i am alt lit

but the last 3-4 wks has made it clear: you people are real. i’ve told myself that before, but i forget and then i’m like wow that person is rlly struggling with this, wow i can’t believe that happened, wow that’s real that’s real that’s real

and until today, even the ellen / tao stuff i was like, that was ‘fiction’ right? 

and for all that, i’m sorry--for my lack of respect, lack of compassion, lack of empathy in any/every situation

//////

now to the ‘men’

you’re like an ‘artist’ right?

you’re like more ‘alt’ than every1 in yr ‘alt circle’ right?

you’re like ‘for real radical’ & ‘out there’ right?

you’re like more of a ‘punk/scene kid/ (((OTHER TERM))) than any1 else you know right?

you like ‘want to make a difference’ & ‘do things differently or something’ right?

here’s the thing--the most ‘cr9zy / am9zing / totally artist/different ((((INSERT RLLY NEW TERM HERE TO INDICATE A POINT OF BEING EXTREMELY DIFFERENT)))) thing you could do is to give women more respect beyond your wildest imagination of what ‘respect’ could be

here are some examples of respect (NOT A COMPLETE LIST)

yeh that means shutting up and letting yr female friend choose

yeh that means asking yr female friend her opinion on a host of things like politics & religion & life & family & (((INSERT 100s OF OTHER THINGS HERE))) rather just like clothes or new furniture

yeh that means doing whatever yr female friend wants to do

yeh that means no contact unless mutually agreed upon

yeh that means no sex unless mutually agreed upon

yeh that means no sex mebbe until you’re like rlly committed, like rlly committed, like rlly committed, mebbe even ‘married’ (((((JOSH YOU ARE TOO MUCH OF AN ‘ARTIST’ FOR ME, YOU ARE TOO ‘OUT THERE’ FOR ME JOSH YOU ARE ‘TOO CR9ZY’ NO ONE CAN HANDLE THIS AMT OF ‘ARTISTIC DIFFERENCE & ‘RESPECT RADICALISM’))))

////

okk what abt alt lit???

is this the end??? shld we #killaltlit???

yo it’d be very ‘easy’ to do that right now, but 1 thing we know is that this ‘thing’ changes & ‘adapts’ & literally the ‘world is watching right now’

so whatev the past, there is the opportunity RN to make this different to be different to change the course

we all came ‘here’ b/c of some random interest in the writing, in the style of writing ,in the art, and whhat has happened is not representative of nearly ‘everyone’ involved in this

if i was falling off the side of a mountain and i happened to reach for your bag and this book fell out to the canyon below and we couldn't see it anymore, yet i was saved, i would probably give you $25 to replace the book

if we're at a coffeeshop and you have this book in front of us and we're discussing it, but i choke on a scone and you have to do the heimlich maneuver and throw up half-digested scone bits all over your book yet could breathe again, i would probably give you $25 for the book

those are basically the only circumstances that came to mind

elsewhere i discussed 'semi-autobiographical' novels vs 'memoirs' so i won't talk abt that as much

basically the circumstance is that this guy doesn't like the music site pitchfork, starts writing reviews about the reviews, names his blog 'pitchfork reviews reviews' and then media ppl think this interesting 

the tension comes from the number of tumblr followers, at one point this blog and that blog had the same # of followers, he took less time tho, but seemed a lot prouder

he then gets up to like 30,000 tumblr followers by the end of the book if you want to know how it ends (((ACTUALLY HAS 100,000 OR SOMETHINGG)))

the main character's name is david like the author, and he focuses mainly on two women emma & alexandra

seems like the character david becomes more self-obsessed and narcissistic (((ARE THOSE 2 THINGS THE SAME))) and just thinks about how he won't be able to have sex with them anymore after they get more career opportunities while he files stuff

seems like some of the 'narrative tension' of the novel is dissipated by NOT including any of the actual PitchforkReviewReviews blog copy, not sure why this decision was made, only 1 was included, which was about a lost job opportunity, but again the 'narrative tension' was deflected here because it was talked about not shown, the actual 'action' of the said lost job opportunity would have fit okay

we are instead stuck with a funny encounter with the president of the united states

kept reading this book because it was easy, not hard and shapiro's writing style is very relatable, felt easy

it also 'discussed' modern young adult issues such as Tumblr and the status of having a lot of Notes which could appeal to certain demos, like mine, perhaps

mebbe b/c i'm a 'blogger' like this, who apparently should've copied a more 'successful' review site and renamed the blog after it (((ALT LIT NY TIMES BOOK REVIEW DOT TUMBLR DOT COM))) then my wriitng would be featured more places or something

was hoping the book would get to shapiro's 'writing career' even throughout the book the character 'david' does not want a writing career, but the writer David wrote some about Tao Lin or Riff Raff or the Supreme Store and other stuff, which that stuff would've been included in the book

turns out he also wrote a screenplay, i guess it just seems random the 'stopping point' of this novel, at the point where i liked the character the least, i thikn

not saying this book isn't worth reading, just not worth paying $25 for, that vice article says he wrote a screenplay i probably would watch that, maybe when it came to the $2 theater near my house or VOD i guess, almost bought the book for $5.99 on kindle which i think is reasonable

i also thought of  noah cicero's 'best behavior' while reading this, not necessarily because of the plot or style, but because of the locale

seems like i read a lot of books by people that are similar in age to me that have similar age problems

the most interesting part were these hospital/mental ward sequences, but i wouldn't say that the character tom 'did' anything really, except exist

but the timeline is a little scattershot, this is the book's strength, the unknowingness of exact action, this is the way memory works, sure

felt a greater desire for something 'more' to happen, i liked 'the julia pages' section which happened when the character tom was a kid, more people should write about their childhoods, i don't know if this was a true story or not, this is a novel stuff is made up

felt like the character needed some type of greater problem or action to happen to him, maybe something more dramatic at the grocery store, but he does go to a hospital-type situation 

like someone should leave or someone should go, but then it's the main character tom that leaves and goes

feel like this book generally 'captures' young adulthood with its uncertain romantic relationships, its weird forays with families, the desire to do something vs the reality of not-so-great jobs, the instability of it all, these were the things i felt

just got in a convo w/ some1 via the facebook medium abt 'books' that have ACTION and books that have NO ACTION

seems more 'literary' or something ot have 'no action' i guess, to depend on yr observational/analytical skillz etc

but mebbe you are good at 'action' and others are good at 'observation' so it doesn't matter, play to yr strengths

(((ARE R U TALKKING ABT JACK REACHER THAT MOVIE SCUKED)))

but for sam pink, he's amazing at observation

from his prev novel he seems to really write abt life experience, i'm assuming from this novel just b/c of the dialogue etc that these are based on some real ppl

it's about some ppl that appear homeless or could possibly be homeless or live in transitional states

the narrator acts as a cypher ie we don't rlly know anything abt him except fo rhis interactions with these various characters

(((IS A CYPHER LIKE A FUNNEL??? GIMME SOME CYPHER CAKES THEN, I WANT THEM W/ XTRA POWDR SUGARS)))

sam is amazing at dialogue, most of his characters in here are known for their verbal tics and/or constant subject matter

ie spider-man talks about comics, face talks abt his family and job, and they each have their sayings like 'nang' and 'fung' and 'run it' which is tyler's (i think--left the book in my car), the words and phrases of janet

i don't know if sam made a conscious effort to keep all of this straight or if he taped them or something, but the consistency is amazing

it's a sign of a great mimic and in this case a great writer, it's very well done

(((PLS MIMIC A FOREST FIRE AND BURN YR THOUGHTS DOWN, THANKKS)))

the narrator basically just sits w/ these ppl on pickle buckets or leaning against walls, tho it seems the narrator has an apt of his own

the 'narrative' then is not too formal or precise, it's just a lot of 'shootin it' i guess, just random talks and stories imagine the 'front porch / stoop conversations' of old

(((ARE FRONT PORSCHES LIKE GCHAT FOR OLD PPL???)))

a lot of the stories from these ppl are family issues, sad situations that they try not to think abt too much, a lot of plans that don't necessarily work out, a lot of movign around

a lot of pulls on drinks, cigarettes, other drugs

the story never makes a judgment on any of this, it's just what it is

if you've never had conversations with ppl like this, it will be enlightening, if you have, it'll be overly familiar

on my pers blog, i put sam pink in the category of 'minimalism' which i think holds here

(((I AM SO TIRED OF YR 'SELFIE PROMOSHUN' LOOK AGT ME I'S GOT A BLAAAGGG NEXT THING YA KNOW YOU'LL WANNA US TO SUBSCRIB TO SOMTHING FOR OUR JUNK BOX)))

every sentence is a new line, paragraph break, only dialogue continues

the book isn't long then but it accomplishes what i needs to accomplish

there are some 'random connections' made by the narrator throughout, not too many, a lot of these are punctuated with 'exclamation points' somewhat ironically and i can't tell if the narrator is trying to bestow dignity on the charactres by believing what they say or if the narrator is gently poking at them

(((DO U MEAN LITERALLY POKE WITH LIKE  A STICK, OR DIGITALLY POKE LIKE ON FB, OR FIGURATIVELLY POKE LIKE 'WORDPLAY' PLS EXPLAIN)))

i rlly enjoy the 100 pg length here, it fits comfortably into how we want to read today, it doesn't feel 'overwhelming' like a lot of books, it represents our culture, sam pink's visual style also feels consistent, nice brand way to go all around everyone, keep writing sam pink for some reason i thought you were going to give it up, but keep going pls

btw i made money for this, i got it w/ melissa broders' 'scarecrone' thankks

the poems here function as thoughts, dispersed ideas and general status updates

'status update lit' will be this era's legacy 

'feed lit' will be this era's legacy

megan boyle live blog & heiko & whatev else

but they do have a rhythm, cadence, one i'm not well equipped to describe or map out

(((COUNT THE SYLLABULLS ON YR TOES)))

but that rhythm does seem familiar, it is the language of the social network's fill-in-the-blank boxx

one of the repeating structures in the book is "something something called" and here's one abt reality shows:

"a new reality show called Is this it where people do things for the first time and think is this is"

from the poem "a new reality show called" and from this tweet

most of them pieces in here are dated and follow a similar format of tweet-length, sometimes longer maybe a paragraph but not too much longer than that

(((WE ALLREDDY KNOW PPL DONT WIRTE THE SAME WAY THEY USED TO, THIS FEELS LIKE A BASIC TREND POIECE)))

basically, calling these poems feels unfair to traditionally minded poems

it's not that spencer isn't trying or isn't good, it's that he's had a different end goal in mind with these than the 'traditional' poet

and when they're put together sometimes they work and sometimes they dont

(((LIKE HOW MOSTLY THIS RESVIEW ISNT WORKIN OUT< PLS TELL THIS REVIEW TO GET MORE EXERCIZE)))

i'm just saying it feels odd to call these poems when the 'game has changed'

it woudl be like calling every song a poem, that's just not true

some songs are poetic, but the form is different

that's what i mean, the form is different

(((WAITT, IS THE FORM DIFFRENT...IS THAT WHAT U MEAN???)))

it should be published and in a book, but you're reading tweets and updates, which is what you do everyday so it doesn't matter

these happen to be pretty good tweets with a slight narrative (hi keila and sandy) so it does matter a little, but you're used to reading narratives in your feed

(((FEED LIT FEED LIT FEED LIT UP STATUS UPDATE LIT DOWN)))

bookmarked abt 10 pgs, literally dogeared the pgs

from "saturday, nov 3 2012"

it's daylight savings time tomorrow.

it all comes an hour harder

some of these work off the other some of them don't also wonder if he literally wrote each of these on that day or if these were the initial thoughts then he edited it, seems like i remember a mention by Spencer in article or somethign abt keeping a notebook, yeh that's probably it

seems like i was reminded of sam pink and i pulled out 'person' b/c that's the only sam pink book i had on the bookshelf and i thought sam pink wrote sparsely (which he does) but there's a lot more scenic description than anything spencer provides here, generally there's no context except for his one-off phrasess

this is only poetry b/c that's what we're used to calling this, but it's not fair to what's here, it's not fair to other poets, it's not fair to the other ppl doing the same thing

(((BTW--DO U MEAN THA SCORE OR DO U MEAN LIKE ACTUAL AGE OR DO U MEAN BBORN IN THA 90s PLS ELUICADATE YR MEANING)))

genuinely kinda 'disappointed' in the number of fiction writers in this 'scene', move beyond the short story or somethign & write something long, just to see if you can do it, every1 seems to want to be a 'poet' now and say 'motivational' & 'inspirational' things to one another in pithy sound bites

we'd rather 'tell' than 'show' rather than inhabit some MFA programz

just b/c you don't want to get an MFA doesn't mean you don't need any writing advice

pls make that a shirt

(((WHAT IS THIS 'STEP UP 3D' OR 'STEP UP REV OLOOTION, LAY OFF 'BRAHH')))

i'm just saying that we need some ppl to experiment in fiction as well as poetry, that's not a bad thing, keep pushing the form, i know some ppl do, so keep doing it

that said, i wouldnt' say guillaume's book is 'experimental' that's not my sole criteria

(((THE CRITERION COLLECTION IS 'SOLELY' AVAILBULL ON HULUHOPS PLUSS)))

instead 'new tab' is more of a meditation on work/life/love, a simple story really that guillaume ties up well, lots of allusions to how WE LIVE NOW or how some twentysomethings that lie about their ages live and how artists are trying to be artists that also involves drinking a lot

full disclosure, i sent some questions to guillaume about the book for another website

(((WHATS THE "DEAL" ARE WE NOT GOOD ENUFF FOR YU?)))

one of the things i asked him about in those questions was his subtle style changes, which he does very well, basically jumping scenes and conversations within the same page, with no indicator, really 'embodying' the 'new tab' mindset, having multiple things open at once, doing multiple things at once

now as i think about it some more, that seems to be the msg of 'new tab', maybe we have too many things open and that it's too much for ppl, especially ppl trying to figure out their world, career, life, to handle

the character thomas really is the 'responsible' one, trying to balance a bunch of stuff, encouraging others in their 'arts' while also doing his art and having a respectable job

was going to make another pt, but now i forgot it

(((WHAT? YU FORGOT< PLS PAY THE "FREEMIUM" PRICE TO REACH TEH NEXT LEVEL OF YR HEAD_>>>)))

I remember now--(((DID A FB FRIEND HELP YU???)))--experimental doesn't necessarily have to be in style or tone or outside, textual markers that read 'different' but you should also be able to play with subject matter, scenes, stuff like that

like i said before (((THEN WHY R YU SAYING IT AGAIN???))) this isn't an experimental book, it's still good and lovely, but i just kinda had these thoughts while processing the subject matter versus my own

another thing: i'm not sure what i think of 'semi-autobiographical' novels anymore, i'm kinda tired of them i think, i think i want some ppl to 'push themselves' a little bit, this is guillaume's first novel, but for some reason i got the idea that he was 'past this' and this seems too much like him, sometimes the semi-auto just seems like a copout, idk--everyone give us yr thoughts on this (((OR DON"T)))

 What is so interesting about “Go To Work…” is that it is simultaneously a (as the title suggests) blunt societal critique and a thoroughgoing work of alt lit- its tone non-confrontational and stenographic. (((WHAT IS A STENOGRAPHIC IS THAT THOSE NOTBOOKS THAT YOU BUY, THE STENOGRAPHIX NOTEBOOKS???)))

“Go To Work…” is about recent college graduate Michael Scipio, who settles for an entry-level job at a prison known as “NEOTAP”. NEOTAP is an amalgamation of arbitrary disciplinary practices and bewildering hierarchies; Mike spends much of his time getting chastised by higher ups and becoming more and more depressed. (((TAP THIS< IS THIS LIKE THE UFCMMASTREETFIGHTER PROGRAM???)))

It soon becomes clear that, as the back cover states, “the employees are treated no better than the prisoners.” Soon, there is a string of disappearances amongst the employees and prisoners alike. The disappearances go unacknowledged and Mike grows wary of the pernicious ambivalence promoted by the institution.

I LIKE THIS BOOK. 

Basically, Mike and Monica talk about their fears re: NEOTAP, watch Netflix, have sex, and eventually love one another enough that they would both be unhappy if the other disappeared for no reason.

The way Noah Cicero combines the most jaded sarcasm with the most voluptuous sincerity is incredible to me. He grasps the fact that romantic love is no longer part and parcel with political idealism, the way it may have seemed to be to hippies 45 years ago or whatever. (((VOLUPTUOUS SINCERITY???___)))

Love born out of a commonly held, pressing societal dissatisfaction and manifesting itself as an attempt to regain a lost sense of normalcy.

there are some things in here i like and some things i do like which is how i would review the 'whole world' too if i was doing that, reviewing the world that is, which i'm not tho

andrew duncan worthington seems capable of doing the current realm of 'alt literature / internet literature' with titles that massively overstate an issue and then have the poem explain that issue, in a humorous way

that wasn't the case for my favorite poem 'moan' which i had a rhythm to it and what i thought was a pattern, like a repeating refrain but then that refrain didn't happen exactly where i thought it might so maybe it was an off-beat refrain?

i liked how he named some poems as 'unpublishable' this seems vaguely pleasant to me, like it caused me to chuckle slightly

seemed like quite a few references to 'hamburgers' and/or sandwiches with burger-esque properties like 'chili burger'

saw 'penny goring book' & then ran thru a list of ppl i thiought had been reviewed on IAAL

couldn't remember 'reviewing' a pneny goring book but if we have that's ok, here's another, yesss

'semi-familiar' with penny goring via twitter & various image macros

this has no image macros this is poetry

i suck at writing poetry, reviewing poetry, whether the word 'poem' is one syallable or two (2 right? what abt those ppl who say it w/ 1?) so pls disregard anything written here

i liked the rhythm of this the most, i did not understand what this was trying to communicate (RE:SEXXX) but i think poetry is 'above me' and for those smarter to me so i will leave those above me/and/or smarter than me to 'understand' it i did see the double middle fingers repeated which i thought was ggood, and i like the spacing and then when you read it fast it sounded like a 'los campesinos!' or 'nikki minaj' song

i liked this part

instead waldman's style is almost 'anti-tao' but still covers the same subjects like a literary life from a male perspective, multiple romantic relationships, new york life, even immigration kind of

waldman's characters are more 'boggged' down into explaining 'society's ills' and discussing potential essay topics, tho 'taipei' is more concerned abt these issues at a 'micro level' how societal injustices affect them personally (lack of something at the grocery store, poor internet) but i can't remember exactly the book is across the room on the shelf and i haven't read it in a year, even tho i've skimmed the beginning again recently

(((YESSS THIS IS TOO BOGGGD DOWN HAVE U SEEN LATEST WHALE MANIFESTO))))

i guess you know this is more of a matter of style, tao's flat (but not minimalist!) limited transitions and objective POV that jumps into scenes in media res comapred to waldman's effective 'skimming' in a friendlier, looser manner

(((NO ONE IS INTERTSTD IF IT HAS NO PICTUERS ANYMORE)))

(tho i remember 'taipei' providing some 'timestamp' date idenfitiers to start paragraphs, waldman seems more interested in explaining her character's emotions rather than just stating their emotions like in taipei)

seems like 'biggest' difference here is the relationship to technology and modern things, waldman explains modern problems (living alone squalor, gaining success) while lin explains modern deficiencies (difficulty connecting via modern networks, what is lost when you do not connect with others)

(((PLS I HAVE DIFFICULTY PLUGGIN IN MY NEW DESK LAMP)))

i say all of this but don't feel i'm explaining it well, pls don't send me any checks for book criticism

it would be easier to say waldman has a more 'traditional' narrative structure in mind, wrapped in 21st century clothes, while 'taipei' is the actual 21st century person, not just its trappings

(((THIS REVIEW SEEMS LIEK A TRAP OF MY EMOTIONSSS I ONLY WRITE ABT LOSS AND WHAT I FEELF ROM THAT NARRATIVES ARE FOR DONT MATTER UNLESS THERE IS A GAME ABT HUNGER OR DIVERGENT)))

waldman barely mentions intenret, how this is affecting people and their percpetions, she is more caught up in 'old' notions of success while 'taipei' seems to be grappling with what does it mean to function within a social network system of haves and have nots, that's let's you know constantly who has & who does not

feel like this acknowledgment by waldman would've created a more 'solid' book also speaks to why it's generally 'more popular' and or 'successful'--older editors/publishers/book ppl could get 'this' while 'taipei' seems more like an outlier--style, tone, subject matter 

waldman's book reminded me a lot of 'stoner' by john williams, in its breezy sophistication, a tight set of characters with limited parameters who are able to function without disruption in 'nate's world' 

very good job at making this narrative very tight, yet finding enough 'emotional pull' to carry the reader through, very difficult