Tomorrow (Tuesday, 10/16) I’ll be at the New York Public Library’s Mid-Manhattan branch for TWO HOURS! Sharpening pencils, reading from my book, signing books for people, etc. All that good stuff. It’ll be fun! You should come if you can.

David Rees
NYPL Mid-Manhattan branch
455 Fifth Ave.
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
6:30 – 8:30 PM
FREE

You can read about it here!

The debate did not disappoint. I’m glad I cancelled my kite-making workshop to watch it. It featured many interesting questions and answers, and gave me a lot to think about as I prepare to cast my ballot.

Here’s a new GYWO video! It has bad language in it so don’t watch at work. Thanks!

I wrote a thing about last night’s presidential debate for the New Republic.

Hello friends! Here’s the new GYWO video. It’s about Romney’s sex tape. NSFW!

Hello and thank you for visiting my blog.
Here are some upcoming events!

WED 9/19: Union Hall, Brooklyn
7pm Doors / 7:30pm Show / FREE
BROOKLYN BOOK FESTIVAL 2012 BOOKEND EVENT
COMEDIANS WITH BOOKS
Join host Dan Wilbur (author of “How Not to Read”) as he invites his favorite comedians who have authored books of their own! Featuring stand-up comedy from humorists, memoirists, and even a few instructional guidebook-ists, this show will finally get your face out of a book and into the minds of several deranged funny people. Featuring DAVID REES (author of “How to Sharpen Pencils”), JANEANE GAROFALO, AND MORE!

THU 9/20: Union Hall, Brooklyn
7pm Doors / $5
BROOKLYN BOOK FESTIVAL 2012 BOOKEND EVENT
LIBRARIAN OLYMPICS
David Rees (How to Sharpen Pencils, Get Your War On) hosts a night of bare-knuckled bookishness that will test the mental and physical endurance of librarians. Help Rees and Dan Wilbur (How Not to Read; Betterbooktitles.com) judge contests like Sharpest Pencil and Name that Novel. Special guest, author Carmela Ciuraru (Nom de Plume) leads a round of Guess the Pseudonym.

SUNDAY 9/23: Brooklyn Book Festival
11am
“Artisanal Everything”
David Rees (How to Sharpen Pencils), the world’s only artisanal pencil sharpener, in conversation with Sam Anderson, critic at large for the New York Times Magazine. They discuss the artisanal culture of the Hudson Valley, Rees’ pencil business (he hand-sharpens pencils for mail order customers), and the artisanalization of everything in Brooklyn, from mayonnaise to soda.

Here’s a new GET YOUR WAR ON video about banks and mortgages and financial despair! Please share it with anyone you think might like it. Thanks!

UPDATE: I posted the wrong video. It’s fixed now. (Thanks Mom!)

Oops! And here’s last week’s installment, which I forgot to post:

The Huffington Post has commissioned 10 new GYWO videos — the first since 2008. Hooray for political cartoons! I hope you like this video; it’s about the RNC. Please share with your friends!

Now I am switching my Olympics liveblogging to my twitter feed: https://twitter.com/letsgetshort Go there to read my liveblog for the next 60 minutes.

8:53 PM: Now THAT’S what I call volleyball! A bunch of jumping a bonking! Everyone who competes in the Olympics and doesn’t suck is a winner.

8:49 PM: “Misty May, one of the greatest if not THE greatest…” (talking about volleyball on NBC) Zzzzzzz

8:47 PM: Well, that’s another ad for another TV show I probably won’t buy a TV in order to watch.

8:45 PM: USA wins the two-woman volleyball game! Oh, but it’s only the first set. Man, there’s a lot of ads on NBC’s Olympics. We’re hitting the mute button like every 30 seconds. My mom is talking about exercising at the senior center, about how there are all these crazy ping-pong players at the community center.

8:43 PM: Just spotted a second, larger tattoo on the US volleyball lady. Hmm. “America, when did we lose our way?” Mitt Romney never would’ve allowed that at HIS Olympics.

8:42 PM: A controversy about whether the US team “did a touch” on their volleyball. My head is still spinning from the Romney ad, so I can’t tell what’s what on this beach in London.

8:41 PM: We just saw a Chic-Fil-A commercial!!! It’s really a real business!!! Now we’re watching a Mitt Romney ad about how he saved the Olympics from 9/11(?!) WTF was that a real ad?!

8:39 PM: Must credit Nike headband for USA Olympics Volleyball, cc: NBC Sports Score Update, Olympics Edition / TV Broadcast Coverage (c) 2012 A.D.

8:38 PM: USA up by 2 points in beach volleyball in London. Must credit MNFTIU.CC & NBC Olympics Coverage, (c) 2012 Olympics

8:36 PM: One of the USA ladies has a tattoo on her back. C’mon guys, cover that moldy ol’ angel-looking thing with a band-aid, this is a class event. We’re not riding mechanical bulls for gold medals.

8:35 PM: Just jumping around in the sand and hitting the volleyball while everyone cheers. I guess this sport is okay, but it’s kinda boring to me.

8:33 PM: And we’re back! It’s women’s beach volleyball — I’ve heard a lot about this sport because of some controversy about bikinis and ladies’ bottoms or something. It don’t care if they wear sexy-nurse uniforms, this sport is boring, aka “On Her Majesty’s Secret Snooze-ice.”

8:32 PM: My mom just admitted she doesn’t read my reality-show recaps “terribly intensely.” 🙁 My dad just said, “It’s wonderful watching commercials without sound.” He basically hates commercials.

8:31 PM: Back to commercials. NBC is doing a good job of balancing Olympic content and commercials.