Raymond’s latest screenplay Meek’s Cutoff, currently being screened in New York and Los Angeles, as well as various cities throughout the country, is a true tale of emigrants traveling the Oregon Trail in 1845, lead by Stephen Meek, a fur trader turned wagon train guide, who leads the pack into unchartered territory. The struggle to survive with minimal supplies, scarce water, and the looming overhead mystery of whether a Native American they have captured is helpful or harmful, is stimulating and thought provoking, despite its long stretches of silence filled with exceptional cinematography and character’s nonverbal rituals. This seems to be Reichardt and Raymond’s style, using such tactics in order stay true to the emersion of the character and the story they have to share, defining these characters through struggles. Raymond’s talent was further proven when long time friend Todd Hayne’s enlisted him to adapt Mildred Pierce, the recent HBO five part mini-series, and he pulled it off while religiously staying true to James M. Cain’s novel.

I interviewed Raymond during his continuing promotion of Meek’s Cutoff, which continues to be well received as its release expands week by week.

Your screenplays rely on nonverbal cues to relay messages and grip its audience. In Meek’s Cutoff the band of pioneers are feeling a list of emotions–fear, uncertainty, and betrayal–and each character is constantly in a conflict, mostly conveyed through side bar comments and sinister looks. A perfect example is the Indian; we don’t understand him but we know what he’s thinking. This goes the same for your other two films. In Old Joy the tension between the reunited friends can be cut with a knife, the revelations the audience experiences all come through watching their nonverbal interactions and responses, for instance, the scene at the hot springs. Wendy and Lucy you feel your heart sinking and experience the pain and anguish right along with Wendy while she is searching madly for her dog. How do you execute this in your screenplay? I remember in an interview Michelle Williams said while reading your script, “How do I act this?”

JR: The earlier two screenplays, which were based on stories I’d written, had some measure of emotion and/or psychology built into the silences. The paragraphs at least suggested what the nonverbal moments were about. And I think Kelly was able, sort of miraculously, to translate those written feelings into filmic images. And often even make them deeper and more complex. I’m always amazed how much she can do in a shot, how far she lets moments dilate. She actually allows the viewer to have a thought, which for some reason is really rare in filmmaking these days.

As for the performances, I’m of the school that a decently dramatic situation gives the acting a chance to remain pretty minimal. Maybe it’s just me, but I always appreciate a kind of unemotive performance. I think I feel more empathy for a character (and for that matter, a person), when I see them holding their worries, fears, loves, inside, out of view.

Old Joy and Wendy and Lucy (“Train Choir”) are based on your short stories. I read both after seeing the films and was almost able to re-experience the film verbatim, aside from only a few obvious differences. If I am to do the same with a novel I often find myself shaking a clenched fist in the air and shouting, “Why did they leave this out!?” but I didn’t this time. So I suppose my question is, why are novels adapted so frequently, why not short stories? I was amazed to see how seamlessly they fit on screen.

JR: I totally agree with you about the fiction/film ratio. I think the conventional wisdom that a novel equals a feature is largely wrong. I’m much more inclined to think a short story equals a feature. Assuming you like your movies pretty small and uneventful, anyway. But for some reason, Kelly is one of the only directors who’s clued into this fact. That’s why I try to clear whatever room she ever walks into of any competing short story collections. Thank God she’s never read Maile Meloy or Charlie D’Ambrosio or Deborah Eisenberg. Some director other than her should check them out someday.

You have a long relationship with Todd Haynes, dating back to taking photos of him dressed as Big Foot with your Plazm Magazine crew, as well as being his assistant on the set of Far From Heaven. He seems to have been the link in your career, introducing you to both Kelly Reichardt and Michelle Williams. Tell me a bit how the collaboration came about for Mildred Pierce? How was it adapting another writer’s material for once, did you find yourself handling it with more care?

JR: Wow, you turned up those Bigfoot pictures! That’s pretty serious legwork on your part. That happened right when I first met Todd, back in 2000, and since then I have Todd to thank for so many blessings in my life. Honestly, without Todd’s generosity and friendship, I don’t know what I’d be doing right now. He introduced me to Kelly; he introduced me to the person who hooked me up with my first literary agent; he just really opened up a whole world of possibilities for me, for which I will be eternally grateful. As for Mildred Pierce, it was a book I recommended to him years ago, and which, upon reading, he decided to make into a mini-series. Out of kindness and loyalty or something like that, he asked me to help, and of course I jumped at the chance.

As far as the adapting went, I found myself strangely more protective of Cain’s work than of my own. Adapting one’s own stuff, I think a certain measure of politeness kicks in. You want the filmmaker to feel free to do what they have to do. Adapting someone else, one becomes reluctant to let certain things go. One feels a stronger sense of stewardship to the text, I guess. It was interesting. Thankfully we managed to end up with something that felt quite loyal.

Was it more of a struggle or a blessing to be handed 5 1/2 hours to play with for the adaptation? After having that length of time would you ever consider adapting your book The Half-Life in a 120-minute average window?

JR: It was great having all that time. The mini-series is so well-suited to the rhythms and structures of the naturalist novel. Let the feature film be the short story; let the mini-series be the novel. And let HBO take over the whole broadcast spectrum, I say.

As for The Half-Life, I’d consider adapting it for a lot of money. Or, preferably, someone else would do the adapting, and I’d still get a lot of money. It’d be hard to squeeze into two hours, though. I wouldn’t relish that job.

You consider yourself a fiction writer, not a screenwriter. Is that, perhaps, part of the reason your films are so entrancing in unconventional ways? You are able to make 10 minutes of silence compelling. I’m interested to know if from the get-go you visualized these films as a full experience: visual, emotional, and musically satisfying. The photography of Oregon in each film is simply stunning and then you have the music of Yo La Tengo to real help you delve deeper into your emotions. Gifting the viewer everything they may create themselves as a reader. Do you imagine all these elements while writing your short stories, or while adapting into a script, or is this simply all left to the director? How much say do you have in these scenes during production?

JR: I think the success of the film experience is really in the director’s hands. These have been far from foolproof scripts, and I doubt anyone but Kelly could have made them come out the way they did. I have no role in the actual production, except as a kind of safety valve for Kelly to vent to over the phone, and while I certainly offer my thoughts throughout editing, that doesn’t mean they’re necessarily taken.

All that said, I think a lot of people have a mistaken idea of what a screenplay is. They seem to think it’s just dialogue or something, and, of course, it’s a lot more than that. In screenwriting, as in writing a story or a novel, you’re doing all kinds of things. You’re sketching landscapes, you’re describing costumes, you’re making up characters, you’re plotting time, you’re establishing themes, you’re figuring out transitions, you’re researching car engines or bomb-making devices, whatever. The odd thing is, you’re also always laboring under the knowledge that it’s all going to evolve a lot once it leaves your hands. The actors are going to bring their ideas, the production designer hers, the location scout his, etc. And the director is somehow going to orchestrate the whole collaboration without losing her mind.

To date Wendy and Lucy is one of my favorite films, easily making my Top Ten list. When I saw it in the theater I was completely alone, not a single soul was present in the other seats. I really experienced the journey along with Wendy and found myself crying, which I seldom do during movies, as she was promising Lucy “I’ll be back for you.” Most people who don’t own dogs don’t understand this gut wrenching unconditional love we have for them, which I feel you knew. While reading “Train Choir” in Livability I had this notion that Verna (Wendy in the film) and all the other characters knew each other, like they were neighbors. Do you have a particular individual in mind when you create characters and also have you experience some of these struggles yourself, such as saying goodbye to a dog?

JR: Well, first off, thanks so much for the compliment. As long you were the only one who showed up for the screening, I’m glad you at least liked it! The funny thing about that story, though, is that I’m not a real dog person. I was raised to fear dogs. But I find I am a dog person person: I love people who love dogs. I’m so impressed by you peoples’ devotion and commitment. And knowing some of you pretty well, I’ve come to know how deep the human/dog connection is.

And I love that you felt like the characters in Livability were like neighbors. That was always my hope. The sense that any of them might turn up in another story as well. For the most part they are composites of people, though in the case of Verna she is kind of her own thing. She is probably the least psychologically developed of any of the characters in the book, a function mainly of the socio-economic predicament she finds herself in.

(*MEEK’S CUTOFF SPOILER ALERT*)
In the films your characters seem to figure out in the end what is best for them and trek on despite the bumps they’ve experienced on the journey thus far. Throughout Meek’s Cutoff there is an interesting contrast between the fear of the unknown and the need the need to survive by any means necessary. When we arrive at the ending we can only assume that all is decided: They will go their separate ways, venturing in the direction their individual party feels is correct. Last week while I screened Meek’s at Film Forum there was a synchronized *humph* when the credits appeared. One lady furiously rushed an employee and asked him, “Why wasn’t there a clear cut ending? What does that mean?” He simply shrugged his shoulders, terrified of her wrath. I for one ran home and began Google-ing the actual events to close up the open end for myself. Why did you make this choice? Is this going back to emotions being depicted through actions, translation being the lack of control and impossibility the pioneers had over their situation?

JR: Yeah, the ending. I always knew it was going to bother some people. But for me, the story has really come to an end at that point. What happens next is on a certain level obvious: these people, or people like them, make it to Oregon; the Indians are decimated; a hundred-fifty years later some yuppie asshole like myself names a golf course after them (which is in fact true; it’s how I came across the story in the first place). In my mind, the main question isn’t one of the emigrants’ survival here, but rather of whether they kill the Indian. We’re in Camus country, not Jack London territory, you know? And by my reckoning, the question has been answered: at least for now, they’re not killing him. They are making a leap of faith toward nonviolence, for better or worse. They are accepting the limitations of their knowledge and choosing to trust someone they wouldn’t otherwise trust.

That said, they might be wrong, too. They might get killed. In 1845, we are about two years out from a really infamous massacre of missionaries by Cayuse Indians. Meek, for all his unpleasantness, might actually have a point. That’s the worry I hope people leave with, which is to say, I hope they leave with their own predispositions toward the unknown in mind. Where do I place my own blind faith? When do I cede my own moral instincts to someone else? The story revolves very much on how a community makes decisions based on incomplete information, and concluding on a note of incompletion and unknowing always just struck me as appropriate.

That might be an incredibly pretentious effect to go for. Clearly that lady at Film Forum didn’t care about any of that. And that’s cool, I guess. A part of me also just relishes the thought of people walking into this movie thinking they’re in for a big Michelle Williams Western, whatever that might be, and then getting hit by a genuine art film. If they’re that hung up on tidy closure, I can’t help them anyway.

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Tuesday 14^th: Celebrate Rumpus Women! Elissa Bassist, co-editor of Rumpus Women,Volume 1 and the editor of our own Funny Women, is just one of the fantastic females reading tonight at BookCourt in celebration of the first installment of Rumpus Women. The night also features readings by Jami Attenberg, Justine Hope Blau, Nel Boeschenstein, and more! BookCourt, 163 Court Street. 7PM. Free.

Wednesday 15^th: New Yorker story contributors gang up for 20 Under 40: Stories from the New Yorker. Nell Freudenberger, Gary Shteyngart, David Bezmozgis, Wells Tower, Chris Adrian, Rivka Galchen and Karen Russell read their newly anthologized works; the magazine’s fiction editor, Deborah Treisman, facilitates. 92YTribeca, 200 Hudson St. 7PM. $15.

Thursday 16^th: J.D. Durkin has no shame as he pleads Stephen Colbert: Hire Me. Durkin rehashes your traditional job interview as he takes his own approach in campaigning for a coveted writer’s position for Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report. Durkin performs original comedic content, as Stephen Colbert’s character, while Political Subversities, a musical sketch comedy troupe, joins for special performances. The People’s Improv Theatre, 154 W. 29^th St. 7PM. $5.

Friday 17^th: The Soundtrack Series is Dana Rossi’s monthly show where writers and performers of all kinds tell the stories they associate with particular pieces of pop music. (Le) Poisson Rouge, 158 Bleecker St. 7PM. Free.

Saturday 18^th: This week’s  SATURDAY MOVIE PICK is Lena Dunham’s semi-autobiographical flick Tiny Furniture. Twenty four year old Dunham writes, directs, and stars in this offbeat, quirky comedy set in TriBeCa, Dunham’s home base. Tiny Furniture exhibit memioristic qualities which allows the film to feel raw and real, Dunham based most, if not all, characters on people in her life, most of which play themselves in the film. Dunham is currently creating a series with Judd Apatow, featuring the same vibes as Furniture, for HBO. Playing at the IFC Center and BAM Rose Cinemas.

Sunday 19^th: “What the Dickens? A Christmas Carol Marathon” features a slewofwriters, including Jonathan Ames, Mary Gaitskill, Justin Taylor, Heidi Julavits, Patrick McGrath, and Tom Beller, taking turns reading from the holiday classic on the balcony inside the Housing Works Bookstore Café. The bookstore and café will be open throughout the multi-hour reading, which means last-minute Christmas presents can be bought and hot cocoa can be savored—with a good conscience, as money spent here goes to end homelessness and AIDS. Housingworks Bookstore and Café, 126 Crosby St. 1PM. Free.

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If you would like to be listed in Notable New York please direct requests to caitlin@therumpus.net.  Original artwork for Notable New York by Andre da Loba.

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Monday 6^th: Organized by Farrar Straus and Giroux, The FSG Reading Series this week features PaulMurray (Skippy Dies) and Rachel Dewoskin (Big Girl Small) at the Russian Samovar, 256 W 52^nd St. 7PM. $5.

Tuesday 7^th: It’s not a holiday without tears, from laughter of course. Ask Me holds a Holiday themed night of true stories told by the very funny Jen Scanlin, Dawn Fraser, and Catie Lazarus, and hosted by David Crabb and Cammi Climaco. Arlo and Esmee, 42 E 1^st St. 8PM. $7 (suggested donation, part of the proceeds go to Toys for Tots).

Wednesday 8^th: Denis Leary leaves his Tommy Gavin character at home tonight as he reiterates public events in his sharp-tongued comedic tone in his latest book, Suck on This Year. Borders, 10 Columbus Circle. 7PM. Free.

Thursday 9^th: Far from the simple task-oriented games of Pong and Pacman, video games now tell complex stories and create fantastic detailed worlds to immerse players. But who’s bringing that narrative to the game, the creator or the player? Experts Tom Bissell, author of Extra Lives, and Steve Gaynor, designer of BioShock 2, discuss this new form of fiction. The Center for Fiction, 17 E 47th St. 7PM. Free.

Friday 10^th: Gigantic Magazine invites you out for a night of causal supper and short prose featuring local black bean tacos from Bouwerie and short readings from Gigantic thegiganticmag.com contributors John Haskell (author of Out of My Skin), Anelise Chen, John Dermot Woods, and others. Celebrate with $2 tacos and cheap drinks; proceeds help support Gigantic #3. Darling House 496 Broadway, 3^rd Floor. 6PM-9PM. Free.

Saturday 11^th: This week’s SATURDAY NIGHT MOVIE PICK sets you in gear for the upcoming award season. Black Swan, starring Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis and directed by Darren Aronofsky (The Wrestler), portrays the competitive world of ballet in a dark light, following a veteran ballet dancer and a newcomer while exploring their relationship. Much like The Wrestler, cruel lengths are taken and exhibited to maintain one’s craft, the only world the character’s know after dedicating some much of their life to their talent.

Sunday 12^th: What is the best way to get at the truth?  FICTION VS. MEMOIR: Myla Goldberg (The False Friend) and Darin Strauss (Half a Life) discuss their new books, one of which looks back on the past through the lens of fiction, the other through the lens of memoir. All proceeds go to The Brooklyn New School (P.S. 146). Union Hall, 702 Union Street, Brooklyn. $12-$25 Donation at the Door.

ART: Clean Slate for the Pessimist. While stuck in traffic on the BQE this holiday season be sure to look up. Artist James J. Williams III (Prelude to the Namesake) saw an opportunity when NYC tightened its advertising zoning regulations this past February and purchased 21 BQE billboards. From June through December 2010, these billboards remained empty. Two were painted black. The remaining, white.

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If you would like to be listed in Notable New York please direct requests to caitlin@therumpus.net.  Original artwork for Notable New York by Andre da Loba.

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Monday 29^th: Praised Henry James researcher and writer, Colm Tólbín discusses his new essaycollection about James, All a Novelist Needs, with critic Edmund White. The Tenement Museum Shop. 6:30PM. Free.

Tuesday 30^th: Furnace’s Press celebrate the publication of the first three books in their Decomposition Series. Each book (Gran elebators in Buffalo, roaming Staten Island, and an old hotel in the Catskills) focuses on a particular abandoned site in New York Site. 7PM. 3^rd Ward, Brooklyn (196 Morgan Ave). Free.

Wednesday 1^st: He’s back! Jonathan Franzen reads from his beautifully poetic novel, not to mention New York Times Bestseller, Freedom. Pack into BookCourt and see what Franzen has to say post-Oprah. 7PM. BookCourt, 163 Court Street, Brooklyn, NY. Free.

Thursday 2^nd: This month’s Red Umbrella Diaries will feature sex workers telling stories about their families. Featured workers include Lily Burana, the author of I Love a Man in Uniform: A Memoir of Love, War, and Other Battles and founder of Bombshell Burlesque, Tré Xavier, a predominantly gay bisexual porn performer, and Sydney Seifert will relate what it was like to grow up the daughter of a single mom who put food on their table by doing sex work. Happy Ending. 8PM-10PM. Free.

The Center for Fiction’s ongoing series, Craftwork, invites acclaimed authors to give readers and emerging writers insight into how to create great fiction. Hear Myla Goldberg, bestselling author of Bee Season, made into a movie starring Richard Gere and Juliette Binoche, talk about her own journey as a writer. The Center for Fiction (17 E 47^th). 7PM. $8 or a book donation.

Friday 3^rd: Classic cocktails, classic film. In this whirlwind cinematic tour, The Astor Center will sample a series of club-inspired drinks as they roll clips from silver screen classics showcasing some of our city’s most storied bars and nightclubs, featuring Cary Grant at the Oak Bar in North by Northwest and Bette Davis at the Cub Room in All About Eve. Take a trip to the Copacabana, “the hottest club north of Havana.” The Astor Center, The Study.  6:30PM-8:30PM. $45.

Saturday 4^th: Make going to church a point today at the Comics and Graphics Fest. Graphic arts are praised in a Williamsburg church with artists Lunda Barry, Mark Alan Stamaty, and Brian Chippendale. Click here for a whole pile of events, namely “The Art of Editing” at 2PM with Francoise Mouly (Art Editor of The New Yorker). From noon on. Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church. Free.

Sunday 5^th: Poets Brian Turner and Bruce Weigl, who respectively served in the Iraq andVietnam Wars, will read selected works and join a discussion moderated by pianist Sarah Rothenberg. Musical selections from composer George Flynn’s Songs of Destruction will be performed by soprano Elizabeth Farnum and pianist Alan Feinberg. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. 7:30PM. $10-$30.

ART: “Free”, an exhibition including twenty-three artists working across mediums—including video, installation, sculpture, photography, the internet, and sound—that reflects artistic strategies that have emerged in a radically democratized cultural terrain redefined by the impact of the web. The New Museum. Through 1/23/11.

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If you would like to be listed in Notable New York please direct requests to caitlin@therumpus.net.  Original artwork for Notable New York by Andre da Loba.

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The week in New York

Tuesday 16^th: The Moth Ball embraces storytelling in a star studded evening. Jonathan Ames and Mike Birbiglia host the event and award The Moth Storytelling Award to Calbin Trillin. Capitale. 6:30PM. Purchase tickets for the ball here.

Salman Rushdie reads from Luka and the Fire of Life, fantasies fit for adults and children, or adultchildren. Barnes and Noble, Union Square. 7PM. Free.

Wednesday 17^th: Paul Auster is back with Sunset Park, a novel to surely hit the be

stseller list. Sunset Park features Paul Auster’s favorite character, New York City, while depicting squatters and artists in our economic climate. Barnes and Noble, Union Square. 7PM. Free.

Thursday 18^th: Ann Beattie’s latest collection of short stories chronologically places all of her stories published in The New Yorker. McNally Jackson Books. 7PM. Free.

Rocker Patti Smith and Lenny Kaye team up for A Tribute to Jim Carroll in wake of his posthumous novel The Petting Zoo. Barnes and Noble, Union Square. 7PM. Free.

Friday 19^th: Refresh Refresh Refresh, the fifth installment in a Happy Ending reading series features John Koblin from WWD and Zach Woolfe from Capital, Molly Lambert from This Recording, Mina Kimes from Fortune, Alex Pasternack from Vice, and Alex Bleeker from the band Real Estate. 8PM. Happy Ending. Free, 21+.

Saturday 20^th: This week’s MOVIE PICK features the works of John Baldessari. A screening of films and videos, introduced by the artist, will feature films from the 1970’s including Title (1972) and Four Short Films (1972-73).  Please send your RSVP for John

Baldessari: Movie Scenarios to info@eai.org, seating is limited. Electronic Arts Intermix. 6:30PM. $7/$5 for students.

Sunday 21^st: (Le) Poisson Rouge hosts a brand new open mic for show-tune lovers, Broadway enthusiasts, “Gleeks”, fans of CharlesNelson Reilly, and anyone who ever wanted to do their own dream ballet. Pay homage to the old Village Gate, a nightclub/theater that opened in the late 50′s and premiered a number of Off-Broadway shows. Hosted by Kevin Michael Murphy, with Caleb Hoyer on the keys. (Le) Poisson Rouge. 9:30PM. Free.

ART: New Photography 2010 presents Roe Ethridge, Elad Lassry, Alex Prager, and AmandaRoss-Ho. These four artists borrow images found in print media and cinema to create shockingly authentic and emotional photographs. Museum of Modern Art. Through 1/10/11.

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If you would like to be listed in Notable New York please direct requests to caitlin@therumpus.net.  Original artwork for Notable New York by Andre da Loba.

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Tuesday 11/2: Well, first of all, VOTE VOTE VOTE!! If you want to laugh with (at) some of the candidates please feel free to start by reading my Open Letter to Jimmy McMillan on the HuffPost.

Mr. David Sedaris is appearing tonight in front of a sold out crowd at the Apollo Theatre. Hewill be reading and signing copies of his latest venture, Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk. Don’t let ‘sold out’ defer you fellow Sedarists, there’s always craigstlist and StubHub! Apollo Theatre.  8PM. $49-$70.

Wednesday 11/3: Who doesn’t love lists? Vol. 1 Brooklyn Presents: The Greatest 3-Minute Top Ten Lists of All Time. Readers will be asked to present a top ten list on a subject of their choosing, and have three minutes to present and explain that list in any way they see fit. Guests include Julia Wertz, Jennifer Gilmore,  Nick Curley, and The Rumpus’s own Rozalia Jovanovic. Bar Matchless. 8PM. Free.

Thursday 11/4: A bit of sibling rivalry, eh? Amy Sedaris hits up Barnes and Noble, Union Square, to promote her comedic craft book, Simple Times Crafts for Poor People. Who is your favorite Sedaris?  B&N, Union Square. 7PM. Free.

Ben Greenman (Celebrity Chekhov) and Neil Strauss (Motley Crüe’s The Dirt) in an Evening of Celebrity, Comedy, Conversation, Literature, and Alcohol. If you come right as the doors open Greenman and Strauss will have no choice but to consider ghostwriting your memoir. powerhouse Arena. 7PM-9PM. Free.

Friday 11/5: Adam Levin reads from his mammoth book The Instructions, The Rumpus’s October Book Club Selection and choice novel to engulf a rabbit . Also featuring Jami Attenberg and free beer! WORD, Brooklyn. 7:30PM. Free.

Saturday 11/6: 127 Hours is this week’s MOVIE PICK. Starring James Franco, 127 Hours is an adaptation of Aron Ralston’s real life story of being trapped in 2003 penned in Between Rock and Hard Place.” Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire) directs this anxiety driven gore-fest (he amputates his own arm). Although a claustrophobic plot, being stuck under a boulder is never boring.

Sunday 11/7: In ART Katrin Sigurdardottir takes on The Met. Spend your Sunday at the museumand take your time in Icelandic artist Sigurdardottir’s instillation Boiseries. Through 3/6/11. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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If you would like to be listed in Notable New York please direct requests to caitlin@therumpus.net.  Original artwork for Notable New York by Andre da Loba.

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TUESDAY 10/26: Chris Colin and Tim Kreider tell funny and sad tales, at times altering you how your life could have gone differently for the  KGB Nonfiction Reading Series. KGB Bar. 7PM. Free.

Small Press Extravaganza!  Authors from Two Dollar Radio and featherproof book s join forces for a night celebrating small presses. Amelia Gray, Lindsay Hunter, Grace Krilanovich, and Christian Tebordo will present their books and and answer questions from the audience. WORD, Brooklyn. 7:30PM. Free.

WEDNESDAY 10/27: Eric Puchner presents his debut novel, Model Home, an absurd and timely story of financial ruin.. His short story collection, Music Through the Floor, was a finalist for the NYPL’s Young Lions Fiction Award.  WORD, Brooklyn. 7:30PM. Free.

THURSDAY 10/28: Award-winning magazine One Story, together with The powerHouse Arena, will host The Out Of Towners: An Evening of Reading and Music. The Out of Towners will feature readings by three past contributors to the magazine, Susanna Daniels (Stiltsville), John Jodzio (If You Lived Here You’d Already Be Home) and Bruce Machart (The Wake of Forgiveness). Free wine!. 7PM. Free.

Join poet, novelist, performer, and raconteur Eileen Myles as she reads from her latest book Inferno (A Poet’s Novel), which uses the act of writing to tell a woman’s coming of age story in New York during the era of punk. The Center for Fiction. 7PM. Free.

FRIDAY 10/29: Get in a ghoulish mood and kick off Halloween weekend in Brooklyn. Anya Sapozhnikova presents The Horror Show, a bourbon-soaked love triangle set in a half-abandoned 1900s New Orleans brewery and “built out of darkness, sex, and hot jazz.” Stumblebum Brass Band provides the score for the show, which incorporates aerial acrobatics, classical ballet, a marching band, and magic. 260 Meserole St., at Bushwick Pl., Bushwick. 8PM. $20-$35.

SATURDAY 10/30 : Sick of the parade? Check something else out worth your while.  Three Brooklyn warehouses are hosting an exquisite “after-life” party.  Show up in your best costume and sip on free champagne while you browse 13 “afterlife” themed instillations, performance artists, monstrous sculptures, and aerial vignettes. One warehouse is dedicated to a Night Market: a labyrinth-like bazaar of interactive installations. 10/30 at 7 p.m.; locations TBA; $15-$25

SUNDAY 10/31: Halloween + Sunday Funday? Don’t mind if I do! Nurse your hangover Oktoberfest style at Bohemian Hall and Beer Garden. Didn’t have time to change from the night before? Good! Where your costumes as you carve jack o’ lanterns for cash prizes. 29-19 24th Ave between 29th and 31st Sts, Astoria, Queens

ART: The Sheila C. Johnson Design Center at Parsons The New School for Design presents How To Do Things With Words, an exhibition of radical speech acts organized by Melanie Crean. Participating artists include Melanie Crean; Azin Feizabadi and Kaya Behkalam; Andrea Geyer and Sharon Hayes; Yael Kanarek; Carlos Motta; Martha Rosler; the Iraqi/U.S. Cross Wire Collective; Mark Tribe; and The Yes Men. : The exhibition presents the work of fifteen artists and collectives who explore the relationship between language and power, media, action, and socio-political context through gallery works, talks, workshops and performances.

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If you would like to be listed in Notable New York please direct requests to caitlin@therumpus.net.  Original artwork for Notable New York by Andre da Loba.

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This week in New York

Tuesday 10/19: Judah Friedlander, you know the “Trucker Hat Guy” from 30 Rock, promotes his new comedy venture in form of the book How to Beat Up Anybody: An Instructional and Inspirational Karate Book by the World Champion. Maybe Jimmy McMillan will be there. Barnes & Noble, Union Square. 7PM. Free.

Wednesday 10/20: Ian Frazier and Eliza Griswoldurge you to come early and stay late!  The two share a stage during the FDG Reading Series at the Russian Samovar. 7PM. $5.

The official book launch party for The Word Made Flesh: Literary Tattoos from Bookworms Worldwide, edited and compiled by Justin Taylor and Eva Talmadge, is going down in DUMBO. Come one, come all, even those who shiver in terror at the site of a needle. Did I mention free wine? powerHouse Arena. 7PM-9PM. Free.

Before cracking down on The Adderall Diaries, James Franco stops by Tribeca to promote and read from his latest venture, a book of short stories entitled Palo Alto. Barnes and Noble, Tribeca. 8PM. Free.

Thursday 10/21: The Bowery Poetry Club hosts Literary Death Match 100! Commentary provided by ESPN’s Kenny Mayne as Arthur Phillips faces off with Amanda Flipacchi and Rick Moody battles Paulina Porizkova. Bowery Poetry Club. 8PM. $10 in advance, $15 at the door.

This week’s MOVIE PICK falls on a Thursday. Love and Other Drugs premieres at this year’s CMJ Music and Film Festival.  Anne Hathaway plays the captivating free spirit, Maggie. Jake Gyllenhaal also stars. Make sure to check out the film’s trailer. Chelsea Clearview Cinemas. 7:30PM.

Friday 10/22: The hilarious Amy Sedaris (of The Believer’s Sedaritives) joins John Hodgman, Judah Friedlander, and Baratunde Thurston for public radio’s The Sound of Young America Live, hosted by Jesse Thorn. A complimentary glass of wine or beer is poured per ticket. The Green Space. 7PM. $30.

Saturday 10/23: Make sure the CMJ Music Marathon occupies your Saturday. Notables include:

Flavorpill & Pop Mondial presents Lower Dens w/ Braids, Gold Panda and Storybrook Burlesque. 2PM-7PM. Southpaw.

BBG/BV Metal presents Inter Ama. 8PM. Union Pool.

Click here for a complete guide of the CMJ Music and Film Festival.

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If you would like to be listed in Notable New York please direct requests to caitlin@therumpus.net.  Original artwork for Notable New York by Andre da Loba.

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Monday 10/11: Paul Auster, whose anticipated novel, Sunset Park, is released on November 9^th, talks translation with David Grossman. Now in English, Grossman’s To the End of the Land is a critically acclaimed novel in its language of origin, Hebrew. 92Y. 8PM. $19.

Tuesday 10/12: Bring your tattoos and drinking shoes to celebrate Justin Taylor and Eva Talmadge’s The Word Made Flesh, a collection of literary inspired tattoos released today (psst I’m on page  157). A show and tell will take place while you sip on cheap brew. Sophie’s on East 5th. 6:30PM. Free.

Wednesday 10/13: Local favorite Tao Lin reads from Richard Yates, perhaps he will embody his best ‘Jonathan Franzen.’ McNally Jackson. 7PM. Free.

Thursday 10/14: Political and literary magazine Guernica celebrates six successful years with the help of writer Adrian Nicole Leblanc and musicians Alina Simone and DJ Didi Gutman of Brazilian G

irls. Food, booze, and raffles for all! Powerhouse Arena. 7PM-10PM. $40 (Hint: Use discount code Facebookfriend for a $10 discount).

Friday 10/15: Bill Bryson reads from At Home: A Short History of Private Life, inspired by his creaky Victorian English house. Barnes and Noble Union Square. 7PM. Free.

Saturday 10/16: SATURDAY MOVIE PICK : Catfish is being called “the tale Hitchcock never told.” This fascinating documentary follows an ordinary guy falling for an extraordinary girl with the help of emails, Facebook, and phone calls. An intimate riff off The Social Network, the second part of Catfish is unexpected and exhilarating.

Sunday 10/17: This week’s Sunday Salon features readings from Rick

Moody, Gary Percesepe, Susan Tepper, and Lauren Weber, and the music of Alyson Greenfield. Jimmy’s No. 43. 7PM. Free.

ART: James Frey takes Dante’s Inferno into his own hands, driving it in a different direction. Il Divino Bambino is Frey’s interpretation of the legendary work. Text from Bambino has been translated onto canvas by Frey and presented in an exhibit of the same name. The part literary and part visual exhibit will take you on a ride through heaven and hell. October 13^th – November 9^th. Rare Bookstore & Art Gallery, 50 ½ East 64^th Street.

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If you would like to be listed in Notable New York please direct requests to caitlin@therumpus.net.  Original artwork for Notable New York by Andre da Loba.

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• Notable New York, This Week 12/14 – 12/19

This week in New York Joyce Carol Oates goes Sour, Adult Education presents “The Future of Books,” Cunningham reads By Nightfall, David Marson is remembered, Winner and Clarke come together on a Sunday, Lord of the Rings is played, The Lost Boys 3, this week’s Movie Pick, is screened at Comic Con, and Lee Friedlander in ART.

MONDAY 10/4: Joyce Carol Oates releases sixteen previously unpublished stories in a collection entitled Sourland. Oates has published over fifty novels, not counting her short story collections, wow. The Blonde author will read from

her collection at the Lincoln Triangle Barnes & Noble. 7:30PM. Free.

TUESDAY 10/5: Adult Education, a Brooklyn-based monthly lecture series devoted to making useless knowledge somewhat less useless, presents this months theme “The Future of the Book.” Peformers include Stephanie Anderson, Anna JaneGrossman, Rachael Morrison, and Jim Hanas. Union Hall in Park Slope. 8PM. $5.

WEDNESDAY 10/6: Poignant writer Michael Cunningham is back with By Nightfall, a tale that takes you in the artistic world of Manhattan. Cunningham reads from and signs copies of his novel. Barnes & Noble Union Square. 7PM. Free.

THURSDAY 10/7: Fellow writers and friends come together to remember and celebrate the late David Markson. The Last Novel and Wittgenstein’s Mistress are just two of the legendary works to be read from by Pete Hamill, Ann Beattie, William Kennedy, amongst others. The Tishman Auditorium of Vanderbilt Hall. 7PM. Free.

FRIDAY 10/8: Howard Shore’s Grammy-winning score for Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers will be performed by the Switzerland’s 21st Century Orchestra, the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, and the Dessof Symphonic Choir. Radio City Music Hall. 7PM. $59-$150.

SATURDAY 10/9: Come forth my fellow nerds! ComicCon is happening all weekend with guests such as Stan Lee and Bruce Campbell. The third installment of Lost Boys entitled The Thirst is the MOVIE PICK OF THE WEEK. The Thirst will be presented by Lost Boy himself, Corey Feldman (squeel!). 10:45AM. Jacob Javits Convention Center. $30-$50 (all day passes). For a complete schedule and tickets click here.

SUNDAY 10/10: Ten, ten, ten! Join David Winner as he reads from his first novel The Cannibal of Guadalajara and Brock Clarke is reading from his latest, Exley. KGB Bar. 7PM. Free.

ART: Lee Friedlander provides you with your very own ‘On the Road’ experience. Using views behind the steering wheel, landscapes, motels, bridges, and churches Friedlander presents you with America by Car which is on display at the Whitney until November 28^th.

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If you would like to be listed in Notable New York please direct requests to caitlin@therumpus.net.  Original artwork for Notable New York by Andre da Loba.

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