Kurt Vonnegut:"If you really want to hurt your parents, and you don't have the nerve to be a homosexual, the least you can do is go into the arts. But do not use semicolons. They are transvestite hermaphrodites, standing for absolutely nothing. All they do is show you've been to college." . . . (More)

I DROPPED VIRGIL IN THE TOILET.

A verse of inappropriate sobriety: The body of Duncan lay dead,Still warm on his kingly white bed.Washed her hands did she,Cleaned his blade did he,And the salty green waters were red.

I was perusing the Wiki article for Kaavya Viswanathan, a Harvard undergrad who was discovered to have plagarized several passages for her debut novel. As I skimmed over sample robberies discussing boys, clothes, petty scrutiny of other girls' body weight -- typical chick lit -- a sudden . . . (More)

I have a sudden urge to find and meet someone named Harry.

I got it.

I love fairy tales. I love the Twelve Dancing Princesses, Baba Yaga and Vasilisa the Brave, the Firebird, Boots and the Glass Mountain, Tatterhood -- but I loathe The Frog Prince.   (Spoilers follow, for the chronically illiterate amongst you!) When a princess loses her golden b . . . (More)

On the 19th of December in 45 BCE, Caesar -- that is, Gaius Julius -- took dinner with Marcus Tullius Cicero. JC had brought with him troops of two thousand strong -- not a man, evidently, to travel light. The elegant orator was somewhat annoyed to have tough-as-nails soldiers traipsing flowerbed . . . (More)

Ovid, you charming scamp. "Don't neglect the horse races if you're looking for a place to meet your girlfriend. A [racetrack] crowded with people offers many advantages ... The narrowness of each seating space forces you to squeeze together; in fact, the rules for seating compel you to touc . . . (More)

Sans social companions for the day, I trampled down to BMV to score a few books. Strange people congregate in bookstores -- myself included, naturally, but my strangeness is kept inside, whereas others seem to put it on the outside. I've been delayed by a blind Lord of the Rings fanatic and a man . . . (More)