Ian MacFadyen’s astounding book-length essay about the avant garde artist-poet-novelist Brion Gysin, “A Trip from Here to There,” knocked me out. It had just been posted at RealityStudio, so I was raving about it — couldn’t help myself — to anyone within listening distance. Along came a savvy, multilingual writer I’m acquainted with, precisely the […]
Is There Anything More to Say About the Oscars?
How about Christopher Hitchens? OK, how about Willy Wyler?
Bad News for Assange
The Guardian reports: The WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is to be extradited to Sweden [from the U.K.] to face allegations of rape and sexual assault. Assange will appeal, his legal team has confirmed. If they lose he will be sent to Sweden in 10 days. He will “be held in custody,” the report also said, […]
Copycatting? Or Just Images With Legs?
Here we go again, this time vs. the NYT Book Review. You decide. © 1969 by Norman O. Mustill These images are from Norman O. Mustill’s Twinpak, one of a series of Nova Broadcast pamphlets published in San Francisco in 1969. This image is Barbara deWilde‘s illustration for the cover of The New York Times […]
Say Again?
It’s hard to believe, but some people want to know how to become a copy editor.
‘Curveball’ Goes Straight; Tale Comes Full Circle
Here’s the headline on the exclusive report in today’s Guardian: Defector admits to WMD lies that triggered Iraq war. Which reminds me of this blogpost — HIT BY A CURVEBALL — published way back on July 11, 2004: David Johnston’s report on how the “Powers That Be” conned Americans into believing Iraq had weapons of […]
And the Presidential Medal of the Plutocracy Goes to …
Take a guess.
A Box of Chocolates
… for Valentine’s Day. There’s the Victorian way. And then there’s the Mustillian way. “February 14, is Valentine’s Day” © 1975 by Norman O. Mustill.
Obama W. Bush Does His Banana Republic Thing
When Noam Chomsky or Ralph Nader or Glenn Greenwald or Paul Krugman or Chris Hedges or any number of Obama’s leftwing critics call him a disgrace and worse — ok, let’s say it, a finkified hypocrite — their opinions are dismissed on the right as the mutterings of ideologues who in some cases feel that […]
Literary Papers for Sale! Getcha Red Hot Papers!
The cache, dubbed william s. burroughs word horde 2.0, is priced at $260,000. Apparently some institution, or somebody with that kinda bus fare, already has dibs on it. The dealer — Ken Lopez Bookseller — has it listed with a “hold.” Here’s what he has to say about the collection: A substantial archive of manuscript […]
From the Musical Comedy Dept.
Oh, gee. Bill Keller, executive editor of The New York Times, is terribly upset. In his view, Julian Assange is the very scruffy model of a modern major-general. File his complaint under Gilbert and Sullivan; see The Pirates of Penzance. Keller is a mirthless feller. I am the very model of a modern Major-General, I’ve […]
The Wyler Touch
Now that Hollywood’s hype is fully upon us — I’m talking about the Oscar nominations — it’s worth recalling what William Wyler, far and away the most Oscar-nominated director, once said: Sitting here in this room, I can see a beautiful bridge — the George Washington Bridge — spanning the Hudson River. It is a […]
They Died in Gaza
Lizzy Ratner said she was in “triage mode” finishing up an article, and could she answer my question in “two or three days?” The question was, what prompted her to co-edit THE GOLDSTONE REPORT: The Legacy of the Landmark Investigation of the Gaza Conflict? It was just published by Nation Books. She hasn’t got back […]
The Difference between Decency and Civility?
On Martin Luther King Day, let’s see … As Glenn Greenwald rightly explains in a devastating column on the “centrist” opposition to the rule of law by the Brookings Institution — a Washington, D.C. think tank widely regarded as the best and most “independent,” with a reputation for rising “above partisanship” — the difference is […]
The Real ‘Abbie Hoffman’ Show
I see there’s a new one-man show on the boards, “Abbie,” about Abbie Hoffman, starring a lookalike. According to the NYT review, it is “framed as a 1987 talk by Hoffman” covering his upbringing, influences, student activism, and Yippie days, as well as his underground life on the lam. He jumped bail after an arrest […]
Crosshairs? What Crosshairs?
Ol’ amigo Mustill’s collage, from 1979, says plenty about that. Collage © 1979 by Norman O. Mustill. driftglass: “… this problem didn’t just precipitate out of the pellucid ether two years ago …”
Wikileaks Updates, Continued
(Click for the latest Wikileaks news in real-time updates.) In hyperventilating magazine style, Vanity Fair looks “behind the headlines” at the collaboration between “the Web’s notorious information anarchist” and “some of the world’s most respected news organizations.” Sarah Ellison’s less-than-friendly takeout, The Man Who Spilled the Secrets, focusses on his relations with the British newspaper […]