverage includes his platform, compares him to the competition, outlines his appeal to various constituents (including model train enthusiasts), and picks his theme song (and it's not "Short People" or "Tiny Dancer"). [MetaFilter] Dang, this is going to be a tough decision: Gary Coleman or Larry Flynt? Could they be worse than Arnold will liklely be? 2:25:02 PM  Permalink  comment []

Kill Two Birds and Get Stoned  A very strange book, even for Kinky Friedman. Not one of his roman a clef detective novels, this tells the story of Walter Snow, who for years has been stuck in finishing his second novel. One day at a bank, he meets Clyde a beautiful agent provacateur who cons him into putting a dead fish in his safety deposit box. The two of them, with her friend Fox, embark on a series of strange pranks, leading up to a bizarre series of pranks directed against a local Starbucks which has replaced their favorite bar. It's a fun book, but Kinky eased up on the wordplay that is a (sometimes irritating) hallmark of his other books, which makes the thing seem pretty sedate. The title is great, and there are some great lines, such as "I was at home catching up on my masturbation," but I still missed the flashing wordiness of his other books. The book is oddly structured, with a lot of the action taking place in summary at the end. What's really odd is that just after I finished reading it, I read this piece about Starbucks shops in San Francisco being hit by vandals. 2:17:23 PM  Permalink  comment []

Recent Reading: Shut up and Deal This is an episodic first person story about a professional poker player. It's fiction, but without much of a plot, really an impressionistic accont of a player's life. May is a great writer, really put a lot into this, so that the language really seems to capture the feel of the game. Still, its episodic nature and lack of a plot do lessen the interest in it. 11:21:11 AM  Permalink  comment []

Faith-Based Fudging - How a Bush-promoted Christian prison program fakes success by massaging data.. By Mark A.R. Kleiman But when you look carefully at the Penn study, it's clear that the program didn't work. The InnerChange participants did somewhat worse than the controls: They were slightly more likely to be rearrested and noticeably more likely (24 percent versus 20 percent) to be reimprisoned. If faith is, as Paul told the Hebrews, the evidence of things not seen, then InnerChange is an opportunity to cultivate faith; we certainly haven't seen any results.... [Moon Farmer] The faking isn't even subtle, when you read this piece: they simply didn't count anyone who didn't finish the program! 10:50:36 AM  Permalink  comment []

© Copyright 2004 Steve Michel.