Work In Prowess

This weekend was significant for two reasons, the first of which is that I re-read Mallory Ortberg’s Things I Believe About Anna Wintour’s Affair With Bob Marley. The second is that I watched five episodes of Nigella Lawson’s At My Table, a TV show in which we are invited to watch Nigella eat, walk around her house, sit on her stairs in a kimono, and add spoonfuls of Aleppo pepper to eggs and yoghurt. Read more…

There’s a misconception that I don’t like talking about my work, and I don’t think that’s fair. I would talk about it all the time if people asked the right questions.

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This week, I went to Graceland for the first time. Graceland needs no explanation yet simultaneously demands it. Graceland is the Momma and the Poppa of tourist traps. It is Disneyland for old people, the Eiffel Tower for people whose more present reality is Paris, Texas. I have wanted to go my entire life, and Graceland knows this. This is why Graceland charges $35 dollars entry fee, and why its tour packages go up to $150 just to see the inside of Elvis’ private jet. Graceland is too expensive. It knows it’s too expensive. What are you going to do, not go? it sneers, as you hand over your money. Read more…

Is there a symbol on the cover? If so, what is it? If the symbol is a weird triangle that is good, if the symbol is written in fire that is better. Read more…

Name it after a year or a place, preferably combining the two. BERLIN 1945 is a good start. DUBLIN 1916 is not a bad shout either. You will probably not mimic the success of STALINGRAD but there is no shame in trying.  Read more…