Sad news from Publishers Weekly this morning: The first, Cody’s is closing its doors in San Francisco. April 20 is the day the Union Square store will dissolve. Since Cody’s is a major outlet for local author events and readings, this means a huge deal for the San Francisco literary scene.
Author / Edward Champion
Roundup
- April is the cruelest month, which is probably why it’s been designated National Poetry Month, a panacea to that part of the year in which the IRS seizes everybody’s time like a rabid Sumatran rat monkey thirsting for blood. In the spirit of this extreme balance, Ami Greko has been serving up excerpts, audio files and the like at the FSG poetry blog. Dan Wickett has been likewise serving up poems.
- Scott on Proust.
- Gary Indiana has harsh words to say about Clive James. (via This Space)
- In a remarkable departure from Gawker gossip, Choire Sicha ponders the reign of David Remnick.
- “First!”
- RIP Luigi Comencini.
- It seems that Amanda Congdon doesn’t understand that journalism means not shilling for DuPont in infomercials.
- One good reason not to celebrate Easter.
- “Congress is composed of 535 individuals. 238 are lawyers. And you wonder what’s wrong in Congress?” RIP Thomas Hal Phillips. His collaborations with Altman alone, along with his blazing political rants from a car in Nashville, were fantastic.
- A fantastic collection of clips and text on Werner Herzog. (via Quiddity)
- The jagged, dash-strewn syntax of Robert Fisk.
- Social networking and philanthropy taken down to a whole new level. (via Fimoculous)
Brian Atene Returns!
or
This is a bit like a schlocky version of Michael Apted’s Up movies. (For earlier clip, see this.)
Trent Reznor Sets Precedent?
Listen to the new NIN album for free. (via MeFi)
[UPDATE: Okay, so I’m seven songs in and it’s not bad (I like “Hyperpower!” and “The Good Soldier”). “Capital G,” however, is the silliest Nine Inch Nails song of all time. Someone should tell Trent to stay out of politics. He’s better crooning and wailing in melodramatic angst, as if tied up at some BDSM sex party.]
Jason Fortuny Was Just the Tip of the Iceberg
KING 5: “Someone with cruel intentions placed a fake ad on Craigslist, inviting people to take whatever they wanted for free from a Tacoma home. Homeowner Laurie Raye says there’s little left now of the house. The outside of the home is trashed, the inside is nearly gutted and covered in graffiti. Raye says she is devastated. ‘I was attached to this home because it used to be my mom’s,’ says Raye.”