The first thing you need to know about Kenny and Spenny is that Kenny is a cheater. No, let's back up. Kenny is a conniving, two-timing, amoral chiseling hustler who'd steal his mom's heart medication if it somehow meant winning one of their innane, profane competitions. His cunning is matched only by his laziness. Spenny on the other hand considers himself a purist. He's an honest cop, a straight arrow, a true blue idealist.

First things first. Parisians: An Adventure History of Paris by Graham Robb is a really wonderful read. Chronologically ordered anecdotes that offer a vital and memorable picture of my favorite city. Curious about the relationship between Marcel Proust and the building of the Paris Metro? It's here. How about the direct line between French alchemists and the H-Bomb (and the sequence of carvings on the front of Notre Dame that predict it)? Also here.

I'm late to the bloggy viral party (I believe Tyler Cowen kicked it off), but here are my most influential books (except they're not all books). I've sincerely tried to avoid intellectual pretension. These are not the greatest books, not the most important books, nor are they my favorite books... these are the books that have bent my life or thinking. I've organized them into subsections.

Time to talk books. You know. The things you read on iPads. Or I guess Kindles if you're color blind.

Or so said William Burroughs. But he obviously wasn't describing of "viral marketing".

WTH Blaise? ;)

This is a thread for recommending movies you've seen recently.

I liked the White Ribbon, by Michael Haneke (who also made 'The Piano Teacher' and 'Cache', both of which are very good.)

For Esme, WIth Love and Squalor is one of my favorite short stories. And while I think Catcher In The Rye is somewhat overrated, there will always be a place in my heart for anything he ever wrote pertaining to the wondrous Glass family. (Franny & Zooey, etc.)

It was rumored, quite some time ago, that he never stopped writing. He just didn't feel like publishing. It will be interesting to see what he left behind.

A wonderful obit written by Charles McGrath, here.

Here is one example:

This story and others are here:

http://boingboing.net/2009/12/16/100-word-fiction-con.html

My teenage nephew came back from seeing Avatar, the other day, all afire with enthusiasm.

So I did my best to apply the wet blankets: "ah, I cried: three hours of jejune, Disneyesque, pantheism plus the usual anti-American/anti-white-male/anti-business stereotyping - what's not to scoff at, here?"

So now he's really mad at me. Teenage boys do not like having their passing enthusiasms scoffed at.

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