Bulk Culture

I have been contributing to Bulk Culture.

I plan to contribute there 1-2 a week.

So far I have been writing about deli meat.

I think I will write about random things that end up in my pockets.

I think I will also write about deli cheese.

I think I will write about running.

I think I will write about music and movies and tv and art and sports and food (other than deli food).

You should check that site daily.

It can be your life.

It should be your life.

Adam Humphreies and Ana C. and Jordan Castro and Shaun Gannon and Noah Cicero and Scott McClanahan and  Mike Bushnell and some other peeps have been killing it over there.

If for some reason you think I am great and you just want to read me, then you click on the tab to your left, under non-fiction, which says "@ Bulk Culture" and then you will only see the things that I write.

I also should have a new essay up on The Nervous Breakdown sometime this week. I am trying to write about one post a month there.

If Bulk Culture isn't your life, then TNB should be your life.

On a related note, I have been digging Brad Listi's Other People Podcast. I don't listen to some of them because I am too unfamiliar with the authors, but I have listened to the ones with Megan Boyle, and Roxanne Gay, and Ben Marcus, and a few others.  Really good stuff.

Review of KADIAN by Jordan Castro

Jordan Castro has another chapbook out, this time on Hip Hip Hooray Press.

In previous books, Jordan Castro seemed to address issues in a more roundabout way.  

His poetry often seemed to have a repetitive, meditative quality to them, where different shades of an idea built upon one another.  

The meditative quality is still there, but now he is cutting right to the core of the ideas at hand. 

There is a fresh brevity to these poems.  

One of my favorite poems in this chapbook, "Without Drugs I am Nothing", has the repetitive quality to it, but I still like it.

I agree with Noah Cicero that this book has a Rimbaud feel to it.

"Constant Disappointment to the People I Love" is another one of my favorites in this series. You can hear Jordan reading it over the trailer to the book here.

I feel Jordan's voice, or the aspects that I like of it the most, are most present in "Only Writing This Poem To Distract Myself From Thinking About How Shitty Of A Friend/Person I Am."  

The poem itself is shorter than the title. It has a "tweet" vibe to it, like many of the things in the chapbook, although maybe that is retarded to say.

"C-Notes" is probably the funniest poem in the collection. It is about the author/narrator/Jordan sitting in a building and hearing C notes from different locations.  It is probably shorter than my description of it, and my description of it does not do it justice.

One poem is about Mad Men. I love Mad Men!

Jordan Castro does a great job with these poems. 

Reading Kadian is like reading a decadent poet write poems in an era where crunk and Twitter exist, and being good at doing it. 

("Turnt Up, Turnt Out" is a good example of this, and is another reason you should buy it)

The second to last poem is similar in tone to the poem that Jordan reads over the trailer. I liked it a lot, too.

The last poem is Jordan going in to even more new territory, filled with caps locks and exclamation marks.   It can be read on Matt Margo's lit blog Cormac McCarthy's Dead Typewriter.  I also just realized another poem from this collection is one there too, although I am not going to say which one, although i don't know why I am not going to say.

I also highly recommend his solo musical mixtape that came out this winter.  The lyrics and poetry in it is similar in many ways to this chapbook.  

I hung out with Jordan over Christmas when I was home in Ohio.  It was the second time I had hung out with while being home for Christmas (this year and last year, respectively). He is way chill. I am glad he wrote this, and glad I read it.

stuff happening

i have a short prose piece up in the new issue of UP.

UP is a really cool lit mag run by carolyn decarlo and ras mashramani

i look forward to hearing what you think of it



also----and this is really big news----i have exploded on twitter

i tweet a lot now

CHECK IT OUT



other than that, i am just taking it one day at a time

i am working on the same novel i have always been working on and i am getting to ready to have some new essays published later this month

i am going to post a review of jordan castro's poetry book on friday at 5 PM

GET READY

books i read this year in mostly chronological order given pitchfork ratings that dont really matter although that is redundant

(i did an interview with scott mcclanahan @3:am mag)

now for my really stupid "books i read this year" post

some of these were/are rereads

im too lenient with my ratings!!!!!!!!!i want to be really mean like pitchfork......

if they don't have a rating that means i put them off until i have more, not out of hate, but out of love....i dont like to cram

i dont think i left anything out but i probably did

have a good new year

donald barthelme-sixty stories                                           8.7
michel houellebecq- "the possibility of an island"             9.2
thomas pynchon- "the crying of lot 49"                             8.1
michel foucault-"madness"                                                7.4
ludwig wittgenstein-"tractus...."      
keith gandal-"cleveland anonymous"
iris murdoch-"a fairly honorable defeat"                            8.3  
f.scott fitzgerald-"the great gatsby"                                     8.2
ernest hemingway-"the sun also rises"                                9.6
poncho peligroso-"the romantic"                                        8.6
ernest hemingway-"a farewell to arms"                              9.5
katherine anne porter-"pale horse, pale rider"                    8.2  
william faulkner-"the sound and the fury"                         8.2
anton checkhov-"selected stories"                                      8.5
sam pink-"person"                                                              9.3
noah cicero-"best behavior"                                               9.4
steve roggenbuck-"download helvetica..."                         8.5
william s. burroughs-"junky"                                              7.9
jack kerouac-"vanity of dulouz"                                         6.8
james payne-"austerity pleasures"                                       8.9
richard yates-eleven kinds of loneliness                              9.4
jean-paul sartre-"the wall"                                                  9.4
lorrie moore-"self-help"                                                      8.8
michel houellebecq-"whatever"                                          8.9
robert f. williams- "negroes with guns"                              8.1
roland barthes-"mourning diary"                                        7.3
norman mailer-"armies of the night"                                   8.3
keith gandal-"the gun and the pen"                                     6.9
bradley sands-"work for megacorp..."                                8.5
mike young-"we are all good..."                                         8.4
frederick barthelme-"moon deluxe"                                    8.6
david foster wallace-"infinite jest"                                      9.1
michael azzerad-"our band could be..."                              8.0
elmore leonard-"mississippi blues"                                     7.6
robert coover-"universal baseball association"                    7.4
dennis cooper-"frisk"                                                          8.9
scott mcclanahan-"stories V!"                                             9.5
blake butler-"there is no year"                                            9.0
gilles deleuze-"anti-oedipus"
franz kafka-"in the penal colony"                                       9.2
mark leidner-"the angel in the dream.."                              9.1
manuel delanda-"war in the age of intelligent..."                8.4
david foster wallace-"consider the lobster"                        8.9
cassandra and cody troyan-"big bill and the..."                  8.7
e.t.a. hoffmann-"the sandman"                                           9.4
sigmund freud-"the uncanny"                                            8.0
herman melville-"typee"                                                     6.5
deb olin unferth-"vacation"                                                9.6
herman melville-"redburn"                                                 7.8
stephen tully dierks-"ganga lovers"                                    8.9
herman mevlille-"white jacket"                                          6.2
rick moody-"right livelihoods"    
san pink-"hurt others"
mike bushnell-"traumahawk"                                             9.0
very beautful women (pangur ban party)                            9.0
ben nadler-"harvitz, as to war"                                           8.5
herman melville-"moby dick"                                             9.4
john minichillo-"the snow whale"                                       9.3
blake butler-"nothing"
deb olin unferth-"revolution"
herman melville-"benito cereno"                                         7.9
herman melville-"bartelby the scrivener"                            9.5
herman melville-"billy budd"                                              6.4
electric literature VOL.5                                                     8.2
hunter s. thompson-"hell's angels"                                      8.7
herman meville-"the encantadas"                                        7.8
herman melville-"battle pieces"                                           7.3
stephen king-"carrie"                                                           7.5
"anti-story: an anthology of experimental fiction"
jean rhys-"good morning, midnight"                                   9.2
marcel proust-"swann's way"
manuel delanda-"a thousand years of nonlinear history"        

everyday genius poem

everyday genius published a poem by me called "harry potter as a sex guide"

I valiantly attempted to review the TV show Boardwalk Empire

HERE

FAIL

I failed to live up to my goal to post a bunch last month.  I will hopefully post again in the future.  My apologies for failing in my attempt at solidarity with the online literature crowd.  I'm busy!

songs i listen to at work

i stole this post idea

there is a lack of sophistication in my writing this post

songs i listen to at work

used to listen to this one a lot, just back into it recently

same with this one

(DELETED: BLACK STAR)

some older music that i have only gotten really into in the past year or two

(DELETED: FUNKADELIC)

i havent listened to this last one as much recently, but for a few weeks i was listening to it at least once most days

all the ones that are from the past year or two are songs that i used to listen to but don't anymore but do apparently



black flag from before henry rollins.  the decline of western civilization is the movie this is taken from.  its a really good movie.

beachsloth blogged about "desiree"

there is a pen in my left pants pocket in the picture

i didn't think the story was nightmarish, although i guess thats cool

good stuff

someone in the last post asked if i felt "like a ghost."  i don't think i do or have feel like that.  although what is it like to be a ghost?  maybe i am and i just don't know.

my friend homer wanted to know if i liked infinite jest.  i read it this summer.  he thought i told him I thought it was "like whatever" but  i told him i thought it was really good. it is one of my favorite books i've read this year.  i think i will eventually make a list of books i read this year, or my favorite books i read this year.  i don't use "goodreads" anymore.

DESIREE

Pangur Ban Party published a short fiction ebook by me called Desiree.  It is HERE.

Also, in spirit with Ben Brooks, Stephen Tully Dierks, and DJ Berndt (who is the editor/designer of Pangur Ban Party), I will be blogging in November for Blog Month.  I will blog once every Sunday, like I did back in high school when I used Xanga.

I also have poem called "Moan" up at Let People Poems.  It is my magnum opus.  See left-hand side bar, where it has been properly cataloged in the correct section of links.

Don't feel shy to say a kind or mean word to me.  I want to feel emotion from other human beings.

Patriotism and Patriarchy: A Review of Ben Nadler's Harvitz, As To War

***EXCLUSIVE QUOTE #1***


"...You know how boring jails gets."
"Yeah, totally."  I did not know.

The eponymous lead character/narrator of Ben Nadler's debut novel is a punk.  Sammy Harvitz rejects what he is expected to do (or what he thinks he is expected to do).  He rejects the status quo.  But rejection of one thing can only can so far before it leads to embrace of another.  Harvitz consistently finds himself in "FUBAR" situations, as the military lingo might go.  His father is somewhat of a deadbeat, his mother dies when he is young.  He migrates towards the punk movement, which is never short of its Sids and Nancies.  Harvitz joins the military: at this point it should be clear to you that this protagonist doesn't get much of a smooth ride in this novel.

Ben Nadler is the author.  Ben Nadler is therefore the novel's God.  God does not like Sammy Harvitz, or at the very least God doesn't give a shit.   This is how a book should be written.

Harvitz is far and away the most prominent character of the novel, but there are some gems to be found here in the supporting roles.  Harvitz's grandfather, a proud old Jewish man, is a voice of reason in the life of Harvitz.  With the early death of his mother and the often lacking parental guidance of his father, the grandfather is a less frequent yet quite poignant presence in the novel.  He represents the tradition ("3000 years of Jewish heritage") and patriarchy, while the father represents a former hippie, former middle-class worker, early retiree, turned sour on life.  Harvitz struggles with the shadows of these two characters.  His volatility stems in many ways from each of them.  I am beginning to sound Psychanalytic, which I hate, and so I am going to move on.

The other most striking characters for me were the buddies he makes in the military.  Not surprisingly, the punk Harvitz gravitates to the more intellectual and introverted members of his unit.


***EXCLUSIVE QUOTE #2***

I felt a little bit like a wild animal that she had brought home.  I liked feeling like that.


The landscapes of this novel are vivid, despite the fact that Nadler spends much less time on poetry and much more time on action.  The novel doesn't really slow down.  The text moves from exposition to scenes heavy with dialogue, and that process is repeated throughout much of the book.  Throughout the novel, we see Philadelphia, New Jersey, Manhattan, Brooklyn, California, Florida, and a whole lot of spaces in between.  The periods when Harvitz pauses to reflect are powerful, as well.

The language of the book is not too distinguished, by which I mean it doesn't really go too far towards minimalism or maximalism, those dirty binary terms that I am using in spite of my disgust.  The language is fairly simply, so I suppose I should call it more minimalistic, but it doesn't go too far and there isn't a discernible ideological strategy at work in the way the words appear on the page.  That said, the voice is consistent, and what more can we ask from a writer?

I highly recommend this novel.  Sure, the stories of patriotism and patriarchy (and their rejection) have been told before.  But J.D. Salinger is dead, and J.D. Salinger didn't grow up in an era of endless strip malls and the great overcrowded yet increasingly homogenous culture we now know.

I was reminded of Russell Banks' Rule of the Bone as I read this---and in terms of really good literature about young adults that is a high mark for the past several decades.  Harvitz wants to find comfort and peace, but the only routes he knows to those ideals are littered with pain and self-destruction.  It is a bible (lowercase on purpose) for all young people who are confused and angry with the bullshit.


***EXCLUSIVE QUOTE #3***

"Well, choosing to serve in the Army is a big decision.  But there's no reason to be nervous here today.  We're just hanging out.  Consider me your buddy!"






OUT NOW ON IRON DIESEL PRESS

occupy yourself

IF I HAD A SLOGAN THAT COULD FIT ALL MY DEMANDS INTO ONE SLOGAN, THIS WOULD BE IT

occupy an area

occupy yourself

i have gone down to #occupywallstreet a few times

i went down to the times square demonstration on saturday

that was very thrilling

i walk out of the 42nd street subway and theres hardly any room to move around in (not that thats that different from how times sq usually is.....)

there were lots of signs

i made my way (over 20 mins or so) to one of the main clusters of demonstrators, camped underneath the ABC tv hq

there were news headlines flashing

AL QAEDA MILITANTS KILLED IN IRAQ

OCCUPY MOVEMENT GOES GLOBAL

MICHIGAN BEATS WHOEVER THE FUCK

felt historical

these protests are cool

more importantly, they are good

i am not much of a protester

protesters are kind of loud, extroverted

i felt very agoraphobic at times sq on saturday, although times sq often has that effect

i was glad that fucking tourists and crass consumers had their days ruined because they were prevented from freely shopping by a mob of angry people holding signs protesting capitalism under many crazy signs in the center of capitalism

ugh, words

but yeah, they were loud and extroverted

the only times i am ever usually loud or extroverted is when i am really hyper-mood (usually around folks i know) or drunk

maybe if i got drunk i would go be a loud protester and not just a mostly silent fellow-traveler

i talk to people about it while i am there or while i am not there

it seems that that is one of the main points: to raise political awareness and dialogue

the sit-ins in downtown banks this past week sounded good

the protests in europe and asia sounded good

i watch glenn beck videos where he talks about this stuff

he is in conspiracy theory mode

he is always scary and funny, i think that is his point tho, although i dont think his fans have the same sense of irony about it that i do

he thinks it a communist/anarchist-coordinated movement for the violent overthrow of the gov

"THEYRE REVOLUTIONARIES"

they thing is

i agree

as someone who supports these protests, i want a revolution

but not armed insurrection, necessarily

i want this financial system to be massively changed

if it can happen organically, that would be best, obviously

i think that people don't need to die

i want a lot

but i can't reduce my protests to "bread, land, and peace"

thats what the soviets used

which is a lot

i wonder how long these protests will continue

when winter comes and a lot of the people who just pass through (like me) start to go down less often because of the cold weather

or when fall semester is over and students who have been going down go home for the holidays

will it die?

will weather conditions and vacations give a whimpering end to the protests?

i hope not

but what am i personally doing about it

then again, i have obligations (i teach at a public college)

so maybe i shouldnt be trying to go get arrested, bc then i cant teach these kids how to read interesting works of literature and how to form arguments and how to write essays

or maybe thats just an excuse

bc i will only be held for a day or two

maybe im just a wuss

yeah, im a "wuss"

ok




_____________________

I am going to start a twitter account called "Wikipedia pages I regret having found myself reading"

I may also eventually start a twitter account called "YouTube videos I regret having found myself watching"

These accounts will be a call-to-arms for Myself

They will be like saying "Andrew, look at this retarded shit you just wasted your time on"

They will be part of some project with unknown parameters that i will be working on over an unknown period of time

______________________________


I AM GOING TO WRITE A MANIFESTO ABOUT SOMETHING
IN THE NEXT WEEK OR TWO