Kieran Mulvaney

January 1, 1970

Hi all,

I just returned to Alaska after another whirlwind trip to Las Vegas – actually, this time around, to Las Vegas and Big Bear, California, for a visit to the training camps of Oscar de la Hoya and Shane Mosley prior to their big fight at the MGM Grand on September 13. It was quite the experience, not least because I ended up spending an evening relaxing over drinks with legendary promoter Bob Arum, listening to tales of legendary fights and potential legendary fights in the works. Meanwhile, while we were in Big Bear, Las Vegas and surroundings received torrential rain that resulted in extensive flash flooding, causing our journey back to Vegas – which normally takes around four hours – to last seven a half hours: a long time to be stuck on a bus with boxing writers, and almost worthy of a book chapter in itself.

I’ll be heading back down to Vegas for the De La Hoya/Mosley fight, and then in late October will load up the Jeep and drive down there for much of the winter.

It’s all quite a contrast with the world of whales and whaling, but for a while earlier this year, I was once more immersed in that subject, in the course of being interviewed about The Whaling Season and about the International Whaling Commission’s annual meeting, which this year was held in Berlin, and which was the first IWC meeting I had attended since 1997. Some plans are afoot to bring me back into the fold for the next meeting, too, and the fact that it is being held in Sorrento certainly won’t hurt the chances of my agreeing to attend, either.

Talking of The Whaling Season, some very complimentary reviews have started to appear in print. Publisher’s Weekly called it “an inspiring story” and said that “this important book deserves attention from anyone who cares about the future of the ocean’s greatest creatures.” John Passacantando, executive director of Greenpeace USA, advised potential readers to “be careful with this book. If you are vulnerable to a midlife crisis, The Whaling Season could land you in a cold, dark and wet place instead of a Corvette. Keep it away from your kids too -- unless you want to see them bail out of that nice summer job you landed for them at the local coffee shop.” The Seattle Post-Intelligencer called it a “riveting account”; other positive reviews or mentions have been published in E Magazine, Outside, New Scientist, Orion, and The Australian, among others. Several of the reviews are reprinted on my website; the site’s home page also includes links to audio files of some of my radio appearances.

Despite such time-consuming, whale-saving, boxing-reporting, Vegas-moving adventures, there is always plenty of time for more irreverent activities. The phenomenal success of www.welovetheiraqiinformationminister.com eventually settled down, but it didn’t take long for us to find a suitable sequel. The California Governor recall campaign, and in particular the fact that the most visible candidate is Arnold Schwarzenegger, has provided plenty of material for www.welovearnold.com. We’ve been getting a kick out of the fact that many of the articles and news reports about the site have been leading with, “Those guys who brought as www.welovetheiraqiinformationminister.com are at it again …”

So please visit www.welovearnold.com. Enjoy the quotes and the updates, and visit the story. And buy stuff. Most of all, please buy stuff.

Kieran