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Join NOW!It seems only appropriate that I put off writing this essay for several months despite the fact that sitting down to write it sooner really wouldn’t have been that hard, not coal mining-hard as writers always say, and here am I spooling out one of those awkwardly long sentences that only Romance-language writers can really […]
...more“I don’t envision any ‘ideal readers’—or any readers at all, I suppose. My imagination doesn’t work in that way. My concentration is turned inward, upon the work itself—beyond its perimeters, I can’t speculate.” Rhoda Feng interviews Joyce Carol Oates. (via Largehearted Boy)
...moreJoseph Sullivan works as a user experience designer for a large trade association in Chicago. “A user experience designer,” he said, “used to be called an information architect. Someone recently defined the job as ‘building structures,’ and that’s about right. Another way to think about it: I try to represent the users of our websites […]
...moreThis ongoing experiment in film writing freezes a film at 10, 40, and 70 minutes, and keeps the commentary as close to those frames as possible. This week, I examine the Blair Witch Project and compare it with the novel House of Leaves, which I sample at the 10%, 40%, and 70% marks.
...moreArtists: Dirty Projectors and Björk Song: “All We Are”
...moreIn 2007, an American Apache helicopter operating in Iraq killed 12 Iraqi citizens, including two Reuters journalists. The event was kept from the American public for months, the film footage of the attack classified.
...moreJolie Holland and Rick Moody are still having a conversation in the comments section of the latest Swinging Modern Sounds.
...more“A decade of working my ass off as a writer and look what I’ve got to show for it. “And please don’t say books. On a shelf. In a library. In a warehouse. In a used bookstore. In someone’s basement. On ebay for 99 cents. Please don’t say books. I know what I have, and […]
...moreOf All the Dead People I Know I can’t imagine any of them hanging out. They are in arcadia with their laptops but there are no outlets, and they are playing a video game in which they can never move to the next level.
...moreMcGlynn’s book follows an almost fairy-tale-type logic – the unknowing past-self of the narrator plays the part of the last wife of Bluebeard, searching out the hidden rooms, with the watching future-self unable to keep her from finding the closet of severed women’s body parts.
...more“Now seems as good a time as any to take stock of my road to publication as some of you who are reading this may be unpublished writers who want to glean some small kernel of reality that you can nourish into hope.” Brando Skyhorse, author of The Madonnas of Echo Park, reveals the 19-year […]
...moreThe film Robin Hood appears to be, but is not, about many things: it is not about tensions between the North and South of England, it is not about the financial stresses of a foreign war coming to bear on domestic politics, and it is certainly not about ‘robbing from the rich and giving to […]
...moreHappy birthday Sam Weiss. This is an article about an octupus that predicts world cup games and that is why you are going to read it. It turns out sometimes there are some cool things on Etsy, such as, for example, this live lamp. I know, we’re not supposed to link this sort of thing, […]
...more“I wish we were more popular so I could play in theaters and make albums with Daniel Lanois, but we’re lucky we get this much.”
...moreOver at HTMLGIANT Adam Robinson interviewed Jon Cotner and Andy Fitch about their genre-defying book, Ten Walks/Two Talks: “It manages to combine a generalized, dog-like happiness with an adult awareness of death.” There is even a chance to win a copy of the book thanks to a walk-off contest! Click here to learn more, and […]
...moreFirst, do not fret, this is a very common affliction, affecting millions of people worldwide. Second Hand Embarrassment Syndrome (SHES) is defined as feeling other people’s embarrassment as acutely as your own. This makes reality television, specifically talent competitions, extremely hard for you to watch.
...more“I fallen in love with u from just talking 2 u. What do u think justine. My wife has already left me.” The text message above was sent to author Justine Sharrock by one of the ex-soldiers she interviewed for her book, Tortured: When Good Soldiers Do Bad Things. Today Sharrock has published an excellent […]
...moreArtists: Best Coast Song: “That’s The Way Boys Are”
...more(via @TracyClarkFlory)
...moreJournalist Sharon Churcher is introduced to 84 year-old Harper Lee under one condition, “don’t mention the mockingbird.”
...moreIllustrations by Květa Pacovská for Jak Se Hraje Na Dvere a Jine Muzikantske Pohadky (roughly: How to Play on Doors and Other Musical Stories) by Ilja Hurnik (Prague, 1973):
...moreThe tale of a bipolar, Midwestern prostitute and her Catholic family feels all-too-familiar to our Midwest-born reviewer.
...moreElissa Nelson interviewed her mother, Margaret Nelson Brinkhaus, who has been a freelance journalist since before Elissa was born, working for a variety of magazines and newspapers including People, Newsweek, and USA Today.
...moreOur good friend at A Journey Round My Skull points our attention towards the best robot ever. Incredibly important: “W” as vowel. Ahh, the glory that is Soviet publicity art. This skyscraper is powered by algae and will filter that city air for you, no biggie. On the possible ramifications of Moscow’s Dostoevsky-themed metro stop.
...moreThe Rumpus Book Club talks with John Brandon about Citrus County, his second novel from McSweeney’s.
...moreThis week in San Francisco, the history of pisco punch, put on your flapper finery for the Gatsby Ball, how to choose the perfect vibrator (or vibrators?), sexy new art at Femina Potens Gallery, and hear some free jazz at the Free Jazz Festival! Monday 6/28: Help celebrate the long-awaited launch of Whore! Magazine at […]
...moreDon’t miss today’s Small Potatoes: “The Writing Business.”
...moreI live in Huntington Beach, which is in Orange County, California. We are famous for surf contests and skinheads, but I have only seen the latter, usually at 7-11. Skinheads like 7-11 coffee.
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