Leah Garchik reports that Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket) was not permitted to speak at Alan Kaufman’s class this past Tuesday. Kaufman had arranged for several people to attend in response to Jan Richman’s teaching contract not being renewed. Among the participants were Richman, Handler, David Greene of the First Amendment Project, and (I’m told) Matt Gonzalez. Security guards did not allow Handler to get through. I have a tremendous amount of independent information to process, but I hope to collect it over the weekend.

Gerard Jones, the lovable man behind Everyone Who’s Anyone in Adult Trade Publishing, has released a fully revised version (what he styles the “Third Edition”) of his majestic site. The update is timed with the release of Ginny Good, the memoir he sold to Consortium through an incredible combination of lies, persistence, and personality.

Well, it appears that the damn thing got wiped — courtesy of a few people who commented. Can’t fix it for the next sixteen hours, as I won’t have access to the computer it originated from for sometime. But for those of you who missed it, here are the intro page and the Carl Weathers page. I’ll put the whole thing in a permanent spot tomorrow.

Also: hot damn. Ron’s on the case, covering last night’s Young Lions awards. This is the future. So work it, people. Work it.

Also also: Emails to all tomorrow. Apologies.

Also also also: Jimmy Beck is guesting at the Hag. He’s good. I give him six posts before he starts firing rifles into the air. Give this man some whiskey and give it to him quick.

[UPDATE: Man, only a few hours in and Beck is on a roll. This rant begins with “I had no intentions of getting into the whole Jewish thing, at least until erev Shabbat,” and turns into a side-splitting expose that dares to reveal all. Go read it. Between Beck and Rake, the newcomers are making sure the blogosphere’s a kickass place to be in.]

The Passion of the Christ? Screw that. The real theatrical gem is The Life of Brian, coming again to a theater near you.

Shocking allegations from Howell Raines will soon appear in the Atlantic — part of a planned memoir called I Was Master of the House, But Jayson Kept Playing With the Zippo. Among some of the highlights:

1. Raines secretly coveted the drugs and alcohol, and kept Jayson Blair on the payroll so that he could “relive his twenties again.”

2. Not once did Raines call Jayson Blair “boy.”

3. Raines once asked Blair to sit on his lap. Blair declined. Raines claims there was nothing sexual involved. The lap-sitting incident was all part of a great Raines family tradition dating back to 1872.

4. When fishing with John McPhee on the Delaware River, Raines promised McPhee that he would only name-drop upon publication of a memoir. McPhee gave Raines his blessing, but only after delivering a six-hour lecture on geography.

5. The one thing Raines would have done differently: casual Fridays.

(via Maud)