It’s Banned Books Week.  Whether the tradition is pointless, harmful or trivial, READ.  You’ve got a lot to choose from.

Lit.

Gene Hackman has retired from acting to write historical novels.

The Rumpus interviews lit-man Tao Lin

Maps of sin created by plotting per-capita stats on “things like theft (envy) and STDs (lust).” (Thanks, The Rumpus, yet again)

A $25.5 million telepic of……Moby-Dick! TV movies of romantic, winding literature are my pornography.  (Not in that gross way, though.  Ew.)

George W. Bush dismissed Harry Potter because of “witchcraft.”  As Vol. 1 has detailed, this is inherently silly.

Film

David Mamet’s Anne Frank project for Disney has been dropped.

Polanski’s arrest is still making headlines, but little progress seems to be made.

Politics

Obama is a smart cookie.  Real Clear Politics doesn’t think think this to be as good as it sounds.  We say, there are smart people in every cabinet.  Pure intelligence doesn’t always equal solved problems, but even less often does the other option.

Is Iran’s worst fear a human rights campaign?(Asks Slate) If so, this is something we may actually be able to do.

Sarah Palin finished her memoir in four months.  The title? Going Rogue.