- Should a play that’s weeks from opening in New York be off-limits to Chicago critics? It seems that Steppenwolf seems to be denying Chicago critics coverage of its New York productions. (via About Last Night)
- Many “guy books” have become exceedling rare. That’s too bad. This will prevent others from truly determining if The Great Tool Emporium and Cab Forward is an underused Kama Sutra position.
- A too-brief Guardian blog post on Richard Brautigan. (via Bookshelves of Doom)
- Canada has taken a disreputable, privacy-invasive page from the American playbook. (via Classical Bookworm)
- Scott on Iris Murdoch.
- Dave Eggers won’t let you Friend him on Facebook. Well, that doesn’t seem terribly philanthropic, does it? If you’re feeling spurned by Eggers, then have no fear. I’ll happily add you as a Facebook friend.
- A Naughty American History quiz (via Smart Bitches)
- Slunch offers an open letter to Peter Sacks.
- A kid’s-eye view of laptop design. (via The Shifted Librarian)
- I read this story and imagined Bobby Brown singing “My Lobotomy.” “Everybody’s cutting all these lobes inside me / Why don’t they just let me think? / I don’t need remission / Make my own cognition oh / That’s my lobotomy.”
- Who knew that a novelist and NBC could come to terms on “a divorce project?” This divorce project sounds rather pleasant. Like a nice little summer crafts project instead of the pain, hurt, financial woes, and humiliation that come with the territory. So good on NBC for giving us divorce with an enthusiastic hobbyist’s smile!
- Some details on Lethem’s Omega: The Unknown revival.
- Is V.S. Naipaul a strange man?
- Mr. VanderMeer is selling books.
- If you’re going to be at the Brooklyn Book Festival on Sunday, please say hello. I should be there.
- Would Emily Dickinson be medicated today? (via Maud)
- No Tarantino and Heroes.
- C.S. Lewis is a relatively unknown name? You have to be kidding me.
- Fassbinder’s adaptation of Berlin Alexanderplatz is coming to DVD, and it will be just a tad slower.
- Doestoyevsky Comics.
- The AP fact-checks Bush’s speech from last night.
- What drives Naomi Klein?
- More controversy on italicizing comic strips at Other Ed’s. Personally, I don’t think Jumble should be italicized, unless someone here can reasonably argue that it is presenting a continuing narrative.
- The greatest beatdowns in history.
Author / Edward Champion
Bring Out Your “Dead”
An early report for Romero’s Diary of the Dead: a mixed review, but it appears that the Weinstein Co. has acquired distribution rights for the States.
Mini-Roundup
- It looks like a guy named Alexis Debat has faked a number of interviews with a number of substantial subjects and still managed to get his fabricated interviews into policy journals. Incredible. (via The Publishing Spot)
- Tricia Sullivan’s Manifestation of the Really Shitty First Draft. (via Gwenda)
- Ricky Gervais’s newest project? A big-screen film where everybody tells the truth.
- Dahl triumphs over Rowling!
- Bad Sex with Shalom Auslander.
- It looks like the Boston Globe has a new women’s lifestyle magazine in the works.
- The 50 worst cars of all time.
- Martin Amis on 9/11 and the cult of death.
Thursday
It is a day of deadlines and madness. But I will try to offer some posts later.
In other news, my 62 minute self-help presentation, “Cooking an Omelette for Breakfast, Cooking an Omelette for Life” is now ready for the professional lecturing circuit. Interested parties may inquire directly, as the Steven Barclay Agency has recently affixed a large poster in their office with the words “DO NOT HIRE UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES” just underneath a grainy Kodachrome photograph of me.
For Freelancers
If you’re feeling despondent about the lack of responses, check out Susannah Breslin’s freelancing stats.