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: San Francisco Panorama, Fictonaut for the Holidays, Dawkins Getting Soft, Attenberg’s Blurbs, Orrin Hatch Ruins Hanukkah, and More
Panorama is out! “It is everything that your basic wretched and vapid Sunday SF Chronicle is not.” “Dave Eggers doesn’t look like a newspaper baron“ I think this San Fran food blog is excited. The people at Green Apple Books say the Panorama will “most certainly provide a bit of breathing room away from the vapid smog that seems to have engulfed much of the world of modern journalism.” They link to here when mentioning “vapid smog”. Indichik is hating. […]
Bites: Obsessed Over a Chelsea Martin Drawing, Big Winners, UK Atheists, Nick Cave’s Bad Sex Writing, and More
The Rumpus has a chat with writer/artist, Chelsea Martin. Everything Was Fine Until Whatever is her book on Future Tense Publishing, and thanks to the interview, I’ve become obsessed with the above drawing. “Frankly we would have been offended if he wasn’t shortlisted.” Nick Cave’s publisher on his nomination for the best of bad sex writing. Colum McCann is the National Book Award winner. Yippie! Gore Vidal and Dave Eggers also won. Greil Marcus as editor of the The Paris […]
Wholphin #9 preview
Not shocking that there is so much Spike Jonze stuff on this one, since I’m guessing he and Eggers are probably attached at the hip these days. Naturally this is all very good stuff, as all of the Wholphin series seem to be. All the info (courtesy of McSweeney’s e mail robot), is after the trailer. Wholphin No 9 features three, hilarious, never-before-seen short films by Spike Jonze; Joseph Gordon-Levitts adaptation of Elmore Leonards short story, “Sparks,” starring Carla Gugino […]
Bites: The last Nobel mentions (maybe…), libraries in trouble, browsing, new Tom Waits, Mussolini working for the Brits, and more
One final Nobel link roundup. The New Yorker on President Obama’s “Nobel surprise“. N+1 says: “The peace prize’s reputation makes it a powerful tool. It’s not always the right tool, and it’s not always effective, but it’s good to have around.” “Herta who?” Drama over the economics Nobel winner? Lit. Dave Eggers, Jay Leno, and Roger Ebert. What do they all have in common? They are all in a book talking about their favorite childhood books. Over at McSweeney’s, a […]
Bites: Fiction v. Non-Fiction, Poe’s Funeral, Proust’s Questions, Lev Grossman on being a critic, Wild Things, Hornby’s Education, Nick Cave & PJ Harvey, and more
Jim Shepard for Electric Literature on the subject of fiction based on non-fiction: “We need to bear in mind, as we’ve been told many times, that we’re working from, but not necessarily about, our lives.” Lit. Edgar Allen Poe gets a real funeral. (Thanks, The Rumpus) On Vanity Fair’s website, take Proust’s Questionnaire and find out which celebrities you most resemble. Lev Grossman guest-posts for and on the National Book Critics Circle blog. Film, a Quick Weekend Roundup What will […]
Weekend Bites: Dave Eggers is like John Wayne with a pen, Raymond Carver, Jon Ronson, Bjork and Barney kaput?, Hornby hearts LHB, and more.
Three Guys One Book: “Where have all the cowboys gone? Has literature isolated itself from a bigger cultural context?” Dave Eggers, Zadie Smith, Dennis Johnson, Gary Shteyngart, and the New York Times bestsellers of 1943 all make cameos. Jacket Copy asks: “How much of (Raymond) Carver’s “minimalist” style was a byproduct of (Gordon) Lish’s editing?” This 1997 New Yorker article provided as reference, and this review of the Library of America release of “Raymond Carter: Collected Stories” might shed sufficient […]
Weekend Bites: Dave Eggers is like John Wayne but with a pen, Raymond Carver, Jon Ronson, Bjork and Barney kaput?, Hornby hearts LHB, and more.
Three Guys One Book: “Where have all the cowboys gone? Has literature isolated itself from a bigger cultural context?” Dave Eggers, Zadie Smith, Dennis Johnson, Gary Shteyngart, and the New York Times bestsellers of 1943 all make cameos. Jacket Copy asks: “How much of (Raymond) Carver’s “minimalist” style was a byproduct of (Gordon) Lish’s editing?” This 1997 New Yorker article provided as reference, and this review of the Library of America release of “Raymond Carter: Collected Stories” might shed sufficient […]