Pointing to the briefcase I said: 'How do you know you are going to reject them?’
'If they were any good, they wouldn't be dropped at my hotel by the writers in person. Some New York agent would have them.'
'Then why take them at all?'
'Partly not to hurt feelings. Partly the thousand-to-one chance all publishers live for. But mostly you're at a cocktail party and get introduced to all sorts of people, and some of them have novels written and you are just liquored up enough to be benevolent and full of love for the human race, so you say you'd love to see the script. It is then dropped at your hotel with such sickening speed that you are forced to go through the motions of reading it.'"
-Raymond Chandler, The Long Goodbye
According to a SMH report this morning Penguin paid $1.3 million for the rights to Steve Waugh’s Out of My Comfort Zone. This seems like a rather large sum to pay for the thoughts of a retired sportsman (or his ghost writer), especially one who always seemed to me to be a bland suburban Dad with a talent for cricket. But: Vanity publishing?
Art of Living & Literature Across Frontiers: Are Jews Smarter?
Albert Einstein, Ashkenazi Jew and genius, wasn’t alone. So are Ashkenazis smarter than other people? Well, you know, two Jews, three opinion
Did Jewish intelligence evolve in tandem with Jewish diseases as a result of discrimination in the ghettos of medieval Europe? That’s the premise of a controversial new study that has some preening and others plotzing. What genetic science can tell us—and what it can’t.
• To be paranoid, you need a very good imagination [Blacks abandoned in New Orleans “turned to rape and murder.” That is what we were to expect The Subject Supposed to Loot and Rape ; “What if...” Careful now. If you’re a politician and you float a thought in the antecedent of a conditional, then someone will insist you actually believe it or wish it The Trouble With Hypotheticals ]
• ·
Of all the achievements of Australian filmmakers over the last three decades, the work of Robin Anderson and Bob Connolly stands out. A year on the edge ; Maybe a strong belief in gods and spirits gave our ancestors comforts and advantages, says Robert Winston. But what about us? Why do we believe in God?
• · · For many Australians sperm donation has been the gift of life Secrets of the Fathers ; What does it mean to say “God is just” or “God is merciful” or “God is loving”? Talking About God
• · · · Mating. Reproduction. Nothing is more crucial to humanity’s survival ... Tight corsets cause nymphomania, orgasms can kill and wasps are a turn-on Kamasutra Put what where? 2,000 years of bizarre sex advice; The Viennese Expressionist Egon Schiele (1890-1918) had only two urgent interests: himself and his sexual fantasies The Patron Saint of Teen Angst ; The sex in Egon Schiele’s work may be intense, but it is never beautiful enough to seem erotic The Wider, Not Wilder, Egon Schiele
• · · · · Existentialist angst promises a life that’s short, sickly, lonely, and self-obsessed. Start on the road to happiness with a good laugh Are we wired up to be cheerful, or are some of us destined to languish in abject misery? So what do you have to do to find happiness? ; The Culture of Celebrity
• · · · · · Imagine a world without copyright ; The tourist is always the other guy