What’s a Book Review For?

Last updated on: August 4, 2011 at 4:00 am By Paul Fidalgo

Miranda Celeste Hale (my Bespectacled Blog Twin™) writes thoughtfully and passionately in favor of the continued existence of the book review, a counter argument to a piece from n+1 by Elizabeth Gumport. On the whole, I agree with Miranda’s take. Here’s the meat of her argument: Although Gumport would deny it, there’s a reason why many of us still read publications such as the The New York Times Book Review or The New York Review of Books: we hope to find expert analyses of the merits of literary texts. The... Read more

Trojan Asteroid Follows Earth, Reinforces My Insecurities

Last updated on: August 1, 2011 at 4:00 am By Paul Fidalgo

It turns out that our fair planet has been tailed by a shy asteroid for perhaps thousands of years. This “Trojan asteroid” is caught between the gravitational tugs of Earth and the Sun, and is doomed to follow us around in our orbit, and there may be others like it. Per the LA Times: “This is pretty cool,” said Amy Mainzer, a scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory … “It’s a new class of near-Earth object that’s been hypothesized to exist.”... Read more

The WTC Cross: Like it or Not, It’s a Piece of History

Last updated on: July 20, 2011 at 4:00 am By Paul Fidalgo

Among the many government-funded museums of New York, Washington, and other cities across the country, there are historical artifacts and pieces of art that are significant to their creators and to their later admirers for their religious meaning. From ancient Egyptian idols and glyphs, to Renaissance paintings of Christ, from the religious trinkets of concentration camp victims in the Holocaust Museum, to Bibles owned by American presidents, all these items have a place in our national memory and deserve to be housed and protected at taxpayer expense, not because they... Read more

In Defense of Mark Halperin

Last updated on: July 1, 2011 at 4:00 am By Paul Fidalgo

I’ve been metaphorically bashing my skull into a brick wall as I’ve read all the commentary surrounding Mark Halperin’s “dick” comment this morning. The reaction to this has been absurd on so many levels, and as someone who once worked under his supervision, I very much want to say a few things about this — which of course will only put me more firmly in the doghouse with my liberal brethren. First off, on the incident itself: It was a snicker-snicker comment... Read more

These People Haven’t Read This Consent Form

Last updated on: June 30, 2011 at 4:00 am By Paul Fidalgo

My friend Jed, newly-graduated with a fancy advanced degree in something science-y, is having a rough time of finding employment — like many, many other people. Jed has a certain way with storytelling, and he recently recounted on Facebook one of his adventures in job hunting — which involves the frying of his molecules — which I believe is essential reading. Here’s Jed (with only the tiniest clean-up edits by me). You’re welcome. * * * * So lemme tell ya what... Read more

Bloggy Relevance: Thoughts on What This Blog Is and Ought to Be

Last updated on: June 30, 2011 at 4:00 am By Paul Fidalgo

As long-time readers of this blog probably already know, I have at various times struggled over the identity of this blog, and my identity as a blogger or, really, as an “Internet personality.” I first began blogging in 2004 just to try and promote my first (and so far only) CD, Paul is Making Me Nervous. That didn’t last too long, and it wasn’t terribly interesting. And you know the old saw: If you want to build an online audience, you... Read more

What’s in a Domain?

Last updated on: June 27, 2011 at 4:00 am By Paul Fidalgo

Just to alleviate any confusion among my tens of readers, I wanted to let you all know that I recently changed the official domain for this blog. Once it was near-earth.com, but now more. The blog’s new domain is www.patheos.com/blogs/imortal, but the good part is that near-earth.com will still redirect to here, and I suppose probably will in perpetuity as I remain tethered to the GoDaddy pseudo-bureaucracy. Why the change? First, I didn’t like having a hyphen in the domain.... Read more

A Natural Worshiper of Serendipity and Whim: Alan Jacobs’ “Pleasures of Reading”

Last updated on: June 25, 2011 at 4:00 am By Paul Fidalgo

Alan Jacobs, who readers of this blog (all ten of you) may know from previous references to his excellent blog TextPatterns, has recently released a wonderful book about reading that I simply can’t recommend highly enough. The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction is just the sort of pithy, sympathetic tract that our times demand — it encourages bibliographic exploration, celebrates chance literary encounters, while offering sincere understanding for the would-be “well-read” among us who fear missing out on an overly... Read more

Why We ‘Refudiate’ the Brasolaeliocattleya: Thoughts on ”The Lexicographer’s Dilemma”

Last updated on: June 20, 2011 at 4:00 am By Paul Fidalgo

Jack Lynch’s fascinating book, The Lexicographer’s Dilemma, is full of original insights, refreshing perspective, and delightful trivia about our mother tongue. It spans history and academia to lend understanding to what it means for a word to be considered an “official” part of the English language. The gist, as you might surmise, is that there is no such thing as the official version of the language. Dictionaries and pedants have over the centuries set down guidelines about propriety, some more sternly than others, but... Read more

Hopelessness Watch: Mommy and Daddy Bought Me My Own Paywall

Last updated on: June 20, 2011 at 4:00 am By Paul Fidalgo

I know what you’re thinking. “Paul,” you’re thinking, “it feels as though the economic divide between the rich and poor is not quite as gaping as it ought to be, nor is it accelerating at a pace that sufficiently turns the vast majority of Americans into a forgotten underclass.” Well, fret no more! In a jaw-dropping piece in the Washington Post, we learn the following: For years, statistics have depicted growing income disparity in the United States, and it has reached levels not... Read more