I have to start by trying to describe the 1960s British television show, ‘The Prisoner,’ and that in itself is a challenge. The show began when actor Patrick McGoohan decided to leave his successful spy thriller tv show in the 1960s. As an alternative, he pitched a show to the network in which he would…
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On the title alone, How Now to Kill Yourself: A Portrait of a Suicidal Mind is a daunting prospect. Add in the page count (nearly 500) and that even trying to Google he book will fill your screen with suicide support numbers, and it’s fair to say that this book isn’t for everyone. The author…
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Hold onto your hat for some pretty serious philosophy with this one. Better Never to Have Been: The Harm of Coming into Existence by South African philosopher David Benatar is not for the faint of heart. His essential premise is this: It is always harmful to bring a conscious being into existence. Not just to…
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Maybe, dear reader, you are one for only the most respectable of books, but for myself, I couldn’t help but pick up Butts: A Backstory for the author’s sheer audacity to write a butt book to begin with. Let’s start with a spoiler – no pictures. Now, moving on… The book is effectively a collection…
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I have to start by admitting that I’m a huge Peter Pan fan. I have a collection of J.M. Barrie’s works from 1913. I have a tattoo of the Nevertree. When I studied abroad in London, I dragged a group of people I’d just met all over Kensington Gardens, so I could find the Peter…
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Why the US ‘does not get to assume that it lasts forever’ (CNN, 7/4/2023) “As the United States marks its 247th birthday Tuesday, questions about how many more the nation will celebrate in its current form have become ominously relevant.” The President sits alone in the Oval Office, the soundproofed room eerily quiet. Once, you…
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“Mysterious spiral” that looks like hazy, glowing galaxy seen hovering in Alaska’s northern lights (CBS News, 4/19/2023) Memo To: All Reali-Bridge employees From: Linda Sparring, CEO Subject: Successful Reality Bridge Test Congratulations Reali-Bridge team – we did it! Last week, we successfully deployed our latest six-dimensional reality bridge protocol and made contact with a parallel…
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Mysterious flying objects shot down over North America likely not spy balloons, Biden says (USA Today, 2/17/23) How many train derailments have there been in the US in 2023? Frequent train derailments under scrutiny after an ecological disaster struck East Palestine, Ohio (The Independent, 2/17/2023) The murmur of the press corps settles as the President…
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How nuns got squeezed out of the communion wafer business Altar bread was once made by hundreds of communities of nuns across the US. Now, a for-profit company controls nearly the entire market. (The Hustle 10/14/22) Monsignor Abrams adjusts his reading glasses, squinting at the rows of black numbers cascading down the page. He licks…
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Luda I have to begin by admitting that I am buying what Grant Morrison is selling. I enjoy his mainstream comic book work (All-Star Superman, Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth, Doom Patrol, and so on…), and his forays into television like Happy! and Brave New World. But for me, the most Morrisonian…
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