An interview with L.A. artist Mike Stilkey, who paints beautifully on books (and portraits Bukowski).

Lit. and The New Decade

• The end of the decade approaches, which means….lists!  Times and Telegraph on the 100 definitive books of the ’00s.
• And the first item on More Intelligent Life’s more inclusive “noughties” list: Hoodies.
• Everyone who is anyone is weighing in on Laura. Here you have it, if you can keep up, in no particular order: Amis, Banville, Hemon, Kakutani, n+1, 92nd Street Y, NPR.  I’ll stop there.
• Candide at the NYPL.
• Super-dorky book earrings.  (Includes instructions to make your own.)
• Maud Newton appreciates Paris Review Interviews.
• A quick comparison of Roland Barthes and Cole Porter within a quite long appreciation of Barthes himself.
• Recollections of “The First Novel.”

Health, Food, Environment

• Americans don’t care enough about swine flu.
• The Awl asks “Are You Really Still Eating Hamburgers?”
• “Everything Bad About the Web Was Once Said About Television.”
• As our own planet goes haywire, we’ve found water on the moon.  This means….nothing.

Untruths, Plagiarism, LIES

• Um, Sarah Palin made stuff up a lot and I don’t care so much I’m not even going to link anything.  (And it actually hurts a little to do that.)