Stay Lit.

Intimidating Books

2011-07-08T16:17:00.000-07:00

I remember trying to tackle Faulkner after a Hemingway spree and becoming aware of the limit of my understanding with the clap of a dropped book hitting the floor ; so I went to Steinbeck. Encountering the density of the Russians with Anna Karenina. I've always been scared of a single poem so Leaves of Grass died while I skimmed through the pages of it at the library ( I started Paradise Lost mayybe three times , two for sure , maybe a third where I skipped the insightful Penguin introduction ; still never finished the book ).
Most people associate BIG books ( I would say 700 pages and up ) as difficult books ; I associate difficult books with boredom. I would much rather read the entire The Sword of Truth series than re-visit Oedipa Maas. Sympathizing with the publication year of Pynchons shortest novel , and his over hype in the literary world , I decided to give him another chance with Gravity Rainbow ; to see what all the fuss was. How was it ? It was cool , I appreciated the humor but hated and eventually began skipping the silly songs , parts of it were really intriguing but other parts felt too much like reading text-book syntax ( not to mention the umpteen exemplifications of pedophilia) ; all in all making it a book I just got through .

When I decide to read a book like : Moby Dick , The Man Without Qualities , Lost in the Funhouse. Prestigious books that will outlive generations and will be read by each one of them. It's not to brandish them around like some emblem of importance or intellectual-status. But to see what all the fuss is. Very much in the same way I watch sports ; only in the playoffs. When a player is performing at his best. I want to see why A-Rod makes more financial income just coming up to bat ( Whether he hits or misses ) than most people make in a year ( about $40k ). Sure I'll watch Nadal breeze through a few sets in the opening rounds to satisfy that anticipated crave of whats to come ; to get a feel of things. I do this with writers as well , reading : Notes from Underground before The Brothers Karamzov , Tortilla Flat before East of Eden , Carrie before IT.

James Wood wrote , in How Fiction Works : "Literature makes us better noticers of life; we get to practice on life itself; which in turn makes us better readers of detail in literature; which in turn makes us better readers of life." . I agree 110% . When I first picked up As I Lay Dying ( somewhere in my late teens ) I could barely focus on my own stream of consciousness ; so fifteen other ones didn't appeal to me . BUT ! Several years later living in a very real world and all the while delving further and further into literary fiction ; I came across the Bundren family again. This time it was more discerning .

What point exactly am i trying to get to ? Reading is a skill like any other you have to practice to get better , sort of build yourself up . If the fervor for it cools down its not the writers fault but maybe the readers? I'm not exactly sure where I was taking this just some random recent thoughts of mine.

"Without turning, the pharmacist answered that he liked books like The Metamorphosis, Bartleby, A Simple Heart, A Christmas Carol. And then he said that he was reading Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's. Leaving aside the fact that A Simple Heart and A Christmas Carol were stories, not books, there was something revelatory about the taste of this bookish young pharmacist, who ... clearly and inarguably preferred minor works to major ones. He chose The Metamorphosis over The Trial, he chose Bartleby over Moby Dick, he chose A Simple Heart over Bouvard and Pecouchet, and A Christmas Carol over A Tale of Two Cities or The Pickwick Papers. What a sad paradox, thought Amalfitano. Now even bookish pharmacists are afraid to take on the great, imperfect, torrential works, books that blaze a path into the unknown. They choose the perfect exercises of the great masters. Or what amounts to the same thing: they want to watch the great masters spar, but they have no interest in real combat, when the great masters struggle against that something, that something that terrifies us all, that something that cows us and spurs us on, amid blood and mortal wounds and stench." — Roberto Bolaño , 2666

Opening Lines ( My personal Favorites )

2011-07-07T08:46:00.000-07:00

The sky above the port was the color of television , tuned to a dead channel. ( William Gibson , Neuromancer)

Justice? - You get justice in the next world , in this world you have the law . ( William Gaddis , A Frolic of His Own )

Psychics can see the color of time it's blue. ( Ronald Sukenick , Blown Away )

Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. ( Vladimir Nabokov , Lolita )

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only. ( Charles Dickens , A Tale of Two Cities )

Call me Ishmael. ( Hermann Melville, Moby Dick )

Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendia was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice. ( Gabriel Garcia Marquez , One Hundred Years in Solitude )

In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since. ( F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby )

Memorable Scenes : New and Previously Unimagined Taste Sensations

2011-07-06T14:21:00.000-07:00

This is a frequently disturbing movie ( as all Cronenberg films tend to be ) that unfolds like a Mobius strip. Computer development has taken a biological turn : game pods that go under surgery when they burn out , anus like bio-ports installed directly into your body ( which can get infected ). In a nut shell the movie is about virtual reality and the effects it can have ; being unable to distinguish reality from game. Several great scenes in this movie : The opening failed assassination attempt on the game goddess ( "Death to Allegra Geller!" ) , the under rated performance of Robert A. Silverman as Darcy Nader , the subtle homage to Philip K. Dick ( burgers from Perky Pat's ) . But the scene in the Chinese restaurant is definitely my favorite. Yes it's a bone gun with a clip full of teeth.

Alluring Titles

2011-05-03T19:58:00.000-07:00

Sometimes when I'm in an indecisive moment of what to read next; an alluring title prompts my next read. Usually it helps if its a book from a writer I'm already familiar with . Comical titles such as Tooth Imprints on a Corndog ,and , My Cousin , Gastroenterologist introduced me to Mark Leyner ( pre, E Unibus Pluram ...) Personally experiencing thirty days of solitary sparked a curiosity that made me choose One Hundred Years of Solitary as my first Marquez book ( I wont delve into the Quirkiness of titles from Spanish writers ).

Eight out of Ten times if a short story collection has a catchy title its good : Brief Interviews With Hideous Men , Salmonella Men on Planet Porno , No One Belongs Here More Than You . The dreadful imageries that came to mind upon mentally reading the title , Last Evenings on Earth , conjured the book to my front door ( unfortunately Amazon charged me for it ).

If a novel with a long alluring title is critically praised or widely well reputed ; its good : The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay , Special Topics in Calamity Physics ,The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. Doesn't include novellas ; The Crying of Lot 49 , ehhh .

Usually the stranger the title of Memoirs / Autobiographies the more interested i am in reading it : A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius , Another Bullshit Night in Suck City , Memoirs From Beyond the Grave , Foreskins Lament ( I know this last sounds awkward but trust me its a great read ).

Bibliophilic Quotes

2011-04-30T17:47:00.000-07:00

"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read."
— Groucho Marx

"I have always imagined that Paradise will be some kind of library."
— Jorge Luis Borges

"You're either reading a book or you're not."
— Jonathan Franzen

"If you go home with somebody, and they don't have books, don't fuck 'em!"
— John Waters

"Be awesome! Be a book nut!"
— Dr. Seuss

"I guess there are never enough books."
— John Steinbeck

"One of the great things about books is sometimes there are some fantastic pictures."
— George W. Bush

In Recognition : Stephen Dixon

2011-04-26T10:53:00.000-07:00

No other writer ( except D.F.W. ) captures the actual rhythm of thinking inside an individual's head as Dixon. His paragraphs can sometimes stretch for pages but like streams of thoughts his run-on sentences cover parsecs in no time. An entire sitcom cast like idiosyncrasy ; reminds me of tamer Saunders , the Barry Hannah of the East.He can abruptly stop laughter with a cringed seriousness . His coupled characters are straight out of a Woody Allen film. Though I like the Dixon short stories better than his novels ( which usually agitate me with clever playfulness ) , if asked to list the top 25 ( fiction ) books of the last twenty five years , his novel Frog would definitely makes the list .

In Recognition - K-Rino

2011-02-28T20:29:00.000-08:00

Growing up I listened to alot of rap music . Not until I was around the ages of 15 - 17 did I really start paying attention to other genres of music . Since I'm from Houston Texas I listened to Houston rappers ( with the exception of the Wu-Tang Clan ) . Unfortunately I listened/related more to the Houston rappers like : Bam ,Street Military ,and Z-Ro. 

K-Rino one of the earliest rappers from Houston has been recording for almost 25 years and often considered the greatest to come out of the city ;and one of the best of all time . K-Rino is not your typical rapper , he doesn't wear jewelry , he doesn't make music videos with curvy woman and expensive cars ( he barely has any music videos and is reputed for not even owning a car ). K-Rino can still be found in his child hood neighborhood of South Park ( one of the poorest ghettos in Houston ) everyday . Most of his lyrics are about self awareness either in his usual style of straight delivery , like The Me You Don't See or in his very creative story telling raps , Valley of Decision .

Memorable Scenes : I'm your Huckleberry.

2011-02-18T15:02:00.000-08:00

"You know, Frederic fucking Chopin."

Amongst such a cast : Kurt Russell , Sam Elliott , Powers Boothe ; Val Kilmer steals the show.

With his wonderful , subtle, Tennessee Williams' drawl Val Kilmer steals every scene in this movie ( definitely his finest performance ).

Wyatt Earp: How are you?
Doc Holliday: I'm dying, how are you?

Notes : Satire and the Two Georges

2011-02-08T19:09:00.000-08:00

"Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that."
— George Carlin

It can be something as comical as an old , delusional , country man who devourers romance novels and tilts at windmills. Or it can be as tragic as a middle age man who lives alone and sees the ghost of his parents ( who themselves haven't realize their dead )who every night relive the night they were brutally murdered.

Satire can be really really funny for a long time and then one joke might hit you with a second of reality ; and in that second your throat goes dry.

Satire is every day life around us every where. Only most people have to watch it on television first to realize it . Because I guarantee you two grumpy old men are anything but happy.

If life ever starts seeming satirical have you gone crazy ?

Catch - 22 , my favorite satirical novel.

Jonathan Swift my favorite classic satirist.

Who hit contemporary American society on the head with their satire ? Two men , George Saunders and George Carlin.

Satire has had great political influence on society since the days of Aristophanes and his Old Comedy , to Charlie Chaplins mockeries of Hitler ,to the publication of Robert Coovers literary assault on Richard Nixon , in The Public Burning .

"A culture's ability to understand the world and itself is critical to its survival. But today we are led into the arena of public debate by seers whose main gift is their ability to compel people to continue to watch them. "
— George Saunders

Over and Under Rated Books.

2011-02-08T14:11:00.000-08:00

Over Rated :

The Catcher in the Rye just one of those books I was real pumped up to read and when I finally did ............................that was it ? I thought I had the wrong book for a second , I even inspected for missing pages , I was disappointed. I understand that it might have been controversial for its time ( 1951 ) but what is up with this on going infatuation with the novel still today. And whats up with lunatics attraction to it ?

Any James Patterson book . Millions of people are seriously reading this stuff? Last time I attempted to read a James P. book it had the word Psycho_thriller on the front cover . 58 chapters and 42 pages into the book , I quit ( and me quitting books happens like meteor sightings ) .

The Da Vinci Code...I just shivered thinking back to when I read this. The best thing about this book is that it made people aware of Da Vinci's art , aside from the Mona Lisa.

Under Rated :

Besides being the grandmother of musician Courtney Love .Paula Fox published her classic short novel , Deperate Characters , in 1970. About a literate smart , childless , Brooklynite , unhappily married , Woody Allen film type woman. Who translates French novels but lately has been to depressed to do anything but read Goncourt novels and dream . Only the reason and the logic behind her depression gives this slim novel massive weight.

The Recognitions published in 1955 , 4 years after The Catcher in the Rye , was poorly received. Critics called Gaddis too ambitious in his debut , calling the book erudite , just too long. It took the literary world twenty years and a second tome from Gaddis ( JR, winning the 1976 National Book Award ) to recognize the importance of The Recognitions. Cynthia Ozick wrote that " The Recognitions is always spoken of as the most overlooked important work of the last several literary generations... Through the famous obscurity of The Recognitions, Mr. Gaddis has become famous for not being famous enough."

Airships comes close to being a near perfect story collection. Barry Hannah , a writers writer , brings us these 20 tales in a simple lyrical voice . Hannah has the idiosyncrasy of all great southern writers. His sentences take unknown turns but always make it home. Also the funniest writer I've come across.

Coolness

2011-02-07T08:22:00.000-08:00

1.) Bas Rutten: anyone internationally known as ,  El Guapo , is cool. 

) Archimedes :WHAT !?  He used a Heat-Ray in 214 - 212 BC , that's cool.

) Tsimfuckis: creepy but cool.

) Deep sea creatures and their scintillant lights are cool.

) Salavador Dali paintings are cool.

 6.) The air guitar , because of C-Diddy, is cool .

) Paradoxical happenings that pass off as miracles are cool.

) Tom Wolfe in his white suits looks cool.

) Mr. Pink is cool.

10.) Contemporary pop-culture..........not cool.

Memorable Scenes : Ferocious Dialogue

2011-01-29T06:25:00.000-08:00

"Who ever told you that you can work with men !"

There are no cool guys walking away from explosions in this movie . Not a single female presence on screen. The strength of this film lies with its actors and the dialogue. David Mamet's play, "Glengarry Glen Ross" is beautifully translated into the silver screen medium. Even though it is a movie, it runs like a play ; using two main sets.

The cast is sensational :Al Pacino , Jack Lemmon , Ed Harris , Alan Arkin , Kevin Spacey ; how about Alec Baldwin in the best ten minutes of his entire career.

"Whats your name ?"

" FUCK YOU ! Thats my name..."

In Recognition : William T. Vollmann

2011-01-28T14:21:00.000-08:00

Where to begin with W.T.V.!? For the man is as interesting as the writer.

Anyone who can write a 3,300 page , seven-volume treatise on Violence , attempting to establish an evolutionary ( Rising Up and Rising Down ), rational explanation on why man the world around is violent ;is worth being speculated. An enormous book that is actually being read and was actually nominated .

Lets consider some of his slimmer books . Vollmann's debut : You Bright and Risen Angels , a 656 page allegorical epic, about a war between humanoid insects ( Revolutionaries ) and a society of electrical engineers ( Reactionaries ).In recent interviews when asked on his thoughts about the book ( well he considers it a cartoon ) Vollmann often answers with hints of self-apologies. A common hurdle early great writers feel the need to supply ; packing too much information in. If you strive pass the torrential info. on power plants , handguns , etc , etc ; YBARA will stay in your head for a very long time.

My personal favorite W.T.V. book happens to be his second book published ; a collection of short stories : The Rainbow Stories . And it happens to also be my introduction to Vollmanns writings. Its not easy to come off of a Barry Hannah or George Saunders short story high. Too find something different yet still interesting and good ; was hard. I tried Chris Adrian , dabbled at David Sedaris , ended up reading Stephen King. Then my friend Will handed me the Rainbow Stories and said -I shouldn't even be fucking giving this too you , i haven't even fucking read it. I wont get analytical for fear of taking interest away from this collection. Thirteen stories each completely different like crayons in a box : a disturbing love story between a man and a Green Dress worn by a women who lives in his apartment building , a surrealistic retelling of the three biblical martyrs and Nebuchadnezzar's fiery furnace , a split personality serial killer who murders the homeless for cleanliness reasons. Vollmann's usage of the spectrum of colors in telling these stories is ingenious

One thing about Vollmann I've encountered with no other writer is his skill in writing about atrocious and sick things , and in a non-satirical way , but in a real uncomfortable way . In a way that will make you squeamish and uneasy ; and wondering why you keep turning pages.Why ? Maybe 'cause its just a book I dont really know . In The Royal Family an 800 page tome about all kinds of sordid people : whores , crack heads , a very disturbing pedophile ; Vollmann managed to keep me reading.

"The prettiest thing is the darkest darkness" - preface to The Rainbow Stories

Only Jack London and Hemingway rival his journeys and yet William T. Vollmann manages to be one of the most prolific writers in contemporary literature today.

Roberto Bolaño : The Savage Detectives / 2666

2011-01-24T17:04:00.000-08:00

Roberto Bolaño is one of those writers you either love or hate: you either think his prose is poetic and insightful

"Now even bookish pharmacists are afraid to take on the great, imperfect, torrential works, books that blaze a path into the unknown. They choose the perfect exercises of the great masters. Or what amounts to the same thing: they want to watch the great masters spar, but they have no interest in real combat, when the great masters struggle against that something, that something that terrifies us all, that something that cows us and spurs us on, amid blood and mortal wounds and stench."

or you find him full of pedantry , looking for any way to fit in literary references ; one of my biggest problems with The Savage Detectives.

About 85% of the passages in The Savage Detectives went something like this : This morning I walked around Mexico City with Maria discussing Octavio Paz ( for every well known writer he names, he drops 5 other Latin American Poets and 3 French writers Ive never heard of ) Then we went inside the coffee shop where we ran into ( everyone has similar names ) and we talked about poetry for half the day. And then Maria and I made love for the other half of the day.

Bolano's pedantry isn't anything too different from those similar boastful rants that most South American writers deliver ; about infinity and dreams and how it all makes sense through the life of some intellectual who never quite really made it. Usually the intellectual is a writer nine out of ten times its a poet. But no where is Bolano's snobbery close to that of American writers ; at times he'll walk along side the line ( he does this a lot in 2666 even making references to David Lynch films ).

2666, published posthumously , is a novel about literature, writing, inspiration, literary criticism, the mysteries of the fate of men, especially of those men who involve themselves in writing, the secret of the glory of a work of art exactly. 2666 is a hefty book with critical approval for a real reason. where even the meaningless sections felt important and interesting ; unlike The Savage Detectives.

Play list : Who Are You

2011-01-18T20:14:00.000-08:00

     I've always been  a firm believer that you can tell a WHOLE lot more about a person by the music they listen to , books they read and movies they like ; and not so much by what they ostensibly display. But this can be tricky because a persons reason for liking a certain song / band / music can be triggered more by a nostalgic remembrance than an actual liking ; im sure that’s what explains my tolerance of the Indigo Girls. But then there is people who like music for the way that it sounds only and pay no attention to the words being spoken ; this is fine if you’re a fan of say : Aphex Twins , Deltron Zero , Vashti Bunyan. But not the mind-numbing , autonomous thought depleting  , commercial music being played on the radio that usually advocates , promiscuous behaviors , a world made of money , just  false portrayals of life.
    But I think why and how people listen to music are two completely  different things ; but I can only speak about why and how I listen to music. I usually listen to the same 15- 20 songs over and over for about 2 months , which is usually how long it takes for me to pass over on a feeling. Sometimes a certain song will pass over to the next list ( Zevon’s - My Shits Fucked Up and Alberta Cross  have been on roatation for close to a year now ) .

My current playlist :

Warren Zevon - My Shits Fucked Up
Monster of Folk - Dear God
Monsters of Folk - Man Named Truth
Fleet Foxes - Tiger Mountain Peasant Song
Joe Henry - I will Write My Book
The Church - Under The Milky Way
Arcade Fire - Neighborhood #2 (Laika)
Porcupine Tree - Time Flies
Steven Wilson - Sentimental
Old Crow Medicine Show- Wagon Wheel
Townes Van Zandt - Lungs
Townes Van Zandt - Waiting Around to Die
Alberta Cross - Lucy Rider
Alberta Cross - Leave Us of Forgive Us
The Wooden Sky - This Bird Has Flown
Tom Waits - Way Down In The Hole

Bullet Quotes

2010-12-28T09:46:00.000-08:00

"A book is a loaded gun in the house next door...Who knows who might be the target of the well-read man?"
— Ray Bradbury (Fahrenheit 451)

"There are no dangerous thoughts; thinking it-self is dangerous."
— Hannah Arendt

"The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one." — George Bernard Shaw

"The world was ending then, it's ending still, and I'm happy to belong to it again."
— Jonathan Franzen (How to Be Alone)

"Happiness is a warm gun" - The Beatles

The Dash Poem

2010-12-26T08:16:00.000-08:00

     I'm not big on poetry. Most reputedly praised poetry goes over my head : Ezra Pound , T.S. Eliot , W.B. Yeats ; all speak jabberwocky if you ask me. With the exception of a few : Robert Frost , Sylvia Plath ( not the feminist stuff ) , Guillaume Apollinaire .
     I ran across this poem , by Linda Ellis , about 4 years ago and it has stayed with me since. It has no allusions to Paradise Lost, or Dante Alighieri , and none to any Greek God . its just a simple truth.

The Dash Poem

by Linda Ellis

I read of a man who stood to speak

At the funeral of a friend.

He referred to the dates on her tombstone

From the beginning to the end.

He noted that first came the date of her birth

And spoke of the following date with tears,

But he said what mattered most of all

Was the dash between those years.

For that dash represents all the time

That she spent alive on earth

And now only those who loved her

Know what that little line is worth.

For it matters not, how much we own,

The cars, the house, the cash,

What matters is how we live and love

And how we spend our dash.

So think about this long and hard;

Are there things you'd like to change ?

For you never know how much time is left

That can still be rearranged.

If we could just slow down enough

To consider what's true and real

And always try to understand

The way other people feel.

And be less quick to anger

And show appreciation more

And love the people in our lives

Like We've never loved before

If we treat each other with respect

And more often wear a smile,

Remembering that this special dash

Might only last a little while.

So when your eulogy is being read

With your life's actions to rehash

Would you be proud of the things they say

About how you spent your dash ?

I Saw a Film Today , Oh Boy

2010-12-22T07:32:00.000-08:00

     No it was not about an English war but it was about war somewhat ; I think.

     The story takes play inside a game cartridge , no one ever played ,"sitting on the floor in the back room of an empty arcade".  The name of the video game , hence the title , We Are The Strange. The basic premise of what this film is suppose to be about  : defeating the dark forces of evil . 

     Before watching this strange film all the way through , I actually started it twice and stopped both times , feeling not yet ready for the creepiness of its look. After viewing all 88 minutes of its mixture of, 8-bit era video game style and stop motion animation , I still feel like I missed something. I have definitely never seen anything like this before and not really sure I could sit through it again. Aside from the first ten minutes and the last ten minutes of the film , the rest of the 68 minutes made no sense to me. Just a repetition of random , weird , visuals that would have been suited better as a trip video for a rave. To me the soundtrack was the best thing about the film.

      Save yourself 86 minutes and just watch this 2 minute trailer and you've seen the film.

In Recognition : Leonard Cohen

2010-12-20T13:58:00.000-08:00

    Why am I just finding out about Leonard Cohen's music ( last month ) when the man has been around for nearly fifty years !?

    Their is a  sense of desperation and self-loathing in his music that combines a haunting melody with  such lyrical imagery . Cohen is one of the most literary musicians I have heard ( he should be , aside from being a musician ; he is also a poet and novelist ).

    Cohen is grouped with other singer-songwriters like : Warren Zevon , Townes Van Zandt , Tom Waits  ; that I like to listen to whenever I feel like feeling something . Hearing about emotions in a way that actually makes sense ;to me. These are usually things I only get from reading .

I Still Watch Cartoons : Origin

2010-12-10T13:24:00.000-08:00

It's just something I remember growing up to , that most of my peers never heard of , and were either : a = confused but fascinated with wanting to see one , or b = thought i was huge dork for watching a cartoon and calling it " a cartoon for adults." and willing to fight over the importance of them. Dork or not ,it doesn't matter.
These are just some of the earlier films I remember watching over and over when I was young.

Ninja Scrool ( just watch the trailer for the story line ) - This film was possibly the first time I saw real horrific violence in animation outside of watching foot soldiers explode on each other in T.M.N.T.. Also the first time I saw really interesting characters on the same level as the Marvel world.

Akira - Akira was the first cartoon I saw that was more than just the action , first time I really used my ears and eyes.

Fist of the North Star - I thought this was Mad Max the cartoon when I first saw this film on. At the time I was real big on Jean Claude Van Damme and kicking ass stuff. And this film is definitely about kicking ass.

Lasting Impressions and Characters

2010-12-10T10:37:00.000-08:00

This List is in no particular order ( None of my list are ). Some of these books in which these characters derived from I only read once but their impressions have stayed with me ; fresh as ever.

Hal Incandenza - How can you not like a character who gets in taxicabs and says " To the library and step on it". Arguably the center character in D.F.W.'s novel Infinite Jest . The first time I read Infinite Jest I thought Hal was really funny ( and still do somewhat ) mostly because of his way of thinking ( being concerned over the positioning of his hands in the opening scene ), his comic thoughts and his slick mischievous doings. But after reading the novel 2 more times and pieces of it several more . I've come to see Hal as a really gloomy character . It's pretty obvious from the opening scene that Hal is not normal and through out the entire ( back tracking of the ) book we see that Hal has never been normal ; "thirteen going on really old". Wallace possesses the talent to write about what we once thought of as that ineffable feeling or explaining how we really feel on the inside to the outside world. I think Wallace did a great job of this with the character Hal Incandenza , of a confused identity . ( From , Infinite Jest , by David Foster Wallace )
Owen Meany - John Irving has a true gift of character development . To me that's what makes a John Irving novel the characters . Not only the main one(s) but all of them. This was one of those books I remember finishing and sort of just sitting there with it still in my hand , going over it in my head , and truly thanking the fortunate and unfortunate events in my life that lead me to be a reader and to that / this particular book.( From , A Prayer for Owen Meany , by John Irving)
Piscine Molitar Patel ( AKA, Pi ) - A boy named after a Parisian swimming pool , who grew up on a zoo , and practices 3 religions; how's that for an interesting character ? How about someone who spent 227 days on a life boat with a Bengal Tiger. One of the main things I liked about Pi was his survivalist instinct in human nature and in spirit ; the kid caught and ate a turtle , distilled drinkable fluid out of his urine and continues with his belief in a loving higher being. Putting myself in his shoes at sixteen ; I probably would have dehydrated myself from drinking salt water and crying on week one. ( From , Life of Pi , by Yann Martel )
Judge Holden - Every time the Judge spoke I read the lines twice. Well spoken and intelligent , Judge Holden never has a dull thing to say , "Whatever in creation exists without my knowledge exists without my consent." And he is alleged to have been based on an actual person. The Judge is described as very tall , bereft of all hair , massive in frame and an albino . To accompany his uncanny appearance are his even stranger doings and abilities : immune to sleep and aging , extremely skilled fiddler , and his unique brutality ; amongst other things. I personally think the Judge is the devil . The closing scene of the book with the Judge sashaying naked and proclaiming that he never sleeps and that he will never die; was one of the most vivid I have ever read.( From , Blood Meridian , by Cormac McCarthy )
Enid Lambert - Loving , sensitive , smart , unintentionally funny , but very-very annoying . But she is a plausible character for a mom; it's what makes you love her. ( From , The Corrections , by Jonathan Franzen )
Yossarian - This novel is full of appreciative characters ( Milo , Chaplain Tappman, Major Major ) but its Yossarian who I was concerned with. Going to any extremes to "live forever or die in the attempt" as he tries to escape the infamous catch-22 . Though at the end of the novel it is left unclear whether Yossarian actually took the deal ,offered to him , to become "one of the boys" or if he made it to neutral Sweden . One thing is clear ; Yossarian Lives !( From , Catch-22 , by Joseph Heller )
Archimboldi - The mysterious ,reclusive , German writer that the 5 part ( last ) novel, 2666, of Roberto Bolano revolves around. I have no problem with calling this particular book a master piece or a classic. Each page was like a mirror reflecting the world in which we live in. Bolano was writing the book with knowledge of death around the corner and you can feel the strength and life that Bolano put into it ; especially the last part of the book which happens to be the part devoted to the German writer. Even at 900 + pages the book feels short and I personally believe Bolano was no where near finished with this story. ( From , 2666 , by Roberto Bolano )
Oscar de Leon ( Aka , Oscar Wao ) - Described as a "Ghetto Nerd at the End of the World" Oscar is an overweight Dominican boy growing up in ghettos of New Jersey , but while others his age are more concerned with getting laid ; Oscar is busy with fantasy and Science Fiction novels. But that doesn't stop him from yearning for someone to love. ( From , The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao , by Junot Diaz )
Colonel Aureliano Buendia - He represents all that a man is capable of being : a warrior , an artist , a horn-dog ( fathering 17 children ) , stubborn and solitary. ( From , One Hundred Years of Solitude , by Gabriel Garcia Marquez )

With the exception of Enid , I've noticed , all of these characters are men. Also that the following quote applies to them all.

"Man has not one and the same life. He has many lives placed end to end, and that is the cause of his misery." -- Chateaubriand

My Top 5 Pot People

2010-12-09T13:45:00.000-08:00

Jorge Cervantes - World-renowned cannabis-cultivation expert , Jorge has probably done more than any other person will ever do for Cannabis. By spreading the How-To of cannabis cultivation ; notably indoor cultivation . Jorge was the first person to collect information on the topic and put it into print , Indoor Marijuana Horticulture , in 1983 . I think its, I guess ironic , his book was dubbed The Indoor Grower's Bible , considering what Jorge does ; spreads the good word. ...More about Jorge

Tommy Chong - Chong helped make marijuana famous , as one half of comedy duo , Cheech and Chong. In 1978 the duo's movie, Up In Smoke, was the highest grossing movie of that year . Through out his career Chong has remained a passionate advocate and public face for Cannabis legalization.

Dale Clare - Executive chancellor of Oaksterdam University, where she spearheads expansion projects, develops new courses and teaches the Medical 101 and Legal Rights 102 classes for all four campuses, Clare educates the public and other industry professionals as director of public relations and patient advocacy for the Medical Cannabis Assn. Committed to improving patient safety through the development of standardized quality-assurance practices and testing methods, she also helped establish the Medical Cannabis Safety Council, where she serves as chairperson of the Education & Research Committee.

Jack Herer - Cult icon Jack Herer , The Emperor of Hemp , first came into the Cannabis scene with his tome , The Emperor Wears No Clothes ; an authoritative history of the cannabis plant's uses and the prohibitions against it. Passing away earlier this year Herer will live on in memory of his work and in the dominant sativa strained named after him.

Primo - In his own self-descriptive words , Primo is a : "...a joker , a midnight toker , and a conscious poker." Primo is definitely one of the hardest working individuals out there promoting to educate , legalize and spreading the good word on Cannabis. Check out his website , Lets Talk About Pot , for some of that great information . Blogs , videos , and much more on everything from : cooking with Cannabis , gardening tips , and the general good use of cannabis.

Bullshit Readers and Overlooked Literary Treasures

2010-12-07T16:05:00.000-08:00

I think sometimes readers fall victim to these "must read" book lists ( composed of literary classics I'm convinced most people do not enjoyably read : War and Peace , Moby Dick , Crime and Punishment , etc , etc ) or get caught up in hypes surrounding certain reputable writers ( Pynchon , William S. Burroughs , or most recently David Foster Wallace ) ; that we sort of brainwash ourselves into believing that we are really reading something of worth , that we are elevating ourselves . Elevating yourself to what ? Intellectualism ? Piece of mind ? How about Bullshitism .

Not saying that the aforementioned books or writers are bullshit , but the person for believing that . Its not what you read its how you read ! Now there is only so many ways a James Patterson book can be read. But I once read, The Sound and the Fury by Faulkner and what did I gain ? Nothing , I barely made sense of the novel . The only things I can say of the book is what others have said. But I read it ! Did I ? No I only pretended to read it. Of course this happened in my early years as a reader , when I was more concerned with wanting to be a reader than actually being one ; this is most adequate justification I can come up with.

When ever a piece of literature kicks my ass : a Barthelme short story , the novels of James Joyce , praised poetry ; I blame my shortcomings as a reader/person and simply tell myself I am not ready. James Wood wrote about ( How Fiction Works ) how the more we read the better we understand life and vice versa ; maybe I haven't lived enough .

"Literature differs from life in that life is amorphously full of detail, and rarely directs us toward it, wher as literature teaches us to notice. Literature makes us better noticers of life; we get to practice on life itself; which in turn makes us better readers of detail in literature; which in turn makes us better readers of life." - James Wood ( How Fiction Works )

Getting back to what this blog was originally suppose to be about ; overlooked literary treasures. These are just some of the books / writers I feel are highly overlooked or over shadowed .

William Gaddis - Why isn't Gaddis being promoted as much as , say , Dostoyevsky , Kafka , Hemingway , Pynchon , Nabokov , or any of the other writers we are constantly being referred to. The Recognitions , is one of my all time favorite books , easily in my top three. One of the really amazing things to me about this particular Gaddis book is that it was written in 1955, considering the structure and style of the novel , Gaddis was way ahead of his time as a writer ( one of the reasons the novel was poorly received upon publication ). The Recognitions reads like one of the of the many multi-structured novels published in the last 15 years : The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay , White Teeth , The Corrections , Infinite Jest.
Guy Davenport - A true man of letters ; Davenport wrote about everything and he wrote good. Short Stories , essays , book introductions and reviews , poetry , translations of Ancient Greek and Egyptian text , commentaries ; Davenport possibly was the most well read man in the world.
John Hawkes - An experimental novelist, one of the original American postmodern novelist. Over shadowed by some of the more well known post-modernist : Barth , Coover, Pynchon. Hawkes has an incomparable style that was praised by such writers as Flannery O'Conner and Thomas Pynchon. Hawkes is not an easy read , sometimes too metaphorical ( in one of his stories the narrator is horse , in another a French frog ) , but with a little patience Hawkes can be exuberant. One of the darkest imaginations in print.
The Propheteers by Max Apple - One of the best pieces of Satire I have ever read poking fun at American corporations and some of the biggest Corporate leaders of the last century Walt Disney and Howard Johnson. The bridge Between Mark Twain and George Saunders.
In Watermelon Sugar by Richard Brautigan - Brautigan is widely known for his novel Trout Fishing in America which sort of shrouds his novella In Watermelon Sugar. Set in a surrealistic world where the sun changes color everyday and Tigers talk , play instruments and kill people . Brautigan's writing similarities to David Foster Wallace are very clear : his dialogue is supernaturally exact , essentially works of language , they offer no bromides for living .

How !? Why did California say no to this !?

2010-11-26T11:08:00.000-08:00

Why Did California Vote Down Legal Pot ?

"Prop 19 failed in part because many proponents emphasized the wrong arguments for legalization. Many advocates promised major benefits to California's budget because of reduced expenditure on marijuana prohibition and increased revenue from marijuana taxation. Other supporters claimed that Mexican drug violence would fall substantially.

Both claims were overblown. The budgetary benefits, while not insignificant, would have been small compared with California's fiscal mess. Mexican drug violence is mainly associated with the cocaine and methamphetamine trades, as well as from marijuana traffic to other states.

Many voters sensed that Prop 19 supporters were overreaching, and this made them suspicious of all the arguments in its favor. Common sense should have recognized that since marijuana was close to legal already, Prop 19 would not have had dramatic effects."

read the full article here

By Jeffrey A. Miron, Special to CNN

Best Literary Adaptations.

2010-11-25T13:02:00.000-08:00

     Like most readers , I'm sure, I take sort of a , deserving , felt pride whenever I finish watching a movie and I can honestly say , "The book was better."
     Lately I have been re-watching or watching for the first time book adaptations to film...Though their seems to be a lot of bad ones : The World According to Garp , Dune , The Human Stain, Naked Lunch. Their is also some really good ones : A Clockwork Orange , Blade Runner , One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
     I recently watched Jesus' Son for the first time and....well probably the best literary adaptation I have seen yet. Stuck true to the actual text of the book and not one weak performance ; what about Mike Shannon's performance as Dundun ! And the soundtrack was great too : Barbara Mason , Tommy Roe , Bob Dylan.

In Recognition : Shepard Fairey

2010-11-25T11:40:00.000-08:00

I thought I would high light the work of one of Americas most influential artist Shepard Fairey , especially in this Orwellian time.

   Fairey emerged from the skate board scene with his "Andre the Giant Has a Posse" sticker campaign. But quickly gained national recognition with his Obama "HOPE" poster. He's also designed some covers for bands such as : Smashing Pumpkins , Flogging Molly, and Anthrax.
     Fairey is a very political artist ( his funding of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation, six-figure contributions to Darfur ) with a sort of Diego Rivera kinda attitude : "I challenge anybody to fuck with that, know what I mean ," Fairey stated. "It's not like I'm just jumping on some cool rebel cause for the sake of exploiting it for profit. People like to talk shit, but it's usually to justify their own apathy. I don't want to demean anyone's struggles through casual appropriation of something powerful ; that's not my intention."
     Critics have accused him of cynicism by turning graffiti culture into a self-promoting ad campaign as if graffiti was just thoughtless vandalism but others critics have called his work , "...a strong sense of visual style and emotional authenticity."

“Ouch! Listen I come to you for advice..." - David Foster Wallace , 9 years old

2010-11-25T10:05:00.000-08:00

When I first heard news of David Foster Wallace dying amongst the first few thoughts i had that day , went some what like this : what ? why ? Then a selfish one ; " what about his works in progress ?"

     Not that I knew he was working on a new novel but I did know it had been 10 + years since the publication of his last one , Infinite Jest.

     But we didn't have to wait long before some new / old D.F.W. literature ; his This is Water commencement speech popped up like some pre-suicide note / warning. Then of course we all went back to re-reading his old stuff , but, this time we did it different. It seems Wallace had been asking for help for a very long time. Since his last story collection , Oblivion ( 2004 ) to a one page story he wrote when he was nine years old ; about an ambivalent tea kettle.

     With the late writer's just released archives it appears some of Wallace's best piece of mind (more than 20, 000 of Wallace's papers ) is yet to come.

     Check out NEWSWEEK's article on their tour through the remains of D.F.W.'s mind. 

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/11/19/david-foster-wallace-s-personal-files.html

The Short Story

2010-11-10T09:24:00.000-08:00

     "I love short stories because I believe they are the way we   live.  They  are what our friends tell us, in their pain and joy, their  passion and  rage, their yearning and their cry against injustice."     Andre Dubus said. Stephen King calls them "...a kiss in the dark from a   stranger..." I guess those two are more applicable than Kerouac wanting   to marry his novels and having short stories as , children? 

     Wow , just thinking about exactly what the short story is, is exactly what its not , -short. From   Poe, James,and Hawthorne; to Carver , Saunder, and David Foster   Wallace. The art of the short story has never been in a debilitated   state. Has it changed ? Hell yeah, and it continues to exceed its so   called limited gamut.

     When i first started reading short   stories ( Chekhov , Hemingway , Stephen King ) I read them to take a   break from a novel , to read something in a short while and not have to   scratch my head so much at night about. Now I read novels to take  breaks  from Story Collections ; Courtesy of  Barthelme. I'm not in any  way  saying that the stature or meaning or worth of the realist ;  minimalist ,  postmodernist , or anybodiness is more important than the  other ; for  we all know that "Young Goodman Brown" is more than just a  walk in the  woods with the Devil. 

     Its hard for me to list  my top story  collections ,because there's always that one you tell  people "Ahh don't  read that one , its ok to skip it.". Now maybe that's  my fault ( which  I'm sure it is ) , maybe I just didn't get that one  story , maybe I was  burnt on that particular writers style when i read  the story; but most  likely I missed the message. So here's my list of some of  my favorite short  stories :

"Scintillant Orange" from The Rainbow Stories by William T. Vollmann : I remember reading this book for the first time , it was my first W.T.V. read and I was blown away with fresh air. Every story was completely different from the previous . This particular one is a surrealistic retelling of the three biblical martyrs and Nebuchadnezzar's fiery furnace. "...he smiled dreamily and looked into the orange coals of the ever-glowing braziers and imagined that he was at this very instant driving inconspicuously down the desert highway, which was packed with speeding orange Porshes, and bright orange construction signs directed traffic on heart-gladdening detours, so that Meshach could admire the orange bulldozers grinding up sand..."
"Good Old Neon" From Oblivion by David Foster Wallace : I read this story in one sit down . The whole time my hands wanted to put it down but my mind wouldn't let me ; or maybe it was the other way around. It's a very intricate story dealing with identity, the nature of the spoken language , existential emptiness. "...inside of you is this enormous room full of what seems like everything in the whole universe at one time or another and yet the only parts that get out have to somehow squeeze out through one of those tiny keyholes you see under the now in older doors." One of Wallace's constant themes seen through out all of his work ; the insufficiency of language .
"CivilWarLand in Bad Decline" From CivilWarLand in Bad Decline by George Saunders : Out of the array of Saunders stories this one seems to always gleam just a little more ; though it's very much identical to "Pastoralia" . Maybe its because I read this one first. Though Saunders does have a formulaic style of writing his voice is unique, reminds me of Barrah Hannah and Mark Twain for some reason.
"Testimony of Pilot" From Airships by Barrah Hannah : One of the handful of story collections ( in my opinion of course ) that has come close to being perfect. The stories in Airships are of those that get better with every re-read. I hear about a lot of books that have made people laugh aloud but have only made me snort. Airships made me laugh. You never quite know where Hannah will lead you or what his sentences might say but when you find out, its a whole lot of fun. "Testimony of Pilot" is one of the longer stories in Airships.
"Anne Moore's Life" from Last Evenings on Earth by Roberto Bolano : You watch / read as Anne Moore's life unfolds as the years go by , for better or worse . We follow Anne from her birth in Chicago to her sexual affairs in Mexico a couple more countries till she finally runs in to the narrator in Barcelona . The thing about this story is it follows a persons life from birth to oblivion in about 30 pages and that's all that seems sufficient. It's a bit poignant because one cant help but thinking of his/her life being told in the same manner ; short and sad.
"Gooseberries" by Anton Chekhov : This is a classic example of the extraordinary range that a short story can posses . The story deal with the hypocrisy of the fortunate who ignore the less fortunate ; that message is all on the surface. But a subtler issue lies beneath ; what price will one pay for happiness ? More so what does happiness mean ? This story also has one of my all time favorite metaphor/passage : "There ought to be behind the door of every, contented man some one standing with a hammer continually reminding him with a tap that there are unhappy people ; that however happy he may be, life will show him her laws sooner or later, trouble will come for him - disease, poverty, losses, and no one will see or hear, just as now he neither sees nor hears others."
"The Good Doctor" from You Are Not a Stranger Here by Adam Hasslet : This collection of stories is a clear example that the minimalist approach to the short story is not dead and can still be very effective. Every story read increases the pulse of the book in your hands . The Good Doctor is a story about a mother's love for her children and a doctor who thrives on absorbing the misery of others.
"The Green Dress" from The Rainbow Stories by William T. Vollmann : We return to The Rainbow Stories with this disturbing love story between a man and a Green Dress worn by a women who lives in his apartment building ; a women the man has no interest in. Once man and dress hook up be prepared for the intimate parts.
"Another Pioneer" from Oblivion by David Foster Wallace : Wallace stretched , twisted, and morphed the short story into dimensions unseen by most ; mostly with narration. In this story we are being told the overheard story of a friend of a friend about an urban myth of a child prodigy in a jungle village. What makes the story neat to me is the reliability of the story teller who admits to only having heard the story once.
"Brad Carrigan, American" from In Persuasion Nation by George Saunders : This story is very Mark Twain as it is the writers slap up side the head of the American People ; telling them "Hey ! Wake up this you.".As he pokes fun at the content of Americas favorite past time ; television .

I'm aware that I missed stories by Carver , Barth , Barthelme , Poe, Oates , Ozick , Johnson , Towers , Hemingway, Cheever, Boyle and all the rest of the short story masters. These are just some of the few short stories that pop in my head when I think about short stories.

In Recognition

2010-10-29T18:27:00.000-07:00

I'd like to bring recognition to things I deem cool / interesting / important / unappreciated .

Since I am in this whole Frenchman / world-unity kinda feeling , I decided to shine the light on the French Hip Hop group , Outlines. The group recently released a track , produced by the RZA , entitled "Visions".

"Being out here in China and seeing the growth of our culture in their world and seeing how their culture influenced my world led me to choose this song. We all so much on the same path as individuals only separated by language and custom and location. And the negative forces that strive to keep us apart by fabricating false images of each other. Well the RZA and Outlines have a vision for a better world." Is what the RZA had to say concerning the song.

Though RZA took a drum sample from one of his over a decade old tracks ( Bring Da Ruckus ) "Visions" still has a fresh , contemporary , sound to it. Thanks to the Outlines' lead vocalist. Listen for yourself : Outlines ft RZA - Visions. If you like the sound definitely check out their 2007 debut album , Our Lives Are Too Short . Their influences have ranges from , Roy Lichtenstein to Daft Punk to Jazzanova. Legendary George Clinton described their sound as "futuristic motown".

Yes on 19

2010-10-29T14:18:00.001-07:00

Tomorrow will not only be an important day in lives of Californians but nationwide people will be anticipating the results of Proposition 19;the Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010.

If passed :

Cannabis will be controlled like alcohol , adults 21 and older in California will be allowed to posses up to one ounce , to be consumed in the comfort of his/her home or at licensed establishments.

Generate billions in annual revenue ( there is at least $14 billion in marijuana sales every year in California alone ) to help out Californians by providing funds to/for : create more jobs , healthcare, educations, parks, roads, and more.

The state-government will be able to focus on catching real bad guys, by ending the arrest of non-violent cannabis consumers , and stop wasting hundreds of millions of tax payers dollars on these feeble cases.

Protect medical cannabis patients' rights

Deliver an attenuate blow to the drug cartels across our borders who currently generate over 60% of their profits from the illegal U.S. marijuana market.

Here's the deal, I don't believe you could find a LOGICAL person anywhere in the world who will agree that cannabis is more dangerous than alcohol , I am not going to waste our time by stating the facts to support that. Its an old argument and I think it's time the conservative crowd accept they've been wrong about this for many many years.

Cinema of France / My Favorite French Film(s)

2010-10-29T13:00:00.000-07:00

It's no doubt the French have had a major impact/influence in film-history ; considered by many to be the birthplace of cinematography ( the cinematograph was invented in 1890 by the french brothers ,Auguste and Louis Lumiere ).The Nouvelle Vague of the late 50s and 60s had lasting effects on such directors as Coppola , Scorsese , Tarantino, and many more.

Three of my all time favorite films happen to be by French Directors , namely two : Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet ( why haven't these two collaborated since 1995 !!?? ).These three films are easily distinguishable , for they are in a genre of their own ,with their inimitable brilliant cinematography. In Delicatessen and The City of Lost Children we see these surrealistic worlds with these genuinely ,almost absurd , characters : vegetarian sub-group of French rebels , a butcher who traffics in human flesh , a scientist who steals the dreams and nightmares of children , a disembodied brain in a tank.

In Amelie we see a very similar style yet a bit different ( the absense of Marc Caro is evident ) ; the sets are more vibrant . The film is a kaleidoscope of colors and very neat details. Oh and the story is comprehendible ; though a quick synopsis would only make the movie sound cornball ( a light romantic comedy, about a Parisian women who decides her life's work should be bringing happiness to others , see?) I guarantee this is a fun movie to watch.

Geek Love and Palahniuk

2010-10-24T14:40:00.000-07:00

      So about nine months ago my friend Will wrote me a letter telling me  about this wonderful book he had just read ,but couldn't / wouldn't tell  me a thing about it, and demanded I not google it ; "...trust me on  this one dude." ( his post script). I had previously trusted Will with ,  The Cheese Monkeys ( which I can review with one word : WACK ), and  W.T.V.'s The Royal Family ( which does have some impressive writing ,  but nonetheless , my one word review of it : Phew ) .

      At that time ( a little embarrassed about this ) I had never heard  of the book or of Katherine Dunn, figured it to be a new release, I kept  imagining a story about a treky and a warsie who combine forces with  love. Since my books-to-read-list is pretty much filled up to the year  2666 ; I put it off.Will, knowing me ,  had a copy of the book delivered  to my home. Where it sat on the bookshelf in between ,............, for  seven months ; until two weeks ago. 

     I had just finished a critical re-read of The crying of lot 49, and was  looking for something of solace , something fun , something easy to  read. So I picked it up and really looked it at for the first time.There  was the silver national book award finalist insignia on the front  cover, I had not noticed that before, "A Fellini movie in ink..." reads  one of the blurbs on the back cover ; could be good I thought.

     And two days later I finished Geek Love and it was great. I was so glad I read it when I did, at a time when I needed a book  that could be both entertaining and thoughtful. What i really liked  about it -( besides the fact that it dealt with freaks  , one of my  fascinations)- that it was so bizarre and perverse while at the same  time managing to be profound and have some philosophical impact ; the  whole concept of " who are the real freaks?" is fascinating. Her writing  is fantastic , great description , great dialogue ; it seemed like she  really influenced Palahniuk ( who's from the same area ) and I can even  see a little bit of Geek Love in George Saunders ( check out his short story "Bounty" in his Collection , CivilWarLand in Bad Decline ). 

Since I'm on Chuck Palahniuk ( every time his name comes up I have to voice my opinion ), a writer, I went from loving his work to hating it .So much of Palahniuk's stuff is just trite, formulaic, gimmicky ; seemingly only written to shock. I've been bummed out by the books of his that I've read post- Fight Club and Invisible Monsters ( Survivor , Choke, Diary, Haunted )they all pissed me off ; they're too much alike.