— Bad Book Covers (via Cartoonist)
Category: Books
RIP Will Eisner
Will Eisner, “father of the modern graphic novel,” passed away today at the age of 87.
That, And A Buxom Half Naked Princess Of Course
“4. Create a Wise but Useless Guide. The Guide is a wise adviser who knows all about the Quest, but never fully reveals it. He also appears to have immense powers but will not use them when they are most required.”
— How to write a best selling fantasy novel.
Z on CNN
CNN (!) has an article on Miles’ FZ biography: “I think it was the ordinariness, the emptiness of much of his experience, particularly growing up in the desert, where there was little in the way of architectural, visual stimulation or anything else,” he says. “That enabled his creative ability to come to the fore, to make up for much of what was missing in his life.”
Nope. Can’t.
It Can’t Happen Here, as written by one Sinclair Lewis. In 1935.
Houdini Nation
Our pal Tommi Eisele launched his pet SF project just recently. Houdini Nation is set up to procure info on every single SF-novel the author has read. It’s neatly ordered by author, title and publisher — and I think you’ll have fun browsing the Covers section. For Zappa and Cheepnis are always a good match…
That Other Barry
An interesting profile on Barry Miles. “We tried out different types of Benzedrine – very seriously, making notes. We were artists – none of this hedonistic bullshit!”
Tax Man
It’s official: Belgian customs hate my guts. Having purchased a couple of books from Amazon, I once again have to pay up — 13.42 € this time, which is about half the price of my purchase. The kicker: some 8 € were charged for “administration costs”. Catch 22 anyone? Perhaps next time I should order at amazon UK. Oh, and yes: the Doctor is a big Groucho Marx fan! ;)
5.000 Comments
… and the immortilizing honor of posting the 5.000th comment goes to none other than our favorite Reekin’ Burt, aka David Walley. Congratulations buddy! No prize I’m afraid, but a plug for your excellent book “Teenage Nervous Breakdown” should suffice. :)
New FZ Bio
A new Frank Zappa biography by Barry Miles has hit the shelves. Is anyone reading this?
Pup-tent Affair
The Sound Of Legs Crossing
“There’s something delicious about the way women cross their legs the way they half-smile when they do. Women have a sixth sense about such things, it’s something primordial, something unconscious that goes on. And it’s certainly NOT haphazard because there are very few women who don’t know what they’re doing: that’s what distinguishes women from the girls.”
David Walley, author of “No Commercial Potential, the Saga of Frank Zappa” recently revamped his website and in the process, has been adding content like there’s no proverbial tomorrow. Go check his writings, you won’t be disappointed.
Any Downers?
Read up on the Forbidden Library and be confronted with list after list of banned or challenged books. For me, this one really topped it all: the book “Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl” was called for rejection in 1983 by the Alabama State Textbook Committee “because it is a real downer”. (via presurfer)
Orwell ’04
A site where I could easily spend a couple of hours: Orwell Today is a work in progress where the postings are chosen for their similarity to concepts presented in “1984”.