“The mind: a great weapon and an even greater weakness.” – Jace Beleren I. “Illusions of Grandeur” It’s 7 A.M. on a Saturday in October 2012. I'm twenty-eight-years-old and yelling “Idiot,” “Fucking terrible,” and “What were you thinking?” into my steering wheel. I’m driving home from Time Warp Comics, where I’ve just lost a Magic tournament. And not just lost, but lost lost: eighteenth out of twenty-five at the midnight release for the newest set, Return to Ravnica. My opponents? Mostly … [Read more...] about Things American: Control Magic
Review: Douglas Coupland’s Worst. Person. Ever.
Attention Simon Pegg and Nick Frost: Grab the rights immediately. Douglas Coupland's Worst. Person. Ever. might be the most Celluloid-Ready. Postmodern Novel. Ever. If this sounds like a condemnation (shallow), consider your feeling for the cerebral, hilarious, and easily digestible work of another Douglas. It's hard to imagine Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy fans wouldn't feel at home in this absurdist British-flavored comedy, even with its relentless barrage of invectives and crass … [Read more...] about Review: Douglas Coupland’s Worst. Person. Ever.
Things American: The Boys Of My Youth (Baseball Seasons 1989-2014)
“Baseball breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in spring when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings. And then as soon as the chill rains come it stops and leaves you to face the fall all alone, when you need it most.” —A. Bartlett Giamatti, Commissioner of Major League Baseball, 1989 My father teaches me two essential skills at the tender age of eighteen months: to read and to blow raspberries with my … [Read more...] about Things American: The Boys Of My Youth (Baseball Seasons 1989-2014)
Spreading the Literary Love
A while back, Austin Kleon, author of Steal Like an Artist, was on KUT, our local NPR station, talking about how important it is to be engaged and active in your community of artists--whatever your creative pursuits. One quote of his that stuck with me was this: "You have to be a fan to have fans." I liked the sentiment, although it did remind me of Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl and this snippet of dialogue: "I'm just really active in the fandom." / "What the fuck is 'the fandom?'" Anyway, I asked … [Read more...] about Spreading the Literary Love
The Magic of Helen Oyeyemi’s Mirrors
Toward the beginning of Helen Oyeyemi’s fourth and latest novel, Boy, Snow, Bird, narrator Boy Novak Whitman offers us a dictionary-style definition of the word “mirror.” mirror: [mirə] noun 1. A surface capable of reflecting sufficient diffuser light to form an image of an object placed in front of it. 2. Such a reflecting surface set in a frame. In a household setting this surface adopts an inscrutable personality (possibly impish and/or amoral), presenting convincing and yet … [Read more...] about The Magic of Helen Oyeyemi’s Mirrors
Things American: Nic Pizzolatto’s Women Before True Detective
In honor of all of the breathless praise accompanying the release of HBO’s new crime noir series True Detective, The Atlantic is urging readers to revisit two short stories by Nicolas Pizzolatto, the show’s creator. The stories appeared in the magazine ten years ago, when Pizzolatto was an MFA student at the University of Arkansas, and they explore themes that would later mark the HBO series. Chief among those is gender and the relationship between men and women. Pizzolatto is a radically … [Read more...] about Things American: Nic Pizzolatto’s Women Before True Detective