I came close, but I didn’t quite finish the next Segundo podcast last night. But I hope to unleash it either today or tomorrow for your Fourth of July listening pleasure. I’ll have some things to say about patriotism and how the state of the country fits into my annual rereading of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution very soon, just before you fire up your barbeques. But in the meantime, I direct your attention to the current literary news at large:

• Lee Goldberg is offering sporadic reports of Thrillerfest. Most astonishingly, he stumbled upon this Phoenix bookstore. Who knew that the Phoenix nudists could outshine (or is the word outblind?) San Francisco on the bookstore front?
• The London Times offers one of the first reviews of the new Murakami short story collection. (via Black is the New Blood)
• Leonardo DiCaprio meets Timothy Leary. I never thought I’d pine for the days when Leo was an ABC News Correspondent interviewing Clinton, but that Leo’s a kid of surprises.
• Robert Kiyosaki and Donald Trump’s new book will be called Why We Want You to Be Rich: Two Men — One Message. Wouldn’t it be more honest for them to call the book Why We Want to Be Rich? Or perhaps the idea here is to disseminate get-rich-quick schemes to desperate rubes naive enough to hand over their $25 to two men who clearly don’t deserve the supplemental income. Interestingly enough, the book will be put out by Rich Press. So at least they’re operating inconspicuously on one front.
• Margo Vargos Llosa: “If I tell you, ‘well, I know a man who became in love with a cow.’ So you smile. That’s a stupid story! But when you read Faulkner, this story becomes something so tragic, so tragic. It’s not the story. It’s the way in which the story’s presented, the way in which he creates a context that can transform this stupid thing into something very tragic in which the human condition is expressed.” (via Out of the Woods Now)
• Ron Silliman on reading poetry.
• Well, damn, if it’s not happening for Kevin, then I’m truly wondering if Superman Returns is the bomb it is. I will offer my two cents sometime this weekend after I’ve had a chance to see the film.
• Google won a suit in Germany to progress their library project.
• Leonard Cohen interviewed at the Online Newshour. (via Bookninja)
• Olentangry Liberty High School, clearly not understanding that teenagers are much smarter than people give them credit for and not realizing that humanity is currently operating in the 21st century, gets its panties in a bunch over The Lovely Bones and The Curious Incident of the Dog at the Night-Time. After one (and only one) complaint from a parent, they’ve pulled the books from the summer reading list. And where is this school located? Ohio, of course. (via Collected Miscellany)
• The New York Press‘s Brian Heater talks Lost Girls with Alan Moore.
• Leo Strauss: father of the neocons or not?
• Happy tenth anniversary, Spike!
• RIP Dale Waters.
• I took Craig Thompson to the excellent Ploy II when he came through San Francisco a few weeks ago, but, due to a freak accident, the data from our conversation got corrupted. So there will be no podcast, I’m afraid.* But thankfully Dave Welch is on the case, matching Thompson up with Alison Bechdel.
• I agree with Dibs that a book review editor who misspells Johnnie Walker is highly suspect. Particularly for those of us out here in literary land fond of liquor.
• A few people have emailed me, wondering about the status of my 75 Books challenge. Well, I hope to get some minireviews up fairly soon. Rest assured, I’m ahead of the game. I stand by my word. 75 Books by the end of the year or I’ll eat my weight in rice pilaf.

* And yes I have used every resource possible. Data recovery programs, incantations, you name it. The data simply refuses to exist!