Philip Girvan > Recent Status Updates

A scene where a lot of the people use really pure heroin is probably not a scene meant to last. — Craig Marks (editor in chief, SPIN magazine; author)

Putin has been fortunate in his adversaries. Whatta bunch of stumblebums.

hands down the second best book featuring a character named Eddie Coyle

came across this beautiful descriptive phrase on page 14:

At the Aspen security forum, where the like-minded gather for mutual reassurance…

This, from page 233, made me smile:

"My father lived in the projects when he was a kid. When they started turning color most of the whiteys took off but his parents wouldn't budge. He was a tough old lefty, my grandfather, worked as a labor organizer for the AFL-CIO for twenty-five years. My father used to say 'If you gave Pop a bag of clothespins in the morning he'd have them picketing the wet laundry that night.'

JoAnn Wypijewski is a dogged researcher, an engaging writer and a rather ordinary mind. Stella Adler’s the closest parallel, I suppose.

These essays have been both provocative and delightful. An engrossing and humorous read.

Pétain’s physician, Ménétrel, keen to protect The Marshal from further staining his reputation, urges Pétain to refrain from cooperating with the new post-Vichy collaborationist pseudo government. Ménétrel, placed under house arrest, is permanently separated from Pétain.

Louis-Ferdinand Céline offers Pétain his services as a physician. Pétain allegedly quips: “I would prefer to die at once”.

Great, lurid snapshot of a long gone NYC history. First 100 or so pages focuses on clubs, characters & contests. This section, The Saviors, introduces the clergy attempting to shut down the clubs, pornographic bookshops, and peep shows, while doing their best to ensure these efforts don’t ease the way of Capital and the agents of gentrification to push out their downtrodden parishioners (spoiler alert: they fail).

jumping from article to article: Cardoso is a terribly underrated writer — his piece on the Rumble in The Jungle is exceptional.

Provides striking insights into the oddness and chill of Mobutu’s regime, and a fascinating exploration of the day to day weirdness and fear of time spent inside a fascist state.

Loki is reassigned to Jersey City and is immediately assumed by a resident to be “one of those hipsters from Brooklyn”.

Oliver North has got to be up there on the list of all time worst deal makers.

“OK, Iran here’s 200 TOW missiles. How about releasing some hostages?”

“No”

“Fair enough. Here’s 1000 more TOW missiles. Any chance of you releasing a hostage or two?”

“Piss off.”

“Righto! We’ll get you some more missiles lickety-split!”

What a book. What a writer.

Ok, Stone acknowledges White's books on page 1.

Getting into the muck! Not only has Stone ripped off Theodore White's title, he suggests in the preface that "Trump's election is less an ideological victory and more a manifestation of a genuine desire for a more competent government" (xi).

Interesting background on the Clinton campaign and the team's dynamics, but, my god, this book is full of clumsy writing.

Examples: "Iowa was much more fertile ground for corn that it was for Clintons (111); Bill had done this twice. His handle on politics was as natural as Jimi Hendrix's feel for the guitar (129)."

"Dumber than Fabio on two bottles of NyQuil."

"science is the ultimate pornography, analytic activity whose main aim is to isolate objects or events from their contexts in time and space. This obsession with the specific activity of quantified functions is what science shares with pornography. ... One looks forward to the day when the General Theory of Relativity and the Principa will outsell the Kama Sutra in back-street bookshops."

"I think the people from Mississippi ought to come to Chicago to learn how to hate." -- MLK

Captivating account of the island of Sicily's physical charms as well its grim history.

The author's fondness for the island and its inhabitants is made clear on every page of this beautifully written book

So far so good

So far so good

Compelling stuff thus far. Seems we Bud Selig to thank for George W Bush's political career.

Very enjoyable so far -- struck by how the language that surrounded the US/UK led invasion of Iraq, e.g. "being welcomed as liberators" are almost word for word the language used by the Red Army to justify their invasion of Finland (minus the emphasis on the class struggle).