MAKING beer tonight.

Maria’s Libraries is having their first fundraising party on Thursday, January 5 downstairs at Arctica Bar.

This organization was founded by two smart ladies who met a woman named Maria and saw a need in the village of Busia, Kenya. They are now well on their way to building Busia’s first library and strengthening a network of existing libraries throughout Kenya.

Last year much planning went into conversations with the local community, planning of the future building and the land procurement. Maria’s Libraries also successfully implemented a children’s literacy program, the Mama Mtoto literacy project, and established the Kitabu Kenya library network in partnership with Kenya National Library Service and the American Embassy Resource Centre.

This year, it will be critical to raise the funds needed to actually build the library. They’ve got the land, and they’ve got the architect, now they need the funds!!

Arctica Bar.
384 3rd Avenue, between 27th and 28th.
Festivities start at 7pm and run late.
Suggested (not required!) donation of 20$, either at the door or online here.

This is a great cause and a fantastic group of people. Feel free to bring friends and kick off the New Year with Maria’s Libraries!

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Apple to launch new Self-Publishing Program later this month | Good E-Reader - ebook Reader and Tablet PC News

We know there’s to be a NYC Apple event later in January and that it’s mostly publishing insiders that are invited and I’m hoping it’s good news. In this case, I’d say more competition is a good thing.

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The Legacy of David Foster Wallace | University of Iowa Press

Pubbing in May, contributors include:

Don DeLillo
Dave Eggers
Ed Finn
Kathleen Fitzpatrick
Jonathan Franzen
Paul Giles
Heather Houser
David Lipsky
Rick Moody
Ira B. Nadel
Michael Pietsch
Josh Roiland
George Saunders
Molly Schwartzburg

I can’t wait.

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The Millions : Do You Listen to Your Hunch?

Complex problems do not necessarily need complex solutions, and more detailed analysis does not necessarily improve a decision, but often makes it worse. In other words: sometimes it’s better to listen to your gut. What do you do?

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The Millions : A Year in Reading: Wrap Up

Three books tied for the most popular selection this year: Denis Johnson’s Train Dreams (selected by Dan Kois, David Bezmozgis, and Adam Ross), Edouard Levé’s Suicide (selected by Scott Esposito, Mark O’Connell, and Dennis Cooper), and Haruki Murakami’s 1Q84 (selected by Charles Baxter, Kevin Hartnett, and Garth Risk Hallberg). Seven more books tied for second-most popular: Phillip Connors’ Fire Season (selected by Chad Harbach and yours truly), Sheila Heti’s How Should a Person Be? (selected by Harbach and Emily Keeler), Jennifer Egan’s A Visit From the Goon Squad (selected by Brooke Hauser and A.N. Devers), Larry McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove (selected by Hauser and Rosecrans Baldwin), Jon Ronson’s The Psychopath Test (selected by Schaub and Chris Baio), Tamar Adler’s An Everlasting Meal (selected by Hauser and Rachel Syme) and Helen DeWitt’s Lightning Rods (selected by Scott and Garth).

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Originally Posted By rachelinbrooklyn

zachlinder:

No big deal. Jay-Z & Beyoncé hung out in Carroll Gardens for New Year’s Eve.

[via rachelinbrooklyn]

!

down the street!

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Ryan Gosling owned 2011. He starred in three hit films (I’m defining a hit film here as one that made money): Crazy, Stupid Love, the mass appeal rom-com; Ides of March, the respectable, star-filled political drama; and Drive, the critical indie darling. In both Crazy and Ides, Gosling not only holds his own, but also out-acts such performers as George Clooney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Julianne Moore, and Steve Carell. But in Drive, Gosling gives probably his best performance of the year. His character inhabits every single scene of the film, and he speaks (maybe) 60 lines of dialogue. The bulk of his performance is delivered in silence, or with a stare or a blink. It’s really quite remarkable. I’d go so far as to argue that there have been very few performers who, in one year, have created and embodied three fully formed characters, in three films, from three different genres. After having solid outings in films like Half Nelson (for which he received an Oscar nomination) and Blue Valentine, Gosling didn’t need a year like 2011 to show us all he was a true talent.

The Grantland Staff on its favorite movies of 2011 - Grantland

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The books* I read in 2011.

[*not work related] Click to enlarge.

Print - 24 / Digital - 11

Fiction - 15 / Nonfiction - 20

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Announcing Letters In The Mail - The Rumpus.net

It’s called Letters In The Mail. Almost every week you’ll receive a letter, in the mail. Letter writers will include Stephen Elliott, Nick Flynn, Margaret Cho, Cheryl Strayed, Wendy MacNaughton, and Emily Gould. Think of it as the letters you used to get from your creative friends, before this whole internet/email thing.

And it’s only $5 a month, cheap.

There’s no way I didn’t already sign up. Brilliant.

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Originally Posted By balltillifall

What I Watched In 2011

balltillifall:

A list of all the movies I watched last year.

1. The Family Stone
8. True Grit
15. The Lives of Others
17. Groundhog Day
18. Jerry Maguire
23. The King’s Speech
27. High Fidelity
29. Mesrine Part 1: Killer Instinct
31. The Kids Are Alright
39. Starship Troopers
46. Mesrine Part 2: Public Enemy #1
51. Ghostbusters
52. Glengarry Glen Ross
53. Rain Man
54. American Psycho
60. Religulous
68. 10 Things I Hate About You
71. Bridesmaids
76. Midnight In Paris
81. Goodfellas
83. Beginners
92. Twister
93. Mrs. Doubtfire
95. Toy Story
96. WALL-E
97. Page One
99. The Life Aquatic
102. Exit Through The Giftshop
105. The Fighter
113. Adventureland
116. Can’t Hardly Wait
123. Casino
125. The Royal Tenenbaums
126. 2 Days In Paris
127. Crazy, Stupid, Love
128. The Breakfast Club
131. Blue Valentine
132. I Heart Huckabees
137. 127 Hours
138. A Serious Man
139. The Fugitive
140. Raiders of The Lost Ark
141. The Bicycle Thief
146. Drive
148. Winter’s Bone
150. Fast Five
151. Anchorman
153. Superbad
158. The Social Network
161. The Descendants
164. Back To The Future
167. No Country For Old Men
168. Red State
169. About Schmidt
171. Elf
172. Love Actually
173. The Nightmare Before Christmas
179. Annie Hall

Again, not limited to 2011, but I too have seen these out of Dean’s very comprehensive list. Dean, how the heck did you keep track of all these?

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Originally Posted By balltillifall

Books I Read In 2012

balltillifall:

2. Blankets by Craig Thompson
3. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon
5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
8. Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
10. Consider The Lobster by David Foster Wallace
20. A Visit From The Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
21. The Sportswriter by Richard Ford
26. Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
33. Breakfast At Tiffany’s by Truman Capote

Dean has a great list. These above are ones I too had read, although not limited to 2011. It’s a great idea, like GoodReads, where you know what books you have in common.

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“Selling One Million Kindles a Week” – Marco.org

Here’s exactly the kind of conflation Amazon wants: a headline referencing the “over 1 million Kindles per week in December” stat from Amazon PR in an article that only mentions the Kindle Fire, implying that Amazon has sold over 4 million Kindle Fires to date.

In fact, all Amazon has said is:

They’ve sold at least 4 million Kindles, total, this month.

The Kindle Fire is the top-selling model.

But the Kindle has between 5 and 10 models, depending on how Amazon counts them:

Kindle Fire, Kindle Touch, Kindle 4, Kindle Keyboard 3G, Kindle DX

Kindle Fire, Kindle Touch 3G, Kindle Touch, Kindle 4, Kindle Keyboard 3G, Kindle DX (the most likely count, 6)

Kindle Fire, Kindle Touch 3G, Kindle Touch 3G with Special Offers, Kindle Touch, Kindle Touch with Special Offers, Kindle 4, Kindle 4 with Special Offers, Kindle Keyboard 3G, Kindle Keyboard 3G with Special Offers, Kindle DX

So all we can derive from Amazon’s numbers is that they’ve sold at least 400,001 Kindle Fires in December.

Great math problem.

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Originally Posted By noraleah

noraleah:

Andrea’s Get Your Life Together Cocktail: gin, blood orange juice, simple syrup & soda. Let’s break some resolutions. Er … I mean MAKE some resolutions.