Quote: Filmmaker Eugene Jarecki

Why 2009 Could Eat Barack Obama Alive

Anyone who thinks that Republicans own the copyright on war or on corporate cronyism in America hasn’t read a history book.

Quote: Writer Martin Millar

More of My Backlist Unleashed on the World

A brief story about when I was writing Lux the Poet: I was living in a small council flat in Brixton. I shared the flat with a primary school teacher, who was rarely there, and a young man who was a serious alcoholic, as was his boyfriend. They were continually drunk, probably too drunk to have sex, but they were both fond of spanking. Being so drunk, they weren’t concerned about privacy, and used to perform, or attempt to perform, spanking sessions in the living room. Meanwhile I stayed in my own room, writing Lux the Poet on an old word-processor. So I could hear the spanking, which would have been strange enough anyway, but because of their extreme drunkenness and lack of co-ordination, it happened at an unbelievably slow rate. I’d write one sentence of Lux, and hear a vague slapping noise. And then I’d write a bit more, and after a few more sentences, there be another spanking noise, followed by some loud struggling as they fell off the couch, and scrambled around for their cans of special brew. And then, some time later, there’s be another vague slapping sound. Really, you wouldn’t believe that any spanking could possibly be carried on in such a slow and disorganised fashion. Sometimes he’d actually miss the target, which you’d think would be practically impossible. Hours later I’d find them collapsed, semi-naked and unconscious on the living room floor. Both of them by this time quite emaciated young men, from alcohol abuse. I was pleased when I moved out of that flat.

Quote: Writer Lawrence Osborne

A Writer And Reader On Why Book Publishers Fail

What publishers don’t understand is that media blitz campaigns are often less significant than old-fashioned word of mouth, which is disseminated patiently and slowly through book stores. Books are not Hollywood, to the general astonishment of agents and corporate suits. They are intimate, unpredictable agents of delicious rebellion.

Well, as book stores continue to drop dead, the Word Of Mouth moves to the Internet: blogs, Twitter, et al.

Learn those skills, publishers:

Be Social Like A Disease!
Be Social Like A Disease #2

Quote: Adam T. Wamack & Rubén Harris

I thought the post overall nebulous and touchy-feely, but it did offer one great insight, below.

Humanity 2.0: A Call To Action

And what is more dangerous and self-damaging than the war that you do not even know that you are in?

I don’t see real solutions here, except acknowledging the above is the true first step towards them.

Quote: Barry Ritholtz

Blaming Moody’s

All of these motherfuckers need to be thrown in prison, where they will be sodomized on a daily basis for the rest of their lives.

Quote: Howard Aiken

Trust me …

Don’t worry about people stealing an idea. If it’s original, you will have to ram it down their throats.

— Howard Aiken, US computer scientist (1900 – 1973)

… this is so true.

Quote: Writer Ann Somerville

One thing puzzles me

Yesterday someone tried to insult me by saying ‘you don’t even pretend to be nice’. I took that as a huge compliment, because seriously? People who pretend to be nice, suck. We all know people like that – women like that. As someone I know puts it, they throw the rock and hide the hand. It’s all ‘bless my heart’ and ‘my, we don’t talk like that here’ and then it’s stabbity stabbity and flying monkeys as soon as they’re crossed.

Quote: Writer Zoe Winters

Terror Level Orange

Gmail will flip out on you like a crazy ninja of communication if you try to send over a certain number of emails at once

Quote: Isaac Asimov

Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what’s right.

— Isaac Asimov

Quote: Frank Rich On This Election

In Defense of White Americans

The first, and easy one, is that Republican leaders have no idea what “real America” is.