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From Stephen Elliott
Henry Miller hated Brooklyn almost as passionately as he loved Big Sur and dirty sex. In “Henry Miller, Brooklyn Hater,” Alexander Nazaryan takes a look at Miller’s lifelong contempt for the borough.
In a 1975 documentary, Miller refers to Brooklyn as:
...morea place where I knew nothing but starvation, humiliation, despair, frustration, every god damn thing—nothing but misery.
Alrighty, folks. Tony Millionaire’s alt-comic Green Eggs and Maakies is officially up for pre-order. Millionaire’s illustrations have appeared in everything from The Believer to the New Yorker, and Maakies even had a small stint on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim.
For those who haven’t heard of Maakies, it’s essentially a dark comic about a drunk, Irish monkey named Uncle Gabby and his partner, Drinky Crow, who go on debauched misadventures involving booze, suicide, violence, and the occasional sexually transmitted disease—basically all the necessary components for a captivating story.
...moreFourteen Hills is one of our favorite Bay Area literary journals, and you won’t want to miss their release party for issue 19.2 at 7:00 pm on May 15th, at the Verdi Club.
The release party will include readings from past contributors, musical performances, and a raffle where you’ll have a chance to win a Rumpus Gift Pack, which includes a Write Like a Motherfucker mug, a copy of Stephen Elliott’s The Adderall Diaries, and a Sugar Says poster.
...moreAnnasue McCleave from Publishers Weekly suggested during an interview with Claire Messud, “I wouldn’t want to be friends” with Nora, the fiery protagonist in Messud’s new novel, The Woman Upstairs. “[Nora's] outlook is almost unbearably grim,” continues McCleave.
Messud shot back:
...moreFor heaven’s sake, what kind of question is that?
As strange as it might sound, according to an article in The Atlantic, American humorist David Sedaris included several vignettes in his new book Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls: Essays, Etc. that he specifically wrote for high school speech competitions called “forensics.”
Sedaris states:
...moreStudents take published short stories and essays, edit them down to a predetermined length, and recite them competitively.
Brainpickings recent article “E.B. White on Egoism and the Art of the Essay” highlights and explores several timeless passages from Essays of E.B. White. White states:
...moreThe essayist is a self-liberated man, sustained by the childish belief that everything he thinks about, everything that happens to him, is of general interest.
If you haven’t heard The Knife’s new album Shaking the Habitual, we totally recommend giving it a listen. The album experiments with strange organic sounds, sprawling dark ambiance, and playful Swedish synth pop.
The Knife is known for gender bending (lowering the pitch of Karin’s voice, for example); but Shaking the Habitual is lyrically their most politically charged album exploring issues of gender identity, patriarchy, and ailments of Western culture.
...morePoliticians have been coming out in droves recently in support of LGBT rights.
But is the “T” in LGBT being fully represented? The New Yorker’s Emily Greenhouse doesn’t think so. In her article “Dropping the ‘T’: Trans Rights in the Marriage Era,” Greenhouse states:
...moreThe United States moves inexorably toward granting equality to the L.G.B., but in the process—while still pronouncing that satisfying final consonant—we often, in practice, drop the “T.”
The New Yorker pays tribute to Roger Ebert in “Postscript: Roger Ebert, 1942-2013.” The article states:
...moreEbert writes, in the introduction to his 2006 anthology of his work, “Awake in the Dark,” of seeing “three movies during a routine workday,” and, according to Douglas Martin’s obituary in the Times, Ebert “said he saw 500 films a year and reviewed half of them.” Some movies elicit passionate exultation; others, passionate revulsion.
The Black Panther Party’s controversial and revolutionary politics have been a topic of intrigue and debate since the party’s inception.
Historians Joshua Bloom and Waldo E. Martin, Jr. attempt to clarify and demystify some of the myths of the Black Panther’s past and illuminate their role as American revolutionaries in their new book Black Against Empire: The History and Politics of the Black Panther Party.
...moreIn a recent AV Club interview, Neal Pollack discusses his tumultuous career as a writer and how he came to find a profitable niche in online self-publishing. Pollack states:
...moreYeah. I’m grateful. I spent a lot of years wondering, “Why am I not doing this?” or, “Why am I not getting this?” or, “Why is this person more famous than me?” But at the end of the day, I have been supporting myself and, later, my family, as a writer for more than 20 years.
In his “On Archer’s Underground Comix Roots,” Charles Bock discusses the history of adult Comix and how they laid the foundation for cartoons like The Simpsons and Archer. Bock claims:
...moreComix. That sudden x. In 1958 the Motion Picture Association of America slapped Xs on what it determined to be adults-only fare.
Philosophers have been debating the merits of authenticity since Plato.
Steve Poole’s essay “Why are we so obsessed with the pursuit of authenticity?” explores the obsession with authenticity in contemporary culture and how it influences our perception of reality.
...moreThere’s a great interview at Salon with Tristan Taormino, discussing her new book, The Feminist Porn Book: The Politics of Producing Pleasure. In the conversation, Taormino talks about everything from vulvas to “porn for women.”
Taormino states:
...moreBut, certainly, besides the process of making it, feminist porn does have a mission behind it, to really address some of the repetitions, the stereotypes, the tropes of some of mainstream pornography and diversify the representation of desire, pleasure, body, race, class, identity, sexual agency…
If any Rails Developers out there are looking for part-time (possibility for full-time) work, our friends at McSweeney’s seek help updating and expanding the McSweeney’s iOS App, the Internet Tendency, and their online store.
Also, check out McSweeney’s Garage Sale; they’re selling books and back issues starting at two dollars!
...moreJust as H.P. Lovecraft valued the disposition of cats over dogs (see his essay “Cats and Dogs”), he championed the motives of “amateur” writers who wrote for the love of writing rather than commercial success.
Lovecraft states:
...moreOur amateurs write purely for love of their art, without the stultifying influence of commercialism.
Reuel Gerecht’s article “Spooky Sex: Inside the Randy Culture of the CIA” explores the history of sex in the CIA and why American culture is quick to condemn and punish the romantic infidelity of CIA officers.
...moreBefore we down more generals, before we unleash the FBI on more clandestine romances, we should remember the long, humdrum history of infidelity and espionage—and leave the punishment of wayward operatives to their husbands or wives.
Hey, Bay Area! Next week, Rumpus contributor Jerry Stahl is performing at two events you won’t want to miss.
February 27th, 7 pm at Moe’s Books in Berkeley, Jerry will be reading from his new book, Bad Sex On Speed. He’ll be joined by Rich Ferguson and Bill Moody.
...moreOur friends at The Believer are giving away ten free tickets to “Beck’s Song Reader” at Sonos Studios next Thursday evening in Los Angeles.
...moreThe event isn’t open to the public, so if you want to come chill alongside Beck (THE BECK!
“Why do gay porn stars kill themselves” offers an intimate account into Conner Habib’s experiences in gay porn, and examines the cultural misunderstandings and attitudes regarding the recent suicide of gay porn star Arpad Miklos.
Habbib says:
...moreThe theories appeared as soon as the news did.
Books sales cover only 50 percent of Graywolf’s expenses, which is why they are currently running an Indiegogo campaign to raise money to build a new and much improved website.
Features on Graywolf’s new website will include: behind the scenes insights on publishing, original articles and poems by your favorite authors, and a mechanism to process online book orders.
...moreWhat if you discovered that some of your richest childhood memories were actually fabrications?
According to Oliver Sacks, research suggests that some of our most vivid memories may not have happened–or at least didn’t happen the way we remember. Sacks states:
It is startling to realize that some of our most cherished memories may never have happened—or may have happened to someone else.
Check out Rumpus contributor Maddie Oatman’s recent interview with Karen Russell.
Russell and Oatman discuss her Pulitzer Prize-nominated novel Swamplandia!, as well as topics ranging from the imagination, vampires, and what kind of horse Mitt Romney would be.
...moreMJ: What do you think poses the biggest threat to our imaginations?
At the London Review of Books, Rebecca Solnit provides readers with historic and contemporary insight into the Bay Area’s long history of “booms and busts”–from the California gold rush to the dot-com bubble—and examines the positive, but mostly detrimental effects these economic changes had/have on Bay Area residents.
...moreGinsberg is not typically remembered for his photography, but from 1950 to 1990 he captured hundreds of photographs documenting his life, family, and friends.
In “The Photography of Allen Ginsberg,” Roslyn Bernstein discusses going to Ginsberg’s poetry readings during her youth, and her experience seeing his photography exhibit almost 50 years later.
...moreIf you’re going to be in San Francisco February 9th, be sure not to miss “Tell You What“ at 3:00-4pm: a reading/variety event made possible by Creativity Explored.
Creativity Explored and its artists are the inspiration and content source for renowned writer Beth Lisick’s series, Tell You What, made possible by a Creative Work Fund grant.
...moreAmanda Shubert’s essay “Love in Excess: Joe Wright’s Anna Karenina” takes two of Wright’s film adaptations, Pride and Prejudice (2005) and Atonement (2007), and perceptively compares and contrasts them to Anna Karenina (2012).
According to Shubert, Anna Karenina is a “mess” compared to Wright’s two previous film adaptations. Shubert claims:
...moreMany of us may have felt like a Luddite sometime or another. Maybe you almost smashed your first smartphone after fumbling with it for hours. Or if you’re old school, maybe you refuse to buy a computer because your typewriter “works just fine.”
Morgan Meis’ essay “Rage Against the Machine” discusses the origin of the Luddites, their violent and destructive attack against technology, and how their rebellion was a precursor to organized trade unions.
...moreHave a piece you’ve been trying for years to get published, but it continues to get rejected? If it’s potential readers you’re looking for and not money, there’s always the Brautigan Library.
The Brautigan library is where unpublished books go to live out their days in semi-obscurity; it’s kind of like the book version an animal shelter, but less depressing.
...moreThao & The Get Down Stay Down’s new album, We the Common, comes out Feb. 5, and we definitely recommend giving it a listen.
Stephen Thompson, in his NPR review, describes Thao’s music as:
...moreQuirky but cutting, playful but forceful, controlled but ragged, Thao Nguyen is one of the most commanding and distinctive young singers around.