Thanks for the link to the Fallacy Files Weblog (scientific studies should be judged on their own merits). My bookmark list just got a little longer ;-}

re: Has the novel been murdered by the mob?

Was The Sopranos really that great? I've yet to watch a single episode. Should I?

It's a shame that there are so many novelists with great ideas, yet no one really reads them anymore. I'll admit, I don't read that much fiction, either; I'm a non-fiction hound. Perhaps I should break my streak and go pick up a few novels. Any recommendations?

Man, Blues over Baghdad is worth a listen. An almost symphonic approach to an old style of accustic blues that really works.

Firi, yea though I write novels, I too read mostly non-fiction and 'how to' books much more than fiction. Like yourself, recently decided to do something about that.

In spite of being recommended by me, SHANTARAM, by Gregory David Roberts is worth checking out.

It's sort of a fictionalized auto biography of a New Zealander who escaped from an Australian prison and ended up living in slums around Dehli. It is a very riveting journey through the underbelly of Indian society and some of the small villages in the Indian country side. It's not a travel log. Very human story and NOT political in its' intentions. I couldn't put it down in spite of being a long book.

I think it should be in paper back by now. It got me interested in reading fiction again.

don't get frosting on the literature . . .

http://www.xenutv.com/bridge/index.html

yea though I write novels

More data, please.

Thanks Kali, that's one scary horror film! I read some reviews afterward--seems that most of the movie is true to life.

re: Has the novel been murdered by the mob?

Was The Sopranos really that great? I've yet to watch a single episode. Should I?

Yes, you should! I've seen all the episodes, so I can attest, know what I'm sayin?

Seriously, start with Season 1 Episode 1, you'll be hooked.

As for novels to read, I recommend Cormac McCarthy's The Road. It's better than the one before it, No Country for Old Men. (I am looking forward, though, to the Coen brothers version of the latter this fall.)

Kali-t'anks for the very interesting link. Reminds me of a line from Rocky Horror picture Show. "Time is fleeting, madness takes control."

Norm, that will have to be a personal response.

Completely off-topic, but I recently came across a short documentary on Jerusalem Syndrome. Don't know if you've seen it, but it seems like it'd be up your alley:

"For some, visiting Jerusalem brings them a little too close to God. Dozens of tourists develop ‘Jerusalem Syndrome’, believing they have a messianic mission. Many fear they pose a security risk."

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1964600827091550553&q=jerusalem+syndrome&total=21&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0

thanks for the film link, nationelectric. a few things:

the film doesn't actually start talking about jerusalem syndrome until about 9:30 in. until then its about evangelicals (who are of course meshuggena in their own way). they do their thing here, spend their money and go home. they're pretty harmless, at least as individuals.

i was surprised (or maybe not so surprised) that the two main people they use as examples of j. syndrome are both known to me personally. the first one, maria (in the white robes that say "i will be what i will be" in hebrew) is, obviously, completely nuts. i've spent an hour or two in conversation with her, calmly refuting her "points:, mostly for kicks, and to try and determine if she has the potential for violence. i think she does. she's not originally from america, but germany or holland, i forget which. anyway, she disappeared off the streets about 6 months ago.

the second, gershon saloman, is misrepresented in the film. he is certainly a fanatic, but not a religious one. in fact, he's not religious at all. his movement is a political one, using the historic ties of the jews to the temple mount to assert jewish political rights (as he sees them).

finally, a friend of mine opened a bar in downtown jerusalem a few years ago and called it "jerusalem syndrome". now, known as "the syndrome", its the second most popular live music bar in town. :)

just thought you'd like to know.

btw in my 20 or so years in israel, much of it in jerusalem, i've met many of these people, and even become friendly with a few: one "jesus", 2 "king davids" and a jewish "high priest" who i still see from time to time. better than tv.

Jonathan: Cool! If I ever find myself in town, I'll drop by the Syndrome. ;)

Yeah, there's stuff other than Jersusalem Syndrome in the film (evangelicals, rebuilding the Temple, etc.) but that was the bit that really jumped out at me. Everything else I'd pretty much heard of in some way before.

Thanks for the clarification re: Saloman, but I don't honestly imagine it makes all that much difference. "We should have this because we had it 2000 years ago" is not an altogether more rational position than "we should have this because God gave it to us." And, while he might be arguing in historical terms, he's arguing for... a temple, which seems an awful lot like a religious cause to me. My hunch (bearing in mind that I know next to nothing about Israel) is that this could be an interesting example of Israeli politics, culture, and religion effectively being one and the same (or, at least, heavily intertwined.) I may look into Saloman more sometime.

this could be an interesting example of Israeli politics, culture, and religion effectively being one and the same (or, at least, heavily intertwined.)

absolutely correct, at least the "heavily intertwined" part. this is one of my favorite subjects and i could talk your ear off all day about it, but for proprieties' sake i'll keep it short:

before the jews had kings, which was their idea that god didn't like too much, the political AND religious capitol of israel was the temple- actually, the tabernacle, wherever it happened to be before king david bought the temple mount. the only "leaders" were the cohanim, or priests, and the levites who were kind of intermediaries between the people and the priests. it is this ideal, or period of jewish history, that saloman is relating to, in what i would call an emotional, rather than religious way.

Wow, so Saloman is pining for a literal theocracy?

i don't think so, like i said he's not religious. i think what he's doing (and he may say different) is pushing for jewish rights on the temple mount, using the building of the "temple" as a metaphor, a rallying cry, and a way to get religious jews behind his cause.

just fyi, jews in religious garb are forbidden from entering the mount, and all jews are forbidden from praying there, by the israeli govt. for fear of "provocation". you can literally be arrested there for moving your lips. and it is, after all, the holiest site in the world to the jewish religion. for whatever that's worth to the people here, which i assume is not much.

anyway, saloman is pretty much viewed as "lunatic fringe" and isn't allowed anywhere near the place. the arabs know him, and threaten to riot every time he opens his mouth.

strange world, ay?

Huh.

Well, I can see how that situation would be frustrating. (How's that for an observation? "I can see how the situation in the Middle East would be frustrating.")

I'm not entirely convinced that Saloman isn't religiously motivated -- I did a little googling on him and some wacky stuff came up. Mostly accounts of private conversations and such, though, so who knows if it's legit.

Anyway, the subject of the temple mount has now made my List of Interesting Stuff. I may look into it more at some point. Thanks a lot!