2:20 check up

at the Apple store and then hopefully I'm good to go. First, I need to clean this computer so they don't judge me based on all the grime. Then home to work on book then back out to Electric Literature party then back home for re-installing all my applications.

The worst part of all this technological bullshit has been...

None of my iphoto photos were transferred. They are gone. Lost. Gone and lost. That is very, very un-good. Now all that came before no longer exists.

Technological and gastronomical breakdown

I've spent the better part of the past three days on the phone with Apple and Microsoft. So far, I like the Apple people better, but I fucking hate their computer. I had to do a big transfer and then a horrifying ERASE and DELETE of the entire system. In the middle of all this my blackberry broke and I spent two hours at the phone store this morning and had to buy a new blackberry with money I don't have. Add to this - last night's dinner with Arthur Phillips! We went to Grand Sichaun on Canal Street where you order raw shit like pig tendons and squid balls and throw it in boiling shit and Maneschewitz my stomach hurts today.

When I return to full blogging form I will post about my weekend which was filled with cultural things like:

1) Sufjan Stevens, Osso, David Stith, Shara Worden concert/film screening
2) Private Doveman house concert
3) Art salon on Adelphi Street

Until then, my stomach really, really hurts.

Electric Literature Event Wednesday Night!

It's gotten to the point where we over here at HERSblogworld have so many last minute plans for you that you might as well just permanently clear your schedule and await instruction, you know? DEFINITELY free yourself up Wednesday night, because Electric Literature is hosting their second issue release party at DROM, and it sounds like it's going to be stellar.

From the lovely folks of EL, the Wednesday night logistics:

9:30pm- NEW OPTIMISM featuring Miho Hatori, former vocalist of Cibo Matto, aka “Noodle” of Gorrilaz, Collaborator of Handsome Boy Modelling School, John Zorn, Blackalicious and The 6ths.

8:30pm- Authors: MICHAEL CUNNINGHAM, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for The Hours, and author of A Home At the End of the World, and Specimen Days
and JIM SHEPARD, author of six novels, including Project X, and three story collections, including Love and Hydrogen and Like You'd Understand, Anyway, which was nominated for the National Book Award and won The Story Prize.

7:30pm- The films of MARTHA COLBURN with live musical accompaniment by MUDANG ROUGE

-Our good friend Noah C. spinning all night.

And:

** Bulldog Gin Drink Specials from 7-9pm!** Dirty martinis, anyone? [ED. NOTE: yes, thank you]

At DROM, in the heart of the East Village
85 Avenue A
(between 5th St & 6th St)
New York, NY 10009
(212) 777-1157

Wednesday, October 28th, 7pm

Admission: $12 @ the door (You’ll make that back in drink specials in no time.)

Come early for the booze (7-9pm) and the films (7-8pm) which are not to be missed!

cover image courtesy of electricliterature.com

See you there!

KAISER CARTEL JUST ADDED for NOVEMBER 11th!!

Laurie Sandell introduced me to Kaiser Cartel and I especially love this song and have played it incessantly for a week now. They're playing on November 11th for CRISIS & SUBURBIA night with Lauren Grodstein, Victor Lodato and Paul Rudnick. They're seriously talented.

Witness:



Get tickets for November 11th show before they sell out!




And don't get mad at me if you miss out!

Greenlight Bookstore Opening

The only reason there's no exclamation point in that title is because I realized all my titles have exclamation points. My bad. This IS exciting, though, so you know what?

Greenlight Bookstore is opening in Ft. Greene! Yeah!!!

As of now, they're open 10-10 Monday-Saturday and 12/8 on Sundays. Stop by at 686 Fulton St. at South Portland, and if you like combining books and a little booze, head to their launch party this Saturday, October 24th at 7pm for some free champagne and giveaways.

Oh, and Amanda has more to say about this, so keep your eyeballs on the blog!

Town Hall MET-ing!

Hey, this is neat:

A group of art-thinkers known as Town Hall Meeting (perhaps you've seen them speak at the New Museum) are presenting a personalized guide to the Metropolitan Museum of Art next Sunday, in which members and bright friends of members station themselves at art works "that they feel a particular affinity towards" and give a little talk. Maps to these presenters will be handed out in front of the museum. Here's their blurb on the event:

Mission:

To establish a sense of ownership over New York's largest public collection of objects d'art, and to highlight the accessibility of this venue. We are hoping that all those who come across out tour are enticed to establish their own connection with the collection in a new and unique manner. We want this to be - like many other projects - informative, fun and open to all.

Stop by between 11 am and 1pm next Sunday, October 25th, look for the Town Hall Meeting brick stack (below)--and engage!

Last Minute Change In Your Evening Plans!

"The Brooklyn Play" by Zebra Crossing, 7 pm tonight at The City Reliquary:

"In February 2009, we met as a group to explore the question, 'what is Brooklyn, and how can we put that on stage?' We spent the next five months conducting our investigation, uncovering found history, personal stories, family recollection, and YouTube videos; conducting on-the-street interviews, neighborhood field trips, e-mail questionnaires, and vigorous debates.

Now, we invite you to join the conversation as we present a look at the initial results of our ongoing process. Part theatre piece, part travel guide and part oral history; stuffed to the brim with video, puppetry, field recordings and faux historical re-enactments, "Brooklyn Play" is our attempt to express (some of) the many identities and experiences of Brooklyn."

I always knew it would take puppets to get to the heart of what Brooklyn is all about.

If you don't feel like fending off the Nor'easter tonight, stop by the Reliquary next Thursday to see Holopaw play there as part of CMJ, or just visit the museum sometime between 12 and 6pm on the weekend because it's totally delightful.

370 Metropolitan Avenue at Havemeyer
Williamsburgh, BK

Mama's got a brand new blog

Okay, it's not a blog, it's a website, but "Mama's got a brand new website," doesn't have the same ring. My mom, Eve Stuart, is now officially a resident of the World Wide Google. Go visit her website, here and then, if you're free tomorrow or over the weekend, check out her NYC photography debut at the High Line Open Studios.


Tonight through Sunday, more than 100 New York artists are opening their doors for an exclusive peek inside their private work spaces as part of the High Line Open Studios 2009, and my mom is one of them!

OPEN HOURS:

FRIDAY (16th) 6-9pm
SATURDAY(17th) - SUNDAY(18th) 12-6pm



My mom's work will be here: 508 West 26th Street Studio 5A. Come check it out.

This is what a visit to the High Line looks like:







Free coffee will be served at the Greeting Center (526 West 26th Street) and the Standard Hotel Plaza. Download a map of participating studios here.

More Phone Phiction!

Having talked up the iphone-accessible fiction from Featherpress and Electric Literature, we now have yet another way for you to steadfastly avoid eye contact and pass time on the subway without resorting to those little jewel-stacking games:

Moulinarn Mobile Books' "Fivers: Flash Fiction for your phone"!



















The first five come from Lemony Snicket, Anna North, Kaui Hart Hemmings, Joshua Furst, and Andrew Foster Altschul. Access them here, so that you can read Hemmings “Author Questionnaire,” in which "an author answers questions about a book she has written called HOW TO PARTY WITH AN INFANT." Excellent.

The Story Prize

A journalist, a novelist, and a librarian will judge the $20,000 Story Prize this year--awarded to a short story collection written in English and published in the U.S. during the calendar year.

Author A.M. Homes, LA Times journalist Carolyn Kellogg, and Ohio's Cuyahoga County Public Library librarian Bill Kelly will judge the 2009 prize. The winner will join a distinguished list that includes Edwidge Danticat, Mary Gordon, Jim Shepard, and Tobias Wolff. The winner takes home $20,000, and finalists each receive $5,000.

Here's more from the release: "The final deadline for submitting books is November 16, 2009. The three finalists will be announced in late January, 2010. The 2009 Story Prize winner will be announced on March 3, 2010 at an event open to the public and featuring conversations and readings with the three finalists at The New School in New York City."

A Day Late and just unbelievably short (both on inches and dollars)

The National Book Foundation announced the finalists for the 2009 National Book Awards. I have a penchant for taking credit and claiming responsibility for things that get recognized (is this one of the terrible traits that befalls the youngest child?) even when I've nothing to do with any of it. So, alongside the announcement of the NBA finalists, please find in bold my editorials on the responsibility I will take for specific nominations, even (and especially) where one thing has nothing to do with the other...

Fiction finalists:
Bonnie Jo Campbell for "American Salvage" from Wayne State University Press (none)
Colum McCann for "Let the Great World Spin from Random House (met him at a party once.)
Daniyal Mueenuddin for "In Other Rooms, Other Wonders" from W.W. Norton & Co. (saw this in the Norton catalogue a long time ago and thought it looked really good).
Jayne Anne Phillips for "Lark and Termite" from Alfred A. Knopf (She read at Happy Ending!)
Marcel Theroux for "Far North" from Farrar, Straus and Giroux. (none)

The nonfiction finalists are: (I don't read a lot of non-fiction, so sadly I can't take any credit for these)
David M. Carroll for "Following the Water: A Hydromancer's Notebook" from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Sean B. Carroll for "Remarkable Creatures: Epic Adventures in the Search for the Origins of Species" from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Greg Grandin for "Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford's Forgotten Jungle City" from Metropolitan Books/Henry Holt
Adrienne Mayor for "The Poison King: The Life and Legend of Mithradates, Rome's Deadliest Enemy" from Princeton University Press
T. J. Stiles for "The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt" from Alfred A. Knopf

Poetry Finalists
Rae Armantrout, Versed (Wesleyan University Press) (I really like her name)
Ann Lauterbach, Or to Begin Again, (Viking Penguin)
Carl Phillips, Speak Low (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) (met him years ago, heard him read and thought his poems were very special. Word must have gotten back to the NBA)
Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon, Open Interval (University of Pittsburgh Press) (I like her name)
Keith Waldrop, Transcendental Studies: A Trilogy (University of California Press)

Young People's Literature Finalist
Deborah Heiligman, Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith (Henry Holt and Co.)
Phillip Hoose, Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
David Small, Stitches (W.W. Norton & Co.) (Obsessed and he wrote a comment on my blog and this probably had a lot to do with how he got discovered, even though he wrote the comment two weeks ago)
Laini Taylor, Lips Touch: Three Times (Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic)
Rita Williams-Garcia, Jumped (HarperTeen/HarperCollins)

Power Trailer!

Watch the trailer for Ari Gold's debut feature, "Adventures of Power." Ethan Gold wrote 15 songs and a full score for this film.

PAL EVENTS....

WRITER (there is more than one, but since this is the Pal Events page, I'll just stick with the theme and list the pal): ELISA ZURITSKY



Starring (among other people): NADIA DAJANI (met her once at a friend's party, so she's only a party pal, but I liked her immensely so she gets a plug).

AND...in another part of town...

ETHAN GOLD'S (<---pal) brother Ari Gold- not my pal for no other reason than we've never met) feature film "Adventures of Power," which Ethan wrote 15 songs and a full music score for, is coming to theatres at last, starting tonight! It's the tale of a small town misfit who dreams of making it in the big world as an air drummer. Ridiculous and funny and also inspiring and geniune.

Come see the movie at the Loews Village 7 in Manhattan this weekend....
Fri-Mon: 12:00, 2:30, 6:00, 8:30, 10:45. Tues-Thurs: 2:45, 5:15, 8:00, 10:30.
Opening in other cities in the next week. Stars in attendance. (Including Adrian Grenier)

Details here

The full original soundtrack album will be available soon on itunes, and a few advance copies at screenings this weekend. Never have Ennio Morricone, death metal, Arabic funk, classic rock, pop country and mall punk blended so well.

FAKE ARI GOLD -
REAL ADRIAN GRENIER -

HELP KEEP US AFLOAT!

The Happy Ending Music and Reading Series is a sponsored project of NYFA's. This doesn't mean they give us money. They don't. What it does mean is that we can officially operate as a non-profit and your financial gifts are tax-exempt. Until November 1st a kindly anonymous donor is matching all donations to all NYFA's sponsored projects. Please consider giving to this series which survives on a budget of Zero. After expenses, no one makes a penny and in fact, Ms. Amanda Stern loses money (of which she has very little as I believe we've partly established). Please help us cover these expenses, which include: the evening's programs, internet hosting, database software, ink, paper, video cassettes (we currently borrow a video camera), a Flickr account and so much more...

Please Consider a Gift to NYFA from NYFA on Vimeo.

This is Cool, Right?

Okay, I promised Amanda that I would try to A) Post more often and B) Keep my food-truck posts to a minimum. Let me explain.

I really love food trucks. Yesterday, when I was walking to get Amanda her pre-show ritual Luna bar, it took everything I had in me to not go buy ALL the cupcakes from the Cupcake Truck.

I am a food truck connoisseur (hey, now, that's French!), and Summer '09 was the Summer of Food Trucks.

I think that the 53rd and 6th Halal Guy and the Treats Truck may have spent a lonely winter together because, this summer, 89 million baby food trucks popped up all over NYC. I am partial to sweets, so I spent a lot of time at the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck and Street Sweets. Amanda wanted to know about the savories--specifically the Dumpling Truck and the Bistro Truck.

The point is: food trucks are awesome. It's fast food, but you can totally pretend it's good for you because a real person actually made it. So, hooray, calories don't count (if they ever did!)!

And tomorrow is the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck's last day of the season (he's usually around Union Square). I will surely shed a sugary tear.

Found in Translation: I AM OFFICIALLY FRENCH.

Last night, I welcomed the French author, Tanguy Viel (phonetic pronunciation: Tohn-gee Viellllll) and spoke French on stage in front of real live French people. Not only that, they were from the French Embassy. Did they laugh? Yes. Did they clap? Eh. But, I am French now and I recognize a look of approval when I see one. Afterwards, I was told by an official and professional French translator, Isabelle Dupuis, that I have a good ear and a good accent. The people at the Embassy nodded in agreement. And that means, as we all well know, that I am now officially French. Without further ado, below please find my official French announcement brought to you courtesy of Babelfish. Below that, please find the French to English conversion, also brought to you courtesy of Babelfish and under that, the original English that I originally typed into Babelfish. Bon! Ca va! Allez!

MY OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT IN FRENCH:

Je suis ainsi excité pour annoncer cela en date de la nuit dernière, approximativement au 8:15 P.M., je suis devenu officiellement Français. Vingt membres de l'ambassade de France étaient témoin de la conversion et il y avait des cris de " ; FÈVE ! " ; tout autour. Une des meilleures pièces d'être officiellement Français était la découverte, lors d'entrer dans mon cabinet quand je suis arrivé à la maison, que mes vêtements et accessoires des fournisseurs urbains et 21 avaient été remplacée pour toujours par des vêtements et des accessoires de Chanel, de Celine, de Guerlain, de Printemps et d'articles éclectiques du marché aux puces d'Ouen de saint. Mon réfrigérateur a été stocké avec des épiceries de Franprix et champion et mes meubles de hand-me-down avec des antiquités de Chez Gersaint et de Meubles Authentiques. J'irai maintenant mensonge sur mon divan de évanouissement et attendrai mon Monsieur pour appeler.

BABELFISH'S TRANSLATION OF THE FRENCH ANNOUNCEMENT ABOVE INTO ENGLISH:

I am thus excited to announce that in date of last night, roughly with the 8:15 TOKEN ENTRY, I became officially French. Twenty members of l' embassy of France were pilot conversion and there were cries of " ; BROAD BEAN! " ; around. One of the best parts d' to be officially French was the discovery, at the time d' to enter my cabinet when I arrived at the house, that my clothing and accessories of the urban suppliers and 21 had been replaced for always by clothing and accessories of Chanel, Celine, of Guerlain, Spring and d' eclectic articles of the flea market d' Ouen of saint. My refrigerator was stored with grocers of Franprix and champion and my pieces of furniture of hand-me-down with antiquities from Gersaint and Authentic Pieces of furniture. J' will go now lie on my couch of fainding and will await my Mister to call.

WHAT I ORIGINALLY TYPED INTO BABELFISH IN ENGLISH TO BE TRANSLATED INTO FRENCH:

I am very excited to announce that at approximately 8:15pm last night, I became officially French. Twenty members of the French Embassy witnessed the conversion and there were shouts of "BON!" all around. One of the best parts of being officially French was the discovery, upon entering my closet, that my clothes and accessories from Urban Outfitters and Forever 21 had been replaced with clothing and accessories from Chanel, Celine, Guerlain and Printemps. My hand me down furniture had been replaced by furniture from Chez Gersaint and Meubles Authentiques and eclectic pieces from the Saint Ouen Flea Market. My refrigerator had been stocked with groceries from Franprix and Champion. I will now go lie on my fainting couch and wait for the Monsieur to call.

Special thanks to the French Culture wing of the French Embassy for approving the conversion!

Intern blog--Un recap.

Bonjour!

Last night at Happy Ending, I was entrusted with camera duty so I was, again, able to hear and see what was happening onstage.

And it. was. bon.

Larkin Grimm has a voice like no other, and she sells records with CDs INSIDE. How cool is that? I don't own a record player, and I haven't bought a cd in a year or two. I am, however, thinking about buying her record/cd for the insanely cool boys down the hall who actually listen to records in their free time. Like, without doing anything else. It completely blows my mind. Anyway, Larkin sings like an ethereal forest goddess, and makes me want to run right out, buy a record player, and chill. For the finale, she sang a cover of The Beatles' "Because" that gave me (and everyone else) chills.

Then Amanda came out and spoke French like it was her job (That would be a fun job, non?), and that was the best thing ever. Then Tanguy Viel and his brilliant translator read from Beyond Suspicion and completely mezmerized all of us with the power of the French language and beautiful, suspenseful prose. Watch out for Tanguy, though, he rates his friends using some kind of New Math, that even an iPhone app couldn't help me solve. C'est magnifique!

Finalement, Stephen Elliot read from The Adderall Diaries, and then fully made out with a random audience member onstage. I'm not gonna lie--it was hot.

Bon.

I'm a Nurse!

That's what Google Alert tells me and I'm sticking to it!


PHOTO
Three-year-old Clayton Mathiason, of Omaha, Neb., receives a dose of H1N1 vaccine via nasal spray from nurse Amanda Stern at Physician's Clinic, affiliated with Omaha's Methodist Health System, in Omaha, Neb., Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2009. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)

Speed on over to Joe's Pub tonight at 7pm!

Take your adderall, commit a crime and come on over to Happy Ending @ Joe's Pub tonight to confess it!

ONLY A FEW TICKETS LEFT FOR TONIGHT'S SHOW -- "Crime, Confession & Adderall." Starring: Stephen Elliott, Tanguy Viel (with a french translator). With music from Larkin Grimm! Get them while they last!

Mark Hagidepressants

Go check out my friend, Mark Hage's show! He gave me a small painting a year ago that I keep on my front hall table and it makes me happy every time I walk through my door. So, if you're depressed, go see some Mark Hage art and prepare to perk the hell up.


"Alteration"
Sculpture by Mark Hage
FxFowle Gallery
11th floor
22 West 19th street

Through October 30th

M - F 9:00 - 5:30

David Small's comment and I are engaged to be married!

Okay, now things are really heating up over here.

Yesterday, I was engaged to marry "Stitches," a phenomenal graphic memoir drawn and written by David Small. Then, David left the loveliest comment under my blog post about my engagement that I have cancelled my wedding to "Stitches," and have become fianced to his comment. David Small's comment and I will be getting married as soon as he leaves me enough comments to print out so I can wear a paper wedding dress made of his comments to show my commitment to his words.

MY EX-FIANCE (but we remain really good friends)



MY NEW FIANCE!



(On a side note, I really need to read Time Out NY more because as I was casually flipping through it yesterday, I noticed that I missed the pairing of the century! David Small and Jules Feiffer (who took me to lunch about a year ago and who I lost touch with because I was so intimidated by him) at MacNally Jackson!)

The London Office!

Some of my favorite friends I've made outside of New York's literary community, I've made at Yaddo & MacDowell (except you - Katie & Paul). Two of these people are Jon and Ali aka Thomson and Craighead. They run the London branch of Happy Ending, which doesn't exist, except for when we pretend it does. They never come to New York. Or, they come to New York all the time, but don't tell me. Not sure which, really. Anyway, I adore Jon and Ali. My first stay at MacDowell, I was besties with them and Leah Garnett who runs the New Brunswick branch of Happy Ending, which also doesn't exist. Anyway, Jon and Ali make digital art and they have a new show up called, "Several Interruptions." This new video work has been commissioned by Arts Council England especially for their rebranding of the arts council website, which went live today!

Several_Interruptions, which collages together online videos in which people are seen holding their breath underwater, is both interruption (as its name suggests) as well as documentary, in which the seemingly mundane and numerous has been made back into something unique and original.

Thomson & Craighead have personally chosen, from some 61,000 possible files on YouTube, videos which they have edited together into brief vignettes which interrupt each other sequentially (in time) and laterally (on-screen). Through the artists’ mediation, these amateur videos have been transformed into professional pocket- sized triptychs which make reference to the large-scale, three-screen projection installations of internationally-known video artists.

After you've checked out "Several Interruptions," come back and study these pictures and tell me you wouldn't try and bust your way into the London offices of Happy Ending just trying to be friends with these guys. (I took these photos during Leah's presentation in Firth at MacDowell. Firth is the name of a studio there.)