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I can’t remember if my old classmate John Twiford was voted “most likely to succeed” in high school, but landing a slot on American Idol certainly qualifies him.

You’ve never heard of him because he bailed out of the show.

Rumor was — and I tried to track him down to set the record straight — that he bailed because he thought it would hurt his career.

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What are your top five favorite movies?

Chances are at least one of them is based on a book.

There’s nothing wrong with that. Some of the greatest movies of all time were originally books—“The Wizard of Oz.” “The Godfather.” “Schindler’s List.”

My mom taught me that movies are never as good as the books, but I’m not so sure that’s entirely true.

Great books can become bad movies (“Bonfire of the Vanities”) just as easily as bad books can become great movies (“Mrs. Doubtfire”). Read the rest of this entry �

First, a big thanks to everyone who stopped by at the Small Press Expo this past weekend. Even if you just snagged a free copy of “Comic Strippers” or walked by, disgusted at our sign, THANKS!!!

I was at my table most of the time, but I managed to see a good part of the Gilbert Hernandez panel and spend some time walking the floor.

I snagged a signed copy of Exit Wounds, and for my friend’s wife, a copy of the Perry Bible Fellowship book.

Which was kind of funny… it turns out that Nick, the writer of PBF, rooms with one of my brother’s old friends in upstate NYC. Nice guy. Also made a few trades, and met some people I’ve chatted with online (mostly from the DC scene), which is always fun.

Mitch? If you’re reading, the people want Assholes #2!

I’m not one to gloat, but my first phone call on the morning of Sept. 28 was to my father, specifically for that purpose.

I’d just gotten a press release announcing the nominees for the 2008 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

One of my favorite bands, the Beastie Boys, was among the nine nominees. My father, for no real discernable reason, hates the New York trio.

Maybe it’s their ever-evolving schizophrenic identity crisis—are they hip-hop pioneers? Trailblazing punk rockers? Buddhist activists? Jewish liberals? Read the rest of this entry �

If Charlotte Simmons were a real person, she’d be starting her senior year at Dupont University.

Based on the events in Tom Wolfe’s 2004 novel, “I am Charlotte Simmons,” my guess is she’d probably be finishing a BS in microbiology and applying to graduate programs at other elite ivy schools.

To research the novel, Wolfe spent a couple years on campuses observing undergraduate life, from basketball culture to frat parties.

His findings? College kids like sex. College kids like beer.

Critics dismissed the novel as “painfully disappointing,” “bloated” and, my favorite, in the San Francisco Chronicle, that it “defies credibility, taste and the remotest semblance of subtlety.”

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