5.27.2011
Rep. Weiner Gets Righteous on Medicare for All
Couldn't find a way to embed this, but um. This is exactly how to talk about Medicare and universal health care in general. Well played sir.
5.20.2011
About Time
Knew this would happen eventually (the moral arc of the universe does bend toward justice, after all), but I'm surprised it happened so soon: a majority of Americans favor same-sex marriage with all the rights and privileges accorded to heterosexual married couples. Yes we the fuck can!
5.17.2011
Spoils From the Weekend
Getting rained out of a Cubs game can have its benefits. To wit: I wound up hanging out in Wicker Park with a good friend of mine who -- despite being warned -- allowed me to wander unsupervised in a record store and a used bookstore. Picked up Slanted & Enchanted and Signals, Calls, and Marches on vinyl, and hit the mother lode at Myopic Books (which is one of the best-curated and best-organized used book stores I've ever been in) on N. Milwaukee. Bright Lights, Big City; V.; Falconer (which I've been trying to find cheap for a while now); No Logo; and The Adventures of Augie March -- all of which came to under $30. Very exciting!
5.16.2011
New Review Coming Soon
I'm sort of on deadline for most of today since I sort of left writing this until deadline became a determining factor in daily scheduling since I'm sort of a horrific procrastinator but... I'll be reviewing Jennifer Egan's much-decorated (Pulitzer, National Book Critics' Circle Award, LA Times Fiction Prize) novel A Visit From the Goon Squad. I'll post it up here once it's published.
Next up will be Tea Obreht's The Tiger's Wife, which I'm really excited to read, especially after reading Charles Simic's glowing review in the NYRB. I'm also insanely jealous of her, but that's another issue for another time.
Next up will be Tea Obreht's The Tiger's Wife, which I'm really excited to read, especially after reading Charles Simic's glowing review in the NYRB. I'm also insanely jealous of her, but that's another issue for another time.
5.14.2011
Note to Self
Don't plan a trip to Madison on the day of University of Wisconsin's commencement. FML.
5.10.2011
Levin Wins NYPL Young Lions Award for The Instructions
Congratulations to Adam Levin, who just won the New York Public Library Young Lions Award for fiction for his sprawling novel The Instructions. Congrats also to McSweeney's for publishing it, and to The Rumpus, for making it a book club selection. Looks like I'll be picking this up finally (and belatedly).
Five Questions Never to Ask at a Reading
Emily St. John Mandel, author of the wonderful Last Night in Montreal and The Singer's Gun (which I haven't gotten to yet), lists the five questions that you, under no circumstances, should ask at a reading. My bookseller experience definitely confirms number four -- oh what I would have given for Cyclops-style laser vision on some occasions.
(h/t @TheMillions via @TheRumpus)
(h/t @TheMillions via @TheRumpus)
5.06.2011
5.01.2011
Game Ones
Well holy shit, never expected that of the Grizz -- Randolph and Gasol just pounding the paint, Randolph (in the least likely though accurate comparison I can come up with of late) looking like prime Hakeem, and their D just taking ruthless advantage of OKC's mistakes. Still think OKC comes away with the series, but damn, it might just be a series. I figured Memphis would take one at home maybe, but this might be serious.
As for Boston-Miami, I still don't buy Miami not slipping up and gifting Boston a game. They've done it enough times this season to expect one out of seven. And that series must go to seven -- David Stern will ensure it if the teams don't, and I think Boston, even Perk-less, just spreads the floor better and has so many more options. Rondo putting up 30-15-21 in the last three games of the Knicks series scares the living shit out of me, because I shoot about as well as he does usually, as a 5'6" white guy with no discernible athletic talent and whose last remotely competitive ballgame was at age ten.
But D-Wade and LeBron together can stop any team from any era dead in its tracks when they play like they did today. D-Wade was just on fire, and they're both such good passers that probability alone dictates that the one can find the other at key moments -- you can't double team them both. And Bosh, who's finally remembered how to shoot, and though not up to KG-Pierce-Allen "Big Three" status, can still do damage. I still don't think "The Heatles" can withstand a seven-gamer with Boston, but Game one definitely made Miami look hella good. There's no way they can deal with playoff intensity at the Garden, but they don't need to. Question is, can Boston grab one in Miami? I think they do, but both this series and the Memphis-OKC one are going to be great to witness. No pun intended.
God I love basketball, and this really is already the most memorable playoffs of my 26-year span -- every series, every game just wire-to-wire crazy, big shot after big shot, a 1 losing to an 8, and we're one day into round two.
As for Boston-Miami, I still don't buy Miami not slipping up and gifting Boston a game. They've done it enough times this season to expect one out of seven. And that series must go to seven -- David Stern will ensure it if the teams don't, and I think Boston, even Perk-less, just spreads the floor better and has so many more options. Rondo putting up 30-15-21 in the last three games of the Knicks series scares the living shit out of me, because I shoot about as well as he does usually, as a 5'6" white guy with no discernible athletic talent and whose last remotely competitive ballgame was at age ten.
But D-Wade and LeBron together can stop any team from any era dead in its tracks when they play like they did today. D-Wade was just on fire, and they're both such good passers that probability alone dictates that the one can find the other at key moments -- you can't double team them both. And Bosh, who's finally remembered how to shoot, and though not up to KG-Pierce-Allen "Big Three" status, can still do damage. I still don't think "The Heatles" can withstand a seven-gamer with Boston, but Game one definitely made Miami look hella good. There's no way they can deal with playoff intensity at the Garden, but they don't need to. Question is, can Boston grab one in Miami? I think they do, but both this series and the Memphis-OKC one are going to be great to witness. No pun intended.
God I love basketball, and this really is already the most memorable playoffs of my 26-year span -- every series, every game just wire-to-wire crazy, big shot after big shot, a 1 losing to an 8, and we're one day into round two.
Heat-Celtics
Sooooo excited. So many subplots and genuine hatred of each other. Can Pierce renew his '09/'10 playoff domination of LeBron? Can Ray carry on being just stupidly clutch? Can LeBron show up for a seminal playoff series? Can Spoelstra out-coach Doc?
This series reminds me so much of those Knicks-Heat series from the late '90s, where you just knew every game (as has been generally true of pretty much all playoff games this entire NBA post-season) would come down to the last shot, all of which would involve extreme physicality between two teams who really fucking hated each other.
I think C's in seven, and still think the Bulls aren't ready for the sort of pressure they're about to walk into, just praying the C's get winded and the Bulls can dispatch Atlanta quickly enough to let Boozer get some rest and let Thibs do what he does.
This series reminds me so much of those Knicks-Heat series from the late '90s, where you just knew every game (as has been generally true of pretty much all playoff games this entire NBA post-season) would come down to the last shot, all of which would involve extreme physicality between two teams who really fucking hated each other.
I think C's in seven, and still think the Bulls aren't ready for the sort of pressure they're about to walk into, just praying the C's get winded and the Bulls can dispatch Atlanta quickly enough to let Boozer get some rest and let Thibs do what he does.
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