Thursday, June 25, 2009
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Thursday, February 5, 2009
My Friend Marco
Marco is a round latino man who works in a carwash. Not washing, but writing up the slip. Marco’s job is taking your order, asking what kind of air freshener you want, and scribbling something in grease pencil on your window. He is also charged with trying to upsell. If you want a regular wash and wax, he’ll try to get you to spring for the deluxe.
He sold me on a hand-wax job.
When I got out of the car, I had in my hand a book by John Irving. Marco sees it, and comments on it. “Good book” he says. “Oh, you read this”? I ask. And so the conversation begins. We both like Michael Connolly, John Grisham. He's read Scott Turow, James Patterson, Jeffrey Deaver.He asks if I like Dean Koontz. “Sure”, I say even though it is a lie.
“He was my pen-pal when I was in prison.” Marco is really proud of this. Lots of time to read in prison, I'm thinking.
“He used to slip some money into the books he sent, so I could buy some stuff. He even used my name in one of his books.” Marco is fairly beaming now, telling me about his celebrity pen pal.
This is approximately when he makes the hand-wax sale. Because I am a literary type, like him, Marco will give me the hand wax for only $20 additional. Normally it would be $30. I decide to splurge. My car will look really nice. And besides, Marco here is my friend. We’re readers. We both like mystery writers. We’re of a kindred spirit. Not only that, but he's Dean Koontz's pen pal.
I like Marco. It’s a good feeling to make a new friend, to connect on a human level. This is very rare in LA. Everyone here is so obsessed with celebrity and status. I wonder what Marco was in for. What was his crime? I should have asked him, I think,as I walk into the carwash to pay the bill.
He sold me on a hand-wax job.
When I got out of the car, I had in my hand a book by John Irving. Marco sees it, and comments on it. “Good book” he says. “Oh, you read this”? I ask. And so the conversation begins. We both like Michael Connolly, John Grisham. He's read Scott Turow, James Patterson, Jeffrey Deaver.He asks if I like Dean Koontz. “Sure”, I say even though it is a lie.
“He was my pen-pal when I was in prison.” Marco is really proud of this. Lots of time to read in prison, I'm thinking.
“He used to slip some money into the books he sent, so I could buy some stuff. He even used my name in one of his books.” Marco is fairly beaming now, telling me about his celebrity pen pal.
This is approximately when he makes the hand-wax sale. Because I am a literary type, like him, Marco will give me the hand wax for only $20 additional. Normally it would be $30. I decide to splurge. My car will look really nice. And besides, Marco here is my friend. We’re readers. We both like mystery writers. We’re of a kindred spirit. Not only that, but he's Dean Koontz's pen pal.
I like Marco. It’s a good feeling to make a new friend, to connect on a human level. This is very rare in LA. Everyone here is so obsessed with celebrity and status. I wonder what Marco was in for. What was his crime? I should have asked him, I think,as I walk into the carwash to pay the bill.
Monday, January 26, 2009
I Love William Kristol
William Kristol's final column on the NYT op-ed page is a sad day. After the demise of the great republican liars of note, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Addington, Rice, Hadley, Feith, and the top, self-professed, liar, GWB, Kristol could always be counted on to fill the void.
I mean all the really good liars are gone. Rove still lies loudly and unashamedly, but that's his job, and his character. We know that by now. He's been a sneaky little pig since his college republican days.
Richard Perle is malevolent. You can tell he's lying just by looking at his face. No need to hear the words.
Cheney is a caricature, a melding of Daddy Warbucks and Mr. Potter, the evil banker. No fun there.
Rush Limbaugh was forced to control his outright lies by Al Franken and other fact-checkers. Now he just bloviates in general terms about the democrat party and libs etc etc. You can tune in Rush once a week or once a month, and never feel like you've missed anything.
Coulter and Malkin, although they only occasionaly approach the truth, are so disconnected from reality, that their lies don't matter so much as the delivery. We want them to go away where they can be cared for, even humanely.
The speechwriters, Frum and Noonan, don't qulify as first-rate liars. Their craft is the weasel word. You can see the pride they take in misleading without actually lying.
Which is why I like Kristol. In plain boring prose, week after week, he has just served up lies and wrong and stupid with consistency and equinamity. He was an inspiration to bloggers all over the left. Grab a coffee, click on the NYT link, and boom, you've got 500 words without breaking a sweat. He could always be counted on for a little more ammo, a little less self-doubt, and a hell of a lot more commitment to change.
That's why I'll miss him. I suppose we can still turn to Tony Blankely.He's always good for a clanger or two, but Tony seems like a truly decent guy who believes what he says. Even though he writes for Rev. Moon's paper.
I mean all the really good liars are gone. Rove still lies loudly and unashamedly, but that's his job, and his character. We know that by now. He's been a sneaky little pig since his college republican days.
Richard Perle is malevolent. You can tell he's lying just by looking at his face. No need to hear the words.
Cheney is a caricature, a melding of Daddy Warbucks and Mr. Potter, the evil banker. No fun there.
Rush Limbaugh was forced to control his outright lies by Al Franken and other fact-checkers. Now he just bloviates in general terms about the democrat party and libs etc etc. You can tune in Rush once a week or once a month, and never feel like you've missed anything.
Coulter and Malkin, although they only occasionaly approach the truth, are so disconnected from reality, that their lies don't matter so much as the delivery. We want them to go away where they can be cared for, even humanely.
The speechwriters, Frum and Noonan, don't qulify as first-rate liars. Their craft is the weasel word. You can see the pride they take in misleading without actually lying.
Which is why I like Kristol. In plain boring prose, week after week, he has just served up lies and wrong and stupid with consistency and equinamity. He was an inspiration to bloggers all over the left. Grab a coffee, click on the NYT link, and boom, you've got 500 words without breaking a sweat. He could always be counted on for a little more ammo, a little less self-doubt, and a hell of a lot more commitment to change.
That's why I'll miss him. I suppose we can still turn to Tony Blankely.He's always good for a clanger or two, but Tony seems like a truly decent guy who believes what he says. Even though he writes for Rev. Moon's paper.
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