Friday Links

Nerd babies need The Star Trek Book of Opposites. Or maybe just their father’s do.

When I read this story, I had a similar reaction, but Russ Marshalek summed it up much better: ”so this is the 2011 version of this article. sweet! can’t wait for next year’s.”

A while back, I posted about a song on the new Wilco record called One Sunday Morning (Song for Jane Smiley’s Boyfriend). A few days ago a comment was left on the post by “Jane Smiley’s Boyfriend.” I can’t vouch for the authenticity, but he says:

I met Jeff Tweedy in Santa Fe, NM, in October of 2010. At the time he was working on his latest album The Whole Love. Over a meal our conversation led to spiritual matters (was guided?) and I related a profound experience of a conversation I’d had with my dad several years before his death the telling of which caused me to well-up (cry), the experience of that encounter with my dad being so full of emotion. My father’s belief system clashed with mine as I’d taken on a “new age” belief of the reality of life. I’ll not go any further other than to say that Mr. Tweedy was moved by our conversation to the point of it inspiring One Sunday Morning which (by some critics) is one of the most beautiful of his contributions to the music world.

Flavorpill puts together a literary mixtape for Eeyore.

Cake Wrecks meets Twilight.

Shelf Unbound lists the top 10 books of 2011 from small presses. Perfect for your indie book shopping needs.

Related? Our pal Ben Tanzer’s book, You Can Make Him Like You has been chosen as the December Book Club Selection over at Chuck Palahniuk’s web site.

Author Charlie Stross says that publishers’ insistence on DRM loaded e-books has been a colossal mistake that works in Amazon’s favor. Bonus: new vocabulary word – monopsony

The President went book shopping with his daughters at an independent bookstore. Here’s a rundown of what they bought. Great picks, as far as I’m concerned. I’m sure that there is a conservative take down of these picks on the internet somewhere, but I haven’t stumbled across it yet. There is an annoying precedent.

Books | Tim | December 2, 2011 7:48 am

2 Comments

By Frank, December 2, 2011 @ 11:44 am

Okay, first off, how cool that Jane Smiley’s Boyfriend did that. Second, it sounds legit to me. Tweedy gave a long interview on Bob Edwards’ Weekend about 2 months back and recounted the same story about the genesis of that song, pretty much down to the last detail. So your commenter was either a cumming imposter who heard that interview too, or the real deal. I’m guessing the latter. Rock on.
By Jennifer Kley, December 4, 2011 @ 4:13 pm

First, I love the title of your blog. And then I arrive inside of your blog world and this first post is just dee-lish-shuss. THANK YOU.