Posted by Jason Diamond The Faith/Void split LP was released into the world in September of 1982. Since its release, many enthusiasts of early hardcore claim that it’s one of best examples of the genre ever to be put onto vinyl — if not the best. It ranks high among the most popular albums in a Dischord Records catalog that includes Minor Threat, Nation of Ulysses, Lungfish, Fugazi, and a dozen other releases that earn the label “iconic,” and is still mentioned as […]
Morning Bites: Murakami and Sam Anderson, Tintin, naked parties, George Saunders, and more
Sam Anderson and Haruki Murakami hanging out, doing stuff and whatnot. George Saunders talks to The New Yorker about his story in this week’s issue, Tenth of December. “[H]e was what you’d get if you combined Walter Cronkite with Colonel Sanders. He had his eccentricities. At his Cape Cod summer houses he liked to throw nude cocktail parties that often ended in unexpected couplings amid the dunes.” – Dwight Macdonald and his new “greatest-hits assemblage,” Masscult And Midcult: Essays Against the […]
The OWS-Inspired Gazette
Posted by Jason Diamond Created by n+1 editors, Occupy! is a forty-page history, both personal and documentary, and the beginning of an analysis of the first month of the occupation that began on Wall Street, and has now spread all over. Copies have been picked up, and they’re looking for people to help distribute them to cities all over. Take a second and check it out on Facebook, and let them know if you’re interested in helping out.
Morning Bites: Emily Dickinson’s cake, WORD in the NYT, Edgar Allan Pumpkin, Tom Waits, and more
Emily Dickinson’s coconut cake recipe is revealed. WORD gets a fantastic writeup in the New York Times. Susan Orlean’s Rin Tin Tin book gets a review in the Times as well. Tom Waits talks to the LA Times. Literature pumpkins. Occupy Wall Street is apparently good for tourism.
You can’t stop Leonard Cohen, you can only hope to contain him
Posted by Jason Diamond At this point the fact that Leonard Cohen is pushing 80 and is spritely enough to do things like tour, record new albums, etc. fills me with so much happiness that I sometimes want to bust out a version of “Famous Blue Raincoat” that sounds like it was ripped out of Gypsy. But let’s be honest, even if Old Ideas, Cohen’s forthcoming album to be released next year, is a total stinker, we will all be […]
HBO is one step closer to looking like your bookshelf
Posted by Jason Diamond The title of this post is the answer to the question, “What do Jonathan Franzen, Jennifer Egan, Sam Lipsyte, George R. R. Martin, Jonathan Ames, Michael Chabon, Malcolm Gladwell, and now Karen Russell all have in common?” From The Hollywood Reporter: HBO is going to Florida with Scott Rudin. The premium cable network has picked up Swamplandia, a half-hour comedy project from Rudin based on Karen Russell’s book of the same name.
Quotable: The old London barber
He talks about the war, and about meeting Eleanor Roosevelt. He talks about guarding Tower Bridge with a spigot gun and rifle, and receiving Churchill’s orders to “shoot the bastards … save the bridge.” He talks about his penchant for the 1930s, for big bands and John Wayne. He lights up a little when he hears the name Johnny Cash. He talks about eras, and people, and politicians, and where they have gone wrong. – Brian Leli’s “The Barber Comes […]
Morning Bites: Typewriters, Rimbaud’s birthday, Adbusters, Megan Boyle’s trailer, and more
WNYC takes a look at the niche business of typewriter repair. Arthur Rimbaud was born on this day in 1854. At Lit Kicks: How Adbusters went from a zine to the creative force behind Occupy Wall Street. 3:AM reviews Joshua Mohr’s Damascus. Megan Boyle’s book trailer that looked like it took a long time to make. Does anybody remember when punk broke? Those were the days! My Brightest Diamond is making progress.