It's one of those things you're liable to hear whenever the rain starts pelting down: "Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it." It's one of the few lines of Mark Twain's that just about everybody can quote. Two problems: first, it's not a Twain quote; second, it's not true.
The quote is actually from Charles Dudley Warner, who first deployed it in 1880 in the Hartford Courant, the newspaper he edited. The confusion over who said it probably stems from the fact that
To paraphrase a paraphrase of Mark Twain, reports of my deportation have been greatly exaggerated.
Yes, I know I announced last Thursday that I was ending my ¡Ask a Mexican! column, but few people seemingly bothered to read the line where I stated my self-deportation was "effective the feast day of St. Melito," which happens to fall today. April Fools'!
In this day of Google and instant knowledge, I must admit I was shocked that only two people called me on my bluff: Diego Renteria, an 18-yea
As readers of this blog know, I run occasional contests giving away copies of my books (Bryan Crowther? You got the city where Nigger Canyon is but never emailed me to claim your prize. Where are you?). As much as I want people to buy a copy so I can get a penny off of the royalty, I also understand the importance of spreading the Good News about a product. Seriously, folks: if you approach me and I have a copy of either ¡Ask a Mexican! or Orange County: A Personal History in hand, I'll probabl
The last time the Weekly pimped a book by Anthony Pignataro, it was El Toro Airport Watch: A No-Nonsense Guide to the Controversy Surrounding Orange County's Proposed El Toro International Airport. The title alone is nearly as long as the 54-page book, a staggering work of genius that is not really a book but more a bigger-than-a-pamphlet collection of The Pig's weekly "El Toro Airport Watch" columns that ran in the Weekly in 1997. It was put out by Project 99, the anti-airport group fronted by
