I get the feeling that my older brother doesn’t really like these comic strips that he drew for our local weekly newspaper back in 1979. For years, he thought he had lost these until he accidentally found them stuffed in some old boxes stored in his garage, but he didn’t seem very excited to have been reunited with them.
The newspaper clippings that he’d taped together were yellowed from age and exposure to extreme temperatures. The originals had been folded in a disorganized pile and tossed into a box. Several originals (like today’s episode) were lost altogether. He definitely had not handled them with care.
Then again, these might have been packed by his ex-wife.
For more “Calloway the Castaway,” start at The Lost Adventures of “Calloway the Castaway” Episode 1!
Not sure what’s going on? Read the current storyline from the beginning below!
The Lost Adventures of “Calloway the Castaway” Episode 20
The Lost Adventures of “Calloway the Castaway” Episode 21
The Lost Adventures of “Calloway the Castaway” Episode 22
The Lost Adventures of “Calloway The Castaway” Episode 23
The Lost Adventures of “Calloway The Castaway” Episode 24
The Lost Adventures of “Calloway the Castaway” Episode 25
The Lost Adventures of “Calloway the Castaway” Episode 26
And come back next week for The Last Adventure of “Calloway the Castaway” Episode 28.
This probably isn’t the best pair of books to read at the same time.
Both Shogun by James Clavell and The First Man in Rome by Colleen McCullough are historical epic novels from decades ago. Shogun was published in 1975 at 1210 paperback pages. The First Man In Rome was published in 1990 at 935 paperback pages. The First Man in Rome also has 140 pages of glossary that I didn’t include in my page count. Shogun has no glossary. Shogun paralleled 1970s fascination with East Asian culture. The First Man in Rome paralleled Western culture’s general fascination with the Roman Empire.
Shogun is easy for me to read. It’s more like an adventure novel than a historical drama. I read Shogun almost 50 years ago when I was in eighth grade, just before the NBC mini-series began. The First Man in Rome is a slog (for me). I’ve attempted it three times and have never finished it. I started it a few months ago, and I’m stuck on page 627. I’m much more interested in the Roman Empire than I am in Japanese culture before the influence of the West, so I should be enjoying The First Man In Rome more. I probably should have already finished it by now. I’m only a few hundred pages off.
Shogun is primarily a Westerner’s perspective of feudal Japan’s culture, with doses of the Japanese characters’ thoughts and motivations. The First Man in Rome is almost like an insider’s look at ancient Roman life. Even though most of the characters are historical figures, the details of specific locations and everyday items is… kind of boring to a guy like me. Fans of The First Man in Rome are fascinated by the McCullough’s thoroughness, so I can’t complain about it. I know I should appreciate the details, but I get impatient for the author to get to the story.
When you’re done reading Shogun, that’s it. There’s not a sequel. You can watch two TV versions, one from last year on Amazon and one made for network television in 1980. Clavell has some other great novels like Taipan, King Rat, and Noble House, but none of these are directly related to Shogun (as far as I know).
When you’re done reading The First Man in Rome, you have several more books in the series, including The Grass Crown, Fortune’s Favorites, Caesar’s Women, and maybe a couple others that I probably won’t get to. And if that’s not enough, the series Rome on HBO reminds some readers of McCullough’s Rome novels, but I haven’t read enough of her books to know if that comparison is really a comparison. The Rome series is good, though the second season was kind of rushed.
To me, the characters in Shogun are much more interesting. Each character is motivated by fear to some extent, knowing that decapitation or torture is one wrong move or wrong word away. The characters in The First Man in Rome are bland, motivated by their desires for greatness or belief in their destinies. There’s little tension in most scenes. Some of the details are interesting, but (to me) the scenes aren’t riveting. Even characters who suffer brutal deaths show little if any fear of what’s about to happen. Maybe the Romans were made of sterner stuff. Sterner than pre-Western Japanese culture? I doubt that.
I’m a little biased against The First Man in Rome because I want to see the Romans lose, but that’s not The First Man in Rome’s fault. Most readers don’t share my feelings.
I might not have enough time in my life to read a lot of books the size of Shogun or The First Man in Rome series, so I have to be picky. I’ll probably end up finishing both, but my preference so far is Shogun by James Clavell. The First Man in Rome is definitely high quality and worth reading, but the perspectives and pacing in Shogun make it more interesting to me.
What do you think? Which do you prefer? A high quality book that’s thoroughly detailed and historically accurate? Or a high quality book that moves quickly with lots of tension and action and drama?
And to read a book that is NOT a historical epic, get a copy of my ONE novel here on Amazon!!
Or you can get a signed copy from ‘the trunk of my car’ below.
The Sunset Rises: A 1990s Romantic Comedy
Get a signed copy of my one and only novel, The Sunset Rises: A 1990s Romantic Comedy. Free delivery in the United States!
$10.00
And for more LIterary Combat…
Dr. Seuss vs. Stephen King! The Battle of the Self-Banned Books
Harry The Dirty Dog vs. Dirty, The Hairy Dog
Unfortunately, “Calloway the Castaway” had several factors working against it back in 1979. The comic strip appeared in a small suburban weekly newspaper with few readers. The small weekly newspaper didn’t pay my older brother anything for his weekly cartoon. And my older brother was 21 and broke. When he suddenly had the opportunity to move to the East Coast to pursue other endeavors (including a woman), he took it.
What was a 21 year-old guy supposed to do? Stay in a small suburb and continue cartooning for free? Or move to the East Coast chasing a woman?
Looking back, he probably should have sta… aw, never mind.
For more “Calloway the Castaway,” start at The Lost Adventures of “Calloway the Castaway” Episode 1!
Not sure what’s going on? Read the current storyline from the beginning below!
The Lost Adventures of “Calloway the Castaway” Episode 20
The Lost Adventures of “Calloway the Castaway” Episode 21
The Lost Adventures of “Calloway the Castaway” Episode 22
The Lost Adventures of “Calloway The Castaway” Episode 23
The Lost Adventures of “Calloway The Castaway” Episode 24
The Lost Adventures of “Calloway the Castaway” Episode 25
And come back next week for The Lost Adventures of “Calloway the Castaway” Episode 27 .
Years ago, when I wrote blog serials for Dysfunctional Literacy, Awkward Moments in Dating was the only blog serial series where I wrote multiple sets of stories. It’s not because there was such a demand for more Awkward Moments in Dating stories. It’s more like I just had a lot of them to write about.
Back in the early 1990s, I was an average (on a good day) looking guy with occasional moments of charisma. I had some success in the dating world, but I had to put effort into it. Unfortunately, when things went wrong on a date, they really went wrong.
It’s a good thing that I’ve been married and have aged out of the dating market because I don’t want to go through any of these awkward situations again. It’s bad enough remembering them. Of course, there might come a time when I WON’T remember any of these moments, but I try not to think about that too much.
Each story below is the first episode of its own Awkward Moments in Dating series (with links to the next episode). Dating disasters aren’t fun to experience, but they’re great when they happen to somebody else.
Awkward Moments in Dating: The Coworker
Awkward Moments in Dating: The Ex-Boyfriend
Awkward Moments in Dating: Just Friends
Awkward Moments in Dating: Prom
Awkward Moments in Dating: The Poetry Professor and My Ex-Girlfriend
And to read the ultimate Awkward Moment in Dating story, get a copy of my ONE novel here on Amazon!!
Or you can get a signed copy from ‘the trunk of my car.’
The Sunset Rises: A 1990s Romantic Comedy
Get a signed copy of my one and only novel, The Sunset Rises: A 1990s Romantic Comedy. Free delivery in the United States!
$10.00
Is the correct word ‘blither’ or ‘blather’? I always thought it was ‘blather, but I just found out I was semi-wrong. Several online dictionaries have both ‘blither’ and ‘blather’ with the meaning as ‘long-winded.’ I then thought maybe one could be a verb and one would be a noun, but no, evidently both ‘blither’ and ‘blather’ can be used as either nouns or verbs.
Even my 1973 Random House College Dictionary lists both ‘blither’ and ‘blather’ as words. The internet might be wrong, but Random House wouldn’t be, at least not back in 1973.
Enough blither (or blather) about these words! Here’s the 25th episode of my older brother’s comic strip “Calloway the Castaway,” published in our local weekly newspaper back in 1979.
For more “Calloway the Castaway,” start at The Lost Adventures of “Calloway the Castaway” Episode 1!
Not sure what’s going on? Read the current storyline from the beginning below!
The Lost Adventures of “Calloway the Castaway” Episode 20
The Lost Adventures of “Calloway the Castaway” Episode 21
The Lost Adventures of “Calloway the Castaway” Episode 22
The Lost Adventures of “Calloway The Castaway” Episode 23
The Lost Adventures of “Calloway The Castaway” Episode 24
And come back next week for The Lost Adventures of “Calloway the Castaway” Episode 26 .
When I first saw the cover of James: A Novel by Percival Everett, I thought, ‘What a lazy title. Who the hell is James, and why would I want to read a novel about him?’
Then when I read about the premise of the book, I thought, ‘I’ve already read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. If I’m going to read The Adventure of James, I want to read Mark Twain’s version.’
Except Mark Twain didn’t write a novel about Jim.
A part of me thinks it’s cool that somebody is writing pastiche fiction about Mark Twain characters. I’m not usually a fan of pastiche fiction, but at least the author chose a character that doesn’t have his/her own book yet.
I don’t, however, normally read pastiche fiction. Any Conan the Barbarian story written by somebody other than Robert E. Howard is just a story about another barbarian who happens to be named Conan. Any James Bond story written by an author other than Ian Fleming is just a story about a random spy who happens to be named James Bond. Any Sherlock Holmes story written by somebody other than…. You get the idea.
Out of curiosity, I started reading James: A Novel. It was okay. It’s easier to read than The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. I kind of rolled my eyes when James and the slaves started speaking in perfect English when nobody else was around. That kind of thing works for a high school skit (depending on the high school, I guess), but it’s an eye roll for a serious novel.
Maybe Percival Everrett just didn’t want to write dialect (I have no proof to back that up). Dialect is a pain to write, and people don’t like reading it. Readers probably appreciate how straight forward the writing in James: A Novel is. And maybe they like the idea of slaves speaking perfect grammar when nobody else is around.
Or maybe I’m wrong. Maybe slaves did speak perfect English when their owners weren’t around. I admit that I have astonishing gaps in my knowledge. Maybe I’m the only person who doesn’t know about this historical tidbit.
What’s more likely? Percival Everett didn’t want to write dialect? Or that slaves spoke perfect English when nobody else was around? I’m not qualified to answer that question.
I’ll also admit that I’m not the best judge of what works and what doesn’t work for serious novels (literary fiction). I hardly ever read serious novels. I like to read stuff that’s actually good (by ‘good,’ I mean ‘entertaining’).
Is James: A Novel worth reading? That depends. Do you think James: A Novel is a lazy title? Are you glad that the author didn’t use a lot of dialect in the narration and dialogue? Do you mind reading about a Mark Twain character in a book that’s not written by Mark Twain? If you answered “yes” and “no” to some of the previous questions, you might enjoy James: A Novel.
*****
My ONE novel might not be considered serious fiction, but at least it doesn’t have a lazy title. I worked hard on that title.
*****
A grammar-obsessed English teacher falls in ‘luuuvvv’ but discovers how chaotic and dangerous ‘luuuvvv’ can be.
The Sunset Rises: A 1990s Romantic Comedy
Get a signed copy of my one and only novel, The Sunset Rises: A 1990s Romantic Comedy. My handwriting is actually legible, but I’m left-handed, so I might smudge my signature sometimes. Free delivery in the United States!
$10.00
Or you can buy a copy here on Amazon!
Here’s more Literary Glance!
Literary Glance: The Murder House by James Patterson
Literary Glance: The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Literary Glance: It by Stephen King
A part of me wants to write a synopsis of the story so far because new readers to this blog or this comic strip might wonder what’s going on. Then I remember that back when my older brother’s comic strip was published in our local weekly newspaper back in 1979, four-panel comic strips rarely had a synopsis. Readers were on their own to figure things out.
Today, we have the internet, and with this internet comes the power to provide links. But with the power to provide links comes the responsibility to use them judiciously.
For more “Calloway the Castaway,” start at The Lost Adventures of “Calloway the Castaway” Episode 1!
Not sure what’s going on? Read the current storyline from the beginning below!
The Lost Adventures of “Calloway the Castaway” Episode 20
The Lost Adventures of “Calloway the Castaway” Episode 21
The Lost Adventures of “Calloway the Castaway” Episode 22
The Lost Adventures of “Calloway The Castaway” Episode 23
And come back next week for The Lost Adventures of “Calloway the Castaway” Episode 25 .
Gen Z gets a bad reputation for being lazy and having bad manners. They stare at their phones. They don’t make eye contact. They’re allegedly too sensitive to criticism. They can come across as rude to those of us from older generations.
I work part-time at a grocery store with a bunch of Gen Z co-workers, and I kind of like being around them. I can sit next to them in the break room and not feel like I have to talk to them. We just nod and stare at our phones. Sometimes we don’t even nod. This behavior is a lot different from the way I was taught to act.
When I was a kid, I was taught to be polite, even with strangers (unless they were driving a white van). When I was a teacher from 1990-2020, I would greet co-workers and students with a “Good morning” or something similar, and most students would respond, even if they really didn’t want to. My Gen Z co-workers in the grocery store? If I say “Good morning,” they continue looking away, continue staring at their phones, or give me looks that read, “Why the f*** are you talking to me, Boomer?”
By the way, I’m not a Boomer. I’m Gen X. That’s completely different, but that’s for another blog post (maybe).
I was put off by this Gen Z behavior for a while. I still fake-smiled after I’d been snubbed, but in my head I was thinking “you stuck up little pricks.” They didn’t always behave stuck up, though. If these Gen-Z co-workers needed my help with something in the store or if I was the last available option for conversation, they’d talk to me politely, but otherwise, yeah, they came across to me as kind of rude. Then one day it hit me (and this really shouldn’t have taken so long).
I’ve never liked being polite.
I’ve actually… kind of… hated… being polite.
I decided then to be more like Gen Z. I don’t say “Good morning” much anymore. I don’t make eye contact. I don’t try to make polite conversation. No more talk about the weather. I stare at my phone (or a book) but only when my back is leaned up against a wall. I still don’t stare at my phone when I’m walking, though (Gen Zers aren’t as spacially aware as they think they are). Even with my old teacher-in-the-hallway instincts, I like to check out my surroundings. I don’t like getting conked on the head. I can’t believe more Gen Zers don’t get conked on the head.
Don’t get me wrong; I’m not being rude to anyone. If somebody wants to talk to me, I’m still polite and occasionally friendly. I don’t ignore customers or co-workers who have questions (though that’s tempting). But I don’t feel compelled to greet everybody. I don’t have to make eye contact. I can just zone out. I like zoning out.
Since I’ve cut down on meaningless polite interpersonal contact, I have more energy during and after work. Physical work at the grocery store isn’t always work to me. Communication with other people is more draining to me than physical work. Maybe Gen Z has it right.
The only potential problem is that the Gen Z short attention span might rub off on
*****
Here’s my one and only novel. You can even read it on your phone if you want to!
It’s the oldest story in the world, 1990s style!
Man meets woman; man falls in “luuuvvv” with woman; man gets blindsided by reality!
The Sunset Rises: A 1990s Romantic Comedy is now available on Amazon !
I’m usually not a fan of puns in comic strips, but since this is my older brother’s work, I’ll defend it with my last ounce of energy. This one is okay.
Pennants? Penance? Pun? Homophone? Ugh. Whatever it is, even if it’s the creative work of my older brother, I can’t defend this after all.
For more, start at The Lost Adventures of “Calloway the Castaway” Episode 1!
And come back next week for The Lost Adventures of “Calloway The Castaway” Episode 24 .
Back in the 1970s, calling somebody a goat was bad. The word ‘goat’ was short for ‘scapegoat’ and generally meant ‘loser.’ It might have been a little bit before my time because it wasn’t part of my elementary school vernacular. If another kid was a loser, we’d just call him a loser or something worse. Even though we might never have used the word ‘goat’ to put losers in their place, we knew what it meant. We had Charlie Brown to thank for that.
Maybe ‘goat’ was something our parents had said when they were younger, but I can’t ask them about that anymore. It must have at least been something that somebody had said to Charles Schultz, the creator of the comic strip Peanuts starring Charlie Brown, because that’s where we saw ‘goat’ being used all the time. So for several generations, at least as far as I know, the word ‘goat’ meant ‘loser.’
Nowadays, when I hear youngsters (anybody who is 30 years younger than me) say the word ‘goat,’ they usually mean G.O.A.T.: an acronym for Greatest Of All Time. It’s usually in reference to sports, often football or basketball. The common arguments today are that Tom Brady is the G.O.A.T. of professional football and Michael Jordan is the G.O.A.T. in professional basketball, though youngsters today might make the claim that LeBron James is the G.O.A.T.
LeBron James?
Unfortunately, LeBron James claims himself to be the G.O.A.T., so that automatically excludes him from the argument. If you have to call yourself the G.O.A.T., then you’re not the G.O.A.T. Plus, LeBron James was the old version goat of the 2011 NBA championship series, where the underdog Dallas Mavericks defeated the heavily-favored Miami Heat, partially because LeBron James was at times outplayed by an athlete that very few people had heard of. You can’t be the goat of a championship series and then also be the G.O.A.T.
Anyway, that’s not the point.
Back when I was reading the comic strip Peanuts every day in the 1970s and 1980s, we sports fans didn’t argue about who was the Greatest Of All Time. We might have argued about who in our particular time period was the best, but even as teenagers, we knew that the athletic standards of the 1980s weren’t the same as those of the 1950s. For one thing, all the footage of the 1950s was in black-and-white. There was no way that athletes competing in black-and-white footage could compare with athletes in full color.
Nowadays, all the footage of 1980s sporting events is grainy, so today’s youngsters must believe that there was no way the athletes of the previous century can be compared to today’s athletes whose highlights have been recorded in glorious HD (or whatever is even better than High Definition… I lose track of these things).
Whenever the topic of G.O.A.T. comes up with the youngsters (it doesn’t happen that often), I have to mentally clarify which type of goat (or G.O.A.T.) we’re talking about. Thankfully, with writing, there’s little chance of misinterpretation. Charlie Brown might have seen himself as a goat, but the comic strip Peanuts is probably the Greatest Of All Time.
On the other hand, LeBron James might see himself as the Greatest Of All Time in basketball, but in reality he’s just a goa… record-breaking basketball player who will probably have a polarizing legacy.
But that’s for other bloggers and content creators to argue about.
*****
For more Dysfunctional Literacy , read…
Scrabble Makes New Dictionary Filled with Fake Words
Words Not To Say In Front Of My Kids
We Don’t Need A New Word For That
*****
I’m going to take a page from LeBron James and call my novel The Sunset Rises: A 1990s Romantic Comedy the G.R.O.A.T. (Greatest Romance Of All Time)!
*****
It’s the oldest story in the world, 1990s style!
Man meets woman; man falls in “luuuvvv” with woman; man gets blindsided by reality!
The Sunset Rises: A 1990s Romantic Comedy is now available on Amazon and from the trunk of my car!
Dysfunctional Literacy 