A great, short profile directed by Spike Jonze

Asimov’s favorite of his short stories, and widely regarded to have an astonishing ending. It certainly is an incredible idea, and one I first encountered, personally, in Scott Adams’ ‘God’s Debris’.

This Tumblr posts PDFs of poetry anthologies and books of cultural writing and other classic texts, bits of important historical music-related interviews, old, rare, or otherwise important or interesting records, etc. Would that I had the time to take in everything listed here.

"I’m afraid of what the systematic harnessing of communities will result in." Specifically, he's afraid that it will result in a) fans wasting their time and money and b) the artist being relegated to the sidelines while context and 'engagement' take over. Valid fears if you ask me, and exactly the sort of the thing that Matt LeMay outlines in the MBV post 'Living in the Age of Art vs Content' (http://www.mbvmusic.com/2010/10/19/living-in-the-age-of-art-vs-content/26911).

The ones in the comments are better than the ones in the article. Laughed until I cr*ed y'all!

Not so much 'debunked', but this article calls out Krakauer on a number of conclusions and omissions from his book (and the subsequent movie). To summarize: the poison/moldy seeds theory doesn't hold water, and McCandless probably just simply starved to death. McCandless had money and a map with him on his final trek, but the book and movie omit this. Also, one of the final self-portrait photographs might have a clue as to the "injury" alluded to in his final note: one sleeve of his shirt looks armless.

Basically: It's sometimes amateurish, and there's troubling misogyny, but is that so bad? I say, and I think this is what Kevin is getting at, is that the age-old paradigm of adults worrying about young minds being influenced by media is a bit more complicated -- I think more than a new idea being introduced and etched onto a young mind by 'Twilight', the more likely circumstance is that the ideas therein subtly reinforce existing ideas that the child is already exposed to.

Typically disinterested in the tourism of Maine's lobster festival, DFW gives a great history of the lobster. The bulk of the article, most interestingly, is dedicated to the ethics of boiling a living creature alive (or otherwise killing it) in order to eat it.

A great profile of the author, who wrote "No Country for Old Men". "At its root, McCarthy's fiction arises from the tragedy of all wild creatures, of whatever is begotten, born, and dies, the tragedy of autonomous life in a world increasingly circumscribed by a rage for order and captivity. More than merely human. It is the tragedy of warm blood itself, of blood and time."

A fantastic blog on Japanese language, literature, and culture. I revel in this. (And this is what a blog should be — written only so often, and every post is high-quality. Comments are few and long and educated and of very high quality themselves.)

"PLZ BE RESPECTING FEUDALIZM"

All about the Japanese->English translation house Vertical Inc.

"welcome to the home page for fiction writer Anthony Doerr"