Nov. 16, 2009, the day I really arrived:

 
Hahaha. I started getting facebooks and emails late yesterday afternoon. I was giddy all night. It actually tickled me even more than making the Pub Weekly and Amazon best of 2009 lists.

This was a dream I didn't know I had.… Read full post »

So she's not dumb.

Sarah Palin deserved all the heckling she got, in my opinion. She made an ass of herself. She seemed to revel in ignorance, and glorify it. But she turns out to be intelligent after all.

I'm watching her right now on Oprah. I'm halfway… Read full post »

The announcement came suddenly, apparently. From Washington City Paper's site this afternoon:

 Just hours ago, the staff of the Blade learned that its parent company, Window Media, had filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, that the Blade was closed effective immediately, and that the paper&rsq… Read full post »

I got really choked up watching that speech. Obama hit just the right notes, and carried himself just right: serious and a little subdued, yet resilient and strong.

I broke my rule against watching profiles of the victims, because that can send me spiraling down to the dark place,… Read full post »

It started yesterday. Walmart.com announced it would sell the top ten pre-release books for $10 each, plus free shipping--meaning they would lose more than $5 per book.

Amazon matched it and the downward bidding continued.

Today it's down to $9 per book from each, and same-day shipping from Amazon.

T… Read full post »

The list is out. Congratulations to all the finalists.

I have special admiration for the nonfiction finalists, having gone through that little adventure (of creating one):

• David M. Carroll, Following the Water: A Hydromancer's Notebook(Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
• Sean B. Carroll, Remarkable Cre
… Read full post »

It has been a really sad, heavy 24 hours--reading Sue Klebold's painful essay about Dylan's role in Columbine, reflecting on it, and talking about it--so I thought I'd lighten the mood a bit with an odd moment I just had.

It is of no consequence whatsoever, but I had a… Read full post »

The issue of O Magazine is not supposed to be out until Tuesday, but NBC found a copy on sale in LA. They faxed me a copy this evening just before taping an interview for tomorrow's Today Show.

I had to read it fast, but it stopped me cold several times.… Read full post »

Sarah Palin wrote her 400-page book in four months. (Or she got a head start before she announced her resignation. Maybe she was lying and did quit early for the big-book paycheck. 

Pub date has been moved up to Nov. 17.

Yow. I wonder if it will read like… Read full post »

10:33 pm.

"Live" should maybe be in quotes. I'm watching on my tivo, just home from the gym. But so what. Who watches anything while it plays now? This ain't no freaking primary election returns.

I'm posting DOWN the thread, not most recent on top, BTW. (It's too jumpy to read… Read full post »

Sony announced the 7-inch touch-screen Daily Edition today.  PC World said, "In portrait mode, about 30 to 35 lines of text will visible, making the experience very similar to that of a printed paperback book."

An ebook the size of a paperback, with the screen content of a paperback--and hopeful… Read full post »

I just saw the subject line in my inbox: Introducing the next iPhone.

Dammit! I knew I should have waited.

I thought about it for a few seconds. No I shouldn't. What I should have done is bought the old model even sooner.

I resisted buying the iphone until I… Read full post »

Gay activists have learned a few things over the years. A big one, which took awhile, seems obvious in retrospect: when someone helps us, thank them!

We do quite a bit demanding, cajoling, and what sounds to some like complaining. We have to. As long as we're treated second-class, we can't… Read full post »

I'm watching Jon Stewart interview PJ O'Rourke on The Daily Show, and unexpectedly smiling throughout. (I find PJ mildly amusing at times, but he's gotten really tedious over the years, so I wasn't expecting much.)

My first big grin came when they lamented how you used to be able to open… Read full post »

Interesting NYT piece about a Kindle alternative:

Don’t Quit That Kindle Just Yet.

The COOL-ER device sounds not ready for primetime, but I like a lot of where it's going--especially on price.

And most of all, I like the flurry of alternatives. That's likely to juice up the… Read full post »

The Today Show announced this morning that Michael Phelps "lost" a race last night, his second "loss" of the weekend.

Yet they showed footage of him getting a silver medal laid around his head.

I googled, and found most of the stories, including this one at Yahoo say he… Read full post »

Ever since I saw the first Kindle, I've had one big complaint: the screen is way too small. It will never be widely adopted until the screen size approximates a book.

Problem solved.

Amazon announced the Kindle-DX, and the screen is as big as a book. (Though they… Read full post »

If there is still anyone not yet sick of seeing/hearing me, I'm doing three events at the LA Times Festival of Books this weekend, two of which will be on CPAN's BookTV (I think it's CSPAN-2, right?)

And two of them are open to the public, so I'm looking forward to… Read full post »

Book tour has been great: exhilarting and interesting, but tiring as hell. I hate hearing authors complain about book tour, so that's not my intention, but I do want to share a bit of what it's been like.

Dorkiest moment: dousing a woman and a row of coffee table books… Read full post »

I'm rushing. It's crazy. Quick updates on COLUMBINE:

 I'll be on the Air America show "Doing Time with Ron Kuby" live today at about 5:05 EDT, for about 10-15 minutes. Find a local station in their network.

I'm on Sirius/XM Radio at 3:30 EDT. (The Michael Signorile Show on XM… Read full post »

Check your tivo. Put it on slo-mo.

The oddest thing happened at minute 7.

They are discussing "another coach moment," after he burnt the beans. It's the awkward moment right after (Sierra?) speaks up and calls him on his shit, and Coach is saying, 'Thank for saying that, blah blah blah' while the… Read full post »

This was the first day I literally started to consider this might be a dream. I pinched myself, slapped my face as hard as I could stand, looked at a digital clock and turned a light off/on. (In Richard Linklater's wonderful film Waking Life, they suggested the last two:… Read full post »

I'm gripped by fierce mixed emotions this afternoon.

Tuesday, the New Yorker asked me to do a Q&A for their book blog, about my book Columbine.  The interview is up right now--both on the book page, and featured near the top of their home page.

Making the New Yorker… Read full post »

Friends have been telling me for years how much they hate their book tours, but that I might be the exception. I've been expecting to like mine.

I still think I will, mostly, but I got an unexpected taste this week.  I've had nine solid days of book promotion mixed with… Read full post »

I might be mildly embarrassed. I can't decide how to feel.

But I think I'm starting to like Twitter. 

I enjoy Facebook a lot, and OS, and my own little blog I started on the once-might Salon Blogs when it opened about (seven?) years ago.

But Twitter? It's nothing but these… Read full post »