write passionately, get rich

One of the most difficult things about being a writer is often the subject matter, or even finding inspiration for a topic.

Grammar can be learned, a voice can be developed and with the invention of laptops, most writers have, at their disposal, an arsenal of tools to ease the physical act of writing.

Yet, even with all of these amenities, many writers stumble when it comes to the inspiration for a work. This is not the case for Bill Bryson.

Bryson is a renowned author of several best selling works, with topics ranging from travel, science, history, linguistics and memoir.

He has received the James Joyce Award of the Literary and Historical Society of University College Dublin and the lauded Aventis Award for best general science book with his A Short History of Nearly Everything.

He has travelled the globe, from Middle America to Britain and Australia, and has even hiked the Appalachian Trail for his A Walk in the Woods.

This is a man who likes to see and know everything, and who is not content to be labeled as any one particular type of writer.

“Quite often writers will get pigeonholed to a certain style or a certain book,” Bryson said, “but what ends up happening is the person just writes the same book over and over again.”

Bryson was in Houston on Monday for the Inprint Margarett Root Brown Reading Series at Wortham Center.

farrah fawcett finally gets a shout out

On Wednesday, 2/11, Joaquin Phoenix appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman to promote his new movie, Two Lovers.  Needless to say, he made quite the impression.

Now, I realize that this is all over the Interwebs, but until you’ve seen this clip, you can’t truly appreciate the genius which lies within.  So let’s just take a moment to review some highlights.

Brilliant.  One of the best things I’ve seen on late-night television in a while, and I watch an inordinate amount of late-night television.

It’s understandable that many people just won’t get this.  That’s reasonable, as long as I am to understand that they’ve also never heard of Crispin Glover or Andy Kaufman.

It’s called comedy, people.  He announced his retirement from acting on the red carpet.  He staged a horrible debut as his hip-hop alter ego mere weeks later.  He has his brother-in-law, Casey Affleck, filming the entire thing.

He has combined the in-your-face hostility of a Crispin Glover karate kick with the insanity of an Andy Kaufman neck brace.

This is not real.  Lighten up.  We’ll all laugh about this in the morning.

[Disclaimer: If this does indeed turn out to be real, all above statements are retracted - Ed.]