Norman Mailer Dies - McGrath Write-up at the Times

Mr. Mailer belonged to the old literary school that regarded novel writing as a heroic enterprise undertaken by heroic characters with egos to match. He was the most transparently ambitious writer of his era, seeing himself in competition not just with his contemporaries but with the likes of Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky.

Proof that MySpace has Jumped the Shark: Axia College MySpace Page

Axia College of University of Phoenix MySpace PageI haven’t posted much about my experience at University of Phoenix. It’s a big place with many challenges and, even with nearly a decade under my belt there, I’m ill equipped to comment on most of them. But I find this one downright funny.About six months ago the director of marketing called me in to a meeting with the MySpace folks. They were evaluating alternative media for marketing purposes and had been approached by MySpace with an advertising package. For over $100,000 they’d set up Axia College of UOP on MySpace and give them ad space on the MySpace internal site network, driving clicks back to the Axia MySpace page. This, for something like three months. (note: I could have that backwards — it’s been a while — but it could be $300,000 for a month. Either way, it’s ridiculous). [Read more]