In keeping with last week’s 0-fer of Ezra Pound (and as inspired tangentially by this Bourgeois Surrender post), I offer up my latest literary 0-fer:
Now I really have to get back to work.
Unrequired Reading: June 26, 2009
No doubt about it: these links suck. Just click “more”!
Continue reading “Unrequired Reading: June 26, 2009”
Worse than Ezra
Ahoy, ahoy, dear readers! I’m way too busy reading pharmaco financials and analyst reports to spend much time blogging. Updates will be pretty light until July 4thish. (Of course there’ll be an Unrequired Reading this Friday! Don’t be silly!)
Just so you get your fix, the 0-fer of the week is . . . Ezra Pound!
Now I gotta get back to work. Later!
What It Is: 6/22/09
What I’m reading: Plutarch’s lives of Timoleon and Aemilius Paulus, and Seth’s amazing comic about Canadian designer Thoreau MacDonald (it’s in an anthology called Kramers Ergot 7
What I’m listening to: Greatest hits collection of Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam, after reading this short post by Ta-Nehisi Coates. (He thought she was high yellow?)
What I’m watching: The Original Kings of Comedy, Big Night, Futurama: The Beast With a Billion Backs, Manhattan and Hot Rod, the latter of which was inspired by its recent My Year of Flops writeup.
What I’m drinking: Miller’s & Q Tonic
What Rufus is up to: Getting the last of his stitches out, learning how to hang out by himself again, and building up his stamina. I can’t believe we went 3 weeks without a walk outside of the yard. I’m glad it’s not hot out.
Where I’m going: Pharmaland. Lots and lots of Top Companies profiles to write!
What I’m happy about: That it’s not raining right now.
What I’m sad about: That my dad got pasted with an attack of gout this weekend, which means we have to put off our Father’s Day lunch till next Sunday. And that we’ll have to take the red wine off the menu.
What I’m worried about: Getting all of those profiles written and then laid out in time to put the issue to bed by July 2.
What I’m pondering: Whether crystal meth would help with that.
0-fer 20th century edition
Because I’m not some commie pinko, I don’t listen to NPR. So I don’t know if Dick Meyer has worthwhile literary opinions or not. What I do know is that he posted this list of his top English-language novels written last century.
He organized the list in terms of “how much the book hit me, moved me, made me see — and how it stuck with me.” He listed Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man at #1, and History of Love by Nicole Krauss (0-fer!) at #100.
I, on the other hand, reorganized his list in terms of whether I’ve read ’em, whether I’ve at least read something by the author, and whether they’re on my 0-fer list.
Since some authors have multiple books on his list, the 0-fer numbers won’t add up to 100, but hey:
I’ve read 32 of the books on his list, at least something by 12 other authors, and my 0-fer list is a remarkable 50 titles! (but only 45 authors, because of dupes)
Wanna see what’s what? Just click “more”!
Continue reading “0-fer 20th century edition”
BEA 0-fer
This NYTimes article on Book Expo America was pretty funny. On the one hand, e-books on the Amazon Kindle are ridiculed by Tina Brown for costing “that paltry, pitiful sum” of $9.99.
On the other hand, Sherman Alexie is a complete douchebag:
At a panel of authors speaking mainly to independent booksellers, Sherman Alexie, the National Book Award-winning author of “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,†said he refused to allow his novels to be made available in digital form. He called the expensive reading devices “elitist†and declared that when he saw a woman sitting on the plane with a Kindle on his flight to New York, “I wanted to hit her.â€
First thing: a quick Amazon search shows that several of Alexie’s books are available in Kindle editions.
Second thing: he is, to reiterate, a complete douchebag and I’m glad to say I’ve never read a word of his writing.
What It Is: 6/1/09
What I’m reading: The first three installments of Chris Ware’s “Rusty Brown” book, and some of Plutarch’s life of Alcibiades.
What I’m listening to: Quadrophenia
What I’m watching: Back-to-back-to-back episodes of Reno 911!, The Wrestler, and, once again, the most entertaining movie ever: Kung Fu Hustle.
What I’m drinking: Plymouth & Q Tonic.
What Rufus is up to: Still recovering from his wounds. He’s scheduled for surgery on Tuesday morning to stitch up more of the damage. I feel a little guilty about my sense of relief that someone else will be taking care of him for a few hours. Outside of an hour or so this weekend when I went out to a surgical supplies store to look for better bandaging & protection materials for him, I’ve pretty much been joined at the hip with Rufus since I got home from Atlanta 10 days ago. As penance for this, I’ll have to deal with him having a new set of stitches and a reduced allowance of physical activity, just when he’s got a ton of energy back and has finally returned to doing his little mealtime pirouette-dance.
Where I’m going: Nowhere. See above.
What I’m happy about: That the vet was so excited about Ru’s current stage of recovery at last Friday’s followup. Also, my pals Ian & Jess came to visit this weekend. We chilled out, ate some of my wife’s fine cooking, watched the aforementioned most entertaining movie ever (two new converts: yay!), and just shot the breeze. They were quite happy not to go out and do stuff, given that they drove 8 hours to get here on Friday and had another 8-hour haul Sunday to get back to VA. I was also pretty happy to get the June issue wrapped up by deadline.
What I’m sad about: That I have to jump right into the July/August issue.
What I’m worried about: That the owners of the dog that attacked Rufus won’t pay his vet bills, forcing me to get my lawyer involved. They haven’t said this yet; they just haven’t responded to my note and the first three bills.
What I’m pondering: Why the use of athletic tape, which is really effective in keep Rufus’ bandages from slipping, also has to cause him so much pain when I change it out.
Il Miglior Gatsby
You’re probably too polite to admit that your tired of all these Rufus posts, but what can I do?
I know! I can post links to this four-part essay by Susan Bell on how Max Perkins & F. Scott Fitzgerald edited The Great Gatsby: one, two, three and four! Enjoy!
And I promise that tomorrow’s Unrequired Reading collection will be Rufus-free!
0-Ford
I refuse to read this article by Richard Ford on the genesis of his character Frank Bascombe . . . because I’ve never read a word of Ford’s stuff! Congrats on being my latest 0-fer!
Someone told me that I should read The Sportswriter
What It Is: 5/25/09
What I’m reading: Plutarch’s Lives
What I’m listening to: Good News for People Who Like Bad News
What I’m watching: Burn After Reading, Doc Hollywood, Helvetica, and Local Hero (which really should get remastered/reissued on DVD). We moved my 24″ iMac downstairs (along with our guest bed), so it’s just been selective DVD viewing down in our rec room / library.
What I’m drinking: River Horse lager, picked up on a whim at Whole Foods.
What Rufus is up to: Recovering from surgery to repair the damage inflicted by a neighbor’s Akita, which took 2 chunks out of Ru’s right rear leg. He’s spending most of his days & nights in his crate. It’s a good thing he spent the first 2 years or so of his life crated, otherwise he might really object to being there. As is, he gets antsy if he doesn’t have access to it (when we get back inside after a bathroom break and I have to change the dressing over his wounds).
Where I’m going: Nowhere. I had to cancel my participation in an overnight PR junket in NYC this week, because of my poor boy’s condition.
What I’m happy about: Barring complications (read: infection), Rufus has a good chance of being “back to normal” in about 6 weeks. Oh, and my pals Ian & Jess are visiting next weekend! And the day before Rufus was attacked, I had a great visit with my grad school pals Joy & Miguel and their kids, who live about 15 minutes away from the hotel I was staying in in downtown Atlanta. Also, I’m happy that I went out with some client-pals on Wednesday to a Braves game. They knew all about my troubles/stresses with Rufus and were hoping to take my mind off things. Go look at some pictures.
What I’m sad about: All the anxiety and stress about Ru, as well as my assumption that “none of this would have happened if I’d been here.” I got over that self-centered guilt soon after getting home from BIO on Thursday night, faced with the immediacy of Ru’s situation (and not mine). And I’m sad that I missed the fancy dinner I was going to have in Atlanta, because I got the news about Rufus about 2 hours earlier. My coworkers and work-pals enjoyed themselves, so that’s good.
What I’m worried about: That the Animal Control dept. will fail to do its duty regarding the offending Akita, which attacked another dog 3 weeks earlier.
What I’m pondering: How to TASE a dog without risking “back-zap.” Just in case.