A Different Stripe

Pooh has left the building, but where will you comb your hair?

As the Fuse # 8 blog reported (and documented extensively) Winne-the-Pooh (aka that Silly Old Bear) and his friends have been removed from their home in the Central Children's Room at the Donnell Library (right across the street from the Museum of Modern Art) in Manhattan. The library itself will exist in a much smaller form after the building it's in is torn down to make room for a luxury hotel. Read more about the move here.

The residents of Hundred Acre Wood are being moved to the library's main branch on 42nd street. Where the Central Children's Room will end up (if it exists at all in the future) is anybody's guess.

I wonder what will become of the great signs that hang in the Donnell Library's bathrooms, looking very much like 1955 (the year the library opened, and presumably the year these were printed up)?

Soundtrack to this post: "I am the Sub-Librarian" by Piano Magic

NYRB Double Feature at Film Forum

Last Year at Marienbad is showing at Film Forum until March 27th. It has  a  firm  reputation as a beautiful and baffling film, but
what I would not have known, were I not a compulsive Wikipedia reader, is that the script is inspired by the Invention of Morel.

Film Forum is also currently showing Goddard's Contempt, 
which is a dynamic contrast to the black and white trappings of Marienbad, both visually and thematically.

As the weather is supposed to be a bit dismal for Saturday, and Film Forum has coffee and fresh popcorn, I recommend you see both.

Lost? Turn to The Invention of Morel

Our resident Lost insider, Chad Post, tipped us off a while ago to the presence of one of our books, The Invention of Morel by Adolfo Bioy Casares in the Lost episode that airs on February 21 ("Eggtown," episode 4, season 4). In fact, Chad's been talking about the similarities between Morel and Lost for some time (conspiracy theory anyone?). Today he sends something even more thrilling, a preview of the episode in which a character (Sawyer) is reading the book, and appears loath to be torn away from it. Is it because it reveals the secrets of the island?

Read a summary of The Invention of Morel  and find some links to related pages on an earlier post.

Radio Play

Last August saw us trying to overcome our late-summer doldrums by indulging in the pleasures of free internet radio—and the NYRB Classics group at Last.fm was born.

Thus far there are 19 members in the group. Not too bad. But 20 would be a much nicer number.

What has the group been listening to? Click here to find out for yourself.

Multimedia Monday: D.A.N.C.E. by Justice

Not strictly literary, but notable for its lovely hand-drawn animated typography.

Multimedia Monday: Oakley Hall x 2

An interview with Oakley Hall, author of Warlock, that aired last April on KXJZ's program Insight (and is archived at www.archive.org) in advance of the joint Oakley Hall the Man/Oakley Hall the Band event. In it, Hall discusses his writing career, Warlock the book and the film, and reads from his latest book. The interview includes the historic first meeting between man and band—or at least band founder Pat Sullivan, who talks about how the band came to have its name.

Listen to the interview here by clicking on the blue arrow.

Multimedia Monday: Murder, Italian Style

Pietro Germi, director of Divorce, Italian Style, adapted Carlo Emilio Gadda's That Awful Mess on the Via Merulana as Facts of Murder, or, more mellifluously, Un Maladetto Imbroglio, in 1959. From this clip, it looks to capture the mood of the book quite well. Thanks to Mark at The L for the tip.

 

Multimedia Monday: Luc Sante and Fénéon

Luc Sante reads an abridged version of the introduction to his translation of Fénéon's Novels in Three Lines and answers some questions. Robert Polito introduced this event, hosted by writing program at The New School on April 30th, 2007

Last.fm/nyrb group

A few of us at the office have become obsessed with charting our musical taste via www.last.fm. And now we've taken that obsession one step further by creating a user group for fans of the classics series. Yes, it's corny and there's probably some data mining going on and who knows where all your information might end up? but who cares when it's all so much fun? Plus, if enough people join, we'll be able to generate weekly listening charts.

Song most likely to be on a copyeditor's playlist:

"Oxford Comma" by Vampire Weekend