New Yorker Music Critic One of Those Bloggers
Who Posts Pictures of His Cats

Of course, the tabby in the background isn't really what Alex Ross wants you to notice in this photograph. The stack of paper in the foreground is the manuscript of The Rest Is Noise, his history of twentieth-century music "ranging from Richard Strauss' Salome to Steve Reich's Music for Eighteen Musicians, with digressions into Duke Ellington's disrespect for Gershwin, Hitler's love of Wagner, the progressive musical policies of the US Army's Division of Information Control, and the minimalist sources of the Velvet Underground." He seems to have gotten into a desirable shape. Congratulations, Alex!

For those of you wishing a sneak preview, there's an excerpt from his chapter on Mahler and Strauss in The Berlin Journal (PDF document; his article starts on p. 52).

UPDATE (1/21): New evidence suggests Ross is, in fact, one of those cat-loving bloggers we keep hearing about. Then again, if I had a reliable and efficient digital camera, I'd probably be one, too.