A Thimble Full of Corn Oil

The Twenty-Something Diet

2009-02-03T21:02:00.002-05:00

A few friends and I are currently on a steady diet of rice and beans. It's getting to the point where it's laughable what we're trying to do with it. Ever shred pecorino romano over jasmine rice and black beans? I certainly don't recommend it.

I've been paying special attention to my roommate's edition of The Joy of Cooking, free publications like Edible Brooklyn, and Zora O'Neil's blog Roving Gastronome for ideas. Not to mention the local Coop's foodstuffs.

If anyone knows of some other resources for cheap cooking in hard times, send them along to john at thimblezine dot com. I'll compile and share with the rest of you sad, sad children.

Also, if you'd like to make a donation so I may afford a copy of the Veganomicon, feel free to get in touch. I'm thinking benefit concert?

I think my brain hurts, but I like it. Devin Flynn's "Y'all So Stupid."

2009-01-26T17:32:00.001-05:00

1st Drag Queen/Church Lady

2009-01-20T18:56:00.000-05:00

swiped from Towleroad

in…sure…ance?

2009-01-16T12:38:00.002-05:00

I might be possibly maybe losing my insurance soon. I think I'm going to go on a shopping spree with this knowledge. I'll get new prescriptions (antibiotics are free if I go out to NJ these days!), have lots of blood drawn (some stored for safe keeping), I'll get shot up all over, and maybe I'll have a hip replaced. You know, just in case I need one anyway in the future.

Do I COBRA, or don't I COBRA? Do I risk bankruptcy, or do I go for catastrophe (!) insurance? I sure as hell can't afford the Freelancers' Union's less-than spectacular offerings, so maybe I'll just take that temporary risk of vulnerability and see what lady luck throws at me.

Why I love Tina Fey

2008-09-14T11:16:00.000-04:00

David Foster Wallace

2008-09-14T11:05:00.002-04:00

I made a snarky comment to my friend about New School writing students and David Foster Wallace yesterday. I guess I should shut my mouth from now on:

David Foster Wallace, whose darkly ironic novels, essays and short stories garnered him a large following and made him one of the most influential writers of his generation, was found dead in his California home on Friday, after apparently committing suicide, the authorities said.

Via Jessa, Paco, and Carl Kasell.

projects

2008-08-30T17:24:00.002-04:00

Lynda Barry recently inspired me to work on a long-form article on certain comics and their "story power." I wish I could post some sort of context to this thought, but the Best American Comics 2008 anthology won't be on the shelves until maybe October, and I don't want to get in some sort of legal trouble by spoiling anything. Regardless, amidst going back to school one night a week, keeping up the interviewing, and editing/writing Spanish lessons, I'll be doing some intense reading and re-reading to create something special come November.

Adventures in Housing

2008-08-15T15:25:00.002-04:00

I was supposed to move into my apartment two weeks ago. The day before the big move, the apartment failed its plumbing inspection. Now I'm living in a temporary space under the same landlord on Greenpoint Avenue. This is my week in pictures:

As you can see, the boob light slowly filled with water, warped the ceiling, and thusly peed out the nipple into a garbage can.

Then, earlier in the week, I was greeting by a rainbow outside my window. Right over the Live Poultry Slaughter across the street….

Will J'Amanda murder her landlord?

Will Erik finish his Portuguese phrasebooks?

Will John overcome his psychosomatic phantom bedbug bites?

Tune in next time to see how our tawdry heroines fight their way into a real home!

2008-07-23T00:46:00.002-04:00

I'm technically on vacation from blogging, so I'm not supposed to be here. Right?

While I focus on a Berlitz book or two (yes, that Berlitz), I'll be away from Bookslut.com. Expect to see the Indie Heartthrobs come back in September. First Monday of the month!

For now, enjoy an oldie or two.

In other news, I went to my first gay wedding (ladies) the other day in my boyfriend's back yard in Park Slope. I had never had Trader Joe's wine before (something about $3-$5 wine makes me wary), but DAMN that stuff can come in handy when you have to pack maybe 75% of the people you know into a small (but so pretty) space.

I also shouldn't mention that I passed out on Bobby's shoulder and drooled a little when he tried to show me Paprika. But who's keeping tabs, really, other than me?

Yes, I'm going to be that fag...

2008-07-23T00:28:00.002-04:00

...Estelle Getty died :-(

My mom brought me up on The Golden Girls. Yes, it was cheesy, but it at least contributed (in the slightest, ever so slightest, amount) to who I am.

Here's to you Sophia.

This is me utilizing Good Reads features. It looks lame on blogger, doesn't it?

2008-07-18T11:07:00.001-04:00

Daughters of the North: A Novel by Sarah Hall

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
I haven't been engrossed in a book like this since Oh Pure and Radiant Heart. I was really afraid to finish it, since I wouldn't have anything left for the subway every day. I'm even considering clinging to the "PS" material [interviews, essays, etc] just to keep this one going for a little longer.

View all my reviews.

The Great Brooklyn Bed Bug Scare

2008-07-11T01:10:00.003-04:00

Thank you, Brooklyn, for your bed bug registry websites and your bed bug scares and your making me ask my broker about bed bugs.

My roommate found this in our bathroom. It's tiny. Super tiny. First reaction? Bed bug.

After a few ghost itches and freakouts involving moths, we did that thing you're not supposed to do where you research bed bugs. Then we found out it's just a "spider beetle," and that people in Brooklyn freak out when they see them and think they're bed bugs.

Again. Thank you, Brooklyn, and fuck you.

EDIT: We even caged the bastard in a plastic prison. Just in case.

The quickest hunt

2008-07-09T23:40:00.003-04:00

I found an apartment with my brother and Amanda today. Right around the block. Lease amended, signed, and all.

I'm tempted to go against everything I believe in and get cable again. Maybe we can arrange it so I can be charged by the hour if I venture outside specific stations. This really can't be good. Especially if I'm having my change of heart because of this:

I can't wait to do this in a spacious bedroom!

2008-07-04T02:52:00.001-04:00

...and if you've ever worked with languages, you will love this.

Then again, I think the phrase "herdy gerdy gerdy" is the greatest thing since sliced bread (sliced bread having been invented in the previous year).

A glimpse into my day life...

2008-07-04T02:41:00.002-04:00

Two terms I wish to never hear again:

*"high-frequency words"

*"Castillian lisp"

re: my last post

2008-07-01T01:51:00.002-04:00

It also just came to my attention that Peter was arrested at the end of May as one of the parishioners trying to pray on Africa Day in Harare. This is via the blog This is Zimbabwe.

Unbowed

2008-06-30T18:10:00.002-04:00

With all that's going on surrounding Robert Mugabe's recent fraudulent election in Zimbabwe, I want to point everyone's attention towards Peter Godwin, my former professor at the New School and a Zimbabwe native. Having written for National Geographic as a means of free travel fare to visit his family in past times of turbulence, Godwin also wrote the memoir When a Crocodile Eats the Sun which chronicles some of Mugabe's exploits in the last decade.

Godwin was interviewed last week on WNYC's Brian Lehrer Show alongside Chaka Ngwenya, director of SARFM radio in NYC. While extremely informative, it also became an extremely emotional segment that kept me from my editing duties at my day job. I suggest everyone take the time and listen at WNYC. You can also locate the segment on the WNYC's Brian Lehrer Show podcast via iTunes.

See Zimbabwe: Trouble at Home at WNYC

Also, see my own interview with Godwin from last year at Bookslut. He gives a lot of information with regards to his background here.

EDIT: If you can't get the podcast to work, contact me in the comments section and I will send you the mp3.

Liz Miele

2008-06-20T13:44:00.002-04:00

I just wanted to help out a friend and say that Liz Miele (a close personal friend of mine) will be making her television debut tonight on Comedy Central's Live at Gotham. She's the only female comic on the episode (that still bothers me that they do that regularly), and, frankly, I think she and like one of the other comics this week are the only funny people that will be appearing tonight. This includes Theo Von. Yes. Theo. From Road Rules. Remember how he played the racist character on the show who redeemed himself? Well, it looks like it didn't last.

If it's any consolation, the power went out halfway through his set during the taping. They made him start over, and the planted audience members really shined with how well they can force laughter. I'd love to be paid to slap my knee and have it come off as genuine.

You'll also see the back of my head about 8,000 times on tonight's episode. Maybe once or twice during Paul Ogata's set you'll see me shaking my head in pure disgust at the planted laugh-girl sitting at the table in front of me. We get it. Asian jokes. Did she really find them that funny, or was it the booze and free money she was laughing about?

Anyway, check out Liz's profile on comedycentral.com and tune in tonight. There are a few more clips floating around on the Live at Gotham website.

Here's a deleted scene:

Bookslut Indie Heartthrob of the Week

2008-05-06T23:40:00.000-04:00

I'm a day late with this week's announcement, but Bookslut's Indie Heartthrob of the week is none other than my roommate, Nick Sumida. Check out the interview at Blog of a Bookslut, check out some comix, and spread the love!

Bookslut's Indie Heartthrob Interview Series

A weekly interview series where someone involved in the small press (be it writer, editor, slush slave, etc.) is thrown into the spotlight, grilled over the state of the independents and sundry other items, and quickly made to return from whence they came after having graced us all with their presence.

This Week: Nick Sumida

I'm going to be blunt: Nick is my roommate. I've known him for quite a while now, and I had the opportunity to watch him refine his work as a cartoonist. He recently put out a new zine called Broken Piñata (if you have the means, pick it up. Seriously. Read it.), and he has much more in store this summer. Check out his work at Doggy Hey Light Comix. While you're at it, go ahead and contact him through the comment feature on his blog for a copy of Broken Piñata. The uptight can just email him.

You just put out a new zine called Broken Piñata. How far back in your career does this cover?

The Broken Piñata zine basically collects some of the work I've done in school from 2007 and 2008. I've made a lot of zines in the past, but this is the first collection of work I'm really proud of. It's sort of jarring to think of it as the beginning of my career in that respect, because I still think of myself as a student trying to figure out what I want to do. When the word career enters the equation for me, it's like the scary real world is that much closer.

How do you think the zine movement is helping young artists like yourself?

I think the zine movement is great for young artists in that it's void of the third party editorial process and forces you to be resourceful. I think people can be really creative when working around limits, like having a low budget and only two hands to put things together. It's a really personal and earnest way for someone to share their work with their peers, publishers, and the public. Also, since there's so much out there, it's a real challenge to stand out, so you see a lot of people incorporating strange design elements or, say, paper made out of bald eagle feathers or something. For me, the zine movement also provides a gradual way to get used to letting my work go and feeling gratified with people seeing it.

More at Blog of a Bookslut.

The shoes you lent me, they don't seem to fit the same.

2008-04-18T12:15:00.004-04:00

While I try to juggle building a webzine, turning a company into a small press (how? HOW?!), interviewing authors, and developing children's books with queer/feminist leanings, I try to find ways to keep grounded, ways to bind those little nooks in my brain so they don't unravel and leave a weird film all over the place. This week I dug under my bed and found the album that defined my adolescence, for better or for worse. And that album was...

theSTART's Shakedown!

I don't know if anyone else remembers this or if I'm the only one at this point, but this was maybe one of the first albums in that annoying wave of new-new wave back in 2001. But it was good. Really fucking good. Throw in a little No Doubt, a little Immaculate Collection, a little Siouxsie Sioux from her Superstition era, and you've got Aimee Echo telling me to put on some new dancing shoes and dance to whatever I want to dance to. It was like a poppier version of the Footloose moral.

Aside from all that, looking back I realize that this was also a bizarrely positive record to be into for some little goth kid in New Jersey (I left those clothes in my hometown years ago, so stop worrying). Like I said before, Echo had the whole dance to whatever etc. etc. deal going as well as some simple yet thought-provoking lyrics (a love song to the beings from above in "Communion," love as a sticky syrup metaphor in "Gorgeous," Echo and the Roman goddess Nemesis in "Nemesis").

And now I've been walking all over Greenpoint and possibly rupturing my eardrums with these happy pop songs from my past. It makes me wish I was 17 again. Almost, but not really.

If I figure out how to share some of these songs, I will. Blasted blogger.

This week's Indie Heartthrob is...

2008-04-15T22:25:00.002-04:00

My latest choice for Bookslut's Indie Heartthrob is David Ohle, author of the cult 1972 novel Motorman and it's follow-up (almost 30 years later) The Age of Sinatra, as well as the forthcoming bookend to the trilogy, The Pisstown Chaos.

In our interview, Ohle tells me about his time working with William S. Burroughs, Jr. in Kansas as well as his approach to writing as a tradesman:

From the interview:

Tell me about your time with Burroughs in Kansas. Had working with him on his memoir influenced your fiction?

I met Burroughs when I moved to Lawrence in 1984 and hung out with him once or twice a week until his death. I cooked dinner for him on Thursday nights, took him to the methadone clinic in Kansas City on occasion (where he picked up a "six pack" for the week), took him fishing and target shooting (I fished, he shot). I also transcribed a few of his novels from manuscript to computer files (Western Lands, Queer, The Cat Inside). A rumor has persisted that I somehow transcribed his dreams, but it's not true. I'd like to say that his writing had no influence on mine, but that may not be true either. If any of his writing influenced me, it would have to be Queer and Junkie, the two works of his I most admire for their starkly simple, straightforward style. (I wrote a screenplay adaptation of Queer, which Steve Buscemi initially optioned, but it has never been made.) His fame as a writer aside (Bill never talked about that), he was a very smart guy, a razor-sharp wit, and funny as hell. We were friends. I wrote a more complete account of my times with Burroughs called Mutate or Die: With Burroughs in Kansas, published by The Beat Scene Press. I've also published (Soft Skull, 2006) a memoir of Burroughs' son, Billy, called Cursed from Birth.

Check out the rest of the interview at the Blog of a Bookslut.

2008-04-02T12:08:00.002-04:00

I've been asking myself lately why I have a subscription to the New York Review of Books. I don't read it. My roommates don't read it. I don't know anyone else who reads it. Is it a lit snob thing, or is it just because they offered me a discount?

I'm thinking of getting my ears lowered for my birthday. Other than that the day is up in the air. Maybe I'll treat myself to laundry service rather than doing it myself. Maybe I'll buy myself another book I'll never read. Or maybe, just maybe, I'll throw my phone out the window and watch Pee Wee's Big Adventure. Repeatedly.

[insert cheesy, nostalgic entry title here]

2008-03-31T00:11:00.002-04:00

Today's officially the last day of business for Barnes & Noble's Chelsea location, store #2538. I spent way too long there, but I still have a soft spot for the old place. I also hate it with an unyielding passion.

That's why I'm having such a blast with Alex Robinson's graphic novel Box Office Poison. Now that I have the distance I need from my experience at the store, I can read this and truly appreciate the protagonist's self-satisfying stagnation as a bookseller making minimum wage. Because seriously, who's ever really stuck at a shitty job like that unless deep down they just want to have something to complain about? Sure, my former coworkers and I were "afraid" to leave and thus forfeit those $7 an hour and benefits, but didn't we all get off just a little on complaining about the Dragon Lady in the green [insert: manager's] room?

Plus, we got to work with the lecherous and creepy gay priest. "Lech" really is the word. His frock was off-white, too. More of a cream color. I really ought to Ghost World him soon. [Think of the satanists in the supermarket and you'll understand what I mean]

There will be an in-store potluck after closing. As a former employee, I've been invited, uninvited, and un-uninvited due to what the regional bigwigs call "liability issues." In that case, maybe I'll smash a PDT scanner into an empty display case, just for a laugh.

Which reminds me of a fantasy I had that, if I were still working there on the final day, we'd chase the customers out of the store while brandishing PDTs and destroying displays and fixtures, sweeping a table or two, and ultimately imploding the building before skipping arm in arm, naked, around the smoldering ruins.

Let's see what happens at 6pm.

Bookslut's latest heartthrob: NPR's Dave Isay

2008-03-24T18:26:00.001-04:00

My latest entry into the Bookslut Indie Heartthrob Interview Series is NPR's Dave Isay (founder and director of StoryCorps and Sound Portraits). Go check out the interview over at the Blog of a Bookslut.

From the interview:

We've recorded 18,000 interviews with 35 or 36,000 participants. I think the piece we aired this morning [March 21, 2008] on Morning Edition was un-fucking believably powerful. Did you get a chance to hear it? I thought it was a piece that really knocked my socks off, particularly taken in the context of Senator Obama's speech on Tuesday. The story we recorded was part of our Griot initiative, this at-large African American oral history tour that we've been on for the past year where we've recorded the stories of about 2,000 African American families. It's the largest African American oral history project since the slave narratives were recorded in the 1930's by the WPA. This is a story from our last stop a couple of weeks ago in Montgomery, AL, and you just gotta listen to it. It's pretty amazing.

The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For

2008-03-20T19:31:00.005-04:00

I'm excited:

See Dykes to Watch Out For.

Who has Jerry Orbach's eyes?

2008-03-07T12:06:00.001-05:00

Can somebody tell me? I'd really like to know.

2008-02-25T01:49:00.001-05:00

So, how did Persepolis lose that other movie? About the rat? That cooks?

Oh yeah... Pixar.

Maybe I should go to bed before the room starts to spin.

Look at me, all authory like I know shit

2008-02-12T23:02:00.001-05:00

I just got my first children's book cover back. I'd post the artwork if Scott Foresman didn't own the shit out of it.

Oh well.

Someone remind me to forward it to Kathleen Hanna. I think she'd get a hoot out of this.

Musicophilia

2008-02-10T14:01:00.000-05:00

I know I'm late to join the bandwagon, but here's a new musical obsession as of yesterday:

My Brightest Diamond will be playing at BAM on February 22nd. I might have to go.

And these lovely ladies will be playing sometime soon on the lower east side with a full orchestra. You really can't go wrong with an album that has an overarching narrative about an alternate history featuring Thursday October Christian as a rebellion figure defending the Pitcairn island against the insidious blimp army forces of Mary Todd Lincoln, Queen of Florida.

2008-02-08T01:12:00.000-05:00

Right now I'm reading Laura Flynn's Swallow the Ocean and I really can't put it down. I was a little weary reading the flap, which describes it as another memoir about insane parents, but I'm really loving this. Which makes me worry about becoming a voyeuristic reader. Don't let me do that. Really. Punch me in the back of the head or something if I end up actively reading heavily edited memoirs by autistic children who underwent a lobotomy or two in their lifetime. I can think of two off the top of my head, which worries me greatly.

Then again, I can reread Alison Bechdel's Fun Home and Amy Fusselman's 8: All True: Unbelievable over and over again.

A Bookslut Threefer

2008-02-06T00:33:00.000-05:00

I had three articles published in the past 24 hours

Over at the Blog of a Bookslut, check out my interview with Peter Cole, Editor-in-Chief for the new literary magazine Keyhole.

And in the February issue of Bookslut, check out two interviews:
An Interview with Lydia Millet
"George Bush, Dark Prince of Love and Everyone’s Pretty are books that are encased in a kind of protective seal of cynicism. Both of them were quite planned, structurally. But since I wrote those I’ve moved from writing in a hard way to writing in a soft way. I don’t plan and I allow myself to move in and out of satire, to play with stereotypes and also delve more deeply into character, to try to contain both humor and more serious abstract thought in a single volume. In a nutshell, when I was in my twenties I didn’t allow emotion to shape my novels, but now I do."

An Interview with Elizabeth Crane
"The idea of genuine joy, as a subject of literature, doesn’t seem to be at the top of the list when it comes to serious or important subject matter. Which doesn’t make a lot of sense to me -- it seems to me that happiness is as legitimate a part of life experience as anything else, but also that happiness and more difficult things aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive. I think part of the reason I started thinking about this is that I have become so truly happy in my life over the last five to ten years -- alongside with feeling, at various times, grief, confusion, hurt, anger, whatever -- that I wanted to consider what it really meant to be happy."

On a higher note...

2008-01-28T22:37:00.002-05:00

I'd rather not go to bed thinking about the previous few posts, so I'll leave you with some dancing leaf men that make me oh so envious....

I wish I could do that.

"Do what?" you ask? Think about it.

Didn't this happen to Rumsfeld in France once?

2008-01-28T22:24:00.000-05:00

via Alison Bechdel:

A stay-at-home dad in Brattleboro, VT gathered enough signatures to put this compelling item on the town meeting ballot: Bush and Cheney should be indicted and arrested for war crimes, perjury or obstruction of justice if they ever step foot in Vermont

As I gouge my eyes out for our country

2008-01-28T21:10:00.000-05:00

I tried to watch the State of the Union Address tonight, but I only got about 10 minutes in to the "Special Report." All of those minutes included W. shaking hands during his close-ups while everyone clapped. There was even a hoot and holler when they announced his name.

That's when I turned on the Gossip Girl recap. I don't even know what the show's about, but I'm sure I'll lose less brain cells, or at least keep my blood pressure at a healthy level.

2008-01-17T01:18:00.000-05:00

I'm looking for an intern with knowledge in graphic/web design. Any takers? Send me something at john@thimblezine.com.

Old Demons

2008-01-12T16:03:00.000-05:00

This basically defines my experience working for Barnes & Noble for two years. It's been over for a while now. I'm not bitter. Really. I'm not.

[Strip lifted from an archived DTWOF database at Planet Out...remember them? My adolescent dating life in a box.]

Mr. Susan

2008-01-10T00:11:00.000-05:00

A clip from my new favorite British obsession: The Mighty Boosh. Context is for the weak.

Two things

2008-01-07T20:46:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year.

Now that I've said that, two things:

My first Bookslut Indie Heartthrob Interview of 2008 just went up. And who gets to take the helm? Why, Ander Monson of course! He talks about editing for DIAGRAM and The New Michigan Press while unwittingly departing valuable information on starting a webzine to an interviewer with an ulterior motive.

Secondly, two songs everyone needs to listen to:

"When the Other Foot Drops, Uncle" - Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings (from 100 Days 100 Nights) [linked from Ear Farm]. I just about buckled when I heard this.

"Clowns" - Goldfrapp (from the forthcoming Seventh Tree. A wonderful, folky departure that retains Alisons angelic vocals from the previous electro albums.

And as always, john AT thimblezine DOT com for submissions, ideas, and encouraging/disparaging niceties.

Whoops

2007-12-30T11:57:00.000-05:00

Did I forget to mention that I've shut the blog down for the holidays until the new year? I guess I didn't....

That's it until the new year!

Don't know what to do without me? Go see Persepolis.

The New Lit-Rock

2007-12-16T19:37:00.000-05:00

My twin brother and I trekked the G train last night to make our way down to Barbes, a wonderful bar in Park Slope toting its own record label. One Ring Zero was playing, and I thought it'd be a treat to finally take my brother to see them.

There's this weird influx of lit-rock coming out of Brooklyn lately, and one example to catch my eye recently is Clare & the Reasons. Like ORZ, they too have a song (er..two!) on Pluto's demotion from (P)lanet to (p)lanet.

Why do I say lit-rock? Well, Clare & the Reasons may not have an album written by famous authors, but it really is still all in the lyrics. Take "Pluto" for example:

Pluto, I have some frightful news dear
in the New York Times.
They've just reported you've been overthrown
from your solar throne for good.

...

Now all the planets will gather around and have a thing for you.
They'll wrap their orbits warmly around you and send you off with love.
Chin up, Pluto, the stars still want you and we down here do too.
You know what to do, just keep on keeping on.

[line breaks and punctuation approximated]

With a band like this, at least for me, the appeal comes mainly with the lyrical ability. Back in August both Clare & the Reasons and One Ring Zero were featured on NPR's Morning Edition in a story about Pluto songs following the Planet's demotion. Clips and the full story can be found here.

Clare & the Reasons will be featured tomorrow on WFMU 91.1's Irene Trudel Show at 4pm, and they'll be performing at Southpaw on Thursday night.

Thimble Zine, GO!

2007-12-16T19:33:00.000-05:00

I just bought a domain for the zine, and I've truncated the name for the world's sake. So here starts Thimble Zine! Over the next few months I'll be working on finalizing details about the webzine, reeling in writers (cough cough hint hint you should contact me cough cough) and sundry other nitbits. I'll publicly post an email contact once I figure some of that out.

Time's a go! As long as I can muster the energy to juggle the new publishing job....

The Small Press X-Mas List

2007-12-14T10:48:00.001-05:00

I was just really tempted to write "Small Press X-Men List," but that would have just labeled me as a dork, right?

Anyway, Karen Lillis surveyed a few small press people for their x-mas shopping recs and the results are now up on the LDP Distro/Info blog. Yours truly appears at the very bottom with some great book recommendations, so go read them or else you'll destroy Christmas for everyone.

Do you really want something like that hanging over your shoulders?

Oprah's Mitch Albom's For One More Day

2007-12-09T22:12:00.000-05:00

:pukes:

YOU MUST BE THIS HAPPY TO ENTER by Elizabeth Crane

2007-12-06T19:36:00.000-05:00

I'm just a little over halfway through this, and I'm already going to give it five stars. I've been glued to this on the G train. I want the G train to keep going so I can finish these stories before I have to read other things for my day job.

The title's perfectly apt: YOU MUST BE THIS HAPPY TO ENTER, with a happy bunny/precious moments creature staring at you from the cover, arms spread wide like a kid who can grasp the concepts of measurement to some basic degree. While these are stories for happy people, they're not saccharine. While these aren't saccharine, they're far from depressing. In one story a woman becomes a zombie and makes the best of it by going on one of those midday Lifetime reality shows where a houseful of women trump their problems by sharing gold stars and making papercrafts. All the while, you notice that there is no cynicism. None.

And you're all the happier for it.

Buy it through Akashic!

2007-12-03T19:35:00.000-05:00

Pooh talking about bad touch? Verily disturbing. Though not as much as the line, "My, that rabbit certainly comes and goes, doesn't he?"

2007-12-03T19:28:00.000-05:00

My father, a 67 year old, soon-to-be retired Sicilian immigrant who came to Elizabeth, NJ in 1956, loves Y: The Last Man and Pride of Baghdad. Perhaps I should be leaving books idly behind on the dining room table next time I visit. Perhaps Fun Home? If there's any better way to come out to someone like him, I'm all ears.

2007-12-02T17:45:00.001-05:00

It's the first snow of the season here in Brooklyn. To think just last week I was sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner with my family in NJ when, after our mock grace, the lights began to flicker and we found ourselves in the middle of a humid thunderstorm. Suffice to say, it was awkward.

The webzine's coming along slowly. The first article tree is just starting to branch out, and I may have decided on a truncated URL (honestly, who's going to remember "athimblefullofcornoil.com", especially with the article attached?). Alongside some bookish articles and music interviews, we've also got a bit on Craigslist sexcapades in the works.

Until next time, I'll sit here and sip my ginger-garlic-honey-lemon tea and knock this cold from my system. And watching that tweaker on Animal Exploration is always entertaining.

2007-11-26T21:42:00.000-05:00

See my page riddled with misspellings? We can thank Blogger for that.

2007-11-25T17:36:00.000-05:00

I'm in the process of moving to Movable Type. This is going to be arduous, but until then, I'm not sure how often I'll be posting. So in that case, go enjoy some writing by some of my favorite people while I idly feed myself and try staying awake during an episode of Antiques Roadshow:

Tatyana Tolstaya: "See the Other Side"

Marguerite Duras: "The Bible"

Alain Mabanckou: "Bleu Blanc Rouge"

Lydia Millet: "Girl and Giraffe"

Asli Erdogan: Excerpt from City in Crimson Cloak

Scott Pilgrim Gets it Together

2007-11-15T20:48:00.000-05:00

New York Magazine posted an excerpt from Bryan Lee O'Malley's Scott Pilgrim Gets it Together. I really need to get my act together and finally read this thing.

Oh, and Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Spaced) optioned it for a movie.

2007-11-14T09:31:00.000-05:00

I just realized I can set my time stamp to Pitcairn time. What to do?

2007-11-14T09:21:00.000-05:00

This slipped by during that month or two away: Part 5 in The Poetry Foundation's The Poem as Comic Strip series. This one features Ted Kooser's "The Giant Slide" as set to artwork by Paul Hornschemeier.

Ding Dong

2007-11-14T00:20:00.000-05:00

A little something I've been into lately as well as my first mp3 post on this blog (cheers!):

Johnny Dowd - Ding Dong

Enjoy.

Heartthrob

2007-11-14T00:05:00.001-05:00

I interviewed Karin Taylor, Executive Director of the New York Center for Independent Publishing (NYCIP) this week over at Bookslut. If you're a writer, you might want to check out what she had to say about what NYCIP has to offer as well as the Small Press Fair this December. I know I'll be there bright and early with my little press hat and bunny slippers.

Oh, Stevin.

2007-11-11T22:03:00.000-05:00

Tyra recently taught my friend Stevin how to smile with his eyes. Remember-it's always about Tyra.

Sans the hideous gay hat, I'm back!

2007-11-11T17:15:00.000-05:00

Starting now, I'm going to attempt a weekly post and eventually wean myself into more regular blogging. Bitch is back, y'all.

The other night I went to a reading (at a health spa!) featuring Peter Godwin (Mukiwa, When a Crocodile Eats the Sun), a former professor of mine who proved to be very influential over the past year (see my interview with him over at Bookslut). I was very surprised by the turnout (at least 50, young and old), and though the space was quite bizarre, it really worked in his favor.

After he read several excerpts from When a Crocodile Eats the Sun, I approached him through the crowd of people rushing downstairs for the free wine and cheese. His face sort of lit up.

"You're here!"

He eventually told me that he was glad to see me there (at least someone from that New School class and asked me how things were going. There was this moment of realization that things were starting to finally work out for me: I'm writing again, I finally left my job at the book store, I have that prospective job at BookLinks, and there are some other personal affairs that I won't share with the rest of the planet that are going much more positively than a month ago.

After Peter signed for a group of sentimental old ladies, he took my copy of Mukiwa and inscribed:

From one Book Slut to another! Best of luck from your old professor! - Peter Godwin

---

Since he got me to voice for myself how things are going for me at this point, I've decided to be more proactive with my work.

First things first: I'm working on turning this blog into a more full-fledged group project. This may not happen for quite a while (I need to find a good server, people to work with regularly, adspace, and, god forbid, direction).

Second: I need to return to my fiction. I haven't touched PRAYING FOR BROTHERS ON MT. PURGATORY (tentative title) since May, and I think now is better than any other time to look at it with new eyes. Of course, an unbiased set of eyes will always help. Any takers?

Third, and least imperative: I'll finally finish and post that damned Rasputina interview. The article's long dead by now to shop around, so I may as well do what I want with it rather than letting it collect digital dust on my hard drive. If I can make a podcast out of it somehow, then I will.

Coming up next: an update on possibly moving to BookLinks and the perils of being the non-profit office monkey.

And I heard it first from the NY Post....

2007-09-18T23:17:00.000-04:00

Hey look! The bookstore I work in might close down next spring. And it's not an independent bookseller!

Maybe this will motivate me to find another way of paying the bills.

Scary

2007-08-21T01:59:00.001-04:00

The most frightening thing to run into after a couple of beers at the Boulevard: a cat sitting on the staircase in the hallway of your apartment building staring right at you through the security door.

On reviewers

2007-08-16T02:06:00.000-04:00

Katharine Weber captures the anxieties a writer must face when it comes to inept book reviewers over at the LitBlog Co-Op:

Then come the reviews. The wise readings, the ridiculous readings. The misreadings. The scolding, reluctant praise. Razor-sharp mixed reviews, empty-headed raves. Crackpot Amazon “reviews.” In print and online, Triangle has received an extraordinary volume of reviews and response, more than any of my previous books (thanks in part to the ever-expanding world of blogging), from wonderfully astute close readings to disdainful and grotesque dismissals.

Keep an eye out at the Co-Op for more on "Triangle" week.

2007-08-16T02:01:00.001-04:00

First and foremost, I've been obsessing over a viral youtube video (who doesn't?) featuring a performance by the Penny Magic Show on some public access station. It looks ridiculous, but really it's strangely brilliant and mesmerizing.

I also found the actual demo recording. Apparently the song is entitled "The Shrink," and it's credited to Penny Pearce. Here's the song attached to an epileptic karaoke video:

2007-07-11T01:18:00.000-04:00

Just announcing the inaugural edition of Bookslut.com's Indie Heartthrob Interview Series, where every Monday I will be interviewing someone involved in the small press (be it book publishing, zines, lit mags, you name it...). This week features Richard Nash, editor-in-chief at Soft Skull Press:

I used to be a theater director (Downtown, "avant-garde," Richard Foreman acolyte) and Sander Hicks, the founder of Soft Skull, saw one of my productions and liked it, so he gave me his plays, and I started to direct them. At the time (1997-2000), for a day job/health insurance, I worked at Oxford University Press, doing permissions, electronic rights and foreign rights. I started to help my theatre collaborator out with his other gig, the Soft Skull thing, and just got in deeper and deeper and deeper. By early 2002 I realized indie publishing was far more culturally relevant than theater...

More over at Blog of a Bookslut (see July 9). Archives will be kept here two to three weeks after the original pub date.

Also, check out the July edition (issue 62) of Bookslut, which features interviews with Miranda July (No One Belongs Here More Than You ), Arnold Rampersad (Ralph Ellison), Ron Currie Jr. (God is Dead), and my own interview with Peter Godwin ( When a Crocodile Eats the Sun).

Speaking of BEA....

2007-06-04T14:14:00.000-04:00

My twin brother was almost made to attend BEA this year dressed as the Michelin man. I imagine this scenario.

Edit: I think I broke it. Sorry, Geocities person!

The Poem as Comic Strip

2007-06-04T13:56:00.000-04:00

I'm not sure if I've ever posted this before, but The Poetry Foundation has been commissioning graphic novelists and cartoonists to adapt poetry into comic strips. So far there are three wonderful renditions (note: click the links for the complete strip):

David Heately on Diane Wakoski's "Belly Dancer"

Gabrielle Bell on Emily Dickenson's "It Was Not Death, For I Stood Up"

Jeffrey Brown on Russel Edson's "Of Memory and Distance"

In other news, you know you need a new laptop when the space bar sticks every 10 punches. Maybe I should plan that graduation party now....

2007-05-19T01:03:00.000-04:00

Muruch: Rasputina: Oh Perilous World!

Check out this album review for Rasputina's newest effort Oh, Perilous World! and download a free mp3 for "Cage in a Cave."

2007-05-17T21:29:00.000-04:00

I graduated today. I graduate again tomorrow. Then my twin gradutates, but only once.

I still look like Bea Arthur in my garb.

Two belated articles and Bea Arthur's wardrobe

2007-05-14T23:00:00.000-04:00

In the May 2007 edition of Bookslut.com:

An interview with Francophone-Ivorian writer Marguerite Abouet, where we discuss the translation of her graphic novel Aya into English, the image of Africa created by the Western media, and her childhood crush on Spider-Man/Peter Parker:

As an African person living in France, I don't want to see how badly the media represents the Ivory Coast. The African people have enough of these very bad, miserable images of Africa that the media will show. Even now people will still say to me, 'I'm not going to Africa because I'm really afraid to see all these miserable people.' It's almost as easy as saying you don't want to go to the United States because you're afraid to get a bullet in the head. by John Zuarino

An interview with Soft Skull author Matthew Sharpe, in which we discuss his amazing new novel Jamestown and "homosexual tendencies in the 17th century.":

The crew of the ship had their own food supply, while the settlers had theirs. The settlers used theirs up and had to trade with the crew. There's this one guy among the settlers who says, "We traded whatever we had with the crew for food," and he gives a list of things: hatchets, beads, copper trinkets, coins, muskets, and the last item on the list was "love." I just thought that one word was like a little peephole into what must have been a whole host of activities. By John Zuarino

Don't forget to check out the Monday blog, where every week I'll try and salvage what's been left in the dust in regards to the small press and other et ceteras.

And by the way, my graduation robe makes me look like I dove into Bea Arthur's wardrobe. Sequins, sequins everywhere!

Blog of a Bookslut

2007-04-23T10:28:00.000-04:00

Starting today, I'll be covering the small press and other et ceteras over at the Bookslut blog on Mondays. Go check it out.

Outstanding Achievement in Journalism

2007-03-22T18:59:00.000-04:00

NBC News just felt the need to dedicate 5-7 minutes of our lives to a report on how students shouldn't cite Wikipedia as a resource. Wasn't this just a bit more relevent a year and a half ago?

Belated writings: I Wii, and You?

2007-03-08T22:13:00.000-05:00

A little something I forgot to post here back in December when it originally came out (and was probably a lot more relevant!). This is cross-posted over at Inprint, where there's also a great illustration by Jeremy Schlangen.

I Wii. And You?

Several weeks ago, beefheads and the socially awkward camped out at the Toys "R" Us in Times Square for the Nintendo Wii release. With its odd name and especially phallic controller, one wonders if Nintendo has finally created the gayest video game console ever. Given the hetero-normative sociological expectations in video gaming, the idea of men waving phallic motion-sensing controllers at each other can be somewhat unsettling to most gamers.

I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing. When the company announced back in April that they would name the console "Wii" instead of the originally intended "Revolution," millions were outraged. "Gay," said one Japanese publisher. "Sorry if that offended. I hate using that word in the pejorative sense, but it totally applies this time. …Joe Schmo from middle America can't say 'Wii' with a straight face, whereas he has no trouble saying '360' or 'PS3.'"

Honestly, I can't keep a straight face saying any of the three names. Saying "I want a 360" and "how 'bout that PS3" just creeps me out. But 'Wii' has a bit of a ring to it. Not only does it embody the onomatopoeic equivalency of the word "fun," it also says something sexy about the machine. "I want a Wii" and "how bout that 'Wii?'" just roll off your tongue, and make you tingle in all the right places. It's no surprise that gamers started a petition to force Nintendo to change the name.

Even more amazing is the slew of reports that players have been accidentally throwing their Wii remotes through their TVs and even in each other's faces. Have you ever heard that saying—that homophobia stems from self-hatred? Well, just imagine sitting with a group of frat boys jamming their six-inch Wii phalluses in each other's faces during a game of Mario Bowling, and you'll get the idea. Follow the debauchery of crushing beer cans on your head with a long night of trading Wii blows, and you've got a deal!

At Towleroad.com, the "blog with homosexual tendencies," contributor Andy writes, "Part of the fun of the Wii is designing your own character, called a Mii. You start with a head shape and add from dozens of features until your character is created. Of course, this ultimately turned into an incredibly amusing diversion. As you can see, it wasn't long before our friend Martin's journey into cyber-drag resulted in the character below." Andy refers to a Mii character resembling a coked-out circuit boy one would find on the dance floor at the nightclub Heaven. "When hooked up to WiFi, you can send your Miis over the internet to participate in a parade on another user's Wii."

This Christmas, why not don your Link outfit and role-play with your partner over a Nintendo Wii? That's what I'll be doing, and I'll be sure to order the purple silicone skin from eBay to slip over my Wii for that extra effect while I swordfight with my bros.

Alison Bechdel and Alain Mabanckou

2007-03-08T22:02:00.000-05:00

I contributed two articles for the March edition of Bookslut.

An Interview with Alison Bechdel:
Well, it’s true that it's [Dykes to Watch Out For] not as financially viable as it would be to devote myself completely to books. It might be a smart thing, actually, but somehow I don’t think so. I feel Dykes is like a steady investment. A municipal bond. It has supported me for many years, not just financially, but as a really great outlet -- especially during the Bush administration. I think I would go insane without somewhere to vent this stuff.

Also be sure to check out the Alain Mabanckou profile "The African Psycho Comes to America":
“My book, African Psycho, is deeply rooted in Africa, and I needed to focus on an awkward character who is unable to commit a real murder -- Gregoire Nakobomayo. American Psycho’s Patrick Bateman is a product of America; he is rich -- the image of the successful Manhattan executive. Gregoire is the opposite. He is an orphan. He is poor. He lives on the street. He was adopted by a rich family, but it is not his world. He wants to resemble Angoualima, a mythical serial killer from the other Congo [the Democratic Republic of the Congo, formerly known as Zaïre]. Patrick Bateman is the perfect serial killer. Gregoire is just eternally awkward.”

A Belated Interview with Gabrielle Bell and Other Points of Interest

2007-02-09T13:24:00.000-05:00

So in my absence, I've neglected to post a link to my interview with graphic novelist Gabrielle Bell. This appeared in the January 2007 edition of Bookslut.

Now that that's out of the way, I'm currently working on what may or may not be a book (we'll see if a weekly series of deadlines will be threatening enough for me to get my ass out of bed), a profile for 2006 Prix Renoudot winner Alain Mabanckou (see African Psycho) and an interview with Alison Bechdel.

I still have a few other things up my sleeve, but I haven't fully thought them through yet.

An Interview with Clifford Chase

2007-02-09T13:23:00.001-05:00

My interview with writer Clifford Chase is featured in the February 2007 edition of Bookslut. Check it out, and then go read his novel Winkie, because it's just that good.

Progress on Newton Creek?

2007-02-09T13:22:00.000-05:00

Via Gothamist: NY State Will Sue Big Oil Over Greenpoint Spill

Looks like the state is finally taking a step in doing something about the oil plume that's been seeping into Greenpoint since the 1950s out of Newton Creek in Brooklyn. For some perspective, 17 million gallons of oil spilled into Newton Creek, spreading underneath Greenpoint over 100 acres. The infamous Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska was 11 million gallons over 55 acres. Mind-boggling that the Newton Creek spill has been kept quiet in the media, isn't it?

I live a few blocks outside the green plume area, but it's still so close to home. I'm sure my water pipes run right through it.

Bridge to Terabithia

2007-02-05T23:33:00.000-05:00

As I'm sitting in my colder than necessary apartment reading various blogs, I have Seinfeld on in the background. Out of the corner of my eye, I spot the preview for Bridge to Terabithia.

Now, Bridge to Terabithia was one of my favorite novels growing up. It's about a boy and a girl who create an imaginary world in the woods called Terabithia. But keep in mind, they know whole-heartedly that Terabithia isn't real--that's the beauty of it all. It totally captures the child/pre-teen imagination.

Based on the preview for the film adaptation, though, it looks like Hollywood decided to cash in on the Eragon/Lord of the Rings/Chronicles of Narnia/Harry Potter craze and make Terabithia real. At one point the announcer ("In a world..." has always been his classic line) says that it's up to the two children to save the world they created from a menace on the inside. I know that film adaptations are expected to be different from the original work, but I feel like this time they're essentially fisting Katherine Paterson's work without her knowledge.

Of course, I could be wrong. I haven't even seen the movie.

An Interview with Marjane Satrapi

2006-11-07T23:53:00.000-05:00

My interview with Marjane Satrapi is up at Bookslut. Go read it.

She Draws Comics at MoCCA

2006-10-24T00:48:00.000-04:00

With the Newark and Jewish Museums co-opting an exhibit on American comics (aptly titled "Masters of American Comics"), one might notice that all the featured artists are men. Conclusion: Comic lady scare fanboy in pants?

MoCCA (Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art) opened an exhibit mid-May called "She Draws Comics: 100 Years of America's Women Cartoonists." It chronicles as far back as 1911's Grace Dayton ("Isn't Dottie Dimple Cute!") and 1928's Ethel Hays ("Fanny Flapper"). The pieces also span the years from WWII's women as stand-in cartoonists to the present, where more women are represented in comics than ever.

The most noticeable piece was not on the wall but sitting on a small table for perusal in the center of a tiny white room. Wedged between copies of Jessica Abel's La Perdida and Megan Kelso's Scheherazade was Barbie #59—a Marvel Comics publication. Flipping to the story entitled "Learning the Fair Way," we are presented with Barbie consoling a young girl named Caitlin, who was forbidden by a boy in a Spider-Man from playing superheroes because, you know, girls aren't strong. Barbie goes up to young Spidey in the tree, brandishing an issue of X-Men at him while saying that there are strong women in the comic. He doesn't believe her, but eventually young Caitlin sets him straight by beating him at all the carnival games in front of his father, thoroughly emasculating him before puberty. The next time Barbie sees Spider-Man in the tree, Caitlin is under the mask. Apparently girls can be heroes. A lesson well-learned despite Barbie's disproportionate body-image.

Other stand-outs include board art from Alison Bechdel's Dykes to Watch Out For and a splash page from Marie Severin's Strange Tales #158, which inspired the art for Pink Floyd's A Saucerful of Secrets.

The exhibit will close on November 6. See it before you kill yourself out of regret.

-John Zuarino

The Mystery Guest

2006-10-24T00:42:00.000-04:00

The Mystery Guest, by Grégoire Bouillier.
5 out of 5 stylish tacos

Who knew that a neurotic with a bottle of ’64 Margaux could discover the meaning of life at French photograher Sophie Calle’s birthday party? In Grégoire Bouillier’s new memoir, anything is possible.

The story begins in late 1990, the day philosopher Michel Leiris died. Bouillier receives a phone call from his estranged ex-lover inviting him to attend Sophie Calle’s birthday party as that year’s mystery guest. Immediately, Bouillier’s narrative leaps from Leiris to the space probe Ulysses to Bouillier's current lover (who, as he recalls, “loved me despite my turtleneck-undershirts”).

Bouillier writes contemplatively, in a stream-of-consciousness style that delves into every nuance of his life. He draws parallels between his ex and Mrs. Dalloway, putting his former relationship to rest and finally changing the bathroom light bulb. “What was the point of living,” Bouillier writes, “if we spent our lives fulfilling the desires of inanimate objects?”

While taking forty pages to describe a ten-minute party might seem to make for some seriously daunting reading, every word Bouillier writes somehow flows cohesively. It’s magical. – John Zuarino

New Books and (Hopefully) Upcoming Music

2006-09-30T16:32:00.000-04:00

I picked up the new Marjane Satrapi book Chicken with Plums yesterday at The Strand, and having only read about thirty or so pages so far, it's definitely a new favorite. While this isn't a book about Marjane herself, Chicken with Plums follows the last eight days or so of her great uncle's life. More on this when I'm finished.

Also, I will be interviewing Marjane via phone later in October, so expect to see something on that in the future.

And now for the music...

This is a new Rasputina song entitled "Yellow Cake," which is part of their 9/11-related medley. Sarah Bowman of The Bowmans is an interim member of the band on this clip, so while you're at it you may want to google her band as well.

Two reviews in one!

2006-09-23T17:33:00.000-04:00

These are as-yet unedited. If you are lonely enough and have a careful eye, maybe you'll notice some minor changes to these in the coming few days. If you do and you happen to tell me, then you get a cookie.

The Science of Sleep

“Guy’s making me smell the sperm!” Stéphane’s coworker shouts in one of many dream/reality moments in The Science of Sleep.

Michel Gondry’s latest film explores Stéphane’s (ever-gorgeous Gael García Bernal) inability to separate his dreams from reality and his borderline-creepy love for his neighbor Stéphanie (Charlotte Gainsbourg).

At times The Science of Sleep becomes a film about film narrative. It can be quite impossible to separate the dream sequences from the fictional reality, thus adding to the fun of picking apart a Gondry movie.

Visually the film is phenomenal. The animation stands out as possibly some of the best CGI in years. It bears many similarities to the kind seen in some of Jan Svankmajer’s films, only it’s much less grotesque and more integral to the narrative (seriously, has anyone actually seen Lunacy?).

If you are able to hear through the obnoxiously loud hipster guffaws that come up every three seconds in the theater, then pay close attention to Stéphane’s exaltations for Stéphanie—they can reveal a much darker aspect of a bright and superficially self-aware cute indie film.

Pride of Baghdad by Brian K. Vaughan & Niko Henrichon

In 2003 a pride of lions escaped from the Baghdad zoo during the American bombing of Iraq. This is the lions’ story.

Vaughan (Y: The Last Man) writes his story from the lions’ perspective as they trample their way through the rubble while, as the birds claim, the sky is falling. While a simple story, Pride manages to comment on a controversial conflict in the spirit of Watership Down and Animal Farm—through talking animals.

At times Vaughan’s agenda can be a little overbearing, like the constant debate over the definition of “freedom.” In one scene, a group of US soldiers stand over several bullet-ridden animals. One asks if they’re wild in Iraq, and another tells him, “No, not wild. They’re free.” Cue the bird flying into the smoke.

Pride may not be worth the $20, but it’s at least worth reading for free in some crevice of the bookstore. It’s quick and it makes you think, but it’s nothing to go fanboy over. But then again, what is?

Sherrybaby: A Belated Review

2006-09-18T19:49:00.000-04:00

Who would have thought that reconnecting with your estranged three year old wouldn’t be easy? I know Lifetime has.

Laurie Collyer’s film Sherrybaby feels like something Lifetime would churn out on a Monday night, and possibly every other night for the following three months. No, there is no internet porn tearing an innocent family apart (literally speaking), but there is an ex-inmate-trying-to-reconnect-with-her-estranged-daughter plotline, which is of similar caliber.

Sherrybaby opens with a blue NJ Transit bus en route to Newark. On that bus is Sherry Dawson (Gyllenhaal), who was just released from prison. Brown paper bag in hand, she is on her way to Genesis House, a boarding home for women on parole. About ten minutes in, Sherry asks her parole officer if she can spend one night with her brother and his wife, who are caring for her 3-4 year old daughter Alexis. A few indiscretions and scuffles with the housemates later, Sherry’s brother arrives at Genesis House to bring her home.

The rest of the story is fairly predictable. Things are bad, the sister-in-law is uber-territorial, Alexis refers to her mother by her first name, etc.

Despite Collyer’s clichéd writing, Gyllenhaal manages to put on an impressive performance. The scene in which glossy-eyed Sherry drunkenly pushes a shopping cart around a toy store in search of the perfect birthday gift is beyond disturbing as she presses every “Try Me!” button she crosses.

The movie tries to be sad. Very sad. Very, very sad. This is the stuff Lifetime movies are made of, folks, and it doesn’t hold back. Then again, I might just be another douche bag laughing inappropriately at a sad movie. It’s like the time I wanted Susan Sarandon to fucking die already during the first ten minutes of Stepmom.

If you’re in the mood to cry, see Sherrybaby. If you’re just looking for a laugh, seeing Sherrybaby can do that too.

The 9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation by Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colón

2006-09-11T13:07:00.000-04:00

Art Spiegelman’s Maus started the quasi-mainstream trend of utilizing the graphic novel as means to retell historical events. In the years that followed, we’ve been graced with such powerful graphic memoirists/biographers such as Marjane Satrapi (Persepolis) and Alison Bechdel (Fun Home) to name a few. It was only a matter of time before the 9/11 graphic novels emerged.

Jacobson and Colón’s adaptation is one of these books. However, it does not tell a personal story like the earlier mentioned works. It instead translates the final report of the 9/11 Comission into what hopefully would reach a new audience. As Thomas H. Kean (Comission Chair and Drew University President) writes in the book’s forward, “…we felt strongly that one of the most important and tragic events of our nation’s history needed to be accessible to all.”

Not to say that the adaptation doesn’t do its job, but Jacobson and Colón may have benefited in approaching from a different angle. Upon opening the book, the reader is bombarded by claustrophobic, chaotic panels lacking any hint of chronological flow. Besides the multifarious graphs and charts implemented to outline the events leading up to, during, and after 9/11, it is fairly uncertain which panel flows into which. Should it be read from left to right, up to down, down to left? The implementation of signifiers (simple arrows, perhaps) may have solved the problem before print.

Stan Lee (Marvel Comics) writes, “Never before have I seen a nonfiction book as beautifully and compellingly written and illustrated as The 9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation.” I questioned Lee’s statement by page 26, in which the president receives a call from Condoleezza Rice. Bush stands intently; arms crossed, phone to his ear, almost as if he were an X-man. Rice’s bust is projected behind him in a gray hue, shouting into her cell phone as if she were Professor X contacting his students telepathically. Other scenes riddled with cheesy dialogue and narration come to mind: multiple narrative exclamations of “And we did nothing!”, Richard Clarke’s “I am obsessed with Bin Ladin.”, and Cheney balking at his television, “How the Hell could a plane—Oh, no! A second one!”

Despite the cheese and otherwise dry language, the adaptation succeeds in translating the report into a new medium. Will it be as memorable as Maus? Probably not. But it will at least become a mainstay coffee-table book, regardless of whether or not it’s actually read.

Labor Day Weekend, 2006

2006-09-01T22:24:00.000-04:00

Thus commences a new blog on a new server on the eve (several eves premature) of my last year as an undergrad. So how do I celebrate? Why, by sitting home watching an episode of AIR, where FEMA is under attack.

I happened across a feature/interview in TimeOUT NY with Andrew Bujalski, writer/director of Funny Ha-Ha, regarding his new film that opened today in NYC entitled Mutual Appreciation. From what I've read, Mr. Bujalski is said to be the "Cassavetes for the Myspace generation." Now, I ran a search for this movie on rottentomatos.com, and it has a rating of 100%, which I haven't seen before. This could be due to the fact that it literally just opened today, but I think I really want to see this tomorrow.

Of the three films I'd be up for seeing this weekend, it's going to be Mutual Appreciation, Half Nelson or 13 Tzameti, all of which are supposed to be wonderful. I really haven't seen too many movies in the theater lately (other than Lunacy and Strangers With Candy), so I really want to make the effort before my income takes a major decrease and I'm rendered a part-time bookseller/student.

Meanwhile, has anyone heard anything/read about the new 9/11 Comission graphic novel? It sounds like an interesting idea, but I see it either A) being really great or B) flopping miserably.