2009
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The Purifying Flame
Glen Duncan’s new novel, A Day and a Night and a Day, is an intense and involving story of a man pressed violently against his own limitations.
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If The Real World Was Like Grand Theft Auto It Would Look Like This
This is a real picture. I encourage clicking to enlarge for full effect. With the little compass and map and everything? The Smoking Gun has discovered that what Google Street View photography has discovered: that we already live in Liberty…
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Skateboarding Writers
McSweeney’s interviews skateboarding pro turned writer, Bret Anthony Johnston, who has written about skateboarding and school for The New York Times. He is now the director of the creative writing program at Harvard, and he writes regularly for All Things…
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A Baker’s Dozen of My Feelings about David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest
“Like most North Americans of his generation, Hal tends to know way less about why he feels certain ways about the objects and pursuits he’s devoted to than he does about the objects and pursuits themselves. It’s hard to say…
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The Only Band That Mattered
The author remembers his time with Joe Strummer and reflects on the band’s definitive new book, The Clash.
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A Fan’s Notes: Literary Sports Links
Last night, Super Bowl XLIII was interrupted by a twelve-minute segment devoted exclusively to the work of an important American poet. After taking the stage at halftime in front of thousands of screaming football fans and billions of television viewers,…
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John Updike: Writers Reflect
The Rumpus asked writers to share their thoughts on the work and legacy of John Updike, who died this week at the age of 76.
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Things I’ve Been Silent About
Azar Nafisi‘s first book, Reading Lolita in Tehran, chronicles an underground book club reading Western Classics under the oppressive Islamic government of Tehran (it subsequently became a favorite book-club book State-side as it climbed The New York Times Bestseller List).…
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At the Intersection of Football and Porn
By now everybody has heard that last night football fans in Tuscon got thirty free seconds of Jenna Jameson doing what she’s famous for in a mistake that was the answer to every teenage boy’s prayers. So Comcast messed up…
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THE EYEBALL: Guy Maddin
I held out for just the right time to watch Guy Maddin’s Brand Upon the Brain! and caved this weekend, experiencing it like I do so many movies now, on my laptop with a couple earbud headphones. Friends, this is…
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Terrifying Nixon-Era Children’s Books
Ever since shoving Bush into his helicopter with an expletive and fantasizing about letting go of Cheney’s wheelchair at the top of a long, steep hill, I find I have a tender place in my heart for the plight of…