The Divine JZ(hem), on literature:
I have no idea whether mysteries still qualify as genre, but this was back in the late 80s at an East Coast college whose English dept. faculty revered the short, spare, dry as a dry martini left undrunk on the small side table of a New England home inhabited by characters in Carver stories, left there after a perfunctory but necessary cocktail party attended by weary prep-school faculty members who occasionally moonlighted as characters in Cheever novels and discovered weeks later by yet another prep-school faculty member who was housesitting for the homeowner, who spent many hours of his housesitting time regarding the now-empty glass with its now only faintly visible rime of evaporated gin and pondering the growing awareness that he had not been invited to this faculty cocktail party, then going into his colleague's bedroom bathed in the bleached-out comfortless light of a New England winter afternoon, opening his dresser drawers, and contemplating his wife's underwear for hours, short story.
That kind of story.
*shakes tiny, impotent fist at amych*
Curses. Foiled again.
Teppy (Steph L) in Bitches:
I have always LOVED my doctor because he doesn't seem to think a person will die if her weight doesn't fit into column on a chart.
Plus, he's funny. When he told me he wanted me on meds, I told him that I really wanted to get my first heart attack in before age 35, and I felt that medication would really hinder me in reaching that goal. He didn't even bat an eye; he just said "You should start smoking, then."
ita
in Bureaucracy expresses beautifully how we all feel now and then when the hivemind leaves us in the dust:
Are you about ready to explain it to those of us less ... well, I have no idea less what, since I have no idea what the hell you're on about? Or do you need some more time to ... WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?
Nutty:
George Tenet was like the ultimate political battered wife. He kept being like, Yeah, that was my fault, I do everything wrong, he's always right, I provoked him. Hopefully Tenet is now in a shelter somewhere, learning how to assert his right not to be blamed.
... and also writing a tell-all book. Tell-all books are key to the recovery process.
ita, in Natter:
My plant relationships seem to involve regular trips to the brink of death. You have no idea how excited I am by the prospect of extending that to homo sapiens.
Deena in Great Write, explaining a presently popular childrens' television character to the kidTV-challenged:
Mash a teletubby. Add LSD. Sprinkle with weird theremin like sound and glitter. Swirl in the air and provide cut out people figures to watch. That's a boobah.
In Minearverse:
Allyson:
If you paid me 14 bucks and a pack of Marlboro's to do so, I'd tear your nose off with a plier and replace it with Silly Putty.
