5 things worth sharing this weekend

+ notes on what i've been reading & watching

1. The modern discourse novel by

Henry Oliver

This is a big long essay about how some modern novels he calls them “the modern discourse novel” reflect back Internet culture to us, instead of going beyond it.

“When your main mode is ironic deconstruction, that’s all you end up having: the novel can never gesture to anything bigger or more meaningful.”

• Not every novel does that of course

• Perhaps the novels he mentions (ones mostly by women? interestingly enough), he desires for them to go further

• These novels show where we are in time. They're capturing a moment. Let them be.

• Anyway, good read, well-worth the time

2. Publishing Field Report 5 - Traction by

Blake Butler

Blake is writing through his experiences with publishing. I haven’t read all of these essays, but I need to. Some choice quoteds from this one:

• “The academic world was one place, and the literary world was another, and then there was the whole rest of the world filled up with normal people.”

• “You can’t always know where your path will lead, and trying too hard to force a square peg through a round hole can end up circumventing not only your ideals, but your desire in the first place.”

• In the end, perhaps sustainability itself is something we spend too little time considering, for fear that if we did the math on paper we’d realize that writing is the worst job in the world.

I’ve read the short stories Blake mentioned in here (Scorch Atlas) plus a lot of his HTMLGiant work from back in the day plus 300,000,000(?) and most recently Molly.

I like the style of his non-fiction better, it’s clearer to me than his fiction, and that same quality comes through in these as well.

3. ‘The Bear’ Strived for Michelin Quality in Season 3. Its Regulars Preferred the Comfort Food at The Ringer

• I’ve been watching The Bear, though I’m not quite done yet, and the revies this season have definitely been mixed

• I like it because it’s rare in fictional formats to see people from different backgrounds working so hard together towards a common goal

• Related: Why do we love The Bear so much?

4. 10 Best Emo & Post-Hardcore Albums of 2024 So Far at Brooklyn Vegan

• Listening my way through this list

• I really like Southtowne Lanes if you’re into Touche Amore and The Hotelier

5. Everything Nat Eliason Learned Writing His First Book w/ David Perell

• Nat has a new book out about how he gained/lost/never had a bunch of money with crypto

• I haven’t read the book yet, but here he is breaking down his storytelling methods

• Nat is definitely a writer, but he came to it through other means—he also had a content writing agency for awhile, then started writing more about financial topics, and has always found a way to make writing the central part of his businesses

• I’ve been enjoying learning more about writing from those who didn’t “study” it in the traditional way—they have a different way of framing things

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Notes on reading/watching/listening

Finished reading: “Where Are Your Boys Tonight?” by Chris Payne

• A lot more mentions of Jay-Z than I expected

Still reading: “Foster Dade Explores The Cosmos”

• Just starting to get into this

• A bit “maximalist” in a 90s sort of way

• Language is a bit overwrought, but it’s about a boarding school, so the self-important tone is kind of expected

Still reading: “Blood In The Garden: The Flagrant History of the 1990s New York Knicks”

Checked out: Blue Ruin by Hari Kunzru

• One of those COVID novels

• Haven’t really been into those. This is about a broken/repaied relationship so maybe it’ll be better? I’ll let you know

Watching: “The Bear” on FX/Hulu

• As noted

Still watching: “Presumed Innocent” on Apple TV+

Watched: “A League of Their Own”

• Yes, the 1992 movie

• We watched it with my 8 and 10 year old girls.

• They were generally inspired and it’s a good movie about being sisters, they liked it

• It was filmed where my grandparents lived and where my mother was born, Evansville, Indiana

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Last Thing:

We saw fireworks in the distance, but I didn’t take any photos. But we got ice cream after riding bikes on the afternoon of the 4th of July. There was a church across the street.

Keep going-

Josh Spilker