Sunday, October 16, 2005



The only ghetto that can hold you down is the ghetto of the mind

At 82, novelist Kurt Vonnegut is talking not just about his own death, but The planet's demise:
In 1976, he described himself as having "the low-keyed amiability of an old family dog. In general his appearance is tousled: The long curly hair, mustache and sympathetic smile suggest a man at once amused and saddened by the world around him... As an actuarial matter, writers of fiction have done their best work by about the time they're 45, and I guess Tolstoy was an exception, and there have been some others, but anyway, friends of mine who've lived this long have customarily written crap. Just to have something to do. And like Twain, whom he once noted grew bitter toward the end of his life, Vonnegut is also more cynical than he has ever been. A Man Without a Country is shot through with despair for the Earth's poisoned fate and disappointment in the American body politic. Indeed, he says he considered an alternate title for the collection, The Fifty-First State, to evoke "the state of denial," which is, he says, America's natural state

Art of Living & Literature Across Frontiers: When celebrities act like politicians, and politicians act like celebrities.
On the evening of Sept. 29, Sen. Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and actress Angelina Jolie got together at the Kennedy Center for a gala sponsored by a group called the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS.

You can watch a video of the event or read a transcript here.) Just another excruciating Washington benefit dinner, you say. But pause for a moment to contemplate the silliness of the state-of-the art mélange of politics, celebrity, and corporate public relations that such an event represents.


Condi, Hillary, and … Angelina? [Who Hates Their MTV? How the rebel network sold its soul for bimbos, princesses and bucks ; Theories are beautiful, usable things--unlike explanations using miracles ]
• · The Trouble With Films That Try to Think ; Rather than harming the other, Buddhism would have us cultivate compassion. This is no easy matter, but some definite steps are outlined: tolerance of suffering, forbearance and forgiveness The Seven Deadly Sins: Anger ; The Da Vinci Code Cult A Critical Look at Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code
• · · The streets are dark in the Shadowrun roleplaying game, and the masters of those streets are the shadowrunners. Deckers, elves, mages, dwarves, riggers, mercenaries, trolls, samurai, orks, and shamans take on the jobs that the megacorporations don't want to dirty their hands with. It's a hard world, and it takes more than strength to survive. It takes guts The Mass-Media Dragon; Money, money, money. Everyone wants more, but, alas, the second million won't do for you what the first one did, nor will you be as willing to take the same risks to get it Who's Counting: Risks and Rewards
• · · · An offshoot of Match.com is taking a "scientific" approach to matchmaking by unearthing users' "love map" via a questionnaire Better Loving Through Chemistry?; The ideal of a soulmate, someone with whom one can combine love, fidelity, emotional intimacy, and togetherness, is a contemporary reinterpretation of romantic love. At least at the level of ideology, finding a soulmate has replaced other reasons for long-term partnerships and marriage The `soulmate' curse
• · · · · Why Americans can't write political fiction ; Altruism suggests that suicide terrorism is a phenomenon of group psychology and organizational behavior Altruism at heart of suicide attacks
• · · · · · Once Upon a Deadline: No roads will close, no crowds will cheer and you might not even notice the participants run past, but Sydney is hosting a marathon of sorts - Their list of places to visit includes a Surry Hills tattoo parlour, the casualty department at St Vincent's Hospital, the Museum of Contemporary Art, poolside at the Bondi Icebergs and aboard a Sydney ferry They're off and writing; America's latest, and most unlikely, self-help book says that anyone - even an accountant - can use the principles of rap music to achieve commercial success Yo! It's the hip-hop way to business bling ; Jason: New Wave Marketing