Treme meme

Prediction for a Slate article for six months from now: "Why Treme Is Better Than The Wire."
—Steve Hely

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

New Believer is out!

For a taste, check out Dizzyhead Andy's piece online, "The Official Guide to Official Handbooks." Other fun stuff: Elizabeth Gold on '70s pop feminist fiction (Erica Jong, et al.), Dizzyhead Robert on Fletcher Hanks, that Hornby/David Simon (The Wire) interview I mentioned before, and much more...oh yes, the naming article! And something on Boris Vian! It's a great issue!

In a Huff

Levi's back from vacation, with some delightful posts, including this one about names. On a recent viewing of Double Indemnity:

And that name: Walter Neff. He was Walter Huff in Cain's novel, but the name was changed for the movie, and now it's perfect. The sound and the feel of it are just right for a guy who thinks just a little too highly of himself and is willing to be unscrupulous--but who is, ultimately, just another patsy in the hands of someone who instantly saw through him and had even fewer scruples than he did.

It makes a nice companion piece to Robert Cohen's article on naming in the upcoming (Aug.) Believer, "The Untragic Death of Henry Gladfelter." (I won't say too much more about issue #46 till it hits the stands, but fans of HBO's The Wire should note that Nick Hornby conducts a long and interesting interview with show creator David Simon.)