The Awful Thing

It's just a run-of-the-mill book, and the awful thing is that it is absolutely the best I can do.

--John Steinbeck's opinion of his book "The Grapes of Wrath," published on this date in 1939.

Early 90s Music Flashback: Intrinsic, Incredible Emotion

It's an obsession. No shame here. I'm admitting it out loud.  Music and culture and memories from the early 90s. Well, the entire 90s, really, but the project I'm working on starts in the early 90s, so that's where I'm spending my YouTube time currently.

I'll highlight some favorites as I excavate.

Tonight's special: Meryn Cadell's spoken-word hit "The Sweater." For me, there wasn't a sweater, but there was a certain costume shirt. Shit, do I still have that thing?

Enjoy, y'all.

 

Tiny possibly-only-interesting-to-me trivia about Meryn Cadell, courtesy of Wikipedia: while with Intrepid records, he (Meryn transitioned in 2003) recorded with Jim Creeggan of Barenaked Ladies (and The Brothers Creeggan).

Something Worthwhile

"The thing about being a writer is that you never have to ask, 'Am I doing something that's worthwhile?' Because even if you fail at it, you know that it's worth doing."

--Richard Ford, novelist (b. 1944)

I admire Mr. Ford's confidence. I lack that certainty, most days. But I keep going.

Let Everything Else Go Hang

Everything in art depends on execution: the story of a louse can be as beautiful as the story of Alexander. You must write according to your feelings, be sure those feelings are true, and let everything else go hang. When a line is good it ceases to belong to any school. A line of prose must be as immutable as a line of poetry.

--Julian Barnes, Flaubert's Parrot

Wood Working

Ultimately literature is nothing but carpentry. Both are very hard work. Writing something is almost as hard as making a table. With both you are working with reality, a material just as hard as wood. Both are full of tricks and techniques. Basically very little magic and a lot of hard work involved.

Gabriel García Márquez, novelist