CATCH 22 ...

A man is trying desperately to be certified insane during World War II, so he can stop flying missions.
(more) (view trailer)

Commander: its all part of the deal
Yossarian : u made a deal wid the Germans to bomb our own base ??

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
There was a time when reading Joseph Heller's classic satire on the murderous insanity of war was nothing less than a rite of passage.

Echoes of Yossarian, the wise-ass bombardier who was too smart to die but not smart enough to find a way out of his predicament, could be heard throughout the counterculture.

As a result, it's impossible not to consider Catch-22 to be something of a period piece. But 40 years on, the novel's undiminished strength is its looking-glass logic.

Again and again, Heller's characters demonstrate that what is commonly held to be good, is bad; what is sensible, is nonsense.

Yossarian says, "You're talking about winning the war, and I am talking about winning the war and keeping alive."
"Exactly," Clevinger snapped smugly. "And which do you think is more important?"
"To whom?" Yossarian shot back. "It doesn't make a damn bit of difference who wins the war to someone who's dead."

"I can't think of another attitude that could be depended upon to give greater comfort to the enemy."

"The enemy," retorted Yossarian with weighted precision, "is anybody who's going to get you killed, no matter which side he's on."

Mirabile dictu, the book holds up post-Reagan, post-Gulf War.
It's a good thing, too. As long as there's a military, that engine of lethal authority, Catch-22 will shine as a handbook for smart-alecky pacifists.

It's an utterly serious and sad, but damn funny book.




Inside This Book (learn more)First Sentence:It was love at first sight. Read the first pageStatistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more) big fat mustache, bloated colonel, tighter bomb pattern, eggs for seven cents, intelligence tent, more combat missions, help the bombardier, sei pazzo, seventy missions, zinc pipe, railroad ditch, sixty missions, illegal tobacco, bomb line, forty missions, colored panties, group chaplain, flak suits, lead bombardier, medical tent, fifty missions, mess officer, combat status, covered cotton, more missionsCapitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more) Colonel Cathcart, Colonel Korn, Hungry Joe, Major Major, Doc Daneeka, General Dreedle, General Peckem, Captain Black, Chief White Halfoat, Nurse Duckett, Corporal Whitcomb, Washington Irving, Lieutenant Scheisskopf, Sergeant Towser, Nurse Cramer, Kid Sampson, Colonel Moodus, Major de Coverley, Colonel Cargill, Group Headquarters, Twenty-seventh Air Force Headquarters, Milo Minderbinder, Colonel Scheisskopf, The Saturday Evening Post, Sergeant Knight

blogg depression ....

a nonist public service pamphlet
there is a growing epidemic in the cyberworld. a scourge which causes more suffering with each passing day. as blogging has exploded and, under the stewardship of the veterans, the form has matured more and more bloggers are finding themselves disillusioned, dissatisfied, taking long breaks, and in many cases simply closing up shop. this debilitating scourge ebbs and flows but there is hardly a blogger among us who has not felt it’s dark touch. we’re speaking, of course, about blog depression.
Read More...
we here at the nonist have spoken before about the “blog life crisis" which is a natural part of any blog’s life-span. what we turn our attention to now, however, is the more insidious, prolonged strain of dissatisfaction which stays with a blogger, right below the surface, throughout a blog’s lifetime. the diligent and self aware blogger can resist this destructive undercurrent, make changes, adapt, rationalize, but for many, untreated, it can cause much needless suffering in the form of full fledged blog depression.
below you will find a 6 page pamphlet meant as a public service to help educate bloggers about this growing problem. feel free to download the complete pdf and disseminate this work to those you know and love. otherwise click each to see the larger version. “the more you know...” the sooner bloggers realize they have options the better. us included.

Read Less...
posted by jmorrison on 07/24 piss & vinegar (17) comments permalink
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yess, its dat creep OPIE again
who posts such crap

heyyyy guys, i finally found an old foto of Pithaly ....

dis is him

DLAK Franklin ....

DLAK Franklin met Charlie Brown at the beach in 1968.
They'd never met before because they went to different schools,
but they had fun playing ball
so Charlie Brown invited Franklin to visit him at this house across town for another play session.

Later, Franklin turned up as center-fielder on Peppermint Patty's baseball team and sits in front of her at school.
Franklin is thoughtful and can quote the Old Testament as effectively as Linus.

In contrast with the other characters,
Franklin has the fewest anxieties and obsessions.

He and Charlie Brown spend quite a bit of time talking about their respective grandfathers.
When Franklin first appeared in the late 60s,
his noticeably darker skin set some readers in search of a political meaning.

However, the remarkable becomes unremarkable when readers learn that Schulz simply introduced Franklin as another character, not a political statement.

Linus Pithaly ....

Linus Pithaly Van Pelt inspired the term "security blanket" with his classic pose.

He is the intellectual of the gang, and flabbergasts his friends with his philosophical revelations and solutions to problems.
He suffers abuse from his big sister, Lucy,
and the unwanted attentions of Charlie Brown's little sister, Sally.

He is a paradox: despite his age,
he can put life into perspective while sucking his thumb.
He knows the true meaning of Christmas
while continuing to believe in the Great Pumpkin.

Sally Janice ....

Sally Brown's brother, Charlie Brown,
was so pleased and proud when she was born
that he passed out chocolate cigars.

Since then he's been trying to understand her.
She always looks for the easy way out, particularly at school,
where her view of life reflects much of the frustration and confusion kids experience.

Her speech is riddled with malapropisms.
Uninhibited, and precocious,
she has a schoolgirl crush on Linus, her "Sweet Babboo."

She may never win Linus' heart,
but she has her big brother wrapped around her little finger.
Sally, writing letters or doing homework,
causes pain and joy to her fans in roughly equal proportions.

Meeet Keshi Lucy .....

Lucy Van Pelt works hard at being bossy, crabby and selfish.
She is loud and yells a lot.
Her smiles and motives are rarely pure.
She's a know-it-all who dispenses advice whether you want it or not
--and for Charlie Brown, there's a charge.

She's a fussbudget, in the true sense of the word.
She's a real grouch, with only one or two soft spots,
and both of them may be Schroeder, who prefers Beethoven.

As she sees it, hers is the only way.
The absence of logic in her arguments holds a kind of shining lunacy.

When it comes to compliments,
Lucy only likes receiving them.

If she's paying one--or even smiling
--she's probably up to something devious.

saby charlie brown .....

Saby Charlie Brown wins your heart with his losing ways.
It always rains on his parade, his baseball game, and his life.

He's an inveterate worrier who frets over trifles
(but who's to say they're trifles?).

Although he is concerned with the true meaning of life,
his friends sometimes call him "blockhead."

Other than his knack for putting himself down,
there are few sharp edges of wit in his repertoire;
usually he's the butt of the joke, not the joker.

He can be spotted a mile away in his sweater
with the zig zag trim, head down, hands in pocket,
headed for Lucy's psychiatric booth.

He is considerate, friendly and polite
and we love him knowing that he'll never win a baseball game
or the heart of the little red-haired girl,
kick the football Lucy is holding
or fly a kite successfully.

His friends call him "wishy-washy,"
but his spirit will never give up in his quest to triumph over adversity.