OK - I know this isn't strictly a TMBG book thing, but has anyone else read any of the McSweeney's stuff? Just cos I think some of it's pretty cool...

Zadie Smith wrote a cracking (translation:really really good) short story about a girl with Bangs... I'm going to get hold of that just as soon as I can afford to. I'm a bit of a bookworm.

Haven't seen it..but that song makes me laugh.

He gets a pen and paper and he writes things down!

I've never read the actual McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, but I've read some of their publications and I'm a pretty frequent visitor to their website.

Created in Darkness by Troubled Americans : The Best of McSweeney's, Humor Category is a good book though.

Have seen. Don't remember much :(

I'm *still* reading the one I bought at the UK MCSweeneys/TMBG gig last October. I have renewed passion for short stories as they are very good for my ridiculous bus journeys to work every day - ie just long enough, but you don't have to remember where you were at by the end of the day - you can just start a whole new story.

I'm gonna get the best of issues 1-8 (or whatever it is) but that humour one looks cool too.

I found revising my driving theory test on the bus worked well on so many levels :P

I own all the McSweeneys and have written for them. There are a lot of connection between TMBG and McSweeneys; in fact Bangs was written about the story in McSweeneys, not the other way around.

*waves arms around in the air* I knew that!

Who said it was the other way around? :huh:

Sorry - I didn't know. I kind of assumed that seeing as Zadie Smith is a Birtish author, and we don't use the word "bangs" over here, that it was more likely that it came the other way. But it's cool to know.

Question! Just out of curiosity, seeing as you don't call them "bangs" what do you call them? Granted, if you do call them anything, it's going to sound a LOT more intelligent than "bangs".

Why are they called that anyway? Is it because they bang on your forehead? (Oy... Word origins. Fun, mysterious, ponderous, and sometimes extremely irritating.) :P

In Britain we call the hair on the forehead the fringe. I learnt the word "bangs" when I was a summer camp counselor in America many moons ago.

I wondered what bangs meant :rolleyes: . I thought it sounded a bit explosive for a hairstyle and not quite safe to go through airports. hahar

Fringe... That sounds better than "bangs"...

I've read A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, by Dave Eggers. It was really emotional and funny. I also love checking up on stuff on the McSweeny's website. I am always found laughing at the numerous lists.