Vigorously Lazy

If you live in Orlando and lament the limited amount of cool stuff to do and cool people to hang out with, then you sound like kind of a bummer and we don’t really want you to come to our party. However, if you are up for some fun times, some even funner entertainment and some infinitely fun beer, then you are in for a treat my friend. See you tonight!

Taking a cue from PANK, Annalemma is announcing our nominees for Dzanc’s Best of the Web anthology. Get your tuxes pressed and dust off your sequined gowns:

– If I Could Lend Him My Words by Sam Nam

– The Big Dipper by Meg Pokrass

– Seducing Matt Mitchum by Tim Jones-Yelvington

This was seriously a tough decision to make. In the couple of months that we’ve been publishing stories online we’ve had the opportunity to post some good’uns, but these three slightly stand out as some of the best. Thanks to Sam, Meg and Tim for letting us run your work.

Here we have a case of my ignorance of artistic styles and movements getting the best of me.

When I look at these I hear French accordions chugging to life and tumbling into a jolly yet melancholic (and slightly drunk) tune, swimming in cigarette smoke and sunglasses. I know that’s called something and I know there’s an artist who pioneered that style, but I don’t know their name or when they lived. All I know is I like them.

Some questions for the peanut gallery:

-Is it important to know why you like something? Follow-up: Does analyzing this thing that you like reduce your affection for it?

-Is it anti-intellectual to admit your ignorance and not be ashamed of it?

-Is it mildly scandalous that I run a magazine with a heavy bent towards fine art yet I have little-to-no knowledge of art history?

Hats off to the esteemed Jeff Hamada over at Booooooom for giving us some cyber ink over the weekend. Thanks Jeff!

On an unrelated note, apologies for the radio silence for the last couple days. I had some personal, but in no way unfortunate, business to take care of. To make up for it there’s lots of good content on the docket for this week. Keep your peepers pealed!

MAKR and I went up to Chicago. He had to go to Horween, one of the oldest leather tanneries in the country, to pick out some hides to make into bags.

It was like Charlie and the Chocolate factory. But with dead flesh.

This is what it looks like in Jason’s brain.

This is how the hides come in. That’s horse hide imported from France.

I want Horace McCoy to write a book called The French Eat Horses, Don’t They?

The hides are bathed in a sort of bleach wash deal that turns them into pasty white piles of mush.

Leather byproduct splatter strewn across an American flag. There’s a metaphor there but I’m not sure what it is.

Most footballs used for pro games? Yup. They came from Horween.

This place has been around since 1905 and is still family owned and operated. Skip Horween, the gentleman who showed us around, took us to this dark hole where the hides dry.

Horween is the last place in the States to make Cordovan, which is essentially the butt of the horse. I told Skip that it kind of looks like Illinois. He agreed and told us that an uncut hide looks like the United States. I said there was another good metaphor in there somwhwere. Skip quietly tolerated the foppish writer by saying, “Yeah, there’s something in there.”

But it wasn’t all leather for us. Side note: I enjoyed introducing Jason to my Chicago friends by saying, “This is Jason. He’s really into leather.”

We went to the Russian Tea Room, which made people whisper further.

We took the pink line (God, this is getting bad) down to Pilsen.

If you live in the greater Chicago area, care about the most interesting stuff happening in art book publishing and you have not yet been to Golden Age then you, my friend, are robbing yourself of one of the better experiences of your lifetime.

Go see Marco and his amazing store right away!

This was one of the best trips I’ve made back to the city since I moved. Without a doubt.

Thank you Tom, Bill, Ben, Anne, Theresa and Sheba. I miss you all.

And dare I say it? I miss this city.

If you were at all interested in the getting the coolest thing we’ve ever done sent to your mailbox with no more effort than a few keystrokes then you entered our twitter contest last week and now! The results.

Winners:

– @poduski

– @octohawk

– @j1310m

– @Jim_Panzer

– @kylebeachy

Congrats folks! I’ll be getting in touch with you individually for your info. Thanks for participating and enjoy your new issue!

Couple of things coming up in a couple of weeks that you need to attend (regardless of your proximity to Orlando).

Super excited about this! It’s pretty rare that an author like Stephen moseys into O-town and it probably won’t happen again for a long time. Be sure to attend. You won’t be disappointed. And if you haven’t already, buy the book.

Also, we’re doing little thingy the Friday before…

This is going to be somewhat fun as well. I realize it’s kind of weird that these things are so close together, but what can I say. That’s just how it happens. What are you going to complain about? That there’s too much cool shit happening in Orlando?

Sarah Manguso’s memoir concerning a blood disease that made her body turn against itself yields not one but two beautiful book covers. Above is the paperback (which I kind of like better, a bit more striking) and below is the more sedate, but equally beautiful, hardcover:

Not sure what those things are. Some sort of medical supplies (IV tubes? Catheters?) shaped to look like a kind of musical signature symbol or type embellishment. I’m guessing a nod to Manguso’s poetic roots and lyrical language. Designs by Alexander Knowlton and Jennifer Carrow, respectively.

Thanks The Rumpus and BDR.

A customer recently alerted us to some shenanigans that the US Postal Service has been up to. If this has happened to your shipment please email us with pictures of the flagrancy and we will do what we can to make it right.

This makes me equal parts furious and sad.

Hey! So we’re doing a new Twitter contest wherein we are giving away five free copies of Issue Five. How do you win? Well…

1) Go to the twitterspehere and follow us.

2) Throw up a tweet with an #Annalemma hashmark.

3) Kick your feet up and wait for your free copy to show up in the mail.

If you already have your copy and feel the need to possess another then you are more than welcome to enter. Is the uncertainty of winning killing you? You could just buy it now!

This contest ends 9/12/09.