25 1 / 2012
"
Jesse: How did the movie adaptation of Girl come about, and what did you think of it?
Blake: A production company called Muse Productions—they had done Buffalo 66, which I had loved so I was hopeful. Some interesting people were involved at different times. Sarah Jacobson—who has since passed away but was this amazing figure in the indie film world at the time—was going to direct at one point. But they kept changing people. When they finally finished it, it wasn’t quite what I had hoped for. It was nobody’s fault; that just happens with movies sometimes. But it was shown endlessly on cable, and got the book a ton of publicity, so I was happy.
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25 1 / 2012
A Dozen Favorite Afternoon Snacks, which, thanks to Elisabeth Donnelley’s prompt, may already look familiar around here. This time: Photos! And more finesse.
Print this list out, because it’s crucial. I can thank Lukas for my newfound love of edamame salad and roasted chickpeas!
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24 1 / 2012
Remember when Oscar nominee Melissa McCarthy had a plotline on an episode of Gilmore Girls that involved her character, Sookie St. James, getting super mad at Norman Mailer?
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23 1 / 2012
Happy release week to Abby McDonald, author of Getting Over Garret Delaney!
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11 1 / 2012
To resolve:
2011 was full of ups (great stuff, great publications, good work) and downs (many, many, many different flavors of rejection. All of them draining), and I want 2012 to be super great. Here’s some semi-public resolutions.
1) Write something that gets mentioned on Long Reads. Or, to be more succinct, write a story about something that I’m obsessed with, to the point of mania. I’ve been happy with what I’ve written but there’s a bit of a difference between obsession and practice, let’s say. When I was in a class last spring, what I got most was, “okay, this is well written, but do you even care about the guy? I can’t tell what you’re thinking.” Things like that sometimes feel a little… telling, I guess. Work in 2012 is going to be wrenching and full of feelings. But not unprofessionally so!
1A) The problem with reading John Jeremiah Sullivan’s Pulphead is that you then, instinctively, want to go on the most JJS-friendly adventure possible just so you can write about it with a modicum of his charm and skill. Sadly, two events that were loaded with potential passed me by since Thanksgiving, but that’s been because I’ve been off-and-on sick since then - and when I haven’t been sick, my guy has been either sick or in the hospital on Christmas Night with a stomach flu! - so I’m just tired.
1B) Hitting the limits of writing things under my name, to a degree. It may be freeing to go anonymous.
2) Work on a nonfiction book proposal. Hopefully in February.
3) Finish project X, sell it: that’s the current job. (Get at me, agents and editors. For real.) One thing that’s funny is that, well, the title of my project is definitely inspired by a Pulp song, so it’s really awesome that Pulp is hitting America in April.
4) Be more selfish. I have a mother who is wonderful, but as the mother of five children, she is fantastic at putting other people’s happiness before her own. And I think I’ve learned, somewhat, from her example and have become a people pleaser. That’s a fine skill, but I need to make sure to do things that are good for me as well.
5) Read well. I read voraciously, but not always well. I had an Elin Hildebrand period this summer. I love pulp books by Iowa writers slumming. But I just want to read good things - I burned through The Diary of a Part-Time Indian yesterday, and while the plotting was episodic, overall, the careful choice in words was just so refreshing and good to read. Moby Dick’s next. This is a year of autodidactism.
6) Get a hobby. Self-explanatory.
7) Break a bad habit. In this case, I think I may lay off the movie blogs from now until… after the Oscars, I suppose. I have a weakness for grumpy old men of the internet (why do I read Hollywood Elsewhere, when it’s obvious Jeffrey Wells is not a very nice person? Because he’s clearly a believer in the transcendental power of a good film, underneath the crankiness? Not a good enough reason! And while I have a soft spot for Armond White, I don’t really need to know what he thinks about a film. I can usually guess it. And why read The Playlist and Deadline? For once, it would be pretty great to see a movie without knowing anything about it. It would be really nice). So, yeah, lay off movie blogs. Except for maybe reviews of Joachim Trier’s new movie when it plays Sundance. But that’s it.
8) Move. Also self-explanatory. I want to move to a different city and to get an apartment that I can nest in and outfit to my delight. My current location is no good for me - it’s one of those places with limited opportunity, a limited amount of people, and when you’re in a place like that, just not getting depressed is a genuine accomplishment. Which stinks! So I will move to someplace vibrant and pretty this year. Someplace with a lot of sun. I am working on making that happen sooner rather than later. I hope it works!
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11 1 / 2012
Something you should write
It’s pinging around in my head, but I can’t get to it right now. Maybe James Franco can do it:
“20something” “authenticity” + moments of realness = The link between mumblecore films, Tao Lin, and bands featuring banjo-plucking earnestness (let’s say… Mumford and Sons? The Avett Brothers? Fleet Foxes?). Hint: it’s not that they’ve produced any masterpieces! Additionally: notice how when people recommend these works, it’s usually because “it had that one part that was so familiar.”
It’s fine, up to a point. It may move you if you are in the right spot. But where is the elevation, the artfulness? The very careful choices? And this is a hoary old saw, admittedly, because 24 in 1941 is VERY DIFFERENT than 24 now, but can you believe that Orson Welles made Citizen Kane at 24? What would he be doing if he was 24 in 2012?
Followup: Beyond the Muse: the role of female artists in this 20something realness tip.
Extra Credit: Why Lena Dunham and her relentlessly Female Gaze is an exception. *It is also not a coincidence, I think, that Lynne Shelton, Humpday director, has moved onto bigger films and the occasional Mad Men episode. I’m not sure where the Duplass Brothers fit in, though.
Hot tip: Writer who writes this piece is NOT ALLOWED to abuse the use of “scare” quotes.
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09 1 / 2012
Imagining Melancholia as “Planet Depression-o” is making me laugh, a lot.
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04 1 / 2012
"An article on Monday about Jack Robison and Kirsten Lindsmith, two college students with Asperger syndrome who are navigating the perils of an intimate relationship, misidentified the character from the animated children’s TV show “My Little Pony” that Ms. Lindsmith said she visualized to cheer herself up. It is Twilight Sparkle, the nerdy intellectual, not Fluttershy, the kind animal lover."
(PS, crankily: FIRST.)
(Source: The New York Times)
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