The trailer's out for The Ides of March, the latest film from writer/director/star George Clooney. The movie is an adaptation of Beau Willimon's 2008 play Farragut North, which is loosely based on the 2004 Democratic primary campaign of Howard Dean. Behold:
Publishers have plenty of (unsolicited, but cute!) advice for Barack Obama, too:
McSweeney's has published Thanks and Have Fun Running the Country: Kids' Letters to President Obama. This title, which was recently featured in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, is a collection of letters written by students at 826 nonprofit writing and tutoring centers from around the country. Their issues of concern include "the economy, education, war, global warming, race relations in America and immigration... snow cones, puppies, microwavable burritos, dinosaur projects, multiplication and the ghost of Abraham Lincoln, reportedly haunting a White House bedroom".
Both of today's featured titles sound awesome--I only hope the Obamas have time to read 'em.
Check out Go, Tell Michelle: African American Women Write to the New First Lady. This book of poetry, advice, and letters to the brand-spanking-new First Lady (compiled by two education specialists, Barbara Seals Nevergold and Peggy Brooks-Bertram) was recently featured on NPR's All Things Considered.
After all, what other pressing issues could they have to worry about?
Don't worry, dear readers, that absolutely vitalbill to declare Herman Melville's Moby-Dick as the official "epic novel" of Massachusetts has passed their state House of Representatives.
We try to keep the blog as on-topic as possible... or, at least, we figure as long as it has something to do with books then we can write about it. However, today I am going to get on my political soap box to talk about something that has nothing to do with books, but does have something to do with the internet.
So the deal is this: Congress is pushing a law that would abandon the main principle the internet was based on: a concept called "Network Neutrality". Network Neutrality is what prevents companies like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast from deciding which Web sites should be put in front of you, determined by which sites pay them the most. The best explanation I have found for how this all works was on Wordcandy's favorite place to get up-to-date news: The Daily Show:
Little sites like ours would be puttering along on that second level, and might never reach your computer. In support of Net Neutrality, Wordcandy is in the process of joining the SavetheInternet.com Coalition. We encourage everyone to check out the site, read up on the issue, and, if you are interested, become involved. This is an issue that could visibly affect the average user on the internet.
That's it: I am now going to jump off my soap box, and pack it away (along with the rest of my apartment). Just two more weeks 'til I leave Ohio and move to DC!
Seriously, I might really want to start thinking about packing soon.
A fascinating study of the long and ignominious history of election fraud, Andrew Gumbel's book Steal This Vote: Dirty Elections and the Rotten History of Democracy in America is an ideal choice for the nonfiction reader on your holiday gift list. It's interesting, it's well-written, and (since it assigns roughly equal amounts of historical blame to both Democrats and Republicans) it's one of the few books about American political history that you can safely give to anyone, regardless of their political affiliation.
