tim merritt [dot] net

I sent Stefan “a link to David Foster Wallace’s introduction to the 2007 edition of Best American Essays. I have enjoyed his magazine pieces, and own two of his books, so I sent the link unread with a promise to him to come back to it later. Stef sent back a grumpy rant about the piece, and without getting into the nature of his complaints, what impressed me most was the closeness of his reading and the concentration he must have brought to bear. It forced me to realize that I don’t as a matter of course bring more than minimal attention to what I read – I’ve been scanning, not reading, and my mental muscles are weak. They need to do some weight lifting, and so do I.

Yes, “Tim” is an anagram for TMI, “Too Much Information.” Email messages unread: 68. RSS items unread: 625. Current browser tabs among 5 windows: 11. Too. Much. Information.

So where to cut back? I don’t want to lose more sleep. I would have trouble giving up reading political coverage during this run-up to an election year, especially when the Republicans are fielding such a bizarre misguided flip-flopping fear-mongering group of candidates. And the Democrats, ah the Democrats… they’re so amazingly timid about really pounding on the most incompetent regime America’s seen in my lifetime, and on the Congressional Republicans that have enabled it. George W.Bush makes Nixon look like a smart progressive on most issues. Who’d have thought we’d pine for Nixon? Ever? And in a situation like this, how can I keep from following it?

But back to Too Much Information. There’s always something new just a click away, whether it’s one of those emails, or in a feed, or on a site I haven’t checked this last foru minutes, or something. And I have this blog, see, the one you’re reading? Having a domain, and a blog, implies a commitment, and I have not kept that commitment. I have a camera, too, that camera implies another commitment, to take and publish pictures. I have not kept this commitment either.

Will Richardson writes and lives the Read/Write web, and I do not. Too much reading and not enough writing/photographing/publishing. I’ve allowed the too-many opportunities for something new to become data smog and I have to filter more of it out. I guess that output would become more of the smog for someone else, but the exercise of doing it myself would be better for my mind and my health.

Thanks to Teresa and Patrick Nielsen Hayden for the link, a B Kliban Picture Gallery: Cartoons In Order Of Increasing Difficulty.

B. Kliban’s cat cartoons were very popular in the 80s, but his other cartoons were surreal and subversive. Just the thing for me, anyway, trying to find my way through early adulthood.

I really like Mark Bittman, “The Minimalist” food columnist for the New York Times. Today’s column, Overindulge? Snack on This is about Welsh Rarebit, a fancied-up version of cheese toast. He offers a recipe that sounds very good, requiring mustard, cayenne, and dark beer in addition to the cheese. Mmmmmm.

This reminds me of the staple late-evening dish of Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin, their hallowed “toasted cheese,” ably described and beautifully placed in context by Anne Chotzinoff Grossman and Lisa Grossman Thomas in their Lobscouse and Spotted Dog: Which It’s a Gastronomic Companion to the Aubrey-Maturing Novels, a volume that will greatly enhance your enjoyment of the series.

I also recall Dream of a Rarebit Fiend by Winsor McKay. They were cautionary tales warning against overindulgence. Hah.

R.W. Apple writes about John Rowley in The Oyster Is His World, and reading it, for a moment, I wished it was mine too. John Rowley has made a career and a calling of advocating for and raving about oysters, and to me, that’s one of those “Dang, that’s a great job!” jobs. Ah well.

Oysters – I love them. I love them to the point of becoming stupid about them at times. I love them smoked – the first way I could eat them as a boy in land-locked Atlanta despite oyster-loving parents – and in stews and fried. I especially love them on the half-shell. And yes, I chew them. Slo-o-owly and lovingly.

I find that I have not read much of the literary oyster canon (see this list of suggested oyster books on CuisineNet). I have however read one of the most important and enjoyable books of any type, M.F.K. Fisher’s Consider the Oyster.
It’s a superb little book, and if you don’t know Fisher’s writing, a very good introduction to her. Just be advised, you’ll be hungry.

In searching for a bookstore link to the book, I came across several sites that refer to her and her books (including CuisineNet, linked above) and several were also thoughtful writers about food and hunger and human appetites. More on food blogs another time.

Oyster photo: Ron Wurzer for The New York Times.

[Update: Just after posting this, I found the site of the MFK Fisher Foundation, sponsored by Les Dames d’Escoffier International, which includes tributes and information about her work.]

Pro Blogger Jason Kottke compiled a list of his best links of 2005. Jason finds and links to things that constantly open my eyes and continue to show why the web is such a great place. I’ve been saving many of these as PDFs to read on the train to work.

It’s not a book, really, it’s a short story first published in the New Yorker. I haven’t read it yet, though I’ve saved it as a PDF. I had come across some buzz about the movie here and there, and Jason Kottke linked to the story at the New Yorker.

It’s directed by Ang Lee, whose films (at least the ones I’ve seen: Sense & Sensibility, Ride With the Devil, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) seem to be about troubled or forbidden relationships, forbidden by custom, class, race, vocation. I have not seen The Ice Storm, which as I understand it covers similar ground in a Connecticut family, nor have I seen The Hulk, in which Jennifer Connelly and a large green man with anger issues have troubles. But that’s a digression.

Brokeback Mountain explores the forbidden relationship between two men with care and respect. I found it moving and genuine, and I greatly admire Heath Ledger’s performance. Recommended whole-heartedly.

Project Gutenberg Titles by P. G. Wodehouse
Project Gutenberg Titles by P. G. Wodehouse

It seems many of them have moved into the public domain. Have you read Wodehouse? Very funny.

What book can’t you put down? | Ask MetaFilter
“I’m looking for a really good story—I feel like I’m drowning in books but there’s nothing I really want to read. I’m tired of all these ‘literary’ novels where nothing really happens, or the big best-sellers that are all action and no substance. I don’t really care what genre, fiction, nonfiction, anything is fine as long as it really sucks you in.”

After reading this thread, I picked up Alan Furst’s 1991 novel Dark Star, about a Pravda journalist becoming mired in Western and Central European intrigue as World War II looms. An engaging read.

Quick Sunday Morning note: [Anne Lamott’s Plan B – Further Thoughts on Faith](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1573222992/104-6157023-0711911?v=glance) is funny and moving. We have it from the library, and it’s so good I want to go buy a copy. (I’ll wait for trade paper, though.)

William Gibson returns to blogging.

Why?

And because, as the Spanish philospher Unamuno said, “At times, to be silent is to lie.”

What he said.

I picked every category for this post, because I don’t have one called “Overloladed.” I must winnow my to do lists to one list, remove some bookmarks that are more time-wasters than valuable (though Fafblog is too good to lose, for one), I need to backup, weed, and resinstall on my laptop, which has become sluggish; aagghh. Overloaded.

BBC - Radio 4 – The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
The final three books in the Hitchhiker ‘trilogy’ are being adapted for Radio 4 in two new series starting in September 2004 and May 2005.

Crooked Timber linked to it, so they get credit. I will be recording them all if my schedule allows, and it likely will thanks to the BBC’s Listen Again feature.

beliefnet: Tony Hendra talks about his bestselling book, ‘Father Joe,’ and the man behind it

I really like this book; Father Joe is an ideal of the listening loving father figure, not ideological or even apparently capable of the little selfishnesses of normal humanity. I’m glad E gave me a copy; I’ll be revisiting Father Joe again.