Lit City Blues

It's Monday, so let us begin the work week by celebrating that most simple of drinks that's rapidly becoming one a favorite of mine- the Scotch Highball. I'm going to have to shout-out this excellent video on YouTube from How To Drink , because it was this that started me down the road to the glories of the Scotch Highball. A favorite of Winston Churchill- who apparently did about 3-4 of these bad boys a day (though this source suggests they were 'weak' ones with no more than an ounce of whiskey in them.) It's also worth noting that this source also added that he'd do an imperial pint (20 oz.) of champagne and and ounce of brandy and lunch and dinner time, so hot damn did he drink a lot of booze daily.  I've never been a huge fan of brandy-- though to be fair, I also haven't tried that much brandy either- and if I'm going to drink champagne like Churchill I'd really want to be a completist about it and score some Pol Roger champage which was...

Please enjoy Part 11 of Murder In Kinmen , 'A Bookstore In Matsu': Pei-Shan's irritation at the world, in general, seemed to be a constant companion these days and the trip to Matsu followed by the exhaustive process of finding a rental car and then directions to the bookstore had neither improved her mood nor lessened her irritation by one iota. As she crested a hell at the north end of the island, she began to swear. "Great! It's a dead-end and there's still no sign of this damn place." She sighed. There was no other choice: she'd have to head back into town- but as she reached the end of the narrow, country lane and began to turn around, she finally saw what she was looking for: a worn, weatherbeaten sign for the bookstore that had been half-hidden by a shrub pointing at a dirt path that sloped down toward the shore. Pei-Shan parked the car off to the side of the road, neither knowing nor caring whether it was an actual parking space or not. She sla...

This actually proved to be far more difficult than I thought it'd be when I first thought of it. A ranking like this has to take into account two factors: the movie the actor is in and the portrayal of their character. You can have the greatest portrayl of any given character, but if you're in a crappy movie about them, it probably doesn't matter how good your performance is. It's even worse when you're dealing with an actual historical figure like Margaret Thatcher.  There are great portrayals of historical figures out there. (Ben Kingsley as Gandhi, Bruno Ganz as Hitler, John Lithgow and Gary Oldman as Churchill- though the more I think about Darkest Hour , the more surprised I am at the criminal underuse of Kristin Scott Thomas in that movie-- an excellent Clementine Churchill.) It's not impossible to do- but Margaret Thatcher is... challenging, I think. For a start, most of the people who make movies aren't going to be all that inclined to her politics o...

I've never really been into the whole 'self-help' genre. It's just not something I've ever felt a need to really dig into for whatever reason- primarily because I am usually acutely aware of my failings and what I should do to correct them, it's just that I don't do it. I'm also wired differently than what society expects, I think. I've never really had grand ambitions or dreams for myself-- it's sort of a laconic disinterest in those things that worries me-- I know I've always wanted to a. have a family (check) and b. travel the world and see everything I could possibly want to see on this crazy planet of ours before I die (still working on this part.) It might just be the season of life I'm currently in, but starting a business? Chasing a promotion? None of that really motivates me to get up in the morning. Coming home at the end of the day on the other hand, does. Over the years though, there have been a couple of titles that have caug...

The Booksellers is a beautiful documentary that plunges into the world of antiquarian books and the people who collect them. As someone who loves books, it's kind of like catnip. You're not going to get me to say no to watching a documentary about books. It focuses mainly on booksellers in New Your City- including the three sisters (Adina cohen, Naomi Hample and Judith Lowry) of the Argosy Bookstore, Stephen Massey who founded Christie's NY Book Department and Nancy Bass Wyden, owner of the Strand Bookstore. (There's a smattering of other folks in the movie as well: Fran Lebowitz, Gay Telese, Justin Croft, Zack Hample, Susan Orleans, William S. Reese, A.S.W Rosenbach, Jay S. Walker and Kevin Young.) It's fascinating to explore the history of the rare book world- how some of these book stores got started and how they touch on the founding of the Book Department in Christie's is all fascinating stuff. You take the basic history and combine it with a lot of female...

Please enjoy Part 10 of Murder In Kinmen , 'Remember What Happened In Guo': "So, this is Mount Taifu, huh?" Wei-Ting walked up the steps toward the main cenotaph, grimacing as he did so. he had always liked history at school, but living in Kinmen had made him realize that it was possible to have too much of it crammed into one space. This place looked like hardcore nationalists and the historians had vomited patriotism all over the montaintop after a night of heavy drinking. He turned at the main cenotaph and saw his destination. The rock itself was enormous, with a flat, gentle angle at it's top and striations running across it's weathered surface. The calligraphy was equally garish, drawing the eye and by extension, people to gaze up at it and even reach out and touch it. Not really knowing what else to do, Wei-Ting walked up to the rock and leaned on the railing, looking up at it. He glanced over and watched as a lone tourist pointed his camera lens up at t...

This was not the book I expected it to be. I think the previous entry in this series may have spoiled me a bit- as it didn't really offer a lot of concrete solutions or remedies to the problem that book explored. In these days of over politicization and ideologies, you're not really expecting a book to offer, you know, thoughtful discussion and actual solutions to a clearly defined problem, but I guess there's a pleasant exception to every rule and Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt's The Coddling of the American Mind is it. The expansion of a popular essay the duo wrote back in 2015 for The Atlantic , the book seeks to explore the shifting landscape of American culture that saw an explosion of unrest on college campuses over the past half a dozen years or so. (As someone who's been working in Higher Ed- albeit in a somewhat unusual perch, the change has been noticeable over the course of my ten years here. I can't count the number of times I wondered where all ...