From Lois Peterson‘s Surreywriters list. Note that this is not paid writing work, which is, of course, how I came to hear about it:
On Sunday the Province will lanch the Sunday Serial Thriller, a 12-part mini-novel set in Vancouver.
The first and last chapters will be written by Daniel Kalla, with the the other chapters contributed by Province readers. Prizes to be won include a trip to Mexico.
Complete details, and the first instalment, appears in the Sunday Province.
Sort of like the Readers Digest version, but way more eruditer.
NYer Haiku via Gawker.
New Yorker Haiku
September 18, 2006
Annals of Economics: Mind Games
By John CassidyEconomists want
To scan your brain, find why you
Aren’t more rational.Reflections: In the Waiting Room
By David SedarisForget learning French:
In Paris, “d’accord” means
Random fun (sans clothes)!Profiles: The Wanderer
By David RemnickNow ex-Prez, Clinton
Working to save Africa
As Friend of Bill (Gates).Fiction: Something That Needs Nothing
By Miranda JulyGirl, not one she wants?
A wig and a peep-show gig
Might work for a spell.On Television: Her Debut
By Tad FriendCouric as anchor:
So much likability,
No time left for news.A Critic At Large: War and Remembrance
By Ian BurumaGrass’s great memoir:
Boy lost in heroic myths.
(Is the man as well?)Books: Hugger-Mugger
By John UpdikeCongo schemes, despair
From le Carre. No closure
In Ward Just’s dark tale.The Current Cinema: Inescapable Pasts
By David Denby“The Black Dahlia”
Is choked of life. “The Ground Truth”:
Feel Iraq vets’ shock.
NINE INCH NAILS LYRICS
The Hand That Feeds
You’re keeping in step
In the line
Got your chin held high and you feel just fine
Because you do
What you’re told
But inside your heart it is black and it’s hollow and it’s cold
Just how deep do you believe?
Will you bite the hand that feeds?
Will you chew until it bleeds?
Can you get up off your knees?
Are you brave enough to see?
Do you want to change it?
What if this whole crusade’s
A charade
And behind it all there’s a price to be paid
For the blood
On which we dine
Justified in the name of the holy and the divine
Just how deep do you believe?
Will you bite the hand that feeds?
Will you chew until it bleeds?
Can you get up off your knees?
Are you brave enough to see?
Do you want to change it?
So naive
I keep holding on to what I want to believe
I can see
But I keep holding on and on and on and on
Will you bite the hand that feeds you?
Will you stay down on your knees?
Mercer‘s back, and raincoaster’s got him (ah, if only)! Actually, he’s been back for ten days but before that he hadn’t updated since April, so serves him right for the fact I didn’t find out till today!
Still, we’re not proud and we will take what we can get.
I see that Jack Layton has distinguished himself on the international front by coming up with a solution for the Afghanistan situation. Jack is calling for peace talks with the Taliban. About time the NDP get back to their more loony roots. For a while there they were coming off all semi-sensible.
Rest assured if there are peace talks with the Taliban and Jack Layton The Mercer Report will be there! I’ve attended a lot of political events over the years and as a location I would suggest holding the talks in one of the ball rooms at the casino in Hull.
I think you might be able to smoke there and I’m guessing the Taliban would appreciate that. All the Taliban really require to have a good time is an ashtray and a few de-peopled women making sure there’s a steady supply of unsafe drinking water.
Agenda for Historic Peace talks between Jack
Layton and Taliban leader – room 202 Casino Du Lac Leamy, Quebec
8:00 am – Jack Layton opening comments and welcome to assembled media and Taliban representative.
8:05 am – Taliban representative walks to podium, poses for photographs with Mr. Layton.
8:06 am – Taliban representative cleaves Mr. Layton in the forehead with giant axe.
8:08 am – Peace talks end.
8:10 am – Olivia Chow says she is “encouraged by talks” – announces plan to run for leadership of NDP.
What else is going on? On the Liberal front I was encouraged to read that Michael Ignatieff will not accept any questions from the media that are “anticipatory hypotheticals”. I’m glad he made this clear because I hope to interview him on the show this year and I appreciate the heads up. Truth is I like Iggy but honestly sometimes I don’t know what in the hell he’s talking about. I thought all hypotheticals were anticipatory! I am so stupid sometimes. I googled the phrase “anticipatory hypothetical” and there are only seven known uses in the history of the English language. The term pops up on a website called indiansex.com and it’s also used in an essay written by some dude in Iowa who believes that robots have taken over the world.
And finally on a sad note that crocodile hunter guy was killed by a stingray. Laugh and the world laughs with you, get killed by a benign piece of seafood and the world laughs too apparently. Showbiz is brutal that way.
Welcome back.
Iä! Iä! Cthulhu fhtagn no more!
from Fark
raincoaster 