{"id":4496,"date":"2009-09-28T05:00:29","date_gmt":"2009-09-28T09:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/?p=4496"},"modified":"2009-09-27T16:45:51","modified_gmt":"2009-09-27T20:45:51","slug":"what-it-is-92809","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/what-it-is-92809","title":{"rendered":"What It Is: 9\/28\/09"},"content":{"rendered":"

What I’m reading:<\/em> The new issue of Fantastic Man<\/a>. Because I’m a fantastic man.<\/p>\n

What I’m listening to:<\/em> Essential Michael Jackson<\/a>\"\".<\/p>\n

What I’m watching:<\/em> A bunch of NFL, and The Rachel Zoe Project<\/a>, which remarkably didn’t make me feel appreciably dumber. I guess it’s partly because, outside of the silly reality-show dramafication, the show also contains enough of the day-to-day aspects of Zoe’s job to be a little informative.<\/p>\n

What I’m drinking:<\/em> Red wine, although I don’t recall any of the labels. I didn’t drink too much during the conference-evenings, which is good. We took out a bunch of our event sponsors on Thursday night, and I managed to keep it down to 1.25 G&Ts, because our restaurant only had Tanqueray Ten on hand.<\/p>\n

What Rufus is up to:<\/em> According to my wife, he was pining for me while I was away at the conference. Thursday was the first time we used a dog-walker since Rufus got attacked last May. My brother took him outside once when he was here in July, but otherwise, it’s been me and\/or Amy every day for 4+ months. Ru & the walker were fine.<\/p>\n

Where I’m going:<\/em> Nowhere, but my pals Ian & Jess are coming in for an overnight on Friday; we’re planning to take ’em to one of our favorite restaurants<\/a> before seeing them on their way bright and early Saturday morning.<\/p>\n

What I’m happy about:<\/em> Our conference<\/a> went off without a hitch! It just goes to show you what four micro-managing control freaks can accomplish when they all pull together! (Also, Crumb’s Book of Genesis<\/a>\"\" is supposed to show up at my door sometime today! I’ll have some post-Yom Kippur reading that’ll actually be kinda Jew-y!)<\/p>\n

What I’m sad about:<\/em> Bill Safire died<\/a>. And I’ve already started thinking about the speaker lineup for next year’s conference.<\/p>\n

What I’m worried about:<\/em> One of my speakers won’t show up.<\/p>\n

What I’m pondering:<\/em> Whether my body will manage to mistake nicotine (in the form of Ozona snuff<\/a>) for the caffeine that I’m doing without for my Yom Kippur fast. I doubt it, but that’s why it’s a day of afflictions<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What I’m reading: The new issue of Fantastic Man. Because I’m a fantastic man. What I’m listening to: Essential Michael Jackson. What I’m watching: A bunch of NFL, and The Rachel Zoe Project, which remarkably didn’t make me feel appreciably dumber. I guess it’s partly because, outside of the silly reality-show dramafication, the show also … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “What It Is: 9\/28\/09”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","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":[20],"tags":[831,862,863],"class_list":["post-4496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-religion","tag-r-crumb","tag-rachel-zoe","tag-william-safire"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4C7K-1aw","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":14779,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-456-zoe-beloff","url_meta":{"origin":4496,"position":0},"title":"Episode 456 – Zoe Beloff","author":"Gil","date":"October 18, 2021","format":"audio","excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show 456: Zoe Beloff \"I'm a story scavenger. I'm not like a novelist who comes out with stories from scratch. I find stories, whether of real people, or just a scrap of film or old postcards. They'll tell you stories. I think of myself as a voice through\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\/beloffcomp.jpg?fit=1200%2C480&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/beloffcomp.jpg?fit=1200%2C480&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/beloffcomp.jpg?fit=1200%2C480&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/beloffcomp.jpg?fit=1200%2C480&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/beloffcomp.jpg?fit=1200%2C480&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4686,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/what-it-is-112309","url_meta":{"origin":4496,"position":1},"title":"What It Is: 11\/23\/09","author":"Gil","date":"November 23, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"What I'm reading: Finished up When The Shooting Stops ... The Cutting Begins: A Film Editor's Story. The penultimate chapter \u00e2\u20ac\u201d detailing how Annie Hall was salvaged \u00e2\u20ac\u201d was phenomenal. Not sure what my main book will be after that. What I'm listening to: The Cars' Greatest Hits, Coconut Records'\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Adventures in Rufus and\/or Otis"","block_context":{"text":"Adventures in Rufus and\/or Otis","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/adventures-in-rufus-and-or-otis"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=virtualmemories-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0306802724","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":16344,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-557-rachel-shteir","url_meta":{"origin":4496,"position":2},"title":"Episode 557 – Rachel Shteir","author":"Gil","date":"October 3, 2023","format":"audio","excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show 557: Rachel Shteir \"How does someone go against convention and advance an idea that's not even in the public consciousness? I don't know if you can do that and stay within the confines of civility.\" With her fantastic new biography, Betty Friedan: Magnificent Disrupter (Yale University Press),\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Big Business"","block_context":{"text":"Big Business","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/big-business"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/shteircomp.jpg?fit=1073%2C800&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/shteircomp.jpg?fit=1073%2C800&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/shteircomp.jpg?fit=1073%2C800&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/shteircomp.jpg?fit=1073%2C800&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/shteircomp.jpg?fit=1073%2C800&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5602,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/what-it-is-92710","url_meta":{"origin":4496,"position":3},"title":"What It Is: 9\/27\/10","author":"Gil","date":"September 27, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"What I'm reading: The Iliad, more Jaime Hernandez comics, and The Fall of the House of Usher. I didn't have much time to read this week. What I'm listening to: Sir Lucious Left Foot, We Are Born, and Boxer What I'm watching: Local Hero, the last hour of Spike Lee's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Big Business"","block_context":{"text":"Big Business","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/big-business"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=virtualmemories-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0140275363","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9169,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/new-books-from-old-guests","url_meta":{"origin":4496,"position":4},"title":"New books from old guests","author":"Gil","date":"November 16, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"With the recent release of The Peace Process: A Novella and Stories by Bruce Jay Friedman (and this fantastic review of it by Adam Kirsch), I thought it would be a good idea to get together a list of new books from past guests of the podcast. Enjoy, and remember:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Architecture"","block_context":{"text":"Architecture","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/architecture"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/e\/ir?t=virtualmemories-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1504011732","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":963,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/market-down","url_meta":{"origin":4496,"position":5},"title":"Market Down","author":"Gil","date":"May 23, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Rachel Donadio at the NYTimes has an article about why literary fiction sucks. Okay, it's not really about why literary fiction sucks; it's really about why the market for literary fiction sucks. It has the dumbest concluding paragraph I've read in a while (soon to be topped by the conclusion\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "literature"","block_context":{"text":"literature","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/literature"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4496","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=4496"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4496\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4500,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4496\/revisions\/4500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}