Vigorously Lazy

with Christopher Heavener

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Tuesday, February 2nd

Karin Driejer Andersson.

I may or may not be late to this party, but ever since I saw this video last week I’ve become obsessed with Karin Driejer Andersson:

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How come writers don’t do shit like this?

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Is it because pop music and performance art is all about getting as far away from being human as possible and writing is about getting to the core of being human? Is it because writers are trying to stimulate your brains and not your eyes?

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Maybe that’s not true though, the stuff about performance artists moving away from being human. I see Driejer Andersson going so other-worldly that she circles back around, getting closer to a more primitive and spiritual part of being a human.

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Nevertheless, what’s her counterpart in the writing world? Only person I can think of is JT LeRoy. Or possibly Tim Jones-Yelvington.

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Favorite tracks:

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…and this (dicks won’t let me embed).

Monday, February 1st

120 in 2010: Await Your Reply.

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Random thoughts:

I love that Dan Chaon takes advantage of a dimension of books that’s so simple but rarely gets taken advantage of: unlike a film, you cannot see the characters in a book. Some of the characters identities in AYR come into question and you get the sense that if you could only see them with your naked eye then this wouldn’t be an issue. An aspect that could make filming the book somewhat complicated:

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(This is the best book trailer I’ve ever seen btw.)

Chaon puts his characters in the dusty flat plains of the midwest, the desolate northern territories, the hidden cabins of Michigan. He cuts up the isolated locals with brief moments in Las Vegas and the Ivory Coast. But for the most part he uses these lonely backdrops, ones that are rarely shown so honestly, not as places that industry has left unsullied, bastions of the real America, but as what they are: places where people go to disappear.

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AYR is one of those books where it’s all about the third act. The first 2/3rds exist solely to setup the final 100 pages, and it’s evident when you’re reading it that these long ruminative chapters of characters hemming and hawing about the decisions they’ve made will eventually pay off if you just keep reading. But Chaon makes it frustrating sometimes as he’s so stingy with the clues, with the revelations, with the breadcrumbs. He makes you starve for information. Which can be a risky move. If you’re starving you’re either going keep reading or you’re going to go to McDonalds.

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One thing I gotta mention though is his style. Chaon’s goes for simple and direct, which is great and I applaud him for that. But what feels simple and elegant at first gets tiresome a couple hundred pages in. The adverbs were what killed it for me. A few here and there are excusable, inevitable at some point. But used too often adverbs just read like lazy writing to me. Saying a character sighed wearily, or gestured nonchalantly, or looked blankly into the distance doesn’t really illustrate much for me. It makes one word do all the heavy lifting instead of dispersing it over an entire sentence. That’s not to say Chaon is a hacky writer. Far from it. There’s moments of true style in this book but they’re lopsided by the unnatural sound that adverbs make in my head.

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While it did leave a bit to be desired in the language department, it had been a long time since I’d read a story as tightly crafted and intricately thought out as this. Something strangely satisfying in putting your trust in an author and having it pay off so well in the end. Thanks Dan.

Monday, February 1st

Deadline Passed.

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The deadline for our sacrifice themed issue has passed. Much like the science report in high school that you forgot about until the night before it was due, many of you waited until the last minute to submit work. I respect your eagerness to be published. Thanks to everyone who submitted. You’re efforts will not go unrecognized. I am recognizing them. Right here. Consider this recognition.

Now I have to go read 150 short stories in eight hours.

Friday, January 29th

Finnegan’s Wank.

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Happy Friday everyone. As a special present for making it to the end of the week, we give you the fruits of the HTMLGIANT “When Writers Get Off” contest. In retrospect, it may have been wise to choose a less confusing title to parody, but whatever, it makes for some good ol’ fashioned time wastin’ on a Friday afternoon. Thanks to everyone who submitted!

And now, Annalemma is proud to give you a work of classical literature that has been totally porn-i-fied. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you…

Finnegan’s Wank

force that through the green fuse drove the wildebeest in rear of the long bus with high seatbacks for high school play, untucked oxford shirt, corduroys unsnapped, downzipped to match her plaid skirt split thigh-wide, knees pinked, still drives me to wankshire, memory slick with swells of youth, yea, I was still a boy back then, virginia’s son, unlicensed but with mansome fingers, guitar-licking at the loudhouse, labial mimetics of miss winnie who would whimper first, a chorus, huff-n-hew, then lift me with her muttonbrooch, the niceliest mouthing of fist with slurp hole, oh, imagine the sound, how I would soak the buttoned cotton clean through. learned to launder by eleven, so dear mother, sweet saintly mami, immaculate cleanser of marriott and sheraton, would not know nor touch the spraycrust from breath slide, wring and bell-tongued ball (like wool-white plunge for heaven’s serf) of the selfsame girl who’d heave jameson at the freshman formal, but not before geyswerk beneath cloth table. we told ourselves no one could see, yet when discovered otherwise saw no need for disgrace, groan with willful eyes, glouch before mirrors, windows, open doors, like this one now, upon the aerie annalemma. finn’s splooge is yours.

– jesusangelgarcia

Mastabatoom, mastabadtomm, when a mon merries his lute, he tips un a topping swank cheroot, giving the Paddybanners the military salute, from out the belfry of the cute, to send more heehaw hell’s flutes, comming nown from the asphalt to the concrete, from the human historic brute, schwants (schwrites) ischt tell the cock’s trootabout, to traverse same above statement by saxy luters, and the Beer and Belly and the Boot, in spite of all that science could boot, like to ants or emmets wondern upon a groot, very largely substituted taker of the tributes, for render and prender the doles and the tribute, when rodmen’s firstaiding hands had rescued, the prettiest pickles of unmatchemable mute, when an explosium of his distilleries deafadumped all his dry goods to his most favoured sinflute.

Saddenly now. On a second wreathing, a celt, unwishful as he felt, was pelted (in pelted thongs), lugging up and laiding down his livepelts (birthday pelts), a lad’s thing to elter, and boundaried round with a twobar tunnel belt, where the poules go and rum smelt, and yet smelt the highstinks aforefelt, erning his breadth to the swelt, and devious delts, a bright tauth bight shimmeryshaking for the welt, and candlestock melt.

– William Walsh

Finnegan sat in the corner, spent.  He was sad now.  The softest part was always the hardest part. He spit on the ground and looked around.  He grabbed a dirty towel and weakly cleaned himself.  A big fart let loose from his fat ass. The magazine he used was called Phoenix Park, and Finnegan made a note to himself to remember the title.  It was a keeper.

The bachelor’s apartment only had one room, other than the bathroom.  The only sink was in the bathroom.  Finnegan kept a hot plate on a table near the only door in the apartment.  He occasionally cooked grill cheeses on the hot plate.  He had never cleaned the hot plate.  He owned two dishes, and he would clean them in the shower at the same time he showered himself.  He owned one fork, and cleaned it with spit.

Through the dirty window, Finnegan spied a bird flying.  He coughed once and turned away from the window.  He lay back and stared up at the ceiling, scratching his belly.  He imagined the two Asian girls he saw at drycleaner earlier in the day.  They leaned over a sink, each washing a shirt.  One was tall like a tree. The other was squat and short, like a stone.  They were both beautiful.  They were both perfect.  Each time he jerked it thinking of them, he felt closer to them.  Every day he felt closer to them.

Finnegan waited to get hard again.  It wouldn’t be long.

– P. William Grimm

Thursday, January 28th

RIP JD Salinger.

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Update: New Yorker link JUST BEFORE THE WAR WITH THE ESKIMOS

Take a second to read this (or anything else he wrote) at some point today. Hyperbole is impossible when mentioning the influence he had on an entire generation, not just of writers, but of human beings. He is the example of how stories can change the world.

Thursday, January 28th

Scene Report: Publishing in the Age of Blah, Blah, Blah.

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Attended the Publishing in the Age of Blah, Blah, Blah event at Mellville House last night. Pictured from left to right: Lev Grossman, Dennis Loy Johnson, Joe Meno, Sarah Manguso, Heidi Julavits and Myla Goldberg. Not pictured: John Wray, Tao Lin, and Joshua Henkin.

The question of e-books and online publishing has, thus far, been primarily discussed with editors and publishers. But what about the people writing the books? No one seems to be giving a shit what they think about any of this. Why don’t we ask them?

And with that, a panel discussion was born.

I didn’t take any notes, nor did I snap any photos except for the one above (was a little gun-shy as it was a somewhat formal event and I didn’t want to be that weird, scene report, blogger dude, but apparently that’s what I’m becoming), but here’s what I got out of the discussion: e-books and online publishing will not, nor should they, effect the author whatsoever.

Joe brought up an interesting point that if you’re a writer, why wouldn’t you want any possible avenue of distribution at your disposal?

E-books and online publishing is an area of frustration and panic for editors and publishers because it’s strange and new, two concepts that seem to scare them. And it maybe has the potential to fuck with their wallets. Writers make money off of book sales, print or electronic.  But here’s why it’s not going to effect them whatsoever: out of eight authors on the panel only one of them professed to make a full time living off of their novel writing.

Some of your favorite authors, really successful and talented ones, have supplemental income. Teaching, editing, copy writing, janitor, whatever. You know this. Writing’s never been a gold rush industry (though with the amount of people trying to write these days, you could have fooled me). And this was where the night got a little depressing. This panel of critically acclaimed, award winning authors came flat out and said that they weren’t making a livable income off their books.If they can’t do it, what hope is there for us?

But there was also an interesting discussion point brought up that the writer needs to be industrious and entrepreneurial, to be experimental with ways of getting their work out to people. John Wray went served as the “opening act” for Colson Whitehead on his last book tour. And for another book tour he proposed to his publisher that he ride a raft down the Mississippi River.

I used to think that now that the old publishing model was broken people were struggling to find the new one. But I don’t think that anymore.

Our age won’t be defined by finding a new model to operate from. We are the age of constant flux. The age of uncertainty, like jumping form one cracking iceberg to the next, we are surviving, taking chances. Very scary, but also very exciting.

Random notes:

Two separate mentions of the word “codify” were used by two separate people on two separate topics of discussion.

I introduced myself to Tao Lin to make sure there was no bad blood over a recent blog post of mine. He punched me in the face.

Actually, he said he liked the post and I gave him a magazine.

Tuesday, January 26th

Deadline Looms.

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Holy shit, did you know that the deadline for our first themed issue is this Sunday?!? It’s true. If you want to be in the print issue this time around you’d better get your stuff in soon. For the month of February and March we will be reading for online stories only. The shortlist is growing and there’s some impressive names on there as is, so quit monkeyin’ around and send in your A+ material. Today!

Tuesday, January 26th

120 in 2010: Museum of Fucked.

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Random thoughts:

Last Sunday night I rode the L train out to meet David Peak at his house. I texted him beforehand to get his address. He texted it back to me and also wrote It’s a little dirty in the hood, just to warn you. David lives in a neighborhood that straddles Brooklyn and Queens. A hairy neighborhood apparently, one that’s getting its first trickling of gentrification. I got off the train, the furthest I’ve ever been on the L. It was quiet on a Sunday night, all the storefronts with their metal shutters drawn closed, as if in preparation for a hurricane. The few people on the street were either walking to or from work. There were even fewer white people. I walked past a trio of white women and we made eye contact with each other as if to say “What are you doing here?” In his building there was a baby crying that you could hear from every floor. Across the street was a gang of stray cats. It was an apt preface to reading David’s chapbook.

This book is about being a young white man living in a fucked up city. Or at least, living in a fucked up part of the city. David collects images of decay, of cruelty, of insanity, and shows them to you, not to force you into guilt or pity, but to get you to recognize that we live in a fucked up world, and that you’re a fool if you ever forget that.

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Excerpt:

Economy

I read in a magazine that you’re never supposed to give pets away for free on Craigslist. You’re always supposed to charge money, like forty dollars minimum for a cat, or maybe more for a dog. A person interested in killing animals for pleasure would never pay forty dollars.

Google imaging “Museum of Fucked” brings up some unsettling pictures.

Monday, January 25th

Dirty Contest Results.

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Head over to HTMLGIANT where the results for the “When Writers Get Off” contest have been announced. Congrats to Chris Killen for having the most depraved brain.

Monday, January 25th

Treasures.

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Did you do anything exciting this weekend?

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Besides going to church?

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We did.

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We collected treasure the entire weekend.

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Well, not the entire weekend.

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

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It felt good and strange and weird and exciting.

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

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

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

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But back to the treasures…

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

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A 1970 Chevy Impala is always a treasure.

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Treasure is all around you.