David Mitchell writes about Kobe Abe’s The Woman in the Dunes. (via ReadySteadyBlog)
Year / 2006
The Carrot Stick Conspiracy
Okay, folks, there is a vital issue that has been troubling me this morning, one I hope that I’m not alone on.
What on earth happened to carrot sticks? There was a time, perhaps fifteen years ago, when one went to a party and found copious carrot sticks available on a vegetable platter. These carrot sticks were not ellipitical, but pared down into a thin three-sided stick. If they were particularly compelling carrot sticks, each end would form a perfect isosceles triangle. The sticks, I must point out, were much longer than the baby carrots we enjoy today.
But those halcyon days of veggie snacking are gone! Now the carrot industry, having made something of a splash on the baby carrot front, has now made our decisions for us. One now picks up a baby carrot and dips it into ranch dressing, wondering what became of those glorious orange triangular prisms.
Understand, dear readers, that I harbor no particular ill will towards ellipitically pared vegetables. I’m just wondering why everyone has willingly accepted this development without question. Why is there no army of scruffy twentysomethings picketing Safeway, pointing out that the carrot stick is now near extinct and that this insensitive move on the part of carrot growers simply will not stand?
Am I the only one who misses the carrot stick? Am I the only one who nibbles the ends of a baby carrot, hoping that the triangle will emerge like a sculpture embedded within a slab of clay? Why didn’t we get a vote on this? Surely, the triangle is just as compelling as the circle!
The Echo Maker
I overlooked this Richard Powers interview with the Sun-Times‘ Stephen J. Lyons, but it’s worth your time. Interestingly, like The Time of Our Singing, The Echo Maker was composed entirely through Powers lying in bed, speaking directly into the computer.
Those keen on Richard Powers will want to check here next week. That’s when we’ll be unleashing our Echo Maker roundtable, containing a good deal of in-depth discussion about the book.
Roundup
- Who’s the next H.L. Mencken?
- Salman Rushdie has sold his personal archive for an undisclosed sum. (via TEV)
- Kingsley Amis’s wife is urging Martin Amis not to make the same mistakes as his father. Damn, I guess this means we won’t have a Martin Amis-penned 007 book.
- Kelly Link has been declared a “new wave fabulist.” I think I’ll settle for calling Link a fabulous writer and calling Jessica Winter a taxonomic new wanker. Why analyze a piece of fiction for its taxonomy when there’s plenty to unravel within the narrative?
- Yan Lianke: a case study concerning the compromise of principles. (via Jenny D)
- At The Millions, Garth Risk Hallberg raves about Lynne Tillman.
- Pinky has spiffy new digs.
- Stephen Hawking’s next book will explain why we have a universe. The upshot: a number of quantum particles got involved in a poker game, one particle couldn’t pay out, and the result was an expansive universe to settle the debt.
- Indie bookstores are fighting to stay alive. The main culprit appears to be Amazon. Not particularly new news, but a reminder nonetheless.
- Susan Salter Reynolds reports on the Nobel odds.
- M.J. Hyland is convinced she won’t win the Booker, but bookies beg to differ.
- An interview with Doris Lessing.
- Robots on Fire (via Quiddity)
- Due to scheduling conflicts, Bat Segundo couldn’t fit Jennifer Egan in when she came through San Francisco, but thankfully Rick Kleffel talked with her.
- Jeff uncovers a nutty interview with Tom Wolfe and Old 97s frontman Rhett Miller.
- Scott McKenzie is taking odds on when Michiko’s inevitable Cormac McCarthy hit piece will appear. I give it a week and a half.
- The New York Times regrets the error.
Feels Like 1985 Again
Those pining for that 1985 Cold War feeling of fear and paranoia will be happy to learn that North Korea has tested its first nuke. I trust that our sane and capable world leaders will resolve this dispute in a calm and rational manner. What this will do for West Coast shoreline real estate is anyone’s guess.