Monthly Archives: May 2007

Examining Ezra

I’m the first to admit my almost complete ignorance of the work of Ezra Pound. I duly did required reading in college, read some of the translations from the Chinese, and skimmed some of The Cantos. But I never really … Continue reading

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The Gentle Lash

The proceedings of the Old Bailey, described as “A fully searchable online edition of the largest body of texts detailing the lives of non-elite people ever published, containing accounts of over 100,000 criminal trials held at London’s central criminal court,” … Continue reading

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Novel Cooking Ideas

Not long ago, I attempted to mimic some cooking as it is done in a number of relatively recent novels. I began, foolishly, with several recipes from Günter Grass’s Nobel Prize-provoking “The Flounder,” the epic allegory of German history told … Continue reading

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Book Inscriptions

Book Inscriptions collects– well– book inscriptions. Personal inscriptions, not famous autographs. Sadly, I imagine all my well-meaning and heartfelt inscriptions will end up discarded soon enough, probably not even memorialized digitally.

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Painting the Disappeared

There are some powerful images in this Slate exhibit about how to approach the disappeared artistically, but none more so than this video of an artist painting– with water on stone– the likenesses of disappeared individuals, a race against time … Continue reading

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Chocolate and Resistance

David Weinstock has a cocoa conundrum.

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Lem’s Beat (Lem Winchester)

What could have been… Lem Winchester was a great vibraphonist who had just quit his job as a policeman to play music full time when he accidentally killed himself demonstrating a trick with a loaded pistol. Lem’s Beat is my … Continue reading

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Lifted from Books, Inq.

Even with a feed reader it is hard to keep up with the prolific Books, Inq blog. So here are a bunch of links stolen (directly and indirectly) while skimming the last few hundred posts: A collection of writerly advice, … Continue reading

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Suicide Socialite

Not sure what to make of this:

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The Persistence of Memory

I won’t pretend to be the first to see in the Internet parallels to the all-remembering mind of Funes; a book could be written, if it hasn’t already been, on how Borges invented the Internet. More on the Internet, memory … Continue reading

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Forever (Ugly) Stamps

Heidi links to a LifeHacker article about the new “Forever Stamps” which can be purchased for 41 cents but will remain good for sending first-class letters “forever” (or until the USPS goes belly-up). Now, I understand that this is a … Continue reading

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Aimee Nez New Book

Good news… Aimee Nez has a new book out At the Drive-In Volcano! Will let you know what I think as soon as my copy gets here…

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Web/Email Reading Group Schedules

Some current schedules for online/email reading groups! Literary Fiction Lovers Group Home Info Pages May – The Road (Cormac McCarthy) June – Snow Flower & the Secret Fan (Lisa See) July – The Book Thief (Markus Zusak) August – Inheritance … Continue reading

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Lethem & Chabon, Superfriends

Patricia Storms’ Art Imitating Lit cartoons are amusing. The irony of needing to be in-touch with the contretemps of the literary in-crowd to understand Storms’ dissing of the same is not lost on me…

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Chinatown

JforJames sez: Sometimes when faced with difficult or complex poetry, the detective’s words to Jake Gittes at the end of the movie Chinatown come to mind: “Forget it, Jake. It’s Chinatown.” Amen.

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Emotional Maps

“Bio Mapping is a community mapping project in which over the last three years almost 1000 people have taken part in. In the context of regular, local workshops, participants are wired up with an innovative device which records the wearer’s … Continue reading

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Keoni Boyer and Jardsoul

Every few months for quite a few years I have searched for news of my old friend Rob “Keoni” Boyer… someone I got into trouble (and trouble with) a young child and with whom endured a few years of library … Continue reading

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Meta-Free-Phor-All

Robert Pinsky moderates a linguistic duel, the Meta-Free-Phor-All between Stephen Colbert and Sean Penn.

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