Well, but, sure. But a handy way to avoid getting shot at in self-defense (and thereby having to shoot back) is to NOT FUCKING BREAK INTO HOMES GUNS BLARING.

"Portland-inspired Basil Hayden’s Bourbon cocktails." is a bit of a dangling modifier there, ain't it?

About the best I can muster for this one is an, "Eh, OK, sure, Internet."

In the 90s, a journalist from from New York magazine hunted him down (she said it was actually fairly easy to do), and actually had some sort of interaction with him. She didn't reveal much personal detail (beside the fact that he was living in NYC, which everyone already suspected) but did say that, amongst other…

Kenneth Choi reminds me of a more charming, way more likeable, non-douchebag Jeremy Piven.

The rumour I've heard is that season 2 is essentially set to be an unauthorized tribute to/re-telling of The Crying of Lot 49. Which, if true, would be amazing, but I've never actually been able to source where that rumour came from—just heard it from a couple friends.

I recall lurking on reddit or fark or one of those other aggregators around the time that this obit was released, and a poster mentioned that he'd met the reporter who penned the obituary and (over the course of a larger discussion about various topics) that it had come up in conversation. The reporter basically said…

He may not be the Best Living American Writer™ overall (in part because DeLillo and Pynchon and Cormac McCarthy are all still alive) but I honestly can't think of anyone off the top of my head who's better as a short story specialist. Both 'Pastoralia' and 'CivilWarLand in Bad Decline' are, for me, pitch perfect short…

"It’s a bright little ditty that slowly reveals its subject is in lockup."

As a recent Saunders convert (and Vonnegut/Wallace fan), you won't be disappointed. I'd argue that he's maybe the best living American short story writer.

Weird thought:

I read all the "scoring is arbitrary, humour is weird, blah blah" prelude of Todd's review totally expecting it as a segue into the Dean's rap. I was shocked when it didn't, because I literally cannot recall the last time I've laughed that hard—and kept laughing, for minutes—at ANYTHING.

the book
Oddly, I've never seen the movie, but I've probably read and re-read the book at least a half-dozen times, and every time it breaks my heart just a little more. One of those moments in fiction where big 'L' Literature and genre fiction collide in an absolutely stunning way. (pointless like to a long, long…

Hayden
It's always hard to gauge the relative popularity of Canadian artists in the U.S. - especially Canadian artists who are pretty damned obscure even here - but I was hoping to see some Hayden. I don't think there's anything really transcendent about what he does - just another singer-songwriter with a straining…