Table-Talk of Parkus Grammaticus for November 12, 2008

I. Everything and nothing: In Slate, Dzyd Jessica identifies a headline habit at the NYT:

Consider: "Bigger Is Better, Except When It's Not"—a 2007 article looking at body size in sports. "Smaller Can Be Better (Except When It's Not)"—a tech piece from 2004. "A Marriage Penalty, Except When It Isn't"—on couples and the tax code, 2003. This is the Times headline as koan, inviting readers to suspend in-the-box thinking and seek enlightenment below the fold. The style presents thesis and antithesis; it embraces binary thinking yet disavows it; it builds dichotomies and collapses them. There are good uses of this technique, except when there aren't, as a sampling from the last three months attests.

II. New Triple Canopy.

III. The return of Pinakothek—vintage Sante:

"Florence" has reached our couple two decades after its release through the medium of oldies radio--a medium of chattering middle-aged men, audibly overweight, short-sleeved even in the dead of winter, who are capable of putting on the spookiest sides without seeming to notice the weirdness as they jabber on about trivia before and after.

(Thanks to Levi for the nudge)

IV. Speaking of Sante: I'll be on an LWC panel with him and some others on 11/22 (Sat.) at 11:45 a.m. The topic? "From Blogs to Books and Back." Back—to what, blogs??? Then do I get to go back again, to books?

V. Speaking of Levi: More Bolaño material at I've Been Reading Lately. And here he imagines Maud Newton's flight, via Anthony Powell.

VI. Annnnnd...one last time: Me + Heidi + Alec Baldwin + Will Eno + more = tonight.

Upcoming events

Light posting for a while—but I thought I'd mention (from the Blvr site):

7 NOV 2008 — On Nov. 12, 2008, the Believer will collaborate with the live performance and public radio series Selected Shorts, featuring Broadway and Hollywood actors reading classic and new short fiction.

This evening will feature readings of stories selected and introduced by editors Ed Park and Heidi Julavits. The evening’s readers will include Alec Baldwin and playwright Will Eno.

Believer readers can get discounted tickets by using the code SSP253 when ordering tickets online; by phone to the Symphony Space box office at (212) 864-5400; or in person at the theater, located in Manhattan at 2537 Broadway at 95th Street.

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And here's a Dizzies Press Release for next Monday—sounds amazing:

MODERN POETS
The Adventures of Krazy Kat
Monday, November 10, 6:30 p.m.
Theater 3, 4 West 54 Street

This program reconsiders cartoonist George Herriman's iconic comic strip Krazy Kat, which first appeared in William Randolph Hearst's New York Evening Journal in 1913. Poet Monica Youn reads her collection of works about Ignatz Mouse, Krazy Kat's antagonist, and J. Hoberman, senior film critic of The Village Voice, discusses Krazy Kat's impact on the comic strip. Meghan O'Rourke, poet, critic, and co-poetry editor of The Paris Review, moderates a discussion. This program is a collaboration between MoMA and The Paris Review.