Harold Pinter and Eartha Kitt

This strikes me as a personal attack.

From Slate's Kausfiles

We need a Czar Czar, to crack the whip on all the czars. ... P.S.: Also a federal czar policy. Right now, czar decisions are made on an ad hoc, case-by-case basis, with no attempt at czar harmonization. ... 12:40 A.M.

And the link is worth it, folks.

I am sick of hearing my name come out of other people's mouths.
I wish today that no one knew it.

From the NYT's Bits Blog

"Mr. Ballmer’s bet appears to be what Microsoft needs most is a little more lava lamp juice in the water pipes in Redmond."

What does this even MEAN?

Thus Spake Friedrich Shakespeare

Some men are born posthumously. Others have it thrust upon them.

Something I Have Done

I participated as a judge for Three Percent's BEST TRANSLATED BOOK OF 2008.

The 25 book long list is available here and now.

The 10 finalists will be announced on January 27th and the winning titles will be announced on February 19th at a party at Melville House in Brooklyn. With any luck, I'll be in attendance.

There's no luck.

But a woman named "Irina" commented on the original post (see the above link) and summed the whole endeavor up very well.

"This is not an academic prize, but a literary one that celebrates the diversity of interesting literature [sic]. It is all about the book that made it in the world as a piece of literary fiction."