Upcoming Events:
Friday, 24 April, 2 p.m.
Independent Press Association BookCamp, David Benjamin to speak on “The Writer’s Gauntlet,” Hilton Doubletree Hotel, Newark, New Jersey
Thursday, 30 April 2:15 pm
Radio Interview with Sharyn Alden on “Everybody’s Got a Story,” Sun Prairie Media Center
Wednesday, 6 May 9 am
Radio Interview with Phil Nee, on “Jim Otis and Smalltown Crime, WRCO Radio, Richland Center, Wis.
The Weekly Screed
by David Benjamin “… Our morality is based, in large part, on mystical dogma, not reason, our lives are governed by superstition and prejudice rather than knowledge. Self-sacrifice is prized above self-interest and self-esteem. Society is placed above the individual. And the goal of happiness is lost in a labyrinthine maze of emotional responses, self-doubts,…
by David Benjamin “Data technologies do not simply predict the future by guessing what an individual or group might do or want to do in the future. It is rather that those futures already exist, completely realized, and they reach backwards into the present to guide it. The possible paths for our desires to travel…
by David Benjamin “Herbert T. Gillis: Son, is this the book you were looking for? “Dobie Gillis: Oh, yeah. Thanks, Dad. I don’t know what I’d do without you. “Herbert T. Gillis: Yeah, neither do I, but just thinking about it has made my whole day.” —“The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis” MADISON,…
by David Benjamin “… Feelings, whoa, oh, oh, feelings/ Whoa, oh, oh, feel it again in my arms/ Feelings, whoa, oh, oh, feelings/ Whoa, oh, oh, feel it/ Whoa, oh, again” — Morris Albert LAS VEGAS—Watching a relay team of Sony, Honda and Microsoft execs at a Consumer Electronics Show (CES) “press conference”…
by David Benjamin “Movies are so rarely great art that if we cannot appreciate great trash we have very little reason to be interested in them.” ― Pauline Kael MADISON, Wis.—My favorite movie maven, Nick Hinauslehnen, who publishes a film periodical called Flashback, poses an annual question for readers. This year, he asks, “What movies…
by David Benjamin George was accident prone. For example, the first time he met Jody’s mother, he boldly leapt into her lap. She was drinking tea at the time, but she only spilled a few drops because George, despite his tendency toward minor, forgivable mishaps, had a knack for soft landings. Jody’s Mom, who…
by David Benjamin “… Even the pigeons are dancing, kissing, going in circles, mounting each other. Paris is the city of love, even for the birds …” ― Samantha Schutz PARIS — We were barely awake yesterday before we were plunging through Métro tunnels, beneath the Seine, resurfacing at the place de la…
by David Benjamin “… The humanities are like the great old Paris Flea Market where, amidst masses of junk, people with a good eye found cast away treasures … They are like a refugee camp where all the geniuses driven out of their jobs and countries by unfriendly regimes are idling …” ― Allan…
by David Benjamin “… The Italian novelist Federico Moccia appears to have been the catalyst for turning the custom into a romantic gesture after his popular book, I Want You, which was made into a 2012 movie, featured a scene of two love interests attaching a padlock on the Ponte Vecchio Bridge in Florence…”…
by David Benjamin “The very essence of romance is uncertainty.” — Oscar Wilde MADISON, Wis.—A lexicographer walks into a bar. More accurately, it’s a gay club. Glenn, the lexicographer, is uneasy—indeed, deeply troubled— not because he’s uncomfortable among the “men” milling, drinking, laughing, talking, flirting and attempting to dance what looks to him…