November 2011
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Dan Weiss’s Morning Coffee
In case you were wondering, yes there is a “gecko-inspired tank robot” out there, and yes it can scale walls. “Did you know that hard candy is actually a glass?” Wait. What? “The Kitten Covers” are, thankfully, exactly what they…
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Record Related #1: At the Looking Glass
Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, Mirror Traffic (Matador) / live at Webster Hall, NYC, 9/25/11 “I’m also a Jick.” —Stephen Malkmus, Amoeba Hollywood in-store appearance, 8/24/11 Mirror Traffic opens with a fake-out.
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Writing With A Pen
“For me, writing longhand is an utterly personal task where the outer world is closed off, just my thoughts and the movement of my hand across the page to keep me company. The whole process keeps me in touch with…
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Blogging While Female
In an article at NewStatesman about sexist abuse online, nine bloggers reveal their experience with abusive, mysoginist comments, as well as rape and death threats. Blogger digby added an interesting perspective on the subject, explaining that when people assumed her…
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On Being Gassed
“Strangely, as I stared at the back of my left hand, scorched and black after a tear gas canister fired by police hit me in the stomach and exploded, I didn’t want it to be news.” Bay Citizen editor, Steve…
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Novels and Politics
“When even cheese cannot be free of politics, how can literature?” So asks Ruth Franklin in this New Republic piece, which ponders whether novels and politics should mix, finding insight in the work of writers Irmgard Keun and Amos Oz.…
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DEAR SUGAR, The Rumpus Advice Column #89: The Thing That Turns You On
What is it you’re hungry for, dear one, and why?
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NaNoWriMo Mix
Working on your novel for National Novel Writing Month? Here’s a mixtape “to drive you on, to inspire you, to sustain you, to help you break through writer’s block, and to simply keep you clattering away at the keys.”
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Read It Again?
“For Nabokov, another reading was always constructive. But for Spacks, rereading—though satisfying for pure literary analysis—can reveal unwelcome truths about our past selves, and cause disenchantment—in the most literal sense—with the books we used to love.” The Book Bench reviews…
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Rumpus Sound Takes: Seattle Continues Moving the Music World Forward
Shabazz Palaces Black Up (Sub Pop) Shabazz Palaces’ new album, Black Up, reminds us that even though all art builds upon everything that comes before it, it still needs to be mindful of influencing the future.