Posts from the ‘WTF?’ Category

Nov 15

Anne Laurie on the James Frey Crap Factory

But I am left with one overriding conviction: If I were fortunate enough to be in a demographic capable of assuming a six-figure debt to acquire an MFA in creative writing… and someone notorious for being on the wrong end of “a class-action lawsuit that settled for $2.35 million” were to offer me a chance to help him scam a great many unspecified book-readers and potentially Hollywood studios, in return for nothing but six months of my hard work… I would not take him up on the offer.

My thoughts exactly.

Nov 2

9 Comments

Okay, Black Lawrence Press, I Love You BUT…REALLY?

Fiction Semi-Finalists

Jacob Appel-Choose Your Own Genetics
Jacob Appel-Coulrophobia & Fata Morgana
Jacob Appel-Natural Selection
Jacob Appel-Saluting the Magpie
Liam Callanan-A—A- and Other Stories
Jen Grow-O.K., Goodbye
Evan Lavender-Smith-Thirteen Things
Paul Michel-Lives of the Saints
Adam Prince-The Beautiful Wishes of Ugly Men
Ira Sukrungruang-The Golden Mix and Other Stories
Annie Weatherwax-The Possibility of Things

I mean, I’m sure these are all fine books–and Evan Lavender-Smith is fabulous, so good choice–but REALLY? FOUR Jacob Appel books?

Who is this Jacob Appel dude, anyway? Why do I see his name literally EVERY TIME I open an MFA program’s magazine and look at the TOC? Does he have something on every single editor in this country? Is he just that goddamned amazing? Because I can’t believe he’s not more celebrated if that’s so. In any case, it still seems like a bit much to submit four books, let alone pick four for the semi-finalist list when. Good lord.

Oct 20

4 Comments

WTF ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR CRAZY MIND, LADY?

The answer is clearly, yes. I mean, I guess it doesn’t surprise me–you’d have to be batshit to be married to Clarence Thomas–but seriously? SERIOUSLY? Here is the message that this crazy woman left on Anita Hill’s answering machine:

Good morning, Anita Hill, it’s Ginni Thomas. I just wanted to reach across the airwaves and the years and ask you to consider something. I would love you to consider an apology some time and some full explanation of why you did what you did with my husband. So give it some thought and certainly pray about this and come to understand why you did what you did. OK, have a good day.

Anita Hill’s obviously way more level-headed and a billion times smarter than me, and her response was quite dignified. But in her place I think I would have returned the call with this message:

Good morning, Ginni Thomas, it’s Anita Hill. I just wanted to reach across the airwaves and the years and slap some goddamn sense into your inflated balloon head. I would love you to consider an apology to me some time for the fact that your mean, crazy-ass, silenter-than-Calvin-Coolidge husband harrassed the hell out of me and paid no price for it. So give it some thought and certainly pray–pray that I don’t come to your house and beat the living shit out of you for stalking me and leaving crazy messages on my phone years and years after the fact out of nowhere I mean what the fuck is wrong with you? No, really? NO SERIOUSLY WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU YOU MUST BE AS BATTY AS HE IS, YES? YES???? OK, have a good day, nutsack squared.

It’s probably a good thing that Anita Hill is more level-headed than me.

Oct 13

4 Comments

ICP Says They, Uh, Just Wanted to Trick You Into Being Godly, or Something

Anyone else call bullshit on this one?

Jun 16

2 Comments

“Every Family has an Uncle Gary”

This is just so bizarre you couldn’t make it up. But my favorite part is at the end, when the dude’s brother is asked what his son thinks of all this. Because at the end of the day, this guy is a member of somebody’s family. We all have an Uncle Gary–would yours take on the assisination of Bin Laden?

Jun 9

1 Comment

On SJP’s New Art Reality Show

My first reaction on seeing commercials’ for Sarah Jessica Parker’s new reality show about the art world was, “Oh, awesome! Art on TV.”

My second reaction was, “Wait a second. Art isn’t made like sushi. Art isn’t a dress (though a dress can be art.) Hmm. This sounds like it could be horrifying.”

My second reaction was probably closer to the reality of this reality show. The Daily Beast has an interesting piece up about it, including this bit that I love:

As brilliant an auctioneer and entertainer as Simon de Pury can be, he needs to reconsider his snappy comment that “in a split second I can tell whether a work of art is great or not.” All I have to say to him is: Louise Bourgeois.

The artist, who died last week, was the antithesis of the sound bite, and didn’t “make it” until she was well into her 60s because no one saw the importance of her work until the next generation of (women) artists began to cite it as an important influence. De Pury should remember that some things happen slowly, and not all artists—or their work—can be recognized as “great” or “genius” in a split second. Art is about slowing down time, and thinking—neither of which television does very well.

Pretty much.

Jun 4

1 Comment

F**k You, Arizona. Seriously.

This is so unbelievable that the gall and rage is rising in my throat and choking off all breath. The stabbiness is reaching epic proportions. This must be what apoplexy feels like.

From Wonkette:

An Arizona elementary school mural featuring the faces of kids who attend the school has been the subject of constant daytime drive-by racist screaming, from adults, as well as a radio talk-show campaign (by an actual city councilman, who has an AM talk-radio show) to remove the black student’s face, and now the school principal has ordered the faces of the Latino and Black students to be changed to Caucasian skin.

That’s right. Racist white bastards in Arizona are so hopping made about black and Latino faces on a goddamn school mural that the school principal has now CAVED to their demands to make those students white. Real students of color, turned white. WTF. WTFFFFF. What will this do to the self-esteem, to the psyches of those kids–having their OWN IMAGES PAINTED OVER IN WHITE?

The only thing that gives me bitter satisfaction in this is knowing that these people are all mostly old and will be dead soon enough, and a more diverse, tolerant, multicultural melting pot of a nation will emerge from the people who are young now. It’s not much satisfaction, but I’m going to have a heart attack if I don’t give myself something to grab onto here.

May 14

3 Comments

Really. Really? REALLY??!!??

Oh, world. Sometimes you make me sad.

(via the Millions, which I don’t want to link to, because I hate when my blog shows up in their comments. I know, I know. Don’t care.)

Apr 29

“This isn’t the Stone Age,” or Sex Discrimination at Walmart

Jesus. Liza Featherstone over at the Daily Beast talks to one of the plaintiffs in the Walmart case, and the story she tells isn’t a pretty one:

When Gunter came to work at a Wal-Mart in Riverside, California, in 1996, at the age of 46, with 20 years of retail experience, she was sure she’d advance in the company. A passionate animal lover, she also boasted 30 years of experience raising show dogs. Yet Gunter says she was rejected for the position of pet department head because she “didn’t have enough experience.” The job went (twice) to teenage boys.

During her tenure at the company, Gunter was repeatedly passed over for promotion in favor of men she had trained, she says in court documents. Her bosses didn’t pretend to be running a civilized workplace: Once, after she’d had a fight with her husband, her supervisor suggested, “Why don’t you put your face in my lap and take care of both of our problems?”

Disclosure: I’m proud to work for the labor union that runs the Wake up Walmart campaign to improve Walmart’s treatment of their employees. And we run that campaign precisely because of stories like these.

Apr 27

2 Comments

Famous People Jumping

Photo from Phillipe Halsman's JUMP

In this amazing find from The Photography Post (via notcot), pics from photographer Phillipe Halsman’s book, Jump. Halsman apparently found that asking his famous subjects to “jump” at the end of each photo session was a way to remove the masks that sitting subjects typically wear throughout.

The resulting photos are pretty amazing, and I have to think Halsman must have been one persuasive dude. I mean, who else could get RICHARD NIXON–Mr. Suits-and-Wingtips-on-the-beach–to jump in the air like a schoolboy?