no pulitzer for swamplandia

For the first time since 1977, the Pulitzer jury has declined to award a Pulitzer Prize in Fiction. The decision was a mistake, a bad one. Part of the problem may be the… Read More →

your vague outline: on rock criticism

Barry: You wouldn’t know most of our immediate influences. Rob: Try me. Barry: They’re mostly German. Rob: Kraftwerk? Falco? Hasselhoff? -from High Fidelity  A creature of habit has no real protection -The Shins, “Bait and… Read More →

AMC’s The Pitch: Ball Four

What’s the most important meal of the day? Exactly. You answered “breakfast,” and so would I. This question never even gets asked in The Pitch…but more on that later. *** I’ll give AMC… Read More →

mad men, mad women, and beethoven

There were excellent reasons not to blog about the episode “Mystery Date” at all. To begin with, it was good, and in such a way that watching it was more valuable than breaking… Read More →

kicking it into high gear

And I say to you tonight: let us not forget. There is hope. There is hope! -The Crystal Method, “Keep Hope Alive” For those of you following the PowerPoint debate, my latest response… Read More →

the new aesthetic?

Source: new-aesthetic.tumblr.com via Joseph on Pinterest “ Perhaps you have already observed that in Casablanca, life is cheap. *** A few days ago, theorist Ian Bogost published an article in The Atlantic that features this… Read More →

responses from readers

Here at the Kugelmass Episodes, we try to respond to all comments, and they’ve been both helpful and plentiful of late. The full title of this post is Today’s mail: strayed thoughts, grammar… Read More →

the future of the new york times: must the slideshows go on?

(UPDATE: I’ve corrected the comment on “it appears…” The issue is Jackson’s unclear referent, rather than passive voice.) My friend Freda Moon just shared this PowerPoint presentation by Eric Jackson via Twitter. She’s a… Read More →

this dungeon where you see me now

First, I did my best to make sure that only the most proper and fitting words were used. Everything was said clearly and simply and no words were wasted. I had signs posted… Read More →

Notes on the translation of “what must be said”

I’ll start with the specifics of the translation, then move to a discussion of the poem. Here are the versions I was working with: The original German version. The version in the Atlantic,… Read More →