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Rumpus Articles
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George Pelecanos’ Favorite Westerns
The Magnificent Seven (1960) A handful of professional gunmen led by black-clad Yul Brynner are hired to protect a south-of-the-border farming village from scores of bandits in John Sturges’ western adaptation of Akira Kurosawa’s The Seven Samurai.
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Morning Coffee: Science Edition
Hey there July, how are you today? Steven Pinker picks his three favorite pieces of science writing for 3quarkdaily. (via Metafilter.) Bacteria as psychedelic art piece. Scientists have developed a way to fuel hydrogen based engines on chicken feathers. I…
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Why Starting a Book is Hard
“As soon as we feel that the writing we are contemplating matters, our defensive system kicks in, and our fear that we can’t think well enough raises its ugly head. We are wrestled to the ground by the fact that…
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The Story of Encarta
From a New York Times article, published two months ago, about the end of the line for Encarta: “It’s hard to look at the end of the Encarta experiment without the free and much larger Wikipedia springing immediately to mind. But Encarta arguably…
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Evening Cocktail
Hope it was as beautiful today in your town as it was in mine. Had dinner yet? Dear Pork: I am in love with you. [I Made That!] An Infinite Jest concordance, to help you during Infinite Summer. [via @Fritinancy]…
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Henry Green
The Times Literary Supplement has published an edited version of a lecture given by critic and novelist James Wood celebrating English author Henry Green. Henry Green (the nom de plume of Henry Vincent Yorke) is remembered for his 1945 novel…
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Denying Epiphany
Otremba’s are poems of rigorous looking. In most, a speaker coolly observes a work of art, a person or animal, the poems’ tensions emerging in part from the speaker’s struggle for knowledge and connection.
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THE LONELY VOICE #7, The Rumpus Short Story Column: My Son the Murderer
In honor of Governor Mark Sanford and Michael Jackson’s (bless his Indiana soul) favorite holiday, today’s Lonely Voice is devoted to dads, interesting, fascinating, All-American dads…
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Julie Greicius: The Last Book(s) I Loved, The Lost City of Z and All the Names
Years ago, when I was an archaeologist, I learned my favorite concept in the broader field of anthropology, or any field for that matter: “imperialist nostalgia.” It’s the yearning we feel for something we ourselves have conquered or destroyed, a…