Did You End Up Talking to Gore Vidal?
Jon Bon Jovi may no longer be headlining, but the organizers of this summer’s Book Expo 2007 don’t feel any less young and hip for that.
Just look at the Web site! In its press area, there’s a special corner for bloggers (BookExpo America Loves Bloggers!).
Elsewhere, there’s a place to load in personal essays inspired by the event! (“Did you meet your wife? Lose your mind? Get stranded at the airport and end up talking with Gore Vidal? Tell us.” Umm, we’ll be tracking these closely.) read more »
The Vogue for William James
Is it just us, or are people obsessed with William James these days? It seems like there’s a new book about him every other month.
Today, Columbia University awarded one of them the Bancroft Prize for excellence in American History: Robert D. Richardson's William James: In the Maelstrom of American Modernism (Houghton Mifflin).
(Hopefully this won’t rule out the chances next year for Deborah Blum’s fascinating Ghost Hunters: William James and the Search for Scientific Proof After Death – do they give the Bancroft Prize for books about séances?)
The prize jury said Mr. Richardson’s work “is a virtual intellectual genealogy of American liberalism and, indeed, of American intellectual life in general, through and beyond the twentieth century … the story Richardson tells is engaging, his research deep, his writing graceful and appealing.”
High praise that nevertheless somehow makes it sound like a snore.
Jack Temple Kirby also won the $10,000 prize for his book Mockingbird Song: Ecological Landscapes of the South (University of North Carolina Press). This book “is an ecological history of the American South, told through a series of chapters about different types of landscapes and ….Blah blah blah blah blah.”
Bring back the ghost hunter!
The Hollywood Tweak: Variety, HBO
So Variety has a story in Monday's editions about an ad HBO is placing ... in Variety!
The ad purports to promote the fictional movie Cleaver, a mob-themed horror movie that was a plot point in last week's installment of The Sopranos.
First, it was "Entourage's" mythical "Aquaman," which broke "Spider-Man's" box office record before the "Pirates of the Caribbean" sequel came along and did it in real life. Now it's "Cleaver," the mob-inspired slasher movie, receiving the full-page ad and mock doc treatment.
HBO has again playfully tweaked the movie establishment by running a Daily Variety ad for "Cleaver" -- the movie-within-the-show produced by Tony Soprano subordinate Christopher Moltisanti (Michael Imperioli) -- as well as a bogus "HBO First Look" about the making of the fictitious movie.
The Variety ad department wants to know: Who's next?
(Here, by the way, is the "mockumentary." So, we guess the whole plan worked ...)
Bernstein Writes the Book on Hillary
Carl Bernstein's next book: A biography of Hillary Clinton.
The deal is with Alfred A. Knopf, according to a press release issued this morning.
The title, A Woman In Charge: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton, seems a rather hopeful one given her current presidential bid. read more »
Teresa Weaver, Poster Child of the 'Book Review' Era
After the paper folded its book review entirely, the Circle formed around her when she had to leave the paper.
It's pretty grim stuff, what with the recent cutting back in space at the L.A. Times Book Review (once a stand-alone section, now it has to share space with Opinion), but there's something of a bright side as well.
read more »
Get BEA Out of New York!
Most of the book industry wants a hotel room and room service paid for by the boss. read more »
Rebel With a Cause
The IMDB gossip page, which usually tells us things we already know, carries a novel piece of information this morning.
James Franco, the James Dean lookalike best known to the public as Peter Parker-friend-turned-foe Harry Osborn in the Spider-Man franchise (but most beloved to us for his turn as Daniel Desario in Freaks and Geeks, of course) is back in college working on his honors thesis in creative writing!
"Part of [the novel's plot] is based on a person I knew when I was younger who got in a lot of trouble and a lot of fights and was arrested a lot and was considered a troubled kid and kicked out of high school," he said. "Then, later, when I graduated high school he was diagnosed as a schizophrenic so I see his behavior as pre-symptoms to getting the help that he needed."
New Editor at King Features
Kennedy, a fixture in the cartoon and comics world both creatively and socially, died last month at the age of 50 while vacationing in Costa Rica.
Brendan Burford is the new comics editor. Mr. Burford has worked at the company since 2000, when he left DC Comics to become an editorial assistant at the prominent comics distributor. read more »
Bruce Willis Blogs Hard
Bruce Willis is talking back. We think. We’re 99.9% sure.
“[I] am John Mafuckin'Clane,” wrote a poster named ‘Walter B’ to the Ain’t It Cool News Web site on Monday. Claiming to be the star of the Die Hard series of films—including the much-anticipated Live Free or Die Hard—‘Walter B’ was dropping by to check in with his avid fans on the influential TV/Movie fanboy site and dispel some rumors about the fourth installment of the Die Hard franchise.
“What if I came to you all, just as as [sic] guy who in the last weeks of post, facing a 5 week, World-Wide press tour, an[d] crazed at the prospect of it, just wanted to take a simpler approach to talking to this enormous group of people…” Getting cozier, he added: “I feel a strong personal pull to hear from an audience I do not know, sans Bullshit, (And that means I tell the Truth), sans gossip, just the straight, tight shit.” read more »
Tony Award Nominations: The Chenoweth Files
Spring Awakenings was this morning's big winner when the nominees for 2007 Tony Awards were announced.
Click "read more" to see the full official list, including the number of nominations each nominee actually received from the League of American Theaters and Producers.
And here's a handy round-up of early observations:
