Posts by: Kevin Hobson

Paradox and Self-Annihilation in Hot Tub Time Machine

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After watching Hot Tub Time Machine, a raunchy, slightly funnier-than-average buddy comedy set against the backdrop of 80’s nostalgia, I left the theater with the peculiar feeling I always get after watching movies that involve time-travel.  It’s the peculiar feeling of asking myself “did what I just see make any sense whatsoever?”

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Bad Sex

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Finally, a literary contest I might have a shot at winning.  Britain’s Bad Sex in Fiction Prize winner was recently announced by the editor’s of Literary Review magazine.  The shortlist consisted of several notable luminaries, including Phillip Roth, Paul Theroux and John Banville. The annual award is given “to draw attention to the crude, tasteless, […]

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Jonathan Ames Wears Many Hats

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Jonathan Ames wears many hats: writer, boxer, performer, raconteur, and screenwriter. The hat he wears in his video interview on bigthink.com is a jaunty chapeau; a beanie perched atop Ames’ bearded head.  It’s almost jaunty enough to distract from the fascinating responses to questions about Ames career arcs as a boxer, performer, writer, screenwriter and […]

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F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Leakage Problem

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The American Scholar posted a fascinating (and a bit depressing) article by William J. Quirk called “Living on $500,000 a Year.” The article is about F. Scott Fitzgerald’s tax returns, and wow, doesn’t that sound enthralling. But seriously, it’s an interesting read, covering how Fitzgerald made the equivalent of $500,000 a year, paid only about […]

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Chronic City

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Happy day, happy day!!  Jonathan Lethem, one of my personal favorites, has a new novel out!   It’s called Chronic City, and is, according to Lethem, “the best thing I’ve done.” This is good to hear, as Lethem looks for a rebound of sorts after his last novel.  Considered by Lethem to be his most “funny […]

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“Girls Gone Gory”

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Rumpus contributor Michelle Orange just posted a scream of an article in The New York Times about women in horror films.  Specifically focusing on the upcoming Jennifer’s Body, the article “Taking Back the Knife—Girls Gone Gory” details the complex role of women in horror films, and the efforts of the Diablo Cody penned gore-fest to […]

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Lost Covers

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Let’s admit it – we judge books by their covers.  The old adage that we shouldn’t may invariably prove correct, but that doesn’t stop us from doing it anyway.  As with any commodity, those last five crucial inches of space between the hand and the book on the shelf are ultimately traversed by the “ooh, […]

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R. Emmet Sweeney Gets Eastbound and Down

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Rumpus contributor R. Emmet Sweeney has a wonderful article up on Moving Image Source about the best show on TV that you (or me, for that matter) aren’t watching, Danny McBride’s Eastbound and Down. I’ve been hearing some of the buzz about Eastbound and Down—about a washed-up Major League Baseball star returning home to live […]

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Jonathan Ames Talks Sex, Frivolity, and Egocentrism

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Rumpus contributor Jonathan Ames recently got interviewed by a little magazine called Time. Clearly this upstart Time rag is hopping on the Rumpus’ pro-Ames bandwagon, but we won’t begrudge them. How can you NOT want to learn more about a writer who’s been compared to everyone from Norman Mailer to David Sedaris?

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