I'm the author of the novels Solip, Say, Cut, Map, The Country, and The City. I've also written the nonfiction books EarthBound and Eat the Flowers. I'm currently publishing my novel A Task via Kickstarter in order to have an hourlong conversation with each of its first thousand readers. For a decade I published books through Sator Press, and for a decade I acted in film and television; now I help students at St. John's College. More info: kenbaumann.com.
11 degrees and snowing. The weather and its children–snow, slush, wet shoes, stung faces–frames Sundance. As much as I’d like to say I acclimated, I didn’t. But the weather does amplify a sense of frenzy & camaraderie already present for the sake of the namesake: movies. People go to see movies, buy movies, sell movies–share movies and share themselves. And, yes: if you don’t have passes, know that you should wake up at 6am or earlier every morning to stand in line for hours at the box office, just to find out that you can only get tickets to 2 (max) of the 5-8 movies you wanted to see. There was a guy, first in line, who camped out at the box office for the night only to be beaten to the punch for tickets by someone who paid faster (cash). Devotion.
So there is a madness to the festival. It is worth it. I met filmmakers–actors, writers, directors, producers–I highly respect, and had leisurely conversations with them. All were warm, all were happy to be sharing. I saw six films in four days and a night, three of them great. It was thrilling.
The title above comes from a line in Enter The Void–one of the characters is describing a DMT trip. I stayed away from the DMT, but the festival, all gathered & gleaned, is a very specific and inspiring drug and gauntlet.
Okay. Here’s what I thought of the films:
TONIGHT IN BROOKLYN: Melville House hosts ‘Publishing In The Age of Blah Blah Blah.’
Paige Williams, a journalist, wrote a fascinating story about Dolly Freed–author of the off-grid classic Possum Living which has been reissued by Tin House this month. Paige self-published the story after many rejections and is accepting donations. I chipped in. I’m sure you’ll want to, too. ::: Tom McCarthy, author of remainder, on David Lynch’s films. Excellent thoughts. ::: And a half-good, half-Wall-Street-Journal Wall Street Journal piece on the state of the slush pile.
This image at VVORK has stuck. And this interview with designer maestro/badass John Gall. And this new site for Christopher Brand, another designer in bookland. And this incredible German word.
First up, via the the always wonderful Steve Silberman–good words from Cory Doctorow:
Anyone who claims that readers can’t and won’t and shouldn’t own their books are bent on the destruction of the book, the destruction of publishing, and the destruction of authorship itself. We must stop them from being allowed to do it. The library of tomorrow should be better than the library of today. The ability to loan our books to more than one person at once is a feature, not a bug. We all know this. It’s time we stop pretending that the pirates of copyright are right. These people were readers before they were publishers before they were writers before they worked in the legal department before they were agents before they were salespeople and marketers. We are the people of the book, and we need to start acting like it.
I’ve been enjoying Eugene Lim’s blog lately. Some highlights: Debussy on mystery, art–the films of Desplechin–photgraphy and book reviews and sonnets.
And Joel Johnson talks about living in New York. Entertaining and mournful as hell.
Major holiday lag & leisure has led to these recent fascinations: Robbie Cooper has been posting a slew of interesting glimpses, Ryland Walker Knight–increasingly my most cherished cinematic mind online–provides us another conjunction of quotations, 3:AM mag‘s got an Xmas mix going featuring a favorite from The Fall, VVORK supplies the sludge, Spencer Ackerman talks beautifully about Guantanamo Bay, Lauren Leto stereotypes people by their favorite authors (a favorite: Thomas Aquinas – Premature ejaculators), Lined & Unlined continues their six-part meditation on the production of text from the text’s point of view, the Concord Free Press continues to publish beautifully designed (and good?) books then give them away free yes free, and an unknown Italian maintains further a warped body blog. Merry Xmas!
