More B-Day Surprises

B.day treats for me

part one of new poem

it's newish, but i just cut it in half and might do a few that relate to this, kind of.

With Women Fainting in Spain (I)

bald on top, ponytails dreadlocking
into single entities, this guy carries a land-line
telephone receiver on a train platform,
his hand barely emerging from his army
issue jacket, as though his hands were portable
telephones, as though he received a phone call
so saturated he couldn’t let go, as though the recruiter
held him for years, years that submerged from view
like the fish in the Gulf that took my pole,
he’s staring sideways – watching his reflection
in the graying white tiles, with muddy
footprints caked to the walls, days old –
his reflection in that dirt little more than shadowless form –
while he practices startling kung-fu,
phone hands, or
what you imagine kung-fu
to be, if you, like me, aren’t sure what separates
kung-fu
from karate,
from jujitsu,
though I know samurais
and the Tokugawa-era unification of Japan,
I’ve practiced miming Miyamoto Musashi
with less physical clarity, dandruff
showering concrete dust below the dresser,
cat sleeping pressed against the mirror, less impressed
than my mother

I've gone bland

Self-Publishing as the Next Phase?

The New York Times had an interesting article, this past week, on the rise of the self publishing industry. It outlines how this industry has contributed to the boom in the number of books published every year, and how the profits of these companies have shot through the roof.

I, of course, believe that, in a significant way, the future of the literary magazine will be found online, it maybe hasn't reached it's full potential. But, in many ways, where the literary magazine goes, is where a segment of the industry will go. Maybe it's a narrow-minded view, based on me working with InDigest, but I frequently think about the future of publishing in terms of what the internet has to offer literature. I don't often think about self-publishing as a modicum of the future of the industry. Yet, this is certainly something that has gained prominence, and affordability, through the internet. But what does this offer the industry at large? A much larger number of books to compete with? A new avenue for authors to get their work seen? A larger pile of crap for the readers of the world to wade through?

My initial reaction to this article was largely the same as the author of the article. It's interesting that this attracts so many writers and artists, but it doesn't really offer a lot in terms of excitement for it's future as an art form. I would never go to a site that offers self-published books looking for something to read. But maybe I'm missing something here, maybe there is some validity in this development, but I'm still not seeing it.

It's an interesting development and it's worth thinking about.

Deb Olin Unferth

This is pretty great. If you are in NYC she is reading at the InDigest Reading Series in April, you should come. I'm looking forward to it.

Snuggie Addendum

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

"Liberation Square" by Josh Weil

Meakin recommended the author Josh Weil to me recently (whose new novel New Valley is attracting a lot of attention). He has a great story called "Liberation Square" that you should check out. It's a novel excerpt. Weil has a great grasp of dialogue, the story is funny and sad, and quite engaging. I recommend reading this story.

Awesome

Snuggies

Everyone has seen the Snuggie commercials by now. But I was sure, when I started to see these commercials all over around Christmas time, that this was going to be a complete dud. How could this be a success? Look at it:



It reminds me of the 30 Rock episode where Tracy Jordan makes The Tracy Jordan Meat Machine because bread is so hard to use ("Meat is the new bread"). What kind of idiot has difficulty using a blanket?

30 Rock - The Meat Machine | Movies & TV | SPIKE.com

Well, apparently there are a lot of people who don't think a blanket with sleeves is called a sweatshirt. This article has revealed the genius of the Snuggie to me. They are totally fucking sold out of these abominations. They have already, in three months, sold over four million Snuggies. Who is buying these things? And why the fuck didn't I think of this. Oh, wait, I did.

Honestly, I think I invented the Snuggie years ago, and am seriously considering suing them. There is a photo of me, that my mother took, at about age six, wearing her bath robe backwards. Shazam, that's where good ideas come from right there. Cause let's face it, a wearable blanket is really just a robe on backwards. Look at it. I'm about to be rich, you can touch me now.


AV Club
Vice

Jobhunting is Not for the..erm...Light of Heart

I have a lot of friends that check in here occasionally and are doing some job hunting, and with the Bush legacy continuing to empty your retirement accounts I thought I'd provide a little community service here for friends and strangers alike. 

See, a friend of mine just found his dream job on Craigslist and he's too scared to apply. And, god dammit, in these financial times it's hard to watch a good job like that go unfilled. So, I'm reposting the ad here, so that someone who is prepared for such responsibilities can take a job worthy of their schooling.

Aspiring R&B singer/rapper needs an entourage to help with entrances and 'causing a scene'

- Experience in dance a plus
- Male and female accepted
- Attire will be provided
- Aspiring singers and actors need not apply (not looking for competition)
- Positive outlook a MUST
- Thirst for danger also a major plus
- Must work Nights and Weekends

This is not your normal job! applicants must be SERIOUS about being part of something bigger than themself (my posse)!

The light of heart need not apply!

Please include qualifications and picture imbedded in the e-mail ATTACHMENTS WILL NOT BE OPENED!

Best of luck.

InDigest 1207 Photos - January 7th, 2009

Check out the photo album from the January InDigest 1207 reading with Ada Limon, Sam Osterhout, and Jess Grover.

InDigest 1207 Reading Series - January 7th, 2009

Nice Things About InDigest @ MnArtists

David Doody was asked to contribute some of his thoughts on the year in art to MNartists, and some nice things were said about Chris Koza, Geoff Herbach, and InDigest. Always nice to get a nod in MNartists (which is a great resource you should check out, if you live in MN).

Dave Schwartz's Superpowers is an amazing novel by a local author in 2008 that is all the more so because, in less careful hands, the book could have been awful. His handling of the events of 9/11 is heartbreaking and understated and beautiful. Also released last year was Geoff Herbach's The Miracle Letters of T. Rimberg (read a great review from Ashleigh Lambert at InDigest here), an unapologetically uplifting book and, as always with Herbach, hilarious. And, lastly, my shameless plug for InDigest Magazine. Although we technically launched in 2007, InDigest came into its own in 2008. From the beginning we've offered a unique home for Minnesota writers and artists to be showcased on a national and international stage, and in our anniversary issue we published many of our favorite Minnesota writers and artists again.

Heavy Metal Flow Chart

Chris Koza Tonight!!

One of InDigest's founding editors, Chris Koza, is playing a show tonight in New York. So, all of our NYC friends should come out and have a drink with us. This will be the first time he is bringing his entire band out to New York. (He's played here many times, even lived here, but never with his full band, and it's going to be great.) He's playing in the Lower East Side at Piano's, and should be taking the stage around 8pm tonight. If you're looking for something to do early in the evening this is going to be the spot tonight.

If you haven't heard his newest disc The Dark Delirious Morning, you should go to his MySpace page and take a listen. And then you will want to come out, hear him, and have a drink with me and David (and many other wonderful people). See you there.

Fake Press

I'm thinking about starting a line of fake businesses for people to invest in. I'm not going to lie about it at all. But people will respect this as an "art" project, or just get a good old man chuckle out of my brashness.

The first handful of companies I'm thinking of starting this week are The Fake Film Society, Fake Press (a publishing house), Fake Pants (I know this has been done before, but the emperor is dead), and Fake Fake Records.

If you are interested in donating to any of these startups please leave your checks with the comments department and we will respond as soon as possible. Unfortunately, due to the huge interest in financial backing with these projects we cannot, at this time, respond to everyone as quickly as we would wish. Rest assured, however, that we will get to your message, and we will get around to cashing your checks. I'd leave an address here for you to mail checks directly but at the moment our Fake P.O. Box is full and the Fake Interns do not seem to remember where the Fake Key is to open the Fake P.O. Box.

Thanks for tuning in and donating. Stand by for more messages soon from Fake Industries LLC.

An Early Draft of 100 Things Americans May Not Know About the Bush Administration Record

I have a new article up at Guernica. It's An Early Draft of 100 Things Americans May Not Know About the Bush Administration Record. Here's a little piece of it:

PROVIDED UNPRECEDENTED RESOURCES FOR VETERANS

- There are many veterans who received medical attention. Ask one.
- No, not that one. How about the guy next to him.
- No?
- Raise your hand if you are a veteran and are satisfied with your medical coverage.
- You’re going to have to just trust us on this one.

I also have a couple of new reviews up. There is a review of Carlos Reygada's brilliant film Silent Light over at Tiny Mix Tapes, and a review of El Guincho's new disc Alegranza! over at F10. Thanks for reading them, if you do.

Blackwater

So, I was doing a little research for an article today and I came upon this clip. You've probably seen it before, but I hadn't. This is the President responding to questions about what laws do apply to Blackwater USA while they operate in Iraq.

Pinpointing the Problem:

Clearly putting a "Mission Accomplished" on a aircraft carrier was a mistake. It sent the wrong message. We were trying to say something differently, but, nevertheless, it conveyed a different message. Obviously, some of my rhetoric has been a mistake. I've thought long and hard about Katrina. You know, could I have done something differently. Like, land Air Force One in either New Orleans or Baton Rouge. The problem with that and, uh, is that...umm...law enforcement would have been pulled away from the mission. And then your questions, I suspect, would have been, "How could you possibly have flown Air Force One into Baton Rouge and police officers that were needed, uh, to expedite traffic out of New Orleans were taken off the task to look after you?"

- President George W. Bush

I just thought it would be of benefit for people to see this portion of his valedictory press conference transcribed. It resonates slightly different would you look at the rhetoric and structure of the statement. This all despite the fact that President revealed during this press conference that there is "no such thing as short term history."

100 Things Americans May Not Know About the Bush Administration Record

This list has been all over the hard news sources this last week (Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me, The Daily Show) but I finally just made my way over to the White House website to read this... ... illuminating ... list.

If you have ever seen Bush speak over the past eight years I think there is little chance that you "May Not Know" any most of these. In fact, if you don't know some of these it would be a good reintroduction to the world now that you have woken up from your coma. The number one thing you may not know is that he "KEPT AMERICA SAFE." The bullet point under this ... illuminating ... fact is: "For more than seven years after September 11, 2001, prevented another attack on our homeland."

Really? I did not know that. If you are just waking from your coma and think that's a pretty great record, I'd like to direct your attention to the two words "seven years." In America, our presidents serve terms of four years, unless reelected they serve for eight years. He served for eight years. ...

Point two: "Waged the Global War on Terror." How do they suspect that anyone in America might not know that we are currently neck deep in two wars? The first bullet point under this header is: "Removed threatening regimes in Iraq and Afghanistan, which freed 50 million people." I'm curious what happened to those "50 million people" who were "freed," where are they now? In the most dangerous regions in the world? Well, freedom does have it's price.

"Created Institutions to Propel the Spread of Democracy Worldwide, Helped Oppressed People Secure their Freedom, and Strengthened Support for Dissidents and Democracy Activists" How about the RNC protesters, or other "dissidents" in America and abroad that have had their phones tapped without warrants, or the "dissidents" who can't get a trail in Guantanamo?

I don't really want to go through this point by point and berate the president, but there were a couple that I thought were quite funny. This gem: "Confronted Climate Change through Innovation and without Harming our Economy." There really isn't any way to properly start in on this. Clever language, it doesn't outright say he made an impact, or took on "Global Warming." "Without Harming our Economy?" Well, I guess the lack of policy on global warming in general couldn't be said to harm our economy through it's non-existence. But this implies that the economy is fine, if it isn't it's not the Bush Administration's fault, and they really care about the environment. Wow. Again. What can I say? That is something that I did not know about the Bush administration.

Severance

I was just rereading Robert Olen Butler's Severance, and I had forgotten how good it is. Butler is a god damn master of fiction. His structures are so intricate, yet so by-the-book, so unexpected. Nothing else.

REviEw

Videos, again. Cause I have nothing interesting to say this evening.

Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis by Between Two Ferns

Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis by Between Two Ferns

Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis by Between Two Ferns

Sometimes I can't get over how freaking weird the world is...

The Waste Land pt. I: The Burial of the Dead

The Waste Land pt. I: The Burial of the Dead from Dustin Luke Nelson on Vimeo.

This is a new, rough version, of the first part of The Waste Land series that was last installed in The Shoebox Gallery in Minneapolis. It was shown there as a silent film, with the text scrolling. This new version features a soundtrack by Chris Thompson.

Goodbye, for now, Norm Coleman

As of noon today Coleman is officially out of the Senate. He might be back, but it seems unlikely that either he or Franken will be provisionally seated in congress as neither the Democrats nor the Republicans have a filibuster proof majority. So, unless he takes the lead back from Franken (which we may not know for months), the senate is down another member, and Minnesota is a slightly better state.

Loaded Sentences

After reading Joe Finck's essay on Jim Thompson I decided I had to read After Dark, My Sweet. And I did. And it was great.

It reminded me several times how hard it is to pivot between sections or scenes with a good loaded-sentence, you know, one that sounds well constructed, it's short, precise, and loaded with information. It can be tough to create one that doesn't feel tacked on, like a cliffhanger in a serial TV show, or a children's book chapter ending. There are two sentences in particular that were so well crafted I can't stop thinking about them, it kind of makes my feet fall asleep.

The final sentence in the book, "I just kind of stopped all over," and a sentence in one of the final chapters that resides on it's own, "Rushing towards the end." Both of those sentences are so great. Very precise, retaining the odd voice of the narrator, who is unreliable and unstable. So, good. Nothing more right now, just a short bit of nonsense about what I am thinking about.

Maybe it's just that I'm sitting on my feet. That could be why they are sleeping. Ok. That's it now. Shut it down.

Wait, anything else? Yes. Read "Weegee Stories" by Robert Olen Butler. It's pretty awesome, the kind of shit that might shatter a puffin's cute little porcelain face. He does flash better than just about anyone.

New Year

"For last year's words belong to last year's language, and next year's words await another voice."

TS Eliot

kind of funny

The Final Year End List

Hey all. I have one last word on the end-of-the-year-listing-hysteria. I just put up a list (which now has a bunch of MP3's as well) of the 25 Overlooked Albums of 2008. It's ok. You should maybe read it and then tell me how I got it wrong. You can see it here. That's all.
Out.

Where Does He Find Time in the Day?

Last Night I Was a Child in a Drawer

A child alone in a field.
Mouth full of candy,
Mouth full hay,
Mouth full of flies and cherries,
with pits of white sands,
a desert of white hills
that roll like a child’s tongue singing.


A grey silhouette,
steps,
page by page,
slowly sliding iron-pressed feet across concrete leaves,

they ease over,

235,
236,
237.
he stops,
rests,
buckles the pages,
shelves. A tongue

slowly caressing the lower rim of a lip, a parking garage of movement,
ascension spiral,
dabbing, smearing, and ingesting
the last drops of cherry excrement sliding down
a face.
The streetlights have come on, and I am a child,
alone,
in a drawer

In Case You Missed It:

In case you missed it the new issue of Esquire is called something to the effect of "The Meaning of Life Issue." This issue features some young artists (musicians, comedians, actors, scientists, poets, etc.) who are grappling in an interesting way with this omnipresent issue. The front spread (as you can see below) is Alex Lemon. Awesome. Esquire published some poetry, and picked a damn good poet, at that. Maybe this is yet another sign that a depression isn't the worst thing in the world. (Is it just me or does it seem like there may be a little bit of a focus on the arts.) Either way it's pretty great that a magazine like Esquire is giving a good poet some attention.

InDigest One Year Anniversary Party Photos

Lech Harris moderately obscured by a microphone



Paul Engels



Crack in the Damn (Paul Engels, Ryan Thompson, and Dan Lehn) Photo taken by Omar Mallick



Peter Bognanni (photo taken from Minnesota Microphone)

I've Been Writing

Stuff I've written lately:

Art & Activism: An Interview with Ted Hearne
An Interview with John Darnielle (The Mountain Goats)
Tiny Mix Tapes Best Films of 2008
Review of Kieran Hebden & Steve Reid's NYC
Review of Cadillac Records

David and I just started InDigest 1207 at LPR
David and I also just had our One-Year Anniversary Party for InDigest in St. Paul. There will photos up on the blog soon. (It was also picked as a Rake Magazine Secret of the City/)


Friends:
Jess Grover, Brad Liening, Stephen Burt, Meakin Armstrong, Lech Harris, Meggie Elder, Ada Limon, Erica Wright, and J. Albin Larson all have new work up in InDigest.

InDigest Celebrates a Whole Year of InDigesting

There is a brand new issue of InDigest up online, right now!

We are celebrating our one-year anniversary by having some past contributors showcase some of their newest work.

Here is the scoop on the issue:

InPoetics:
New poetry from Stephen Burt, Ada Limon, Brad Liening, Meggie Elder, Jess Grover, and Erica Wright

InNarratives:
"The Town Secrets," an excerpt from a novel-in-progress, Kings of the Wild Frontier by Meakin Armstrong.

"Interior Illusions," an excerpt from a novella in progress of the same title by Lech Harris.

"Hunting Bambi," a new short story from J. Albin Larson.

InErratica:
In Blunt Force Trauma, a new column about underrepresented books and authors, columnist Joe Finck tackles the legacy of Jim Thompson, the classic pulp novelist.

In Bedside Stacks, Ashleigh A. Lambert takes on The Miracle Letters of T. Rimberg by Geoff Herbach and Vacation by Deb Olin Unferth.

InMusic:
InDigest editor Dustin Luke Nelson interviews composer Ted Hearne, and John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats.

InGallery:
Paintings from Kara Hendershot.

Thanks, once again and always, for reading. We can't overstate how pleased we are to have the opportunity to publish new, interesting, and compelling work for just over a year now. And a special thanks to all who have lent a hand to make this past year possible. First, Dustin and I would like to thank Jesse Sawyer and Chris Koza, two of the founding editors of InDigest. This magazine would not exist without their presence in the beginning. And thanks to all who have given their time in some way or another over the year: Jeremy Smith, Reina Podell, Jay Peterson, Alex Lemon, Charles Greene, Ashleigh Lambert, Jess Grover, Ryan Thompson, Chris Thompson, Dan Wieken, and Neil Reiter - there are a probably a lot of people we are missing here, and we're sorry if we missed you. Suffice to say that David and Dustin are not InDigest by themselves, it takes a whole lot of people to keep this running. Thank you all. And thank you for reading.

David and Dustin
Editors, InDigest Magazine

Thanks for reading this blog, and InDigest, actually.

Literature Maps

I just saw this at Jim's Blog, and this is great, and fun, and maybe useful, I'm not sure, its late.

Literature Maps

I think it may not actually have a lot of uses, but it's really cool, and it goes well at 3am with a glass of wine and Four Tet. I recommend viewing in that fashion. If you do not have Four Tet on your iTunes, or a glass of wine handy, or maybe it's just early and you don't want to drink, I recommend doing it anyway.

Best Films of 2008

I'm a contributor on Tiny Mix Tapes Best Films of 2008. Go take a look, it looks pretty good.

Today

It snowed in Brooklyn yesterday. Finally feels a little bit like Christmas-time. 1207 starts in two and a half days. Awesome. The Wild just announced that Gaborik is back tonight. Torn about that. Kind of want him gone. Kind of want the Wild to start scoring goals. Kind of want their five game losing streak to end. New InDigest issue in a day or two. Have five articles going up places this week after a lull of feeling like I can't write. Vacation begins in two days. Saw Dark Dark Dark and The Antlers last night, both were awesome. That's everything I was going to write about in fragments. I didn't sleep till 2pm today either, which was a problem I had yesterday.

It was

Film Screening Tonight

I know I've posted this up before, but I thought I'd do it again. I have a film screening tonight at Intermedia Arts. It's a part of The Dance Film Project put on by Cinema Revolution. Should be great, a few short films, live performances, live music, a real cabaret of art. I don't remember details well, but you can find all the details on tonight's screening here.

My film is called "Alongside Sympathetic Neurons" and it's a collaboration with choreographer Mandy Herrick. If the whole film was still images, one part of it would like the picture here.

Best American Poetry

InDigest is about ready to release our anniversary issue. (Given, it's about two weeks after our actual anniversary, but what do you want from me?) We are very fortunate to have a great poem from poet/critic/blogger/professor/friend/all-around-good-guy-who's-way-smarter-than-me-and-I-remember-that-every-time-I-read-his-criticism-especially-the-great-review-of-Zot!-he-just-published-in-the-new-issue-of-Rain-Taxi Stephen Burt. This poem ("After Virgil" - a celebratory poem) is currently being previewed at the Best American Poetry Blog and you should go take a look at it. We're also very fortunate that the gust blogger over there this week H.L. Hix wanted to use this poem and that he had such nice things to say about InDigest over there at the blog. Thanks.

If you aren't familiar with the Best American Poetry Blog (of course you know the series, but) take a look at the blog, it's very good, and full of ways to lose yourself reading poems, interviews, etc. for far longer than your employer would probably find acceptable.

End of Year Lists

I have a real love/hate affair going with end of the year lists. I think it simplifies things and infuriates me, but it's also great when I see an album listed that I haven't heard and I might love. Then I feel inadequate, but that's ok, that's my own shit. But, not sure why, I just feel like it, I'm going to compile a whole bunch of these lists here, because I've been looking at them all morning. Mostly because I'm about to post my own list at Favorite10 this coming week, and I think most of these lists are cop-outs. Anyhow, here's a bunch of lists for people like me: you hate them, but look at the all the time and never tell anyone, unless it's on your blog, because that's impersonal and I don't have to own up to shit.

NOTE: This got silly and I've moved it elsewhere. To actually see this post (sans the snark ass comments that were here, go here.

Something about grammar that makes me mad.

I can be a grammar Nazi, I know that, and I'm ok with that. (Note: I am certainly not always this way, frequently a just ramble on this blog, but generally I am.) I subscribe to a notion that proper grammar should be noted, used and it should be a beautiful thing. In fact, that might be one of the best parts about grammar, it's beautiful, when used properly there is a beautiful aesthetic to it. But every now and then I come across some proper grammar that has a horrendous aesthetic to me, and that's a dichotomy that I don't think a whole lot of.

I came across this situation about a week ago, I had been rather sick for about a week and was struggling putting an article together that was long overdue (my accommodating editor gave me an extension). I was trying to say something to the effect of "the second band of the night, Ann Arbor, Michigan's Mason Proper,". (I know that's not quite correct punctuation there, but I wanted to be sure to include the comma I had after Mason Proper. Also that sentence isn't exactly what I wrote but there was the introductory phrase comma Ann Arbor comma Michigan's Mason Proper comma.) The comma use in that sentence is hideous. I hate it. Now I know I can simply change the structure of the sentence, but the comma use between city and state in a sentence is an ugly thing. I was further aggravated by simply trying to determine if it was even necessary to include Michigan. Were Mason Proper from Atlanta, New York or Seattle there wouldn't be much of a problem. Ann Arbor isn't really an obscure city, but it's also not Chicago or Minneapolis. It would definitely be necessary if I was saying Eau Claire, Wisconsin's Bon Iver. But I'm not. And I still think that looks wrong. But I've been told this is right. Maybe someone knows of something besides the Chicago Manual that would tell me I don't need the comma there. Because I don't want it there.

In the end this is all silly because I believe I just restructured the sentence to avoid the grammatical seizure I was having. Nonetheless, that's a horrible rule. The comma should evaporate in a sentence, maybe not, maybe it still makes sense, but I don't like how it looks, it's like stuttering over something that shouldn't be difficult.

Press play on the first video, wait for it to start, then hit play on the second video. It's so beautiful.

YouTube, I Love You but You're Bringing Me Down

This just reminds me of being in college and drinking in a dorm room. Also "Tiny Dancer" is a fucking great song, so don't try to tell me otherwise. Elton John's version is probably a little bit better, but this is amusing. But this is the kind of stream of conscience association that continues to draw me back to YouTube this week. It's magnetic. I really only ended up looking back at this because I was reading about the announcement of the Grammy nominees and then I was reading about the show that happened after the nomination ceremony. I heard that The Foo Fighters cover Carly Simon's "You're So Vain" and that made me want to find that video, which I did, so I was writing this post and I remembered how Dave Grohl always seems to be covering something and then it lead me, mentally, back to college, when I loved this cover (now I think it's ok, but that's how it goes, I used to really like The Bronx too).



I still don't get this one but this was Rebecca Porte's GChat status (sorry for exposing any secrets this might be a front for). It's really funny, not that I really understand why it's funny, it just is.



This was left on my computer at my desk at work and I just keep watching it. It's not really funny. Nothing happens. But I keep going back and watching it again and shamefully laughing to myself.



And then (as another example of how this goes) when I was trying to think of a band I liked when college started, that wasn't too embarrassing, but just embarrassing enough to make my point, I came up with The Bronx, and a video popped into my head. So, I tracked it down and posted a link to it. Then I watched it. Now I've decided that the video is still really great. It's like a B-Movie in three minutes. Now I'm posting that.



As long as I'm posting videos you should see the new video for LCD Soundsystem's "New York, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down," it stars Kermit in New York singing, with James Murphy in his ass.

InDigest 1207

Introducing the
InDigest 1207 Reading Series
presented by InDigest Magazine and (Le) Poisson Rouge


December 19th, 2008
InDigest One Year Anniversary Reading with:
Lech Harris
Meggie Elder
TBA
Music by: Ryan Thompson & TBA
9:30pm
@ Coffee New Cafe
St. Paul, MN


January 7th, 2009
InDigest 1207 Reading Series featuring:
Ada Limon
Sam Osterhout
Jess Grover
6pm-10pm
@ (Le) Poisson Rouge
New York, NY

InDigest Magazine is proud to announce a new reading series, bringing
together new and established voices for a night of reading, drinks and
entertainment. In the first installment, poets Ada Limon and Jess Grover will be
joined by short story writer and humorist Sam Osterhout (of the Lit 6
Project) and special guests TBA. In addition to reading their own
work, authors will read the work of other authors who have informed
their work, made them want to write, inspired a moment of brilliance,
or showed them how they don't want to write.

Please join us at (Le) Poisson Rouge for these amazing writers.
Drink, listen, and be merry.

All attendees will be able to listen to the writers and enjoy the fine
gallery space, currently featuring artists Chuck Close & Devorah
Sperber, and join in the happy hour specials all night.

Prior to the first installment of InDigest 1207 we will be having a
very special One-Year Anniversary reading in St. Paul at Coffee News
Cafe. Featured readers will include Lech Harris and Meggie Elder, with
music by Ryan Thompson (more TBA). Please join us in St. Paul for a
celebration of one year of InDigest.

One Year

In case you didn't read my sad little post over at the InDigest Blog it's the one-year-anniversary of InDigest today. Just one short year ago we emerged from the afterbirth with our first issue. Though I've never really been someone who cares a whole lot about birthdays so that's really all I can manage to say on the subject, it's today. That's all. Make that two sad little posts today. What do you say on a birthday or anniversary about yourself? I can't think of anything reasonable to say, and it certainly isn't this, this is not reasonable. Greenzo out.

I almost feel sad for myself because I found this...

Flight of the Conchords to Debut Online

Season 2 of Flight of the Conchords is about to start. Whoo hoo. Even better: Season 2 (like 30 Rock) is going to debut online. Yay for Flight of the Conchords, and the world wide web, yay.

Some Good Things Happening

It's the anniversary of InDigest, and there are all sorts of wonderful things going on. It was a beautiful day in Brooklyn. Brad Liening has a really great poem in the new issue of FOU. InDigest has a big announcement that will saturate the internet later in the week. I'm going to see El Guincho tomorrow, and Tim Hecker on Friday (@ LPR). I have a film screening in Minneapolis on December 12 & 13. We're giving away a whole bunch of free MP3's at Favorite 10 this week. The Wild have won two in a row (without trying to jinx the 2-2 tie they have going with Colorado right now after the 1st UPDATE: Bouchard just scored at the start of the 2nd to make in 3-2 Wild). I read some great new poetry this morning in the newest issue of Jubilat. I finally saw Takashi Miike's Sukiyaki Western Django this weekend (it was ok, about what I expected, an ok film, great aestheticaly, and Miike does some fascinating things commenting on the appropriation of culture in the modern world by recreating a film that Sergio Leone stole from Akira Kurosawa, and America subsequently claimed by way of Clint Eastwood).

Weird

I just found a program that let's me blog from my phone. The spell correction is a little annoying though. Like let's it's always let us not the other let's and it doesn't want to listen to me.

Note: When I'm not writing in my bed at 6am I still like the phrasing of "Like let's it's always let us"

I Have a Film Screening Coming Up

So, I have a new film screening in Minneapolis on Dec. 12 & 13.

It's a collaboration with a very talented choreographer, Mandy Herrick. The film is called "Alongside Sympathetic Neurons," and it's screening with a few other short film collaborations between Minnesota based filmmakers and choreographers. The screenings will be accompanied by a live performance with music performed by To Kill A Petty Bourgeoisie and is being put on by Cinema Revolution.

The Press Release and info on the screening is listed below.

The Dance Film Project - Press Release

Cinema Revolution Presents
"The Dance Film Project"
at Intermedia Arts
December 12 and 13, 2008

Cinema Revolution presents
DANCE FILM PROJECT
an evening of choreography for the camera

FEATURING NEW SHORT FILMS BY
• Mad King Thomas and Katinka Galanos
• Vanessa Voskuil and John Koch
• Justin Jones and Kevin Obsatz
• Mandy Herrick and Dustin Nelson
• Katie Richey and Garrett Tiedemann
• Erica Pinigis
• Megan Mayer and Kevin Obsatz

FILMS INCLUDE PERFORMANCES BY
• Laurie Van Wieren
• Sally Rousse of James Sewell Ballet
• Anna Marie Shogren
• Charles Campbell of Skewed Visions
• Kristin Van Loon of Hijack
• Elliot Durko-Lynch
...among others.

AND also live performances by choreographer April Sellers and musical group To Kill A Petty Bourgeoisie.

Friday and Saturday, December 12 and 13, 7 PM

Intermedia Arts
2822 Lyndale Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55408
612-871-4444
http://www.intermediaarts.org
For map and directions click here

Tickets: $8 - $12 sliding scale (available at the door) General Admission
Show a Cinema Revolution store receipt at the door and get $2 off ticket price.
Dance Films Descriptions:

“Reverb” by director Katie Richey and filmmaker Garrett Tiedemann. Four women search the echoes of space and time. While compelled forward through programmed behaviors and a maintenance of group dynamics an underlying curiosity keeps them tracing peripheries of unknown origin.

“4-Frame Dance Project” by choreographer Justin Jones and filmmaker Kevin Obsatz. Obsatz runs four digital cameras simultaneously, each facing in toward the center of a square to capture a single choreography and displayed on the screen simultaneously in a four-square layout. The dance relates to the placement of the cameras, resulting in disorienting and surprising effects produced by this particular method of capturing and displaying choreography. The technique is repeated by 8 different dancers each giving their unique take on the perspective. Featuring performances by Justin Jones, Anna Shogren, Laurie Van Wieren, Mad King Thomas (Theresa Madaus, Tara King, Monica Thomas), Charles Campbell, Kristin Van Loon, Elliott Durko-Lynch and Megan Mayer.

“Coarse Confluence” by choreographer Megan Mayer and filmmaker Kevin Obsatz. Megan Mayer, a dance artist/choreographer and photographer based in Minneapolis, is the solo performer in this site-based dance film, which is the result of an interest in the intersection between movement and film. Megan performs in an array of natural landscapes, her dance interacting with and reflecting upon her surroundings.

“throne/thrown” conceptualized by choreographer/director Vanessa Voskuil and filmmaker John Koch. Taking its impetus from WB Yeat's poem "The Second Coming," “throne/thrown” explores the search for the position in one's life by which to conduct one's authority over it. Directed and conceived by Vanessa Voskuil (2006 Sage Award for Outstanding Design) and John Koch (Cinema Revolution store owner and filmmaker), “throne/thrown” strives to create a frenetic, visually compelling, and cinematically moving experience.

“Alongside Sympathetic Neurons” by choreographer Mandy Herrick and filmmaker Dustin Nelson. Herrick and Nelson explore site-based dance, investigating particular locations and how they can be perceived differently through changing the typical movement, behavior, time, and perspective of each site. The exploration and movement inspired by the body-site, within the context of a geographical-site, illustrates a parallel in both body and place.

“Cuddle” by choreographer/filmmaker Erica Pinigis. Stop-motion is used to show the dance of two lovers lying together, suspended in black space and bound by a single bed sheet, as their bodies intertwine, merging, coming apart and back again, exploring the movement and gesture of romantic love.

“I'll be on the dock in a minute” choreographed and conceived by Mad King Thomas and filmmaker Katinka Galanos. Sally Rousse, co-founder of James Sewell Ballet, stars in this semi-biographical dance, filled with both truths and fictions about her life. Sally tells a story about being run over by a truck when she was a small girl, featuring peculiar and fantastic interview footage mixed with live-action reenactments/re-interpretations of the events. The following themes are informing the work: the scale of human bodies (over time and between individuals), rewriting history, investigating the function of truth vs. fiction, and the dynamics of tangential conversations.

Performance Description:

April Sellers (Sage Award honoree for Outstanding Performance 2005) will restage her multi-media duet, "Women Bathing," which reveals the female form in 17-gallon metal washtubs. "Women Bathing," originally created with support by the Minnesota State Arts Board, will feature video by Kelly Radermacher, original music composition by Michael O'Brien, and performances by Kelly Radermacher and Pam Plagge.

About the Project:

In anticipation and celebration of Cinema Revolution's fifth anniversary, store owner and filmmaker John Koch hosted an open call last April for filmmakers and choreographers to come together and create original short works for the camera or for live performance and camera. Koch proposed that the participants explore the expressiveness of dance through a cinematic language placing themselves in site-specific contexts and focusing on the various structures of time.


Artist Information:

KATINKA GALANOS, filmmaker and artist. http://www.mnartists.org/Katinka_Galanos

MANDY HERRICK finds inspiration for dancemaking in public restrooms, inside her closet and on top of her skin. A freelance dancer and improviser, she has performed with the Black Earth Collaborative Arts Company, the Red Herrings, Jin-Wen Yu, Olive Bieringa, Sarah Jacobs, and currently dances with the Ready At Will (RAW) Dance Collective in Minneapolis. Mandy is a Certified Global Somatics Practitioner and works at the Interact Center for Visual and Performing Arts.

JUSTIN JONES is a choreographer, sound designer and dancer. His choreography has been seen in MPLS at Bryant Lake Bowl, Patrick's Cabaret, Red Eye and the Southern Theater; in New York at CBGB’s, Galpagos Arts Space, The Gershwin Hotel, The Knitting Factory, The Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theater @ Symphony Space, LaMama Etc., Sarah Lawrence University, The Theater at the Riverside Church and Ur; and in Seattle at Velocity Dance Center. Justin creates sound design for his own choreography and for other theater and dance makers including Ivy Baldwin, Genevieve Bennett, Chris Schlichting and Chris Yon. He has performed in the choreography of Tere O’Connor, Nick Leichter, Morgan Thorson, Kara Tatelbaum, Billy Siegenfeld, Chris Schlichting and Robin Lakes. Jones is a 2007 McKnight Foundation Choreography Fellow. He was also a 2003 NYFA Fellow for his work with long time collaborator Chris Yon holds and he holds BFA in Dance from New York University Tisch School of the Arts.

JOHN KOCH is a native of Minneapolis, Minnesota, and studied photography and film at the Minneapolis College of Art & Design, graduating with a BFA in Photography in 1999, with also a post-bac semester at Studio Art Centers International in Florence, Italy in 2000. After returning home to Minneapolis he opened Cinema Revolution, a DVD rental store which focuses solely on foreign, independent, documentary, classic and cult films. The store has since grown into a local institution for film lovers, winning four straight City Pages "Best of the Twin Cities" awards. Koch has made seven short films and finished his first feature film "Je Ne Sais Quoi" in early 2008, which screened at the Ritz Theater for a two week run in June 2008 and at the Minneapolis Underground Film Festival in August 2008. He is currently in production on his next feature “The Seducer”, an adaptation of Dostoevsky’s “White Nights”.

MAD KING THOMAS is the collaboration of Tara King, Theresa Madaus and Monica Thomas. Formed in 2004 at Macalester College, the trio has performed at the 2006 Minnesota Fringe Festival, in Emily Johnson's Windfarm Series at the Rogue Buddha, at Macalester Colllege, in the 2005 American College Dance Festival, in 9x22 Dance Lab at the Bryant Lake Bowl, as guests in John Munger's Third Rabbit Show, in capture! the dance film series of Catalyst and Firetrunk Records, and in the 2007 Queertopia, a cabaret curated by Outward Spiral. They were recently awarded a 2008 Sage Award for Outstanding Performance for their work Premium White Morsels presented by Intermedia Arts' Naked Stages. Mad King Thomas creates dances that mix choreography, theater, prop handling, pop music, dress-up, and humor. Their ability to tackle culturally relevant material in entertaining, irreverent and surreal ways makes a singular brand of social commentary.

MEGAN MAYER is a performing artist, dancer, choreographer, director and photographer based in Minneapolis and directs an ongoing video project in which she dances in public bathrooms (http://www.youtube.com/boyscoutgirl). Her work has been commissioned by the Minnesota History Center and has premiered at Bryant-Lake Bowl, Walker Art Center, NYC's CATCH series and at The Soap Factory. Recent performances include Karen Sherman's “Tiny Town” at Theater Artaud in San Francisco and Laurie Van Wieren’s “like a movie I saw once” at The Ritz in Minneapolis. Megan will premiere a new work this July as part of Momentum: New Dance Works, commissioned by The Walker Art Center and The Southern Theater. http://www.mnartists.org/Megan_Mayer

DUSTIN LUKE NELSON is the founding editor of InDigest Magazine, and is a contributing writer with Guernica, Tiny Mix Tapes, Favorite 10,Twin Cities Daily Planet, and other places. His films have appeared behind bands, at some festivals, in some small bars, and on home entertainment systems. He currently resides in Brooklyn.

KEVIN OBSATZ is a filmmaker and a time-based media artist. He is involved in all kinds of projects, including documentaries, installation work, hand-developing 16mm and super-8 film, and web video. His recent feature-length documentary, Journeyman, has screened all over the country, and has won "Best Documentary" awards at the Gloria Film Festival and the Landlocked Film Festival. He has received grants from the Jerome Foundation, Northern Lights and IFP, and has created work with numerous performing artists and nonprofit organizations, in Minnesota and nationwide. Examples of his work are available at http://www.videohaiku.com.

ERICA PINIGIS is originally from Madison, Wisconsin, where she began her dance career at the Kanopy School for Contemporary Dance and Choreography. She has performed with the Kanopy Dance Company, Peel and Core Dance Company, University Dance Theater at the University of Minnesota, Zenon Block E performance group, and Marylee Hardenbergh’s Global Site Performance. Erica has just received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance from the University of Minnesota. Since graduating, she has produced and choreographed Ooh La Lounge: An Evening of Dance and Jazz at the Suburban World Theater and the Varsity Theater, and has co-choreographed and produced Lulladreams & Insomnimares at the Red Eye Theater. This August, she began an artist residence at the Anderson Center in Red Wing, where she will produce a show at the end of her tenure.

KATIE RITCHEY is a local filmmaker, dancer, theater director and videographer. She works for Bellagala as lead videographer and owns her own videography and directing company, Behind the Scenes, with an emphasis on documentary style filmmaking. Katie performs Irish step dancing with the Brian Boru Irish Pipe Band and recently collaborated and performed as lead vocalist on the Minnesota Centennial Showboat's production of 'A Mississippi Panorama.' Katie directs local events such as the annual Off the Page event where local real world writers and artists, such as Dan Barreiro and Gail Rosenblum, are interviewed by local high school students in an on stage community forum. She has also staged managed for local theaters including Theater Unbound. Katie studied acting theory under Kari Margolis and recently worked as a Studio Technician and Teaching Assistant for the CLA TV Studios. Katie graduated with high distinction from the University of Minnesota and is an alumni of the Phi Kappa Phi honor society.

APRIL SELLERS moved to Minneapolis in 1997 after graduating with a BFA in dance from Ohio State University. In addition to appearing as a dancer in original works of Liz Lerman, John Munger, Judith Howard, and Laurie Van Wieren, Sellers has established herself as an innovative choreographer and dance educator. She founded the April Sellers Dance collective in 1999. Ms. Sellers work has been seen at the Walker Art Center, Minnesota Fringe Festival, RedEye Theater, Bryant Lake Bowl Theater, and the Varsity Theater. She is currently on faculty at St. Cloud State University.

GARRETT TIEDEMANN is a filmmaker, writer, painter, musician, photographer and poet. Between 2003 and 2007 he directed 16 films both in the Twin Cities and Los Angeles community that range between documentaries and fiction of many genres like comedy, thriller and drama. Often focusing on the development of personal identification, experiences of time and the influence of space; his films draw heavily from the era of silent cinema and an understanding that the films did in fact have a sound - it was just different from what is typical of a film’s sound today. This understanding is applied heavily to his films’ construction often turning the sound into a character all its own. He is currently submitting his feature film “Trickery Mimicry” to festivals around the world and is in pre-production on two separate documentary projects he is directing in 2009. To learn more go to http://www.myspace.com/cynarcirculation.

VANESSA VOSKUIL is co-founder/artistic director of the ensemble-driven performance company Live Action Set and an independent choreographer. Her individual work is specifically characterized by its ongoing search for new kinds of cooperation between dance, theatre, visual art, architecture and new contexts for presentation. Voskuil is known for her unique physical style of emotional storytelling and freely takes leave of conceptual ideas surrounding dance and theater often utilizing dynamic and poetic stage designs. Through her own physical idiom, she abstracts simple movements from everyday life into rich expressions of dance-theater. Her work has been presented at theaters and universities throughout the twin-cites area. Vanessa is a recipient of a 2006 Sage Award for Outstanding Design for her production, THE WHITE SOLOS and has been funded by the Minnesota State Arts Board and the Moore Family Fund for the Arts of the Minneapolis Foundation. Vanessa is a long standing company member with Stuart Pimsler Dance & Theater and has previously worked with site-specific performance company Skewed Visions and Catalyst Dances. She holds a BFA in Dance and BA in Theater from the University of Minnesota. http://www.mnartists.org/Vanessa_Voskuil

About Cinema Revolution:
Cinema Revolution is a locally owned and independent DVD rental store in south Minneapolis that specializes in foreign, independent, classic and cult films. The store recently opened its doors on a new retail space on October 16th, which was made possible largely by the support of member donations and the local film community banding together with contributions. The store is widely acclaimed for its selection of hard to find films, having won four "Best of the Twin Cities" awards from City Pages, and has a loyal following among film connoisseurs in the Twin Cities. The store has always been a strong supporter of the local film community, sponsoring and hosting many community events and film festivals since its inception in 2003. Past event highlights include the monthly Cinema des Artistes screenings at the Varsity Theater, two previous Anniversary parties featuring local film and music, the originally commissioned Fortune Cookie Film Project, Wednesday Night Film School and the GLBT Film Discussion series. http://www.cinemarevolution.com

InDigest is Twittering

That's right, I said it.

InDigest is Twittering.

It was almost midnight, and I was thinking about having a glass of orange juice or a beer, and then it was midnight and I was drinking some orange jui

ce at my desk and I was thinking about this clip from Home Movies, and then I started watching other clips from Home Movies and then I starting to think about blogging, and subsequently took action.

I Saw Huun Huur Tu Last Night and It Was Awesome and it Looked Something Like This:

Louis CK was on Conan, I just ate some cereal and laughed, then my cat wanted some of the milk, and I said no, and laughed

Watch This Ad: This is Great

This is oddly effective.

Funny that we don't have commercials that are this complex in America. Our commercials tend to lay it out there for you. In America this commercial would end by saying "Wind energy is not as inconvenient as you might think. Even though this guy is a jerk someone found a way to love him. So, if you don't like wind turbines you should maybe give it a chance and then you might not think it's so bad, just like this guy and his friend. He hit the other guys paper, and that was probably annoying, but now they are friends. That could be you and wind energy. So, what do you think? Do you think you could give wind energy a chance, like the guy with the paper gave the weird annoying guy a chance? Hmmmm?....The Wind." And I don't think that would be as effective.

InDigest Issue 8

Issue 8 of InDigest is up and at it, right now.

What You'll Find In InDigest This Time:

New fiction from Jimmy Chen:

Each party was documented extensively using digital cameras. Everybody at the party took pictures of the party—either of other people, or more commonly, of themselves with other people, using a method in which one extends one's arms out at an upward angle, holding the camera at a backwards orientation towards themselves while taking a picture.

A gallery of animalia influenced paintings by Gina Germ



In Poetics both Eric Gudas and Nathan Hoks offer up some wonderful new work.

Charles Greene continues to purport that Ulysses is the greatest novel ever, in part II of The Ulysses Sage. Part II delves a little deeper into why exactly the novel is widely considered to be one of the greatest works of literary fiction ever created.

Jess Grover takes on the newest collection of poetry from his former professor Alex Lemon in this month's Is That Cowardly? Jess acknowledges his bias, calls Lemon out once or twice, and states:

Make no mistake: I love Alex Lemon...This is a review of his second volume, Hallelujah Blackout, and it will likely contain descriptions such as magnificent, fractured, ardent, spatially resistant to replication on this page and seductive like a heart drawn on a splintered windshield by lipstick held between the toes of a young person with some sort of prominent facial asymmetry. (Crooked tooth, cleft lip, small stone of gravel healed into the chin).

Bedside Stacks takes a closer look at Anthony Varallo's newest collection Out Loud. Varallo's intentionally tepid dissection of suburban life, the objects that give the life meaning and the fantasies encounter in this landscape are both the pleasure and the bane in this month's column.

That's all for this issue. But keep checking back. We are about to have our one year anniversary here in the InDigest offices and we are going to have a special issue and a big announcement to accompany that special day.

As always, thanks for reading.

Dustin Luke Nelson & David Luke Doody

Klosterman on Axl

Chuck Klosterman just reviewed the new Guns N' Roses Album, Chinese Democracy, for The AV Club, and this is classic Klosterman. It's laboriously funny, great stuff. The first paragraph reads:

Reviewing Chinese Democracy is not like reviewing music. It's more like reviewing a unicorn. Should I primarily be blown away that it exists at all? Am I supposed to compare it to conventional horses? To a rhinoceros? Does its pre-existing mythology impact its actual value, or must it be examined inside a cultural vacuum, as if this creature is no more (or less) special than the remainder of the animal kingdom? I've been thinking about this record for 15 years; during that span, I've thought about this record more than I've thought about China, and maybe as much as I've thought about the principles of democracy. This is a little like when that grizzly bear finally ate Timothy Treadwell: Intellectually, he always knew it was coming. He had to. His very existence was built around that conclusion. But you still can't psychologically prepare for the bear who eats you alive, particularly if the bear wears cornrows.

Hillary Clinton to be Barack Obama's Secretary of State

The Guardian is reporting that insiders are saying Clinton is going to accept Obama's offer of the Secretary of State in his administration. The process is on hold at the moment as his transition team vets Bill Clinton's charity that donates millions of dollars to Africa every year, to ensure that there is no conflict of interest, but it appears that the early reports that the position would go to Bill Richardson or John Kerry are no longer coming to fruition.

Judah Friedlander Sells Bad Art

Judah Friedlander is selling bad art for New York Cares at (le) Poisson Rouge next Thursday with Xiu Xiu. Awesome.

The Devil's Music

I have just partaken in an argument extolling the virtues of Randy Newman's 1968 debut album, in which I took the position that Newman is quite easily one of the greatest American song-writers ever. After playing both "The Beehive State" and "Love Story (You and Me)" I played "Let's Burn Down the Cornfield" from his second album 12 songs. The argument devolved into my counterpoint digressing that you can't understand what he is saying, and I countered that she sounded as though she thought he was playing the devil's music. At which point we agreed that we wished there were an instrument that was objectively the Devil's. I would play it.

UPDATE: I just need to note a text message I received while at the Cloud Cult show last night that was directly related to this post. (where it says "Cloud Cult" will eventually be a photo gallery I did for that show, but I'm not putting it up this morning).

from Ah:

I don't know how to play any instrument but if an instrument truly came from the devil I would sell my soul to learn to play it.

It warms my heart.

change.gov

One of the more interesting parts of this week has been observing the varied reactions to the news of Obama's victory. Fox News was somber, but congratulatory, and recognized how historic the event really is. The Republicans appear to have been completely divided in this election, much in the same way the Democrats were when Eugene McCarthy decided to challenge the presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson (both were Democrats).

Part of the Republican party, dare I say the more centrist conservatives, are blaming Sarah Palin for their defeat. This charge is being led by the McCain staffers who are making claims such as that Mrs. Palin was not aware that Africa is not a country and that she could not name the countries involved in NAFTA (you know, those three that are in North America). Full disclosure: I think Palin is not very bright, and I fear a country that has her as a leader, but not knowing that Africa is a continent is a pretty heavy charge. Despite the fact that our public school systems are not in the best shape I think you'd have a tough time finding a high school student who is not aware of Africa's stance in the continent/country relationship.

The other half of the Republican party has rallied around Palin. In fact it seems that more than half of the party is rallying around Palin. A recent poll indicates that 64% of Republicans want Palin to run in 2012. This would be the religious right that didn't think McCain was conservative enough.

Nonetheless, the reactions have been favorable towards Obama (for the most part). It seems to me that the country realizes that he is the president for the next four years, no matter what, so it's time to make the best of it. Though, this certainly is not a unanimous reaction, there have been reports of hate crimes across the country in connection with the election, and there have certainly been some pundits who are ready to attack.

One in particular, the ever devisive Ann Coulter, published an article in Human Rights (oh, the irony) called "The Reign of Lame Falls Mainly on McCain." It shouldn't be shocking that she has published a largely offensive article deriding the opinion of most Americans (at least the voting Americans). But the article goes beyond what I expected in the first week following the election. Especially after Fox News didn't even get too mixed up in the hatefulness this early on (though I'm sure it's not far behind).

The article opens, "Last night was truly a historic occasion: For only the second time in her adult life, Michelle Obama was proud of her country!" 

She continues:

After Bill Clinton won the 1992 presidential election, Hillary Clinton immediately announced that, henceforth, she would be known as "Hillary Rodham Clinton." So maybe Obama can now become B. Hussein Obama, his rightful name.

Her rampant racism and bigotry never fails to produce a little gasp within me, how could anyone be so stuck in a 1930's mentality I wonder, but I will probably never have a satisfactory answer. She not only continues her hateful pursuit of a Crusades-esque reform in America, she begins calling people out on their racism, while saying some blatantly racist things:

This was such an enormous Democratic year that even John Murtha won his congressional seat in Pennsylvania after calling his constituents racists. It turns out they're not racists -- they're retards. Question: What exactly would one have to say to alienate Pennsylvanians? That Joe Paterno should retire?

Apparently Florida voters didn't mind Obama's palling around with Palestinian activist Rashid Khalidi and Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, either. There must be a whole bunch of retired Pennsylvania Jews down there.

I'll continue in a moment, I just have to throw this quote in for good measure:

Roll that phrase around a bit -- "liberated from Mr. Reagan's coattails." This is why it takes so long to read the Times -- you have to keep reading the same paragraph over again to see if you missed a word.

Is she trying to say don't read the paper because it's above you? I'm confused. Moving on.

She then throws out her hopes of a Palin presidency:

Indeed, the only good thing about McCain is that he gave us a genuine conservative, Sarah Palin. He's like one of those insects that lives just long enough to reproduce so that the species can survive. That's why a lot of us are referring to Sarah as "The One" these days.

Like Sarah Connor in "The Terminator," Sarah Palin is destined to give birth to a new movement. That's why the Democrats are trying to kill her. And Arnold Schwarzenegger is involved somehow, too.

And then she shows her disdain for the democratic process, when it doesn't follow her personal ideology:

After showing nearly superhuman restraint throughout this campaign, which was lost the night McCain won the California primary, I am now liberated to announce that all I care about is hunting down and punishing every Republican who voted for McCain in the primaries. I have a list and am prepared to produce the names of every person who told me he was voting for McCain to the proper authorities.

We'll start with former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Florida Gov. Charlie Crist. Then we shall march through the states of New Hampshire and South Carolina -- states that must never, ever be allowed to hold early Republican primaries again.

Sure she's joking around a bit, but really, take a look around Ms. Coulter, the Moral Majority's time ruling America is ending. And I, for one, am glad. I'm also glad that there are pundits like her to continue to support Palin, and that there is deep divide running through the Republican party, maybe the other side will have a chance now to correct the errors that the rights domination of politics over the last couple of decades have inflicted on the country. I'm not a fan of knowing that my younger brother has only known a country at war, and that the generation of young people who are currently in high school are completely desensitized to the concept of "war," it's all they have ever known. I also don't like living in a country where the continued plummeting of the stock market and the economy at large is leaving no one safe to feel "secure" in their employment, that our parents generation is losing their retirement funds, losing their hopes for social security, and without proper health care coverage will probably work their way into their graves. She mentions Obama's tax hikes on the "rich." That is not me just quoting her, she puts "rich" in quotes. There are no quotes needed. If you make over a quarter of a million dollars every year you are indeed rich. And it's time to recognize that. A tax hike on someone who makes, say 30 grand, is not helping the country. It's not providing a stable economy, it's not providing people the opportunity to prosper and put money back into the economy, in that simple cycle of monetary flow that is called capitalism. The quotes around "rich" are a perfect metaphor for what she does not understand, and what can potentially change throughout the next four years, and beyond.

But, please, continue your squabbling, it can only benefit President-elect Obama and the new Democrat controlled congress in four years. Your service to your country is appreciated, the left is no longer listening, so please, continue to be the clever that will ensure a Democratically controlled legislative and executive branch for the next eight years.