I listen to the radio alot during the day because the door to my office is closed most of the time. It's almost too quiet. The great thing about listening to the radio is you get to hear the news right away as it happens. News is reported on the radio first in real time the second it happens. I also love listening to the radio talk shows and I get ideas for story lines from the people who call in. My favorite daytime radio talk show programs are Ron Owens and Pete Wilson on KGO, Jim Rome and The Jungle from LA and when I want to find out what the conservative right is talking about, I listen to Rush Limbaugh, who makes me laugh because he's so outrageous in his opinions.

The worst thing about listening to the radio is radio ads. For example, Mercedes has a series of radio ads about people who love Mercedes. I hate these people. I can't tell whether Mercedes or the ad firm that they hired to come up with these ads is being serious or funny. Whatever they're supposed to be, I decided that I would never buy a Mercedes because of these ads. I'm not sure that's the effect that Mercedes wanted.

One of the most offensive ad is the one where this woman is on a first date with this man. She goes on and on about all the details about the Mercedes and practically admits that she's not paying attention to him but l listening to the sound system in the car. At the end of the ad, she can't even remember his name. God, talking about playing into the worst stereotype of female that most men hate. I know I sound politically correct here, but this radio ad just reinforces the prevalent opinion that most men have that women are only interested in men for their money and their cars.

The other offensive ad is another woman on a first date, except this woman has a small little boy. This time those clever ad people have the four year old boy named Thomas, talk all about the Mercedes details. The hapless man says that Thomas must like Mercedes and the mother says seductively, no dummy, he likes you because you have a Mercedes. So now instead of gold digger mom we have a gold digger child. If my four year old child ever judged people because of their material possessions, I'd be furious.

God, what is it with Mercedes? Is business so bad, sales so lagging that they have to put obnoxious ads on the radio? Mercedes never used to advertise so maybe busines is so competitive that they've been forced to do it. I never hear Lexus, BMW or Volvo ads on the radio. I'd like to know how much Mercedes is paying this ad firm for these ads because I don't think they're working and they should ask for a refund. The ad firm made Mercedes for such an uncool car to have. Too bad too, because Mercedes is such a great car. Mercedes has a great engine and is made with incredible attention to detail. But all of this doesn't matter any more because now I don't want to be associated with the crass people depicted in their ads.

I loved the Mists of Avalon movie on TV last night. Just for fun I started reading my new book called the "The Mammoth Book of British King and Queens". It mentions King Arthur and even Uther Pendragon but the book's authors doubts whether Arthur really existed. For a king that scholars say never really existed, it's fascinating how centuries later Western culture still talks and makes movies about him.

What's interesting in the Mists of Avalon is the conflict between the Druid/Goddess religion and the Christians. At the end of Mists, the christians adopt some of the Druid/Goddess elements into worship, their mythology.

I don't think the TV critics like the TNT movie, but I like it alot. The costumes and scenery are impressive and all the american actors are speaking in their best coached Brit dialects. Even Kevin Costner wouldn't attempt it when he did Robin Hood. I hated Jodie Foster's Brit dialect in Anna and the King, but these actors are really quite good.

Why do people lie? Why do they make up lies about themselves? Don't they know they'll get caught? I don't get it. If you lie and get caught then the person you told lie to gets even more upset, or at least that's how I get. You know, I don't mind petty white lies and exagerrations as long as you have the stuff the get away with it. But if you don't, it just makes me mad. Why play the game if you don't got game?

I've deleted all my ads from the the online personals. I kept meeting men who were content to tell me little white lies about themselves. I kept meeting men who withheld vital pieces of information that I needed to have so I could make an informed decision about whether I wanted to go out with them or not. I feel sorry for these men, I feel pity that they have to lie about themselves to get women to go out with them. It's sad really that they have to resort to that. And what's worse, although a nice part of me feels sorry for them, another meaner part of me says that they deserve to not get dates if they decide to lie or withhold information. I mean, come on, why lie especially this early on in the game when everyone is supposedly on their best behaviour. It's just plain rude and it leaves a very, very bad impression. Maybe they think that women who put ads out to meet people are so desperate that they'll ignore the white lies, the withholds of vital information, just to go on a date. Well, I'm not one of them. I'm not that desperate for a man that I give up common standards of civil behaviour in polite society and accept this kind of behavioiur. I'm sure there are plenty of women who will overlook such indiscretions on the part of thier partners. They're the ones probably dating these people. Not me, not now, not ever.

I think the best thing I like about writing fiction is that you can have your characters say things, do things that you normally wouldn't say or do. You can make them experience situations and people that you're curious about, wondered about, situations that you wouldnt' get into, people that you wouldn't talk to. There was a repeat of that Joyce Carol Oates Interview at the Herbst Theatre on Channel 35 last night. Joyce is a very interesting writer. She said she gets a lot of flak from feminists about her work saying it's offensive, other people say her work is depressing. Joyce was cool. She said something like, "If you don't like my work, don't read it. I'm not forcing you to read my books."

Some of Oates' work is totally depressing and has an amazing amount of violence towards women. Some of her characters are also totally weird and strange, I mean people you wouldn't sit next to on a totally crowded MUNI bus like the 30 Stockton. But her stuff is great because they are written so well and brilliantly crafted. She writes what she wants to writes. It doesn't mean she advocates violence against women or advocates anything for that matter. She's just a writer.

I read somewhere that Checkov told critics not to read anything into his work as reflection of his life, that his work had nothing do with his real life. And I think he's right. Sometimes writers just write about what they're interested in exploring and it doesn't mean they have certian opinions. A character in a piece of fiction might say something totally offensive and god forbid in NoCal totally non-PC, conservative and republican, but that doesn't mean the writer shares the views of the character. That's just the character talking. But in our so politically correct world, which I'm beginning to believe that Rush is right when he says is being Opraized and feminized, you can't say anything without offending somebody somewhere especially in the Bay Area. The problem with political correctness is that on some level it is a denial of free speech. You have the right toyour opinion about a piece of fiction, you might like it, you might hate it, you might think the author hocked a lugey on 300 pages and is now getting paid for it or you might conversely think that the author is Shakespeare reincarnated. But what you don't have the right is to ban it because it offends you, you don't have the right to burn the book, shut the author down, say the author is offensive when it's the work that's offensive. You don't have to right to do anything but have an opinion about the piece of fiction and that's about it.

And if you don't like it, don't buy it and don't read it. Use your freedom of choice but don't take away someone else's freedom as well, the author's or the other readers'.