Posts by author
Jeremy Hatch
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Raymond Carver: Vicarious Slumming for the WSJ
It’s Raymond Carver night at the Rumpus! Moments after I wrote and scheduled the preceding post, I saw this tweet from the Library of America: “WSJ on Raymond Carver: ‘There must be few story collections whose notes offer more melodrama…
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David Ulin on the LOA’s Raymond Carver
“What We Talk About When We Talk About Love is stunningly desolate, a group of stories so laconic they almost perfectly reflect the resignation of characters struggling with alcoholism, infidelity and the desperation of diminished dreams… “Despite the book’s success,…
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Nash on Books as a Commodity
“We tend to view history in terms of one age succeeding another, the greater vanquishing the lesser, or the tawdry always winning out over the elevated. “The reality, Striphas demonstrates, is that we’re a populist capitalist democracy, a world where…
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Nick Hornby on the Music Blogs
“It took me longer than it should have done to work out that the internet is one giant independent record shop — thousands and thousands of cute little independent record shops, anyway — and they don’t actually charge you for the…
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The Constitution in Pictures
Over at Cool Tools, Kevin Kelly has posted a review of a graphic adaptation of the US Constitution. Describing the document as “a robust self-correcting legal OS,” but admits that it can be hard to understand. But he recommends the…
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Livestock Without Pain
There’s an editorial on New Scientist reacting to a recently-published paper by a philosopher named Adam Shriver, in which he calls for the genetic modification of livestock animals so that they feel no pain. “I’m offering a solution where you could…
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Paywalls Keep Us Out, Them In
Melissa’s post earlier today about newspapers building paywalls and charging much more for online access to their content than for print (or combo) subscriptions, evidently in order to eke out the life of their print products, reminded me of a…
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Because It’s Their Work
Last week I was reading a review by Arvan Reese of two films, Hot & Bothered and Bill & Desiree, on a website called SexGenderBody. I found the review via @TonyComstock, who made the latter film — which I’m sure is great! — but…
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Kickstarter: Crowdfunding for Artists
The New York Times published an article last week about a new crowdfunding site for artists: Kickstarter. The idea is that artists can use the site to connect directly with potential patrons. In exchange for this support, artists generally offer…
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Zak Smith Gravity’s Rainbow Giveaway
The Conversational Reading blog is giving away a brand-new hardcover copy of Zak Smith’s illustrated Gravity’s Rainbow in a contest held on their Facebook page. To enter, you need to become a member of their group, and write on their…
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Afghan Star: A Conversation with Tamim Ansary
Pop Idol has been widely imitated throughout the world [American Idol here in the states] , but Afghanistan is possibly the only place where the mere existence of a televised, Western-style talent show amounts to a political statement.