Everybody Loves Ed Park…
Tuesday, July 1st by Shane
Looks like a jerk
The cofounder of quirk-based The Believer is now a debut novelist, and has been getting some pretty deece (not a typo, explain later) coverage for Personal Days. Mark Sarvas gives it a solid review in the NY Times (though I find it funny that Mark says so much about the importance of describing a character’s job when he himself admitted omitting detail about his eponymous character’s career) and Bat Mofo’ing Segundo sits him down to talk about, among other things, having the name Ed. I’ve been fairly lukewarm to the idea of reading these office novels mostly because the last thing I need to do is remember what it was like to be in accounts payable, but I can’t really justify that when I’ll happily watch The Office all day.
So anyways, time to move on to the most mind-blowing article of the new millennium. Is Paper Cuts seriously dissecting Alanis Morrisette’s song Ironic now to reveal that what she says isn’t actually ironic? People were talking about that thirteen years ago. Thirteen years, when Gangsta’s Paradise was the hottest song on the radio and OJ was on trial. Oh, but don’t worry because they also reference Reality Bites, a movie that came out fourteen years ago. Luckily there are a few people who have already mentioned how insanely obsolete this topic is in the comments section, but it’s not enough. I demand a refund from the internet.
Ed links to the most sexually explicit books in recent times.
Oh, that “deece” thing comes from a waiter the other day saying he was deece instead of decent. That really pissed me off.
And Reality Bites bit.
Christopher Hitchens, the pro-Iraq War sweathog has just offered an amazing suggestion- donate a book to an Iraqi library. I’m going to. What about you? If not, why?
And finally, The Millions discusses the rest of the good books to come out this year. Roth’s hideous bore is one, Updike’s milking of the Eastwick is another, and Toni Morrison has taken some time out of her busy schedule to write a new book for Oprah. At least Barth looks like he has something sweet to pull from his sleeves.
July 1st, 2008 at 1:54 pm
This post must be addressed on many levels.
1) Ed Park is a great guy, and he looks fantastic in that picture. High fashion right there.
2) Does this comment count as my second post? I’m so far behind!
3) You should read the Ferris book and Park’s book, because they are both funny and enjoyable and simultaneously remind you of all that you hate about cube life, while also making you nostalgic for the hatred you felt while actually there.
4) Ed links to pornographic Polaroids? Hey, I linked first. Check your reader, my friend. Cough up the linkage. (Never mind that Maud beat me to it by about 2 seconds.)
5) Gangsta’s Paradise! Ha! Funny, because just last night I listened to “Hip Hop Hooray” on Grooveshark, and I have no idea whatsoever what prompted me to do such a thing
6) What are you going to donate to Iraq libraries?
7) That Roth book is hard on the eyes. No mention of Chris Adrian’s book? He’s got the goods, in spades.