rocket to nowhere

three things

sh — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 22:45:14 +0000

Here are three things I recently consumed and enjoyed. They have nothing to do with one another. Or they didn’t until now. Feedback is always appreciated:

1. a text (“Under such an agreement, play proceeds, and a faintly flawed ennui comes to be.”)

2. a song (“Disneyland is a perfect model of all entangled orders of simulacra”)

3. a short film (“They said there was no maker. They said we were the maker.”)

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-03-06

sh — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 12:59:00 +0000

"166. Anything processed by memory is fiction." Is the obverse also true? #rh #
"How can a work be considered fiction when there's no plot?" Please define "plot." #rh #
Is it me, or did the book begin with a great deal of strength which is now fading some 70 pages in? #rh #
RT @ericwareheim TAEAS,GJ! SEASON CINCO PREMIERES TONIGHT @ 12:30! Spread the love. RT this to the world! #
J has the flu, and I have a lower grade variant. If I feel this awful, how horrible must she feel? #
@timheidecker Good news, cigarette . . . ? http://bit.ly/a1fDtz #
Horse Less Review #7 With work by Jess Wigent, Dave Wirthlin, Jen Denrow, Susan Scarlata, Erik Anderson, and me! http://bit.ly/c7ymvB #fb #
In my feed, the following 2 retweets were separated by just one tweet. Comedy gold, or am I trying too hard? . . . #
RT @marginalcomment Needs a big-boy haircut; is taking suggestions on where to go #
RT @simonpegg My dog needs a haircut pronto but her guy is away. Any North London groomers wanna step up? Schnauzer cut knowledge essential. #
Waylaid by illness, I now return to my project of "live" tweeting my notes on David Shields' new book _Reality Hunger_. #rh #fb #
David Shields namechecks Robert Shields, the mad diarist: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Shields_(diarist) #rh #
"but rather with an eye that roves," "the pleasure of a documentary intelligence"–and the eye, having walked, having writ, moved on. #rh #
Sophie Calle Sophie Calle Sophie Calle Sophie Calle Sophie Calle (Shields namechecks but should perhaps be more ??? about it?) #rh #

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-02-27

sh — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 12:59:00 +0000

Oddly and pointlessly both nervous and nauseous this morning. #fb #
@theshoppedenver Just ate the s'mores please I brought home earlier. So good I could sit in it. #
Watching my wife pack for a weeklong trip, reading Jean-Philippe Toussaint's The Bathroom, and wishing I had a cup of tea. #fb #
"80. We kissed in the white corridor." #
Drinking gin at 10 a.m. Early for a date because I misread the message. I won't feel foolish for long, I suppose. #
@ebertchicago re: Khairy's review: A call for a return to mimesis in cinema in the world of Avatar is pretty damned ballsy (and right on). in reply to ebertchicago #
Episode 6: "My brain grew all the way." http://axecop.com/index.php/acepisodes/read/episode_1 #fb #
@cornelln That doesn't make any sense. If you don't read books now, you're not suddenly going to start now that you have a gadget. in reply to cornelln #
@LairdHunt I also just received my copy. My fear is that it will make my dissertation moot. I mean, what? in reply to LairdHunt #
People "live tweet" TV shows and webcasts. I am going to "live" tweet David Shields' new book Reality Hunger as I read it. #rh #
Is the cover obnoxious or appropriate? It's Chip Kidd, so we know it's at least well-designed. #rh #
a "manifesto," an abecedarium, a numbered list, a 4th element in this tweet. #rh #
"32. The word 'novel' . . . meant the form of writing . . . that made up its own rules as it went along." Bakhtin not namechecked. Yet. #rh #
"Panharmonicon" + German con artist + R. W. Emerson = me going back to the Emerson to do some research for my dissertation. #rh #
"The novel of characters, though, belongs entirely to the past." I know what he means, but then who are these people in my book? #rh #
"The present period is one of administrative numbers." He's talking about characters, but it's just as true in other contexts. #rh #
"The life span of a fact is shrinking." Is this an indirect appropriation of Warhol's 15 minutes quotation? Or a direct one? Either way. #rh #
If all or some of the previous is "actually" Robbe-Grillet, is my question moot? There's no date listed. Does it matter? #rh #
"58. My medium is prose, not the novel." (Sebald) Yes. Exactly. #rh #
I'm afraid I'm not well-read enough (???) to effectively argue with this book. I will try anyway. Please tell me if I'm wrong. #rh #
"'it's just fiction,' a vacuous but prevalent dismissal akin to criticizing someone with his own name"(Marcus). I write "little stories" #rh #
"Art is a conversation, not a patent office. The citation of sources belongs to the realms of journalism and scholarship, not art." #rh #
This undertaking has already affected the way I take notes/think about taking notes. #rh #
"If you think the heart is deceitful above all things, you should meet the author." Dear Reader, I love you. ;) #rh #
"He should have said, '. . . . I created a person meaner, funnier, more filled with life than I could ever be.'" (about James Frey) #rh #
vs. #
"The so-called life one finds in novels . . . is not truer . . . and its people . . . are less intricate, less free, less full."-Barthes #rh #
"His point appears to be that nothing is beneath interest." The "he" (or she) could be any of the great novelists. #rh #
"Attention equals life or is its only evidenc" (O'Hara). Maybe trite, but writing is a deepening of attention. #rh #
"Life isn't about saying the tight thing; life is about failing." Failure is a fiction we tell ourselves. #rh #

How to Spot a Communist

sh — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 22:26:48 +0000

Former students of mine made this inspired bit of loveliness/insanity. I have to say I was really lucky as a high school teacher—I got to work with highly motivated, interesting, funny, and bizarre students. To wit:

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-02-20

sh — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 12:59:00 +0000

If doing the On Demand Body by Jake insanity workout until I couldn't really breathe isn't a V-Day present, I don't know what is. #fb #
Woke up to 3" of surprise snow. Right now, the sun is shining and it's still snowing! #fb #
@Colter_Burkey Exciting! Will you share? in reply to Colter_Burkey #
I tip at Starbucks not because they make good coffee, but because the people who work there have to deal with people all day. #fb #
@Colter_Burkey So very very good! May I blog it? (that, right now, seems an intensely weird question) in reply to Colter_Burkey #
Failed to jumpstart a friend's car this morning. That's a loss of 5 man points. #fb #
I'm reading tonight with Joanna Ruocco! Infos here: http://www.rocket2nowhere.com/blahg/2010/02/12/second-advanced-notice-reading/ #fb #

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-02-13

sh — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 12:59:00 +0000

I wish I were still sitting in the hot springs pool while snow was falling on me. #fb #
I think I will miss my car today. #fb #
Tied for first place at pub quiz nite! Many thanks to Jen S., Maria, Jess, Frank, Kim, Michelle, & the Quizmaster! #fb #
Is it really too much to expect that a major north/south artery be served by a bus more often than every half hour? #fb #
Now, I can update three services at once! And be more connected! But to what? #fb #
Waiting for 20k files to copy and watching Harvey Keitel in Bad Lieutenant. He just shot his car radio. #fb #
Currently afraid my bike will fall off the rack on the front of the bus and be eaten with a horrible, screeching crunch. #fb #
@Colter_Burkey You don't need my permission. Please send me a copy of the finished picture! in reply to Colter_Burkey #

Second Advanced Notice: Reading!

sh — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 19:46:48 +0000

I will be giving a reading with the fabulous Joanna Ruocco
on Thursday, February 18, 2010
at 7:30 p.m.
in the English Department
at the University of Denver
(Sturm Hall 495
2000 E. Asbury
Denver, CO 80208)

I would love it if you came.

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-02-06

sh — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 12:59:00 +0000

RT @LairdHunt RT @DCloyceSmith: I wish certain indy booksellers were as supportive of indy publishers. (Walking the walk, and all that.) #
Thanks to JT for the link: http://www.yhchang.com/FIRST_WORKSHOP_EVER.html #fb #
The shuffle today is showing a not unwelcome preference for Morrissey. @tierack #fb #
Jen's friend from high school is telling me that Al Jourgensen was once very rude to her. What?! #

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-01-30

sh — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 12:59:00 +0000

@marginalcomment No, but I think your tweet qualifies as a hamm-fisted attempt at humor. in reply to marginalcomment #
Sitting at Car Max, and waiting for an offer on a car I'd keep if I really wanted to continue not being able to afford it. #fb #
Just sold my car to CarMax. Kinda sad. Kinda free. Kinda richer than I was an hour ago. #fb #
Mmmmm, Katzenzungen! Die habe ich fast alle gegessen! #fb #
Today has already been too full and it's only noon. The magic trick J did with the cat earlier was much appreciated though. #fb #
@LairdHunt The most fun, beautiful, and perfectly useless ones! in reply to LairdHunt #
I prefer to think JD Salinger has just decided to become extra reclusive. (via @hodgman) #
Pondering a nyctaloptic palmiped. #
RT @cornelln Brilliant yet obvious,completely true. Why iPad matters: Future Shock: http://bit.ly/ce4m5f /via @fraserspeirs #

Advanced Notice: Reading

sh — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 17:15:26 +0000

You should come.