Audio Hilarity For The Weekend
David Sedaris Reading On Letterman
Nothing like listening to David Sedaris read his own stuff...
June 9, 2008 ·Whether he's lancing boils, getting crabs from thrift store pants or sitting in a hospital waiting room dressed only in his underwear, one thing is clear: David Sedaris is not shy about sharing those embarrassing, cringe-worthy incidents that members of the general population tend to save for diaries or therapists.
In his sixth collection of essays, When You Are Engulfed in Flames, Sedaris continues to bare his body and soul, detailing the aforementioned boils and crabs as well as an uncomfortable incident in which he accidentally spits a lozenge into the lap of his seatmate on an airplane.
Though some critics have questioned the strict veracity of his essays, defenders maintain that even if Sedaris stretches the truth, a certain degree of exaggeration is expected in humor. In a 2007 Washington Post article defending the humorist, Peter Carlson wrote, "Did Mark Twain fudge facts about how far the frog jumped?"
While his magazine pieces do get fact-checked, Sedaris points out, he agrees with Carlson. For a humorist, he says, "it comes with the territory. I exaggerate about how much I exaggerate. If someone nags [in real life], in my writing they nag nag nag."
Sedaris lives in France and England with his partner, Hugh Hamrick, and is a frequent contributor to This American Life, Esquire and The New Yorker. His previous books include Me Talk Pretty One Day and Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim.
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Hilarious interview with his sister, Amy Sedaris.
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An interview with Jack Handey.
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My all time favorite Fresh Air interview: Terry Gross interviews The RZA of the Wu Tang Clan.
Making Book
At the conclusion on the TMN 2008 Tournament of Books, we'll choose ten people at random who have backed the winning novel and send them each a huge prize package. Details on that to come, but don't worry it'll be worth it. YOUR $10 = $90
We'll match up to $1000 worth of wagers and so will each of the super-cool companies listed below. Shouldn't your super-cool company be on this list? Write Michele Seiler and she'll hook you up. (michele@coudal.com)
The 2008 Morning News Tournament of Books
The Tournament of Books, we vowed, would be completely transparent. The names of the judges would be known to all, and the judges would admit to their own personal biases as well as their reasoning for every decision. The winner of this award wouldn't be any less arbitrary or any more legitimate than the winner of any other award, but the crowning of our arbitrary and illegitimate Best Book of the Year—the Champion Book of the Year, would be lots more fun. And it has been, three years running, with David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas, Ali Smith's The Accidental, and Cormac McCarthy's The Road taking top honors. As Smith noted in an email to the editors, "I am cock-a-hoop! I have NEVER won a prize of which I've been more delighted and proud. Thank you, TMN for this great, great honour."
Nice chip-in!
I've been into Wii Sports Golf lately. The game is way too short (only 9 holes!?!) and feels like a demo*, but is still soothing. I pulled in a 3-under yesterday, and actually yelled out loud when I chipped in from the rough for a birdie.
Talk about thrilling... I tried out Resident Evil 4 last weekend at a friend's place. Wow. What a game! Scary and thrilling and creepy and challenging all at once. His fiance and the girlfriend were watching, and they starting screaming and shouting out for whoever was playing to "turn around" or "blow up that guy"... lots of fun. I'm thinking I might need to get it soon, but will wait at least until the last Harry Potter book is history.
Speaking of Harry Potter, the motion controls look fun (use the Wiimote as a wand), but aside from the mediocre reviews, there is really only one key reason behind my decision not to buy the game.
And back to games in my future (woohoo - segway #3!). I plan on buying Mario Strikers Charged when it comes out at the end of the month. Online play, here I come! I'm also considering getting Alien Syndrome - looks like revamped old-school, co-op, blow-stuff-up style fun. Other than that, the only games strongly on my Wii-dar are Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Super Mario Galaxy, Mario Kart (next year, but yes!) and probably either Tiger Woods 2008 or Super Swing Golf 2. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption looks gorgeous, but I'm still in denial about the lack of online play.
[* A friend told me last week that the 9 holes for Wii golf are 3d versions of the the original, 2d, NES Golf, where they were the back 9. Who knew? He did, that's who - an addict for all things golf.]