Close Reading

In transitioning from teaching university courses to teaching high school, I have of course thought a lot about “close reading,” as it’s called, and why it’s such an important thing. After all, it’s… Read More →

yeshe chölwa

At theology camp, it was important to seem busy, so we were — the days were just packed. We would have breakfast at seven, woken up by reggae versions of non-reggae songs. Breakfast… Read More →

as a matter of fact it’s all dark: cyberpunk, language, and the two worlds

Emma Becciu, one of the most gifted interpreters I’ve ever known, has begun a language & translation blog. A lot of it is in Italian; if you can’t read that, turn on Chrome’s… Read More →

in case of emergency

(SCENE. Kugelmass and Nicholas Bourbaki are chatting via Skype. To Kugelmass’s right is a small, unkempt mattress, strewn with gummi bears and Walter Benjamin essay collections. To his left is a painting that… Read More →

Yes, We (Shere) Khan: The Life of Pi, A Film About The Simple Bare Necessities

First, you have to watch this short video. Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. -Matthew 7:15 Why should you run? Can it… Read More →

the minor fall and the major lift, part one: on mozart

Note to the reader: the two performances above are both excellent realizations of Mozart’s musical ideas, even though, in both videos, the performers look totally ridiculous. I mean, just so bad. Like Monty… Read More →

On the unbearably important writing of Milan Kundera

I have known all these situations, I have experienced them myself, yet none of them has given rise to the person my curriculum vitae and I represent. The characters in my novels are… 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 →

alain de botton’s religious atheism

The dream is always the same. I awaken to find I’ve been transformed, not into a hideous insect, but into something much worse: Alain de Botton, my doppelganger. Like me, de Botton loves… Read More →

In Which Our Hero Resolves The Question of Nature vs. Nurture

(x-posted to The Valve, of course) Nature versus nurture, Lodge. Nature always wins. –Secretary William Cleary, Wedding Crashers Jenny Davidson’s new book of cultural criticism, entitled Breeding: A Partial History of the Eighteenth… Read More →