Tonight at 8pm there is the Franklin Park Reading Series in Prospect Heights Brooklyn, with acclaimed young writer Danielle Evans (Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self), This American Life contributor David Ellis Dickerson and J.E. Reich, Anthony Jones and myself. RSVP Sunday Jan. 16th at 7pm, Gary Lutz and Robert Lopez will read [...]
Archive for January, 2011
Brief note
Posted in Uncategorized on January 10, 2011 | 3 Comments »
I don’t really have the time or the mental wherewithall to say much about How To Live Safely In a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu, except that it is one of the most intellectually exciting and engaging novels I’ve read in a long time. If you haven’t yet read it, go away and do [...]
Dante 2020, or How Does That Guy Get Away with a Fedora?
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Big Other, Dante, Divine Comedy, John Domini on January 9, 2011 | 10 Comments »
Struggling to deliver for BIG OTHER, I’ve kept coming back to the following, on Dante and his Divine Comedy. In different form, longer, the essay first appeared in Southwest Review. My thanks to the editor, Willard Spiegelman, for allowing me to adapt the piece, and to John M. and other OTHERs, for urging me on. [...]
Best of 2010, Part 5
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Best of 2010, Big Other, Bradley Sands, Chris Heavener, John Madera, Lance Olsen, William Walsh on January 9, 2011 | 2 Comments »
This post features lists by four excellent writers: Chris Heavener, Lance Olsen, Bradley Sands, and William Walsh. And when you get a chance, check out part one, part two, part three, and part 4. of “Best of 2010.”
Tiny tiny giants
Posted in Uncategorized on January 8, 2011 | 11 Comments »
Back in 2002, I produced a review-essay for The New York Review of Science Fiction that covered four novels by Russell Hoban, Fremder, Mr Rinyo-Clacton’s Offer, Angelica’s Grotto and Amaryllis Night And Day. From correspondence and conversations I’ve had since then, this appears to be one of the very few critical essays on Hoban’s work [...]
art and self-restraint: the work of david shrigley
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged art, David Shrigley, drawing, Glasgow, Lily Hoang, Matthew Simmons, Minimalism, self-restraint on January 8, 2011 | 3 Comments »
I laughed a little when I found this drawing on the website for David Shrigley, a Glasgow-based artist. There’s not much to it, but for some reason it’s funny. Also a little unsettling. I realized I was laughing not so much because it’s comedic (though it might be) but because it’s absurd. There’s hardly anything [...]
My Favorite New Movies of 2010
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Around a Small Mountain, Black Swan, Dogtooth, Hausu, Inception, Iron Man 2, Le Monde Vivant, Let the Right One In, Mike Stoklasa, Moon, Runaway, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Sherlock Holmes, Shutter Island, The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call – New Orleans, The Fall, The Ghost Writer, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Where the Wild Things Are, White Material, Wild Grass, You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger on January 7, 2011 | 23 Comments »
Hello and welcome to 2011. Time to make a list of what I liked and didn’t like in 2010. A word though first: I don’t consider the following definitive; I’m not trying to pronounce some final judgment on each of the following films. In ten year’s time, I might feel very differently about these movies; [...]
Charles Borkhuis & Paula Cisewski Poetry Reading @ The Poetry Project: January 12th
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged After Image, Charles Borkhuis, Paula Cisewski on January 6, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
I recently read Charles Borkhuis’ After Image (Chax Press, 2006), an extremely entertaining detective narrative in verse filled with deliciously uncanny moments such as these: looking at my reflection in the toy store window my hung over raccoon eyes my rubbery red lips an elderly salesclerk motions through the glass once inside I’m handed a [...]
Best of 2010, Part 4
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Andrew Zornoza, Big Other, Brad Listi, Darby Larson, Dawn Raffel, John Madera, Vincent Czyz on January 6, 2011 | 3 Comments »
This post features lists by five fine writers: Vincent Czyz, Darby Larson, Brad Listi, Dawn Raffel, and Andrew Zornoza. And when you get a chance, check out part one, part two, and part three of “Best of 2010.”
Yesterday: Bill Cotter On Ritual. Today: Annie La Ganga On Ritual.
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Annie La Ganga, doubt and anxiety and self-loathing, On Ritual, writing ritual on January 5, 2011 | 2 Comments »
Annie La Ganga: On Ritual “I used to hate writing. It was just so hard to sit still. Now that I’m fatter, I like it. It’s one of the things I can do that doesn’t make me winded. It’s easier than climbing stairs or taking a shower. I can do it lying down. I’ve learned [...]
Today: Bill Cotter On Ritual. Tomorrow: Annie La Ganga On Ritual.
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Bill Cotter, On Ritual, writing ritual on January 4, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Bill Cotter: On Ritual “I wish I could start this piece with something like ‘An ordinary, workaday writing session for me begins with an hour of meditative levitation followed by guttural sounding and a pint of warmed duckling bouillon paired with a cruller, and then I sit on my brambles and dip a bamboo quill [...]
Looking Back, Part 4: Books
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Best of 2010, Brady Udall, Jeanann Verlee, Kat Dixon, Ken Sparling, Kevin Sampsell, Lindsay Hunter, Paula Bomer, Shya Scanlon, Vera Pavlova on January 4, 2011 | 2 Comments »
Best Novel: Honorable Mentions: Best Story Collection (Tie): Best Nonfiction: Best Poetry Collection (Tie): Best Chapbook: And that, folks, is my look back at 2010. I’m planning some fun stuff for 2011 and am looking forward to getting back into the swing of Big Other-ing.
Looking Back, Part 3a: Music Videos
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Best of 2010, The Black Keys on January 4, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
I forgot to include this in yesterday’s post, so here are the two best videos of the year, both coming from the album of the year, Brothers by The Black Keys
Best of 2010, Part 3
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Big Other, David Peak, Jane Ciabattari, Jen Michalski, John Madera, Lia Purpura on January 4, 2011 | 6 Comments »
This post features lists by four fine writers: Jane Ciabattari, Jen Michalski, David Peak, and Lia Purpura. And when you get a chance, check out part one and part two of “Best of 2010.”
Why I Hate the Avant-Garde, part 2
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged avant-garde, DJ Kool Herc, Frameworks, Johannes Göransson, John Cage, Laurie Anderson on January 4, 2011 | 5 Comments »
Part 1 Re: Johannes’s comment on my recent post, I first saw people using “avant-garde” to refer to work made today in the late 1990s, on the Frameworks mailing list, which is: an international forum on experimental film, avant-garde film, film as art, film as film, or film as visual poetry; film’s expressive qualities, aside [...]
Insults Won’t Make Me Read Your Book or the Book You Want Me to Read
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Joan Acocella, New Yorker, Robert Steiner, Steig Larsson on January 4, 2011 | 20 Comments »
In the New Yorker’s latest article on the lives of the rich and famous, Joan Acocella writes about why Steig Larsson’s books are so popular. The first paragraph of this article contains this sentence: If you have been in a coma, say, for the past two years, and have not read the Millennium trilogy, about [...]
Disney vs. Debord
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Guy Debord, Josh Weihnacht, Walt Disney on January 4, 2011 | 1 Comment »
Tonight a friend reminded me of an essay I haven’t read in some time, but that once had some impact on my thinking: “Disney vs Debord: Methods and Ideologies for Manipulating the Viewer through Space,” a term paper written by another friend of mine, Josh Weihnacht. I link to it now because I want to [...]
Looking Back, Part 3: Music Miscellany
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Bad Tits, Best of 2010, Cody ChesnuTT, Conan O'Brien, Flaming Lips, Music Miscellany, Ted Leo & The Pharmacists, The Black Keys, The Greenhornes on January 3, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
So much happens in music every year, it can’t all be filtered down to best albums and songs. Here are some other music favorites of mine from the year. Best EP’s from 2010: Garbage Night by Bad Tits Black Skin, No Value by Cody ChesnuTT Best Surprise from 2010: Conan O’Brien: Live at Third Man [...]
New Year, New Books. Celebrate!
Posted in Uncategorized on January 3, 2011 | 8 Comments »
The Millions has up a long list of stuff to anticipate this year. I fairly drooled reading through it; in particular I’m looking forward to newness from Karen Russell, Jim Shepard, China Mieville, Bonnie Jo Campbell, and Nicholson Baker, along with the first English translation of Perec’s The Art of Asking Your Boss for a [...]
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