My rhythm’s been a bit off lately, leaving me with a bunch of interesting links I want to present to the loyal readers of LitKicks despite the fact that most of these items are already old news on the blogosphere. Well, what can I say? I’m slow, but I’m not dead (yet).

1. Everybody’s talking about the upcoming 50th anniversary of Jack Kerouac’s On The Road and about the unedited version of the original scroll that will be published for the occasion. Personally, I’m not going to get too excited about this. Sure, it should be published as a historical artifact, but why would anybody other than a Kerouac super-fan/expert want to read this version instead of the one we know and love? I’m more impressed by Michael Hess’s attempt to google-map the entire novel. Beyond this admirable endeavor, I am already tired (well in advance) of the hype that will descend in September 2007 when the book’s 50th anniversary occurs. There are other great Beat books that could use some attention. I say share the love — let’s talk about Big Sur or Kaddish or Gasoline or Turtle Island for a change.

2. What’s impressive about this Hemingway Lookalike Contest recently held in Key West isn’t the concept but the results. I don’t even like Hemingway very much, but I like these photos.

3. I enjoyed Scott Esposito’s detailed analysis of his own literary ideals and opinions. It’s an honest piece that helps to point out the odd mix of subjectivity and objectivity we all wrestle with when we try to explain to others what we like, what we don’t like, and why.

4. The best new litblog of 2006? I have to hand it to Critical Mass, which hit the ground running several months ago and has been keeping it fresh, lively and controversial ever since. Nice job, folks!

5. Raymond Carver’s first wife has written a book about the late great short story writer. Jonathan Yardley used this as an opportunity to say a whole bunch of dumb and irrelevant things about Raymond Carver, and Rake’s Progress has happily moved in with a neat rebuttal. The Rake is correct, Jonathan Yardley is out of line, and Raymond Carver is still dead.

5. As mentioned here last week, Caryn Thurman and Jamelah Earle will be staying up for 24 hours to blog for their selected charities from 9 a.m. Saturday to 9 a.m. Sunday. Jamelah will be blogathoning from her home in Michigan, whereas Caryn has travelled up to New York City so she can run the show from my humble apartment in Queens. Please consider sponsoring Caryn and/or Jamelah’s noble efforts, or at least stop by either of their sites tomorrow and post some comments to help keep these highly dedicated women awake.