August 16, 2013

This is a short impression, not  a review, of two movies I saw recently. “The Reluctant Fundamentalist” is yet another movie that does not live up to the promise of its trailer. Damn! Why do I let a trailer convince me to waste 2 1/2 hours? Riz Ahmed’s portrayal of a highly privileged and smart…

July 16, 2013

Two different articles on the Internet have reminded me of the humanity of writers. (I should say: other writers. I am aware of my own humanity each time I look at myself in the mirror.) Kurt Vonnegut, whose books and whose passion for social justice I admire, wrote: “We are what we pretend to be.”…

June 14, 2013

Compared to the time I was in New York, catching up with art movies as well as acclaimed regular movies at Lincoln Center, Angelica Theater, and Film Forum, I am badly out of touch with the movie scene. In the last 2 days, however, I have seen three powerful movies, two of which are about…

April 9, 2013

This essay, titled “The Slow Death of the American Author” and just published in The New York Times, is too important for anyone concerned about freedom of expression and diversity of opinion to miss. I am pleased to bring it to the attention of my readers: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/08/opinion/the-slow-death-of-the-american-author.html?nl=opinion&emc=edit_ty_20130408&_r=0 I recently wrote, in my blogspot blog, about…

April 7, 2013

It is amazing how insightful and philosophical George Carlin can be; and it’s a pity I discovered this side of him so late, and thanks only to You Tube. “It’s important in life: you don’t give a shit. It can help you a lot.” Here is the You Tube link for this quote: http://youtu.be/oj5Sd3BRm_I How…

January 27, 2013

Excerpted from the chapter, “The Fourteen Commandments of Impressing the Whites” from my book, Impressing the Whites (a satirical and complex book about race, East, and West–pardon me, the quotation is out of context, and meant to provoke your curiosity): “The Fifth Commandment saith: Whether or not thou art longitudinally disadvantaged, in totality or in…

January 8, 2013

I wish all the readers of this blog a Happy 2013. I am delighted to announce that that I already have a few new books published on Amazon Kindle, Smashwords, Itunes, and Nook, and a few more are due out shortly. Not all the books are listed on my website, so please feel free to…