{"id":1238,"date":"2006-12-08T07:21:38","date_gmt":"2006-12-08T12:21:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/unrequired-reading-dec-8-2006\/"},"modified":"2006-12-08T07:21:38","modified_gmt":"2006-12-08T12:21:38","slug":"unrequired-reading-dec-8-2006","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/unrequired-reading-dec-8-2006","title":{"rendered":"Unrequired Reading: Dec. 8, 2006"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sorry for the paucity of posts this week, dear readers. I’ve been pretty burned out from work. Plus, we spent last night picking up my wife’s new Mini Cooper S<\/a>, which has her pretty excited. Pix to follow this weekend.
\nYour Unrequred Reading is carefully hidden away under that “more” link!<\/p>\n

I always thought Cate Blanchett was from another planet, but now it looks like she’s from the same place<\/a> Milla Jovovich came from in The Fifth Element<\/a>.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

One of the great contemporary cartoonists, Eddie Campbell, started a blog a week or two back. Here’s a piece about illustration vs. cartooning<\/a>.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

Here’s an interview with Mick Jones by the AV Club<\/a>. Not a lot about Big Audio Dynamite, a band I’m wistful for.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

An opinion piece on how the Italian healthcare system is crippling Italian healthcare<\/a>.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

The 2008 Olympic Stadium: Another Chinese structure that I don’t believe will stand up<\/a>. Also, check out this article from last year on how much Beijing is consuming in its construction-binge<\/a>.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

Anne Applebaum connects the dots<\/a> in the Litivenko radiation-hit.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

Charles Krauthammer has some choice words on the same subject<\/a>.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

I was too tired and burned-out last night to watch the best regular season NBA game in years<\/a>.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

Here’s a roundtable conversation of novelists about “secret histories”<\/a>. Unfortunately, Charles Portis, Thomas Pynchon and Ron Rosenbaum (not a novelist, but still) weren’t in it.
\n* * *<\/p>\n

The official VM wife writes about the hunt for blood-free engagement ring<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sorry for the paucity of posts this week, dear readers. I’ve been pretty burned out from work. Plus, we spent last night picking up my wife’s new Mini Cooper S, which has her pretty excited. Pix to follow this weekend. Your Unrequred Reading is carefully hidden away under that “more” link!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[25,2,26,4,12,18,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-architecture","category-basketball","category-comics","category-literature","category-pharmaceuticals","category-politics-implicit","category-wedding"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4C7K-jY","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1853,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/unrequired-reading-jan-18-2008","url_meta":{"origin":1238,"position":0},"title":"Unrequired Reading: Jan. 18, 2008","author":"Gil","date":"January 18, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Only the best in Unrequired Reading for you, dear readers! Just click \"more\"! Look! Anthony Bourdain's got his own blog! (Plus, here's a pretty neat interview he did with the AV Club.) * * * In April, the Superdome will become the SuperVagDome. (I guess the new Chinese national stadium\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Architecture"","block_context":{"text":"Architecture","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/architecture"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3361,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/unrequired-reading-feb-6-2009","url_meta":{"origin":1238,"position":1},"title":"Unrequired Reading: Feb. 6, 2009","author":"Gil","date":"February 6, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"In honor of black history month, I, um, don't actually have any links that pertain to black history. But they're still awesome! Just click \"more\"! Just clowning. Here's Ta-Nehisi Coates on the \"meh\" aspect of BHM! * * * I looked over the guest list for the New York Comic-Con\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Comic books & strips"","block_context":{"text":"Comic books & strips","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/literature\/comics"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1533,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/unrequired-reading-june-1-2007","url_meta":{"origin":1238,"position":2},"title":"Unrequired Reading: June 1, 2007","author":"Gil","date":"June 1, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Links galore, dear readers. Just click More! Why do Japanese people commit suicide? * * * Because they're all a bunch of file-sharing thieves! * * * It goes without saying that you will feel terrible if you read this collection of suicide notes. * * * You need some\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Architecture"","block_context":{"text":"Architecture","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/architecture"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2018,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/unrequired-reading-april-25-2008","url_meta":{"origin":1238,"position":3},"title":"Unrequired Reading: April 25, 2008","author":"Gil","date":"April 25, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Get your link on, dear readers. Just click more! I never understood the \"at least two villains per sequel\" rule. * * * Add it up: Khoi Vinh, the guy behind Subtraction, is also the design director for the NYTimes website. Here's a neat reader Q&A with him. * *\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Architecture"","block_context":{"text":"Architecture","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/architecture"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5814,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/unrequired-reading-dec-24-2010","url_meta":{"origin":1238,"position":4},"title":"Unrequired Reading: Dec. 24, 2010","author":"Gil","date":"December 24, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"No Unrequired Reading for you this week, dear readers! I'm on vacation! I'll have an extra-special edition for you next week, to close out 2010! Okay, okay. Just to give you something, here's the 3-D Yule Log.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5212,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/unrequired-reading-april-16-2010","url_meta":{"origin":1238,"position":5},"title":"Unrequired Reading: April 16, 2010","author":"Gil","date":"April 16, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Your Unrequired Reading anthologist has been laid low by a sinus infection this week, dear readers, but the amoxicillin, methylprednisolone and fluticasone propionate have kicked in. So here's a week's worth of oddball links for you! Volcanoriffic! * * * Gah! Undermall! (I'm still sad that Bergen Mall did away\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Adventures in Gin"","block_context":{"text":"Adventures in Gin","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/adventures-in-gin"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1238\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}