Table-talk of Parkus Grammaticus for January 25

I. Radio thrilled the video star: Team Dizzies member Matt talks about the Oscar nominations on NPR's Talk of the Nation.

II. A nicely associated I've Been Reading Lately post—drinkage, Amisage, Powellage, Fitzgeraldage.

III. Did an author have to dumb down her work because of nearby fumes? (Via Jenny D.) The opening graf is kind of appealing, though, no?

How stupid the young are. When I was 21 I enrolled in philosophy at Columbia University. I wanted to find truth. I hired helpers to wheel me to it. My professors said, “Truth exists. It’s real and absolute. But the only place it has any meaning is in questions like ‘Is it going to rain tomorrow?’ Wait until tomorrow and see. Then – hey, presto – you’ve got the truth.” Well, what the hell good is that to me? I live down here, deep down in this wheelchair. I need more.

IV. There will be bud: Smiley Face—best film of 2007?! Dizzyhead Dennis had a piece in the L.A. Times, sadly not available (though I would like to reprint some of it here); Sweeney also has an appreciation. VERY FUNNY, two scenes in particular!

V. Help! Am still mired in the second episode of disc 3 of The Wire!

VI. Great title: All Shall Be Well; and All Shall Be Well; and All Manner of Things Shall Be Well. I will read this!

VII. Sarah W., can this be true?

For the last 35 years [Edward Hoch] was a fixture of Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, which published a story of his every month from 1973 until his death. —NYT