I Hate You, But Your Cells Do Miraculous Things

A great piece in the NYTimes on The Daily Show and Jon Stewart.

"Professors of literature do no always have minds of the same inspiration as the minds of writers whose work they interpret and evaluate for consumption, and an age of criticism has grown up to keep great spirits cut down to size so as to be of use in the self-esteem of sophisticated pusillanimous men in a continual self-improvement course." --Robert Duncan

Camper Van Beethoven finally has a best-of.

An interview with David Berman.

Whitman on Emerson: "I often say of Emerson that the personality of the man--the wonderful heart and soul of the man, present in all he writes, thinks, does, hopes--goes far toward justifying the whole literary business--the whole system. You see, I find nothing in literature that is valuable simply for its professional quality; literature is only valuable in the measure of the passion--the blood and muscle--with which it is invested--which lies concealed and active in it."