Sep 30, 2007
Sep 28, 2007
Sep 25, 2007
...
you ever found youself walking down Divis on a Sunday night carrying a jar of ranch dressing, a bag of chips and a queen size comforter having no idea how you got there?
...
i'm sick, are you sick?
Armand was good.
Saturday a girl hates my guts for not coming to her party (not you Caitlin).
Caitlin is good.
Saturday i couldn't leave the apartment and ate pizza.
Sunday was Sunset and it was very good.
Monday i'm sick.
Apocalypto was very good, so good i watched it twice.
Tuesday is cold mediciney and warm.
Armand was good.
Saturday a girl hates my guts for not coming to her party (not you Caitlin).
Caitlin is good.
Saturday i couldn't leave the apartment and ate pizza.
Sunday was Sunset and it was very good.
Monday i'm sick.
Apocalypto was very good, so good i watched it twice.
Tuesday is cold mediciney and warm.
Sep 20, 2007
my UC Press Sale purchases
The Collected Poems of Ted Berrigan
Berrigan
$12.95
Visions of the Daughters of Albion
Blake
$9.95
Imperial San Francisco
Urban Power, Earthly Ruin
Brechin
$9.95
cheapo!
Berrigan
$12.95
Visions of the Daughters of Albion
Blake
$9.95
Imperial San Francisco
Urban Power, Earthly Ruin
Brechin
$9.95
cheapo!
logan says "oye, blog something..."
i'm about to eat lunch. i'm having italian salami and jarlsburg cheese and a handful of pistachio nuts and a handful of cherry tomatoes and four dried figs and a fuji apple.
last night i went out with Arnone, we went to Kilowatt, we talked about horror movies the whole time. we talked about Cube and HyperCube and CubeZero. we talked about Hellraiser II and "cenobites" and Miyazaki's Spirited Away. i told matthew that Spirited Away is one of the scariest movies i have ever seen. i told Matthew that Spirited Away is so scary that i sold it to Amoeba to get rid of it. Matthew reminded me that i actually gave him the movie and didn't sell it to Amoeba. the nice bartender girl bought Matthew and i some beer. Matthew and i talked a lot about Wolf Creek and about the term "torture porn." Matthew and i talked about Logan's book cover and Orth's album cover both of which he did and which are beautiful.
before i went out with Matthew i met up with Angelos at Mad Dog. Angelos and i worked on Demosthenes's Chinese Notebook. the translations are really coming together. Angelos ate a Rosumunde sausage and drank beer. Angelos asked me what "exenterates" means because i use it in a poem from The Moveable Ones. i couldn't define the word, i had forgetten the definition of the word. the word means "To disembowel; eviscerate," but i couldn't remember that at the time. the line in my poem goes "and he exenterates the islands" or something close to that.
after Mad Dog with Angelos i walked to D-Structure to say hello to Azikiwee. it sounds like there are going to be lots of fun events happening at the store in the coming months. tatoo events, new art shows, DJ nights, after skatepark jamborees etc. i bought a new tee shirt and chatted with Azikiwee about the upcoming events.
after D-Structure i went to the corner store and bought two big cans of Foster's. i went home and made my lunch for the next day and washed some dishes and cracked open one of the cans of Foster's and grabbed CA Conrad's Deviant Propulsion and headed for the stoop. I'm really enjoying Conrad's book. i've been reading a ton of poetry lately and Conrad's is pretty much tops. after about half of the Foster's i went back inside to work on Rude Girl. i put on the Star Wars soundtrack as background noise and worked on Rude Girl for about an hour. i think Rude Girl is finally starting to realize. my revision process at the moment is to take out all the boring stuff. i'm trying to make Rude Girl entertaining. Rude Girl is a giant love poem and will be searching for a home sooner than later (hi!). i've had the poetry bug for the last couple weeks. its been a while since i've had the poetry bug. it feels good to have the poetry bug again. you know?
after working on Rude Girl i went out with Arnone to Kilowatt (see top of this post)
stuff that's been on my mind lately
--crappy writers Tao Lin links to that write in the exact style of Tao Lin (and nobody calling anything on anyone (this applies to 98% of the folks who comment on his blog as well))
--"outside the Bay Area" as a paradox (see LRSmith getting invited to NYC to read for Big Game) which is awesome and disapointing at the same time (not logan reading for Big Game but for him having to leave the Bay Area to do a reading at all (you can put me in this category too)), in other words, no love...i think i'll start a reading series at my apartment and not invite anybody from the Bay Area to read except Rob Halpern and Norma Cole...
--"muffin tops" and why i can't spot them when i've been drinking, and is this a problem?
--reading One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest while working in a psychiatric hospital
--last Sunset of the season on Sunday at Lake Stafford in Novato
--seeking a cool, single, pretty, girl to spend my time with
--winter fruits
--was Flickr just a fad
--moving to Athens somehow someway
--missing the hell out of house readings and not wanting to ever go back to SPT but knowing i'll probably be there in a couple weeks and regreting it once again
--everything good seems to be in Oakland these days
--etc.
last night i went out with Arnone, we went to Kilowatt, we talked about horror movies the whole time. we talked about Cube and HyperCube and CubeZero. we talked about Hellraiser II and "cenobites" and Miyazaki's Spirited Away. i told matthew that Spirited Away is one of the scariest movies i have ever seen. i told Matthew that Spirited Away is so scary that i sold it to Amoeba to get rid of it. Matthew reminded me that i actually gave him the movie and didn't sell it to Amoeba. the nice bartender girl bought Matthew and i some beer. Matthew and i talked a lot about Wolf Creek and about the term "torture porn." Matthew and i talked about Logan's book cover and Orth's album cover both of which he did and which are beautiful.
before i went out with Matthew i met up with Angelos at Mad Dog. Angelos and i worked on Demosthenes's Chinese Notebook. the translations are really coming together. Angelos ate a Rosumunde sausage and drank beer. Angelos asked me what "exenterates" means because i use it in a poem from The Moveable Ones. i couldn't define the word, i had forgetten the definition of the word. the word means "To disembowel; eviscerate," but i couldn't remember that at the time. the line in my poem goes "and he exenterates the islands" or something close to that.
after Mad Dog with Angelos i walked to D-Structure to say hello to Azikiwee. it sounds like there are going to be lots of fun events happening at the store in the coming months. tatoo events, new art shows, DJ nights, after skatepark jamborees etc. i bought a new tee shirt and chatted with Azikiwee about the upcoming events.
after D-Structure i went to the corner store and bought two big cans of Foster's. i went home and made my lunch for the next day and washed some dishes and cracked open one of the cans of Foster's and grabbed CA Conrad's Deviant Propulsion and headed for the stoop. I'm really enjoying Conrad's book. i've been reading a ton of poetry lately and Conrad's is pretty much tops. after about half of the Foster's i went back inside to work on Rude Girl. i put on the Star Wars soundtrack as background noise and worked on Rude Girl for about an hour. i think Rude Girl is finally starting to realize. my revision process at the moment is to take out all the boring stuff. i'm trying to make Rude Girl entertaining. Rude Girl is a giant love poem and will be searching for a home sooner than later (hi!). i've had the poetry bug for the last couple weeks. its been a while since i've had the poetry bug. it feels good to have the poetry bug again. you know?
after working on Rude Girl i went out with Arnone to Kilowatt (see top of this post)
stuff that's been on my mind lately
--crappy writers Tao Lin links to that write in the exact style of Tao Lin (and nobody calling anything on anyone (this applies to 98% of the folks who comment on his blog as well))
--"outside the Bay Area" as a paradox (see LRSmith getting invited to NYC to read for Big Game) which is awesome and disapointing at the same time (not logan reading for Big Game but for him having to leave the Bay Area to do a reading at all (you can put me in this category too)), in other words, no love...i think i'll start a reading series at my apartment and not invite anybody from the Bay Area to read except Rob Halpern and Norma Cole...
--"muffin tops" and why i can't spot them when i've been drinking, and is this a problem?
--reading One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest while working in a psychiatric hospital
--last Sunset of the season on Sunday at Lake Stafford in Novato
--seeking a cool, single, pretty, girl to spend my time with
--winter fruits
--was Flickr just a fad
--moving to Athens somehow someway
--missing the hell out of house readings and not wanting to ever go back to SPT but knowing i'll probably be there in a couple weeks and regreting it once again
--everything good seems to be in Oakland these days
--etc.
Sep 18, 2007
Sep 17, 2007
so i remember
John,
In the interest of making certain every poem is read by a machine,
1. please go to your settings
2. then go to the "voice" setting
3. then will you notice many different voices, some singing, some instruments.
4. You will make a keystroke to enable your computer to read. My advice is not to make it shift+t or you will lose your capital t's.
It might be worth the sacrifice, though.
Yay for computers w/ voices! If you record your computer reading poems to you please let me know.
Also, if there are bits of text on the internet that make you unhappy, it is cheerful to have them read to you in funny voices by a machine.
I want to hear plays made like this.
xo
Anne
In the interest of making certain every poem is read by a machine,
1. please go to your settings
2. then go to the "voice" setting
3. then will you notice many different voices, some singing, some instruments.
4. You will make a keystroke to enable your computer to read. My advice is not to make it shift+t or you will lose your capital t's.
It might be worth the sacrifice, though.
Yay for computers w/ voices! If you record your computer reading poems to you please let me know.
Also, if there are bits of text on the internet that make you unhappy, it is cheerful to have them read to you in funny voices by a machine.
I want to hear plays made like this.
xo
Anne
Sep 16, 2007
Sep 14, 2007
i guess it sounds like this too...
"eee-eee-eee, like a nail coming out of a plank"
-Ken Kesey
from One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
-Ken Kesey
from One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
um, hell yes...
Can't wait to see you tomorrow night. Thought I'd make the Greek green beans, roast some carrots, make aGreek salad with lots of feta, barbaque you aporterhouse steak, and cook one of the spanikopitas Imade and froze. Does that sound appetizing to you!!!
-MOM
-MOM
Sep 12, 2007
Naropa Bank Robber?!!!
Bank robbery today in Walnut Creek...check out the seal on the Jumpsuit! for shame Rinpoche, for shame...
Sep 11, 2007
Sep 10, 2007
Sep 9, 2007
Claycord.com
"Upon naming your city council, you forgot Jamsey Cakes - The Sakkis Brothers are a shhifty bunch and I never trusted them - call them a Clan if you will."
—Apollo Idol Prudence
—Apollo Idol Prudence
Sep 7, 2007
Attention Span 2007
1. Brent Cunningham| Bird & Forest| Ugly Duckling Presse| 2005
Drinking whiskey with Brent in the kitchen (any
kitchen!) is almost as fun as his book (in a good
way)...
2. Small Town PZA Vol. 2| Logan Ryan Smith| 2006
RIP Zane.
3. Musee Mechanique| Rodney Koeneke| Blazevox| 2006
Rodney is a wonderful person. Rodney looks a little
like my brother James and/or Liev Schrieber. I have
one of Rodney's infamous reading "set lists." As a BA
at SF STATE I once wrote a really really crappy poem
called "Musee Mechanique." Rodney's book is the
opposite of that.
4. Incubation A Space for Monsters| Bhanu Kapil|Leon Works| 2006
Bhanu likes to say "interiority" and "liminal" in
person more than on the page, Bhanu once fed me sugar
from her hand, she said "now John, tilt your head
back and open your mouth, good..." and then she sort of
threw a fistfull of sugar into my mouth and i liked
it.
5. The Singers| Logan Ryan Smith| Dusie Press| 2007
This is what I posted to my blog a while ago "if you
can get past the totally inapropriate cover this is
one of the best poetry books of 2007, or Steve Evans
Attention Span 2007 material for sure."
6. I Have Not Been Able To Get Through To Everyone|Anna Moschovakis| Turtle Point| 2006
I read Anna's book on my stoop with beer. I want to
re-read Anna's book on my stoop with beer. I don't
want that experience to stop.
7. a poem a movie & a poem| Nick Moudry| Braincase Press| 2003
I didn't know who Nick Moudry was until recently
reading The Tiny #1. Nick Moudry's poems in The Tiny #1
made me sit up in bed and go "who the fuck is Nick
Moudry?"...I posted something to my blog stating as
much and then a few weeks later Alli Warren handed me
Moudry's chapbook a poem a movie & a poem, I read it
on my stoop with beer and was sad when it was over.
8. Pussey!| Daniel Clowes| Fantagraphics| 2006
I don't know, maybe i'm just one of these people that
thinks that Daniel Clowes comics shouldn't be made
into movies. Ghostworld sucked, so did Art School
Confidential. I recently dated a girl who was into the
60's as like a genre, a personal aesthetic. Her hair,
wardrobe and music were all from the 60's. I almost
bought her a copy of Pussey! but then thought that she
might resent me for it...anyway, we're not dating
anymore.
9. Roadkillovercoat| Busdriver| Epitaph Records| 2007
"and in Baypoint/ Pittsburg I suck"...i was at that
show in 2000...he didn't suck. i was at his show in
2006 at the Great American Music Hall with Young
and my brother. Again, he didn't suck. In fact, he
was so good he rendered the headliners, Deerhoof,
moot.
10. D-Structure| Apparel| Lower Haight| 2007
I play records here every Friday night. They shit all
over Upper Playground. This place is my sanctuary.
Plus they have the best t-shirt lines in SF. Plus i'm
broke because of that.
11. Chinese Notebook| Demosthenes Agrafiotis| Erato| 1988
This is Self-aggrandizement but what the hell. With
Angelos Sakkis, I recently translated Demosthenes's
Chinese Notebook. I wouldn't have spent a year doing
that if it sucked. It's very good.
Drinking whiskey with Brent in the kitchen (any
kitchen!) is almost as fun as his book (in a good
way)...
2. Small Town PZA Vol. 2| Logan Ryan Smith| 2006
RIP Zane.
3. Musee Mechanique| Rodney Koeneke| Blazevox| 2006
Rodney is a wonderful person. Rodney looks a little
like my brother James and/or Liev Schrieber. I have
one of Rodney's infamous reading "set lists." As a BA
at SF STATE I once wrote a really really crappy poem
called "Musee Mechanique." Rodney's book is the
opposite of that.
4. Incubation A Space for Monsters| Bhanu Kapil|Leon Works| 2006
Bhanu likes to say "interiority" and "liminal" in
person more than on the page, Bhanu once fed me sugar
from her hand, she said "now John, tilt your head
back and open your mouth, good..." and then she sort of
threw a fistfull of sugar into my mouth and i liked
it.
5. The Singers| Logan Ryan Smith| Dusie Press| 2007
This is what I posted to my blog a while ago "if you
can get past the totally inapropriate cover this is
one of the best poetry books of 2007, or Steve Evans
Attention Span 2007 material for sure."
6. I Have Not Been Able To Get Through To Everyone|Anna Moschovakis| Turtle Point| 2006
I read Anna's book on my stoop with beer. I want to
re-read Anna's book on my stoop with beer. I don't
want that experience to stop.
7. a poem a movie & a poem| Nick Moudry| Braincase Press| 2003
I didn't know who Nick Moudry was until recently
reading The Tiny #1. Nick Moudry's poems in The Tiny #1
made me sit up in bed and go "who the fuck is Nick
Moudry?"...I posted something to my blog stating as
much and then a few weeks later Alli Warren handed me
Moudry's chapbook a poem a movie & a poem, I read it
on my stoop with beer and was sad when it was over.
8. Pussey!| Daniel Clowes| Fantagraphics| 2006
I don't know, maybe i'm just one of these people that
thinks that Daniel Clowes comics shouldn't be made
into movies. Ghostworld sucked, so did Art School
Confidential. I recently dated a girl who was into the
60's as like a genre, a personal aesthetic. Her hair,
wardrobe and music were all from the 60's. I almost
bought her a copy of Pussey! but then thought that she
might resent me for it...anyway, we're not dating
anymore.
9. Roadkillovercoat| Busdriver| Epitaph Records| 2007
"and in Baypoint/ Pittsburg I suck"...i was at that
show in 2000...he didn't suck. i was at his show in
2006 at the Great American Music Hall with Young
and my brother. Again, he didn't suck. In fact, he
was so good he rendered the headliners, Deerhoof,
moot.
10. D-Structure| Apparel| Lower Haight| 2007
I play records here every Friday night. They shit all
over Upper Playground. This place is my sanctuary.
Plus they have the best t-shirt lines in SF. Plus i'm
broke because of that.
11. Chinese Notebook| Demosthenes Agrafiotis| Erato| 1988
This is Self-aggrandizement but what the hell. With
Angelos Sakkis, I recently translated Demosthenes's
Chinese Notebook. I wouldn't have spent a year doing
that if it sucked. It's very good.
Sep 6, 2007
Demo's Chinese Notebook
have recently finished translating, with Angelos Sakkis, Demosthenes Agrafiotis's Chinese Notebook. "finished translating" meaning a first draft still in need of a lot of work but a complete first draft (83 pages) nonetheless. Angelos and i have been working every Wednesday at Mad Dog In The Fog for the last 4 or 5 months (not to mention the year spent corresponding by telephone and snail mail while i was at Naropa) hoping to have a draft in hand for Demosthenes's upcoming West Coast reading tour (his first visit to California!). whether or not he'll be using the translations or reading in Greek or a combination of both we haven't talked about yet. Demosthenes will be in San Francisco on Oct. 11th for a reading at The Poetry Center (3:30pm) and then later that evening (7:30pm) with Kathleen Fraser at the Unitarian Center...
and then J. Mosconi tells me (though don't quote me on it) that Demosthenes will be in LA from the 17th-20th doing various readings around town with a possible sojourn in San Diego (UCSD)...
and then back to the Bay just in time for his Oct. 21st reading at New Yipes with Dolores Dorantes...
"-ings
intruders
in mined quarters
sweep away
billboards of averag-
calculations
with shrapnel families
and the power of arithmetic
in lengths of kow tow-"
...
had a dream last night that Logan Ryan Smith's new book Stupid Birds was going to be published by Aaron Kunin's "Active Ingredient Press"...and i was jealous.
Sep 5, 2007
Sep 4, 2007
review copies of The Moveable Ones...
are available, backchannel me at merkoneus@yahoo.com and i'll send you one
Carrie Hunter gave it 5 stars on Goodreads, not that that should influence you or anything, i'm just saying...
Carrie Hunter gave it 5 stars on Goodreads, not that that should influence you or anything, i'm just saying...
Sep 3, 2007
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