October 2009
34 posts
signal/noise
marginalgloss:
Recently my parents put me in charge of converting a box full of old mini-VHS tapes to DVDs. Since we have a VCR/DVD burner combo-machine, this is no trouble, but it does mean that I have to sit and watch them recording in real-time to make sure that everything is working all right — okay, technically I don’t have to watch them, but I like to, since I haven’t seen many of them in...
Honor System
At a small gathering of close friends and family, Lance Arabesque eventually snaked his way to a punchbowl while removing single garments of clothing. This was a conceptual work of art. He had planned it out well in advance, certainly not later than a Fourth of July get-together when about the same crowd had visited his father’s lake house. Now it was late October and all was in order. Lance...
Fields Removed of Whole Hectares
Alternating between Neutral Milk Hotel’s In the Aeroplane Over the Sea and David Lang’s The Little Match Girl Passion during the four-hour drive back home, I realized how queerly complementary the two albums are, and not just for the sake of an eclectic juxtaposition of their “sound.” Both Jeff Mangum and Lang explore the story of a girl who dies. And from there—
...
deep seeded
looking at the GRE test dates
and looking at the grad program application deadlines
gave me a sour face
“The existential challenge to the new cultural politics of difference can be...”
– Cornell West, “The New Cultural Politics of Difference”
On 14 May 2009, I Was Excited:
Lady Ash, ‘Sup, lady.Briefly— Today is my last day of working at Panera, ever… ? Yes. I must commit to never working at Panera. I am taking a shot of whiskey at 3:45, and going in to my LAST NIGHT OF WORK!!! WHAT!!!!! Your experience with Herr Doctor Grundmann (SP?) is remarkably similar to Thomas’. When Thomas continued to break and break this last year, he would rattle...
On Why I Am Not a Photographer
Since a short visit to Mississippi in mid August, I’d wanted to explore the abandoned Industrial College in Holly Springs with Cody, with flashlights and a crowbar. He took me on a romantical short walk Monday evening, the day before I left, leading me to the grounds of Rust College, then across the road to the expansive lawns of the imposing, boarded-up brick ruins of the other college, the...
"The Basic Problem Here Is That You Are Wrong":... →
As an editor—as someone who likes to edit?—as someone who edited in college?—this piece is interesting because it pits editors/writers against one another, a little trip into the sausage factory. Fascinating.
Kilowatts
When we were both jobless and estranged from our expensive educations at the beginning of the summer, Jeremy and I still had books to talk about. We also had our debts to talk about, although because he was joining the military (he finally really did join—and leaves in January!) his grievances seemed mystically assuaged by the assurances of re-up bonuses and the G.I. Bill paying for his law...
Szentendre: Elif Batuman judges boys' legs →
In this remarkable and brief episode, Ms. Batuman winds up in Hungary. The last two sentences killed me.
