Columns
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The Collins Almanac is Back!
Friend of the Rumpus and all around cool guy Paul Collins has revived the Collins Almanac on the McSweeney’s iPhone app: “After six years of slumber (I prefer to call it “deep cogitation”) the Almanac is back as an exclusive…
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David Mamet, Crypto-Conservative All Along?
Not long ago David Mamet admitted that he is a conservative, and in his latest book, Theatre, he attempts to integrate his newly articulated politics into his view of the theater. But as Terry Teachout points out in this essay…
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Cassette Tape Revival
Here’s an article in the LA Times about the revival of the cassette tape. Seems as though cassettes are the new vinyl. Or something. Apparently, the fuss-free cheapness of the cassette as a recording medium is being re-explored by small…
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The Canal
On a London bench, two strangers talk about desire and terror: “People wear masks. These masks, they do not even know they are wearing them.”
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Interviewers, as Seen by Novelists
The B&N Review has published an amusing piece by Tom LeClair about the way interviewers of novelists are portrayed in novels by DeLillo, Roth, Coetzee and Bolano — and LeClair describes his own experiences from the trenches of interviewing artists.…
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Morning Coffee.
New findings in a long term monkey annoyance study (scientists are amazing). Flavorwire has your post-apocalyptic photography for the day. The census of marine life. I’m really sorry about all these deep sea creature photographs (no I’m not). Everyone loves…
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The Rumpus Book Club Interviews Doug Dorst
“My warm-up technique appears to be to waste several hours on the web, waste several more telling myself I’m a fraud.”
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Autosummarize, Applied to Popular Works
Graphic designer Jason Huff has taken the 100 most-downloaded copyright-free books and applied Microsoft Word’s 10-sentence autosummary to them. The Book Bench highlights some funny ones, but it’s really worthwhile downloading Huff’s entire PDF. (via The Millions)
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Bill Murray Interview at GQ
A long and very interesting interview with Bill Murray is up at GQ; one of the most interesting things comes right up front, where we learn that anybody can get in touch with Bill Murray simply by calling an 800…
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Notable San Francisco, This Week: 8/2-8/8
This week, Quiet Lightning! First Tuesday: TechnoCraft @ YBCA, and art, art, art! In North Beach @ DoublePunch, Western Addition @ Big Umbrella, and in the Haight at the Summer Art Walk. Monday 8/2: Relatively new, and already so popular…
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Win Free Novellas from Melville House
Melville House is publishing three novellas translated from German this month, and they’re giving away a complete set to every tenth person who emails them. All you have to do is send an email to be considered! (via the Center…
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The August Monthly Rumpus: Hot Nights
Click here to buy tickets! Less than one week away, on August 9th at The Make-Out Room, 3225 22nd Street, San Francisco. 7pm. Featuring authors Antonia Crane, Matthew Zapruder, Victor Martinez, and Steve Almond! National pun champion Joe Sabia! Comedy…