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And now John Callahan?

Kind of feeling like the HTML Giant Grim Reaper. James Greer’s blog mentioned the death of cartoonist John Callahan.

When Callahan was 21, he was in a car accident that left him a quadriplegic. He was, as the video above illustrates, a drunk. He and a friend were bar hopping when the accident happened.

He held his pen between both his hands to draw his cartoons. His drawings were, because of that, simple and crude. His humor, too, could be crude—sometimes juvenile, sometimes a little (or a lot) discomfiting. He poked fun at his disability, and at the 12-step recovery process that pulled him out of his alcohol addiction. He was, way back when the phrase meant something, politically incorrect*. And because of that, he was kind of brilliant. READ MORE >

Author Spotlight / 4 Comments
July 30th, 2010 / 2:53 pm

Jimmy Chen

Regarding the growing tendency in book design to cover people with white boxes

i like it when i feel smarter than you

I’ve been thinking a little this morning about the appeal of books you could categorize as intelligent fatties: Ulysses, Infinite Jest, other books I have started but haven’t finished.

People experience joy reading these kinds of books and that makes me happy in the same way that some people like having gay sex makes me happy. I don’t have gay sex but I am happy that it’s being had and enjoyed because uniformity of desire scares me. It reminds me of that acidic feeling I had in sixth grade when a classmate told me all men wanted to have sex with Pamela Anderson.

But my question is this: Does anyone openly admit that they experience joy reading an ‘intelligent fatty’ because it makes them feel smarter than other people? Is that part of the appeal or is that the dirty little secret of the appeal or is that not even a factor?

Craft Notes / 214 Comments
July 30th, 2010 / 10:12 am

Adam Robinson—

If I was in Chicago TOMORROW NIGHT (thanks Tim), I’d probably stop by Reckless Records, then go to Ed Debevic’s for mean food, then to the book launch sink for Davis Schneiderman’s new novel, Drain. Readings by some Giant faves: “Steve Tomasula, Cookies & MILF (aka Kelly Haramis & Jennifer Boxrud), Don Share, John Beer, Rebekah Silverman and Tadd Adcox (reading a piece by Fred Sasaki). Artwork by Elizabeth Birnbaum, Karen Larson, Eli Robb and Mai Wagner.” 7pm at Part Time Gallery (5219 N. Clark. 3^rd Floor).

After that I’d close down the Oasis and tomorrow morning hit Heartland Cafe.

Adam Robinson

Live Giants #7: Mairéad Byrne

Well, Mairéad’s microphone went kaput, so you only sort of missed her reading. But the book is still available cheap till I decide we’ve made recompense.

Her latest book, The Best of (What’s Left of) Heaven is a 208-page opus just released by Publishing Genius. Purchases made between now and midnight tonight get a reduced $10 price and free shipping.

Events / 42 Comments
July 29th, 2010 / 6:24 pm

Blake Butler

Kenneth Anger Ad for Missoni

[Thanks K.]

What’s Missoni? I have no idea, even after watching this. Which is the best. Why don’t more big $$ machines give more $$ to arts, even if you have to put their name on it.

Dear Missoni, BP, Brad Pitt, whoever: if you pay me $$ to live for a while, I’ll write a book that has your entity’s object or glyphmark or whateverword in it. That’s not a sales pitch. I’m for $$ sponsorship, when it does not demand control, as this clearly did not. Props to places with taste. I like Missoni now, whatever it is.

Film / 35 Comments
July 29th, 2010 / 4:18 pm

Christopher Higgs

Doxsee, Julie. Objects for a Fog Death. (2010)

Objects for a Fog Death is a series of odes to images and objects, and to the “you” responsible for distancing these images and objects from mortal relationships. With this distance comes a profound desire and a heightening awareness of earthly proximity. Through the accompanying hypnagogic verses, oceans quiet the voice while disorientation hurls it into a temporary place—hovering overhead or shying away in the murk. Is a river an object? Is fog an object? Or for that matter, is fog a place? Behind this book lies a call for rescue from confinement and immobility, from the ineffability of touch. Out of this fog springs forth the coeval shriek of something that will not be reduced to love. Available now from Black Ocean.

Samples after the jump…

Literary Doppelgangers

Both Peter Falk’s “Columbo” and Jacques Derrida underwent uncharacteristic measures to discover the truth, though the latter’s was so deconstructed and linguistically bloated it chased its own tale. “To pretend, I actually do the thing. I have therefore only pretended to pretend,” he once said. Pretend you’re hearing that in French, now find the nearest stale baguette and pretend to hit him.

whyouwannagimmetherunnaround?

Shteyngart & Cohen at Vox Tablet. Shteyngart, btw, also just got a mind-erasingly ecstatic review from Michiko Kakutani. Cohen, not to be outdone, is running for mayor of Annapolis, Maryland.

Snowden Wright loved Eugene Marten’s Firework.

Ed Champion did not love Richard Yates.

Did somebody say politics? Not bloody likely. But anyway, let’s meet Emily Henochowicz. I got turned onto her personal blog after reading about her in the New York Times. Seems the 21 year old artist / exchange student / demonstrator lost an eye after being shot in the face with a tear gas canister by Israeli police. But that news is almost two months old. The article I read, which went up on 7/27, is about how the Israeli Ministry of Defense is refusing to pay (and denying responsibility for) her hospital bills. Anyway, if you go over to her blog you can check out Emily’s art, including this pair of one-eye-favoring glasses that she designed herself.

The Economist had a great cover story this week (last week?) on the absolute fuckedness (my paraphrase) of the American prison system. The web version seems to be behind a paywall, but maybe you can find the issue at the story. Did you know that over 1 in 100 Americans is currently incarcerated, and that if you factor in people on parole and probation, the figure rises to 1 in 31* Americans under some form of corrective supervision. Related, this Nation piece about BP’s use of prison labor in Louisiana.

Also, the Economist apparently has an arts/books blog now. It is called Prospero, and here’s an interesting piece about arch-agent Andrew Wylie partnering directly with Amazon (and bypassing publishers entirely) to release e-book editions of Portnoy’s Complaint, Updike’s Rabbit books, and a suite of others.

Finally, Unsaid editor David McLendon announces on Facebook that Allison Titus is the 2010 recipient of the Transport of the Aim Poetry Prize. You might remember that Titus’s Sum of Every Lost Ship was one of five small press poetry titles to read this summer. I liked her book a whole bunch. So congrats, Allison! And a hearty cheers to Unsaid.

*For a few days this read “1 in 3.” Thanks to Steven Augustine for catching the typo.

Roundup / 59 Comments
July 29th, 2010 / 1:54 pm