Mesrine: Killer Instinct

click for review

At the Soundtrack Series

I read at The Soundtrack Series recently and I did a little interview for their blog. It's up there now. I was a little tired. All of the things I said are true: I watched Jurassic Park III, I was listening to Randy Newman, and it was the middle of the night.

Review of The Sicilian Girl

Episode #11 of Radio Happy Hour, featuring The Postelles, David Dondero, and William Ocean is out now....

So we've released episode #11 of Radio Happy Hour which featured guests The Postelles, David Dondero, and 2009 US Air Guitar Champion William Ocean, as well as some stand up from John and Molly Knefel and cello from Justin Kantor. You can stream the podcast here or you can subscribe to the podcast for free on iTunes.

Review of Aaron Michael Morales' Drowning Tucson in Bookslut

Driving into Hades

New InDigest Up With the Sun

There is a new issue of InDigest up right now, kids.

It features poetry from Ronaldo Wilson , Steven Karl, Becca Klaver, Martin Rock, Emma Bean, Bianca Stone, and more. New narratives from Abby Frucht, Kyle Francis, and Sam Osterhout. Essays from Careful's Eric Lindley and Rogue Valley's Chris Koza. Plus audio stories, InDialogues, online broadsides, poetry paintings, galleries, and more.

Get it all here: http://www.indigestmag.com/.

(The picture is the result of me searching "future birthday" - doesn't necessarily make sense that I searched those terms for this post, but I did, and this is the photo that came up. Now I wish I'd have searched "future dinosaur.")

Cheesy & Amazing

Alamar

again

Powell's just republished my Misadventure review. You can see the original by clicking the cover of the book a few posts below.

Per Bianca (Collision Pictures)

This CVS literally has everything

Misadventure

Chalk One Up For Freedom

Other Dustin Nelsons: On Twitter

From Dustin Nelson's Twitter feed:

So I invited her back to my condo, pronto to continue this convo cuz I know that if I hit that ass thennn shit.. I can prolly hit it again

Pinaccle of Awesome

40% of Americans believe that Jesus will be here in the next 40 years and Indie Rock Music Videos Suck

From Art & Revelry I posted something about how all indie-rock videos now feature pagan imagery and feature someone running through the woods. It's boring. Stop doing that.

I posted something on the InDigest Blog today as well about why the Pew/Smithsonian research that revealed 40% of American think that Jesus will return to Earth by 2050 is really kind of a screwed up statistic. (It has to do with no caring about anyone and believing we're all fucked anyway...)

Other Dustin Nelsons: June 24, 2010

From the Dorchester Times, in an article titled Dustin Nelson is Area's Newest Master Angler:

Dustin recently reeled in a flathead catfish -- also called yellow cats. The catfish was caught at an area lake (Dustin isn't giving us his secret spot) and weighed in at 18 lbs., 6 oz. It measured 34".

The catch qualifies him for the prestigious sportsman award.

The Nebraska record for a flathead is 80 lbs. The Times has learned Dustin already has plans on how to land an 81 pounder.

Dustin's whopper was released after it was weighed and measured. Dustin said he hopes someone else can have the excitement of catching this granddaddy.

The Times congratulates Dustin on his catch and deserved accolades.

Yes, congratulations other Dustin Nelson. You've given me a good reason to tell people I caught a fish this big.

Radio Happy Hour on The Current.

Twin City Scene did a little write up about Radio Happy Hour and our upcoming airing on The Current. Episode 8 will be aired on Sunday at 9pm CST. You can listen online.

Thank you for brightening my day Volume One

Micmacs a Tire-Larigot

Les Pere De Mes Enfants

The Radio Happy Hour Mixtape

Radio Happy Hour is starting to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the show with a mixtape. It's free. Dig it. It's got Tunde Adebimpe, Cursive, Tapes 'n Tapes, The Hold Steady, David Bazan, Norah Jones, Jolie Holland, Chris Koza, Jeremy Messersmith, and Andrew WK.

Yup, that's how big it is...

If it was my home

This World is Bat Shit Crazy

Guest blogs at InDigest & 1207 Readings Coming Up

Today marks the final day of guest blogs from author Jacob Ritari at InDigest. He blogged all week about what is wrong with the selection process for the Nobel Prize in literature and how it's take on international literature is infuriating (and why that might be the reason Yukio Mishima killed himself). Ritari is the author of the forthcoming book from Unbridled Book, Taroko Gorge.

Also, come join InDigest for two InDigest 1207 Reading Series events this week. On Saturday, at 5pm, we have author Ander Monson (whose great new book, Vanishing Point, I reviewed at Bookslut) and Sam Osterhout (of Radio Happy Hour). Then on Tuesday June 1, we've got Leigh Stein, Becca Klaver, and Zachary German at the KGB Bar at 7pm. Come have a drink. Both readings are free, and wonderful. You can find all upcoming 1207 Reading Series dates here.

It's true. Duotrope robots interviewed me about InDigest. I'm figuring it out.

here

New Radio Happy Hour Preproduction Video

We've got a new Radio Happy Hour preproduction video:

Unsilent Film Series

Visual Poetry

(in all the coverage of this I find it most humorous that no one is questioning why this grown man is wearing a young woman's Justin Beiber t-shirt...)

Hoo Ha - New InDigest

After months of work (we've recently altered InDigest from a monthly to a quarterly publication) we've got a new issue of InDigest, and it may very well be the best thing I've tasted since the invention of flour. We've started a new project with InDigest Broadsides (which are lovely little artifacts, this one from CA Conrad). There are interviews with great people like Sharon van Etten, She Keeps Bees, Chris Koza, Matt Weiland, Joseph Rizzo and more. Poetry like mad cakes. Fiction from Franz Nicolay and Mark Hage. A tour diary from Dark Dark Dark. It's mind-blowing; it truly is. Like this photo of a vest ad. It goes well with golf clubs.

New Tapes 'n Tapes

A somewhat grainy video, with really great audio, of a new track from Tapes 'n Tapes called "SWM." (It's from Radio Happy Hour in Minneapolis.)

Heading to Lincoln Soon

Do the Dead Weather quote Maya Deren here?

New Dead Weather video. It's the fashion is Gothic, and there is a lot of mask wearing, but other parts of it seem to be quoting Maya Deren's "Meshes of the Afternoon." Am I just projecting that onto this video or does anyone else see that happening too?

Review of Vanishing Point: Not a Memoir

Good news from InDigest and InDigest 1207 is Tuesday night

Over at the InDigest Blog we've just posted some good news. A story originally published in InDigest has one a Best of the Net award, and two poems from InDigest were finalists for the awards (Nicole Callihan, Ada Limón, and Erica Wright, respectively).

InDigest has also just been made an official member of CLMP (Council of Literary Magazine Presses).

And most importantly, tonight (kind of tomorrow right now, but soon to be tonight) is InDigest 1207 w/ poets CA Conrad and Laura Sims, and essayist Daniel Nester. As per usual things kick off with drinks at 6:30, words at 7. It's free and will be at (le) Poisson Rouge on Bleecker.

Episode #7 of Radio Happy Hour is Out Now!

Episode #7 of Radio Happy Hour, w/ special guests Cursive, author Arthur Phillips, and John & Molly Knefel is out now. You can get a direct download of the podcast here or you can get it for free at the iTunes store.

New John & molly Get Along

Greenberg Review

Open

A film I worked on in Minneapolis, called Open, just became the first American film to win the Jury Prize at Berlinale. Not sure when it will play in the US. But congrats to Jake and everyone on that film that made it great. You can see some images, and interview, and other business here.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Video From Feb. 13 Radio Happy Hour: Jessi Klein Interview

InDigest 1207 is tonight

InDigest's monthly reading series is tonight at (le) Poisson Rouge with poets Matt Hart and Nate Pritts. I will be down there with Jess hosting the reading, and there will be a lot of poetry that is better than a blog post.

The Art of the Steal Review

Dustin on Bookslut (click picture)

Radio Happy Hour Podcast is up online

The new Radio Happy Hour podcast is up online now. You can listen to it/download it here or get it for free at iTunes here.

This episode features Jolie Holland and Jessi Klein.

Philip Glass Scoring Seasame Street Shorts

Charlie Chaplin

I never posted this.
(Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) and Chris Rosneau scoring Charlie Chaplin shorts.)

Currently

Radio Happy Hour broadcast our episode with The Hold Steady and Chuck Klosterman on tonight. Pretty awesome.

Also, Scott at Music Taster's Choice made some videos from last weekend's Radio Happy Hour with Jolie Holland and Jessi Klein. You can see Jolie Holland covering Michael Hurley twice here. Pretty awesome.

Haus

Act I of Radio Happy Hour

The first act of Saturday's (02.13) Radio Happy Hour with Jolie Holland and Jessi Klein has been posted online. Not perfect footage, and some better stuff is coming, but it's not bad at all. Dig it.

New Episode of John & Molly Get Along

Such Beautiful Feet

What's that smell? It's a new issue of InDigest.

Radio Happy Hour, once missing, is found again

We've been off for two months with the Radio Happy Hour stuff. Now, it's starting again, a tour, we'll be on the radio (shhh) someday...., and Jolie Holland w/ Jessi Klein at the February show. Awesome.

Also, bear cam.

Who's That Knocking?

It's a new issue of InDigest.

Possible Book Title: Black Oops: The Blackwater Story

I've got no use for that one. Too much research.

red cliff

Orson Welles and InDigest Anniversary

I almost forgot. InDigest turns two years old today. Nice.

Also, I still love Orson Welles:

The Year in Mustaches

...and other things in the InDigest Awards.

Future Brodeur

read

New Issue of InDigest is Up and About

There is a new issue of InDigest in the streets right now. Contributors include: Anthony Robinson, Jennifer L. Knox, Ricardo Maldonado, Nate Pritts, David Bartone, Lisa Lim, Alex Lemon, Ian Jacoby (of Laarks), Cynthia Hawkins, Jon Loomis and a bunch of other stuff like an interview with Jeff VanderMeer and Murder By Death.

See it here. (indigestmag.com)

Thanks for reading and things.

The Hold Steady did Radio Happy Hour on Saturday....yay

Scott at Music Taster's Choice got some good video of Craig and Tad playing Radio Happy Hour on Saturday.





We're doing it again on Dec. 12.

A New Issue of InDigest, and a New Look as Well, KaBlam

We just had a couple of great designers finish up a whole new look for InDigest, which you might take a look at. That's one thing that you could do.

We've got some new editors too, who I'm in love with. Not in a weird way though. The new issue that they have created is quite wonderful. It features these people: MattHartAlexLemonPeterSilbermanWillSheffAdaLimonRodrigoToscanoJCHallmanCharlesGreeneFrederickZydekandabunchmorepeoplewhowontfitonthislineifikeepgoingonlikethis

You can see the magic at indigestmag.com

Read It

David wrote an article about Radio Happy Hour at MNartists.

More video from Radio Happy Hour

Radio Happy Hour With Andrew W.K.
Uploaded by ephman. - Watch more comedy videos and sitcoms.

InDigest is Looking for New Writers

As you may have read, InDigest is taking a little break over the summer while we organize some new projects, redesign the website, and get some new staff ready for our new life.

As a part of this process we are looking for some new writers who are interested in contributing monthly columns to InDigest. Columnist positions at InDigest are unpaid - none of us really get paid for this thing. We are working towards making sure everyone is compensated, but at the moment that's not the case.

What we are looking for:
- Film Critic
- Music Critic
- Fiction Critic
- Poetry Critic
- Political Columnist
- Sports Columnist
- a cartoonist who'd like to have new work featured regularly
- If you have an idea for a column that is not listed here please feel free to send a proposal
- We are also looking for an intern for the fall semester

None of the positions are location specific, though we do prefer an intern who is either located in New York City or Minneapolis.

TO APPLY:
Please send an e-mail to writers [@] indigestmag.com. The subject line should be "YOUR NAME [TYPE OF COLUMN YOU'RE APPLYING FOR]."

In the body of the e-mail include a proposal for what column you would like to write, your past experience in this field and other publications you have written for. Please attach three writing samples of the type you are applying for.

If you are interested in the intern position please send an email to editors [@] indigestmag.com and explain why you are qualified for the position and attach a resume as well.

PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL ATTACHMENTS SHOULD EITHER BE IN .DOC or .RTF format.
If you can't follow the submission guidelines here (which are pretty simple and straightforward) you will not be considered.

Please be somewhat familiar with the magazine and know what what type of work we have previously published.

amazing.

Last weekend the third episode of Radio Happy Hour was recorded at LPR, with guest star Andrew WK. It's up online now for your listening pleasure. Get it at RadioHappyHour.com or from iTunes.

New Things

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Beeswax>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>and>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Thirst>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>ok.that's>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>all.

Help

Hey, you. Please go here. There is a large grant that is about to be awarded and it's awarded on votes. A program I used to work for, The Lab (ex-The Poetry Lab), is up for a lot of money if it wins this grant. So go vote for it because it's a great program that helps get "at risk" students into college and gets them exploring poetry and art. Good luck Mary.

Watch Your Shins

New Episode of Radio Happy Hour is Online

If you missed this past weekend's performance of Radio Happy Hour you can catch the podcast of the second episode (w/ Michael Showalter) online now. Click here to download the podcast from iTunes.

Radio Happy Hour is Today (and is featured in the NY Post)

The New York Post did a feature on Radio Happy Hour today. There are still a few tickets available.

(Thanks for coming, should you decide that is what you will do with a couple hours of your afternoon...)

Radio Happy Hour Podcast on iTunes

Hey all - you can now download the new Radio Happy Hour podcast over at iTunes. Awesome. There is a teaser for this weekend's show and the full first episode with Norah Jones. Awesome, again.

If you happen to be in New York this week come down to LPR and see the second installment of Radio Happy Hour which will be featuring Michael Showalter. You can get your tickets here.

Episode #1 of Radio Happy Hour (w/ Norah Jones) is online now

Dig it. You can listen to the first episode of Radio Happy Hour now. The first episode featured Norah Jones and can be downloaded by right clicking here. So, there's that. Enjoy it. And then you should maybe be thinking about coming to the second installment of Radio Happy Hour on Saturday which features Michael Showalter. You can buy tickets for that show here.

Minnesotans in New York

Tonight is another installment of Nora & Taya's Minne-apple in the Big Apple at LPR. I'm going to be DJ'ing - it'll be just like The Local Point but without Pockets, and with more than Paul, Colin, Eamonn, and Jake sitting in the studio drinking.

Post-Radio Happy Hour

So, Radio Happy Hour was yesterday. It went really well, and thank you for coming, if that is something you did.

And this is wonderful.

There are some great photos of yesterday's show here (these will probably be up on both the LPR and the RHH websites soon). Come again next month for Michael Showalter's guest appearance on Radio Happy Hour. It's sure to be humiliating for someone.

Ok, that's all. Enjoy the unicorn.

Free Stuff

I haven't really been posting anything I've been writing lately...or at all I suppose...but I've been doing a weekly "column" at F10 for a while now that highlights the best free downloads of the week. Not singles, usually, but full live session, albums, mixtapes, etc. I think it's pretty good. This week there is a live album from Jeffery Lewis & the Junkyard, White Rabbits live on WOXY, John Hardy & The Public's Randy Newman tribute EP, and some other stuff that is also good. You can see it here. It's always at the top of the main page on Mondays.

ok. bye.

ha. humbly.

InDigest Issue 11

Issue 11 is now up, and our contributors in the Narratives section find, through their fiction, new and interesting ways to deal with relationships gone south, and our Poetics section contributor expresses his joy at your appearance in that crown! We also bring you the beautiful work of Sougwen Chung in our Gallery, and welcome back our series InDialogue, where writers and artists talk to each other about, well, anything they want to talk to each other about. Here, two long-time members of the InDigest family, Meakin Armstrong and Sam Osterhout, discuss, among other things, the fate of the funny man, growing old, and why Meakin’s characters don’t have enough sense to get themselves out of the damn basement.

And remember, if you're in New York stop by (le) Poisson Rouge the first Wednesday of every month for the InDigest 1207 reading series, where in June we will be welcoming Stephen Burt, Angela Ball, Rodrigo Toscano, and Giao Buu (and later this summer, John Wray, Marlon James, Ronaldo V. Wilson, and Geoff Herbach).


Narratives
Nicole Callihan's delightfully odd story about a man who sees his friends' relationship somewhat differently than they do.

"One Fish, Two Fish"

&

Peter Bognanni's wild ride into the mystical world of swords...and how they can spice up your love life.

"Historical Replicas Unlimited"


Poetics
Three poems by Michael Ogletree:

"Look at You in That Crown!"
"The Thread"
"Anything Goes, I Guess"


Gallery

Beautiful, swirling prints with muted colors and surprising depth by Sougwen Chung.


InDialogue

Past InDigest Narratives contributors Meakin Armstrong and Sam Osterhout InDialogue.

the 1967 animated Spider-Man TV show

The animation on this is beautiful. Almost a little Deco-ish. Great colors too.

Villaging

The Villager just published their list of the best things to be doing in The Village this summer. Among the list: Radio Happy Hour and The InDigest 1207 Reading Series. Hot damn. Makes me want to fillet a bear. Oh man, there are instructions below. This is my lucky day.

things you need to know

found at the bank last sunday

new show

I am involved in a new show (not performing or anything) but it's going to be great. Especially if you are a displaced Minnesotan living in New York, who happened to Love Electric Arc Radio. Sam and Geoff (the geniuses behind EARS) are starting a new radio show here in New York called Radio Happy Hour and it's going to be fantastic. The first show is on June 13 and the guest star is Norah Jones and we have tickets available here. We've also got a show with Andrew WK in August (and there is a show in July too).

those are all the things i know

Not Doing Much

So, it appears that I never post here any more. I am a manic poster. (as I have deduced from one of those little features I have chosen to stick to the right hand column here)

Population: 485

I just completed reading a book that has been one of those books for me. Sitting in my "to read" pile for far too long. And when this happens, more often than not, the book is returned to the shelf unread and is replaced by the most recent purchases from wherever it is that I'm buying books from this week.

The book, as you may have surmised from the title of this post, is Michael Perry's Population: 485. It's not really a new book, so this probably isn't news to anyone (though he does have a new book out, now at the top of my list). It does exactly what a good memoir should do: it shows the inherent paradoxes of living. The paradoxes we all face. Perry's great insight here is that he can see the paradoxes in his own life and is completely ok with these paradoxes (the trick being that even if you aren't ok with them - which most of us seem not to be - you're going to live with them anyway). He's more than willing to see the incompatibility of the varied lives every person inhabits (the public self, the working self, the private self), weigh out what it means to him, knowing that truth is subjective, and just roll with life as it comes.

I'm little biased here, to be sure, I grew up in a town neighboring his little hamlet of New Auburn, Wisconsin, where the majority of Population: 485 takes place. The book deals with him returning to the small town of his birth and trying to reintegrate himself to everyday life there. He's a writer and volunteer firefighter. His "career" doesn't place him in the mix of community life and, as he finds out, you don't just get accepted into a community (of any kind) just because you're standing nearby. The subtitle of the book, Meeting Your Neighbors One Siren At A Time, sums up the trajectory of what the book is getting at. Yet, the book does so much with so little. It deals with the desire for adventure and heroism, the desire for communal acceptance, what happens when the desire for acceptance isn't compatible with your lifestyle, the nature of watching death repeatedly and how that affects his life, of being someone that an entire community becomes dependent on.

In one passage in particular he digs into what death really means to a community, and looks at how we deal with death on a more personal level, and how we deal with the death we see all the time that doesn't necessarily directly involve our own lives. He sees some old women discussing the recent death of a girl in the community at a cafe. They don't appear to have known the girl very well, if at all. This passage is just beautiful:

Names sand-blasted into the polished Bangalore marble of the Vietnam Memorial, notes left at Ground Zero in New York, the white rose on the folding chair [left in memory of the girl in question at the graduation she would have attended], these are commemorations, but they are also attempts by the living to draw conclusions from the dead. A lot of it, I'm sure, comes from years of being steeped in Christianity, of being told Christ died for our sins. For something. Surely, we tell ourselves, we can't die just because we hit a patch of pebbles on a curve. Surely this is preordination in the pea gravel. We are creatures of myth, hungry for metaphor and allegory, but most of all, hungry for sense. Death-a stillness within the chaos, after all-serves these cravings. Death provides us the pretext and the context within which we may arrange and participate in out own symbolic mythology, to establish significance and import, to reassure ourselves that it all means something. Death is the ultimate passion play, and we want to be on the bill, if only as a member of the chorus.

Ultimately, he finds the redemptive value in this. He sees the paradox in how we deal with death. They grieve because it is part of a communal process, if that can't help the family in a tangible way, if they can't bring the girl back to life, they can try to join in the grieving and make it a communal moment. The flaws in the logic being obvious he praises our desire nonetheless, as humans - as animals, to come together over death.

I highly recommend reading this book. It looks as though it may be some sort of regional fare, a book about small town life. It is not. It is much more than that. It is one of the best memoirs I've probably ever read.

Name of the Year Contest

This is hilarious

Martin Brodeur wins 552nd game, is most winning goalie ever

Where are the new ideas we've been promised?

From the New York Times today:

The American International Group [AIG], which has received more than $170 billion in taxpayer bailout money from the Treasury and Federal Reserve, plans to pay about $165 million in bonuses by Sunday to executives in the same business unit that brought the company to the brink of collapse last year.

The company is claiming that they "have no choice," bonuses had already been promised in contracts. At what point does the government quit fearing the big businesses and lobbyists and say That's too fucking bad? If those bonuses have to be paid than AIG should figure out how they can fulfill those contracts outside of government money. 

The government's stance when it comes to the companies receiving bailout money who are doling out huge bonuses has been What can we do? They have the money already. There are contracts. There is plenty that can be done. Tax them for their bonuses. Hell, just take some back, all of the installments haven't been paid at this point. It's unacceptable. Obama's chief economic advisor, Larry Summers, said on ABC's "This Week" that the bonuses are "outrageous," but that's not good enough when the government continues to posture itself as helpless, they have all the leverage. Furthermore, they understood from the beginning how these companies have been using their bailout money, yet Congress refused to attach any strings to TARP. The administration's response to this news is leaving me feeling, like Jon Stewart said in his Jim Cramer interview, that they're all in on it, that the average American is providing the capital for their adventure. The notion that AIG can't break their contracts for CEOs bonuses is unbelievable. On two fronts we are already seeing that in a situation like this contracts are not always the most important thing. Auto-workers are letting the industry shred their contracts and create new terms for the unions, and the government is considering giving bankruptcy courts the power to shred contracts and re-negotiate homeowner mortgages. Why should bonuses for executives be exempt? 

Remember in January when John C. Hope III, chairman of Whitney National Bank in New Orleans, publicly talked about what his bank was going to do with the $300 million they received in bailout funds? "Make more loans? ... We’re not going to change our business model or our credit policies to accommodate the needs of the public sector as they see it to have us make more loans." If this is how the banking industry and Wall St. feel then what was the point of giving them more money? Between CEO bonuses and banks, like Hope's, that are just storing the money away, it seems that there was no logical reason to bail them out. They could not have needed that money that bad if they aren't using it to sustain the business. And why does it continue to happen? At this point we should have realized that there is no trickle down. The only way the country is going to recover is by putting money in the hands of those who are actually struggling. $165 million could provide a whole lot of scholarships to people who might not be able to afford skyrocketing tuition, provide help to failing public schools, assist homeowners with failing mortgages, or help new businesses start up. 

The problem with these kinds of measures to revive the economy is it is putting faith in the exact same businesses and ideas that got America into this mess. There is an overwhelming lack of funding for new ideas right now. When the New Deal brought America out of the Great Depression there was an emphasis on new ideas. Reviving the economy through new businesses, new jobs, new public works. What we've seen so far is an attempt to get what has failed back on it's feet. The businesses that have received bailout money have shown no signs of planning on changing their methods. They should not receive a second or third chance. The executives who have put us in this situation should be given a cell right next to Madoff.

This notion of reviving what is already there instead of trying something new is part of the plan up and down. The NEA received funds to help ailing non-profit arts organizations. All of their new funding has to be distributed to organizations that have received NEA funding in the past. Again, why can't everyone apply on equal ground and give start ups a chance where they see fit. AIG is just one of many companies that is giving out bonuses to CEOs with taxpayer money, but take what their giving out alone - $165 million - how many non-profits could benefit from that? This is becoming a standard, we're investing in businesses that refuse to invest in America.

The government's refusal to fund new ideas, and to just accept that there is nothing that can be done about these big businesses whose back room bargains lead us to this financial crisis is mind-boggling. These CEOs have already been given a get-out-jail-free card, why just accept that they can squander the bailout money they received? If I cheat on my taxes I have to pay for it. If I steal from my place of employment, I get fired. If I steal from a customer at my place of business, I get fired. If I sign a contract that I can't pay I have to find a way to make good on it. If they steal from their business, and it's customers, I have to chip in, with the rest of the country, to ensure that they can continue to have a summer home.

Please Note:

If you have leeches crawling on you, you are either in water or you're with an apothecary.

not in it for the money

More Robert Bolano Discovered

It seems to me that Robert Bolano might be the most prolific dead author I've ever heard of. English translations of three novels and four collections of short stories are already slated to be released in 2001. Then there was the unveiling of a novel that was never published at a book fair (of sorts) in October. Now The Guardian is reporting that, while sorting through his piles and piles of notes et cetera at his estate in Spain they have discovered two more novels that were never published, and what they believe is the sixth part of the previously five part 2666. Add to that list that both 2666 and The Savage Detectives weren't translated into english until 2008 and 2007, respectively, and that makes for eight novels published posthumously in English (four were never released at all), four collections of short stories which were never published, and a possible epilogue to 2666 which was never published. Can't think of anyone who published more work after their death. Dickinson is a close analogy, but her body of work doesn't compare to this. Henry Darger didn't have any recognition until his death either, but, again, that's a little different. His work was epic, but there was really only one gigantic piece of work with art to accompany it. I really can't think of anyone else that compares. No real word on if these newly discovered novels and the sixth part of 2666 are going to be published, but Bolano's widow hired a new literary agent after his death and he's been pushing to get things published. Odds are they will be released at some point.

On Necessarily Skeptical Poetry Reviews

Jason Guriel has written a really great prelude to his reviews at the Poetry Foundation. The article, titled "Going Negative" highlights the importance of negative reviews of poetry and how those types of reviews are necessary for poetry. A small taste:

when a book of poetry receives a tough verdict we often label the review “negative” and speculate about the reviewer’s motives, the agenda behind the takedown. Indeed, behind words like “negative” and “agenda” and “takedown” lurks the sense that the reviewer is the one making the trouble, and the book of poetry—whether it deserved a kicking or not—is being bullied. We’re far less paranoid about motives when, say, a movie receives a tough review in the New Yorker or Slate or Rolling Stone, even when we disagree with the verdict—even when we’re so outraged we fire off an e-mail to some editor’s in-box. This is because negative reviews of movies (and LPs and TV shows, etc.) represent the norm, and aren’t usually labeled “negative.” Movie critics with whom we disagree are merely wrong; poetry critics (and politicians) go negative.

After all, how many volumes of new poetry published in the last calendar year will still be jarring us in five years? In one? Shouldn’t the negative review, if we’re honest and adult about it, be the norm? And if so, shouldn’t we retire the adjective “negative” in favor of something far more accurate, if a little awkward, like “necessarily skeptical,” as in, “Man, William Logan sure has gone necessarily skeptical on that poet?”

Bam

Bam bam-bam

What People I Like Are Doing Right Now

David reviewed Alejandro Zambra’s Bonsai at the Guernica blog.

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25 Things You Might Not Know About Me by Martin Devaney from Twin Cities Daily Planet.

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The Antler's were interviewed at Prefix.

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What authors read at the latest InDigest 1207 with Jibade-Khalil Huffman and Paul Dickinson.

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Oh yeah, I'm Reading Tonight

Oh yeah, I forgot to put anything about this up.

I'm reading tonight! With great writers! Yay!

It's for Minnesota Monthly Happy Hour at (Le) Poisson Rouge. The event starts at 6pm, and I think the reading starts at 6:30pm.

Sam Osterhout, Paul Dickinson, and David Doody will also be reading. StarDweller (ex Winter Blanket) will also be playing. It's like a little Minnesota in the Village. I think there are drink specials and tatter tot hot dish too. So, at the very least, if you've never had tatter tot hot dish you should come eat Minnesota.

A Thoroughly Self-Interested Post About What People I Know, or People I Like, Are Doing

David wrote a piece that made me go straight to Alibris and purchase two books by Bill Holms. Holm's passed away earlier this week. David wrote about him for Guernica.

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Crack in Damn just joined MySpace and posted some new songs. You should be their friend, I like them. These new tracks are really great. Stand by for east coast touring.

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Bob Boilen, on All Songs Considered, is claiming that 2009 is already a better year in music that 2008. His number one album of 2009? The Antlers' Hospice Nice. I would have to agree. It's great.
The Antlers have a CD release show at Union Hall (Brooklyn) on Thursday. I am going to go to this. It's going to be great.
There is a listening party on Tuesday, at (Le) Poisson Rouge, for their new album. Open bar from 9-10. It's true. I'm not a liar. At least right now I'm not.

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Brad has a great new poem on The Daily Poem Factory Machine called "I Don't Even Know How Whitney Houston Got My Number." It's a marvelous thing. Really.

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Marlon James had a review of his new novel, The Book of Night Women, published in the New York Times Sunday Book Review. They liked it. You might as well. I'm not sure, maybe you should read the review.
Marlon is reading at Common Good Books in St. Paul at the end of the month. You could do this instead of reading the NYT review.

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Kendra Grant Malone has a new flash fiction piece posted at NanoFiction. Which I site I am just discovering and I think it has some really great stuff.

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The Music Slut is giving away free tickets to the Cut Copy DJ Set at LPR.

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Haley Bonar just did a Daytrotter session. It's pretty good.

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The New Yorker just published an excerpt from the IRS novel David Foster Wallace was finishing when he died. It will be released...at some point

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Cursive is giving away their new album Mama, I'm Swollen for $1 today. It goes up $1 every day until it comes out on 03.10. It's ok. Worth the $1 I paid.

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Oh, and, I've said this, but there is new InDigest up. It has Mackenzie Epping, Kate Casanova, Charles Greene, Ashleigh Lambert, and Mandy Herrick.

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I wrote stuff recently at Rift, Tiny Mix Tapes, and f10.