Michael Blowhard writes:

Dear Blowhards --

* More classic cat footage. (Link thanks to Kirsten Mortensen.)

* Camille Paglia weighs in.

* Doug Bentin recalls the scary pleasures of reading Robert ("Psycho") Bloch.

* Urban specialists Fred Siegel and Harry Siegel are now blogging.

* Why am I so late in catching up with Gawain's marvelous and wide-ranging cultureblogging? Recently he has been thinking about Sei Shonagon and enjoying Peter Brooks' film of The Mahabharata. More people ought to be spending time and brainpower on Sei Shonagon and The Mahabharata, sez I. Have I mentioned recently how much I love a lot of Asian art? And how patchy my knowledge of it is? Sigh ...

* Los Lobos sure do a kickin' job with "La Bamba," don't they? Their version of "Let's Go" is a mood-lifter too.

* Is there anything more lovely than Glenn Gould playing Orlando Gibbons?

* Yahmdallah pointed out this page of dazzling, Magritte-like photographs.

* John Massengale celebrates the great bookstores.

* Kevin Pacheco alerts us to the Gap's new campaign, which makes eye-popping use of nonsense brackets.

* WhiskyPrajer notices a useful and surprising "10 Best Western Novels" list by the crime novelist George Pelecanos. WP himself has been struggling with pagination. Why is pagination such a puzzle and a chore in so many word processors?

* The worlds of neoburlesque and live literary readings are cross-fertilizing. Erotica writer Polly Frost interviews Canadian writer and impresario Nichole McGill about the scene.

* He's an Austrian-leaning mostly-libertarian kinda guy, but even Tyler Cowen has to admit that life in Sweden can be pretty nice. (Here, here, here.) Many readers chip in interesting comments.

* American women: And you think you've got some progress yet to make ...

* Tim Worstall casts a skeptical eye at the gender gap.

* Prairie Mary turns out to be a fan of war movies.

* Watching this startling video makes Charlton Griffin want to take refuge in some end-of-civilization thoughts.

* Steve Bodio shows off a beautiful French rifle. Reid Farmer watches the launch of a spy satellite.

* SY Affolee offers a glimpse of her prep work for National Novel Writing Month. Hey, is it considered kosher to do prep work for NanoWriMo?

* Why not check out the first Mobile Phone Film Fest?

Best,

Michael

An answer to your question--yes, prep work is okay for Nano. In fact, according the FAQs, it's encouraged, as long as you don't write any parts of the actual novel before November.

Posted by: sya on October 28, 2006 12:58 AM

I think the last word on Camille Paglia was this John Derbyshire review.

Posted by: Brian on October 28, 2006 9:37 AM

Jack Byrnes:Did you flush this toilet?
Greg Focker: Maybe... You know what, maybe Jinx flushed it. I saw little Jinxy in there last night and he took a squatted... relieved himself.
Jack Byrnes: Jinx knows not to use that toilet and even if he did, he'd never flush it.
Greg Focker: What does it matter?
Jack Byrnes: The matter, Greg RN, is that when this toilet is flushed, it runs, and when you have a septic tank that's nearly full and a toilet that's been running all night, then you could have a hell of a problem.

Bob Banks: What is that smell?
Jack Byrnes: That smell, Bob, is our shit. Focker flushed the toilet in the den so the septic tank overflowed.
Greg Focker: I told you, Jack, it wasn't me, it was Jinx.
Jack Byrnes: FOCKER, I'm not gonna tell you again. Jinx cannot flush the toilet. He's a cat for Christ sakes!
Larry: The animal doesn't even have thumbs, Focker.

Posted by: martin on October 28, 2006 1:25 PM

Thanks for constantly coming up with fascinating links that I would not have seen otherwise!

Posted by: JewishAtheist on October 28, 2006 1:38 PM

For the love of Pete...did you get a job reading blogs or have you just learned to forego sleep?!

Posted by: communicatrix on October 30, 2006 12:46 PM

I've got no problem with Sweden, although I hear it was nicer 30 years ago. I just don't understand why some people want the whole damned world to be Sweden. They are usually the same people who, in other contexts will lecture you about the glories of "diversity"...

Posted by: tschafer on October 30, 2006 3:10 PM

I'm surprised the lack of a gender pay gap is news to Tim Worstall. It's old information.

Posted by: jult52 on October 31, 2006 2:19 PM






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