If Thomas Pynchon ever won the Nobel Prize, would he decline it? Or would he attend the ceremony with a paper bag over his head?

(ETA: I'm assuming the equivalent of the National Book Award/"Professor" Irwin Corey schtick wouldn't be an option for such an exalted venue as the Nobels.)

Not watching the new Terminator series, but seeing its ads and reviews around reminded me that I've always regretted Skynet's name not being Milcom instead. In the context of the movies it would simply be an abbreviation for "Military Communications" (didn't Skynet = Internet?) but it would also supply a bit of Biblical resonance, since Milcom ( Read more... )

At Guardian Unlimited Books I found this review of a children's book narrated by Bucephalas, Alexander the Great's horse. It sounds really wretched. Super-wretched, in fact. But it does make me wonder just how many examples of this bizarre, twee sub-sub-sub-genre exist. Richard Adam's Traveller, of course; but is there one about Churchill's ( Read more... )

( Thoughts on recent history and the semi-arbitrary placement of walls therein: )