Books To Jump Up and Down Over
Magic Hours by Tom Bissell: This marvelous collection of essays chronicles everything from film shoots to novelists rescued from oblivion. (The essay on the Underground Literary Alliance, with its portrait of raucous factions, unexpectedly reveals how soft today's literary world has become.) But if you peer between the cracks of these smart pieces, you may very well see how cultural lives are formed from the most unexpected life choices. And as we follow Bissell's development as a writer over the years, that goes for Bissell as well. (Bat Segundo interview with Bissell)
Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway: Harkaway's latest novel greatly improves on his previous book, The Gone-Away World, which I'm already on record as praising. Angelmaker adopts genre elements without ever feeling like a genre book, and it leads me to believe that Harkaway is well on his way to a narrative grace close to China Miéville's. Yet inexplicably this very fun book, which includes an eightysomething badass named Edie Banister, a mysterious mechanical object that may destroy the world, farcical scenarios involving lawyers and the police, and some unexpectedly moving moments about fatherhood, doesn't appear to be getting much attention in American newspapers. Nothing from the snobs at The New York Times Book Review, nothing from The Washington Post. And since I can't get Harkaway on Bat Segundo, I hope this Jump Up and Down mention gets you hopping as well.
The Age of Insight by Eric Kandel: Unless you're really pressed for time, forget Jonah Lehrer. If you want to understand creativity and its relationship to neuroscience, then the bowtie-wearing Nobel laureate is your man. In addition to being a physically beautiful book (you will drool over many of the paintings), there are helpful overviews on optical illusions, science, biographical backgrounds, and many vital figures from the Vienna Secession. Kandel's enthusiasm (and his call for greater unity between the humanities and science) is contagious.
Journalism Archive
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Edward Douglas, Hopeless Hack and Amental Film “Journalist” — Part One
Posted on June 8, 2008 | 8 CommentsNew York hack “journalist” Edward Douglas, a creative typist employed by ComingSoon.net and an intellectual coprophiliac quite happy to scarf down the moist cloacal deposits offered by film publicists, recently... -
Junkets
Posted on April 30, 2008 | 22 CommentsIt’s a drizzly Tuesday afternoon in the Meatpacking District. I’m waiting outside a hotel suite. It’s just before a junket interview that will be my last. A film publicist wanders... -
On Cruelty and Journalism
Posted on February 29, 2008 | 5 CommentsA kid eagerly opens his Xmas present. His eyes light up with happiness and great shock. How did his parents manage to pull it off? It’s an Xbox! Something that... -
Gawker
Posted on December 5, 2007 | 3 CommentsI haven’t said much about the Gawker developments, because even thinking about Gawker for more than three seconds a week makes me want to take a cold shower. Gawker has... -
Sun-Times Books Section Latest Casualty
Posted on December 4, 2007 | 1 CommentAs John Freeman observes this morning, the Chicago Sun-Times books section is being cut in half, with the Controversy Section disappearing altogether this month. The five pages currently devoted to... -
Tony Pierce Moves to the LA Times
Posted on December 1, 2007 | 1 CommentNow this is a very interesting move, and I hope that Mr. Pierce will be granted some major technical flexibility to dramatically reconfiguring all of the blogs. The main problem... -
Jimmy Breslin Returns on Semi-Regular Basis?
Posted on November 28, 2007 | No CommentsIt appears that Newsday is publishing Jimmy Breslin again. There have been three Breslin columns so far this year. And Breslin has a new book out in February called King... -
The Beginning of the End at Time Out?
Posted on November 27, 2007 | No CommentsI had my own run-in with Time Out New York editor-in-chief Brian Farnham. But it appears that there may be additional problems within the Time Out empire. The Chicago Sun-Times... -
Marvin Zindler, Eyewitness News!
Posted on November 25, 2007 | No CommentsNew York Times: “Mr. Zindler, with his cheerfully admitted plastic surgery, closet of peacock fashions, blatant hairpieces and blue-tinted glasses, was best known for his first foray into investigative journalism,... -
Atlantic Migration for the Birds?
Posted on November 5, 2007 | 1 CommentAdam Reilly asks whether or not the Atlantic‘s move to Washington has changed things for the better. (via Bookslut) -
Tough Questions, Journalistic Truth, and Danica McKellar
Posted on September 21, 2007 | 17 Comments“You are representing a media and you’re a reporter. The American nation is made up of 300 million people. There are different points of view over there.” — Iranian President... -
Chuck Nevius: The Cancer of the San Francisco Chronicle
Posted on August 5, 2007 | 1 CommentForget the horrors of The Family Circus. Do you really think your biggest concern when reading the daily paper is yawning over a comics section that takes no chances? Frankly,... -
I Love the Smell of Right-Wing Media Consolidation in the Morning
Posted on July 6, 2007 | No CommentsThe Business: “Rupert Murdoch has succeeded with his $5 billion bid for Dow Jones, owners of the Wall Street Journal, according to sources acting for the Dow Jones board. Negotiations... -
Doug Frantz Resigns from the L.A. Times
Posted on June 29, 2007 | No CommentsEditor & Publisher: “Los Angeles Times Managing Editor Doug Frantz has quit the paper, the newspaper announced today. In a short Web story, the paper revealed that Frantz, a former... -
When In Doubt, Cast Generalizations in the Name of Journalism
Posted on June 26, 2007 | No CommentsSometimes, in the course of feature journalism, it becomes necessary to write about a problem without pondering how truly disturbing it is or considering that there may indeed be another... -
About Time
Posted on May 24, 2007 | No CommentsAnnalee reports that The Baffler has returned after a number of years in magazine limbo. Former contributor Joshua Glenn has various thoughts about the new issue. (via Underwire) -
Josh Wolf to Be Released
Posted on April 3, 2007 | 1 CommentThe San Francisco Chronicle‘s Bob Egelko reports that Josh Wolf has turned over the video footage to prosecutors. Because of this, he will be released from prison — after spending... -
And Print People Think Bloggers Have Conflicts of Interest
Posted on March 22, 2007 | 1 CommentIt’s a mess at the Los Angeles Times right now. A plan to have Hollywood producer Brian Grazer guest-edit the Sunday Current section has gone awry — in part because... -
Newspapers Shifting to Paid Content Model?
Posted on March 15, 2007 | No CommentsFrom MarketWatch: By putting a price on the Reader, The Times creates another stream of revenue, albeit a small one, to add to what it’s generating from subscriptions to its... -
Lev Grossman Muzzled for Conducting Journalism?
Posted on March 8, 2007 | No CommentsNew York Magazine: “In January, Time published an exclusive story on the new iPhone, in which writer Lev Grossman tweaked Apple CEO Steve Jobs about his secretive access to the... -
Kurt Eichenwald: $2,000 for “Editorial Integrity”
Posted on March 6, 2007 | 4 CommentsRemember that Kurt Eichenwald essay from December? Eichenwald wrote a New York Times Magazine story investigating a 13-year-old boy who was sexually exploited through the Internet. But today’s New York... -
This Week in Media Convergence
Posted on January 25, 2007 | No CommentsEditor & Publisher: “Speaking to hundreds of Los Angeles Times journalists in the newspaper’s Harry Chandler auditorium this morning, editor James O’Shea outlined a bold plan to increase traffic and... -
Adapt or Perish, Mr. Stein. Op-Ed Columnists Are a Dime a Dozen These Days.
Posted on January 2, 2007 | 1 CommentJoel Stein: “Don’t e-mail me….Here’s what my Internet-fearing editors have failed to understand: I don’t want to talk to you; I want to talk at you. A column is not... -
One Thing’s For Sure: Cronkite, She Ain’t
Posted on December 14, 2006 | No CommentsJames Wolcott: “No one over the age of 30 should be resorting to all those exclamation marks and capital letters like some juiced-up Crackberry addict. Couric officially bottomed out with... -
Newsday Now Bleeding?
Posted on December 11, 2006 | No CommentsEditor & Publisher: “More than 100 newsroom employees at Newsday signed a protest letter sent Monday to Tribune Company Chairmen Dennis FitzSimons, which claims the company has ‘damaged Newsday as... -
You Too Can Believe in Gossip Rags
Posted on November 15, 2006 | No CommentsKimberly Maul, whose publication I am not obsessed with (contrary to her assertion), reports that the OJ deal has gone through. And this time she has a more credible than... -
Voice Expands Its Cultural Irrelevance, One Layoff at a Time
Posted on October 5, 2006 | No CommentsEd Park, formerly of the Village Voice, reports terrible news. The Voice has canned book and film critic Dennis Lim. Apparently, meaningful arts criticism isn’t part of the new Voice.... -
The Newspaper Action is Going Online
Posted on October 5, 2006 | No CommentsWired: “The average number of monthly visitors to U.S. newspaper websites rose by nearly a third in the first half of 2006, a study released on Wednesday said, though print... -
In Other Words, Write Like Hitch
Posted on October 3, 2006 | 1 CommentChristopher Hitchens on Izzy Stone: “Even the slightest piece written by Izzy was composed with a decent respect for the King’s English and usually contained at least one apt allusion... -
BSS #64: Victor Navasky
Posted on September 20, 2006 | No CommentsAuthor: Victor Navasky Condition of Mr. Segundo: Mystified by literary columnists. Subjects Discussed: The economics of opinion journal publishing, on running The Nation as an opinion journal that loses money,...