We Defy Augury

Thoughts (loosely) inspired by Daniel A. Sjursen's book "A True History of the United States: Indigenous Genocide, Racialized Slavery, Hyper-Capitalism, Militarist Imperialism and Other Overlooked Aspects of American Exceptionalism."  

Thoughts (loosely) inspired by Seth Harp's military exposé  The Fort Bragg Cartel: Drug Trafficking and Murder in the Special Forces.

Thoughts (loosely) inspired by Malcolm Gladwell's book  Revenge of the Tipping Point: Overstories, Superspreaders, and the Rise of Social Engineering (and everything else Malcolm Gladwell has written).

Thoughts (loosely) inspired by S.A. Cosby's Southern noir novel  The King of Ashes  and Tana French's wild tale of undercover infiltration  The Likeness.

Thoughts (loosely) inspired by Tana French's "Dublin Murder Squad" series and Anthony Horowitz's "Magpie/Moonflower/Marble Hall Murders" series. You will be tested.

Thoughts (loosely) inspired by the Charles Portis novel  Gringos . . .  and living at the beach for a month. Salt life!

Thoughts (loosely) inspired by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa's classic Sicilian novel "The Leopard." A meditation on how place influences psyche (with some help from Bon Jovi and Bruce).

Thoughts about narration, reliable and otherwise, loosely inspired by the novels of Jim Thompson and the Richard Russo essay "In Defense of Omniscience." There is also a film quiz . . . see how you fare.

Thoughts on creativity and identity (or the lack thereof) loosely inspired by the SNL Weezer sketch, Jonah Lehrer's article "Groupthink, Song Exploder episode 70: Weezer "Summer Elaine and Drunk Dory," the Atlantic article "Is This the Worst-Ever Era of American Pop Culture?" by Spencer Kornhaber and a bunch of other stuff.

A philosophical, literary, and musical meditation on creativity and good ideas. Thoughts (loosely) inspired by Jonah Lehrer's article "Groupthink," Plutarch's "The Ship of Theseus Dilemma," and Steven Johnson's book  Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation.

A meditation on wealth and its consequences, at both the human and national scale. Thoughts and theories (loosely) based on Taffy Brodesser-Akner's novel  The Long Island Compromise  and Andrew Bacevich's political critique  The Age of Illusions: How America Squandered Its Cold War Victory. Special Guests: Tana French, Pat Martino, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Tom Wolfe, Ayn Rand, Bret Easton Ellis, Gordo...

Thoughts (loosely) inspired by various articles on the L.A. Fires, Ralph Waldo Emerson's essay "Nature" and Joan Didion's essay "The Santa Anas." Special Guests: The Bicycle Man, Conrad Bain, Nellie Bowles, David Gelles and Austyn Gaffney, Leighton Woodhouse, The Rivieras, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the delta smelt, the gang from Full House , and the gang from WKRP in Cincinnati.

Thoughts loosely inspired by Ian Mortimer's history book  Medieval Horizons: Why the Middle Ages Matter, Christopher Buehlman's fantasy novel   Between Two Fires, and Connie Willis's science fiction novel The Doomsday Book. Special Guests: Jim Carrey, Matthew Broderick, Janeane Garofalo, The Beastie Boys, George Carlin, Rick Moranis, MF Doom, the Monty Python Troupe, Kiefer Sutherland, 100 Gecs, M...

Thoughts on the history and future of the American suburbs (loosely) inspired by four books: Disillusioned: Five Families and the Unraveling of America's Suburbs  by Benjamin Herold The Fifties  by David Halberstam Outside the Gates of Eden: The Dream of America from Hiroshima to Now  by Peter Bacon Hales The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit  by Sloan Wilson Special Guests: Monty Python, Bill Cosby, R...

Thoughts (loosely) inspired by three Paul Tremblay horror novels:  Horror Movie, The Cabin at the End of the World,  and  A Head Full of Ghosts. Special Guests: Joe "the Zombie" Biden, Donald "Apocalypto" Trump, Foghat, Bernard Herrman, John Carpenter, Evil Dead, Hector Berlioz, Joey, Rachel, and Randy Meeks.

Thoughts (loosely) inspired by Halle Butler's novel  The New Me. Special Guests: The Who, Moira and David, Larry and Susie, Norm, and Radiohead.

Thoughts (loosely) inspired by Halle Butler's novel  Banal Nightmare. Special Guests: Ween, OK Go, Morrissey, Pink Floyd, The Beatles, Suzanne Vega, Bill Bryson, and The Kids in the Hall.

The top three reasons to read Shakespeare, dramatically presented in five acts. Special Guests: Bill Bryson, Bill and Ted, James Shapiro, Ron Popeil, The Beatles, George and Jerry, Gretchen Wieners, Miles Davis, an articulate homeless man, Stunna Girl, Rollie, Drew, Paapa Essiedu, Tim Minchin, Benedict Cumberbatch, David Tennant, Rory Kinnear, Sir Ian McKellen, Dame Judi Dench, and King Charles.

A review of Shakespeare's most notable lines, plays and genres-- in the form of a quiz. Good luck!  

An introduction to Shakespeare's art and how it connects to his life and times.  Thoughts (loosely) based on  A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare:1599  by James Shapiro,  Shakespeare: The World as a Stage  by Bill Bryson,  The Elizabethan World Picture  by E.M.W. Tillyard and countless years of teaching Shakespeare to high school students. Special Guests: Tim the Enchanter, Cole Porter, and,...

Thoughts (loosely) based on John Wyndham's post apocalyptic sci-fi novel  The Day of the Triffids. Featuring an Auditory Apocalypse Quiz. Special Guests: Skeeter Davis, Vic and his telepathic dog, Tool, Kent Brockman, The Presidents of the United States of America . . . plus a host of others  (which cannot be revealed because-- duh-- there's a quiz).

Thoughts (loosely) based on Rob Russell's book "The Adventures of JoJo the Small Town Hound: Volume 1, Leesburg, Virginia and the Curious Case of the Dog Money." Special Guests: Rob Russell, Method Man, and George Costanza.

Thoughts (loosely) based on Nelson DeMille's Cold War spy novel  The Charm School;  Dean R. Koontz's 90s tech thriller  Dark Rivers of the Heart;  Jonathan Blitzer's stellar book on the border situation--  Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here: The United States, Central America, and the Making of a Crisis-- and Silvia Moreno-Garcia's horror novel  Mexican Gothic. Special Guests: Elizabeth and Philip Jenni...

What an excellent day for an earworm exorcism.  An obsessive, comprehensive, and digressive deep dive into how these insidious auditory creatures worm their way into our brains, wrap around our cerebral cortex, and make us susceptible to suggestions of the catchiest kind.  A montage-- a veritable shitload-- of the sounds that capture our consciousness (and the theory and philosophy of how and why...

Thoughts (loosely) based on Kate Christensen's novel  Welcome Home, Stranger , the first two installments of  The Murderbot Diaries  by Martha Wells, and Hamlet. Special Guests: Billy Joel, Ween, David Tennant, Kenneth Branagh, Greta Thunberg, Marvin the Paranoid Android, Brother Maynard, William Shatner, Woody Allen, Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith, Queen, and The Prodigy.