FREAKS & FEATHERS

Saturday 26 February 2011

So listen, me and sweet friend and burly cook and beautiful sentimental drunk Jamie Iredell are westward bound. We are flying next Friday to Seattle to do a week of readings, to see friends and suss Spring and pound the blowtorches for our new books. Jamie's book is The Book of Freaks, a new Devil's Dictionary of unsullied America, by which I mean sullied, by which I mean America in actual. Mine is Look! Look! Feathers, which you're probably tired of me jittering about. If you're on the grizzlier coast, come hang out with us one of these days at one of these places (click for more info, addresses, etc):

FREAKS & FEATHERS TOUR

* Pilot Books, Seattle WA (3/4/11 7PM)
* Ampersand, Portland OR (3/5/11 7:30PM)
* Ashland Public Library, Ashland OR (3/6/11 7PM)
* Rancho Parnassus, San Francisco CA (3/7/11 7PM)
* John Natsoulas Gallery, Davis CA (3/8/11 8PM)
* KKUP 91.5 FM, Cupertino (3/9/11 8PM)
* Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo CA (3/10/11 Time TBA)
* Skylight Books, Los Angeles CA (3/12/11 5PM)

    

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he said "i locked you in this body / i meant it as a kind of trial"

Monday 21 February 2011

Some items of local note: I interviewed the shadow cluster Frank Hinton for the"Youth Is Write" series on Fix It Broken. We talk about the difference between being a person and having feelings (spoiler alert: there probably isn't one), processes, sick thoughts, staple guns, and puking. Thanks to Frank for being a fascinating person and thanks to Greg Dybec for putting together this project.

Other items: "Burk's Nub" is live at Route 9, the new-ish online journal of work by UMass MFA students edited by Sarah Malone. Tons of other great stuff in the new issue by other sexy UMassers, some bandmates, some alumni, some transplanted Spaniards, some interviews of translators, some dream detection, some videos, some echo brothers, some chemical mist, and Deepok Chopra. Read around.

Burk previously appeared in the now sadly defunct Backwards City Review. I remember sitting in my friend Nick's apartment in 2007 in NYC and Nick telling me he'd read the story in BCR and really liked it. Then we walked to get elaborate sandwiches through the dead Wall Street night, where in day people patrol with major firearms, and the bodega featured obnoxious young money nerds blatantly ignoring the basic humanness of those they were ordering sandwiches from. "Burk's Nub" is about loneliness. One time about this story I said "Loneliness is the primary mood of visionaries." The story has band nerds and pimples in it. It has fast food restaurants that point their vents at the street to make you hungry. It has a racist uncle.

In less local news, people from Egypt have been sending pizzas to Wisconsin. How beautiful is that? Sometimes I read the comments on internet news articles, especially on Yahoo, and feel some weird new kind of catharsis about how hopelessly ridiculous and dangerous most people act when they post anonymous comments on the internet. It is not a "good" feeling but feelings don't work like that anyway. I just remembered that the Burk story has pizzas in it too! Continuity!

P.S. Oh yeah, follow-up on the style stop: homeless dad indeed.

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electronic facial hair

Tuesday 15 February 2011

By the way, you can now get Look! Look! Feathers on your Kindle and Nook. Future reading for you futuristic people. Drink some fortified wheatgrass clam juice and read some e-lit. To the left is what L!L!F looks like at Powell's in Portland (thanks, Kevin S), which is the place you should visit to buy all your old fashioned edible books.

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go thaw yourself

Stopped today at the grocery store by local reporters, young, doing a man-on-the-street fashion segment. Felt ridiculous but bragged about my scarf, which my sister made out of t-shirts. Said my style icon was Dale Earnhardt. The photographer said it was his first day at the paper, and he looked around in wonder at the grocery store, so maybe it was also his first day inside a grocery store. (He was nice, he was nice, lay off, I liked him and we talked about HANS braces).

Some things to rattle about: Michael Filippone did a very gracious video review of We Are All Good. Thanks, Michael! I should write a sequel called We Are Al Good, all about the adventures of poor Al. Do people write sequels to poetry books? Somebody do this research. Somebody mispronounce some names on NPR. Some invent a new artisan multivitamin. Riley Michael Parker asked me to write a story called "The First Time," so I wrote a story called "None of Us Would Meet Her in the House of Mystery." It's up on HOUSEFIRE with a brother story from Saint Maurice Burford.  Thanks, Riley! Also that food thing I read at the National American National Shut-Up-About-the-National-Anthem Animal Gawkery is up at Everyday Genius: "You Are Not the Food." Thanks to Adam Bearderson. But enough about me! What's up with you? Did you do your taxes yet?

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it's the thing that makes the other noise

Wednesday 9 February 2011

Whoa, man, hey, ugh, whoop, so much. Went to the National Anthem and re-wrote the lyrics. While I was there, I attended the Alienated Wombats Parade. Hung out with so many lovely people that I got a cold. What I posted on Adam Robinson's Facebook is what I believe: the cold virus was the most successful networker at AWP. It got published in all of our lungs.

Really, so many things deserve a recap: foremost, Mark Cugini and Laura Spencer were the most stupendous, generous hosts ever, and Kim Ann Southwick and Chris Sumner (secret captain of the Tippuh) were great fun to share crash space with. Then there's all the other shit that was far better for my National heart than the Nationals record: zoo readings, Ethiopian food (first AWP meal tradition with Molly Gaudry), drinking from a tower of multiple highball glasses at the Big Lucks reading, me and Joe Hall trying to sabotage PBS, Gene Morgan's robot, riding the train both ways with Gale Thompson/Anne Holmes/Brian Foley, having a heartfelt drunkersation with Scott Garson, having a heartfelt drunkersation with Brian Carr, Tim Jones-Yelvington being in costume the whole time and me not realizing that until the end and thinking Man, Tim has a lot of events to do! I feel bad that he never gets time to change (the lesson being, of course, that everything is an event when you are an event, as Tim is), meeting so many awesome people for the first time at the Bookfair, seeing so many awesome familiars at the Bookfair (including a strong Boston showing! Brooks S! Johnathan Papas and Molly! Peter J!), having the HTMLGIANT table be caddy corner from Kasey Mohammad and having a miscommunication with Kasey over whether we were saying "beau" or "boo" to each other before realizing that they mean the same thing, Brandi Wells threatening to kill me unless I took a journal she didn't want off her hands, meeting Jen Gann and having her accuse me of being Tim Allen (hopefully not the last time that happens in my life), all the people who volunteered to be lion food for my zoo poem, Chloe Cooper Jones and Adam R who brilliantly organized the zoo reading, man I am running out of breath and I am typing, typing isn't even breathing, the hilarious West Wind Review/Abe Lincoln/Edge Books reading (probably the best overall reading I saw), the hilarious crew I ate with at that reading, including the 80s Weird Science Punk Rock impressiveness of Shaun Gannon, Amelia Gray at the Literature Party having an audience of 900 people in the palm of her hand as she bellowed threats from behind her razorwire grin, see there are so many people I'm forgetting already, Blake Butler of course and forever being his rambunctious Blake-in-public in-public self, and being cuddly normal Blake in private, Justin Sirois delivering the Understanding Campaign swag and being as warm as ever, Sam Ligon leaning conspiratorially over the GIANT table as if he were trying to buy a gallon of unlicensed ham (I forget what we were really talking about), Lincoln Michel and I trying to pull people from the audience onto the stage in what felt like the Lost in Space version of dancing, Matt Hart humping the microphone stand and completely demolishing the Megareading audience with a wow-sauce of a closing act to a background of sirens, all the awesome organizers behind Megareading, Jason Bredle's crowd-zonking hilarity at Megareading, Dan Bailey's emotional three pointer from mid-court at Megareading, Jen Gann's spellbinding gym bomber at Megareading, standing in the corner at the Table X reading while Sasha Fletcher's friend in a fedora made fun of everyone except Adam Robinson of whom he said "Every now and then some asshole gets up there and shows everybody how it's done," Ben Fama's steamrolling wizardry of Supermachine omnipresence, walking and talking with Melissa Broder about meditation and how much we missed Ryan Call, the text message sent to my new-friend-of-scarf-trading Christie Ann Reynolds by Christie Ann Reynolds's mom, who said (I might be summarizing a little): "You look like Anne Hathaway. It's going to snow. R u alive?", a Saturday night Poets Invade DC dance
party at some place I can't remember, but a girl named Trinny (from Trinidad) told me "You can actually dance, that's amazing," dancing with Lily Ladewig like The Basement '08, giving brotherly advice-of-the-heart to Lina Makdisi as she smoked cigarettes, which was funny because I only see her once a year at AWP, but she was very nice and gave me a free anthology of airline fiction so I traded her some advice—hmm, let me back up—eating bland Indian food with a bunch of smart people before the Table X reading, including Jackie Wang, Tim Y, Mike Kitchell, Andrew Weatherhead, Jackie Wang's punk house friend whose name sadly evades me, and Lily Hoang, who was perhaps my official AWP 2011 Buddy in that I feel like she often steered me away from oncoming headlights and also she was good for pointing out Joe Biden's swingset, um, telling many, many people re: Andrew Weatherhead's 600 page bolt-bound autobiographical novel that "when I first heard about it, I thought he was joking"—hmm, feel like I'm either running out of stuff or getting exhausted—Tao Lin and Megan Boyle liveblogging the green room goings-on of the Black Cat at Literature Party, Timothy Sanders telling me awesome stories about Europe and Southeast Asia, meeting xTx, getting a lunch in with Gabe Durham before things got really crazy, Joshua Marie Wilkinson yelling my name as we were packing up Saturday at the Bookfair then running over to give me a hug, Jennifer L. Knox and Jason Bredle being the funniest people on their Funny Poetry panel, the weird coincidence that Chris Sumner goes to school with Ian Denning, briefly seeing Sean Kilpatrick and Donora Hillard sometime after I'd eaten an Oreo ice cream sandwich I bought from a vending machine at the National Zoo with my credit card, talking with Jesus Garcia about poetry and enjoying how I always feel like he is about to bust out a guitar solo wherever he goes even if he doesn't have a guitar, congratulating Aaron Burch and Elizabeth Ellen on their upcoming knot, trading a copy of Look! Look! Feathers with Zach Dodson for a copy of The Universe in Miniature in Miniature by Patrick Somerville, Jamie Iredell touching everyone the way only he can, Ben Segal giving me a copy of the awesome book of imaginary blurbs he co-edited—hmm, now I feel like I'm inevitably going to leave someone out and they're going to feel bad; I come from a long immature imagination of left-out feeling and am sensitive to such shit—calling Carolyn Zaikowski very tipsy outside the tattoo parlor Wednesday night to tell her how much I missed her, that seems like a good place to end. Very sure I left people out, for instance I just realized how integral Jamie Perez was in helping me find the aforementioned food scale at the zoo. I apologize to everything and everyone forever. Sorry and thank you for always.


Mike Young (Zoo Reading) from Paul Cunningham on Vimeo.

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My Darling FBI (KMovie)

Friday 4 February 2011

Original title: 쉿! 그녀에겐 비밀이에요
Also known as: (Swit! Geun-nyeo-e-gen Bi-mil-i-e-yo), Secret to Her
Directed by Lee In-soo (이인수)

Screenplay by Lee In-soo (이인수), Son Jeong-eun (손정은)
Genre: Comedy, Melodrama, Romance, Romantic comedy
Length: 90min
Release date in South Korea: 2008/09/04

Synopsis:

Mimi falls in love with Albert while working for the Korean embassy in the United States. But Albert disappears on the day he is supposed to propose to her. In fact, he is an FBI agent and has to conceal that fact. Mimi returns to her hometown when her visa expires. Albert follows her to Korea but Mimi and her neighbors are not happy with his belated apology.

Downloads:

Video Megaupload
Bulgarian Subtitles Megaupload
English Subtitles .sub | .idx (you need both files)

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secret garden (korean drama)

Title: 시크릿 가든 / Secret Garden
Genre: Melodrama, fantasy, romance
Episodes: 20
Broadcast network: SBS
Broadcast period: 2010-Nov-13 to TBA
Air time: Saturday & Sunday 21:45

Synopsis

The drama tells the story of Kim Joo Won (Hyun Bin), a seemingly perfect man who hides an arrogant and eccentric side, and Gil Ra Im (Ha Ji Won), a stuntwoman whose beauty and body are the object of envy amongst top actresses. One day they went deep into the mountains and entered a strange house, where a strange grandmother offered them chocolate to eat. The next day, they found themselves in the other’s body.

Downloads

Episode 1 – Torrent | Megaupload (HANrel) *Subs: Megaupload, Box.net
Episode 2 – Torrent | Megaupload (HANrel) *Subs: Megaupload, Box.net
Episode 3 – Torrent | Megaupload (HANrel) *Subs: Megaupload, Box.net
Episode 4 – Torrent | Megaupload (HANrel) *Subs: Megaupload, Box.net
Episode 5 – Torrent | Megaupload (HANrel) *Subs: Megaupload, Box.net
Episode 6 – Torrent | Megaupload (HANrel) *Subs: Megaupload, Box.net
Episode 7 – Torrent | Megaupload (HANrel) *Subs: Megaupload, Box.net
Episode 8 – Torrent | Megaupload (HANrel) *Subs: Megaupload, Box.net
Episode 9 – Torrent | Megaupload (HANrel) *Subs: Megaupload, Box.net
Episode 10 – Torrent | Megaupload (HANrel) *Subs: Megaupload, Box.net
Episode 11 – Torrent | Megaupload (HANrel) *Subs: Megaupload, Box.net
Episode 12 – Torrent | Megaupload (HANrel) *Subs: Megaupload, Box.net
Episode 13 – Torrent | Megaupload (HANrel) *Subs: Megaupload, Box.net
Episode 14 – Torrent | Megaupload (HANrel) *Subs: Megaupload, Box.net
Episode 15 – Torrent | Megaupload (HANrel) *Subs: Megaupload, Box.net
Episode 16 – Torrent | Megaupload (HANrel) *Subs: Megaupload, Box.net
Episode 17 – Torrent | Megaupload (HANrel) *Subs: Megaupload, Box.net
Episode 18 – Torrent | Megaupload (HANrel) *Subs: Megaupload, Box.net
Episode 19 – Torrent | Megaupload (HANrel) *Subs: Megaupload, Box.net
Episode 20 – Torrent | Megaupload (HANrel) *Subs: Megaupload, Box.net
Special Episode – Torrents: XVID, 720p (HANrel) | Megaupload ( HANrel)
Special Episode Subtitles by DarkSmurf: Megaupload, Box.net

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"Color Blind"

Tuesday 1 February 2011

"Color Blind"


You disgust me;
and trust me;
this never ending pattern
that I have been forced to see
will only expose over time
how dark you should be.


You rive in the pain.
You live for the disdain.
You make these provisions
and embark on missions
to foolishly drown yourself
in love's relentelessly repugnant rain.


What's wrong with you?!
Where is the stronger you?!
How much unnecessary strife
will you put yourself through
before you realize that love
only seeks to weaken and subdue?


That's not true!
That's not what love is about!
It is duly noted
that I've engaged in arduous bouts;
but no matter the route,
I'm more than willing
to stand firm through the drought
instead of swiftly backing out.


Really?!
Seriously?
Do you hear yourself?!
This is unheard of stupidity.
Do you honestly believe
determination will grant you pity?
Your point of view is severely skewed
and it has yet to harbor validity.
In fact: past endeavors have shown
how synonymous love is with infamy.


I don't believe you.
Love is a pure divinity.
It's the strongest dwelling in me.
It has it's portion of adversity
and a host of harsh complexities;
but it is not an obscenity.


Your vantage point is as pathetic
as the conviction with which you speak.
You paint the picture of a cleric;
but that facade just proves you're weak.
You let this groundless emotion
reveal every single crack and leak
and you have the nerve to wonder
why every situation ends up bleak.


You sing this melancholy song;
but have yet to prove me wrong.
I implore you: tell me why
this chastisement must be prolonged.
I dare you: show me the danger
in allowing this to go on.
Go ahead; because I know for sure
that this arguement won't last long.


Well now, arrogant much?
Do you honestly need 
an example of such?
Are you really wondering why?
I doubt that your flimsy heart 
is even close to ample enough
for me to generously display
your plight before your eyes.
but I've never been coy or shy.
As much as repetition angers me,
I'll make you fully accountable
for every tear that you cry.


It's right in front of you.
You don't have to search high.
You just act like you never knew;
but I hear angst in every sigh.
Hell: Your first tried to hide,
Your second manufactured lies,
and your third took ambition
in making you the bad guy;
and you gave them all a pass;
no matter how crude or crass.
Now I ask you: In each of these,
who can we call the ass?
You were so willing to confide.
There was nothing you wouldn't share
with this slew of deceptive equestrians
that rode you rugged like a mare.


That's enough! I've had my fill.


Oh I severly beg to differ.
It appears that this new thrill
has even more pain to deliver.
You see potential in her eyes
and have found yourself enthralled;
but what lies on the other side
left this unstable occurrence stalled.


She shares what most would conceal
and you swear that it's affection;
but what was recently revealed
stifles the strength of your connection.


You can't relate to how I feel;
so I've no need for your protection.


Your feelings are of no concern.
We don't share the same zeal.
I've no wish to shield your heart.
That wasn't part of the deal.
Such was never my intent.
I'm just saying what's real;
like how much your deducing
always causes you to question
the timid tone in her inflections
that leave stark hints of deception.


This is still very delicate and new.
Much understanding is still due.
I just want to support her
and try to see her point of view.


Well that's quite noble of you.
Such a foolish, kind shrew.
You've adorned her in your hue;
but she wants more than blue.
She could give her all to you;
but has motives for another.
Someone shares her heart with you:


You speak of red: her other color.


Ah yes: the maroon gentleman.
The crimson clad lad
that she wishes would give her
the love that she never had
until she found that in you;
but you'll never break through.
She will always yearn for him;
no matter what you do.


At the cost of being used,
she neglects what she should choose
even though she does peruse
that she's just playing by his rules.
She wants to cultivate and grow
what he's not willing to show.
It would be wise of me to go,


But you refuse to say no.


I know it doesn't make much sense;
but her emotions I can't govern.


Suspense is a heartless bitch
and she is sworn to be stubborn.
She gallivants and has her fun;
ignoring any damage done
but in her plight, she doesn't see
that failure is her only son.


Maybe this can't be undone.
She won't employ better sight
and break free from his grip;
even when he openly smites.


Don't be so willing to indict.
You aren't exactly void of plight.
You've made yourself her sanctuary,
so she runs to your monastery
when her want for him grows thin
but that's when he reels her in.
He gives her a little more
of that heartfelt,
profound and pure;
keeping her confused and unsure
while disregarding her want for more.


It must really suck for you
to share the top spot on her list.


I've heard enough of this!
I demand that you desist!


Blue is merely drops of rain.
Red is what runs through her veins
and her ambiguity spills freely;
leaving her with purple stains.
You delight in conversing at night
and you pray for her every day.


This is true. Try as I may,
she just will not pull away.


Have you grown weary of this ride?
Is this where you wish to reside?
Are you still willing to bide?
Are you, Mr. Bright Side?
Mr. Nice Guy?
Do you still wonder why?
Are you still willing to try?
Are you ready to say goodbye?


I just wanted to make her better.


Let the lame care for the lepers.
Love is a blemish that won't recede.
That's why I'm rid of such disease.


You can continue to believe;
but you will never gain reprieve.


I can constantly talk and preach;
but it seems pointless to beseech.


Be my guest: Kiss and suck;
but that won't improve your luck.


I try my best to nip and tuck;
but this knife is surely stuck.


This has been long overdue.
Remove that spectrum from your mind.
Let my black erase your blue.
Open eyes are now color blind.


There's nothing more that I could do.
There's no solace left to find.
This dark void has pulled me through;
So my eyes are color blind.


We are now rid of this hue;
so emotion can no longer bind.
We now bask in shrouded view.
Love has made us color blind.


Written By: Devin Joseph Metz

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