from 2666

"Ivanov's fear was of a literary nature. That is, it was the fear that afflicts most citizens who, one fine (or dark) day, choose to make the practice of writing, and especially the practice of fiction writing, an integral part of their lives. Fear of being no good. Also fear of being overlooked. But above all, fear of being no good. Fear that one's efforts and striving will come to nothing. Fear of the step that leaves no trace. Fear of the forces of chance and nature that wipe away shallow prints. Fear of dining alone and going unnoticed. Fear of going unrecognized. Fear of failure and making a spectacle of oneself. But above all, fear of being no good."

- Roberto Bolano

stand in the schoolhouse door

today is the 46th anniversary of George Wallace's schoolhouse door stand at the University of Alabama's Foster Auditorium.

the mid-week in review

on Monday I visited the cardiologist and watched the debut of The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien.
on Tuesday I bought a loaf of bread.
on Wednesday I dropped the laptop that had the only current version of the "still in-progress but nearing the finish line" Tusk book. the screen broke. it looks like the combination of a spider web and a color bar test pattern on late '60s television.
good times.

saw green day at webster hall tonight

it was good.

on the way home, ate a cheesesteak at 99 miles from philly.
it was also good.

free from work

it's the normal hour, just before 3, when I should be hard at work on Tusk, but I'm not.
which doesn't mean that there's not more work to do, but this afternoon I dropped the manuscript off with a trusted friend and editor and so tonight is likely the closest I'll ever come to the joy of dropping off a child at the grandparents and then turning right back around towards home and a wasted evening.
not a complete waste, I guess, but wasteful enough.
not only bad movies on television, but bad movies on television with commercials.
just not really something we ever really do.
I used the commercial breaks to check in on the Mets' comeback against San Francisco, which I wasn't exactly hoping for. second day in a row that a top line pitcher (yesterday it was Verlander for Detroit) was forced to trust his work investment to an incompetent bullpen. a shame.
has to be more than frustrating to have that kind of talent, give that kind of performance and then have to watch it blow up. and then share a locker room, a team charter with the very culprits who caused it.

also in the past 24 hours, Wayman Tisdale, by all accounts a stellar human being, passed away, and Green Day's "U2 Week" in the city peaks with the release of 21st Century Breakdown (available as a $4.99 download from Amazon).
tomorrow night they'll serve as the final musical guest of SNL's season, then Monday they'll perform at the Bowery Ballroom with Webster Hall on Tuesday.
tickets for Madison Square Garden went onsale this morning and are most likely gone since they added a second MSG show only 15 minutes in.
but you've still got a chance to see them play one of their smallest venues in years as the Bowery show goes onsale at noon EST Saturday.
good luck.

it's giveaway day!!!

in honor of my nephew's birthday tomorrow (he'll be old enough to not want to talk on the phone unless you can discuss rodeos or dinosaurs, and maybe not even then) and finally (finally) obtaining Internet access today (lack of technology can paralyze you), I'm giving away a free download code for No Doubt's entire recorded catalog (my nephew would be uninterested, but you pretty much need an Internet connection for this).

first person to respond with their e-mail as a Comment wins (don't worry about your e-mail being broadcast on the Worldwide as I have approval privileges so I'm the only person who will see it).

jesus, etc.