PicoBlog

In the spirit of the holiday season, I’m lifting the paywall on exclusive posts. All new content on LAST CALL through the end of December will be accessible to all subscribers and readers. If you’re looking for a great gift for a colleague, friend, or family member who is into food and drinks, consider a Gift Subscriptionto LAST CALL—you can even set the date and time you’d like it to arrive.

☆☆☆½ (out of ☆☆☆☆) Na Hee-do (played by Kim Tae-ri) Baek Yi-jin (played by Nam Joo-hyuk) ↑Note: Korean names denote the surname followed by the given name. Nine minutes into the Korean series Twenty-Five Twenty-One, a high school junior named Hee-do (played by Kim Tae-ri) is on her way to school. Her mother is a news anchor, but Hee-do is oblivious to the reports about the IMF crisis and how citizens are suffering financial losses.

Twitter just changed its moderation policy to remove protections for deadnaming and misgendering trans people. I honestly am this close to just moving here entirely. This place doesn’t have content moderation on this either but at least I can delete replies here. ncG1vNJzZmirpZfAta3CpGWcp51kvbO7xaKjnmdha4R4g49qa2adop67br7Enptopp%2BpsnCvjGprcXBmZ4B3

A regular feature for paid Watch List subscribers: I suggest one reasonably under-the-radar movie from the recent or distant past, and you do what you want with that information. Along with England’s Ken Loach, the Dardennes brothers, Jean-Pierre and Luc, are the greatest chroniclers of the working class currently making movies. They regularly shoot in their Belgian hometown of Liege, among characters who are straining to make ends meet in an unforgiving global economy, and they create humane drama and genuine suspense out of struggles no less real for taking place among people the movies ordinarily caricature, ignore, or dismiss.

We are on a quest to build a better internet for readers. That means beautiful, fast-loading pages; social reading experiences that are additive instead of distracting; and a system that nourishes culture instead of tearing us apart. Time for a new page. ncG1vNJzZmirpZfAta3CpGWcp51kjamtzKKqoWeepMGme8JmaWtpZmWGdH4%3D

Rookies, it’s been a minute. I hope everything is copacetic.   Over the last year or so, I’ve asked myself the question “what am I doing?” a fair few times. Am I making the right move? Should this feel like this? I’ve dreamed of this moment, how come it doesn’t feel so good? I used to love doing this, why doesn't it hit the same? Maybe I’ll achieve the rest of my dreams and they’ll all feel as empty?

Since 2010, in various publications, I’ve interviewed authors—mostly memoirists—about aspects of writing and publishing. Initially I did this for my own edification, as someone who was struggling to find the courage and support to write and publish my memoir. I’m still curious about other authors’ experiences, and I know many of you are, too. So, inspired by the popularity of The Oldster Magazine Questionnaire, I’ve launched The Memoir Land Author Questionnaire.

For more information and to apply David Grossman is widely regarded as Israel’s greatest living novelist. The winner of numerous awards, including the International Booker Prize in 2017 for his novel, A Horse Walks Into a Bar, his art, his political activism and his life have often been in tragic dialogue with each other. In 2008, he published one of his greatest works, To the End of the Earth. (The original Hebrew title was אשה בורחת מבשורה, Ishah Borachat Mi-besorah, A Woman Flees from a Message.

First, a note to the new subscribers who have found their way here. I started this newsletter because I was, and still am, obsessed with talking to writers about process and ideas in the context of real life. I always hope that these conversations can be a balm or an inspiration or even, sometimes, a provocation for people trying to make something despite all the challenges. If you are a parent trying to write, welcome.