Some weeks just seem a little drearier than others, and this week certainly took the cake…
5. Bradley Manning, the whistle-blower who leaked all those documents to Wikileaks announced that he’s really a woman trapped in a man’s body, and he now wants to be called Chelsea Manning. I swear I’m not making this shit up, but I bet most of you are just glad that the headline didn’t refer to Peyton Manning. Why is this bad news? Because only a nutcase would want to become a woman at the exact moment they’re supposed to report to Leavenworth Prison to live out a lifetime sentence——enjoy getting raped double time Bradley——-and I had thought of Manning as something of a light-hero for helping to expose our increasingly opaque government. It’s a little harder to legitimatize someone who may not be in the best mental condition.
4. Fifty Shades of Gray casting rumors seem to indicate Chris Evans and Dakota Johnson could play the lead roles. This is only depressing because I like both of these actors, and it’s a further reminder of how unexplainably popular those books are. Everyone seems to agree that these are some of the worst books written in recent memory, but they’re also the most popular series since The Hunger Games or maybe even Harry Potter. What does that tell you?
3. True Blood’s Rutina Wesley (Tara) is divorcing her husband of 8 years Jacob Fishel. Everyone has their favorite celebrity couples, and this is one of my favorite ones. Maybe Wesley got confused because she’s been stuck playing a cartoon character on True Blood for seven years who routinely goes back and forth between white men, black men, vampires, abusive vampires, guys who want to be vampires, women, clingy women, and vampire women.
2. Barnes and Noble posted another loss this quarter, and their CEO/founder scrapped plans to buy several franchises back into the corporate mold, signaling a clear vote of no confidence. Things aren’t looking rosy for the future of Barnes and Noble and if you care at all about books that’s not a good thing. “But what about Amazon?” Some might say, but Amazon is a tech company that sometimes sells books, and usually sells them at a loss to move other devices (not exactly good for authors, or their publishing companies). B&N is the last real bookstore chain in America and a good source of the profit for publishers/authors.
1. Speaking of books, one of my all-time favorite authors, Elmore Leonard, died this week at the crisp age of 87. I actually got a once-in-a-lifetime chance to meet Leonard last year and get an autographed copy of what became his last book, Raylan. Now I wish I had given the book a more glowing review. Here’s to you, Leonard, and thanks for all the great books you’ve given us (the average one you’ll read in one setting because they really are page turners).