Category Archives: Best Of

First Published Work – Curt Meets Amy At The Swan

My first published work is up on Rick Moody’s site, RateYourLodging.com, the fictional hotel reviewing site supporting the release of his new literary novel, Hotels of North America (Little, Brown, November 10, 2015).

In my piece, a characters from my forthcoming book, Maximal, comes face to face with a character from his own work. Seems he was once a finance exec who went down a literary path; funny how that should be. The encounter promotes his review of the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin resort, a Starwood property recently in the news because of the pending acquisition of Starwood by Marriott, and it is this review/story that Moody published this week.

Also posted in Notes, Writing | Leave a comment

AIG Extracted From The Government, or What A Recovery Should Look Like

Bob Benmosche wins where so many have failed.

Also posted in Visionaries | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

FCS, Choirmaster at Grace Died on Tuesday.

I received an email last night saying that Frank Cedric Smith, choirmaster at Grace Church from 1960 to 1992 died on Tuesday at his home in Cape Cod.

It’s given me pause, the email, more so than most of these types of messages. We all stop for a moment at an obituary listing. An obligatory reflection on mortality surfaces, always a bit selfishly because the thought ends up circling back around to our own situation; then we push those “me” thoughts away, and with forced reflection a memory stirs, we move back in time.

Frank Smith made me Head Chorister at Grace in 1975. (My name is up on the wall in the church lest I forget)

Also posted in Around Town | Tagged , | 6 Responses

Getting Ready for PlainText

I’ve moved almost all my notes out of my SimpleText folder. A few seasons ago I put them all in there when Hog Bay launched its free syncing service to support WriteRoom and TaskPaper for the iPhone and iPad. I did it because I thought I’d be notating and editing all sorts of items in the newly freed, on the go, mobile existence of the “i” revolution — no need for a heavy laptop for me. I was wrong.

Also posted in Productivity | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Response

The Center Cannot Hold – Flarf in the WSJ

Sharon Mesmer, Flarf, The Wall Street Journal, Page One.

There really isn’t any more that I can say….Poetry makes the big time.

Click through for the evidence.

Also posted in Writing | Tagged , | Leave a comment

The Influential Books Game

Everyone’s making a list of ten books. Tyler Cowen started it. I caught up via Ross Douthat’s article NYT in the New York Times. The drill is: stream of consciousness, from the gut, no great research, off the top of your head, what ten books most influence your world view. Here’s my list…

Also posted in Writing | Tagged , , | 1 Response