I just discovered this, and it’s awesome. Part 1 is a general discussion of Bloom and his work; Part 2 focuses specifically on The Anxiety of Influence.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_WtTx2x5sg
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cj7p_brtNA8
pr—
The other day, I bought Granta (I’m liking many of these stories), A Public Space (I still have far to go with this one, but I’m feeling a bit lukewarm about it today, maybe tomorrow I’ll feel differently), The New York Review of Books (had to skim the Patricia Highsmith article because of too many spoilers about books of hers I plan on reading) and Gigantic (fun and different — a nice palate cleanser between reading the other journals).
Justin Taylor—
Slate’s got Henry Louis Gates Jr. interviewing Spike Lee about the 20 year anniversary of Do The Right Thing.
Phillip Roth: The Dance Mix
Back that ass up...
This morning on the Melville House blog, Moby Lives, editor Kelly Burdick posted a dance track featuring Phillip Roth doing some “Jewish Shouting.” DJ James Marcus, critic, translator and author of Amazonia, is responsible for the madness. Marcus interviewed Roth last September for the LA Times, and during the interview, Roth gave Marcus an example of what he called “Jewish Shouting,” which Marcus (who is also a musician) turned into a short dance track. You can find the track here. You have basically not lived until you can dance to the wails of Phillip Roth.
Lowbrow Reader post #2
The other day, I posted some junk on the long-lost Gilbert Rogin from the latest installment of the the Lowbrow Reader. Today, I will share a brief email correspondence with the equally reclusive editor of that journal, Jay Ruttenberg.
Good day sir. Would you mind talking a bit about the genesis of the Lowbrow Reader? Did you always know that it would become the phenomenon it has?
We started the Lowbrow Reader in the fall of 2000 and published the first issue the following year. At the time, the smart people of the world were all conceiving online things, so what did I do? Started a print publication. The original concept was to mix comedy and commentary about comedy—specifically the kind of “lowbrow” fare that so often gets condemned by traditional media. I’m a big Adam Sandler fan, and could never understand how “Billy Madison”—which I consider to be a masterpiece—would be reviled by critics. In some weird way, it seemed akin to elements of the mainstream ’60s press treating the Beatles or Bob Dylan as some kind of passing teen fad.
Did I always know it would become the phenomenon it has? Our publication is blessed with eight readers. When we launched, never in my wildest dreams did I think we would surpass five. I guess some people just have a special gift.
Read the rest of this offensive tete-a-tete after these messages.
Gene Morgan—
Looks like another old person hates our freedom. Ray Bradbury describes us as “not real” and “meaningless.”
“Yahoo called me eight weeks ago,” he said, voice rising. “They wanted to put a book of mine on Yahoo! You know what I told them? ‘To hell with you. To hell with you and to hell with the Internet.’”
(some of) Mark Sanford’s (old) emails to “Maria”
Not pictured: Argentine sex kitten.
[Hat tip to my friend Pete for the link.] Well kids, another day, and another Republican turns out to be a lyin’ cheatin’ AWOL SOB. But I give the presumably-soon-to-be-ex-Governor credit for one thing–he’s a pretty decent prose stylist. He’s erotic, but not too trashy, and he’s upfront about his emotions and his mixed feelings, but you never get the impression he’s at loose ends. Check out this passage, from July 8 of last year.
[…] I went out and ran the excavator with lights until the sun came up. To me, and I suspect no one else on earth, there is something wonderful about listening to country music playing in the cab, air conditioner running, the hum of a huge diesel engine in the back ground, the tranquillity that comes with being in a virtual wilderness of trees and marsh, the day breaking and vibrant pink coming alive in the morning clouds – and getting to build something with each scoop of dirt.
Fuckin’ poetry, man. As I was just saying to Jeremy Schmall in gchat, if I was sleeping with this guy, and he was writing me letters like this, I’d totes be sticking around to see how things panned out. Read all they’ve got up so far (they promise more to come) here.
RELATED (in a sense): Greta Christina’s classic essay, “Are We Having Sex Now Or What?” (via Susie & Aretha Bright at Jezebel)