As we told you before, author and McSweeney's founder Dave Eggers is curating an art show! A very important, very humorous art show. Paddy from Art Fag City went to the opening! Well, she stood in line at the opening...

Dave Eggers, author and founder of exhaustingly clever literary mag McSweeney's, is curating an art show! It opens next Wednesday at apexart. (We'll be there with bells on; we hear there will be a Basquiat.) UnBeige says, "according Eggers, the show ended up consisting of 'usually very basic or crude' drawings that are accompanied by hand-drawn text that functions like a funny caption." Muses Eggers in the press release, "Is humor allowed in art, and in what forms? Are captions allowed in art, and why?" Captions! If that's not art, we don't know what is. Click to see this work by David Shrigley, writ large. [via UnBeige]

The McSweeney's Joke Book of Book Jokes landed on our desk today, and damned it we couldn't use a laugh right now! But are there any to be had? The first bad sign is the book's design: the back of the book, with bar code, etc., is actually on the front. Ha-ha. Get it? And then, on the other side, there is a raw chicken (turkey?) leaning against a wall, smoking a cigarette through the hole left by its decapitated head. Uh... We'll excerpt a few jokes, and you may decide if they're funny, or just funny-heh.

Dave Eggers's semi-precious literary magazine, McSweeney's, seek senryu and pantoums submissions for their next issue; "no other forms of poetry will be considered that this time." Now you're all wondering what those are, right?

We think most of us are in agreement that Where the Wild Things Are—as far as sacred texts go, basically the Koran of childhood—was in safe hands with Spike Jonze, a filmmaker we fear may have at some point been beaten with a genius stick as hard as Kanye gets it with a shovel in his latest Jonze-helmed music video. (It bears noting that he co-wrote the screenplay with McSweeney's founder/ co-genius Dave Eggers, offering further promise that Things won't follow the same road as any number of Seussian big screen disasters.)

Dave Eggers' adaptation of children's book Where The Wild Things Are is not expected until next year, but an apparent screen test circulating online is already drumming up more interest in the Spike Jonze film, if that's possible. In a deleted post about the clip, Entertainment Weekly writer Adam Vary wrote, "the emotional impact of this scene is... readily apparent," and mentioned "a peek at footage" he got last fall, in which "I was totally hooked from the first frame." (It's not clear why Vary's post was pulled, but it's worth noting that his magazine's parent company is producing the film.) Director Spencer Sloan is "more excited for the real deal than [I] ever thought possible. This is pitch perfect." All this just adds to the buzz around the film, whose script New York magazine called "really, really good" in the fall. The clip is after the jump, but here's a question while you watch, via Sloan: Who is voicing wild thing Carol?

Is Granta still the best place to look for new, excellent novelists, asks the Times of London? Apparently not, even though Granta published their 100th issue this month. The incredibly precious McSweeney's, published by Dave Eggers, is the new heavyweight contender. It's gone from "an idiosyncratic literary magazine to a new-look publishing empire."

Dave Eggers, the do-gooder author of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, had written a screenplay for the Kate Winslet-betrothed director Sam Mendes. "The untitled film...follows a couple, pregnant with their first child, as they travel America looking for the ideal place to settle down," says Entertainment Weekly. Will it be called "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genus? Probably not. Will it be a hit? Maybe. It's being produced by Big Beach films who made the funny-but-also-you'll-weep hit Little Miss Sunshine and distributed by Focus Films. Those things are good things. But! Not all bode wells for the film. Specifically, the cast.

"I'm here to see Dave Eggers."

In the shower this morning I had an idea for a series of Dave Eggers inspired porns: 'A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Penis' and 'What Is The What In My Butt.'

We missed this until we saw it on Kottke: McSweeney's, which apparently doesn't have any money, is opening an actual business! Dave Eggers and pals are opening Timothy McSweeney's Design House, which will specialize in what has been dubbed that "distinctive po-mo, neo-classic proto-post-victorian sensibility" that all the kids love so much. We wish them the best at their Hut O' Clip Art. But it's sort of like Dave and friends are moving backwards—isn't it the designers who want to start a magazine, and the magazine folk who crave time to write that novel?

Where'd your McSweeney's donation money go? Dave Eggers isn't saying. [YM]

You may not know it, but press-averse Oscar winner Angelina Jolie is a huge fan of quirky literary quarterlies. While some say she developed her interest in the scene during what we assume was her brief affair with n+1's Marco Roth, it's obvious that she's not beholden to any one particular title. Clearly having heard of the financial drain recently incurred by McSweeney's, the talented thespian took to the streets of Manhattan yesterday with a copy of Dave Eggers' What Is The What? as a show of solidarity. Possibly she also agreed to exchange her lifetime subscription for a pack of playing cards. Celebrities: They're just like a couple of doofuses in Williamsburg! [Ed. Note: Yes, that is a picture of Balk's computer looking at the photo of Angelina Jolie carrying the Dave Eggers book that we were not going to pay $500 to buy. It's a nice picture though! Log into the fine website Splash News and go see!]

Jenna Bush made an appearance at the Javits Center BookExpo yesterday, pressing the flesh and fleshing the press in advance of her debut book, "Ana's Story: A Journey of Hope." According the Daily News, "Ana's Story" will be a work of non-fiction based on Jenna's experiences working for UNICEF, and the main storyline will follow a young Panamian girl with AIDS. The Post notes that the book will be written "in novel style." Dave Eggers, meanwhile, author of "What Is the What," appears in the "Summer Reading" rec-fest in this week's New York Times Book Review, spiritedly telling everyone to read John Prendergast and Don Cheadle's "Not on Our Watch," "a guide to effecting change—in East Africa or anywhere—through grass-roots vigor and vigilance." We're not saying, we're just saying. And having just said that, we sadly draw the curtains, temporarily or even permanently, on the great misguided and totally awesome Gawker Weekend experiment. It's because we got real jobs! Thank you for reading, everyone; go outside this summer!

The offer at right (click to enlarge) recently went out to lifetime subscribers of Dave Eggers' whimsical quarterly McSweeney's. Written in that publication's oh-so-precious house style (which was funny seven years ago but now just makes you want to punch someone) the note starts off as a standard change of address form. But wait, there's more! They want to renege on that whole "lifetime subscriber" thing.

• Dave Eggers and Isaac Mizrahi: separated at birth? [Radar]
• If you're going to attempt to make your own Hot Toddy, you better do it right. The Webtender allows you to search a database and prevent any throat-burning fuck-ups. [Lifehacker]
• Gay "it boy" designer Zac Posen may not make clothes for fatties, but if you're a pregnant supermodel, he might be willing to help you out. [WWD]
• She may not be able to lure Lindsay Lohan onto her show, but Kelly Ripa can wheel and deal her way to the top of Manhattan's real estate pile. Homegirl's busy, yo. [Curbed]
• Dear Prudence: If my boyfriend's dad calls me a "bitch," does that mean I have to make him dinner and get his slippers, too? [Slate]
• Happy Something-or-Another to CNN, who celebrates its 1000th day in Iraq. Gosh, it seems like just yesterday that we first saw military light a reporter's face with that beautiful, fiery glow. [What's Happening at CNN]
• David Schwimmer is slated to star in the Broadway revival of The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial. Sadly, there will be no monkey, no Rachel, and no interest. [Reuters]
• And, last but certainly not least, today marks the 25th anniversary of the murder of John Lennon. Commemorate in your own special way, be it listening to Imagine, cursing Yoko, or taking LSD. [CBS]

• Justin Timberlake comes to ex-girlfriend Britney Spears's defense: "It's, like, leave the girl alone." Powerful words there, homeskillet. [Yahoo!]
• Paris Hilton faces a $10M lawsuit from model Zeta Graff, who claims the heiress planted lies about Graff in the venerable pages of Page Six. [CourtTV]
• When pressed about a possible tryst with lady-beating actor Tom Sizemore, Paris Hilton claims to have never met him. Photographs, however, seem to suggest otherwise. [Gossiplist]
• Heartbreaking staggerer Dave Eggers, with the help of director Spike Jonze, draws pornographic pictures. Someday, he'll show them to his newborn daughter, October. And yet another celebrity child is doomed! [NYT]
• Seattle Stranger pervy genius Dan Savage saw the Village Voice-New Times union coming, but wonders whether this is a merger or a buy-out. We hate it when we're reliant on semantics to tell us how to feel about these things. [The Stranger]
• We can't imagine anything called Chilifest requiring tailored pants. [Craigslist]

The First Amendment Project, an organization devoted to — surprise! — protecting the First Amendment, is using eBay for their latest fundraiser. Winners of various auctions will have a character named after them in forthcoming projects from writers such as Stephen King, Amy Tan, Jonathan Lethem, Rick Moody, and Lemony Snicket. Some auctions have already ended, but Staggering Genius Dave Egger's auction is still open for another 5 days. Writes Eggers:

Heidi Julavits, the editor of the McSweeney's-distributed book review mag, The Believer, has a problem with "snark" which she describes as a "hostile, knowing, bitter tone of contempt." She'd probably hate Gawker. (Although I think her definition is totally inaccurate with regard to actual intentions.) The magazine was, in part, prompted by a nasty review written by one of her ex-husband's friends, although she denies that any antipathy for her ex caused her to react so violently to the review. "It's definitely bizarre," she says, "but Dave Eggers is friends with Sam and whatever, so it's alleverybody knows everybody in one way or another." [Emphasis mine. You'll see that again. Like, tomorrow. Stay tuned.] In defense of snark: criticism is not always hostility. Sometimes, it's just honest feedback.
Hunting snark: Heidi Julavits stomps a virus. [Observer]

· The odd couple: "Winona Ryder and Al Pacino have again sparked rumors that they're dating. At a screening of John Malkovich's "The Dancer Upstairs" at the American Museum of the Moving Image Monday night, 'they were arm in arm, and looking very friendly'" [NY Daily News]
· Dave Eggers is now married. Page Six, on the news: "Egger's legions of adoring female fans will no doubt be crushed at the news." [Page Six]
· The piano player at the Monkey Bar has been fired for not telling the owner there were hookers there: "There's been hookers here for eight years. I'm just the piano player. And then he fired me" [Page Six]
· Liz Hurley screamed at British Airways flight attendants the other day when they wouldn't upgrade her married boyfriend to first class. "Don't you know who I am?" she yelled. "I bloody demand that he's upgraded. Don't you know he's a millionaire? I'm always flying on British Airways, so you'd better pull your finger out." [Page Six]
· Designer Rem Koolhas, closing his New York office, says he's fed up with New York and is shifting his focus to Beijing. [Page Six]