Month / March 2007

by Edward Champion

Roundup

  • If the n+1 and McSweeney’s controversies weren’t enough for you, Sarah has raised some important points about the current state of genre-related reviews, asking, “So where are the new passionate voices who think about this genre in ways I haven’t even begun to explore but hope to engage with? Who’s going to come along to counteract antiquated notions of what genre criticism is and what books benefit from more than just a thumbs-up/thumbs-down approach?”
  • Times Online: “What is surprising is that such a high percentage of those without a marked talent for any particular profession should think of writing as the solution. One would expect that a certain percentage would imagine they had a talent for medicine, a certain percentage for engineering, and so on. But this is not the case. In our age, if a boy or a girl is untalented, the odds are in favour of their thinking they want to write.”
  • I agree with Scott, although I should point out that, if I’m a “hypocrite” for refusing to post private emails on this website (a position that I still adhere to), while simultaneously being entertained by Mark’s series, then so is anyone who laughed at the Aleksey Vayner video. A weak personality attribute, I agree. But nobody’s perfect.
  • The thoughtful Dan Wickett has an anthology in the works.
  • Paul Collins on the worst pulp novelist ever.
  • Sasha Frere-Jones on Nine Inch Nails.
  • Glenn Greenwald on Bush’s “literary luncheon.”
  • Why are Canadians making so many zombie movies? Answer: It is the rule of zombie movies that a conservative government inspires more of them. Now that Harper is Prime Minister, it is reasonably certain that there will be many more zombie movies, just as the number of zombie movies increased big time under the Reagan and Bush II administrations.
  • Erin O’Brien celebrates Naked Couch Day, which was apparently yesterday.
  • Online newspaper revenue is growing; print advertising is decreasing.
  • The gender disparity on op-ed pages is so bad that there are classes being taught to teach women how to write op-ed columns. (via Bookninja)
  • Jenny Crusie asked her readers if they knew how to dispose of a body to ensure that it wouldn’t be found. So far, she’s received 102 responses. The Internet is a frightening place. (via Bill Peschel)
by Edward Champion

Jonathan Ames Alert

A few years ago, I flew to Kansas, enduring a sweltering September afternoon. I stood at a crossroads, which I barely found, seeing as how the junction had been illegibly scrawled on a used sheet of butcher paper.

I had been sent to a mysterious location (this was long before Google Maps) because a man named Lenny had promised to personally deliver an egg salad recipe that was of great value to humanity. This egg salad recipe had been passed down through many generations and had made many people happy. And he had designated me, Edward Champion, as the man who could properly disseminate future reproductions of this egg salad to other people.

The only thing Lenny asked of me was to arrive at the crossroads with $172.25 in quarters — all of them minted before 1970. Well, it took about five trips to the bank and a lengthy explanation to TSA. (This was shortly after 9/11. So people were jumpy.) But I did it.

Lenny never showed. But a horned man by the name of Luke did. He said that he would offer me the egg salad recipe in four years’ time, so long as I continued to mention Jonathan Ames’ ongoing developments on my website.

Well, it’s been more than four years. There’s still no egg salad recipe. But I’m a man of my word.

And I’d be remiss if I didn’t refer you to Jonathan Ames’ appearance at Jewcy this week. He’s blogging with Amanda Marcotte in epistolary format.