Didn't put these up yesterday as planned but am putting them up now in the interest of not accumulating tons of bookmarks and random links that then become irrelevant by the second.

Chris Lehman reviews a new book about copyright which sounds interesting, How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity. I can't tell from the title what the author thinks about the big media. (Shuh.)

The NYTimes profiled One Story, which I've often sung the praises of here. Subscribe, really. I'm a few issues behind now and I'll be able to catch up in an hour or so. Perfect size for taking to the laundry or reading just before bed. (First spotted at Old Hag.)

It's official: Abercrombie is evil. (Imagine my surprise the other day when reading The Moviegoer at a reference to shopping there! The horror! I imagine it wasn't all offensive belly-bearing t-shirts back then.) Also, the W. Va. governor has a really good PR director, and I say this because not one story on this controversy mentions that the guv was embroiled in a sex scandal with reams of salacious yet boring emails last (?) year.

The Guardian talks to the brilliant Paul Schrader and he talks about Mel Gibson's opus. (Schrader wrote The Last Temptation of Christ.) He has this, among other interesting things, to say:

"Last Temptation was a very humanistic film in that it sees Christ's struggle as a human struggle," Schrader told the Guardian. "Gibson's film is very different. My guess is that Mel has a problem with the Enlightenment because his film really does go back to the visceral blood cult origins of Christianity, and the fervour it's created is more akin to a Gospel tent meeting than it is to a motion picture."

The Guardian also has a really interesting cast follow-up on City of God.

And two quotes I like.

"There's almost never been a movie made that couldn't benefit from its ending being a tentative
affirmation. Because what else is there, really?
Anything more than that feels too pat. If it's less than that, it feels unsatisfying." -- Ted Tally

"Really, the most important thing I tell beginning screenwriters -- or even beginning novelists -- is: Get a first draft down on paper; keep going; don't look back; don't stop; don't reread it." -- Nicholas Meyer

Also, evidence of an ancient sea on Mars. If this doesn't excite you, you must be dead.

And great review from Rain Taxi which talks about Rosamond Purcell (who is one of my favorite, favorite photographers working today) in order to talk about Susan Howe's book of poetry, The Midnight. This review sold me that book.

OH, OH, OH, and Alan's publishing a long story in six parts on his blog, called "Home of the" -- the first part's at that link. Apropos to this entry, Alan's been published in One Story AND this story has children named Abercrombie and Fitch in it. Go read. Here's a snippet of the opening, in case you need more convincing:

Cleo was completely happy and devoid of hope. At night she dreamed of photocopiers left on in an office building overnight. On Sunday she'd walk to her church and pray outside of it, for those not inside. Bullet trains passed by. She always waved. They didn't stop. She contemplated what steps she would have to take to make the trains stop. By the time Erie's churches let out, she was back home, watching the minister on TV. No one called on her. Her house was red stucco, painted blue. Which defeated the purpose of stucco. Her mother had painted the house blue in her late middle ages. Her mother bequeathed the house to Cleo. Cleo relented. She was penitent without exactly knowing why.

Coming later: the story of the Great W.W. mix-up and a photographer named Meatyard.

worm: "Helicopter," M. Ward

today's fave post: "Home of the" Part 1 at Ptarmigan!

namecheck: That Guy Who Always Wears That Hat