Not Quite So New!
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"A rollicking ride of intellectual discovery and emotional growth... unlike his buzzer skills, his comic timing never fails"
-- The Wall Street Journal
"Pulls you in like a good sports story"
-- The New York Times Book Review
"Endearingly frank... jubilant... lighthearted and fast-paced"
-- New York Newsday
"A surprisingly touching memoir"
-- Entertainment Weekly
"Hugely funny"
-- Mental Floss
"Like Jeopardy! itself, it covers a lot of ground and in snappy and informative fashion"
-- Associated Press
"Down to earth and entertaining, even for non- Jeopardy! fans"
-- The New York Daily News
"A very funny writer... the book works like gangbusters."
-- Ken Jennings, 74-time Jeopardy! winner, holder of numerous other Jeopardy! records
"Effortlessly funny and informative... tender, human, and very wise... A must for anyone who loves Jeopardy!, or has ever seen it, or is breathing."
-- Joss Whedon, creator, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
"I haven't seen Jeopardy! since I was a kid, and yet I was charmed and amused by Bob Harris's fascinating and surprisingly suspenseful book. Through sheer force of personality, he takes this brainy TV show and makes it funny and easy to relate to."
-- Ira Glass, creator and host, This American Life
"Eccentric, energetic, and engaging"
-- Publishers Weekly
"The perfect gift for any Jeopardy! fan... I was thoroughly entertained"
-- USA Today, "Pop Candy"
"Surprisingly compelling... a funny and in-depth look at what it takes to win"
-- Long Island Press
"Wise, honest, and very funny... I wish I'd written it. Then again, I wish I'd won $127,000 and his-and-hers Camaros on Jeopardy!, too."
-- Jeff Greenstein, writer/producer, Desperate Housewives, Will & Grace, Friends
"Cleverly executed... solid entertainment"
-- Kirkus Reviews
"Answer: A hilarious, engaging and highly entertaining book. Question: What is Prisoner of Trebekistan? (All right... that was sort of a lame Jeopardy! joke. But what can I say? It's a great book.)"
-- Paul Feig, creator of Freaks and Geeks, author of Superstud and Kick Me
"A surprisingly intimate, entertaining book."
-- Orson Scott Card, author of Ender's Game
" Prisoner of Trebekistan is funny, enlightening -- and just might help you win a million bucks on Jeopardy!"
-- A. J. Jacobs, author of The Know-It-All
"If you don't buy this book -- this funny, learned, charming, and surprisingly moving book -- I will make it burst into flames in your hands."
-- Arthur Phillips, author of Prague and The Egyptologist
"A keeper for anyone who's even remotely a fan of Jeopardy!"
-- TVSquad.com
"If you enjoy... self-aware, geeky good humor, this could actually be your favorite book of the year."
-- The Stranger
"Highly entertaining... laugh-out-loud, absurdist funny... hilarious"
-- Akron Beacon-Journal
"Hilarious... a true treat for all Jeopardy! fans."
-- Strand Bookstore
"Everything you'd hope for... surprisingly compelling... deftly woven together... this sweet, fascinating book is a great read."
-- Book-blog.com
"If super-intelligent space aliens invaded our planet and demanded to interview one member of our species to ascertain whether or not we human beings were logical, bright, kind, and entertaining enough to be allowed to continue, I would nominate, with all my powers of persuasion, Bob Harris."
-- Emo Philips, comedian
"A masterful job of describing the feel of Jeopardy! in the heat of battle... I knew that Bob was a great guy and a fantastic Jeopardy! player. Now I've found that he's also a wonderful writer. I think I'm starting to hate him."
-- Brad Rutter, top money-winner in Jeopardy! history
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“Revelatory... wryly funny about some very serious subjects... Harris's sly wit and infectious curiosity make understanding world chaos fascinating... witty, horrific, and necessary.”
— Boston Globe
“Only Bob could make a user’s guide to our increasingly hostile world this absorbing, this breezy, and—ultimately—this hopeful.”
— Ken Jennings, author of Brainiac: Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive World of Trivia Buffs
"Brave... irreverent... charges into the thick of the globe's myriad simmering wars... hilariously relaxed."
— New York Observer
“Fascinating, enlightening, and surprisingly: NOT TOTALLY DEPRESSING. A gimlet-eyed look at the world we endure that’s also suitable for enjoying with a gimlet.”
— John Hodgman, author of The Areas of My Expertise
and correspondent for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
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Main
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Pudu
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Friday, 10 August 2007 |
I had no idea this particular variety of mouse deer even existed -- but it does (and please forgive the cheesy NatGeo narration):
A bit like finding out your pet chihuahua can fly.
I'm assuming, of course, that chihuahuas can't fly. Apparently, you never know. |
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General Incompetence
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Thursday, 09 August 2007 |
The management of a new Hawaiian TV station is horrified at the realization that the last three call letters “UNT” do not lead to a particularly euphonic four-letter station name, considering that the first letter will assuredly not be “W.”
They apparently never noticed what their own station name spelled. Neither did the FCC, who would fine somebody hundreds of thousands of dollars if you reported this story on the air and pronounced these FCC-approved call letters as a phonetic whole.
Incidentally, in the same set of approvals, the company now also owns “KWTF.” (As in “WTF?”) Fitting.
Link via our Trebekistan pal Ken Jennings, whose blog you may find habit-forming.
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General horror
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Sunday, 05 August 2007 |
A Sudanese official named Ahmad Harun is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur.
He has not yet been arrested, however.
Instead, as the L.A. Times just pointed out, he is currently serving as a Sudanese Minister of Humanitarian Affairs.
Incidentally, I mention this in the Sudan chapter of my next book, which will be out next month. But the book is a series of very short essays, so Harun gets all of two or three sardonic sentences. All I could squeeze in. I’ll be eager to see this given wider attention.
The Times story gives photos and a much fuller picture, including some very dark conjecture about Harun’s eventual poetic fate. Well done, and good reading. |
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Site updates
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Sunday, 05 August 2007 |
I’m in the middle of an aggressive summer cold. (Or, possibly, a swarm of angry bees have gotten into my lungs. Hard to tell the difference right now.)  Either way, my doctor has prescribed new and interesting meds whose side effects include some of the most fascinating, lucid dreams I’ve ever had.
Last night, for what felt like about an hour, I was about 15 years old and Dick Cheney lived next door to the house I grew up in, and he was trying to sneak into our yard without anyone noticing. He was clearly up to no good. But I kept yelling Cheney! Cheney!, sort of the way people in monster movies yell Godzilla! Godzilla!, and pointing and sounding the alarm, and Cheney would look up at me and sort of snarl and stay on his side of the fence. For now.
This went on for a really long time.
The weirdest part was that it was neither scary nor amusing; it was simply a fact of life, something you just sort of had to do every day. Kinda like real life, unfortunately. Sigh.
As long as I'm tripping, you're welcome to join me. Here's the Shat doing "Rocket Man." Seems about right.
P.S. While we're at it, here's a supremo computer ad from the pre-iPhone era. Just too cool not to post. Enjoy.
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Pudu
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Friday, 03 August 2007 |
I couldn't pudublog last week, so this week, I present the following, which contains enough cute to fill two weeks, if not actually warp the time-space continuum itself:
This is the fine work of Los Angeles Zoo photog Tad Motoyama, who deserves the Nobel Prize in Ungulates. The photo was forwarded by one of the great folks over there who gave this site a private tour a few weeks ago. The cuteness still tingles. |
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General Incompetence
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Thursday, 02 August 2007 |
Take a gander at the most recent national report card from the American Society of Civil Engineers.
America's bridges rate ahead of our dams, drinking water, roads, schools, power grid, navigable waterways, and more.
When you've got a federal government -- and a voting populace -- that prioritizes tax cuts ahead of infrastructure, you can't be too surprised.
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Science
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Thursday, 02 August 2007 |
 The 2007 Rocketbelt Convention will be held on August 11th and 12th at the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station.
Judging from the photos, it's safe family fun.
Bring the kids! Bring extras, in case you lose one! Strap 'em in! Let 'em fly! Find 'em later!
How on earth did I not know about this?
I mean, rocketbelts!
How is it possible there aren't carpools forming from every corner of the nation?
Link via BoingBoing, which you must read every day.
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Sport
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Thursday, 02 August 2007 |
Actual poll data from the Cleveland Indians' official site the other day, just after I voted for Tris Speaker:
For anyone who cares, these results are a bit like asking which doctor discovered penicillin, and seeing Alexander Fleming come in third to Patch Adams and Dr. Ruth, with the other nominees being maybe Phil McGraw, Julius Erving, and Johnny Fever.
Kenny Lofton is a six-time all-star, no question, with eight or nine outstanding seasons in his 17-year career. Grady Sizemore has become an elite player in his three-plus years, you betcha.
Tris Speaker, however, was dominant for 19 of his 22 years, with a lifetime On Base Percentage (OBP) 16 points higher than Lofton (whose strength is getting on base) managed in his best year, and a career On Base plus Slugging (OPS) 20 points better than anything Sizemore (who strength is his combination of leadoff and power skills) has ever achieved. And Speaker amassed those superior numbers while playing most of his career in the dead-ball era.
Speaker is also considered one of the best defensive center fielders of all time, the game's classic play-shallow go-get-it guy. That Tris Speaker was possibly the finest position player in Cleveland history should be no more obscure than knowing that Babe Ruth was once pretty good for the Yankees.
A glance at the stats will show that Earl Averill is the second-best player on the list; he's also the only one besides Speaker in the Hall of Fame. The inclusion of the popular Rick Manning is simply bizarre; he had exactly two good seasons before becoming an average-at-best player for the rest of his career. Meanwhile, seven-time all-star Larry Doby, who broke the color barrier in the American League and had eleven stellar seasons, belongs on this list more than Sizemore, Lofton, Butler, and certainly Manning.
I bother not because baseball matters -- it doesn't, of course -- but because a supremely simple question has been asked of a public which (a) is actively interested and (b) has excellent, unfettered access to the basic facts, none of which are hard to understand. And almost everyone involved has whiffed spectacularly, including the Indians employee asking the question.
And now I imagine even attempting another discussion about Iraq, Iran, health care, or anything else where the basic facts aren't quantified to the third decimal point.
Agh.
Maybe next year... |
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O Canada
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Tuesday, 31 July 2007 |
Not a military invasion; quite the opposite.
U.S. immigration to Canada is now at a 30-year high. The rate has doubled since Bush was elected.
Meanwhile, the rate of Canadian immigration to the U.S. has dropped 20% in the last 12 months alone.
While we're on it, the Canadian dollar is now worth US$0.94. It was US$0.66 when Bush took office. As I mentioned a couple of months ago, the dollar has lost about a third of its value against the euro (not to mention a scary number of other world currencies) since Bush took office.
The greenback is now down over 42 percent against the loonie on Bush's watch.
Where can I trade in my Benjamins for some Robert Bordens?
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Site updates
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Tuesday, 31 July 2007 |
Don't miss This American Life this week.
The first half: an ordinary American decides to try to make a difference in Iraq. Remarkable tale.
The second half: my old Trebekistan buddy, novelist Arthur Phillips, reads a condensed version of his short story "Wenceslas Square." Arthur's ability to be both jaded and romantic, simultaneously, is unparalleled.
The free mp3 version is here, but only for the rest of this week.
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Iraq
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Tuesday, 31 July 2007 |
In the wake of my post about the film Walker, below, its director Alex Cox and I have begun exchanging emails, and he's every bit as cool (as far as I can tell from email) as you'd hope. Man, the Internet is one cool place sometimes.
I think this site's readers will enjoy the occasional political writings he posts on his site; his latest, about long-existing plans for permanent US bases in Iraq, is here.
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Iraq
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Tuesday, 24 July 2007 |
Currently dubbing over some old VHS tapes onto DVD; if you've read Trebekistan, you know that I need to fit my life into far fewer boxes.
 I was a fan of Walker when I first saw it about 15 years ago, and I couldn't help but stop and watch it again while it was dubbing tonight. I like it even better now. It's British director Alex Cox (the same guy who did the classic Repo Man) allegorically making a point about modern US foreign policy by retelling the true story of a brilliant American nutjob named William Walker, who 150 years ago was financed by shipping magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt to "stabilize" Nicaragua -- which is to say, protect Vanderbilt's profitable pre-Panama Canal land/sea transport route through the country.
Walker not only "stabilized" things, he took over completely, declaring himself President of Nicaragua; the US government shortly recognized him as such. In the process, however, Walker betrayed everything his expedition claimed to stand for -- democracy, liberation, freedom, etc. -- eventually even instituting slavery and aspiring to subjugate all of Central America. Walker betrayed Vanderbilt, too, however; that was his undoing. The master cut the puppet's strings, and Walker's regime quickly ended.
Unhip to the game and more desperate than ever to believe that he still had a special god-chosen purpose, Walker kept trying to invade the region until he was finally executed by the Honduran government in 1860. He was famous across the US by this time, popular among the same crowd who would today learn their decency, history, and reasoning skills from talk radio. Now long-forgotten in the US (where his story is embarrassing at best), he's still fairly and bitterly well-remembered in Central America.
Cox's film was made in Nicaragua in 1987, while the Contra war was still raging. It's an angry film, obviously, but what strikes me on a midlife viewing is the surprising degree of compassion that Walker actually shows to its subject, despite using him as an occasionally heavy-handed object lesson. Walker is never once seen as less than sincere in his madness, and it's precisely that appearance of honesty amid utter self-delusion that attracts a cult of followers who can never allow themselves to see the grotesque horrors which result.
The parallels are so clear -- not just to one side in one war, but to damn near any rationalization of violence as part of a better, higher good, anywhere -- and the brilliant black comedy of it all is so relentlessly drawn, that I'm surprised the film hasn't become more of a cult favorite among the current antiwar crowd. Ed Harris is a joy to watch (and occasionally presages his Oscar-nominated turn in Pollock) as the inspired madman, Cox's intentional anachronisms (Walker, for example, is named Time magazine's Man of the Year) are somehow both over-the-top and perfect, and Joe Strummer's haunting soundtrack may still be the best work he has ever done.
It's a hard find on DVD; I'm not sure it was ever even released in the US in that format. Amazon only carries the European DVD, which won't work on most North American players, but they still have the VHS here. Meanwhile, Alex Cox's website has more info if you're curious.
Other stuff I'm dubbing today: a reel of Nixon campaign TV ads from 1968, when the Vietnam war was about as old as the Iraq war is now. The level of sophistication (which is to say, sheer facile nonsense) of Nixon's claim that he could do a better job than LBJ, without being clear on details at the time, and without any basis in retrospect, would be depressingly familiar to most of us, I think.
But Walker moves that depressing realization back over 150 years, with moments of some of the darkest humor you will ever see.
PS -- I should add that there's also a little more about the historic Walker in the next book, about which you will soon hear much. Stay tuned. |
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