Archives for January 9, 2008

• Jorge Luis Borges foretold the Internet.
• The marvelous James Hynes on what to read after Season 5 of The Wire. Nice to see some love for Denise Mina’s great Paddy Meehan books. (Via Pinky’s Paperhaus.)
• The Surreal Life: A fur lifejacket, “not intended for wear, but it would function perfectly in any capsize or other drowning emergency.” So, stylish and practical. (Via Lux Lotus.)

Rats and consternation. Somehow, sometime, someway, M.S. Smith’s new incarnation of his nonpareil culture blog, Where the Stress Falls, fell off our blogroll. We don’t know how this happened–its predecessor site, CultureSpace, had been a longtime favorite here and in fact made an appearance as a Top Five–but we’re happy to restore it now, and to give special mention to Smith’s recently posted essays on his favorite movies and music of 2007.
And it’s with keen regret that we note the tentative retirement of another blogroll mainstay and another Top Fiver, James Tata, whose blog chronicling his cultural and literary enthusiasms has long been a reliable pleasure. He says:

I’m tired of having opinions about everything I read and watch and listen to. I think I’d like to be an open aperture for a while, just taking it all in.

Here’s to a rejuvenating break from opinion-having, and here’s hoping for a mere hiatus.

The stars are

Although I do not sing

About them–

The sky and the trees

Are indifferent

To whom they please

The rose is unmoved

By my nose

And the garland in your hair

Although your eyes be lakes, dies

Why sigh for a star

Better bay at the moon

Better bay at the moon

Oh moon, moon, moon

Samuel Menashe, “The Stars Are”