Death Sentence.

Is the last line in James Joyce's The Dead the most effective and salient closing sentence in the history of all literature? Difficult to say, but read this aloud to yourself in a low, hushed tone and you will wonder:

"His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead."

Last year's New Year's Resolution: learn Golf. This year's New Year's Resolution Until I Discover a Better One: don't answer the phone just because it's ringing.

Last thing: "If MTV were a foosball player, he would dominate the pro tour unmercifully." A really likeable new series of ads for MTV this month. It seems to me that copywriters sometimes play second-fiddle to art directors in this bidness, but these ads succeed mainly on the merit of the copywriting, which is more than worthy of the narration Alec Baldwin contributes. By the way, is he fat in The Aviator because it was for the role, or is he just fat now? Anyway, the unintrusive editing and understated direction really let the central concept of these spots communicate right through the all too familiar production design. Read about them and watch them here.

Before I forget, read Ulalume in a low, hushed tone as well- by candlelight if possible, whilst lying next to her in bed.