Sarah’s first column at the Sun is out. Check it out, pref. with BugMeNot.

And this piece pretty much makes a case against any future feature-length article about blogging. Since when did Wonkette get a definite article? Next thing you know, they’ll be calling our asses The Our Girl from Chicago, The TMFTML, or The The Old Hag, or The Dr. Mabuse. Come on, you silly people. If you’re a newspaper with a fact checking department that employs more people per issue than the United States did during the entirety of the Rwandan massacre, at least you can get the fucken* terminology right. Right?

As for Tanenhaus, we’re biding our time, folks.

* That goes for you too, DBC Pierre!

We’re stuck at home on a beautiful day waiting for the damn gas man to show up so we can cook again. There are also deadlines. Such is life. But here’s a brief look at what’s happening in the literary world:

• LNR Diary continues its hilarious coverage, judging the Booker shortlist on the merits of its covers.
• Chekhov’s Mistress notes that today is the anniversary of Messr. Faulkner’s birthday, and has some great interview excerpts and links to boot.
• Some perspective on the Anne Rice contretemps (via Ron)
• The Olive Press turns one year old.
• Send good novel-writing juju Jimmy’s way, why dontcha?
• David Lodge at Bookforum on his new Henry James novel. (via Rake)
• Melville House gets sexier every month. They’ve just published Stephen Dixon’s latest. (via Dan)

And we promise to alert readers sometime in the next 24 hours whether or not Mr. Tanenhaus has earned his brownie this week or not. We apologize profusely for remaining incognito on this extremely pressing development. But we shall do our best to post all the statistics that are fit to print. Unfortunately, this also means resetting the Brownie Batting Average for consistency’s sake. We’re sure you folks understand.

If you live in San Francisco and you grew up watching Creature Features, your prayers have been answered. 20 Godzilla movies in seven days, Bob Wilkins, Russ Tamblyn and John Stanley. Needless to say, Lady Mabuse is also a huge Godzilla fan. And determined as ever to see every one, this should be one of the most insane film festivals I’ve ever attended.

Francoise Sagan, the S.E. Hinton of France, has passed on.

Liz Penn serves up The Brown Bunny review to end all Brown Bunny reviews: “But during the course of this trip, you come to realize that, in fact, you yourself hate this boyfriend, because he is a dreadful person; his fragile neediness is soon exposed as tyrannical passive-aggression, and his exaggerated preoccupation with women poorly masks a withering contempt. In fact, this boyfriend ignores you completely; it is as if he is traveling alone. Why did you agree to get in the car with him? He promised the trip would be short � 93 minutes, he said � but a few minutes in, it already feels like days. Trapped, you pass the time looking out the passenger side window, but the views he thinks are arty Kerouackian landscapes just seem random and poorly framed.”

(And, by the way, D/L, don’t let the bastards grind you down.)