Malcolm Gladwell The internet is a-twitter with three things this morning: the anniversary of the collapse of the Berlin Wall, the health care bill, and Maureen Tkacik’s Nation piece, “Malcolm Gladwell for Dummies.” HTMLGIANT’s Justin Taylor sees the essay as more than just a piece on Gladwell, but also “worth looking at…in light of [the] ongoing discussion of what good criticism can or should look like.” The Millions wonders if this is “a tipping point for Gladwell haters.” Berlin Wall […]
Bites: Lord Byron knows what women want, (un)successful indie ventures, and Zoetrope in wine country
Hilarious found library books website Awful Library Books goes totally un-PC. Repeat after me: This is not funny, this is not funny, this is not funny. (…Yes, it’s hilarious.) Books bound in human skin? Literary cannibalism, or something. Critical Mass outlines the launch party for the summer issue of Zoetrope at the Francis Ford Coppola Wineries. “Lit mag launch, Sonoma Style.” Last week, Vol. 1 reviews the issue here, Brooklyn style. We’re still hearing buzz about Electric Literature, a new, […]
The Green Fairy Wants You to Read This Summer’s Zoetrope
This issue’s artwork is done by the ultimately talented musician/artist Antony of Antony and the Johnsons. (In a conversation he has surely forgotten, Antony once told me of the time Cat Power pecked him on the lips at a show. He followed his story with something along the lines of “I’m gay as they come, but I asked her to marry me anyway.”) This spring, Antony curated a group show in Beaubourg, Paris called Six Eyes at the Galerie du […]
Bites: Friends With Benefits, Tiny Vipers, horny at Hogwarts, Electric Literature, and this year’s books
New bimonthly lit mag Electric Literature is looking pretty cool. If you’re old school, it’s available in print but the e-version is half the cost. Natch, an iPhone app is on the way. Plus, they pay $1,000 per accepted submission. That’s new media that can actually pay its contributors. Progress! Washington Post is on board. Another story series in Brooklyn? By Impose? Called Friends With Benefits? With Jeffrey Lewis, Dave Hill, Chris Leo, Pepi Ginsberg, and Alica Jo Rabins? Wait […]
Conversation: Agriculture Reader No. 3
A warm and welcoming term, “agriculture” at its simplest cultivates and gives way to growth, in turn providing food and other fundamental necessities. And the writing in this annual arts journal, as well as Joey Parlett’s artwork, is in this sense fantastically cohesive and naturally grown, cultivated with care from the minds of thirty talented contributors. Nearly every piece embraces an introspective, philosophical undertone, while at the same time maintaining a naturalness characteristic to writing that has sprung organically from […]