I just received this email from my father:
Thank you for subscribing to the Daddy-O daylight savings alert e-mail service.
This weekend is daylight standard time. When you go to bed Saturday night *Fall behind.* For example, if you go to bed at 12 midnight, set your clock back to 11 PM, and get an extra hour of sleep!!!!
Do not reply to this auto-generated e-mail.
If you wish to unsubscribe, you are out of luck.
I have no words. Set your clocks back, friends.
Tuesday night I went to a packed late-show of Where The Wild Things Are. While I agree with many of the critics that the movie had some flaws—mostly the super-angsty relationships between the wild things—it is a beautiful piece of filmmaking and overall very magical. Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs co-produced the soundtrack and in the clip below you can see pieces of the collaborative process between her and Spike Jonze. The kids choir at the end is particularly fun.
Writer friends, submit!
Twice each year Black Lawrence Press runs the Black River Chapbook Competition for an unpublished chapbook of poems or short stories. The winner of this contest will receive book publication, a $500 cash award, and twenty-five copies of the book. Next Saturday, October 31 (Halloween!) is the deadline for the Fall, 2009 Black River Chapbook Competition.
For more information on the Black River Chapbook Competition, instructions on how to submit your work, information on purchasing chapbooks that have won the competition, and lists of previous winners and finalists, please visit blacklawrence.com/chapbook.html.
Tomorrow night Ben Estes & Brian Foley will read at Green Street Cafe @ 7:30.
Also tomorrow night! Noy Holland, Sam Michel, & Rachel B Glaser will read at Amherst Books @ 8.
Thursday night Lisa Olstein & Rebecca Wolff will read at UMass in Memorial Hall @ 8.
Friday morning the UMass Small Press Bonanza is hosting a breakfast with Rebecca Wolff. She’ll discuss her experiences creating and publishing Fence Magazine and Fence Books. Stop by Bartlett 316 between 10 and 11am. There will be coffee and treats from Black Sheep.
(Pssst! Mark your calendar for Thursday, January 28, 2010—Chris Cheney and I will be reading at Green Street Cafe. I will of course remind you closer to the date.)
The new Kings of Convenience album, Declaration of Dependence, drops on Tuesday, Oct 20! Here’s the video for their single “Boat Behind”!
Just plain adorable.
I have a very special place in my heart for this band—especially this time of year—because I first started listening to their second album, Riot on an Empty Street, my first autumn living in New York so it evokes for me a new crispness in the air and a sense of comfort in a sometimes unfriendly city. Also, “I’d Rather Dance With You” is my happy song, I can’t help but smile and want to dance along every time I hear it.
There are many!
Last Night (Oct 14) — Jedediah Berry @ Amherst Books @ 8pm (oops, moving retroactively at you)
Tonight (Oct 15) — Mass Poetry Festival — James Tate & Ellen Dore Watson & James Haug @ Amherst Cinema @ 7pm
Tomorrow (Oct 16) — Live Lit! @ Amherst Books @ 8pm
Sunday (Oct 18) — jubilat/Jones Series — Jordan Stempleman & Michelle Taransky @ The Jones Library @ 3pm
ps. Today the world looks like this:
On Thursday Hannah and I went to see The September Issue, a new documentary by R. J. Cutter about the making of the September 2007 issue of Vogue. The film focuses around editor-in-chief Anna Wintour and I think she does a good job dialing back the ice queen for the cameras—no truly horrible Devil Wears Prada moments. Andre Leon Tally serves as some fabulous comic relief with his Louis Vuitton muumuus and diamond-encrusted “tennis watches”. But I think the real heroine of the film is Vogue‘s artistic director Grace Coddington who comes across as down-to-earth, passionate, romantic, and inspired.
My favorite of Grace’s fashion spreads in this issue was the 1920s, Brassai-inspired shoot by photographer Steven Meisel. The soft lighting and warm tones put a taste of brandy Old Fashioned in my mouth, and don’t even get me started on the amazing hats!
On a side note, I have to say that, as a Vogue subscriber, I *hate* the September issue. It is so big, heavy, and full of inserts that it’s practically unreadable. In all of it’s 700 pages (this year’s issue is only in the 500s since ad sales have dropped) there’s only about 100 pages of real content. I even broke the straps of one of my favorite purses in September 2004 by trying to carry it around on the subway. Not worth it.
