Monday, June 22, 2009

Monday Odds & Ends: Infinite Jest, Alice in Wonderland and Ray Bradbury

+ If you've wanted to read David Foster Wallace's "Infinite Jest" but found it too intimidating, a new group is willing to lend a hand. The Infinite Summer website is launching a group read of the 1,000-plus-page novel starting this week. They've broken it down into manageable bits -- 75 pages a week plus endnotes from now through September -- and are offering helpful tips and insights into the work. I'm definitely going to give this a try. Anyone want to join me?

+ Promotional photos from Tim Burton's upcoming remake of "Alice in Wonderland" have been released. The production looks lovely, which should come as no surprise.

+ Did you hear about Tony Hawk skateboarding through the halls of The White House? He did it...and posted blurry proof of it to his Twitpic account.

+ HBO has a new comedy coming out called "Bored to Death," starring Jason Schwartzman as a "Brooklyn-based writer who moonlights as a detective." The preview is here. Which, as someone pointed out, makes it a lot like "Castle" but with less Nathan Fillion...which actually makes it a lot like "Murder, She Wrote" but with even less Angela Lansbury.

+ Mary McDonnell and her awesome hair make their debut with a new recurring role on "The Closer," starting tonight at 9 p.m. on TNT.

+ Ray Bradbury already secured his legend status decades ago with "Fahrenheit 451," but now he's doing even more great things, trying to save a library in Ventury County, Calif. The New York Times has a wonderful story on Bradbury's passion for libraries -- I had no idea he wrote "Fahrenheit" on a pay typewriter in basement of the University of California, Los Angeles library -- and also, oddly enough, his passion for Bo Derek.

7 comments:

Amanda said...

Dammit! My unread copy of Infinite Jest is in Canada and I am in Korea.

Megan Kubicz said...

Considering I still haven't read my hardcover, dust-covered copy of Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, I am definitely too intimidated to take on Infinite Jest at this moment in time.

DropEdge said...

I'm with you on Infinite Jest. I'm pretty sure I did finish it at some point, but I can't remember how it ends.

jess (fushmush) said...

I like the promotional pics of Wonderland but I just can't get over Anne Hathway's dark eyebrows. It just looks wrong...

The Modern Gal said...

When I was a kid, I remember watching a slightly horrified TV movie version of Alice in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass. It still haunts me today, which makes me kinda excited for the Tim Burton version.

Anzi said...

*spit take* An Infinite Jest group read?! And it starts on Friday?!

Thank you, thank you so much for posting this - I bought IJ a few years ago and made it probably 1/5 through before last month I sadly admitted I didn't have the time to give it the attention it deserves. I'll be moving back to Canada from Japan this summer so it got packed up to be shipped home in advance of my return. I'm shipping everything this week, so that's how close I can to being unable to participate.

I really do want to read it and the idea of encouragement and a deadline spurs me on. It's getting unpacked tonight and the second I finish Norwegian Wood it'll be my only summer read.
Weee!

Joanna said...

I just recently heard of IJ and have it on my "to-read" list, but had no idea it was so intimidating! I will have to keep tabs on your group's notes.
I just posted your "How to Meet and Woo" list on my FB page - LOVE IT!
BTW - is it nerdy to use my iPhone's "Notes" app to keep a "to-read" list always handy?