The Slammin' Salman

Tonight I went to Salman Rushdie's reading of his just-published Luka and the Fire of Life. I'll have a full report up tomorrow, but I thought I'd share a little anecdote.

After his speech and Q&A session, Rushdie did a signing. Along with three books, I also had my sketchbook in hand, that he could sign the drawing I had done during his speech.

Slightly egotistical, perhaps. The handler certainly thought so. "This guy wants you to admire his sketch and maybe sign it," he said, sliding it over.



Rushdie's response: "It looks like Lenin!"

Click Me With Your Best Shot

Der Spiegel has a really neat gallery of the Small World Competition, which centers on microscopic photography. This mushroom coral shot by James Nicholson...



...looks remarkably like the Marlboro, a recurring enemy in the Final Fantasy video game series.



The flea is something out of a nightmare.

40 Years of Solitude

The fact of the last remaining member of an undocumented Indian tribe living alone in 31 square miles of government-protected land is kind of amazing. That this man has gone on for so long without human contact that didn't involve putting an arrow in the other person's chest, while Google, Facebook, Twitter, and GPS document the goings-on of much of humanity, is close to unfathomable. What happened to his parents? Did he have siblings? In the absence of propagating his seed or culture, does he devote his life to anything besides everyday survival? What does he think about?

I'm waiting for the romantic comedy version of this story, in which the Last Indian--played by Hugh Grant, of course--has to adjust to modern society and win the heart of The Woman He Loves (Drew Barrymore).