{"id":3726,"date":"2009-04-03T05:00:07","date_gmt":"2009-04-03T09:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/?p=3726"},"modified":"2009-04-03T06:21:36","modified_gmt":"2009-04-03T10:21:36","slug":"unrequired-reading-apr-3-2009","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/unrequired-reading-apr-3-2009","title":{"rendered":"Unrequired Reading: Apr. 3, 2009"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Links a-plenty! Just click &#8220;more&#8221;. You know you want to!<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Blow it <a href=\"http:\/\/news.bbc.co.uk\/2\/hi\/europe\/7976883.stm\" target=\"_blank\">out yer ass<\/a>, Lenin.<\/p>\n<p>* * *<\/p>\n<p>Nabokov keeps <a href=\"http:\/\/papercuts.blogs.nytimes.com\/2009\/03\/31\/two-of-nabokovs-many-cultures\/\" target=\"_blank\">revealing mysteries<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>* * *<\/p>\n<p>A man who once let the music industry change his name to John Cougar <a href=\"http:\/\/www.reason.com\/blog\/show\/132538.html\" target=\"_blank\">decries the death of the music industry<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>* * *<\/p>\n<p>Ron Rosenbaum on Shakespeare&#8217;s portrait: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.slate.com\/id\/2214734\" target=\"_blank\">back in his wheelhouse<\/a>. (Even if he missed the opportunity to compare that glossary segment with <em>Pale Fire<\/em>. . .)<\/p>\n<p>* * *<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I was going to make a biography of Hank Williams, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2009\/03\/22\/business\/media\/22steal.html\" target=\"_blank\">but I&#8217;m going to make a prequel to The Thing<\/a> instead!&#8221; (To continue laughing at the NYTimes&#8217; coverage of Hollywood, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2009\/03\/23\/business\/media\/23moguls.html\" target=\"_blank\">please read this one<\/a>, too.)<\/p>\n<p>* * *<\/p>\n<p>Shh! Don&#8217;t tell anyone <a href=\"http:\/\/www.reason.com\/blog\/show\/132677.html\" target=\"_blank\">you&#8217;re regulating cigarettes<\/a>!<\/p>\n<p>* * *<\/p>\n<p>New Orleans: <a href=\"http:\/\/open.salon.com\/blog\/leeandra_nolting\/2009\/01\/05\/why_i_live_in_new_orleans\" target=\"_blank\">proud to swim home<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>* * *<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Look, everybody! <a href=\"http:\/\/www.spectator.co.uk\/the-magazine\/features\/3505896\/what-i-heard-at-jd-salingers-doorstep.thtml\" target=\"_blank\">I&#8217;m an asshole<\/a>!&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Links a-plenty! Just click &#8220;more&#8221;. You know you want to!<\/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":[17],"tags":[627,626,624,625],"class_list":["post-3726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics-explicit","tag-jd-salinger","tag-john-mellencamp","tag-lenin","tag-nabokov"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4C7K-Y6","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":15186,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-482-john-crowley","url_meta":{"origin":3726,"position":0},"title":"Episode 482 &#8211; John Crowley","author":"Gil","date":"April 19, 2022","format":"audio","excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show 482: John Crowley \"One thing age and experience bring you is an accumulation of ability to create minds at work. It's the hardest thing to do in writing.\" Legendary author John Crowley rejoins the show to celebrate his new novel, Flint And Mirror (Tor Books), as well\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;literature&quot;","block_context":{"text":"literature","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/literature"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/crowley2022comp.jpg?fit=1200%2C756&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/crowley2022comp.jpg?fit=1200%2C756&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/crowley2022comp.jpg?fit=1200%2C756&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/crowley2022comp.jpg?fit=1200%2C756&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/crowley2022comp.jpg?fit=1200%2C756&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4712,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/unrequired-reading-dec-4-2009","url_meta":{"origin":3726,"position":1},"title":"Unrequired Reading: Dec. 4, 2009","author":"Gil","date":"December 4, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Geez! The year's almost over! Have some Unrequired Reading, whydon'tcha? Just click \"more\"! All that future. (It's the title of a really obscure song by Lori Carson and Bernie Worrell.) * * * Martin Amis has some problems with (late) Nabokov. And I just bought Pnin this week! * *\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Architecture&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Architecture","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/architecture"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=virtualmemories-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0679723412","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2586,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/dyn-o-mite","url_meta":{"origin":3726,"position":2},"title":"Dyn-o-mite!","author":"Gil","date":"October 1, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Horace Engdahl, permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy and the lead judge for the Nobel Prize for literature, believes American writers are small-minded boobs: \"The U.S. is too isolated, too insular. They don't translate enough and don't really participate in the big dialogue of literature,\" Engdahl said. \"That ignorance is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;literature&quot;","block_context":{"text":"literature","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/literature"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12034,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-304-edmund-white","url_meta":{"origin":3726,"position":3},"title":"Episode 304 &#8211; Edmund White","author":"Gil","date":"January 21, 2019","format":"audio","excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show 304: Edmund White \"Queerness has become less arty, less intellectual, less cultural, more physical, more gym-oriented, more commercial. Lady Gaga instead of Maria Callas.\" Novelist, memoirist, essayist and queer literary icon Edmund White joins the show to talk about his new memoir, The Unpunished Vice: A Life\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Art&quot;","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\/iu.jpeg?fit=600%2C400&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/iu.jpeg?fit=600%2C400&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/iu.jpeg?fit=600%2C400&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":11704,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-283-robert-andrew-parker","url_meta":{"origin":3726,"position":4},"title":"Episode 283 &#8211; Robert Andrew Parker","author":"Gil","date":"August 18, 2018","format":"audio","excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show 283: Robert Andrew Parker \"In recent years I've been intrigued by the idea of what Gregor Samsa's dreams were like, before he woke up as an insect.\" At 91 years old, Robert Andrew Parker can't stop making art. We sat down in his studio to talk about\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Art&quot;","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\/IMG_0280.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_0280.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_0280.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_0280.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_0280.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3935,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/0-fer-20th-century-edition","url_meta":{"origin":3726,"position":5},"title":"0-fer 20th century edition","author":"Gil","date":"June 10, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"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\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;0-fer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"0-fer","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/literature\/0-fer"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3726","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=3726"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3726\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3730,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3726\/revisions\/3730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}