Oct 10, 2008: Today's Picks from Arts & Letters Daily
Does religion make people nicer? Only if they think Big Brother in the Sky is watching. Ronald Bailey explains... more»
For the uninformed youngster who thinks easy sex was ever the way, Philip Roth’s strange new novel may be the perfect back-to-school gift... more» ... more»
The progressive, rights-based political thought of today may feel it has no use for Thomas Hobbes’Leviathan. It ignores this great work at its intellectual peril... more»
I’m extremely flattered to find that what was supposed to be a mere sidebar appearance in this month’s issue of Hartford Magazine has in fact blossomed into a full two-page spread, complete with a stunning photograph by Eric Tetreault!
The article – titled Performer Roderick Russell knows how to attract attention - is a question and answer format interview and, though there were some liberties taken in transcribing the very long phone conversation – necessitated by space no doubt – the overall fidelity is quite good and the article does indeed represent me well. Many thanks go to the author, Mara Dresner, for not only doing such a great job, but for allowing me to take up so much space in the magazine!
I love it when people send me messages letting me know of the places that they’ve seen me. It’s endlessly flattering and, as I often don’t know myself where my image will be splashed, exciting and humorous to discover all the new places that I’ve been spotted. So, in the interest of shameless self-promotion, I’m writing to tell you about the latest place I’ve been seen…:
On a billboard!
The last fun sighting affiliated with Magic Hat was in a storefront window in Manhattan, spotted, photographed and sent along by Bethany Boles. This billboard – also for Magic Hat – was spotted in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Quite odd, as I am currently sitting in Burlington, VT, home of Magic Hat, though I actually live not too far from Scranton! Love the coincidences…
Any more sightings? Ads, television appearances, magazines… Send them along!
It’s now the last week of August and here I sit, in one of my favorite cities (and old home town), Burlington, VT sipping coffee in my favorite cafe, reflecting on the whirlwind tour of shows that was summer, 2008. There’s technically only one week left in the summer touring season and I have only a few shows left in the Northeast before I make my way back to Pennsylvania.
At this point in the year I’d normally be eagerly looking forward to a couple weeks of downtime following Labor Day, but it’s not to happen this year. My usual time off the road has quickly booked up and, between September and October alone, I’m looking at a run of 49+ shows. No rest for the weary I suppose – or is that the wicked?
How can you tell the true geeks from the faux geeks? The diehards get signs of their geekiness inked into their skin.
This is a picture of a very fresh (day of!) tattoo of a flaming D20 (twenty-sided die, for all you non-dorks) sported by my brother, Chris McCarthy.
Chris decided to get his first tattoo on the occasion of his 18th birthday. This one should attract all the ladies as he heads off to college in the fall. ;)
Here’s to all the geeks willing to wear their pride on their arm! Go Chris!
Standing in a knitting shop in upstate NY - don’t ask - studying the walls, I spotted this label from afar on an air heating unit. Trent Reznor being one of my favorite musical artists, I was naturally compelled to take a photo.
What I didn’t anticipate seeing were the words “Mercer, Pennsylvania” on the label. You see, that’s precisely where Trent is from, and I’m led to believe that this must be the family business!
Delighted to discover that it wasn’t just a random appearance of the name as I first suspected but is instead “the” Reznor name.
Having decided that I needed a decent moblogging solution for my self-hosted WordPress blog, I recently ran tests of several options open to me and my setup.
My needs were simple. While on the road I’m likely to post primarily photos and video with short bits of accompanying text commentary. No need for elaborate layouts, minimal-to-no links included and text commentary is – even with my legendary loquaciousness – usually no more than a few short paragraphs.
Preferring maximum control and self-contained systems, my first choice was of course to keep whichever solution I implemented as close to the core of WordPress as is possible, so naturally I investigated the WordPress-native “Post via E-Mail” solution. Unfortunately the system is, at least at the time of this writing, not handling images terribly well, though passing text through my phone into the system is working flawlessly. Alas, it was really the combination of photos, videos and text that I was interested in, so at this time the WordPress-native solution is not for me.
Just a quick note to readers that in order to support blog submissions from my BlackBerry, I’ve finally upgraded to the latest release of WordPress. The last version was accepting my posts but not posting the entire content. At the recommendation of other users, I’ve upgraded (about time, really) and all works flawlessly.
I should make a quick note about two plugins.
As submissions from my phone while I’m on the road tend to be more whimsical and consist often of nothing more than a photo, I needed a good way to handle media attachments to WordPress via email. Alas, the built-in support is a bit finicky.
Thankfully I was able to locate and install the PostMaster plug-in (http://blog.xforward.com/?page_id=65). So far it’s working perfectly and invisibly and I can recommend it.
Journalist Michael Pollan, author of In Defense of Food along with four previous books, spoke at Google last month as part of their Authors@Google series. The video of his talk is up on YouTube and it’s incredible.
So compelling (and practical) was his talk that I rushed out to purchase his book immediately and it’s been worth every penny. In a world that has constantly conflicting scientific reports on nutrition, a government that issues shifting guidelines oftentimes in response to politics rather than data, and supermarkets filled with food-like products rather than food, how are we to know what to eat? And why in the world would we even have to ask such a seemingly silly question?
Pollan addresses and answers these questions and more in his book while also giving us – in seven words no less – very practical advice on eating and staying healthy.
Sword swallower and mind reader Roderick Russell will be appearing at the Pennsylvania College of Technology for a show that is completely free and open to the public. (sponsored by PCT Student Activities)
WHEN: Saturday, April 19th WHERE: Klump Academic Center Auditorium on the PCT Campus (W. 3rd in Williamsport) TIME: 8:00 pm PRICE: FREE!!!
The theater is a beautiful little performance space with 561 seats that I first worked in back in, oh, 2004 or so. We’d like to fill the space and have a great time. If you’re in the area be sure to come on out, and bring your friends!
Many thanks to all who turned out for the book signing this past weekend at Borders Books in central PA. Not only did we have a capacity crowd, the store also sold out of their entire stock of the book!
The Take a Picture, Get a Poster promotion is still running, but again, if you want to participate you better do so quickly, as the book won’t be around much longer!
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After a long journey through the postal system from Germany to the United States, along with time spent being forwarded within the US itself in an attempt to find me while I travel, the March issue of Matador Magazine, Germany’s best-selling GQ-style magazine, has finally made its way into my waiting hands.
A bit late perhaps – the fault being entirely mine, as I’m currently away from home – but the spread looks great, making it well worth the wait.
Alongside the usual gear reviews found in men’s lifestyle magazines (audio equipment, auto news, gadgets), how-to lists and entertainment news, you’ll also find an interview with Charlize Theron, a profile of Shaun White, and a list of bands with the guru’s they adore. Amy Winehouse apparently works one-on-one with David Sye, while the Beach Boys go in for the more 60’s commercial message of the late Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. And of course there’s also the stunning spread (oddly not the cover) of Sabrina, aka Miss Matador. What men’s lifestyle magazine would be complete without a Miss Magazinename?
I love hearing from fans of the show. I get incredible letters from all sorts of unexpected places, and sometimes, they let me know that I’ve been spotted in unexpected places.
One of the most recent messages was from Bethany Boles, a fan from Connecticut. She was recently visiting New York City and while in downtown Manhattan she spotted me as part of the Magic Hat ad campaign. (for those who don’t know, I lent my image to Magic Hat Brewery for a series of commercials and print ads run throughout the country)
Naturally I was flattered that someone even noticed me amidst the hustle and bustle of Manhattan, and I was thrilled that Magic Hat had placed ads throughout the city. What I didn’t realize was the extent of the presence!
Nigel Hardman, a 40-year-old “illusionist” from England was recently charged with eleven counts of cheating the benefits system (aka collecting unemployment, for those in the States) after his “act” brought him to the attention of authorities.
Performing – and I use that term very loosely – under the name Prince Razaq, he is said to have presented “death-defying” stunts such as sword swallowing, fire eating, walking on broken glass, escapes from straitjackets and standing on a bed of nails. Investigators apparently became curious regarding his claims of “too ill to work” - for which he was collecting benefits - after seeing him perform on the television show The Big Breakfast, clearly demonstrating that he was, well, not too ill to work!
