By Jack Engelhard
Before that it was Tiger, then came Arnold, and now it’s Weiner caught flagrante delicto…all that plus others too numerous to mention, including governors and even presidents…and I almost forgot that guy who heads a world bank of some sort. Back to what I keep saying, that “as long as there are other women there’s going to be trouble.”
What about all those men of the cloth and that evangelist guy?
Woody Allen said that he never meets a woman that he doesn’t mentally undress. That’s not an exact quote but you get the gist.
Are all men created equally horny – and what about women, are they totally innocent? If so, why do so many keep inviting us to view their” pix?”
Who knew that we Americans were so lustful.
(Not me. Girls, before you answer – what are you wearing, by the way?)
The Internet, OMG, what goes on there would make a sailor blush, and we’re talking millions hooking up for real or by virtual imagination.
I say this, too (in “Indecent Proposal”) that “sex is nothing. Temptation is everything.”
The transaction of sex (through the Internet) with people we don’t know is tempting because we don’t want to miss out.
So many women, as has been said, so little time.
The “perfect” sexual experience may be just around the corner, or rather, by a simple click at the keyboard. That’s Real Temptation.
I was careful here by saying “some men” but the real question here is whether Arnold and that Congressman – do they speak for all of us, all of us guys?
Are any of us pure of heart and thought?
Men, we are told, think of sex once every 14 seconds (or something like that). Women? What do they want? Coupons! (Finally, the answer to Freud.)
Back in the mid-1980s I wrote the novel “Indecent Proposal” that was later made into a huge Paramount movie that was all right but left out all the good parts. Turns out that the novel is as valid today as it was yesterday – about an Arab billionaire who has everything and can BUY anything except – EXCEPT for the lust of a woman who belongs to someone else.
This is what he wants. He wants what he cannot have, or rather, should not have, and is willing to pay one million dollars for one night of pleasure…one night to find out what he may have been missing all his life. This, this woman out of reach, is worth more to him than all his oil wells. Why – because she IS out of reach!
That’s where the Internet comes in and says – you can’t touch, but you CAN play.
(There’s no evidence that the Congressman actually had relations with these women, far as I know. The game was enough.)
NPR just did a fine brief of all this titled “Infidelity on the Big Screen”-- http://www.npr.org/blogs/tellmemore/2011/05/20/136505832/infidelity-on-the-big-screen
The Internet provides the ideal mechanism for virtual rendezvous with the unknown. We’d rather not meet these people – chatting, exchanging pix. That is the turn-on.
So back to the question – are we all Weiners, except that he was acting upon his temptations and got caught? The rest of us just dream?
Well, I don’t know all 150 million American men, nor, certainly, can I speak for all 150 million of our women.
Best way to find out is to talk to your clergyman…oh wait a minute…
About the author: Jack Engelhard wrote the international bestseller “Indecent Proposal” that was translated into more than 22 languages and turned into a Paramount motion picture starring Robert Redford and Demi Moore. His award-winning book of memoirs, “Escape From Mount Moriah,” has been honored at CANNES Film Festival through Nikila Cole’s filming of the book’s short story, “My Father, Joe.”
Engelhard’s website – www.jackengelhard.com
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Strauss-Kahn’s Lynch Mob
By Jack Engelhard
“As long as there are women there’s going to be trouble.” I once wrote that but should have phrased it to read “as long as there are OTHER women” etc…
We now have two cases that deal with sex – that is, the OTHER woman – but it’s not really about sex. Sex is nothing. Temptation is everything.
You’ll find that in the novel “Indecent Proposal.” But never mind. Arnold’s case is pure and simple (good cliché), but the case of Dominique Strauss-Kahn is troubling. At least I’m troubled. I’ve been troubled about this from the start. We know that throughout history even the most powerful of men have been felled by temptation.
This now applies to Strauss-Kahn who was among the most powerful men in the world until a few days ago when a Manhattan hotel maid accused him of rape or attempted rape. This man heads the IMF, International Monetary Fund (don’t ask me what this is, but it’s big) and was about to run for president of France, hoping to unseat Sarkozy.
In short order, he was handcuffed (publicly) and now sits in Rikers Island. It’s fitting here to quote King David --- “How the mighty have fallen.”
So fast? Too fast? I don’t know. But something smells. Here’s what we do know. A woman, the maid, has charged him with attempted rape.
Here’s what we don’t know. If there was sex, was it perhaps consensual? We know the man. We don’t know the lady.
Could this have been a set-up?
A man so powerful must have powerful enemies.
Very possible that this hotel maid is just that, a hotel maid. Could she POSSIBLY have been a plant, a secret agent paid to entrap?
Who knows?
Yet commentators all over the news have already declared the man guilty. This is especially troubling. What happened to “innocent until proven guilty?”
Not only that, but there is joy in the man’s downfall. People love this. There’s dancing in the streets, practically. This too is troubling.
In the Front Pages he’s being portrayed as a monster. Maybe he is. Maybe he isn’t.
The cries to “get him” are starting to sound like a lynch mob. Throughout the ages people have lusted for human sacrifice. Still?
What does it say about us when we’re so glad when people trip and fall? We can even add Arnold in this. Some take pleasure in his disgrace.
This man Strauss-Kahn, for all I know he may be guilty. If he goes to trial and is FOUND guilty, all bets are off. I am in favor of castrating rapists – and then giving them the chair early and often. ZERO tolerance. But before all that, let’s hold off the lynch mob. By the way, how come Charlie Sheen seldom pays? He beats up women, doesn’t he? Since when is that kosher?
About the author: Novelist Jack Engelhard wrote the international bestseller “Indecent Proposal” that was translated into more than 22 languages and turned into a Paramount motion picture starring Robert Redford and Demi Moore. His book of memoirs “Escape From Mount Moriah” is an official selection CANNES Film Festival 2011 through Nikila Cole’s filming of the book’s short story “My Father, Joe.”
http://www.amazon.com/Escape-Mount-Moriah-Memoirs-Refugee/dp/0967407486/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0
Engelhard’s website – www.jackengelhard.com
“As long as there are women there’s going to be trouble.” I once wrote that but should have phrased it to read “as long as there are OTHER women” etc…
We now have two cases that deal with sex – that is, the OTHER woman – but it’s not really about sex. Sex is nothing. Temptation is everything.
You’ll find that in the novel “Indecent Proposal.” But never mind. Arnold’s case is pure and simple (good cliché), but the case of Dominique Strauss-Kahn is troubling. At least I’m troubled. I’ve been troubled about this from the start. We know that throughout history even the most powerful of men have been felled by temptation.
This now applies to Strauss-Kahn who was among the most powerful men in the world until a few days ago when a Manhattan hotel maid accused him of rape or attempted rape. This man heads the IMF, International Monetary Fund (don’t ask me what this is, but it’s big) and was about to run for president of France, hoping to unseat Sarkozy.
In short order, he was handcuffed (publicly) and now sits in Rikers Island. It’s fitting here to quote King David --- “How the mighty have fallen.”
So fast? Too fast? I don’t know. But something smells. Here’s what we do know. A woman, the maid, has charged him with attempted rape.
Here’s what we don’t know. If there was sex, was it perhaps consensual? We know the man. We don’t know the lady.
Could this have been a set-up?
A man so powerful must have powerful enemies.
Very possible that this hotel maid is just that, a hotel maid. Could she POSSIBLY have been a plant, a secret agent paid to entrap?
Who knows?
Yet commentators all over the news have already declared the man guilty. This is especially troubling. What happened to “innocent until proven guilty?”
Not only that, but there is joy in the man’s downfall. People love this. There’s dancing in the streets, practically. This too is troubling.
In the Front Pages he’s being portrayed as a monster. Maybe he is. Maybe he isn’t.
The cries to “get him” are starting to sound like a lynch mob. Throughout the ages people have lusted for human sacrifice. Still?
What does it say about us when we’re so glad when people trip and fall? We can even add Arnold in this. Some take pleasure in his disgrace.
This man Strauss-Kahn, for all I know he may be guilty. If he goes to trial and is FOUND guilty, all bets are off. I am in favor of castrating rapists – and then giving them the chair early and often. ZERO tolerance. But before all that, let’s hold off the lynch mob. By the way, how come Charlie Sheen seldom pays? He beats up women, doesn’t he? Since when is that kosher?
About the author: Novelist Jack Engelhard wrote the international bestseller “Indecent Proposal” that was translated into more than 22 languages and turned into a Paramount motion picture starring Robert Redford and Demi Moore. His book of memoirs “Escape From Mount Moriah” is an official selection CANNES Film Festival 2011 through Nikila Cole’s filming of the book’s short story “My Father, Joe.”
http://www.amazon.com/Escape-Mount-Moriah-Memoirs-Refugee/dp/0967407486/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0
Engelhard’s website – www.jackengelhard.com
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Sample Chapter of Jack Engelhard's Escape From Mount Moriah
Jack Engelhard’s award winning book ESCAPE FROM MOUNT MORIAH recently had its first chapter, MY FATHER JOE brought to the silver screen by A-List Canadian filmmaker Nikila Cole. The film has taken prizes at film festivals throughout the world and is featured at this year’s CANNES FILM FESTIVAL.
All the pathos, love and upheaval that shines through every paragraph of the story and every minute of the cinema has again brought to the fore this brilliantly written, emotion-packed collection of stories about life as seen through the eyes of a young Jewish refugee from the Holocaust growing up in Montreal in the Late Forties-Early Fifties.
Now, through the generous permission of Jack Engelhard, I am presenting here another story from this one of a kind collection:
I RESIGN
I RESIGN is probably the most lighthearted true story recounted in ESCAPE FROM MOUNT MORIAH. Between this and MY FATHER JOE, one cannot help but see that these accounts each have their individual appeal, while collectively the reader experiences at the visceral level every emotion on the planet
So now is presented, through Jack Engelhard’s kind consent, the story “I RESIGN”, one of eighteen mini-masterpieces that make up ESCAPE FROM MOUNT MORIAH, available in hardcover from Amazon as well as on Kindle.
From “Escape From Mount Moriah” by Jack Engelhard
Copyright © 2011 Jack Engelhard
Chapter 9
I RESIGN
My first job was with a man named Mr. Cohen, who ran a nursery. When I first went out there, to Cote de Neige in the vast outskirts of Montreal, I thought I’d be working with children. These turned out to be plants.
The job required being on your knees all morning and afternoon to pull out weeds, row after row under a spiteful July and then August sun.
The weeds grew fast. One day I counted them, how many I was pulling, and the total came to 6,740. They grew tall and thick and you never knew what lurked between them. Rats, for example. Rats bigger than dogs. One afternoon there I was, face to face with a rat. He stayed. I ran.
I told Mr. Cohen about it and he laughed.
As for me, I did not think it so funny. I was about 14 then. Most boys my age were delivering newspapers — but we needed more money.
So each day for a good part of that summer I took three streetcars to Cote de Neige and three streetcars back, an hour an a half in the morning, an hour and a half at night, and in between I pulled weeds.
Now, the thirst was the worst of it; no matter how much water you drank, it was never enough. The walk from Mr. Cohen’s nursery to the first streetcar stop was about two miles, and I walked this distance filthy from dust and empty from thirst. I passed beautiful, new suburban homes — another life for me. People would be sitting outside on their lawns, watering the grass.
What a waste of water, I thought. What were they watering anyway? Weeds?
Or they’d be eating juicy watermelon.
Now, I know this is what I saw. I once saw Maurice Richard sitting outside just like that, eating watermelon. Maurice Richard, the Babe Ruth of hockey. I never even told my friends about this. First, nobody sees God…so how can you see Maurice Richard? Second, this was mine. I wanted to keep it to myself.
I did tell Mr. Cohen about it and he laughed.
I hated this job very much.
One day Mr. Cohen asked me to run a hose over a long row of flowers. “I’m promoting you,” he said with a chuckle. Accidentally, I aimed the hose in his direction and drenched him from head to toe. I missed no part of him.
“I needed a shower anyway,” he said.
I said to myself, I am not long for this job.
One more rat, I promised myself, and I am gone for good. Goodbye.
Only a few days later, nearing the end of August and the beginning of school, here was that rat standing between me and a weed I was about to extract. I fled to Mr. Cohen’s office. Before stepping in, I took time to collect myself.
Then I said, “Mr. Cohen, can I talk to you for a minute?”
“Even two,” he said.
I felt awful. Never before had I resigned. “My Cohen,” I said, “I resign.”
He laughed.
“You resign?”
What was so funny? Resign was serious business. “Yes. I resign.”
“Resign?”
“Yes,” I said.
“You?” he said. “You resign?”
“Yes,” I said. “I resign.”
“No you don’t resign.”
“Yes I do resign.”
Then he explained.
“Presidents resign. Prime ministers resign. You?”
All this over a single word. Had I said something so terrible? Apparently yes. For Mr. Cohen was almost violently particular about this. That I was quitting…this bothered him not at all. That I was resigning…this infuriated him.
“You?” he said. “You quit.”
He wanted me to say the words. I realized that by quitting, I was the weed picker that I was — there among the worm, the ant, the rat. By resigning…by resigning I was soaring to the heights of presidents and prime ministers, and certainly well beyond the reach of Mr. Cohen.
No wonder he was outraged, especially when — even after he offered to double my severance pay — I still refused to quit.
No, I resigned
All the pathos, love and upheaval that shines through every paragraph of the story and every minute of the cinema has again brought to the fore this brilliantly written, emotion-packed collection of stories about life as seen through the eyes of a young Jewish refugee from the Holocaust growing up in Montreal in the Late Forties-Early Fifties.
Now, through the generous permission of Jack Engelhard, I am presenting here another story from this one of a kind collection:
I RESIGN
I RESIGN is probably the most lighthearted true story recounted in ESCAPE FROM MOUNT MORIAH. Between this and MY FATHER JOE, one cannot help but see that these accounts each have their individual appeal, while collectively the reader experiences at the visceral level every emotion on the planet
So now is presented, through Jack Engelhard’s kind consent, the story “I RESIGN”, one of eighteen mini-masterpieces that make up ESCAPE FROM MOUNT MORIAH, available in hardcover from Amazon as well as on Kindle.
From “Escape From Mount Moriah” by Jack Engelhard
Copyright © 2011 Jack Engelhard
Chapter 9
I RESIGN
My first job was with a man named Mr. Cohen, who ran a nursery. When I first went out there, to Cote de Neige in the vast outskirts of Montreal, I thought I’d be working with children. These turned out to be plants.
The job required being on your knees all morning and afternoon to pull out weeds, row after row under a spiteful July and then August sun.
The weeds grew fast. One day I counted them, how many I was pulling, and the total came to 6,740. They grew tall and thick and you never knew what lurked between them. Rats, for example. Rats bigger than dogs. One afternoon there I was, face to face with a rat. He stayed. I ran.
I told Mr. Cohen about it and he laughed.
As for me, I did not think it so funny. I was about 14 then. Most boys my age were delivering newspapers — but we needed more money.
So each day for a good part of that summer I took three streetcars to Cote de Neige and three streetcars back, an hour an a half in the morning, an hour and a half at night, and in between I pulled weeds.
Now, the thirst was the worst of it; no matter how much water you drank, it was never enough. The walk from Mr. Cohen’s nursery to the first streetcar stop was about two miles, and I walked this distance filthy from dust and empty from thirst. I passed beautiful, new suburban homes — another life for me. People would be sitting outside on their lawns, watering the grass.
What a waste of water, I thought. What were they watering anyway? Weeds?
Or they’d be eating juicy watermelon.
Now, I know this is what I saw. I once saw Maurice Richard sitting outside just like that, eating watermelon. Maurice Richard, the Babe Ruth of hockey. I never even told my friends about this. First, nobody sees God…so how can you see Maurice Richard? Second, this was mine. I wanted to keep it to myself.
I did tell Mr. Cohen about it and he laughed.
I hated this job very much.
One day Mr. Cohen asked me to run a hose over a long row of flowers. “I’m promoting you,” he said with a chuckle. Accidentally, I aimed the hose in his direction and drenched him from head to toe. I missed no part of him.
“I needed a shower anyway,” he said.
I said to myself, I am not long for this job.
One more rat, I promised myself, and I am gone for good. Goodbye.
Only a few days later, nearing the end of August and the beginning of school, here was that rat standing between me and a weed I was about to extract. I fled to Mr. Cohen’s office. Before stepping in, I took time to collect myself.
Then I said, “Mr. Cohen, can I talk to you for a minute?”
“Even two,” he said.
I felt awful. Never before had I resigned. “My Cohen,” I said, “I resign.”
He laughed.
“You resign?”
What was so funny? Resign was serious business. “Yes. I resign.”
“Resign?”
“Yes,” I said.
“You?” he said. “You resign?”
“Yes,” I said. “I resign.”
“No you don’t resign.”
“Yes I do resign.”
Then he explained.
“Presidents resign. Prime ministers resign. You?”
All this over a single word. Had I said something so terrible? Apparently yes. For Mr. Cohen was almost violently particular about this. That I was quitting…this bothered him not at all. That I was resigning…this infuriated him.
“You?” he said. “You quit.”
He wanted me to say the words. I realized that by quitting, I was the weed picker that I was — there among the worm, the ant, the rat. By resigning…by resigning I was soaring to the heights of presidents and prime ministers, and certainly well beyond the reach of Mr. Cohen.
No wonder he was outraged, especially when — even after he offered to double my severance pay — I still refused to quit.
No, I resigned
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Did “Three Cups” Author Deserve “60 Minutes” Hanging?
By Jack Engelhard
Justice without mercy is not justice.
That was an exceedingly harsh expose of Greg Mortenson last Sunday on “60 Minutes.” Can’t say I read his book “Three Cups of Tea,” a huge bestseller over the past few years, a book that’s made him very rich, rich enough to build schools and feed the impoverished in Afghanistan. No need, here, to go over all the charges made against him on “60 Minutes,” other than to list the two main allegations – that the book contains fraudulent information, and that those schools he says he built were never built.
I must admit that on first watching that segment on “60 Minutes” my instinct was (G-d forgive) one of gladness. How good it is when a faker gets nabbed.
It’s called shandenfroid – never mind the misspelling but it’s a German word that means “oh joy when another person trips and falls.”
In my religion that’s a sin, and my instinct was sinful.
Obviously I’ve made a complete turn-around. I now feel sorry for the guy and I think that “60 Minutes” was way too tough.
First of all, even Mortenson’s severest critic on the program admitted than even though not all the schools Mortenson promised to build were up and running, some were. In other words, plenty of people were helped and continue to be helped. Again, back to my religion, if you save a single life, it’s as though you’ve saved the entire world.
Mortenson, then, deserves plenty of credit for that alone.
On the matter of padding his book, well, authors are known for this. It’s the nature of the craft. Was Hemingway really the first to liberate the Ritz?
Oh, there was one more serious charge, that he used philanthropy money for personal use. If this is a crime, every politician would be in jail for misuse of campaign funds.
This man Mortenson may not be perfect as a man or as an author, but did he deserve all that from “60 Minutes?” Listen, we are all vulnerable, authors and anyone who speaks and writes. I think it was Robespierre who said (not exact quote but the gist) – “Find me 20 words written by any man and I will find a reason to hang him.”
Mortenson was hung.
The New York Post reveals that he’s going in for heart surgery this week. Let’s wish him success and speedy recovery.
(I couldn’t work up the energy to find the spelling of that German word. Maybe it’s because I hate it so much. If you know it, I’m all ears.)
About the author: Bestselling novelist Jack Engelhard wrote the novel “Indecent Proposal,” which was translated into more than 22 languages and turned into a Paramount motion picture starring Robert Redford and Demi Moore. His book of memoirs, “Escape From Mount Moriah” has been selected for the Cannes Independent Film Festival through the filming of his short story “My Father, Joe.” Engelhard’s website – www.jackengelhard.com
Justice without mercy is not justice.
That was an exceedingly harsh expose of Greg Mortenson last Sunday on “60 Minutes.” Can’t say I read his book “Three Cups of Tea,” a huge bestseller over the past few years, a book that’s made him very rich, rich enough to build schools and feed the impoverished in Afghanistan. No need, here, to go over all the charges made against him on “60 Minutes,” other than to list the two main allegations – that the book contains fraudulent information, and that those schools he says he built were never built.
I must admit that on first watching that segment on “60 Minutes” my instinct was (G-d forgive) one of gladness. How good it is when a faker gets nabbed.
It’s called shandenfroid – never mind the misspelling but it’s a German word that means “oh joy when another person trips and falls.”
In my religion that’s a sin, and my instinct was sinful.
Obviously I’ve made a complete turn-around. I now feel sorry for the guy and I think that “60 Minutes” was way too tough.
First of all, even Mortenson’s severest critic on the program admitted than even though not all the schools Mortenson promised to build were up and running, some were. In other words, plenty of people were helped and continue to be helped. Again, back to my religion, if you save a single life, it’s as though you’ve saved the entire world.
Mortenson, then, deserves plenty of credit for that alone.
On the matter of padding his book, well, authors are known for this. It’s the nature of the craft. Was Hemingway really the first to liberate the Ritz?
Oh, there was one more serious charge, that he used philanthropy money for personal use. If this is a crime, every politician would be in jail for misuse of campaign funds.
This man Mortenson may not be perfect as a man or as an author, but did he deserve all that from “60 Minutes?” Listen, we are all vulnerable, authors and anyone who speaks and writes. I think it was Robespierre who said (not exact quote but the gist) – “Find me 20 words written by any man and I will find a reason to hang him.”
Mortenson was hung.
The New York Post reveals that he’s going in for heart surgery this week. Let’s wish him success and speedy recovery.
(I couldn’t work up the energy to find the spelling of that German word. Maybe it’s because I hate it so much. If you know it, I’m all ears.)
About the author: Bestselling novelist Jack Engelhard wrote the novel “Indecent Proposal,” which was translated into more than 22 languages and turned into a Paramount motion picture starring Robert Redford and Demi Moore. His book of memoirs, “Escape From Mount Moriah” has been selected for the Cannes Independent Film Festival through the filming of his short story “My Father, Joe.” Engelhard’s website – www.jackengelhard.com
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Page to Screen to CANNES-Jack Engelhard's "Escape From Mount Moriah"
"My Father, Joe," adapted from my memoir "Escape From Mount Moriah," has been selected for screening at CANNES, Europe's most prestigious Film Festival, equal to the Academy Awards. The date -- May 18. This is quite a coup for the Canadian film-maker, whose "little film that could" has already won numerous other film festival awards worldwide.
The book "Escape From Mount Moriah" has been awarded top prize on EXCELLENCE from the Independent Publishers Association.
What's the book about, as reflected in "My Father, Joe?" It's about a kid who survives Europe's genocide to discover a new continent -- America!
Yes, America, the land of second acts and second chances.
Novelist Jack Engelhard is the author of eight or more books, including the international bestseller "Indecent Proposal," which was translated into more than 22 languages and turned into a Paramount motion picture starring Robert Redford and Demi Moore. Engehard's Works can be found on Amazon and on his website www.jackengelhard.com
http://www.amazon.com/Escape-Mount-Moriah-Memoirs-Refugee/dp/0967407486/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1303061925&sr=1-1
The book "Escape From Mount Moriah" has been awarded top prize on EXCELLENCE from the Independent Publishers Association.
What's the book about, as reflected in "My Father, Joe?" It's about a kid who survives Europe's genocide to discover a new continent -- America!
Yes, America, the land of second acts and second chances.
Novelist Jack Engelhard is the author of eight or more books, including the international bestseller "Indecent Proposal," which was translated into more than 22 languages and turned into a Paramount motion picture starring Robert Redford and Demi Moore. Engehard's Works can be found on Amazon and on his website www.jackengelhard.com
http://www.amazon.com/Escape-Mount-Moriah-Memoirs-Refugee/dp/0967407486/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1303061925&sr=1-1
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