There's a recommended daily allowance of snarkiness? Who knew? (Mourning Gnus for 6/1/09)

I hurt my back this morning doing sit-ups. It's God's way of telling me never to exercise again. Now, here's your Gnus...


Will It Have A Virtual-Page-Folding Feature So I Can Continue To Mark My Place That Way? Are book publishers too big to fail in ObamAmerica? They'd better hope so, because it looks as though books are going to join buggy whips and CDs as obsolete artifacts from the olden days (2002).

Google has announced that in its march to universal domination, it's going to crush Amazon next, doing so by introducing its own e-book "ecosystem" later this year.

And, for those who doubt that Google intends to control the universe, pay close attention to the wording it used in announcing the e-book challenge. Google used the phrase "ecosystem." You know who creates "ecosystems?" Gods. I'm just saying.

I told you it was coming! In other e-book news, Kindle is now accepting advertising -- beginning with the lamest promotion ever: Showtime is offering free downloads of the script for Nurse Jackie, apparently hoping that reading the script will prompt you to then watch the now-devoid-of-any-entertainment-or-suspense television show.

If you were interested enough in the show to download the script, wouldn't you have watched it, anyway?

In any event, it proves that I was prescient when I last week unveiled my plan to include advertising in books. (You can still get in on the ground floor of that; click here for details.)

Shaw Twins Update: I'm bored with sticky waffle sandwiches, so let's check in on Mateo and McHale Shaw, the twins who were given only a 5% chance of survival at birth. The twins have recently celebrated their 3rd birthday, defying medical odds. Mom Angie Shaw reports that the efforts to create a fully-accessible playground are going well, too. Want to know more about the family? Click here to go to Caring Bridge, then type mateoandmchale into the box marked "Visit a Caring Bridge Website," and watch for more updates in the Gnus.

Website Of The Day: I have to keep up with Sweetie and The Boy, who love show biz -- but I don't like show biz sites. So I go to Film Drunk instead. That way, I get my recommended daily allowance of show biz news and snarkiness.
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Five Pages publishes a novel as I write it: Five pages at a time, each week day. Right now:

Up So Floating Many Bells Down: Sarah's fiance has drowned, and while she struggles to convince the world, and herself, that he was killed, her brother Dylan up and moves to Las Vegas to pursue a career as a photographer.