Jennifer Makowsky never really read or knew much about Charles Bukowski "apart from the poems [she] read in school and his reputation as the hardened “dirty old man.” She felt that the time had come to learn more about the "The Poet Laureate of Skid Row."To begin her descent into Bukland she takes to the screen to watch John Dullaghan’s 2003 documentary, Bukowski: Born Into This.Her review, "Bukowski: What Lies Beneath," appears over at Pop Matters. Here is the trailer for the film:Bukowski at WikipediaMuch more at bukowski.net
Street Signs
Marji King and Bruce Daniels have amassed a collection of over 100 handmade cardboard signs that they have used to panhandle on the streets of Seattle. For the last two weeks they have been setting up the display at various downtown locations."People tend to walk by and ignore one sign," Bruce says, "but can they ignore more than 100?"Here are some highlights:Fear change? Leave it here.Lost my rose-tinted glasses; Need money for new ones.If money is the root of all evil let me carry the burden."Aliens kidnapped my parents. $ for space fuel."Donations for the Church of Malt Liquor.Begging Sucks...
Library Violence
A librarian was at a commun
Rare Book Joke
A collector of rare books ran into an acquaintance who told him he had just thrown away an old bible that he found in a dusty, old box. He happened to mention that Guten-somebody- or-other had printed it."Not Gutenberg?" gasped the collector."Yes, that was it!""You idiot! You've thrown away one of the first books ever printed. A copy recently sold at an auction for half a million dollars!""Oh, I don't think this book would have been worth anything close to that much," replied the man. "It was scribbled all over in the margins by some guy named Martin Luther."via the...
The Evil 50 : The Greatest Villains in Literature
The Telegraph UK asked a panel of lit-minded folks to come up with their list of the top 50 villains in the history of literature. It's quite a dastardly listAnd the losers include the likes of Iago, Ku10 Vindice from The Revenger's Tragedy, by Thomas Middleton Filled with bile from his persistent melancholy - his beloved was killed by the duke - Vindice decides the best way to avenge her is to make the duke lock lips with her poisoned corpse. Fair enough: the duke got what was coming to him, as do the many others who fall under Vindice's...