Archive for 'Feature'
Bethany’s Top Five Things I Learned from Reading the Book Hitlerland
The recently published Hitlerland is about what Americans who met Hitler and/or lived in Germany in the 1920s and 30s thought of Hitler. It contains their original eye-witness testimony of the growth of the Nazi party and rise of Hitler. It’s very interesting, and surprising that so much of what happened seems to have been right there for all to see even in the earliest days of the 1920s.
Full Story“Assassinating Satires”: Ernest Hilbert Introduces Quincy Lehr
“Gifted with truly biting wit, Quincy R. Lehr is equal parts Beau Brummel and Jacques Brel, Lord Byron and John Dryden, Bob Dylan and Lenny Bruce. He is an Augustan satirist, of both the Roman and British varieties, with the dash and thrust of a Turkish corsair out for blood. Lehr’s verse amuses, stirs, and wounds all at once. His addictive stanzas—ironic, sophisticated, precise and profoundly moral, always venomous but buoyed by wisdom—serve as splendid and welcome antidotes to the suffocating naivety, sameness, and self-indulgence of so much American poetry. With a Luciferian glint in his eyes, he pierces everyday pieties and commonplace pompousness with a well-honed blade!” – Ernest Hilbert
Full Story“The Horses” by Ted Hughes
“Hughes is a vigorous poet – nothing languid about him, and the muscle of his language lifts the ordinary or overlooked experience, turns it about, holds it up to the light, carries it for us, then gently puts it down where we won’t forget it.” – Jeanette Winterson
Full Story“How Can I Sue Satan?” Cynthia Explains Why We Love Reference Librarians
We all know how amazing reference librarians are. Their ability to point us in the right direction on a myriad of things is nothing short of miraculous. However, they do get their fair share of odd questions. A quick search of librarian message boards are quite interesting in the range of bizarreness. “How can I sue Satan?” “Where can I plug in my hairdryer?” And this gem asked of the Smithsonian reference librarian, “Where do you keep the flying saucers you’ve captured?”
Full StoryTop Five Men Rumored to Cheat on Their Wives But Who Managed to Avoid Scandal Until They Impregnated Someone
You know they’re doing it. You just know. You don’t know why or how you know, but you know. You don’t have any evidence. It’s all fun and games until someone gets pregnant.
Full StoryKaboom! Top Five Movies in which Violence is Done to the Statue of Liberty
Why, why, why?
Full StoryBethany’s Top Five “Doctors to the Stars” (and One “Dentist to the Stars”)
“. . . to the stars” is an epithet that many aspire to append to a job description. We at E-Verse aim to be educational, so I want to inform you that it’s incredibly easy to become a Doctor To The Stars. All you need to do is to be incredibly liberal with your prescription pad. Stars will pay big money to docs willing to prescribe some fun. Here are the most successful of the bunch.
Full StoryThou Shall Not Commit Logical Fallacies
Do you see posts on FaceBook that make you grind your teeth because they’re so simplistic and sanctimonious, leaving out the many and varied complexities of life and politics? How about messages that seem make sense on first blush but when analyzed yield no real content? Or ones that you want to feel are right, wish were right, but just aren’t? Well, a lot of that can be chalked up to fundamental logical fallacies. Here’s a website that details the many paths of stupidity it is possible for one to stroll down, from ad hominem attacks to slippery-slope arguments to the classic appeal to emotion. Check it out by clicking below. Thanks to Andrew for sending this one in.
Full StoryYou Want the Definite Article? Here are the Top Five “The” Places
This isn’t just any old thing. It’s THE thing.
Full Story“Walnut Street” by Ernest Hilbert on Philadelphia Inquirer Website
Ernest Hilbert’s debut collection is Sixty Sonnets (2009). His second collection of poetry, All of You on the Good Earth, will appear in 2013. He lives in Philadelphia.
Full StoryRelative Profundity of the World’s Lakes and Oceans (with Cool Facts about Whales, Chilean Miners, and Sunken Ships)
xkcd.com is a webcomic “of romance, sarcasm, math, and language.” Check out this very cool poster displaying the relative profundities of the world’s oceans and lakes.
Full StoryTop Five Evil, Capitalist Villains in Recent Films
In December 2011, Fox News set off alarms at the way that the villain, Tex Richman, in the new Muppet movie was teaching kids that capitalism and the oil industry were evil. And who is more opposed to corporate American and profit than Disney, who made the film? Nothing suggests communism more than blockbuster movies!
Full StoryBethany’s Top Five Books that Feature Characters Performing Textual Research
Not all protagonists swagger and sword-fight. Some plop down at a desk and diligently uncover the secrets hidden in a book or manuscript. I bet there are a zillion other books of this genre, but these are just five I could think of. Please as the readers to add their own to the list.
Full StoryWhy Do Old Books Smell?
I will admit that I am greatly comforted by the warm, slightly musty smell of an old book . . . Thanks to Pilar for sending this one in.
Full StoryBethany’s Top Five Movie Trends of 2012
If you read the blurbs of movies coming out in 2012, you start to notice some patterns. Here are the top five movie theme trends of 2012 (so far . . .).
Full StoryBirdy Sings “White Winter Hymnal” by Fleet Foxes
Jasmine van den Bogaerde (born 15 May 1996), also known by her stage name Birdy, won the music competition Open Mic UK in 2008, at the age of 12. Her eponymous debut album “Birdy” was released on the 7th of November 2011.
Full StoryTop Five Creative Uses of the Network Censor Bleep
Network censors prohibit profanities on TV by inserting an irritating “BLEEP” in place of an offending word. Occasionally, TV writers use that prohibition in creative or funny ways.
Full Story“Bury Me in It”: Top Five New Uses for Bacon
Bacon: some think it’s the perfect food. Others aren’t satisfied, and think there are improvements to be made.
Full StoryTop Five Magic Bullets
Everyone’s looking for the miracle cure. With cancers, for the most part, it’s some things being statistically more effective than other things. For colds and flu, there’s very little that genuinely prevents or cures. But occasionally magic bullets have turned up.
Full StoryTop Five “Bad Touch” Incidents Involving a President of the United States (or Other World Leaders)
You’re not supposed to touch important world leaders, but that doesn’t stop everyone.
Full Story“Bright-eyed MFA Students Shelling Out Their Moolah to Join This, That, or the Other Fief as Vassals”: Ernest Hilbert Interviews Poet Quincy R. Lehr
Quincy R. Lehr’s poetry, criticism, and essays have appeared in numerous journals in North America, Europe, and Australia. He co-hosts the long-running Carmine St. Metrics reading series in New York City; he is the associate editor of The Raintown Review; his first book, Across the Grid of Streets, appeared in 2008; and his second, Obscure Classics of English Progressive Rock, will appear in April 2012.
Full StoryTop Five Articles of Menacing Clothing
Earlier this week, Geraldo Rivera cautioned parents not to let their kids wear hoodies, because it would make them look like criminals and get them killed. Let’s look at what sorts of clothing can be construed as menacing.
Full StoryBethany’s Top Tidbits from the Book Game Change
The book Game Change was recently adapted into a film starring Ed Harris as John McCain and Julianne Moore as Sarah Palin. The film focuses on Sarah Palin’s run for Vice President. But the book is primarily about Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton competing for the Democratic nomination in 2008, with smaller portions devoted to John Edwards and his run for the Democratic nomination, the Republican primary race, and the Obama/McCain competition. In writing it, the authors spoke with political insiders as the races unfolded and promised to keep everything anonymous, and to not publish it until after the election. Consequently there is a lot of shocking insider information. They pretty much covered everything pertaining to Palin pretty thoroughly in the film, but material pertaining to the other candidates wasn’t in the film. So I’ve helpfully summarized what I judged the most sensationalistic or interesting information from the rest of the book.
Full StoryHorns Up!: World Atlas of Metal Band Density Per 100,000 People
Thanks to the metal group for sharing this.
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“Yeah, I Meant to Do That”: Thai Green Papaya Salad for Spring
Awww, unripe. But don’t throw it out! It’s good that way.
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“A Rabbit As King Of The Ghosts” by Wallace Stevens
“Far more than Eliot or Pound, Stevens wished passionately to be above all a poet of twentieth-century America and its American English; and he had the luck, as they did not, to write with increasing genius to the end of his life.” —Helen Vendler
Full StoryInaugural E-Verse Equinox Reading Series
Thanks for everyone who came out for the first E-Verse Equinox Reading Series!
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