Theoretical turkey antidote: Crews’ rattlesnake steaks
Something I learned this Thanksgiving, and really should have known or at least researched beforehand: a 19-pound turkey for seven people is ridiculous, ridiculous overkill, especially when one of those people is a vegetarian. The past few days have been punctuated by ever-more-creative (and unappetizing) turkey concoctions, and endless naps.
Today, in search [...]
NYTBR video interview with Toni Morrison
Toni Morrison talks with Sam Tanenhaus about setting A Mercy in a time when America was fluid — “before slavery and black became married.”
X-mas Kindle shoppers paying big bucks on eBay
Downturn be damned, the Kindle is on backorder till January, and selling for more than $700 at eBay.
Iris Murdoch speaks, clutches forehead at YouTube
“Literature does many, many things, and philosophy does one thing.”
Jacket Copy’s Carolyn Kellogg has unearthed an assortment of videos featuring authors who are no longer with us, but “continue to exist, in shadowy form, on YouTube.”
Joy of joys, this interview with Iris Murdoch is among them. (Parts 2, 3, 4, & [...]
Suggestions for cash-strapped publishers
As publishers try layoffs, benefits cuts, and putting the pause on books acquisition, why not cheap pocket & digital editions?
The Smart Set: Lauren Cerand’s weekly events
The Smart Set is on holiday hiatus this week as I’m off to Scotland — anything that I should absolutely see, do, shop, drink or eat in Edinburgh? If so, let me know!
Ed note: In case anyone is still confused after all these years, The Smart Set is curated, written, and posted by Lauren Cerand. [...]
Atlas Shrugged at its 51st anniversary
Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, updated for the current financial crisis. (Previously: What Roark might have brought to Brooklyn.)
“Insofar as words on a page can re-create the flavour of a personality, these interviews do it”
Margaret Atwood penned the introduction to the third volume of The Paris Review interviews, about which more soon. (See also.)
The United States Constitution: A Graphic Adaptation
Cory Doctorow recommends a graphic novel adaptation of the U.S. Constitution, but wishes it engaged with the past eight years.
Vintage Cheever
John Cheever’s Christmas is a Sad Season for the Poor, originally published in the 12/24/1949 New Yorker, is online. (Via.)
A Twilight primer (that will help when I next talk with my stepdaughter)
Lizzie Skurnick, who’s read the Twilight books and seen the movie, splains this cultural phenomenon to the rest of us.
Biblical terror texts
Students’ Terror Texts musical includes rape, cannibalism, & more from little-known Bible stories.
Marking nuclear waste for the year 22,008, & beyond
On Studio 360: Designing a radioactive waste warning sign that will ward people off for thousands of years. (3rd down on right.)
Crossword for the holiday
Dan Kennedy’s got your crossword puzzle for a gin-soaked Thanksgiving. Age 26 & up only. (Via, via.)
Laissez-faire market blues
The vitriol thumping through my fingertips into WordPress yesterday caused my browser to crash, sparing you from a long and intricate rant about the economy.
(Topics discussed: tax and fiscal policy; [expletives deleted] Henry Paulson; the [expletives deleted] Treasury Department and the [expletives deleted] illegal tax break secretly handed to banks while everyone [...]