Lev Raphael's Blog, page 30

Grammar Nudniks: Please Stop Obsessing About 'They' and 'Their'

You know who you are and you know what I mean.

You hear someone say "Everyone should have their rights" or you read a sentence like that and you feel tormented.

You simmer. Then you explode. You call down the wrath of the grammar gods on the offenders.




It's time to get over it. Yes, I know, you believe it's grammatically incorrect and you can haul out this or that guide to prove it. But history isn't really on your side if you bothered to do some research.

Truly. Use of "they," "them,...

"The Expanse" Is More Exciting Than "Leviathan Wakes"

People often complain that a movie or TV series isn't "as good as the book."

With SyFy's The Expanse, the opposite is true: the writers have improved a dull, sometimes amateurish novel. Yes, I know Leviathan Wakes has a great cover blurb from George R.R. Martin. But that's not surprising: one of the people who wrote it is his assistant (James S. A. Corey is a pseudonym for Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck). It also got a Hugo Award nomination. Again, anything with that kind of pedigree is sure t...

The Truth About Malcolm Gladwell?

This week the best-selling author was outed by the New York Times as a "blurb whore." The Times didn't actually label him that, but it's the term publishing insiders use for an author whose name appears promiscuously on book jackets.

The Times revealed how often Gladwell blurbs books totally outside his own areas of expertise. His name "adorns scores of book covers not his own," and if blurbing were an Olympic sport, he'd clearly get the gold.

"It's hard to compete with Malcolm Gladwell," s...

The Shocking Truth About Bloggers

Are you a newbie at blogging? Do you want to get lots of hits?

The best way is to write something that'll piss people off.

One approach: Be super negative.

Adele's new album has been breaking sales records and she has zillions of adoring fans. Imagine writing a blog that says 25 is crap, she's over-rated, and not remotely as good as Lana del Ray or any other singer of your choice. You'd be sure to get tons of hits and people would RT like crazy in their rage.




Another approach: Defend...

5 Reasons Why You Should Do an MFA

Writers ask me all the time if they should do an MFA, a degree that gets lots of negative criticism these days.

I tell them that my own experience was very positive, a great start to a long career, and I list the main things I got out of the MFA:

1) I learned to write under deadline. I took lots of creative writing classes in college, but I never had to produce so much writing per semester with a jury of my peers waiting to pass sentence. It wasn't always easy, but it helped me later on...

5 Reasons to Do an MFA

Writers ask me all the time if they should do an MFA, a degree that gets lots of negative criticism these days.

I tell them that my own experience was very positive, a great start to a long career, and I list the main things I got out of the MFA:

1) I learned to write under deadline. I took lots of creative writing classes in college, but I never had to produce so much writing per semester with a jury of my peers waiting to pass sentence. It wasn't always easy, but it helped me later on...

The Secrets of Trump's White House

Donald Trump has had a lot of harsh things to say about Mexicans and Muslims, but people don't know much about his own background.

He used to claim he was of Swedish descent, but that turned out to be false. His heritage is German and Scottish.



So, given his pride, I think it's safe to assume that a Trump White House will

--Make Germany our Über-ally.

--Serve schnitzel, haggis, or both at state dinners.

--Encourage Scottish independence from Great Britain and get them a great deal beca...

What to Expect From a Trump Presidency

Donald Trump has had a lot of harsh things to say about Mexicans and Muslims, but people don't know much about his own background.

He used to claim he was of Swedish descent, but that turned out to be false. His heritage is German and Scottish.



So, given his pride, I think it's safe to assume that a Trump White House will

--Make Germany our Über-ally.

--Serve schnitzel, haggis, or both at state dinners.

--Encourage Scottish independence from Great Britain and get them a great deal beca...

Morning Joe Is a Clown Show

I tune in now and then when I'm making coffee, but eventually turn it off because I'm disgusted by the buffoonery that passes for news and analysis.

Take today's show.



Donald Trump was being interviewed by phone. He did what you would expect: He heavily salted his vague comments with rampant self-regard. He used the word "great" as often as he could. He bashed Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.

Over all, he sounded like he always does to me, a native New Yorker: like an angry cab drive...

Is Wolf Blitzer for Real?

Verbally, that is.

Listen to him for more than a few minutes and you'll notice that he has a very odd verbal tic: He obsessively punctuates what he says with "if you will."

Blitzer seems almost addicted to those three little words.

Now, "if you will" is an idiom that's a more formal version of "so to speak." When you use "if you will" you're indicating that what you've said might be a stretch. You're inviting your listener(s) to accept a usage that might be unclear, nonstandard, fancifu...