The Pecman

I like the way you think!

My greatest fear for the future is that mankind is getting stupider.

Dude, if you ever turn your hand to writing, I think your own story would make a terrific short-story. I think the story of a 12- or 13-year-old boy who slowly falls in love with a handicapped boy in his school could be very moving, particularly if the other boy is slowly dying. I think the way I would write it is, I'd describe the love affair, go into detail, then end on the boys together, talking about the fact that they won't have a lot of time together and embracing. Then I'd add a coda where the boy is now grown and returns to his friend's grave, accompanied by his current partner, and tells him the story. I think it could work.

Wow, this is hands-down the best start to a new novel I've seen online all year... and this has been a long year. The author's premise is that a gay teenager is somewhat smitten with another kid in one of his classes, and manages to get the kid's email... and then concocts an entire fake online persona in order to get to know the other boy. He's not sure the other boy is gay, but the signs are there, yet he's too shy to push the situation too far. The premise is a little thin so far, but the quality of the writing is absolutely top-notch, really pro. Really good prose as well. It's an exception for me to ever stumble over anything this good on Nifty. Not only is it the best thing I've seen on Nifty this year, I think it might be the best thing I've seen there in several years. Check it out: http://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/highschool/west/ The author's website has quite a few more chapters posted: http://wordsbykai.com/west The author is only three chapters in thus far, but I like the way it's going. We'll see how it goes.

I do somewhat, but the good thing about that show is that it at least showed the Dems in the White House screwing up on occasion and having to carve out some kind of settlement with the Repubs. So at least the show wasn't afraid to illustrate how both parties had flaws and both needed to cooperate. You wanna see too liberal, watch Newsroom on HBO. I'm somewhat liberal, but that show is reeeeaaaaaal liberal.

I think you're wrong: I think it is very good writing. Very moving story, and well-done. I found it very affecting.

I agree with both of you guys. Frasier and West Wing (at least the first few years) were among the best of television in the last 20 years, no question. Terrific shows. You mean Niles!

I don't know if I like that -- I'm sure store owners would hate it -- but I would be in favor of them just making Christmas the last Friday in December, just as American Thanksgiving is the last Thursday in November. Having Christmas in the middle of the week (as it was this year) is just crappy.

Ah, how I love to be reduced to a cultural stereotype. Chris, don't assume all Americans are whining about UPS. I got much bigger things to worry about in my life than package deliveries. This is a big country, and the article was only about a few million people who were annoyed. I'd bet there are probably 200 million who are perfectly fine, living their lives, not complaining about consumerism.

We're still pissed-off that we didn't win the MegaMillions when it hit $636 million last week. Believe me, there would've been a gala Awesomedude party at The Dude's new beach house if that had happened.

Yes, this comes on the heels of actor Benedict Cumberbatch finishing up starring in the film The Imitation Game, where he portrays Turing. While the pardon came 60 years late, at least they can work it into a coda for the end of the movie version. Turing was a great hero of Britain, breaking the Nazi Enigma coding scheme, and it was appalling what happened to him after his own government discovered he was gay. I don't doubt that the film will be really disturbing and sad to see...

I just read this news story on Towleroad.com, and was really charmed by the amazing diversity of famous people who chose to come out of the closet over the past year -- some at considerable risk (like the news anchorman in Russia, who was immediately fired when he announced he was gay on the air). The link is here: http://www.towleroad.com/2013/12/50.html It reminds me how much all of us have in common, but also how different we all are and why the broad definition of being "gay" doesn't always mean the same thing to different people. The celebrities range from senators, athletes, actors, comedians, journalists, musicians, artists, and many others. Stories like this give me hope that things are getting better, a little at a time.

Absolutely terrific novel, thoroughly professional, very engaging style. The descriptive prose really put me right there in the story. Look forward to reading more.

Note that Mr. Robertson has a Masters degree in Education, so he's not quite the country hick he seems to be on the show. But that doesn't mean he isn't also a bigoted asshole. Good piece here analyzing the PR mess, basically saying this was yet another calculated ploy to deliberately drum up ratings and create more interest in the show: http://www.foxbusiness.com/business-leaders/2013/12/23/truth-about-duck-dynasty-controversy/ The show's cast members have said that if A&E wants to drop the show, they already have six other cable channels willing to run it. Discouraging news. And note also that Duck Dynasty is one of the highest-rated reality shows on American TV -- 9 million viewers for a recent special. The trades say that A&E was insane to let Robertson talk to GQ in the first place, and that Robertson has been spouting crazy-religious anti-gay vitriol for many years: http://www.deadline.com/2013/12/duck-dynasty-debacle-has-tv-industry-abuzz-execs-cite-aes-rookie-mistake/

Damn, that went right past me. My apologies, F.T.! You're right on the "Taste That Beats the Others Cold," which was also a great jingle. But that '69 jingle just knocked me out -- the "Sgt. Pepper" brass arrangement did it for me. And the visuals are great. You guys aren't the first to notice the two men walking down the street. Coincidence... or not? I believe the Pepsi beach commercial was shot around Point Dume in Malibu, which is a very famous movie location going back decades. Very cold water, even in the summer -- I bet those shirtless guys were freezing in the water. Meanwhile, back to Innocence Lost: chapter 5 was excellent. I like the subtle shadings on the parents and the realism of the kids.

Done!

1968 would work for the Pepsi spot -- just barely. I was fuzzy on the year for the story, but knew from the context it was late 1960s/early 1970s. My recommendation would be to spell it out more clearly in the first chapter so that stupid readers like myself can be hit over the head to know exactly when and where we were. I referred directly to the year only twice in my own 1968/1969 story Groovy Kind of Love, once on the first page, and once deep in the story, when I referred to the kid's allowance and he broke the fourth wall and commented something like, "hey, this was 1968, and $10 was a lot of money" or something like that. That Pepsi spot is a favorite of mine, one I've watched over a hundred times, a big Clio winner, and for some reason it's stuck with me for more than 40 years. And we pause now for a message from our sponsor...

Good job, F.T. I like the nostalgic mood and feel of the story. One nit-pick: by 1970, Pepsi was using the "You've got a lot to live" campaign instead of the "Come alive" campaign. This is in my Top 10 commercial faves of all time, so this is a bit of trivia I know about.

And a driver! My second choice would be a Rolls Royce Ghost:

If I can offer one comment to Addym: I felt like there's an entire paragraph missing in the grocery store/fight scene, and I was dizzy trying to figure out what the hell happened. My suggestion (only a suggestion) is that if you have the lead character wind up in a hospital with some major injuries, you need greater explanation as to what happened -- even if it's fast-paced and violent, or even if the guy says, "the next thing I knew, my hand hurt like hell and the other guy was lying on the ground." I think the story is idealized and very sentimental, but I don't deny it has a positive message and is very thoughtful and optimistic. And any story that has an enormous, lavish home theater is OK by me.

There's a weird show on American TV cable network A&E called Duck Dynasty about a clan of Louisiana country hicks who managed to make millions and millions of dollars manufacturing the best duck calls for hunters in the world. Somehow, an unlikely reality show about the eccentric family has managed to become a reality-show hit, mainly because the family is very colorful, eccentric, has a unique kind of language, and is charming in that folksy, country kind of way. Until recently. Family patriarch Phil Robertson, who dabbles as a preacher, made the following statement in a recent interview with GQ magazine: Robertson followed this outrageous, homophobic blather by saying that black people didn't have it so bad prior to the civil rights era in Louisiana: What's really disturbing is that now celebrity conservatives like Sean Hannity and Sara Palin are supporting this racist, homophobic schmuck, as are several Krazy Kristian organizations: http://variety.com/2013/biz/news/duck-dynasty-suspension-christian-org-launches-campaign-calling-aes-move-discriminatory-censorship-1200976794/ I'm absolutely appalled by the whole thing, and wonder why some PR guy didn't tell this multimillionaire jerk to just shut the F up and keep his personal opinions to himself. I'm all for free speech, but there's a time and a place for everything, and I also think it's extremely unwise to tell your audience that your Bible is better than my Bible, and that you get to judge what I do under my own roof. Apparently, A&E's management (and advertisers) agree, and they've "indefinitely suspended" Mr. Robertson. Fans of the show are in an uproar, and there's headlines all over the net and Facebook pro and con about the controversy, including many conservatives and Christian groups who feel that Mr. Robertson has the right to spew his bullshit. My opinion: Coo-coo-ca-choo, Mr. Robertson. Jesus doesn't give an F about you anymore. Shut the hell up and go back to your bayou and leave us alone. Write A&E and tell them you won't stand for this kind of crap: aefeedback@aenetworks.com

And the story is here: http://www.awesomedude.com/bi_janus/short_stories/lie_detectors.htm I agree, an excellent tale, very well-written -- one of the best I've read all year.

That is a wonderful story. If they do this on every flight, I'm getting tickets for Ottawa right now. If Santa asked me what I wanted for Xmas, I'd say, "peace for the entire world, the end of AIDS, fresh water for all 3rd-world countries... and I'd like an AMG SLS Black series for myself:

Great movie. The script was based on a story told to writer Dennis Palumbo by one of the staffers of Your Show of Shows about the time they had 1940s swashbuckling hero Erroll Flynn on as a guest star in the 1950s. It was a problematic show because it was live, and because it was NBC's biggest show at the time. For legal and rights reasons, they changed Sid Caeser's name and Errol Flynn's name for the movie, but many of the characters are recognizable, including a Neil Simon-type and a Mel Brooks-type in the writers room. [benjy, the junior writer, is kind of a combination of Woody Allen and Mel Brooks.] "King Kaiser" was their thinly-disguised version of Sid Caeser. A great, great movie with a lot of laughs and a lot of heart. [The 1960s Dick Van Dyke show was also inspired by the writers room on Your Show of Shows.] Everybody agreed that casting Peter O'Toole in the part was perfect, but he was acting and did not drink during production, because he was a total pro. O'Toole got the similarities between his on-screen life and that of Flynn's. The real broadcast TV show was a lot more tame than how it was depicted in the film. O'Toole was nominated for Best Actor for that role, but did not win -- one of 8 Oscars he didn't win, which was a tragedy. He really, really deserved it for this film. A few years before that, I actually worked on O'Toole's movie The Stunt Man, and while O'Toole played a drunken director in the film, he was not drunk on the set. That was a very troubled production, which many days of reshoots and almost a year of editing, and it was a confused mish-mash when it was finally released. Perfect except they left out the fact that T.E. Lawrence was gay and had a long-running affair with two of the servant boys that assisted him during his time in Arabia. It's touched on very, very subtly, but blink and you'll miss it. Lawrence was also a masochist who enjoyed pain, and they did at least show that, in the scene where he gets whipped.