[SpikedOnline] Norman Mailer (1923-2007) was a giant of 20th-century American literature. He was a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, responsible for such classics as The Naked and the Dead. And he pioneered a new style of journalism, which revelled in and foregrounded the subjective experience and feelings of the writer. Yet none of that seems to matter to his long-time publisher, Penguin Random House, which has effectively just cancelled him.
Mailer was no stranger to controversy and criticism when alive, of course. The great historian and social critic, Christopher Lasch, saw an archetypally modern narcissism at work in Mailer’s self-revelatory prose. And feminists damned him for his opposition to contraception and his posturing machismo, a charge that acquired a darker resonance after he stabbed his wife Adele Morales with a penknife for mocking his masculinity. (Morales survived and Mailer served three years on probation.)
Yet none of his contemporaries would have dreamed of calling for Mailer’s cancellation. For good or ill, he was a truly significant cultural figure. He was a writer who not only bore witness to his age but helped shape it, too, co-founding the Village Voice in 1955, and capturing the ‘hip’, ‘beat’ and aggressively countercultural spirit of his time. He may have irked some, and he may have inspired others. But both his critics and his champions were united in recognising his importance. Read the rest at the link
#2
...I suspect Penguin Random House's thinking is this: he's dead, he was talented but he was also a colossal, nay, Biblical-level asshat, and we don't sell enough of his stuff anymore to be worth the heartburn.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
01/11/2022 6:58 Comments ||
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#3
OR, his portfoli was given to a virtue-signaller who doesn't care about the bottom line more than signalling. The same type asshat that gives a huge book advance to a Dem Pol who will sell 2000 copies
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/11/2022 7:25 Comments ||
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Slightly edited.
Greetings and salutations to my favorite website Rantburg Defender-Scimitar and Times-Picayune. I am Bill the Great4152, where it is my pleasure, by invitation, to provide readers with a few brief anecdotes and reminiscences of Gary Merrill and Bette Davis.
My introduction to Gary Merrill happened by pure accident in 1976, at a restaurant/bar named Kayo's, which was right next door to the newly constructed Main Police Station, Headquarters for the City of Portland, Maine.
Kayo's had a reputation for being one of the city's safest places to eat and drink, as well as being the most convenient place for the highly inebriated to find "alternate transportation" from the city to their homes; the Yellow Taxi Cab company was cattycorner from this policeman's bar.
It was an early spring evening when I stepped into the bar to quench my thirst and grab a light dinner.
Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, the place was packed, save for one seat at the horseshoe bar, next to a somewhat disheveled 60-ish year old gentleman, who was sitting and leaning in the "hard corner" of the bar, up against the brick wall.
Being the polite 22 year old man that I was, I asked the gentleman if he had need of the vacant bar stool, was he waiting for someone, could I use it. He looked at his watch, said "Beth is a hour and half late, and she likely won't be here anytime soon", motioned to me to sit and said, "It's all yours, friend."
I thanked him, introduced myself as Bill and he said his name was Gary, we shook hands and I sat down.
I'm a cigarette smoker, so I pulled out one of my packs of Pall Mall Gold 100's filter out of my jacket pocket, pulled one cigarette out of the pack and lit up. My new bar buddy, Gary asked for a cigarette, "Sure, no problem." I had him remove his cigarette from the pack and I put the pack on the bar facing both of us, saying, “They are there when you need 'em, help yourself."
I also put my Zippo on the deck of the bar. To my surprise, Gary didn't light up immediately, but instead tapped both ends of the cigarette on my Zippo, ripped off the filter, and then lit up the ragged end of the cigarette. As he lit up, I looked at his face: the light of cigarette lighter showed me a familiar face, and it dawned on me who he might be.
I asked him directly, "Gary, you would happen to be The Gary Merrill, The actor, Star or co-star of some of the best B rated movies of the 1950's, would you?" And he replied, "They were all A rated movies as far as I'm concerned, it was the box office that made them B."
Jeepers, Christmas in Heaven, Gary Merrill, once married to Bette Davis, Hollywood Legends, holy smokes man, you are talking with a Star.
Gary and I hit it off like an uncle with his nephew. We talked about him owning a decommissioned lighthouse in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, his run for Congressional Office as a Representative of Maine in 1970, his quirky habit of wearing a kilt in summer whilst visiting/shopping in The City of Portland (the first US city called Portland, founded in 1623), his adopted daughter, who wrote a very unflattering biography about Bette Davis and his, Gary's defence of his former wife Beth, (Bette to you), his business voice-overs for advertisements, and a lot more.
In closing, I want to tell you, Gary still loved his ex-wife Beth, even in 1975, 15 years after their divorce. I asked Gary, "What attracted you first to your wife Bette/Beth?” and he said to me, “She was older that me, I was 34/35, she was 41/42, we worked on a movie together, I loved her scent, I loved the way she moved. I looked in her eyes they were captivating, but it was her lips that touched me; the best kisser I ever had."
Gary died in Falmouth, Maine in 1990... I'll never forget my old drinking buddy.
Posted by: Bill the Great4152 ||
01/11/2022 00:00 ||
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Posted by: Frank G ||
01/11/2022 7:28 Comments ||
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#3
A charming tale, Bill. One of the pleasures of a long life is all the fascinating people one meets along the way.
For information: unless it is an major ongoing jihadi attack or the assassination of a national politician, anything submitted after 2:00 p.m. ET will be held until midnight for publication.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Aleksandr Khaldyi
[REGNUM] Talks between Russia and the United States on the issue of security guarantees, even before their start, ran into a negotiating impasse. The parties have not yet been able to agree even on an agenda. Russia insists on one thing, the United States on another. What is going on now, in fact, is not negotiations, but preparation for the opportunity to enter them.
#3
Bizarre take on Diplomacy, but then it is Russian!
Diplomacy consists of, as I understand it, One diplomat stating their position paper (Remember the old TV Beer Ad: "Tastes Great!" ?) and the other diplomat stating their country's position paper ("Less filling! LESS Filling!"). They both then break for lunch. This rather silly process repeats every day until one side *Blinks* ("Tastes sorta Great!" Or "Is mostly Filling"). The other, non-blinking side then demands further concessions...
Direct Translation via Google Translate. edited. by Aleksandr Kots
[KP] Tokayev's appeal to the CSTO looks like an attempt to relieve himself of part of the responsibility for the blood that is already pouring on the streets of Alma-Ata and will still be shed in the coming days.
I’ll say an unpopular thing, but I don’t really like the fact that Russian troops are participating in this peacekeeping operation. Because they will immediately draw away all the negativity from the Kazakh military, and this will inevitably affect the Russians who live in the country. You can't show a man with a gun, but a neighbor with a Slavic face - easily. The peacekeepers will leave sooner or later, and the Russians will be left alone with a part of an angry and nationalist-minded society.
Tokayev's appeal to the CSTO looks like an attempt to relieve himself of part of the responsibility for the blood that is already pouring on the streets of Alma-Ata and will still be shed in the coming days. And the fact that Kazakhstan cannot independently cope with either armed marauders or international terrorists (so far no one has provided evidence of their presence, by the way), does not say anything good about its statehood. It's not even a Taliban invasion. * Here you involuntarily think about the combat readiness of our allies on the border with Afghanistan.
But since the decision on the peacekeeping operation has been made, that is, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Armenia, Belarus is eager to fight. They all have peacekeeping units, the coordination of which took place in numerous joint exercises. So let them prove themselves. Ours do not need to prove anything. They have shown themselves more than once in real operations.
Nevertheless, the first transport planes with Russian paratroopers have already taken off from the Chkalovsky airfield. They, of course, should not be engaged in establishing order, or cleansing, or capturing marauders. Only the defense of strategic facilities for Russia - both military and oil and gas, control of transport arteries acting in the interests of Russia, and the protection of areas inhabited by the Russian population. Well, humanitarian aid, as usual.
Aleksandr Kots is prior service Russian airborne. He served with one of the airborne brigades now deployed to Kazakhstan
#1
...Probably safe to say the Kazakhs ain't too keen on it either.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
01/11/2022 7:43 Comments ||
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#2
For some reason, many of those folks living in the states of the former Soviet Union care little for Russia. Living in an area of Georgia that was deeply involved in the American Civil War, I can, in a small way relate to those resentments.
[The Atlantic] Synthetic mRNA, the ingenious technology behind the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, might seem like a sudden breakthrough, or a new discovery. One year ago, almost nobody in the world knew what an mRNA vaccine was, for the good reason that no country in the world had ever approved one. Months later, the same technology powered the two fastest vaccine trials in the history of science.
Like so many breakthroughs, this apparent overnight success was many decades in the making. More than 40 years had passed between the 1970s, when a Hungarian scientist pioneered early mRNA research, and the day the first authorized mRNA vaccine was administered in the United States, on December 14, 2020. In the interim, the idea’s long road to viability nearly destroyed several careers and almost bankrupted several companies.
The dream of mRNA persevered in part because its core principle was tantalizingly simple, even beautiful: The world’s most powerful drug factory might be inside all of us.
#7
I've always tried to be go-along, get-along. I actually now hope the pendulum swings to a place that will make lefties' hair fall out. The pieces can be picked up later...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
01/11/2022 15:52 Comments ||
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#8
If it shifts us to working from home I think that would be a good thing. It might be a problem from a society/unity point of view but I hate going into the office.
[ET] A type of cells produced by the body when fighting common cold viruses cross-protect people against infection with the virus that causes COVID-19, according to a study published Monday.
T cells have been recognized as a measure of protection against severe COVID-19 and previous research indicated that recovery from common colds may provide some level of shielding against the virus that causes COVID-19.
Researchers with Imperial College London found in the new study that the presence of such cells can also prevent infection by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, also known as SARS-CoV-2, which causes the disease.
The scientists assessed 52 contacts of newly diagnosed COVID-19 cases to pinpoint when they were first exposed and determined that people who tested negative for COVID-19 had higher cross-reactive T cell levels. They also took blood samples from the participants within 6 days of exposure.
"Being exposed to the SARS-CoV-2 virus doesn’t always result in infection, and we’ve been keen to understand why. We found that high levels of pre-existing T cells, created by the body when infected with other human coronaviruses like the common cold, can protect against COVID-19 infection," Dr. Rhia Kundu, the lead author, of Imperial’s National Heart & Lung Institute, said in a statement.
Professor Ajit Lalvani, another author, said the study "provides the clearest evidence to date that T cells induced by common cold coronaviruses play a protective role against SARS-CoV-2 infection," adding that "these T cells provide protection by attacking proteins within the virus, rather than the spike protein on its surface."
The discovery could help scientists develop a new version of the COVID-19 vaccine, the researchers said.
T Cells: A type of white blood cell. T cells are part of the immune system and develop from stem cells in the bone marrow. They help protect the body from infection and may help fight cancer. Also called T lymphocyte and thymocyte.
[Rumble] Dr. Robert Malone joined Steve Bannon on The War Room to discuss the latest viral outbreak in China. The communist regime is hiding the nature and spread of this latest disease.
This has many experts worried including Dr. Malone who is the inventor of the mRNA vaccines. Dr. Malone today told the War Room audience that he is hearing the current disease that is spreading across China is reportedly an "Ebola-like hemorrhagic fever virus." The regime is hiding the true nature of this disease from the public and from the global community — Just like last time!
Now we could be talking about an "Ebola-like hemorrhagic fever virus."
Dr. Malone: "They are using language that this is a hemorrhagic fever virus. If that’s the case then it would be very odd that this would be something caused by the Coronavirus. That terminology is usually used for viruses in the family of Ebola. So this is something that many people have feared is the development of a rapidly spreading Ebola-like hemorrhagic fever virus. But we have not knowledge of whether that is going on here or not."
#1
Viruses associated with rodents are spread through direct contact with rodent urine or feces; they are also spread when people breathe in particles from rodent urine or feces that have gotten into the air (e.g., from sweeping dirt containing dried urine or feces).
#2
Hemorrhagic fever virus is endemic in Korea. Lost one troop to it during my tour. They weren't shutting down anything. The 'Plague' is endemic to the four corner area of the US. It's also carried by rodents. They never shut the states down over it.
#3
^ Hantavirus is battled by wearing a mask while cleaning and spraying a bleach solution on the dust before sweeping the floor. If you're opening a summer cabin, common sense.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/11/2022 7:35 Comments ||
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#4
Malone could lose credibility dropping bombs like that without proof or additional sources.
#5
We always assume that a bioweapon is intended to kill as many people as possible, but that certainly hasn't been true of COVID. Disrupting the world's economy is a potentially more effective weapon.
#6
and getting rid of the Elderly and Comorbid ("financial drags on Society") a la Zeke Emmanuel and his Death Panels...
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/11/2022 10:02 Comments ||
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#7
Malone admits that we don't really know what is going on in China
this however should be a warning to athletes planning on going to the winter Olympics
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
01/11/2022 11:33 Comments ||
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#8
this however should be a warning to athletes planning on going to the winter Olympics
Well. Where to start? For people who have basically been training their entire lives to compete at the olympic level, it's really difficult for them to pass up the chance, whatever the situation. Ironically, many of these individuals are hard-core woke despite living lives where only God-given talent plus extremely hard work gets them to where they are.
Down the road, will America participate in any olympics that take place in a country where people are denied work, basic rights, rounded up in camps because they don't drink all the COVIDian kool-ade? I sure hope not.
Many of the athletes are carrying slave-labor made Crapple products. Of course they will go to china, given the chance.
People always have and always will make deals with the devil. It's up to each of us individually to not join them or partake of their moral comprimises.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
01/11/2022 11:50 Comments ||
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#9
Malone is an NIH insider. He sits on the NIH ACTIV committee that manages clinical research related to drug and antibody treatments for COVID.
From everything I've heard, Malone is always precise in his descriptions, detailed in his explanations, extremely punctilious about his sourcing.
The image created by his detractors is the opposite of how he actually comes across. He's calm, deliberate, careful, good-humored and extremely clear and complete in his explanations. Zero evasions or conspiracy-mongering.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[The Atlantic] Synthetic mRNA, the ingenious technology behind the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, might seem like a sudden breakthrough, or a new discovery. One year ago, almost nobody in the world knew what an mRNA vaccine was, for the good reason that no country in the world had ever approved one. Months later, the same technology powered the two fastest vaccine trials in the history of science.
