Diary of a Bad Year: Not so bad for marginalia
Imagine reading an essay on political theory that has a note scrawled along the bottom of the page in the author’s handwriting. It describes a young woman he has just seen walk into a laundromat wearing a “tomato-red shift … startling in its brevity.” Notes continue on pages throughout the essay, bit-by-bit, developing into a suspenseful tale of the relationship between the writer and the woman, while interacting with the philosophical work with which it shares the page. This is the basic format of J.M. Coetzee’s inventive new novel, Diary of a Bad Year.
Lonely channels: surviving the writers’ strike
With the Writers Guild of America entering its fourth week on strike and no new episodes remaining of most scripted shows, networks are pulling out the big guns—namely, a bowtie clad Tucker Carlson. He’ll be the host of a new game show about trusting complete strangers to win cash. If that isn’t depressing enough, there’s no shortage of horrible ideas for unscripted shows to fill in the slots usually taken by 30 Rock or The Late Show: “My Dad Is Better Than Your Dad,” “Baby Borrowers,” and “When Woman Rule the World” (what, we don’t already?). To help cope with the onslaught of mediocrity that will rule the airwaves until the writers and networks get a contract signed, here’s some TV-on-DVD you may not have heard of:
America according to Colbert
If I were to take the advice Stephen Colbert’s offers in his new book I Am America (And So Can You!), I wouldn’t stoop so low as to write about the hilarious and much-needed “Constitution for the Colbert Nation.” I would feel it with my gut.
Echoes from the Melting Pot reverberates
Next week, Georgetown’s Davis Performing Arts Center will host two interactive installations, an unprecedented event for the venue. From the British Council U.S. comes the Black Atlantic Project (BAP), an experimental musical collaboration that evolved from seven British and American musician poets who sampled and re-mixed each others works to create a trans-Atlantic hip-hop conversation.
Malaysian persuasian at Kopitiam
Culinary routines can use a rethinking now and again, and the beginning of the year is a perfect time to try something new. Malaysia Kopitiam, just a five minute walk from Dupont Circle, offers an introduction into lesser-known Southeast Asian cuisine.
