I often observe that H.P. Lovecraft is the single largest influence on my writing, but I don’t talk or write as much about Charles Baudelaire, specifically how his collection of prose poems, Le Spleen de Paris, completely changed the way I thought about story telling. Although famous for the lovely and wicked Les Fleurs du…
I quite like this comparison of the two novels by author and critic Neil Postman: What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive…
I have several problems with Christopher Nolan’s Batman movies and I’m just going to clear my head of them. 1) Nolan’s work is 100% cerebral testosterone. He and Guy Ritchie are cast from the same cloth, with the key exception that Nolan is actually a visionary, a superior director, and doesn’t irritate. More on this…
When people ask me why I moved to New Zealand, I have all sorts of canned answers. Today, I have a very concrete and unique one: because the scale of things here allows thinkers to wrap their heads around complexity at the level of society. American society, especially when you get into urban planning, regulatory…
Two big budget alien-invasion movies came out earlier this year. Skyline came out first and did poorly at the box office, being roundly panned by critics. Battle: Los Angeles came out later and did gangbuster business at the box office, although it too was roundly panned. Both movies focus on Los Angeles (what a surprise…
I’m not sure if I qualify among true-blue nudists as a nudist, but I certainly enjoy being nude and being nude around others. You would never know this from my time in cold and windy San Francisco (nudity + wind + cold = no way, Jose), but in a warm climate, in general solitude, I’m…
Back in September, 2003, in Part XI of PWSBK, I railed about the vile nature of people who eat with their mouths open. These people are so poorly mannered, so hideous to behold, that they deserve a new — a second — shout out for their killing. I’ve spent the last two or three weeks…
I ran into this story on Wired today and was encouraged by 21-year-old Aaron Tobey’s sense of resolve. Honestly, I am encouraged by any ordinary person in the U.S. who does not appear to be domesticated by federal and state policy (they are legion). When we’re young and educated, we tend to be dreamers, activists,…
All of my books are packed in boxes stacked in a container sitting on a cargo ship enroute to New Zealand. I’ve been pining for a good read and can’t stand the idea of staring at my iPad screen reading reformatted Kindle pages. I stopped today at Borderlands, the sci-fi and fantasy book store in…
Gareth Thomas, a famous rugby player for Wales, came out of the closet after years of lying to himself, his team mates, and family (including his wife). He has decided to become the model for young people that he never had. This is his moving video short talking about how things “get better.” He’s a…