Man, this usually isn't a forum for "OMG GUESS WHAT I HEARD ON NPR TODAY," but damn, guess what I heard on NPR today: Some middle-aged writer guy who sounds like he believes most of his own Baby Boomer bullshit. The highly successful James Ellroy says lots of slyly self-aggrandizing things that *might* be intended as a parody of cockiness, but probably are just plain-old cockiness (even though he says self-deprecatory things, too). But he's not funny the way that, say, David Lee Roth can be in very brief instances. Maybe Ellroy's cockiness is warranted (or completely calculated), but still, ugh, he's hard to listen to, precisely because he's an author, and he has too much time to think about what to say when the time comes to hype a book. Some allegedly deft verbalizations just cannot qualify as "microphone skills," no matter how you slice 'em. NPR: "James Ellroy Divulges A Few Dirty Secrets"
UPDATE: The commenters on npr.org largely feel the same way.
Can't quite tell what his deal is, either. But even his Wikipedia entry describes his ego and its pending application for statehood:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Ellroy#Public_life_and_opinions
Posted by: Mike | September 23, 2009 at 15:37
Well, I guess that succinctly brings his character to light. I think there may be a little cat-shit in there as well.
Joe
Posted by: Joe | October 04, 2009 at 17:54