Things worth sharing this weekend (9/14/24)
On “sad boy” literature and the pitiful state of the literary man by
This totally disregards genre fiction
and I think some of the best literary male writers are now in TV
he also mentions a bunch of European male authors but didn’t really do his homework to surface some of the American names
And maybe that’s his point—there’s no male novelist making the cover of Time Magazine (Franzen) or like everyone have a John Cheever novel on a shelf
Interesting take
“Funeral” by Arcade Fire is 20 years old from Stereogum
Good retrospective, good to re-listen, not my favorite album ever but some good bangers
Reading:
(More on these books in last week’s notes)
Just went to a bookstore, Spoonbill and Sugartown in Brooklyn. My kids are doing a gymnastics thing in Brooklyn, so I guess I’ll be going there more often. It’s a nice store with a lot of theory and art books, some stuff by Baudrillard on the front tables.
I bought the new book by Elissa Gabbert, a book of essays.
Still reading: “On The Edge” by Nate Silver (also audiobook)
this has moved from gambling to risk taking with venture capitalist
startup firms hedge their bets, founders are the crazy ones keeping the same focus for 7 to 10 years
Finished: “Wellness” by Nathan Hill
expansive novel, modern life, i liked it
Finished: “Reboot” by Justin Taylor
This is a novel about a former(?) celebrity actor who may return to his Dawson Creek / Buffy The Vampire Slayer type teen show
But he has some personal problems of course, like a drinking problem and failed relationships
But he’s still in tune w/ a lot of the TV environment and he re-unites w/ some of his old friends
I’ve always liked Justin’s books, he’s a bit under the radar
His first novel, Gospel of Anarchy was about punk rock with an element of spirituality to it and that was one of my fav books when it came out
this is probably he’s most comedic book. He usually throws in a nice Florida reference and his last book had a lot of Nashville in it so I’ve always liked his work
Anyway, fun read would do again
This photo was taken on a park bench
Watching:
The first Beetlejuice is not good. The style is compelling which is why people like it
This “How To Rob a Bank” on Netflix is about this hippie guy in a tree house in the woods outside of Seattle who starts to rob banks
The Bikeriders reminded me of another Tom Hardy movie, Lawless. There’s this pseudo-gangster element to it. It also has Tom Hardy as the wizened criminal mastermind and then a young person underneath him
Listening:
My friend and I found a record store in Hoboken, NJ after getting a Philly cheesesteak that was served with expired Tastykakes.
I bought these tapes for my daughters, but was told I should have bought the Aretha Franklin one. I thought they already owned an Aretha Franklin tape.
Keep going-
Josh Spilker