==pla|\|ing lakes==

Saturday, February 15, 2003

Ron Charles's tantalizing take on Brian Hall's I Should Be Extremely Happy in Your Company: A Novel of Lewis and Clark

salon's likewise positive review, a less enamored and typically crabby Village Voice deconstruction, and a short interview with the author.

"When I did read [Stephen Ambrose's popular history of the expedition, Undaunted Courage]," Hall says, "I was relieved to see that what seemed to interest him was not what interested me. It's a really good biography, but my feeling was that Ambrose wasn't as comfortable with some of the really interesting, unsettling questions about Lewis' personality. He likes to tell stories about achievement, success and heroism . . . and I find fascinating the backside of the tapestry, where you see all the loose threads. Our two sets of interests somewhat complement each other."

1:41 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Friday, February 14, 2003

On education without knowing your story

Schools test kids incessantly on math skills, Newtonian science basics and reading comprehension. They hammer kids with self-esteem exercises without investing a single moment in exploring who it is that the kid is supposed to esteem. We expect our children to comprehend a paragraph about the speed of a fly between two onrushing locomotives, but we teach them nothing at all about comprehending life or their place in it.

3:08 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Jim Roll puts the lyrics of writers Denis Johnson and Rick Moody to music
I'll probably never listen to him, but it's nice to know it's happening.

2:56 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Morvern Callar puff

Her boyfriend, James, a struggling novelist who has finally finished his masterpiece, has left her a suicide note instructing her to send the book out to publishing houses and use money in their bank account for his funeral. Each click of the mouse explains the situation in a succinct, unsentimental way that a spoken discussion could barely attempt. It's just the first of many visual techniques employed by writer-director Lynne Ramsey, who has created from Alan Warner's novel a movie of wonder, chill, sadness and evolution that focuses on a singular character made well worthy of our attention by Morton's performance.

2:45 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Graphic novels finally starting to get the respect they deserve

"For really the first time ever in this literary age of comics, publishers actually have good book trade distribution," says Fantagraphics publicist Eric Reynolds. "We've hooked up with W.W. Norton & Company, the oldest alternative distributor and publisher in the country. They gave us a certain amount of cachet and clout. Booksellers said, 'Oh, wow. You're with W.W. Norton?'"

Drawn & Quarterly took things a step further, cementing its new distribution ties with Chronicle Books by producing a beautifully illustrated manifesto called "Selling Graphic Novels in the Book Trade." Designed to help booksellers over the graphic novel learning curve, the manifesto encourages stores to create distinct graphic literature sections near contemporary literature or art book displays, rather than folding graphic novels into science fiction or humor sections. One bookstore manager told Publishers Weekly that the move "probably tripled" his sales of graphic literature.

2:39 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Thursday, February 13, 2003

SoulSeek is back up

12:52 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Wednesday, February 12, 2003

12:20 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Monday, February 10, 2003

3500 bodies to be disinterred for new train station in NJ

3:11 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

The French are testing rural WiFi deployment

1:15 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Sunday, February 09, 2003

FireWire vs USB 2.0

5:55 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

I hadn't even hit SoulSeek for days, today I couldn't get it to come up -- Zeropaid tells why

This page will tell you when it's up again.

Looks like there's a clean version of Kazaa that's got no bitrate restrictions. Maybe I'll take it for a drive.

12:03 AM - [Link] - Comments ()