kim said

Pilgrim's Progress: Stephen Elliott's Reading Series in a City Near You

Authors Jim Shepard, Rick Moody, and Mary Gaitskill will be reading at the NY Progressive Series event on May 15th in Williamsburg. Shepard held the crowd absolutely spellbound during his reading at a Progressive event in SF a few months ago, so if you are in the NY area don't miss the chance to hear him read. The proceeds support progressive politicians.

Next up for the SF Series on June 12:

  Eric Puchner, author of Music Through the Floor
  Samina Ali, author of Madras on Rainy Days
  Markos Moulitsas, author and editor of Daily Kos
  Jerome Armstrong, author and creator of MyDD
  Michelle Tea, author of Valencia

Dark Days for Darko Director

"Homeland Security is investigating 31-year-old Kelly, reportedly because there is a James Kelly on the terrorist watch list. [Kelly fears] he will be unable to attend the premiere of his new movie Southland Tales at Cannes later this month..." (Hollywood.com)

On a Gender Bender

Just read this on Gawker.

And Linda's brother Brian sent over these two links:

Books that move men.
Books that move women.

That's So Punk Rock... ?

"British anti-terrorism detectives escorted a man from a plane after a taxi driver had earlier become suspicious when he started singing along to a track by punk band The Clash, police said on Wednesday." (Briton held as terror suspect over punk song)

L'aventure

BOOKS: So much to share, but no time in which to share it! Hopefully things will slow down later this week and I'll be able post on books #4 and 5 (Branwell and Wide Sargasso Sea) as well as my trip to Los Angeles. I just started Quicksilver (part one of Stephensen's Baroque Series), which I picked up at the Burbank airport and am planning to read Willa Cather's Death Comes for the Archbishop for a top 100 book club.

EVENTS: In the meantime (in the interest of International Relations of course!), I'll be attending the Commonwealth Club discussion with opinionated French author Bernard-Henri Lévy whose latest book American Vertigo has provoked much comment of late. Tomorrow night I'm looking forward to seeing the San Francisco Ballet's Swan Lake and hoping to attend the Em Space dance group's free Performance Extravaganza on Sunday afternoon. They'll be performing an excerpt from the excellent piece New Monster Avenue at 4pm. More on New Monster Avenue (which I saw in October) here. The whole shebang is over at six thirty, which means I'll have plenty of time to get home before Part III of Masterpiece Theatre's Bleak House begins. Speaking of dance, Wednesday night just might find me attending one of Bombshell Betty's burlesquercize classes. Intriguing!

La Scène SF: Progressive Love

Give some love to a progressive candidate the night before Valentine's Day and get love back when authors including Tobias Wolff, Jonathan Ames, and Jennifer Traig read to you from their works at The Makeout Room on February 13th. The first event in the Progressive Reading Series was a hit and featured Daniel Handler, Andrew Sean Greer, Jim Shepard, and others. Trust me, you don't want to miss this next event. Be sure to buy your tickets early because the last reading was quite crowded! For more info and to find out who the reading benefits, head to host Stephen Elliott's site.