I admit that I miss the McSweeney's of old - when it was more like a dead letter office than a literary journal. I miss the letters section of the magazine, the non-fiction that McSweeney's used to offer. I miss the pages and pages of ridiculously small print...

But I understand why they had to move on. The routine would have gotten old and it would no longer be fun to do if it was all expected. And I think that's something that is core to McSweeney's : it tries to be unexpected. For example, upcoming issue 11 comes with a free DVD.

The other reason why I can't shake my eye of any David Egger enterprise is that there is always apparent delight in the experience of making an idea into a beautiful thing that is real and substantive. There is an understanding that in the age of the electronic there are those still who enjoy being surrounded by little heavy papery beautiful things. One such Eggers enterprise is 826 Valencia - a writing centre geared towards students, ages 8-18. Because 826 Valencia is zoned as retail, it was decided that the storefront would be needed. And it would be a pirate store. It sounds like the best pirate store I've ever heard of.

But what is a mopping?