Jonathan Franzen on David Foster Wallace:

Somebody could write a whole monograph on how deliberately and artfully he deploys the modifier ‘sort of.’

"Redundant Clock" by Ji Lee

Keep thinking about this gag joke, and it becomes something more — some new numeric system; an existential 12 hour carousel; a sign that can only point to itself at the right moment, if moments were full minutes; the wrongness of its arms betwixt the hours, as if struggling for their own signs; the zen koan of it always being now o’clock.

1. Apple’s dabbling in the censorship business, specifically Ulysses.
2. Kimberly King Parsons gives Eugene Marten’s Firework five stars at Time Out New York.
3. Simmons interviews Tom Bissell at Fanzine
4. I rewatched Dead Ringers for the first time in about 10 years last night. Man, that movie is fucked up.

I am presenting the concept of creative nonfiction to intro writing students tomorrow. They will write their first exercise. Should I tell them to use qualifiers–“Perhaps, my mother said…” “As I remember it…”–or should I tell them to respect the reader: the contemporary reader obviously understands that CNF is flawed memory using flawed words.

Annalemma announces Issue Seven theme (“Endurance”) and call for submissions.

What is your favorite story or poem title? I like “Upstairs, Mona Bayed for Dong.”

Looking back on hip-hop’s infatuation with Obama during the campaign (via RapGenius).

New issue of Action Yes is mega sublime.

Deborah Treisman responds to Qs about the New Yorker 20 Under 40 list via live chat. Heheh: “DEBORAH TREISMAN: I have a degree in Comparative Literature from UC Berkeley. I don’t think there’s only one kind of university at which aspiring writers can get an education. There’s an enormous range of educational opportunity out there.”

Tarkovsky’s Polaroids