POLLACK BRIGADE: I'm a huge fan of the journalistic satirist Neal Pollack, though I must say I've had mixed feelings about his new blog since he started it last month. I've found much of his material hilarious, yet it has such an inside-baseball quality to it that I feel like his target audience must be those who hate Andrew Sullivan, yet have still read him every day for the last two years- otherwise, they wouldn't understand any of Pollack's references. Pollack also switches in and out of his "Greatest American Writer" persona at will, often leading to nothing but confusion.
Today, however, Pollack reprints his classic poem "I Wipe My Ass With Your Novel," which I saw him deliver at a Lower East Side reading two years ago (also attended by Sarah Vowell and Andy Richter). That alone is worth a visit, and if you'll be in Philadelphia next weekend (I'm there THIS weekend) check out The 215 Festival, featuring Pollack, Vowell, Zadie Smith, and an historic jam between Dave Eggers and They Might Be Giants. McSweeney's roadtrips from Williamsburg to Philly... don't miss it.