A Modest Proposal?

I would like to propose that a group be formed that could produce a book review for each issue of G21, and I would like to be a member of that group. The focus would not simply be whole books (or monographs, as librarians like to call them), but also articles in or whole issues of journals or periodicals, newspaper editorials or op-ed pieces - or even an article in an online magazine. Best of all, a mix of these forms.

Bob Powers is a good reviewer himself, but he is busied with his music critiques that he does for G21 - nevertheless, he would know of other good reviewers who might be available.

If there were four or five individuals who could make a commitment to complete a review approximately once a month, I suspect the results could be thoughtful and well written.

Think about it -
R E D


ROD RESPONDS: Ron,

I have proposed that we do an entire literary supplement, tentatively called STUDIO, which would also include fiction. I did this at the beginning of the winter.

Thus far our writers have been so underwhelmed that I don't have enough material to launch it.

This supports me long-held theory that fiction, books, book reviews don't do well on the Web.

Rod

And You think WHAT?

Subject: Memoirs (not Memoris -- lol)

......sorry, couldn't resist that.......

As usual, good job in your mag. From here on I'm simply going to delete these damned cookies from them because you can't trust them at all -- and I'm not a paranoid, just resent having anything to say about it.

As I said, I really like this NSClean (understand he has IEClean, as well) because you can pick and choose which cookies you want to keep. Avoids having to fill in info every time you return to a often-used website.

And another thought, I do hope that damned black dog has a can tied to his tail and is running far, far away.

Jean L. H.
The Sheila Casey Mysteries
http://www.olypen.com/jeanhohn


Michelle G. (No City Provided,) CANADA:

Hi there,

I am a Canadian Journalist writing an article on Snowdon for a local newspaper. Great article on the Saving of Snowdon, however, it's not dated. Can you tell me when Snowdon was for sale -- the month/year?

Thanks,
Michelle G.


ROD RESPONDS: Michelle,

Thanks for visiting the G21 and for writing. The announcement was made in July, 1998. Marie Irshad filed our story on 2 December, 1998, the week the National Trust made its announcement.

I hope that helps with your story.

Regards,
Rod


From Bill P., Piedmont, CA, USA:

SUBJECT: Mystery Man

I was wondering when our favorite gumshoe protagonist was going to escape from the depths of hardrive despair, dust off the bits, belt down a scotch, and grab his author by the balls.Ý

The real mystery is will he allow you to exile him again. Ý

Bill Ý Ý


Dave R., (No City Provided,) USA:

Good to read what you wrote.Ý This is the first time I've heard someone say how far behind Hollywood is in SciFi.Ý Like you, I've read most stuff from the 40's on up through the ealy 70's.Ý All original SciFi ideas can be traced to this period.Ý You have to remember that movies aren't as much of a pure art form as books.Ý

Movies are 'entertainment', that's how Hollywood see sthem.Ý It's rare someone takes the time to do a movie right, any movie.Ý Hollywood's attitude is, "We can spend 100 million please 73% of the people, why double to cost and length of the project toÝ please anothe 3% who are intelligent enough to appreciate it."Ý It's nice to hear someone who loved The Stars My Destination by Bester.Ý

That was always one of my very favorites.Ý Bester's Demolished man is great also, if you haven't read it...get it.Ý As far as The Matrix goes, it is one of the best new SciFi movies to come out in a long time.Ý There's a lot of nuance in it, and it woks on multiple levels.Ý The same guys who wrote it, directed it.Ý As usual, that means while they were setting up the scenes, the simultaneously saw what their original vision was like when they wrote it.Ý Unlike most movies where the vision gets 'system-engineered' out of the production.


ÝFrom Gail B. (No City Provided,) USA:

Subject: The Shape of My Heart

Hi Rod,

I'm a new subcriber, being introduced to your newsletter by Jean Hohnstein. She always sends me great links! :-))

Have just read this subject column. I am reminded of a statement made *many* years ago by a dear friend, long since departed this vail of tears. He said " One does not like their friends *in spite* of their faults, but rather *because* of them!"

Of course such a simple statement does not a column make! :-))

Gail


ÝFrom Sharon K. (No City Provided,) USA:

Dear G21,

I'm writing to say how much I agree with your article on the Western Press's attitude to Haider. I have lived in Europe and America and although I despise Haider, every Western country has powerful people more dangerous to the world than Haider ever could be. George double-ya Bush, who visited a University that opposes inter-racial dating and called Catholicism a "cult", to campaign, has the Christian right as his mouth-piece, and therefore for the US Press to condemn Austria is highly hypocritical. I also agree that very little in the Western Press has been allocated to what Haider says NOW, and not what he said years ago.

Finally, I dislike the way the press in the US, Britain and Germany puts all the blame on Haider, ignoring the thousands that voted for him as well as the rest of the Freedom Party.

SK


From Wolf DeVoon, COSTA RICA:

Rod,

Motherless 2, Feb 25, was a great piece. I admire it most that you let yourself write freely and candidly. I wish I had the knack.

Wolf

And our Northern Ireland Coverage?

thank you. i'm a libertarian and will probably vote that way. however as a scots-irish american i would never vote for the demos and will certainly be watching if mr. mccain so call mellows as in your termonology.maybe will vote for bush instead! i certainly know where you are comming from when you mention the name of rep. king that irish-american true believing facist as a motivated individual as in reguard to ulster.most scottish-americans were appalled at the old stormont regime and are for equal rights in a n. ireland context, but equally believe that the sf/ira irredentualist solution is just as ugly blowing up innocent men, women and children to try to force reunification even more abhorent.

as far as i'm concerned it's people like you who have done more to retart the solution to the problems of ulster(or whatever the politically correct name you want to call it). you do realize there are 800,000 catholic irish people who have been in scotland for the last 150 years. what do you think their posotion in scotland will be if the ulster-scots believe they will have to leave ireland? maybe you've forgotten we are here, but many more scots-irish americans are following the situation in ulster than you might think.

a concerned scottish american who believes only true compromise and patience can resolve the problems in ulster




From "Rosemaire", (No City Provided,) USA:

for your presidential ranking. It was all I needed to know who to vote for!


From Simon A. (No City Provided,) UNITED KINGDOM:

Hi Rod Ý

Found G21 through Newshound, I like to read all opinions best way to be informed. But I expect balanced coverage from The World's Magazine.

I've lived in Ireland North and South for 37 years but I find the candidate scorecard quite one sided. Make a statement supporting British withdrawl and get a dedicated ranking become more moderate in your views and your ranking falls - nice deep analysis. Ý

Have subscribed so look forward to trying out the rest of the mag. Ý

Good luck
SiÝ


DAN VAN DE MORTEL RESPONDS: Mr. A. seems to have misinterpreted our Presidential Candidates Scorecard's objective in general and our analysis of Mr. Bradley in particular. James Brosnahan and I support all efforts to implement the Good Friday Agreement and to improve the human rights conditions and peace prospects for all Northern Ireland citizens. We do not endorse any Northern Ireland political party, and apart from our aforementioned support of the Good Friday Agreement, we take no position on the eventual "solution" to Northern Ireland's conflict.

With regard to our evaluation of Bill Bradley, the purpose behind including his 1982 remarks advocating a British withdrawal, as well as his subsequent actions and remarks, was to flesh out his evolving views in a way that would be instructive to prospective voters. Our comment on his 1982 remarks that "this viewpoint is not one that Bradley or any other mainstream politician, given the Good Friday Agreement, would or should be expected to [currently] espouse" speaks for itself. Our rating of Bill Bradley as only "active" was predicated on his silence and inactivity on Northern Ireland over the past five years and on the campaign trail, not because of his failure to call for a British withdrawal.

Dan VanDeMortel

THE WORLD'S MAGAZINE - WORLD'S MAIL BOX --- SHEESH!

By the way, I made a little magic trick:

Magic Meister http://www.magicmeister.com

If you like it, could you please tell your readers about it? I think they'd get a kick out of it.

It was a lot of work and I'd be happy if a lot of people would get to see it.

Thanks so much!
Oliver Gaspirtz


From Zach Love, et lia, the Dead Pool, Los Angeles, USA:

Yabba-dabba-doo, how the hell are you?

It's us, the creeps from stiffs.com, telling you that it's Dead Pool time again. We are now accepting entries for The April-September 2000 Lee Jr. (http://stiffs.com/junior.html), and we are once again offering a $1000 top prize. Be sure to take at least a cursory glance at what's written on that entry page, 'cause we've made some slight changes to our usual longwinded presentation. In case you plan to use The Pistol Pete Maravich 3-To-Make-2 bonus deal, we changed that, too, a little. Is nothing sacred?

A couple of new features have made their debuts, and though neither one is anything to write home about, we're not writing home, so, here goes. One is called Op. Ed. Hotbed (http://stiffs.com/oped.html), and it features guest writers contributing editorial pieces each and every Wednesday. No specific topic, just somebody-or-other spouting off about something. Of course, we claim no responsibility for any of the content found there, unless you find it to be really funny.

Guess that's about it for today, except the -- wait a sec. Did we tell you about the t-shirt giveaway? Can't remember. Well, anyway, it's a drawing, and to enter, you fill out a survey thing (http://stiffs.com/vote.html). Okay, we're done. Just remember that if you want to write us back, DO NOT HIT 'REPLY', 'cause you'll get deleted from the mailing list forever, and not even the Z-5000 can put you back in.

Kiss kiss,

Zachariah Love, Commissioner
Greg Hicks, Head Bartender
and Drew Scharlatt, Mute
The Lee Atwater Invitational Dead Pool
http://stiffs.com - A really neat site.


From James Squeaky, Portland, OR, USA:

Hi, here is the first installment of the http://misterridiculous.com newsletter. I hope that you like to receive news about the site and updates, but if not, just send me a reply with "unsubscribe" in the subject so that I can erase you from my mailing list. If you have more than one email address, let me know so I can get them all. Also, if you get this twice, let me know that too.

Expect to hear from me about every three weeks or so. Normally, the newsletters won't be this long. I've been kinda putting this off for a few weeks. (I started a new job (which I've already took time off to go tour with a band for a few days, so don't think I'm taking it too seriously)

February 22, 2000

First of all, I would like to personally apologize for the email that I sent out about a month ago in regards to Srini and my reasons for leaving unamerican. A lot of people emailed their support - thank you. A good number of other people felt that it was inappropriate and made them feel uncomfortable. I am sorry for that and please know that Srini and I have reached agreements privately and I will not use your inbox for those sorts of things anymore. Thank you for being patient and forgiving.

New stuff on the site:

The thing I'm most excited about right this second because I just finished it, is that I am now writing for a magazine that I really like a lot called Punk Planet (http://wwww.punkplanet.com) I just finished my first installment and it probably won't see print for a month or so, but I have posted it online. I'm focusing on "punk business" by interviewing people who do it successfully. I interviewed Sonny Kay from GSL records and Bottlenekk Distribution (not to mention, he was in the band The VSS) Check it out: (http://misterridiculous.com/features/bottlenekkinterview/sonnykayinterview.html )

I put an old zine of mine online. It's called "Hey Mister Fancy Pants" (http://misterridiculous.com/squeaky/squeakywriting/heymisterfancypants/index.ht ml) It's really pretty personal, so if you aren't interested in that, it might not be your thing. I did put a lot of work into it and think it came out pretty nice, though a tad naive and silly (I wrote it in 1995) and is an account of when I first moved to San francisco from Colorado.

A new section that is off to a modest but promising start is the Evil Corporations section (http://misterridiculous.com/features/evilcorporations/index.html) So far just a feature on The Gap and Proctor & Gamble - so any help you can give would be great. I'd also like to add links to other sites that talk about specific corporations that do bad things, so send those my way too.

Also, my buddy Joe, who I moved up to Portland to work with has been working really hard on his Microcosm Records website. He sells stickers and records, so if you like that stuff, maybe you can check it out (http://www.oh.verio.com/~lbiel)

The new columns are on their way-hopefully within a week or two-they are a lot of work! Also, new reviews, more installments of the Actiongrl advice column, a really nice message board system, a long interview with the band Milemarker and Atom & His Package, a Vegan Recipes section, a free classifieds section, a news section, and DIY files - a lot is going on under the surface, sorry if it isn't moving so fast on the site.

Hey, if you'll be anywhere near Boston on the weekend of March 18, there is going to be a cool event called Beantown Zinetown 3 being put on by my buddy (and misterridiculous columnist) Rich Mackin. Please check out http://home.earthlink.net/~richmackin/bz3.html for more specific info.

A lot of people asked me to put a link to their site on misterridiculous.com. I'm afraid, I haven't gotten to that yet, so please wait a little more-I'll drop you a line when I do it. Please add a link to our site if you think it appropriate. anyone who wants to design and donate some cool banners for others to use, get in touch.

Action Items:

This will be the section where I will ask for people to email me (or another editor of the site) with specific information. It'd be cool if when responding you'd put something appropriate to the item in the subject so that our email boxes are easy to sort through:

I am really concentrating heavily on content on the site, so I'm afraid that some of the sections might not be all that attractive. In particular, the "Features" section (http://misterridiculous.com/features/) and I would be really very happy if someone wanted to make it look nice. Anyone who likes to do design kind of stuff and sees something ugly on the site, just drop me a line and I would love to get your help.

If you haven't seen Action Grl's advice column (http://misterridiculous.com/features/askactiongrl/index.html) it's sex, drugs, and rock n' roll advice that is fun and informative. Actiongrl asked that you answer these questions and send them her way (askag@misterridiculous.com): "What do you wish you would have known about sex at various younger ages? What do you wish you knew about sex now? And have you ever broken a limb getting it on in a dangerous or uncomfortable position?"

Well, we are going to start a classifieds section, but for now, my buddy Martin, who is way too generous for his own good would like to send people free music: *Free CDs: In an effort to spread musical awareness Lady Killer records wants to send you free music. Write to LADY KILLER RECORDS PO BOX 1581 DAVIS, CA 95617.* Write him a letter or something if you want one.

I am also thinking very seriously of starting a print zine version of mister ridiculous. It would probably not be too thick and not have everything from the site, so if you have input as to what should definitely (or definitely not) be in the print zine, please drop me a line.

__________________________________

And last, a request from Matte Resist, the editor of the DIY (http://misterridiculous.com/diy/) section:

from: matteresist@misterridiculous.com subject: Can you teach me how to do that?

Chances are, you're good at something. Probably even something that a lot of other people aren't good at. And as far as i am concerned, if you can do it, you can probably teach others to do it too! that is why we at Misterridiculous.com have started a DIY section. For those of you who are unaware, DIY stands for Do It Yourself. And we want to make it possible for you to do it yourself! Whether that means making patches, fixing your bike, planting an organic garden, or printing your own book. We want to help you do it! But the problem is, i don't know how to do everything. So i need your help!

If you know how to do something, we would like you to contact us. And although we are also looking for "punk" stuff, like recording and pressing records, tattooing and etc., we don't want this to be strictly a punk resource, and would appreciate input on all kinds of things. We would like this site to be a resource for individuals and communities who are trying to be more self sustaining. There are a ton of things that could be useful to people; herbal remedies, home repair, typewriter tune ups, candle making... Don't be shy! if you know how to do something, we probably want to know too!

So if you have something you would like to teach us all how to do, contact me at diy@misterridiculous.com, and let me know what it is! And if you know of other people who you think might have something to submit, please forward this onto them too! The more people who submit, the better this resource will be!

The DIY section is pretty bare right now, but with your help, we can change that FAST! It can be found at: http://www.misterridiculous.com/diy/index.html

thanx
matte resist

______________________________________

hey folks- seriously, thank you so much for your support. I hope you are enjoying the site. Drop me a line, please be patient though, cuz I am juggling a lot right now.

James Squeaky- Cheap Visionary
http://www.misterridiculous.com "Fun with a Purpose"
http://misterridiculous.com/squeaky a little bout me.
send me stuff- PO Box 5964, Portland, OR 97228-5964

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