Holiday anthology

Here are some books I'm currently into:

The Portable Mark Twain
Portable Altamont by Brain Joseph Davis
Grab Bag by Derek McCormack (the sweet US reprint)
Confessions of a Small Press Racketeer by Stuart Ross
Curio by Elizabeth Bachinsky
Crystallography by Christian Bok
Fray by Jessica Grim
Oh Pure and Radiant Heart by Lydia Millet
The Iron Whim by Darren Wershler-Henry

A drunken post for jason, dave and todd

Thorstein Veblen died of a heart disease in 1929 in Menlo, California. (Very close to Stanford!)

Although he did study at Yale and Cornell, his observances of the leisure class were probably divided between New England, New York and Chicago.

Here's one exciting part of Veblen's life:

'Veblen was offered an appointment [of] associate professor for 1906/07 [at the U of C], but his gruff manner and unconventional personal life garnered notoriety. The Chicago administration forced him out in Dec., 1906 for flagrant marital infidelities. His reputation suffered because of "landfill of lies and half-truths" depicting him as an irredeemable womanizer and lady-killer whose unconventional views on equality made him irresistible to women; unable to attain positions worthy of his brilliance because his wife Ellen blackened his name.'

Source: The Veblenite

Other than that, his biography is fairly boring but that's ok -- The Theory of the Loser Class is pretty much all about Star Wars, shoplifting, and binary code.

Holiday mix tape

I know you don't care but here are the songs I'm currently listening to:

"Let em die" Smoking Popes
"Rubella" Smoking Popes
"All these things that i have done" The Killers
"A northern soul" The Verve
"On your own" The Verve
"The death of a disco dancer" The Smiths
"Don't make fun of daddy's voice" Morrissey
"Why don't you find out for yourself?" Morrissey
"Give her a gun" Echobelly
"Hash pipe" Weezer
"Sit down" James

Word to your mother

My first column for WORD is now online and in print. I wrote about AYMS! -- a terrible affliction that certain young poets are suffering from. I would love some feedback. Either in comment form or through email [jonfiorentino at yahoo dot ca].

ONLINE: The November/December 2005 issue of Word: Canada's Magazine for Readers + Writers is available online here


IN PRINT: The inaugural issue of the Word Reader is available for subscription and purchase. Subscription ensures a shiny, new copy of Word Reader on your doorstep in Winter/Spring, Summer and Fall. Subscription is a phenomenal deal; receive Word at the obscenely low rate of $20 per year ($26 for institutions). To sign up for a year of Word, please send your name and mailing address via e-mail (word@themercurypress.ca) or snail mail (Word c/o The Mercury Press, 22 Prince Rupert Ave., Toronto, ON, M6P 2A7).

Please support this wonderful magazine!

Awesomicity

A night of literary miracles!!! See you there?

So Long, Francine & Other Songs
An Evening of Poetry
Sunday, Dec. 4, 8-10 pm
The Green Room (5386 Boul. St. Laurent)
Free

featuring:

Larissa Andrusyshyn
Tom Bauer
Makeba Cooper
Daniel Corry
Kate Hall
Ben Kalman
Sachiko Murakami
Gillian Savigny
Leanne Tonkin

&, your host, David McGimpsey

There's cake!