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26 Aug 2009 21:54

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Culture: Dominick Dunne, Vanity Fair’s biggest smart aleck, dead at 83

The author, known for his ability to find humor in media circuses like O.J. Simpson’s murder trial, is probably bristling that he died the same day as Ted Kennedy. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

06 Aug 2009 20:17

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Culture: RIP John Hughes, the guy responsible for every good ’80s film

  • I happen to go for the simplest, most ordinary things. The extraordinary doesn’t interest me. I’m not interested in psychotics. I’m interested in the person you don’t expect to have a story. I like Mr. Everyman.
  • Director and scribe John Hughes • On his body of work, which includes such mainstream masterpieces as “The Breakfast Club,” “Home Alone” (which he wrote but didn’t direct), “Sixteen Candles,” “Weird Science” and “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” amongst many others. All unbelievably mainstream, all incredibly memorable. Hughes died today of a heart attack. Bro was 59. Your childhood died with him, didn’t it Mr. Everyman? • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Jun 2009 21:57

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U.S.: A reporter on the Stonewall Riots’ front lines gives his account

  • … at approximately 2 a.m. on Saturday, June 28, the gay men decided they weren’t going to take it anymore. The clash outside the Stonewall went on for 48 more hours and become famous as the riots that started the gay-rights movement.
  • Lucian K. Truscott IV • A former Village Voice writer who had strange credentials for telling the story of the Stonewall Riots – he was a West Point graduate who was about to go back to the military – and honestly, stumbled upon a huge story. Truscott says that although the protest definitely kick-started the gay rights movement, it created a lot of myths around itself due to the lack of media coverage. The bar itself was not representative of gays in the city, comprising largely of younger gay males. But even older ones took notice of what happened at the bar that night. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Apr 2009 11:13

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Offbeat, Tech: He’s 90, but David Perlman still knows his science news

Science writer David Perlman of the San Francisco Chronicle will end a newspaper career that’s lasted 78 years. (!) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 Mar 2009 22:15

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Culture, Music: Dear Ryan Adams: Please stop following/diluting your muse

  • 2 books by Ryan Adams in six months. He does this with music, too. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 Mar 2009 23:10

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Culture: David Foster Wallace’s failed struggle with the written word

  • What goes on inside is just too fast and huge and all interconnected for words to do more than barely sketch the outlines of at most one tiny little part of it at any given instant.
  • Author David Foster Wallace • From a 2001 short story. Wallace died last year after committing suicide. His unfinished third novel, “The Pale King,” will come out next year, but an excerpt is available at The New Yorker Web site. On a side note, this linked article would require 800 ShortFormBlog posts to do justice; it’s freaking huge. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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