Leo Rosten: Insufferable.

Last week I picked up a used copy of Leo Rosten's People I Have Loved, Known or Admired from the one dollar racks in front of the Strand. Yippee, I thought. I had liked The Joys of Yiddish when I found it in my grandparent's basement in Kokomo, IN. So clever, so vibrant, so Jewy. But as I started reading Rosten's book, I realized this guy is truly terrible. All the corny jokes, the volubility, the wisecracking that is lovable when my grandfather does not age well. Read years later, it comes across as bad, undisciplined, try-y writing. One opening paragraph in particular is intolerable.

I've known Wilbur since he was knee high to a romalea microptera--and the fact that I write "Romalea microptera" instead of grasshopper shows you the peculiar influence he (Wilbur, not the grasshopper) has had on my life.

It's like someone is doing that sharp-shooter motion and clicking their tongue after every sentence. Oy!

More Wenn Poetry

• The Hanson Brothers end their barefoot walk bringing attention to the poverty and AIDS crises in Africa, San Diego, California 16.11.08


• Ted Danson seen buying groceries at Whole Foods in Brentwood, Los Angeles-16.11.08


• Lindsay Lohan leaving her hotel carrying a can of CokeLondon, England - 16.11.08


• Actor Arnold Vosloo taking his pit bull terrier for a walk. Santa Monica, California 15.11.08


• Amy Winehouse steps out of her house and approaches a taxi, but then apaprently changes her mind. London, England--16.11.08


• Victoria Beckham shops at Saks Fifth Avenue with her son Cruz Beckham, who is dressed in a Robin costume
  Los Angeles, California - 14.11.08


• Yanni, the famous pianist, out jogging in Acapulco before performing a string of concerts in the Mexican city
  Acapulco, Mexico - 13.11.08

I Saw The Death of Print On Broadway

Though I'm not one to read too much into happenstance omens, oh man, I passed this on Broadway the other day. A puddle of wet magazines discarded among the autumn leaves and dog shit. The crow flies! We're all doomed! What does this inauspicious muddle of magazines tell us? Who is the first to go? Well, judging from this pile, W Magazine is on the way out. Ditto GOOD although we all knew that. And, of course, PRINT is a goner. Deadsville.