Pinky's Paperhaus

Hey, look over there!

I'm pulling up my typepad stakes and setting up shop with the fabulous Wordpress at the most convenient web address ever, http://www.pinkyspaperhaus.com.

Things at the new house are still getting organized, it's true. The library hasn't been built yet and I'm not sure if the archives are working properly. But the fact is that things here are packed and in the truck. Please come visit http://www.pinkyspaperhaus.com instead.

advance warning

So here's the thing. I've been working on moving this blog to another blogging platform. It was almost done, but something in the final step has gotten all mucky. If you're seeing this, you either come directly to my typepad blog (which will soon go away) or read rss (which may change). People who type in www.pinkyspaperhaus.com are getting here for now, but by the time 36 hours has passed they will wind up on another site that is currently a bit of a mess. Which I'm working on.

Litblogging to recomence very soon. Shiny happy new addresses will appear here once all the messiness is ironed out.

Have an excellent, readerly weekend.

Tuesday linkage

In honor of Banned Books Week, Tod Goldberg takes on book-banning Christians.

The Happy Booker rubs shoulders with Lisa Fugard, Elizabeth Kostova, Jim Lehrer and more as DC gears up for the PEN/Faulkner Gala.

In LA tonight, Beck will be playing a just-announced show at Element.

Tomorrow in Chicago, Bookslut's reading series will feature onetime Pinky guest Ned Vizzini, Brian Evensen and  Cristina Henriquez.

And here in Pittsburgh, homework marches on. Slowly.

Friday linkage

The Elegant Variation wants you to get stoned -- I.F. Stone'd, that is.

Galleycat's search for an archnemesis ends at Gawker's Intern Alexis -- but the fued is foiled.

Let's say you wanted to get published in a nice cultural journal in the fall of 2006 and the lead of your piece was "From 1990 to 1991, David Lynch's Twin Peaks was a hit television series." 15 years too late and dry as dust! Reject pile! Unless you're Greil Marcus, that is. (link via The Rake).

A million thanks to The Millions' excellent rundown of the literary MacArthur Geniuses 2006.

Los Angeles gets its first, long-awaited H&M; LAist scores an interview with the company's PR-bot.

Could Tanenhaus be next?

Time book critic Lev Grossman notices Ed Champion has been ranting about him and takes on this "mortal enemy" in the pages of the magazine. Ed has called Lev "silly," "chickenhead," and "Chickenhead of the Decade" -- which are nothing compared to what he's said about Sam "NYTBR" Tanenhaus. So Sam, what are you waiting for?

Morning, monday

The Elegant Variation has a complete report -- with pictures! -- of the West Hollywood Book Fair. Mark even captured the entire Goldberg literary sibling set Goldberg (Tod, Lee, Karen and Linda) at their panel.

The Millions gets the photo-less scoop on the Brooklyn Book Festival -- not to worry, pics are here and here. And the 60-second version is captured on video -- really, they even got Brooklyn Boro Prez Marty Markowitz. 

Laila Lalami spends quality time with 500 Tennesseeans. So close to Pittsburgh -- drop on by!

The Syntax of Things muses on James Frey's first post-debacle interview, finds the nonfiction memoirist novelist wanting.

Beware, tomorrow is International Talk Like a Pirate Day and just in time, The Mumpsimus has found a sea chanty soundtrack -- yep, an MP3 awaits.

Thursday hustle

I really should be finishing that noir reading. Instead...

Metroblogs Montreal gets the story on the Dawson College shootings. As in, hides from a gunman and sees a colleague take a bullet in the shoulder.

The NY Times is wowed and amazed by Google's philanthropic strategy ("Not the Usual"). Guys, venutre philanthropy is nothing new; trust me, this is one thing Google didn't Only Revinvent.

David Cross "reviews" a new CD from Yo La Tengo with nary a listen: "this New Jersey (and Brooklyn!?) trio consisting of the fat guy and two Jews are quite capable of taking us on one wild and wacky ride through the debauched underworld of the 'Indiers.'" (via largeheartedboy)

The 88 does a live spot on The Current in Minnesota. What, no pics of awesome drummer Brandon?

LAist editor Tony Pierce is in Minnesota, too, but not for long. He's driving cross country while still blogging like a madman.

Speaking of blogging like mad, author Martha Southgate is knocking it out of the park while guest blogging at The Elegant Variation.

I'm avoiding a lot of the Mark Z Danielewski buzz until I have a chance to read Only Revolutions (damn that noir homework!), but this LA Times story seems to be generally spoiler-free.

Lit fun in the online world

Gotta love the snarkety snark of this post about the memoirs of Laura Albert (the creator of JT Leroy). But is there anything amusing to say about the three guys who invented LonelyGirl15?

There is funny out there: Ed gives us a taste of Nora Ephron's wit. Could an Ephron/Segundo encounter be on the way?

John Hodgman has been everywhere with the release of Areas of My Expertise in paperback, and I hope you have time to listen to the podcasts of his Little Gray Books Series, now on hiatus, which are ingeniously funny and include music! and a live Galapagos audience!

Maybe this is all over TV (which I gave up for grad school), but watching Audrey Hepburn dance to AC/DC (Via La Gringa) is awfully cute, despite helping to sell stretch pants for the Gap.

And in good-things-come-to-those-who-persevere news, if you get an MFA and wind up proofreading a crappy tax magazine, don't worry, you can still grow up to be Edward P Jones.

Wednesday catchup

Stingray apologizes for spiking Crocodile Hunter, infuriates the masses.

Gwenda loves Andrea Seigel's new novel, To Feel Stuff.

The LA Times has clear instructions on reading Mark Z. Danielewski's Only Revolutions -- and I don't care if they call it gimmicky and self-important, it sounds exciting to me.

Laila Lalami reads at Bumbershoot with Gary Shteyngart and discovers that George Saunders and Mary Gaitskill were in the audience. Woah.

I'd definitely be in the audience for James Ellroy as he appears at Skylight Books in Los Angeles this Sunday, Sept. 10, to do his alpha male performance rant thing about The Black Dahlia - except I'm not going to be in LA on Sunday.

And if I could be in NYC a week later, I wouldn't miss the book party for Laird Hunt's The Exquisite. Odds are currently against me being in New York on the 17th, tho.

Pittsburgh bloggers

I went to my first Pittsburgh blogfest -- the yinzers'* 7th -- and found that some Pittsburgh bloggers

love pittsburgh 

make brilliant mistakes

teach writing and knit

write, muse, and paint every day

are bitches (on the inside)

and are charged with wrangling Harlan Ellison at Worldcon.

* "yinz" is the purse-mouthed, Pittsburgh version of you-uns, which is basically you-all, aka y'all. Really, around here folks say yinz.