SOUNDTRACK: FIGURINES “The Air We Breathe” from Viva Piñata! (2008).
Figurines are from Denmark. This song has a very distinctive Mercury Rev feel (late-period Mercury Rev) with high pitched vocals and delicate intertwining melodies.
The verses are done on simple piano and the bridge has some nice harmonies. This is a cool alt rock song that stands up to repeated listens.
[READ: March 28, 2012] “Into the Unforeseen”
The timing of this article is quite amazing. Having really enjoyed Galchen’s short story, I decided to see what else she had written. It’s not a lot, but she has written three things published in Harper’s–two essays and one short story. This first essay is all about César Aira. I didn’t even know who Aira was when it came out in 2011, but now, I get to read it again having just finished another of his novels. (The essay concludes with information about Varamo, a novel that was just recently translated into English which I picked up at the library, yesterday).
This essay is about the week that Galchen spent with Aira in and around Aira’s home (but not his birth town of Coronel Pringles which he kind of jokingly forbids her from seeing. Galchen loves Aira’s writing (and has a kind of crush on him, although they’d never met before). She doesn’t say in this article but she was a Spanish language major, so she has clearly been reading his books in Spanish.
She lets us know that the day before she met Aira, her ten-year relationship ended (she hints at the reason but is quite discrete). She brings this up because of an emotional moment later in the article. And that’s what I loved about this article–it was personal and really invited the reader in to experience this meeting with her. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 