Just a blip in the ether

Well, it’s been a long time, but I had a magical run-in with word coinage today, and I wanted to share. I was at the Milwaukee airport and noticed this sign hanging over some couches just past security and thought it was hilarious. I also thought they were being totally serious, based on the font, but this article set me straight.

Busy Day in Space

While the legendary Hubble Space Telescope is receiving its final tune-up today, the European Space Agency (ESA) also launched the Hershel and Plank space observatories just a few hours ago from French Guiana in South America.  The space shuttle crew is installing a new camera abroad Hubble to allow it to see further into space and will presumably to bring more of the spectacular photos that the telescope has become world renown for.  It wasn’t an easy job for the astronauts either, and when they finally got the old camera loosened, they remarked “Woo-Hoo”

Hershel and Plank, similarly named for two great European scientists as Hubble is for a great American one, will also be capable of examining in greater detail the vastness of space. They are billed by the ESA as “two of the most sophisticated astronomical spacecraft ever built”, and indeed Hershel carries onboard the largest mirror ever launched into space.  The satellites have now begun a two month journey which will place them in a Lissajous orbit around the L2 Lagrangian point 1.5 million km “behind” earth from where they will carry out their missions.

I stink at blogging.

http://latenightlibrary.wordpress.com/do-you-kindle-if-you-had-359-would-you/

Librarians: can this be fixed?

But you don’t have to take my word for it…

To remain as always completely topical, I thought I’d talk about the One Book, One Philadelphia program now that I’ve totally missed it again this year. The idea is that everyone in the city reads and discusses this one book throughout the winter.

For 2009, the book is The Soloist by Steve Lopez, which is also the basis of a soon-to-be-released motion picture that is Jamie Foxx’s bid to win another Oscar in the handi-capable musician portrayal category. I was kind of wondering if the Free Library had taken some money from the filmmakers in order to promote the movie to the city, but the fact that the book is by former Inquirer columnist and local favorite Lopez probably explains why it was chosen.

Anyhow, once again I have not read the One Book book, which is seeming a little perverse of me. I didn’t even read last year’s selection, What is the What by Dave Eggers, and I subscribe to his tasteful and hipstery McSweeney’s quarterly. I just can’t be told to do anything, I guess. Except that we were discussing this the other night, and no one has read the One Book or ever witnessed any One Book discussions occurring city-wide.

And ye shall know them by the onion rings they eat

One of the categories of writing that I cherish both as a reader and an eater is restaurant reviews. Reviews come in two temperatures: glowing and scathing, and I lean towards liking the latter the best. So I was more than pleased to read Inquirer food critic Craig LaBan’s most recent review, a denouncement of an upscale chain steakhouse for decadence, crimes against the People, and using frozen foods.

It has been proven in scientific studies that print critics are 23% harsher and up to 64% crankier than their online brethren. I think the difference is that a print writer still has to stick to the style book and find gentlemanly ways to, say, call restaurant patrons whores

You’re just trying to escape from your yawning emotional hole into drunk

To roll belatedly with the theme of library confession, I recently ordered a selection of books that I wanted desperately but was too ashamed to openly buy in a store. One was about sex, one was by Douglas Adams, and one was Bridget Jones’s Diary, the book that infamously started the whole chick lit thing, which makes it shameful by association. Also I got the version with Renee Zellweger on the cover; I may have to white her out.

Library Confessional

Scene of some crimes.

The following information has no repository, so I humbly submit it to the LNL for consideration with the hopes of ultimately achieving some sort of redemption for my library and book related crimes. The following statements are sadly true, but I sincerely hope that the LNL readers and the institution itself will still allow me to be a part of the fold.

Don’t Panic

While last night the Ladies World Domination Society spent some time discussing the pros and cons of the Kindle, and reading paperless books in general, today’s xkcd points out that the Kindle bears a striking resemblance to the galaxy’s bestselling e-book ever.  Yeah, okay, now maybe I’m on board.

Late Night Book Club

Announcing the inaugural edition of the Late Night Book Club!

The premise is sleek and simple: Henrietta and I will be embarking on the same literary voyage concurrently (reading the same book at the same time) and sharing our wholly unsolicited opinions with all of you.

And it’s interactive! You can play at home by reading along with us and offering your own unparalled insights.

Our first title is: Bright Young People: The Lost Generation of London’s Jazz Age by J.D. Taylor.

The Washington Post calls it, “jampacked and delicious, crammed with a cast of selfish, feckless, darling, talented, almost terminally eccentric, good-looking men and women, Bright Young People chronicles the doings of London’s gilded youth in the Roaring Twenties.” Sold me. I think we all could use a little glamour and excess right about now…

This week’s selection: Chapters 1 and 2.

Seeking the company of old men and perverts

Or, the perils of liking to read stuff.

The Fart Party: May 17, 2007
No Wonder…