Via Boing-Boing.
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Have you been searching high and low for a flabby cliché to use instead of le mot juste? Well, look no further. Hacks rejoice!
"Don't download this song
Don't go pirating music all day long
Go buy the CD like you know you should
Oh don't download this song.
Don't go pirating music all day long
Go buy the CD like you know you should
Oh don't download this song.
"Don't take money away from artists like me
How else can I afford another solid-gold Humvee?"
I've been fighting a summer cold and feeling pretty punk, but Fats Waller can make anybody feel good.
I've always been a huge Pixies fan. I was so excited at 2004's reunited tour that I practically needed a minder to get me to the gig. But Frank Black solo, now there's a whole other experience.
No high pitched screaming. No welcome Kim Deal stage presence. No Joey Santiago guitar knives slicing your skull. Just "Gouge Away" on acoustic guitar?
Seeing Black solo, as I did on Saturday night, is a profoundly strange voodoo kind of thing. The crowd all just stood stunned while he played. I think it was the lack of volume or perhaps the lack of his customary unpredictable fury that…
Because John is visiting manufacturers in Montreal, he missed this morning's rock awakening. We're gathered in my office, huddled round the sound, listening. "I'm glad John isn't here," says Elizabeth. "I need to break this in slowly."
"Slowly? You waited five years," I say.
Robert is in shock. Kristina can't suppress a laugh, can't hide her blushing cheeks. I throw my fist in the air and put on a face.
"So, at this point in the song, E., are you pouring beer all over yourself?" I ask.
"Kicking stuff off the stage?" Robert adds.
"Blowing fire?"…
Gosh, I love Nick Hornby. He says there is a golden rule to reading: "And please, please stop patronizing those who are reading a book—The Da Vinci Code, maybe—because they are enjoying it.
"For a start, none of us knows what kind of an effort this represents for the individual reader. It could be his or her first full-length adult novel; it might be the book that finally reveals the purpose and joy of reading to someone who has hitherto been mystified by the attraction that books exert on others. And anyway, reading for enjoyment is what we should all be doing."
Via Blog of a…
Yes, I have posted to these before, but I didn't know the back story and the panels were poorly reproduced. Joel Johnson went out and bought Wood's memo to himself and posts high-resolution scans. He also tells us the real story behind "Wally Wood's 22 Panels That Always Work."
Via Jeff Wong and practically everybody.
Well, actually on the 11th edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica, which is a delightful yard or so of bookspace. I used to have this edition, although I didn't realize that many bibliophiles consider it to be the best blend of fact and great writing ever collected. I just read it out of order on many a long winter's night. Somehow, Google just isn't the same.
No, not whether to have that extra martini, but rather how to isolate one voice out of the cacophony.