The Decemberists

As you probably know, 75,000 folks showed up to see Obama in Portland, OR on Sunday, but did you also know the Decemberists were there? John Knight is upset that the media didn't report their free concert at the rally, leaving the public to think that all 75,000 people actually showed up to see Obama.

Last I checked the Decemberists were selling out clubs with capacities of only 2,500 people. Let me be the first to congratulate the band on their massive popularity. Way to go, Decemberists! Your fan base has grown 3,000% since that time I saw you at Avalon in Boston and everyone was talking during the encore.

The Global Food Shortage: It's Worse than You Think

From "Findings" in the current issue of Harper's: "It was suggested that a pack of black squirrels in Russia had killed and eaten a dog because of a shortage of pine cones."

"He Was an Appeaser!!!"

This is hilarious.

Most of the time, Christ Matthews gets on my every last nerve, but credit where credit is due.

This doesn't speak well of the industry either. Male or female, it's just unethical.

Meritocracy

Carolyn on the lack of meritocracy in the publishing industry:

I’m seeing an alarming trend lately of friends of mine leaving book publishing. Alarming for whom? . . . We [in publishing] found that experience and education did not give us a leg up in an industry that starts everyone at the bottom and where who you know is more important than what you know. We realized there’s no way we could ever afford to pay off our student debt or rent a decent New York apartment with our measly, stagnant salaries.

So, alarming for whom? Not the publishing companies. They’ll fill our spots at the bottom of the ladder with other clueless graduates willing to slave away as overqualified and criminally underpaid peons.

As I've said before, this is bad for the industry. It not only narrows the range of perspectives held by those deciding what is published, it also means the most capable people are unable to rise to the top. I honestly believe, however, that these chickens will come home to roost.

Sad, young, male

Shorter Choire Sicha: "The reason Keith Gessen and his lot can't write is that they've been emasculated by their own jealousy of great female writers."

I don't pretend to know what motivates all the sad, young literary men, but I do dream of a world free of this sort of post-Freudian claptrap.