Why work? Read a bunch of links today instead!
Continue reading “Unrequired Reading: Jan. 30, 2009”
0-fer, part 3
I’ve never read anything by John Irving, either.
(I could go on with this series forever! Esp. around Nobel time!)
0-fer, part 2
I never read anything by John Updike — who died of lung cancer today at 76 — either. I hear those Rabbit novels are supposed to be good. Any recommendations?
0-fer
I have not read a single one of these books.
(I’m also convinced that no one’s actually read all of 2666
What It Is: 1/19/09
What I’m reading: Re-reading Montaigne’s “On some verses of Virgil” and a few chapters of Cultural Amnesia
What I’m listening to: Pretty random stuff on my iTunes, as I think about compiling another Mad Mix.
What I’m watching: The 3rd season of Arrested Development
What I’m drinking: Bluecoat & tonic. And some Pacifico Clara.
What Rufus is up to: Entertaining my pal’s 3-year-old daughter, and missing another Sunday hike, thanks to the snow.
Where I’m going: Nowhere special. Although I may take today off to celebrate my black heritage, and drive into NYC to catch Synecdoche, New York.
What I’m happy about: My wife has her first commercial photo shoot today! (Also, the Eagles lost in the NFC Championship game. Again. And my wife & I had a great belated birthday dinner at Chef’s Table on Saturday.)
What I’m sad about: Will nobody think of the poor birds? (Just kidding: awesome job on landing that Airbus in the Hudson, although it would’ve been even more amazing if he could’ve landed on the deck of the Intrepid.)
What I’m pondering: Selling my 15″ Macbook Pro and using this 13″ Macbook Air as my laptop.
Unrequired Reading: Jan. 16, 2009
Baby, it’s cold outside! Stay in and catch up with some Unrequired Reading!
Continue reading “Unrequired Reading: Jan. 16, 2009”
Throw me a bone
After giving me the double kick in the nuts of closing down both the New York Sun and my favorite Thai restaurant in NYC last year, the universe offers up a handy made-for-Gil-Roth moment: the My Year of Flops writer reviews With Nails
Plus, the makers of the awesome Q Tonic were so happy that I offered some feedback on their product that they just sent me a 4-pack of the stuff!
It seems the cosmos has made a New Year’s resolution to be nicer to me! (I promise I’ll get around to reading The Wah-Wah Diaries
F*** You, You Whining F***: 1/5/09
Editors and publishers must now learn how to use telephones.
(In a bonus piece of cluelessness, this article also focuses on publishers’ debilitating problem of returns from bookstores . . . without ever mentioning e-publishing! God forbid you mention a distribution venue that eliminates the cost of physical production, shipping and returns in an article about cutting costs!)
Unrequired Reading: Jan. 2, 2009
It’s the first Unrequired Reading of the New Year, dear readers! Enjoy!
Continue reading “Unrequired Reading: Jan. 2, 2009”
R.I.P., Donald Westlake
Donald Westlake died on New Year’s Eve at the age of 75. My condolences to his wife and family.
I read a bunch of Westlake’s caper novels when I was a kid, and recently returned to the first one (which I took out of my local library, 25 years ago). I picked up a few others in the last month or two. In 2003, Michael Blowhard made him the first recipient of the Michael Blowhard Award for Excelling at Making Me Happy.
He wrote till the end of his days while I, meanwhile, have yet to start on the caper novel that I felt inspired/justified to write after re-reading The Spy in the Ointment. But I refuse to revise my New Year’s resolutions.