I did a web search on the word “chutzpah” just to make sure I wouldn’t be using it incorrectly. It is defined as “shameless audacity, impudence.” There is a new poster boy for it and he comes, naturally, from the world of politics. In 2008 Bear Stearns was about to go bust. The government asked JP Morgan, which did not engage in the schemes that got most banks in trouble, to buy out BS to prevent what they feared would be the beginning of a meltdown of the entire financial system. Now, four years later, NY Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has instituted a lawsuit against JPM for the behavior that occurred at BS before the former absorbed it. This lends credence to the old adage: “No good deed goes unpunished.” It is another case of government going after someone with deep pockets simply because it can. It is monstrous.
J.K. Rowling, rags to riches author of the Harry Potter series, had had a novel for adults published. Unfortunately, The Casual Vacancy has flopped, and she says she will return to children's books. That's too bad. She must be worth enough money to be able to continue to write in any genre she pleases, self publish if she must. Has her extraordinary success thinned her skin? If so, it's disappointing. It's like an actor who has been popular in action films afraid to a serious film. On the heels of Rocky, Sylvester Stallone was offered the part of Stanley Kowalski in a new Broadway production of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire. He turned it down, saying he didn't want to be compared to Marlon Brando, and he was never again taken seriously as an artist. He is more celebrity than actor, like Arnold Schwarzenegger, who recently had a memoir, Total Recall, published. In it, he mentions the controversy that arose concerning a comment made in his early years in the States. He professed admiration for Hitler, a little man of humble origin who rose to great power. He now claims that he was being outrageous for the sake of publicity, and denies his admiration included the way the monster used that power.
Hipsterville, aka Park Slope, was not kind to the floating book shop today. There were many browsers but only one buyer. I thank the woman who purchased the Anna Quindlen essay collection.
Visit Vic's sites:
Vic's Third Novel (Print or Kindle): http://tinyurl.com/7e9jty3
Vic's Website: http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature/
Vic's Short Story Collection (Print or Kindle): http://www.tiny.cc/Oycgb
Vic's 2nd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/6b86st6
Vic's 1st Novel: http://tiny.cc/94t5h
Vic's Screenplay on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/cyckn3
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