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10.13.06 by Dindrane @ 2:11 am  Anna's Book Club is a sporadic, but innovatively formatted podcast version of a book club. Anna chooses books based upon her own list of books she's been meaning to read, balanced with reader/listener suggestions. The podcast is formatted as a kind of audio discussion of the selected book, but the innovation comes in as Anna plays phone messages where listeners have called and left messages on her phone about the book. This allows all of us to have our say, and is a unique way to break up the drone of a host's voice that plagues so many otherwise worthwhile podcasts. (I heard that! -ed.) If only Anna's Book Club was more regular; it's ostensibly monthly, but in practice is more like quarterly. If you've always wanted a book club, however, but can't find one near you that fits your schedule, then absolutely give this one a shot. Past selections have included The Autobiography of Malcom X, Allende's The House of Spirits, and Irving's controversial The Hotel New Hampshire . You can find Anna's Book Club at her website or via iTunes. Categorized as: Books and Reviews
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10.10.06 by Widge @ 3:28 am  The message has gotten through: RAW, having been our guardo camino for years and years, now needs the road guarded in return. And we got that covered. So far, they've raised $68K to keep the legend comfortable in his final days. Wilson himself sent a note of thanks and Boing Boing reprinted it on their site. Here's a snippet:
The love of RAW is a powerful thing and we're as blessed as we can get in this world at this point. For info on how to donate, check out the original Boing Boing post here. Categorized as: Books
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10.06.06 by Widge @ 9:23 am  Sloshing through the swamp of pop culture so you don't have to. We bring you ideas for how to waste your weekend. Of course, special thanks go out to Clutch for letting me use their absolutely badass song, "Promoter (of earthbound causes)" as my theme music for this. Buy Blast Tyrant, which is where you can find "Promoter". Buy their latest album, Pitchforks and Lost Needles. Send them love and coin. BTW, you iTunes subscriber types can nab this feed here. Or if you want to do something else with it, the feed feed is here. Special guest stars are Morgan Quillin as Disgruntled Kid #1 and Dark Zoe as Evil Elmo.    Laurel Canyon by Michael Walker, performed by Lloyd James. (Blackstone) The Zero by Jess Walter, performed by Christopher Graybill. (Harper Audio) The Beatrice Letters by Lemony Snicket. (HarperCollins)    Content #2 by Gia-Bao Tran Essential Alice in Chains (Sony) The Vacant Stare by Lifted    Galaxina (Brentwood BCI) The Brak Show, Vol. 2 (Adult Swim/Warner Brothers) I Am Sex Addict (IFC)     Romancing the Stone (Fox) Go For Zucker (First Run) Miracles of Jesus (BBC) The Ellen Degeneres Show (Warner Brothers - Target Exclusive) Categorized as: Books and Comics and DVD and Music and Podcasts and Recommendations
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10.03.06 by Widge @ 4:38 am  Boing Boing alerts us to a serious situation for Lifetime Achievement Award-winner Robert Anton Wilson. He's apparently near death and broke as hell, and that's simply not acceptable. Steps need to be taken to ensure that his last days are as comfortable as possible. The man's a legend. Go read the BB article for their take on it and how to donate. Here's my take on RAW and why he needs whatever we can give him right now. Categorized as: Books
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09.29.06 by Widge @ 8:47 am Sloshing through the swamp of pop culture so you don't have to. We bring you ideas for how to waste your weekend. Of course, special thanks go out to Clutch for letting me use their absolutely badass song, "Promoter (of earthbound causes)" as my theme music for this. Buy Blast Tyrant, which is where you can find "Promoter". Buy their latest album, Pitchforks and Lost Needles. Send them love and coin. BTW, you iTunes subscriber types can nab this feed here. Or if you want to do something else with it, the feed feed is here.    World War Z by Max Brooks, performed by a full cast. (Random House) A Futile and Stupid Gesture: How Doug Kenney and National Lampoon Changed Comedy Forever by Josh Karp. (Chicago Review Press) Masters of the Comic Book Universe Revealed by Arie Kaplan. (Chicago Review Press)    St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves by Karen Russell (Knopf) Penny Arcade, Vol. 2: Epic Legends of the Magic Sword Kings by Jerry Holkins & Mike Krahulik (Dark Horse) The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service, Vol. 1 by Eiji Ohtsuka & Housui Yamazaki (Dark Horse)     Lovecracked (Biff Juggernaut) Agatha Christie: A Life in Pictures (Acorn Media) Edgar Allan Poe's Tales of Mystery and Imagination (BFS) The Tick vs. Season One (Buena Vista)     Fuse (First Run) Curse of Lizzie Borden (Razor Digital) Gojira (Classic Media) Prison Break Season 1 (Fox) Categorized as: Books and Comics and DVD and Podcasts and Recommendations
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09.28.06 by Widge @ 11:38 pm  No, really, it's true! Honest injun! I have the photographic evidence to prove it. If you want to find out about the books that apparently scare the status quo, and fight back against literary oppression, then I suggest you follow this link and get the full skinnee. Categorized as: Books and Headsup
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09.22.06 by Widge @ 7:03 am Sloshing through the swamp of pop culture so you don't have to. We bring you ideas for how to waste your weekend. Of course, special thanks go out to Clutch for letting me use their absolutely badass song, "Promoter (of earthbound causes)" as my theme music for this. Buy Blast Tyrant, which is where you can find "Promoter". Buy their latest album, Pitchforks and Lost Needles. Send them love and coin. BTW, you iTunes subscriber types can nab this feed here. Or if you want to do something else with it, the feed feed is here.    Coronado by Dennis Lahane, performed by Stanley Tucci. (Harper Audio) Mountains of the Pharoahs by Zahi Hawass, performed by Simon Vance. (Tantor) The Notebook & The Wedding by Nicholas Sparks, performed by Barry Bostwick & Tom Wopat. (Hachette)    A Dummy's Guide to Danger #1 by Jason M. Burns & Ron Chan (Viper) The Krypton Companion (TwoMorrows) Mozart the Freemason by Jacques Henry (Inner Traditions)     Sealab 2021: Season 4 (Warner Brothers) For more information, check out the Adult Swim site here. The Castle of Cagliostro (Manga) Agatha Christie's Marple, Series 2 (Acorn Media) District B13 (Magnolia)     Darkwing Duck, Vol. 1 (Disney) Bums (Substance) This Island Earth (Universal) Full House: The Complete Fourth Season (Warner Brothers) For more info, check out the official site here. Categorized as: Books and Comics and DVD and Podcasts and Recommendations
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09.20.06 by Widge @ 4:28 am Here's what we covered in our 9/15 Weekend Justice.     Book of the Week: World War Z by Max Brooks. (Crown) Comedy Book of the Week: The Affected Provincial's Companion, Vol. 1 by Lord Breaulove Swells Whimsy. (Bloomsbury) Graphic Novel of the Week: Rotting in Dirtville by James Callahan. (Gigantic) Magazine of the Week: Alter Ego #61. (TwoMorrows)      Adverse Video of the Week: Mutation (Razor Digital) Animation DVD of the Week: Pinky and the Brain, Vol. 1 (Warner Brothers) Comedy DVD of the Week: Blackballed (Shout Factory) Music DVD of the Week: Bluegrass Country Soul (Time Life) TV DVD of the Week: Amazing Stories: The Complete First Season (Universal) Categorized as: Books and Comics and DVD and Recommendations
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09.16.06 by Widge @ 1:37 am  ...by the TSA apparently. Sci-Fi Wire informs us that security came pretty close to not allowing J. K. Rowling to get on a plane carrying the Harry Potter 7 manuscript on the plane. Although in all fairness, I'm sure this had nothing to do with paper being mistaken for the makings of a bomb--based on how big the book is expected to be, it probably failed the weight limits for carry-on luggage. Brought to our attention by Rox of Spaz-House. Image taken from my archenemy Neil Cicierga's tribute to Dumbledore. Categorized as: Books and Stimuli
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09.13.06 by Widge @ 7:18 pm  The man's name is John Hodgman. He has written a little tome that I'm sure you're aware of by now: The Areas of My Expertise. It is a full-on almanac of everything. If you haven't bought your copy yet, you're foolish. If you bought your copy in hardback, you're foolish also because the paperback has even more of everything in it. Consider him your living, breathing librarian at Alexandria, and the book is your library card. Enough. Buy it already. However, there is more. One of Hodgman's many areas of expertise is hobo affairs. And no, I don't mean where Snuffly Pete is sneaking around behind the boxcar with Old Jane Knackenbush without Patch McPhlegm being any the wiser. I'm talking about their activities. Specifically, their symbols. He wants any evidence of hobo signs reported to this Flickr pool. It's best not to ask for details. Some things we're simply not meant to know. Until the sequel to Areas comes out, naturally. Just do that thing. And once you've done that, head to Quick Stop and check out this interview with him so you too can learn more. Categorized as: Books
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