In case you were wondering, yes there is a “gecko-inspired tank robot” out there, and yes it can scale walls. “Did you know that hard candy is actually a glass?”…
Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, Mirror Traffic (Matador) / live at Webster Hall, NYC, 9/25/11 “I’m also a Jick.” —Stephen Malkmus, Amoeba Hollywood in-store appearance, 8/24/11 Mirror Traffic opens with…
“For me, writing longhand is an utterly personal task where the outer world is closed off, just my thoughts and the movement of my hand across the page to keep…
In an article at NewStatesman about sexist abuse online, nine bloggers reveal their experience with abusive, mysoginist comments, as well as rape and death threats. Blogger digby added an interesting…
“Strangely, as I stared at the back of my left hand, scorched and black after a tear gas canister fired by police hit me in the stomach and exploded, I…
“When even cheese cannot be free of politics, how can literature?” So asks Ruth Franklin in this New Republic piece, which ponders whether novels and politics should mix, finding insight…
Working on your novel for National Novel Writing Month? Here’s a mixtape “to drive you on, to inspire you, to sustain you, to help you break through writer’s block, and…
“For Nabokov, another reading was always constructive. But for Spacks, rereading—though satisfying for pure literary analysis—can reveal unwelcome truths about our past selves, and cause disenchantment—in the most literal sense—with…
Shabazz Palaces Black Up (Sub Pop) Shabazz Palaces’ new album, Black Up, reminds us that even though all art builds upon everything that comes before it, it still needs to…