fashion underground

I think I should buy some subway fashion to commemorate my time in New York. If I could walk in heels that high, I would definitely get the Metrocard boots.

swing that big guitar

Matt Tobey lists his votes for the The 500 Best Songs Ever! but as Emma Garman asks on the Maud Newton site...Where are all the girls?

Emma also reveals that the role of Jonathan Safran Foer in the film version of Jonathan Safran Foer's Everything Is Illuminated will be played by Elijah Wood. The Manchurian Candidate directs.

all that damn laughing

As if turning 35 and then reading Joyce Carol Oates's Middle Age weren't bad enough, I now qualify for anti-wrinkle cream focus groups. In the demoralizing entrance interview, I had to characterize whether I had "fine lines" or "deep wrinkles" and quantify the amount of "sagging" I was experiencing. (Fortunately, five minutes in the sun burns my Celtic cheeks to a crisp, so a lifetime of pastiness has me faring well for now.) Two weeks ago, I went to pick up the product I was to be testing (and, of course, the cool fitty in cash). For the past 14 days, I have struggled to find new ways to describe applying a thin lotion to my face. "Smooth" can only take you so far in the anti-wrinkle world. The day there was a slight burning sensation, I was delighted to have something novel to say. Now I'm off to have my fine lines examined for magical restoration. Wish me flawlessness.

oprah weighs in

Bookslut has a link to an article in The Orlando Sentinel, in which Oprah discusses the upcoming TV movie Their Eyes Were Watching God (discussed earlier here).

"Occasionally, I'm still surprised how many people are not aware of her or haven't read [Hurston's] books," Valerie Boyd [a Hurston biographer] says. "This TV adaptation will change all that. It catapults her into pop culture, into the mainstream. What's more mainstream than ABC and Oprah Winfrey and Halle Berry?"

los angeles literature

The LA Weekly has a review of Gottlieb et al's The Next Los Angeles: The Struggle for a Livable City, which examines the legacy of lefty luminaries Upton Sinclair, A.L. Wirin, Carey McWilliams, Charlotta Bass, and Dorothy Healey, among others. The prognosis is somewhat grim.

Here, Louis Menand also chimes in with a review of several recent entries in the Hollywood nonfiction camp, including David Thomson's The Whole Equation: A History of Hollywood:

In any normal history of Hollywood, “Star Wars” is kind of important, and if you are someone who believes that “history” means a maximum of information presented with a minimum of opinion, then “The Whole Equation” is not the book for you. But if you think that our interest in movies has everything to do with our feelings about them, and if you have a tolerance for repetition, digression, first-person indulgence, and general narrative shagginess, then you are not likely to find a more affecting and intellectually absorbing book on film as a popular art. Thomson’s subject is not, strictly speaking, the history of the movies; its subject is the history of caring about the movies. That calls for something more than just the facts.

in honor of tonight's state of the union...

...here are the Top 25 censored stories of last year. As a companion to the first topic, I highly recommend Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America.

Millions of Americans work for poverty-level wages, and one day Barbara Ehrenreich decided to join them. She was inspired in part by the rhetoric surrounding welfare reform, which promised that any job equals a better life. But how can anyone survive, let alone prosper, on $6 to $7 an hour? To find out, Ehrenreich moved from Florida to Maine to Minnesota, taking the cheapest lodgings available and accepting work as a waitress, hotel maid, house cleaner, nursing-home aide, and Wal-Mart salesperson. She soon discovered that even the "lowliest" occupations require exhausting mental and physical efforts. And one job is not enough; you need at least two if you intend to live indoors.

For a similar take on trying to get by as an adjunct professor, see Corrina Wycoff's "The Adjunct" in The Clear Cut Future.

what kind of indie are you?

The best part about taking this quiz was being able to say I met Richard Hell since it was a rather recent occurrence. Not sure you're indie? Take this quiz.

In case you're a friend asking yourself if I ever work, I have the day off.

note to self

Start doing more; it’ll stop all these moods you’re having. - Ray Bradbury

winona's sloppy seconds

I acknowledge it's hard to find a musician that wouldn't place me in the situation above, but I'm afraid my imaginary affair with Conor Oberst has come to an end. I know this is old news and he was just a pup back then, but like Beck et al before him, I just can't help but judge.

their eyes were watching halle

I had a visceral reaction to a commercial I saw last night advertising the latest Oprah translation of a classic African-American novel to the screen: Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God. The memorable protagonist, Janie Crawford, is to be played by Catwoman Halle Berry. Despite discovering the teleplay is written by the impressive Suzan-Lori Parks, I just still can't get behind the casting. I had similar qualms about Oprah as Sethe in Beloved, which proved to be not so bad, but the fame and questionable dramatic talents of Ms. Berry have me worried. I've spent some time with the Zora Neale Hurston canon and Janie Crawford never struck me as a stand-in for a Bond girl. That was a significant element of her charms. I will watch the TV movie and if you tune in as well, do yourself a favor and read the book first.

stop drive-through mastectomies

There's a bill called the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act which will require insurance companies to cover a minimum 48-hour hospital stay for patients undergoing a mastectomy. It's about eliminating the "drive-through mastectomy" where women are forced to go home hours after surgery against the wishes of their doctor. Lifetime Television has put this bill on their web page with a petition drive to show your support.

festival fever

I was quite disappointed to realize I'd be in Austin and missing the South by Southwest festival by barely a fortnight, but along came Coachella to brighten my day.

projects of the unemployed

Now that my unemployment is imminent, I fantasize about projects I could undertake with all my free time. Why not read all the contenders competing in the The First Annual TMN Tournament of Books? Maybe after reading them, I could engage the books in more physical battles, like being shipped via media mail to California.

take it somewhere else

While reading about LES music venue Tonic's financial woes, I recalled many a pleasant evening I've spent there. I also remembered one particular night when the men's and women's rooms were both out of order, surely a sign of problems ahead. Patrons were instructed to try the Lansky Lounge across the street. I held out for as long as I could before venturing into the entirely empty L Lounge, at which point a seated bartender told me that the restrooms were reserved for customers only (though I feel like they must have agreed to the arrangement at some earlier time). My current state of searching the streets made me a little cranky, so I had to point out the imaginary nature of these L Lounge customers to the bartender before I received a much more welcome reception at Schiller's. And yet I returned to Tonic again after that evening. That's saying something.

milestone

I now officially have archives! Although they'll still show up below, so I don't know how exciting it really is...

This day also marks the beginning of the two month countdown. New Year's resolutions, I will now pay attention to you.