Robert Ebert suggests forgotten Chicago writer, Harry Stephen Keeler. Juliana Hatfield talks about Carl Jung. Chicago Sun Times on Third World Press In defense of Nora Ephron. Get sloshed with Joshua Ferris. Hunter S. Thompson kvetching like a madman. Justin Taylor’s Everything Here Is the Best Thing Ever is reviewed in the Times. Carrie Brownstein picks some breakup songs.
Bites: Hemon and McCann Talk, Jack London’s 134th Birthday, Because Paul Auster Says so, Yummy Fur, and More
Aleksandar Hemon talks with with Colum McCann nin the new issue of The Believer. I love both writers, but I put this at the top so I could post the Tony Millionaire illustration. People care that it’s the 134th anniversary of Jack London’s birth. If Paul Auster says that Paul Auster is putting out a new novel, it must be true. Steve Almond weighs in on Katie Roiphe’s males writers and sex fiction piece. Weird writer rituals. Dave Eggers talks […]
Non Gender-Biased Dudes of the Year
Sure, Ben Bernake won Time Magazine’s “Person of the Year”, but who should win our prestigious “Non Gender-Biased Dude of the Year” award for 2009? Dave Eggers Our pals at Deckfight pointed out our penchant for news involving Mr. McSweeney’s, but why not? The dude is a mensch. Jason Schwartzman Chalk it up to family ties, but his uncle, Francis Ford Coppola, tapped him to design the newest issue of Zoetrope: All-Story. Also of note: Could anybody other than Schwartzman […]
Bites: The Life and Times of Rick Moody, Bad Hanukkah Choices, 21st Century Jane Austen, Fugazi Moments, and More.
The life and times of Rick Moody. Indichik talks about Moody and his band, The Wingdale Community Singers. Moby Lives gives us a roundup of Moody and his Twitter experiment. “This is why I love the internet.” Moody and Electric Literature aren’t the only people to use Twitter as an avenue for fiction writing. Lit. “Of the six million victims of the Holocaust, the only face we know intimately belongs to Anne Frank.” This is how you get me to […]
Happening: Best Music Writing 2009 at Housing Works
Live and on stage at one of the greatest places in the world (or at the very least, New York City) Greil Marcus, Carrie Brownstein, and others discuss Da Capo’s Best Music Writing 2009 at Housing Works. Tonight, at 7PM in the cafe. Best Music Writing 2009 reviewed/discussed: January Magazine PopMatters Mudd Up!
Bites: Fargo Rock City on the big screen, the neuronovel, The Low Anthem, and more
Chuck Klosterman’s Fargo Rock City is getting turned into a movie, and Craig Finn of The Hold Steady is helping to write it. Lit. N+1 puts up their essay “The Rise of the Neuronovel“. It’s available in their most recent issue. Has On the Road aged well? Unpublished Vonnegut finally gets published. Philip Roth is popping up everywhere. Today in the Wall Street Journal. Music The Low Anthem pay tribute to Charles Darwin. Carrie Brownstein picks some of her favorite […]
Bites: Russian chess, Franzen is #1, Murakami interviews, craziest town hall EVER, and more
Yeh, how did Russians get so good at chess? HTML Giant: Mazel tov on turning one year old. Lit. Jonathan Franzen is #1!!! (The Millions) An interview with Haruki Murakami Boston Globe takes a look at “gangster chic“ The Moby Dick emoticon. Stephanie Kuehnert, Author of Ballad of Suburbia, picks “Bastards of Young” as one of her songs on Largehearted Boy’s Book Notes. A.V. Club says “here are the rest of the books we think you should read for 2009”. […]
Bites: Inglorious Wizerds, Keats on the big screen, Neil Gaiman’s library, Thurston on Gossip Girl, and more
“Dark wizard ain’t got no charms. They’re the foot-soldiers of a muggle-hatin’ mass-murderin’ maniac and they need to be destroyed.” Lit. John Keats gets the big screen treatment (thanks The Millions) Michael Kimball interviews Gary Lutz (Thanks The Faster Times) Well, now we know what Neil Gaiman’s library looks like (Thanks Boing Boing) “Jane Austen is dead. Get over it.” (Thanks Indichik) Deckfight pick their top five Southern novels, and take the ballsy route of excluding any Faulkner. Music “Ah, […]