{"id":5605,"date":"2010-10-01T04:00:07","date_gmt":"2010-10-01T08:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/?p=5605"},"modified":"2010-10-01T08:46:49","modified_gmt":"2010-10-01T12:46:49","slug":"unrequired-reading-october-1-2010","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/unrequired-reading-october-1-2010","title":{"rendered":"Unrequired Reading: October 1, 2010"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sorry about the lack of an Unrequired Reading last week. I was way too busy helping put on our conference. I’m way too busy finishing the October issue now, but I figure you deserve some of this.<\/p>\n

Okay, this is Required \u00e2\u20ac\u201d albeit depressing \u00e2\u20ac\u201d Reading: my pal Mitch Prothero writes about Gaza and life under Hamas rule<\/a>.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

Lefties: we’re sinister and gauche<\/a>.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

I was hoping Hadji Murat<\/em> would make this list<\/a>.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

Between thought and expression lies . . . a parking lot<\/a>.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

Jim Woodring: real genius<\/a>.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

Jimmy Olsen: not exactly genius, but pretty awesome<\/a>.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

Oh-oh-OH Canada<\/a>!<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

I thought women’s runway shows were supposed to be outrageous, impossible fashions, but the stuff in this D&G show<\/a> looks publicly wearable. (And, MAN, are these girls gorgeous.)<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

Going to St. John’s College was the best choice I ever made<\/a>.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

The real Withnail<\/a>: he’s no Richard E. Grant, but hey.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

Zeppelin Led: the tippy-top of the Empire State Building<\/a>.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

No Nachos Galacticos<\/a>?<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

I have a feeling the humidity in Costa Rica would wreak havoc on all those books, but this house is still bee-yoo-tiful<\/a>.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

Don’tletthishappentotheYankees. Don’tletthishappentotheYankees. Don’tletthishappentotheYankees<\/a>.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

There are many reasons I have no interest in reading Freedom<\/a>\"\", the new Jonathan Franzen novel. First and foremost is that I thought The Corrections<\/a>\"\" was lightweight and dull, and that critics who praised it were unjustifiably trying to make it An Important Novel Of Our Time so that they could feel like they were part of something important. But one of Franzen’s literary idols, William Gaddis, once wrote something to the effect of alchemy being useless in an age where there is no gold. Anyway, here’s B.R. “A Reader’s Manifesto<\/a>\"\"” Myers’ takedown of Freedom<\/em><\/a>, and Jessa “Bookslut<\/a>” Crispin’s explanation of why she doesn’t plan to read the book<\/a>. Me? I’m gonna get back to Homer and Jaime Hernandez.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

Okay, before I go: Mick Foley meets Tori Amos<\/a> (not in a steel cage).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sorry about the lack of an Unrequired Reading last week. I was way too busy helping put on our conference. I’m way too busy finishing the October issue now, but I figure you deserve some of this.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_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},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[25,1023,4,40,17,20,32],"tags":[1155,1159,1156,378,1158,1154,489,1160,507,76,1157,1153],"class_list":["post-5605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-architecture","category-fashion","category-literature","category-music","category-politics-explicit","category-religion","category-sports","tag-b-r-myers","tag-dolce-gabbana","tag-jessa-crispin","tag-jim-woodring","tag-jimmy-olsen","tag-jonathan-franzen","tag-mick-foley","tag-mitch-prothero","tag-richard-e-grant","tag-st-johns-college","tag-tori-amos","tag-withnail-i"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4C7K-1sp","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":16142,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-544-mitchell-prothero","url_meta":{"origin":5605,"position":0},"title":"Episode 544 – Mitchell Prothero","author":"Gil","date":"June 27, 2023","format":"audio","excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show 544: Mitchell Prothero \"If you deregulate the global economy to the point where you can move whatever you want, wherever and whenever, and you deregulate financial controls so that it's easy to shift money around and hide it, then you're going to get a massive amount of\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\/protherocomp.jpg?fit=1200%2C508&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/protherocomp.jpg?fit=1200%2C508&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/protherocomp.jpg?fit=1200%2C508&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/protherocomp.jpg?fit=1200%2C508&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/protherocomp.jpg?fit=1200%2C508&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5826,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/unrequired-reading-december-31-2010","url_meta":{"origin":5605,"position":1},"title":"Unrequired Reading: December 31, 2010","author":"Gil","date":"December 30, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Happy New Year's Eve, dear readers! Welcome to the final installment of Unrequired Reading! That's right! Not a dream! Not a hoax! Not an imaginary story! This feature is O-V-E-R! For a while now, I felt like I've been battling against the tide of instant\/mini-blogging by posting a weekly collection\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":9951,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-192-jim-woodring","url_meta":{"origin":5605,"position":2},"title":"Episode 192 – Jim Woodring","author":"Gil","date":"October 31, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show #192: Jim Woodring \"I have something to live for in the goal of producing this long, fascinating, convoluted, loop-de-loop, metaphysical story arc. And that's the kind of thing that occupies me and makes my days the joyous things they are: living in this screwed-up dream-world that isolates\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\/29738310071_6ba9f7b62f_o.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/29738310071_6ba9f7b62f_o.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/29738310071_6ba9f7b62f_o.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/29738310071_6ba9f7b62f_o.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/29738310071_6ba9f7b62f_o.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10067,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/fanta-pods","url_meta":{"origin":5605,"position":3},"title":"Fanta-pods","author":"Gil","date":"December 12, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Fantagraphics is celebrating its 40th anniversary and holy crap have I interviewed a ton of their cartoonists and writers: Peter Bagge \u2022 mp3 MK Brown \u2022 mp3 Ivan Brunetti \u2022 mp3 Jules Feiffer \u2022 mp3 Mary Fleener \u2022 mp3 Drew Friedman 2013 \u2022 mp3 Drew Friedman 2014 \u2022 mp3 Josh\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\/12650933_10153906782188069_7522455933169836573_n-440x440.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":470,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/cedar-revolt","url_meta":{"origin":5605,"position":4},"title":"Cedar Revolt","author":"Gil","date":"February 25, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Official VM buddy Mitch Prothero has an update from Beirut: In a land where civil war is endemic but political protest is almost unknown, long-feuding Muslims, Christians and Druze are camping out just blocks from the parliament saying they will not leave until either Syrian troops leave their country or\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8505,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/podcast-103-nostalgia-of-the-infinite","url_meta":{"origin":5605,"position":5},"title":"Podcast 103 – Nostalgia of the Infinite","author":"Gil","date":"January 19, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show: Jim Woodring - Nostalgia of the Infinite \"I have this one focus in my life, which is that this world isn't real. There are much more interesting right behind it or in it and sometimes you can glimpse them. Those are the most interesting things. That's what\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\/16219296116_804d4bfe9c_k.jpg?fit=969%2C1200&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/16219296116_804d4bfe9c_k.jpg?fit=969%2C1200&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/16219296116_804d4bfe9c_k.jpg?fit=969%2C1200&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/16219296116_804d4bfe9c_k.jpg?fit=969%2C1200&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5605","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=5605"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5605\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5607,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5605\/revisions\/5607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}