This Thing Called Joy
Bookninja has an RSS feed. Finally.
And a spiffy new look. (Via the people’s Champion.)
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Do Not Awaken the Ancient Evil.
I’m just saying there are rules when things like this happen:
A team of scientists has discovered a lost world of rare plants, giant flowers and bizarre animals — including a new species of honeyeater bird, a tree kangaroo and an egg-laying mammal — on a mist-shrouded mountaintop in a remote province of Indonesia on New Guinea island.
There’s a photo gallery.
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GilmoreGossipCircle
Offered without preliminary comment:
You’ve Been Gilmored. Emily (Kelly Bishop) tells Lorelai (Lauren Graham) that she’d like to get to know her future son-in-law better and asks her to invite Luke (Scott Patterson) over for dinner. Wanting to avoid an argument, Lorelai purposely fails to mention that the wedding has been postponed. The Yale Daily News staff finally fires Paris (Liza Weil) and chooses Rory (Alexis Bledel) to be the new editor. A furious Paris kicks Rory out of the apartment, and Rory has no idea where she is going to go until Logan (Matt Czuchry) convinces her to move into his apartment. When Rory gives Christopher (David Sutcliffe) a tour of Yale, he learns of the new living arrangement and tells Lorelai. Edward Herrmann and Yanic Truesdale also star.
The episode was written by Jordan Nardino and directed by Stephen Clancy.
Updated: Knower of all things Rosebudsy Richard says that there will be a Rosebuds song on tonight’s episode. Things are looking up already.
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Short Fiction Service Announcement
I’m the extremely intimidated juror out on this year’s stellar Fountain Award jury: Jeff Ford, Carol Emshwiller, Mary Anne Mohanraj and James Patrick Kelly. Anyway, editors of magazines and anthologies have three more days to submit their nominations. All the info you need is included behind the cut:
…
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Almost Real
Maureen McHugh has an excellent post about a local event featuring Dan Chaon and a psychoanalyst discussing his novel, You Remind Me Of Me (which I found beautiful but almost too sad, sad, sad). Sez she:
This seemed a strange thing to me. The characters in a book are manifestly not real. Someone (in this case, Dan Chaon) made them up. I really like psychological realism, but I think it’s an illusion, just like so much else in fiction. The suggestion of psychological complexity is a characteristic of mimetic fiction–meaning that if you want your story to feel real, you should also make the characters feel like they have a complicated psychological make-up. But characters that are as arbitrary as real people feel thin on the page, just as dialogue that is realistic feels strung out and boring. It’s all fake.
But wait! There’s more. Go read it.
Tuesday Hangovers
- The London Necropolis Railway.
- Serenity by the Muppets. (Via Ms. Known Forms.)
- Rodge Glass on Alasdair Gray in the Scotsman. (Via Maud.)
- The Fantasy Novel Title Generator. (Via Adam.)
- On Feb. 6, 1959 Carson McCullers hosted a luncheon for Isak Dinesen and Marilyn Monroe. (Via the stylish Wit of the Staircase.)
- Oh, and Maud and Maccers both point out that the real JT Leroy looks far more fake than the fake one did, even.
- (Also, Blogrolling appears to be down and, consequently, so is mine.)
Dahlias
The NYT looks at the ongoing fascination with the Black Dahlia murder and the new movie based on James Ellroy’s novel:
During her brief lifetime, Elizabeth Short never starred in a single movie. There is no record of her having played so much as a bit part. Yet within popular culture, Short — who frequently told friends she wanted to break into show business — has emerged as something of an honorary leading lady whose shadowy life and violent death follow the contours of a classic film noir script.
Mr T = Happy
Mr. T Visitor Guide: "Six Feet Under" House. There only seems to be one more right now, but here’s hoping the series continues…
(Via the de-fabulous Pinky.)
Now That’s An Insult
George R.R. Martin reviews Stephen King’s latest in this week’s BookWorld:
Zombies are the Rodney Dangerfield of monsterdom, the poor relation none of the other monsters wants to admit to knowing. Vampires boast of ancient lineages and dwell in magnificent (if somewhat ruined) estates. They dress elegantly and quote poetry, and while they may not drink wine, you know that if they did, it would be only the best vintages. Werewolves tend to be average joes, ordinary working stiffs who say their prayers by night until stricken by lycanthropy. Aside from a few nights when the moon is full, they’re just folks like you and me. Zombies, though? Rotting corpses, ripe and decaying, dressed in rags and covered with dirt, mindless, clumsy, slow, hideous and foul-smelling. The sheriff in "Night of the Living Dead" summed them up perfectly when he said, "They’re dead . . . they’re all messed up."
Calling zombies Rodney Dangerfield(s); man, that’s just cold.
Sadly, Martin seems to have missed out on the recent fast-moving zombies entirely, which undercuts one section of the otherwise-charming review. At least, it did for this zombie afficionado.
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On Betty Friedan
I was going to post about this amazing woman and her legacy, but Lauren’s said it all. Go read her.
See also: Bad Feminist’s post, which has some good links.