BRODY A NO-GO FOR KAVALIER
Saturday, November 18, 2006, 6:20 AM ET
Source: The Scotsman

Actor Adrien Brody met with producers about staring in The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, but ultimately was not cast, according to an interview in today's The Scotsman.

"I have read it and they're going to make that movie. Without me," Brody said. "There are similarities with The Pianist, though. I am very right for it, I know, but an artist fleeing from persecution by the Nazis? I see a lot of parallels. But it is a great role."

To read the full interview, go here.

ESCAPISTS #5 HITS STORES
Thursday, November 16, 2006, 5:30 AM ET
Source: Various

The Escapists #5 hit stores Wednesday, leaving only one more issue to go.

"I can't tell you how much I love this mini," writer Brian K. Vaughan says at his Web site.

Is Luna Moth an agent of the Iron Chain? Is she under the Saboteur's control? Will Denny get out of jail? Will Max and Case make it, in more sense than one? You'll have to buy the issue to find out.

MICHAELCHABON.COM NO MORE
Tuesday, November 14, 2006, 4:30 AM ET
Source: MichaelChabon.com

Say good-bye to MichaelChabon.com.

Since February 1999, Chabon has designed and maintained his own Web site by himself. Today, though, the author announced he was shutting it down.

"I'm in the first stages of shutting down my website at least in its current form," Chabon said in an e-mail. "My wrists hurt and I'm bored with it."

Chabon has been suffering from Repetitive Strain Injury for several months, which "makes typing a chore and clicking an agony," he said on his Web site.

"As I have been spending less time online I have found that I’ve lost interest in the web as a whole, and in my site in particular," he said. "I’m tired of having to maintain www.michaelchabon.com, but I hate that it gets stale, and so quickly. Yet I don’t feel comfortable with or have any interest in getting somebody else to do it for me. So I’ve decided, not without regret, to take it down, a little at a time, starting with the posting of my monthly Details column."

Chabon said the site was never intended for self-promotion "but simply to publish writing that would otherwise have gone out of print and to inform anyone who cared about my reading and lecture appearances."

Some form of a schedule will probably remain, he said, either on his site or somewhere else. Many unpublished stories shall soon disappear too.

"Someday I might collect some of the longer pieces or columns in a book, but I have no plans to do so," he said.

While by far the biggest change to Chabon's online habits, it's not the first time he's disconnected himself in some way from the Web. Chabon took down a link to his personal e-mail address from an earlier version of the Web site shortly after the publication of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay.

His wife, Ayelet Waldman, came closer to this latest move in February 2005 when she shut down her blog.

What his next plans are remain uncertain. In the meanwhile, Chabon directed visitors to this site, "where the amazing Nate Raymond maintains the freshest information at a low, low price."

"I’m sorry. See you around."

SIMPSONS' CHABON DRAWING ONLINE
Tuesday, November 14, 2006, 4:30 AM ET
Source: Actualidad Simpson

Michael Chabon, Jonathan Franzen, Tom Wolfe and Gore Vidal will all star in The Simpsons this Sunday at 8:00-8:30 p.m. ET/PT. For fans who can't wait that long, here's a sneak peak, courtesy of Spanish fansite Actualidad Simpson.