Greg Olear's Blog, page 14

OLEAR: Soldier On

Greg Olear discusses Human Smoke, The Kindly Ones, and the decision to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, and concludes that there should be no blood for oil...or anything else.

Soldier On

Greg Olear discusses Human Smoke, The Kindly Ones, and the decision to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, and concludes that there should be no blood for oil...or anything else.

Black Friday, or, Holiday Gift Ideas

The Nervous Breakdown, the angels did say, was to certain poor shepherds...ah, you get the idea.

Greg Olear: The TNB Self-Interview

Your book is coming out in paperback. Isn't that the literary equivalent of straight-to-DVD?

Are you really going to open this interview by insulting me?


I'm not insulting you, just calling it like I see it. Totally Killer is Private Valentine, isn't it?

Um…


I'll rephrase. Your book is coming out in paperback. How do you feel about that?

Hardcover has more cachet, of course. And many media outlets, clinging to an outmoded set of parameters, won't review a paperback at all. But ha...

Totally Killer: Prologue

Everybody she ever met wanted to sleep with her. Everybody, not just every guy. In time, this became a burden on her, same as if her preternatural sex appeal were some grotesque deformity—a pig nose, a hare lip, a port wine stain on her cheek. She complained about it all the time.

Invisible Touch

In which we contemplate what makes some art better than other art, using the example of two erstwhile members of the band Genesis.

Welcome to the TNBlog

Of course "The TNBlog" is not an accurate abbreviation, because spelled out it becomes THE THE NERVOUS BREAKDOWN LOG.  And that both makes no sense and, worse, evokes the memory of an 80s band that even I think is crappy.
You may observe that the new look of the site is a touch more formal than [...:]

Wayne's World of Comments

One of the unfortunate casualties of TNB 3.0 is that old comments, while still readable, will not "count."
For the sake of posterity, then, here are the ten most-commented pieces in the history of The Nervous Breakdown:

Comments

416, D.R. Haney, I Was a Child Porn Model

378, D.R. Haney, 3301 Waverly Drive
324, D.R. [...:]

Do Not Be Shamed By Reason of Your Male Aggregate Size

Again, in the spirit of preserving TNB 2.0, here is a list of the most popular posts from July 5, 2006, through this morning.
("Popularity" is determined by a complex formula involving page views, comments, pingbacks, and yes, male aggregate size.)
In a related story, these are some damned fine posts.  You should read them.  Like, right [...:]

It's Not the End of the World As We Know It (Although It Could Be Argued That Roland Emmerich Is One of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse)

NEW PALTZ, N.Y.-

How's this for a sign?

The North American release date of 2012, the latest and hopefully last disaster picture from the same aesthetes who brought you the cinematic "Ode to a Nightingale" that is Independence Day, is Friday, November 13.

My birthday.

This is wrong for so many reasons. If [...:]