- Trying not to disappear, but no time for a real post either. So, some hangovers.
- Chicago's decaying movie palaces. (Via Daniel Kraus.)
- Marie Lu on the rejection all authors have to prepare for at Pub Crawl: "No agent or publisher will ever write you a rejection as blunt as some readers will write."
- The Theology of Angel at the Awl. (Also at the Awl, Carrie highlights Victoria Grayson's triumphs, er, or mishaps, as Hamptons hostess.)
- Cory Doctorow writes in very clear terms about piracy and the impacts of publishing mergers and related things.
- Fab Onion AV Club interview with Amy Sherman-Palladino (Bunheads feels like it has truly clicked in these last couple eps–and, yes, it's back). Snippet: "So it’s not that you don’t want notes as a writer. What you don’t want is: You’re given a note, and for whatever reason you do not agree with that note. But it is not taken as, “This is a creative debate. We’re debating this, and in the end what’s best for the show is going to win.” There’s a feeling in a lot of these situations where the network gives notes, the studio give the notes, and if the writer does not simply take those notes, the writer is viewed as disrespectful—and that is the problem."
- Release the Kraken. They found one. NIGHTMARES.
- Thanks to Jeffrey Scott Holland for giving me and Blackwood a shout-out over at Kentucky Forward in his latest column there.
- Daniel Defoe as the original Lemony Snicket? Or something like that. Fascinating. (Via Gabrielle Gantz.)
- R.L. LaFevers has a great new column at Writer Unboxed: Embrace the Naked.
- Katherine Langrish on the mythology of white ladies (supernatural variety): "Ghost stories often come complete with ‘explanations’ for the apparition – explanations which usually feel contrived. Frequently they involve some sort of crime: the ghost is unable to rest because it is either the victim or the perpetrator. White ladies are often described as murdered brides or sweethearts, or else girls who have drowned themselves for love. They are frequently associated with water."
- My agent Jennifer Laughran guest blogs for Amy Spalding and writes about…Annie! I was somewhat obsessed with the movie as a child. (Read: completely.) Snippet: "Despite the fact that I was white-blonde, afraid of dogs, a decent but not great voice, two left feet, and showed no particular signs of any other talent, when I was like 6 I became completely obsessed with some rumor I’d heard, or invented, that there was soon going to be an Annie 2, and if I could get to the audition, I would get my turn as the red-headed, dog-loving, singing, tapping star." This is my favorite thing this week. I'm calling it. Go read the whole thing, and watch the clips. (And see the commemorative plates!)