Deb Olin Unferth has a Daytrotter Session!!!!!
Okay, so this news is almost a month old, but I only just discovered it ten minutes ago. (Now overnight plus ten minutes, since I’m going to post this tomorrow.) ANYWAY. The point is that Deb Olin Unferth is badass, and so is Daytrotter.com, so the fact that they got together (apparently on 12/14/08) is just super exciting.
DFW Syllabus
You know a man is great when even his syllabus is a work of art.
Also included in the other pages (of which there are many): a wonderful reading list. At the height of my obsession, I made it policy to read every book DFW blurbed, reviewed, or mentioned in passing during interviews (including things like Brautigan’s ‘In Watermelon Sugar’ and Renata Adler’s ‘Speedboat’). I can’t remember him being off even once. Said compilation forthcoming.
But What Will We Tell The Kids!?
Storyville Radio is a new(ish) radio show and free podcast that you can find here on their blog. This month’s episode is titled “What Will We Tell The Kids.” This show’s format is comparable to This American Life and/or Radio Lab and is equally awesome, evocative and funny. Go Listen.
Gaza, Day 12 & Counting
I think I almost made my mother cry on the phone the other night when–in a non-twist which surprised absolutely nobody–I explained my opposition to the present war. Probably this is because I used fiery invective and very few statistics or facts of any kind, but that’s what happens when you have an argument while cooking dinner. For what it’s worth, no statistics or facts of any kind were marshalled against me, but in any case, making my mother angry/sad was not the goal of the conversation, so later I sat down and tried to find some things online to send her that would make my case in a more nuanced and articulate way, not just because I thought she should be exposed to the information, but because I thought that I should.
This short comment-piece by Akiva Eldar, published first in Hebrew in Ha’aretz and then translated to English by Jessica Cohen for The Nation seems to me to have said what a better-informed, less irate version of myself would have said, and what this version of myself wishes he would have said. I have a copy of the book Eldar wrote (co-wrote, actually, with Idith Zertal), Lords of the Land: The War over Israel’s Settlements and the Occupied Territories 1967-2007 sitting on my shelf, but I haven’t read it. Yet.
You might also take a look at the BBC’s Key Maps and Timeline (from which above-image is borrowed)
Happy New Year
2008 has been a historic year: We elected our first black president. Htmlgiant was born. I continued surfing porn naked.
If there’s anything these things have in common, it’s this: there’s a part of me that feels really good. Happy new year everyone.
the Auld Lang Syne
Because I don’t know what the rest of my day/night is going to look like yet, but am basically sure it won’t involve this computer, I thought it best to play safe and offer up New Year’s tidings to every one–yes, every one–of you out there.
HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE. Thanks for being part of our lives. And don’t forget to check your Chinese calendar: 2009 is the year of the GIANT.
People with things to do might stop reading now, but in case it’s still too early for you to start drinking in your particular time zone, or if you’ve already started but haven’t left the house yet, or if you’re already out but reading this on your iPhone (in which case, Jesus H.), here are some things to look at/read/listen to.
We’ll start with the original Hogmanay hearthrob, Mr. Robert Burns:
Would pr like to nail this guy? If not, she's the only one.
Why not take a few moments now to practice the Auld Lang Syne in Scots, so you won’t mess it up when midnight rolls around?
Why not read about Guy Lombardo and Auld Lang Syne on NPR?
The Robert Burns of today? (No, not even close.)
Catch you on the flip side, suckas.
today i saw the word POSTMODERNISM like 5 times so i thought about something
i like the books POSTMODERNISM: THE LOGIC OF LATE CAPITALISM and also THE POSTMODERN CONDITION: A REPORT ON KNOWLEDGE. i think that after reading those two books i actually knew what postmodernism meant, not just like: “oh there’s a giraffe eating fritos and watching himself on television” type of postmodernism. frederick jameson wrote the first book and jean francois lyotard wrote the other. they both explain the idea in terms that apply to production and technology and to me that makes them applicable. i think before, when someone said “postmodernism,” i thought, “oh there must be a giraffe eating fritos and watching himself on television in that story.” READ MORE >
Andrew W.K. reads Ann Beattie
Go here to listen to Andrew W.K. reading an Ann Beattie story.
Take THAT, Tao Lin!
Take that and, you know, really enjoy it. If you want.
Mean Mondays: A play about how writers have big egos and think they are special and will never get along with each other
EXT. DAY – A VERDANT PASTURE
A group of three men squat naked on a hill, each quietly contemplating life while shitting. A spring cloud approaches from the east.
MAN 1
(jumps up excitedly)
I have created something beautiful! Look at my shit turd! Gaze upon its fullness! Take note of its deep color! Oh how special my turd is!
MAN 2
(pointing at his excrement)
Yes, I have created also! My beautiful jagged turd how I appreciate you! You are unique and different! A turd not of this world.
MAN 3
(acting disinterested)
I too have created. My turd is small and compact.