Intelligence takes it on the chin. Again. - David Foster Wallace found dead in his home

David Foster Wallace was found dead by his wife yesterday. He hanged himself.

This brings me down.

I didn't get as much out of his fiction as some other people. It is dense and difficult to parse. But his essays were brilliant, as was his nonfiction. In the same way that jazz is an acquired taste, his fiction does not reward the casual reader; his essays are much more accessible. Also insightful. And funny. His short stories are also difficult, in that they are occasionally related, oddly paced and hard to follow.

If you wrote a story in DFW-style in high school and submitted it you would get a failing grade. If you submitted the same story in college you might pass, depending on whether or not the teacher thought you were doing it intentionally. His stories were like that: if you didn't know he was doing it on purpose you'd think he was off his rocker. But his essays were consistently brilliant.

You can make comparisons to John Kennedy Toole or some other tortured writer if you want to. I think that's an oversimplification; borrowing from Tolstoy: each person is unhappy in their own way. It may be that Wallace was having a hard time living up to his own promise. We'll never know. And that's a sadness.
He was 46.

alexei lalas hits crack pipe, talks to guardian

that irrepressible idiot Alexei Lalas is at it again, talking out of his ass to major media outlets. I analyzed his unique genius once before, so we're not covering new territory here. but I appreciate it when he says stuff that is deliberately inflammatory and stupid and we can unpack it a little bit.

Lalas and his group did a nice job bringing D. Beckham to the soccer backwater that is the LA Galaxy, but the truth is that a) Beckham is an aging, faded star that was fired from his own national team until very recently, and b) he is moving here for "branding" opportunities, not because he always wanted to play in LA and the other famous soccer cities (salt lake, houston, etc.). but that's not how Lalas sees it. He thinks that MLS is great. They pay him, so he should. I have a television and also a computer that talks to other computers through a cable in the wall, so I know better. so do you. in any case, take it away, Lexi!

We know when we're being patronised and I get so irritated when I hear the experts in England talk about David Beckham as if he's going into semi-retirement by leaving Real Madrid for Los Angeles.

I am an American, in your home market. Allow me to patronize you: Beckham is coming to semi-retirement so his wife can be in movies and tom cruise can try to convert them to scientology. She's skinny w/ obnoxious fake boobs. She was always meant for LA.

PS. Your team sucks and your product is crap.

That's ignorance of the first degree because almost every one of those critics has not even seen a single MLS [Major League Soccer] game. It's insulting to us and to our sport to say Beckham is on his way to Hollywood when he's coming to play in one of the most competitive leagues in the world.

I have watched about 5 minutes of one game and it sucked. I won't watch it again. Let me reiterate: I am in the LA Galaxy home market, and I refuse to watch it because it's shite. I do have the fox soccer channel, so I watch Premier League games. A lot.

There are a lot of stars in European football who would struggle over here. But Beckham has done his homework on this league, and his team-mates, and he recognises the merit of American soccer.

This is reductive and stupid. who cares how many 'stars' would struggle here? How many Americans are having any success in european football? (Aside from the goalies.) Three? Four? At middling or small clubs? And that's the best we can do. That's what I call merit. Man, we rule. America, f*ck yeah.

You know there's no accounting for bad taste. The fact that a segment of the world worships an inferior product in the Premiership is their business. In England our league is considered second-class but I honestly believe if you took a helicopter and grabbed a bunch of MLS players and took them to the perceived best league in the world they wouldn't miss a beat and the fans wouldn't notice any drop in quality.

You are an idiot. Anyone who has watched a soccer game in the states and compared it with the lowliest Watford v. Wigan game on the telly knows you are an idiot. Take your MLS team over there. You will get pummeled.

Lalas was really good at marketing himself. He had fun hair and a goatee and he was pretty good back in the day. Which is funny, because it's exactly what they will be saying about David Beckham when he gets here.

how much does it cost to make a great movie?

i guess it depends who you ask. you can spend $450,000,000 on a steaming pile of sh*t, or you can spend, oh, I don't know, maybe $100,000 on a masterpiece. Probably not even that much. Maybe if the spider-man people had spent their money on something original and real instead of CGI junk they might have done better. then again, maybe not. I don't think Tobey's much of a musician.

See Once at your local independent cinema, or when it comes out on netflix.