My shameful secret is out: I’m a book hoarder. [Update: To my surprise, this article has received a lot of attention: Entertainment Weekly, The Huffington Post, The New Yorker, and several other publications have written about the essay, at Matt Galloway spent several segments discussing the piece on Metro Morning this week. It seems there are a lot of book hoarders out there.]
In today’s National Post: Everything is Terrible!, the found-video movement that displays an ‘authentic affection’ for the detritus of popular culture; on a related note, I also chat with the director of Troll 2 documentary Best Worst Movie, Michael Paul Stephenson.
A few things in today’s paper: my final cultural lesson — of memes and Mentos; SARS wasn’t the viral hit of the decade after all — appears, as does my list of movies of the year. Also, I take part in this week’s Popcorn Panel. The movie? Avatar, which made my top 10. Also, over on The Ampersand, you can find my pick for album of the year.
Another one of my end-of-decade cultural lessons is in today’s National Post; it’s basically about the 9/11 book that wasn’t written. Also, over on The Afterword, you can check out my selections for best books of the year.
In Saturday’s National Post I chat with Sarah Elton about her new book, City of Words, which chronicles Toronto’s history in works of literature. Also, our annual Cultural Lessons kicked off today, though this year we look back on the entire decade rather than just the year; I take look at the rise of reality television.
The Kanye Dilemma: how does one play the game yet contain the ego? Also, I check out some of the artists behind Penguin’s new Extraordinary Canadians series.
How is it 2008 already?
A couple of things in the paper today; last month I spent a couple of days back in Oshawa and caught Cuff the Duke’s homecoming show. Here’s what I wrote about it. Also, our series of Cultural Lessons ends today, and the last of the three essays I wrote is in the paper.
Cultural Lessons continue all this week in the National Post; today I examine some of 2007’s comebacks in the music industry, and using No Country For Old Men and the finale of The Sopranos as a springboard, take a look at the trend of leaving audiences guessing.