Barryisms


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After a ways I could see a huge boat mostly buried in the sand, while examining the boat it seemed to have been a cabin cruiser about 65 feet long. Then walking about 100 feet south of the boat I was stunned to find a human body, not something you see every day. The person was mostly a skeleton although hair was evident on his head; jeans and shirt were tattered and the skull looking toward the sky where I could see some primitive dental work. After a couple more frightening traverses, while hanging in space, I thought we had passed the most difficult situations, wrong again! We came to a place where youre climbing along the cliff face with no more than 4 inches of rock on which to place your feet. That accelerated my heartbeat a tad! While hiking on a narrow dike I came face to face with a Bison almost blocking my passage. As I walked past he charged me. I yelled Stop That! and he stopped about 2 feet away. Few people have a desire or capability to experience the edge. For most of my life I professed, To experience life as close to the edge as possible to death, as this is the only way to live a life to its fullest. Being up here, among 12,000 foot peaks, in the enchanting time before sunrise, will always remain as a consummate memory in my mind. I was filled with a delightful wonderment. Then there came the serene Alpine Glow as the sun embraced the mountain peaks. As John Muir would say, A noble experience. The sun would occasionally pop out, followed by dark clouds and usually hail or sleet. I didnt care; I was wet; in a numbing trance and reduced to taking baby steps forward-one step at a time. Around 6 pm I reached the road, which was back down at 10,000 feet. I had only traveled 8 miles, but on the most difficult trek of my life. We had chased the Gator near shore; I jumped from the boat in knee deep mud; struggling through the mud I grabbed the Gator with my left hand and immediately he came around and imbedded his teeth in my right arm. Just as quickly he let go and I loaded him into the boat. Mostly I was concerned with infection, but a little Rum in the holes took care of that.




The Essential Bogosian


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"What Lenny Bruce was to the 1950s, Bob Dylan to the 1960s, Woody Allen to the 1970s--that's what Eric Bogosian is to this frightening moment of drift in our history."--Frank Rich, The New York Times




The New Republic


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Points


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The Guardian of Marie Antoinette


Book Description

"Florimond Claude, comte de Mercy-Argenteau (20 April 1727 in Liège, Belgium - 25 August 1794 in London, England) was an Austrian diplomat. He was the son of Antoine, comte de Mercy-Argenteau, and entered the diplomatic service of Austria going to Paris in the train of Reichsfürst Kaunitz. He became Austrian minister at Turin, at St Petersburg, and in 1766 at Paris, where his first work was to strengthen the alliance between France and Austria, which was cemented in 1770 by the marriage of the dauphin, afterwards Louis XVI, with Archduchess Maria Antonia of Austria, youngest daughter of Empress Maria Theresa. When four years later Louis and Marie Antoinette ascended the throne, Mercy-Argenteau became one of the most powerful personages at the French court by influencing and manipulating Marie-Antoinette, which led to make her very impopular with the French nobility and French people. He was in Paris during the turbulent years which heralded the French Revolution, and his powerful aid was given first to Loménie de Brienne, and then to Necker."--Wikipedia.




Waterfront


Book Description

Adapted from Schulberg's Academy Award-winning screenplay of the classic 1954 film On the Waterfront, this novel dramatizes an ex-prizefighter's valiant stand against corruption on the New Jersey docks.




The Sixth of June


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Records in Review


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High Fidelity


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