{"id":3867,"date":"2009-05-01T05:00:58","date_gmt":"2009-05-01T09:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/?p=3867"},"modified":"2009-05-01T05:29:48","modified_gmt":"2009-05-01T09:29:48","slug":"unrequired-reading-may-1-2009","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/unrequired-reading-may-1-2009","title":{"rendered":"Unrequired Reading: May 1, 2009"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s time for another round of my crazy-ass links! Just click “more”!<\/p>\n

Nothing in this short profile changes my opinion that Ryan Reynolds has no interior life whatsoever<\/a>.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

They couldn’t use Shutterstock<\/a>?<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

Sad story. Helluva work ethic<\/a>, though.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

J.G. Ballard died last week. He’s not on my 0-fer list; I read Concrete Island and Crash back in college (and I watched Empire of the Sun back in high school). Here’s Martin Amis’ tribute to him<\/a>.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

Bourgeois Surrender on how he named his fourth son<\/a>.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

Bourgeois surrender<\/a>.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

Plotinsky: now that’s gotta<\/em> be a pseudonym<\/a>.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

“Do you say, ‘Go fruke yourself<\/a>?'”<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

No, really. Do Not Resuscitate<\/a>.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

Similar to the “What time is the ballgame? \/ What time can you be here?” joke is D-Lowe’s recent spate of invites to speak at conferences in China<\/a>.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

Wait a second! Tasty food can make you fat<\/a>?<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

30 Rock: the Early Years<\/a>.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

To understand Wolverine’s appeal, you can read this take by Grady Hendrix<\/a> . . . or you can just check out this badassery from 30 years ago:<\/p>\n

\"wolverine\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s time for another round of my crazy-ass links! 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":[1],"tags":[672,643,673],"class_list":["post-3867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-jg-ballard","tag-martin-amis","tag-ryan-reynolds"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4C7K-10n","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4883,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/unrequired-reading-jan-29-2010","url_meta":{"origin":3867,"position":0},"title":"Unrequired Reading: Jan. 29, 2010","author":"Gil","date":"January 29, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Yeahyeah: first post in a while. I'm still struggling with my thoughts, writing, etc. I got re-walloped a few days ago by the news that a pal of mine from St. John's dropped dead of an aneurysm at 36 last week (she was an undergrad when I was there as\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":7463,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/podcast-sex-crime-and-other-arbitrary-genre-labels","url_meta":{"origin":3867,"position":1},"title":"Podcast: Sex, Crime, and Other Arbitrary Genre Labels","author":"Gil","date":"November 17, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Virtual Memories \u2013 season 3 episode 27 - Sex, Crime, and Other Arbitrary Genre Labels \u201cThe emotions are what interest me in writing erotica, rather than the hydraulics. . . . Essex House showed me that you could write erotica without pandering to the lowest common denominator\u201d Maxim Jakubowski has\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "literature"","block_context":{"text":"literature","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/literature"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/e\/ir?t=voyantpublishing&l=as2&o=1&a=0739413546","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5913,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/unrequired-reading-the-februariad","url_meta":{"origin":3867,"position":2},"title":"Unrequired Reading: The Februariad","author":"Gil","date":"February 28, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Here's your monthly dose of Unrequired Reading, dear readers who are too lazy or otherwise uninclined to follow my twitter feed at twitter.com\/groth18 My dogs would get so confused on these awesome staircases. * * * Nothing about how Craigslist enables Arab protestors and revolutionaries to get laid? #noitdoesnt *\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":[]},{"id":6430,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/podcast-manga-loids-and-steampunks","url_meta":{"origin":3867,"position":3},"title":"Podcast: Manga-loids and Steampunks","author":"Gil","date":"July 4, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Virtual Memories \u2013 season 2 episode 8 Diana Renn and Paul Di Filippo - Manga-loids and Steampunks The July episode of The Virtual Memories Show is ready to go! This time around, you get two interviews for the price of one! During my June trip to Boston for the BIO\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/art"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=virtualmemories-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0670013323","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11716,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-284-richard-kadrey","url_meta":{"origin":3867,"position":4},"title":"Episode 284 – Richard Kadrey","author":"Gil","date":"August 26, 2018","format":"audio","excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show 284: Richard Kadrey \"The most creative people I know are the ones who figured it out for themselves.\" On the eve of the publication of his 10th (!) Sandman Slim novel, Hollywood Dead, Richard Kadrey joins the show to talk about discovering himself as a series writer,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "literature"","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\/RK-300-DPI-CROPPED-6x4-copy.jpg?fit=1200%2C993&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/RK-300-DPI-CROPPED-6x4-copy.jpg?fit=1200%2C993&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/RK-300-DPI-CROPPED-6x4-copy.jpg?fit=1200%2C993&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/RK-300-DPI-CROPPED-6x4-copy.jpg?fit=1200%2C993&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/RK-300-DPI-CROPPED-6x4-copy.jpg?fit=1200%2C993&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":11481,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-271-christopher-brown","url_meta":{"origin":3867,"position":5},"title":"Episode 271 – Christopher Brown","author":"Gil","date":"May 29, 2018","format":"audio","excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show 271: Christopher Brown \"I don't think I would write the kind of science fiction I write if I hadn't had the experience of eating deep-dish pizza with Strom Thurmond during the Clarence Thomas hearings.\" Science fiction author Christopher Brown joins the show to talk about his first\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":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_9567.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_9567.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_9567.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_9567.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_9567.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3867","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=3867"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3867\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3872,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3867\/revisions\/3872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}