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.
Benjamin Percy is a Writer I’d Like to Fuck
Bejamin Percy is Fucking Hot
Benjamin Percy begs the question, do I have to like a writer’s writing to want to fuck him? Alas, I think the answer would be yes, but I would make an exception for Percy if I were to not like his writing. He’s that hot. Now, as it is, I really REALLY like his writing! So, the question is really moot. But, my point is, how smoking HOT is he? (I’ll get to his fiction in a minute). Here’s a bit from an interview in Bookslut that exemplifies one of the reasons I’d like to fuck him:
Some writers go for walks when they’re trying to work something out in their head. I go to the gym. Sometimes you need to get away from the keyboard and feel the blood flowing through your stiff limbs before the next idea comes hurtling toward you. So I pick up large pieces of metal and put them back down again.
The man has PIPES! As does his prose. Percy is an unabashedly masculine writer. A rich manliness oozes from not only his subject matter- war, guns, all sorts of men stuff–but also his prose style. I wouldn’t call him a “plain” writer; indeed, he can be very stylized, with an acute attention to the music of language. But his fiction feels honest and hard, like a dick in my hand should feel.
Ounce of Pound
Another point miscomprehended by people who are clumsy at language is that one does not need to learn a whole language in order to understand some one or some dozen poems. It is often enough to understand thoroughly the poem, and every one of the few dozen or few hundred words that compose it.
– “How to Read”
Memorious 11
Memorious 11 is now out and packed with words:
This special fifth anniversary issue of Memorious features cover art by Dorothea Van Camp, poetry and prose from Kevin Prufer, G. C. Waldrep, Kelle Groom, Mary Biddinger, Allan Reeder, and B. J. Hollars, as well as a conversation between Alexander Chee and Sigrid Nunez, an interview with Larissa Szporluck, and a rich collection of gifted emerging poets: Brett Defries, Robin Ekiss, Leslie Harrison, Todd Hearon, Gregory Lawless, Matt W. Miller, Darren Morris, Melissa Range, Rita Mae Reese, and Rachel Richardson. Many of these poets have books on the way, and the rest of them are poets whose books we are sure to see in the near future.
Whatchu know about dat?
Uncategorized / 5 Comments
December 30th, 2008 / 12:48 pm
December 30th, 2008 / 12:48 pm
Mean Monday: I Am A Pussy But I Don’t Like Everything I Read
PUSSY
I am too much of a pussy to post really truly mean shit. In fact, recently I profusely apologized to someone here for making them angry. That said, if you fuck with me, in real life, I will NEVER forgive you. I hate that about myself. I am a terrible grudge holder. I often find people like me who are huge grudge holders are conversely very loyal friends. Makes sense, though, right? OK! Here are some books I thought were not very good for various reasons:
Who Will Run the Frog Hospital? By Lorrie Moore—I read this book in manuscript form when it came out. I loved her stories at the time. After reading this book, I was very angry and had indigestion. It made me hate big publishers. Maybe if I read it now, I would like it. Really. ( I suck at being mean?) Someone tell me you thought this book was ass, too. Also, no question marks are allowed in book titles. It’s the law.
Catch it if you Can: The Sad Meal, by DJ Dolack
I met DJ Dolack for the first time a few weeks before Christmas, at a party. Turns out we’ve both written for Coldfront. So okay, nice to meet you, DJ. Then the next week I’m getting ready to give this reading for Hexed, and notice that I’ll be sharing a bill with–among others–one DJ Dolack. Also, now that I think about it, weren’t me and dude both in the Fall 2008 issue of diode? (Yes.) Weird how much your life can overlap with somebody else’s without either of your even knowing it. Well, anyway, when we were at the reading, DJ gave me a copy of his 2005 chapbook, “The Sad Meal,” which was published by Eye for an Iris and distributed through Black Ocean. It’s a gorgeous little book, on nice paper, about the size of a thank you card (it came in an illustrated envelope) and bound with a single staple. I have no idea how many were printed, or how to get one (Eye for an Iris’s site seems to not have anything on it, and the Black Ocean page for “The Sad Meal” doesn’t exist anymore) but I have one and I think it’s pretty cool.
I like Stephen Dixon a lot
Stephen Dixon’s stories, like Beckett’s, flourish despite — or perhaps because of — their constraints. There’s probably a better way to talk about it, but I think of it as ‘dense minimalism,’ wherein scarcity is conveyed through excessive means in writing. I’ve been very interested in Dixon ’s methods and with this post I will try to investigate him formally. To do this, I will use three fairly random (of course, I had to find something to get the point across, but the search was pretty casual) excerpts from 30: Pieces of a novel. My goal is to convey how constructed his narrative space is. The blockquotes are sentences from 30: Pieces of a novel.
FLESH FEAST: THE HUMAN BRAIN by socrates adams florou mad me happier than the movie LITTLE GIANTS with RICK MORANIS
socrates adams florou sent me his chapbook FLESH FEAST: THE HUMAN BRAIN a couple days ago. after reading it left to right and assembling the relative meanings of each of the words both singly and in conjunction with each other, i found myself pleased. socrates is a strange man and i think if he were to be in the same room as me i would call him a “vato loco.” the chapbook is in short chapters. it is about a man who lives in a flat. an old man moves in above him. i won’t say too much but the younger man becomes paranoid about the older man wanting to eat him and the younger man stays inside for long periods of time. my favorite line is about the younger man staring at the tv and trying to control it with a nintendo controller after having not left his flat for weeks. the chapbook is cleanly written and it made me feel uncomfortable. if you email him he will send an electronic copy to you.
socratesadams@googlemail.com
there are no more print copies.
that last line seems too severe to end with so:
i like you all a lot.
O Captain, My Captain: Lish Power Quote #3
Work on your blanks.
– Arcade, p. 172