In On Writing by Stephen King, he lists 96 recommended reads. Then in the 10th Anniversary Edition, he lists 82 more. So, how many have you read?
Friday, December 26, 2014
The Queen Has Mentioned "Game Of Thrones" In Her Christmas Message
Posted by Unknown on Friday, December 26, 2014
Windsor is coming.
So The Queen said this in her Christmas message.
In a speech where she talked about the 100 year anniversary of World War I and paid tribute to aid workers treating those with Ebola in West Africa, The Queen mentioned visiting the set of Game of Thrones whilst talking about reconciliation in Northern Ireland.
BBC / vine.co
The benefits of reconciliation were clear to see when I visited Belfast in June. While my tour of the set of Game Of Thrones may have gained most attention, my visit to the Crumlin Road Gaol will remain vividly in my mind.
What was once a prison during the Troubles is now a place of hope and fresh purpose; a reminder of what is possible when people reach out to one another, rather like the couple in the sculpture.
Thursday, December 25, 2014
The 19 Best Nonfiction Books Of 2014
Posted by Unknown on Thursday, December 25, 2014
These are the essay collections, memoirs, and nonfiction reads that we absolutely loved in 2014. *Ranked in no particular order*
Chris Ritter / BuzzFeed
Random House
Autumn de Wilde
Wednesday, December 24, 2014
This Is How People Asked Embarrassing Questions Before The Internet
Posted by Unknown on Wednesday, December 24, 2014
Welcome to the New York Public Library’s vault of strange questions. H/T Gothamist.
A long time ago, before the internet's glorious tubes brought us all the cats and boobs we could ever want, people used to go to the library for info.
Um, ~crazy~.
When confused patrons couldn't find what they were looking for in books, they'd often ask the librarians.
People-2-people connecting.
At the New York Public Library, each query was written down on an index card and filed away.
From 1940 to 1980, the library kept track of questions with a paper file. Recently, that old box of questions was rediscovered.
"We found an old recipe box while cleaning out a desk, and it was labeled 'Interesting Reference Questions,' the contents of which ranged from total stumpers to funny mispronunciations," the NYPL Instagram says.
BTW: The answer is zero years. YOU DIE WITHOUT THE LIFE-GIVING INFLUENCE OF A MAN.
Some were serious.
25 Of The Most Beautiful Literary Quotes About Christmas
Posted by Unknown on Wednesday, December 24, 2014
These 25 quotes from writers prove it’s the most wonderful time of the year.
Jarry Lee / BuzzFeed / Thinkstock
1. "The rooms were very still while the pages were softly turned and the winter sunshine crept in to touch the bright heads and serious faces with a Christmas greeting."
–Louisa May Alcott, Little Women
2. "Christmas Eve was a night of song that wrapped itself about you like a shawl. But it warmed more than your body. It warmed your heart...filled it, too, with melody that would last forever."
–Bess Streeter Aldrich, Song of Years
Jarry Lee / BuzzFeed / Thinkstock
An Oral History Of The Birth Of New York Hardcore
Posted by Unknown on Wednesday, December 24, 2014
Members of Bad Brains, Agnostic Front, Cro-Mags, and more remember Max’s Kansas City. An excerpt from NYHC: New York Hardcore 1980–1990, by Tony Rettman.
The Cro-Mags in 1987.
Ken Salerno
The following is chapter 2, "Max's Kansas City: Punk Thursdays," from the book NYHC: New York Hardcore 1980–1990, by Tony Rettman (available Dec. 30, Bazillion Points).
Peter Crowley (talent booker, Max's Kansas City): The person I'm aware of who first used the word hardcore was a journalist by the name of Pat Wadsley, who worked at the SoHo Weekly News. She wrote a review of the New York rock 'n' roll scene that read, "CBGB has mellowed with age. Hurrah is Macy's punk. Only Max's remains hardcore."
Denise Mercedes (guitarist, Stimulators): Max's is interesting, because when we began playing there fairly regularly and became popular, hardcore slamming didn't exist. People were just jumping around—I guess they were pogoing. A lot of movement and a lot of energy came out from the audience. Tables and chairs were getting broken. Whenever the Stimulators played, Max's had to take out all the furniture. I always think that's a little badge of honor. "The Stimulators are coming! Get everything out of here!" That's a fond memory for me.
Jack Rabid (editor, The Big Takeover fanzine; drummer, Even Worse): The scene where I really thrived as a full-fledged member was those Max's Kansas City gigs.
Vinnie Stigma (guitarist, The Eliminators, Agnostic Front, Madball; vocalist, Stigma): I used to play Max's Kansas City a lot with my band the Eliminators. I hung out at Max's and ran around with a leather jacket on with no shirt on underneath in the middle of the summer. It didn't matter! You had to have the leather jacket on! I was a punk rocker.
Richie Birkenhead (vocalist, Numskulls, Underdog, Into Another; guitarist, Youth of Today): Back then, the clubs I used to go to were Max's, the Mudd Club, and the old Peppermint Lounge. I think Max's was the first to really have hardcore.
Al Pike (bassist, Reagan Youth; coeditor, Straight Edge fanzine): Max's had this overpowering darkness. The walls were dark. Seats and tables were pushed to the side. A lot of the loud, fast people hung there.
Keith Burkhardt (vocalist, Agnostic Front, Cause for Alarm): I came into the city from Nutley, New Jersey, and went to Max's Kansas City. Instead of being at the hole-in-the-wall pizzeria where I worked, now I was at Max's, where you could run into Mick Jagger or Andy Warhol. There were all these punks. It was a totally surreal scene.
Randy Underwood
Tuesday, December 23, 2014
Angelina Jolie's "Unbroken" Leaves The Best Part Of Its Story Off Screen
Posted by Unknown on Tuesday, December 23, 2014
The actor’s third film as a director tells the incredible true story of Louis Zamperini, but skips the half that makes it all resonant.
Jack O'Connell as Louis Zamperini in Unbroken.
Universal Pictures
Unbroken is directed by one Angelina Jolie, whose work as an actor you may be familiar with. It tells the true tale of veteran and Olympic athlete Louis Zamperini (Jack O'Connell), a man possessed with an incredible will to survive and some astoundingly bad luck. Or rather, it tells part of his tale — the part in which, during World War II, he survived nearly two months at sea, only to be rescued by Japanese troops who promptly dumped him in a prison camp.
Unfortunately, the most compelling part of Unbroken (in theaters Dec. 25) is barely part of the movie at all. The confounding coda unfolds on title cards right before the end credits roll, letting the audience know that the events that would turn everything we just watched into a story instead of a chronicle of human endurance aren't going to make it on screen.
After all of his suffering has been dramatized, Zamperini, we're told in text on screen, went on to struggle with trauma from his experiences, until he found religion and through it, stability. He returned to Japan, trying to forgive the men who imprisoned and mistreated him, even the commander who singled him out for particular cruelty.
O'Connell as Zamperini, Finn Wittrock as Francis "Mac" McNamara, and Domhnall Gleeson as Russell Allen "Phil" Phillips in Unbroken.
Universal Pictures
It's fascinating that Zamperini sought out his captors once the madness of war was over and tried to reconcile with them. That Unbroken consigns that to an afterthought, alongside some touching footage of the real Zamperini, who died earlier this year at age 97, suggests that what's really important about the man's incredible life is what he went through, rather than what he did as a result of it.
Zamperini's experiences allow Unbroken to feel like an awards movie mash-up — a little Chariots of Fire, some de-tigered Life of Pi, a helping of Bridge on the River Kwai, all glossily realized in a spare-no-expense fashion. For instance: The screenplay, based on Laura Hillenbrand's book Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption, was written by the goddamn Coen brothers, along with Richard LaGravenese and William Nicholson.
The score is by six-time Oscar nominee Alexandre Desplat. The film is photographed by the great cinematographer Roger Deakins, who includes a few particularly arresting overhead shots. Rising star O'Connell, so good in Starred Up earlier this year, is joined by a handsome blur of other gaunt white guys: Domhnall Gleeson, Garrett Hedlund, Jai Courtney, Finn Wittrock, and Luke Treadaway.
12 Cats Who Are Secretly "Game Of Thrones" Characters
Posted by Unknown on Tuesday, December 23, 2014
A Song of Mice and Fire.
Robert Baratheon
HBO
"I swear to you, I was never so alive as when I was winning this throne, or so dead as now that I've won it."
Arya Stark
HBO
"Fear cuts deeper than swords."
11 Memes From 2014 As Classic Book Covers
Posted by Unknown on Tuesday, December 23, 2014
The 22 Most Exciting Literary Debuts Of 2014
Posted by Unknown on Tuesday, December 23, 2014
These are the voices in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry that kept our eyes glued to the page.
Graywolf Press
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