“What editors do for writers is mysterious, and does not, contrary to general belief, have much to do with titles and sentences and ‘changes.’…
The Art of Obituary: Anna Nicole Smith
Anna Nicole Smith (November 28, 1967 – February 8, 2007) She acted too, though it was the Breasts that stole every scene, full in Leslie Nielsen’s…
Resisting The Chilling Effect
Images by Barbara Kruger Abrahamian explains why a salon revival may be the best way to fight epistemic closure in the digital age— where the internet…
The live and the dead nettle. This is the use of memory:
Beauties have their weaknesses. Buildings have their flaws.
She cuts like a knife with the eyes of her words.
The quickest of us walk about well wadded with stupidity
If we had a keen vision and feeling of all ordinary human life, it would be life hearing the grass grow and the squirrel’s heart beat, and we should die of that roar which lies on the other side of silence.
Excerpts from a Conversation with David Foster Wallace
There are four trillion bits coming at you, 99 percent of them are shit, and it’s too much work to do triage to decide.
We May Draw Two Conclusions
We may draw two conclusions, at least tonight; later we can change our minds.
The Art of Promotion (1)
We here at James Brown Enterprises are deeply concerned about our youth. We are not only concerned with them doing the right things but also making the right decisions in life.
An Exile from the Real World
An exile from the real world, Elvis Presley built his own world
The Art of the Interview (3): Harvey Pekar
Harvey Pekar cramps David Letterman’s style in 1988.
Life is Born Out of Force
Life is born out of force and denial at the hands of one’s intimates. This is knowledge to be taken in manfully. In fact, the taking in of this knowledge is precisely what has always been called manful.
"A State of Mathematical Grace" (How to Begin)
Rereading Enduring Love, I’m struck again by the simple perfection of its opening
I have no right to understand anything
I have no right to understand anything. It is not my fault. Ideas come and settle in my mind by mistake, then, realizing their mistake,…
Writing about the past and the trick of memory
I opened L. P. Hartley’s The Go-Between to find an Introduction by the author that is really a wonderful little piece of literary criticism.