#17, or how i got over my first bad review

By chrisoftheinterwebs

today started out alright. i slept in, woke up to a high rating from my imaginary students on the espnu facebook game ‘college town,’ or whatever it’s called, and i even had a clean bag of clothes waiting for me from a drunk laundromat wednesday. things were going pretty, pretty good. and then i saw that a collection of stories, mine included, had been reviewed by a local publication. well, cool, some press for that, that’s nice, i thought. and then i read the review.

succumbs to melodrama?! doesn’t live up to its title?! i’ve been working on that bastard of a story off and on for at least five years, and it gets dismissed in one line as a rough spot in the book? fuck. a lot of things have crossed my mind since i read that review five or ten times. a lot of cruel puns on the guy’s name. a lot of even crueler things that should happen to his family while he watches. i’ve imagined about thirty different conversations between myself and this so called ‘writer,’ all of them ending either with him in tears because of my earth-shatteringly brutal wit or with most of his teeth imbedded in my fist. i even looked up his blog and copy edited five or six different posts. and not to be too mean, but i was a little pleased with myself for finding a mistake related to grammar or punctuation in every other sentence. i mean, seriously dude? you’re an editor by trade. learn how to use parentheses.

of course, eventually the rage subsided. i realized that, well, hell, i never capitalize anything when i post on this blog, and even if i do know how to use a fucking comma correctly, the story in that book isn’t exactly my best work. not that i’m making excuses. i still love that story like a child and will go to war for it. but i will survive. this fact came to me like a bolt of lightening, and it was all because of this song. yes, one song, which is your mix until we here at mixcure come up with your next one. when an old friend posted it on my facebook wall (yes, i’m addicted to that website (and this is how you use these, dick)) it was love at first sight. or rather, at first listen. like another friend of mine (i bet i have more friends than that dude, too) says, if it works once, then use it twenty-five times. so if you’re having a shitty day, then put this on repeat until you start to feel better. it helps if it’s an angry sort of day, because this is one of those super catchy angry songs that turns all your rage into dancing. so fuck a bad day. fuck that shitty review. fuck it, let’s dance.

fitz-and-the-tantrums- moneygrabber

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Big Onion

By chrisoftheinterwebs

I spent most of last week at the AWP conference. For those of you who don’t know, this is the yearly conference for the Association of Writers and Writing Programs. Think of it as just another big ass trade conference held in the ballrooms of a swanky downtown hotel (DC this year) but instead of having panel discussions on vinyl siding, we talk about books. Unfortunately, I did not meet either an editor or agent who convulsed with joy and offered me thousands of dollars when I described my current project in the works as a short story cycle about funerals. My expectations and reality have never really gotten on the same page. But, speaking of big ass’d things, I did stay with my friend Sam, who moved to DC not too long ago. He introduced me to his charming girlfriend, his delightful and perpetually stoned roommates, and the Red Derby bar, a great place where almost none of my darts actually made it onto the board, a testament to how kindly the bar staff there treated me in spite of my refusal to remove my Penguins hat in a hockey bar in the Capitols’ town. Fuck Ovechkin. Anyway, Sam and I generally are on the same page, and he has the very specific talent of knowing what my new favorite thing is going to be before I do. We played some XBox, a guilty pleasure for me, mostly because I can’t afford it. We drank a lot of Jameson and we drank all the beers. We woke up haggard for four straight days. We talked about books and boobs. We did all of the things that I wanted to do with an old friend I haven’t seen in too long. And late one night, while having our generation’s equivalent of a heartfelt conversation, (read: trading youtube videos until we pass out in a lump on the couch) Sam once again brought a bright light into my life. Fellas, drop your phones. Ladies, JUST SHAKE IT.

Big Onion

Oh, the conference? It was good. I had fun, and it seems like everyone else did – by the third day the entire lobby looked like it was filled with extras from the movie I wish George Romero had in production right now, The Hungover Dead. Saw a lot of people, talked to folks, etc.  Oh, and thanks to Sam, Jenny, and Mikal, for letting me daily pour my stank water down their shower drain.

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16. Jupiter Is Busy, Take Mars

By Kevin J. Dickerson

Play loudly and throw darts at posters of Nixon or whoever.

16. Jupiter Is Busy, Take Mars

  1. Big Star – When My Baby’s Beside Me
  2. Foxes in Fiction – Operating Room
  3. Old Time Relijun – A Wild Harvest
  4. Wavves – Idiot
  5. Dávila 666 – Basura
  6. Jay Reatard – Fluorescent Grey [Deerhunter Cover]
  7. Lightning Bolt – The Faire Folk
  8. Mahjongg – Devry
  9. Betty and the Werewolves – Francis
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Video: Deerhunter, “Helicopter”

By Kevin J. Dickerson

Helicopter

Deerhunter made a wavey spacey black and white video for “Helicopter,” which will be on Halcyon Digest (9/28 via 4AD.) The video has Bradford Cox’s face and some mist or something and some visual junk all over.

I can’t decide if I like it, or if I’m not amazed at all. What do you think?

Watch the video at halcyondigest.com.

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Tonight Show: Worst Summer EVER

By Kevin J. Dickerson

Photo: NBC / Mitchell Haaseth

The Tonight Show is having its worst summer ever. Why do you think that is? Do you think it has bad ratings because Jay Leno is a show-stealing un-funny jerk, or do you think people aren’t watching TV the way they used to? Do you think Jay Leno is a nice guy who is funny? (Does anyone who reads blogs think Jay Leno is funny, or are they all adults?)

Are people watching too many other shows, like a CSI or vampire movies?

Get to AV Club to read about the Tonight Show’s moribunditude.

Read even more at James Hibberd’s The Live Feed.

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Vetiver + Fruit Bats Cover Bobby Charles

By Kevin J. Dickerson

Vetiver and Fruit Bats covered I Must Be in a Good Place Now by Bobby Charles. They made a sweet rendition that’s maybe even more mellow than the original.

Watch it on Tunnelvision at Pitchfork.tv.

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R.I.P. Andy Hummel

By Kevin J. Dickerson

Big Star

Big Star bassist Andy Hummel died at 59‎ in Weatherstone, Texas after a two-year battle with cancer.

Read more about Andy Hummel’s death at CBC News.

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15. The Art of Summer Mixtapin’

By Tom Williams

15. The Art of Summer Mixtapin'

Making a good summer mixtape can be one of the most important things a man does with his life. A good summer mix has legs, it is still good years after you make it. I still have one on cassette that I made during the summer of 1993 that I still pull out every once in a while and, if I still had a cassette player, would pop in and jam out to.

CONTINUE READING 15. The Art of Summer Mixtapin’ →

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Big Boi’s “Mixtape for Dummies”

By Kevin J. Dickerson

Big Boi has a mixtape! Get it now.

Big Boi – Mixtape for Dummies

Via bigboi.com.

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Dirty Little Secret

By chrisoftheinterwebs

FUGAZI – Bed for the Scraping.

For the few non-consecutive months I’ve been employed in my life, I was not a happy person. It’s not a pleasant thing for me to admit that while I might be good at a lot of unprofitable things, most of America values me at about eight bucks an hour. Like most people, it takes a little extra push above and beyond the dangling paycheck at the end of every two weeks to convince me that getting out of bed before three in the afternoon and shlubbing through another day is worth it.  Some people like to reward themselves after a day’s work my mixing up a rum and coke or five on the bus ride home. Other folks get a kick out of television, massage parlors, or even, weirdly enough, the gym. For me, it’s songs. There’s nothing like an old standby from my ‘feel good’ playlist to get me through another day of anonymity. The verdict isn’t in on which song I’ll forever associate with the spring of 2010, although “Bodysnatchers” is making a pretty strong case for itself. So instead I’ll leave with with the Chris Lee Official Pick-Me-Up song of 2009. I used to throw this one on before going to work at that restaurant that fired me, and it was the only thing that kept me from shoving the nickels right back up the really cheap customers’ asses. Enjoy.

Fugazi – Bed For The Scraping

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