Mixed lollies
I've always been a sucker for a great opening line in a story and came across a beauty this weekend. It's from a story called "Until Gwen" by Dennis Lehane in Best American Short Stories 2005. Here goes:Your father picks you up from prison in a stolen Dodge Neon, with an 8-ball of coke in the glove compartment and a hooker named Mandy in the back seat.How can you not read on? If any of yous fullahs out there have one you like, or want to make one up, share it in the comments.
Anyway, speaking of things literary, the Telegraph has an interview with the prolific Peter Ackroyd - biographer, novelist, historical writer extraordinaire who insists he's "not one of those people who have ideas."
Chris offers this on Rembrandt, via Arts & Letters Daily. who accepted so many commissions and worked so fast that his paintings looked "as if the paint had been smeared on with a trowel".
"They" (literary critics, that is) call her "a pioneer of New Journalism in the Sixties". If you’re not sure what's she's written, read this for a potted history of Joan Didion.
Most right-minded people hate what's going on Lebanon, but the Bats in Space blog (although typographically not pretty), is worth a look for its stand against anti-Semitism. And more on the Florida English student being harassed by police for publishing what was clearly a work of fiction on LiveJournal (via Boing Boing).
Mark has more good news on coffee, and for its devoted drinkers. And, as MTV kicks off in NZ, here's some things it can do for us all including giving everyone ADD:
"The MTV style" of quick cuts and whipsaw cameras—known among veteran film editors as “frame-fucking”—is now the de facto visual language ofAmerican culture, from Michael Bay summer blockbusters to commercials for Sunny Delight.From me again, Indonesia is starting to face up to the reality of its invasion and occupation of East Timor, thanks to an insider's account from former foreign minister Ali Alatas. And, finally, Cheezy makes some interesting connections between Albert Camus, George Bush and The Cure?!?
Ciao.
posted by Rob O'Neill at 9:45 AM
8 Comments:
We do not mention the (supposed)director of The Island, Armageddon, Bad Boys & Pearl Harbour. Ever.
Has cute friends though.
http://www.imdb.com/gallery/granitz/3251/Events/3251/ScarlettJo_Cohen_5245079_400.jpg?path=pgallery&path_key=Bay,%20Michael
First, the obvious...
'The same week our fowls were stolen, Daphne Moran had her throat cut.'
Yes, Doddery, can't help but agree. A Kiwi classic.
Dodders,
You beat me to it. One of the greats. An opening line up there with "it was the best of times, it was the worst of times."
A thought: is Morrieson essentially saying the same thing with this line as Dickens?
Aah! The Muse is back!
Yes, sorry. Blogger very quirky with pictures right now.
Not a story, but surely the first line to beat all first lines is the one that begins Anthony Burgess's 1980 novel Earthly Powers:
"It was the afternoon of my eighty-first birthday, and I was in bed with my catamite when Ali announced that the archbishop had come to see me."
The sitting across from me on the bus was reading a potboiler-ish looking paperback. A chapter began with the line:
It didn't matter that he'd just gone to the toilet five minutes ago.
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