…OR IS IT JUST ME?: It’s way too hot to think, here. I’m hoping to have interesting things to say soon, but for the moment, I’ll just tell you that I’ve been eating a lot of fresh sorrel, and it’s fantastic! It’s got such a cool taste–not sure how to describe it–very bright, not quite peppery or citrusy but somewhere in that area. I’ve just been shredding it up and putting it in pasta sauce at the last minute of... Read more

IF YOU’VE NOTHING TO HIDE, YOU’VE GOT NOTHING TO FEAR: So last week I finished the rough draft of a novel. It’s… I guess maybe kind of fantasy-of-manners? It’s about the discovery of telepathy. The working title is Intimacy. It has college libraries and class resentment! It has revolutionary lady’s-maids and kawaii manticores! Friendship, familial loyalty, complicity, social change, newspapers, vodoun, and telepathy done as an homage to Degas. It is desperately awesome, and also completely ramshackle. If this interests... Read more

WHAT KEEPS MANKIND ALIVE?: This past week, I read Octavia Butler’s short story, “Asylum.” [eta: Yeah, it might help to get the story’s title right, you know? It’s “Amnesty.” SORRY.] You can find my review of her story collection Bloodchild here. “Amnesty” isn’t included in that collection. I can see why. It’s just not as well-crafted as the stories in Bloodchild. It’s clunky; you can see the duct tape on the girders. There are speeches and the pacing is off... Read more

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?: Interview with Josh Rushing, of Control Room fame. He’s an Al-Jazeera correspondent now. No joke. Completely, 100% worth your time. Via Rattus. Read more

ELECT DOGAN! Read more

DAYS OF FUTURE PAST. I’ve got a review in the Weekly Standard of a photography show at the National Gallery of Art, “Foto: Modernity in Central Europe, 1918-1945.” The article is subscribers-only right now–I’ll let you know if that changes–but the basic point is that the show is excellent, and you should see it immediately if not sooner. Read more

We watch the blogs at night, we go where eagles dare… Comics Worth Reading: Review of Carla Speed McNeil’s Finder: The Rescuers, which I should reread–the review makes me think I was too hard on it the first time around. …Via Journalista. First Things: Amnesty International’s moral incoherence. Scrutinies: Your Walker Percy must-read. Guns and Gardens, Doug Marlette, and more. Read more

THE TERRIBLE LAUGHTER OF THE WORLD: So I Netflix’d a BBC series of productions of various Oscar Wilde whatnot–three plays, plus an adaptation of The Picture of Dorian Gray, plus a (shudder) biopic which I eschewed. Here are some quick reactions, starting with the play I liked least and finishing with the best one: “Lady Windermere’s Fan”: It’s so weird to watch a lot of Wilde all at once and realize that you’re seeing very different genres of play written... Read more

KITCHEN ADVENTURES: Accompaniments. Very simple stuff–the sandwich I ate while reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and the drink with which I just enjoyed “The Importance of Being Earnest.” Harry Potter and the Earl of Sandwich: Oatmeal bread, cream cheese, smoked trout (store-bought), and strips of roasted red pepper (did myself–rub pepper with olive oil, cut into strips, roast on foiled sheet for maybe 20 minutes at 375, occasionally stirring). Fell apart quickly, but tasted great. Rum and Recriminations:... Read more

PANTS DENOUEMENT. Via Ratty. Read more