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Infante's Inferno
Jul. 10th, 2009
11:33 am - Morning thoughts
*Work, work, work ...
*Drive to New Hampshire to see Lea read after Ilya Kaminsky and Ed Ochester at New England College.
*Spend the night up there. Drive Lea home tomorrow afternoon.
*Wrestle with the fact that I've only accomplished a fraction of what I intended in the past three weeks.
Jul. 9th, 2009
11:14 pm - "Next Food Network Star"
The great thing about "The Next Food Network Star" is that it so unabashedly is what it it. Whereas on "Top Chef" or "Project Runway" the audience has heated arguments about whether or not a contestant was just not eliminated because they're good on television, "Next Food Network Star" simply looks at you when that question's asked and goes, "Yeah, and your point?" It's all about who's good on television, and somehow there's something freeing in that. It's junk food, but it doesn't dress itself up as anything else.
That being said, after seeing the most recent episode, I suspect I'm ready to declare a winner:
( potential spoilers )
11:17 am - Journalism Quote of the Week!
My friend and colleague Dianne Williamson puts forward an excellent synopsis of what is and is not news:
"In my experience, I’ve found the topics that draw the biggest reader response typically involve illegal immigrants, abused animals, paid police details, teen pregnancy and state Rep. Bob Spellane. For example, if we published a story about how Bob Spellane and an illegal immigrant sped past a police detail and hit a pregnant teen and a squirrel darting across the road, that story would attract the biggest reader response in the history of print journalism. The next day, we would write a follow-up story about donations pouring in for the squirrel.
"Also, I think Little League games are only newsworthy if Bob Spellane is in attendance."
Jul. 8th, 2009
10:06 am - Morning Thoughts
I had a dream last night that I was having dinner with Lea and my in-laws in their dining room, when my old friend and OC Weekly colleague Matt Coker called me on my cell phone to tell me that Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-Crazytown) had introduced legislation to have the poet laureate be appointed by congress. There was much screaming after that.
Naturally, I had to wake up and check the Internet to be sure it was, in fact, just a dream.
It was. Thank goodness.
***
What was not a dream was the phone call this morning from Fallon Clinic telling me that my cholesterol is slightly elevated. Guess who gets to start a heart-healthy diet next week! Whoo-HOO!
Jul. 7th, 2009
07:21 pm - MJ Funeral Redux
Stayed late at the paper to help handle the copy from the funeral. And all the while, all I could think of was that we probably won't see a circus of a celebrity death like this for some time.
Oh, there will be celebrity deaths, and they'll be zoos, but this scale? Not any time soon. Paul McCartney? Madonna? They're about the only ones who could leave this sort of wake.
Watch me be proved wrong by tomorrow's news ...
04:28 pm - MJ Funeral
I'm not watching the Michael Jackson funeral, as I have work to do and all that, but I did want to take a moment to share Salon's excellent encapsulation on how the Culture War plays out in American politics, with the late Mr. Jackson playing the part of everything people need him to be to everyone who needs him to be something. There's probably a lesson in there, somewhere:
The culture war comes for Michael Jackson
Attending to the business of the nation is all well and good, but even Congress needs time to grieve. That’s right: The House of Representatives is all aflutter about Michael Jackson, so don’t get your hopes too high for a groundbreaking burst of legislation any time soon. Especially because the intramural squabble over Jackson is starting to look like every other depressing exercise in making political hay of cultural icons. Think “War on Christmas.”
First, there was the moment of silence on the House floor in honor of the King of Pop, thanks to Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., the Illinois Democrat. So the House literally ground to a halt, if only for a moment. This didn’t go over well with Rep. Peter King, a Republican from New York, who laid into Jackson and his eulogizers in a speech outside a Long Island fire station. Said King, “This low-life Michael Jackson ... Let's knock out the psychobabble. He was a pervert; he was a child molester; he was a pedophile, and to be giving this much attention to him, day in and day ... what does this say about our country?”
Chicago Democrat Rep. Bobby Rush took exception to King’s comments in a press release. “How dare Rep. King utter such scandalous and outlandish comments about Michael Jackson, when he has never opened his mouth to criticize his own colleagues who have been were accused of morally reprehensible, criminal or indecent acts and were forced to resign from public office,” Rush said, adding that Jackson was never found guilty of a crime, and besides, “To millions of African Americans children, specifically, his story of being born to a working class family in Gary, Indiana, to becoming one of the world's biggest stars illustrates the benefits of hard work, discipline, perseverance and self-determination.”
There’s the cultural nub of this thing. Note that King represents a majority-white district on Long Island, a classic zone of resentment of the big city, with all its accompanying racial baggage. Note also that King contrasted Jackson with fallen police officers, firefighters and soldiers in his speech.
Reps. Sheila Jackson Lee and Diane Watson, Texas and California Democrats, today cosponsored a resolution honoring Michael Jackson as a “global humanitarian.” It’s a fair guess that King has noticed that Jesse Jackson Jr., Bobby Rush, Sheila Jackson Lee and Diane Watson are all members of the Congressional Black Caucus, and, like Bill O’Reilly, thinks there’s some unwarranted racial solidarity happening in defense of Jackson’s memory.
Jackson’s defenders, on the other hand, like Rush, probably wonder why it is that anodyne memorials to the fallen star are attracting controversy. It’s not like Peter King had any problem voting to honor the memory of unconvicted Mafioso-type Frank Sinatra.
Leave it to Barack Obama to sort something like this out. “You know, this is part of American culture,” the president said. “Michael Jackson, like Elvis, like Sinatra, when somebody who’s captivated the imagination of the country for that long passes away, people pay attention and I assume at some point people will start focusing again on things like nuclear weapons.”
11:10 am - Manners, the clash of intellect and wit ...
Jeff over at Wormtown Taxi and I don't agree on much, but I sympathize with his ongoing conflict with an anonymous poster, which, to paraphrase Jeff himself, is a conflict descending into bad manners, ad hominem attacks, character assassination and outright lies. I think anyone who writes in any public forum for any length of time encounters this, be it the anonymous poster or the retaliating author who's gone off his or her hinges for a bit, of which there's been many fine examples lately.
Perhaps it's that our technology moves us at such a brisk pace. Whereas our tempers might have cooled by the time we composed a letter or essay in the past, let alone mailed or published it, our rage is now communicated at the speed of Twitter. And perhaps part of it is it's less likely we'll have to look the subject of our ire in the eye. The former I find understandable, if disagreeable. The latter I find just plain cowardly.
We all go off our rocker with rage once in a while. Lord knows I've done it, and regretted it, as it's always brought me nothing but nuisance, even if it seemed satisfying at the time. Perhaps age is turning me into some sort of Neo-Victorian (pardon the pun), but I find myself constantly wishing for conflicts of letters that are better reading, filled with intellect and wit, rather than, as Jeff and so many others encounter, banal personal attacks. Because the conflict of ideas -- especially in matters of culture, art and politics -- is as much of a literature as any other form of writing, and I constantly find the silliness that plagues online publishing to be merely crass. It's not clever, and it's not helping anyone's argument.
I'm sure there's exceptions, but sometimes it's far better to hold your fire, and if you find you must fire, remember that reason, wit and, yes, manners can actually sharpen your verbal blade. Untempered rage is a blunt instrument, and while it has its uses, it's rarely best for all cases. And by all means, always own your words. Anonymity is a necessity in many cases -- if telling a dangerous truth could endanger your life or career, for example -- but for most of us, that's not the case. It's simply an excuse for cowardice.
09:18 am - A little Stephen Colbert ...
Poet Paul Muldoon on "The Colbert Report":
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Paul Muldoon | ||||
| ||||
Paul Muldoon tries his hand at other jobs ...
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Exclusive – Backstage with Paul Muldoon | ||||
| ||||
Not poetry related, and but a good twofer:
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Tip/Wag - Cynthia Davis & Fox News | ||||
| ||||
Jul. 6th, 2009
10:36 am - Trifle
A Brief Elegy for Robert McNamara
I can accept your apology on its face,
but it doesn't bring anyone back.
10:10 am - NEC Post-MFA Poetry Symposium Readings
Lea was home for the weekend, and is now back in New Hampshire for the New England College Post-MFA Poetry Symposium. Will likely be heading out for the reading tonight, if I can finish up on time, and the one on Friday, likewise if all the stars align.
Post MFA Symposium Readings
Monday, July 6
Major Jackson
Tuesday, July 7
Rachel Hadas
Wednesday, July 8
Peter Campion
Thursday, July 9
Chard deNiord & Peter Everwine
Friday, July 10
Ed Ochester and Ilya Kaminsky
Some of the students and staff will be reading along with the headliners, with Lea reading on Friday.
More soon.
Jul. 4th, 2009
10:17 am - Morning Thoughts
The state of Victor's mood on various subjects:
HOUSEHOLD: Lea's home, and our lovely friend Lisa is staying with us for a couple days. Suddenly lots of love and warmth in the appartment. Even the ferret is happy.
POLITICS: Fairly grim, alternating with upbeat. Palin's seems symptomatic of something -- I'm sure she, as Bill Krystol does, sees it as a bold move toward the 2012 presidential race, but what it is is plain foolish. Usually, I'd cheer this, but when you add it to the ridiculous amount of GOP missteps lately, and the fact that Democratic successes have STILL been small at best, it gives you a picture of just what bad shape things are in right now. The problems are too big, the solutions at a certain point, when NO ONE's being successful, I'm forced to conclude that large scale success may not be possible. Doesn't mean the future's bleak, but it reconfirms a lot of my opinion of the scale of today's problems.
POETRY: Need to read Poetry Magazine's "All Conceptual Issue" in print. Pondering Kenneth Goldsmith's essay, "Flarf is Dionysus. Conceptual Writing is Apollo: An introduction to the 21st Century's most controversial poetry movements." Not sure how I feel about it, yet.
Jul. 3rd, 2009
10:07 am - Almost fell through the cracks ...
Forgot to post this: Lea interviewing Tony Brown for Eclectica Magazine.
12:41 am - Good night at the Hotel Vernon
I hadn't meant to go to the reading at the Hotel Vernon tonight. Honestly. I had thought it was the Dead Poet Slam tonight, so I intended to meet up with Cowboy Matt to talk about a couple poems he wanted me to take a look at, have a beer, and head home. But it turned out my friend and Write Bloody publishing-house-mate (we writers need a better phrase for that, like "labelmate." "Labelmate" sounds much cooler.) was actually featuring, so I stuck around. Glad I did. On top of a fine reading by Mr. Ellis, had a bit of time to chat. Which was nice. Sometimes it gets so hectic that we never have time to just talk.
One of the topics discussed, of course, was slam, and I found myself stating something I've always wholeheartedly believed, but have never explicitly stated: I'm disinterested in disavowing any place I've been as a writer.
I've come through a lot of scenes as a writer, and as a lover of various forms of art: the neo-hippie Laguna Beach poetry community, the "Rocky Horror" scene, the punk rock scene, the theater scene in two countries, the sheltered academic poetry world studying with Ted Walker in England, the slam scene when I came back, the noise band scene, and so on, and so on, and so on. Odds are, if you're reading this and I know you in real life, I probably met you in one of these scenes.
They're all pieces of who I am as a writer ... as a person. So no, I'm not interested in denying any of it. Yeah. I'm a slam poet. Deal with it, babe. (:
***
My friend Robin Gwynne was on "Samantha Who" tonight! DVR'd the episode to see her. Small part -- the blonde woman putting a bid on a house -- but it's always fun to see people you know on TV!
Jul. 1st, 2009
08:04 pm - Because it bears saying ...
"O Lord, without consulting with Thee, we have sent thy way some souls whose evil ways passeth all understanding. We ask Thee humbly to receive them... whether you want them or not! Amen."
-- Karl Malden, as Zebulon Prescott in "How the West Was Won."
06:07 pm - So, uhm ...
You may have notice I have a new Blip.fm station. Still shaking things out, so forgive the multiple posts.
03:05 pm - listening to "Brand New Key- Pair of Rollerskates - " on Blip
Another local, whom I wrote about last week: http://www.telegram.com/article/2009062
02:54 pm - listening to ""Parachutes on the Dance Floor" by The New Collisions at TT the Bear 5/29/09 (v.2) - "
A local fave -- yes, that's Greg Hawkes from the Cars on keyboard. Because I know you were wondering.
02:49 pm - listening to "Radio Radio (Capital Radio Version) - Elvis Costello" on Blip
Seems as good a place as any to start. Cliche? Don't care.
Jun. 30th, 2009
11:52 pm - Back from Connecticut
Back from a nice visit with Kristin & Drew in Connecticut, although, after running there straight from work, I was wiped by the end. Still, don't get to see them enough. Also had a nice dinner with Sarah and Dave the day before.
That's probably most of my social for the next week, as I have lots of projects piling up on my desk, and still lots of cleaning unfinished. Still, it's been a bit easier getting out than it usually is when Lea's away. Which is good. I really need to resist the urge to be a shut-in.
Jun. 29th, 2009
02:41 pm - R.I.P. Lyle Brooks
Things have been so crazy lately that I missed the news that my friend Lyle Brooks has died.
Lyle was a neat guy -- a classic, Laguna Beach artist, with a quick wit and immense talent. He was also one of my favorite drinking buddies from days frequenting the Saloon, in Laguna, which seems a long time ago. Hadn't seen him in years.
Still haven't processed this one. The whole thing is a terrible shock.
I know it comes late, Lyle, but I pray you were in heaven an hour before the Devil knew you were dead. Knowing you, you probably were.
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