Sometimes one just needs to get outside of the box. From the NYTimes:
LONDON – “The Cuckoo’s Calling,” a debut detective novel published here in April, was not a huge commercial success, but it got great reviews.
Readers described it as complex, compelling and scintillating. They compared the author — a former military police investigator writing under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith — to P. D. James, Ruth Rendell and Kate Atkinson. They said the book seemed almost too assured and sophisticated to be a first novel.
As it happens, they were right. In one of the great publishing coups in recent years, “The Cuckoo’s Calling,” which has sold just 1,500 copies in Britain so far, turns out to have been written not by an ex-British Army officer, or by a new writer, or even by a man. Instead, its author is J. K. Rowling, whose Harry Potter novels have made her one of the world’s best-selling, and best-known, authors.
Ms. Rowling was unmasked by The Sunday Times of London, which, acting on an anonymous tip, embarked on a sleuthing mission of its own and published the result on Sunday. In the article, Ms. Rowling confessed to the ruse and spoke somewhat wistfully of her brief, happy foray into anonymous authorship.
“I had hoped to keep this secret a little longer, because being Robert Galbraith has been such a liberating experience,” she said in a statement. “It has been wonderful to publish without hype or expectation, and pure pleasure to get feedback under a different name.” …
PeakVT
Kind of dickish of the Times to out Rowling. I guess the right to scoop trumps other considerations.
Emerald
Great song for today. Love me some Tracy Chapman.
Hal
Reposting this great video of Chihuahuas being rescued from a parking lot in so cal. I found it last night and thought it was a great panacea for the shit storm of this weekend. Slightly bitter sweet in the end but heartwarming.
youtube.com/watch?v=CKHjgAZzvyQ
mai naem
I’m really fond of JK Rowling – firstly, because my sister had a real hard time getting my nephew to read and Harry Potter is what finally brought him around to introducing him to the joy of reading. Secondly, because of the interviews I’ve seen of her, she seems to come across as a genuinely nice, grounded person.
c u n d gulag
Next up – Stephen King, using the nome de plume, Cheney Lynn, writing Wild West Lesbian Vampire books!
aimai
Thanks for posting htat song. Its one of my favorites.
lamh35
I’m going to pre-emptively apologize for this rant so early in a thread, but since it’s an open thread, and this rant has been in me all day and I just had to let it out.
Yesterday after hearing the verdict, I was not really shocked, but I just felt this numbness. I was upset and just had a long time trying to get my mind settles enough to finally get to sleep. This morning I woke up and I no longer felt numbness, I felt anger. And not the normal kind of anger at stubbing your toe, or angry cause I’m broke, but this quiet, festering anger that just seemed to get stronger as the day goes by and as I read the reactions from both side of the divide and I just had to stop watching tv or reading twitter. That anger is still festering and simmering under the surface. To know me is to know that I’m not a volatile person. I’m pretty even-handed when it comes to the justice system, I don’t trust it, but I realize that we have to live within it. But as African Americans, I suspect that majority of us feel the same particularly when it comes to the justice system.
I’m angry. That’s it. I don’t feel violent, I don’t feel reactive, I FEEL ANGRY! And right now, I don’t want to hear anything about this being “the right verdict” or about “respecting the verdict” or “why are people so surprised”. I don’t want to hear anything about SYG, or about white on black crime or any other reasoning people have been using to create “calm”. Can Black folk just for right now be allowed to be damn angry and not RATIONAL and not LOGICAL, just ANGRY. without someone trying to calm us down.
I AM ANGRY. I damn sure think we deserve at least the day to rant and rave in anger and not LOGIC. That way at least we can go to work on Monday in our probably majority white work place and public places and not feel the need to scream in white folks faces! Just so that I can get through the day without having to give a primal scream of frustration.
quannlace
You forgot to add Zombies to that.
Great for Rowlings. If anybody could have just sat back on her pile of money… It’s great that writing itself is still a real passion for her.
jenn
@c u n d gulag: ok, that one made me snort out loud.
PurpleGirl
@Hal: Damn, it is heartwarming and bittersweet. Those doggies are cute mixes. I want to hurt the person who dumped them and hurt the person(s) who shot at them.
lamh35
back sorta on topic: I’ve never actually read any of the Harry Potter books or really seen the movie other than cause my lil sister loved them and I caught glimpses.\
Right now, the only British publication I’m anticipating is the new Bridget Jones Diary book by Helen Fielding. It’s supposed to be out in October. I’ve already pre-ordered it.
jenn
@lamh35: Yes, be angry! I’m angry with you – it may be a slightly different anger since I am so white I may glow in the dark, but … this wasn’t justice. Screw Zimmerman’s self-defense plea – he initiated the whole thing. Where’s Trayvon’s right to self-defense?! And then … we’ll start to muddle our way to fixing some of these shitty laws, because if this really was legal, then that has to change.
PurpleGirl
@lamh35: The African American community has a right to be angry. Your rant is righteous and goes a way to expressing what and why you feel as you do. I hope that tomorrow your work colleagues are respectful enough to not talk about the verdict or the case unless they are willing to include you in the conversation. Yes, you should feel the angry and vent it.
c u n d gulag
@quannlace:
That will be covered when King writes a mock Lynn Cheney autobiography, “I Married a Heartless Zombie – and All I Got, Was a Man-sized Safe.”
Amir Khalid
@c u n d gulag:
Actually he’s already written several books under a pseudonym, “Richard Bachman”. He published five novels before he was outed in the mid-1980s by a bookstore clerk in Washington DC. One of them, The Running Man, was made into a movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Ruckus
@lamh35:
Be angry. I want to say that’s OK but that sounds condescending to me to even think about. I can only imagine how you must feel, for I’m angry and frustrated and angry and discouraged and angry. How a black person feels? I probably have about 1/10 of one percent of an idea how you feel.
Culture of Truth
Good thing she fessed up. Joe Klein denied it initially, making him look like a dick in the end.
Emerald
@jenn: This case is exactly what the time-honored tradition of jury nullification is for.
We don’t put people with legal training on juries. We put lay people on them. We do that because lay people are supposed to use their damned common sense, not struggle to follow arcane legalisms they can’t even properly understand.
Just do what’s right. Screw Florida’s law. That jury was the law, and they just legalized murder.
Hal
Some asshole childhood friend of mine posted on Facebook yesterday that they’re were mobs of racists at the courthouse waiting to riot, and that gun owners of Florida should “lock and load” and shoot the pieces of shit, as he nicely put it.
This is someone who constantly complains about damn Mexicans and ZOMG! Why do I have to press 1 for English, this is America!
Oh, he also heard that “blacks” were going to kill a white person in retaliation. Charming. Oh and he’s a teacher at some local college. In Arizona. So yeah.
? Martin
@Hal: Yeah, fucking cowards.
Amir Khalid
@quannlace:
You should check out Rowling’s first post-Potter work,The Casual Vacancy, about local politics and the class divide in a small English town.
aimai
@lamh35: I am so sorry and I can’t imagine what you are going through. I’m angry, too, but I know that I don’t have to hide my anger. I can’t imagine having this amount of rage, your amount of rage, and also needing to stifle it publicly so that the people around me don’t feel uncomfortable and start to lash out at me and everyone like me.
Annamal
Weirdly enough I figured JK Rowling would do something like this. She’s a decent author, which means that it must have burned not to be able to write books without having them be compared (always unfavourably) to her first megastar series.
This way she got honest feedback and got to write for herself.
I know it’s a problem that most authors would love to have but I can see why she chose this route.
Botsplainer
Getting ready to hike backstage on my tound-on-a-sidewalk crew pass, Robert Plant the next act. Already hung out backstage with The Black Keys and The Flaming Lips last night. This afternoon was Grace Potter.
The final show is The Avett Bros.
I see why people want to be rock stars.
gogol's wife
@lamh35:
I’m white and I feel incredible anger. I can’t imagine what you’re feeling.
The whole thing’s been following me around wherever I go — every restaurant, every medical waiting room — and whenever I’d hear what was going on in that courtroom I would just boil. “He was armed with a sidewalk.” I couldn’t believe it.
Litlebritdifrnt
Been in Myrtle Beach for the weekend celebrating my 22nd anniversary and I have to say that yesterday was one of the shittiest days ever. First with Stuck, then with Tunch, then with Zimmerman I went into a crying fit last night like you would not believe. The Tunch news reminded me of my beloved Lari being killed by a Pit Bull rampaging through the neighborhood and I cannot imagine what John is going through right now. I tried to post on the thread last night using my phone but unfortunately it would not recognize my handle so I am making up for it now in the hopes that John sees my sincere condolences. I would also like to thank SPT for posting that most wonderful retrospective of John’s posts about Tunch because it made me remember what a truly awesome cat he was. I am still crying now and finding it hard to believe that I am crying about a cat I never met that belonged to a human I have never met, but that is how the internet is I suppose.
Tunch will be waiting for you at the Rainbow Bridge John, but you know, knowing Tunch, he will ignore you for a while unless you have a can of Tuna in your pocket. Probably a good idea to put a condition in your will that whatever suit they bury you in has a can of tuna in the pocket.
The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik
@gogol’s wife:
The fact that the trial is dead isn’t stopping the movement to continually convict Trayvon Martin of thuggery either. The newest bullshit I’ve been reading since the verdict: the skittles and tea he had were the ingredients to “Purple Drank” and thus prove he was being a total thug and ready to be a total criminal that night.
jenn
@Litlebritdifrnt: are you sure it didn’t post? I remember reading one from you.
MBC
@lamh35: I don’t know if this will help you, but I walked in on my 89 year old white southern mother in tears this afternoon about this awful verdict. It’s not just you and it’s not just AAs who are enraged. If she were younger, I wouldn’t put it past her to go to Florida to stir up some trouble.
A lot of people feel your pain.There are constructive places to channel this anger. A huge turnout to elect people who will change these insane laws would be the most effective way to honoring Trayvon Martin’s memory. Anger, yes, but effective revenge is better.
Just my two cents.
JPL
The reason I didn’t watch the trial is because I was afraid of the outcome. The idea that someone could paint Zimmerman as a victim sickens me.
@Hal: That’s mighty christian of him.
Chris
@Amir Khalid:
That sounds fairly interesting.
I thought the politics, insofar as you can call them that, in Harry Potter were bang on and pretty close to my own, incidentally.
Angela
@lamh35: I dont know how you couldn’t be angry. Justified anger can provide great energy for change.
A good anger swallowed is like rot to the bones, but a good anger cleaned and used is beautiful.
Ruckus
@Litlebritdifrnt:
Can of tuna in the pocket.
That is so Balloon Juice I can hardly believe it. I was just starting to be a little better, just starting to feel anything but anger and numbness and now a can of tuna gets me. That’s OK though it, forms the perfect picture.
MikeJ
@PeakVT:
I don’tr see how the times owe her anything. It’s news.
SiubhanDuinne
@lamh35: I would worry very much about you if you DIDN’T feel angry!
Amir Khalid
@Chris:
Rowling wrote Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone as a divorced mother living on public assistance, and since then she’s always spoken up for preserving the social safety net in Britain.
lamh35
Ok, needed a break, so watching The Addams Family movie. IMHO, Raul Julia and Anjelica Hurston as Gomez and Morticia were just absolutely SPOT ON casting. The rest of the supporting cast are just as perfect as the two leads. I even love the sequel.
Great chemistry between the leads, and the casting and campy yet not too campy feel of it was a winner in my book.
My fav scene are of course of Mortica and Gomez:
youtu.be/zIC2aMlqEZk
youtu.be/WSlojAguwGE
youtu.be/38lw7nvmxcc
jprfrog
@PurpleGirl: Not just AA’s. Anyomne who has a sense of justice has to be at least disturbed. By the quirk of Florida law that puts the burden of proof on the prosecution in self-defense pleas (unlike NY, where it is affirmative and puts the burden on the claimant) this was probably a correct verdict, since the state fumbled pretty badly. But in any moral dimension it is a monstrosity, an obscenity. I wouldn’t want to further burden Martin’s parents, but perhaps, as in the OJ case (another farce), they will think it possible to bring a wrongful death suit (and nail the Sanford police on the way, for their sloppy, sloppy work in the early days). I don’t doubt that there are many lawyers who would do it pro bono (since I don’t think that Zimmerman has deep pockets) and attack Zimmerman’s obvious (to me at least) lies for what they are. There is also, I read, a possibility that DOJ may act (civil rights violation). In any case, I hope that there is more digging to examine exactly what did or did not happen that night, or at least establish more facts than we have now.
Violet
@lamh35: There’s a new one coming out? I loved those books when they first came out.
Amir Khalid
@lamh35:
It’s a pity Raul Julia only made two Addams Family movies before he passed away. He was an even better Gomez than John Astin.
Thlayli
@Litlebritdifrnt:
I think it’s safe to assume that Tunch’s section of Kitteh Heaven features 400-pound ahi leaping out of the water and gracefully landing in his dish.
Ruckus
@Thlayli:
I wish I could summon yours and @Litlebritdifrnt’s: humanity and look at this weekend with a little twist like the two of you have done.
lamh35
@Violet: yep. Fielding and publishers anounounced in May I think the title of the new 3rd installment. As I understand it, it’s mostly written, and will be released in October.
I can’t wait. I re-read the first 2 books and they are STILL as funny as when I first read them.
Of course, the next question was if a new book, then a new movie too right? Renee Zellweger doesn’t seem busy, Hugh Grant has mostly retired from acting (so doing another shouldn’t be that big a deal). the only big if is Colin Firth. Unlike the other two, Colin is still an in demand actor and if there is no Colin Firth as Mark Darcy, then there ain’t no movie anyway.
Here’s the article about the book: independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/mad-about-the-boy-title-of-new-bridget-jones-novel-b…
quannlace
I guess they should change the state road signs to “Welcome to Florida: Home of Disney World, the Everglades and legalized murder.
lamh35
@Amir Khalid: agreed, he was awesome. It’s kind a shame that Raul Julia’s last film was Streetfighter, but I can’t really complain about it, cause Streetfighter is one of my campy favs!
Violet
@lamh35: Thanks! I think it could work as a book. Not so sure about the movie, since the actors are significantly older. Guess it depends where the characters are in their lives.
quannlace
I know, I love that too. Forget a coin for the ferryman. It’s gotta be a can of tuna.
j
Just like “The Traveling Willbury’s”.
piratedan
If you want additional insight into how screwed up Florida is, just read some of Carl Hiaasen’s novels… while great fun, they also have an understated fury and anger in them.
jprfrog
@Chris: While some of the wingnuttery objected to the Harry Potter saga because of the “witchcraft”, I think that some of them instinctively realized that among the other things, it was a very instructive lesson in how racism can be used for political organization.
From where does Voldemort get his support? From “purebloods” who, like his own grandfather, find their (relative) lack of stature in the magical world intolerable, and who fall back on the purity of their bloodlines to enhance themselves (even though some of them are derelicts). Note also the elevation of mediocre incompetents and outright sadists and maniacs (Umbridge and Bellatrix) to positions of power, where they take delight in torture. Indeed the court scene in “Deathly Hallows” where in the shadow of the dementors people have to plead their blood status could be transposed to any Gestapo interrogation (with some echoes of McCarthyism) without difficulty.
That Voldemort himself is a half-blood is also telling: clearly he cares not a bit for the racial line he has used to get dominance (and that dominance is exercised in secret — shades of J. V. Stalin!) but is completely willing to exploit and betray his followers for his own purposes.
Could it be that the likes of Hannity, Coulter, Limbaugh and the whole noxious crew are just as cynical? And that their secondary victims (their true believers, don’t want at any price to be made aware of this? Reading Rowling, they might begin to see the pattern, and wouldn’t that terrify them so badly that they must deny it with their last bit of strength.
jprfrog
@piratedan: Hiaasen was interviewed on “60 MInutes”. He said that if you tilted the map of the US up on the left, all the sludge would run down into Florida. For very personal reasons, I am in total agreement. if the place sank into the sea, (after evacuating the decent, honest people) we would all be better off.
scav
@lamh35: Well, here’s my rant that I worked on while avoiding news.. So, yes. Go with it.
Florida Florida Florida. Were you worried about the probable decline in available tourist-derived income as middle-class families fall further and further behind? Decide your target (heh) for growth opportunity might lay more with the high-value high-income adventure “xtreme” tourism edge of things?
Bring back the Thrill of The Hunt! The Glamour of the Big Game Safari! Come to FLORIDA! Not for just Crocs, just Gaters, nor mere swordfish etcetera et cetera et cetera et cetera. Go for a Probably Once in a LifeTime Hunt for Big Game that may Just Shoot Back, the Apex of the mammalian or sub-angelic hierarchy! Risk levels can be tailored to your exact personal specifications by carefully pursuing the target menu of bipedal game and further controlled by adjustments in legal team and preliminary police force sponsorships (also helping to drive down govt teat-sucking by same individuals — a free-market two-fer!). Live out your wildest Police Officer or Embattled Hero Fantasy in a matchless 3D setting! Fine dining, superior hotel accommodations also available. Check out the Publicity and Plaudits Ad-ons to complete your Holiday Package and Preserve the Memories of your Bag for All Times. Offer only available to select individuals. All-season availability but Lifetime bag limit probably one (untested).
cckids
@gogol’s wife:
This. I’m angry for the Martin family & for all of us who cannot count on basic justice in this country. In an earlier thread, I quoted General Wm. T. Sherman, speaking about the South in the Civil War. He said ” War is the remedy our enemies have chosen, and I say let us give them all they want of it”.
I’m not advocating violence, but a comparable passion & fervor to get all the godsdamned ALEC & NRA crap laws out, get better educated citizens, just fight them on their ground – the takeover of the workings of our states. Kay is doing great work – if all of us out here in blogistan will put forth some type of similar effort, maybe, just maybe, we’ll start to see results.
It took the Reichwingers the 30 years since Reagan to effect their stealth takeover of local & state govts. Hopefully, since there are more of us, (and we’re better with technology), we can make it work sooner.
cckids
@lamh35: I so love that movie. Both of them.
“Is your lemonade made with REAL lemons?” “Are your cookies made with REAL Girl Scouts?”
Perfect.
Cacti
@jenn:
I’m a fellow honkius maximus, and I alternate between anger and sadness. Anger at the injustice of it, and at how completely rigged the criminal justice system is against non-whites in the nation “with liberty and justice for all.”
Sad and ashamed at how exuberant so many of my tribe seem to be that Zimmerman got away with killing a black kid.
It took the election of the first non-white POTUS to tear the blinders off my eyes about how deep and ugly the racism still runs in this country. The US of A in 2013 is still racist as shit. They’re just not a voting majority nationally anymore.
Nutella
@jprfrog:
And who can forget B Kliban’s map filth cartoon?
(It’s a tiny image so it’s hard to read so here’s a detailed description and transcript: An outline map of the world centered on the Atlantic Ocean with a talk bubble from the US saying “Hey, Europe! Eat my Florida!”)
Nutella
@Cacti:
That’s the main reason why things are getting uglier. We whites have been living very comfortably in the majority and the idea that any of us could every find ourselves in a neighborhood or group of people where whites aren’t dominant in numbers and power is terrifying to many who just cannot handle being in the minority. I’m afraid it’s going to be a problem for some time before we get used to the fact that no race is going to be the majority any more.
Chris
@jprfrog:
Actually, the vibe I got wasn’t that he didn’t care about racial purity, just that he was conveniently ignoring the fact of his own blood impurity. He’s not the only one like that – it’s suggested that many of the Death Eaters are half-blood or even worse, but are drawn to the ideology regardless (the most egregious example being Snape, a half-blood in love with a Muggle-born who nevertheless swept up in the whole thing basically because it’s cool and they let him do dark arts stuff) and lying about their background. Kind of like Hitler in no way matching his own definition of the Aryan ideal. As with any ideology, when it doesn’t match the real world, you ignore or lie away the inconvenient facts.
Chris
@Cacti:
@Nutella:
The thing is, while white racists are no longer a majority, they’re very disproportionately represented among the people with power. And they’ve been doing everything they can to entrench themselves in that position by any means necessary.
Cygil
@lamh35
Fortunately for me, I had already prepared myself psychologically for the verdict. I knew it was coming and so I managed to take it much better than a lot of people. Like the man said, forget it Jake, it’s Florida.
Cygil
@jprfrog
By the quirk of Florida law that puts the burden of proof on the prosecution in self-defense pleas (unlike NY, where it is affirmative and puts the burden on the claimant)
A common legal myth that I’m sick of refuting. The “burden of proof” is always on the prosecution — it has to show that none of the acceptable defenses, including defense, or in Florida, stand your ground, applies. That is a constitutional requirement.
Self-defense is an affirmative defense in Florida. But all this means is, in order to use it, you must “affirm” the material facts of the offense. That is say, Zimmerman can’t simultaneously use the defense that it wasn’t him that pulled the trigger of the gun that shot Trayvon Martin dead, and in the alternative that is was him, it was in fact self defense. You have to pick one or the other. He must concede the prosecutions case thus far, that he did indeed kill the decedent.
Cygil
And unfortunately it was a botched prosecution (the prosecutor presented a feeble and disorganized case) and a pathetic police investigation riddled with misconduct and incompetence including probable falsification of evidence and fundamental procedures not followed. The most fundamental: Zimmerman’s injuries were almost certainly utterly superficial, and I believe he faked the “broken nose”. But they were not properly documented by a police medical examiner. Instead he was released and a decision not to prosecute was hurridly made. Then police falsified claims (such as the almost certainly apocryphol claim that the Martin parents claimed it wasn’t their son on the audio) to justify the decision. Moreover, although Zimmerman’s version of events was laughable, the investigating officer failed to put sufficient pressure on the weak points of his story. Had he been interviewed, say, five times in three days, his story would have fallen apart, but unfortunately, again because of the premature decision to cut him loose, Zimmerman was allowed to construct his story at leisure instead of under pressure and with the weight of forensic evidence putting him under the gun.
“Zimmerman, look at the X-ray. Do you see a broken nose? The chief medical examiner says that’s a superficial cut to the septum. Look at the cut on the back of the head. It’s fucking a quarter inch long. No bruising. No fractures. Nothing. How did you get that from Martin “bashing your head against the concrete multiple times.” You said he punched you several times. There are no marks on Martin’s hands. You say that was you screaming on the tape. But at the time you were supposedly screaming, you were claiming that Martin had his hand over your mouth trying to suffocate you. Dude, don’t fucking lie to me.”
Of course this never happened. Even after all this time, if Zimmerman had taken the stand, he would have been convicted. Of course he did the sensible thing by not taking the stand. Unfortunately the jury wasn’t allowed to watch Zimmerman squirm and minimise and and distort and fabricate and change his story, and they weren’t smart enough to connect the dots without that show.
Patricia Kayden
@Hal: You have nice childhood friends.