Whatever one’s political orientation, it seems impossible to ignore the Bryon Noem sex scandal. Here is a 56-year-old, married father of three, who—by all indications—has a cross-dressing fetish that he feels compelled to share with an online sex worker.
And speaking of Bryon Noem’s wife…Whatever you think of Kristi Noem’s politics, or her performance as DHS Secretary, she is very easy on the eyes, as women in their middle fifties go. Her detractors call her “ICE Barbie” partly because they don’t like her, but also because they grudgingly recognize that she’s hot.
And yet, we know two things about her husband: his online “bimbofication” fetish, and his [apparent] willingness to share his wife with Corey Lewandowski.
As is so often the case, the Japanese have a term for this. Or rather, a proverb:
蓼食う虫も好き好き
Tade kuu mushi mo sukizuki
“Some bugs prefer nettles.”
A rough English equivalent of this proverb would be: “There is no accounting for taste.”
I’ve read the descriptions of Bryon Noem’s proclivities. There is nothing about any of that that strikes me as the least bit stimulating. (I have never understood why any man would be drawn to any form of cross-dressing.)
And yet—I know for a fact that some of the things that float my boat are boring, distasteful, and even laughable to others.
This applies not only in regard to sex—but other areas as well. To cite one simple and innocuous example: I would much rather read a book in my living room than attend a raucous public crowd event like a concert or a professional sports game.
But that’s me, and it’s highly likely that I’m wired up differently than you are. One person’s nettles are another’s delight.
-ET
Tigers, Devils, and Fools: A Guide to Japanese Proverbs, Second Edition
Michael Kozlowski is the ultimate self-loathing elitist. He is a self-publishing journalist who never misses an opportunity to trash self-publishing fiction writers.
“Amazon Kindle Unlimited used to be the laughingstock of the e-book world, with the subscription service heavily populated by indie author slime.”
Indie author slime! Not just dreck or trash…but slime! Bodily excretions, no less.
Source: Good e-Reader
But there is a bright spot in all of this. According to Kozlowski, Kindle Unlimited “has really grown in the past couple of years, and it is not [sic] possible to get tons of New York Times bestselling authors from major publishers.” He then goes on to list a number of trad-pubbed titles that are available in the program.
I won’t be a jerk about this, and point out that Kozlowski typed “not” when he clearly meant “now”. Perhaps he could have avoided this mistake, if only a “major publisher” had proofread his work (?)
But Kozlowksi has a point. There have long been problems in Kindle Unlimited (KU).
When the program was launched back in 2014, it promised to be a “Netflix of books”. Readers would have unlimited access to a wide variety of titles. Publishers and authors, meanwhile, would earn revenue from borrows.
But not all went according to plan. The major publishers that Michael Kozlowski gushes over rejected KU. This was largely because Amazon made ebook exclusivity a requirement of the program.
Kindle Unlimited also became a target for scammers. This caused Amazon to reconfigure the way authors and publishers were compensated several times. At present, Amazon is coping with AI slop scammers.
And to make matters worse, Kindle Unlimited grew disproportionately stuffed with bizarre romance genres. (“Monster romance” seems to be a big one right now.) Many of these books are little more than porn in literary guise. (Hmm…maybe Michael Kozlowski has a point about “slime” after all.)
Amazon seems to have recognized the problem. Lest Kindle Unlimited become a ghetto for romance-porn, the company has cut deals with some major publishers to ensure that “mainstream”, household-name authors also have a presence in KU.
I did a quick perusal on Amazon. At present, you can find titles by Michael Connelly, Clive Cussler, and Sandra Brown in KU. It doesn’t get any more mainstream than that.
For independent publishers like myself, this is a mixed bag.
On one hand, Amazon has clearly exempted traditional publishers from the exclusivity clause of Kindle Unlimited. All the trad-pubbed books presently in KU can also be found on Apple Books, Kobo, Google Play, and B&N.
Not fair! the egalitarian in me protests. Unequal treatment!
On the other hand, I appreciate what Amazon is doing.
I know that Clive Cussler’s publisher swings a bigger club in the publishing world than I do, or likely ever will. Amazon has therefore given Cussler’s publisher a sweeter deal for the titles it enrolls in Kindle Unlimited. Non-exclusivity is one verifiable aspect of this. A higher compensation rate is likely another.
This may prevent Kindle Unlimited from becoming a ghetto for monster romance and billionaire reverse harem sex stories. If KU genuinely becomes more “mainstream”, I could certainly benefit from that. We shall see.
For now, I’m hedging my bets. I am keeping some of my catalog in Kindle Unlimited. I’m also pulling some titles out, so that they can also be sold on Kobo, Google Play, B&N, and Apple Books.
This is partly because I don’t want to rely on a single company for all of my income. That was inevitable back when I was a corporate cubicle serf. It’s a bad idea now that I work for myself.
I also recognize that monopolies are eventually bad for everyone—except the owners of the monopoly. (I majored in economics.)
But there’s another reason, as well. I don’t want all of my books in the same program presently known for reverse harem, and other kinds of weird romance stories. I guess I’m a bit of an elitist, too.
The early 1980s gave us a famous song named after a phone number: “867-5309”. Even if you do not remember the early 1980s, you are probably familiar with the song.
The song was alternatively known as “Jenny”. Often the song was identified with both names: 867-5309/Jenny.
In the song, a male narrator describes his obsession with a woman named “Jenny”, whose phone number (867-5309) was written on a wall, presumably in a men’s room. (That was a common prank back in the 1970s and early 1980s—writing random women’s names and phone numbers on the walls of men’s rooms. Don’t ask me why.)
Tommy Tutone is the name of the musical act that performed 867-5309.
Tommy Tutone is not a single artist, but a California-based group. The original lineup of Tommy Tutone was formed in 1978. The band still exists today. Tommy Tutone released six studio albums between 1980 and 2019. But the band owes most of its name recognition to 867-5309.
867-5309/Jenny was released on November 16, 1981. By the end of the following year, everyone with an FM radio had heard it.
867-5309 was, and remains, a cultural phenomenon. Not everyone was pleased about the song’s fame, however. After the song became popular, homeowners who happened to have been assigned the number began receiving prank phone calls. Many changed their numbers. Some even unplugged their phones in desperation.
Still others went out of their way to acquire the suddenly famous seven digits. Now that the initial fervor over the song has long since died down, this is the more common trend. It would probably be difficult—if not impossible—for you to obtain 867-5309 as your personal phone number. But your odds will increase in less populated areas, and as the time between the heyday of the song and the present year continues to grow.
In late 1981, I was in the eighth grade in Cincinnati, Ohio. One morning—it must have been a few weeks before the Christmas holidays—I heard a girl in my homeroom say my name. When I turned around, she had a smile on her face. I sensed good things ahead. Continue reading “867-5309, and a lesson in the value of skepticism “
The book haul video is a thing on the Japanese corners of YouTube, just as it is among English-language booktubers.
As in English, the Japanese book haul video (and the entire booktuber sector) is dominated by young women. No complaints here, except to point out that men of all ages, in all countries, should read more.
I have not been to Japan for more than a decade now. One thing I really miss about being in Japan is browsing bookstores, and looking for new books to read.
Even with the Internet, the acquisition of Japanese-language reading materials remains something of an ordeal in the United States. The US division of Amazon stocks relatively few Japanese-language titles. The demand simply isn’t there.
At the same time, US-based, independently owned mail-order Japanese bookstores have mostly gone out of business. This is yet another case of the Internet ruining a business model without providing an acceptable substitute.
I recall Sasuga Bookstore of Cambridge, Massachusetts with particular fondness. I purchased many books from them throughout the 1990s and early 00s. (Sasuga closed its doors for good in 2010. 残念でした.)
I am a diehard fanatic of only a handful of books, movies, and musical oeuvres. And I evangelize only a subset of those.
For example, I love the music of Rush and Iron Maiden; but I don’t consider the appeal of these bands to be universal, by any means. Likewise, I realize that a coming-of-age movie that spoke volumes to me in 1984 might not have the same significance for a teenager of 2024. Or for a Boomer who was a teenager in 1964, for that matter.
But everyone should see The Americans.
The Americans is part family saga, part period drama, and part espionage thriller. The show is set in both America and Russia during the last decade of the Cold War.
I watched The Americans in its entirety during the show’s original primetime run on FX from 2013 to 2018. During those years, I looked forward to each new episode.
I loved the series so much, I recently decided to watch it again. But as is so often the case with these modern conveniences of ours, the situation has been made less convenient than it would have been in pre-Internet days. No longer do non-primetime shows circulate to rerun syndication in non-primetime hours. They move to paid streaming platforms.
If you want to see all six seasons of The Americans in 2024, you have several options. You can pay to download each episode from Amazon, or you can purchase a subscription to Hulu, where the series is now streaming.
Or you can purchase the complete series on DVD. I determined this to be my best and most cost-effective option. The above package arrived on my doorstep from Amazon yesterday.
I look forward to watching this series again from beginning to end. And if you haven’t yet seen The Americans, you might consider buying the DVDs, too. They are still in stock on Amazon.
