Rebel posts that don’t fit the mold.
1. Highly controversial choice meant to enrage readers, thus drawing lots of links and hits 2. Conventional but ‘artsy’ choice to prove aesthetic credentials 3. Completely ordinary choice that is actually the thing you like best, but you put it third so as not to seem obvious 4. Another completely …
“All right, let’s move on to Action Item #7.” “Why must we call them that? This is all talk. No action.” “It’s just a phrase, mighty Genghis. It is meant to remind us that these items under discussion are meant to be acted upon immediately rather than tabled.” “What table? …
The French are very sensitive to personal dynamics, and they believe that you must earn your rewards. If a tourist enters a food stall thinking he’s going to be cheated, the salesman will sense this and obligingly cheat him. But if a Frenchman senses that a visitor is delighted to …
I land in Pittsburgh, and can feel the strength of my destiny. I leave Europe behind me with naught but contempt: adieu to you, land of my birth, strangler of talents! You are no friend to the artist. You are a place of calcified class, of snobbery and falsely gained …
The Fourth of July used to be one of my favorite holidays. Its location midway through the summer was a nice kick, and it was a good occasion for grilling before the money dried up and it got too hot to go outside. But beyond that, I had the idealist’s …
“Victor, you didn’t invite Adam over again, darling.” “Of course I did. Why wouldn’t I?” “Honestly, darling, he’s just awful. We’re getting a reputation. No one will come to our dinner parties if you keep asking him over.” “But whatever is the matter? He’s well-read, a fine speaker, very polite.” …
Derek Raymond didn’t just write about crime; he did something about it. Born to a wealthy London family and raised in the countryside near Kent, Raymond (born Robert Cook) showed a gift for downward mobility as soon as he left Eton: unable to stand the pressure of working for the …
Dear Dr. Helton, The Department of Defense staff has reviewed your application for permission to utilize your newly-developed Time Machine (US Patent #4004-BC-10100036, applied for but not processed) in order to, as you put it, “go back and kill Hitler”. We believe this project has significant merit — in addition …
Many young people recently of drinking age have asked me, in aid of attempting to ‘class up’ their weekend brunches and cock-tail parties, what are the proper ingredients of a Bloody Mary? Well, first of all, it doesn’t count as brunch if you and your stupid friends manage to find …
HOTELS High-End: Located just across the Rue Douleur from Satan’s summer place, the Hell Hilton is the place to go if you’re a visitor to the infernal regions for whom money is no object. The accommodating staff will gladly accept all major credit cards and will remind you of the …
All this twaddle — the existence of God, atheism, determinism, liberation, societies, death, etc. — are pieces of a chess game called language, and they are amusing only if one does not preoccupy oneself with ‘winning’ or ‘losing’ this game of chess. As soon as we start putting our thoughts …
I first met the Zodiac Killer in the fall of 1970 at a dinner party given for him by Grace Malley and her husband, Yezny Finkelblatt, head of Motion Picture Studio’s security cameras deivision. My wife of the moment, Corrida Mexia, was seated next to a lovely young co-ed who …
It continues to amaze me every day how completely and thoroughly we fail to understand our own culture. It’s especially baffling considering that this country, really, only has pop culture going for it; having given up on the Supermanly troika of truth, justice, and the American Way, and having shipped …
There seems to be an audience that demands everything be explained to them; that everything be easy. And I don’t think that’s doing us any good as a culture. The ease with which we can accomplish or conjure any possible scenario imaginable through CGI is almost directly proportionate to how …
Hello, readers! Things are tough all over, and no mistake. But they’d be a little less tough here at leonardpierce.com if you’d consider buying one of the many products and services I have to offer at the moment. If you’re reading this site, it’s presumably because you like what I do; and …
