I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: PETER BJORN AND JOHN-SXSW May 26, 2009 (2009).

This brief set at SXSW (available from NPR & KEXP) showcases the band’s (then) new record Living Thing.  The album was just about to be released, so these are all previews of the album (“New music is the best music”).  The album itself is very sparse and these live songs are equally sparse, but are slightly different in construction (some songs have different instrumentation live than on record).

The crowd is very responsive, and the band is really funny.  During “Just the Past” there’s a section where the song sounds like it ends, but it is just a pause, and the band tsk tsks the audience for applauding too early.  There’s also a joke about John being Joaquin Phoenix and taking up a career in rap.

It’s a wonderfully lively set, even if it is a bit short (the gripe with almost every SXSW download).  It’s a good introduction to the album and a great introduction to a band who has been around for ten years and just started making inroads into American consciousness a few years ago.

[READ: April 16, 2011] Five Dials #1

Five Dials is an online magazine.  It is free to subscribe (and to download).  All previous issues are available on the site in PDF format.  I learned about it because they printed the eulogies for David Foster Wallace in Issue 10.  But the magazine looked interesting in itself, so I decided to go back and read the whole run (the most recent issue is #18).

The only real complaint I have with the magazine is that they don’t put a publication date anywhere on it.  Which is a shame if you’re anal retentive like me. According to Wikipedia, the inaugural issue came out in June of 2008.   It’s a monthly (ish) publication and, although I originally thought it would be a literary magazine, it proves to be very much of a magazine-magazine.  And a good one at that.

There’s a letter from the editor, there’s Current-ish Events, there’s essays, reviews and even fiction.  There’s also a “classic” letter from a “classic” author.  The magazine also has some very cool black and white art in it.  The style is very crisp and one that I find quite agreeable.

CRAIG TAYLOR-Letter from the Editor
Taylor is the editor, and this seems to be his project.  And he’s a great editor. This letter sets out the mission of the magazine and the origin of the title.  I rather like Taylor’s writing style.

SYBILLE HEMMINGS-A Letter from Someone Else
Presumably a pseudonym, this article criticizes the Editor’s letter for presuming that anyone could print out and staple this magazine (in her small town they share a stapler).  It’s silly and lighthearted.

ROBIN YASSIN-KASSAB-Current-ish Events: “Syria Calling”
This is a serious essay about Syria.

IAIN SINCLAIR-A Single Book: “Fathers and Sons”
This is a fascinating little story about finding a possible original copy of the Turgenev book Fathers and Sons.

RACHEL LICHTENSTEIN-Dispatch: “Diamonds in the Dark”
This was a cool look at the Diamond Marketplace in London.  She grew up with her father working in the catacombs of this center of the diamond world–Hatton Market.  It was like a small Jewish village of merchants.  Now the area is more commercial (although it is still a jewelry area).  As the piece ends, she runs into a man who was practically a celebrity jeweller back then, a genius at his trade who dressed in rags and would never over charge.  He was still as vibrant as ever.  This piece brought to life an area of the world I never knew existed.

JOE DUNTHORNE-3 Poems: “Filters,” “The Actual Queen,” “Twenty-four lengths”
3 poems that I enjoyed.

HARI KUNZRU-Fiction: “The Interns”
This was a strange piece to be labelled fiction.  It is an exhortation to all of the world’s interns to stand up for themselves and refuse to work for free.  It is fiction I guess because no one will listen to it, but it could easily be a plea for sanity.

ALAIN DE BOTTON- HELP PAGES: The Agony Uncle
In what appears to be a regular feature, Alain de Botton offers advice for real soul-searching questions.  It’s actually quite useful and good advice.

GUSTAV FLAUBERT-How to Write a Letter
This is a series of (excerpts from) letters that Flaubert wrote to Louise Colet.  This is all about the despair he feels about writing Bovary.  It is over the top and but it is heartfelt concern for his work.

MONICA BALDWIN-The HH Archives: “I Leap Over the Wall”
HH stands for hamish hamilton, the ostensible publisher of Five Dials.  Monica Baldwin entered the convent before WWI.  She decided to leave the convent in 1941; the reentry into the real worlds was no small shock.  This except from her memoir details the massive shock that she had just putting on the 1940’s undergarments.

JASON LOGAN-Illustration: Character Arc
This is an intentionally poorly drawn but still amusing life of Moby Dick.

DAVID R., Bristiol, age 37-The Best Bit
This states that the text is from Craig Taylor. It is evidently on man’s opinion of Tess of the d’Urbervilles.  David R essentially picks out “the best bit” from the story.  He ends with the sounds advice: “Check the carpet after your mail gets delivered.”  Very funny.  And quite true.

NICK DEWAR-Illustrations
Nick does all of the illustrations that I really like.

It’s a good start to a new publication.  There’s a lot to like about it.  It doesn’t over stay its welcome (18 pages total for this issue) and it covers a lot of smart terrain.  I’ll certainly keep reading.

Issue 1 is available here.