Another candidate for Name of the Year — "Every human name"

"Dr O'Dor":

The research into the evolution of deep-sea octopuses was part of a programme called the Census of Antarctic Marine Life (CAML), explained Don O'Dor, CoML's co-senior scientist...

The species could all be traced back to a shallow-water octopus called Megaleledone setebos, which is only found in the Southern Ocean.

Dr O'Dor added that the BAS researcher's work also enabled her to identify how changes in the region's ocean played a pivotal role in the development of the new species, especially the emergence of a "thermohaline expressway". —BBC

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That great Lethem review of 2666!!! Begins with Philip K. Dick...has some HPL ("the puzzle of their devotion to a writer who declines their interest — declines, in fact, ever to appear — inches like a great Lovecraftian shadow over their lives")...and DFW, and Denis Johnson...and then:

Bolaño has been, because of his bookishness, compared to Jorge Luis Borges. But from the evidence of a prose always immediate, spare, rapturous and drifting, always cosmopolitan and enchanted, the Bolaño boom should be taken as immediate cause for a revival of the neglected master Julio Cortázar. (Cortázar’s name appears in “2666,” but then it may seem that every human name appears there and that Bolaño’s book is reading your mind as you read it.)

UPDATE: Dzyd Ben reviews 2666 for the L.A. Times.

Son of Table-Talk of P.G. for November 3, 2008

I. New Believer is out—the Art Issue! Hooray!

Lawrence Weschler on/with Robert Irwin and David Hockney; Mark Swartz on ; Sheila Heti interviewing Frank Stella; Morgan Meis on the art of the clubhouse; Joshua Cohen on a fake Caravaggio; Michael Marcinkowski on Cavemen (!!!?!?!?!?!?!); epic Hillary Chute interview with Lynda Barry; Jonathan Taylor on the third Twin Tower...in Tulsa; much, much more!







II. The NYT goes to the Bowery for the return of the Homeless Museum:

He said Albert pointed to a pumpkin that was keeping a stack of letters from blowing away and told him, “Twenty-seven years ago I could have drawn this perfectly.”

(Read all of Samantha Topol's Believer piece on the HoMu, from Dec. 2006/Jan. 2007 issue here.)

III. A Flickr set of spirit photography (via L.G. Thos.)

IV. Dizzies Name of the Year™: Ninth place N.Y. marathon women's finalist Dire Tune.

V. Dizzies Lede of the Day (trademark pending):

It’s like being named the outstanding British soldier of 1776.
The trade publication American Banker unveiled its Banker of the Year award last week: It went to Kenneth D. Lewis, chief of Bank of America.
—Stephanie Clifford, NYT

Name of the Year

It's March, so that means it's time to fill out your bracket for the Name of the Year. There are a lot of compelling matchups this year - and voting is almost over for the first round, so be sure to head over and exercise your democratic right. It's a loaded ballot, with favorites Destiny Frankenstein, Fabio Assalone, and Reprobatus Bibbs having strong showings so far (although Clarence Clapsaddle is giving Assalone a good fight).

I spent hours debating the battle between Metallica Tomoro and Johnny Moustache, eventually tipping in favor of facial hair. My upset special is Gasoline Hunter over heavily favored ElRazor Sharp. But my overall favorite must be Alpacino Beauchamp, who was so named after his mother watched John Travolta repeat Al Pacino's name over and over during a scene in Saturday Night Fever. It's that kind of powerful anecdote that gives the Name of the Year tourney it's everlasting appeal.