News: Procrastination - List Madness

The always excellent American arts and current affairs online magazine, Slate, has a great special issue on procrastination that should appeal to anyone who just can't get down to revising the unrevisable or writing the Great American Novel. Jessica Winter asks whether Truman Capote and Ralph Ellison's writer's block wasn't just plain old not getting around to it and picks the best novels about wasting time; Daniel Gross advises us to invest in the Procrastinator's Portfolio (stocks and shares in Facebook, Starbucks, Ebay) and Heather Smith compares procrastination hours around the globe. Seth Stevenson's 'Letter to a Young Procrastinator: Some Last Minute Advice from a Veteran Slacker' has some words of wisdom for us all - especially when the sun is shining or there's an unfinished game of Solitaire waiting on your computer.

If you're still looking for more ways to distract yourself, then fear not. In the past few days, the internet has been dealing heavily in its stock in trade: the list. Alongside Winter's Procrastination Lit. list, you can wile away the idle minutes with these curiosities:

• The Art of Manliness lists 100 book's which comprise its "essential man's library";
• The New Yorker lists 100 essential Jazz Albums;
• The LA Times lists the best books about Presidential campaigns;
• Hypeful ranks the top 20 songs about superheroes;
• And finally: Yuppie Punk features a collection of literary tattoos which are, almost universally, mind-boggling. Check out the William Faulkner one: