Summer Block Kumar

Unlikely Animal Locations

2009-06-16T09:16:00.000-07:00

New Poetry in PANK

2009-06-12T06:59:00.000-07:00

Check out "Sonnet for the Mother Mary" in the June online issue of PANK.

I also have three other poems appearing in the annual paper edition of PANK, due out at the end of the year.

muted post horn

2009-06-01T17:50:00.000-07:00

Check out "69 Modern Classics Condensed via Amazon's SIPS" here, courtesy of Dennis Cooper.

A sample:
#57 "black pickpocket, baize bag"

Answer: Why, Mr. Sammler's Planet, of course.

Parenting Tip #1

2009-05-12T13:06:00.001-07:00

Evelyn Waugh considered his son James to have no sense of humor. So as a corrective, he required his son to read and recite a joke to him every day. At a loss, his son went out and bought a compendium of popular jokes. Every day James would read a joke aloud to his father while Evelyn was eating lunch, and Evelyn would respond by staring straight ahead and continuing his meal without ever smiling or laughing.

(Paraphrased from Stop Me If You've Heard This: A History and Philosophy of Jokes, by Jim Holt.)

Attention Friends in Portland and Seattle

2009-05-11T12:18:00.000-07:00

not to mention Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, and Chicago - Janelle Brown will be on her paperback book tour for All We Ever Wanted Was Everything this summer.

First cities up are Portland (May 14) and Seattle (May 15).

Find her complete tour information here.

Or buy the book here.

Not very mature,

2009-05-04T18:42:00.000-07:00

but I did enjoy the headline to this article: "Homeowners on Sunset Widening."

(Yes, you guessed it - homeowners are weighing in on plans to widen Sunset Boulevard near Brentwood, but it's funnier my way.)

A high-water mark for print advertising

2009-03-22T23:31:00.000-07:00

Has anyone else noticed these glossy pro-corn-syrup ads in print magazines lately? Sponsored by the Corn Refiners Association (CRA), found online at the fetchingly named domain sweetsurprise.com.

Here are two of my favorite:

The first time I saw these, I was truly amazed. Not by the obvious duplicity, but by the sheer contempt the CRA is showing for their own customers here. The spiteful tone, the bitchy look on the models' faces, the hateful little punchlines - has the CRA really decided the best way to woo already-wavering consumers is to heap scorn on them for daring to question the health value of their own food? It's certainly a bold move. I'm looking forward to the "Hey, you stupid asshole, how about you shut up and eat some more corn syrup?" series.

New Poetry in PANK

2009-03-22T23:29:00.001-07:00

I'm very pleased to have four upcoming poems in PANK magazine. One of the four will be online shortly and the other three will be available in a handsome bound paper version to be released this winter.

Congratulations, Zhu Yingxin

2009-03-04T15:11:00.001-08:00

Last month Megan Shank selected Zhu Yingxin as our scholarship winner and presented her with the proceeds from the first production of "Impulse." Megan had the wise and generous idea of using proceeds from the play to create a scholarship for a young woman in China working in film or theater.

To quote Megan:

"Zhu Yingxin who is a student writer/director at Shanghai University. Zhu comes from a small city in Heilongjiang (a province in northeast China). Her father is a cop-turned-lawyer. Her mother is a housewife. She is finishing her junior year at the film academy. Zhu has already produced two short films . . . One is called 'Deliver the City' and the other 'The Summer of Wisdom' . . . One won a runner-up award in the shorts category at the Shanghai International Film Festival.

"Zhu says her main aim is to tell stories; she's particularly interested in telling women's stories, though her work would certainly appeal to general audiences. She has already begun her graduate project and is appreciative for the money, which will do much to help her produce what she believes will be her best film yet."

Thank you, Megan, and congratulations Zhu Yingxin.

Best Baby Gift Ever.

2009-03-04T15:05:00.000-08:00

Dev and I are back from a wonderful four days in New York, visiting Travis, Aubrey, and Melissa (as well as Edward, Vanessa, Alistair, Elise, Jordan, and Grant).

While we were there, Travis and Aubrey presented us with what might just be the best baby gift ever .

Thank you guys so much! and thanks to Melissa, too, for her technical advice and assistance.

Of What is Sweet and What is Terrible

2009-02-17T15:54:00.000-08:00

I'm very pleased to have my story "Of What is Sweet and What is Terrible" published in the Hamilton Stone Review.

An online version is available here, or go pick up the paper copy.

2009-01-20T20:09:00.000-08:00

I'm happy to say that one of my short stories was accepted for publication, this time in the Hamilton Stone Review. It'll be up in February, more soon.

I'm also adding a Fiction page to this site with all my published stories in one place, for people who just can't get enough of my work. I assume there are many such people, all over the place.

Interview with Michael Rea

2009-01-12T10:17:00.001-08:00

My interview with artist Michael Rea is now out in issues of ALARM. I'll link it here if it shows up online - until then, head to the newsstand to get a copy.

Six Sentences

2009-01-12T09:53:00.000-08:00

Check out my very short and fairly sad story this morning at Six Sentences. It got some very kind and generous comments, too.

Edwardian Book Titles

2009-01-05T11:01:00.000-08:00

From an H.G. Wells collection (The Country of the Blind and Other Stories):

UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME
In Kedar's Tents.... H. Seton Merriman
Lady Good-For-Nothing.... "Q."
A Child of the Jago.... Arthur Morrison
The Simpkins Plot.... G.A. Birmingham
Princess Princilla's Fortnight....
By the Author of "Elizabeth and her
German Garden."
Tristam of Blent.... Anthony Hope
Mr. Justice Raffles.... E.W. Hornung
History of Mr. Polly.... H.G. Wells
The Cardina's Snuff-Box.... Henry Harland
True Tilda.... "Q."
Mr. Horrocks, Purser..... C.J. Cutcliffe Hyne
And Many Equally Popular
Copyright Novels.
NELSON'S LIBRARY.

With thanks to Grant, as always.

"Impulse"

2008-11-20T13:17:00.001-08:00

"Impulse," a play I co-wrote with Megan Shank, is going to be performed for the first time this weekend in Shanghai, by East West Theater Group.

If you are in Shanghai, check it out, Friday and Saturday nights at 7pm and a Sunday matinee at 3pm at Figaro, 160 Xingye Lu, near Madang Lu, 100 RMB.
RSVP your ticket request to impulsetheplay@gmail.com.

If you aren't in Shanghai - well, we are hoping to bring it to the States very soon, so stay tuned!

Better late than never...

2008-11-20T12:51:00.000-08:00

A raft of ALARM interviews I should have posted long ago - I am just now going through a backlog of portfolio clippings for the end of the year.

Interview with artist Colette Fu
Interview with artist and activist Christian Nold
Interview with musician DJ Tucker

2008-11-20T12:27:00.001-08:00

Everyone in the LA area should check out the Red Rabbit Holiday Arts & Crafts Fair, with work for sale by 27 local artists including my mom. The event is held in the Descanso Gardens in La Canada and is free with garden admission ($8) so you can come to the show, buy local for the holidays, and then enjoy walking around the gardens, which are decorated for Christmas.

For more event information, go here.

2008-10-29T14:22:00.000-07:00

Check out my interview with photographer Taryn Simon (An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar) on Hotel St. George Press.

Congratulations, Mr. Blackstone.

2008-10-23T23:53:00.000-07:00

The very talented Charles Blackstone (The Week You Weren't Here) has a new anthology out, The Art of Friction. Read the Time Out review here, and then head here to buy it.

Here's the link to the novel The Week You Weren't Here, and to my review thereof (from Identity Theory).

2008-10-19T05:54:00.000-07:00

It's been nearly two months since I posted anything here last - my apologies. I've spent most of the last two months studying for the GRE and then the GRE subject test in English Literature, preparing to apply to grad school for fall 2009. I've also been doing some profitable but unexcited editing and fact-checking work, etc.

But I have managed to write a bit, at least, so expect new work from me soon in Tarpaulin Sky, Identity Theory, artnet, Hotel St. George, and ALARM. And I've signed on as an editor over at Swink, too, reading fiction submissions.

I've also been shopping around the draft of my first novel to some agents, and working on scenes and monologues for Megan Shank's "Impulse," to be performed for the first time next month.

And of course, The Foghorn rolls on, with lots of great new stuff!

2008-08-27T08:54:00.001-07:00

My mom's Etsy site, Posh Plums, is on Cuteable today!

You can also check her out today in the Etsy Children's Showcase.

The Pink Lotus: "Tintin both offers and withholds."

2008-08-19T18:13:00.000-07:00

More hilarious perversity making its way around the internet - the Erotic Tintin (from the Guardian).

Thanks to Conversational Reading for the heads up.

2008-08-06T15:57:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to draw your attention to today's installment of Pepy's Diary, which features many of my favorite things about England: killing understatement, class violence, and boiled beef.

The Edge of Europe

2008-08-04T08:37:00.000-07:00

Check out my review of Pentti Saarikoski's The Edge of Europe at Tarpaulin Sky.