In this 50 minute radio interview, Jesus Angel Garcia discusses his novel badbadbad, sexual and religious possibilities, and how OKCupid can be used as a bona-fide research site.
Results for: smokler
A Hasty Response to The Late American Novel
A review written in 20 minutes shortly after reading Jeff Martin and C. Max Magee’s anthology, The Late American Novel.
Films
The Tropical Movies (2012) In October 2012, I began making the Tropical Movies, a series of documentaries in which a singular idea fixed in our culture is investigated through a series of interviews, eccentric divagation, and other assorted contexts. The Tropical Movies are shot using a one person lo-fi rig in which the camera is […]
Inside BookTour.com: A Q&A With Kevin Smokler
In 2006, Kevin Smokler, the speaker and editor behind Bookmark Now, partnered with Chris Anderson, editor of Wired, and software developer Adam Goldstein to determine just how information about bookstore events and authors might be collected at an online hub. That central place turned out to be BookTour.com, which purports to make “finding when a […]
Tools of Change 2009 — Kevin Smokler
There will be one last (and extremely lengthy) post that will attempt to corral all of my remaining notes concerning Tools of Change, which will include the above panel that Kevin moderated.
Thomas Gladysz Laid Off from Booksmith
I have learned that Thomas Gladysz, the events coordinator for the now less wonderful San Francisco bookstore Booksmith, has been let go by new owners Christin Evans and Praveen Madan. No explanation given, but presumably it’s “the economy.” Thomas had been at the Booksmith for 21 years, and the man had events coordination down to […]
Roundup
Like, oh my God! What the hell is going on? Chuck Palahniuk is writing books and I like totally can’t understand him! I mean, like, why is this Palahniuk guy writing about porn? Don’t you like automatically get VD if you have sex with more than one person at a time? Is there a position […]
David Kipen: A True American
In 2007, the French Ministry of Culture had an annual budget of €3.18 billion. (To give you some sense of how this fits into the grand scheme of things, France’s national budget in 2005 was €288.8 billion. So that’s roughly around 1% of the national budget.) While the National Endowment of the Arts budget is […]
Drive-By Roundup
Crazy day. Thus, brief summations. Inflate your numbers much, publishers? Apparently, DHS digs Death Cab for Cutie. This 75-year-old woman hammered the point home. Good on her. (via the Other Reluctant) Chris Pine will play Kirk in the forthcoming Star Trek movie. Who? Mailer’s in poor health. No surprise. Tanenhaus and company have demonstrated themselves […]
Roundup
I’ve just learned that the Terre Haute bloggers are now planning a six-week symposium entitled How to Discourage Reading Through Soporific Lectures. They are currently lining up speakers. If you are a bland individual who has not laughed once in the past six years or you think jellybeans are extraneous or you think people should […]
Roundup
Frank Wilson on the Michael Gorman brouhaha: “The point of all of this verbiage seems to be to disguise the main worry: that anyone can have access to the information, that gatekeepers are no longer able to keep the gates closed to those they deem unworthy of entrance. It still comes down to the experts […]
Mini-Roundup
As widely reported, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has won the Orange Prize. I have to echo Colleen in relation to this preposterous Observer article. If you want to bitch about how hard, stressful, and time-consuming writing is, then go work in an office or a warehouse and leave the real work to the professionals. Troubling news […]
The Most Popular Segundo Shows of the Past Month
Here are the most popular Segundo podcasts from the last month. 10. Dana Spiotta 9. Amy Sedaris 8. Nina Hartley 7. Jennifer Weiner 6. The May Queen Panel 5. Paula Kamen 4. Rupert Thomson, Edward Falco, Megan Sullivan & Scott Esposito (because of Virginia Tech?) 3. Amanda Filipacchi & Kevin Smokler 2. Erica Jong 1. […]
One Sentence Reviews
Two English Girls: The gender swap notwithstanding, I liked it the first time when it was called Jules and Jim. (with apologies to Kevin Smokler)
Roundup
The 50 Greatest Cartoons, with video. (via Kevin Smokler) The Times: “Educated people are not supposed to believe in ghosts. This has done nothing to diminish their popularity, at least in fiction.” (via Kenyon Review) Children of Men: the book vs. the film. The next generation’s vocabulary is, like, diminishing. (via Maud) The San Francisco […]
More Tidbits
That gossipy minx Kitty Kelley is at it again: this time, locking Oprah Winfrey into her crosshairs. If you despise those living-room size theatres in the multiplex, there’s some new signs that the trend may be reversing. (via Kevin Smokler) Apparently, the men who robbed novelist Ngugi wa Thoing’o have been sentenced to hang. John […]
In Which I Offer Another Roundup
In which I stand defiantly against Steve Mitchelmore. Howard Junker has an interesting exchange with New Yorker editor Deborah Treisman over how much fiction The New Yorker buys. Apparently, Treisman sits on an arsenal of short stories anywhere between three to ten before running them. Any guy who grooves to Sorrentino can’t be mainstream. I […]
Roundup
Kevin Smokler introduces “social jet lag” as his word of the day. It’s defined as a condition “when your social commitments reeks havoc on your physical well being.” I know just where Kevin’s coming from, as I’ve been a bit woozy with a touch of the flu over the last few days (as such, postings […]
Statement of Intentions
Scott did it. And I’m going to do it right now. In fact, I’d like to see anyone with a passion for books set down precisely what it is about literature makes them groove. That goes for you, Mr. Sarvas! And you, Mr. Smokler! And, hell, even you, Mr. Freeman. And you, Ms. Crispin, so […]
Roundup
An open memo to John Freeman: Do you even have a sense of humor? Or did you lose it when you became involved with the NBCC? Or are you hoping that maintaining a sourpuss disposition will get you published in Tanenhaus’s pages? I publicly challenge you to either ping-pong, bowling or mini golf the next […]
BEA: Syndicating Litblogs Panel
Even on scant sleep, I still had considerably more stamina on Friday than I did on Sunday. I designated Friday as the last day I would be attending panels. The first of two Friday panels I attended was the unfortunately named Syndicating Litblog Book Reviews panel, which featured Sarah Weinman and served as a congregation […]
Segundo Wreaks Havoc
Last night, I stayed in the hotel room rather than attend the party scene. But I understand that Bat Segundo, who flew in the plane with me, caused considerable trouble last night. Emails are coming in that Mr. Segundo was utterly rude to people and that he even started kissing and licking people and made […]
SF Sightings: The May Queen Panel
On Monday night, Your Correspondent (hereinafter referred to in both first-person singular and third-person, as the mood fits) observed the largest group of writers ever assembled at A Clean, Well-Lighted Place for Books. This little infobyte was reported later by Wendy Sheanin, the bookstore’s loquacious events coordinator. Personally, I stopped counting after seven writers — […]
Reading Habits, Technology and the Hypothetical Rise of the Short
It was worth ruining my eyes To know I could still keep cool, And deal out the old right hook To dirty dogs twice my size. — Philip Larkin, “A Study of Reading Habits Each person has a different approach to reading. Some folks read in ten minute chunks. Others read in three hour clusters. […]
The Bat Segundo Show #4
Approximate Date: July 31, 2005 Authors: Amanda Filipacchi and Kevin Smokler Condition of Bat Segundo: In an unspecified condition of “pain.” More sober than usual, pining for scotch and merlot. Subjects Discussed: Stalking, dark comedy, intense behavior, Harriet Klausner, chick lit, keeping lists, sex, the politically incorrect, the menage a trois, class-based characters, free time, […]
Books by the Bay Report
It was roasting, at least as San Francisco weather goes. Sunshine hit the tents and the grass and the hatted heads of a mostly older crowd — some of them aspiring writers, some of them dedicated bibliophiles, some of them trying to figure out what the sam hill was going on and picking up a […]
Live from Books by the Bay
It’s a remarkably sunny day here in the City. I got to Yerba Buena Gardens a little later than expected, but fortunately with enough time to chat a bit with Kevin Smokler just before he had to rush from the end of his panel to an autograph signing. Adam Johnson, mysteriously enough, was nowhere to […]
Stalk Dr. Mabuse (and a Few Other Bloggers)!
So if you plan on stalking me, you have a great opportunity to do so this week. If you’re in the San Francisco area, I will be at the Jonathan Ames reading tonight at the Booksmith. On Wednesday night, I’ll be hopping across the Bay to catch Rebecca Solnit. Word on the street has it […]
Kids, Kids, Pugilism Isn’t the Answer
During the hours of 4PM-5PM Pacific Standard Time, we’ll be stuck in a windowless room with a speakerless computer and a rat scurrying about on the asbestos-ridden tile that we’ve nicknamed “Pinky” for company. (I named him “Pinky” because when I first said hello, he decided to bite my pinky and I spent several hours […]
Literary Awareness
Today at The Elegant Variation, during the course of Kevin Smokler’s appearance via the Virtual Book Tour, there was a heated though civilized thread about whether the infamous Reading at Risk report issued by the BEA was useful or even genuinely reflective of diminishing literary awareness. Arguments concerning the methodology and the resultant media reaction […]