Jen Chung reminded me that today is Ben & Jerry’s Free Cone Day.
Free Cone Day
– April 27, 2004Posted in: Uncategorized
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.
Yeah I didn’t know either until I was walking down Broadway wondering why everyone was eating Ben & Jerry’s ice cream–I hadn’t even realized one had opened up on the UWS. But lo, it’s on 106th street/Bway or thereabouts. The kicker? I’d just come from a coffee shop where I had indulged in dessert.
This may be a sad revelation, but I’ve going to try and haul ass to B&J and grab my free cone before another thing going down at 6:30 tonight. I try to avoid B&J, if only because their ice cream is super-good, super-fatty and super-expensive (and I partake only now and then). So any way in which I can “stick it to the man” is welcome. Besides, I like the idea of racing around town for an ice cream cone.
Jamba Juice had a free juice giveaway promotional here. I’ve had Jamba Juice drinks before but the one they were giving away free wasn’t all that great.
Free is not always good. Remember that, Ed. How many times was that “free” cone dropped on the kitchen floor before it reached your quivering lips, pursed in anticipation of “free”?
By the way, I found out today if and how fetuses poop. Apparently, not only do they poop but their waste is so devoid of any impurities that it’s simply reabsorbed by the still-gestating infant; the womb is sort of a “still suit” like they had in Dune. Yeah I know, sounds like something everyone should know but it wasn’t fully spelled out for me till today.