Lev Raphael's Blog, page 22
May 14, 2016
"Scandal" Loves Skewering the GOP
Scandal is wild and addictive. And it's so easy to be dazzled by the sex, political wrangling, high-speed dialogue, and flashy camera work that you can sometimes forget it's a blistering satire of the Republican Party.
May 12, 2016
9 Reasons Why Michelle Obama Should Be Our Next Vice President
No matter who wins the Democratic nomination, there's only one person in the U.S. who should join the ticket: Michelle Obama.
She's very popular.
She would bring diversity to the ticket.
She has wit, grace, style, and passion.
She's met many world leaders and seen diplomacy first hand.
She's as intelligent as Clinton and Sanders but more of a people person than either of them.
She's had almost eight years of watching how Washington works and knows the major players.
She's an excellen...
She's very popular.
She would bring diversity to the ticket.
She has wit, grace, style, and passion.
She's met many world leaders and seen diplomacy first hand.
She's as intelligent as Clinton and Sanders but more of a people person than either of them.
She's had almost eight years of watching how Washington works and knows the major players.
She's an excellen...
9 Reasons Why Michelle Obama Should Be Our Next Vice President
No matter who wins the Democratic nomination, there's only person in the U.S. who should join the ticket: Michelle Obama.
May 11, 2016
Why is Gene Simmons Dissing Prince?
Interviewed in
Newsweek
about the deaths of David Bowie and Prince, Gene Simmons of Kiss called Bowie's death "tragic."
But when it came to Prince, he had a very different assessment:
"His drugs killed him. What do you think, he died from a cold?....how pathetic that he killed himself. Don't kid yourself, that's what he did. Slowly, I'll grant you...but that's what drugs and alcohol is: a slow death."
Simmons calls himself "delusionally upbeat and positive," but those comments come off as...
But when it came to Prince, he had a very different assessment:
"His drugs killed him. What do you think, he died from a cold?....how pathetic that he killed himself. Don't kid yourself, that's what he did. Slowly, I'll grant you...but that's what drugs and alcohol is: a slow death."
Simmons calls himself "delusionally upbeat and positive," but those comments come off as...
May 4, 2016
In Defense of Prince
The latest news about Prince is that he was getting help from experts in dealing with addiction to pain killers.
But as soon as he died, I read lots of on-line speculation about him being a drug abuser. Today I read that his death was the kind of thing you would expect, given his "lifestyle."
Well the facts aren't in and maybe we'll never know all of them.
But everybody who's lived with chronic pain knows enough. And if they're Prince fans, their hearts are likely broken all over again i...
But as soon as he died, I read lots of on-line speculation about him being a drug abuser. Today I read that his death was the kind of thing you would expect, given his "lifestyle."
Well the facts aren't in and maybe we'll never know all of them.
But everybody who's lived with chronic pain knows enough. And if they're Prince fans, their hearts are likely broken all over again i...
May 3, 2016
Holocaust Survivors' Son Finds Peace Writing About Germany
Fans often ask me at readings which of my many books is my favorite. The answer doesn't pop up immediately, because I've published in many genres: memoir, mystery, literary novel, short story collections, psychology, biography/literary criticism, historical fiction, Jane Austen mash-up, vampire, writer's guide, and essay collections.
I love them all, or I wouldn't have written them, but my 19th book (and third memoir) My Germany has a special place in my writer's heart. It's more deeply pers...
I love them all, or I wouldn't have written them, but my 19th book (and third memoir) My Germany has a special place in my writer's heart. It's more deeply pers...
May 2, 2016
Jon Snow Lives? Yawn.
I've been enjoying Game of Thrones since the beginning and I've been recommending the books to all my friends who haven't read them. I think Martin is an amazing novelist and the writers of the series have done a super job of taking his very complex books and streamlining them for television.
My spouse finished the novels before I did (I'm not finished) and knew Jon Snow would die at the end of last season's show. That was a surprise to me.
But as a mystery author, I felt sure Snow would co...
My spouse finished the novels before I did (I'm not finished) and knew Jon Snow would die at the end of last season's show. That was a surprise to me.
But as a mystery author, I felt sure Snow would co...
Jon Snow Lives. Yawn.
I've been enjoying Game of Thrones since the beginning and I've been recommending the books to all my friends who haven't read them. I think Martin is an amazing novelist and the writers of the series have done a super job of taking his very complex books and streamlining them for television.
My spouse finished the novels before I did (I'm not finished) and knew Jon Snow would die at the end of last season's show. That was a surprise to me.
But as a mystery author, I felt sure Snow would co...
My spouse finished the novels before I did (I'm not finished) and knew Jon Snow would die at the end of last season's show. That was a surprise to me.
But as a mystery author, I felt sure Snow would co...
April 29, 2016
What Trump Really Said About Foreign Policy
Columnists and talking heads have been wasting time dissecting Trump's foreign policy talk this week -- treating it seriously, in other words.
All they really had to do was quote a dialogue exchange from Ionesco's play The Bald Soprano:
Mrs. Smith: Such caca, such caca, such caca, such caca, such caca, such caca, such caca, such caca, such caca."
Mr. Martin: "Such cascades of cacas, such cascades of cacas, such cascades of cacas, such cascades of cacas, such cascades of cacas, such cascade...
All they really had to do was quote a dialogue exchange from Ionesco's play The Bald Soprano:
Mrs. Smith: Such caca, such caca, such caca, such caca, such caca, such caca, such caca, such caca, such caca."
Mr. Martin: "Such cascades of cacas, such cascades of cacas, such cascades of cacas, such cascades of cacas, such cascades of cacas, such cascade...
April 19, 2016
Best-Selling Author Writes a Romance Novel To Prove Her Superiority
Novelist Curtis Sittenfeld has been getting beaten up by romance writers and readers because she's said that most romance novels are badly written.
This sounds like a classic Publicity 101 attempt to get attention for her own update of Pride and Prejudice: Throw something controversial out there about a whole genre and you might get lots of coverage. That's worked for far more famous authors like Isabel Allende venturing into genre fiction.
Was she possibly thinking of Theodore Sturgeon whe...
This sounds like a classic Publicity 101 attempt to get attention for her own update of Pride and Prejudice: Throw something controversial out there about a whole genre and you might get lots of coverage. That's worked for far more famous authors like Isabel Allende venturing into genre fiction.
Was she possibly thinking of Theodore Sturgeon whe...
