August 2007 Archives

off the grid

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I'm headed away on vacation; between now and September 4, I will not be checking email (or able to get phone messages). So if you write to me and I don't write back promptly, don't think it's because I don't want to hear from you. See you all after Labor Day!

the long weekend later

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A few more links, in lieu of my having any actual non-promotional-type experiences to blog about (other than Liz & Mike's wedding, which was magnificent but would require more time to detail than I've got here):

A nice review from Peter Terzian in Newsday!

Chris Mautner interviewed me over at Newsarama!

New York magazine thinks Reading Comics falls about 2/3 of the way along the "despicable"/"brilliant" axis! (It's on the good side. And just barely above the "highbrow"/"lowbrow" line.)

Apparently the issue of Vibe with Barack Obama on the cover has a good review of Live at the Apollo! I haven't seen it yet, though.

Yes, comments are still broken. Not gonna get fixed until after I get back from the desert. Sorry. You can always email me... although I won't respond between Aug. 24 and Sep. 4...

more linkery

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Tom Nissley interviewed me over at the the Amazon Bookstore blog!

Tomorrow from 4 to 7 PM I'll be at Comix Experience in San Francisco, 305 Divisadero St., along with at least three of the other Savage Critics. Come kibitz with us.

And then Sunday I'll be reading--not from Reading Comics but from Live at the Apollo!--and signing at Pegasus Bookstore, 2349 Shattuck Ave. in Berkeley, at 7:30 PM, along with two other 33 1/3 authors, Kate Schatz and Shawn Taylor.

Quick mental arithmetic suggests that I have over 11,000 words due in the next week, and basically no wiggle room. Quick mental arithmetic puts it a little more strongly than "suggestion" that I should get back to work.

my new gig

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Up now: the first installment of my new weekly column at The New Republic's site, "The Critical Browser"--literary analysis of the political Web.

(I kinda wanted to call it "The Strict Deconstructionist," but I seem to be the only person who thought that was funny.)

dept. of service criticism

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Chris Eckert reads Countdown so I don't have to...!

Schuler's Books reading went great, & quite a few people from my past put in appearances, including Ray Walsh, Dan Mishkin, Evy Wood and Randall Scott. More details when it's not quite so late at night, probably.

the spirit of the elevator

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Thank you, Monica! Thank you, Linsey! Thank you, Mairead! Thank you, everyone else who made Chicago such a pleasure!

Really fun reading at Quimby's in Chicago last night. I figured I should do something place-appropriate, so I made up a Jimmy Corrigan theme song I sang to a very familiar melody:

Corrigan, Corrigan
Timid little round-headed man
Scared of girls, bored at work
Lonely heir to a line of jerks
Look out! It's Jimmy Corrigan

Is he sad? Listen, chum--
His stepsister thinks Jimmy's scum!
Is God dead? Look around--
He's in a pool of blood on the ground!
Hey there! It's Jimmy Corrigan

The '93 World's Fair
Left his grandpa alone
Now he gets abused
By his mom on the phone

Corrigan, Corrigan
Smartest kid on earth, Corrigan
Wealth and fame pass him by
Push him down and he'll start to cry
Loneliness and depression gang up
He's got a bunch of hang-ups
Poor Jimmy Corrigan!

A very nice review of Reading Comics from Brian Doherty at Reason.

Here's my own review of Young Marble Giants' Colossal Youth.

And I would be lax if I didn't mention Jess Bruder's thoroughly awesome new Burning Book. Go buy it and understand how Burning Man keeps me coming back every year.

here comes that benison again

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Rod Lott at Bookgasm really likes Reading Comics.

Kiel Phegley at Wizard did an interview with me.

This may be the most entertaining riff I've ever seen on something I've written.

Me? I'm in Chicago, reading at Quimby's on Saturday night. I vaguely remember that I used to sleep, but I'm not sure any more how one does it.