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The Good Life Chronicles

D. J. Blue

 FormatISBN Price  
This Book is Available Dust Jacket Hardcover (6x9)9781418455231 $ 26.00  
About the Book

Hello, we’re talking with D. J. Blue, founder, writer, editor, and publisher of The Good Life.  He’s taken time out of his busy schedule to promote his new book called The Good Life Chronicles, which is a compilation of the publication that he put out from November 1993 until September 2002.

 

Now a lot of the people out there don’t have an idea of what The Good Life was all about.  Give us a brief summary of what the publication was.

The Good Life turned out to be like a bowl of soup: many different flavors making up the whole.  The main stock ingredient was sociological in nature--it wasn’t planned that way, but that’s the way it ended up.  Other ingredients were added:  a cup of analysis--I couldn’t help but add a good dose of this, necessary in understanding any topic which is being scrutinized; a teaspoon of male ebonics--I didn’t plan on including it--it inserted itself in a natural fashion; and finally, a dash of surrealism--a small ingredient but very necessary.  I didn’t want The Good Life to just have smooth surfaces.  The Good Life was going to have an edge to it.

The bulk of the material is a recounting of real life experiences, both mundane and dramatic, ranging from incidents in the Midwest to working on location in Hollywood.  It also includes social commentary, life philosophy posed in the form of an open-ended question, and topical commentary on the events of the day during that period--the O.J. Simpson trial, the death of Princess Diana, and September 11, 2001.  Sports topics of the day are also discussed, and some poetry is also included.

 

 

What is the Good Life?

I’m glad you asked that, because I wanted to discuss this.  I really wrestled with the title of the book, because I think the title can be misleading for somebody who hasn’t read it.  The title makes it sound like some guy talking about how he made it big, but that’s not what the book turned out to be.  I talked about this with my editorial consultant, and I think he brought up a great point about this--the definition of the good life is subjective—it’s different for every person, and you simply can’t pigeonhole it into one specific category.  The book kind of goes along, and then in the final chapter, a definition is given.  But at the same time, I think the book leaves enough room for everybody to base their own decisions on what their own good life really is.

 

 

Okay.  Now, you say in some of your promotional material that this is "a book unlike any other."  How is it different from all the others?

Well, there’s a couple fronts.  First, the Good Life was a once in a lifetime project.  It was written over a 9 year period, averaging roughly 25 issues a year for 9 years--that was a difficult feat that I could never do again.  A lot of planets had to come into alignment for that to occur, and they did, and it happened.  And second, the material itself is very diverse and multifaceted.  Also, things are talked about in a very frank nature--the political correctness that is pervading our society does not exist in this book.  I think p.c. is creating a dangerous undercurrent that has the potential to create sociological volcanos that can erupt without warning.  Everything that is spoken about in the book is the truth as I perceive it, with no political correctness muddying up the picture. 

 

 

What kind of people will enjoy your book?

I think anybody who is open-minded will like the book.  You know, this book covers a wide variety of topics that will make you think and make you react.  Some people don’t like that, and this book is not for them.  But it’s not reactive for the sake of reactive--it is reactive to the truth.

 

Thank you very much for joining us today.

My pleasure.

 

 

 

 

 

About the Author

Although D. J. Blue has been writing extensively for the past 20 years, this is his first published book.

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The Good Life Archives

Issue Highlights

 

1 premiere issue ...............................................  1

2 ........................................................................ 5

3 ........................................................................ 8

4 fitness ............................................................10

5 .......................................................................17

6 S.K. guest writer ............................................19

7 .......................................................................21

8 .......................................................................24

9 .......................................................................26

10 Rolling Stone interview .................................27

11 .......................................................................30

12 .......................................................................32

13 travel part I: Twin Cities ................................35

14 .......................................................................44

15 travel part II: L.A. and San Diego ...................46

16 travel part III: Chicago .....................................51

17 .......................................................................55

18 .......................................................................58

19 golf .................................................................60

20 auto issue ........................................................62

21 CA grocery scam ..............................................66

22 auto part II ........................................................68

23 The 10 Year Itch ............................................70

24 .......................................................................73

25 .......................................................................75

26 .......................................................................77

27 .......................................................................78

28 the bordeaux maneuver ..................................81

29 profanity ............................................................84

30 O.J. afterthought .................................................87

31 those days afterthought .........................................90

32 Twin Cities Inter-racialism .......................................92

33 APBA .................................................................94

34 APBA .................................................................97

35 ..................................................................... 103

36 APBA ............................................................... 105

37 APBA ............................................................... 112

38 Aquaman incident .............................................. 115

39 ..................................................................... 116

40 Lessons in life .................................................... 118

41 APBA ............................................................... 123

42 ..................................................................... 130

43 ..................................................................... 132

44 O.J. ................................................................ 134

45 ..................................................................... 138

46 day in the life .................................................... 139

47 ..................................................................... 141

48 ..................................................................... 143

49 women, part 1 ................................................... 145

50 women, part 2 ................................................... 149

51 Cock E. Roach interview ....................................... 155

52 ..................................................................... 157

53 Palm Springs golf ................................................ 159

54 ..................................................................... 161

55 ..................................................................... 164

56 ..................................................................... 165

57 ..................................................................... 168

58 ..................................................................... 171

59 ..................................................................... 173

60 death, religion, spirituality and the metaphysical .. 175

61 ..................................................................... 179

62 ..................................................................... 183

63 Midwest Xmas ............................................. 185

64 ..................................................................... 193

65 ..................................................................... 196

85 ..................................................................... 198

86 ..................................................................... 202

88 Midwest/SoCal list .............................................. 205

91 ..................................................................... 206

92 ode to a cricket .................................................. 207

95 ..................................................................... 208

98 love ................................................................ 209

99 the poltergeist experience ..................................... 214

100 100th issue, d.m.v.s. thesis .................................... 220

101 100th issue celebration weekend ............................. 227

102 ..................................................................... 233

103 consumerism ..................................................... 235

104 ..................................................................... 239

105 U.S. Tour ‘98: L.A. .............................................. 241

106 U.S. Tour ‘98: Super Bowl XXXII ............................... 244

107 afterthought: farewell to Harry ............................... 250

108 the caddyshack incident ....................................... 255

109 U.S. Tour ‘98: Hollywood ....................................... 260

110 ..................................................................... 263

111 The Flashback .................................................... 267

112 ..................................................................... 269

113 U.S. Tour ‘98: Palm Springs .................................... 271

114 U.S. Tour ‘98: San Francisco ................................... 278

115 U.S. Tour ‘98: Orlando .......................................... 283

116 U.S. Tour ‘98: Hibbing .......................................... 289

117 ..................................................................... 296

118 U. S. Tour ‘98: Chicago ......................................... 301

119 U. S. Tour ‘98: Palm Springs ................................... 307

120 ..................................................................... 309

121 U.S. Tour ‘98 Finale: 1998 Indoor Air Hockey Champs. .... 313

122 Neo-Tech .......................................................... 318

123 ..................................................................... 322

124 Sports Tour ‘99: L.A. Clippers ................................. 325

125 ..................................................................... 328

126 Sports Tour ‘99: L.A. Lakers ................................... 330

127 Sports Tour ‘99: Chicago Cubs ................................. 334

128 ..................................................................... 337

129 Sports Tour ‘99: 1999 Taconite Trophy Classic .............. 340

130 ..................................................................... 347

131 fitness guide ...................................................... 348

132 computers, the Internet, and society ........................ 352

133 September ........................................................ 354

134 Sports Tour ‘99: The Vegas Chronicles ....................... 356

135 ..................................................................... 362

136 Sports Tour ‘99 Finale: 1999 Indoor Air Hockey Champs. . 366

137 ..................................................................... 372

138 ..................................................................... 376

139 hp .................................................................. 379

140 sports talk radio: the XTRA 690 analysis ..................... 383

141 ..................................................................... 391

142 ..................................................................... 396

143 The Vegas Chronicles: chapter 2 .............................. 398

144 Car search 2000, part 1 ........................................ 403

145 The Vegas Chronicles: chapter 3 .............................. 409

146 Car search, part 2 ............................................... 416

147 2000 Taconite Trophy Classic .................................. 417

148 ..................................................................... 425

149 ..................................................................... 427

150 cork in a bottle .................................................. 430

151 computer hell .................................................... 434

152 ..................................................................... 438

153 baseball hierarchy ladder ...................................... 441

154 Savage Night ..................................................... 446

155 ..................................................................... 447

156 2000 Indoor Air Hockey Champs. .............................. 449

157 ..................................................................... 455

158 ..................................................................... 459

159 The Purple/Green Lowdown ................................... 461

160 ..................................................................... 467

161 stress/insomnia .................................................. 470

162 ..................................................................... 478

163 hp .................................................................. 480

164 2001 Odyssey: Miami ........................................... 485

165 hp .................................................................. 494

166 hp .................................................................. 497

167 destiny ............................................................ 500

168 2001 Odyssey: San Fran./Oakland ............................ 505

169 hp .................................................................. 509

170 hp .................................................................. 516

171 hp .................................................................. 522

172 2001 Odyssey: Boston .......................................... 525

173 2001 Taconite Trophy Classic .................................. 534

174 ..................................................................... 543

175 the S.K. issue .................................................... 545

176 September 11, 2001 ............................................. 553

177 ..................................................................... 556

178 hp .................................................................. 559

179 hp .................................................................. 561

180 2001 Indoor Air Hockey Champs ............................... 564

181 ..................................................................... 569

182 Best of Email Awards 1997–2001 .............................. 573

183 ..................................................................... 598

184 sex and spirituality .............................................. 600

185 hp .................................................................. 602

186 ..................................................................... 604

187 hp .................................................................. 607

188 ..................................................................... 616

189 ..................................................................... 618

190 The Vegas Chronicles: chapter 4 .............................. 621

191 sports .............................................................. 629

192 2002 Midwest Tour .............................................. 638

193 ..................................................................... 653

194 women part 3–the final chapter ............................... 655

195 The final issue ................................................... 658

About the Author ...................................................... 665


Philosophy

Note: this section will be presented in the form of an open-ended question.

The first subject: death.

I’ve been thinking about this for several years now. Question: is it better to die at a very old age, being old and alone yet knowing you out-lived everybody else, or is it better to die young, being one of the first to go, yet you don’t have to experience growing old and you still have friends?

-----------------------------------------------------------
Thursday night. Met S.K. at the airport carrying but a simple duffel bag. As we wandered through the airport, he saw I was wearing sandals and asked, “Are those Birkenstocks?” To which I replied, “Targetstocks.”

Later in the weekend, I gave S.K. a pillow to sleep on, at which point he asked, “Are there any drool stains on it?” To which I replied, “No.” To which he replied, “After tonight, there will be.”

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