Stylin' Update

I told you about the style invitational. Here is an "honorable mention" award winner from week 772 (Translate a sentence or two of literature or other good writing so that "Los Angeles residents under 40" can appreciate it.):

Charles Dickens:"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way -- in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only."

John Bunyan, Cincinnati, a First Offender:"Times were good, the L.A. Times sucked, some people were over 40, some were stupid, there were Republicans, there were Democrats, it was sunny in the afternoon, but there was early-morning low clouds and fog, we thought the Dodgers could win, we knew they'd be out of the playoffs, we shopped Rodeo Drive, we had nothing to wear, we were hitting the waves, we were working -- so basically, it was pretty much like now, and the critics kept writing reviews, good ones and bad ones, with big words no one really uses that really just meant 'great' or 'lousy.' "

It was too long to fit in the short, print version of the column, so it had no chance of winning.

There is a new contest every week. Try it out.

Smart readers go to Humor-Blogs.com and vote for my entries.