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Rumpus Articles
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Morning Coffee
It turns out Virginia Woolf was a big fan of science fiction. Corpses doing it. Go on. Click. What could go wrong? Its been said that the defining characteristic of us post-gen Xers is intense whimsy. That’s why I’m linking…
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An Oral History of Bay Area Punk
I grew up in Denver and moved out to the Bay Area when I was eighteen, partially because I’d heard about this magical “Gilman” place that seemed to go against everything I was raised to believe in. Of course, once…
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The Surreal Makes You Smarter
Allison Flood at the Guardian has dug up an article from the journal Psychological Science showing that reading surrealism may actually make people smarter. In the study, some subjects were given Kafka’s “A Country Doctor,” and others were given a…
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Planning Out the End
“The idea that economics will aid us in thinking through the problem of the destruction of the natural world… commits us to the assumption that our world ought to be governed and guided by technicians. It is part of the…
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Thurston Moore’s Audience: A Subjective Account of the Brooklyn Book Festival
September 13, 2009 10:37am – Walking by Book Stands Tao Lin T-shirts were dangling on hangers at the Melville House booth at the Brooklyn Book Festival. The T-shirts said “Tao Lin: 1983- ????” Across from Melville House was the Ugly…
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If Charles Bukowski Wrote Peanuts
For some reason, I’m in Santa Rosa at the moment, and it seems that Charles Schulz, the creator of Peanuts, was from here. I’ve figured this out because everything is named after him and I can’t go three feet without…
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The Rumpus Sunday Book Blog Roundup
After reviewing the book blogs this week, I’ve decided that if I see the words “Dan Brown” ever again I’m going to punch myself in the eyes with a Da Vinci Code decoder ring. To save you some time, here’s…
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Poetic Lives Online: Links by Brian Spears
Welcome to Saturday night. Hope you like what I’ve dug up for you this week. Okay, this first one isn’t technically poetry, but if you’re interested in Bright Star, Jane Campion’s film about John Keats,
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Question of the Day
Who will play Rumpus Editor Stephen Elliott in the seemingly inevitable movie version of The Adderall Diaries?* Cillian Murphy? Philip Seymour Hoffman? Demetri Martin? My money is on Mos Def. *Inevitable only to me, perhaps.