There Will Come a Soft Rain

"Time and air and sunlight bore wave and wave of shock, until all the shock was spent, and time and..."

Fri, 10 May 2013 15:27:25 -0400

“Time and air and sunlight bore wave and wave of shock, until all the shock was spent, and time and space and light grew still again and nothing seemed to tremble, and nothing seemed to lean.”

- Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson

theparisreview: The inside cover and first page of the notebook...

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 14:03:00 -0400

theparisreview:

The inside cover and first page of the notebook containing the first draft of James Salter’s 1975 novel, Light Years. (via vintageanchorbooks)

Also from the Salter archives at the Harry Ransom Center, read the novel’s outline here.

I now have another reason to visit Austin.

Gaitskill on Nabokov on Characters on Galley Slaves

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 23:42:52 -0400

Gaitskill on Nabokov on Characters on Galley Slaves:

http://web.archive.org/web/20000816193224/http://salon.com/12nov1995/feature/nabokov.html

I just had to go on a hunt for one of my favorite articles on writing. It is by Mary Gaitskill in which she discusses one of her favorite writers Nabokov. It was printed in the first issue of Salon online, in 1995. Unfortunately, because of a number of redesigns, Salon does currently have the article up but it is missing all the important asides, which were written as hyperlinks. Don’t forget, hyperlinks were pretty fucking cool in 1995 and heralded a new way to tell stories. I managed to track down the article, hyperlinks and all, on the ever useful internet wayback machine. Here it is, for posterity.

Photo

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 14:29:30 -0400

"Spring Break forever, bitches."

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 14:38:14 -0400

“Spring Break forever, bitches.”

- Sylvia Plath (via incorrectsylviaplathquotes)

"And I don’t have to be robbin to live fat man."

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 09:44:24 -0400

“And I don’t have to be robbin to live fat man.”

- J-Ro from Tha Alkaholiks

"Technological excess has overwhelmed narrative meaning. This digital grandstanding suffocates what I..."

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 07:12:16 -0500

“

Technological excess has overwhelmed narrative meaning. This digital grandstanding suffocates what I — and D.W. Griffith and Andre Bazin and past generations of theorists, critics and cinematic practitioners — once considered the essence of cinema: nature and the human face.

The further Hollywood gets from that essence, the more computer-generated imagery we will get. “Animation Domination,” as it’s advertised on the Fox network. It almost seems as if Hollywood’s emphasis on digital effects aims to turn moviegoers into children rather than aesthetically responsive viewers.

”

- Still love you Armond White

Annie Hardy Battles On: Giant Drag's LP is about to come out...

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 09:48:14 -0500

Annie Hardy Battles On: Giant Drag's LP is about to come out...:

anniehardy:

So it wasn’t the best PR move or in best interest for my career in general but I decided to stop talking about Giant Drag’s album Waking Up Is Hard To Do until something was happening. People who talk about shit but never have anything to show for it are the worst, so I put my head down and…

New Giant Drag Album!!!!!! The past decade would have been much better if Giant Drag had released more albums and David Lynch had released more movies. I can’t wait to listen.

Trapped in a Cage

Wed, 20 Feb 2013 21:07:01 -0500

Title: Trapped in a Cage

Synopsis

When a film critic finds himself bound and gagged in Nicolas Cage’s dungeon, there’s only one way out: watching all seventy-two films starring Cage, from the sublime (Moonstruck, Adaptation) to the ridiculous (e.g Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, Drive Angry 3-D, The Wicker Man). Trapped in a Cage is a celebration of America’s greatest living actor, a collection of shocking stories and terrific tall tales. A terrifying journey into the mind of a man who was once stalked by a mime, the book takes the reader through the most fascinating film catalog in cinema history. With the unnamed film critic driven to madness and love by his captor, Trapped in a Cage will leave readers laughing at the hilarious screencaps, line readings, and weird moments that make up Cage’s greatest hits.

Sample

I don’t know how long I’ve been down here. It is dark. Too dark to see. But the room is spinning and my vision is blurry. Rancid smells fill the air. Dirt. Piss. Am I in hell?

Maybe things will straighten out if I get up, if I balance. I try to rise but vertigo overtakes me and I slump back down, against a wall. The wall feels like stone. My hands are tied to each other, stuck behind my back. There’s nothing left to do but sleep.

Later in the day, I wake up. The room has stopped spinning and I have a terrible headache. I stand up, uneasily, but more stable now. I walk around the room, leaning against the walls with my shoulder. I am in a small room made made of three stone walls and one wall which is a series of bars. It is damp. I’m in some kind of basement or dungeon. My shoes are gone and my toes are cold in the dirt.

Suddenly, a light comes on and floods my cell. It’s from a door on the opposite side of the bars. A man in a butler uniform walks out and places a tray at the edge of my cell. It has food on it. I realize I am starving and lunge for it. The man starts to leave as I stuff the brown mess in my mouth. I yell out to him, food spilling out. “Where am I? Who are you?”

——

The last memory I had before I got here was walking out of a film screening. I’m a movie reviewer by trade, but I can’t reveal my name. He’s everywhere. you know.

It was midnight, and the film was terrible. As I walked back to my apartment a large white boat of a car pulled up next to me. A Buick.

“Mr. Critic,” said the man inside, using my real name.

“Yes?” I responded, unnerved.

“I thought so.”

Just then two men jumped out of the back of the car and after that everything is a blur of images. Ropes, snakeskin, a rag, the faint sounds of an Elvis song, and then the darkness

—-

The butler turns back on his heels and talks to me in a soothing voice. My hearing isn’t so good. He said, “You’re in a cage.”

“I know I’m in a cage,” I respond, my mouth full of mush. Potatoes. “But where is that cage?”

“I didn’t say you’re in a cage,” he jeers. Enunciating each word like a curse, he spat out, “You’re at the estate of Nicolas Cage. This is the dungeon.”

With that, he turns back and slams the door behind him. Shutting out the light again and leaving me in darkness.

——-

After an eternity of darkness and silence a man enters the room. It’s not the butler this time. This man is taller, his walk is stooped, his body swings as if his legs were inserted improperly into his hips. He has a large face, tilted to the side, which studies me as it approaches. A small, sinister smile trickles across his lips. It is the man himself. My very own torturer. World famous Oscar winner. Nicolas Cage.

He pulls out a folded newspaper. It is my paper. And he starts reading my review back to me. “Overacting … Ridiculous … Mugging … Over the Top … blah … blah …” He pauses, taking out a pair of glasses from his suit pocket. He places them on his face and continues, “You think actors are just props. Part of a master vision. Not capable of creating life. Breathing soul into being.”

“I just said you chewed scenery,” I respond, lamely.

He stares at me wide eyed. He tries to find words but can’t. He is sputtering, trying to get the shapes of sounds but his rage overtakes him. Finally, he begins moving his arms up and down and says, over and over again, “I chew scenery! I CHEW SCENERY!” with increasing anger and agitation.

He storms off and returns with a baby carriage. He then proceeds to cut it up into tiny pieces in front of me with a reciprocating saw. The machine is loud, and pieces of fabric and plastic fly into the air in a fine mist. “That was from my film Raising Arizona. It was a piece of scenery. You chew it!”

“What did I say?”

“Eat it.”

“This? It’s inedible.”

“Eat my scenery. Eat my scenery.” He is jumping up and down now.

“No” I say, resolutely. “Untie my hands and let me go!”

“I don’t chew scenery, YOU CHEW SCENERY!”

He screams for his butler to bring the rod. He comes out with a cattle prod and hits me with it. My body shuts down and the world screams. But it doesn’t stop. His butler keeps prodding me while Cage jumps up and down shouting eat my scenery until I found myself on the floor chewing pieces of wood and leather, until he collapses like a child after a hysterical fit and the butler helps him out of the room. I run to my bucket and puke. I notice that my hands are free. Free to move around at will. Free to start digging, to plan my escape from this dungeon, Shawshank Redemption-style.

—-

A few days later, the butler wheels in a TV on a cart, like the ones they showed movies on in High School when the teachers were too lazy to teach. Nicolas Cage walks in with him.

“Today is your first lesson,” says Cage.

“What are you talking about?” I say. “You’re absolutely mad.”

“You are going to watch every single on of my movies. Every jewel in my crown. Every aria in my symphony. And then, you are to determine if I am, as you say, ‘An acting abomination.’”

For the first time in all my days in the cell, I begin to worry. It’s one thing to be tortured and killed. It’s another to watch every one of Nicolas Cage’s films.

The Saddest Movie in the World

Wed, 13 Feb 2013 15:38:51 -0500

The Saddest Movie in the World :

I was reading about grammar in the Smithsonian Magazine and came across this amazing article about the scientifically saddest movie scene ever.

Also, these other useful scenes for psychological experiments:

The 16 Short Film Clips and the Emotions They Evoked:

Amusement: When Harry Met Sally and Robin Williams Live

Anger: My Bodyguard and Cry Freedom

Contentment: Footage of waves and a beach scene

Disgust: Pink Flamingos and an amputation scene

Fear: The Shining and Silence of the Lambs

Neutral: Abstract shapes and color bars

Sadness: The Champ and Bambi

Surprise: Capricorn One and Sea of Love

alexanderchee: What I think is interesting about the reaction...

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 15:13:49 -0500

alexanderchee:

What I think is interesting about the reaction to these is the assumption that Bush is creating some impossible perspective on the right. That he’s painting himself in the shower looking at himself. If you remove the impossible perspective idea, there’s every reason to believe the painting on the right is him painting another man in the shower with him, looking at himself.

I love this alternative interpretation of the painting by 43. I think people are so quick to jump to the staring at himself in the shower hypothesis, is because that’s how they hope he is living after having done so much wrong in the world. In their view, 43 would be spending his post presidential years reflecting on what he has done, taking long contemplative walks, staring at himself in the shower wondering how it ended up so wrong. It is part of a narrative that fits in with their interpretation of his presidency. However, just as valid, is the idea that, without the constraints of media and politics, he can explore himself and the world, and perhaps return to his halcyon prep school days.

bookshelfporn: Midtown Minimal Library Photo by: T. G....

Mon, 11 Feb 2013 09:24:48 -0500

bookshelfporn:

Midtown Minimal Library

Photo by: T. G. Olcott

I love the idea of a back-lit bookshelf. It gives the books the luminosity they always have in my head. Like a celestial library. Maybe I should build Lucite backed bookshelves which have a secondary function as a light.

Courier Prime

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 09:55:00 -0500

Courier Prime:

A breakdown on the improvements made in Courier Prime, a rebooted version of the Courier typeface. I like the new “y” a lot better

"A New Hampshire high school student reading an ancient Chinese poem and being moved-a theory of..."

Wed, 30 Jan 2013 21:21:00 -0500

“A New Hampshire high school student reading an ancient Chinese poem and being moved-a theory of literature that cannot account for that commonplace miracle is worthless.”

- Charles Simic

wehadfacesthen: Smoky Robinson and the Miracles, 1966

Tue, 29 Jan 2013 09:14:03 -0500

wehadfacesthen:

Smoky Robinson and the Miracles, 1966

wehadfacesthen: The Three Kemmys, vaudeville performers, 1923,...

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 12:44:34 -0500

wehadfacesthen:

The Three Kemmys, vaudeville performers, 1923, photo by Panajou Fres

via vintagemarlene (digitalgallery.nypl.org)

This photo is amazing. I want to learn everything there is to know about these three strangers, but according to internet searching, the world has recorded little of their exploits. A few mentions in a german paper or two is all I’ve found. Who are these mysterious vaudevillian gymnasts?

Elisabeth and I were each one of 19 in a local election. Hooray...

Fri, 18 Jan 2013 13:06:48 -0500

Elisabeth and I were each one of 19 in a local election. Hooray democracy.

elisabethdonnelly:

Today I learned that my vote counted. Thumbs up to democracy!

W.G. Sebald’s Former Students Share His Writing Advice

Thu, 17 Jan 2013 13:35:50 -0500

W.G. Sebald’s Former Students Share His Writing Advice:

nevver:

Read books that have nothing to do with literature.

Get off the main thoroughfares; you’ll see nothing there. For example, Kant’s Critique is a yawn but his incidental writings are fascinating.

There has to be a libidinous delight in finding things and stuffing them in your pockets.

You must get the servants to work for you. You mustn’t do all the work yourself. That is, you should ask other people for information, and steal ruthlessly from what they provide.

None of the things you make up will be as hair-raising as the things people tell you.

I can only encourage you to steal as much as you can. No one will ever notice. You should keep a notebook of tidbits, but don’t write down the attributions, and then after a couple of years you can come back to the notebook and treat the stuff as your own without guilt.

Don’t be afraid to bring in strange, eloquent quotations and graft them into your story. It enriches the prose. Quotations are like yeast or some ingredient one adds.

Look in older encyclopaedias. They have a different eye. They attempt to be complete and structured but in fact are completely random collected things that are supposed to represent our world.

It’s very good that you write through another text, a foil, so that you write out of it and make your work a palimpsest. You don’t have to declare it or tell where it’s from.

A tight structural form opens possibilities. Take a pattern, an established model or sub-genre, and write to it. In writing, limitation gives freedom.

If you look carefully you can find problems in all writers. And that should give you great hope. And the better you get at identifying these problems, the better you will be at avoiding them.

More

Django and the limits of appropriation

Tue, 15 Jan 2013 10:59:41 -0500

I have yet to see Django, and may wait until it comes out on video to catch it. I can’t really judge the film until I see it. I think it is terrible to critique art you have not experienced and does a disservice to the artist. So it may in fact be an excellent movie. However, I do have a fundamental problem with the film, which I think illuminates a much deeper problem with post-modern art and the limits of appropriation, which is: You can not take some groups tragedy and make it into your revenge fantasy. Some aspects of culture are not up for grabs. You can make films and write stories and create art about them, but there is an ethical obligation to the past to honor them. Iconoclasm only works if you build something to replace the smashed icons. Otherwise you just end up with a pile of rubble and have a few laughs. In a world where nothing is sacred nothing is profound.

I recognize the problems with this viewpoint. It limits art, limits exploration, limits peoples abilities to examine and recreate the world. It runs counted to the ethos of art and modernity. And yet, we have seen over the past ten years the problems of a limitless world. A world where everything is free. Artists who make their income of their art can no longer afford to be artists. Class structures become more stratified. The number of voice expands, but the number of voices one can hear becomes limit to the subset that can afford the larger microphones (which take time and money to build). A black director could not make Django, because they can’t get funding. No one will give them a microphone.

nevver: Infographic Names 21 Emotions with No English Word...

Wed, 09 Jan 2013 13:16:32 -0500

nevver:

Infographic Names 21 Emotions with No English Word Equivalents