{"id":1753,"date":"2007-11-02T05:00:39","date_gmt":"2007-11-02T10:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/unrequired-reading-nov-2-2007\/"},"modified":"2007-11-02T05:03:57","modified_gmt":"2007-11-02T10:03:57","slug":"unrequired-reading-nov-2-2007","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/unrequired-reading-nov-2-2007","title":{"rendered":"Unrequired Reading: Nov. 2, 2007"},"content":{"rendered":"

Look out! It’s Dia del Muerte reading!<\/p>\n


\n“You’re about as useful as a one-legged mullet salesman in Key West<\/a>!”<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

6-pack abs, in about an hour<\/a>. No, not an hour a day. Just an hour.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

“Except for Marge — Marge, you tested positive for crack and PCP<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

It’s mandatory that I put in a design post<\/a>, right? (with accompanying slideshow<\/a>, of course)<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

Stephen Fry: king dork<\/a>.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

My wife fails to burn the fries<\/a>!<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

An underwater neutrino detector puts BLDG BLOG in mind of H.P. Lovecraft’s From Beyond<\/em><\/a>. (If you’re not tempted to click through, I guess I don’t really know you.)<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

Speaking of Cthulhu-esque nightmares, welcome to Bergen Mall<\/a>, the only mall I know with its own underworld!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Look out! It’s Dia del Muerte reading!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","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":[46,4,32,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-design","category-literature","category-sports","category-sudan"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4C7K-sh","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2150,"url":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/unrequired-reading-aug-1-2008","url_meta":{"origin":1753,"position":0},"title":"Unrequired Reading: Aug. 1, 2008","author":"Gil","date":"August 1, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm recovering from the Bruce show last night. You guys make with the Unrequired Reading. The New York Times: Less Than Zero? * * * I'm a better husband than these guys, even if I don't have as entertaining a wardrobe. * * * I was in a cafe \/\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Comic books & strips"","block_context":{"text":"Comic books & strips","link":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/literature\/comics"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5423,"url":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/unrequired-reading-july-9-2010","url_meta":{"origin":1753,"position":1},"title":"Unrequired Reading: July 9, 2010","author":"Gil","date":"July 9, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Maybe next week's Unrequired Reading will be an hour-long special on ESPN, but for now, all you get is this silly-ass blog. Here's a neat essay by John Crowley about Herman Hesse, the Glass Bead Game, and the nature of competition. * * * Speaking of which: be a man.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Architecture"","block_context":{"text":"Architecture","link":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/architecture"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=virtualmemories-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B003TWZ86C","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8262,"url":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/podcast-a-sense-of-someplace-to-go","url_meta":{"origin":1753,"position":2},"title":"Podcast – A Sense of Someplace To Go","author":"Gil","date":"October 6, 2014","format":"audio","excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show: Dmitry Samarov\u00a0- A Sense of Someplace To Go \"The great [storytelling] advantage to driving a cab is that you have the back of your head to the person. It makes them open up in a way that, if they saw my face, I don't think they could\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/art"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/dmitryish.jpg?fit=1200%2C1159&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/dmitryish.jpg?fit=1200%2C1159&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/dmitryish.jpg?fit=1200%2C1159&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/dmitryish.jpg?fit=1200%2C1159&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/dmitryish.jpg?fit=1200%2C1159&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":960,"url":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/time-is-money","url_meta":{"origin":1753,"position":3},"title":"Time is Money","author":"Gil","date":"May 20, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Nested in this NYTimes article about the principles behind the Geek Squad computer repair service is a passage about how much people value their time: Economists say industrialized societies are spending less on the basics of life -- food, clothing and shelter -- and more on leisure pursuits. Indeed, Robert\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 2 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 2 comments","link":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/time-is-money#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":115,"url":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/countdown","url_meta":{"origin":1753,"position":4},"title":"Countdown","author":"Gil","date":"December 1, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"T minus one hour and two G&Ts...","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":690,"url":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/safe-landing","url_meta":{"origin":1753,"position":5},"title":"Safe landing","author":"Gil","date":"October 17, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Got in safe and sound, but rush-hour traffic's a bear, so the official VM fiancee & I have hit a mall (with a Mac store) in NJ before we try to make it into NYC to drop her off.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1753"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1753\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}