Fresh off of reading A Pint of Plain: Tradition, Change and the Fate of the Irish Pub by Bill Barich, I’m saddened, mostly because of the “change” part of that subtitle. I want to believe in the romanticized version of the Irish pub. But, alas, it’s likely I’ll never see one.
Posts By Caleb J. Ross
Caleb began writing his sophomore year of undergrad study when, tired of the formal art education then being taught, he abandoned the pursuit in the middle of a compositional drawing class. Major-less and fearful of losing his financial aid, he signed up to seek a degree in English Literature for no other reason than his lengthy history with the language. Coincidentally, this decision not only introduced him to writing but to reading as well. Prior this transition he had read three books. One of which he understood.
Lucky me, Literary Roadhouse co-host Gerald decided to take a vacation. This left room for Maya and Anais to invite me on as a guest to discuss the short story "Axolotl" by Julio Cortázar. What is an axolotl? It's this weird looking thing: Literary Roadhouse is a really good podcast where a group of co-hosts gather together to discuss one short story every week. Their discussions are in-depth and illuminating, a tradition which I hope to have contributed to (I haven't listened to the episode yet, so I'm not sure). Check out my guest episode here. Don't hesitate to peruse their back-catalog of episodes. And subscribe, dammit!
The Important Question? Podcast, a wonderful funny thinky podcast I co-host with Gordon Highland, has a new permanent home at ImportantQuestionPodcast.com. Check it out. Subscribe. All new episodes and news about the podcast will be posted over there.
As the old joke goes: What’s the difference between Hitler and jock strap? One’s a dictator, the other a dick-toter. Absolute power may corrupt absolutely, but can you get anything done in a democracy? And so we ask, would you rather be a dictator or an elected president?
This is a bit of a different format for my review videos. As I explain in the video, I'm trying to streamline the process of uploading videos while at the same time making the reading process itself more enjoyable. Let me know what you think. So, what is Gun, Needle, Spoon? It's basically a drug memoir written in a vignette style. The lack of narrative "glue" doesn't detract from the impact nor from the sheer craziness of the events in O'Neil's life. If you like drug memoirs, definitely pick this one up. Disclosure: Dzanc (the book's publisher) sent a copy of the book to me. The free copy did not influence my opinion of the book.
With the announcement of the Mars One program, over 200,000 earthlings applied to depart this shithole planet and endure eight years of training before a seven-month, one-way, unshowered flight to colonize an unspoiled one. Four will be selected every two years. And so we ask, would you leave this life behind and everyone in it to realize your astronaut fantasy?
The greatest thing about childhood is of course the lack of shame when gobbling down copious amounts of candy. We even have Halloween, a day dedicated to begging strangers for the sweet vibrantly colored starter-heroine. And even better is being a baby with candy. Because we all know that taking candy from a baby is easy and wrong. Or is it? On this episode of Important Question? we ponder to what degree would our taffy-like ethics have to be stretched before we take candy from a baby. What about you? Is a crying baby or an angry parent worth a lollipop? If so, what flavor of lollipop? Let us know on Twitter. Caleb J. Ross can be found @calebjross and Gordon Highland can be found @gordonhighland. Subscribe to the podcast by clicking one of the buttons below, or simply add http://feeds.feedburner.com/ImportantQuestion to your favorite (or least favorite) Podcast app.