The Astonishing Egg

Waiting for Luhring Augustine

2012-01-24T08:23:00.000-08:00

Luhring Augustine Bushwick

With Chelsea gallery Luhring Augustine opening for programming in Bushwick, local artists contemplate big changes. I spoke to artists and curators in Bushwick and Chelsea for Capital New York and attended the panel at The Bogart Salon where they hashed out some of the issues.

Pretty Vacant

2012-01-22T15:12:00.001-08:00

Klara Liden @ Reena Spaulings 1/22

Reena Spaulings smelled like pine trees. It was the opening of Klara Liden's show Pretty Vacant and there was a room full of trees that, it seemed, had been collected from the street after Christmas. Some were still covered in tinsel. They were very dry and people were accidentally knocking them over. A young man holding a beer said he thought that was probably the point and that he imagined all the trees falling down like dominoes. There was a leather couch in the center on which a woman was covertly breastfeeding her baby. Another woman walked in with a dog. Then Jeffrey Deitch walked in, stood in the center of the trees, and looked around. I wondered why he was in New York. He was in a pink shirt, tweed jacket, and nude round-framed glasses.

Blind Cut, Uri Aran, Michael St. John

2012-01-21T17:12:00.000-08:00

Uri Aran @ Gavin Brown's Enterprise

Michael St. John @ Andrea Rosen

David Lamelas Even Days, 1968; Odd Days, 1968 @ maccarone

Blind Cut, curated by Jonah Freeman and Vera Neykov @ Marlborough Gallery

Dubuffet @ Pace

Portrait of Mie Iwatsuki by Anthony Haden Guest @ freight + volume

Tom Thayer

2012-01-20T12:58:00.000-08:00

will be interviewing artist Tom Thayer, for his upcoming show at Derek Eller Gallery and his work in the Whitney Biennial

Next month...

2012-01-20T10:59:00.000-08:00

Some Shows I'll See this Week, Some Already Open

2012-01-18T13:32:00.000-08:00

BLIND CUT: Curated by Jonah Freeman and Vera Neykov
@ Marlborough Gallery
1/19 - 2/18

KLARA LIDEN @ Reena Spaulings, Opens Sunday 12-6
1/22 - 2/19

ALLEN GLATTER, @ Rawson Projects
1/28 - 3/11

CENTRE-FUGE Public Art Project on the LES,
1/23 - one year

URI ARAN, @ Gavin Brown's Enterprise
1/14 - 2/25

MATT SIMS @ Envoy Enterprises
1/12 - 2/26

CANYON CANDY @ The Clock Tower Gallery
12/20 - 3/1

RASHID JOHNSON @ Hauser & Wirth
1/11 - 2/25

2 at BookForum

2011-12-15T11:25:00.001-08:00

For BookForum, I document the first installment of Cabinet's 24-Book Series, in which the magazine invited an author to write a book in 24 hours [Attempts at Exhausting Cabinet's 24-Hour Book Series], and I review Gary Lutz's book Divorcer.

Feist, Claire Fontaine, and Beecher's

2011-11-04T13:01:00.001-07:00

I met Leslie Feist at Lafayette House for BlackBook -- the resulting profile piece was published here. My profile on the artist duo Claire Fontaine (whose exhibit just opened at Metro Picures) was published in Modern Painters. HTMLGiant made nice mention of a piece of fiction I recently had published in the first issue of Beecher's.

Salem

2011-07-02T12:03:00.000-07:00

An essay of mine about Salem, "Sweethearts of the Occult," and the mystery (or not) thereof, was published in the Believer's music issue in the company of one of my favorite music compilation CDs the magazine has put out yet. The compilation focuses on contemporary composers like Tristan Perich (whose 1-Bit Symphony excited me when I first heard it at Sanity Disobedience for a New Frontier, a show curated by Rod Malin at a micro-gallery in Williamsburg). Also, there are some great interviews with Trey Anastasio (by Ross Simonini), Brian Eno, and David Byrne.

Ai Weiwei's New York

2011-06-29T07:54:00.003-07:00

Bill Clinton, Allen Ginsberg, and Drag Queens at Wigstock

In conjunction with the opening of the exhibit at the Asia Society Museum of the photographs of artist Ai Weiwei during his life in the East Village in the 80s and early 90s, I prepare a selection of photographs from the exhibit for Flavorwire. Bill Clinton, Allen Ginsberg, and Chinese expatriate intellectuals are among those in the artist's portraits.

Promoters Changing NY Nightlife

2011-06-20T10:09:00.000-07:00

On Top, The Cosmic Cavern, and ABRACADABRA

At BlackBook, I cover five show promoters and/or artists who throw interesting events in New York. Suzanne Bartsch, Kenny Scharf, Todd Pendu, and more...

Ritual Films

2011-06-20T09:48:00.000-07:00

I went upstate yesterday to partake in one of artist Micki Pellerano's ritual films. I wore face paint, fur, had my hair teased, was asked to wear real snake skin (said no), and held a brass unk cross. Micki is in the tree here, as is Bruno from Light Asylum, and Danny. More on this coming soon...

Rashaad Newsome at Flash:Light

2011-05-09T21:53:00.000-07:00

Herald Cut Short

I write a piece for Artinfo about Rashaad Newsome's aborted performance of Herald at Flash:Light, the festival within the Festival of Ideas for the New City presented by the New Museum.

Rashaad Newsome

2011-05-07T14:52:00.001-07:00

Artist Rashaad Newsome creates mash-ups of hip hop and the rites of heraldry.

Alexander McQueen

2011-05-01T13:28:00.000-07:00

Coinciding with next week's opening of Savage Beauty at the Met, at Flavorwire, I take a look back at some great moments in the career of fashion designer Alexander McQueen -- like the insane asylum-themed show, for example, the center piece of which is pictured above.

Food Trucks, Supper Clubs and Dead Theaters

2011-04-15T11:55:00.000-07:00

Photo courtesy High Society Dining Club

On Flavorwire this week, I explore artisanal food trucks (like Coolhaus) across the US, the Rise of the Pop-Up Restaurant and Supper Club, including JBF LTD, LTO, Veronica's Sunday Supper, one pop-up in LA -- Underground Wine Tasting Dinner -- that takes place in architecturally significant homes, and another -- the High Society Dining Club -- that takes itself literally. Also, Dead and Repurposed Movie Theaters in homage to the upcoming Tribeca Film Festival.

BEBE ZEVA for VICE

2011-03-30T07:10:00.000-07:00

Almost Famous

Photo: Leigh Alexander

I wrote a piece for VICE on Bebe Zeva and BEBE ZEVA, the film Tao Lin and Megan Boyle directed of the almost famous Internet personality. Tao Lin called her a "genius." A genius! Read here. Decide for yourself.

The piece has some imaginative comments. Take these examples:

"..." says: I really hope virtually everyone involved with this article dies young. And I don’t mean “bad lifestyle, middle aged heart attack” young, I mean “flowers laid against a wall, photos tied to lamposts” young.

"Republik of Mancunia" says: Heres a thought why not follow someone useful and of interest like a childrens cancer doctor or street cleaner. In fact why not just turn over the whole of Vice to the street cleaners.

"workingclassfuckup" says: Cuntpuppets!

"Hoppy Harry" says:

I dunno… it’s in the language she uses.

“I try to prove myself on the internet by like getting friends like that,” she says.

Who the fuck talks like that in real life?

"JL" says: Fuck celebrity, fuck virtual success. Fuck the entire internet generation, with their entire lives mapped on Facebook from birth to death.

VICE Presents Sasha Grey's Neu Sex

2011-03-29T22:42:00.000-07:00

@ Housing Works

Brandon Stosuy interviews Sasha Grey.

Sasha Grey made an appearance at Housing Works to promote her new book Neu Sex out by VICE. Stereogum's Brandon Stosuy interviewed her about sex as art, her albums out on Pendu Recordings and being honest with her family about working in the adult film industry. During the Q&A, she was asked by a man "when's a good time to tell my 39 year old son that I'm a Sasha Grey Junkie?" "Any time's a good time, man," she said. Everyone felt awkward for her.

Cheap Art from Some of the World's Most Expensive Artists

2011-03-23T08:29:00.000-07:00

So Richard Prince, Yoshitomo Nara and Tracey Emin

Top: Tim Noble and Sue Webster's Toxic Schizophrenia
Bottom: Tattoo by Tim Noble and Sue Webster sold at Gagosian Gallery.

Here's a rundown of cheap (and cheap-ish) great stuff you can get by some of the most renowned artists if you can't afford the real deal. For Flavorwire.

Salem on Tour

2011-03-19T09:16:00.000-07:00

Salem stops at Santos Party House on their US Tour

Gallery of Photos from the AIPAD Photo Show NY

2011-03-17T09:03:00.000-07:00

Highlights from the AIPAD Photo Show NY

2011-03-16T08:52:00.000-07:00

Massimo Vitali, Simen Johan and Julie Blackmon

Photos: From top to bottom Simen Johan, Mark Seliger

A selection of highlights of the upcoming AIPAD Photography Show New York -- the biggest international photo show.

Yes I was on the Inaugural Bruise Cruise

2011-03-01T23:56:00.000-08:00

Along with the Black Lips, Vivian Girls, VICE editors and more...

Ian Svenonius was the cruise director and the ship's elder statesman of punk. His underlings included 400 indie rock fans along with the bands--The Black Lips on the beach, Vivian Girls, Thee Oh Sees, The Strange Boys, Ty Segall, Quintron and Miss Pussycat, Surfer Blood, Jacuzzi Boys, and Turbo Fruits--and VICE, the editors of which were there to shoot The Black Lips video. See the full pictorial at Flavorwire.

Hahn Bin: Visionaire's Mozart

2011-02-16T00:16:00.000-08:00

A Salon in the old Boom Boom Room

Violinist Hahn Bin performed for a small gathering at the top of the Standard Hotel in New York for Visionaire's party to celebrate Fashion Week. Read more at BlackBook.

Tamaryn at MoMA PS1 Saturday Sessions

2011-02-14T00:22:00.000-08:00

Tamaryn performs at MoMA PS1's Saturday Sessions with Mirror Mirror and special effects by Thunder Horse Video.

How to be a Witch House Poser

2011-01-19T08:39:00.000-08:00

Brush Up on your Salem, Shams and Pendu

If you want to get in on the Witch House scene, read this piece first and enter with dark cred.
For example: Listen to Horror Scores for the Dance Floor Vol. 4, deny the legitimacy of the term "Witch House," and please, please, please have an opinion on Salem, even if only to say that their fame rides on Jack Donoghue's hair.

Ariel Pink, Mongolian Contortionists and 12 Liberty Ponies

2011-01-05T19:14:00.000-08:00

THE ROCK & ROLL CIRCUS

Ariel Pink

The Rock & Roll Circus happened over two days in Lincoln Center's Damrosch Park. Punks be Not Proud--a photo essay with pictures of Japanther's performance that ended prematurely--can be viewed on BlackBook.com. Day 1 had performances by the So So Glos, The Pharmacy and Japanther. Day 2 had Ariel pink, Aska + Nick Zinner, Saint Motel and Amazing Baby. While you can see a photo essay up on BlackBook as well, here are more photos of the 2nd night.

"Mongolian Contortionists" (must we still objectify peoples' nationalities...)

Aska + Nick Zinner (Played the most haunting beautiful set while people were walking into the tent)

Aska + Nick Zinner

"Kenyan Boys" (must we still objectify peoples' nationalities...)

"Acid Baby" (Kept talking about getting lubricated)

Saint Motel (All I could think about were this guys red suspenders)

Saint Motel

Saint Motel

"Russian Aerialist"

Amazing Baby

Amazing Baby

Break Time

Acid Baby and friend

VIP Loungers

Big Apple Circus performers

Aska + Nick Zinner

12 Liberty Ponies (People screamed more loudly for these ponies than for anyone else)

ARIEL PINK

(He does a good parody of a musician but I kinda wished it was Geneva Jacuzzi)

Riot Grrrls

2010-11-08T15:06:00.000-08:00

A Visual Guide to The Revolution Girl Style

Tobi Vail, Kathleen Hanna and Sara Jaffe had them. Miranda July had one. Called Snarla. Goteblud's exhibition of Riot Grrrl zines was one of the more compelling components of last weekend's NY Art Book Fair at MoMA PS1. In a visual piece for Flavorwire, I document some of the zines I found that were most interesting and significant to the Riot Grrrl movement.

Review of Madame Bovary for The Believer

2010-10-03T11:35:00.001-07:00

I Review Lydia Davis's New Translation of Madame Bovary

Number of previous English translations of Madame Bovary: at least nineteen (according to Davis); Plot summary: Dissatisfied, a country doctor’s wife goes to a fancy-dress party, dreams of a better life, has two affairs, buys things she can’t afford and goes deeply into debt, eats arsenic; Representative sentence: “They had to lift her head a little, and at that a stream of black liquid ran out of her mouth like vomit.” Read my review here.

Jonathan Ames for BlackBook

2010-10-03T11:21:00.001-07:00

Jonathan Ames Takes Me to the Russian Baths

Before the premiere of the second season of "Bored to Death," Jonathan Ames hosted me on a tour of the Russian baths in the East Village. Following the baths, I attended the premiere, with the cast of BTD.

***

“Yes,” says Jonathan Ames. “Cover yourself up good. Like this.” I look back as he’s putting a towel over his shins. He puts several more over his body, and says, “You can even put one over your head.” He pulls up a brown towel smoothly over his face and drops it. “But then you can’t see the view.”

Tao Lin for BlackBook

2010-10-03T11:01:00.000-07:00

On Stealing, Drugs and his Dad

“Where do your parents live?” I say.
“Taiwan.”
“I thought you were from Florida.”
“I am. They moved because their house was confiscated by the government.”

Rick Moody for BlackBook

2010-08-09T12:02:00.001-07:00

And Dear Dying Alone

"Twitter itself is not terribly compelling."
I interviewed Rick Moody for BlackBook Magazine.
I also really like his new website: hatredofnaturalism.com. In particular the section called "Rick Moody, Life Coach." He gives great advice. My favorite so far is his response "Dear Dying Alone."

MoMA PS1 Warm Up

2010-07-14T08:08:00.000-07:00

Seva Granik

I have a piece up at BlackBook on Seva Granik, who booked MoMA PS1 Warm Up, NY's premiere summer concert series. Granik talks MoMA PS1, Klaus Biesenbach and socializing.

Julian Louie for Gravure

2010-07-06T15:51:00.000-07:00

On Marie Antoinette, Wet-Suits and the Skins of Berlin

I interviewed rising fashion designer Julian Louie for Gravure Magazine. How does an architecture student from Cooper Union--with no training in fashion--get handpicked for a job at Calvin straight out of school?

New This Week

2010-06-15T10:14:00.000-07:00

Webby Awards and Blue-Point Oysters with Emily Gould

I have new piece up at BlackBook on a talk I had recently with Emily Gould at Five Leaves in Greenpoint where we discussed her new memoir, women and agency, and Tumblr, among other things. She also gives a cheat-sheet of her favorite spots in Greenpoint.

I also attended the Webby Awards on Monday night, of which I wrote a short party report. In his introduction, BJ Novak thanked sponsors by placing their logos in composite photographs with those from Selleck Waterfall Sandwich (see image above), which won a Webby for "Weird" new site.

Week in Review

2010-06-11T08:24:00.000-07:00

No End in Sight

This week, the FSG Reading Series returned Tuesday night, with Lydia Davis and David Means. Thursday night, Wells Tower won the Young Lion award at the ceremony at the New York Public Library. Also, this week was Internet Week. Over at the Metropolitan Pavilion the Makerbot was printing plastics and the smallest URL in existence (e.co) was sold at auction.

Continuing this week, and for the foreseeable future, Tao Lin (still!) answers questions posted in the comments section of an interview I did with him that was re-posted last week.

Next week, Webby Awards?

Dear Tao, Are You Happy?

2010-06-09T00:03:00.000-07:00

For One Day Tao Lin Answered Everyone's Questions

In September 2009, I did an interview with Tao Lin that was published on The Rumpus. It was a long interview and Tao answered the questions with great detail and thought. The interview was reposted a couple of days ago on The Rumpus and Tao offered readers a small window of time in which to ask him anything they wanted and he would respond. And he did. Here are some of the questions people asked that I liked in particular, either because they were curious or made assumptions unwittingly. All of Tao's answers are honest. See the site for the answers (except the last one where I show Tao's answer)...

“What was the closest that you’ve ever come to committing suicide? i.e – standing on the edge of a ledge, holding shotty in your mouth with toe on the trigger”

“Do you ever feel like you have noticed a ‘tipping point’ in friendships with other people where their accomplishments originally overshadow yours, and then after time your accomplishments begin to be ‘on par’ with them, and then surpass them?”

“What sexual technique has received the best response from partners?”

“How much do you like radiohead?”

“what is your favorite plant? (those that are generally not used for eating purposes)”

“Are you CARLES?????????”

Tao: carles is carles

Manual for a Productive Everyday Life

2010-05-24T16:38:00.000-07:00

May 24-28 2010

Joanna Neborsky, Questionable Content

Today, my week at Everyday Genius begins. I asked 24 artists/editors/musicians/writers to do simple tasks, write about the execution of the tasks and send me their accounts through the mails. Each day, 4-5 products of the contributors will be exhibited grouped by the task they were asked to do. I'm honored to be asked to curate this week for Everyday Genius, a site that supports great independent writers and strives to present things in new and exciting ways.

The contributors are: Andrew Bulger, Kara Lee Corthron, Jason Diamond, Luca Dipierro, Giancarlo Ditrapano, Thomas Doyle, Monica Ferrell, Simen Johan, Shane Jones, Andrea Kleine, Franziska Lamprecht, Jeff Lewis, Tao Lin, Andre da Loba, Khaela Maricich, Zibuokle Martinaityte, David McLendon, Hajoe Moderegger, Joanna Neborsky, Sasa Stanisic, Justin Taylor, Deb Olin Unferth, Joel Whitney, Leni Zumas

Flavorpill Fix Episode One

2010-05-18T14:06:00.000-07:00

R.I.P. New York Noise

Flavorpill Fix Episode One: Screaming Females, Double Dagger, Future Islands from Flavorpill Vimeo. on

This week, Flavorpill debuts its online video series Flavorpill Fix, a collection of new music videos, live concert footage and exclusive interviews meant to be consumed like a TV episode or mixtape. The first installment includes Screaming Females, Double Dagger, Future Islands, MiniBoone, Hammock and Sabrina Chap. Viewers are encouraged to submit their band's videos for the next episode.

Parasol Lady with Gargoyle

2010-05-15T10:20:00.000-07:00

Moby Awards

The finalists for the 2010 Moby Awards for Book Trailers have been announced. This one for Gail Carriger's Blameless is great though it makes me want to see the movie that doesn't exist. This is maybe a problem with book trailers you think are great though you'll never get around to reading the book on which they're inspired, eg. Blameless, since you've already got a backlog of books to read and it kind of falls out of the ambit of your interest anyway. I don't know, I'm kind of interested in this parasol lady with gargoyle. (I just read, she gets attacked by homicidal mechanical ladybugs). Maybe I will read this book.

Gigantic Online May 2010

2010-05-09T22:28:00.000-07:00

For Your Monthly Amusement

The May Issue of Gigantic online went up this morning. Included in the issue is a titillating talk between Gibby Haynes of The Butthole Surfers and Joe Wenderoth, the Seizure State editor. We have fiction from Mike Young, Erik Morsink and M. Callen, and a new installment of Until I Find It, the serialized illustrated book by Leni Zumas and Luca Dipierro. You can see an article on Dipierro here, which shows him at work in his studio. Enjoy!

New York Gallery Week

2010-05-08T12:15:00.000-07:00

OPEN SUNDAY
Of the exhibitions I went to for New York Gallery Week--actually just a weekend--here are some that I enjoyed in particular. This weekend galleries are open on Sundays and offer talks, guided tours and free buffet lunch with an auction preview with artwork by David Byrne and Elizabeth Peyton.

CHELSEA GALLERIES
AT DAVID ZWIRNER

(Mamma Andersson, About a Girl, 2005)

(Jockum Nordstrom, Meaningless Strength, 2009)

AT SIKKEMA JENKINS & CO.

(Amy Sillman, The Plumbing, 2006)

AT MATTHEW MARKS

(Darren Almond, From Sometimes Still, a six-channel high definition video projection)

AT PACE GALLERY

Joel Shapiro

While Pace Gallery isn't part of NYGW, the Kiki Smith exhibition, LODESTAR, is definitely worth a visit. In her first major New York gallery exhibition in eight years, she presents stained-glass panels of mouth-blown glass, depicting a woman’s life in cycles. I could not find pictures of this exhibit. More incentive to go to the exhibit!

Also, while you're in Chelsea why not walk over to the High Line for a stroll, and check out Richard Galpin's installation Viewing Station, and the installment by Spencer Finch that will close in June after its yearlong run.

(Galpin's rendering of Viewing Station.

SOHO GALLERIES
In Soho, here are a couple of interesting exhibitions to check out. And the galleries are right across the street from each other.

AT DEITCH PROJECTS

Shepard Fairey

AT THE DRAWING CENTER

(Leon Golub, Hell's Fire Awaits You, 2003)

Gigantic Online April 2010

2010-04-01T21:21:00.000-07:00

Girls, Caskets and Fish Fights

Gigantic online posted its latest offerings today, April 1--no joke. The online April "Issue" presents an interview with Sam Lipsyte, the first installment of a serialized illustrated book written by Leni Zumas and illustrated by Luca Dipierro (both have fiction in the current print issue of Gigantic), and a collection of biographies of famous Americans which develops an idea initiated in the print issue and which are illustrated online by John Dermot Woods.

The Rumpus Jump-Off Contest

2010-03-30T18:19:00.000-07:00

In honor of one of the featured writers at the Rumpus's NYC event on April 6 (see below), The Rumpus is holding a short fiction contest that will give winners a chance to read on stage along with Sam Lipsyte.

The one hitch is that writers need to use a sentence from Lipsyte's latest novel, The Ask, as a jump off point for their pieces and keep their verbal acrobatics to 300 words or less. No fee and no limit to the amount of entries you can submit.

The deadline is April 5 at 12:00 noon.

For more details, go here.

A Night Together - April 6

2010-03-22T22:57:00.000-07:00

The Rumpus, Tinhouse and Flavorpill Present

Featuring Authors: Sam Lipsyte, Colson Whitehead, and Lorelei Lee

This American Life's Starlee Kine

Comedians Michael Showalter and Dave Hill

and music by Jeffrey Lewis and Alina Simone

Doors 6pm, Show at 8pm

April 6 at the Highline Ballroom
$10 advance, $12 at the door
Tickets:
http://www.ticketweb.com/t3/sale/SaleEventDetail?dispatch=loadSelectionData&eventId=1298515

Resident Bohemians

2010-03-05T09:58:00.001-08:00

Life at the Hotel Chelsea

This week at the Rumpus, in celebration of Armory week and the various art fairs and exhibits going on around New York City, we're featuring a series on the storied artists, writers and filmmakers who lived there for a time. Edie Sedgwick, Tom Waits, Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen were up this week. Next week will be a new line-up including current resident bohemians.

Ceci n'est pas une fete

2010-03-01T18:56:00.000-08:00

Gigantic Launch Party

2/27/2010
Full album
Nice write-up at Scallywag & Vagabond

Photo by Annabel Braithwaite

GIGANTIC ISSUE 2

2010-02-25T13:51:00.000-08:00

Gigantic America

This week marks the release of Gigantic Issue 2: Gigantic America. We're already in bookstores like McNally Jackson, Spoonbill and St. Mark's (New York), Prairie Lights (Iowa City), Shakespeare & Co. (Paris), Domy (Austin, Houston), Brookline Booksmith (Mass.), Powell's Burnside (Portland), Quimby's (Chicago) and many more.

We'll be celebrating this weekend with a launch party at PPOW Gallery with readings, performance art, cool hard-to-find merch from our contributors and cheap drinks.

Where: PPOW Gallery 511 W. 25th St. (bet. 10th & 11th Aves.), #301
When: 6:30 - 11:00pm
FREE

Flyer designed by Skyler Balbus

Literary Fashionables

2010-02-17T14:03:00.001-08:00

On Style and Letters

In homage to Fashion Week in New York, this week at the Rumpus, we're devoting a post each day on the blog to celebrating two beloved writers who also demonstrated exquisite personal style and decorum. Thus far, we've got Samuel Beckett and Gertrude Stein, Susan Sontag and George Plimpton, William Burroughs and Joan Didion.

New Work from Gigantic Online

2010-01-27T22:47:00.001-08:00

Stanisic, Willerton and Hurley

Gigantic has just published some great new work online: short fiction by Saša (Sasha) Stanišić and Brian Hurley, and new installments of Paul Willerton's Little Big Planet series based on Matthew Barney's Cremaster Cycle, including an exclusive preview of his latest interpretation of Cremaster 3 replete with freemasons, car smash-ups, and the Chrysler building.

We're thrilled to have new short fiction from Stanišić, whose novel How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone (Grove/Atlantic May 2009)--about a boy who endures the war in Bosnia through the solace of language and stories--was the first debut novel to be short-listed for Germany's top literary prize when it was published there.

Listen to Stanišić discuss his novel.

The Rumpus and GIANT

2010-01-22T22:45:00.000-08:00

At Broadway East

ONE YEAR LATER, the Rumpus Anniversary Party co-presented by the Rumpus and HTMLGIANT was a success. Caitlin Colford of Scallywag and Vagabond did a fantastic write-up of the event with some great photos by Shoko Takayasu.

TONIGHT, JANUARY 21

2010-01-12T22:12:00.000-08:00

THE RUMPUS and HTMLGIANT present

ONE YEAR LATER

A celebration of the first anniversary of The Rumpus

A MULTI-MEDIA PRESENTATION

Readings by RIVKA GALCHEN, author of Atmospheric Disturbances, TAO LIN, author of Shoplifting from American Apparel, DEB OLIN UNFERTH, author of Vacation, JUSTIN TAYLOR, author of Everything Here is the Best Thing Ever, STEPHEN ELLIOTT, The Rumpus’s own editor and author of The Adderall Diaries.

Music by ALINA SIMONE, JEFFREY LEWIS and DIANE LOUVEL, DJ: LINCOLN MICHEL, Special Guest DJ: KHAELA MARICICH of THE BLOW, And video art installation by MONOFONUS PRESS curated by JILL PANGALLO

JANUARY 21, 2010

171 East Broadway BROADWAY EAST (nr. Rutgers)

View Map. Kitchen will be open with a light menu of snacks.

7:00pm – 10:00pm, show starts promptly at 7:30

Advance tickets available here.

***

Original animation for event invite © André da Loba.

Favorite Things

2009-12-29T12:47:00.000-08:00

Photographer Matthu Placek

Photograph by Matthu Placek.

The Whitney Biennial

2009-12-28T13:03:00.001-08:00

A Preview

The Whitney Biennial will be coming to New York on 2/25/10. Here's a sneak peak of some of the artwork that will be on view, including the photographs by Tam Tram, who is--at 23--the youngest artist in the show.

Photograph: "Battle Cry" by Tam Tran

2009-12-25T10:46:00.000-08:00

Some Recent News

I'm fortunate to have had a couple of new pieces published in the December issue of Everyday Genius, the web journal presented by Publishing Genius Press, alongside some great writers Amelia Gray, Mike Young, Jac Jemc, J.A. Tyler, Mathias Svalina and others. For more on PGP, see the interview I did with PGP's Adam Robinson about Shane Jones for The Faster Times.

Wall Street

2009-12-17T12:09:00.000-08:00

The Rumpus, Faster Times and Gigantic Holiday Party

Bonuses are Back

2009-12-12T14:16:00.000-08:00

The Faster Times, The Rumpus and Gigantic Holiday Party

As creative types, we tend to miss out on big corporate holiday blowouts complete with drunken co-workers embarrassingly making out beneath mistletoe. Those of us who work from home rarely even see other people, or wear "clothing."

So this year, let's don our Wall St.-inspired Holiday Best and get down like Bernie Madoff has yet to steal everyone's money.

Join us in celebrating another fun, if fiscally irresponsible year!

The Faster Times, The Rumpus, and Gigantic Present:

The 2009 Wall Street Holiday Party

Monday, December 14, 2009

7:00pm - 10:00pm

Glasslands, 289 Kent Ave (between 1st and Grand) Brooklyn

The Legacy of Wally Hunt

2009-11-28T11:57:00.000-08:00

ABC3D

Waldo "Wally" Hunt, the pop-up book artist who is responsible for the pop-up art renaissance of which Andy Warhol, Maurice Sendak, and Jie Qi of MIT's Media Lab are a part, died this month. In homage to Hunt, here is a video of a pop-up book of the alphabet, ABC3D, by Marion Bataille.

Subjective Account

2009-11-25T09:51:00.001-08:00

Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach at NYPL LIVE

I recently attended a talk with Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach at the New York Public Library, and a post-talk cocktail party. My Subjective Account of the evening, Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach Sit in Chairs, is up on The Rumpus. Andre da Loba created the incredible illustrations for the piece.

Goings on About the Rump

2009-11-23T16:05:00.000-08:00

Wu Ming

Notable New York is up on the Rumpus. Some things to look out for are Justin Taylor's reading with the Italian lit collective Wu Ming, Paul Banks (about whom I wrote a Subjective Account) performing, the Tim Burton exhibit, and films by Ingmar Bergman at BAM. (It was initially posted that Julian Casablancas would be performing with Paul Banks, but he will not be performing--Only Paul Banks. Sorry for the confusion).

Also, a very interesting read is Catherine Lacey's post on HTML Giant about Zadie Smith's essay about novelists writing essays: No Easy Cure for Novel Nausea.

The Rumpus and Tin House Present

2009-11-17T10:10:00.000-08:00

Fun Fun Fun

Tonight at the Highline Ballroom, The Rumpus and Tin House present More Than You Expected, a variety show including readings by Rick Moody, Starlee Kine, Jonathan Ames, and David Rees, comedy by Todd Barry and Eugene Mirman, and musical guests Care Bears on Fire. Come out!

Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach Backstage

2009-11-12T12:46:00.000-08:00

Video aT NYPL

Before the NYPL Live event last Monday, Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach were videoed as they walked in rooms of the New York Public Library. They looked at maps, pointed at maps and talked to each other about Roald Dahl, pornographic poems and things I sometimes couldn't hear.

Corduroy Appreciation Day

2009-11-11T10:25:00.000-08:00

A Fantastic Fabric for Fops and Fly Girls

Today, 11/11, is Corduroy Appreciation Day. In honor of this wonderfully textured fabric, the Corduroy Appreciation Club is holding a Grand Meeting at the Old American Can Factory with keynote speaker author Sloane Crosley.

I'm not sure whether corduroy connoisseur Wes Anderson, will be in attendance. But he and fellow filmmaker Noah Baumbach were in conversation at the New York Public Library on Monday, 11/09, an event for which I'll be posting a Subjective Account at the Rumpus. The filmmakers showed clips from their upcoming film, Fantastic Mr. Fox, an adaptation of the Roald Dahl classic children's book, a film which contains some idiosyncratic elements in true Wes Anderson style, such as the faux character Kristofferson made of real fur, and Mr. Fox in a bespoke corduroy suit.

Week in Advance

2009-11-09T12:01:00.000-08:00

Wes Anderson, Ben Marcus and n+1

Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach will be in conversation tonight at NYPL, there's a Harper's Magazine reading on Wednesday with Ben Marcus and Rivka Galchen, and the Internet as Playground and Factory conference with n+1 magazine begins Thursday. Check these and other events at Notable New York at the Rumpus.

Also, keep your calendars open on November 17. The Rumpus is throwing a party at the Highline Ballroom--MORE THAN YOU EXPECTED--with readings by Starlee Kine, Jonathan Ames and Rick Moody, comedy by Todd Barry and Eugene Mirman, and musical guests Care Bears on Fire.

Gore Vidal

2009-11-07T22:43:00.001-08:00

Snap Shots of the Spiffing

Gore Vidal: Snapshots in History's Glare, Gore Vidal's third memoir, and the latest project of my dear friend Kevin Kwan, got a great review in Vogue. The memoir collects photographs, letters and manuscripts from Gore Vidal's personal archives, telling of his time in politics, the film industry, and cafe society at large.

Photo of Gore Vidal with Anais Nin.

Interview with Kristina Born

2009-11-05T22:16:00.000-08:00

And An Account of the CLMP Spelling Bee

At the Indie Books column at The Faster Times, there's an interview with a young word wrangling author Kristina Born by author Christopher Higgs who edits an incredibly cool site: Bright Stupid Confetti. Born's work is being published by YEAR OF THE LIQUIDATOR, a new press by Shane Jones and Blake Butler.

You can also view my piece on the CLMP Spelling Bee, where James Frey, Francine Prose, Michael Musto and Alex Kuczynski dazzled, got stumped, and mispelled some easy words, proving that it still makes me feel badly when big-name writers can't spell any better than non-reading humans. But all in "good fun." To be fair, many of the words "walked out" on were tough, which, I guess, is the point.

Original illustration by Andre da Loba.

Looking Ahead to Lust Weekend

2009-11-03T21:46:00.000-08:00

Everyone I Have Ever Slept With

As part of Lust Weekend at the Performa 09 Festival in New York, Tracey Emin will be reading from her collection of poems, Those Who Suffer Love, and her autobiography, Strangeland. One of the YBAs (Young British Artists) who was part of Charles Saatchi's Sensation exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum of Art that caused a fooferaw here in New York, she is not surprisingly known for her "sensational" artwork such as the tent above and My Bed, an installation of her own dirty and unmade bed that consisted of detritus such as body secretions, condoms and other junk that collected around her bed when she stayed in it for a while while having feelings of suicidal depression. At first I thought she was one of those artists that wants to shock you for the sake of shocking you. But then I heard her speak, and I think the ideas behind her work are sound and compelling. Listen for yourself here:

For more news about Performa 09, or other notable happenings around new york, check out my listings, Notable New York, at the Rumpus.

Lawrence Welk Redux

2009-10-31T16:25:00.000-07:00

Mr. Ghost Goes to Town

Today I watched this video (an experimental remake of part of one Lawrence Welk show) one too many times. I'm into to Lawrence Welk lately and his Alsace-Lorraine-via-North-Dakota-with-a-touch-of-Russian accent. He and his "champagne music," make me happy in an eerie detached way. This video has a kind of great moment at 00:49-1:11.

Gigantic's Mini-Monster Issue

2009-10-30T01:22:00.000-07:00

Weird People in Masks

The Gigantic Mini-Monster Issue is live. Featured are an interview of Brian Evenson, fiction by Carmen Lau and Sasha Fletcher and two videos by Michael Nason & Brian Wilmont, and Max Juren & Jill Pangallo courtesy of Monofonus. The Gigantic Mini-Monster Issue has been written about by L Magazine.

Video still from video by Michael Nason and Brian Wilmont.

Feast of Freaks

2009-10-29T12:47:00.000-07:00

Performa 09 Gala Dinner

Jennifer Rubell is throwing a gala dinner Friday night for the opening of Performa 09, a festival of performance art that starts Sunday. Some things at this dinner include giant chocolate covered rabbits, apple trees and honey dripping from the ceiling onto ribs. Here are some things Jennifer Rubell said about getting the meal ready--she is the niece of Steve Rubell, who owned Studio 54 where Andy Warhol went a lot:

"I’ll go over there and he and I are going to lie the bunnies in the back of his minivan and put a duvet on top of them and bring them over to the X Initiative space. We’re going to stand them up, surround them with newspaper and then Jacques is going to spray a final coat of chocolate directly on to them."

"Mr. Wickham from Cutchogue, Long Island, is now going to drive the trees in in two trucks on Thursday. He has this new plan to dig them up by the roots and then with a chainsaw cut the roots off with a chainsaw once he arrives, which I think is so great."

"The next hurdle is going to be setting up the ribs under the honey trap—and getting dressed."

More Goings On

2009-10-28T15:20:00.000-07:00

Subjective Account

At the Rumpus, I published a subjective account of the n+1 launch party at PPOW that has this blowaway illustration by Andre da Loba.

Goings on About the Rump

2009-10-26T22:27:00.000-07:00

James Franco's Face and Benefit Party w Care Bears on Fire

At the Rumpus, my write-up on the New Yorker Festival has been linked to by a few places like PW Morning Report, Tao Lin's blog and Vol. 1 Brooklyn, which liked my title, "James Franco's Face."

Also, save the date, the Rumpus and Tin House are having a benefit party on November 17th 2009 that's going to be a blast.

MORE THAN YOU EXPECTED, A NIGHT AT THE HIGHLINE

Rick Moody, author of Right Livelihoods, Jonathan Ames, author of The Double Life Is Twice As Good, This American Life's Starlee Kine, David Rees, author of Get Your War On, comedians Todd Barry and Eugene Mirman, HBO Def Poetry Jam star Vanessa Hidary, the Six Word Memoirists and music by kid core phenomenon Care Bears On Fire

DOORS 6:00PM, SHOW 7:00PM @THE HIGHLINE BALLROOM, 431 W. 16TH STREET

Showpage: www.highlineballroom.com/bio.php?id=1183

$10, Cheap!

Photo of Care Bears on Fire by Phil Knott

Introducing Tarko

2009-10-25T11:24:00.000-07:00

Magician David Blaine as Tarko

Tarko teleports guy on sidewalk to Japan then talks about changing races of the human race, or something...

New Yorker Fest, Goodbye

2009-10-18T13:55:00.000-07:00

What James Franco, Neko Case and Malcolm Gladwell Had in Common

Two of my favorite events at the New Yorker Festival, which took place this weekend, were Neko Case (she performed "That Teenage Feeling" among other songs, and talked about being a "cougar") and Malcolm Gladwell who told a story about a couple of WASP anthropologists who got drunk, ritualistically, in Bolivia in the fifties, and NOT Michael Vick, as he said he would. James Franco, who spoke very slowly, was asked what it felt like to be a stoner icon. He also talked about the art project he's involved with, Erased James Franco. And his audience wore much less clothing than any other audience of the six total events I had been to. George Saunders said "Pas de Chat" 73 times, Gary Shteyngart said he was bribed with cheese in Leningrad and Jonathan Franzen was asked a "personal" question by a young woman currently attending his alma mater, Swarthmore. I'll be posting something about all of the events I saw for The Rumpus later this week.

Amarillo by Morning - Spike Jonze

2009-10-13T10:38:00.000-07:00

Amarillo By Morning - George Strait live at the Houston Rodeo

This is one of my favorite documentaries. Spike Jonze was in Houston filming a commercial for Pepsi, Adidas or Wrangler or something and met some of these young "bull-riders" and made a short film about them.

Bourgeois Gone Bad and Skate Videos

2009-10-09T22:20:00.000-07:00

Jockum and Oeuvre

I like Jockum Nordstrom because he "seems to...delight in depictions of bourgeois life gone strangely if not savagely wrong," and I think my favorite depictions are depictions of bourgeois life gone strangely if not savagely wrong.

I saw illustrations by Jockum Nordstrom at the MOMA today. Tomorrow, it's music videos, commercials and other "award winning" parts of the Spike Jonze "oeuvre."

Spike Jonze in NY and Monofonus in Marfa

2009-10-08T10:04:00.000-07:00

Spike Jonze is in New York this week, and in conjunction with the release next Friday, Oct. 16, of his latest feature, Where the Wild Things Are, there're a lot of things happening in New York, including a retrospective of his work at the MOMA. To check out a full schedule, see my short piece here.

Also, this weekend, Monofonus, the record label and multimedia organization, heads to Marfa to debut its Video Series. You can read a short piece about it with some video excerpts on The Rumpus. Here's a clip "Confederate Fruit: Rebel Song," from one of its featured artists, Michael Nason.

Confederate Fruit: Rebel Song from Michael Nason on Vimeo.

Spike Jonze Week

2009-10-07T19:02:00.000-07:00

Exclusive Where the Wild Things Are Short Film

The Vampire Attack from We Love You So on Vimeo.

Where the Wild Things Are - IN THEATERS EVERYWHERE October 16, 2009

Simulated Sex Acts on Stage

2009-10-06T22:56:00.001-07:00

Happy Looking People Actually Angry

"Theater today, not all of it, is in your face," I said. "I'm not allowed to reach out to it."

"People are angry," said Syd. "It's related to that. Just take a look at this table. The shapes on it. Look at all these squares, triangles and circles. Fran. What would you call this dish?" Syd looked at his smoked salmon. The table was cluttered.

"I'd say it's Baroque," said Fran passing a glass of water. "Who needs all this water?"

"Fish-shaped," said Syd with an index finger at either end. He observed the dish like a math problem. "This dish is shaped like a fish."

Aside:
I like a good musical. Umbrellas of Cherbourg, and The American Ruling Class being two. Simulated sex acts on stage, when viewed while sitting next to my parents, make me wonder how they are processing these acts on stage--whether their thoughts are: in words that relate in a figurative way to what is on stage; in blank non-sexual non-conscious space equivalent to the space your mind is in when your eyes cross; or in some related but non-constructive analytical distance imposed to defend against unwilling recourse into prurient mental territory, "I wonder if I'll have the twenty-layer crepe cake or the creme brulee. If the crepe cake comes with blueberries, I'll have to order something else, or I can order the crepe cake with strawberries, unless the strawberries have at some point been frozen..."

Lipsynch and Mud Luscious

2009-10-05T22:02:00.000-07:00

Two Views on Voice

On Saturday at BAM, saw Lipsynch--a production by Robert Lepage that's a kind of a hybrid performance: film, live music, theater, mixed media. It was nine hours well spent, except for the dinner part, where I had to find a place to eat, eat, and get back in 45 minutes. My review is up on The Rumpus.

I also recently had the opportunity to interview J.A. Tyler, the author and publisher of Mud Luscious Press, which is issuing an anthology of its mini-chapbooks in January 2010. You can read the interview here, and read excerpts from some of the recently published works, by Molly Gaudry, Ryan Call and Elizabeth Ellen here.

Kmart, Tao Lin...

2009-09-29T19:28:00.000-07:00

...And Tree-Swinging Sasquatches

I was happy to be able interview Tao Lin for The Rumpus, an interview that went up today. Tao Lin is very astute, thoughtful and incredibly specific with respect to topics such as how certain writers affected his work, why the issue of whether or not people think his work is "weighty" doesn't concern him anymore, and about the term 'Kmart realism," and everything it implies about the writers who are grouped under it and the act of grouping writers, in general. He also gives a convincing argument for why his work should not be considered nihilistic and talks a little about nostalgie de la boue.

For a solid primer on "Kmart realism," as per Tao, which charts the time-line of the rise and fall of the literary style alongside that of the rise and fall of the corporation, check out his blog post from 2005: kmart, kmart realism; the rise, struggle, decline of.

A quote I like from the interview:

An unmediated experience of reality seems desirable to me sometimes. None of these reasons, in my view, have anything to do with “numbness,” “ennui,” “apathy,” “condemning my generation,” “saying [anything] about my generation,” “saying [anything] about society,” “saying [anything] about the state of the world,” or “saying [anything] about technology’s effect on people.”

Shane Jones's "The Failure Six"

2009-09-29T09:34:00.000-07:00

"Antun thought about the dignity that owls possess"

Shane Jones's upcoming novel, The Failure Six, being released by Fugue State Press is available for pre-order. And if you pre-order, you get a complimentary e-chapbook of DELETED SCENES FROM INSIDE THE HOUSE.

Here's an excerpt from The Failure Six:

Antun struck a match and read from the pamphlet.

His hands trembled.

He felt the air, with its swirling scents of turpentine, beeswax, and smoke, being sucked from his throat.

One of the cats began playing a guitar. Another opened a book by Lewis Carroll and the spinning face of color sighed, causing a large cloud of white smoke to puff out and float up to the ceiling.

Antun thought about the dignity that owls possess.

He lit another match and read the first section of the pamphlet before the tiny flame went out. In his mind what he read aloud sounded like:

Your name is Foe. You are a seamstress who earns a decent living through your ways with linen and silk. Your mother died in an automobile accident in the countryside when you were twelve and your father lost a duel to a man with a green mustache. Your father was drunk during this duel. He would have won. You cried a lot. There was no one to comfort you so you began your lonely apprenticeship in sewing.

The girl didn’t move. Her head was cocked to the side and for a moment Antun thought she was dead. Then she yawned and wiped some blood from her exposed legs and onto some papers.

Partial List for Messengers

# Do only as instructed by given cover note.
# Emotional interaction with recipient is frowned upon.
# Once message is delivered leave the household.
# Appear stoic.
# Dress appropriately for the delivering of bad news.
# Almost all messages will be passed by written note.
# In rare cases, the messenger will be required to become orator.
# The hunting of animals is encouraged.
# A messenger must possess an excellent memory.
# Payment will come in the form of gold doubloons placed upon your pillow.

Illustration by Morgan Blair

With Drew in Toronto

2009-09-27T14:34:00.000-07:00

"Skate Babes in Fishnets"

Filmmaker Michael Almereyda spent time with Drew Barrymore to talk about her upcoming film about roller derby Whip It, and then went to its premiere at the Toronto Film Festival. For his piece in the New York Times, Stepping Into the Skates of the Director, Almereyda gets behind Drew's "fear-based" journal, Andrew Wilson as good luck charm, and christening Ellen Page with the derby name Small Newman. Also, Drew and Ellen kissed.

Good Smashing

2009-09-24T23:40:00.001-07:00

Saws, Scissors and Snowglobes

In the film I Will Smash You, people smash objects of personal value, in an attempt to rid their lives of "personal demons." A young girl smashes and burns her teacher in effigy, a woman smashes her Ford Escort with a crow bar, sledgehammer and pliers to get rid of an Estonian woman's bad luck, and Adam Robinson smashes a song, in his mind. These and seventeen other smashings make up the startling documentary by writers and filmmakers Michael Kimball and Luca Dipierro. While I had the privlege of watching it in a Chelsea gallery, the film is making the rounds via private screenings, one of which can be arranged for you. Watch the trailer here. And keep an eye out for their film 60 Writers/60 Places, which stars Blake Butler, James Yeh, Kim Chinquee and Tao Lin's monotone voice.

Thomas Bernhard

2009-09-23T17:07:00.000-07:00

Now He's Irritable, Now He's Not

If you like Thomas Bernhard, you will most likely like this interview with the Austrian writer at his most irritable, "Thomas Bernhard for Life," that Christopher Higgs at HTML Giant found in June.

In the video above, Thomas Bernhard seems not as irritable as he does in his books and interviews, but maybe that's because he's in Mallorca and he's trying to be different from the Mallorcans, who are very irritable. I can't say for sure, because I don't understand what he's saying.

Ken Sparling

2009-09-22T22:14:00.000-07:00

"One time I came into work at Fairview...and my desk was gone."

A friend recently notified me of a great interview with Ken Sparling up on The Chapbook Review. Ken Sparling talks about working with Gordon Lish when he was at Knopf (“You’re just spinning your wheels, Sparling”), being published by J.A. Tyler's Mud Luscious Press, and working as a librarian (As soon as you make a space truly public, you’re going to get a mess of stuff happening there.)

Papercut illustration by Julien Langendorff

Clancy Martin and New York

2009-09-21T20:25:00.000-07:00

"Yellow. Just bring in Yellow."

There is a crazy in-depth and very insightful and engaging interview of Clancy Martin up today on Gigantic Web by Lincoln Michel. Lincoln Michel goes head to head with Clancy Martin on Nietzsche, Nirvana and the color of despair.

Also, I'll be posting a weekly column on The Rumpus listing cultural events going on each week. This week, it's Rasskazy, Harmony and Me, and I WILL SMASH YOU.

Illustration by Gigantic House-Illustator Andrew Bulger

Brooklyn Book Festival

2009-09-20T20:32:00.000-07:00

The Future of Fiction, Real Surreal and the Myth of Upward Mobility

I've got a piece up on The Rumpus on my day at the Brooklyn Book Festival, covering readings by Tao Lin and Ben Marcus, talks by Lewis Lapham and Heidi Julavits and silent sightings of Thurston Moore.

Guys v. Men

2009-09-20T15:38:00.000-07:00

This Made Me Laugh

This piece by Cathleen Calbert, called "Forget the Men. Pick a Guy." in the New York Times Sunday Styles section is well-written and made me laugh. It was also moving but in a straightforward rather than emotional way.

Here is a part I liked:

My father said if we interrupted his Saturday nap, we'd have to sit at the end of his bed in silence until he slept and woke again. He only made me do it once; at 7 years old, I thought this punishment the height of perversion.

Illustration by Christopher Silas Neal

The New Yorker Festival

2009-09-19T17:25:00.000-07:00

10/16-10/18

The New Yorker Festival is fast approaching, and tickets are on sale now. As always, the festival, which runs from October 16-18, promises to bring together the most interesting minds in literature and the arts including Jonathan Franzen, A.M. Homes, Gary Shteyngart, Tilda Swinton, Malcolm Gladwell and many others. Here are some events you don't want to miss:

Friday, October 16 (Fiction Night):

David Bezmogis and Jonathan Franzen; Edwidge Danticat and Junot Diaz; T.C. Boyle and Mary Gaitskill; George Saunders and Gary Shteyngart.

Saturday, October 17:

James Franco talks with Lauren Collins; Malcolm Gladwell on Michael Vick; Jason Schwartzman talks with Richard Brody; a screening of Jean Luc Godard's King Lear; Tilda Swinton talks with Hilton Als.

Sunday, October 18:

Heroes and Antiheroes with Donald Antrim, A.M. Homes, George Saunders, and Gary Shteyngart; An outing to the studio of Chuck Close; and an outing with puppeteer Basil Twist.

Tickets are going fast. For a full event schedule and to purchase tickets, visit the site here.

Dogfighting

2009-09-19T14:57:00.001-07:00

Well Kept Secrets

You can get a longer sentence for selling videotapes of dogfighting than Michael Vick got for running a dogfighting ring. At least according to a case before the Supreme Court on appeal, which I learned in a piece on dogfighting on The Rumpus.

"The Curious Case of Michael Vick" is a talk that Malcolm Gladwell will be giving at the tenth annual New Yorker Festival.

Dogfighting is a felony in all but two states.

Whit Stillman

2009-09-17T22:25:00.000-07:00

with cocktails at Petrossian afterwards

Adam Wilson has a great interview with Whit Stillman, covering Criterion's release of The Last Days of Disco, ousting cynicism, and the coining of the term (UHB) Urban Haute Bourgoisie.

Photo by Terry Rozo courtesy of Bombsite

Depression, Kombucha and The Neutral Facial Expression

2009-09-17T13:09:00.000-07:00

Who's responsible for your stealing?

My review of Tao Lin's new novella, Shoplifting From American Apparel is up on The Faster Times. There's also a great GIANT g-chat review between Justin Taylor and Drew Toal. The commentary is pretty hilarious.

Photo: Courtesy of Tao Lin

Ames SS10

2009-09-15T18:31:00.000-07:00

the show

The Coveted has some great photographs, including back stage (such as the above), of the Matthew Ames SS10 show at Milk Studios. You can also see a complete gallery of images from the show as well as a review at Style.com.

And, if you haven't already seen it, The Atlantic Monthly did a nice write-up of Matthew Ames in June 2009, further establishing Ames's reputation as an idea-driven designer, one whose broad vision makes him not only a haberdasher, but an interdisciplinary figure who can be appreciated by all thinking people.

Matthew Ames

2009-09-14T18:26:00.000-07:00

SS 2010

Pictured Above: Images of Matthew Ames's Spring/Summer
2009 collection courtesy of Matthew Ames

Tomorrow: Matthew Ames SS10 fashion show.

I had the great opportunity to interview Matthew Ames for the upcoming November issue of Gravure Magazine. One of the most talked-about designers working today, and a recent winner of the Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation Award, Matthew is cerebral, eloquent and charming. His clothes are minimal and formally pure--trimmed of fastenings and needless closures. If Gordon Lish designed clothes, they might look like this.

Gigantic

2009-09-13T20:00:00.000-07:00

It's Live

www.thegiganticmag.com

Not Real Surreal

2009-09-13T14:19:00.000-07:00

12:00pm

It wasn't until I saw Thurston Moore and thought, There's Thurston Moore that I realized I was not in Real Surreal.

Brooklyn Book Festival

2009-09-12T14:33:00.001-07:00

Where I'll Be

Heading to the 2009 Brooklyn Book Festival tomorrow to see readings by Ben Marcus, Sarah Manguso, Tao Lin, Lewis Lapham, and Heidi Julavits and panel discussions on DFW, rappers and upward mobility. It's free and going to be good. A lot will be happening. In several venues. But I'll be going here:

10:00am - The Legacies of John Updike and David Foster Wallace - a panel of distinguished critics discuss their work. (Borough Hall Courtroom)

11:00am - The Future of Literary Fiction - Keith Gessen and T. Cooper will discuss, among other things, how digitization impacts the creative process. (Borough Hall Community Room)

12:00pm - Real Surreal - Definitely don't want to miss Tao Lin and Ben Marcus reading from their latest work. Any rubric that brings together writers of dirty realism and experimental prose is one worthy of note. (St. Francis College Reading Room)

Alternate 12:00pm - Poetry Pop and Hip-Hop - A panel including Thurston Moore (of Sonic Youth) and Matthew Zapruder will discuss how poets, songwriters and rappers push language in new and good ways. (St. Francis Auditorium)

1:00pm - Editor as Author - Discipline and Freedom - Heidi Julavits and Hannah Tinti, who tower as both editors and authors, couldn't be more suited to discuss the roles that editors play in the lives of writers. (St. Francis College Reading Room)

Alternate 1:00pm - Rasskazy: New Fiction from a New Russia - Emily Gould (formerly of Gawker) will interview Rasskazy contributor Dmitry Danilov. Dale Peck and Francine Prose read. (International Stage)

2:00pm - Movin' On Up - Don't miss Lewis Lapham, storied editor of Lapham's Quarterly, discussing the myth and reality of upward mobility. (Borough Hall Community Room)

Alternate 2:00pm - Life Stories - Sarah Manguso and Philip Lopate are among the authors who will be discussing bad breaks and tough choices in writing memoir. (Brooklyn Historical Society)

3:00pm - Literary Masters - Three highly-revered authors read: Paul Auster, Russell Banks and Francine Prose (St. Francis Auditorium)

4:00pm - Faith and Fiction - Chris Adrian, Rene Steinke and Benjamin Anastas discuss reconciling religion and the ambiguities of character. (St. Francis College Reading Room)

5:00pm - Happy Ending Reading Series - End your jaunt with some risk-taking writers and comedians Jonathan Ames and David Cross with music by Jonathan Coulton (Main Stage)

Good News

2009-09-12T01:03:00.000-07:00

For Good People

Sasha Fletcher's collection Everything Here is OK, was a finalist in the open poetry reading by Octopus Books, the press started by Zachary Schomburg and Mathias Svalina. And this on the heels of recent news that Sasha's novella is being put out by mud luscious press.

Joanna Neborsky, the talented illustrator who of late has been working tirelessly to complete Gigantic's website (for which we're so grateful!) just got news that her collection of illustrations inspired by Félix Fénéon's Novels in Three Lines (see above) will be published by Mark Batty Publisher in June 2010. Joanna's elegant and whimsical illustrations can also be found in Some Assembly Required, an essay in images of her experiences connecting with New Yorks hypnotists, Darwinists and toy collectors on meetup.com. And some of the Fénéon illustrations can be previewed in Gigantic's debut issue.

Congrats Sasha and Joanna!

Illustration by Joanna Neborsky

Postcards of People I Don't Know VIII

2009-09-09T21:34:00.000-07:00

Glass

He talked. He paused like he was looking for a word. I talked. He looked at me. I stopped talking and he talked again. I talked over him and finished his sentence the way I thought it would be finished. He stopped talking. As I talked, I lifted my hand. I laughed. He gave me a serious look. He talked. I talked. We talked over each other for some time in a casual way. We both seemed tired and stopped. I looked at the table. I poured a glass of fizzy water. The bubbles were so loud that we looked at the glass at exactly the same time and looked away as if reminded that looking at glass was blinding.