So does Dustin Long’s Icelander live up with the rest of the McSweeney’s fiction books that have been overseen by Eli Horowitz (specifically, The People of Paper and Here They Come). Laura Miller seems to think so. She’s called the book an “endearingly wacky puzzle novel,” a phrase that, if you’ve read Miller’s reviews, doesn’t come from her lips all that often. The verdict’s in on a look see until more reviews trickle in, but this does sound promising.
Month / August 2006
Six of One, Whole a Nolan
Christopher Nolan is on board for the Prisoner movie, which is a far more reassuring choice than Simon (Con Air) West, who was set to helm it a few years ago. (via Ghost in the Machine)
Clinks That Go Bump in the Night
Think you’re safe? A bump key will get you into almost any lock in ten seconds. (via William Gibson)
U.S. Negativity for Muslims
I’m surprised Laila isn’t on this, but a recent Gallup poll reveals that most Americans have negative feelings about Muslims. 22% of Americans would not want to have a Muslim as a neighbor. 34% believe that Muslims back al-Qaeda. And only 49% believe that they are loyal to the United States.
This is an utterly appalling divide. Even if other polls suggest that this country is fairly united in its disapproval of Bush and Iraq, there is still an overwhelming racist impulse here that will likely take years to sort out.
Well, At Least He and Ratzinger Have Something in Common
Reuters: “Nobel prize-winning German author Guenter Grass has admitted for the first time that he served in the Waffen-SS, Adolf Hitler’s elite Nazi troops.” (via The Millions)