They Will Rise Again From the Tundra

When George Orwell’s famous protagonist from 1984, Winston Smith, begins to read The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism, supposedly penned by the revolutionary Emmanuel Goldstein, Orwell writes that the best books are the ones that tell you what you already know. Granted, Winston arrives at this revelation while hiding from the eyes [...]

The rants don’t come easily these days — at least not as easily as they once did — save for a few impromptu outbursts when something ruffles the feathers or playing the jester. Other than that, there is little to be said about current events. Things continue much as they always have [...]

Listening to a new Bob Dylan album almost always conjures doubt and conflicted feelings, echoes of past greatness, evidence of current greatness, and obvious signs of disintegration, at least it’s been that way for me since 2001′s Love & Theft [...]

I was stumbling around the internet when I happened across the full text of Gen. George Patton’s famous speech to the Third Army. My memory is a bit fuzzy, but up until about fifteen minutes ago, my only knowledge of this oratory marvel came from anecdotes and the film Patton starring George C. Scott. [...]

Easter isn’t exactly a day I relish in any capacity, and on this Easter Sunday, I am, perhaps, more irritable than usual. This patch on my arm is feeding nicotine into my bloodstream to the tune of 21 milligrams over a 24-hour period for the sixth day in a row with no telling how long [...]

Goodbye, Battlestar Galactica.

It took me nearly a week to finally sit down and write this post, to shake off the dread, the chills, and the night sweats and claw my way to the computer to bid farewell to what? A goddamned TELEVISION SHOW. [...]

An Iraqi court handed down a sentence today for Muntadhar al-Zeidi, the Iraqi journalist who became instantly famous worldwide for throwing his shoes at then-President George W. Bush back in January. Three years in prison. Three years to sit with his pejorative from that day ringing in his ears [...]

I felt it last week. Spring.

The temperature rocketed up into the high-50s, and the atmosphere became unstable. That night was marked by incessant thunder and lightning and a torrential rain that prompted a Flash Flood Warning [...]

Hey, folks. Just a brief message here announcing the grand opening of the Book of Mammoth. You should see a tab linking to it at the top left of your screen.

This is a series of stories [...]

And here we are again. Christmas Day. A low-key one now that we’ve all gotten older and tired of holiday ritual. There will be presents, and the children have returned home just like every year, but the ties are purely familial. Christmas has become joyless, though not entirely unwelcome. Sentiments that were augmented by the [...]

Illinois is not noteworthy for its scrupulous politics. The state’s back alleys are awash with tales of discarded votes and large-scale fraud—even murder—and the tendrils of corruption reach far into every level of the government. I’ll spare you the historical examples suffice it to say that Rod Blagojevich’s arrest by federal agents this morning is [...]

Perhaps I’ll have more later on the potential implications of the Obama Administration once I can wrap my head around all the potential boons and pitfalls suffice it to say that a recent issue of the Chicago Reader said it best: don’t screw this up.

In the meantime, Newsweek has released a series [...]