Archive | July, 2003

Barry gets big in Ireland…

31 July 2003

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According to my editor Simon (who, as I’ve said, could simply be protecting me from the truth), Barry Trotter and the Unauthorized Parody is the fifth-best seller in Ireland! Amazing! And not a leprechaun in it. (Actually, Kate’s grandmother used to believe in leprechauns. As I’ve heard it, when she was a little girl back [...]

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Another reason to like England…

30 July 2003

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There’s yet another literary prize being established in Old Blighty: a 20,000 pound award for the best humor. You’d think I’d be going over there to walk around in a sandwich board, and you’d be right, except that it’s for writers age 50 and up. Curses! You can find out the details here.

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Barry in Germany!

29 July 2003

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Check this out! What a cover!

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Gore Vidal is an interesting man

28 July 2003

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Here’s a short profile.

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I gotta get Simon Schama’s History of Britain…

27 July 2003

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…which was reviewed today in the Times. If the books are 1/10th as fascinating as the television program (and books usually surpass that with ease, for me at least), I must have them in my library. I’m also reading Gibbon, which is slow going but amazingly rich. Last night Kate and I saw “The League [...]

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I love weird sodas, so…

23 July 2003

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…this article in today’s Times was right up my alley. Vernor’s, the spicy ginger ale that is mentioned in the piece, is my drink of choice. I encourage everyone to try it–but watch out, that first swallow can make you cough! Anybody ever had Cheerwine or Manhattan Special?

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Humor magazine tidbits from around the world!

23 July 2003

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While browsing the internet–sorry, researching my next book–I discovered an interesting article about the Curator of the Harvard Lampoon. Actually, what I liked was the stuff about Lampy’s building, built for them in 1909 by alumnus W.R. Hearst. Also, UK media says the continuing troubles of Tony Blair are good news for Private Eye. Thrive [...]

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Since I seem to be determined to procrastinate today…

22 July 2003

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…here’s a great new Strong Bad.

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Maybe you have to be a parent…

22 July 2003

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…to understand this article in today’s Times about changing summer camps. Now some camps are allowing weekends home, liberal use of phone and email, et cetera. Kate and I don’t have kids, but its seems incredibly neurotic–and missing the point of the camp entirely–to send your kid to camp, then have him/her schlep home every [...]

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Great Tom Paine quote…

19 July 2003

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…courtesy of Jon Schwarz, who I hope is putting up his own blog soon: “”It appears to general observation, that revolutions create genius and talent; but those events do no more than bring them forward. There is existing in man, a mass of sense lying in a dormant state, and which unless something excites it [...]

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