Ken Baumann—
And here’s the trailer for the The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, starring Heath Ledger, Johnny Depp, Jude Law, Colin Farrell (all playing the same person), Christopher Plummer, Tom Waits, etc., etc., directed by Terry Gilliam.
5
‘Then My ADD Kicked In’
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6V-4jbto2C8
Mightiest of books, mightiest of men
Following the expulsion of Erik Bloodaxe from York in 954, England had enjoyed a quarter-century of respite from Viking attacks. One of the two men responsible for their resumption was Olaf Tryggvason. Olaf’s is one of the emblematic careers of the Viking Age, describing in clear trajectory his graduation from marauding sea-king to missionary land-king. His life and career are the subject of one of Snorri Sturluson’s longer sagas, of one even longer called The Greater Saga of Olaf Tryggvason, and of a lost sage written in Latin by Odd Monk, which nevertheless survives in a free translation.
That bit is taken from Robert Ferguson’s epic, forthcoming history of the Vikings, coveniently entitled The Vikings. If you could have a saga written about you, what would it be called? And who would write it? Subquestion: How do you think Erik got the surname ‘Bloodaxe’?
I Remember
Joe Brainard‘s I Remember is seriously keeping me from punching my own head in today. Refreshing in a way I’ve needed for a while. Calm, quiet, funny, right. People have been ripping this guy off for years.
I remember my first erections. I thought I had some terrible disease or something.
I remember the only time I ever saw my mother cry. I was eating apricot pie.
I remember when my father would say “Keep your hands out from under the covers” as he said goodnight. But he said it in a nice way.
I remember when I thought that if you did anything bad, policemen would put you in jail.
Matthew Simmons—
Twice today I’ve thought of Burgess Meredith. Second time was in reference to Time Enough at Last, a Twilight Zone episode about having more books than you can read. First time was something else. If you can guess the circumstances, I will send you a prize package.
The Books I Haven’t Read
Seems like for every book I read, I buy three more. In this way life has quickly become a slowly ascending grid of paper, soon which will hopefully be enough to sell my old house and build a new one, out of words.
Often when I am reading I find it hard to concentrate on a book because of the looming of all the other books in the room waiting their turn. Sometimes I will find myself reading faster, allowing missing, so that I will be more quickly open to the next. I try not to do this, but it is hard, especially with these stacks all looming over.
Here are the stacks in my apartment of the books I have bought within the last year or so (some even just last week) and have not read. These I keep stacked on top of my biggest bookcase, on top of all the ones I actually have found the time for:
Stephen Elliott Sends a Letter from Scotland
If you’re on the Daily Rumpus mailing list, then you already know that Stephen Elliott wasn’t kidding when he promised to send a letter every single day. He writes about whatever’s new on the Rumpus, or on his mind lately, or if he maybe needs a place to crash in the UK. They’re all fine and good, as daily mass emails go, but his most recent missive really stood out to me. He seems like he’s really firing on all cylinders right now, and so his letter is reproduced in full after the jump. After you read it, you’ll probably want to go to the site and sign up for the mailing list, so you too can get nifty notes like this every day. READ MORE >
Adam Robinson—
I was wondering, when you think about submitting a full-length manuscript to a press, how much do you consider how long they’re going to be around for? If you don’t feel like answering that, at least go watch this very funny .gif (via Very Most Good).
Justin Taylor—
As part of the myriad activities planned to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China on Oct. 1, the normally staid National Bureau of Statistics is letting its hair down a bit.