What's New This Week

Books:
A Gate at the Stairsby Lorrie Moore [Knopf]
+ Lorrie Moore's newest novel is her first published book in eleven years. If you aren't sure whether or not to read this you should read Jonathan Lethem's convincing review in the New York Times: "[Moore's] a discomforting, sometimes even rageful writer, lurking in the disguise of an endearing one. On finishing "A Gate at the Stairs" I turned to the reader nearest me and made her swear to read it immediately."

The Death of Bunny Munro: A Novelby Nick Cave [Faber & Faber]
+ Troubadour Nick Cave's second novel (following his dark and McCarthy-ian debut And the Ass Saw the Angel) follows a door to door salesman named Bunny Munro who seduces women as he tries to sell them moisturizer. Doesn't sound very Nick Cave in premise, but it's a dark novel. And what's more Nick Cave than being just a little surprising?

Update: Listen to Nick Cave read from the book at PrefixMag.com

I Drink for a Reasonby David Cross [Grand Central Publishing]
+ A new book from David Cross, why wouldn't this be good? Paul Rudd says, "One of the funniest books I've ever skimmed."


Poetry:
Rising, Falling, Hoveringby C.D. Wright [Copper Canyon Press]
+ Wright puts out her first collection of lyric poetry since 2003; it's a collection that focuses it's verse on the strained relations between America and the international community. Wright is a treasure of American poetry and her collections generally need no introduction, so I won't try and explain why you should be reading this.

Graphic Novels:
Confessions of a Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Muthaby Melvin Van Peebles [Akashic]
+ Filmmaker/actor Melvin Van Peebles newest film bears the same title as this book, Confessions of a Ex-Doofus-Itchy Footed Mutha, but this is his graphic novel version of the film. Illustrated by Van Peebles it's a sort of companion to the forthcoming film with stills and original artwork.

Music:
David Bazan - Curse Your Branches[Barsuk]
+ Formerly performing as Pedro the Lion Bazan has struck out under his own name. Always an intriguing song-writer; Curse Your Branches sees him striking out a bit from his folky roots. The electro-tones of tracks like "Hard to Be" sound like Bazan doing some of the best work since early Pedro the Lion.

Theater:
Extract (Mike Judge) [Miramax]
+ Mike Judge, creator of Office Space, Beavis & Butthead, King of the Hill, and the less exciting Idiocracy has a new film with Jason Bateman at the center. Everything seems to indicate that this film could be on par with the cult brilliance of Office Space.

[Editor's Note: We used information from another site on this listing. Black Dynamite is actually being released on 10/16/09. Sorry, my excitement got the best of me.]

DVD:
Heroes: Season Three [Universal]
+ Ok, so season 3 of Heroes wasn't the most brilliant of the series, but it was a huge recovery from a short and mostly uninspired second season. The beginning of season 3 was political charged and engaging in the same way the show was when it started, it peeters off a bit, but it starts off fantastic.

InDigest is Looking for New Writers

As you may have read, InDigest is taking a little break over the summer while we organize some new projects, redesign the website, and get some new staff ready for our new life.

As a part of this process we are looking for some new writers who are interested in contributing monthly columns to InDigest. Columnist positions at InDigest are unpaid - none of us really get paid for this thing. We are working towards making sure everyone is compensated, but at the moment that's not the case.

What we are looking for:
- Film Critic
- Music Critic
- Fiction Critic
- Poetry Critic
- Sports Columnist
- a cartoonist who'd like to have new work featured regularly
- If you have an idea for a column that is not listed here please feel free to send a proposal
- We are also looking for an intern for the fall semester

None of the positions are location specific, though we do prefer an intern who is either located in New York City or Minneapolis.

TO APPLY:
Please send an e-mail to writers [@] indigestmag.com. The subject line should be "YOUR NAME [TYPE OF COLUMN YOU'RE APPLYING FOR]."

In the body of the e-mail include a proposal for what column you would like to write, your past experience in this field and other publications you have written for. Please attach three writing samples of the type you are applying for.

If you are interested in the intern position please send an email to editors [@] indigestmag.com and explain why you are qualified for the position and attach a resume as well.

PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL ATTACHMENTS SHOULD EITHER BE IN .DOC or .RTF format.
If you can't follow the submission guidelines here (which are pretty simple and straightforward) you will not be considered.

Please be somewhat familiar with the magazine and know what type of work we have previously published.

What We've Been Reading

Ashleigh:
I would love to lie to you and say that I'm reading The Magicians: A Novel by Lev Grossman or Man Gone Downby Michael Thomas, two recent releases I am excited to start. But until those books arrive (hurry up, UPS), I'm working my way through On Writing Short Storiesedited by Tom Bailey. I picked it up intending to get some pointers for my own fiction, but I was immediately distracted by the selection of classic short stories provided as examples. Turns out this Flannery O'Connor character has a knack for story-telling.

Joseph:
George Pelecanos-The Night Gardener.Pelecanos fucking rules. What do you expect? Great dialog, vivid descriptions of street life, cops, corner kids, and murder. The Drama City is wonderfully written with Pelecanos' eye for detail-the nooks and crannies-neighborhoods outside of the powerful elite. Get wise to Pelecanos son.

The Score: Best Free Downloads This Week

1. Has to be the taper bootleg of Nine Inch Nails at Terminal 5 this past week, in what is supposedly the final NIN show ever. It's a damn good set. Peter Murphy of Bauhaus joins Reznor on stage and to end the set, and possibly the life of NIN, they cover Pere Ubu's "The Final Solution." Pretty awesome. RIP NIN.

2. South African masterminds Blk Jks did a Daytrotter session last week with a few previews of what you can expect to hear on their debut LP After Robots. It's easy to expect great things after their high-energy debut splash Mystery EP. The Daytrotter session gives some credence to my suspicions that After Robots is going to be great.

3. The Rural Alberta Advantage did a special session at Luxury Wafers, performing some slightly stripped down versions of tracks from their great new disc Hometowns. The band have endlessly been compared to Neutral Milk Hotel, a somewhat just comparison as vocalist Nils Edenloff bears some striking similarities to Jeff Magnum's nasal belt. Yet, TRAA have something special in their orchestrations, a reserved quietude, that make each song epic and enjoyable in their own way.

4. Empty's Tapes posted a recording of Vampire Hands performing at The Turf Club in St. Paul for their "Hannah in the Mansion" CD Release Show. The recording isn't crystal clear, but Vampire Hands are so great that it doesn't even bother me.

5. This past week The Antlers had a CD release event in NYC at The Mercury Lounge to celebrate the re-release of their great new disc Hospice, which was just re-released through Frenchkiss Records. Download this, then buy Hospice, and thank me later.

American Life in Poetry: Column 231

BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006

This column originates on the campus of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and at the beginning of each semester, we see parents helping their children move into their dorm rooms and apartments and looking a little shaken by the process. This wonderful poem by Sue Ellen Thompson of Maryland captures not only a moment like that, but a mother’s feelings as well.



Helping My Daughter Move into Her First Apartment

This is all I am to her now:
a pair of legs in running shoes,

two arms strung with braided wire.
She heaves a carton sagging with CDs

at me and I accept it gladly, lifting
with my legs, not bending over,

raising each foot high enough
to clear the step. Fortunate to be

of any use to her at all,
I wrestle, stooped and single-handed,

with her mattress in the stairwell,
saying nothing as it pins me,

sweating, to the wall. Vacuum cleaner,
spiny cactus, five-pound sacks

of rice and lentils slumped
against my heart: up one flight

of stairs and then another,
down again with nothing in my arms



American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2006 by Sue Ellen Thompson, and reprinted from "When She Named Fire," ed., Andrea Hollander Budy, Autumn House Press, 2009, and reprinted by permission of the poet and publisher. First printed in "The Golden Hour,"Sue Ellen Thompson, Autumn House Press, 2006. Introduction copyright ©2009 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. We do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.

Monday Morning Mixtape

Here's a little mixtape to help you plow through the week:

Times New Viking - "Move to California"
+ Awesome noise jam with a hook from their new album Born Again Revisited, out on 09.22 through Matador.
via P4K

Anti-Pop Consortium - "Volcano" (Four Tet Remix)
+ Hip=Hop legends the Anti-Pop Consortium have been working on a new disc for a while now. They released "Volcano" back in June and have now had Kieran Hebden make it a little spacetastic. Still not sure when the disc is coming out for sure.
Via P4K

Radiohead - "These Are My Twisted Words"
+ The second new single track release from Radiohead in August. This one caused some buzz initially because no one actually knew if it was them or not. It is, and it's pretty solid.
via RCRD LBL

HEALTH - "We Are Water"
+ HEALTH seem to be doing everything right at the moment. "We Are Water" is a thick track with churning guitars, spaced out reverb laced vocals, and great minimal hook.
via P4K

Elvis Perkins in Dearland - "Slow Doomsday"
+ A slowly plodding track, with a percussive drive, and a trumpet that doesn't feel affected. This is why Perkins' brand of indie-pop gets me.
via Stereogum

The Very Best - "Yalira"
+ The Very Best does an incredible job of mixing elements of hip-hop and African beat. Every track that comes out is better than the last and "Yalira" is not an exception.
via Stereogum

Os Mutantes - "Anagrama"
+ Os Mutantes forthcoming album, Haih Or Amortecedor, is their first in 35 years, via Anti-. All signs seem to indicate that this is going to be a Guns 'n' Roses reunion.
via Stereogum

Zomby - "Helter Skelter"
+ Dub-step behemoth Zomby put out a new track through RCRD LBL this week. It's short and sweet, but it's the kind of track that makes the whole world seem a little silly if you're walking around and listening to it.
via RCRD LBL

Lightning Bolt - "Colossus"
+ This new track from Lightning Bolt is less noise oriented than you might expect. The track drives forward as though their influences were more prone to metal rather than a broken casette deck and rattling radiator.
via P4K

Pissed Jeans - "Dream Smotherer"
+ Pissed Jeans are a sort of hardcore-ish band that retains a sense of melody and core of punk rock. They remind me of Fucked Up in the way they can craft songs that can be called both brutal and beautiful.
via Stereogum

What's New This Week

Books:
Collected Storiesby Raymond Carver [Library of America]
+ This may have actually come out last week, but I missed it then and it deserves mentioning. Generally a complete collection of a major author from the Library of America might not be something to note in this context, but this is a pretty special book for fans of Carver. The collection includes the book Beginners which is only available here. It's Carver's famous collection What We Talk About When We Talk About Love without the rather considerable edits by Gordon Lish. The debate about Carver sans Lish has been raging for years. Clearly Lish made Carver more of a minimalist and refined his style, but to what extent did he suppress a voice? To what extent did he give Carver the voice he was searching for? Your questions answered here.

Take a look at the story "Beginners" here. (And, yes, this is "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love" before Lish's red pen entered the fray.)

The Skating Rinkby Roberto Bolaño [New Directions]
+ As Bolaño's oeuvre continues to be translated into English his legend only seems to grow. The Skating Rink captures Bolaño's style perfectly: flourishing language, crime, and romance all included. A corrupt civil servant has been misdirecting funds to build an ice rink for his lover. An illegal Mexican immigrant and writer, Gaspar Heredia (Bolaño anyone?), has discovered the corruption. The mystery unravels with murder and surprises in the three revolving stories set in the imaginary town of Z, just north of Barcelona.

Also out this week: Await Your Reply by Dan Chaon [Random House], Home Boy by H. M. Naqvi [Random House]

Music:
Asobi Seksu - Transparence[Polyvinyl]
+ The New York indie-pop duo is equal parts art rock band and pop crossover. Their light melodies and treble laced songs are heavily influenced by Japanese pop, and each of their albums seems to be a little better than the last. Their new EP, Transparence, won't be an exception to the rule. This follows on the heels of their lush February release Hush, which is worth checking out if you don't know who Asobi Seksu is.

Listen to some tracks from Asobi Seksu at Daytrotter.


Blitzen Trapper - The Black River Killer EP [Sub Pop]
+ New tracks from Blitzen Trapper is never a bad thing, and, thankfully, The Black River Killer EP seems to a bit of a misnomer as this thing is pretty long. Seven tracks that contain their signature bluegrass-rock foundations with huge hooks and dark overtones. The lead off track "Black River Killer" is pretty stellar. You can listen to it here.

Also out this week: Willie Nelson - The Nearness of You, Mariachi El Bronx - Self Titled [Swaml], Kid Cudi - Man on the Moon, David Bazan - Curse Your Branches, Arctic Monkeys - Humbug [Domino]

Theaters:
Still Walking (Hirokazu Kore-eda) [IFC]
+ Hirokazu Kore-eda is a rising star of Japanese cinema. His newest film, Still Walking, will definitely further that premise and attract many new film-lovers to his work. It rivals his fantastic 2004 film Nobody Knows, and seems to be a sign that he just keeps getting better. If you've got this film playing in your city this weekend go see it.

Check out the trailer here

Big Fan (Robert Siegel) [First Independent Pictures]
+ Big Fan is the first vehicle where Patton Oswalt is going to take the spotlight (outside of the great comedy-documentary The Comedians of Comedy). Oswalt plays a crazed New York Giants fan, and he struggles with the implications and depth of his obsession after being beat up by his favorite player. Oswalt may shine here, under the guidance of writer/director Robert Seigel, who is making this film as the follow-up to his first filmed script with The Wrestler.

Also out this week: Halloween II (Rob Zombie), Taking Woodstock (Ang Lee), We Live in Public (Ondi Timoner)

DVD:
Eclipse Series 17: Nikkatsu Noir(various directors) [Criterion]
+ I was going to write how I've never been disappointed with the Eclipse series, and how it's opened a world of cinema that I'd never have had the chance to experience without it, and that the Nikkatsu films are a crazy olio of some of the hippest cinema from Japan in the 50s and 60s. But then I read the description on the Criterion site and it made me want to watch it even more: "This bruised and bloody collection represents a standout cross section of the nimble nasties Nikkatsu had to offer, action potboilers modeled on the western, comedy, gangster, and teen-rebel genres." Translation: Bad ass.

Second Skin(Juan Carlos Pineiro-Escoriaza) [Pure West]
+ Second Skin is a documentary that explores the world of gamers and people interested in virtual worlds such as Second Life. It explores how these worlds enhance and destroy individuals, and have these alternate universes have changed the landscape of technology forever. It's got all of the charm of films about sub-cultures such as Darkon or King of Kong with the slight alteration that if you've never heard of the games and programs here, it's because the people in the film are far ahead of the curve.

Also out this week: The Last Days of Disco (Walt Stillman) [Criterion], Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (Chantal Akerman) [Criterion], Duplicity (Tony Gilroy), Adventureland, Sunshine Cleaning

InDigest is Looking For New Writers

As you may have read, InDigest is taking a little break over the summer while we organize some new projects, redesign the website, and get some new staff ready for our new life.

As a part of this process we are looking for some new writers who are interested in contributing monthly columns to InDigest. Columnist positions at InDigest are unpaid - none of us really get paid for this thing. We are working towards making sure everyone is compensated, but at the moment that's not the case.

What we are looking for:
- Film Critic
- Music Critic
- Fiction Critic
- Poetry Critic
- Political Columnist
- Sports Columnist
- a cartoonist who'd like to have new work featured regularly
- If you have an idea for a column that is not listed here please feel free to send a proposal
- We are also looking for an intern for the fall semester

None of the positions are location specific, though we do prefer an intern who is either located in New York City or Minneapolis.

TO APPLY:
Please send an e-mail to writers [@] indigestmag.com. The subject line should be "YOUR NAME [TYPE OF COLUMN YOU'RE APPLYING FOR]."

In the body of the e-mail include a proposal for what column you would like to write, your past experience in this field and other publications you have written for. Please attach three writing samples of the type you are applying for.

If you are interested in the intern position please send an email to editors [@] indigestmag.com and explain why you are qualified for the position and attach a resume as well.

PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL ATTACHMENTS SHOULD EITHER BE IN .DOC or .RTF format.
If you can't follow the submission guidelines here (which are pretty simple and straightforward) you will not be considered.

Please be somewhat familiar with the magazine and know what type of work we have previously published.

What We've Been Reading

Brad:
I'm reading Nice Hat. Thanks.,a book of collaborative poems by Joshua Beckman and Matthew Rohrer. It's an older book (it was published in 2002) that I'm just getting around to. It's perfect for summer -- humorous, fleet, leaving you with positive impressions like a day at the beach.

I'm also reading Fort Red Border,the first book of poems by Kiki Petrosino. The title is an anagram for Robert Redford, who appears in the first third of the book, interacting with Petrosino's speaker and framing inquiries into topics such as ethnicity and heritage. If you are in the Twin Cities, she'll be reading at Magers and Quinn on September 12 at 7 pm with (ahem) a poetry editor at InDigest.

Reina:
I just finished reading Surfacingby Margaret Atwood. One of my close friends could not stop praising it, and when I found out that Margaret Atwood is a humanist (a system of thought I've been curious to learn more about recently), I requested my friend's note-laden, dog-eared, and underlined copy, which she readily passed to me with both hands like a treasured object. Unfortunately, I do not feel the same way toward the book as she does. The story of a young woman returning home again after a long and painful absence was told well enough, heavy with symbolism and addressing issues such as sexism, patriotism, and humanity's altogether destructive nature, but it just didn't resonate within me like I had hoped. Still, I haven't given up on Atwood, and I plan to read her more popular novel, The Blind Assassinsome day soon enough.

Dustin:
This past week or so I read two novels that I'm not going to talk about, yet. They aren't out, but both are by past InDigest contributors, and both were quite spectacular. I don't want to ruin it because I'm sure I'll be talking about them a lot soon.

But this week I also read Ada Limón's new chapbook What Sucks Us In Will Surely Swallow Us Whole. It's a collection poems that sort of narrates a road trip through California, but it's less direct than I'm making it sound. It doesn't have a trajectory necessarily, but all the poems are about this road trip and what it means or how it changes people, makes us come to new realizations about people and places. Limón has a really great fashion of creating new images out things that are familiar, or turning intangibles into a digestible image. One of my favorite lines does just that, "She thinks she could go farther / faster without the drag of what she carries; / nothing but her body's own quiet / insistence to accelerate." It's really quite beautiful, not just the words but the book itself is. It's out through Cinematheque Press, a press I've only recently discovered - and have been ingesting everything I can get from rapidly - (I read from Joshua Marie Wilkinson's newest collection, out through Cinematheque, at the last 1207 reading). They make some really great little books, giving great attention to detail and what design elements will really add to the book. They do a fantastic job, I recommend going and buying some of their extremely affordable books.

The Antlers "Two"

Our friends in The Antlers have a new music video out for their track "Two" from their new disc Hospice. It's a pretty awesome video.

American Life in Poetry: Column 230

BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006

It’s been sixty-odd years since I was in the elementary grades, but I clearly remember those first school days in early autumn, when summer was suddenly over and we were all perched in our little desks facing into the future. Here Ron Koertge of California gives us a glimpse of a day like that.

First Grade

Until then, every forest
had wolves in it, we thought
it would be fun to wear snowshoes
all the time, and we could talk to water.

So why is this woman with the gray
breath calling out names and pointing
to the little desks we will occupy
for the rest of our lives?


American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2008 by Ron Koertge, whose most recent book of poems is "Fever," Red Hen Press, 2006. Reprinted by permission of Ron Koertge. Introduction copyright ©2009 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction’s author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. We do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.

The Score: Best Free Downloads This Week

1. Deastro posted up a new EP at their blog. The electronic artist Randolph Cabot Jr. is prepping for a new full length release and is offering up some free tracks (as will happen frequently with Chabot). It's a fun, upbeat album that ought to make you excited for the fall Deastro release.

2. Deerhoof recorded a Daytrotter session this past week. It includes slightly more spacey and reverb laced versions of some recent songs, as well as a pretty awesome thirty second improv introduction to the session which is worth listening to.

3. The Bowery Poetry Club in New York hosted a show called "Double Nickels" Anniversary Show a little while back, and NYC Taper has posted audio of the show. It was a celebration of The Minutemen's pivotal album Double Nickels on the Dime (possibly best discussed in Michael Azzarad's Our Band Could Be Your Life). The show has really cemented by a short set from former The Minutemen member Mike Watt. Great tribute to a band whose career was tragically cut way too short.

4. Minneapolis stalwart's Halloween, Alaska recorded a Daytrotter Session last week that is pretty solid. If you haven't heard them take a listen to this.

5. John Vanderslice recorded a version of his track "Sunken Union Boat" for KEXP, who has posted the track to The Free Music Archive. It's a really great track that rivals his recent set done with an orchestra.

More: Bishop Allen, The Church, Claremont Trio, Cotton Jones, Crystal Antlers, Eroica Trio, Future Islands, Jolie Holland, Ladytron, Love is All, lucky dragons, Patterson Hood (of Drive-By Truckers), Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars, Starlight Mints, The War on Drugs

What We've Been Reading

Jess
I've been reading Dry Manhattanby Michael Lerner [Harvard University Press]. It's a history of prohibition in New York City. I only started last night, but there is some wild shit already. The anti-saloon league and William Anderson's "great innovation was to pioneer the modern craft of political lobbying in the service of a single moral cause." Lerner is not a particularly great writer, but his research and his ideas are top notch. Check it out, I know everyone is 300 pages of interested in prohibition in NYC.

David
Fact: Periods slow things down. Fact: The lack of periods in a book makes your blood pressure rise, your anxiety level does the same, and if it—this lack of periods—goes on too long, it could be bad for you health. In short doses, though, it’s exciting.

Take, for example, Horacio Castellanos Moya’s Senselessness[New Directions]. Without having the book in my hands, I’d be willing to bet that if I did, I could count the number of periods in the entire book on these hands. The result is a paranoid romp that mirrors on the page the narrator’s decent into (possibly) irrational lines of thinking. It’s less speed reading as it is reading on speed.

The latest book I read that uses this device is Ray of the Starby Laird Hunt [Coffee House Press], a mystical adventure into a foreign land that, if we were to explain it to someone, is not strange itself—it could be many European cities from what I understand. But the language and the style choices (and the characters, but we’re talking about the language and the style choices here), namely the lack of periods, make this a strange land. Each two- to three-page section only has one period, coming at the very end of the section. The result is not so much a decent into paranoia the way I remember Senselessness being, but the heart-racing pace it sets, all the same, creates a sense of anxiety. The difference could be attributed to the fact that one is told as a first-person narrative, relying on the main character as the narrator, while the other has an omnipresent narrator. It could also come from the dream-like landscape Hunt puts us in: Human statues walk the streets in full costume; shoes talk to characters before being tossed from a cliff. Still, the pacing that results from the decision to all but exclude periods makes these drastically different books than they would be were periods placed throughout. Without time to breathe, the reader can only allow himself to go along for the ride. And it’s a beautiful, terrifying, and unbelievably sad ride that Hunt brings us on in Ray of the Star.

American Life in Poetry: Column 229

BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006

For over forty years, Mark Vinz, of Moorhead, Minnesota--poet, teacher, publisher--has been a prominent advocate for the literature of the Upper Great Plains. Here’s a recent poem that speaks to growing older.


Cautionary Tales

Beyond the field of grazing, gazing cows
the great bull has a pasture to himself,
monumental, black flanks barely twitching
from the swarming flies. Only a few strands of
wire separate us--how could I forget
my childhood terror, the grownups warning
that the old bull near my uncle’s farm
would love to chase me, stomp me, gore me
if I ever got too close. And so I
skirted acres just to keep my distance,
peeking through the leaves to see if he still
was watching me, waiting for some foolish move--
those fierce red eyes, the thunder in the ground--
or maybe that was simply nightmares. It’s
getting hard to tell, as years themselves keep
gaining ground relentlessly, their hot breath
on my back, and not a fence in sight.


American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2008 by Mark Vinz, whose most recent book of poems is "Long Distance," Midwestern Writers Publishing House, 2006. Poem reprinted from "South Dakota Review" Vol. 46, no. 2, by permission of Mark Vinz and the publisher. Introduction copyright ©2009 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction’s author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. We do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.

What's New This Week

BOOKS
Undiscovered Gyrlby Allison Burnett [Vintage]
+ This book is a sort of diary/blog of a girl. Which sounds a bit like Gossip Girl, but it's not. This is a dark, strange book that sounds like more of a mystery than a book filled with teenage angst.

Self's Murderby Bernhard Schlink [Vintage]
+ Part of the Black Lizard/Vintage Crime series from Vintage (which is releasing some fantastic pulp), Self's Murder is the third book in the Gerhard Self series, which are pretty dark compelling pulp mysteries.


MUSIC
Bobby Bare Jr. and David Vandervelde - American Bread EP [Junket Boy]
+ Yes, Bobby Bare Jr. continued making music after "You Blew Me Off." Yes, a good deal of it is pretty good. Unfortunately the Junket Boy website seems to be kind of unusable at the moment.

Box Elders - Alice & Friends[Goner Records]
+ Box Elders are what should happen when pop and punk get together. Not the hyphenated bastardized version of both genres, but great pop tunes sung frantically with a lo-fi aesthetic mixed in to give the catchy hooks some grit.


THEATERS
It Might Get Loud (David Guggenheim) [Thomas Tull Prod./Sony]
+ A documentary about the rock guitar, filmed from the point of view of Jimmy Page, Jack White, and The Edge. Awesome. Seems like a logical film to follow Guggenheim's last, An Inconvenient Truth.

Ponyo (Hayao Miyazaki) [Studio Ghibli/Disney]
+ The master of animated films is back with a new award-winning film. I don't think Miyazaki's missed yet. Even if you're not into anime it's hard not to love everything the guy does. He's kind of like a one man Pixar, minus the 3-D-o-rama.

DVD
The Class (Entre Les Murs)(Laurent Cantet) [Haut et Court/Sony]
+ This award winning French film follow a novelist who tries to become a teacher in a rough Parisian neighborhood. It's like Dangerous Minds for fans of Rohmer and Rosselini. I know.

InDigest 1207 Tonight!!! (line-up change too)

Hey everyone,
Quick note for you. InDigest 1207 is tonight at 6:30pm. It's free as always and will feature John Wray and Ronaldo V. Wilson. Marlon James has had some traveling issues and is going to be unable to attend tonight. But, in his place, we will have Akhil Sharma. Wow. It's going to be a great night. Sorry to anyone hoping to see Marlon. I promise he'll be joining us for a 1207 in the near future.
Much love,
David and Dustin

What's New This Week (a little behind schedule)

Books:
Inherent Viceby Thomas Pynchon [Penguin]
+ New Pynchon, and it's a noir-ish detective story. That's about all that needs to be said.

Music:
The Antlers - Hospice[Frenchkiss]
+ This album was really released earlier this year, but the band signed to Frenchkiss and had the album remastered. It's out in the new version now (and it just got Best New Music on Pitchfork). Buy this. It's breathtaking. It's easily a top five album to come out this year and you'll be really upset (and not even know it) if you don't buy this.

Modest Mouse - No One's First, and You're Next[Sony]
+ Modest Mouse can be a little hit and miss (how's that for a vague statement?) but this album is definitely on the mark. They've been releasing 7" singles all year and this brings them all onto a single collection. If you haven't seen their new video you should go check that out right now too (it's directed by Heath Ledger).

Theater:
Beeswax (Andrew Bujalski)[Cinema Guild/Sisters Project]
+ This is a great film. I'm a big fan of everything the man does, but Beeswax is as good as anything Bujalski has done. If you're in New York this weekend come to (le) Poisson Rouge, there is a screening of Bujalski's last film Mutual Appreciation (starring Justin Rice of Bishop Allen) and following the screening I'll (Dustin) be doing a little Q&A w/ Bujalski.

DVD:
Flight of the Conchords: The Complete Second Season[HBO]
+ Flight of the Conchords almost didn't get a second season, and even though you're happy when you found out it was going to continue you weren't quite sure if it would reach the poetic majesty that it attained in it's first season. It did.

American Life in Poetry: Column 228

BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006

I don't often mention literary forms, but of this lovely poem
by Cecilia Woloch I want to suggest that the form, a
villanelle, which uses a pattern of repetition, adds to the
enchantment I feel in reading it. It has a kind of layering,
like memory itself. Woloch lives and teaches in southern
California.


My Mother's Pillow

My mother sleeps with the Bible open on her pillow;
she reads herself to sleep and wakens startled.
She listens for her heart: each breath is shallow.

For years her hands were quick with thread and needle.
She used to sew all night when we were little;
now she sleeps with the Bible on her pillow

and believes that Jesus understands her sorrow:
her children grown, their father frail and brittle;
she stitches in her heart, her breathing shallow.

Once she "even slept fast," rushed tomorrow,
mornings full of sunlight, sons and daughters.
Now she sleeps alone with the Bible on her pillow

and wakes alone and feels the house is hollow,
though my father in his blue room stirs and mutters;
she listens to him breathe: each breath is shallow.

I flutter down the darkened hallway, shadow
between their dreams, my mother and my father,
asleep in rooms I pass, my breathing shallow.
I leave the Bible open on her pillow.


American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry
Foundation, publisher of Poetry
magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at
the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2003 by
Cecilia Woloch, whose most recent book of poetry is "Narcissus,"
Tupelo Press, 2008. Reprinted from "Late," by Cecilia Woloch,
published by BOA Editions, Rochester, NY, 2003, by permission
of Cecilia Woloch. Introduction copyright ©2009 by The Poetry
Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as
United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library
of Congress from 2004-2006. We do not accept unsolicited
manuscripts.

What We've Been Reading

Ashleigh:
I've spent most of the week reading Ian McEwan's acclaimed novel Atonement.I was initially suspicious that this would be yet another elegantly written tale of stuffy people going nuts in the English countryside, and it is, but I'm enjoying it anyway. I, along with seemingly every book reviewer in the world, am impressed with how McEwan applies his empathy and insight to a group of disparate characters. Not content to make this just a war story, or a love story, or a story about class, or family relationships, McEwan has also woven into his narrative an ongoing rumination about the way stories work, and the effect that storytelling has on the storyteller. I would say more, but I'm only halfway through the book; I'll let you know if part two lives up to part one. I've also just begun The Art of Travelby Alain de Botton, which I'm reading in order to mentally prepare for an upcoming vacation. De Botton draws on accounts from famous travelers as he explores the ways travel can force us to engage with the world -- and ourselves -- in new ways.