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cos she is so adorable. she has the bull-in-the-chinashop approach that I share :)

She’s bright, and witty, and not afraid to tell you what she thinks, with an enormous warmth and passion that is commendable.

I was in a reeeeelly boring business meeting the other day. I was just about to nod off, as everyone was enjoying the sound of their own voice and saying little of substance.

Then someone said “to fully Grok this issue, we need to have another meeting.” “Grok”??? I couldnt believe it. Maybe I had underestimated this particular manager! he had obviously read one of my favorite books, “Stranger in a Strange Land”! But no. I found that the word had just entered into the managerial vernacular, and had lost all of its core meaning and power. He was asking for another pointless meeting for people to speak over eachother and not listen.

I loved “Stranger…”, and it informs my love life.

I am a sucker for the human world viewed from an alien perspective in science fiction, unembedded perception (Why I like Terry Bisson’s Short Story, “Meat”), and allows for comment on the weirder customs (the observation about “flappers” is hilarious).

Bill Hicks is a frickin’ genius, and a beautiful soul. with a squeegeed clean third eye…

And the great thing is, since many of the recordings of his routines come from the reign of the other Herr Bush, and the other war against Iraq, the jokes still stand up! Same players, everything!

I saw his show at the South Bank, in London.
It was a feast of flashing lights, gibberish and confused shouting, with an unmistakable seriousness at its core.

Profound, but playfully put.

“Waking Life” is one of my favorite films. Rotoscoped animation, uncomfortably sliding between almost real to fantasy (reflecting the subject matter), backgrounds endlessly shifting and moving, jumping from one setting to another and tackling ambitious subjects of reality/dreaming/evolution/god, it has got to be the most uncomfortable, most profound and most interesting animated films I have ever seen.

I can’t wait for “A Scanner Darkly” to be released. Maybe, if I meet him, Richard can give me a sneak peak…

She did a reading from “Assassination Vacation” at a local bookstore a few months ago. Sure, I liked her book “Radio On” and enjoyed her on “This American Life”, but mostly I went because a male friend really fancied her and needed company.

After the reading (which was, of course, funny, engaging and informative), we went up for the book signing. Sarah was most gracious to my friend who was nervous as anything – she must deal with a lot of bookish boys’ crushes – and I really admire that.

Dense with references (particularly about historical Glasgow) and meaning, his books are crafted more than written with beautiful illustrations and typesetting.

I read Lanark – most of which passed me by, too young I think – and Poor Things, which was delightful. The central story is about Bella who (according to her husband) is a created woman rather like Frankenstein’s Monster. She argues her validity as a human being, and the nonsense he spouts is from a mad obsession he has for 19th century gothic fiction.

My ma knew Alasdair through her university connections, but I was always too far away to engineer a meeting. But I would love to have a pint with him down the pub.

Some say he is America’s answer to Joseph Goebbels, but I say he is just looking for love.

Ira is the voice of a caring, intelligent America, conscious and compassionate.

His radio show, This American Life, seems to say ”_This is America, people like you. Here are their stories…”

The stories can be timely, thoughtful, funny, sad, but always entertaining.

Thanks to Ira and TAL, I came across David Sedaris, Sandra Sing Loh, Sarah Vowell and more, many of whose books now grace my shelves.