“Anyone who can only think of one way to spell a word obviously lacks imagination.” MARK TWAIN
“In this chthonian* world the only thing of importance is orthography** and punctuation. It doesn’t matter what the nature of the calamity is, only whether it is spelled right.” HENRY MILLER
*chthonian: Concerning, belonging to, or inhabiting the underworld.
**orthography: A part of language study that deals with letters and spelling.
Cartoon: “The Far Side,” 1985 by Gary Larson, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
“I love money. I love everything about it. I bought some pretty good stuff. Got me a $300 pair of socks. Got a fur sink. An electric dog polisher. A gasoline powered turtleneck sweater. And, of course, I bought some dumb stuff, too.” STEVE MARTIN, actor, writer, comedian, musician
Illustration: Homer Simpson dollar bill by Jeremy Hara, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Visit artist Jeremy Hara at his blog jeremyhara.blogspot.com.
CAPTION: “You rarely see this kind of joy for under ten thousand.”
CREDIT: New Yorker cartoon by Mike Twohy, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Caption: “What a coincidence! I couldn’t help noticing you’re reading a book I was thinking of reading myself.”
Credit: New Yorker cartoon by Frank Modell, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
CAPTION… THOMAS PYNCHON’S EVIL TWIN: “Mud-wrestle in my underwear on national TV while holding up a copy of my new book? NO PROBLEMO!”
Credit: New Yorker cartoon by Roz Chast, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Reclusive novelist Thomas Pynchon celebrated his 76th birthday on May 8th, 2013. Since the 1960s, Pynchon has been pretty much a phantom — except in terms of his writing and voiceovers on episodes of The Simpsons. Best known for his novel GRAVITY’S RAINBOW (1973), which won the 1974 National Book Award for Fiction, Pynchon touches on a wide range of subject matter in his work — including history, science, art, and mathematics. Many consider his work difficult, dense, and complex — which is exactly what Pynchon’s fans love about his writing.
Pynchon aficionados have found a way to bring the private author into the open by celebrating “Pynchon in Public Day” on the author’s May 8th birthday. A recent article by Carolyn Kellogg in the L.A. Times outlines the “rules” for the event — including reading a Pynchon book “in a conspicuously public place.”
Caption: Heart palpitations…clammy…butterflies in stomach…dry mouth…
Credit: Roz Chast and New Yorker, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
In Los Angeles, the flowering trees start to bloom in February — and that’s as close as we get to spring in a place where the weather is pretty much the same all year long. Still, I’ll admit to bouts of spring fever — especially during our infrequent rain showers.
And that reminds me of what I consider one of the funniest things about living in Los Angeles — the rain attire worn by adults and children during our rare, rare, rare rains. Yes, these folks have special wardrobes — colorful slickers, ornate umbrellas, stylish rain boots — that they use as armor, as if they will melt from a drop of water like the witch did in the Wizard of Oz. As someone who grew up in the rain-soaked Midwest, where we had no special rain wardrobe, I find this quite, quite amusing.
I wonder if the “copy” on these cakes was a result of a Craigslist writing gig — “Writer of snappy, to-the-point copy needed for high-visibility project…” (I’ve been there…)
Credit: Charles Schultz, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
New Yorker cartoon by J.B. Handelsman
“For a long time now I have tried simply to write the best I can. Sometimes I have good luck and write better than I can.” ERNEST HEMINGWAY
Cartoon: Harley L. Schwadron, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Silver Birch Press 