Category: literature

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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.”

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.

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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.

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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!

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What It Is: 5/25/09

What I’m reading: Plutarch’s Lives of Pericles and Fabius. I had a devil of a time getting into the Pericles section. It’s possible I was more distracted than usual, but the prose seemed utterly unwieldy and drowsiness-inducing. Which bums me out, because I expected that sketch to be one of the greats. Still, he kept me going with the life of Fabius Maximus and the comparison of the two.

What I’m listening to: Good News for People Who Like Bad News, by Modest Mouse.

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.

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What It Is: 5/18/09

What I’m reading: Arcadia, by Tom Stoppard, George Sprott: 1894-1975, by Seth, Yoshihiro Tatsumi’s Abandon the Old in Tokyo.

What I’m listening to: The soundtrack to the Life Aquatic, and a new Mad Mix I’m assembling.

What I’m watching: Bottle Shock, some Yankees games, and some game 7s in the NBA semis.

What I’m drinking: An awesome Prosecco on Saturday night, to go with Bottle Shock.

What Rufus is up to: Well, he’s a little disappointed that we didn’t get out to the semi-annual greyhound picnic on Sunday, but the weather was just blech. We’ll make it up to him next weekend with some weekend guests who will lavish extra affection on him. Also: this.

Where I’m going: Atlanta today for the BIO conference! (with a dinner at Bacchanalia (not as decadent as it sounds) and a Braves game thrown in, along with a visit to my pals Joy & Miguel in Decatur)

What I’m happy about: It’s my last business flight till November! (unless I go to the show in Madrid in October)

What I’m sad about: Being away from my wife & doggie.

What I’m worried about: That I’ve landed on a planet where the political comments of a beauty pageant contestant (remember: they’re ditzy till proven smart) are grounds for a new culture war.

What I’m pondering: Whether I’ve seen enough good movies to post a Top 10 Movies of the decade list at the end of this year.

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What It Is: 5/12/09

What I’m reading: I read Chuck Klosterman’s Killing Yourself To Live during the weekend, and enjoyed that a bunch (not quite 85%, but still). I also read some of the comics that I bought during TCAF: Seaguy, Tales from the Farm and Swallow Me Whole. There are a whole ton more in the queue.

What I’m listening to: The Shepherd’s Dog, by Iron & Wine.

What I’m watching: The eh conclusion of Dollhouse, which had a couple of neat twists and turns but was never going to be able to match the impossibly well-crafted heel twist in the previous episode.

What I’m drinking: The lesser gins that they have at Lai Wah Heen, where Amy & I managed to eat 3 times in 3 days (Friday dinner, Saturday dim sum lunch, Sunday dinner after our evening plans fell through). We also had a nice wine (and fantastic meal) at Lee on Saturday night.

What Rufus is up to: Not getting into any trouble during his weekend with fellow grey, Tut! And spending lots of time at girls’ sporting events, since the family that was taking care of him has 3 daughters between 10 and 17.

Where I’m going: Atlanta next Monday for the BIO conference. My 3 nights will consist of a visit with friends in Decatur, a dinner at the awesome restaurant Bacchanalia with a client (and pal), and then the Rockies-Braves game, with more client-pals. The day before the trip, we’ll head down to Bridgewater (weather permitting) for the semi-annual greyhound picnic! In other words, don’t expect a ton of posts next week, either.

What I’m happy about: Having a nice getaway weekend with my wife. It was good to be in a city that we’d already visited and photographed; it made this visit much more about just relaxing and having some nice meals, instead of feeling like we had to get out and see the sights. Oh, and we were happy to see my cousin Andrew & his family!

What I’m sad about: That I had to tell numerous cartoonists that I either don’t know who they are or don’t know what they’ve published in the last few years. Still, most everyone seemed happy that I was willing to take their pictures for digital posterity!

What I’m worried about: Nothing I can think of, so yay!

What I’m pondering: Our next mini-vacation. We’re thinking of making the drive up to Montreal for a long weekend sometime this summer.