http://www.walrusmagazine.com/blogs Fearless. Thoughtful. Witty. Canadian. And Opinionated. Wed, 14 May 2008 01:49:27 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en "To the man who loves art for its own sake, it is frequently in its least important and lowliest manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived." --Sherlock Holmes, "The Adventure of the Copper Beeches" It is somewhat of a consensus around the Walrus office, or at least whichever part of ... http://www.walrusmagazine.com/blogs/2008/05/08/cut-out-the-poetry-watson/ This past November, when he won the National Book Award for his novel Tree of Smoke, Denis Johnson couldn't make it to the ceremony because he was in Iraq reporting a piece for Portfolio. At the time it seemed like strange news. But one can only imagine that, after spending ... http://www.walrusmagazine.com/blogs/2008/05/02/all-the-nerdy-middle-aged-genre-loving-men/ Exclusive Edward Burtynsky photos (Backstage at the Royal Alexandra Theatre, photograph by Edward Burtynsky.) In the sixth grade, I played Lysander in the Iles Elementary School’s presentation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. It was as professional a production as you’d imagine it to be. The fairies danced to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”; ... http://www.walrusmagazine.com/blogs/2008/04/29/theatre-isnt-a-business-its-a-disease-ed-mirvish/ It's sort of a shame that Torsten Krol is best known for the question of whether or not he's real. He lives in Australia, and, as the first page of Callisto reminds you, nothing else is known about him. This, of course, has led to speculation about his identity, with ... http://www.walrusmagazine.com/blogs/2008/04/25/torsten-krols-callisto/ In our April issue we published a poem called "Two Cowboys" by Elise Partridge, a poet from Vancouver. I was the first person at the magazine to read the poem, and I immediately fell in love with its clarity, subtle complexity, and power. Last month, "Two Cowboys" reappeared as one ... http://www.walrusmagazine.com/blogs/2008/04/11/qa-elise-patridge/ This week finds me in the middle of both a production cycle and a terrible cold, so I do not have the time or capacity to write the essay I’d intended to write about Samantha Power’s excellent new book, Chasing the Flame: Sergio Vieira de Mello and the Fight to ... http://www.walrusmagazine.com/blogs/2008/04/08/the-ballad-of-samantha-power/ Michael Pollan’s new book, In Defense of Food, has an air of summation about it, drawing on years of research to make an argument that is both profoundly radical and embarrassingly simple. In Pollan’s estimation, many of the epidemics facing our corner of Western society have little to do with, ... http://www.walrusmagazine.com/blogs/2008/03/31/a-conversation-with-michael-pollan/ On Tuesday the New York Times ran a story announcing that young adult novelist R.L. Stine would be resuming his vaguely legendary series, Goosebumps, after an eight-year hiatus. Somewhere near you, a twelve-year-old rejoiced. (An eighteen-year-old did too, I’d wager, as they’ll be the ones with acute nostalgia once they ... http://www.walrusmagazine.com/blogs/2008/03/28/rl-stine-rides-again/ It comes as no surprise that the Guardian has done something excellent, and while it’s entirely possible that most everyone is already aware of what’s going on over there, it is so fantastic that it’s worth pointing out just in case. That link will take you to the new(ish) Guardian ... http://www.walrusmagazine.com/blogs/2008/03/21/in-defense-of-philip-larkin/ I tip my hat to one of our web wizards for sending me news that Marvel comics plans to make a graphic novel out of Stephen King’s The Stand. Now this comes as a report on something King said last week on NPR, so one can’t be entirely sure that ... http://www.walrusmagazine.com/blogs/2008/03/18/the-stand-gets-graphicer/