Owlish Shrubbery

Posted on August 12, 2008 - Filed Under

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I like it when writers go after other writers, and you can hardly blame Alex Von Tunzelmann here:
These weak chapters show up the worst of Meyer and Brysac’s writing style, which is sometimes pretentious to the point of incomprehensibility and becomes more so when they seem to lack interest in their subject matter. The thesaurus [...]

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even from Frisco, still my Homaha

Posted on August 6, 2008 - Filed Under

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Okay, maybe the only time I’ve heard the term “Homaha” is in a facebook group, but a few links from the interwebs caught my eyes lately.
Jonathan Segura, in support of his novel Occupational Hazards, blogs about Omaha at Powell’s, including a nod to the “miraculously” alive Dave Sink at The Antiquarium (which last I head [...]

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Yes, so I’m reading Zinn now

Posted on July 3, 2008 - Filed Under

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So said a lanky junior Illinois congressman about the war not started on his watch:
The declaration that we have always opposed the war, is true or false accordingly as one may understand the term ” opposing the war.” If to say ” the war was unnecessarily and unconstitutionally commenced by the President,” be opposing the [...]

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wanders, indeed.

Posted on June 22, 2008 - Filed Under

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Joe Posnanski finds himself backstage at a Death Cab For Cutie show in Berkeley:
Anyway, beyond the obvious visual differences, and beyond the fact that the conversations revolve around Guitar Hero and the new Hold Steady record rather than Jeter Hero and how the hold is a bad statistic, it’s pretty much the same party. Which [...]

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TEV in SF tonight

Posted on June 19, 2008 - Filed Under

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Mark Sarvas reads from Harry, Revised at Cafe Royale tonight.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

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Nobody beats the Biz

Posted on April 7, 2008 - Filed Under

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Liz Phair reviews Dean Wareham’s account of, among other things, Terry Tolkin:
“If he had signed just one platinum act, all would have been forgiven. Instead he gave them Luna, Stereolab and the Afghan Whigs…. Six months later he was working at a gas station in New Jersey, changing oil and brake liners by day, snorting [...]

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Sunday Serial

Posted on January 12, 2008 - Filed Under

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I skipped out on the Chabon serial, but I’ll got in on the new Benjamin (John Banville) Black series: The Lemur.

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absinthe

Posted on January 5, 2008 - Filed Under

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the adult Turkish delight?

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Gatsby

Posted on December 16, 2007 - Filed Under

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Studio 360’s November 9th episode featured The Great Gatsby.

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David Leavitt in Berkeley (and San Francisco)

Posted on September 16, 2007 - Filed Under

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UPDATE: I see he’ll also be in San Francisco on Tuesday, September 18th.
My interest has been piqued for David Levitt’s The Indian Clerk after a week of coverage at The Elegant Variation. I don’t think I’ll be able to make it, unfortunately. Now I’ll just have to wait for the paperback.
Monday, September 17, 7:00 PM [...]

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read a book…or not?

Posted on August 30, 2007 - Filed Under

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The video:

the reaction.
Mark Twain may have said1 “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it rhymes”. The first2 thing this read-a-book non-issue made me think of was the two-song sequence on Fear of a Black Planet where Flavor Flav closes out Can’t Do Nuttin’ For Ya Man [MP3] with an exhortation to Wash Your Butt!, immediately followed [...]

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Film Streams: adaptations series (and donuts)

Posted on August 29, 2007 - Filed Under

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Always looking to boosterize events back in the Big O (Omaha, that is), I’m happy to pass along word of an upcoming film series featuring movies adapted from novels. The series runs from August 31 though October 4, in conjunction with Omaha Public Library’s intriguingly themed Litfest: Depraved Women Writers (& Others)1 . Library [...]

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I never read that book before, but I still get the metaphor

Posted on August 23, 2007 - Filed Under

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To piggyback Dave, I point thee toward the sage Rake who posits: “perhaps the problem with Lennie Small is not that he failed in hugging Curley’s wife, but rather that he let go too soon.”

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my favorite jam back in the day was…

Posted on July 25, 2007 - Filed Under

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Ignatius P. for president?

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where was i again?

Posted on July 19, 2007 - Filed Under

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In the last couple of years, I’ve started a few books that I was thoroughly enjoying but for various reasons1 I did not finish. Of these, there are 3 that I am going to try and finish. In sequence of the amount I was enjoying them when last put down:

The Recognitions
Underworld
Infinite Jest

I am pretty sure [...]

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What’s in yer bathroom?

Posted on May 29, 2007 - Filed Under

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TEV asks
Currently t chateau d’BMK:

skyscraper (issue #22, in particular): an indie music magazine that has lots of content (as opposed to the glossy ad-age of filter, below the radar, et al.) one of the few mags I will buy
Rajasthan(title unsure): a mid-1980’s travel guide with lots of photographs and historical notes for Rajasthan. I found [...]

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I will DARE

Posted on May 18, 2007 - Filed Under

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44 Years in the making, the final volume of DARE (Dictionary of American Regional English) will soon* be upon us, Andy Erdman reports in the Wisconsin State Journal:
For example, DARE explains that the children’s game most Wisconsinites call “duck, duck, goose” is called “duck, duck, gray duck” in Minnesota and “duck, duck, drake” in Pennsylvania. [...]

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back in the saddle

Posted on May 10, 2007 - Filed Under

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Last weekend (the 5th of May for those scoring at home), I went to North Beach for the first time in a while. I guess I tend to steer clear because it can be a little crowded with enough tourists & striped shirts to dissuade me — my own feeble hangups, I know. Regardless, a [...]

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Swann Song

Posted on April 12, 2007 - Filed Under

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I see old boy Proust is picking up some blogmentum at Tingle Alley and Conversational Reading. Previously, I’ve been impressed with Microsoft Word’s Auto-Summarize feature. So, I’ve run the e-text of Moncrieff’s translation through the machine, and after 2 iterations, have come up with a condensed version for those who want to cut to the [...]

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AL Kennedy’s Day

Posted on March 19, 2007 - Filed Under

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Stuart Kelly at scotsman.com lauds AL Kennedy’s latest novel, Day, hailing “virtuoso performances”

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keep looking »