The trailer for the film version of Michael Lewis’s Moneyball has arrived. (via Kottke, whose skepticism I share)
Moneyball Trailer
The Half-Seen Thing
“My process for writing is the same, regardless of form: I abandon my children, I become a horrible husband, and a half-assed teacher. That’s what it all has in common.” Adam Johnson interviewed for Tin House in conjunction with the release of his new collection of short stories, Fortune Smiles.
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A Liquid State
“Thus it is our [feminists’] historical task ... to define what we call oppression in materialist terms, to make it evident that women are a class, which is to say that the category ‘woman’ as well as the category ‘man’ are political and economic categories, not eternal ones.” This essay in remembrance of Alexis Arquette touches on everything from VIP guest lists to feminist theorist Monique Wittig.
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On Colors and the Mind
Here’s a fascinating article by Aatish Bhatia about “how we gave colors names, and it messed with our brains.” Grab a seat; this is a good one.
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Fiction Contest at Columbia
Columbia: A Journal of Literature and Art has a fiction, nonfiction and poetry contest going on that pays $500 to first prize winners. Joshua Ferris is judging the fiction entries. Deadline is 1/1/2010.
Harper Lee Land
“The so-called ‘alt-right’ is white nationalism repackaged as retro-chic, and its discourse constantly invokes nostalgia for a golden age in the Confederate South when racism when reigned supreme. The leaders of this project will need to be very careful that they don’t end up just creating a Disneyland for racists.” A coalition of local businesses in Monroeville, Alabama, Harper Lee's hometown, plan to open a major tourist attraction built around the late author's home and fabrications of fictional locations featured in To Kill A Mockingbird. Critics are dubious, reports The Guardian. Perhaps, in lieu of a trip, you'll accept this essay by Robert Rea about his literary pilgrimage to Lee-land?
Wikipedian in Residence
The British Library wants to pay someone £15,384 to edit an online encyclopedia for six months. They're looking for a "Wikipedian in Residence." Can anyone get Nicholson Baker on the line?
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Brad Pitt provides skepticism? After Sevem 12 Monkeys, Fight Club, the Oceans movies, Assassination of Jesse James, Burn After Reading, Inglorious Basterds and Tree of Life? I think the man has proven himself by now.
Well, we really don’t know what they are skeptical about, do we? Is it Pitt, is it the content of the movie, is it skepticism about popular non-fiction books made into movies, or is it the ability of this movie to earn money?
Ok. Enough mystery. I am skeptical that this very interesting book, which is primarily about ideas and numbers, will translate well to the screen. The book doesn’t have a very cinematic plot – Oakland doesn’t win the World Series, there is no pivotal game. It’s more about the methodical triumph of numbers over “instinct” over a period of a few years. Maybe there’s room in there for a great movie, but the trailer makes it seem as though the book’s plot is being shoehorned into the typical “sports movie” plot. I mean, throw in Charlie Sheen and a few wisecracks and that could have been the trailer for Major League.
This book/movie has more than numbers going for it. It’s about characters. Billy Beane was exactly the kind of player the “old school” scouts adored. But he was a failure on the field. The story is a triumph of modern analytics over “rut” thinking and a pack mentality. It’s the rebel beating the system, David over Goliath, a classic story-telling structure. Think “The Social Network” in a baseball uniform. It has all the right people in it and behind it. Write it down: This will be a hit.