Down South Perspective
Latest Entries
US Edition of Can’t You Get Along With Anyone? Coming October 1!
Posted on August 13th, 2007 and filed under Newsletter Archive
Bandito Books
Posted on May 14th, 2007 and filed under Newsletter Archive
It Appears I’ve Hit the Big Time…
Posted on April 11th, 2007 and filed under Newsletter Archive
HUYA Syndrome, and Then Some…
Posted on March 5th, 2007 and filed under Newsletter Archive
Hi folks,
Those of you who have read Can’t You Get Along With Anyone? may
remember my HUYA (Head Up Your Ass) Syndrome.It appears that with my claim (in my last message) that the water where I
am goes down counterclockwise I myself am a victim of it. My head was up my
ass with that one.
Whereabouts Unkown
Posted on February 28th, 2007 and filed under Newsletter Archive
Hi folks,
There are some scumbags (plus at least one scumbagette) out there who would
like to know where I am, so let me get this out of the way:Where I am the water goes down the drain counterclockwise.
The Latest From Iraq
Posted on February 6th, 2007 and filed under Author's Corner, Weis Blog
Hi Folks,
A lot of you got a kick out of the surfing rodents. Here’s evidence that in spite of everything my sense of humor is intact regading world affairs as well…
Surf Rats
Posted on February 5th, 2007 and filed under Author's Corner, Weis Blog
Liars and the Lies They Tell
Posted on January 24th, 2007 and filed under Author's Corner, Weis Blog
Allan Gets Libeled
This message, and maybe several to follow, is directed at readers of my new book, Can't You Get Along With Anyone? A Writer's Memoir and a Tale of a Lost Surfer's Paradise. If you have not read the book, you may not be interested. Also, if you're planning on reading the book, the following information may hurt the read a bit, via screwing with gradual disclosure; you'll know too much too soon.
DSP: Spot the Dr. Strangelove Reference
Posted on November 15th, 2006 and filed under Newsletter Archive
DSP: A Surfbum in El Salvador
Posted on October 20th, 2006 and filed under Newsletter Archive
What You Mean To Me
Posted on October 6th, 2006 and filed under Weis Blog
While writing and even while editing, it is not my habit to actively think of the reader. Can’t You Get Along With Anyone? was the exception. … view full entry »
States of Denial, Part 1
Posted on October 2nd, 2006 and filed under Weis Blog
A chapter (cut in the edit) from my new book, Can’t You Get Along With Anyone? A Writer’s Memoir and a Tale of a Lost Surfer’s Paradise … view full entry »
States of Denial, Part 2
Posted on October 2nd, 2006 and filed under Weis Blog
States of Denial, Part 3
Posted on October 2nd, 2006 and filed under Weis Blog
This is another chapter from CYGAWA that was cut in the edit and likewise re-titled to help Bob Woodward promote his new book. … view full entry »
Just “blabing” On, a DSP
Posted on September 25th, 2006 and filed under Newsletter Archive
Update: A Correction to My “On Jerkoffs” DSP Newsletter
Posted on September 21st, 2006 and filed under Newsletter Archive
On Jerk Offs, a DSP
Posted on September 20th, 2006 and filed under Newsletter Archive
Hi folks,
People in the UK are starting to receive Can’t You Get Along With Anyone? (CYGAWA); with U.S. (and other countries) buyers it will take a bit longer, although some have already arrived at certain locales in the States. Hang in. … view full entry »
Sept 11 DSP
Posted on September 11th, 2006 and filed under Site News, Newsletter Archive
Some news about the book, a video to see and some boook recommendations … view full entry »
Weisbecker Challenge Winners, and a New Website
Posted on September 5th, 2006 and filed under Site News, Newsletter Archive
The Last Page of My New Book
Posted on September 5th, 2006 and filed under Author's Corner, Stories and Articles
New Website is Launched
Posted on August 28th, 2006 and filed under Site News
As you can see, we launched my new website today. We’re still working out some of the kinks, but most of the old stuff has been moved over to the new format. And pretty soon the Reader’s Forum will be ready for you all– a place where you can share your thoughts on the books, ask questions, talk books, talk surf… all that.
If you encounter any problems with the new site, please feel free to email me by using the form here.
Young and Wild and Beautiful Once
Posted on August 24th, 2006 and filed under Stories and Articles
Originally posted March 12, 2005
… view full entry »
Can’t You Get Along With Anyone? Part 7, Chapter 1
Posted on August 24th, 2006 and filed under Stories and Articles
We pick up Can’t You Get Along With Anyone? A Writer’s Memoir at the opening to Part Five. I write from forced exile on a certain (unnamed) island in the lower Caribbean, having bolted from my home at the end of the road at the bottom of Central America, at the province called Pavones, Spanish for Big Turkeys. … view full entry »
Can’t You Get Along With Anyone? Part 6, Chapter 1
Posted on August 22nd, 2006 and filed under Stories and Articles
AKA The James Frey Rant
The following is the opening chapter to Part Six of my new book, Can’t You Get Along With Anyone? A Writer’s Memoir. By now I’ve bolted from my home in paradise at the end of the road at the bottom of Central America and write from a certain lower Caribbean island. I’m essentially in hiding. … view full entry »
The Final Voyage of Thor Heyerdahl
Posted on August 21st, 2006 and filed under Stories and Articles
Originally posted July 15, 2004
Preface
Thor was a Norweigan adventurer whose theories about ancient peoples’ migrations a few decades ago were controversial, to say the least. In fact, everyone thought he was nuts.
… view full entry »
Dan Fowlie Returns, Part 1
Posted on August 20th, 2006 and filed under Stories and Articles
Originally posted June 20, 2005
… view full entry »
The Calling
Posted on August 1st, 2006 and filed under Stories and Articles
A short story, originally posted Sunday, April 1st, 2001 … view full entry »
Recommended Reading: What’s This All About?
Posted on June 28th, 2006 and filed under Author's Corner, Recommended Reading
Compiling a list of books I’d without reservations recommend is tough, but I’m working on it. I’ll get back to you.
Meanwhile, here’s a partial list of books to get you started if you’re looking for some information about how the world works — other than the utter horseshit you’re subjected to by the mainstream media.
Lost History; Contras, Cocaine, the Press, and Project Truth
, by Robert Parry. The Reagan Administration lied about everything in perpetrating its illegal war against Nicaragua. Parry chronicles and sources all the sleazy stuff Bob Woodward omitted in Veil; The Secret Wars of the CIA. A terrific book, as are all of Parry's. Go to his Amazon page and browse (then consider buying from your nearest independant bookstore).Th
Exception to the Rulers
The New Pearl Harbor
Overthrow, America’s Century of Regime Change From Hawaii to Iraq
All the Shah’s Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror
Bitter Fruit, The Story of the American Coup in Guatemala
The above three books by Steven Kinzer define the history of U.S. foreign policy regarding democracy subversion for the last hundred years.
The Case for Impeachment
Hegemony or Survival
The most important book of our time is Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky’s Manufacturing Consent
As I say, I’ll get back to you on my list of fiction. (Or, if you can’t wait for fiction, try any of Bob Woodward’s books after All the President’s Men.)
Silver Surfers of Montauk
Posted on April 5th, 2006 and filed under Author's Corner, Photo Stories
A slideshow of photos by Warwick Saint has been added to photo stories: The Silver Surfers of Montauk.
Disaster in Hollywood
Posted on September 21st, 2005 and filed under Weis Blog
Hollywood Power Outage Sends City Into Chaos
No electricity for 26 minutes. “This is our Tsunami.”Attributed to Joshua Gates
LOS ANGELES, CA, September 12, 2005 - Horror and disbelief swept through the greater Hollywood area this afternoon as a minor power-outage turned the city into a virtual war zone and local residents struggled to deal with the devastating aftermath.
The outage struck at 1:35 PM, during L.A.’s busy afternoon coffee and Pilates rush hour. Traffic lights fell dark, local gyms and sushi restaurants were without power for nearly 30 minutes and many businesses were illuminated only by the light of the sun and its blistering 78 degree heat. “It was horrible,” said out of work actor and voice-over artist Rick Shea. “I was in a Jamba Juice on Melrose when it hit and the blenders simply shut down. A woman lunged for my Berry Lime Sublime an after that, well, it got pretty ugly.” … view full entry »
Cosmic Banditos Opens Onstage in Vancouver
Posted on September 16th, 2005 and filed under Weis Blog
GOING WITH THE PROS
Posted on September 6th, 2005 and filed under Photo Stories
Going with the Pros
A photo story by Allan WeisbeckerI’m enjoying a post-session shower at the Pavones cantina when this car pulls up, longboards piled high on the roof and… and a videocam pointed at me from out the driver’s side window. Bunch of guys in the car, a San Jose rental. Seconds pass.
I dunno, I’m thinking. I mean someone’s video-ing me taking a shower. Is this weird?
“Hey, you Allan?” comes a voice from the car.
I walk over. From behind the camera – a big one, broadcast quality, I assume – that voice again. “I’m Arsen. I emailed I was coming.”
I nod, although I’m blanking on an email from an Arsen. I get a lot of emails from guys threatening to show up here at the end of the road at the bottom of Central America. So few actually do it that I generally ignore them. … view full entry »
WHERE IS BOB WOODWARD WHEN WE NEED HIM?
Posted on February 18th, 2005 and filed under Stories and Articles, Weis Blog
I promised a while back not to get into political stuff, but based on some books I read lately I have to sort of break that promise. I say “sort of” because the political stuff is backdoor – politics is not what this is really about. It’s about simple logic, simple truth. And someone who cares about truth. And someone else who should but doesn’t. … view full entry »
Keeping the Crowds Down, Coincidentally
Posted on October 1st, 2004 and filed under Weis Blog
Why Physicists Are the Coolest People on the Planet
Posted on September 8th, 2004 and filed under Stories and Articles
A note from AW: The following is a “love letter” to physicists, based on my research visit to the Stanford University Linear Accelerator (SLAC), a mammoth, wild ass device used to goose subatomic particles to near the speed of light then smash them into each other, the purpose being to duplicate conditions just after the big bang – the birth of our universe. The piece is to be published in Symmetry, a new physics magazine published out of Stanford University.
Point being: Since the piece is a love letter to physicists, to get the most out of it, best while reading that you pretend you’re a physicist. Okay? Also: It’s best if you scroll and read the footnotes as you go. … view full entry »
Into the Wilds
Posted on June 4th, 2004 and filed under Stories and Articles
Many anecdotes and experiences from my time Down South did not make the final draft of travel memoir, In Search of Captain Zero. Here is one of them; call it a “lost chapter”:
The Surf Guru
Posted on May 4th, 2004 and filed under Stories and Articles
A Short Story by Doug Dorst
Elements
The Surf Guru spends most of his time sitting expectantly on the redwood deck of his dull-green, two-story house atop the cliff at Padre Point, a favorite spot for surfers in the know. He watches the surfers and looks out at the ocean. He often sips Chianti as he watches and looks.Sometimes he nods off in the afternoon and only awakens late at night, when the ocean breeze tickles his nose with smoke from bonfires on the sand below.
No one but the dog sleeps in his master bedroom. … view full entry »
The Surf Guru
Posted on May 4th, 2004 and filed under Stories and Articles
The Surf Guru
A short story by Doug Dorst … view full entry »
In Search of Captain Zero, the Screenplay
Posted on April 8th, 2004 and filed under Author's Corner, Stories and Articles
A PDF file of the screenplay I wrote for In Search of Captain Zero. Click here to download the PDF.
Flaco’s Passing
Posted on April 6th, 2004 and filed under Stories and Articles
A letter from my girlfriend
Tuesday night 8
Guapisimo mio,
Today was not easy – as I called you with the bad news about Flaco at six in the morning, I had guests – Alfredo and his family. Alfredo wanted me to accompany him on a short walk to his finca to look at the trees. Turned out his finca is a half hour in 1st gear up the mountains of La Hierba, then a hike of another hour+. A jungle hike first thing in the morning, with my grippe, and after being up with Flaco last night, wasn’t what I needed. … view full entry »
My Little World Gets Shaken
Posted on December 3rd, 2003 and filed under Stories and Articles
For a natural born skeptic like me, living here at Pavones — at the end of the road at the bottom of Central America — has been a revelation in many ways.
Like the moon thing.
Here’s a DSP I wrote in the fall of 2002, slightly edited:
Los Balseros - A Day In The Life Of The Guard
Posted on July 16th, 2003 and filed under Stories and Articles
Words & Pictures
By Allan WeisbeckerBetween the months of May and August, 1994, the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Nantucket saved 1,208 lives off the coast of Cuba. This account records one day in the life of the Nantucket and her crew.
The Forward to my New Book
Posted on May 20th, 2003 and filed under Author's Corner, Stories and Articles
Appended 8/23/2006:
Don’t read this! I’ve done a lot of work on the book since I wrote this. This stuff sucks! Writing is rewriting! Why not just delete this link, you may be asking yourself? Right? Hang in, subscribe to my site, and I’ll explain later. You’ll understand.
–end of append–
New York Boy at the BU
Posted on March 19th, 2003 and filed under Stories and Articles
By Allan Weisbecker
I’ve traveled a bit, lived here and there; I’m currently living far Down South, at the end of the road at the bottom of Central America, within sight of a very long left point. But I’m East Coast. Someone asks me my home break I don’t mind telling them Ditch Plains, Montauk, NY.
The Caribbean On $25 A Day
Posted on May 13th, 2001 and filed under Stories and Articles
The Caribbean on $25 A Day (make that $22.87, depending on how you figure the mayo)
In the Shadow of Punta Lobo
Posted on April 9th, 2001 and filed under Stories and Articles
Another anecdote from In Search of Captain Zero that didn’t make the final draft of the book.
Screenwriting 101 According to Weisbecker
Posted on March 1st, 2001 and filed under Stories and Articles
I’ve gotten so much interest in and support for my movie deals that I’ve decided to talk about them here, starting with In Search of Captain Zero since I’m doing the screenplay. … view full entry »