March 24, 2006
Drinking the Kool-Aid
Via Bookslut, this reassessment of Tom Wolfe's Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test in Columbia Journalism Review is an interesting read. Jack Shafer's thoughts are on target in most respects, but I have to wonder about his conclusions.
"Forty years from now, when Wolfe’s book, I predict, will still be in print, our grandchildren will be celebrating his role in resuscitating the narrative form," he writes.
Well, maybe.
I'm guessing the book will still be in print, but whether future generations will be turning to it is another question. I'm guessing this book fades quickly once the generation that first read and even lived it are dead and gone. I'm betting the vast majority of young people today have no idea that it exists. And whether future generations will look to it as having anything in common with the narrative form they're using seems really unlikely. There are definite similarities between some of the tenets of New Journalism and what we're seeing on the web now, but I'm not sure many people would make the connection to Wolfe. And I'm not sure he deserves much of the credit.
I re-read Acid Test not too long ago, and I also re-read On The Road around the same time. The thing that struck me was how the books lost a lot of their impact with age. I'm not sure now if it was with my age, the book's age, or both. But they didn't have nearly the impact in my 40s as they did in my teens, and Shafer's assessment of Acid Test -- that it "carries a wad of fat around its midriff" -- seems dead-on.
Posted by Bob Benz at 6:27 AM | Comments (0)
March 22, 2006
The Apocalypse of Pooh ...
Via BoingBoing, I found this link to a 1987 mashup of Winnie the Pooh and Apocalypse Now. The intro drags a bit, but once it hits stride, it's a scream, especially for Apocalypse Now fanatics like me. Winnie has come a long way since the Tao of Pooh ..
Posted by Bob Benz at 8:38 AM | Comments (2)
March 19, 2006
Leanne gets a new look ...
Leanne's site got a makeover, and it looks great. The site also has RSS feeds now. Very cool. I think this is a Chris in Bama production. Chris did my site design for me and I highly recommend him if you're looking for a little help with your web presence.
Posted by Bob Benz at 8:18 PM | Comments (0)
More Proust ...
Dave (a k a Captain LBJ) saw that I was plowing through Proust's "In Search of Lost Time." And despite the LBJ hostage situation, he sent me an out-of-print guide to Proust that's proving invaluable: "A Reader's Guide to Proust," by Milton Hindus.
It's a great companion to "In Search of Lost Time" and I'm getting a lot more out of the book as a result. Highly recommended. And it appears there is a reprint of the 1962 book available.
Posted by Bob Benz at 8:11 PM | Comments (0)
For folks with creaky old dogs ...
After reading an article in the most-excellent Tuft's publication, Your Dog, I decided to put Xena on a new food that's designed to help dogs with arthritis. It's called Hill's Prescription Diet Canine J/D.
Xena had gotten to the point where she really was hobbling after our weekend walks at the lake. It appeared to be arthritis setting in, and it was really painful to watch. Rimadyl was helping, but it really didn't seem like the right long-term fix.
Then I read the Your Dog article, where a letter writer claimed she moved her dog to the J/D food and saw a miraculous improvement. Though dubious, I decided to give it a shot, and it's working. Xena's on her third bag, and she has improved considerably. But it's not cheap.
That's my main complaint. Hill's has set this up as a prescription food, which means you can only get it from a veterinarian. The only reason I can see for this is so they can mark it up considerably, which is pretty cheesy. But it does seem to work so I'm paying the price.
Also, I highly recommend the Your Dog newsletter. Lots of great tips in there for dog owners, and it's put out by a veterinary school, so it's not full of fluff.
Posted by Bob Benz at 8:02 PM | Comments (1)
March 18, 2006
Munch-y business
During a recent trip to New York, I managed to escape business long enough to check out an exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art: "Edvard Munch: The Modern Life of the Soul." Phenomenal.
Everyone knows the Scream, Munch's most popular work. But that represents only one side of his art. Some of his stuff is very erotic, and there are plenty of angst-ridden pieces, too.
I particularly liked his portrait of Ibsen in a Cafe, his Madonna 1895-1902 and the three-painting series The Kiss, where the lovers dissolve into each other over the course of the three works. Very nice.
While there, I drifted through the entire collection. A few pieces that popped out at me:
- Dana Schultz's "Presentation." Very odd and disturbing. Almost seemed like a piece that could be produced by a Latin American artist ...
- Francis Bacon's Painting. 1946. Not hard to see the post-war vibe ripping through this one. The meat imagery also appeals to the inner Atkins-ite in me.
Posted by Bob Benz at 10:42 AM | Comments (1)
The future of newspapers ...
So I step into an elevator in Washington, D.C., and punch the button for the 13th floor, the National Press Club.
"What's going on at the Press Club today," a guy in a suit asks me.
"A bunch of newspapers are getting together to try to figure out the future of the newspaper industry. We'll talk all day. Next year, we'll be back to have the same conversation," I answer snidely.
"I have the answer," the guy in the suit replies.
I lean forward. This has to be good.
"One word: Sudoku."
I laugh, get off the elevator and head for my meeting. But I accidentally drift into a seminar on "Depression in America."
Hmmm.
Posted by Bob Benz at 10:15 AM | Comments (0)