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A study in browns
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A Hell of a Woman by Jim Thompson
From my notion book review template
A Hell of a Woman by Jim Thompson
What It’s About – lowlife surrounded by other lowlife’s meets desperate woman – the lowlife reveals himself to be quite low over the course of the book
How I Discovered It – Amazon sent me an email saying I would like it, and it was on sale
Thoughts – The pacing is the most interesting part – Thompson starts the main character off in the first person as the inner dialogue of a regular guy, then it changes to the dialogue of the average lowlife, then it gets much worse – all very believable though.
Calling Thompson the “Dimestore Dostoevsky” is pretty accurate
What I Liked About It – the character progression as a moral descent, which in hindsight, was obvious. Also the book was a very fast read – I read it in two or three sittings.
What I Didn’t Like About It – the ending had too many new things which hurt the concepts a bit
Who Would Like It? – any hard boiled fiction fans
Related Books – Pop 1280, the Grifters
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A new way of labeling one’s position on abortion
We currently have the inadequate terms “Pro-choice” and “Pro-life” – which, while self congratulatory and cloying don’t describe the situation with any clarity or precision.
Are you find with abortion by medication (abortion pills) but think partial birth abortion/dilation and extraction should be illegal? Which are you? Are you pro-choice because you think the pills should be legal and maybe even covered by insurance, or are you pro life because you think abortion at 39 weeks should be illegal.
I propose a new way of thinking about the matter – instead of choosing a binary term (pro or anti) – why not use a numerical score of when you think abortion should be prohibited?
Assuming the following:
- The average pregnancy takes 40 weeks from a woman’s last period
- Conception happens at week 2 (on average)
- One’s opinions on contraception are not relevant to this metric
- Once the child is out of the womb it assumes it’s own existence and personhood separate from the mother
Why not start using numerical scales – someone who would prohibit all abortions would label themselves as A2, someone who thinks partial birth abortion/D & E should be legal would be an A40. Someone who favors the heartbeat rule would be an A12, etc, etc.
I think this would offer much more clarity in one’s positions than the current system of labeling.
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Another de Boerism that should be a yard sign
From this post on feeling valid
I don’t mean to be a bummer here. But it’s important to point out that we’re born in terror, we exist for no reason, we experience confusion and shame as children, we busily prepare ourselves for lives we don’t want or can’t have, we are forced to take on the burdens of adult responsibility, we compromise relentlessly on what life we’ll pursue, we settle and settle and settle, we fear death and ponder our meaninglessness, we experience the horrors of aging, and when we die the only comfort we have is that we aren’t conscious to learn that there was never any heaven or God to give it all meaning. This is the inevitable reality of human life and it can never change.
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Today I learned that Eva Marie Saint was still alive
Not sure why I found that interesting, but she was in On The Waterfront in 1954 – she’s 97 and still going strong apparently.
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I saw the movie, The Outfit
I liked it quite a lot – one review I saw consisted of “A mob movie for people who like mob movies” which sums it up perfectly. High concept, low budget, (taking place in only 3 rooms) all perfect dialogue and character selection.
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Saw Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore
It was okay – Mads Mikkelson is great in everything he does – it was worth sitting through, no need to see it again. The production team did a great job on the visuals. Marleigh enjoyed it.
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Happiness is a new book
The new Wings of Fire book anyway – thank you Amazon Prime!
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New American Motto
Home of individual excellence and collective irony
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Walk on the beltline
A pleasant stroll
