Drumroll please. Well, that and big props. Tim Hall's Undie Press celebrates its 5th Anniversary.

We are very happy to let you know that Tim Hall, good friend and author of many fine books including TBWCYL, Inc. favorites Half Empty and Full of It is not only celebrating the 5th Anniversary of the most excellent Undie Press, sweet, but he is selling many of the books in the Undie Press catalog for half-price through the end of the year, very sweet. Given the excitement you are now experiencing, you may be wondering if indulging in the richness of all things Undie Press will change your life. Our response? But of course.

A coincidental intersection/weekly round-up between Bored to Death and This Blog Will Change Your Life? Maybe. But we think not. You?

Okay, so we watched the Bored to Death the new HBO joint from Brooklyn writer Jonathan Ames and you know we're still trying to decide what we think about it. We like everyone in it, that's easy, and its about a writer, which is good, but do we need to add another show, maybe not. Still, there is a character named Ray played by the comedian Zach Galifianakis who is the protagonist's sidekick/best friend and it turns out that Ray is modeled on highly acclaimed New York artist/comix dude Dean Haspiel who happens to be friends with TBWCYL Inc. favorites Adam Lawrence and Tim Hall, a wonderful intersection all its own, both of whom we just happened to highlight in the blog this very week at the very same time the show just happened to debut. Coincidence? We think not. We would add, that Haspiel is also the artist responsible for the kick-ass cover on Hall's novel Full of It, the reason we blogged about him in the first place this week. More coincidence? C'mon.

Has Tim Hall gone nuts? Maybe, but there's a catch.

Our good friend and kick-ass writer Tim Hall is giving it away. Yes, its true free unabridged audio downloads of the complete Full of It are now available. And for a mere $5.00 donation he will read a chapter of the book over the phone to you in that crazy, sexy voice of his. Its good stuff, and Full of It is a wonderful read, but here's the thing to score this sweet deal you need to join his Facebook news group. We are assuming you already have of course, but if you haven't may we suggest that you get on it, like right now. There you go. And enjoy. It just might change your life.

End of the week round-up, Tim Hall, Pete Anderson, Jason Fisk, and more. Much, much, more.

Friday is upon us, nice, and in a wonderful end of the week sort of way, we have stumbled into a random confluence of friends and stuff we wanted to share with you.

First, the wonderful poet, and one of our many current best friends ever, Jason Fisk who we just happened to have published in This Zine Will Change Your Life earlier this month, has a new chapbook out from Brown Bottle Press with the musician Jeremy Michael Cashman titled Trapped Within Myself.../The Village Library Interviews/, that is filled with poetry, fiction and lyrics/words by Jason that Jeremy has set to music on the accompanying disc. It's really good stuff, so please go find a copy for yourself now.

Second, This Zine Will Change Your Life assistant flunky Pete Anderson has a new piece titled Clean and Bright up at Joyland. The piece is a response to Hemingway's, Ernest not Mariel, "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place," and we think you may want to consider reading it right this very second. Thanks.

And finally, in the most random of occurrences this week, long-time TBWCYL, Inc. favorite Tim Hall, who's novel Full of It we just reviewed earlier this week, has an excellent new interview up at Orange Alert with Scott McClanahan, author of the short story collection Stories, which Barry Graham, another favorite here at headquarters, was just raving about on the newest episode of This Podcast Will Change Your Life, recorded earlier this week as well. It's craziness, right? Way.

Enjoy.

Full of It by Tim Hall.

Yes, we know, we've been reading like mad lately, and we think it has something to do with our lapsed subscription to the New Yorker, some ramped-up travel, the season finales of any number of the endless television shows we watch, and maybe most importantly, the really excellent books that keep landing in our mailbox. Today we finished Full of It by good friend Tim Hall, and here's what we think you need to know, it's a breezy, fun read; a mash note to what seems more and more like a bygone era of underground newspapers, not to mention a nearly pre-historic, pre-dot com New York City; and maybe best of all, a great companion piece to Tim's previous novel, TBWCYL, Inc. favorite, Half Empty. Nice work man, what can we expect next? And when?

All sorts of reasons to celebrate all that is the Time Out Chicago.

In a wonderful confluence of visionary, and dare we say, daring Time Out Chicago literary love, there are not one but two book-related highlights related to Time Out Chicago this week that we wanted to share with you. First, a most excellent review of BFF Tim Hall's new joint Full of It, many congratulations sir, and second, a sweet write-up on Jason Pettus and CCLaP's efforts to launch its electronic Radiohead-style publishing arm with the release of Repetition Patterns by TBWCYL, Inc. spokesperson Ben Tanzer. Cool stuff all around and big props to Time Out for its support of the local independent literary scene. Many thanks.

Did we mention that we will be reading at the FIXX reading series with Robert Duffer and Tim Hall this coming Thursday, October 30th? No? We have now.

For more information please go here. And thank you in advance, for taking look, coming out and maybe even buying some books. No pressure mind you, but if you're going to be there anyway, just say you'll think about it, okay, great.

Full of It by Tim Hall is live. Pretty cool, right? Way.

Good friend and killer writer Tim Hall's new book Full of It: The Birth, Death, and Life of an Underground Newspaper is live, so awesomely live and we have the press release below to prove it. So please take a look, and then you know, go buy the book. Cool? We thought so.

For Immediate Release Contact: Renee Kenner

856.489.8654, ext.304

renee@smithpublicity.com

FULL OF IT: The Birth, Death, and Life of an Underground Newspaper

By Tim Hall

NEW NOVEL EXPLORES THE 'DIY' CULTURE BEFORE THE AGE OF THE INTERNET

--when the time comes, do you want to be fabulous or real?

It seems like everyone is doing it these days. While originally reserved for tech savvy computer "geeks," YouTube and blogging have hit mainstream America. Technorati recently reported that 133 million blog records have been recorded since 2002. And according to reports, as of January 2008, YouTube's nearly 79 million users had made over 3 billion video views. Anyone from the aspiring music artist, activist, journalist, or bored housewife can easily express their thoughts and creativity to the entire world with the click of a button.

Author and former newspaper editor, Tim Hall, reflects on a time when getting the word out actually required face-to-face interaction. His new novel, FULL OF IT: The Birth, Death, and Life of an Underground Newspaper, is based on a true story and pays homage to the era of the alternative newspaper.

Set in the mid 1990's in New York's East Village, a group of hopeful artists and activists band together to form an underground, free-thinking newspaper. As the paper grows, personalities begin to clash as they fight for creative control. When unexpected tragedy occurs, tensions come to a boil and the rift in the group widens.

"People tend to romanticize artistic or bohemian life, when in fact it can be just as cut-throat as finance or politics," says Hall.

Hall hits on life-altering issues that every person faces, such as:

· Taking control of your own creativity

· Getting involved in your community

· Be good to your friends; crush your enemies

· Don't take yourself too seriously

· Nothing good lasts long, so take your best shot when you can and give it everything you've got

Even during conflict, humor remains a constant theme in the book. Hall, a strong advocate of seeing the humor in any situation, remarks, "Even in the most heated moments of conflict, keeping a sense of humor about yourself and what is going on around you allows you to see the lighter side of things you can't control."

About the author

Tim Hall began self-publishing in 6th grade and eventually began using one of the first Macintosh computers to publish crude newsletters in college. Since 1995 he has been a newspaper editor, publisher, and journalist, and has had short stories and essays published in many online and print publications, including Chicago Reader, NY Press, BIGnews, American Heritage, NY Post.

In 2003 he created the first daily video weblog, where he uploaded short video stories that he created with a cheap digital camera and iMovie. This was 2 years before the launch of YouTube and the personal video revolution, and his site was called a "hot tech trend to watch" by the San Jose Mercury News.

FULL OF IT: The Birth, Death, and Life of an Underground Newspaper is available at Amazon.com, TimHallBooks.com, B&N, Booksense.com, and Powells.com.

For more information, please visit Tim's website.

Deception. Death. Murder? Full Of It - The Birth, Death and Life of an Underground Newspaper. Check it out.

We were recently given the opportunity to listen to podiocasts of the first five chapters of the very chill Tim Hall's new novel, and maybe memoir, Full Of It - The Birth, Death and Life of an Underground Newspaper. Now while it is true that we are proud Hallheads, that we are running a great piece of his in the next edition of This Zine Will Change Your Life and that we are quite biased towards the themes Tim tends to cover - the independent press, New York City in the early 1990's in general and the lower east side more specifically, substance abuse - we have to say that from what we've heard so far, this book is lot a lot of fun and if you don't believe us, go visit Does This Blog Make Me Look Fat? and check out the killer animated first promo, because it rocks, and it will most definitely change your life.