Neanderpundit

Zulu time, it’s already January 1, 2005.

Happy new year to one and all. I hope it brings prosperity and good health to us all!

Og.

In a tradition that is exactly 0 years old, I will finish off this year by posting silly assed links i have found or been sent through the year.

Starting off the list is Weebl and Bob. If you haven’t seen them, prepare for a giggle. The very best are the first two, in my opinion. When come back, bring pie. Wanker.

Everyone needs a Bananna guard.

Not everyone needs Sphincterine

The hat is yours! Groove to this one, baby. Several minutes of flash pleasure.

Mooooooooo!

Wookies. I hate ’em. And they’re funny looking.

Ever think of an invention that had almost no use at all? It’s probably a Chindogu. No, your brother-in-law doesn’t count.

Hell, why bother to invent it, Acme probably already sells it.

I don’t know what this is, but it’s taking over the internet! And I Still don’t know what it is.

Wastin’ away again in old Cicadaville

You don’t know it yet, but Cliff Yablonsky Hates you. And several hundred other morons.

For those who need Remedial Training this takes you to basics.

Rochambeau. No, really.

taking over the world? Here’s a few tips

One for the Men

Dog toy, or marital aid?

You know you make me wanna Shout

Stop Hillary Now!

Then there’s Stupid.com just in case you lost your old Miss army knife.

Test your skills!

Go ask Alice

The llama has two eyes, a heart, and a long beak for drinking honey!

Don’t click here

Would you like to….. touch my monkey?

Very small blog

This is how the internet was born. Or, wait, was that Merlin?

That’s only a small sampling, but those are plenty good/annoying.

Happy new year!

I read prodigious amounts. I read constantly. When I’m not reading, I’m sleeping. End Of Question.

Aside from my normal recreational reading, I have had the pleasure of reading unpublished works by a few minor authors, I’ve engaged more than one writer in correspondence.

Sometimes you get to read something so well written that it scares you.
Thomas Harris, for me, writes like that. His four volumes are masterworks, so brilliantly researched and written that they rivet you to the page.

I’ve been reading the work (in between other things) of a writer known (barely) to me, and I find it incredible. Pitiably, I suspect I will be one of a very few to read his work.

A complex and intricate novel is not the kind of thing people want to drop their $8 on. They want Steven King. They want neat stories where bad guys lose and good guys win and everything gets wrapped up in the end like an episode of the Brady Bunch. Most people want conflict mc nuggets. Problems with magical solutions. last minute desperate acts by highly trained personnel.

Pitiably, life is not like that. Wars are won in the long haul, not in the moment. Life never has simple solutions. And the very best books don’t have neat endings. Not because their authors are trying to make money off the sequels, either. The very best in literature leaves us with a sense that we have viewed a 350 page snapshot into a life, or several lives, and we feel that the lives of those people were happening before the book, and go on afterwards. If the author is good, really good, we want to know what happens to them. If he’s inspired, we kind of know what happens to them.

I wish I could write like that. Even if I could, though, I’d probably not make any money at it.

Frances W. Porretto has begun to post his work on the internet. Over at Eternity Road you can now go read stories by one of the best non published authors in existence. It’s a rare treat. Hie the hence, before he changes his mind.