My old roommate Justin just

My old roommate Justin just let me know that Sound Opinions, a Siskel and Ebert-style show about music based in Chicago, has started archiving their old episodes online. Their web site is still a bit basic but I'm taking this as great news. Intelligent talk about contemporary music is practically nonexistent and it's been several years since VH1's "Four on the Floor" shone briefly across the sky. I'm gonna have to add this to my regular rotation.

Stephen King Retiring?

It looks like Stephen King is retiring from writing. I'm not a huge fan but boy, what a run.

Just found out this morning

Just found out this morning that Goonies 2 is officially going to happen and, most likely, Indiana Jones 4. Here's the lowdown (via my old college chum Dave).

Sign #1 of Aging: Your totems of pop culture are now nostolgia or worse, kitsch.

I finished an interview I

I finished an interview I did with Jennifer Egan over Thanksgiving today. Only took two months. When we retool Central Booking in the coming weeks, I'm going to have to come up with a way to keep the interview section fresh. Content moves like a dead snake over there.

That's the big writing hump for this week. I've got a prison memoir to review for The Chronicle (due Friday) which shouldn't be too bad. Which means by Friday, I'll be able to get back to reading for fun. Whoopppee!

Just in time for next month's Central Booking Book Club.

Got any suggestions?

Quote of this weekend: "Art

Quote of this weekend: "Art schmart. Let's get ice cream."

--My friend Laura dismissing the paper art show at the Palace of the Legion of Honor in favor of a trip to Mitchell's.

TLS C:

The Times Literary Supplement turned 100 this week. Considered the best critical journal in the English language, the TLS has published 30-50 reviews (about triple that of the New York Times Book Review) of fiction , non-fiction and poetry, once a week for a century. Its contributors (invitation only) reads like an all star team of 20th century literature: T.S. Elliot, Virginia Woolf, Anthony Burgess, Gore Vidal. Although the paper is owned by the Times of London (and it by Satan himself Rupert Murdoch), the parent company has largely left its venerable spawn alone. It has thus ticked along as a haven for wise critical thought, an idea out of fashion and barely in gnat-like attention span universe of today.

So happy birthday TLS. I've just bough my first issue, your Centenary. Looking forward to getting to know you.

The South By Southwest Blog

The South By Southwest Blog is back, which is really neat. I'm so excited about this year's conference since many of the other attendees from San Francisco are now friends and I'll get to see old comrades from my days back in Tejas.

I will not be sleeping. And not by choice.

I'm going to stay in

I'm going to stay in tonight. I deserve it.

A former Enron executive was

A former Enron executive was found dead in his car this morning, an apparent suicide. Oy what a mess.

Comments? (I'm going to use the Central Booking Forums until I redesign. You need to register but its way easy)

I'm on the phone with

I'm on the phone with Dell ordering a new computer. At long last.