Just like a statue carved out of stone, a bowl carved from wood, a piece of clothing made from cut and sewn fabric... isn’t a statue, a bowl, a piece of clothing.
Compared to molding a statue from playdoh, a pot from clay, knitting a piece of clothing.
Are the baby owls making crazy noises? We had fledgling barred owls come through our property a couple years ago and they made the most insane noises. The adults make the "who cooks for you" call but the babies just shriek like banshees. It's bonkers.
I've been re-listening to the late great Ken Robinson's Ted Talks on education which resonate with your post on Professional Human Losers. Education of the Head, Heart and Hands. And those baby owls are EVERYTHING!
Thanks for the intro to Amanda Lear, Lena Olin and ended up signing up for Arnold Scwarzenegger’s newsletter and got a copy of his Pump Yourself Up which is a brief concentrated guide to life improvement. Thanks for consistently bringing us interesting things which in turn makes me a more interesting person.
I did a bunch of erasure poetry on Tove Jansson's The Summer Book. It helped me through tough times! And thank you for alerting us to the Duplass brothers' series. I love most of what they produce/direct.
I’m not a writer but I am a reader and his work really speaks to delving into books to get the most out of them. Along with his book A SWIM IN A POND IN THE RAIN written using classic Russian short stories to really feel into the stories. I admit I’d never read any Tolstoy et al--too daunting--but I really enjoyed both the stores and Saunders invitation to trust your inner understanding.
Professional human loser
“‘erasure poetry’ is not poetry in any way”:
Just like a statue carved out of stone, a bowl carved from wood, a piece of clothing made from cut and sewn fabric... isn’t a statue, a bowl, a piece of clothing.
Compared to molding a statue from playdoh, a pot from clay, knitting a piece of clothing.
Subtractive. Additive.
Great snippets. 'The thing that sticks out' is going to keep me going for a bit... fabulous way of thinking about something.
1. Austin, I can’t imagine you having any enemies. 2. Somebody, Somewhere is purely sublime. Worth getting HBO MAX just for that.
Are the baby owls making crazy noises? We had fledgling barred owls come through our property a couple years ago and they made the most insane noises. The adults make the "who cooks for you" call but the babies just shriek like banshees. It's bonkers.
I've been re-listening to the late great Ken Robinson's Ted Talks on education which resonate with your post on Professional Human Losers. Education of the Head, Heart and Hands. And those baby owls are EVERYTHING!
A cornucopia today, Austin. Glad to be here with you!
You may find it amusing (or not!) but this RT you made from Violent Femmes drummer Victor DeLorenzo last week...
https://twitter.com/VicDeLorenzo/status/1652692802935963648
...that Milwaukee East Side corner is less than a block away from Boswell Books where you did a pre-pandemic book signing!
Thanks for the intro to Amanda Lear, Lena Olin and ended up signing up for Arnold Scwarzenegger’s newsletter and got a copy of his Pump Yourself Up which is a brief concentrated guide to life improvement. Thanks for consistently bringing us interesting things which in turn makes me a more interesting person.
Loving Barry and loving that podcast! I can’t wait to see what Bill Hader does next.
I did a bunch of erasure poetry on Tove Jansson's The Summer Book. It helped me through tough times! And thank you for alerting us to the Duplass brothers' series. I love most of what they produce/direct.
Austin, you are a very versatile author with many interests. The article was very interesting and thought-provoking.
Nick Lowe is comically underrated as a pop musician.
The thing that sticks out... YES!
As always great links to fall down into rabbit holes. I’m convinced I mentioned this before? But George Saunders has a great Substack on writing Called the Story Club. It’s like taking a writing class. https://open.substack.com/pub/georgesaunders/p/office-hours-85c?r=ehm&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
I’m not a writer but I am a reader and his work really speaks to delving into books to get the most out of them. Along with his book A SWIM IN A POND IN THE RAIN written using classic Russian short stories to really feel into the stories. I admit I’d never read any Tolstoy et al--too daunting--but I really enjoyed both the stores and Saunders invitation to trust your inner understanding.
Thanks once again for the inspiring set of links!