As Doc approached Downtown L.A., the smog grew thicker, till he couldn’t see to the end of the block. Everybody had their headlights on, and he recalled that somewhere behind him, back at the beach, it was still another classic day of California sunshine. Being on the way to visit Adrian Prussia, he`d decided not to smoke much, so he was at a loss to account for the sudden appearance, rising ahead, of a dark metallic gray promontory about the size of the Rock of Gibraltar. Traffic crept along, nobody else seemed to see it. He thought about Sortilege’s sunken continent, returning, surfacing this way in the lost heart of L.A., and wondered who’d notice it if it did. People in this town saw only what they’d all agreed to see, they believed what was on the tube or in the morning papers half of them read while they were driving to work on the freeway, and it was all their dream about being wised up, about the truth setting them free. What good would Lemuria do them? Especially when it turned out to be a place they’d been exiled from too long ago to remember.
AP Finance was tucked somewhere between South Central and the vestigial river, hometown of Indians and bindlestiffs and miscellaneous drinkers of Midnight Special, up a wasted set of what looked like empty streets, among pieces of old railroad track brickwalled from view, curving away through the weeds. Cut in front and across the street, Doc noted half a dozen or so young men, not loitering or doing substances but poised and tonic, as if waiting for some standing order to take effect. As if there was this one thing they were there to do, one specialized act, and nothing else mattered, because the rest would be taken care of by God, fate, karma, others.
Inside, the woman at the front counter gave Doc the impression of having been badly treated in some divorce settlement. Too much
makeup, hair styled by somebody who was trying to give up smoking, a minidress she had no more idea of how to carry than a starlet did a Victorian gown. He wanted to say, “Are you okay?” but asked to see Adrian instead.
O γνωστός μελλοντολόγος και εφευρέτης έφτιαξε τη δική του εκδοχή για τον ιδανικό e-reader, ένα πρόγραμμα για PC και iPhone που λέγεται Blio και σου δίνει τη δυνατότητα να δεις τα βιβλία σε τρισδιάστατο γραφικό περιβάλλον μέσα-έξω, να γυρνάς τις σελίδες με διάφορες τρόπους, να βλέπεις embedded βίντεο στο κείμενο, καθώς να ακούς μια ανάγνωση του κειμένου παράλληλα με την ανάγνωση με την οθόνη. Διάβασε περισσότερα εδώ κι εδώ.
Σου ‘χω ξαναγράψει για το blog της πιο πετυχημένης Ελληνίδας συγγραφέως της χιλιετίας, αλλά μόλις διαπίστωσα πως υπέστη ανακαίνιση (το blog) και εντάξει, αυτά τα πράγματα δεν μπορούν να περνάνε έτσι. Στα highlights:
- Οι 60 τελείες στα αποσιωπητικά αυτού του post.
- Το ότι βάζει τέσσερις τελείες στα αποσιωπητικά -γιατί είναι large.
- Οι φωτογραφίες με το σύζυγο.
- Η έμμεση επιβεβαίωση από το τρισδιάστατο rendering του header: Η Λένα Μαντά γράφει με Mac!
- Το ότι τα πράγματα που μισεί δεν δικαιούνται αποσιωπητικών:
There’s something for every lover of fiction coming in 2010, but, oddly enough, the dominant theme may be posthumous publication. Roberto Bolaño’s relentless march into the canon has inured us to the idea of the bestseller from beyond the grave (and of course, for as long as there have been literary executors, this has been nothing new), but beyond the four(!) new books by Bolaño we also have have potentially important works by the likes of Ralph Ellison and Henry Roth, intriguing new books from Robert Walser and Ernst Weiss, a guaranteed bestseller from Stieg Larsson, and, looming in 2011, the final, unfinished novel of David Foster Wallace. Perhaps, amid all this, it is a relief to hear that we have many exciting books on their way from those still with us, including Elizabeth Kostova, Joshua Ferris, David Mitchell, Jennifer Egan, Don DeLillo, Ian McEwan, Yann Martel, and many others.
Μια πολύ καλή ακτινογραφία της βιομηχανίας στις ΗΠΑ το 2009, με ανάλυση για το τι μπορούμε να περιμένουμε στο άμεσο μέλλον.
Trend: E-book sales will grow exponentially, with the proliferation of new devices and applications for reading on smartphones, etc… Within five years, half of all reading will be done electronically. Counter trend: There will be a resurgence of appreciation for well-designed physical books, as keepsakes, gifts, etc… While e-books will create a downward pressure on pricing, there will be notable exceptions (as seen this year with Carl Jung’s The Red Book, in great demand at $195.00, or Thomas Keller’s gorgeous Ad Hoc at Home, a bestseller at $50.00).
Εκπληκτικό: Ολόκληρη η ταινία γραμμένη στα παλιά Αγγλικά. Δες εδώ σχολιασμό σχετικά με το αν η μετάφραση του «Dude» σε «Knave» ήταν πετυχημένη και άλλα ξεκαρδιστικά.
THE KNAVE: Thou err’st; no man calls me Lebowski. Yet thou art man; neither spirit damned nor wandering shadow, thou art solid flesh, man of woman born. Hear rightly, man!–for thou hast got the wrong man. I am the Knave, man; Knave in nature as in name.
31 Ιανουαρίου, 2010 
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αν δεν το έχεις ήδη.
