Ken Baumann—
Two essays on Osama Bin Laden’s assassination that got me thinking. First is from Ken Chen at Montevidayo, and the second is from Noah Cicero.
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Ken Baumann—
Crowdsource an indie bookstore: yes. And this yespraise of ornament/excess/fat from Johannes at Montevidayo.
Ken Baumann—
James Pate at Montevidayo says some really precise stuff about chaos and art, ending with this (YES): “With both–and with Grosz too, I would say– we’re left with an aesthetic that I like to think of as the abandoned house approach to art. You go in and wander around, but no one lives there anymore.”
Some Notes on Montevidayo, Cameos by the Rumpus and HTMLGiant
Johannes Göransson
Today’s post, “Another Post About MFA Students: Outsiders and Insiders,” complicates the ongoing Internet-wide discussion by challenging its assumptions about what’s “inside” and what’s “outside” and speculating about why people would position themselves on one side of that divide or the other.
What I like about it (and what I like about Johannes Göransson’s posts in general), is that it’s not just another attempt to draw a boundary between the good guys and the bad guys. Instead, it’s an attempt to understand a conversation that has become very confusing. Not many commentators define their terms or agree about what the definitions would be if they did. Grievance is at the bottom of all of it. There’s only so many goodies to get, and why did he or she get them instead of me? READ MORE >
At Montevidayo, Megan Milks wrote about Anna Joy Springer’s The Birdwisher from Birds of Lace Press. She received The Birdwisher from her HTMLGIANT Secret Santa last year. If you haven’t signed up yet, you have less than two weeks to make sure you get a cool gift like Megan did.
Montevidayo Foerversy Dear
1. If you haven’t been following the discussions at Montevidayo, a new group blog run by Johannes Göransson, you should start now. Recent posts include Joyelle McSweeney on the Bourne Identity, Johannes on atrocity kitsch, and at least 3 posts on the mechanics of Shutter Island.
2. @ The Awl, an interesting allegation made in finding similarity between Jessica Soffer’s story “Beginning, End” from Granta and Jonathan Safran Foer’s recent publication in the NYer, “Here We Aren’t, So Quickly.” Apparently Soffer was a student of Foer’s wife Nicole Krauss, and the similarity between the stories is mmm. I personally don’t give a crap about stealing, or allegations thereof, because I think all words are words, but still, take a whoop.
3. A friend of mine compared the new Matthew Dear album, Black City, to a Talking Heads for the 00s. He may be on to something.
