Supergroup in Reverse: The Afterlife of cLOUDDEAD
Ben Bush11.13.07
Ben Bush tracks the big bangish explosion of what was once a taut singularity, the eclectic hip hop supergroup cLOUDDEAD, and the future of its former mates Yoni Wolf, David Madson, and Adam Drucker. Bush argues that the music that has followed in the aftermath is a heap more complex and interesting than the original structure.
The Pugilist at Rest: Norman Mailer (1923-2007)
Andrew Lewis Conn11.13.07
Was Norman Mailer a "pampered superbrat" as Martin Amis put it, a chauvinist pig as Gore Vidal would have it, or America’s finest writer as pugilist – an activist, novelist and journalist who didn’t simply cover the story but was always, "indelibly, part of the story." "If American life" in our times, Andrew Lewis Conn writes, "was getting crazier all the time, filtering it through the prism of a crazy, and crazy-making, personality like Mailer’s made better sense than not." Mailer drawing by Danny Jock.
Desire in Syracuse: the ‘Come On’ Controversy
Yvonne Olivas11.07.07
This piece shouldn’t require a subtitle with the word “controversy” in it; it should simply be about three talented artists’ work. But alas, the exhibition in Syracuse titled "Come On: Desire Under the Female Gaze" recently drew headlines when its curator Astria Suparak was fired following the show’s opening (and huge success). Yvonne Olivas talks to artists Juliet Jacobson, Rachel Rampleman, Jo-Anne Balcaen, and curator Astria Suparak about the art involved and what exactly happened in the wake of their recent exhibition.
COUNTDOWN 1: CHECK OUT OUR TOTALLY FREE STUFF!!!
Ben Arnold11.07.07
In Arnold’s new top 10 (top 8 sometimes, I don’t know…is that number copyrighted by Letterman?) column, he gets a tad lazy and simply lists from a crazy spam email he received promising free stuff stuff that you can get online that is way better than the new Radiohead album "In Rainbows". Art by Danny Jock.
Staring Back at Chris Marker
Andy Beta11.04.07
"Time present and time past/Are both perhaps present in time future," wrote T.S. Eliot. No filmmaker has absorbed this vertiginous lesson better than cult documentarist Chris Marker. Apropos of the long-awaited DVD release of two Marker classics, and a new book of his photographs, Andy Beta explores intertextual connections that reach across decades.
Talk Show 4 with T Cooper, Lisa Selin Davis, Ellen Litman, Elissa Schappell, and Amanda Eyre Ward
Jaime Clarke11.01.07
Talk Show 4 theme? – childhood hero. It’s surprising and I guess telling who some writers’ heroes of youth were and why. I mean T-Cooper? Everyone who’s read this seems to ask wait, what about Radar, or that guy in drag? In any case, M*A*S*H* to most of my generation was in general a stay up late re-run privelege that tended to bleed into the burdensome when older fanatics hogged control of the remote, in a post prime time herb and Cheetohs induced existential coma. But it’s a great unexpected off the waller (the young sly Alda) and there’s a good variety of heoric fanfare from a fine selection of writers this month. Hosted by Jaime Clarke and with art as usual by Danny Jock.
World Series 2007 Blog
Dallas Hudgens10.26.07
Well that was quick…fun for Red Sox Fans, a little boring for writers to cover though. Here’s the summation which you can also check on Hudgens’ personal blog. Art by Danny Jock
Review of Zeroville by Steve Erickson
Scott Bradfield10.25.07
Steve Erickson, in his latest novel Zeroville, invents a character who chooses to live his life as if he were a cinematic character. And who wouldn’t? In the movies, one can jump cut, laws of cause and effect are easily manipulated, and responsibility becomes malleable or mute. The problem for Erickson’s hero however, Scott Bradfield explains, is that he’s unknowingly driven by the causal concerns of his deft creator, Erickson the novelist. And all that drives Erickson, drives his characters…well, read and see.
Ignition, Orbit & Landfall: A Liars Synopsis
Brian Howe10.18.07
Brian Howe writes the LP narrative thus far of one of Brooklyn’s defining bands, Liars, a group defined by their undefinable music. Liars (now spread between L.A. and Berlin) are starting to make some sense. With a driving, almost pop-oriented new album that’s more coherent than anything they’ve done prior, Liars have once again fooled us all. What’s in that name anyway, Liars? Has it ever sounded so sweet?
Save The Receipt: Rethinking Wes Anderson
Zach Baron10.17.07
Wes Anderson’s latest movie, The Darjeeling Limited, has provoked a number of critics to express their exhaustion with his hermetically sealed realm of white bourgeois male privilege. Zach Baron wonders whether these critics aren’t missing the point.
