David Plotz lays down some rules on how to get a MacArthur genius grant. (via Rarely Likable)
Year / 2006
Majority of Online Gamers Female
CNet: “Of the 117 million active gamers in the U.S., 56 percent play games online. Sixty-four percent of those online gamers are female, according to results of the survey, released by Nielsen Entertainment on Thursday.”
She Deserves More Than a Break Today
A transgender woman goes into a McDonald’s and has permission to use the bathroom. The manager then threatens to kill her and beats her with a lead pipe. The woman’s friends call the police. The police refuse to file a report and arrest the woman instead.
Is this the Deep South? No, this happened in Manhattan.
Call the Midtown South Precinct at 212-239-9846 if this pisses you off.
Send mail to:
Ralph Alvarez
President and Chief Operating Officer
McDonald’s Corporation
2111 McDonald’s Dr
Oak Brook, IL 60523
(via the Other)
Never Too Famed to Hand Sell
Terry Gilliam, sporting a cardboard sign reading “WILL DIRECT FOR FOOD,” showed up next to a line of people waiting for The Daily Show and began passing out handbills. You have to give props to the guy: he’s still determined to stick to his guns and promote his work in the streets, if need be.
Roundup
- Sarah has thought out the whole category and subcategory problem in terms far clearer than I can express. I hope to jump off from this post when I have some time, but if you’re concerned about the genre wars, this one’s a must read.
- Well, if this profile of an extremely defensive J-Franz doesn’t kickstart a new dialogue between Good Franz and Bad Franz, I don’t know what will.
- As widely reported, L.A. Times publisher Jeffrey Johnson has been pushed out for standing against staff cuts. Reactions in the newsroom “grim.”
- Dan Wickett reports on a Jeff Parker reading.
- I missed Gary Shtenygart’s essay about reading and writing in bed while traveling last weekend, but it’s worth a read.
- Mark Thwaite observes that Romanian poet Oskar Pastior has passed away.
- Jessica discovers Brooklynian, a highly provincial message board.
- Princess Margaret’s secret sex manual.
- Cashing in on Hunter’s death.
- Tonight! BSG Season 3 Premiere! Ladies and gentlemen, start your TiVos.
- Slate‘s Jacob Weisberg opines that Woodward has gone downhill with his last three books. (via Ghost in the Machine)
- Also from Kevin, a report on a recent Terry Gilliam appearance. Gilliam says that he’s considering suing Bush and Co. for making an unauthorized remake of Brazil.
- New York Times: “Holding hands is more likely now a sign of commitment.” Keep those original and penetrating social observations coming, Gray Lady!
- Apparently, more than half of MySpace’s users are 35 or older.
- David Hasselhoff reports that KITT was gay. Let us consider this unexpected turn of events. Was KITT really gay or was he just being friendly and fulfilling his basic functions? Or was Michael Knight, who constantly referred to the talking car as “buddy” and seemed more interested in being alone with KITT than being with women, the gay one? (Why, for example, did Michael Knight not make out with anyone in the back seat of KITT? Because KITT would get jealous and launch the ejector seat?) Or is it possible that Hasselhoff himself is gay? I leave this troubling questions for the readers to unravel. (via Waxy)
- More blog publishing hype. Are publishers offering too much money or does the writing suck?
- Nobel Lit announcement? Next Thursday.