I ho I'm still alive yeah yeah I ho I'm still alive I'm still alive

What's the title of this post quoting?


Speaking of asking questions to an indeterminate Internet readership, the contest to win a copy of MLKNG SCKLS by writing an acrostic was won by a hot guy named Frank Sung. Justin wrote about it. The contest was hosted by Brian Allen Carr. I don't know what he looks like but I think he's awesome. He wrote about it too.


I've been away for so long that I don't think I'll be able to devote the proper amount of attention to the items Matt Bell has been sharing in my Google Reader. Crap, I feel like I'm missing a lot.


But I watched Blake Butler eat his book Scorch Atlas, which is amazing. The book I mean. Not sure how I feel about him eating it. It's obviously a publicity stunt, and that pisses me off.


I read about Sean Lovelace going to Hot Springs, Arkansas though and want to go there. I also want to write things such as "I calmed down like a TV show" like he does. In fact, I don't want to write at all unless I write things like that.


Back in May I walked down an alley in Ann Arbor and listened to Blake get really angry and cuss-y and say that Sean doesn't know anything about nachos. I mean, it was just insane how upset he got about the whole thing, about how Sean talks about nachos all the time but doesn't know jack cheese about them.


What else did I read about? That Michael Duckett thing at HG is awesome. Apparently Justin Taylor wrote some mean stuff about some botard or whatever and now Gene's name is really Russell.


I think it's funny that Russell changed his name to Gene, as if one was less awkward than the other. To me, both of those names fall into the awkward category of names. If Mike is a normal name and Joe and Dave are normal names, Gene and Russell are equally abnormal. What made him go from Russell to Gene? What's the point? This really pisses me off.


I have a friend; his name is Russell Elliott. That is an awesome name. It's two weird names in a row. He's in China now and he likes baseball and his favorite band is The Raspberries probably. He has a preference between Greg Kott and Jim Deregotis.


And now there's Russell Morgan -- also two weird names in a row. Morgan, though, is kind of hot. Like, when I think about someone named Morgan I think about Baywatch for some reason, and I don't think I'm the only one who this smatters for.


(Sold the film rights to Light Boxes, btw.)


I bought Stephanie Johnson's book from Keyhole. It better be good. I watched SJ read from it on the Internet because that's what the Internet is for.


This morning I woke up on the floor. Never even tried to make it to bed. I remember when Joe left I was thinking, oh I'll just rest here for a second and I laid down. Next thing I know I'm waking up with my cell phone in my hand thinking "I should tweet this."


OMG I read about the hardcover copy of MLKNG SCKLS that Justin "Muscles" Sirois is making. CRAVE:



My brother used to call me tuna breath.

Some things I've been reading

I just got the new Keyhole and read the story by Michael Jauchen called "Our Electric Borders." It's about the Mexico/US border, but the Interesting Reader lodges the meaning more squarely on the borders between people, or even between the short sections that comprise the telling.

There's a resolute morality in Sarah, the main girl gives freelance psychology a shot before settling for border patrolling. Then there's the narrator, who is Sarah's husband or boyfriend, and he seems emotionally neutral but not detached. I mean, like not detached in a Jake Barnes way but in an independent way that does more to outline Sarah than himself.

The sections of the story are connected, but not in a linear or chronological way, more like the firing synapses of a good conversationalist. You know how a smart person can start at one point in a conversation and move back and forth and tangentially through it? That's kind of how this story goes, and this story goes to show the value of such a technique in writing.

Jauchen puts some pretty good jokes in "Our Electric Borders," too. Like, when they leave Texas for LA, "everything started costing twice as much. Even coffee or getting a key made or a three-pack of underwear."

It could be that's just good writing and not a joke. One actual joke is when Sarah's brain-weary grandmother calls and says, "Eggshells, what a waste!"

Someone could argue with me about the narrator's emotional neutrality. It could be that he is very deeply and wildly emotional. The story can support both of our opinions, I think.

Does Sarah die? Did she die? It doesn't say. I don't think she does, but I kind of felt that she does. I felt that because of the way the guy reflects so long on his first kiss at the end.

If you read that story and have an opinion, I welcome your comments. I'm interested in a reading group thing hosted by Blogger comments.