- Ah, the folly of youth! College journalist William Sindewald had the funny idea that attending a Chris Dodd rally would reveal a limitless avalanche of hot young women hanging onto the political blowhard’s every words. And why not? Chris Dodd even has a MySpace page! He’s gotta be hip! What Sindewald found instead was a boring speech and fewer girls there than a Rush concert. Here’s a hint to aspiring young lotharios on the political trail: The hippies were the ones who got laid during the 1960s, not the Leo Strauss acolytes. (via Feministe)
- Is this NYT Health article a legitimate piece of a journalism or a movie tie-in?
- Howard Junker reports that Alfred Kazin didn’t suffer fools gladly at Amherst. There’s much more about Kazin’s belligerence towards students in Richard Cook’s forthcoming biography.
- Conversational storytelling for all to strive for: “[H]e can make opening a window seem like the most exciting and naughty thing that has ever happened.” This comes with the news that 47% of Americans have Googled themselves.
- I’m saddened to report that I have no present need for an OhMiBod vibrator, however useful the device may be. If however, you need to rock out while you stretch out, SexyWhispers is giving them away if you tell them why. (via Smart Bitches)
- Can you trust any statute over thirty? While we’re on the subject, that Sherman Antitrust Act is a doddering old bastard and, quite frankly, I’m amazed that he’s still alive, even if his existence involves mostly sucking down Jello while important companies are prevented from near total market monopolization. But don’t worry. With the current government, I’m sure they’ll euthanize Old Man Sherman quite soon!
- Joshua Furst on Mailer: “He knew who he was and he neither allowed the threat of repercussions to silence him nor shirked them when they came. This, I believe, took courage. All of which is exactly why he was such an indispensable voice in American letters and the culture at large. If Mailer often willingly played the buffoon, he did so with the knowledge that this was a sure way for him to slip free of the tyranny of his own fame.”
- Once again, Jonathan Franzen mangles an interesting argumentative position. (via Maud)
- Is shit art? And, yes, this is a literal question. (via C-Monster)
- Sam Sacks on Marilynne Robinson. (via Scott)
- Longass Q&A with Andrew Wylie. (via Sarah)
- A Bookninja interview with Tom McCarthy. And related Tintin vs. Remainder comparison. (former link via Conadlamo)
- RIP Diane Middlebrook.
- Heather Mills is too focused on “charity work” to write a sex book. Insert Benny Hill-like insinuation here.
- Scott Timberg’s article on whether 2007 has been a bad book year has been widely linked and I may respond at length to Timberg’s claims in a future post.
- This NYT article points to the decline in investigative reporting. I should note that several stories I pitched this year as investigative pieces ended up getting turned into op-ed pieces. And I know this has been the case with other journalists. (via OUP Blog)
Roundup
– December 17, 2007Posted in: Roundup
The Call by Yannick Murphy: The always interesting author of Here They Come and Signed, Mata Hari returns with a novel that whips up a worldview from a rather quirky set of limitations: namely, the call logs that a veterinarian maintains as his son is unexpectedly put into a coma and an unforgiving economy denies him work. What emerges is a surprisingly optimistic, often funny, and very moving account on how one family uses acceptance and forgiveness as a way to atone for hard knocks. (
Birds of Paradise by Diana Abu-Jaber: Forget Franzen and Eugenides. If you're looking for a social novel that counts, Diana Abu-Jaber is the author you're looking for. Building from the free-form exploration of consciousness and identity in Crescent and the gripping procedural structure of Origin, Abu-Jaber's latest novel is her finest, equally fluent with gutterpunk culture and smarmy real estate men. It has been suggested by The Washington Post's Ron Charles that you will likely gain some pounds while reading this novel. This is certainly true. Abu-Jaber's description of food is so precise that it often made me want to do more cooking. But I very much admired the way in which Abu-Jaber presents all her characters as unwitting victims of rough capitalism, which permits them some dignity even as they perform terrible acts.
The Last of the Live Nude Girls by Sheila McClear: This memoir isn't so much about the decline of the Times Square peepshow, as it is about one young woman's efforts to pull herself up by by her bootstraps when presented with few economic options. Filled with self-introspective candor and a quiet dignity, McClear's story is one that might befall any of us in these volatile times. While McClear does get back on her feet, her book leads one contemplating the terrible fates of other young women now moving to New York and falling into deadlier vocations. (
In the 60s, though, you could get laid at a Phil Ochs concert and hear him sing “Draft Dodger Rag” with those immortal lyrics “I believe in God and Senator Dodd and keeping old Castro down.”
OK, talk about typing casting Anakin Skywalker. Again he’s on a table and feeling it.