Almost finished podcast last night but collapsed circa 1:30, woke up this morning later (much later) than expected, somehow slept through a scheduled phone call (rectified, thankfully), received several crazed voicemails, people freaking out, called them back and placated them, one email account cleared (more or less) with responses to all nice people, one more ridiculous backlog to go. In other words, things are more or less back to normal, but there’s still far too much on the plate. Which means….
…another roundup in lieu of actual content!
- My pal Megan Sullivan offers her thoughts on Paul Rusesabagina’s An Ordinary Man, a memoir from the guy profiled in Hotel Rwanda that looks particularly intriguing.
- FinnegansWiki. (via Chekhov’s Mistress)
- Top 50 Literary Adaptations. What? No O Lucky Man (based on Candide)? (via Sarah)
- Today, at the LBC, Gwenda Bond extols Jeffrey Ford’s Girl in the Glass. We wish to note that, aside from being a solid storyteller, Mr. Ford proved to be a very fun and enjoyable interview: a smart and no-bullshit guy. The two of us ended up talking for something like 40 minutes and I’m at a loss as to how to whack the audio down. So keep watching the skies for a podcast.
- Frances puts up her earthquake centennial report, where she confesses that she endured a corset for much of the day. There’s also an absolutely adorable photo of the Dinkelspiels dressed up in costume.
- I don’t know if I mentioned it yet, but Michael Allen has been posting excerpts from his novel over at Grumpy Old Bookman.
- RotR fave Dave King (whose fantastic book, The Ha-Ha, recently issued in paperback, you must check out) talks briefly with Valerie Nienberg.
- C. Max Magee has been finding and locating excerpts of the Pulitzer winners.
- Syriana was shorn of two minutes upon premiering at the United Arab Emirates. Unfortunately, those two elided minutes were absolutely essential in comprehending the film’s labryinthine plot. Citizens are now associating Syriana with aspirin. (via Laila)
- Pete Anderson reveals the Tournament of Tunes. Hopefully, this will be less anticlimactic than its literary cousin.
- Smoking Dope with Thomas Pynchon (via the Rake)
- Will somebody expand Colson Whitehead’s Wikipedia entry already? Sheesh.
- Alison Bechdel has a videoblog. (via Derik)
- And since it’s now been revealed by Jeff VanderMeer, it looks like VanderMeer and the Chenies on a new Best American Fantasy anthology.
You have my solemn vow that Dale Peck will not be on hand to not vote.