http://www.laurenspohrer.com Fri, 03 Feb 2012 21:18:50 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Alfred Jarry died, broke, at 34.  No close relations with either sex.  Cycling, rowing and fishing were favorite activities.  This I learned from the WSJ review of Alastair Brotchie's Alfred Jarry: A Pataphysical Life. Adam Wilson killing it in the Paris Review, "rheumy-eyed, beyond saving." Dorothea Lasky also killing it in the Paris ... http://www.laurenspohrer.com/2012/02/03/all-disease-is-only-love-transformed/ from an interview with Louis C.K., June 17, 2011: Of all the comedians working today, who’s funnier than you? I don’t think you can quantify it that way. It’s like boxing — there are people who are set up according to weight and how big their hands are and stuff. But the ... http://www.laurenspohrer.com/2012/01/21/me-bill-tonight/ Feb 18th: Celan Salon Flying Object in Western Mass Diane Williams Lauren Spohrer Lawrence Giffin Rachel Glaser April 19th NOON 2012 Launch Party The Center for Fiction, NYC http://www.laurenspohrer.com/2012/01/18/667/ http://www.laurenspohrer.com/2012/01/18/belated/ Winter gettin' colder, summer gettin' warmer. Tidal wave comin' 'cross the Mexican border. Why buy a gallon, it's cheaper by the barrel. Just dont get busted singin' Christmas carols. Thats us, that's right Gotta love this American ride. Both ends of the ozone burnin. Funny how the world keeps turnin. Look ma, no hands. I love this American ride. Gotta ... http://www.laurenspohrer.com/2012/01/18/close-reading-ii-toby-keith-american-ride/ I, Vito, promise to treat this game, i-de-al Honor the code, not bring drama to mama’s peephole Life’s a bitch but she's the only love that I know -ow -ow So la-a-dee, after the “I Do’s” lets do Mercedes Lets tie the knot, lets grab us a pot, lets make a baby Looking back, I ... http://www.laurenspohrer.com/2012/01/18/close-reading-young-jeezy-%e2%80%93-i-do-featuring-andre-3000-jay-z/ John Barth's "Literature of Exhaustion," 1967.  (link) "Whether historically the novel expires or persists seems immaterial to me; if enough writers and critics feel apocalyptical about it, their feeling becomes a considerable cultural fact, like the feeling that Western civilization, or the world, is going to end rather soon. If you ... http://www.laurenspohrer.com/2012/01/18/658/ Joseph Epstein on Wolcott Gibbs and The New Yorker at The Weekly Standard: In a fine formulation, Vinciguerra writes that Gibbs “embodied [the New Yorker’s] archetypal combination of blunt honesty, sly wit, exacting standards, and elegant condescension.” The New Yorker of those days seemed mildly aristocratic, making everything seem easily ... http://www.laurenspohrer.com/2012/01/06/656/ In November 1952, Gregory Hemingway wrote to his father: “When it’s all added up, papa, it will be: he wrote a few good stories, had a novel and fresh approach to reality and he destroyed five persons – Hadley, Pauline, Marty [Gellhorn], Patrick, and possibly myself. Which do ... http://www.laurenspohrer.com/2012/01/06/654/ I've watched this sketch on Portlandia so many times without noticing how funny the first few article topics are: - Hey did you guys read that thing in the New Yorker last month about how golf is an analogy for marriage? - I did. I did read that. Did you read the ... http://www.laurenspohrer.com/2011/12/29/eco-ways-to-sit/