I've always found Steinbeck to be an easy read.
I think "Grapes of Wrath" is his high water mark.
"East of Eden" (even though it over reaches sometimes) and Mice and Men rate high too.
For a nice piece of anti-fascism/anti Nazism "The Moon is Down" is worth a read too.

"Blowing In the Wind" isn't too bad for a protest song.
"God on Their Side" could be the anthem for the Iraq war (II).

Someone needs to make a Nietzsche reference:
Existence really is an imperfect tense that never becomes a present.

Lovecraft:
We're all going to die, true.
But it would better if it's not all at once.

Get that flag stuff out of your system now.
I don't think that type of speech is going to be allowed if Obama loses.

Robert Graves:
I Claudius
Claudius The God
Goodbye To All That

I'm interested in cultural cognates.
In reading the interview it occurred to me that nihilism is the western cognate of zen.

*but you'll have to dig it out…*

As a huge Peckinpah fan I'm always interested in the details of his films.
I'd never heard of Rudy Wurlitzer in any other context other than knowing he wrote the screenplay for "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid".

I'll throw in a buck sixty… but you'll have dig out old Bob there.

Apparently he's drunk out of his crystal skull.

Neckbea be trippin

Sarcasm is fun.

I'm guessing that was for UMD and the infected baby was sticking up for you… but I'm a half wit.

I'd speculate but I'm pretty sure I'm a half wit.

We're all p!ssed about the blurry avatars.

Maybe you'd like "Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein".

There is also the 70's version wityh Michael Sarrazin (sp?) as the monster.

Tragically even the arctic is not immune.
According to my worn, Classics Comics version of "Frankenstein' the monster was last seen drifting on an arctic ice floe.

Archmage say it ain't so.
Nobody really would want to lay anyone they met through an on-line dating service anyway.