Moving Day

It's time for a change. I've decided to relocate KimSaid to typepad. Here's my new URL: http://kimsaid.blogs.com/.

Truth & Beauty

From Ian McEwan (author of Atonement):

Much has been written about the imagination in science, of wild hunches born out, of sudden intuitive connections, and benign promptings from mundane events (let no one forget the structure of benzene and Kekulé's dream of a snake eating its tail) and of the occasional triumph of beauty over truth.

("Is science driven by inspired guesswork?" Telegraph UK)

Romancing the Tome

Lusting after the latest news on literary adaptations? Get satisfied this week on Romancing the Tome where Amy weighs in on the new Austen adaptation while I report on the the Gulf War-novel turned film Jarhead and reveal why filmmakers are hot for Paris (the city, not the heiress).

Pride & Prejudice: Worth Every Penny
NO, This Is Not (Just an Excuse to Post Another Pic of Jake Gyllenhaal)
Paris Is for Lovers

White Hotness

Download the White Stripes cover of Tegan & Sara's "Walking with a Ghost" here. And just because I never tire of watching Jack cover "Jolene" at Blackpool, here's a link to the video.

No Quibbles, Just Bits #3

Dox Quixote was a major influence on David Barringer while brainstorming for his novel Johnny Red. Read an interview with Barringer on 52 Projects (via Lux Lotus).

Here's The New Yorker's review of Dying for Love, the new novel by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Browsing through the lastest issue of Wired (and wondering, was it always skewed this male? p*rn, gadgets, p*rn...) while researching an article, I happened upon what I thought was an interesting statistic. 55% of Netflix users are female and the top five genres are 1)Drama, 2)TV, 3)Comedy, 4)Action&Adventure, and 5)Thrillers. I have 219 movies in my queue (which at the slow rate I've been watching them lately could mean years of backlog), with most of my picks in the Television, Classic, and Foreign genres.

Was Marie Antionette a Jolie Laide? Discuss at La Dauphine.

Sherlock Is the New Sexy

Michael Chabon and Laurie King will be at the Main Library on Wednesday to discuss the impact of super-sleuth Sherlock Holmes on their work. I'm currently immersed in Chabon's magical The Amazing Adventures Kavalier and Clay, which interestingly enough pulled me away from last night's Masterpiece Theatre presentation, Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Silk Stocking. It was difficult because, as the London Evening Standard says, "Was there ever such a brooding, handsome and strangely sexy Sherlock Holmes as this...?" But my eyes kept glancing at the book on my nightstand and I couldn't resist its siren call any longer. I had to know what was going to happen to the equally handsome and brooding Joe Kavalier...

From the KimSaid Archives: "Crafty Cliffhanger," "A Bit of a Crush, Actually"

From the Romancing the Tome Archives: Amy's "Before CSI"

The Dark Arts

The Guardian reports on The Tate's upcoming exhibit Gothic Nightmares: Fuseli, Blake and the Romantic Imagination, which will feature works such as William Blake's The Night of Enitharmon's Joy (pictured) and Fuseli's The Nightmare. ("Sex and the Supernatural," The Guardian UK)

Fear Factor

Diane Arbus' haunting Twins is hanging in the newly reopened DeYoung Museum. The accompanying placard explains that the photograph inspired the twins in Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of Steven King's The Shining. Read more about the photograph and hear a report from NPR's Madeleine Brand here.

Les Filles Chez Maison 140

Pink is the New Blog

I worship at the altar of Pink daily--it's my favorite guilty pleasure. So I'm THIS thrilled to see that Trent gave my What's Haute column (that "work" thing I do) props in today's post. It's like I'm totally famous only without the Scientology pregnancy...or Josh Hartnett.

Today in Literary History

"It was on this day in 1900 that Henry James wrote his first letter to the budding novelist Edith Wharton, beginning one of the great friendships in American literature." (from today's Writer's Almanac)

"To be born a Longford..."

A tangential interview with Lady Antonia Fraser, author of Marie Antoinette: The Journey (on which Sofia Coppola's film is based) and wife of Nobel Prize winner Harold Pinter