Vigorously Lazy

Stephen fields some questions from the audience in this last installment from his reading at Stardust in Winter Park, FL.

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.

The jury’s in. Rick Moody and EL’s experiment to post a short story via Twitter is being called one of the more epic fails of literature in the technological age. But that’s not what I’m interested in.

Should Moody and EL be praised for their experimentation? For breaking ground in getting literary fiction out to people via new media outlets?

Or should they be reviled for trying to shoe-horn a short story into the wrong format for the sake of publicity?

Thoughts?

Recently, Publisher’s Weekly released the list of best books of ’09. Recently after that, Women in Letters and Literary Arts (WILLA) raised a bit of hell that there were no lady writers in the top ten. Even more recently than that, Issue Five contributor Amelia Gray wrote a lucid essay over at the Huff Post, which sorts the whole mess out in a level-headed, thought provoking manner.

Why are there more men than women on the PW list? Simply because there are more men submitting to publishers. Read the piece here.

Thanks HTMLGiant for the heads up.

Thanks Plan59 for the image.

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…

A couple weeks ago I traveled far. Saw much. Lived heartily.

Had one of the best weekends of my life. And then…

I moved to New York City. If developments here have seemed erratic and overall spacey, this is why.

I live in the same city as Rose! How cool is that?

I lost my wallet on the first day (long story) and had to go get a new credit card at the World Financial Center, which was right next door to ground zero.

Not much has changed.

I’ve been walking by myself alot. In Chicago this would make me lonely. There’s so much to see here. It’s more like exploring.

We went to the New York Tyrant Babyleg thing and it was too fucking crazy so we left immediately. I think we got there too late and missed Brian Evanson thumb-printing his book with blood. Kind of a bummer.

This was the moment when the feeling of being untethered washed away.

And this was the moment I realized I loved this city.

Oh! And I moved into our new office.

Which I will be sharing with none other than Mr. Todd Jordan!

So, preeeeetty fucking psyched about that.

As I unpacked all my stuff I jammed this and thought about Kurt Cobain and how people who kill themselves are fucking idiots. Then again, maybe they’ve been to a depth of depression that I’ll never know about. Or at least, I hope I never will.

I think it’s pretty unlikely seeing as I finally live in a city where I feel like I belong.

What have you ever sacrificed? Whatever you gave up, what was the reason? Was it worth it? What has someone sacrificed for you? Was there ever a moment in your life where you had a chance to risk your safety, your stability, everything for someone or something you believed in, and you didn’t?

The theme for Issue Six is sacrifice. We’re putting out the call for stories of people putting others before themselves, the reasons why and the ramifications of their actions.

Send in your stories of sacrifice, fiction and nonfiction. We will still be reading work not pertaining to the theme. However, any work that does not deal with the theme will be considered exclusively for online publication.

Stephen continues to read from The Adderall Diaries. Part One. Part Two.

A message from our new intern!:

Dear reader, my name is Janelle Luce and I’m the newest addition to Annalemma Magazine. I’ll be reading and editing submissions. For the blog, I’ll be sharing, commenting, and giving you behind-the-scenes glimpses. I’m your gal, basically, and I’m putting it all out there, no bullshit. Some famous person once wrote that calling yourself a writer is like calling yourself a breather since it’s just something you do. So, I’m not a writer. I’m me. And I’m here for you, dear reader.

Welcome to the team Janelle!

I made a new friend. Her name is Gianelle Gelpi. She arts here. I wanted an excuse to post the above image because I think it is amazing. Click the link and check her out. And don’t be scared to check out her side project Furry Fangs:

Wow!