the angry grammarian
More here.
three feet
Today's mystery novel waiting to be written. "Three severed right feet have washed ashore on the Gulf Islands in the past six months, in what police say is one of the most bizarre cases in recent memory." (thanks to Joe in Cheese)
cliff don't like it, but . . .
The Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize, won by FIU's own Richard Blanco in 1997. New Letters Awards for Writers. Lorian Hemingway Short Story Prize.
juice up the true say
The kids in Hastings meet Boudou Fontana.
lemon
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeye8wnBJoU]You might want to pass on that lemon with your water or tea in the restaurant. (thanks to Richard in the Keys)
writing contests
The Spokane Prize in Short Fiction. The Blue Lynx Prize for Poetry. The Nimrod Literary Awards.
the original of laura
A couple of heavy hitters, Tom Stoppard and John Banville, have their say about what Dmitri Nabokov should do with his father's manuscript. "The book has been locked in a Swiss bank vault since Nabokov’s death but the few people who have seen it described it as brilliant and a technical tour de force. The question of whether the author’s son and executor, Dmitri Nabokov, should obey his father’s wishes and destroy the unfinished novel has been subject to increasingly heated debate in the literary world. "
reborns
Today's short story waiting to be written. "I am 63 and enjoy all of my babies. There is nothing so comforting than to sit at the end of a chaotic day and cuddle one of my little angels in my big rocking chair. Very peaceful."
acrophobia
I can't even look at these pictures!
w
The fifty dumbest things George W. Bush has ever said. (Thanks to John in Dania Beach)
the worst food in america
The worst: Outback Steakhouse Aussie Cheese Fries with Ranch Dressing! So bad that it beat out Bob Evans Caramel Banana Pecan Cream Stacked and Stuffed Hotcakes. What puzzles me is how KFC's Bowls of Fat didn't make the list. Speaking of food, Cindy and I stopped at a new Peruvian restaurant in the neighborhood last night after teaching. Seems to be called "Peruvian Food." I practiced my Spanish with our host. You can feed a family on one Peruvian entree, but we got three because I wanted to try the anticucho de corazon--grilled veal heart skewer. "Corazon? Verdad?" I said. "Si, es verdad." Y me gusta. So today for lunch I get to finsh the leftover chicharron de calamares. Next week we're going for the ceviche.
gospel
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKNvjgK6-3w] Got to see the Blind Boys of Alabama on Sunday along with Mavis Staples. If the Blind Boys come your way, don't miss the show!
alice munro
"At first, people kept phoning, to make sure that Nita was not too depressed, not too lonely, not eating too little or drinking too much. (She had been such a diligent wine drinker that many forgot that she was now forbidden to drink at all.) She held them off, without sounding nobly grief-stricken or unnaturally cheerful or absent-minded or confused. She said that she didn’t need groceries; she was working through what she had on hand. She had enough of her prescription pills and enough stamps for her thank-you notes."
borges
A conversation with Jorge Luis Borges. "I haven’t chosen these themes, the themes chose me. I don’t believe that any writer should search for themes or choose them, it’s convenient that the themes look for him and find him . . ."
what's in a name?
So Jackie the Nose tells tells Tommy Sneakers that he overheard Vinny Hot tell The Conductor that he wanted The Greaseball to sleep with the fishes.
today's short story waiting to be written
Man lives with dead roommate for ten years. (thanks to Cindy in the next room)
the soul thief
My review of Charles Baxter's new novel in the Boston Globe.
the more things change . . .
"Floridians were shocked last week when police announced that the spokesman for the state's Department of Children and Families had been arrested and charged with peddling child pornography."
let the dirty tricks begin
Karl Rove may be in hiding, but his tactics are alive and well. GOP student leader forwards a racist email accusing Obama of being a Muslim terrorist, his mother of being an atheist--one could only hope.