All Entries in the "Seth" Category

Is the feminist fight over? Check out our poll. - Seth Greenland & Susan Kaiser Greenland

4:45pmSusan
I don’t know whether laughing at this stuff is less charged than taking it seriously.

4:49pmSeth
I think they’re responding in the way people respond to black comedy - when a person falls into a manhole some people (like me) will laugh. But that’s another issue.

The point I was making was that the younger women did not see the situation through a political prism, but, rather, through a human one. They are of the generation that believes the feminist fight to be over.

The Recession Made Me an Optimist - Seth Greenland

I don’t feel like I have the luxury of pessimism any more. The country is in dire shape, the problems seem insurmountable, the leaders of the past eight years dangerous buffoons who will pay no price for their epic malfeasance. The auto industry is tanking, newspapers are going bankrupt, and Wall Street is fleecing us again with the bailout. Truly, things are awful.

And yet.

When the Going Gets Tough, Satire Gets Going - Seth Greenland

American culture has long had a carnival aspect. How else to explain the ascendancy of Paris Hilton and her fellow celebritards, or the career of Flavor Flav? But until recently, these people and their antics had been a diversion, something to be glanced at in a dog-eared magazine at the dentist’s office, or to be glimpsed on a teenager’s laptop. Not anymore. With the advent of the Palin Family . . . reality took a turn that must make all practitioners of satire quake in our boots. If this is what truth offers, our audience would do well to ask, then who needs comedy?

Publishing 2.0 - Seth Greenland

One of the more vexing decisions a novelist makes today is how aggressively to promote a new book. Time was you sold it, then moved to Paris, ran with the bulls in Pamplona, or danced in Plaza fountain after a night of drunken carousing, while the publishing house did all the work. Alas, those days have gone the way of the fifty-cent paperback. For example: to blog or not to blog? You can see how I answered that one.

A Hero for our Times - Seth Greenland

But the most piquant detail from my daughter’s B’Nai Mitzvah Tour circa 2005 was observed at – where else - a country club. It occurred during the cocktail hour, somewhere between the canapés and the cocktail wieners, when the bar mitzvah boy was going to make his entrance. The lights dimmed, a spotlight hit a pair of gilded doors on a balcony above a sweeping staircase. The music kicked in : P.I.M.P. by 50 Cent. If the bubbes and zaydes present were aware of or concerned with the lyric content (No Cadillacs, no perms that you can’t see, that I’m a motherfuckin’ P.I.M.P.) they gave no evidence of it.

Novel of the Year - Head Butler - Way to go again Seth!

Jessie Kornbluth from Huffington Post and Head Butler’s sane holiday giving guide.

His pick for Novel of the Year is none other than our mindful dad’s new novel Shining City!

Shining City. Seth Greenland’s comic triumph begins: “Julian Ripps was too fat to be reclining in a hot tub between a pair of naked women, unless he was very rich or they were prostitutes. He wasn’t, but they were.” The rest is just that smart. And funny.

One of WashPo’s Best Books of 2008! Way to go Seth

From Jonathan Yardley’s Picks of the Best Books of 2008 in the Washington Post:

I’m not going to make any cosmic claims for Shining City, by Seth Greenland, but it had me laughing out loud over and over again. It concerns a rather hapless Los Angeles middle-management guy who falls into a wholly unexpected bonanza: His sleazy older brother dies of a splendidly stage-managed heart attack and leaves him a dry-cleaning business that turns out to be a front for a prostitution ring. I’d never before heard of Greenland, but Shining City sent me to his first novel, The Bones, and the two put me squarely in his fan club.

The danger of being a heartbeat away & not knowing what you don’t know - Seth Greenland

What makes Sarah Palin so dangerous is that, despite her right wing, Christianist positions, she reminds me of Ralph Kramden, Jackie Gleason’s eminently likeable character from The Honeymooners. Like Ralph, Palin’s level of knowledge exists in inverse proportion to her level of confidence. This is a classic comic archetype with roots that go back thousands of years (There ya go again, lookin’ at the past!). They both say the most idiotic things, and you just want to pinch their cheeks. Sarah Palin believes a girl who is impregnated by her father should be forced to have the baby. And she’s so darn cute when she’s sayin’ it! It’s totalitarianism with a wink and a shimmy.

I love a man in uniform - Seth Greenland

Seth weighs in on HuffPo about how troubled he is by the police officer with the shaved head who introduced Sarah Palin at her rally in Florida yesterday.

What’s John McCain Thinking? Seth Greenland

Seth on HuffPost: What’s Johnny Mac thinking:

God forgive me, Sally Palin makes Bush look good. Prime Minister of Pakistan sure did like her, though. Thinks she’s a hooker. Poor guy was wondering what all the cameras were doing there. Wonder what he talked to her about? Sally, everyone in Pakistan wants to know…is Clay Aiken really gay? Least that’s something she’s qualified to talk about. Am I going to Hell for choosing her? Johnny Mac’s a risk taker. Damn the torpedoes, I’ll buy some asbestos underwear!

What’s Obama thinking? Seth Greenland

Imagine you’re in a car accident. You’re pulled from the twisted wreckage with a massive head injury. The hospital has two surgeons, a black man and a white woman. The man went to the best medical school in the country, is cool, calm and rocks his scalpel like an artist. But the other one, the woman, she looks like the lady you ran next to in the 10k last weekend. Oh, and she’s a veterinarian who usually operates on reindeer. Who’s it going to be?

Sarah Palin Book Club

Seth weighs in on the emergence of Sarah Palin as a character in the LA Times Book Blog.

Johnny Mac’s preparing for his speech tonight - what’s he thinking? Seth Greenland

Wonder if they’ll let me hold that baby while I give my speech tonight.

More of what Johnny Mac is thinking - Seth Greenland

Sarah, Sarah, I love it when you shoot a bear-ah… third installment of what Johnny Mac is thinking . . . . .

More political satire by Seth Greenland

Seth dishes up some more political satire on Huffington Post today with Part II of What John McCain is Thinking?

PS - Mindful daughter’s best girlfriend just came home from the DNC where she represented CA as a junior statesment and a blogger. She’s more insightful than most TV pundits and have the all-time best name for a political blog this election I Want Michelles’ Clothes. Look out BlogHer she’s coming up!

What John McCain Is Thinking? — Seth Greenland

Seth mindfully dishes out some political satire on Huffington Post today.

We’re shocked, SHOCKED — Susan Kaiser Greenland & Seth Greenland

Edwards knew what the stakes were and yet he took an incredible risk. It’s as if he has become Evel Knievel and had to jump over the 100 monster trucks just for the thrill of it.

Edwards comes clean about Rielle Hunter — Susan Kaiser Greenland and Seth Greenland

Given the unfortunate but necessary disclosure by Edwards today that he had an extra-marital affair with Rielle Hunter, this post is moving back into the featured spot.

Republican/Democrat has nothing to do with it. It’s hypocrite vs. non-hypocrite. Edwards marital vows do not affect public policy. Larry Craig, on the other hand, had a Senatorial vote which he wielded against gays, which would be funny if it wasn’t so sad.

Rocky Mountain Why? — Susan Kaiser and Seth Greenland

10:39amSusan
Hey Seth, did you see McCain is going to visit the Dalai Lama in Aspen today? Do you think he’s a seeker?

10:40amSeth
I think he wants to discuss the four noble truths, and how he can use them to beat Obama.

Anti-Chick Lit Author Rachel Resnick interviews Anti-Dick Lit Author Seth Greenland

The only tip I can give writers about writing and selling comes down to this: find your voice. That is the only thing you have that no one else can offer. By the way, this is not easy, and may take years. If there is anything else you think you might like doing, by all means do that.

Way to go Seth!

Seth’s novel Shining City comes out tomorrow and over the weekend both the Washington Post Book Review and the LA Times Book Review gave it high marks.

MINDFUL IN THE CHAOS — Seth Greenland

But what about when a storm does hit, what then Mr. Mindful? To that I would say this: When a storm hits, do everything you can to keep safe and dry. And keep clearly in mind that the storm will exhaust itself, pass on, and blue skies will literally return. When in the middle of a giant upset, this is the thing to focus on.

Why is my husband on the Internet in his underpants? - Susan Kaiser Greenland

My brilliant and erudite husband has a new book coming out and it seems as if the ‘author video’ is de rigeur - I uploaded a screenshot and posted it below . . .

God and the Man in the White House. Seth Greenland

Today on Huffington Post, Seth writes that: there was a time when a politician’s relationship with the universe was a private matter about which he or she could choose to reflect deeply, or not. But now religion is just another signifier, like lapel pins, an item to be checked off when we’re evaluating would-be presidents. Allow me to quote Eric Hoffer: “Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.”

Who knew the Pope and Chubby Checker had so much in common? Seth Greenland

Not long ago a group of Vatican theological advisors recommended eliminating the concept of limbo and Pope Benedict XVI signed off on it. This troubles me deeply. Although I am not a Catholic, I have great admiration for that religion. Their art collection is unsurpassed, their clergy know how to put on an excellent show, [...]

There is absolutely nothing interesting about me. Seth Greenland

I have been stymied in my efforts to craft a memoir. Here is my problem: there is absolutely nothing interesting about me.

Role Models - Seth Greenland

The word role model gets thrown around a lot these days. Athletes are supposed to fulfill that role, or religious leaders, or, god forbid, movie stars. The man whose primary role model is his father, and who can still say that in middle age, is lucky for a lot of reasons.