Delicious (the quote starts slow, but the end’s worth it): “The intellectual position of Jackson, Venturi, and Lewis vis-a-vis the American landscape illustrates how the discontinuities of our everyday surroundings are mirrored by the discontinuities of the university. … “Thus, a Jacksonian student of landscape can observe a Red Barn hamburger joint, he can remark […]
Rundown: Conservatives, plate-glass windows, coke, and blood pudding
The Center for American Progress has a nifty new database that’s basically a compendium of the blatant lies and distortions made by conservatives. It’s well-referenced and searchable by category, though quite frankly it would be better yet if it were non-partisan (and charted the erroneous claims and lies of all public officials. Still, it’s a […]
Posted by Ben on May 7, 2004
https://www.swordbilled.com/rundown-conservatives-plate-glass-windows-coke-and-blood-pudding/
Crimes of Art + Terror
“Do killers, artists, and terrorists need one another?” (inside book jacket) Generally, I can’t say I’m a fan of literary analysis. Not even a disgruntled fan. But Crimes of Art + Terror, its literary analytical elements substantial as they are, is pretty slick. CoA+T seeks to examine the entanglements between so-called ‘transgressive art’—art that ‘pushes […]
Posted by Ben on May 6, 2004
https://www.swordbilled.com/crimes-of-art-terror/
It’s the ol’ “what-movie-do-you-belong-in” quiz
…and the answer, apropos of my earlier post today, is: Go ahead and take the What movie Do you Belong in?(many different outcomes!) quiz. It will cure what ails you and bring a peaceful resolution to the world’s problems*. * Some restrictions may apply
Posted by Ben on April 27, 2004
https://www.swordbilled.com/its-the-ol-what-movie-do-you-belong-in-quiz/
Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
…because you couldn’t decide whether or not you really wanted to read this book. Yeah, right. So, um, yeah, a great book, this Fight Club. Hands-down (well, almost—I’m not sure about Americana) this is the best first novel I’ve ever read, i.e., the best “this-is-so-and-so’s-first-novel” book, so-and-so in this case being Chuck Palahniuk. Brilliant, really. […]
Posted by Ben on April 27, 2004
https://www.swordbilled.com/fight-club-by-chuck-palahniuk-review/
On Earth Day
The thing about holidays is, they’re utterly insidious. Evil? Maybe. I certainly wouldn’t be so quick to rule out the idea. Holidays instill a sense of complacency, a lukewarm, mind-numbing sense that everything’s gonna be okay. Not only official holidays (e.g., Christmas) but also the flimsier holidays, the ones who get their names on some […]
Posted by Ben on April 22, 2004
https://www.swordbilled.com/on-earth-day/
Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins
The problem with this book is, it’s living proof that an excellent writer can take tried-and-true elements—things that, by themselves, seem like great ideas—and combine them in a wholly unsatisfying way. Kind of how an award-winning chef might take your five favorite foods and combine them into an unrecognizable, unappetizing, putrid mush. Another (related) problem […]
Posted by Ben on April 8, 2004
https://www.swordbilled.com/jitterbug-perfume-by-tom-robbins/
Tetherballs of Bougainville by Mark Leyner (REVIEW)
You can heap praise upon books until you run out of clever adjectives and you’ve used up all the permutations of classic book review phrases you can think of, but the fact remains: when it’s all said and done (and discussed and written about and beat into the ground with a dead horse), there are […]
Posted by Ben on March 24, 2004
https://www.swordbilled.com/tetherballs-of-bougainville-by-mark-leyner-review/
An Interview With Chuck
Okay, so not exactly an interview, but an article in which he talks, a little bit. The article centers more or less around Chuck Palahniuk (for the uninitiated, that’s the author of Fight Club et al.) giving a reading in Las Vegas of a new short story he’s written. The short story’s name is Guts, […]
Posted by Ben on March 14, 2004
https://www.swordbilled.com/an-interview-with-chuck/
The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon (REVIEW)
I’ll admit it: I read this book because it’s short. Previously, I’d only read Pynchon’s Vineland, (which was good but not incontrovertibly spectacular, i.e., not enough to definitely convince me I needed to read more of T.P.’s books) and rather than take a stab in the dark at the mammoth Mason & Dixon (weighing in […]
Posted by Ben on March 14, 2004
https://www.swordbilled.com/the-crying-of-lot-49-by-thomas-pynchon-review/