Guest Post: Darin Bradley Provides an Audio-Visual Tour of Noise
by Omnivoracious.com at 7:27 AM PDT, September 2, 2010
First-time novelist Darin Bradley, guestblogging on Omnivoracious this week, has published short fiction, poetry, and critical nonfiction have appeared in a variety of journals. He also served as founding fiction editor of the experimental e-zine, Farrago's Wainscot. Noise takes as its premise that, in the aftermath of the switch from analog to digital TV, an anarchic movement known as Salvage hijacks the unused airwaves. Mixed in with the static’s random noise are dire warnings of the imminent economic, political, and social collapse of civilization—and cold-blooded lessons on how to survive the fall and prosper in the harsh new order that will inevitably arise from the ashes of the old. Critically acclaimed writer Paul Jessup has called Noise "Little Brother meets Lord of the Flies meets Heart of Darkness meets Mad Max and the Road Warrior meets Letham." This is Bradley's last post for Omni--you can read his previous posts here and here. Thanks, Darin! So, in my last post, I talked a bit about Noise, the CTB, Salvage Country, and the mishmash of videos, audio clips, and images that make up the whole meta-content that accompanies Noise. Sometimes, blinky moving things are worth a thousand blog posts, so here's a small selection for your media pleasure. Thanks for reading this week.
"The First Broadcast"--an example of one of the many ways Salvage warns itself about what's to come in Noise.
Noise, by Darin Bradley--teaser trailer #3 from Darin Bradley on Vimeo. Another example of Salvage at work--this one's been re-mixed, but you can imagine the original message wasn't very friendly.
Where Is My Wiener Dog?: Travel Note from Gary Shteyngart
by Omnivoracious.com at 12:37 AM PDT, September 2, 2010
[Ed: Since we spoke to him last, Gary Shteyngart has been fully immersing himself in the social media that his novel Super Sad True Love Story makes so horribly and amusingly disturbing, with regular (often dachshund-themed) Facebook updates about his book tour. He recently sent us a note which we pass on to you below.] OMG, I just got back from the West Coast part of my tour and I’m sad to say: reading isn’t dead. Darn it!! I just wrote a book predicting the death of literature and here I go out into the world and hordes of people actually show up at my readings. Not just people, mind you. San Diegoans! Some authors don’t like touring, but it’s so hard not to love my readers who I think (and I’m biased here) are the cutest, coolest, funniest people out there. They email my agent saying “Um, is it okay if I bring a Kindle for the author to sign?” Is it ever! I’ll sign freaking anything. What I really would love is for people to bring a dachshund, because my best friend is a weenie dog and I really miss him when I’m on the road. There was actually this guy at one of my readings who had this big long torso, stubby little legs, and the wettest brown eyes I’ve ever seen and I just kept turning back to him the whole reading and picturing him on all fours asking for a turkey treat. Sigh. Amazon should consider a rent-a-weenie program in select cities. It does get lonely out there on the road. But not too lonely! Because people always cry out the strangest things. Elderly Russian woman at West Coast reading: “Do you know zey are killing Jews at San Francisco State University?” Incredulous author: “I didn’t…Oh, my…Really?” Russian Woman: “Yes, zey are vishoos anti-Semites!” Author: “Well, I’m a vicious Semite!” Later at the signing the woman hovers over me and when the last person leaves says, “You know, you’re not a bad writer, but you need to have children. Then you won’t be a child yourself. Look at Ayn Rand. Great writer, but never had children.” Point taken, ma’am. Shteyngart Shrugged.
Australian Designers to Know: sass & bide, Kirrily Johnston + camilla and marc
by Shopbop Shoptalk at 2:11 PM PDT, September 1, 2010
Far from Paris, NYC, and London, the antipodean continent has developed a style sensibility all its own. But with more and more fashion editors taking the long-haul trip to Sydney for Australian Fashion Week, the independent, original spirit of its designers is getting a much bigger audience. Three top Aussie brands to know: sass & bide Kirrily Johnston camilla and marc --Tonya Meet Machete: An Appreciation of Actor Danny Trejo
by Armchair Commentary at 1:41 PM PDT, September 1, 2010
As detailed in the 2007 documentary Champion, Trejo had planned to become a boxer, but a spate of crimes and drug charges landed him in prison in the early 1980s. The experience helped him to turn his life around, becoming not only a California state prison boxing champ, but a 12-step program member that helped introduce him to the movie business. A friend in recovery hired him as an extra in the 1985 film Runaway Train; its screenwriter, fellow ex-con Edward Bunker (Reservoir Dogs), remembered Trejo and hired him to train Eric Roberts for his boxing scenes. Director Andrei Konchalevsky eventually cast him as Roberts' sparring partner. Trejo's sinewy frame - highlighted by a tattoo of a woman in a sombrero that sprawls across his entire chest - and icy gaze made him a natural for bit and character parts that required unquestionable toughness and violence, and he essayed all manner of crooks, cons and gangsters in projects ranging from Mi Vida Loca (1993) and Marked for Death (1990) to episodes of "Baywatch." He became a staple of Robert Rodriguez's films after 1995's Desperado; Rodriguez was among the first directors to cast Trejo outside of his traditional roles by tapping him to play Isador "Machete" Cortez, the proud inventor uncle of Alexa Vega and Daryl Sabara in Spy Kids(2001). He repeated the role, who eventually grew more comic, in the two sequels, and played an entirely different Machete in a faux trailer of the same name in Grindhouse (2007). It's this Machete that takes center stage in the new film, which features a genuinely eclectic cast that Robert De Niro, Michelle Rodriguez, Lindsay Lohan, Jessica Alba, Cheech Marin and Steven Seagal.
Like all character actors, Trejo worked in everything from low-budget, direct-to-video titles to major Hollywood features and everything in between, so a "best-of" list will be entirely dependent on one's tastes. Some viewers may only go for work with Rodriguez, which includes all three From Dusk Till Dawn movies and Once Upon a Time in Mexico, or want to see only his turns as a Stone Cold Baddie in pics like Rob Zombie's The Devil's Rejects (as bounty hunter Rondo) or the more recent Predators (as an ill-fated Mexican drug cartel gunman). However, some of Trejo's best work is in roles where he tempers his granite facade with a touch of humor, as in Once Upon a Time in Mexico - watch his stone-faced reaction to Johnny Depp's "Are you a Mexican or a Mexi-can't?" - or a degree of ruefulness, like in the little-seen prison drama Animal Factory (penned by Bunker) or even Rob Zombie's Halloween (as a mental hospital worker who takes pity on Michael Myers). And though it's not a good film by any means, the scene in Delta Farce in which his gang leader - named Carlos Santana - tears enthusiastically through a karoake version of "I Will Survive" shows a dedication to his craft that few other actors would have the stones to display on-screen. Viva Danny Trejo! -- Paul Gaita
Omni Daily News
by Omnivoracious.com at 1:35 PM PDT, September 1, 2010
You be the judge: The Guardian has not let the fact that they think the Booker judges have done a decent job with their longlist this year--"Disappointingly, nearly all the books appear to be interesting"--stop them from organizing once again their alternative discussion group/award (if the prize of a Guardian mug counts as an award), the Not the Booker Prize 2010. Send in your nominations in the comments field during the next week. (P.S. You can find two of the longlisters for the real prize, Emma Donoghue's Room and Paul Murray's Skippy Dies, on our Best Books of September list, just revealed today. But our spotlight pick for the month, Scarlett Thomas's charming and subtly philosophical Our Tragic Universe, didn't make the Booker cut, so I'm going to go over to the Guardian and nominate it myself. Maud likes it too so far.) Google is people!: A week before the release of Zero History, the last novel in his latest loose trilogy (which includes some of the most fascinating fiction of the last decade, to my eyes), William Gibson takes to the NYT op-ed page to reckon with an artificial intelligence we never dreamed of, one that, like Soylent Green, is [SPOILER!] made of people:
Stay tuned on Omni for our podcast with Mr. Gibson soon. "We hope it's all going into the books": Laura Lippman sat down with the equally fabulous Craig Ferguson last night to talk about I'd Know You Anywhere and, among other things, revealed herself to be a psychologist-tested sociopath. Not long after, Ferguson called crime writers "undertaker-weird." Enjoy:
Moving and shaking: It's a little like Beethoven composing symphonies after he lost his hearing, but Roger Ebert, unable to eat for years now after cancer surgery on his jaw, is publishing a cookbook this month, The Pot and How to Use It: The Mystery and Romance of the Rice Cooker, based on a popular blog post about his favorite kitchen appliance. An NYT profile yesterday has pushed The Pot near the top of today's Movers & Shakers. --Tom Bites from the Apple: iCarumba! Everything Changes... Again
by EndUser at 11:11 AM PDT, September 1, 2010
Steve Jobs and crew are going to be pulling some rabbits out of their hats today--new iPods, most likely a new Apple TV with some subscription/streaming service, and possibly announcing availability for iOS 4 for the iPad--and we'll be wrapping things up later this afternoon. If you have time, you can check out the live stream of the event (which TUAW notes will be stress-testing Apple's new North Carolina-based data center) from Apple's site. However... you have to be running the Safari web browser on an Intel-based Mac or on an iOS 3.0-minimum device (i.e., iPhone, iPad, iPod touch). For those of you not possessing the magical components listed above, check out the real-time stream of Apple-y goodness from some of my fave liveblogging sources: We'll see you on the other side later this afternoon.[UPDATE] The Apple streaming video link is live now. --Agen G.N. Schmitz Guest Post: Noise's Darin Bradley on Salvage, the Switch to Digital, and Book PR
by Omnivoracious.com at 9:56 AM PDT, September 1, 2010
First-time novelist Darin Bradley, guestblogging on Omnivoracious this week, has taught courses on writing and literature at the University of North Texas, Furman University, and East Tennessee State University. His short fiction, poetry, and critical nonfiction have appeared in a variety of journals, and he served as founding fiction editor of the experimental e-zine, Farrago's Wainscot. Noise takes as its premise that, in the aftermath of the switch from analog to digital TV, an anarchic movement known as Salvage hijacks the unused airwaves. Mixed in with the static’s random noise are dire warnings of the imminent economic, political, and social collapse of civilization—and cold-blooded lessons on how to survive the fall and prosper in the harsh new order that will inevitably arise from the ashes of the old. Critically acclaimed writer Paul Jessup has called Noise "Little Brother meets Lord of the Flies meets Heart of Darkness meets Mad Max and the Road Warrior meets Letham." Bradley returns on Thursday with a new post... A central idea in Noise (the central idea, really) is that after the general broadcasting switch from analog to digital in 2009, government agencies eventually surrendered some of the now-unused bands over for public use. A fair portion of these bands were reserved to establish a Nationwide Public Safety Network to better network first responders, emergency personnel, and the police--in the event of an emergency. (This is true both in real life and in the novel). The novel's idea that the bands were surrendered to public use (my fictional "Citizens' Television Band") is pure fiction. The reality is that (some believe) there was money involved..So, issues of conspiracy aside, the Citizens' Television Band (CTB) became one of the main actants in the story. This devil-may-care, net-neutrality-esque broadcasting environment gave rise to the movement known as Salvage, which is the amorphous counter-cultural movement that predicts the collapse of society before it happens. Omni's own Jeff VanderMeer explains it pretty well in this clip: Noise, by Darin Bradley--teaser trailer #2 from Darin Bradley on Vimeo. The CTB became the chaotic hub that Salvagers used to share their warnings--and their instructions for how to build a new nation state, which is what gave rise to "The Book". While this is all well and good, Salvage and the CTB accidentally opened up an interesting venue for marketing the novel.Often, new novels come dressed with book trailers, promotional giveaways, free postcards, a fruit cake, and the kitchen sink. It's the name of the publishing game--saturating the hive-mind with the title of your book in the hopes that readers might unconsciously reach/click for it the next time they're shopping (don't worry, it's not lost on me that I'm doing just that now). In the case of Noise, however, I accidentally created a multimedia simulacrum to go along with the book: Salvage Country. Salvage country uses faked versions of the very broadcasts, answering-machine recordings , graffiti tags, and vandalism that the "real" Salvage uses in the novel. It's a promotional site that, unlike a lot of others, really doesn't "say" much about what the novel (or the site) is about; rather, it brings you right into the novel's central idea and just leaves you hanging--presumably, of course, in the hopes that you'll want to know more. The transition from the CTB, to Salvage, to Noise, to Salvage Country isn't the most original thing on the web, but it did allow for marketing and promo support in a way that was a little less direct--basically, it offers more entertainment in exchange for your attention than a typical promotion might do. And lest I leave you with the impression that this is all about me and Noise, I think it's just a good example of how hybridized creative content is going to become. The net, streaming video, infinitely replicable mp3s, text-messages: they're all a part of our current cultural story. It's a fun mess, but it's a new mess, and watching how writers wrestle with this is going to be half the fun of its development. First Fashion: Seeing Red
by Shopbop Shoptalk at 8:48 AM PDT, September 1, 2010
Last week, French Vogue highlighted their favorite red shoes, and it’s caused anything ruby to catch my eye ever since. In fall’s subdued silhouettes and color palette, a shot of red makes a truly bold statement. (1) A story of easy elegance, I have a December wedding to attend, and this Halston Heritage dress is at the top of my what-to-wear list. Halston Heritage - Shirred Long Dress (2) The only red shoes I wear with any regularity are my fire engine Hunter boots. I think it’s safe to say these Sigerson Morrison heels are an upgrade. Sigerson Morrison - 2 Piece Buckled Suede Pumps (3) A Foley + Corinna classic, the deep shade will feel at once unique and timeless for years to come. Foley + Corinna - Mid City Tote --Amie DeLorean DMC-12
by CarLustBlog.com at 4:33 AM PDT, September 1, 2010
What I saw on the screen looked like the car Dr. Heywood Floyd must have driven to the spaceport to catch the Pan Am shuttle to Space Station V. I could scarcely believe what the announcer was saying about it. This is for real? It's going on sale? On this planet? In my lifetime? It probably goes without saying that I immediately wanted one. Badly.
The story of high-flying, fast-talking maverick auto executive John Z. DeLorean and the drug bust and financial hijinks that brought him and his company down has been chronicled elsewhere, by better chroniclers than me. I'd like to concentrate instead on the car, that Irish-built street-legal stainless steel spaceship on wheels that looked so Lust-worthy on TV in 1981. Officially, it was the "DMC-12," but nobody much ever called it that. The "12" designation was chosen early on as a reference to the projected MSRP, $12,000, but by the time it actually went on sale, inflation and cost overruns had pushed the price up over $25,000 and everybody including the manufacturer just called it "the DeLorean." The styling was done by Giorgetto Giugiaro, founder of ItalDesign, one of the most influential stylists of the last fifty years. (How influential? Just take a look at his resume: he or his firm designed the De Tomaso Mangusta; the Maserati Ghibli; the Lancia Delta; the VW Scirocco; the Isuzu Impulse; the Lotus Esprit, the MINI Cooper and Clubman, and, ... well, you get the point.) In the darkest depths of the 1970s, Guigiaro's crisp "folded paper" designs were among the few bright spots. At a time when Detroit was piling on the Rolls Royce-wanabee radiator grilles, opera windows, carriage lights, and other symbols of faux elegance like there was no tomorrow, and Japanese automotive design was still going through its "Bride of Gojira" phase, Guigiaro's style was neat, clean, and well-proportioned, an object lesson in "less is more." Exotics like the Esprit or the various Maseratis looked appropriately futuristic, of course, but even his more everyday cars like the humble Mk. I Rabbit had a little bit of that twenty-minutes-into-the-future thing going for them. Cars like that were a welcome sight in a world plagued by Oldsmobile Cutlass Supremes with landau vinyl roofs. Guigiaro did the first version of the DMC-12 in 1976, and came back to "freshen" it in 1979 as the car was being readied for production. The basic shape is a low, sharp wedge which has a certain family resemblance to the Esprit. It's the kind of design that never stops looking futuristic no matter how old it gets. The nose sat about an inch too high on the production cars--a last-minute change in anticipation of a federal bumper-height regulation that never went into effect--but that was the only flaw in the looks department. The car's two most distinctive visual characteristics weren't Guigiaro's ideas, though, they were laid down in John Z's original specifications. After leaving GM, DeLorean eventually became one of its more relentless critics, taking the General to task for building cars that didn't last. (He may have felt a personal need to atone for the dreadful Vega, one of his big projects as Chevrolet Division General Manager.) He often talked about the concept of an "ethical car," one that wouldn't rust away or self-destruct just after you made the last payment.
It also meant that every DeLorean looked exactly like every other DeLorean. To give buyers a sporting chance at individualizing their cars, DMC offered optional tape-stripe graphics packages. It also experimented with a transparent lacquer that would have "colorized" the body panels without completely covering the brushed metal texture, but due to durability issues it was never offered to the public. Some DeLorean owners have had their cars painted, and as the photo above shows, they can look rather sharp that way.
They also worked surprisingly well as, you know, doors. The ill-fated Bricklin had used an electrically-driven hydraulic power door-opening system which proved unacceptably fragile and cantankerous in daily service--and which also quickly drained the battery, leaving the doors stuck and the car immobilized! To avoid those sorts of problems, the DeLorean's door had no power mechanism, relying on a torsion bar and a gas strut (such as you see on hatchbacks) to hold it open. Because they're manually operated, DeLorean doors work even if the car loses power. They are very easy to open and close, and only require about a foot or so clearance on the side, meaning that you can get in and out of your DeLorean in quarters that would be too tight for a car with conventional doors. The torsion bars are effectively unbreakable, and even if the gas strut fails, it's not a disaster--the door will still open and close, it just won't stay in the "up" position by itself. If that happens, just replace the strut and you are back in business.
A number of different engines were considered, including a Citroen inline four and a two-rotor Wankel. DeLorean ultimately settled on a 2.85-liter DOHC aluminum V-6 made by Renault and also used by Peugeot and Volvo. It was usually referred to as the "PRV" engine, after the initials of the three manufacturers. The version of the PRV used in the DeLorean was fitted with Bosch K-Jetronic fuel injection and kicked out 130 net horsepower at 5500 RPM and 160 pounds of torque at 2700 RPM. This was decent specific output for the late '70s, and while the small-displacement PRV wasn't exactly fire-breathing muscle-car material, it beat the snot out of any V-6 General Motors was making at that time. (Ask me how I know.) Though a good enough engine on its own merits, the PRV was chosen mostly because Renault had the production capacity to build as many as DeLorean thought it might need, and other vendors didn't. The PRV engine was mated to a Renault transaxle, either a 5-speed manual or a three-speed automatic.
DeLorean went to Colin Chapman in 1978 and retained Lotus to re-engineer the car. The result of this was that, under the skin, the DeLorean ended up looking an awful lot like a Lotus. The final design had a fiberglass body under the stainless steel. This sat on on a Lotus-style backbone frame which in turn held the engine and transaxle and all the other mechanical bits. The backbone-style frame meant that the passenger compartment had a massive center console running between the bucket seats, just like you'd find in a Lotus.
So what was it like to drive one? Shortly after the DeLorean came on the market, Car & Driver ran a series of tests comparing it to a 280ZX Turbo, a C3 Corvette, a Ferrari 308, and a Porsche 911. The cars were put through the usual battery of timed speed runs and other proving ground tests, then run against each other on the Waterford Hills Raceway circuit, then given a final frenzied workout on "an impossible, real-world stretch of Ohio asphalt":
Sounds like fun, doesn't it?
That's not to say it didn't have its shortcomings. Despite a genuine Lotus frame and suspension design, the car's handling wasn't quite up to Lotus standards. This was mostly because of the rear-engine layout, which put the heaviest components at the extreme back end (the front/rear weight distribution was 35/65) and gave the car moment of inertia issues. Though not as treacherously tail-happy as an old-school Porsche 911, in spirited driving the DeLorean developed what C/D called a "Corvairish tendency for the tail to make mild, unwanted advances toward passing its front at awkward times." It could also get antsy at high speed on rough pavement, which C/D attributed to a possible lack of stiffness in the body mounting. Straight-line performance also left something to be desired. The DeLorean may have looked like a warp-drive spaceship on wheels, but the styling was making promises the drivetrain couldn't fill. DMC claimed an 8.5 second 0-60 time, but no independent tester ever got close to that figure. It was more like 9.5 seconds 0-60 with the five-speed, and top-end acceleration was decidedly anemic. Part of this was because the gear ratios and the final drive (3.44:1) were chosen for fuel economy rather than acceleration, but it was mostly because the PRV in base trim just wasn't quite enough engine for a vehicle with supercar ambitions. If you were more concerned with arriving in style than with how fast you got there, a DeLorean would get the job done--but at a sticker price of $25,600 in 1981 dollars, it was kind of expensive for a car of such relatively modest capability. DMC had already sort of tacitly admitted this, and was marketing the DeLorean more as a boulevard-cruising "personal car" (in the sense of a first-generation Thunderbird) than as a pure sports car. DMC also engaged Legend Industries, a maker of aftermarket performance parts, to develop a twin-turbo version of the PRV engine. The turbo never made it into production, but those who drove the prototypes on the test track at the Belfast factory say the turbo made the DeLorean go at least as fast as it looked. Overall, then, the DeLorean that rolled out in 1981 was a decent sports(ish) car that just needed a little refinement, a few more horses in the engine bay, and perhaps a price cut. Despite its performance shortcomings, and some early build-quality issues that were quickly dealt with, it still sold in respectable numbers. Nevertheless, within a few months after the car went on sale, DMC flat-out ran out of money. What went wrong? There were a lot of contributing factors. As the car went on sale, the U.S. economy was in a deep recession, which reduced demand. John DeLorean had ambitions of selling as many as 30,000 cars a year, which would have been a major accomplishment even in a booming economy. DMC had paid a market researcher for a focus-group survey, the results of which suggested (inaccurately, as it turned out) that demand for the car would not be price-sensitive. Since that was just exactly what John DeLorean wanted to hear, he ignored contrary evidence and threw common sense to the winds and put too much faith in his ability to sell flashy, pricey cars in a slow economy. DMC ordered a huge inventory of parts and kept the production line running faster than the cars were selling--and didn't throttle back on output soon enough when cash started to run short. The company's accounting--particularly the inter-company accounting between the various entities making up the DeLorean empire--ran in a decidedly loosey-goosey fashion, so DMC's managers probably didn't have the facts they needed to understand the situation even if they'd taken off the rose-colored glasses. Sadly, there is also significant evidence of acts of fraud on the part of John DeLorean and Colin Chapman which diverted money out of the project--though neither of them was ever prosecuted for it, Chapman's accountant ended up doing time in a British prison for his role in the affair. It's estimated that $17 million or so went missing, a sum which at least one insider figured would have been enough to get through that rough patch and keep the business going well into 1982. Even with all that, DMC and its car might still have been salvageable through some sort of bankruptcy or reorganization process, but that all changed for the worst when John DeLorean was arrested in October of 1982, accused of trying to raise capital to save DMC by trading in cocaine. Within days, radio stations were running a parody commercial for a "DeLorean Snowmobile," featuring "razor sharp" styling with "a stainless steel finish as smooth as a mirror" and a built-in car phone "to call your attorney." The public image of the whole DeLorean enterprise was irrevocably ruined. No one was going to try to save the car or the company now. Consolidated International--best known as the parent company of the Big Lots store chain--acquired and sold off the remaining finished cars in 1983. The production tooling was scrapped, but the huge inventory of unused parts--stainless steel panels, fiberglass body assemblies, frames, crated engines, and so on--was kept intact, and sold to a succession of parties who made the parts available for retail sale. This made ownership or restoration of a DeLorean relatively easy as such things go; no matter what might need fixing, you could still get the parts for it.
It gladdens my heart that street-legal stainless steel spaceships on wheels are once more for sale on this planet in my lifetime. What makes it all particularly sweet is that once you adjust for inflation, the base price for a new DeLorean in 2010 is actually slightly less than it was in 1981. Who says there's no such thing as progress? --Cookie the Dog's Owner The official DMC publicity photo at the top, the vintage advertising images, and the magazine scans are from the invaluable Tamir's DeLorean Site. The shot of the DeLorean and Bricklin showing off their gullwings is from Flickr user toolnorth. The photo of the blue DeLorean comes from member louielouie2000 of the DMCTalk forum. The chassis photo comes from the DeLorean Museum website. The interior shot is from Auto in the News. The last image comes from the new DMC's website. Editors at Work: Behind the Scenes of the Paris Review Interviews
by Omnivoracious.com at 5:47 PM PDT, August 31, 2010
Why are they special? Well, because they were first (author interviews were nowhere near as ubiquitous then as now), but, as the newish editor of the Paris Review, Lorin Stein, pointed out during his guest stint on Ta-Nehisi Coates's blog last week, because they treat these interviews like no one else does. This isn't some guy (like me) calling up an author for 20 minutes and calling it a podcast. As the writers I've talked to who have worked on these have confirmed, they are a major, collaborative project:
Stein's post is of course quite rah-rah for his own magazine, but I'd no doubt feel the same if I had been bequeathed a legacy like that. And as a dork, I loved the glimpse behind the curtain, including a preview of the interviews in the pipeline for coming issues, starting with Norman Rush and Michel Houellebecq in the September issue, and after that "Dave Eggers, Ann Beattie, Samuel Delaney, Louise Erdrich—and, yes, Jonathan Franzen." And, perhaps best news of all, they are in the process of putting the full archive online and searchable. You can also find some of them in the newly curated collections Picador has put out in the past few years: volumes I, II, III, and IV. --Tom P.S. Coates, one of my favorite bloggers, had a couple of editors as guests while he was off writing in the woods this past month, and I had meant to point to them earlier, since it's relatively rare that book editors step out from behind their desks to speak for themselves. Along with Stein's posts, I liked what Chris Jackson, who edited Coates's Beautiful Struggle at Spiegel & Grau as well as folks like Victor LaValle and Matt Taibbi, had to say about his approach:
Jackson and Stein also each had responses to the Weiner/Picoult/Franzen hoo-ha that managed to get them heaped with more hoo-ha, about which more later. Comic-Con and Beyond: "The Jedi Path"
by Omnivoracious.com at 5:47 PM PDT, August 31, 2010
What makes a Star Wars book stand out? Having a page on Wookieepedia is good. Receiving a glowing book review from Jeff VanderMeer is even better. Having your book unboxed on Techland? Very cool. And getting everyone from Tommy Lee Edwards to Darth Vader to read your book at Comic-Con? Pretty memorable. Back in July, Daniel Wallace shared his newest book, The Jedi Path: A Manual for Students of the Force, with a wide array of Comic-Con attendees--and gave us the photos to share with you (check them out after the jump). Jedi Path has already generated lots of buzz among Star Wars fans after it was previewed on starwars.com. Daniel provided some more information on why The Jedi Path is such a unique edition to the Star Wars mythology:
And here are a just few of Daniel Wallace's photos from Comic-Con (click on the images to get a better look): --Lynette Old Media Monday: Reviewing the Reviewers
by Omnivoracious.com at 2:33 AM PDT, August 31, 2010
Washington Post:
Los Angeles Times:
The Globe & Mail:
The Guardian:
The New Yorker:
Aug. 30 Weekly Open Thread
by CarLustBlog.com at 3:30 PM PDT, August 30, 2010
As always, this is the place for random conversation that doesn't really belong anywhere else. This weekend I had the opportunity to drive a rental Chevy Cobalt and was surprised by how competent it was. It certainly wasn't anything special, but it drove home the point that there really isn't such a thing as a bad car nowadays. My favorite rentals have probably been either the new Ford Fusion I drove around Las Vegas last year--it was shockingly good--or the zippy little Mitsubishi Mirage I mercilessly thrashed around Memphis about a decade ago. Do you have any interesting rental-car experiences you'd like to share? What's your favorite rental car? --Chris H. Bites from the Apple: Do You iTV?
by EndUser at 2:47 PM PDT, August 30, 2010
As the annual chill of late summer hits Seattle, it's time to pull Bites from the Apple out of its summer hiatus and get ready for a full blast of Apple-y goodness coming our way next week with an Apple special event taking place on Wednesday, September 1. Invitations started hitting the middle of this week for this now annual roll-out of this year's model of iPods, so it didn't take many by surprise. However, this year's now annual will-it-have-a-camera-or-not debate over the iPod touch has been trumped by a certain hobby that seems ready to step into the prime time. The Apple TV has long been the odd duck of Apple's product lineup, famously referred to by Steve Jobs as a "hobby" and has thusly had the possibilities it possesses only been marginally tapped. For those unfamiliar with this box (as many still are), the Apple TV allows you to play video and music stored in your Mac or PC's iTunes library on an HDTV--either synced to the device's hard drive or streaming over Wireless-N networking. It has a few extras like playing YouTube videos and displaying photo slideshows from your iPhoto library or from a Flickr account, and you can also encode your own videos into an iTunes-friendly format for playback on your HDTV. But it's designed mainly as a way to tap into iTunes purchases and rentals, making essentially walled garden with a limited amount of plot space. (I know this from having owned an Apple TV since 2008 (when I helped my pal/colleague Jeff Carlson update his Apple TV Pocket Guide), and getting frustrated with its limited capabilities. I've since turned to the ATV Flash package of software enhancements to open up its usability--from adding more external hard drive space to providing compatibility with more video formats, including AVI.) So, with competition for the living room hotting up with its Google TV initiative (which will be found on several pieces of hardware starting this fall), Apple needed to step up and make its little hobby more of the real deal. And thusly, next week's annual iPod trot-out show will most likely bring with it a new Apple TV--and probably dubbed iTV (as long as the UK's ITV television network doesn't put the kibosh on it). According to the rumors flying about the gadgetosphere, the new ATV/iTV will bring the iOS environment (i.e., the iPad/iPhone/iPod touch operating system) to the party, making it play friendly with current video streaming apps already available to those devices (such as Netflix and Hulu Plus) as well as your games, news apps, etc. For an interesting take on what it could look like, check out this guest post at The Apple Core by Alain Grignon (where the image at left comes from): No doubt the new ATV/iTV will include some spare-buttoned remote like the current physical Apple Remote (seen in the image at the top of this post) for control right out of the box, but the consensus is that this new iOS-powered device will have something more touch-based for additional controls, such as via a newly redesigned Remote app for iPad/iPhone/iPod touch. Or perhaps a newly designed iPod touch nano with a 1.7-inch touchscreen and powered by iOS (image mock-up via The Apple Blog). The other big component of the new ATV/iTV device looks to be the ability to rent TV shows for $1 (allowing you to watching them for a 24- to 48- hour time period) as opposed to buying them (and being able to own the files for as long as you want to store them and rewatch them to your heart's delight). Leander Kahney at Cult of Mac adds an even more interesting twist of rumor: $1 gets you a month's rental subscription to all episodes of a particular show. In addition to the tiny iPod touch nano (or whatever it's to be called), we can also expect a 4th generation iPod touch with a camera on the rear. Additionally, we could also see the roll-out of iOS 4 for iPad, though probably not the rumored 7-inch iPad. We'll be back on Wednesday afternoon to wrap up all that is actually released, so be sure to check back. In other links:
--Agen G.N. Schmitz Something for the Weekend: Put Down That Gadget!
by EndUser at 2:47 PM PDT, August 30, 2010
Time to chill out after the working week and put your feet up over the weekend to read some more in-depth items you might have missed (with soundtrack provided by The Divine Comedy):
--Agen G.N. Schmitz 2010 Emmys(R) Eight: Eye-Catching or Eye-Sore?
by Armchair Commentary at 9:52 AM PDT, August 30, 2010
Ah, television. How we love thee. Well, most of us. While I have but a very few select TV favorites, to be honest, who doesn't enjoy the fashion step or mis-step down the red carpet? As always, I point my fashion-focused lens toward those ladies treading the treacherous waters of the small screen. Eight seemed to be about the right number. Agree or disagree? Elegant or egregious? You decide. As always, these entries are in no particular order other than my arbitrary whim. Emmy Winners Jane Lynch Coach Sue Sylvester, in the 19-times-nominated Glee, sheds her usual adidas track suit in favor of this plum-colored taffeta mermaid-cut gown from Ali Rahimi. She wins an award for most dramatic dress departure if for nothing else. The athletic-minded actress scores extra points for accessorizing with a darling diamond shoulder pin from her designer sister-in-law at Doyle & Doyle. All in all, a Glee-ful ensemble indeed.
Claire Danes Representing the heroic Temple Grandin in this pink spangled Armani Prive strapless dress, Claire Danes sparkles as a fashion heroine in her own right. Easy and elegant, this gown epitomizes carefree SoCal style, with Claire's golden tresses worn loose and free as the perfect accessory.
Jewel Pretty in pink sums up this gem's frothy confection from Zuhair Muhad. The high-waisted bow belt, spangled tiers, and all-matching accessories (frock, purse, earrings) remind us that this is the Jewel everyone remembers as sweet, innocent, yet sophisticated.
Wanda Sykes Another Zuhair Muhad gown shimmers in gold on this golden star. A one-shoulder piece tastefully drapes over the curvy actress while alternating bugle beads with matching sheer panels. The lustrous gown stands in startling contrast to the star's hometruth that in America's current economy, she chose to buy her own frock rather than rely on a stylist or on designer donations. Wanda's a winner for sure.
Lea Michele Glee birthday girl Lea Michele gamely sampled a red-carpet taste of the PB&J cake-in-a-jar prepared especially for her, despite the Oscar de la Renta pedigree of her midnight-blue ruffled gown. The deep navy is a subtle contrast to the young star's glowing skin, loose hair, and glamourous smile. Not to mention the gothy black-painted nails and borrowed diamonds. If only all birthdays gleamed so bright!
Christina Hendricks
Kim Kardashian Kim Kardashian--yes, I know--Kim Kardashian. Maybe only because the white Grecian-style floor-length Marchesa manages to cover her coliseum-sized you-know-what, I chose this classical gown with its pleats, criss-cross bodice, down-the-back mini-train, and heavy-duty Egyptian-inspired collar. Pulling off this flattering look for the fashion-failure reality-TV star is truly the work of a goddess.
Anna Paquin Perhaps Anna's heavily beaded matador-style top takes her to a new level of blood sport beyond her usual vampire-attracting ways. (Hello, bullfighting). Or maybe it's only because I just got back from a week in Chicago sipping sangria and suffering mild sunstroke. Regardless, I tout her toreador togs, courtesy of the late, great Alexander McQueen. Crowning a simple black column dress in satin, this look causes the simmering sangre in me to say si.
Emmy Losers
Might as well start with the first of the month. January's Versace Atelier made unfortunate references to her predecessor's cone-shaped bustier that somehow fell short of the Madge mark. The exaggerated train resembled more of a scaly dragon than the elegant peacock touted during the ceremony. Finally, the '80s cobalt color, blah-black shoes, and overplayed bed-head hair did nothing to help. A resolution for Emmys 2011?
Tina Fey The usually stylish actress tried to "rock" this Oscar de la Renta for her award-winning role on "30 Rock." Depite the satin beaded overlay with classical lines and flattering fit, the bizarre hieroglyphic beading left me a bit confused. Translation, please?
Sofia Vergara Yellin' yellow? Screamin' saffon? Pallid pink? I had a hard time deciding which color to decide on based on various news reports on Sofia's insipid Carolina Herrera gown. This was an odd choice for the designer--the ambiguous color and binary-code beading left the frock a bit futuristic but flat.
Heidi Klum Beaded rosettes on a black ruched Marchesa minidress only serve to render Heidi Klum's once-stunning supermodel figure hopelessly stumpy and thick. This and the spray-on tan, mismatched necklace, and mannish hairstyle add up to not a terribly attractive combination--no matter how much she's encouraged to make it work. Sorry, Tim.
Stephanie Pratt Poor Miss Stephanie Pratt. Not only have I not heard of her, but she shows up for the Emmys in a pale satin lilac-colored pillowcase. And a scraplet of black lace off one shoulder to complement the heavy mascara. But that's about it. A Pratt-fall for the young starlet for sure.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus As if her infamous a tempo dance and screechy voice on Seinfeld weren't enough. This high-waisted Narisco Rodriguez with its silk crepe panels leaves the comedienne looking short, truncated, and still inept. The tightly beaded bodice makes her oft-acclaimed assets look small and compressed. Can't someone set Elaine and her dance free?
Toni Collette Did Toni trudge her way from Australia through La Brea Tar Pits to get to this year's Emmys? Her gray gown looks like it was dragged through layers of mud before making its pathetic way to the Nokia Theatre. The fitted frock did highlight the actress's svelte figure, however. Hopefully a little mud on the Muriel's Wedding star won't weigh down the rest of her career.
Kate Gosselin I'm not including Kate Gosselin in No. 8 because she is poorly dressed. In a figure-skimming black Carmen Marc Valvo halter dress with beaded bodice, she looked fine. Better than fine considering how many--and I do mean many--children she's had. I, like others, am wondering why Kate's even at the Emmys in the first place. Hmm, in No. 8 because she spawned eight kids? Maybe. Hardly seems Emmy-worthy, though, but stranger things have happened. You tell me.
Honorable Mention
Betty White Yes, perhaps I am late to the altar of accolades dedicated to this august star. At 88, Betty White is the oldest Emmy nominee, with 16 noms under her (loose-fitting) belt and double strand of pearls. In an age-appropriate two-piece rainbow-sherbet-colored chiffon number, Betty radiates and charms like no other at this year's ceremony. May she see many more. Comment at will. --Daniel Sheldon First Fashion: Fall Runway Favorites
by Shopbop Shoptalk at 8:19 AM PDT, August 30, 2010
Runway to Shopbop launched today, making it a cinch to find the pieces I’ve been waiting for since February. (And, with our video feature, to see them in motion on the catwalk.) Any one of these fall runway frocks will make it infinitely easier to say goodbye to summer: (1) The silhouette of this Marc by Marc Jacobs dress may be ladylike, but the sheer bodice is all vamp. Play it safe by layering a top underneath, or go daring with a racy, lacy black bra. Marc by Marc Jacobs – Frankie Stripe Dress (2) I’ve clicked through Diane von Furstenberg’s runway show countless times since last fashion week, and with a burnout velvet pattern and a swirl of colors, this unique dress was a standout. Diane von Furstenberg – Elliso Dress (3) Though the fedoras and printed maxi dresses of Vena Cava’s fall collection lent it a ’70s sensibility, the offbeat details on this dress make it thoroughly modern. Vena Cava – Filament Dress --Tonya Guest Post: First-Time Novelist Darin Bradley on Noise, the Apocalypse, and You
by Omnivoracious.com at 7:44 AM PDT, August 30, 2010
First-time novelist Darin Bradley, guestblogging on Omnivoracious this week, has taught courses on writing and literature at the University of North Texas, Furman University, and East Tennessee State University. His short fiction, poetry, and critical nonfiction have appeared in a variety of journals, and he served as founding fiction editor of the experimental e-zine, Farrago's Wainscot. Noise takes as its premise that, in the aftermath of the switch from analog to digital TV, an anarchic movement known as Salvage hijacks the unused airwaves. Mixed in with the static’s random noise are dire warnings of the imminent economic, political, and social collapse of civilization—and cold-blooded lessons on how to survive the fall and prosper in the harsh new order that will inevitably arise from the ashes of the old. Critically acclaimed writer Paul Jessup has called Noise "Little Brother meets Lord of the Flies meets Heart of Darkness meets Mad Max and the Road Warrior meets Letham." Today, Bradley talks apocalypse, returning on Wednesday and Thursday with new posts... We all think about the end of the world. Heck, we've been thinking about it for thousands of years. Many of our greatest, most beautiful religious and philosophic traditions are apocalyptic or "eschatological." As soon as we were cogent enough, along the evolutionary path, to realize we were here, we started to wonder about just how permanent "here" is. Emmys Best, Worst Moments & Memorable Quotes
by Armchair Commentary at 12:00 AM PDT, August 30, 2010
This year's Emmys threw some curveballs into sea of predicted winners. While Mad Men three-peated its Outstanding Drama win, it once again failed to yield a win in any acting categories. Lost, meanwhile, walked away totally empty-handed in its last season, having been nominated for drama series, lead actor (Matthew Fox), and supporting actors (Michael Emerson and Terry O'Quinn). And while Glee took honors for directing and supporting actress Jane Lynch, fellow freshman hit Modern Family took Outstanding Comedy.The upsets were all in the acting categories; Julianna Margulies (The Good Wife) who had dominated awards season, sat in her chair while Kyra Sedwick was named Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama for The Closer (her first win in five nominations). Underdog nominees Aaron Paul (supporting actor in a drama for Breaking Bad) and Jim Parsons (lead actor in a comedy for The Big Bang Theory), made a lot of critics happy by winning their categories. Here's a rundown of the show: BEST MOMENTS
WORST MOMENTS
Memorable Quotes "NBC asking the host of Late Night to come to Los Angeles to host a different show, what could possibly go wrong?" [Cut to shot of Conan O'Brien] "Too soon?" -- Jimmy Fallon "I LOVE THE BIG BANG." -- Presenter Sofia Vergara "I'd like to thank our wives, without whom... well, we'd be dating around a lot." --Steven Levitan, accepting for Modern Family "I would like to thank the Academy for allowing a gay man to host two years in a row. Congratulations Jimmy, you're doing a great job." -- Presenter Neil Patrick Harris "I'm not funny!" --Outstanding Comedy Actress winner Edie Falco ![]() "During the time it took me to walk up here I'm venturing there were 200 text messages to my fellow nominees saying 'You were robbed.' And I cannot argue with that." -- Lead Actor in a Drama winner Bryan Cranston "The Island, it was mystical / and in the end they died / I didn't understand it, but I tried." -- Jimmy Fallon, singing a farewell to Lost to the tune of Green Day's "Time of Your Life" "I told my mom I was emminated for a Nommy." -- Supporting Actress in a Miniseries/TV Movie winner Julia Ormond "Better break the news to Spielberg / He's running out of wars." --Fallon singing about The Pacific's many nominations "Mel Gibson. I'm not gonna have a go at him. He's been through a lot. Not as much as the Jews, to be fair." -- Presenter Ricky Gervais "Don't (give a standing ovation), because then I might think that I'm sick and I don't know it, but you know it..." --George Clooney, recipient of the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award"Jack Kevorkian. I am so grateful you are my friend, but I'm even more grateful you're not my physician." --Adam Mazer, director of You Don't Know Jack "By an obscure and ancient Emmy bylaw, we are now legally required to make at least one vampire pun while presenting the next award." -- Presenter Stephen Moyer (True Blood) Check out all the winners and nominees at our Emmy Central, where you can also buy past winners. Now, what were your favorite and least favorite moments? --Ellen End-o'-the-Week Kid-Lit Roundup
by Omnivoracious.com at 11:52 PM PDT, August 29, 2010
Quick links from around the kid-lit blogosphere:
The "Green Book" inspires a kids' book. The New York Times has the story on how the "Green Book"--or, more formally, "The Negro Motorist Green Book: An International Travel Guide"--will feature in a new kids' book. ("It tells the story of a girl from Chicago in the 1950s and what she learns as she and her parents, driving their brand-new car to visit her grandmother in rural Alabama, finally luck into a copy of Victor Green’s guide.")
Mr. Popper's Penguins movie. This 1938 Newbery Honor winner is being made into a movie starring Jim Carrey, directed by Mark Waters (who also directed The Spiderwick Chronicles)--although it sounds like the movie takes quite a few liberties with the original text.
Farewell to Booklights. We're sad to see one of our favorite blogs go, PBS Booklights. The crew said their goodbyes this week--and at least offered up some going-away party cake:
Talking to the vampire expert. School Library Journal just did an interview with Donna Rosenblum, their "expert reviewer" of vampire books, "to find out what else--besides Twilight--is hot and why kids think vampire books are so banging." She also discusses typical onset age for vampirophilia ("Around 10 or 11. Sixth grade-ish.") and what books make for a good introduction to the genre (Bunnicula tops the list for fourth- and fifth-graders).
Beverly Cleary video clip. As Travis at 100 Scope Notes says, "Not too shabby for someone who’s been retired for a decade."
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