Standing Up to San Francisco Rioters

This is incredible and disturbing. Dustin Boyers sees his friend’s car windows broken by Occupy Wall Street thugs in San Francisco and starts yelling at them. He told them to stop breaking things and that they didn’t know the people whose property they were breaking up. He says,

And what was interesting was that they’re the sort of people that hang out with people who only have the same views as they do, so that what I said was almost something they’d never heard. At one point they started chanting, “White boy, go home!” And I answered: “I have a right to be here. I have a right to talk to you. I have a right to engage you.” And they were like, “Oh, yeah, I guess that’s true.”

It’s horrifying to see people vandalizing the streets en masse (there’s a video) and equally horrifying to realize some politicians defend them.

And on the radio, I’m hearing people are aborting their children because they want a boy instead of a girl! Dear God! Who defends this?!

A belated notice



Photo: New York Public Library Archives



Yesterday I failed to note the birthday of G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936). Here’s a snippet from All Things Considered:

[The collectivist] knows it would be cheaper if a number of us ate at the same time, so as to use the same table. So it would. It would also be cheaper if a number of us slept at different times, so as to use the same pair of trousers. But the question is not how cheap we are buying a thing, but what are we buying? It is cheap to own a slave. And it is cheaper still to be a slave.

Vlogging Pride & Prejudice

My sister has directed my attention to “a modernized adaptation of the classic Jane Austen novel, Pride and Prejudice. The story is told primarily through Lizzie Bennet‘s Video Diaries, while being supported by her and other characters social media streams.” There are fifteen short episodes so far (you can start here), and from what I’ve seen, they are cute, funny, very contemporary, and very girly. With Jane Austen as source material, how can this lose? Multiple characters are chatting on Twitter, and those conversations are being collected on Lizzie’s tumblr site, if not elsewhere, and with the many links to clothes and styles, like all the kids do nowadays, perhaps the creators of this show can actually make some money.

Do people actually make money off the Internet? That is so 90s.

A False Dawn, by Tom Lowe

There’s a rather pathetic sub-group among mystery fans (I’m part of it) that’s always on the lookout, without much hope, for the author who will truly fill the shoes of John D. MacDonald and his private eye, Travis McGee. Randy Wayne White’s Doc Ford comes the closest so far, in my view, but he doesn’t quite hit the mark.

When I started Tom Lowe’s A False Dawn, I thought I’d found the successor at last. For a few chapters. Then it kind of fell apart, but that first impression was strong enough to give me hopes for this author.

Sean O’Brien resembles Travis McGee in his Florida east coast location (on the St. John’s River in this case), and in living—at least part of the time—on a boat. Also in his relations with his neighbors at the marina. But the great resonance is found in Sean’s narration, in his wry and world-weary decency.

Sean is a retired Miami police detective. He left the job after his wife died of cancer, and devotes himself to restoring his house and his boat. Also to looking after his dog, a dachshund named Max. He has no intention of interfering with police matters until he discovers a dying girl lying on a river bank. She expires in his arms, speaking words in a language he doesn’t know.

Although two of the cops who come to investigate seem decent and competent, one of them appears determined to pin the girl’s murder on Sean. Sean’s desire to clear himself, as well as a feeling of obligation to the dead girl, impels him to put his own detective expertise to work, leading him to discover a festering swamp of human smuggling, sex trafficking, and political corruption.

Although Sean O’Brien has the makings of a great character, in my opinion, he didn’t impress me so much as this story went on. His penchant for walking, eyes wide open, into ridiculously dangerous situations struck me as simply self-destructive. And frankly, I’m tired of stories (SPOILER HERE) where wealthy industrialists turn out to serial killers. How many millionaire serial killers have there been in real life? How many have you encountered in novels, movies, and TV shows? The final showdown didn’t work well for me either. I found it far-fetched.

There’s an element of mysticism in this book which I’m not sure how to take. A spiritualist makes a prediction which comes true, but Sean has nothing good to say about her and seems to find her occult practices repellant. There’s also a mysterious Native American character, who may or may not be a ghost. At one point, at a grave, Sean makes the sign of the cross.

All in all, I give A False Dawn a mixed review. Still, on the basis of the strong opening, I think I might be willing to give Tom Lowe another chance. I think he has the potential to become a strong and successful detective writer.

Cautions of language, violence, and sexual situations.

The Truth? How Inconvenient.

Daniel Darling talks about the writing life in this post on inconvenient truths. ” For example:

4) You must fight for space to do your work. Because you will not get rich writing, it’s likely that you will have to write in the margins of your daily life. This means you’ll have to create time and space to do it, in between your job, your family obligations, and your church responsibilities. Jon Acuff, in his book Quitter, calls this “hustling at 5am.” In other words, if you really want to do this, get up early and write (or in my case, stay up late). And you’ll have to constantly discipline yourself and fight for it.

Stephen Fry on Words and Stuff

Our friend, Brendan of Digital Sextant, reviews Stephen Fry’s English Delight, a BBC radio show on English words. He likes it a good bit. Get Fry Audio on Amazon here.

On an mostly unrelated note, here’s a patriotic sketch from Fry and Hugh Laurie.

Memorial Day, 2012

I have only known one person in my life who died in war, that I’m aware of. His name was Gordon Gunhus, he graduated from high school with me, and he died in Vietnam. We weren’t particular friends, but I have every reason to believe that the life he laid down was a life of considerable promise. Blessed be the memory.

‘The Star Spangled Banner’ and ‘Taps’

Have a happy, God-blessed Memorial Day.

For the origins of “Taps,” the military song at the end of the day, see below. Continue reading ‘The Star Spangled Banner’ and ‘Taps’

What Would You Do with Two Free Hours a Day?

See some of the possibilities here. Apparently, one-third of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives. 42% of college graduates never read another book after college. 80% of U.S. families did not buy or read a book last year. (via Mental Floss)

I wonder exactly what “read another book” means.

Literary notes

Our friend Dale Nelson informs me that this year is the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, which most American readers know from The Tolkien Reader. J. R. R. Tolkien wrote it at the request of his aunt, Jane Neave.

So, I finally read The Great Gatsby. I was motivated to do this by two circumstances. One is that I saw the trailer for the upcoming movie version, starring Leonardo DiCaprio. I won’t embed it, because frankly it doesn’t look all that promising. The second reason was that I finally found a cheap Kindle edition.

Some years ago, someone told me I ought to read Gatsby, because I had a lot in common with the title character. I guess that’s true, with the caveat that I’m not generally considered either glamorous or mysterious.

Anyway, it’s superbly written. I’m glad I waited till I was a grownup to read it. I might have appreciated it in college, but I’m not sure.

There’s a rumor abroad in the land, spread mostly by college literature professors, that Gatsby is a critique of the American dream. This is balderdash. It’s a critique of the human heart, and the illusions we build for ourselves, and the idea that money can remake the world to our personal specifications.

Great book. Hurt like the devil.

(Here’s something odd. If you see the trailer, you’ll note that the actress is playing Daisy Buchanan as a blonde. And Mia Farrow, in the Redford version, was also a blonde. I don’t know what the actress looked like in the Alan Ladd version. Anyway, in the book Fitzgerald says she had dark hair. I guess the mystique of the American Blonde trumps the text.)

A blessed Memorial Day holiday to you all.