At the risk of this blog's focus becoming too literary, today's article at todayinliterature.com is too good to pass up. On this day in 1946, The New Yorker published John Hersey's thirty-one thousand word article titled "Hiroshima", which followed the lives of six survivors in the months after the atomic bomb was dropped by the US to end the Pacific battle of World War II. The article took up all sixty-eight pages of text space, an unprecented occurence in both the history of the magazine and the publishing world. New York University magazine recently named 'Hiroshima' the best single work of reporting in the 20th century. It has since been published in book form available (of course) through Amazon.
The above photo was "borrowed" from a French website called Luxorion which has a considerable collection of terrifyingly beautiful nuclear explosion photos.
Labels: Literature
Monday, August 29, 2005
Official Cult Member
So I've decided to give a boost to my fiction writing by joining The Cult at chuckpalahniuk.net. While not run directly by Chuck Palahniuk, author of such novels as Fight Club, Choke, Lullaby and most recently, Haunted, Chuck does conduct an online writing workshop every month that consists of essays on how to improve your writing skills and an assignment which can be submitted back to the site for critiquing and even the possibility of getting published in an upcoming anthology.
But I may have already said too much. The first rule of The Cult is — you do NOT talk about The Cult. As always with such ventures, I am curious to see how dedicated I remain to the task at hand. Of course, anything that materializes from this exercise will be published on kevinbroome.com so be sure to check back in the future or send me an email and I will make sure you are on the update list.
So I've decided to give a boost to my fiction writing by joining The Cult at chuckpalahniuk.net. While not run directly by Chuck Palahniuk, author of such novels as Fight Club, Choke, Lullaby and most recently, Haunted, Chuck does conduct an online writing workshop every month that consists of essays on how to improve your writing skills and an assignment which can be submitted back to the site for critiquing and even the possibility of getting published in an upcoming anthology.
But I may have already said too much. The first rule of The Cult is — you do NOT talk about The Cult. As always with such ventures, I am curious to see how dedicated I remain to the task at hand. Of course, anything that materializes from this exercise will be published on kevinbroome.com so be sure to check back in the future or send me an email and I will make sure you are on the update list.
Labels: Literature
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
Bret Easton Ellis' Lunar Park
It wasn't easy tracking down a copy of Lunar Park, the new novel by Bret Easton Ellis. I went to a number of book stores around Vancouver before finding a "slightly damaged" last copy at the Duthies on Broadway. I guess the true fan would have already pre-ordered on Amazon; I myself do not seem to possess enough forethought for such matters. In the end, I was desperate; they offered me a discount; I pulled out the credit card.
Promoted as a pseudo-memoir, Ellis fans will immediately recognize the author's usual tricks of ludicrous namedropping and references to people and places from previous novels. You become aware early on that this story unfolds in the Ellis universe, not so much in the real world. The self portrait that is crafted in the book is a sensationalized check-out counter version of the author's career: starting out as a promising talent who found instant fame at too young an age (his first novel, Less than Zero was published when he was 21 and still in college) through to the public outcry and villification that presaged the publication of American Psycho and the subsequent deterioration into an out of control, drug addled narcissist; and finally into a not-so-clean-and-sober existence as a suburban husband and father. And that's when the story really starts to get interesting with a plot twist that seems to give nod to master horror writer, Stephen King.
Check out the interview with Ellis on Chuck Palahniuk's site. And, as an interesting sidenote: in keeping with the theme of my recent article, "Digging in the Right Yard: The Viral Marketing of It's All Gone Pete Tong", take a moment to follow the breadcrumbs that surface upon google searching actress Jayne Dennis, Ellis' wife in Lunar Park. Again a very similar example of extending the blurred edges of fiction into a marketing campaign.
It wasn't easy tracking down a copy of Lunar Park, the new novel by Bret Easton Ellis. I went to a number of book stores around Vancouver before finding a "slightly damaged" last copy at the Duthies on Broadway. I guess the true fan would have already pre-ordered on Amazon; I myself do not seem to possess enough forethought for such matters. In the end, I was desperate; they offered me a discount; I pulled out the credit card.
Promoted as a pseudo-memoir, Ellis fans will immediately recognize the author's usual tricks of ludicrous namedropping and references to people and places from previous novels. You become aware early on that this story unfolds in the Ellis universe, not so much in the real world. The self portrait that is crafted in the book is a sensationalized check-out counter version of the author's career: starting out as a promising talent who found instant fame at too young an age (his first novel, Less than Zero was published when he was 21 and still in college) through to the public outcry and villification that presaged the publication of American Psycho and the subsequent deterioration into an out of control, drug addled narcissist; and finally into a not-so-clean-and-sober existence as a suburban husband and father. And that's when the story really starts to get interesting with a plot twist that seems to give nod to master horror writer, Stephen King.
Check out the interview with Ellis on Chuck Palahniuk's site. And, as an interesting sidenote: in keeping with the theme of my recent article, "Digging in the Right Yard: The Viral Marketing of It's All Gone Pete Tong", take a moment to follow the breadcrumbs that surface upon google searching actress Jayne Dennis, Ellis' wife in Lunar Park. Again a very similar example of extending the blurred edges of fiction into a marketing campaign.
Labels: Literature
Monday, August 22, 2005
Hunter S. Thompson takes to the sky
Above are the two best photos I could find of the weekend's festivities at Owl Farm. Michael Swindle of the Village Voice provides the most fitting commentary.
Above are the two best photos I could find of the weekend's festivities at Owl Farm. Michael Swindle of the Village Voice provides the most fitting commentary.
Labels: Literature, When the Going Gets Weird
Friday, August 19, 2005
Buy the ticket, take the ride...
Final preparations are being made for tomorrow's private memorial service for writer Hunter S. Thompson. A 153 foot tall cannon, shaped like the gonzo fist (currently covered in blue tarp to conceal it from curious onlookers) is scheduled to fire the good doctor's ashes into the air above his Owl Farm property.
My original reaction at the time of HST's suicide was posted on the IBC blog site:
More info on HST and tomorrow's ceremony can be found at gonzo.org.
Final preparations are being made for tomorrow's private memorial service for writer Hunter S. Thompson. A 153 foot tall cannon, shaped like the gonzo fist (currently covered in blue tarp to conceal it from curious onlookers) is scheduled to fire the good doctor's ashes into the air above his Owl Farm property.
My original reaction at the time of HST's suicide was posted on the IBC blog site:
The self proclaimed creator of gonzo journalism and long time hero of mine, Hunter S. Thompson shot himself yesterday afternoon at his home in Woody Creek, Colo. A nasty way to go, to be sure. One might argue that the myth had no more use for the man; that a gonzo journalist should never reach the age of retirement. Whatever the case, I hope that HST will be remembered for more than just his groundbreaking novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Read his letters or The Great Shark Hunt, and you will come to realize that we have lost one of the most important voices of dissidence that America has ever known.
More info on HST and tomorrow's ceremony can be found at gonzo.org.
Labels: Literature, When the Going Gets Weird
Sunday, August 14, 2005
Wheels of Steel
With the CBC on the eve of a lockout, there is still nothing finer than tuning in to quality Sunday night programming like The Wire [the impact of electricity on music] (5—6pm PST).
Tonight's episode titled "The Wheels of Steel (Episode 7)" explored the turntablist (a far different creature from the superstar dj) as serious musician. As host/producer, Jowi Taylor puts it: ""Someone who mixes one record after another is a DJ. Someone who brings an archive of records to life with loops and breaks and mixes and creates something new, is a turntablist". Interviews with DJ Shadow, Kid Koala and DJ Spooky as well as beats from Grand Master Flash and De La Soul made for a most pleasant and educational evening on the airwaves. Check The Wire's website out for excerpts from the show as well as interesting links tracing the history of the craft.
With the CBC on the eve of a lockout, there is still nothing finer than tuning in to quality Sunday night programming like The Wire [the impact of electricity on music] (5—6pm PST).
Tonight's episode titled "The Wheels of Steel (Episode 7)" explored the turntablist (a far different creature from the superstar dj) as serious musician. As host/producer, Jowi Taylor puts it: ""Someone who mixes one record after another is a DJ. Someone who brings an archive of records to life with loops and breaks and mixes and creates something new, is a turntablist". Interviews with DJ Shadow, Kid Koala and DJ Spooky as well as beats from Grand Master Flash and De La Soul made for a most pleasant and educational evening on the airwaves. Check The Wire's website out for excerpts from the show as well as interesting links tracing the history of the craft.
Labels: Music
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
Steve Mumford: Combat Artist
In the era of videophone war journalism, it seems implausible to find someone like Steve Mumford who chose to cover the U.S. occupation of Iraq with sketch book and canvas. Following in the tradition of Winslow Homer, who illustrated scenes from the American Civil War for Harper's Weekly, Mumford's paintings often capture a deeper reality and an added dimension of humanity that the click of a camera shutter cannot portray.
Having returned to New York after over 10 months in the heart of the action, Mumford's work is now on display in the "Greater New York" show at the P.S.1 museum through September.
In the era of videophone war journalism, it seems implausible to find someone like Steve Mumford who chose to cover the U.S. occupation of Iraq with sketch book and canvas. Following in the tradition of Winslow Homer, who illustrated scenes from the American Civil War for Harper's Weekly, Mumford's paintings often capture a deeper reality and an added dimension of humanity that the click of a camera shutter cannot portray.
Having returned to New York after over 10 months in the heart of the action, Mumford's work is now on display in the "Greater New York" show at the P.S.1 museum through September.
Labels: Art, World at Large
Thursday, August 04, 2005
Banksy
The self-proclaimed "art terrorist", known only by his tag name, Banksy has been getting his fair share of press as of late. Not only does Wired Magazine offer a profile on him in their upcoming issue, but the latest Adbusters features his Renaissance style portrait of a maiden in a gas mask on its cover.
An urban artist since the age of 12, Banksy has gained recent notoriety for his prankful snub at the mainstream art community. In March, upon donning a trench coat and fake beard, Banksy visited the Brooklyn Museum, New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Natural History and the MOMA and in each added a piece of his own artwork to their walls. Each piece was cleverly suited to its environment; a pinned beetle with radar and rocket launchers for the Museum of Natural History; a bargain-brand soup can silk screen for the MOMA.
This was followed two months later with the British Museum's discovery of an unauthorized addition to their Roman Britain gallery: a rock painting of a caveman pushing a 'supermarket trolley'. The piece (now known as 'The Peckham Rock') has since become a part of the British Museum's permanent collection.
Watch for more works of staggering genius from this artist in the future.
The self-proclaimed "art terrorist", known only by his tag name, Banksy has been getting his fair share of press as of late. Not only does Wired Magazine offer a profile on him in their upcoming issue, but the latest Adbusters features his Renaissance style portrait of a maiden in a gas mask on its cover.
An urban artist since the age of 12, Banksy has gained recent notoriety for his prankful snub at the mainstream art community. In March, upon donning a trench coat and fake beard, Banksy visited the Brooklyn Museum, New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Natural History and the MOMA and in each added a piece of his own artwork to their walls. Each piece was cleverly suited to its environment; a pinned beetle with radar and rocket launchers for the Museum of Natural History; a bargain-brand soup can silk screen for the MOMA.
This was followed two months later with the British Museum's discovery of an unauthorized addition to their Roman Britain gallery: a rock painting of a caveman pushing a 'supermarket trolley'. The piece (now known as 'The Peckham Rock') has since become a part of the British Museum's permanent collection.
Watch for more works of staggering genius from this artist in the future.
Labels: Art, Design, Street Level
