Books have been deemed unnecessary. (Telegraph)
Professor Joseph Stiglitz talks about money and stuff. (Daily Finance)
Breaking: Letting children play with smart phones is bad for their development. (Today’s THV)
Floridita shall live on. (Spec)
Midterms may be stressful, but don’t start bashing cars. (Gothamist)
Photo via Wikimedia Commons
The Brooklyn Book Festival is taking place today until 6 p.m. at Brooklyn Borough Hall. All events-panels, forums, booths- are free to attend! Famous people, like Venus Williams and Sarah Silverman, will be there, along with Columbia’s own Professor Gary Shteyngart and Librarian Karen Green. Get your intellect on!
Photo via Wikimedia Commons
What does our fearless leader do when he’s not, um, doing whatever he does everyday? He watches Dean Quigley buy soup and he appears on public television. Last night, Bwog stayed up past our bedtime to catch PrezBo on Charlie Rose.
Bollinger and the nearly equally dapper Mr. Rose spent most of El Presidente’s half hour cameo talking about PrezBo’s new book, Uninhibited, Robust and Wide-Open (sexy!), about the role and future of the free press. Bollinger expressed his concern about the “contraction of coverage of foreign news” that the economic crisis has wrought on the American press. He also agreed with Rose that the “blogosphere is not a sufficient substitute” for the major journalistic institutions in the U.S, though PrezBo praised the influx of voice and opinion that teh Internetz allows.
The conversation then veered into more Columbia-specific territory: the endowment and Manhattanville. PrezBo spoke to the Columbia tradition of “academic freedom and the pursuit of curiosity,” and went on to talk about how we actually need money to allow that to continue. On Columbia’s endowment: “we proudly say that we lost only 16%, which was actually terrific in the context…” Now, what could PrezBo be referring to when he said: “one of the things we know about our great universities is that they have to grow.” Ohh, right, that! Bollinger briefly laid out the plan for Manhattanville, spoke about the “years of working with the community” that CU has done and referred to eminent domain as the “one remaining issue.”
A double dose of book news today: first, Senior Tome Correspondent Jon Hill notes that Book Culture looks to have finalized its expansion into the space formerly occupied by Morningside Books. The window sign does not give an expected opening date, but it does suggest that the new location will focus on more popular books, with the 112th street location “dedicated to providing academic and scholarly books.” Seriously, though, a Chick-Fil-A would have been nice.
If you can’t wait for the expansion, or prefer good deals, the local New York Public Library branch on the corner of 113th and Broadway is having a book sale today until 4. Hardcover and paperback titles alike are going for $1, DVDs are $2, and an archaic technology called “VHS tapes” are $1. You’ll encounter such classics as Women Are Not Small Men, What Will Happen in Harry Potter 7?, and On The Bright Side, I’m Now the Girlfriend of a Sex God. There are some legitimate finds here too, if you have the patience to look. And really, for a dollar, who can turn that kind of thing down?
New photos after the jump. (more…)
Friday, Saturday, Sunday
9/11 through 9/20, various locations
If you’re getting tired of Pabst, take your pick from over 80 bars and sample some of the finest micro and homebrews the city has to offer.
Price: passport costs $35, but with it you can try each beer for just a few dollars
9/10 through 9/17, Bryant Park (Sixth Ave between 40th and W. 42nd Sts)
We know: those of you lucky enough to get on a guest list are already going. For the rest of you, head to Bryant Park to oogle the beautiful people and get a glimpse of a world you didn’t think actually exists.
Price: Free
Friday
Friday 11 pm – 4 am, Le Poisson Rouge (158 Bleecker St)
New Jersey’s supergroup does The Freedom Party, New York’s longest running, weekly Friday night dance party. Party like it’s Jersey City without actually having to leave Manhattan.
Price: $20 (more…)
 |
| -Photo via thaindian.com |
Resident Columbia film star James Franco has reportedly signed a book deal to publish a collection of short stories. The newly minted bard, who already carries some weight in the publishing world, is also set to act in a film about ex-Columbia literary luminary Allen Ginsberg.
The writerly impulse apparently runs in the family since Franco’s mom is an author too, and he has read some of her audio books. No word yet if this literary turn will bring Franco to Wien.
In case you don’t haunt the Times’ website
like Bwog does, a quick (sad) note.
John Updike, American author (and frequent New Yorker contributor), died today at 76. In light of this tragedy, Bwog provides an original, Smugopedia-style talking point: “while some consider Updike’s everyday subjects unworthy of his characteristically intricate prose, his novels–the most famous of which are four centering on unremarkable protagonist Henry “Rabbit” Angstrom–and numerous short stories and poems reveal a remarkably delicate and catholic eye for beauty.”
Not to mention that Updike, who presided over the Harvard Lampoon as a college student, was very, very funny. Check out the essay Packed Dirt, Churchgoing, A Dying Cat, A Traded Car for its singular blend of humor and glumness.
Come holiday season, there’s a lot of hubbub about joy and all that jazz. But here at Columbia the first two weeks of December are decidedly unjoyous times. With visions of forthcoming finals dancing in our heads, at this point in the year, many of us have had it with academia.
But today, Bwog brings you a reason to be thankful for the very scholarly stuff that has gotten you down lately. Today, December 6th, 2008 marks the 75th anniversary of the court ruling that James Joyce’s Ulysses is not obscene. And who was responsible for this admirable endorsement of the First Amendment and freedom of press? Why none other than Judge John M. Woolsey of Columbia Law School class of 1900. Leave it to one of our own to champion the liberation, legality and love of literature — well done, Woolsey!
So as you slog through your annotated Ulysses tome today in Butler (Bwog’s completely dreading Kitcher‘s final too), remember and relish the liberation of this fine text!
If you’re trying to study in Butler right now, you probably already know that there’s a giant children’s reading party going on out on the lawns–it’s part of the Times-sponsored Great Children’s Read, and a zillion tiny people have turned out to ensnare you on your way to midterms purgatory.
If you’re able to escape, They Might Be Giants are going on at 3:10 PM. And meanwhile, there’s a certain amount of schwag to be had, including those delicious little greek yogurts.
Update, 2:15pm: The view from a Butler denizen:
Adorable photos of frolicking children the jump.
Has your weekend been lacking a certain cultural, athletic or alcoholic satisfaction? If so, check out Bwog’s mid-weekend guide to the weekend update.
Cultural
Danscores by Ofelia Loret De Mola
Shakespeare’s Ophelia was not much of a badass. Rather than sticking it to the man, she let the man stick it to her. Not so with this Mexican-born Ofelia. In the final performance of the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s “Sitelines” series, this choreographer expresses her rebellious anti-establishment opinions in performances that challenge the conventions of modern dance. Expect dancing in the street and lots of Mexican punk music.
City Park Hall; September 13-14 at 8; Free
Oresteia
Major Cultures, Global Core, there may be very little distinction between the two, but one thing we do know is that Columbia loves the Western Canon. The university’s love fest with Greek tragedy continues with the Miller Theater’s performance of Iannis Xenakis opera, Oresteia, based on Aeschylus’ tragedy.
Miller Theater; September 13, 16 and 17 at 8
(more…)
During the onslaught of the academic year, many students forgo newly released books for required reading or problem sets, making summer the perfect time to catch up on leisure reading. In a menial attempt to recapture the spirit of the literary salons during the 17th and 18th century, Bwog is introducing a book club for the summer. Though the internet pales in comparison with actual conversation, we are hoping to create an open space to foster thought and discussion.
All Bwog readers are welcome to participate. There will be a post in advance announcing the next selection. Generally, the works will be either contemporary fiction or nonfiction. The actual Book Club will take form as a dialogue between our two reviewers, Lucy Tang and Pierce Stanley, and the comments thread will allow readers to contribute to with questions or criticism or even a book suggestion. Because the book club is still in its nascence, nothing is concrete, and the more feedback, the better.
We have chosen The Mayor’s Tongue to inaugurate this summer. The Mayor’s Tongue is the debut from Nathaniel Rich, an editor at The Paris Review. There’s been a lot of hubbub surrounding The Mayor’s Tongue, because Rich hails from a literary lineage–his father is Frank Rich, the New York Times columnist, and brother Simon Rich is a well-established humor writer–and The Mayor’s Tongue will determine if the legacy lives on. The book offers two narratives, related but never intertwined. The first sees Eugene Brentani, a young man obsessed with renowned author Constance Eakins, running off to Italy for the daughter of Eakins’ biographer. The second narrative features Mr. Schmitz, a much older man, who loses his wife and struggles to maintain normalcy with his best friend Rutherford.
Take some time this weekend to open up The Mayor’s Tongue and join us in a few days for our discussion. It’s a fast read, we promise.
Though most of us are bogged down with midterms and papers, Bwog writer Hannah Goldfield provides some alternative reading.
Ducking your head and barreling through the cloud of cigarette smoke outside Butler might be worth it tonight. Act fast and you can snag a copy of poli-lit-culture journal n+1′s latest pamphlet, distributed, guerrilla-style, throughout the library a few hours ago.
Titled “What We Should Have Known,” the unassuming, slim, blue volume is targeted at college freshmen, meant to help them traverse the intellectual spiderweb in which they’re bound to get caught over the next four years. It consists specifically of transcripts of two panel discussions (which took place this past summer at the n+1 headquarters) about books, mostly: the books you’re assigned to read and the books the panel members, a mix of n+1 editors and contributors, think you should read, on your own, sooner rather than later. If you get lost in the sea of titles, don’t fret–the ones that truly changed their lives are conveniently compiled into lists on the last few pages.
After tonight, “What We Should Have Known” will set you back $10–unless you’re a freshman, in which case you might find a copy slipped under your door tomorrow, or, if not, your student ID will get you one for free. Because saving untainted souls from the Western Canon–or at least guiding them through it–is priceless.
Can the apocalypse be funny? Ashraya Gupta, Bwog’s Blue Notebooks correspondent (and member herself), summarizes novelist Matthew Sharpe’s recent visit to Morningside and reviews his latest, Jamestown.
Not the ex-bassist for Weezer, but Matthew Sharpe, author of the best post-annihilation novel this side of the Book of Revelations—well, maybe.
Matthew Sharpe has the kind of acerbic yet winsome humor you’d expect of someone capable of writing dialog like this:
“Like you’re so happy, Rolfe. Hope you don’t get murdered in your sleep. Good night. Up yours.”
“Where do you think Smith is?”
“Also up yours, I would guess.”
The Rolfe in question would be John Rolfe, the English colonist, who died sometime around 1622. Smith, of course, is John Smith, whom you probably remember from Pocahontas, the Disney movie. Sharpe’s new novel, Jamestown (Soft Skull, 2007), succeeds in all the ways Disney failed: it stays true to the story. At least, as true as you can stay when you’re shifting everything forwards about half a millennium and adding a devastating war between the city-states of Manhattan and Brooklyn.
Last Thursday, during an event sponsored by the Blue Notebooks, Sharpe spoke about the new novel, his process as a writer, and why violence (think lots of arrows, in excruciating places) makes for the best comedy (ditto).
Bethany Rower conducted the interview. After a short introduction from Rower, Sharpe opened by saying, “I’m glad I haven’t been subjected to the new Columbia tradition of being denounced before I speak.” (more…)
Yesterday, Bwog staffer Lucy Tang sat in on the Future of Book Reviews panel and realized that all Columbia arguments center around elitism.
Panelists:
Steve Wasserman (former editor of the Los Angeles Book Review)
Peter Osnos (founder and editor at large of PublicAffairs)
Elizabeth Sifton (editor and senior vice president of Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
Carlin Romano (books editor for The Philadelphia Inquirer)
Mark Sarvas (literary blog The Elegant Variation).
In the cover story of this month’s Columbia Journalism Review, Steve Wasserman laments the disappearance of book reviews in today’s newspapers. To further explore this conundrum, the panel featured him alongside four other renowned names in book and journalism circles. Evan Cornog played both moderator and pacifier for the night.
Steve Wasserman opened the debate by blaming the United States for its aversion to books. He bemoaned the secondary nature of pieces relegated to book review sections, citing newspapers’ continual emphasis on advertising, an area where book review sections often limp behind. Accusations of an “anti-intellectual ethos” were bandied about as he criticized the U.S.’s “general contempt for the bookish,” asking the audience whether there was still room for “serious criticism in a mass society” (I could guess what he thought). (more…)
In which Bwog freelancer Rob Trump, who brought you a Chabon review and enlightened July 4 commentary, learns to love America.
Forgive me if this seems insensitive, but for the last few years I have been thoroughly sick of hearing, talking, and thinking about 9/11. I was tired of pop-sociology articles and works of art still cropping up that explained just how we were changed forever. I was done with post-9/11 America and declared to many people that I was ready for the post-post-9/11 era. (As an aside, I would like to take this moment, on a blog, to coin this era the “double post.”) Many sympathized with my viewpoint on this, and even more would probably support an expanded-scope restatement by a character in Don DeLillo’s new book Falling Man: “We’re all sick of America and Americans. The subject nauseates us.”
There has been, in the last few years, a massive artistic output—fictional and not—that has some grounding in the September 11 terrorist attacks. Of all these, the only moderately successful one I’ve consumed is Jonathan Safran Foer’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, about a nine-year-old boy’s adventures around New York City after losing his father in the attacks. Foer’s take, however, didn’t really engage the attacks on more than a personally tragic level, even going somewhat out of its way to avoid them. DeLillo pulls no such punches. Falling Man is a novel about 9/11 and what it did to people.
Knowing this fully, and having never read any DeLillo before, I approached Falling Man cautiously. The very first pages concern Keith, a lawyer, walking out of the wreckage of the towers and home to his separated wife Lianne. DeLillo sketches out his characters slowly, and to be honest, nothing about any of them really grabbed me right from the start. It took me almost a week to get through the first 50 or 60 pages, but past that point the previously subdued quirks of the characters come to the fore, and the latter 200 pages went by in a couple days. Keith is a risk-taker, but in a painfully calculated way; Lianne is chronically passive-aggressive; their young son is paranoid and spends his days searching the skies for more planes. Other peripheral characters show up, and in every single character there is an interesting battle between several forces: how they were before the attacks, the changing effect that the attacks have had on them, and — perhaps most intruiguingly — how they want to believe the attacks have changed them and their lives. (more…)
Loading ...