November 2012
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Dan Weiss’s Morning Coffee
Today’s theme is “things Dan finds neat”. This 1930s illustrated guide to hypothetical alien life is my favorite thing today. This story about the official Chinese newspaper not getting that the Onion is a joke is my second favorite thing…
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Everybody Loves a Good Looking Book
There might be some light at the end of the tunnel for independent bookstores. At NPR Books, Lynn Neary discusses the rising popularity of pretty, hardcover books and their power to be undefied by the monumental e-book. More people are…
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How to Talk to Mothers of Dying Children
If I wrote about my son in a sentimentalized, cloying, tragic way, perhaps I’d be accused of a woman who writes “silly little stories” instead of epic American novels that engage deep human truths in profound and complicated ways. If…
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“A Humiliated Boy’s Idea of Manhood”
What do Raymond Chandler’s protagonists have in common with hip-hop artists? At The Atlantic, Ta-Nehisi Coates investigates: “I’ve had the privilege of reading The Big Sleep, between bouts of dabbling with the new Kendrick Lamar. Both works are technically impressive. And both…
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Mercury Theatre’s War of the Worlds
In case you missed it last weekend on KCRW, Rumpus pal Richard Park’s radio drama “Wayne Coyne’s Human Head Shaped Tumor” is now available at your listening convenience. The show debuted in McSweeney’s and features original performances by Wayne Coyne,…
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THE NEXT LETTER IN THE MAIL:
Lisa Jane PerskyThe next Letter in the Mail, going out this Friday, is from Lisa Jane Persky. Lisa Jane is a writer, photographer, actress and editor. Her fiction, journalism and photography has appeared in periodicals ranging from Bomb to MOJO to The Los Angeles Times. She made her…
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Albums of Our Lives: Bruce Springsteen’s Darkness on the Edge of Town
Elizabeth and I took our first road trip a few months into our relationship.
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Peter Orner Reading Thursday at Booksmith
If you’re in the Bay Area, don’t miss Rumpus columnist Peter Orner‘s reading at Booksmith this Thursday to celebrate the paperback release of his novel Love and Shame and Love. It will include a conversation with fellow author (and occasional…
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“Teenage Girls Aren’t Pining for Roman Polanski”
After Chris Brown’s inventively profane online spat with comedian Jenny Johnson and his subsequent departure from Twitter, the public is left to wonder once again just how Brown’s actions fit into the ways our society views race, gender, and abuse.…
