Hodgman's appearance at MakerFaire, streaming live September 17th, 2011

If my calculations are correct, Hodgman's first reading from his new book will be streamed online, TODAY (Saturday, September 17th) from 2pm-2:30pm.

The official schedule says:

Are Magic Tricks Really Magic?

JOHN HODGMAN shall present information on THE SECRETS OF FAMOUS MAGIC TRICKS from his forthcoming book of FINAL WORLD KNOWLEDGE entitled
THAT IS ALL.

Go to the Maker Faire home page and the streaming video from Fora.tv is right there!

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Pre-order THAT IS ALL from Amazon.

Book tour for Hodgman's THAT IS ALL announced

On Hodgman's blog, he recently announced the coming of his new book, titled THAT IS ALL.

Hodgman has a book tour scheduled. He announced it like this:

TO BRING YOU THE FINAL WORLD KNOWLEDGE, I will be traveling the future wasteland known as the UNITED STATES with copies of the books, words to read from it, and occasional guests of note. While some details are still emerging, here is the basic outline of THE END IS NIGH TOUR, 2011.

Here are the dates that have been announced on his blog, with updated information:

Pre-tour appearance

BETHLEHEM, PA

October 18th; 7:30pm

Zoellner Art Center
Lehigh University
$12 or free for Lehigh students

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BROOKLYN, NY

Tuesday, November 1st; 8pm-11pm

The Bell House - Buy Tickets at $30 each.

This is Coulton's only appearance!
Other guests: Paul Rudd, Wyatt Cenac, David Rees, and Cynthia Hopkins

CHICAGO, IL

Wednesday, November 2nd; time TK

Second City

Guests include Malort and Peter Sagal (cancelled)
Call 312-337-3992 for tickets ($27).

ST. LOUIS, MO

Thursday, November 3rd; 7:00 PM

Mad Art Gallery / Subterranean Books
2727 South 12th Street, St Louis MO
Buy Tickets

LOS ANGELES, CA

Friday, November 4th; 8:30 PM (doors open at 7)

Largo at the Coronet / Book Soup

366 North La Cienega Boulevard
Guests include Paul F. Tompkins, John Roderick, and Rich Sommer

Tickets = $35
PORTLAND, OR

Sunday, November 6th; 7:00 PM

Bagdad Theater / Powell’s

3702 SE Hawthorne Blvd, Portland
Guests = John Roderick + others
Tickets = $25

SEATTLE, WA

Monday, November 7th; 7:30 PM

Town Hall / Elliott Bay

119 8th Avenue
Guest = John Roderick
Tickets=$25

AUSTIN, TX

Tuesday, November 8th; 7:00 PM

Book People (in-store) details (only a few tickets available November 1st for $25 $28 or you can skulk stand in the back for $5 free!)

603 North Lamar
Guest = Neal Pollack
Entertainment = moustache contest

DURHAM, NC

Wednesday, November 9th; 7:30 PM

Durham Armory / Regulator Bookshop

220 Foster Street
Guest=David Rees
$25 tickets

ASHEVILLE, NC

Friday, November 11th; 7 PM

Asheville Community Theater / Malaprop’s

35 East Walnut Street
Guest list pending
$30 tickets

NEW YORK, NY

Monday, November 14th; 7:00 PM

Barnes & Noble – Union Square

33 East 17th St
No tickets. Just show up and voluntarily show your support for Hodgman by buying THAT IS ALL.

BOSTON, MA

Tuesday, November 15th; 6:00 PM

Coolidge Theater / Brookline Booksmith
290 Harvard Street
Tickets are $5 each (except the first one is actually $25 because it comes with a copy of THAT IS ALL) and will be available at the Booksmith (279 Harvard Street) or by calling 617.566.6660 or by clicking here

With Ted Leo and the Pharmacists

ST. PAUL, MN

Friday, November 18th; 8pm

The Fitzgerald Theater / Minnesota Public Radio “Wits Extra”

Guests: John Darnielle, Kevin Murphy, Bill Corbett
$23/25 tickets do not include a copy of the book

I will update this list as I get better information.

All but one of these (probably the Austin appearance) require a ticket to get in (due, no doubt, to how much Hodgman's popularity has grown since his last book tour), but in such case, the price of the ticket always includes a copy of the book (except in Minnesota, where it includes the price of admission to a public radio show).

If you have the opportunity to see him on this tour, I strongly recommend that you do so. He puts on quite a show.

But for those who can't attend one of his appearances, he has announced that he is going to hold Skype office hours over the Internet. Yes, really.

Also from his follow-up post:

please know that, due to the complexity of the Sam Pottsian design of THAT IS ALL–including charts, tables, photographs of human tongues and Cyclopses, and a TODAY IN RAGNAROK page-a-day calendar–there shall be:

NO ELECTRONIC EDITION

…until we figure out how to make one IN THE FUTURE.

And the earliest that the audio adaptation might emerge is 2012, though it's more likely to be 2013.

UPDATE: Hodgman's reupdated tour schedule

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Pre-order THAT IS ALL from Amazon.

Hodgman appearance on The Daily Show in "Borders Goes out of Business"

In John Hodgman's latest appearance as the Daily Show resident expert, he discusses the demise of the Borders chain of bookstores. Watch and enjoy!

The Daily Show - Borders Goes Out of Business

Update
Here are some follow-up comments that the Hodge has made on this topic on Twitter:

Smart, well curated bookstores in the right location should and will always thrive.less than a minute ago via Twitter for iPhone Favorite Retweet Replyhodgman
hodgman

For physical bookstores to get ahead of ebooks, focus on books that don't work on that platform: art, comics, books by John Hodgmanless than a minute ago via Twitter for iPhone Favorite Retweet Replyhodgman
hodgman

Tiny excerpts from Hodgman's THAT IS ALL

On Twitter, Hodgman has been posting quotes from his future best-selling book, That Is All.

Here are some:

HOUDINI HIMSELF taps him on the shoulder. “Is this what you’re looking for?” he says, holding aloft the key to the sardine tin. #thatisallMay 31 via web Favorite Retweet Replyhodgman
hodgman

"Prominent Ragnarok denier Dr. Elliot Kalan writes: “OK, I admit it. A giant squid with a human mouth just crushed my house." #thatissomeMay 31 via web Favorite Retweet Replyhodgman
hodgman

"Several “typical American families” would be drugged, frozen, and stored in the geodesic freeze-sphere at EPCOT's center" #thatissome@hodgman May 31 via web Favorite Retweet Reply

"The Washington Monument is finally found, hiding behind the moon." #thatissome@hodgman May 31 via web Favorite Retweet Reply

"There is a local legend that teenagers used to break into the cabin at night for nausea parties" #thatissome@hodgman May 31 via web Favorite Retweet Reply

"I know it's complex so let me explain. The helicopter is a vehicle that achieves flight by rapidly twisting gravity" #thatissomeMay 31 via web Favorite Retweet Replyhodgman
hodgman

New Hodgman interview plus moustache update

John Hodgman has done an interview with The Onion's A.V. Club for its "Random Roles" column. He answers questions about his roles as an actor (in Coraline, The Invention Of Lying, the 2011 remake of Arthur, and the television shows Battlestar Galactica and Bored to Death) and the making of his new movie The Best and the Brightest.

More importantly, he sheds new light on what the deal is with his 'stache in his answer to questions about working with the Bored to Death crew:

They give me everything I need to work with comedically, and from a writerly point of view, it's fun to connect the dots and say, "Who is the person behind all of these wild emotional swings?" And it kind of wasn't until I grew a mustache that I figured it out. I think that's true for a lot of men who grow mustaches, about a lot of things. The mustache is an affectation that I grew as a joke, and then just sort of enjoyed, and it allows me to really embrace wholeheartedly the idea of affectedness, and affectations in one's personality. [...] I really think it fits with the kind of derangement that you have to go through when you are confronting your mortality at the age of 40. So I will keep it as long as America will allow me to keep it. [...] So far, people have been very tolerant of it. But I'm not going to get tied down. Maybe I'll shave it off tomorrow, I don't know.

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Further reading:

• The original post on Hodgman's moustache
• All Hodgman interview posts

Hodgman appears on The Daily Show in "You're Welcome - Hacker Threat"

I always know when John Hodgman appears on The Daily Show because this blog gets a huge spike in traffic. Nearly all of it is people searching for information about Hodgman's moustache. I thought that this month's "You're Welcome" segment (in which Hodgman shows how to handle hackers) was a particularly good one, so I have embedded it below. Enjoy!

The Daily Show - You're Welcome - Hacker Threat
Daily Show Full Episodes

Hodgman's essays on being a parent

The first article by Hodgman on parenthood and children was published in The Believer in 2003 and is called "Hodgmina is coming soon". You may read it here. A small part in the middle looks like this:

When I say that Hodgmina is brilliant, and when I tell people about her guest sermon last Sunday at St. John the Divine, and her surprising skills at badminton, people want to know: Is she a child prodigy? I reply: I hope not. There is too much pressure put on children. They should have time to explore and enjoy the world as a child, and not be forced into the highly competitive badminton circuit. Unless the child really wants that, and has signaled as much by crying or burping.

If some of the essay is familiar, it may be that you have read an altered version of it in Hodgman's first book (not actually all about Hodgmina).

The second essay has more of that blend of humor and seriousness Hodgman used in his TED Talk. This essat was published in Psychology Today in 2007 under the title "Apologia to My Second Child". You may read it there. (It may also be found in the collection of essays, Only Child: Writers on the Singular Joys and Solitary Sorrows of Growing Up Solo.) It is about being an only child and other things. In case you were curious, Hodgman's second child wound up being named "Hodgmanillo".

Happy Father's Day!