I finished my first Kurt Vonnegut book. It’s been long overdue and I’ve always been a little ashamed about never having read any Vonnegut. I’ve only skimmed through excerpts & interviews in magazines or through the web.

So I read A Man Without a Country.

Vonnegut’s final publication, and unlike most of his works this one is nonfiction, he mostly rants about the absurdities of our country.

And I loved it. Here are some of my favorite excerpts:

“Is it possible that seemingly incredible geniuses like Bach and Shakespeare and Einstein were not in fact superhuman, but simply plagiarists, copying great stuff from the future?”

“[Vietnam] only made billionaires out of millionaires. [Iraq] is making trillionaires out of billionaires. Now I call that progress.”

“There is a tragic flaw in our precious Constitution, and I don’t’ know what can be done to fix it. This is it: Only nut cases want to be president.”

“George W. Bush has gathered around him upper-crust C-students who know no history or geography.”

“If you actually are an educated, thinking person, you will not be welcome in Washington DC.”

“While we were being bombed in Dresden, sitting in a cellar with our arms over our heads in case the ceiling fell, one slider said as though he were a duchess in a mansion on a cold and rainy night, “I wonder what the poor people are doing tonight.” Nobody laughed, but we were still all glad he said it.

If I should ever die, God forbid, I hope you will say, “Kurt is up in heaven now.” That’s my favorite joke.

“We are here on Earth to fart around. Don’t let anybody tell you any different.”

Next Vonnegut Read: Slaughterhouse Five

I’ve recently read The Alcoholic, The Joker, Demo, and a bunch of other stuff.

This is The Joker.

Ha Ha.

Anyways, tonight I finished reading The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. I like it, a lot actually. It was short, involved very little detail, and was funny. I liked it because it was something different…F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote a 60 page story in which the timeline expands over 80 years, I found myself not becoming too involved with it. I guess it seemed relaxing and enjoyable. It’s a worthy read.

I’m very curious to see how the movie comes out being that the story slows down as it moves forward. In a movie situation I’m not so sure it would work successfully so I’m assuming they added/changed a few things
to accommodate. Nonetheless, David Fincher (Fight Club, Seven, Zodiac) is the director and he’s more than worthy of my attention.

Right now I’m watching the movie The Happening. That M. Night Shyamalan movie that most people seemed to ignore this year. Thus far I’ve enjoyed every M. Night Shyamalan movie (even Lady in the Water). I’ll admit some aren’t as good as others, but that’s how shit works. After The Sixth Sense and Signs, people became to critical of poor M. Night. And Unbreakable didn’t skyrocket either, even though it should have. It’s one of my favorite movies.

Back to The Happening. Critics suck. It’s actually pretty good. It’s mysterious and thrilling while demanding your attention. It lacks a progressive plot, but that’s the idea. That’s what makes it mysterious. The acting isn’t nearly as good as with Night’s other movies (Ha…Mark Wahlberg vs. Bruce Willis, Mel Gibson, Paul Giamatti, etc.) but it’s still a movie I enjoyed.

Okay, and I just now finished the movie, I’m going to assume critics bashed it because they weren’t fully satisfied at the end. Shit happens, that’s probably purposeful.

My critique: worth a rental/watch.

Peace – s b s

It’s what I am reading right. Like, right now. I’m on page 10 and continue to switch back & forth between the story and writing this blog. The edition I’m reading is shown in the picture and yes, it does have illustrations, and yes, the illustrations had a strong impact on my purchasing the book.

Why read this book? Well, the movie adaptation is released on Christmas day. And when supposed very good books are adapted into very good movies, I try to read the book prior to watching the movie. This particular incidence is somewhat easy, given the the book is actually a shorty story. In fact, the length is about perfect. My edition holds 60 pages, with a few illustrations here & there. I don’t usually do short stories too often, but for some reason I find a 60-page short story not too short, and sure as hell not too long. Maybe just right.

So it’s a short story about Benjamin Button, whom was “born under unusual circumstances.” By that…the sonabitch was born an old man and mysteriously ages backwards in time. I was a little skeptical at first, but already at only page 10 I’m really enjoying it & know I’ll like the remaining 50 pages.

Let me know if you want to borrow it.

sbs

So I named the photo “Dobby” because I can’t help but think about the elf when I look at this photo (although I didn’t make the connection when taking the picture).

I’ve read all the HP books and enjoyed them immensely, especially the books 5-7. If you haven’t given them a shot, you should.

Peace – sbs

Fletch.

Unfortunately, there’s nothing comedic about the passing of Gregory Mcdonald, the author of the best-selling “Fletch” novels and creator of the hilarious Irwin M. Fletcher. He died on Sept. 7th at the age of 71 after a lengthy battle with cancer.

The movies above, along with some other comedies, are so deeply burned in my tiny brain because of one spectacular thing they all have in common – the characters. The Dude, Fletch, and the members of Spinal Tap are all unforgettable.

Thanks Mr. GM for creating such a memorable character.

Oh, and by the way…Yes, I have read the book Fletch. It’s quite good, and funny, and full of mystery, and although Chevy Chase did an amazing job with portraying Fletch in the movie, G. Mcdonald deserves all the credit for creating the character of Irwin M. Fletcher.