cyoa.
Everytime I see CYOA as an acronym, I think of teaching i312. Man, I miss that.
Don’t know how I had missed George Saunders’s website, which pointed me this morning to his American Psyche series for the Guardian, which I had somehow also missed. I was pointed to all of this by a blog post about how his CivilWarLand in Bad Decline had been optioned by Ben Stiller, which first sent me sinking, but on reading further, I saw the author of that post asks the reader to consider what Stiller had done with Tropic Thunder (in a good way). Kelly liked that movie so I suppose I’ll withhold judgment– actually, I’m sure a film version of anything Saunders has written will be super, since his dialogue is always cracking me up. You know, I was re-reading My New Fighting Technique is Unstoppable yesterday, as a stalling tactic, and I was reminded that there is something similar about George Saunders and David Rees. Looks like I’m not the only one who has made the connection.
He (George Saunders) had a good recent story in the New Yorker as well.I should mention that it is now my job to know this type of thing. Hat tip to Google Alerts for keeping me informed.
Great random archive at public collectors. Lots of art, design, and punk rock stuff. Many fully scanned works, like the sweet Dome Book below, as well as some more disembodied art projects.
Documentation of Complete Publications in PDF form.
via ManyStuff.org
Side One:
I Wonder
Are You Real?
My Dying Machine
You Are, You Are
Complex
ME
I’m an Agent
I, Assassin
I Die, You Die
Side Two:
Oh! Didn’t I Say
This Is My Life
Me! I Disconnect from You
Everyday I Die
I Can’t Stop
I Can’t Breathe
This House Is Cold
We Are So Fragile
Glitter and Ash
I worked for the Dallas Observer while I was in hi school, which is funny, because their current editor just happens to also be named Patrick Williams (just like the composer, the caribbean chef, nigerian spammer and the lonely inmate). So, I’m always wondering if folks I knew in Dallas are always thinking it’s me when they see his byline.
Anyway, it seems like they’ve recently expanded their online archive to include stuff from 1994, featuring a piece I wrote about local Dallas band the Voyeurs. I remember being a little embarrassed that the story got the headline "Vibrator Dependent," especially when my mom sent clippings to my grandparents, extended family, and neighbors. But I’m guessing that that’s nowhere near the embarrassment the real Patrick Williams, Editor-in-Chief, feels when my story is attributed to him (it’s the earliest piece attributed to someone with our name on the site).
I loved working at the paper, but it was the place where my dreams of being a journalist when I grew up died. I couldn’t handle all the phone calls. Unfortunately, in the past 10 years, I’ve published nothing else about vibrators.
Here’s a scan of some other stuff I wrote for the Observer, in what is probably a total violation of copyright law. If you want to know how "The Best of [Your City]" gets chosen, let me know.