What does it mean to be cool? According to scholar Joel Dinerstein, it means a person who conveys “relaxed intensity.” Using this definition, Dinerstein and Frank Goodyear III curated a photography exhibition of “American Cool” at National Portrait Gallery. The portraits feature everyone from Joan Didion to David Byrne.
Photographing the Cool Kids
Beach Reads
From Ian McEwan to Iris Murdoch, The Guardian offers a list of the 10 best seaside novels. Pair with our own Mark O’Connell‘s account of a close encounter with John Banville, whose The Sea makes the #8 spot.
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He’s at a Loss
Guess which famous novelist and new Twitter user got 19,000 retweets for the following: “On Twitter at last, and can’t think of a thing to say. Some writer I turned out to be.” (Hint: his last name rhymes with “sing.”)
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Elaine Hsieh Chou’s Accidental Satirical Novel
Elaine Hsieh Chou discussed her debut novel, Disorientation, elaborating on how she used humor and satire to tackle painful subjects.
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He Said, He Said (Tom Wolfe Edition)
Thomas Mallon seemed to enjoy Tom Wolfe’s new novel. Our own Nick Moran? Not so much.
Holy the First Pitch!
Beat poet Allen Ginsberg once threw out a surprisingly decent first pitch at a San Francisco Giants game while wearing a pocket protector. Seriously. Here’s our own Bill Morris with a little more on Ginsberg, Beats, and film.
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Elkin’s 80th
Today would be author Stanley Elkin’s 80th. On this occasion, one fan posts an excerpt from The Franchiser and suggests “Read it out loud three times: the first to hear the sounds, the second to feel your mouth and tongue and throat make the sounds, the third time to listen to what Elkin is saying.”
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Keep An Open Mind About It
From the annals of Wikipedia: would you rather have Witzelsucht or Foerster’s syndrome? Whichever you decide, it looks like neuron your own with this one.