Damon Albarn Starts New Band...

Damon Albarn Starts New Band…

…and it’s called The Good, The Bad and the Queen. Of course, with the way he starts new bands, he’ll have another one next month.

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Your Tax Dollars Telling You What to Do as Adults

Your Tax Dollars Telling You What to Do as Adults

USA Today: “Now the government is targeting unmarried adults up to age 29 as part of its abstinence-only programs, which include millions of dollars in…

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Deiter from Sprockets Comes to Mind

Deiter from Sprockets Comes to Mind

If you’ve ever wondered what Murakami translator Alfred Birnbaum looks like, now you know. (via Rake)

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Franzen is Funny

Franzen is Funny

Two “funnies” anyway from Lorrie Moore. Of course, at the New Yorker, every contributor is funny. Particularly when you’re contributing too.

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Yeah, Last Time I Checked, That New Pynchon Novel is 120 Pages With a Three Act Structure

Yeah, Last Time I Checked, That New Pynchon Novel is 120 Pages With a Three Act Structure

Seattle Times: “‘We’re looking into publishing books, too,’ reveals [Starbucks Chairman Howard] Schultz. ‘There’s so much talent out there, and they can’t find a publisher….

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They're Blaming Ted Hughes For the Delay of This One Too

They’re Blaming Ted Hughes For the Delay of This One Too

Washington Post: “An unpublished sonnet that Sylvia Plath wrote in college while pondering themes in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel ‘The Great Gatsby’ will appear Wednesday…

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Where TERA Meets MDMA?

Where TERA Meets MDMA?

Podcasting News: “Belucci specializes in house music. Topless djing may not be mainstream yet, but based on this video of Niki Belucci in action, it…

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Now Who Will 50 Sue in 2020?

Now Who Will 50 Sue in 2020?

BBC: “A judge has dismissed claims by the ex-frontman of rap group 2 Live Crew that rapper 50 Cent stole the opening line for the…

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My New Response to Windbags: "One Should ANALize the Poetry on page 43."

My New Response to Windbags: “One Should ANALize the Poetry on page 43.”

“The kid was apparently high when he wrote and turned this paper in.” (via The Little Professor)

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The High Cost of Being at the Center of the Universe

The High Cost of Being at the Center of the Universe

New York Magazine: “Our dollar looks the same as the better-known U.S. version, but it doesn’t go nearly as far here as anywhere else. How…

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In Time for Halloween

In Time for Halloween

Today, at Bella Stander’s, a number of fascinating “Publicity Terrible Tales” have been unleashed. My favorite: “The author who wouldn’t promote in Chicago because there…

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This Week on Olbermann

This Week on Olbermann

Olbermann& Co. on Limbaugh.

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Deconstructing Profiles #1

EDITOR’S NOTE: The author profile piece is a tricky and intricate journalistic genre. How do you make an author, who is often mumbling an answer…

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Check Your Hubris At The Door

Check Your Hubris At The Door

Check also your coats.

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Blogging In Sick

Blogging In Sick

Folks, I’m wiped. Freelancing assignments, three interviews in a week, a return to an ambitious project that’s been kicking my ass (but in a very…

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How Ozzie & Harriet Had Fun

“Dear John: Although I can’t write a good letter this is a note to let you know I’m your little twelve year old spanking girl.”…

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Lovecraft: It's All in the Names

Lovecraft: It’s All in the Names

Kitabkhana: “The reason I like H P Lovecraft? He came up with book titles like Nyarlahotep, Azathoth and, in what might be an ominous portent…

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Lack of Closure -- A Fictional Virtue?

Lack of Closure — A Fictional Virtue?

Susan Gibb on Anthony Burgess: “The following sequence of his hospitalization, his return of free will, may indeed be considered an anti-climax. From there, we…

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Podcast to Investigate Later

Podcast to Investigate Later

Point of Inquiry “is the premiere podcast of the Center for Inquiry, drawing on CFI’s relationship with the leading minds of the day including Nobel…

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Civil Discourse?  If So, the End is Nigh

Civil Discourse? If So, the End is Nigh

Fuck you, Morgan Spurlock. If you genuinely believe that a war fought on flimsy pretext, the erosion of our civil liberties, the wholesale inability of…

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Rush Limbaugh's Universe

Rush Limbaugh’s Universe

Faker.

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Occupied

First page: epigraph from Thelonious Monk. Flip. Next page: Seal. Flip. Title page: One. The Light Over the Ranges. Flip. “Now single up all lines!”…

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If You Want Bush to Stump You, Be Sure Your First Name is Dave

If You Want Bush to Stump You, Be Sure Your First Name is Dave

There can only be room for Dave in Bush’s brain.

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ZeFrank vs. Rocketboom

ZeFrank vs. Rocketboom

ZeFrank’s The Show takes on Rocketboom, the Rocketboom Boy responds, and Ze responds further.

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In Tony Snow's Universe, An Electrocution to the Nuts is "Playful Shocking"

In Tony Snow’s Universe, An Electrocution to the Nuts is “Playful Shocking”

Editor & Publisher: “He said Cheney is not a guy who ‘slips up,’ but a reporter wondered if, in fact, it was no slip up—that…

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Memo to Tanenhaus: Liesl’s Your Only Shot

Dear Mr. Tanenhaus: Nearly every serious literary person knows that your finger ain’t exactly on the pulse of contemporary fiction. Your coverage, even when it…

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Morlocks to Come After All

Morlocks to Come After All

BBC: “Evolutionary theorist Oliver Curry of the London School of Economics expects a genetic upper class and a dim-witted underclass to emerge. The human race…

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Sam Tanenhaus Crosses the Line Between Advertising and Editorial

Sam Tanenhaus Crosses the Line Between Advertising and Editorial

If there was any doubt that Sam Tanenhaus lacked integrity after his unethical assignment of John Dean to review Mark Felt’s memoir, Galleycat uncovers this…

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Sam Tanenhaus, Let's Have Lunch

Sam Tanenhaus, Let’s Have Lunch

BBC: “”The guitarist walked out, leaving his band-mate to complete the interview. Stern later said he was ‘very sorry.’ Townshend left a reply on his…

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Responding to Dawkins

Responding to Dawkins

Terry Eagleton on Richard Dawkins: “Imagine someone holding forth on biology whose only knowledge of the subject is the Book of British Birds, and you…

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