#1 "Being Bitter"

Cliff fights off the angst by posting a list of "things that I hate" and a lot of it rings true right now. Personally, I'm feeling a little overwhelmed by horrifying news, insipid entertainment, and snobbish people lately. Usually I am endlessly entertained by all three but right now I'm just trying to avoid being bitter. Sure, I'll get over it. Meanwhile seeing some of the offending matter in list form helps for some reason.

Five second book review

Freedom: Jonathan Franzen

Well I did it. I sat through this whole fucking glorified episode of Thirtysomething. Kept waiting for a reason to care about any of these blandly stupid and selfish characters, or for any of them to be.. not likable.. but at least unlikable in an interesting fashion. I could forgive Franzen if I thought he were telling us our lives are full of stupid bland selfishness but that's not what he's saying. He's saying the stupid bland selfishness of these people is important in some way.

The whole damn world told me there was something important contained somewhere in this book but all it did was piss me off. If there's a difference between what Franzen does and what Nicholas Sparks or Mitch Albom does, I'd love to see someone explain that to me. Shit like this is exactly why I'm so reluctant to read new fiction anymore.

Round hole meets square one-shaped peg

Ten years ago I was still young and naive enough to console myself with the idea that one day they'd run out of years numbered in such a way as to permit the sale of these obnoxious novelties on Bourbon Street. But somehow, cheap crap found a way.



Another crappy year behind us. God knows how it can get worse but the evidence tells us a way will be found.