Square Pegs

Far be it for us to express disappointment when a television network embraces fans, or, in this case, fan-fic, but, you know us. Too little caffeine. The L Word is inviting fans to play along by writing scenes based on a “mission”. You know, the scene recons the territory, comes up with a strategy, executes a battle, does mop-up, and is home in time to vote itself better than all the other scenes. So why our disappointment? Well, FishBowlLA notes this: The episode won’t be produced (thank god, although it could be pretty hilarious), but various prizes will be offered. […]

We don’t understand why we stopped and read this story, but stop we did. Read, we did. Post, we did. The age of the Associated Press isn’t of even the remotest fascination, except, well, except that it’s older than one thought. Which is just one of those things that makes you wonder what or who else is older than you’d think. Historically, the AP has dated its origins to a meeting of New York City publishers at the Sun office in May 1848. According to the Beach documents, the inaugural meeting took place two years earlier, with the agreement to

We have recently been reminded that a major holiday is on the horizon (so many lumped together in such a short amount of time, how does anyone keep on top of it all?), and this is a Gift Giving event. Also, it seems that restaurant reservations are going fast, so now is the not the time to put things off until tomorrow. Now if you have a librarian on your list (and who doesn’t?), then we have you covered. Because nothing says “I love you” like an action figure that “shushes”. We may need to rethink that sentence. G.I. Joe,

Galleycat reports (exclusively!) that A Million Little Pieces had its Dewey Decimal Number revoked — at least in Brooklyn. The book was issued the less-exclusive “FIC” category. We’re not sure what impact this has on the card catalogs of the world, but presume the transition will proceed in an orderly fashion, barring any holdouts in Sioux City. You just never know what’s going to happen there. Brooklyn Librarians: Frey’s a Fiction Writer

Ha! You thought we’d say Chinese noodles, didn’t you? Noodles are, we have recently discovered, our third biggest vice. That is beside the current point. We have been accused of such heinous crimes as “being mean”, and to that, we can only say, well, yes, that’s true. Some people tap dance, we don’t. Neither, apparently, does James Frey (did you know he wrote about book about writing fiction? We didn’t, but the husband has provided almost-incontrovertible proof). At the risk of offending delicate sensibilities, word on the street is that Oprah Winfrey does not like being made to look foolish.

If you happen to find yourself with very little to do this coming Saturday (apparently, January 28; time does fly), drop by the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA (formerly, and fondly, the Temporary Contemporary, which you will note really rolls off the tongue) for a one-day writing workshop inspired by the current exhibition Ecstasy: In and About Altered States. Specifics: Instructor: Maria Hummel, novelist, former MOCA editor, Stegner Fellow at Stanford University. $55 MOCA members; $70 nonmembers INFO 213/621-1745 or e-mail education@moca.org And, hey, while you’re there, check out the art, too. Our official assessment: it ranges from extremely cool to

We are passing this one with full confidence that our crack BS team will get to the bottom of the latest potential literary hoax. We’re not going to brag (much), but our research squad is capable of spending endless hours on a topic. We’d call it obsessive, but that’s such an understatement. Navahoax: Did a struggling white writer of gay erotica become one of multicultural literature’s most celebrated memoirists — by passing himself off as Native American?

It is the BS policy to give, give, give. Some days, we sit in our little office and wonder how we can make your lives easier. Generally, no answer appears, so we move on. But today, ah today, we have found the secret of success. Not surprisingly, the key to getting what you want is quite simple. It’s a bit like losing weight. In other words, maybe it’s not how hard the work is. It’s how hard you work. The article includes a helpful grit test. We opted against taking it as the last time we encountered grit, it came

Maybe it’s the wind, we don’t know, but this article about the Catholic Church calling for The Da Vinci Code to receive an adult rating tickled our funny bone. We agree that protecting children is important — in fact, we think children should be protected from movies with violence, especially gratuitous violence. But we don’t always get what we want. We would like to remind the Church that this book has been made available in millions of households around the world, including many households with children. At this points, the kids have been exposed. Also, we’d like to remind everyone

To recap so far, you have purchased Garner,