John Dufresne's new book: Requiem, Mass.: a Novel, got a great review in People Magazine (July 28th Edition)!
Way to go, John.
I will be posting excerpts as soon as I get my greedy little fingers on it.
Florida International University rocks!
FIU is the best kept little secret in South Florida. Wanna learn how to write and get an MFA? Wanna hang out at South Beach at night? Apply to FIU today. John Dufresne teaches there (Requiem Mass: A Novel) as well as Les Standiford (Washington Burning and the John Deal novels ), James W. Hall (Hell's Bay and the Thorn novels), Lynne Barrett (Secret Names of Women), Campbell McGrath (Seven Notebooks, and Spring Comes to Chicago), Denise Duhamel (Queen for a Day), and Dan Wakefield (Going All the Way, and New York in the Fifties).
Plus it's got famous Alums like Barbara Jean Parker, Vicki Hendricks, Richard Blanco, Leonard Nash, and of course, Dennis Lehane . . . and of course of course of course ME!!!
But we are old school.
Among its new crop of writers is Anjanette Delgado--scroll down to check out her novel--The Heartbreak Pill!
Preston
Saturday, July 26, 2008
The Heartbreak Pill
Check out the great new book by Florida International University MFA Anjanette Delgado--the Heartbreak Pill!!
Preston
Preston
lOTTO IS A TAX ON THE POOR
I saw this on AOL.
Duh. It is what I have been saying on this blog all along. Organized gambling preys on the poorest. Organized gambling when it needs more revenue employs techniques to make those least able to pay, pay more. Duh. Duh. Duh.
And here is the saddest thing--please note that the article reports . . . "U.S. households with incomes under $12,400 spend an average of $645 on lotteries."
Per day?
Per week?
Per year?
Okay, let's say that it is per year . . . that works out to about $53 per month . . . so they are earning $1030 per month and BLOWING about $53 per month on lotto . . . looked at another way, they are earning about $257 a week and blowing about $13 on the lotto.
Who can live on $258 a week? They're thinking is . . . I can't really live on $258 per week anyhow, so I might as well blow $13 on the lotto.
And they are NOT going to win. They are simply allowing the state to reduce their meager paychecks by an additional $13.
Like the saying goes, "Lotto is a tax on the poor."
Preston
________________________________________________________
"Feeling Poor Spurs Lottery Ticket Buys"
NEW YORK (July 25) - When it comes to purchasing lottery tickets, making people feel poor will prompt them to spend more money on a chance to become rich, American researchers said.
They found that people who were convinced they were earning a low salary bought nearly twice as many lottery tickets compared to others who were made to feel more affluent.
"When people are made to feel subjectively poor, they end up buying more lottery tickets which is somewhat perverse since every time you buy a lottery ticket, it's the equivalent of burning money," said George Loewenstein, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania who advised the research team.
"It's certainly paradoxical that making people feel poor means they are more likely to burn money," he added in an interview.
In a study published in the Journal of Behavioral Decision Making the researchers found that when people thought their earnings were below a certain standard, they were more prone to take risks and fall into a poverty trap.
"Lottery tickets are such a bad financial decision. Purchasing the tickets just makes their financial situation worse, which then encourages them to purchase more lottery tickets," Emily Haisley, who headed the research team, explained.
In the study people earning less than $100,000 a year, which was suggested by the researchers to be a low-income, bought 1.27 lottery tickets compared to 0.67 by people who earned more.
In a second experiment in the study, some people were indirectly reminded that everyone has an equal chance of winning the lottery. The group given the reminder purchased 1.31 tickets, compared with 0.54 in the group not given the reminder.
"People who run lotteries have a lot of knowledge. They know who buys what types of tickets, they know who their customers are and their advertising certainly plays on the hopes and aspirations of low-income individuals," Loewenstein said.
A recent report by the Commission on Thrift, a project of the private, non-profit think tank Institute for American Values, said that U.S. households with incomes under $12,400 spend an average of $645 on lotteries.
Reporting by Ashleigh Patterson; editing by Patricia Reaney
Copyright 2008, Reuters
2008-07-25 11:03:04
Duh. It is what I have been saying on this blog all along. Organized gambling preys on the poorest. Organized gambling when it needs more revenue employs techniques to make those least able to pay, pay more. Duh. Duh. Duh.
And here is the saddest thing--please note that the article reports . . . "U.S. households with incomes under $12,400 spend an average of $645 on lotteries."
Per day?
Per week?
Per year?
Okay, let's say that it is per year . . . that works out to about $53 per month . . . so they are earning $1030 per month and BLOWING about $53 per month on lotto . . . looked at another way, they are earning about $257 a week and blowing about $13 on the lotto.
Who can live on $258 a week? They're thinking is . . . I can't really live on $258 per week anyhow, so I might as well blow $13 on the lotto.
And they are NOT going to win. They are simply allowing the state to reduce their meager paychecks by an additional $13.
Like the saying goes, "Lotto is a tax on the poor."
Preston
________________________________________________________
"Feeling Poor Spurs Lottery Ticket Buys"
NEW YORK (July 25) - When it comes to purchasing lottery tickets, making people feel poor will prompt them to spend more money on a chance to become rich, American researchers said.
They found that people who were convinced they were earning a low salary bought nearly twice as many lottery tickets compared to others who were made to feel more affluent.
"When people are made to feel subjectively poor, they end up buying more lottery tickets which is somewhat perverse since every time you buy a lottery ticket, it's the equivalent of burning money," said George Loewenstein, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania who advised the research team.
"It's certainly paradoxical that making people feel poor means they are more likely to burn money," he added in an interview.
In a study published in the Journal of Behavioral Decision Making the researchers found that when people thought their earnings were below a certain standard, they were more prone to take risks and fall into a poverty trap.
"Lottery tickets are such a bad financial decision. Purchasing the tickets just makes their financial situation worse, which then encourages them to purchase more lottery tickets," Emily Haisley, who headed the research team, explained.
In the study people earning less than $100,000 a year, which was suggested by the researchers to be a low-income, bought 1.27 lottery tickets compared to 0.67 by people who earned more.
In a second experiment in the study, some people were indirectly reminded that everyone has an equal chance of winning the lottery. The group given the reminder purchased 1.31 tickets, compared with 0.54 in the group not given the reminder.
"People who run lotteries have a lot of knowledge. They know who buys what types of tickets, they know who their customers are and their advertising certainly plays on the hopes and aspirations of low-income individuals," Loewenstein said.
A recent report by the Commission on Thrift, a project of the private, non-profit think tank Institute for American Values, said that U.S. households with incomes under $12,400 spend an average of $645 on lotteries.
Reporting by Ashleigh Patterson; editing by Patricia Reaney
Copyright 2008, Reuters
2008-07-25 11:03:04
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Enter, the Dark Knight
People, this is hard for me to do, but I must.
I am a hardcore Marvel Comics fan. I am a hardcore Spiderman fan.
Nevertheless, I must update my list of Post-CGI superhero movies to include the new film, Dark Knight, and that said film (perish the thought) has moved my beloved Spiderman # 1 out of first place.
I never thought it could happen. I never thought it was possible. I blame it all on Heath Ledger's performance.
The Joker did it.
The Joker did it.
The Joker did it.
The Joker did it.
The Joker did it.
Here is the updated list.
And here is how my list works: If any of these two movies are showing in rerun at the same time on TV, which one would I watch? The higher up they are on the list indicates the order in which I would watch them. For example, if BLADE and 300 were on at the same time, I would watch 300, which ranks higher on the list.
Thus, if any other superhero were on opposite Dark Knight, I would watch Dark Knight, which is # 1 on the list.
The Joker did it.
The Joker did it.
The Joker did it.
The Joker did it.
The Joker did it.
Top 25 Post-CGI superhero and/or comic book movies:
1. Dark Knight
2. Spiderman # 1
3. Spiderman # 2
4. The Incredibles
5. Iron Man
6. Hancock
7. Superman Returns
8. Incredible Hulk # 2 (Ed Norton edition)
9. The 300
10. Batman Begins
11. X-Men # 1
12. Blade # 1
13. Blade # 2
14. Spiderman # 3
15. Daredevil (director's cut)
16. X-Men # 2
17. Sin City
18. The Incredible Hulk # 1
19. Hell Boy
20. Judge Dred
21. Fantastic 4 #2
22. Ghost Rider
23. Road to Perdition
24. X-Men # 3
25. Fantastic 4 # 1
Thanks,
Preston
I am a hardcore Marvel Comics fan. I am a hardcore Spiderman fan.
Nevertheless, I must update my list of Post-CGI superhero movies to include the new film, Dark Knight, and that said film (perish the thought) has moved my beloved Spiderman # 1 out of first place.
I never thought it could happen. I never thought it was possible. I blame it all on Heath Ledger's performance.
The Joker did it.
The Joker did it.
The Joker did it.
The Joker did it.
The Joker did it.
Here is the updated list.
And here is how my list works: If any of these two movies are showing in rerun at the same time on TV, which one would I watch? The higher up they are on the list indicates the order in which I would watch them. For example, if BLADE and 300 were on at the same time, I would watch 300, which ranks higher on the list.
Thus, if any other superhero were on opposite Dark Knight, I would watch Dark Knight, which is # 1 on the list.
The Joker did it.
The Joker did it.
The Joker did it.
The Joker did it.
The Joker did it.
Top 25 Post-CGI superhero and/or comic book movies:
1. Dark Knight
2. Spiderman # 1
3. Spiderman # 2
4. The Incredibles
5. Iron Man
6. Hancock
7. Superman Returns
8. Incredible Hulk # 2 (Ed Norton edition)
9. The 300
10. Batman Begins
11. X-Men # 1
12. Blade # 1
13. Blade # 2
14. Spiderman # 3
15. Daredevil (director's cut)
16. X-Men # 2
17. Sin City
18. The Incredible Hulk # 1
19. Hell Boy
20. Judge Dred
21. Fantastic 4 #2
22. Ghost Rider
23. Road to Perdition
24. X-Men # 3
25. Fantastic 4 # 1
Thanks,
Preston
The Dark Knight
Here's a great ROLLING STONES review by Peter Travers
He hits the nail on the head!
This is a great movie. You gotta see it to believe it.
Heath Ledger (gone too soon) is the best Joker ever! Ever!
He will be missed.
Thanks,
Preston
_________________________________________
Dark Knight
By Peter Travers, Rolling Stones
Heads up: a thunderbolt is about to rip into the blanket of bland we call summer movies. The Dark Knight, director Christopher Nolan's absolute stunner of a follow-up to 2005's Batman Begins, is a potent provocation decked out as a comic-book movie. Feverish action? Check. Dazzling spectacle? Check. Devilish fun? Check. But Nolan is just warming up. There's something raw and elemental at work in this artfully imagined universe. Striking out from his Batman origin story, Nolan cuts through to a deeper dimension. Huh? Wha? How can a conflicted guy in a bat suit and a villain with a cracked, painted-on clown smile speak to the essentials of the human condition? Just hang on for a shock to the system. The Dark Knight creates a place where good and evil — expected to do battle — decide instead to get it on and dance. "I don't want to kill you," Heath Ledger's psycho Joker tells Christian Bale's stalwart Batman. "You complete me." Don't buy the tease. He means it.
The trouble is that Batman, a.k.a. playboy Bruce Wayne, has had it up to here with being the white knight. He's pissed that the public sees him as a vigilante. He'll leave the hero stuff to district attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) and stop the DA from moving in on Rachel Dawes (feisty Maggie Gyllenhaal, in for sweetie Katie Holmes), the lady love who is Batman's only hope for a normal life.
Everything gleams like sin in Gotham City (cinematographer Wally Pfister shot on location in Chicago, bringing a gritty reality to a cartoon fantasy). And the bad guys seem jazzed by their evildoing. Take the Joker, who treats a stunningly staged bank robbery like his private video game with accomplices in Joker masks, blood spurting and only one winner. Nolan shot this sequence, and three others, for the IMAX screen and with a finesse for choreographing action that rivals Michael Mann's Heat. But it's what's going on inside the Bathead that pulls us in. Bale is electrifying as a fallibly human crusader at war with his own conscience.
I can only speak superlatives of Ledger, who is mad-crazy-blazing brilliant as the Joker. Miles from Jack Nicholson's broadly funny take on the role in Tim Burton's 1989 Batman, Ledger takes the role to the shadows, where even what's comic is hardly a relief. No plastic mask for Ledger; his face is caked with moldy makeup that highlights the red scar of a grin, the grungy hair and the yellowing teeth of a hound fresh out of hell. To the clown prince of crime, a knife is preferable to a gun, the better to "savor the moment."
The deft script, by Nolan and his brother Jonathan, taking note of Bob Kane's original Batman and Frank Miller's bleak rethink, refuses to explain the Joker with pop psychology. Forget Freudian hints about a dad who carved a smile into his son's face with a razor. As the Joker says, "What doesn't kill you makes you stranger."
The Joker represents the last completed role for Ledger, who died in January at 28 before finishing work on Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. It's typical of Ledger's total commitment to films as diverse as Brokeback Mountain and I'm Not There that he does nothing out of vanity or the need to be liked. If there's a movement to get him the first posthumous Oscar since Peter Finch won for 1976's Network, sign me up. Ledger's Joker has no gray areas — he's all rampaging id. Watch him crash a party and circle Rachel, a woman torn between Bale's Bruce (she knows he's Batman) and Eckhart's DA, another lover she has to share with his civic duty. "Hello, beautiful," says the Joker, sniffing Rachel like a feral beast. He's right when he compares himself to a dog chasing a car: The chase is all. The Joker's sadism is limitless, and the masochistic delight he takes in being punched and bloodied to a pulp would shame the Marquis de Sade. "I choose chaos," says the Joker, and those words sum up what's at stake in The Dark Knight.
The Joker wants Batman to choose chaos as well. He knows humanity is what you lose while you're busy making plans to gain power. Every actor brings his A game to show the lure of the dark side. Michael Caine purrs with sarcastic wit as Bruce's butler, Alfred, who harbors a secret that could crush his boss's spirit. Morgan Freeman radiates tough wisdom as Lucius Fox, the scientist who designs those wonderful toys — wait till you get a load of the Batpod — but who finds his own standards being compromised. Gary Oldman is so skilled that he makes virtue exciting as Jim Gordon, the ultimate good cop and as such a prime target for the Joker. As Harvey tells the Caped Crusader, "You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become a villain." Eckhart earns major props for scarily and movingly portraying the DA's transformation into the dreaded Harvey Two-Face, an event sparked by the brutal murder of a major character.
No fair giving away the mysteries of The Dark Knight. It's enough to marvel at the way Nolan — a world-class filmmaker, be it Memento, Insomnia or The Prestige — brings pop escapism whisper-close to enduring art. It's enough to watch Bale chillingly render Batman as a lost warrior, evoking Al Pacino in The Godfather II in his delusion and desolation. It's enough to see Ledger conjure up the anarchy of the Sex Pistols and A Clockwork Orange as he creates a Joker for the ages. Go ahead, bitch about the movie being too long, at two and a half hours, for short attention spans (it is), too somber for the Hulk crowd (it is), too smart for its own good (it isn't). The haunting and visionary Dark Knight soars on the wings of untamed imagination. It's full of surprises you don't see coming. And just try to get it out of your dreams.
He hits the nail on the head!
This is a great movie. You gotta see it to believe it.
Heath Ledger (gone too soon) is the best Joker ever! Ever!
He will be missed.
Thanks,
Preston
_________________________________________
Dark Knight
By Peter Travers, Rolling Stones
Heads up: a thunderbolt is about to rip into the blanket of bland we call summer movies. The Dark Knight, director Christopher Nolan's absolute stunner of a follow-up to 2005's Batman Begins, is a potent provocation decked out as a comic-book movie. Feverish action? Check. Dazzling spectacle? Check. Devilish fun? Check. But Nolan is just warming up. There's something raw and elemental at work in this artfully imagined universe. Striking out from his Batman origin story, Nolan cuts through to a deeper dimension. Huh? Wha? How can a conflicted guy in a bat suit and a villain with a cracked, painted-on clown smile speak to the essentials of the human condition? Just hang on for a shock to the system. The Dark Knight creates a place where good and evil — expected to do battle — decide instead to get it on and dance. "I don't want to kill you," Heath Ledger's psycho Joker tells Christian Bale's stalwart Batman. "You complete me." Don't buy the tease. He means it.
The trouble is that Batman, a.k.a. playboy Bruce Wayne, has had it up to here with being the white knight. He's pissed that the public sees him as a vigilante. He'll leave the hero stuff to district attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) and stop the DA from moving in on Rachel Dawes (feisty Maggie Gyllenhaal, in for sweetie Katie Holmes), the lady love who is Batman's only hope for a normal life.
Everything gleams like sin in Gotham City (cinematographer Wally Pfister shot on location in Chicago, bringing a gritty reality to a cartoon fantasy). And the bad guys seem jazzed by their evildoing. Take the Joker, who treats a stunningly staged bank robbery like his private video game with accomplices in Joker masks, blood spurting and only one winner. Nolan shot this sequence, and three others, for the IMAX screen and with a finesse for choreographing action that rivals Michael Mann's Heat. But it's what's going on inside the Bathead that pulls us in. Bale is electrifying as a fallibly human crusader at war with his own conscience.
I can only speak superlatives of Ledger, who is mad-crazy-blazing brilliant as the Joker. Miles from Jack Nicholson's broadly funny take on the role in Tim Burton's 1989 Batman, Ledger takes the role to the shadows, where even what's comic is hardly a relief. No plastic mask for Ledger; his face is caked with moldy makeup that highlights the red scar of a grin, the grungy hair and the yellowing teeth of a hound fresh out of hell. To the clown prince of crime, a knife is preferable to a gun, the better to "savor the moment."
The deft script, by Nolan and his brother Jonathan, taking note of Bob Kane's original Batman and Frank Miller's bleak rethink, refuses to explain the Joker with pop psychology. Forget Freudian hints about a dad who carved a smile into his son's face with a razor. As the Joker says, "What doesn't kill you makes you stranger."
The Joker represents the last completed role for Ledger, who died in January at 28 before finishing work on Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. It's typical of Ledger's total commitment to films as diverse as Brokeback Mountain and I'm Not There that he does nothing out of vanity or the need to be liked. If there's a movement to get him the first posthumous Oscar since Peter Finch won for 1976's Network, sign me up. Ledger's Joker has no gray areas — he's all rampaging id. Watch him crash a party and circle Rachel, a woman torn between Bale's Bruce (she knows he's Batman) and Eckhart's DA, another lover she has to share with his civic duty. "Hello, beautiful," says the Joker, sniffing Rachel like a feral beast. He's right when he compares himself to a dog chasing a car: The chase is all. The Joker's sadism is limitless, and the masochistic delight he takes in being punched and bloodied to a pulp would shame the Marquis de Sade. "I choose chaos," says the Joker, and those words sum up what's at stake in The Dark Knight.
The Joker wants Batman to choose chaos as well. He knows humanity is what you lose while you're busy making plans to gain power. Every actor brings his A game to show the lure of the dark side. Michael Caine purrs with sarcastic wit as Bruce's butler, Alfred, who harbors a secret that could crush his boss's spirit. Morgan Freeman radiates tough wisdom as Lucius Fox, the scientist who designs those wonderful toys — wait till you get a load of the Batpod — but who finds his own standards being compromised. Gary Oldman is so skilled that he makes virtue exciting as Jim Gordon, the ultimate good cop and as such a prime target for the Joker. As Harvey tells the Caped Crusader, "You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become a villain." Eckhart earns major props for scarily and movingly portraying the DA's transformation into the dreaded Harvey Two-Face, an event sparked by the brutal murder of a major character.
No fair giving away the mysteries of The Dark Knight. It's enough to marvel at the way Nolan — a world-class filmmaker, be it Memento, Insomnia or The Prestige — brings pop escapism whisper-close to enduring art. It's enough to watch Bale chillingly render Batman as a lost warrior, evoking Al Pacino in The Godfather II in his delusion and desolation. It's enough to see Ledger conjure up the anarchy of the Sex Pistols and A Clockwork Orange as he creates a Joker for the ages. Go ahead, bitch about the movie being too long, at two and a half hours, for short attention spans (it is), too somber for the Hulk crowd (it is), too smart for its own good (it isn't). The haunting and visionary Dark Knight soars on the wings of untamed imagination. It's full of surprises you don't see coming. And just try to get it out of your dreams.
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Lipshitz 6
Reading T Cooper for Christmas
Punk Blood
Jay Marvin
Breath, Eyes, Memory
Anonymous Rex
Reading Eric Garcia for Christmas
Vinegar Hill
Reading A. Manette Ansay for Christmas
Nicotine Dreams
Reading Katie Cunningham for Christmas
Junot Diaz
Pulitzer Prize Winner!!!
Edwige Danticat
New Year's Reading
Greed
This Brother Is Scary Good
One More Chance
The genius Is At It Again/The Rapper CHIEF aka Sherwin Allen
Sandrine's Letter
Check out Sandrine's Letter To Tomorrow. You will like it, I insist.
All or Nothing
At Books and Books
Me And Vicki at Our Reading