January 2011
59 posts
“A poet’s mission is to make words do more work than they normally do.”
– Jay-Z, from Decoded
December 2010
45 posts
Stories 2010: Questions we would've asked Billy... →
— The A.V. Club Austin, September 20th
Billy Corgan’s publicist offered, then rescinded, an interview with the guy after she learned it would not be running in the print edition of The Onion. (This was short-sighted of her for a couple reasons, not the least of which is that it may well have run in print in other editions of the paper when the Smashing Pumpkins tour later landed in...
5 tags
Best of 2010: Three Rules for Achieving Greatness... →
— Asylum.com, April 28th
I dunno, I don’t like to brag on myself much (not explicitly, anyway — mostly just by creating top 10 lists of my own work like I’m doing now), but I feel pretty good about the fact that I am likely one of the only people who, after spending about twenty minutes talking with Eli Manning, would think — “This guy has so much in common...
4 tags
Stories 2010: Ann Wolfe Scares the Crap Out of Us →
— A.V. Club Austin, March 2nd
The final product here isn’t, like, exceptional, but the process of interviewing Ann Wolfe taught me a lot. She’s a remarkable woman, of course (eight-time world champion!), but one I had a really hard time establishing any sort of rapport with. The first half hour of the conversation was me asking questions about things she clearly didn’t...
Stories 2010: Porn Star Rescues Man From Jail... →
— Asylum.com, April 28th
I liked this one mostly because I thought it was a significant story that wasn’t getting reported anywhere except for a few law blogs. (I was always a little disappointed that it didn’t run with my original headline, “Porn Star Rescues Man From Kafka-esque Nightmare”, I’ll admit.) The jokes in it — mostly about the customs...
Best of 2010: Today's Song: "White America",... →
— Tumblr, last month
I liked this one mostly because I had never read anyone else talk about the significance of “White America” as a comment on white privilege before, and that’s always surprised me. Eminem was the biggest star in the world when The Eminem Show was released, and — especially in hip-hop — most white folks who’d come from being broke and...
3 tags
Stories 2010: The People's Frog →
— The Texas Observer, November 5th
This was exciting to me for a few reasons, not the least of which was being published for the first time in the Observer. The story was one I’d told a few times before, but had never really revisited — I hadn’t spoken to Daniel Johnston about it before, or had a conversation with the guy who owned the Baja Fresh and saved the frog in many...
2 tags
Best of 2010: Things I Wrote This Year That I'm...
It’s the end of the year, so a little retrospective navel-gazing seems like it’s appropriate. Here are some things I wrote and published this year that I’m proud of. Some of ‘em were paid work for other people, and some just appeared on this blog or wherever, but I thought they were worth revisiting. Posts with links to follow.
3 tags
Moore and Me (and a little on #mooreandme)
I drove to Indiana over the past two days, got in around mid-afternoon today. Usually when Kat and I make this trip, we do it in a straight shot, but I hadn’t slept well the night we left, so we made a stop in Marion, Illinois. Really the only time it bothers me that Kat can’t drive is on long trips like that, but breaking them up to sleep in a Motel 6 (no charge to bring the dog!)...
“Coming out of college, coaches told me I wasn’t gonna be nothing but a...”
– — Devin Hester, after breaking the kickoff/punt return for touchdown record last night.
I doubt I’d have found this quoteworthy if I weren’t as much a Bears fan as I am, or if I hadn’t watched the press conference where he’s crying as he says it, but I do think that...
1 tag
More #mooreandme stuff.
So, this is still happening. Which is amazing, a testament to the powerful disappointment people have in Moore and Olbermann, the way people were moved by Sady Doyle’s post on Tiger Beatdown, and — yeah — the willingness of Keith Olbermann to engage.
At some point, an online protest story becomes old news, and there stops being anything to agitate against. That post on Pandagon...
1 tag
How Michael Moore is furthering rape culture: A...
Hi, dudes. A bunch of guys who think they’re the first to ever think of the question want all of the folks over at #mooreandme to answer specifically how Michael Moore is furthering rape culture with his “bunch of hooey” and “smears and lies” comments. Most of the people over there are pretty busy trying to keep the conversation from being all “bake me a...
“I have no doubt that Michael Moore, along with Keith Olbermann, are waiting this...”
– Amanda Marcotte, writing about #mooreandme at Pandagon
Another quick Assange thing.
Nate Silver gets confused writing at the New York Times:
I suspect this point will seem obvious to many of you: the fact that the charges are (apparently) politically motivated is indeed a reason to regard them skeptically, and they make it less likely — perhaps much less likely — that Mr. Assange is guilty of them. (Although he may be guilty of being a creep even if he is not guilty of a...
“If you are not paying for it, you’re not the customer. You’re the...”
– - Some dude on Metafilter This should be taught to children in schools. Seriously.
“In the afterlife you relive all your experiences, but this time with the events...”
– From Sum by David Eagleman.
(found via Kottke and Susannah Breslin)
Some responses on Assange.
Regarding Julian Assange, the charges against him, and the thoughts I posted a couple days ago:
My pal Josh comments:
I am sad that you have internalized the “I’m reasonable because I will reject Keith Olbermann in the same breath as Glenn Beck” idea such that it is barely even an afterthought to a larger point.
I was glad that he noticed that, because I brought up both of...
You Don't Know If Julian Assange Raped Those Women...
The more I read about WikiLeaks, the less I like anyone’s analysis of it. We’re binary in this culture, of course, everyone knows that — good guys and bad guys, with us and against us, our team and their team — but if ever there was a situation that required nuance, this is it. Some things I keep reading that are driving me crazy:
1. Julian Assange isn’t accused of...
“The Stones in ‘65 want total satisfaction, dude, but the Stones in...”
– Jeffrey Lewis, “Williamsburg Will Oldham Horror”
Today’s song: “Bright Lights, Bigger...
crazier than shirttails: 10.0 →
summeranne:
Here are the albums I’d give a 10.0 (“perfect”) to which have been released since Pitchfork’s inception (1995). Pitchfork’s original rating in brackets.
Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot [10.0]
Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy [10.0]
Lauryn Hill’s The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill [8.0]
The Shins’ Oh Inverted World [8.0]
Neutral Milk Hotel’s In The Aeroplane Over The Sea...
Today’s song: “Runaway”, Kanye...