On escaping America

Robert Whiting lacks a "literary gloss"--his sentences clunky at times, with a focus on pure information--but his ability for providing the funniest and most relevant details makes him enviable. I read You Gotta Have Wa, Tokyo Underworld, and The Samurai Way of Baseball (also called the The Ichiro Effect) when I lived in Japan. He is funny, clear, mostly precise, and informed. Japan Times is currently running a four part series about Bobby Valentine's managerial run with the Chiba Lotte Marines. I lived in Okayama, two hours west of Osaka, for six months from August 2005 to March 2006. Valentine's Marines won the Japan Series that fall, sweeping the Hanshin Tigers--the team from Osaka. Our friends felt much grief; the Tigers haven't won a Japan Series for 25 years now. The Marines hadn't won a series since 1974. It was Japan's equivlent of the Cubs sweeping the Indians in a World Series.



I see the maps of America broken up and kind of wish it would happen. Maybe I could make better art. I'd live in the Canada zone, so I would have free health care and could quit thinkings about how I should've been an engineer--you know, for the benefits, without the worry to pay for broken legs or heart attacks. The loss of country would help with generating grief. I could be a real Tomaz Salamun--a poet who has actually known cultural defeat, experienced a greater anguish than bear market-byproduct ostricism. I wonder if other white males who write think about this.

Sam Pink's I am Going to Clone Myself then Kill the Clone and Eat It has been picked up by a Norweigan press--they will call it I LOVE YOU. Pink posted a link to Flamme Forlag, the publisher. I looked around and found this book in the catalog. I loved the google translation of the excerpt:

There er'n, there he is, right? Du må slå'n me' brettet da, mæl til bakfra, prøv å få'ni bakken, så kan vi sparke'n. You must slå'n me 'board as, Mæl to the rear, try få'ni ground, so we can sparke'n. Eller du kan ta nosen, så tar jeg tailen, og så bare smeller vi ti'n me' trucken. Or you can take Nøsen, I'll take the tail, and then just slams we ti'n me 'truck. Ja, da kan'n faen meg angre. Yes, when kan'n goddamn regret. Ja, jeg er rett bak deg. Yes, I'm right behind you. Bare gå du, er rett bak deg. Just go, you are right behind you. Og så prøver du å slå her, ikke sant? And then try to turn here, right? Her. Here. Vi bare beiner før det kommer no'n, ta're me' ro. We legs for the upcoming no'n, ta're me 'ro.

Just go, you are right behind you. Why isn't this translated into English? I though 8-bit was in.

Gem City/Fountain City

My friend Greg, through his press Rabbit Catastrophe, is selling my chapbook Gem City/Fountain City. You can order a copy at his blog.

If you're interested in reviewing it, please contact Greg through his profile.

Maybe we need a Diocletian

My roommate Jeff bought Pepsi Throwback. This reminded me of a conversation with my friend Chris about the late Roman empire. He said in the third and fourth centuries, during the decline, the roman architecture became a collage of PAX Romana, Augustan, and Republic, styles. They no longer experimented, simply recycled old things from glory days. I love old Pepsi cans more than new Pepsi cans. I embrace their return, but I wonder if we're in our own crisis of the third century. This also could explain the success of Mad Men.

Also, in the future, I will be more dillegent in proof-reading my posts.

Bullet suspended for possesion of unloaded firearm.

Gilbert Arenas' indefinite suspension from basketball will result in the NBA being further branded as a "thug league" with their players being branded, unfairly and uninterestingly as "thugs" (it's already started).

This, of course, further overshadows guys like Milwaukee Bucks' rookie Brandon Jennings. Jennings circumvented the NBA's draft rule--players need to be one year removed from high school or nineteen years old--by moving to Italy and playing there a year. Some credit the move to Europe for his rapid maturation as a player where he faced former, and future, NBA talent on a night-by-night basis. He's second among rookie's in scoring (19.0 pg), first in assists (5.9 pg), and tenth rebounds (3.8 pg). Not bad for a guard. That he opted to play in Italy is even cooler--the move of, say, a poet rather than a jock. I don't think jocks think much about the opportunities their talent gives them. Poets don't either really, I guess. They all move to New York, or Paris, which bores me and fellow lower-middle-class-background-artist-wannabes-in-student-loan-debt I know.

This makes Jennings not a jock or a poet, but a cool guy.

What I like most about Jennings is what I like most about Arenas--he's funny, seems personable, and is aware of his talent. Arenas proved to me he's not necessarily aware of his actions outside of games--especially joking about having a gun given the current cultural climate. I hope Jennings will be fine. He seems like he has a good head on his shoulders. I think Arena will be fine, too. This could open up the Josh Childress-esque opportunity of playing in Greece for $20 million over three years tax-free.