{"id":3069,"date":"2008-12-19T05:00:21","date_gmt":"2008-12-19T09:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/?p=3069"},"modified":"2008-12-19T05:51:51","modified_gmt":"2008-12-19T10:51:51","slug":"unrequired-reading-dec-19-2008","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/unrequired-reading-dec-19-2008","title":{"rendered":"Unrequired Reading: Dec. 19, 2008"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve been working pretty hard this week at laying out our annual directory. It’s both tedious and exacting, which is a sucky combination. But you don’t want to read about that; you want goofy links! So just click “more”!<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I’m disappointed that NJ isn’t in the mix<\/a>.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

It ain’t me<\/a>, babe.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

Ron Rosenbaum on famous Jewish sports legends<\/span> Jewish gangsters of yesteryear<\/a>.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

If you find my Monday Morning Montaigne posts too dry and self-absorbed, you’ll probably have a better time with Bourgeois Surrender’s ruminations on Ruskin’s The Stones of Venice<\/em>. (He’s up to part 18<\/a>, but you should probably start at the beginning<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

My favorite rassler reviews The Wrestler<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

But I thought Markus Dohle was the most dangerous man in publishing<\/a>! (ha-ha)<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

Gah! Hurriphoonado<\/a>!<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

While laying out the big directory this week, I let iTunes shuffle around and did my best to resist skipping songs. That led to my discovery of what may be the most awesomely rampaging song ever: Seven Rooms of Gloom<\/em> by the Four Tops. Play it loud:<\/p>\n

httpv:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=My-OOtFpoAw<\/p>\n

(If the player doesn’t work, click here for click here for the Youtube page<\/a>.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve been working pretty hard this week at laying out our annual directory. It’s both tedious and exacting, which is a sucky combination. But you don’t want to read about that; you want goofy links! So just click “more”!<\/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":[25,22,17],"tags":[491,388,489,86,490],"class_list":["post-3069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-architecture","category-art","category-politics-explicit","tag-barney-rosset","tag-four-tops","tag-mick-foley","tag-ron-rosenbaum","tag-ruskin"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4C7K-Nv","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1302,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/2006-2007-nfl-playoff-challenge-round-3","url_meta":{"origin":3069,"position":0},"title":"2006-2007 NFL Playoff Challenge, round 3","author":"Gil","date":"January 20, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"I had bigger balls in the first half of this decade. Back then, I found it easy to call literary people with no entree beyond, \"I'm a small press publisher and I'd like to talk to you about a project I'm working on.\" That opening got me into phone conversations\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Football"","block_context":{"text":"Football","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/sports\/football"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=virtualmemories-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0674535812","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":17784,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-659-ron-rosenbaum","url_meta":{"origin":3069,"position":1},"title":"Episode 659 – Ron Rosenbaum","author":"Gil","date":"October 21, 2025","format":"audio","excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show 659: Ron Rosenbaum \"I'm always looking beyond the surface of the words to deeper meanings. Or sometimes shallower meanings.\" One of my fave writers, Ron Rosenbaum, returns to the show to celebrate his amazing new book, BOB DYLAN: Things Have Changed (A Kind Of Biography) (Melville House\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/art"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/rosenbaum2025comp.jpg?fit=1101%2C800&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/rosenbaum2025comp.jpg?fit=1101%2C800&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/rosenbaum2025comp.jpg?fit=1101%2C800&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/rosenbaum2025comp.jpg?fit=1101%2C800&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/rosenbaum2025comp.jpg?fit=1101%2C800&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1332,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/blame-it-on-the-rain","url_meta":{"origin":3069,"position":2},"title":"Blame it on the rain","author":"Gil","date":"February 5, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"The Colts win left me at 2-9 for this year's Playoff \"Challenge\", while Ron Rosenbaum went 6-5. More importantly, I'm out $50 after the Bears failed to cover. Of course, devoted readers of this site -- seek help! -- may recall such remarks as Rex Grossman looks like the most\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Football"","block_context":{"text":"Football","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/sports\/football"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=virtualmemories-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0375503390","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3340,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/follow-the-code","url_meta":{"origin":3069,"position":3},"title":"Follow the code","author":"Gil","date":"January 31, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Mark Cuban reminds us that he's a tech geek at heart by exploring the Bernie Madoff case from the angle of the computer system Madoff used to generate his fraudulent transactions. It's a fun post, and hey, his thesis is more sensible and responsible than when Ron Rosenbaum went kinda\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Big Business"","block_context":{"text":"Big Business","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/big-business"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16244,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-550-ron-rosenbaum","url_meta":{"origin":3069,"position":4},"title":"Episode 550 – Ron Rosenbaum","author":"Gil","date":"August 15, 2023","format":"audio","excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show 550: Ron Rosenbaum \"We're in an age where machines \u2014 AI, big data \u2014 are taking over human emotions and endeavors.\" With the release of IN DEFENSE OF LOVE: An Argument (Doubleday), Ron Rosenbaum offers up a series of essays to save love from scientizers, extremists, the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/art"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/rosenbaum2023comp.jpg?fit=1122%2C800&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/rosenbaum2023comp.jpg?fit=1122%2C800&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/rosenbaum2023comp.jpg?fit=1122%2C800&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/rosenbaum2023comp.jpg?fit=1122%2C800&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/rosenbaum2023comp.jpg?fit=1122%2C800&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8070,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/podcast-re-explaining-hitler","url_meta":{"origin":3069,"position":5},"title":"Podcast: Re-Explaining Hitler","author":"Gil","date":"July 28, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Virtual Memories: Ron Rosenbaum\u00a0- Re-Explaining Hitler \"The choices that an artist makes are not traceable back to a particular set of neurons firing. They're choices made by the complete consciousness of a person. Art, in a way, validates free will, and thereby validates the notion of evil.\" Ron Rosenbaum returns\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/art"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/e\/ir?t=voyantpublishing&l=as2&o=1&a=0306823187","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3069","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=3069"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3069\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3101,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3069\/revisions\/3101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}