Screaming Memes

J D Rhoades called me out on this one. It’s a meme, whatever the hell that is. I’m supposed to answer some questions. Here goes.

1 - Imagine it’s 2015. You are visiting the library at a major research university. You go over to a computer terminal (or whatever it is they use in 2015) that gives you immediate access to any book or journal article on any topic you want. What do you look up? In other words, what do you hope somebody will have written in the meantime?

Well, first I’d check to see if James Reasoner had written novel #500 yet. I’d check TV Guide to see if there was an all CSI all the time channel yet, or maybe an all Law and Order channel. I’d check a newspaper to see if Jeb Bush was president and if the war in Iraq was over. I’d check the movie section to see if they ever made that fourth Indiana Jones movie. I’d want to read the latest Spenser novel.

2 - What is the strangest thing you’ve ever heard or seen at a conference? No names, please. Refer to “Professor X” or “Ms. Y” if you must. Double credit if you were directly affected. Triple if you then said or did something equally weird.

I’ve been to plenty of weird conferences. I’m a lapsed academic, remember? I’ve been to conferences where I walked by an open doorway and seen a speaker reading his paper on obscure Renaissance sonneteers to an empty room.

I, myself, have never done anything at all weird, ever. Not at a conference, not anywhere.

3 - Name a writer, scholar, or otherwise worthy person you admire so much that meeting him or her would probably reduce you to awestruck silence.

J.D. Salinger.

4 - What are two or three blogs or other Web sites you often read that don’t seem to be on many people’s radar?

I stick with the popular stuff, like all the people I’ve linked to over on the right. Check ‘em out. For something a bit more obscure, I sometimes read sports blogs like DoubleRods. It’s Houston sports, though.

And now I'll call out James Reasoner to see if he'll come through. Hey, maybe he's not even reading this. How about Sarah Weinman? Anybody passed this to her yet? If not, it's time. And Vince Keenan. All those people have plenty of time.