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News & ArtsSaturday, September 5, 2009
Books RIP Keith Waterhouse
Posted by Dan Savage on Sat, Sep 5, 2009 at 10:30 AM
Reading this obit in today's New York Times made me want to read this novel—and I don't like fiction. And our copy editor's will appreciate this...
He was the founder and life president of the Association for the Annihilation of the Aberrant Apostrophe, a fictional organization dedicated to combating false plurals like tomato’s and road signs like the one he spotted near Sevenoaks, with letters three feet high that read BUSE’S ONLY.
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"Billy Liar" is a masterpiece. Pretty good movie, too, as were "Whistle Down the Wind" and "A Kind of Loving", which he wrote or co-wrote. He was also a giant of the satire boom, with "That Was The Week That Was", or TW3, and newspapers, for which he wrote countless brilliant columns. As a novelist he wasn't quite in the class of Amis or even Wain, but he was an important figure. He'll be missed.
9
I never heard of the guy, but if he was against "TV's," "CD's" and "DVD's," I may have to check out his book's.
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The AAAA is not to be confused with the radical splinter group AAAAA: the Association for the Assassination of All Aberrant Apostrophizers.
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doesn't like fiction...hmm...begins to explain why, although a critical thinker and advocate for many important issues, savage comes across as intensely whiny, obnoxious and spiteful.
19
Speaking of devastating apostrophe errors, has anyone noticed the one in the movie Wordplay? (It’s the crossword puzzle movie with Will Shortz.) At one point during the crossword tournament there is a caption on the screen “Judge’s room.” Only there is clearly more than one judge. It almost ruined what is otherwise a perfect nerd movie.
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18 - I've known very few people in my life who don't like fiction of some variety, but in my experience, they tend to be folks who are lacking in the imagination department. Indeed, they think that the whole practice of imagining is childish and beneath them, and not something that is an essential part of being able to empathize with one's fellow human being. So yeah, assholes.
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We in Seattle really should start our own very real, very terrifying anti-apostrophe abuse squad. Kind of like the old Q-Patrol, only for apostrophes, right? The crimes have gone too far and are too pervasive--they are hideously ugly.
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