Blake Butler—
The BBC did an End Notes feature on the legacy of David Foster Wallace, which you can stream at their site here, or can download as an mp3 here [w/ thanks to my pal Eric].
Raskolnikov’s inbox
[Best if read bottom up for chronological order.]
Towlie, Towle & Bean Spasms
It often happens that I return to the same books I want that are like really expensive. Like the Notebooks of Paul Valéry. Anyway I want a copy of this slick little book so bad it makes me think it a stupid thing to want a book so bad, like I should be wanting things like sex drugs and money so bad, but I just want this little book so bad, with a nice simple cover by Joe Brainard. The cheapest I have seen so far is $300. It is collected in Ted Berrigan’s Collected Poems.
Recipes for Writers: Migas
If Chickpea Curry is my number one dinner all-star for cooking without shopping, then my lunch/breakfast/brunch all-stars are fried rice and migas, which I think of in my head as tortilla eggs. I’ll do fried rice once I make/photograph it; today is all about migas, which I made yesterday. Basically, I make fried rice if I have leftover rice and stir-fry or vaguely Chinese leftovers, and I make migas if I have vaguely Mexican leftovers or bits of Mexican-y ingredients and corn tortillas. Flour tortillas might be good too but I’ve never tried it.
The only essentials for migas are tortillas and eggs. And hot sauce or salsa or something similar. Yesterday, I ate it with some Melinda’s Chipotle Ketchup that I bought at Marshall’s (it’s a really great Marshall’s. I also got sesame oil and walnut oil).
At left, not-migas; unhappiness. Below right, migas; less unhappiness. Below left, Melinda’s Chipotle Ketchup; happiness.
Other bits that go well in migas:
Mushrooms
Red onions, scallions or other onions
Leftover chicken or beef or pork or shrimp or tofu
Jalapenos or other chili
Poblanos or bell peppers
Spinach
Leftover cooked potato or sweet potato or squash
Tomatoes / tomato sauce / tomato paste
Avocado
Cheese
Yesterday, all I had were eggs, tortillas, shredded Colby-Jack, and leftover tomato sauce from when I served handmade cheese tortellini. So the tomato sauce already onion and garlic in it.
Here’s the method: Cut all your non-egg, non-sauce ingredients in little bits. Tear the tortillas into bits (around 1-inch square but precision is NOT necessary and indeed frowned upon because it’s good to have some crispier bits and some softer bits and besides tortillas are round). Beat eggs, with milk if you like, salt and pepper. Heat some fat (vegetable oil, butter, say about 1 tablespoon per egg, at ~2 eggs per person) in a pan/skillet. Add all the non-egg non-sauce non-cheese bits including the tortillas (but if you are using avocado, for the love of god add that at the end). Season with salt and pepper and fry in the oil till they get to desired softness/brownness/doneness. Add eggs, sauce, cheese (which you could have also added to the eggs in the beating stage). Kinda scramble those eggs with everything until cooked. Eat with hot sauce/salsa/Melinda’s Chipotle Ketchup.
Research Questionnaire: On Reality TV
Reggie Bush and Kim Kardashian - "Keeping up with the Kardashians"
1. Do you watch reality TV?
–If yes, which shows and why?
–If no, how come?
2. Why do you think reality TV is so popular today?
3. What do you think reality TV reflects about our society?
4. Are there connections between realism in contemporary literature
and realism on TV?
5. Does realism on TV seem “more real” or “less real” or “different real”
than realism in contemporary literature?
Do You Know?
What is a prose poem, a flash fiction? They are both bastardy forms. Fuck, they should be hanging out. Simpatico, I feel. Or at least enough I walk your toad, you walk mine. Fueled on hops and piss. I guarantee you Max Jacobs would have bought. both forms a dank. aperitif. Hell, so would Kim Chinquee. But, noooooooooooo. So. So. Tell me. What is the difference? Fire away.
Emily +/- Dickinson
Last night for school I was asked to give a brief presentation on the importance of Emily Dickinson’s dashes. (I posted about this a few days ago.) My one sentence conclusion: “They’re nearly as important as the words are.” yeah ok whatever…
I did some further reading, though, and noticed/learned something I think is interesting: even among the “accepted,” contemporary, “dash-inclusive” collections of her work, the dashes still aren’t fully represented the way she wrote them in her manuscripts… and I’m not just talking about the hypen vs. en dash vs. em dash thing, but even their placement and existence.
Let’s get into some shit…