A podcast about books, art & life — not necessarily in that order
I didn’t get a chance to check in on my Google Reader while I was in New Orleans this week, so when I got home last night, I discovered that there were 4,082 items stacked up and waiting for me. Here are some of them.
Continue reading “Unrequired Reading: November 19, 2010”
While I was busy having a fantastic dinner at August last night, my pal Sam bumped into Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, in town to watch his team take on the Hornets tonight.
Sam  & I will be at the game tonight, and I’m hoping his new pal moves us up to the good seats. (Editor’s note: this is the fourth basketball arena Sam & I have visited, but we’re just friends. I swear!)
Also, I picked up some Cafe Du Monde for breakfast today and brought it back to my hotel room. I laid out a hand towel on my desk, nommed away, and left such a mess that I put the following note on the towel after I deposited it on the bathroom floor: “This is only coffee and beignets! No hazardous material!”
What I’m reading: The Odyssey
What I’m listening to: The Lady Killer
What I’m watching: Week 2 of season 1 of In Treatment, the finale of Eastbound and Down, and a catch-up of Bored to Death episodes. On Sunday, I caught The Social Network at The Theatres at Canal Place, and enjoyed that. I haven’t liked Jesse Eisenberg in any previous film, but he did a great job with the role. The movie’s last act was kinda weak and, well, it just sorta stopped, but it was a fun ride.
What I’m drinking: Beefeater & Q-Tonic (on Sunday evening; there’ve been various other gins over the course of the week, including Fifty Pounds, Citadelle, and an alleged Hendrick’s)
What Rufus & Otis are up to: Lamenting the lack of a farmer’s market and missing their Sunday hike, since Amy wasn’t going to jam them both in the back of her Mini while I’m away.
Where I’m going: I’m in New Orleans, after a delayed Saturday night flight.
What I’m happy about: Just being in New Orleans. I know New York is the Greatest City Ever, but New Orleans is still my favorite. Oh, and getting to see Paul play on Sunday. That was just rapturous for me.
What I’m sad about: Being here without my wife. I’ve traveled to a lot of cities on my own, but it doesn’t feel right to be here without her. When I got in late-ish Saturday night, I went out from my French Quarter hotel to get some dinner. I ended up getting a fried catfish po-boy and Abita at Primo’s on Decatur St. I had a table on the balcony, and looked out to the river, and realized that I was across the street from the place where we got married. I felt a few moments of elation, recollecting that weekend five years ago. Then a guy down on the sidewalk began bellowing in a rage at someone on his cellphone, and the moment snapped.
What I’m worried about: Getting instant-onset diabetes from those beignets at Cafe Du Monde.
What I’m pondering: Whether the idea I had at the jazz club Sunday night for a movie script is totally awesome or just the hack result of too many G&Ts and an excessive emphasis on the romance of New Orleans.
What I’m reading: Holy Terror: Andy Warhol Close Up
What I’m listening to: Sir Lucious Leftfoot . . . The Son of Chico Dusty
What I’m watching: Thanks to my iPad, I find I’m watching more movies, esp. on that five-hour flight home from Portland on Wed/Thu. On the way home, I watched (500) Days of Summer, Up, and about 40 minutes of Once In a Lifetime: The Extraordinary Story of the New York Cosmos. I rented Greenberg from iTunes while I was in Portland, with the notion of watching it on the flight home, but a 7-year-old girl and her dad were in the seats next to me, and I felt that might not be appropriate viewing if the kid sneaked a peek in my direction. And on Saturday, Amy & I went out to the IMAX theater to watch Inception. Instant reviews? No chance! You’ll have to wait till tomorrow! (On TV, we watched another 2 episodes of Louie on FX, which is so fantastic that it’ll surely be canceled, and the latest Deadliest Catch, in which Captain Phil gives up the ghost. And we watched American Splendor Sunday night to commemorate Harvey Pekar’s death last week.)
What I’m drinking: Well, now, that’s a story. For some reason, almost every restaurant or bar I visited in Portland turned out to be well-stocked with both local boutique gins and other lesser known brands. So I managed to have G&Ts of Bols Genever (the spiciest gin I’ve ever had), Dry Fly (the dominant note is Fiji apple, of all things), Organic Nation (clean, with nothing else to recommend it), and 12 Bridges (is that pine needle?), as well as the local brand Aviation, which I’ve had several times already. Given all that, you’d think I was wasted for the whole trip, but I managed to pace myself well, at least until the last day, when I had a little too much time on my hands and no driving to do.
What Rufus & Otis are up to: Missing me, and trying to stay out of the heat.
Where I’m going: Nowhere! Congratulate me! Although I am thinking of taking a day or two off this week and maybe hitting NYC to visit the Frick, Met, etc. I’ll let you know.
What I’m happy about: Getting to see some old friends while I was out in Portland, and also getting to visit Powell’s Books and Winn Perry, even though the latter was “between seasons” and I had to talk myself into picking up a Hentsch Man shirt and a tie.
What I’m sad about: That some of my friends seemed to be almost exactly who they were 15 years ago, in terms of subjects of conversation, art/books they’re interested in, etc.
What I’m worried about: That they thought the same thing about me.
What I’m pondering: Whether that’s the case. I like to think it’s not, and that I’ve changed in some unpredictable ways since 1993 or thereabouts, both in terms of emotional maturity and in aesthetics. I wonder if it’s possible that I’m more of a snob now but also less pretentious than I was back in my college years.
It was a long, tedious week at a conference, but at least I got to see some friends and got home in time to get you a fresh dose of Unrequired Reading! Enjoy!
Continue reading “Unrequired Reading: July 16, 2010”
What I’m reading: Not a lot; just some Scott Pilgrim comics. I was kinda zonky all week with lack of sleep, pain from that root canal, etc.
What I’m listening to: Songs from the Capeman, Songs from Venice Beach, and some other songs.
What I’m watching: Shutter Island, some episodes of Louie (wow!), and The Horse’s Mouth and Up In The Air. I’m sorta astonished at the utter hollowness of Up In The Air, compared to the novel. The movie pays almost no attention to what The Traveling Life is really like, focusing instead on Firing People Is Soul-Destroying. The romance was inane, compared to the apocalypse of the narrator’s affair. And while Clooney’s starting to age, a man his age who travels that much should’ve been much sallower/puffier. The skin turns green from all that airplane air & light, people! But that’s nitpicking. The real problem is that the story they chose to tell was barely an echo of what made the novel a surprisingly good book, and instead became a George Clooney vehicle and a muddled statement about corporate America that couldn’t criticize any particular company because the studio relies on them for subsidies and product placement fees.
What I’m drinking: Bluecoat & Q-Tonic, but I didn’t drink too much last week; I was taking mega-ibuprofen to help treat that root canal, and didn’t want to risk stomach bleeding.
What Rufus & Otis are up to: Ru’s still getting over that blister on his paw-pad, so he didn’t go anywhere during the week. Otis has gone stir crazy and now runs up and down the hall at high speed, throwing his squeaky toys in the air and acting like they’re alive.
Where I’m going: Flying home on the redeye Wednesday/Thursday, and I hope to go nowhere else for a while.
What I’m happy about: Getting an iPad last Friday. Holy crap, is this a fantastic device. I decided to pick it up before the Portland trip to see if it could replace my laptop for a light work-week (that is, a trip in which I wouldn’t be doing heavy-duty “live from the conference” posts for my magazine’s website, or processing photos). I packed along a bluetooth keyboard for writing longer form stuff like this, but it’s just been fantastic so far. I watched Horse’s Mouth and Up in the Air on the flight out here, and only ran down about 12% of the battery. Go, future!
What I’m sad about: Something better will come along.
What I’m worried about: Whether I’ll have time to get to Powell’s, Stumptown, and Winn Perry while I’m in Portland. I’m also hoping I get to meet up with my various friends (that is, friends from all different portions of my life) who live out here.
What I’m pondering: Whether Spain is really better than the Netherlands. All I can say is, I had much more fun in my weekend in Amsterdam than I did in 5 days in Madrid.
Maybe next week’s Unrequired Reading will be an hour-long special on ESPN, but for now, all you get is this silly-ass blog.
Continue reading “Unrequired Reading: July 9, 2010”
I’m crazy-stressed with work (you’d laugh if you saw the work-calendar I put together for this month), but here’s some Unrequired Reading action for you, dear readers!
Continue reading “Unrequired Reading: June 18, 2010”
What I’m reading: Less Than Zero
What I’m listening to: The Singular Adventures of the Style Council
What I’m watching: I Knew It Was You: Rediscovering John Cazale. Because when you only made 5 movies before your death, and the weakest one was The Conversation, you deserve a documentary. The other four? Dog Day Afternoon, The Deer Hunter, and the first two Godfather movies. Wonderful documentary, albeit too brief at 40 minutes. Bizarrely, Israel Horowitz looked younger than just about every other interview subject, esp. Al Pacino, who seems to be heading toward the Phil Spector level of odd looks. Also, we watched the deleted scenes from In The Loop, after I stumbled across this totally NSFW montage of great Malcolm Tucker moments from the movie:
Most of the deleted scenes warranted cutting, but there are one or two that would’ve made the movie even more awesome. I admit that Jamie “The Crossest Man In Scotland” McDonald’s great monologue about There Will Be Blood is tremendous, but it would’ve just eaten up too much screentime.
What I’m drinking: North Shore #6 & Q-Tonic
What Rufus & Otis are up to: 
Handling a couple of days without their dad while I was at a press event in Chicago (and Madison, with a stop in Milwaukee on the way home). Also, Otis demonstrated his complete disregard for my authority when I took him to a kiddie-park and threw a squeaky tennis-ball about 50 feet away. He chased it down, caught it on a bounce, and proceeded to run all over the park, squeaking and leaping. Not once did he listen to me when I called his name. Eventually, he settled down and chomped on the ball while Rufus & I watched. A day later, he and Rufus did a bang-up job as ambassadogs at our local farmers’ market.
Where I’m going: Nowhere! I mean it!
What I’m happy about: That I stayed in the same hotel in Chicago as Common and Kanye West last week. Also, that my room had a Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin
What I’m sad about: That Zeppelin speaker is $600.
What I’m worried about: As ever, getting the Top Companies issue done in time.
What I’m pondering: Why Less Than Zero was a success. I’m about halfway through, and it’s a remarkably flat piece of writing. I mean, I get that that’s the point, that 18-year-old rich kids in L.A. led flat lives in the 1980s, and I enjoy some of the time-capsule aspects of it, but it’s simply not a very interesting narrative and the prose itself is artless. Maybe it gets better in the second half. Or maybe our literary standards were just as shitty 25 years ago as they are now. Maybe I’ll find out when I read that sequel.
What I’m reading: Pattern Recognition
What I’m listening to: Around the World in a Day
What I’m watching: Extract and In The Loop
What I’m drinking: Budweiser Select 55. Don’t judge me. I was at an impromptu crawfish boil. See?
What Rufus & Otis are up to: Gallivanting with their pals Ruby & Willow while we were away for the weekend in Louisiana (see the pictures!). Also, getting used to their new beds. Rufus is settling into his, but Otis has never had a new bed before, and is unaccustomed to its thickness. He tends to slide off of it, like a fat guy trying to get on an inflatable raft.
Where I’m going: Chicago & Madison, WI for a client’s press event. For two-and-a-half days. The last day will include a three-hour bus-ride to Madison, and a Madison-to-Milwaukee-to-Newark flight home.
What I’m happy about: Not dying from eating a bad crawfish.
What I’m sad about: That only two of my friends sent me this Slate story about gin the moment they saw it. I expected at least a half-dozen of you to forward that to me.
What I’m worried about: Well, I was worried about my eyesight, because I’ve been having a lot of trouble with my contacts in the past few weeks. If I read on the computer or the iPhone for a little while, I found my eyes just couldn’t focus well. Only this morning did I discover that my optometrist, or the contact lens company, sent half of this year’s lenses in my standard prescription, and the other half with a stronger prescription. So, for 6 weeks, I’ve been using lenses that are too strong for my eyes. Grar.
What I’m pondering: How much my life has changed since I first read Pattern Recognition. I wrote about it in the very early days of this blog (Feb. 2003), and was pretty dismissive. Now I find it much more fulfilling, even if one of my earlier critiques holds up (the McGuffin is still too similar to that of his second novel). I’m no longer so sensitive about its 9/11-ness, and my own awareness/interest in fashion and corporate brands has helped inform this re-reading of the book. The really jarring thing this time was the first chapter or so, which felt embarrassingly like “SF writer not quite ready to downshift into a here-and-now setting.” The opening descriptions feel like they’re from another novel, before he got the hang of writing about “the present.” But I’m much more forgiving, this time around.
