I think with everything I write, you can tell that I start out trying to go somewhere, and then end up not having enough time to do my ideas justice. I’m working on it. In related news, Specter published my ramblings on Nine Inch Nails and tweendom in light of reading the Pretty Hate Machine 33 1/3 by Daphne Carr.
Releasing Toxins via Popcorn
October 25th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink
“Some people look at it as a chance to escape from life, going to a play, going to a movie,” Shannon says. “It’s escapism. Maybe some people look at it as inspirational. To me, I find relief in it when it’s more extreme than everyday life. It’s kind of like going to a deep tissue massage. It’s cathartic. You’re releasing toxins—psychic, spiritual toxins. Unless you’re the freaking Dalai Lama or something, everybody’s carrying that stuff around. The Dalai Lama’s probably carrying it around.” —Michael Shannon in Flaunt. I saw Take Shelter this past weekend, and it was absolutely brilliant. GO!
Talking to Translators
October 24th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink
A week ago, an interview I did with translator Kerri Pierce went up at The Awl. Her translation of Kjersti A. Skomsvold’s The Faster I Walk, the Smaller I Am is out from Dalkey Archive this week. It’s really freaking good, and this woman works in seven languages. This is the second interview with a translator I’ve done for Awl, a site I super-love, and I’m really appreciative of the opportunity. I am a feeble interviewer but hope to improve.
Junot Makes Me Tear Up
October 19th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink
“You guys know about vampires? … You know, vampires have no reflections in a mirror? There’s this idea that monsters don’t have reflections in a mirror. And what I’ve always thought isn’t that monsters don’t have reflections in a mirror. It’s that if you want to make a human being into a monster, deny them, at the cultural level, any reflection of themselves. And growing up, I felt like a monster in some ways. I didn’t see myself reflected at all. I was like, “Yo, is something wrong with me? That the whole society seems to think that people like me don’t exist? And part of what inspired me, was this deep desire that before I died, I would make a couple of mirrors. That I would make some mirrors so that kids like me might see themselves reflected back and might not feel so monstrous for it.” —Junot Díaz
Whenever I Get a Moment With the Page, I Feel Victorious
October 19th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink
“That’s the thing about writing, the accomplishment is in spending the day with the page, it doesn’t matter if there’s anything on it.” —Stephen Elliott in today’s Daily Rumpus. (P.S. I’ve been very busy lately.)
From left, Roberto Bolaño’s chair; Arthur Rimbaud’s utensils.
October 14th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink
“It’s not hero worship,” she said, explaining this sense of affiliation and identification with other artists, living and dead. “It’s not that I have low self-esteem. I feel magnified by these people. I had a very good conversation with Allen Ginsberg about this very thing. He was like me, in his own way. He felt that he walked with Blake and Whitman. They were his people.” —A.O. Scott profiles Patti Smith. Many of her pictures are included, most important among them, of course, the one of Bolaño’s chair.
Allow Me to Gather My Thoughts on Fall TV
October 13th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink
My job involves reading a shit-ton about TV–the recaps, the ratings, and probably lots of other stuff that just goes through my grammar-and-style filter and then, graciously, exits my mind forever. Because I don’t watch all of these shows, or most shows at the time when they air, I don’t feel like I actually watch a lot of TV. But this might be a delusion. I’ve found myself with a few brief thoughts on all the shows I watch, so I’m going to write them down just to keep track for myself.
Boardwalk Empire: It’s going well. It’s a good show that I’m not very emotionally invested in, what are you gonna do?
Homeland: I like this one a lot! Claire Danes is balls-out crazed, and I had no clue she had that in her. And the way the second episode ended? Where is this going?!
How to Make It in America: I love Luis Guzmán and am happy they’re using Kid Cudi more this season. Cam is fabulous and Rachel has broken out as a great character, so I’ll keep watching no matter how much of a sadsack Ben is.
Enlightened: As a new-agey person with rage issues, I felt really drawn in despite the uneven, overstuffedness of the pilot. Massive potential, mostly thanks to Laura Dern and the fact that this is uncharted territory, content-wise.
Bored to Death: Zach Galifianakis and Ted Danson make this show. I’m in forever, whatever.
Parenthood: This show makes me bawl. I don’t even know how I ended up watching it in the first place and can’t stop now, though I’m growing dubious of its artistic merits. It’s Friday Night Lights-lite, and seeing as I don’t have FNL anymore I need SOMETHING.
Top Chef: Just Desserts: I watch this because I bake a lot and fast-forward through the dramaz. I was rooting for Carlos (probably because of his loyalty to the undeniable peanut butter and banana combo) and am now upset. Johnny Iuzzini is hot.
Review of Four Books of Poetry by Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz
October 12th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink
Remember when I said I was reading some poetry for a review and was in way over my head? The review’s up at PANK. It was a lot of fun to try to review poetry…
The Poetry-to-Narrative Shift
October 6th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink
“This time jump at the end. This dramatic shift. Like a shift in tone, perspective, everything. It becomes more narrative, and less poetic. I think that’s what happens. In adolescence you start to make narrative about your life. You have the vocabulary to start thinking about your experience differently. In childhood, you just don’t have any of those words. There’s just poetry, and imagination and wonder.” —Justin Torres
This is the articulation of something I have long wanted to articulate. It is why I am obsessed, in love with child narrators.
And from an interview with Mother Jones:
“Sometimes I would be very upset because my memories are very murky from my childhood, but there are certain emotional memories or emotional truths that are painful, and things that I know to be the case and I had to nail them down, and that was difficult. And other times I think I was trying to write my way back towards my family. If I could make characters out of these people, then I had to understand, as a writer, their motivations. I had to understand, like, why would a father punch his son? So that was a practice in empathy; it kind of expanded my conception.”
Everyone Asks Writers About Anxiety
September 29th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink
“But every night I am subdued by an anxiety that knows no irony…” —Vila-Matas in a Paris Review interview the McNally Jackson Tumblr quoted. This fragment is exquisite, and reminds me that Montano’s Malady is in my trunk.