- Nora Ephron talks Twitter, divorce, journalism—and her growing forgetfulness. Her new book, I Remember Nothing, is out today. (via newsweek)
When I embraced blogging, it was called “blogging,” and now only moments have passed and now it’s called “posting.” I tried very, very hard to sort of stay with it. But in the last couple of years I’ve been completely defeated by things like Twitter. I think Twitter was put on the earth to make people like me basically understand that there’s just so far you can go with being up to date, and then you hit a wall.
What’s going on?
~ Charles Burns on his new book X’ed Out, the first volume in an epic graphic fiction masterwork.
Slavoj Zizek discussing his book, The Monstrosity of Christ: Paradox or Dialectic?. Great explanation of how the Christian concept of the “toxic neighbor” impacts political, economic, sexual, and cultural thought.
(Source: forum-network.org)
We’re in a period of incredible volatility. The last time our country went through a period like this, you could argue, was in the years after World War II, when between 1946 and 1952, the House changed hands repeatedly. …But I think it means the public’s impatient, the public’s worried, the public’s lurching a little bit from side to side saying ‘We’ll take a chance on you. No. We don’t like what you’ve done. We’ll take a chance on the other guy.’ And I think what it means in the short-term is it’s a very cautionary tale for John Boehner and the Republicans and I think John Boehner’s well aware of this. They have to be very careful with how they handle their majority or they’ll lose it.
- Todd Purdum on the massive changes taking place in American politics (via nprfreshair)
(via nprfreshair)
PBS| NPR Forum Network talks curated around the 2010 Boston Book Festival celebrating the power of words to stimulate, agitate, unite, delight and inspire.
The Boston Book Festival, is a celebration of the word in all of its forms, from fiction, poetry and non-fiction to theatre, song and spoken word. This event showcases Boston as a center of creativity, innovation, and technology as it relates to books and reading with an all-star cast of nationally known participants, multi-media displays, a buzzing street presence, and a new twist on all-city reading groups.
Preppies and Pessimists: David Rakoff, Lisa Birnbach, and Chip Kidd
David Rakoff, recipient of two Lambda Book Awards for Humor, insists that optimism is an irresponsible fad in his new book Half Empty.
http://forum-network.org/lecture/preppies-and-pessimists-david-rakoff-lisa-birnbach-and-chip-kidd
Mark Vonnegut: Just Like Someone without Mental Illness
“Having a famous father is a leg to nowhere.” ~ Mark Vonnegut
Son of late author Kurt Vonnegut discusses his memoir on getting into Harvard Med School and gaining control over his mental illness.
http://forum-network.org/lecture/mark-vonnegut-discusses-just-someone-without-mental-illness
Actresses Dee Wallace, Kristina Klebe, Danielle Harris, Scout Taylor, and Eileen Deitz discuss filming Rob Zombie’s Halloween movies, why they won’t scream on command, and who their movie star idols are, at Rock n’ Shock 2010 in Worcester, MA.
I’ve always said that if I could have any other career, other than the one I currently have, it would be a Scream Queen. On top of being very entertaining, these Scream Queens are quite the inspiration for any female fan. Love their take on screaming on command - never thought of it as a problem. Now I understand why some screams are more horrifying that others. Great job, Scream Queens.
