Quote of the Night-William S. Burroughs

Tonight, we continue quoting famous American authors with a quip from my personal favorite William S. Burroughs (1914-1997). His best-known work is the novel "Naked Lunch" (1953) which was made into a film of the same name in 1991 by Canadian director David Cronenberg. Other famous novels by Burroughs include "Junky" (1953) and "The Soft Machine" (1961, pictured here).

Here are some brief facts about his life:

_Lived much of his abroad including time spent in London, Paris, Mexico City and Tangier (Morocco), and he lived most of his senior years in Lawrence, Kansas.

_He had a son named William Burroughs Jr. (1947-1981) who wrote the novel "Speedy." Tragically, the younger Burroughs died at age 33 from liver disease.

Here is the quote from the author of "The Soft Machine:"

"A cat's rage is beautiful, burning with pure cat flame, and its hair standing up and crackling blue sparks, eyes blazing and sputtering."

Quote of the Week- William S. Burroughs

Today's quote of the week comes from one of my favorite writers William S. Burroughs (1914-1997) who is, of course, best known for his signature, surreal subversive novel "Naked Lunch:"

"A paranoid is someone who knows a little bit about what's really going on."

SIDEBAR: As Keith Olbermann pointed out on his Current TV show "Countdown" on Tuesday night, Fox News has been obsessive over the fact that President Barack Obama was taking a family vacation in Martha's Vineyard, Massachussetts, which has an elitist reputation.

The liberal political pundit E.J. Dionne of "The Washington Post" made a point on the Friday edition of "All Things Considered," which I am inclined to agree with in that it may have been politically wiser for Obama to take a vacation on the Outer Banks or the shores of Lake Michigan instead.

Obama has actually viisted Asheville, NC, twice since becoming president, including a stay at the Grove Park Inn Hotel in late April of 2010.

Since Cong. Heath Shuler (D-NC), one of the most conservative Democrats in Congress, is actually in danger of losing his seat to a potential Tea Party whacko (well, aren't they all whackos?), we imagine Obama will be back in western North Carolina again quite soon.

UPDATE_ NPR is reporting that Hurricane Irene is potentially heading for the Outer Banks of North Carolina, so perhaps it's better that Obama chose Martha's Vineyard after all!

Pardon the Interuption...

Yes, we have been offline for three-to-four days due to some rather awful (can anyone use that word objectively?!) life circumstances which lead to having a nightmare which ended with me waking up and yelling: "Naked Lunch!" at 5:30 a.m. I have no idea how William Burroughs came to invade my subconscious!

While I can not tell you of the many terrible ordeals I've been through lately, I can tell you that our friends at The Washington Ballet (ok, so we don't anyone there!) in our nation's capital are performing Septime Webre's version of "Romeo and Juliet" from Nov. 3-7, 2010.

Incidentally, the image above is a test screen from TRT (Turkish Radio and Television). When I lived in Turkey as a child from 1977-1979, I was so excited to watch "Uzay 1999" (which is really the American cult sci-fi series "Space 1999") that I would watch these test bars before the show would finally air. Back in Turkey in the late '70s, tv did not often air until 7:00 p.m., during the week.

Of course, back in those days, when I returned home to Roanoke, Va., I had to wiggle the antenna to watch one of my generation's favorite cartoon "Superfriends" (which featured all the main DC Comic Book characters, even Aqua Man) from Channel 13, which is still the ABC affiliate in nearby Lynchburg, Va.

Quote of the Week-Allen Ginsberg

The poet Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997) is our choice for The Quote of the Week as we continue our series on left-wing rdicals. Ginsberg was part of the beat movement, which included the late William Burroughs ("The Naked Lunch") who is perhaps my favorite writer/novelist.

We quoted Ginsberg earlier in April for National Poetry Month. This particular quote came across 'our desk' by chance, and we love it!:

"Democracy! Bah! When I hear that word I reach for my feather Boa!"

The Last 10 Films I've Seen

This may qualify as an in-joke since I am using two images from the original books to two movies I've recently seen on my two respective blogs.

The in-joke is that because I watch so many films, I rarely get around to actually reading novels, but perhaps I can read the original book to "Where the Wild Things Are" (pictured here) since it is reportedly less than 300 words! Perhaps, my friends Sam Riddleberger (pseudodymn) and CeCe Bell (a married couple, both of whom are children's book authors) would be proud of me.

I have read William Burroughs' novel "Naked Lunch" several times though, but I haven't read Upton Sinclair's novel "Oil!," which was the basis for "There Will Be Blood." However, I have read Sinclair's most famous work "The Jungle," which I don't believe ever got made into a movie.

I got this idea from "Film Comment" magazine which lists the last ten films that film directors or esteemed film critics have seen. I forget whose list I saw last (I think it may have been Wes Anderson) though I would love to see the list of films that Quentin Tarantino and John Waters have seen.

Here is my list, going from the film I've seen most recently backwards. I actually saw all but three of these films at a movie theatre, including a midnight screening in Greensboro, NC, of the ever-disturbing Japanese horror film "Audition."

The star indicates that I had viewed the film previously:

1. "In the Loop"
2. "Zombieland"
3. "Where the Wild Things Are"
4. "Audition" (Japan)*
5. "Death at a Funeral"
6. "Bright Star"
7. "Capitalism: A Love Story" (doc)
8. "Naked Lunch"*
9. "There Will Be Blood"*
10. "Cold Souls"