Friday's Links
Posted by Guest Writer in 
Wow, dear readers, this has been a slow week in the literary world. A slooooooow week. We’re going to have to spice this up with some random videos and other fun. Maybe that should be S.O.P., anyway?
— Word got out this week that Baz Luhrmann will make his Great Gatsby adaptation in 3-D. I’m wary of this.
I also don’t think that anything Luhrmann does could lead to a film worse than the original, which was a sloppy, steaming pile of wrong. And since I’m dangerously close to stealing from Jeff Garlin, let’s just get it over with: “That is a big bowl of wrong.”
— Portuguese writer Carlos Castro found castrated and murdered in his NYC hotel room. Castro, a gay rights activist, had come to New York on a romantic getaway with his new lover, model Renato Seabra. Seabra has been taken into custody and termed a “person of interest.”
(What a ridiculous phrase. Writers, don’t ever use that in your work. Even when it’s the proper, legal term.)
This is shaping up to be a really interesting story. I can’t help but wonder, though, what kind of hubbub it would’ve created had the writer been American.
— Steve Almond provides our favorite take on the Arizona shootings.
— Many Texas writers are taking classes for concealed handgun permits in order to more quickly get through security at the Capitol. That’s what we need. Writers with guns.
— A law in Utah about to go into effect will greatly harm owners of used bookstores–these bookstores will have to register every single transaction with the state, costing obscene amounts of money and time. Bureaucracy at its finest, ladies and gents.
— Gee, this is a fun Friday post so far.
— Breathe this picture in deeply, but then exhale before you choke on it.
— Which reminds me a bit of this cartoon, which tickled me.
— Jimmy Chen also tickles me (sometimes)
— My favorite response so far to this whole Huck Finn debacle.
— This might be the most horrifying thing I’ve ever seen–a rat on an NYC subway car climbs up a sleeping man’s body and stares at him eye-to-eye. To put a literary spin on it: I used to live in Boston’s North End, a haven for rats. I had them in my kitchen. And I like literature.
— Our friends at Chamber Four directed us this week to Sea Captain Date, which is just what it sounds like: a dating service for sea captains. It’s lotsa fun. Literary spin? I dunno. I greatly enjoy Jack London’s The Sea Wolf.
— Shameless Plug of the Week: Justine shoots a video for PsycheTruth on therapeutic writing. 2,200 views (half of them mine) and counting.
This has officially been the most depressing Friday links post in WBN history. Have a good weekend!