I have a piece about James Cameron and "Avatar" in this week's New Yorker. It—and a blog post I wrote about the movie's visual effects—are available free at www.newyorker.com

Next Sunday night, October 18, I'm giving a reading at the Mandrake, with Anthony McCann of Machine Project. Brigid McCaffrey will show two short films. 7692 S. La Cienega Blvd., LA, CA 90034. 7 PM. I remember the drinks at the Mandrake being delicious.

I am finally delving into "The Best Technology Writing 2009," edited by Steven Johnson (who, bless him, included my story about Japanese cell-phone novelists) and I'm delighted to see that Andrew Sullivan's "Why I Blog," published in the Atlantic last fall, is in there, too. It's the first thing I have my USC students read before they start blogging. I love that he talks about the roots of blog style in e-mail style, which is really letter-writing style. Also: danah boyd on the MySpace suicide; Nicholas Carr on Google; and a piece from The Onion about someone who finishes an entire book.