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Books

Reviews, reflections, conversations.

Mostly Novels
The Flamethrowers

On Her Own Timeline

By Emily Burns Morgan
The Flamethrowers offers an implied critique, then, not only of patriarchy, but of New York and other cities like it, which stand as symbols for capitalism and the myth that the city is the best place for artists. For which artists, Kushner asks, is it beneficial? more

Readings
Saul Bellow

Herzog and Me

By Jonah Hall
"How do we let go of order in a world that demands organization, in a reality that demands reason and logic, in an environment that urges us to compete and to judge?" On finding time to read Saul Bellow. more

Aisles
Nicholson Baker

Eddying Alone

By Evan P. Schneider
"Paul, who is quite lonely throughout 281 of this book's 287 pages, says, 'I want to forgive everyone. I want to do better with my life.'" On Nicholson Baker's Traveling Sprinkler. more

Readings
Clarice Lispector

Failure's Potential

By Sarah Kruse
The self-reflexivity of the novel is one of Lispector's strengths—her mastery lies not in the simplicity of the characters, but in the odd, at times awkward interjections of the narrator... more

Arts

Crafted, designed, choreographed, performed.

  • Portfolio

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    Art and Social Practice
    Talking with Wendy MacNaughton About Meanwhile in San Francisco
    by Alex Behr

    "Some people I'm sure will look through it and see pictures and think it's a behind-the-scenes travel guide of San Francisco. And that's fine. But if somebody wants to think about the discussion of how art and storytelling can have a social impact, then that's an important way to come at it also." Wendy MacNaughton on her new book and links between art, oral history, and social work. more

Film

Art form of the twentieth century.

  • Speculative Cinema

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    The Government is a Computer
    Godard Turns a 1960 Computer into a Disorienting Vision of the Future
    By Connor Jones

    For Godard, the idea of a centralized right wing government was ultimately restrictive to the progress of not only the arts, but humanity in general. This was similar to his feelings regarding computer technology—and thus Alphaville, in which the source of power controlling a restrictive government is not a person (de Gaulle), but a supercomputer: Alpha 60. more

  • Speculative Cinema

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    Through the Eyes of the Beast
    Georges Franju Peels Away the Face of Culture
    By Cohen Perry

    Producers wanted "a horror film, but no blood—that would cause problems with French censors. No animals tortured, because that would cause problems with English censors, and no mad scientists, which would cause problems with German censors." That Franju accepted is surprising, given the source novel was about a mad doctor who tortured animals and removed faces... more

Music

Stolen licks and backstage passes.

Inquiry

Investigations and lived experience.

Quiz

quiz Perception vs. Reality

Is Your Universe a Simulation?

A Propeller Quiz
The following quiz is not meant to be passed between universes. I have placed it on this website concerned with art and literature so that few people will find it. Quickly, before it is erased, read the questions, do the math, and discover the true nature of your reality... more

Poetry

Language, pushed.

Fiction

Invented worlds, invented selves.

  • Fiction

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    Bimini Sun
    by Elizabeth Lopeman

    Katie gazed into the morass of circling sharks until her eye was trained on the largest one—its slow confidence, the bowing and arcing that rippled through its ribbony tail like a dying electrical current... more

Sport

Reports from court and field.