Professional human loser

10 things worth sharing this week

Hey y’all,

Here are 10 things I thought were worth sharing this week:

1. It’s clear to me that we’re living in an age of circuit boards and clowns. If AI really does take over, I am happy to become a professional human loser. (My enemies would say I’m already there.)
   
   

2. Blacking out: Marc Weidenbaum wrote some kind words about my work, which inspired me to take a day off and make some poems. What was really funny about this is that a few days later a poet on Twitter went viral (mostly via quote-dunking) for saying “‘erasure poetry’ is not poetry in any way.” I won’t link to her, but I will link to Mary Ruefle, the poet laureate of Vermont and my personal queen of quarantine, talking about the joy of making blackout poems. (If you’re not familiar with her work, check out the essays in Madness, Rack, and Honey or her latest collection, Dunce.)
   
   

3. Music in 1973: Roxy Music plays Montreaux and Lou Reed breaks in his new backing band with a disco-ish cover of “Sister Ray.”  1983: Violent Femmes put out their eponymous debut and New Order releases “Blue Monday.” 1993: PJ Harvey releases Rid of Me. Skip a few decades to 2023: David Byrne rides his bike to the Met Gala and Ed Sheeran wins a copyright suit and Gordon Lightfoot dies.
   
   

4. If you’re in Austin, TX this coming Monday, May 8th, I’ll be in discussion with my friend Ryan Holiday about his latest book, The Daily Dad. I don’t think we’ve spoken together publicly before, but I’ve been out to The Painted Porch to talk about art and stoicism and raising kids as a creative person. (I’ve been going through my parenting posts in preparation for our conversation — I somehow didn’t realize there were ten dozen of them?!? Can an AI assistant turn them into a book for me? Ha!)
   
   

5. Art: Stephanie Zacharek on how to judge great art by bad men. Who painted Hilma af Klint’s otherworldy visions? (Never trust genius! Find the scenius.) An exhibition of rescued comic strip art. A man brings what he thinks is a David Hockney to Antiques Roadshow. The Blanton Museum here in Austin, TX just re-opened with new grounds. (I enjoyed this Alice Rahon painting in their latest newsletter.)
   
   

6. More music: Bill Orcutt on how he made Music for Four Guitars. What sounds to me like Ethiopian Arthur Russell. Love this clip of Nick Lowe and Rockpile doing “Heart of the City.” I had never heard of Amanda Lear, but caught “Follow Me” in a Chanel commercial on TV and read up about her interesting life.
   
   

7. TV: I’m loving the last season of Barry and recently discovered that actor/director Bill Hader joins The Prestige TV Podcast each week to talk about the episode and how it was made. (If you have an HBO subscription, I also love Somebody Somewhere.)
   
   

8. Newsletters: Happy to see Laura Olin is back at it after a hiatus. And it might surprise you, but I enjoy Arnold Schwarzenegger’s daily? (Bill Hader’s impression — “Show me your leadership capabilities!” — is kind of the vibe.)
   
   

9. Advertisements for myself: I really enjoyed this look at my book Keep Going, which suggests that even though it’s 3rd in the trilogy, it’s actually about “the longer, stickier stretch in between getting started and showing your work.” And speaking of: “Sharing your work is the best way to find your audience.”
   
   

10. As you edit your work this week, don’t forget that the thing that sticks out in your work might be the thing the work wants to be made of!
    

Thanks for reading. This newsletter is a hand-rolled, algorithm-free, reader-supported publication. If you want to support my work, buy my books, hire me to speak, or become a paid subscriber:

xoxo,

Austin

PS. The murder nuggets say hello! By this time next Friday they will probably have fledged…