Fuck Twitter + Exploder
Hi, we’re on Twitter now.
Our bodies are changing. It is scary when our bodies start to change.
Like, your hair grows where before you just rubbed and rubbed
and ladies are more interested in you, and men,
and there is trouble brewing in the cistern
and you might bruise a knee if you cry too hard
yes, we are a changing
changing so hard everyday, it’s like pushups plus grease
i feel exploder
did you know i had a baby last year?
it’s what makes me angry and upset
i can sometimes do a post about how strong my back is
and sometimes i can post about Ricky Moody
to be honest, though, this website is just a hoax made of candy n paper,
designed to get Diane Wililams randy in her special spot
Diane Williams i think changes everyday too
though you never complained when she did that
Don’t fight! We came to make babies
and to eat those babies on crackers provided free of charge
by the goodwill of Cooper Renner and Lee Klein
and Restin Borstenseinsen
and Pimp C (RIP)
Crackerz! for Night Train Magazine!
Crackerz! for Ass Hi Books!
Crackerz! for Haypenny Magazine (RIP)!
Crackerz! for crackers like ya’ll bitches who all you wanna do is front
No really, tho. Let’s play Internet Publishing Mall Madness, n update what we eat on the Twitter, n buy a book sometime, with our monies
‘stead o’ just writin’ that shit all day n shit,
& like my friend Dave ‘future ex editor of NYer’ Shakur said, I get $$$ nigga
till I dead
** THIS POST SHOULD RECEIVE 200 COMMENTS, AS IT IS TRULY ABOUT ABSOLUTELY NOTHING **
An Open Response re: HTMLGIANT
The following are answers to questions posited by Brandon Scott Gorrell about HTMLGIANT. I don’t think he was being sarcastic, and I will honor these questions with sincere answers. I am not trying to put him on the spot. I think BSG is one of our best writers around, and I respect him. These answers are respectful. [*Disclaimer: this is not a solicited interview. BSG asked these questions on his blog, and I merely answered them. He and I had no direct discourse.]
what happened to htmlgiant
I think you mean, maybe, like it’s ‘different,’ or worse, ‘not as good.’
was it something inside me or inside htmlgiant
I feel like you’ve been more alienated lately, like you fake-deleted your blog, and came back from NY depressed, and you are questioning your existence more and more. So 60% of it is you, but 40% of it is HTMLGIANT.
i used to read htmlgiant feeling excited
I think when it first started, there was a rush of excitement that has since diminished. Posts used to get 200+ comments, now it’s 20+ on a good day. I think, if a journal or website is to last, it needs a) devoted contributors and b) a consistent ethos. I think we have both.
now i feel a little bored and alienated
That’s probably 88% you, sorry. I will admit we are 12% boring and alienating.
AWP through the eyes of Gena Mohwish
hello. i guess i am gena mohwish. both sam and jereme wanted me to write about my experience and post my pictures on htmlgiant, so here i am. it feels a little frightening to be writing here. my body just shook a little. okay.
**Pictures after the jump!**
Official Holistic HTMLGIANT AWP Couchsurfing Post
All sorts of magic people will be at AWP Chicago Feb 11th-14th: you, some guy with a surgical mask, sixteen blind elves, and Tony Danza. You know, as in “Hold me closer, Tony Danza” and “Tony Danza in the sand.”
In our spirit of selfless community service we here at HTMLGIANT have decided to help the needy, the dispossessed, the charlatans, the men and women whose haircuts remain anxiously unaware of where they’ll end up mussed: that’s right, some of usall of usmost of useveryone in the worldat one point or another HTMLGIANT’s readers might need a place to crash in Chicago.
So why not see if we can have one GIANT <A> TAG help another? If you need a couch, post in the comments. If you have a couch free, post in the comments. If you’re a couch, buy a sweater.
GOOD LUCK! GODSPEED! CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS 09!
The Lives of Others: at the art opening
Mike Young came to San Francisco a few weeks ago. We didn’t document the experience, but it just so happened that we were ‘in the way’ while a picture was being taken for a website that documents SF art openings (scroll down to Rosenthal Gallery).
Anyway, in the vein of Selections from the Giant family photo album, I figure I’d consolidate our conversation into four snippets. Out of modesty and restraint, the photos are after the break.
Jonathan Baumbach at Maud Newton
not USAirways #1549, from which everyone appears to have safely escaped
I just finished reading this post by Jonathan Baumbach over at Maud Newton’s blog. He talks a little about the founding of FC(2) and then mentions his surprise at how long the collective has lasted. Originally, he had meant for the alternative press to be a ‘stopgap action in a period of emergency.’ He writes though that his assessment of the situation back then was maybe too optimistic, which explains, perhaps, why FC2 has continued so long. I hadn’t realized that the original collective was meant only as a temporary fix, to ‘jostle the publishing establishment into taking more chances with work that was out on the edge.’ But as time passed, Baumbach says, the industry turned more conservative in its tastes, and FC2 was needed more than ever.
Here’s a tiny bit more from the post:
Originality tends to generate difficulty in that it breaks faith with expectation, undermines the prevailing verities of last season’s fashion. Originality, by definition, takes us by surprise.
And:
Commercial publishing tends to court literary work that is a thinly disguised variation on the recognizably artful — last year’s award winner tricked out to seem at once new and safely familiar.
Thanks to Maud Newton for posting this.
Lost & Found Department: Workshop Edition
FOUND: A printout of what appears to be most of a short story, with parenthetical comments not hand-written but apparently typed into the document before it was printed out. Document pages are not numbered. There is no title or author name or critic’s name or any other identifying marks. The document was found by this agent, at a restaurant a few blocks south of NYU.
All things considered, it seems wrong to have more than a wee bit of fun with this, but a wee bit never hurt anybody, right?
The unravelling aspect of the piece is perfectly timed. The change in Howard’s attitude toward his mother’s situation is not sudden; it builds up slowly, each negative thought concerning Suzette’s appearance erasing her hold on matters. Edith is manipulative, but subtly so. That she is probably as physically frail as Suzette never really becomes an issue; such is her grip on Howard. There are many wonderful comic phrases throughout and plenty of fresh observations, such as the anthropodal patellas and the hilarious notion that obesity offends Suzette, but an obese irresponsible pet owner is more egregious. The only thing I might add is that while the attitudinal changes arise purposefully and come at correct intervals, the actual visit to Edith’s seems quite long. I enjoyed every paragraph, however, so it may not be such a pressing concern.