“If you are copywriter intent on improving your skills, don’t read this book…Memorize it.” Bang! That’s the opening line in Michael Masterson and John Forde’s book, Great Leads: The 6 Easiest Ways To Start Any Sales Message. “Great Leads” will help you: Write more compelling, stronger copy Increase the demand for your skills And ultimately earn more money Big promise for a 200 page book! Which is the point and the power of a great lead—to break through to the reader and funnel them into the writing in the first 200-500 words.

The other week a Chinese vessel was detained by Malaysian authorities off the coast of Johor, under suspicion of having plundered old WWII era shipwrecks in the region. HMS Repulse and HMS Prince of Wales, both of which sank in Malaysian waters in 1941, have had large sections of their bodies and armaments stolen in this way. The practice has been going on for years - these raiders targeting shipwrecks which are also effectively war graves - but this was one of the rare occasions when someone was seemingly caught in the act.

When I think of Police Academy, I think of the guy from the Police Academy movies who makes funny noises with his mouth. How does he do that? It’s MAGIC!  Then I think about Bobcat Goldthwait. That’s odd, considering the cult icon isn’t in Police Academy. He makes his series debut in its sequel, 1985’s Police Academy: Their First Assignment, alongside other newcomers Howard Hesseman, Tim Kazurinsky, Colleen Camp, and Julie Brown.

I was about to head to bed after the State of the Union last night, when I heard a voice coming from my television that stopped me in my tracks. I didn’t know who was speaking, but it really didn’t matter—I recognized the voice. It was so many voices from my childhood. It was so many Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings. It was potlucks, and baby showers, and graduations, and birthday parties.

I have a weird relationship with The Giver, Lois Lowry’s abstract and imagistic portrayal of a very particular dystopia. There’s no reason why I shouldn’t like it, and there are things that I admire about it very much. That abstraction is one big one. While I recognize that George Orwell’s 1984 is an important book, I have read it twice and never enjoye… ncG1vNJzZmieopqxpbXEnZybp5Wne7TBwayrmpubY7CwuY6pZq2glWK0qsLEq2SipqSnvKXBwq2mq7Fdpby0wA%3D%3D