If you’ve got some time to kill delving into a Tumblr check out Now I Remember, an ongoing collection of cell phone photos from Tino Razo, Neckface, Jerry Hsu, Curtis Buchannan, Jen Reynolds, Kevin Long, Aaron Bonderoff and Issue Six contributor, Todd Jordan. These folks did a show of all cell phone photos in Tokyo recently, and apparently liked it so much they’re not stopping. Add it to your feeder for an intermittent dose of raw goodness.

Introducing the Annalemma postcard collection, featuring words and images from Annalemma Issue Six: Sacrifice.

Click on over to our print store where you can purchase all five of these handsome art pieces printed on recycled matte stock for $5.00 plus s&h.

Got a college student you haven’t heard from in a couple semesters?

Or perhaps a long distance significant other who swoons with every mention of your name?

Or maybe you’ve got an estranged sibling that lives in remote part of the country.

Or maybe you want to impress guests with all of the international contacts you have by displaying fake correspondences with people you just made up.

Many reasons to buy, no excuse not to.

p.s. the entire set comes free with purchase of Annalemma Issue Six: Sacrifice, while supplies last!

The following is an excerpt from the story Fight Songs by Jim Ruland, appearing in Annalemma Issue Six: Sacrifice. Image by Todd Jordan.

Last week deputies from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department escorted Staci Carson from the agency for violating a restraining order by stalking a lifeguard at the beach, but I’m the only one in the building who knows this. Staci had a secret blog. It isn’t up anymore–her hosting service deleted the file at the request of the authorities–but she archived the content and parked it on her hard drive, which became my hard drive after Staci left and I moved into her office. She documented her infatuation with the lifeguard in a file called “StatusReports2010” and I’ve been reading it nonstop. I’m pretty much in love with Staci Carson now.

I didn’t know Staci Carson very well. She traveled all the time and worked from home a lot. She was reasonably fit, reasonably personable, reasonably attractive. In short, the least likely person to get all fatal attraction over a nineteen-year-old lifeguard barely out of high school. Not that I’m judging her. I believe love is a weed that can spring up anywhere. You can rip it out of the ground, but its root structure, its essence, remains. You can’t make love go away just because you want it to.

The telephone rings and I nearly jump out of my chair. It’s my first call in my new office and the ring tone is super loud.

“Hey, sugar.”

It’s the receptionist, a woman named Gilda who wears wild wigs and headscarves, and may very well be the only person in the agency with a sense of humor, which is a problem since our biggest client is a comedy network.

“You got a call from Jessica.”

“Jessica?” Jessie is the daughter of my on-and-off girlfriend, Rocio. I have no idea why Jessie would be calling me at work.

“I’ll put her through.”

“Wait,” I say, but it’s too late. Gilda’s gone. I use my best I’m-super-busy-this-better-be-good voice: “Tom Lanier.”

“Hi, Tom.”

“Jessie. Is everything all right?”

“Yeah. Well. Sorta.”

“What does ‘sorta’ mean?”

“I got suspended.”

“What did you do?”

“Nothing!”

“You got suspended for doing nothing?” I wince as the words tumble out of my mouth. To a fourteen-year-old, sarcasm is pretty much the same thing as being a dick.

“Hold on,” she says and another voice comes over the line. Someone from the school.

“Mr. Vargas?”

“Um, no. This is Jessie’s mother’s significant other.” It’s the first time I’ve ever used this phrase to describe myself and it feels completely asinine, but Jessie’s mother’s boyfriend sounds sleazy. It could be that I’m slightly intimidated: this woman’s got the I’m-super-busy-this-better-be-good voice down cold.

“I see. And your name is?”

“Lanier. Tom Lanier.”

“Mr. Lanier, this is Ms. Ortega, the school disciplinarian at Our Lady of Guadalupe. Your significant other’s daughter has been suspended for a dress code violation. Will you be coming to pick her up or shall I phone her mother?”

“I’ll be right there,” I say. “What’s your address?”

“You can obtain the school’s address and driving directions on our website.”

“You can’t just give it me?”

“No, I can’t just give it to you. Good day, Mr. Lanier.”

I put down the phone and grab my car keys. Love without sacrifice is but a declaration of intentions. That’s from Staci’s blog, posted a week before she was arrested. I don’t what this means, but I can feel the truth of it down to my bones.

To read the rest of this story click here to pre-order Annalemma Issue Six: Sacrifice, which ships April 12th.

Jim Ruland is the author of the short story collection Big Lonesome and the organizer of the L.A.-based reading series Vermin on the Mount. He lives in San Diego with his wife the visual artist Nuvia Crisol Guerra.

Todd Jordan is a photographer based in New York City. He has had various solo exhibitions of his work and been included in several group shows.  He has self published two books of his work and most recently released “Sleep Talking” with Decathlon Books. Todd is represented in New York by Peter Hay Halpert Fine Art.

I was pleasantly surprised to see Issue Six contributor Todd Jordan’s new photo book sitting on my desk when I came into the office this morning.

A handsome and impressive collection I’m proud to add to the shelf. We need to get on Decathlon about updating their site, but for now head on over to Dashwood to purchase. Well worth it!

In other TJ news: he also keeps a Tumblr that will steal 10 15 minutes of your day.

Did you do anything exciting this weekend?

Besides going to church?

We did.

We collected treasure the entire weekend.

Well, not the entire weekend.

It was broken up by occasional comments on a certain post.

It felt good and strange and weird and exciting.

And it gave me the feeling that this move to NY was starting to pay off a little bit.

Now if I could only convert all this attention into subscriptions.

Whatever. In a way, it’s just cool and satisfying to be connecting with some people I respect and admire.

But back to the treasures…

When you have someone special in town, everything you see becomes a treasure.

A 1970 Chevy Impala is always a treasure.

Treasure is all around you.

These hazy little pockets of life captured by Lina Scheynius seem appropriate for winter. Her photos remind me of your eyes being a bit dried out from the heater, hair perpetually mussed up from wool hats and the static clicking of moving your arm across a bed sheet in the middle of the night, trying not to stir the one your with.

Documentary photographer Dave Jordano’s work is simply stunning. I suggest checking out his Articles of Faith project. Click here for an interview with the artist.

Some random images from the holiday weekend:

This was Chase’s first attempt at a fried turkey. I thought it was delicious. But I think he was expecting the heavens to open up and waves of light to wash over him as he took the first bite. He was a bit let down.

Also, congrats to Chase for receiving the nod from Pitchfork for one of the best vids of ’09!

This guy was turning his beak up to all the turkeys that got screwed this year. Don’t get cocky dude, Christmas is just around the corner and I ain’t never cooked a goose before.

Or a turkeygoose.

We played a show. This guy’s band didn’t show up and he had to play all his jams solo. The brass balls on this dude. Hats off to you sir.

Viernes with their new multimedia setup.

It wouldn’t be Turkey Day without football.

And it wouldn’t be football without me wishing I was in the marching band.

I was about to make a joke along the lines that I was forming an all-tuba band and call it Tuba Gooding Jr. But apparently he already exists.

In other news, I met a Transformer.

And the cute alert has been ringing off the hook.

Back to work! Back to burning calories! Keeping the gut at bay! To pressing forward and pressing hard until the end of the year! Finish line is in sight everyone! Don’t give up yet! We believe in you if no one else does! Count on that! Set your watch to it!

Speaking of which, keep an eye out for a new video next week…

Literary costumes are weird. Unless you hang out with a dedicated book crowd, chances are you’re going to be standing in the corner by yourself at the party, occasionally launching into 5 min+ speech explaining your costume to the sexy maid who was unfortunate enough to ask.

But maybe I’m wrong. Send pics of your literary costume I’ll post them and we’ll let the internet decide if they were effectively scary/funny. Best costume gets a free copy of Annalemma Issue Five!

Pic: The Inkwell

Dear friend and issue five contributor Bryan “Bear” Soderlind recently uploaded a cache of photo gold. He exhaustively covered the 32nd Annual Orlando Gala. For decades it has been considered the social event of the season not because everyone dresses their best and looks fantastic, but because of all the scandalicious activities that take place there.

Check out the facebook album.

Speaking of facebooks, don’t forget to add yourself to the Annalema page while you’re there!