Northern Sky

So Flavorpill has "The Ultimate Hipster Reading List," which is, yes, about as obnoxious as it sounds. It's a list about of dozen white male writers you have heard of (Keith Gessen, Nick Flynn, et al. plus Miranda July thrown in for color) recommending about 50 white male writers you haven't heard of. I don't know whether FP thinks that there are actually people out there who will take these recommendations seriously, or whether it's all some elaborate, ironic joke. I'm not sure FP themselves want to know. The truth would probably horrify them, at any rate.

Oh, and also I'm in the frozen north right now, and have been for weeks, and will be for another week. All of my NYC information is coming from Facebook, mailing lists, and press releases, and I don't go anywhere. Which means that on Sunday I will unfortunately be missing the Improv Everywhere No Pants Subway Ride, so if you do go, make sure to take off an extra pair of pants for me. (Also, for my peace of mind when I come back, please don't tell me which train these people were on. I already don't like to think about who's occupied those hard plastic seats before me).

What's the deal? Your weekly Publisher's Lunch deal snark (Blogiana Edition)

Publisher's Lunch says: Comedic writer and former radio host April Winchell's REGRETSY, based on the popular blog of the same name; featuring a collection of the oddest, most humorous, and most disturbing crafts the world has ever seen, along with commentary provided by the author, to Jill Schwartzman at Villard, for trade paperback publication, in a pre-empt, by Meg Thompson at LJK Literary Management (world English).

Indichik says: So yeah, speaking of regret? Books based on blogs. Whatever happened to that one based on Stuff White People Like? I think I saw it in the 75% off bin at Urban Outfitters, like six months ago? There's a reason online media is taking of while print is (arguably) dying: disposability. Blogs are, quite rightly, written to be transient. When you spend good money to try to convert that concept to glossy covers and acid-free paper you lose what makes them work. Not everything is meant to be printed. Let's let blogs be blogs, okay? An end in themselves. (Confidential to book agents: contact me for my 78-page proposal for Indichik: The Novel.)