Common Pace

Monday, November 12, 2012

LongReads Round-Up Volume Eight

#Comics

Interview with Glyn Dillon about his new graphic novel and small press publishing: http://www.tcj.com/the-now-of-glyn-an-interview-with-glyn-dillon/

Three interviews with Theo Ellsworth, author of Capacity and upcoming The Understanding Monster trilogy. His work is partly trippy surrealism, partly exploration of the artistic subconscious, partly reminiscent of my favorite Outsider artist, Adolf Wolfli. Amazing black and white pattern and texture work.

http://www.brokenfrontier.com/lowdown/p/detail/talking-dreams-with-theo-ellsworth http://www.tcj.com/the-theo-ellsworth-interview/http://www.newsarama.com/comics/understanding-monster-theo-ells.html

A new anthology of queer comics is coming out (pun TOTALLY intended) http://www.comicsalliance.com/2012/11/01/rediscovering-comics-queer-history-an-interview-with-no-straight-lines-editor-justin-hall/

Preview of an ongoing crowd funding project for the graphic novel Elysium, about a social media platform that lets you communicate with your dead loved ones (and causes the apocalypse) http://www.comicsalliance.com/2012/11/09/elysium-online-indiegogo-preview-crowd-funding-watch/

#Crime

The author was a hitchhiking teen and possibly escaped a serial killer http://www.gq.com/news-politics/newsmakers/201211/truck-stop-killer-gq-november-2012

Rhonda Roby works as a forensic scientist identifying the dead in cold cases, serial murders, and during 9/11 http://www.dmagazine.com/Home/D_Magazine/2012/November/Rhonda_Roby_Naming_the_Dead_at_Ground_Zero.aspx

#Design

Innovative design in the home of an architect http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/culture/2012/11/lessons-from-a-surprise-visit-to-richard-rogerss-house.html

#Development

A round up of critiques regarding journalist Nicholas Kristof and the Savior Identity: http://postwhoreamerica.com/nicholas-kristof-half-the-sky-all-the-credit/

Factory labor in Cambodia has all the trappings of unions but no outcomes: http://truth-out.org/news/item/8307-the-fashion-industrys-perfect-storm-collapsing-workers-and-hyperactive-buyers

Another critique of development and aid work that uplifts workers to “savior” status: http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/03/the-white-savior-industrial-complex/254843/

How NGOs have failed Haiti: http://www.thenation.com/article/170929/ngo-republic-haiti

#Election

I love this fist pump of optimism after the 2012 elections http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/11/hippies-wander-into-the-lions-den-maul-lions/264921/

Talking about the white vote for Romney http://www.thenation.com/blog/171093/bad-news-about-white-people-romney-won-white-vote-almost-everywhere

Gifs of Karl Rove’s meltdown http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2012/11/time-karl-rove-took-fox-news-decision-desk/58777/

What a second Obama term means for the rest of the world http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-20233941

The GOP needs an accessible, moderate charmer to reestablish the party… but finding that seems unlikely http://www.tnr.com/blog/plank/109864/why-the-gop-needs%E2%80%94-wont-get%E2%80%94its-own-bill-clinton

#Fashion

Interview with the Rodarte sisters: http://www.vanityfair.com/style/2012/03/rodarte-201203

#Feminism

Roxanne Gay writes about being a bad feminist: http://www.vqronline.org/articles/2012/fall/gay-feminism

#Film

Could the internet have garnered cult support for the biggest film failure in history? http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/movies/2012/11/would-the-internet-have-rescued-heavens-gate.html

#Food

Hanging with Aziz Ansari and eating everything http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7776162/qa-parks-recreation-star-aziz-ansari-kanye-west-favorite-foods-more

The legend of the Burger in the West http://gearpatrol.com/2012/10/26/the-oral-history-of-in-n-out-burger/

Traveling to Sichuan to eat the best the region has to offer http://www.bonappetit.com/blogsandforums/blogs/badaily/2012/04/sichuan-travel-story.html

I’m a Ramen Hack Genius. This is for the neophytes: http://www.seriouseats.com/2011/03/ramen-hacks-30-easy-ways-to-upgrade-your-instant-noodles-japanese-what-to-do-with-ramen.html

#Health

David Sedaris goes to the dentist. That’s all you need: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/04/02/120402fa_fact_sedaris?currentPage=all #essay

Manipulating soldiers’ diets to fight off depression: http://www.eatingwell.com/print/15781?page=show #science

#Literature

The critical theory of the ghost in literature: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2011/jun/17/hauntology-critical

Excerpt from a new novel by Jennine Capo Crucet: http://www.guernicamag.com/fiction/magic-city-relic/

Interview with daytime lawyer/part-time author Charles Yu http://www.themorningnews.org/article/charles-yu

Charles Yu’s review of IQ84 by Haruki Murakami http://lareviewofbooks.org/article.php?id=17

Interview with John Sayles http://www.themillions.com/2011/10/robert-birnbaum-in-conversation-with-john-sayles.html

New short story by Alice Munro http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/nov/02/the-eye-alice-munro-short-story

The case for David Mitchell’s Black Swan Green to be taught as the new Catcher in the Rye http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books/2012/11/schools_should_replace_catcher_in_the_rye_with_black_swan_green.single.html

How publisher and literary taste maker Malcolm Cowley shaped New York http://www.vqronline.org/articles/1982/autumn/shi-malcolm-cowley/

Review of a new collection of Adrienne Rich’s poetry http://www.tnr.com/book/review/poetry-adrienne-rich-eavan-boland

#Religion

The frustrations of religious conservatism felt by those who share the religion http://www.guernicamag.com/daily/jennifer-sky-faith-and-politics-in-the-sunshine-state/

The monster of atheism might be “Gawd” http://www.realitysandwich.com/neo-atheism_demiurge

Our economic system needs to be spiritually restored: http://www.realitysandwich.com/waxing_sacred_economics_charles_eisenstein

An essay from the eighties about the rise of “feminist spirituality,” including goddess worship etc http://ww.utnereader.com/the-new-feminist-spirituality.aspx

Thinking about possession and writing: http://www.granta.com/Online-Only/Necessary-Daemons

Alexander Chee writes about Tarot http://www.themorningnews.org/article/the-querent

#Technology

Warren Ellis on living in the Science Fiction Condition http://www.theverge.com/2012/11/1/3569208/warren-ellis-futurism-new-aesthetic-social-media

Attempting to live on a self-sustaining, productive farm http://www.businessweek.com/printer/articles/79854-the-post-apocalypse-survival-machine-nerd-farm

#Travel

John Jeremiah Sullivan writes about conservative politics and Kentucky in this 2010 piece http://www.gq.com/news-politics/big-issues/201001/american-grotesque-john-jeremiah-sullivan-birthers?printable=true #politics

How the eighteen hundreds saw a rise in the panicked belief that the dead were rising http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/The-Great-New-England-Vampire-Panic-169791986.html?c=y&story=fullstory #folklore

Hiking Hawaii’s Big Island http://www.cntraveler.com/islands/2012/11/big-island-hawaii-hiking-adventure-landscapes-beaches-lava-fields

Essay by Vonnegut about the short-lived Kingdom of Biafra in Africa http://journeytoforever.org/rrlib/biafra.html

Living in the mining villages of Peru http://www.vqronline.org/articles/2012/fall/arana-dorado/ #feminism

Monday, November 5, 2012

LongReads Round-Up Volume Seven

#Art

New Statesman provides an English translation of the tax evasion charges China is laying against artist Ai Weiwei as a means of suppressing his work: http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/politics/2012/10/ai-weiwei-papers

August interview with Ai Weiwei about censorship, China, and individual expression: http://www.realitysandwich.com/ai_weiwei_dj_spooky

#Comics

I’m not Tomine’s biggest fan, but I appreciated what he had to say about the evolving art of cartooning/comics/ illustrating. I’m also a sucker for his “Missed Connections” cover. http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2012/10/29/urban-renewal-an-interview-with-adrian-tomine/

#Education

New technological frontiers in learning a second language: http://www.salon.com/2012/10/27/whats_the_secret_to_learning_a_second_lanuage/

#Environment

When is the human species going to hit its second inflection point? How our species’ success will destroy us. http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/7146 #recommended

#Feminism

Looking at several new books that deal with gender, feminism, and sexuality (The End of Men, How to Be a Woman, Heroines, This is How You Lose Her) and where we are all losing out in the gender divide: http://therumpus.net/2012/10/how-we-all-lose/

Two interviews with the author of Heroines, Kate Zambreno (essay-memoir-history-lit-theory hybrid about female modernist authors)

http://believermag.tumblr.com/post/34763897153/why-dont-you-like-me-writers-tamara-faith-berger-and http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2012/10/22/heroine-worship-talking-with-kate-zambreno/

Moore lived in Cambodia and taught university women how to make zines: http://therumpus.net/2012/10/the-sunday-rumpus-interview-anne-elizabeth-moore/

#Film

Nice completist review of the Coen Brothers’ body of work, from one auteur theory enthusiast to another: http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/the_completist/2011/08/i_watched_every_coen_brothers_movie.single.html

The predicament of political filmmakers in China: http://www.newstatesman.com/world-affairs/world-affairs/2012/10/hazards-independent-chinese-cinema #censorship

Following the Wachowski siblings’ passion for unique storytelling and the journey of filiming Cloud Atlas: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/09/10/120910fa_fact_hemon?currentPage=all

Puzzling out the complicated paths of characters in Cloud Atlas: http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2012/10/27/cloud_atlas_meaning_what_does_the_wachowskis_movie_say_about_reincarnation.html

#Health

Treat yo’self: Weeks worth of massaging does a body good. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/28/magazine/my-multiday-massage-a-thon.html?ref=magazine&pagewanted=all

A tiny island in Greece has one of the longest average lifespans in the world. In many ways the lifestyle reminds me of Indonesia, pre-processed food boom. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/28/magazine/the-island-where-people-forget-to-die.html?pagewanted=all #longevity

#International

Interview with civil rights activist in China who has fought forced family planning legislation and led class action suits against the Chinese government: http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/human-rights/2012/10/chen-guangcheng-facts-have-blood-evidence

What countries would be voting for Obama this month? http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/10/31/blue_planet?page=full

#Journalism

Specifically, the ethics of found-out plagiarizer and science journalist Jonah Lehrer, But on a grander scale, the state of branded journalism and pop science: http://nymag.com/news/features/jonah-lehrer-2012-11/#

Encounter was a cultural literary arts magazine published out of Britain and covertly funded by the CIA as part of the cold war agenda. http://www.newstatesman.com/node/135185

1960s article about the resignation of Encounter editor when he discovered the CIA was funding the publication. (You need a NYTimes subscription to access this article) http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F70815FF3D5B107B93CAA9178ED85F438685F9

Censorship in China: http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/politics/2012/10/virus-censorship

#Literature

Survey of HP Lovecraft’s body of work and how it has influenced culture, and how the internet made all that influence possible. http://www.themorningnews.org/article/h.p.-lovecraft-author-is-dead #obituary

Neil Gaiman created the holiday “All Hallows Eve,” a day to encourage children reading “scary” stories. The Millions has a list of recommended reads. http://www.themillions.com/2012/10/all-hallows-read-a-parents-guide-to-scary-books-for-young-readers.html #children’s lit #spooky

Excerpt from the new David Foster Wallace biography by DT Max (see next link) http://www.themillions.com/2012/08/excerpt-the-opening-paragraphs-of-d-t-maxs-every-love-story-is-a-ghost-story-a-life-of-david-foster-wallace.html #biography #DFW

DT Max wrote this piece in 2009 after DFW’s suicide. Give yourself a good chunk of time to work through and process this thirteen page longread. http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/03/09/090309fa_fact_max?currentPage=all #biography #DFW #obituary

Ongoing interest in articles dealing with parental aging http://www.vice.com/read/i-asked-my-dad-who-has-dementia-to-annotate-jonathan-franzens-how-to-be-alone- #photography #dementia

Certain literature is there in times of grieving, heartbreak, and disappointment—but what story can you turn to when you’re mourning the loss of a pet? http://www.themillions.com/2012/10/elegy-for-a-grey-cat-on-grief-books-and-his-dark-materials.html #grief

James Pogue works out some of his John Jeremiah Sullivan jealousy: http://nplusonemag.com/the-son-shines-bright #SouthernLit

Series of essays by Rachel Yoder from her collection The Hard Problem: A Guide for the Intergalactic Writer Looking to Mate: http://therumpus.net/2012/11/three-short-essays-from-the-hard-problem-a-guide-for-the-intergalactic-writer-looking-to-mate/ #essay

#Music

THIS QUOTE: “As demure as she may be, this girl is also intense and out for blood — of Red’s title, Swift said, “All those emotions — spanning from intense love, intense frustration, jealousy, confusion, all of that — in my mind, all those emotions are red.” Not to put too fine a point on it, but in this she echoes another passionate artist constrained by traditional expectations of femininity: Sylvia Plath.” http://thisrecording.com/today/2012/10/30/in-which-we-get-taylor-swift-alone.html

The tiny echelon of producers and top-liners pumping out all our Top 40 hooks: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/03/26/120326fa_fact_seabrook?currentPage=all

#Photography

The Atlantic has been busting fake photos of Hurrican Sandy damage: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/12/10/instasnopes-sorting-the-real-sandy-photos-from-the-fakes/264243/ #sandy

Series of photos and quotes from four young Chinese photographers: http://www.newstatesman.com/world-affairs/world-affairs/2012/10/generation-next-photo-essay

#Relationships

Worries and joys while dating a 500 pound man: http://www.xojane.com/it-happened-to-me/it-happened-to-me-i-fell-in-love-with-a-500-pound-man #essay

#Travel

Coming to terms with death during the Running of the Bulls: http://www.themorningnews.org/article/the-bull-passes-through

A tiny span of the Massachusetts coast seems to be a magnet for everything spooky and strange: http://www.themorningnews.org/article/cape-fear

A recent visit to post-Fidel Cuba, tentatively developing: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2012/11/new-cuba/gorney-text #international

Friday, November 2, 2012

The First Throb of Lolita

I first read Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita a few years ago during a film course on screenplay adaptations, in conjunction with studying the 1962 Stanley Kubrick film. Lolita is one of those stories that brings out strong reactions in people; I've never met someone who felt simply "meh" towards it-- people find it either passionately compelling or passionately distasteful.

A few weeks ago when I read this previously rounded-up interview with author Martin Amis, I was struck by his Nabokov reference:

"Nabokov said, 'The first throb of Lolita went through me" when he read an account in a French newspaper of a monkey that had been taught to draw, and all the drawing consisted of were the bars of its cage. That was Lolita."

-Martin Amis, "Martin Amis: Redux" via The Morning News

And I went on the hunt for the primary source of that story. It's from an essay Nabokov wrote in 1959 for Encounter (with its own fascinating back story, being an Anglo-American intellectual/cultural magazine that was covertly funded by the CIA to suppress cold war neutralism. Tangent. Links to come in the next Round Up). He writes that the story had no textual influence on the story, but something about the shiver of emotions the newspaper story invoked sparked his early drafts. Similarly, the desperation of the monkey drawing his own cage struck me, and I found myself looking for that same desperation in the novel.

Nabokov's essay, "On a Book Entitled Lolita" : http://www.unz.org/Pub/Encounter-1959apr-00073

Amongst the internet hunting, I also found this essay from Chicago Reader about the original draft of Nabokov's story, originally titled The Enchanter : http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/reading-the-first-throb-of-lolita/Content?oid=870862 . I especially enjoy the comparison of the opening lines from the first draft and the published novel.

"'How can I come to terms with myself?' he thought, when he did any thinking at all. 'This cannot be lechery. Coarse carnality is omnivorous; the subtle kind promises eventual satiation.'"

versus the now famous opening lines of Lolita

"Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta."

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Expanding Words Volume Three

blandishment (n) a flattering or pleasing statement or action used to persuade someone gently to do something.

bream (n) a greenish-bronze deep-bodied freshwater fish of the minnow family, native to Europe and popular with anglers

crapulous (adj) sickness caused by excessive eating or drinking; excessive indulgence; intemperance.

entente (n) a friendly understanding or informal alliance between states or factions

hemicrania (n) migraine: a severe recurring vascular headache

inimical (adj) injurious or harmful in effect; adverse: habits inimical to good health; unfriendly; hostile

inchoate (adj) just begun and so not fully formed or developed; rudimentary

malfeasance (n) wrongdoing, esp. by a public official

petrine (adj) of, relating to, or characteristic of the apostle Peter or the doctrines associated with his name

recrudescent (adj) the revival of an unfortunate situation after a period of abatement

saturnalia (n) an occasion of wild revelry

stochastic (adj) randomly determined; having a random probability distribution or pattern that may be
analyzed statistically but may not be predicted

tranche (n) a portion of something, esp. money

Monday, October 29, 2012

LongReads Round-Up Volume Six

#Film

Can't wait to crack into this French film: http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2012/10/leos_carax_s_holy_motors_is_one_of_the_best_movies_of_2012.single.html

#Literature

Amazon reviewer/scammer found out: http://moreintelligentlife.com/blog/all-shall-have-stars

Two pieces on the "literary fiction" genre:

The frequent aspects of "literary fiction": http://www.themillions.com/2012/10/literary-fiction-is-a-genre-a-list.html
Just how often does literature mention a dog barking in the distance? http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2010/06/somewhere_a_dog_barked.single.html

Justin Cronin started off as mild mannered literary fiction author, and now has a bestselling horror adventure series: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/07/magazine/the-passage-of-justin-cronin.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&

Cormac McCarthy's early drafts of Blood Meridian: http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books/2012/10/cormac_mccarthy_s_blood_meridian_early_drafts_and_history_.html

I recently began reading The Gulag Archipelago, by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, about Soviet Union prison camps. Some relevant articles:

The New York Times excellent posthumous survey of Solzhenitsyn's life and works: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/04/books/04solzhenitsyn.html?_r=0&pagewanted=all #obituary
The Economist looking for those literary dissidents in modern culture: http://www.economist.com/node/11885318?story_id=11885318
A tangent on Russian Intellectuals: http://www.economist.com/node/11880594

#Relationships

Adult friendship isn't always given that much respect... possibly because its seen as optional or expendable: http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2012/10/19/163260947/friendkeeping-the-close-relationships-we-could-but-cant-easily-let-go

#Religion

Poetry Foundation head editor Christian Wiman writes about terminal cancer, art, and accepting death: http://theamericanscholar.org/mortify-our-wolves/ #Dying

A Charismatic Christian's experiences with the devil: http://killingthebuddha.com/mag/confession/demon-dialogues/

Controversial ideas on the historical Jesus: http://killingthebuddha.com/mag/exegesis/the-gospel-of-primordial-androgyny/

A neurosurgeon recently wrote a book about his claims of experiencing heaven, where he says that the complete lack of scientific evidence is actually all the proof you need. Sam Harris wrote a very satisfying take down.

From the neurosurgeon: http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/10/07/proof-of-heaven-a-doctor-s-experience-with-the-afterlife.html
From Sam Harris: http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/this-must-be-heaven

#Urban Exploring

Photography Underground: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/29/nyregion/thecity/29shad.html?pagewanted=all

Travel Diary style in New York City: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/02/nyregion/02underground.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Below Paris: http://moreintelligentlife.com/content/places/going-souterrain?page=full

Monday, October 22, 2012

LongReads Round-Up Volume Five

#Comics

Really gonna let my nerd show with this one. This is an interview of webcomic phenomenon Homestuck author Andrew Hussie by the author of the Scott Pilgrim series, Brian Lee O'Malley. I've yet to delve into the 5000 page back archive of Homestuck, but I'm well aware of the intense fans thanks to Tumblr: http://www.comicsalliance.com/2012/10/02/homestuck-interview-andrew-hussie-bryan-lee-omalley-ms-paint-adventures/

#Environment

Not for those who once had a panic attack after watching The Day After Tomorrow (aka this blog author): http://www.alternet.org/visions/wake-our-world-dying-and-were-all-denial?paging=off

#Feminism

On bullying and the sexual fixation on breasts in the Western world: http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/10/pointless-shame-the-english-speaking-worlds-issue-with-womens-breasts/263585/

#Film

Two pieces relating to the new Ben Affleck film Argo, about the CIA taskforce that staged a film company to rescue American hostages from Tehran:

First, the Wired article from 2007 that originally reported the story: http://www.wired.com/magazine/2007/04/feat_cia/

Second, the Slate piece that examines the veracity of the film: http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2012/10/12/argo_true_story_the_facts_and_fiction_behind_the_ben_affleck_movie.html

An interview with the director of upcoming film Sassy Pants: http://blogs.indiewire.com/womenandhollywood/interview-with-coley-sohn-writer-and-director-of-sassy-pants #Women in Media

#Health

Connecticut legislator reevaluates mental health policy that he implemented in the seventies that now affects his son's life: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/my-son-is-schizophrenic-the-reforms-that-i-worked-for-have-worsened-his-life/2012/10/15/87b74a98-eadd-11e1-b811-09036bcb182b_print.html?src=longreads&buffer_share=ceb93&utm_source=buffer #Policy

Fat? Healthy? Can it be both? http://therumpus.net/2012/10/fat/

The "restorative" powers of the sensory deprivation tank: http://www.theawl.com/2012/10/new-yorks-last-sensory-deprivation-tank

#International

Vice Docs are always intense: http://www.vice.com/vice-news/crime-and-punishment-in-the-gaza-strip-part-1 #Video

Really beautiful essay on the healing women need in Pakistan: http://www.guernicamag.com/daily/humera-afridi-malala-yousufzai-and-the-bonesetters-alchemy/ #Malala

#Literature

TPR's Southern editor offers some flawless reading recommendations: http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2012/08/31/dear-paris-review-john-jeremiah-sullivan-answers-your-questions/

Literary Absurdity: http://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/the-love-song-of-j-alfred-capslock #AltLit

A great survey of the dark enchantments of Angela Carter: http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2012/10/17/chamber-of-secrets-the-sorcery-of-angela-carter/

Hillary Mantel's Wolf Hall was one of the best books I've read in 2012. She's revitalizing historical fiction/literature: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/10/15/121015fa_fact_macfarquhar?currentPage=all

I love mixtapes. And reading. This is a mixtape of reading: http://thoughtcatalog.com/2012/a-mix-tape-of-chapters-from-novels/

Hell is Other Bloggers: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/shouts/2012/10/le-blog-de-jean-paul-sartre.html #Humor

#MMA

Its an article on mixed martial arts that opens with a Karl Marx quote. You want to go to there: http://www.vice.com/read/fightland-weightless-history