SUMMERTIME SHORTS

I do realize I promised book reviews, and they are indeed coming soon. Here's a few random links to keep you occupied in the meantime...

Pompous prof Harold Bloom unpacks the poetry of Barack Obama. (via Ed)

Sonic Youth recently toured the Great Wall and rocked Shanghai. Hopefully they'll be rocking Winona and I as well next month when they hit Berkeley doing their recently reissued classic record Daydream Nation in its entirety.

Why do so many rock 'n' roll novels suck?

From Douglas Wolk comes an interesting excerpt from his new book on the current state of the art of comics. Suffice it to say the long underwear superhero brigade won't be too happy with his findings, but the alternative underground crowd gets its share of licks as well.