Dorothy Porter died. Crap.

She wrote poetry, particularly novels in verse, the best known being The Monkeys Mask, a detective story set in the world of Australan poetry that was sharp, witty, and very readable, and was made into a film. She won many awards and had many admirers, including me. One of my literary peculiarities is that though I ( Read more... )

Another person who died on July 4 this year was Jesse Helms. The problem with people fighting for what they believe in, and remaining true to their values, is that you might be Jesse Helms, who believed in racism, bigotry and hate, and whose values where small-minded, intolerant and mean.
( I have nothing nice to say. )

Bo Diddley just died. He pretty much only had one influential musical idea, a classic beat and sound, and one famous lyrical subject, himself, in songs like "Hey Bo Diddley", but it was such a classic sound he'll always be an important part of the history of rock music, even if most people have never heard of him. It was a pretty awesome sound ( Read more... )

I read a few obituaries about film director Sydney Pollack when he died recently, but this little remembrance about his working method from the New Yorker really made me appreciate him
Quote:
Finding the spine of a story like “Out of Africa” was important to Sydney for many reasons, the most important of which was that it led to what he called “the ( Read more... )