December 28th, 2009 / 3:14 pm
I Like __ A Lot & Random & Web Hype

Toppling the Vinyl Castle (Rule of Threes #3)

Or, what I did over Christmas Weekend.

1. Liked a photo called “Sawhorse Buddha” from an upcoming series by Josh Grigsby:

2. Read A poem from Lana Turner Journal called “Market Forces Are Brighter Than The Sun” by Cathy Park Hong, which is crunchy and smudgy and full of errant exclamation points.

3. Read Less Than Zero and felt wonderfully wretched afterward. This excerpt encapsulates the book for me:

While reading the paper at twilight by the pool, I see a story about how a local man tried to bury himself alive in his backyard because it was “so hot, too hot.” I read the article a second time and then put the paper down and watch my sisters. They’re still wearing their bikinis and sunglasses and they lie beneath the darkening sky and play a game in which they pretend to be dead. They ask me to judge which one of them can look dead the longest; the one who wins get to push the other one into the pool. I watch them and listen to the tape that’s playing on the Walkman I’m wearing. The Go-Go’s are singing “I wanna be worlds away/I know things will be okay when I get worlds away.” Whoever made the tape then let the record skip and I close my eyes and hear them start to sing “Vacation” and when I open my eyes, my sisters are floating face down in the pool, wondering who can look drowned the longest.

Plus One:

Watched The Lakers get spanked by the Cavs. This made my Christmas, especially when they got whiny and pouty about it. Phil Jackson, I love you, but you can be a spoiled brat.

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18 Comments

  1. Nate

      Yay for Less Than Zero.

  2. Nate

      Yay for Less Than Zero.

  3. Sean

      That Cavs thing was sorta awesome.

  4. Sean

      That Cavs thing was sorta awesome.

  5. Blake Butler

      that was a nice piece of Less Than Zero. i don’t remember it as feeling the way that piece does. i may have to look again.

  6. Blake Butler

      that was a nice piece of Less Than Zero. i don’t remember it as feeling the way that piece does. i may have to look again.

  7. Alexis Orgera

      how do you remember it feeling? because I’m not sure it does feel that way throughout. But I think that’s what’s underlying: the boredom and hopelessness and mindless entertainment seeking. And Clay’s under-acknowledged need to get the fuck out.

  8. Alexis Orgera

      how do you remember it feeling? because I’m not sure it does feel that way throughout. But I think that’s what’s underlying: the boredom and hopelessness and mindless entertainment seeking. And Clay’s under-acknowledged need to get the fuck out.

  9. Stu

      And every character being blonde? That was kind of cool.

  10. Stu

      And every character being blonde? That was kind of cool.

  11. Alexis Orgera

      yeah, very ’80s.

  12. Alexis Orgera

      yeah, very ’80s.

  13. larry l.

      so they’re playing dead outside the pool, and winner gets to push loser in the pool then they’re playing dead in the pool. confused by BEE’s narrator…

  14. larry l.

      so they’re playing dead outside the pool, and winner gets to push loser in the pool then they’re playing dead in the pool. confused by BEE’s narrator…

  15. christopher higgs

      As a longtime, dedicated member of the Lakers Nation, I feel comfortable using the first person plural — that said, may I humbly submit: we always lose on Christmas — it is our Christmas present to the opponent. The Cavs will not be so lucky if they find themselves facing us in the postseason, which is highly unlikely anyway.

      Also, I like Bret Easton Ellis’s work. I made the claim once in a course on postmodern fiction that in terms of his approach to consumerism/commodity fetishism Don Delillo always reminded me of a watered down B.E.E. It caused some uproar.

  16. christopher higgs

      As a longtime, dedicated member of the Lakers Nation, I feel comfortable using the first person plural — that said, may I humbly submit: we always lose on Christmas — it is our Christmas present to the opponent. The Cavs will not be so lucky if they find themselves facing us in the postseason, which is highly unlikely anyway.

      Also, I like Bret Easton Ellis’s work. I made the claim once in a course on postmodern fiction that in terms of his approach to consumerism/commodity fetishism Don Delillo always reminded me of a watered down B.E.E. It caused some uproar.

  17. Stu

      I bet. I’m interested in hearing your reasoning.

  18. Stu

      I bet. I’m interested in hearing your reasoning.