a short, grumpy book review

I just read The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket.

It's far too self-consciously arch. The villains are evil for its own sake, and know it--and maybe someone could pull this off, but Snicket doesn't. The central devices appear to be exaggeration, cute names (the main characters are named Baudelaire, and the old family friend is Mr. Poe, and his oldest son is named Edgar), and repeatedly using a not-especially-difficult word and defining it parenthetically.

I believe there are five or six more of these books, but have no particular intention of spending the half hour each it would take to find out if they're better than the first.

a short, grumpy book review

I just read The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket.

It's far too self-consciously arch. The villains are evil for its own sake, and know it--and maybe someone could pull this off, but Snicket doesn't. The central devices appear to be exaggeration, cute names (the main characters are named Baudelaire, and the old family friend is Mr. Poe, and his oldest son is named Edgar), and repeatedly using a not-especially-difficult word and defining it parenthetically.

I believe there are five or six more of these books, but have no particular intention of spending the half hour each it would take to find out if they're better than the first.

Some slogans observed

In lieu of a lengthy write-up of the peace march, here are some of the slogans I saw, mostly on signs but also on clothing:

• Save pessimism for better times.


• Coalition of the willing killing


• Morituri te malediceremus

( snipping for length: more of the same behind this cut tag )

There was also the usual bunch of people selling left-wing newspapers (yes, The Militant still thinks the word America is spelled with a K).

I saw pre-printed "The World Says No to War" in four languages (English, Arabic, Hebrew, and Spanish), and there were likely more. Flags included a NY city flag with a peace sign pinned to it; a US flag flying upside down; the large Brazilian flag, situated such that I walked a block or two under the banner "Ordem e Progresso", which is perhaps more optimistic than "Peace, order, and good government"; rainbow flags with the peace sign quartered; more American flags, including some with the stars arranged to form a peace sign; the anarchist red-and-black; and French flags.

At one point, as someone was trying to get a call-and-response chant going, and failing because nobody was in synch, I thought "These people aren't very good at this--they'll learn" and then hoped, vainly, that they wouldn't need to. The march was an odd mix of people who've been doing this for more years than we want to think about, like the woman who told me about being in Washington in 1965 to protest the Vietnam War--she also told me that the veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade would be joining the march at 23rd Street, since they're not up to covering the whole distance--and people who'd never felt the need before.

Some slogans observed

In lieu of a lengthy write-up of the peace march, here are some of the slogans I saw, mostly on signs but also on clothing:

• Save pessimism for better times.


• Coalition of the willing killing


• Morituri te malediceremus

( snipping for length: more of the same behind this cut tag )

There was also the usual bunch of people selling left-wing newspapers (yes, The Militant still thinks the word America is spelled with a K).

I saw pre-printed "The World Says No to War" in four languages (English, Arabic, Hebrew, and Spanish), and there were likely more. Flags included a NY city flag with a peace sign pinned to it; a US flag flying upside down; the large Brazilian flag, situated such that I walked a block or two under the banner "Ordem e Progresso", which is perhaps more optimistic than "Peace, order, and good government"; rainbow flags with the peace sign quartered; more American flags, including some with the stars arranged to form a peace sign; the anarchist red-and-black; and French flags.

At one point, as someone was trying to get a call-and-response chant going, and failing because nobody was in synch, I thought "These people aren't very good at this--they'll learn" and then hoped, vainly, that they wouldn't need to. The march was an odd mix of people who've been doing this for more years than we want to think about, like the woman who told me about being in Washington in 1965 to protest the Vietnam War--she also told me that the veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade would be joining the march at 23rd Street, since they're not up to covering the whole distance--and people who'd never felt the need before.