Federated CEO Demonstrates Vise-Like Death Grip Designed to Eliminate Wal-Mart Customer Base

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And Now For Something Completely Political...

And Now For Something Completely Political…

John Cleese is the purported author of the Declaration of Revocation, a missive directed at the people of the United States. With Cleese harboring possible…

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And If You Say Anything Ellison Considers Stupid, the Old Guy Will Call You a Cocksucker and Threaten You with Physical Violence

And If You Say Anything Ellison Considers Stupid, the Old Guy Will Call You a Cocksucker and Threaten You with Physical Violence

Harlan Ellison will be appearing in Cleveland and the Plain Dealer has the pre-appearance scoop. Apparently, if anyone in the audience uses “like” improperly, they…

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Solomon & Foer Sitting in a Tree

Solomon & Foer Sitting in a Tree

“I’m not interesting,” Jonathan Safran Foer announced when I asked him to come out of his palatial home and breathe some oxygen. “People assume that…

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Pre-Oscar Reading

Pre-Oscar Reading

If you can’t wait for tonight’s Oscar ceremonies to begin, Bravo’s Indie Spirt blog has been maintained by the fantastic Cinetrix and is well worth…

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Tanenhaus Watch: February 27, 2005

WEEKLY QUESTION: Will this week’s NYTBR reflect today’s literary and publishing climatet? Or will editor Sam Tanenhaus demonstrate yet again that the NYTBR is irrelevant…

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TOP JIMMY: Gore Vidal

[EDITOR'S NOTE: The great Jimmy Beck, a fantastic literary enthusiast who has made guest appearances at The Old Hag and Maud Newton, has offered the...

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Joe Camp Presents Benjamin the Haunted

Joe Camp Presents Benjamin the Haunted

Up until Wednesday night, I didn’t believe in the afterlife. However, I was swayed from my skepticism when a Wiccan friend of mine, whom I…

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There's Also This New Rap Thing That Causes Teenagers to Shoot Each Other Up in the Streets!

There’s Also This New Rap Thing That Causes Teenagers to Shoot Each Other Up in the Streets!

I don’t know who this Michelle Malkin person is. But her claim that emo is a soundboard for self-mutiliation is instantly deflated when she declares…

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The Oscar Pool

The Oscar Pool

If you want to get into dichotimies, I suspect that there are computer mechanics and car mechanics. There are people who understand and appreciate comics…

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Rushdie Rumored to Be Joining Stanley Crouch for Anger Management Class

Rushdie Rumored to Be Joining Stanley Crouch for Anger Management Class

We’re not quite sure what to make of Salman Rushdie chasing down journalists with a baseball bat. On one hand, we’d probably be a bit…

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Personally, We've Always Thought Hunger Involved Food Stamps, Barely Getting By, Remaining Isolated, Depressed and Lonely, Hoping to Hell That the Electricity Isn't Shut Off -- The Kind of "Hunger" Knut Hamsun Wrote About.  But That's Just Us.

Personally, We’ve Always Thought Hunger Involved Food Stamps, Barely Getting By, Remaining Isolated, Depressed and Lonely, Hoping to Hell That the Electricity Isn’t Shut Off — The Kind of “Hunger” Knut Hamsun Wrote About. But That’s Just Us.

Dave Eggers interviewed at the Onion AV Club: “I would disagree about “isolated” or “lonely.” Those are two things that I don’t know very well,…

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We're Not Sure Where He Got the Million Number, But We Hope Someone Gets a Visit from Ed McMahon

We’re Not Sure Where He Got the Million Number, But We Hope Someone Gets a Visit from Ed McMahon

The nominations for StorySouth’s Million Writers Award are up. Editor Jason Sanford notes that this is a contest in which the best online story of…

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The Brownies Return

The Brownies Return

With Mark on deck with the Los Angeles Times Book Review and Scott Esposito watching the Chronicle, the time has come to restore the Tanenhaus…

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Fuck the iPod

Fuck the iPod

Will somebody give me one good reason why I should own a fucking iPod? Will somebody explain why I should give Steve Jobs 350 hard-earned…

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HST: The River is Still Running

I haven’t read the obituaries. I haven’t read anything. Hunter S. Thompson is gone and his unexpected suicide hit me hard. I was reduced to…

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The King of Gonzo No More

The King of Gonzo No More

Hunter S. Thompson has pulled an Abbie Hoffman on us. The famed 67-year old writer apparently killed himself with a shotgun. To say that I…

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Cinematic Cockamanie?

Cinematic Cockamanie?

It what might be the only bold move in Chris O’Donnell’s career, it looks like he’s set to star with Sarah Polley in a film…

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Unlawful Common Knowledge

Unlawful Common Knowledge

I’m no historian. I’m just a guy who reads books with a layman’s ambition of being well-rounded. I can give you a brief overview of…

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Photographic Protest

Photographic Protest

So freelance photographer Steve Malik was taking some photos of MUNI Metro. Suddenly, a hodgepodge of fuzz came and tried to arrest him. But get…

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Michael Chabon/Kelly Link

Michael Chabon/Kelly Link

More Chabon-related news: Gwenda notes that not only is Chabon editing the next Best American Short Stories, but Kelly Link will be appearing in it….

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Rundown with the Devil

Rundown with the Devil

Gore Vidal’s Civil War play On the March to the Sea has been revived and revised. The protagonist’s name has been changed to Hal I….

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Actually, It's Unfair to Let Susanna Clarke Unleash a Longass Novel Without Hard-Hearted Editors

Actually, It’s Unfair to Let Susanna Clarke Unleash a Longass Novel Without Hard-Hearted Editors

Mark says, “Perhaps it?s unfair to pit 19th-century magicians against Jewish exiles from Nazi Germany,” and selects Heir to the Glimmering World in the next…

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Literary Media Bias?  Nah, Just Good Books.

Literary Media Bias? Nah, Just Good Books.

Chine Mi鶩lle, whose latest New Crobuzon book The Iron Council was just nominated for the Arthur C. Clarke Award (and whose first two books, at…

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Shut Up and Drive the Car

Shut Up and Drive the Car

I just wrote an extremely long post about a post on another litblog. But it’s lost. Just as well. It was the kind of arrogant…

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It's Good to Be Right When You Have 500 Imaginary Parents Backing You Up

It’s Good to Be Right When You Have 500 Imaginary Parents Backing You Up

One thing that always amuses me about reactionary revisionists, aside from the fact that, on the whole, they have no sense of humor and rarely…

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Chabon!  Chabon!

Chabon! Chabon!

YPTR has one hell of a scoop on a recent Michael Chabon appearance in Denver.

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Excerpt from Jose Canseco's New Book "Bright Lights, Big Baseball Stadium"

Excerpt from Jose Canseco’s New Book “Bright Lights, Big Baseball Stadium”

You can knock any ball out of the park. But you look at your biceps and you see that they’re lacking. You want muscles, the…

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I Should Probably Sleep, But...

I Should Probably Sleep, But…

While we’d never expect USA Today to give us a call (we’d probably spend most of the time making fun of the infographs), we’re nevertheless…

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Formula for Dependable Novel: Gangbangs by Chapter Five

Formula for Dependable Novel: Gangbangs by Chapter Five

The incomparable Ms. Breslin, who has been posting portions of her novel, Porn Happy, over the past few months, has channeled her inner Gerard Jones…

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