the literati blog

2013-12-31T12:31:00.007-08:00

Every man's work,
whether it be literature
or music
or pictures
or architecture
or anything else,
is always a portrait of himself.
--- Samuel Butler
British writer.
(1835-1902)

Write On!

2013-12-30T19:02:00.001-08:00

All a writer will ever need,
from this day onward
and until the end of time:
an Acer,
a bottle of Bailey's
and a gun!

Preditors - BEWARE!

Sempre Por O Melhor
+++

That's one way to read into it...

2012-12-20T00:12:00.000-08:00

Not that we're condoning the use of such a parchment
or anything of the sort,

but you have to admit that reading this here

does tell you a lot not only about the author

by about the person so obviously

ah, endorsing these words...

+++

Upping The Ante

2012-05-07T08:54:00.000-07:00

The latest cinematographical adaptation of a not-quite-literary work has hit the big screens with much fanfare and hoopla all across the globe and, finally, in America too - and I completely forgot to give it a second thought, even... Aye, we are talking about the Avengers; the four-color ones, not Mrs. Peel & Steed...

However, since everyone and their cousin is talking about them, it's enough of an excuse for us, here, on the Literati Blog, to devote yet another post to this so-called sequential art and all of its insidious ramifications all over the place: and, so, here we go again!

On the heels of this latest film release, and, perhaps, as some sort of harbinger of doom (an umpteenth one) for the genre, May 5th saw another edition of what is an annual event now for all comic-book aficionados out there - all thirteen of them that are left. It is a testament to the resilience of this dying breed that they succeeded in superseding the meaning of Cinco de Mayo with their very own fabricated event: Free Comic Book Day. And since everyone loves a freebie, this one succeeds in brilliant fashion indeed in bringing back, be it for just that one single day, customers that have seldom been at the comic-book shops in recent times (those shops that still exist, somehow) or those who have never been there in their lifetime...! Never underestimate the power of the freebie! It is up to those comic-book-guys, then (the shop owners and employees, on the first wave, but most meaningfully, the creators and publishers of the stuff) to make it count when they actually have an increased audience or an audience at all: and sell multiple copies of their other publications, non-participants in the FREE comic-book day event...! Because you know it well: when anyone is reduced to giving anything away like this, it is because business is BAD. And this kind of stunt is, of course, the last ditch effort to remedy to that.

Interestingly enough, we have noticed something different this time out (finally - lest this is a first and a new twist added this year that wasn't present at all ij the previous years - for this ''last ditch effort'' has been going for a number of years now, as the medium dies a long, slow, atrociously painful death... It is sad, verily - but it is the way it is.)

The new addition is a sub-category: for there was, as best as we can remember, only one before: one line of free comic-books, none of which were even comical, the first time out... Over the years, they had all genres represented, really: from cartoony hijinks à-la-Simpsons to hardcore-superheroics à-la-Spawn - everything and anything was given away, for free. They were mere teasers, unfinished (in the sense of barely polished, too) tales meant to encourage readers to buy the complete series and all the spin-offs that would surely ensue. Anyhow, no matter how bad, these were free - but limited. Only about a dozen of different titles were offered and it was one copy per customer, too. There are limits to altruism - always.

This year, thus, we see something different: 32, count them, 32 different ones are being offered here! And they are sub-divided into two distinct categories: gold and silver! Why no bronze? That was our first question, really... And they could have gone on, too: platinum, mercury, tin foil. For the offerings are diverse enough to sub-categorize to the infinite here - well, almost.

In the ''gold comics'' top category, we have the usual suspects: the aforementioned Avengers, of course, along with the New 52 from DC (led by the mighty JLA, the *true* mightiest super-heroes of all, who might be mightily pissed off for two reasons rather than a single one now: it was bad enough that the Avengers beat them to the punch in the 'race to the big screen treatment' there - but, on top of that, these freebies being sort of The New 32, they're also stealing some of the thunder from their company's New 52-plus...! Oh well - nothing is original in these things anymore, anyhow! So let's just move on...!) for, then, there's also that wretched Simpsons presence with ''Bongo Comics'' (the Simpsons know a thing or two about long painful decay and not wanting to go away, too) along with the rest of them ''usual suspects'' - Star Wars, Transformers, Mega Man, Image... YoGabba Gabba?!? Heck, even the Peanuts are making a comeback this year...! Mr. Schulz must be rolling in his grave; his creation comes back in support of a Kabloom kablooey toon that sort of rips it off. Wow.

That was for the run-of-the-mill, trite-as-a-trout, boring-as-a-boar seen-it-all and déjà-vu kind of fare, unoriginal-to-the-bone and all... That's the ''gold comics'' for ya!

The ''silver comics'' must be inspiring themselves from the far-more eventful silver age of the medium: for they go in all kinds of directions and, if it still sucks eggs as some comic-book aficionado we know would say, well, it does rate something like a C+ for the mere effort... Maybe?!?

Headlining this category are many more comeback coups that no one thought would or should have been attempted: Buffy, Burt Ward (Boy Wonder!) and... Elvis. Graphic Elvis.

You can probably download previews of all of these, still, if you go on this site - now!

Other offerings are simply bizarre, rehashing stuff that we've seen before, a million times over, stuff that is purported to be greater, this time out, due to the affiliation it bears with a so-called big name: like the latest return (from the dead? What - again?!?) of Lady Death - brought to you by Brian Pulido! Just like if it was 1999, eh?

Possibly the most unsympathetic character-find ever

after Dracula, Hannibal Lecter and the Devil -

but this one has curves...

Or like the following: an umpteenth take on the ''guy without faith or any set of beliefs to speak of'' who turns out to be ''humanity's last chance''... Ha. The mere fact that it is patronized by Gale Anne Hurd, producer of such films as Terminator and Aliens and, alas (for her) also behind that wretched Walking Dead thing on cable TV... So, the mere fact that she is associated with this in some obscure way (probably preparing a possible next bad-TV-show, in the eminent advent of a WD cancellation!) is suppose to elevate this drivel to the heights of the genre...? And when we say genre, we mean fantasy-horror-gothic fare, not merely comic-books! Talk about inflating the importance of something way out of proportion: talk about upping the ante (or is it upping the Anti, in this case?) She probably saw the writer's premise for this book and, encouraged by the persistent rumours that Garth Ennis' Preacher will get the big-screen treatment incessantly, too (despite hordes of protests against it - or, if there weren't exactly ''hordes,'' there will be.) she decided to snatch it while it was hers to take, still...? Between the bad taste that Kevin Smith's Dogma left in everyone's mouth, the pathetic failure of ''Legion'' and ''Priest'' (and most every other film that Paul Bettany is featured in - but that is another story) not to mention superior fare such as Solomon Kane and Constantine - do you truly believe that this is worth upping the ante upon, Gale? May the Good Lord Have Mercy upon your production company then, Gale...!

''ANTI''... ?!?

Since when is the Antichrist

supposed to be the Saviour...?!?

Someone misread the Bible

BIG TIME...

A book full of charming charring things

such as rapist-demons who take their victims

to motels named ''Our Miraculous Lady Motel''

and tomboy terminatrixes who come in the nick of time
to save their naked rear ends as if right on cue
- that's supposed to be action,
adventure, humor and irony,

Gale? Don't try that on AMC...

Comic-book publishers gamble indeed - and they gamble big time here: they gamble that the teasers they offer, free of any charge, will pay for themselves by whetting the appetites of all the prospective readers that they have left. And those guys (and gals, sure) will cover the charges as they buy all of the follow-up... If that doesn't work, there might always be a desperate TV producer, network executive or filmmaker, creatively bankrupt to an extent that makes him (or her, surely) willing to buy these properties in order to keep it rolling...

Laisser les bons temps rouler - as they'd say in Baton Rouge!

The only problem here is that these are anything but good times for the comic-bookies, their staffs or their industry overall! Couldn't have happened to nicer bunch, too...

Xuloned - Again And Again

2012-04-08T07:59:00.001-07:00

Going to pieces over that old manuscript you've been toiling over for months... years... decades now, maybe?

Well - fret not, literatis: there is help on the horizon!

Or at least, it won't be all for naught - if the lump sum is right!
But if the calling is there; so should be the money!
So ask yourself now:

Xulon Press exists to serve Christian authors publish Christian books. If you’re called by God to write, consider us your faith-based partner in using your God-given talent.

Publishing your book with Xulon Press is affordable, pain-free and easy to do. Thanks to our network of 25,000 bookstores, plus Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble, your book can reach a readership of thousands in just days.

If you would like to learn more, request a free Publishing Guide using the button below.

Now go back and anguish some more over that manuscript!
And your first installment too, perhaps...

Xulon should really pay me for this! Really.
Literally.
;-!

Xulon - Again

2012-04-07T07:59:00.012-07:00

I wonder why - or how - does Xulon know to send me these appealing e-mails to my writing address; indeed, the one I use for all things having to do with my writing projects!

And they come to me through the venerable service of... CrossCards!
Look!

If you haven't sent your Easter e-cards yet - do it through CrossCards!
It's never too late! Send your Christmas e-cards in advance too, while you're at it!
CrossCards is there for that - and there for thee, all year round! Thank you, CrossCards! (From one cross-carrier to another...)

And what does CrossCards tell me about my writing, you wonder?
It tells me to go with the best faith-based partner in crime (er, in rhyme) there could be in the publishing business today: Xulon!
Don't trust me on that one now - listen to the official spokesman of the company tell you aaaaaaaaaaaall about it on the other side of this link right here - click on the button now:

Get all the Xuls... I mean, clues! Don't be a nul... nil... nitwit?
Be a Lit-Wit!
Be with Xulon!

(I wonder if Xulon will pay me for this...?)
;-)

A Room With A Raven

2012-03-22T09:07:00.002-07:00

Edgar Allan Poe's dorm room - illustrated! AP/Zinie Chen Sampson

And no - it is not some lucky winner who won that much of a budget on some "America's Home" or "House of Dreams" type of reality show...! (Admittedly, I made up those two titles because I simply cannot remember the damn shows themselves - but you know which shows I am talking about!)

A hefty sum of money was award, officially as a very serious-sounding grant, to refurbish that room in which Poe spent ten months as one of the 177 original students ever to enroll at the University of Virginia founded by Thomas Jefferson himself. There, apparently, in that tiny room, Poe had delirious concepts coming to him that spawned, eventually, The Raven and... evermore! (My way to say: etcetera!)

Now, couldn't that money have been put to much better use? I mean, sheesh, if Carl Anderson dared ask Ted Neeley if the money spent for his hair and feet would have served a greater cause being used to feed the poor... Couldn't the U.VA Alumni have thought of a greater cause, scholarly or community-related, as well...? Isn't there a flood or something going down as we type, in your area, boys...?!?

Are we so deeply in need of recognition that we hold on with all our might to the memory of the one most creative soul ever to have graced your walls with his presence...?

He probably wasn't even all that popular in the first place either - unlike some accounts have it (some describe Poe as an involved student, part of the Jefferson Literary and Debating Society and entertaining friends in his room with "dramatic readings" - right. Nowadays, his type would be typecast and ostracized as the geek of service; the nerd, the gamer perhaps. No, I do not attempt a veiled funny here, as Poe was indeed a gambler. But his type, nowadays, would play Dungeons & Dragons; that is a gamer and that, in U.Va or on any other campus, is quite simply nerdy! So forget about being Mr. Social Gatherings right there... Unless things were vastly different back in the late 1820s...!)

All that talk about a ROOM, though, makes me think of something else from modern times that I am sssssssure that Poe would have adored: the music, not the images below:

Oh yeah - Poe would LOVE Marjorie Fair's music - especially this track, "Empty Room".

This don't matter much anymore to him either - talking about the room, here...

I am sure that he would despise Twilight though; not his kind of dramatic readings, you know...

And you can rest assured that this is the first and LAST time that Twilight, Marjorie Room and the former's author ever get mentioned here, on the literati blog...!

Hmm... Actually, we did not even bother to mention that author's name, did we?
Goody!

;-)

Writing Contest - Become An E-Bookworm!

2012-01-14T07:29:00.003-08:00

I have long ago decided to forego most of these great s
*opportunities*
- but you can feel free to go for it,
of course!
Any and all of you -
especially the members of the
lamented but laudable
LLLWE group back on Care2Connect!
(My group - my prerogative to rename it
any which way I deem to fit!
It used to be the
Luminous Writing Experiment
Then it became the
Luciano's Luminous Writing Experience!
Now, and forevermore, it is
Luminous Luciano's Lavish Writing Experience!
It better be fine with you...!

If you click on the "writing woman" above
you may yet get to read the winning entry
from the last such exercise -
Janice Porter, deemed to be an "asset"
by the powers-that-be at XP over there,
for she turned her phrases well
in a minimalist kind of way...
The next Xulonned Literati could be YOU!

When Captain America Throws His Mighty Shield...

2011-10-08T06:06:00.002-07:00

Copyright: Marvel Entertainment
Why no Human Torch on the cover, though? That's not the Torch - that's Toro! Don't try pulling wool over my eagle-eyes, Marvel! Torch, being an android, wouldn't look so scrawny next to your Mr.Sub-Scrawny there Yet-Made-Out-To-Be-So-Impossibly-Strong (it proves my theory that he and Impossible Man were indeed separated at birth! But that is another sordidly impossible story...) BRING BACK THE REAL HUMAN TORCH! I say!
He's much more spectacular than scrawny pointy ears there...!
Said misbegotten mutant wannabe is blocking the view of the
sanctimonious shield on top of all that...! Sheesh!
The nerve of that irksome misbegotten mutie mixed breed! Between him, powerless Bucky and the beefed up former nerd Cappo, what could the Axis possibly have feared, really?
Truly, the Invaders were one of the most boring teams ever...
The Nazis could have won in the Marvel Universe!But that's not the, er, point here... really!

With the resurgence of patriotism (thanks to Anonymous - the 99% - which does NOT comprise Marvel execs, Brian Michael Bendis or Joe Quesada, fear not!) one simply had to expect a resurgence of Cappo in the 21st Century as well. Now helmed by the finest pens four-color can afford, Cappo & Co. are shining once again - and we at the Literati Blog simply had to, at the very least, leaf through the pages once more, just in case... Click on the picture above for a complete, thorough and even insightful review of issue #622 of "Captain America"... (Man alive - 622 issues! How much paper has been used here - how many trees sacrificed for... THIS? For, as we all know, Captain America and most comic-bookies were born, in the 40s, as mere propaganda fare: the cheapest and easiest to produce for the entire USA: nothing too good for the morale of our troops and peeps, folks! Uncle Sam said so. And we're digressing already.)

Thus, Captain America is BACK! Pardon, it is now titled "Captain America & Bucky" indeed - even though both characters were rumored to be dead for the longest time (and, in fact, they really should be and should have been for quite a while now! I mean, being World War II veterans and contemporaries of Roosevelt, Churchill, Piaf, Cerdant, Chevalier, Hayworth, Astaire, Nin, Henry, June, Tracy & Hepburn (to name but those) - they would be close to 120 years-old or something, these days? You can be in shape and all - but come on! Nobody lives forever: super-soldier serum coursing in your veins or not! And besides, as this issue emphasizes (or overemphasizes) so well, Bucky had no such thing in *his* veins and no special abilities whatsoever - so how could he have lived for so long?!? Marvel made a booboo - again.)

Well, truth is, Bucky died - again. And this time, he will likely stay dead. However, that doesn't stop Marvel to milk the cow for all it is worth, while the recent movie is still in some theaters, somewhere, and it won't impede them from having some flashback stories that were, supposedly, "never told" before... Them Nazis are a never-ending source of inspiration, it seems - and they have made quite a comeback in fiction, particularly the seventh art, generally speaking. In movies alone, indeed, they have been at the core of several hit films in recent years (from the Inglorious Basterds remake to the Marvel byproduct "X-Men: First Class" - both employing actor Michael Fassbender, coincidentally! Quite the shame (pun fully intended) that he did not participate in "Captain America: The First Avenger" - it would have been another first, one supposes: an actor indulging in triple Nazi-bashing within a mere two years or so! But maybe Steve McQueen or John Wayne did that, already...? Let me check... I might not be back...)

In sequential art, Nazis are understandably at the core of several heroes' mystique: from Cappo here all the way to Hellboy! And let's not forget MAÜS. So it is not surprising or astonishing at all that they are, once more, the villains of choice... Such retro action is not surprising at all, also, especially when one is revisiting the origins of a hero who was "first" in his illustrious star-spangled category...! Well, never mind the fact that there have been way too many "firsts" on the Marvelous firmament lately... But that is another story.

Issue #622 (wow - so many issues you've got, Cap! Most notable now that DC is axing everything they've accumulated -which is considerable as they'd gotten started even before you did- and restarting fifty-two titles just like yours all at issue number ONE. Everybody wants to be number one - but that's another story too) and its long, drawn-out (and overdrawn) flashback is actually firmly focused on the character of Bucky, mind you - not Cappo at all. And, as such, it can be even more boring than any single Invaders tale of old (that group. I tell you, lacked a lot of talent that was readily available over at the competition's Justice Society of America/All-Star Squadron! But that is, again, another story entirely...) - however it is, admittedly, the best that this medium can get to be right now and the closest it gets to literature, at any time, so...

Click on the picture abo... er, below, already!
:-)

Copyright: Marvel Entertainment
I know I said it lacked something in many ways:
in common sense, displaying boring members only
and not focusing on the true star of this issue,
it lacks in background art too,
going for the easy way out there,
and it lacks plain old "oomph"...!
But you didn't have to cast Bucky out of the spotlight, Marvel! This issue was all about him, and yet he's relegated to the background - again.
That's cruelty to Bucky!
And Lord Knows he suffered enough of that...!
So, then, why bring him back - for yet MORE...?!? He was dead - had paid his dues - but you just had to dig him out and inflict some more punishment on the wee lad, didn't you?
(Okay - that is DEFINITELY an entirely different story -
for another time, another post, another blog!)

Our Friends Over At OPEN CULTURE...

2011-05-03T10:19:00.001-07:00

What does a high school English and History teacher in a foreign land dream of when he is not teaching to his audience or *unaudience* for that matter - hmm?

He dreams of one day being vindicated - like Russian authors were.

Russian authors like Nabokov.

Matthias Rascher is German and must have either a fixation on getting something difficult published in the classic sense - or he has a huge one on pubescent girls too. Lolitas being less and less fascinating these days, I wager that it is the former rather than the latter that afflicts him - like so many other authors out there, verily. And so he idolizes Vladimir Nabokov for his obvious accomplishments - even those that are post-mortem indeed. For Nabokov had quite a tough time convincing someone to pick up his Lolita for publication. It is safe to assess that no one ever received such rejection letters as he did. And he had a tough time in other areas as well... Did you know that Nabokov's "day job" was being the curator of lepidoptera at Harvard’s Museum of Comparative Zoology? That had him thinking of other things than just lolitas; indeed, in his obsession, he sort of crossed them over and had both lolitas and butterflies occupying his every waking moments - and maybe his dreams too. He did not say much about his dreams, mind you: only that they were vastly different from what Freud spoke of. But that does not say much, nor is it all that relevant here...

As the curator of lepidoptera at Harvard’s Museum of Comparative Zoology, Nabokov elaborated a theory concerning butterfly migration that stood out from the previous beaten ground in that field. Biologists flat out ignored his ideas on the subject, back then. But, these days, genetic research has come and vindicated him quite spectacularly - as you can read here. And so the author was not only a misunderstood wordsmith; he was also an underrated scientific thinker.

And he got the last laugh in both cases.
No wonder he's an inspiration to Rascher - and to so many others as well.

The results of these triumphs over adversity were amusing to the main party involved, years later especially. Watch as he admires various odd editions of the book no one wanted to publish, at first:

The harshest pre-publication literary review it ever got suggested the book "be buried under a stone for a thousand years," nothing less!

How many agents, editors, leeches and preditors have sent you away with your writing with thinly-veiled similar sentiments, hmm?

What do they know - indeed.

The Book

2011-05-01T06:49:00.000-07:00

My, Oh my...
I would have thought that,
in this day and age,
everybody had heard
about the book...!
(Never mind the bird...)
;-)

The Book Is The Word
(especially if it's this book right here!)

Literati Assistant: Wanted... And Found!

2011-04-28T08:27:00.000-07:00

It is about time we give the literatis and other creatures of the night (hopefully of the Light as well) something with which they can improve their craft (not witchcraft; R.I.G.s - Rowlings In Gestation - need not apply here!) and write on and on and on and on...!

It is therefore with that most altruistic of motives that we sought out, found and now bring to you, right here and now, some help in the matter:

For more courses - seek her out on YouTube yourselves!
Luminous Luciano has spoken... er, written, rather!
;)

Literati Not All W-Right-e In The Head - Will Write In Pain For Food

2011-04-23T08:28:00.001-07:00

One of the most bizarre wordsmiths there can be today, getting published regularly and being even -somewhat- praised for it, is Mick Foley. Also known as Cactus Jack, Mankind, Dude Love and Lord Knows how many other personae throughout the years he spent in the wrestling/sports entertainment industry, Mick Foley is basically the kind of fun-loving crazy teen that never truly grew up. And that would be why we like him so much too - not to mention the fact that he can still be coherent, in writ as he is before a mic, despite innumerable steel chair-shots to the head and assorted bumps that he has taken for about two decades now.

Mick Foley's Mankind crazed character clearly inspired such odd ones as TNA's Abyss - and his stunts, performed in numerous pay-per-view as well as arena events worldwide, have inspired an entire generation of would-be wrestlers crazy enough to follow that reckless example.

Mick Foley's writing, in comparison, has inspired considerably less people - unless you factor in all of his colleagues from the pro-wrestling industry who either elevate him to the level of a demi-god (the demi-god of bodily beating down and self-destruction, perhaps) or actually despise him for that.

Whether real or not (shoot or scripted in terms of the wrestling industry) the gripes that legitimate consummate professional wrestlers like "Nature Boy" Ric Flair have with Mick Foley over this are very realistic - for the debate is very real indeed. Concussions are a definite and unfortunate part of professional sports, whether it be wrestling, hockey or American "football" (you know which one it is - the sport that stole the rightful name of a far more honorable, time-honored, worldwide sports activity and then left the latter with the term... soccer. But I am digressing right now.)

And to trivialize the bad example given - even going so far as having this author here being sent flying through a table that was presenting his latest published offering, as seen in the video below - is, at best, of extreme poor taste.

But then again, we are talking about a scribe who is unlike any other - he pens more stories with his clenched fists than he does at a keyboard on with an old-fashioned feathered pen; of course.

He is Mick Foley - and he does represent mankind today pretty fittingly, actually...

Fans of the sports entertainment industry will always like his anecdotal style; as it is every fan's desire to get an insider look backstage, behind the scene...

Books and DVDs as well will, therefore, always find an audience. Name-authors are and will always be easier to sell than the unknown wordsmith; the most successful authors either carve a celebrity of their own, branding and copyrighting their name in effect, or they find popular subject matters of perennial interest that cannot fail to attract the reluctant book buyer, even when occasional...

Mick Foley has both a subject of mass appeal (less so than in the mid-80s or late 90s - but still) plus he has that great advantage of being a product from that area himself. On top of that,of course, it being his area and field of expertise, his writing benefits greatly from it overall. It truly is a win-win situation there, one that the wretched WWE has exploited before and, nowadays, one that TNA has associated itself with. The only one that failed to make a dime with this was the poor WCW of old - the promotion who lacked foresight in so many aspects despite having the most ressources of all - what a paradox. But that is left best for some other blog now...

Kudos to Mick for not letting all these chair-shots and assorted blows to the head get to his brain, too much that is... He writes effortlessly, as far as we can tell, and his eloquence as well as higher vocabulary evident during interview time nurtures hope for the masses, surely. It proves that you can be a drop-out, get into physical work and still, somehow, rub shoulders with an intellectual elite. It proves that there is always opportunity out there. It proves that there is HOPE.

To quote the author in question here...
Have a good day.

Are Magazines Dead?

2011-03-24T18:59:00.000-07:00

With most everything available these days in electronic form, and the constant pressure to be eco-friendly and save paper or, more eloquently put, save trees and forests, one can wonder how in blue blazes, then, are magazines still being put out in such overwhelming numbers?

Thus, once again, we at the Literati Blog ponder the fate -inevitable or not- of the rambles in PRINT...

Truth be told, though, mags or rags are still more comfortable to read and far more accessible too. Waiting rooms everywhere will always have some old mags on standby - just in case. Wi-Fi accesses will be of no succor at all if the peeps on the waiting line forgot their laptops home - or, worse yet, never did own a laptop in the first place!

Magazines and writing in print in general is indeed more accessible - provided that trees keep on growing, a large percentage of publications will thrive on just as the radio business continued after Video allegedly Killed it...

And, judging by this latest crop that we sampled in a certain airport that swears and dies by the insignia "CDG", they can still be very interesting as well. That is, if you can judge a magazine by its cover, of course...

Then again - all these mags have their websites too....

The Perfect Music For Your Reading Time - Volume One!

2010-11-22T17:38:00.000-08:00

Tis time, verily, to find just the right music for each and every literary wit that thou loveth to indulge in...!

First off, for those times that you give in to your Jane Austen urges... Listen to this:

And while you are reading the new and improved Anne Rice (the non-vampiric one) you may have this soothing music permeating your abode...

On those occasions when you are surrendering to a more defiant guilty pleasure (we have two words for you: Harlequin novels) you may let this one play on and on, in the backdrop full of blooming begonias and enchanting fairies with ever-so charming flickering wings that you`ve imagined yourself in as you read on and on...!

The next one to agrement your reading of the works of such illuminaries as Isaac (Asimov) and Jules (Verne)...!

And this one is for your perusing of everything Stephen Hawking ever dished out on you:

More to come...
Excelsior!
;)

Sempre Por O Melhor
+++

From Author To Author - Vacation Is No Resting Time!

2010-08-14T23:01:00.000-07:00

It's actually WRITING TIME! If you believe what these scribe versions of the SITC cast blabber about... I mean, write about! Check them out here.

It does make sense, sure - for, nowadays, there is no such thing as "downtime" anymore (unless you are very technologically deprived or something!)

Still...

We, at the TLB Prime Network, don't even want to pick up a book and read it during our vacation time (unless it is to read a verse or two from the Good Book, at bedtime!) much less spend the entire time writing one...!

Vacation time is for THIS:

Capisce?
;)

+++

Maga-zeeeeeeeenes...!

2010-07-29T06:46:00.000-07:00

Am I the only one somewhat surprised -a tiny wee bit really- that magazines endure and some -a very select few- thrive on, even, amidst the ever-going expansion of the internet?

The fact is though - a magazine is a great friend to have - one that can truly go with you anywhere, unlike the laptop. What better reading material is there, whenever you are sitting on the throne?

It is just as Jesus Jones used to sing about, back in the early 90s - nothing has really changed... yet!

Magazines are cozier because they are the devils you know - unlike the internet... even now, in 2010...!

Now, whether magazines are literature or the fast food version of it - that will be the subject of another post here... soon!

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Поздравления, мъже и жени на Словото!

2010-05-24T18:06:00.000-07:00

What is a language without an alphabet? What is a culture without words? Two brothers thought it over and gave their people the means to forever palliate to that; on the day that celebrates what they created, who they were and what it has begotten; the Day of the Letters! For the creators of the Cyrillic alphabet are icons - and that so-aptly titled day (the Day of the Letters - I love the name) is today, incidentally! Cyril and Methodius marked their nation's proud history and heritage more than any two other brothers ever did (and one can look throughout history and indeed see that no other brotherly duo matches these two: not the Parker brothers, not Castor and Pollux, and certainly not Cain and Abel! But that is another story; and, besides, it is not fair to compare, they say...!)

Cyril and Methodius gave their people means to express themselves uniquely and beautifully - a vehicle for their faith as well as their culture that is like none other. And, truly, they deserve all the praise, all the honors - and, on this day, Bulgarians worldwide can certainly celebrate that with added gusto! Especially when it pertains to such a sophisticated alphabet and language as this one here!

Bravo - bravissimo, Bulgaria! Luciano Pimèntel salutes thee!

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Pink Slip - not Freudian at all, but...

2010-01-27T20:30:00.001-08:00

Shameless plug 101:
biographies, authorized or not, as well as
memoirs and other divagations in writ
are always fascinating to read...
For they transport into someone else's world
or view of the world,
and it is a mystery to all
that there are so many unique views
of the same rotten reality
as there are individuals on this earth...!

Thus, with all that in mind,
enjoy reading about the Pink Lady's
special point of view and path through life -
that is until you can read about
the Blue Lady... the Golden Lady...
and the Cyanean Lady as well?

Just Add Some MILK There, While You're At It, Why Don't You?!?

2009-07-03T23:32:00.000-07:00

Now, do not panic, ladies and gentlemen, at the sight of this title right here! This isn't to go on a very distasteful diatribe against the publishing industry again (or the movie industry, music industry, pharmaceutical industry... basically any industry there is, really!) - although, I am pretty sure that I've said it before; maybe not blogged it, but certainly said it: these things are mass-produced, dried-up, repackaged and strewn-over so much, all you have to do to consume them is add milk, et voilà!

Admittedly, adding water could work too. But that is not the point right now...

A recently published book has apparently successfully linked the assassination plots that offed JFK, MLK and RFK... A movie about one Harvey MILK was released recently enough, too - and it narrowingly beat the release of that book; thank Sean Penn for that - so why not have included him in the mix as well, hmm? Maybe Milk wasn't so necessary to, ah, milk it, I suppose...
Easy pun to make - I know.

But you can see where I'm going with this - can't you?

JFK, MLK and RFK - wow, and they call it "bombshell" material?
What's more, this is a SURPRISE to some...?!?

I'll tell you what a "heavily researched" book could surprise me with: if it actually successfully linked the murders of Nicole Brown, Ron Goldman and the mass suicide of that Heaven's Gate cult...!
Now THAT would be surprising!
If someone wrote a book that tried to tie together the "suicide" of one Marilyn Monroe with that of George Reeves and that of Van Gogh...!
Now THAT would be mightily surprising, yes...!
If any author out there attempts to assemble shoe-horned evidence that "proves without a shadow of a doubt" that it was the exact same conspirators that attempted to kill Ronald Reagan, Pope John-Paul II and Lucky Luciano and then turned around and traced links to the actual assassinations of Gandhi, Benazir and Yitzhak - now THEN AND ONLY THEN would I be forced to pause and go "OH MY GOD - they're right!!!"

A conspiracy theorist's wet dream, in short - THAT is the only thing that could possibly "shock" me out of my state of luminescent indifference!

Or rather, not indifference but IMPERMIABILITY!

Because, let's face it now: anyone like me has already seen IT ALL.

And nothing, I repeat, absolutely NOTHING can surprise me anymore!
For I know, without a shadow of a doubt, that EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE.

And I do mean EVERYTHING.

That is why even writing books seems nearly superfluous to me at this time; since REALITY is so much more unbelievably disturbing than fiction!

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Barbara Walters - Literati and ESQ.

2008-05-10T19:20:00.000-07:00

The Barb wants to invade The Bard's territory now, it would appear, with her penning, authoring and versing nostalgic to the extreme in her newly-published (and heavily promoted, on Entertainment Tonight, Larry King Live and The View, of course - to name but a few!) AUTOBIOGRAPHY - a mammoth 600 ton (I mean pages) BRICK...! (An ideal weapon to use when you want to throw something at your sourer half during break-up! But I am digressing, I suppose...)

She muses about her past loves; a whopping amount of pages -five- are devoted to her then-scandalous affair with that half-black senator (who is now 88, remarried, and would have been real happy if he had never been mentioned in her book at all!)
She flaunts three marriages, though noting that 'maybe she was never cut out for marriage" (or something to that effect - hey, I paraphrase, I don't quote when it's "hot off the press" or simply "too hot to handle" which means gossipy, really!)

The book has touching passages though; when she writes about her father, "ashen and unresponsive," I can only think of my own experiences in that domain - and so will everyone else with a heart. She chose to showcase those passages first on the *ET* week-end showcase show, and it was another astute move from our shrewd Walters gal, of course. However, her reading passages of her own book accomplished pretty much the opposite of the desired effect, one feels; as her very voice and monotonous, almost mundane, tone does not do any passage justice. Especially not the most dramatic ones, such as the father's dramatic moments and the miscarriages she recollects.

That she devoted an entire chapter to Monica Lewinsky is also somewhat of an absurdity. An entire chapter for her - and only five pages devoted to something personal? Maybe Barbara, even after all these years gathering up accumulated wisdom and journalistic experience, has not quite honed herself well enough to write this autobiography yet. It is my luminous conclusion, because she cuts away from recollections to do some more journalism here and there - and that may be the primary reason why she gets to the stunning total of 600 pages too...!
(She aims to be the Stephen King of autobiographies, I think. This one will have a sequel - bank on it.)

The only fitting finish to this has to be Gilda Radner's *Barbara WooWoo* or *Baba Iaga* or *Baba Wawa* or whatever it was again that that skit was called; this is what we need here now, I think...!

2008-04-07T19:14:00.000-07:00

Vox Populis:

Should I post the link here
to a PDF file version
of my much-heralded
much-delayed
lamented but lauded
Spiritual Self-Help
ANTHOLOGY book
(complete with
Foreword
and Afterword
by *me*
along with
several luminous
testimonials
from various
authors,
poetry elegantly
ornamenting
the entire
exercise
AND
several
surprises
along the way)

*OR*

Should I really
truly continue to
limit the readership
of this great book
to a bunch of
editors,
publishers
and the like
who have really
no other interest
than finding
a reason,
no matter how
trivial it might be,
to refuse this
project...?

*YOU*
let me know!

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The Easter Story...

2008-03-21T15:22:00.002-07:00

On this day, Good Friday, the Greatest Story Ever Told met with an unsatisfying (to the uneducated naked eye) ignominious end.
That is, before it was continued in a Never-ending Epilogue of Epilogues for the King of Kings and all of His Brethren...!
Christ Was not Born, today - He Was Crucified. And the world has never been the same since. As prophesied, once all that needed to be accomplished as Written in the Scriptures, was finally accomplished.

So then - HAPPY EASTER
With the focus on what was prophesied FIRST
a long time before His Advent
and thus only accomplished 2000 years ago
- as opposed to Eostre and other oddities and assorted creations
that were made up on the spot and immediately used as "fact" until the rise of Christianity, out of the confusing marasm that our chaotic world was before that event - and tends to veer towards being again, incessantly, even in modern times...

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2007-12-30T00:27:00.000-08:00

Qui est le fou furieux qui a dit, alors, un jour:
"les paroles s'envolent, mais les écrits restent,"
Hmm?
Les paroles ENFLAMMENT les passions -
et causent souvent la zizanie et la destruction -
mais les écrits s'enflamment aussi,
et en étant inflammables, ils disparaissent!
Si non par le feu, par l'usure pure et simple!
Qu'en reste-t-il, alors, des écrits
dans ce temps-là?

2007-12-24T12:32:00.000-08:00

It was Christmas Night
And all through the house
nothing was found to be stirring
not even a mouse!
(sic)
(...)

Well... GOOD!
Last thing you want is to find out you have
a RAT problem - on a HOLIDAY
when all the pest specialists
or "vermin control agents"
commonly known as Exterminators
are all found to be unavailable
all at the same time!

Well, it's been another interesting year
literary as literally-speaking...!
And another interesting Christmas night
with odd nightly visitors
only they were not as the one we had
in 2004 - an attempted break-in!
No, they were the usual sort...
nightmare buddies!
The oddest assemblage gets together
for that sort of dreaming, oftentimes...

Hmm...
Maybe I should do as Robert E. Howard indeed
and inspire myself from those odd dreams
for the penmanship part of my life!
It worked for Bob...!
Why not for Luce, eh?
;)

My literary resolution
for the new year
is resolutely taken, methinks!
In writ, to boot!
That's it for my seasonal posts
here, on the Literati Blog!