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Hit and Run (Day Five)

by
February 16, 2007

Day Five

From: Fiona Maazel To: Michael Helke Subject: What 3 Quarks Giveth, The Scanner Taketh Away

Hi, Michael. By now, it should be evident that I don’t read blogs much. I have certainly never read as many or as much as I have this week. It’s been sort of fascinating. One tends to forget how much is going on out there. I have been chastened by the experience. I also realized that I do, indeed, know who Philip Rieff is, but that out of context, all this stuff just comes at me like unorganized data I cannot process.

I just noticed on Elegant Variation mention of Dzanc Books and their first two titles. I’d never heard of them—which says nothing—but I was excited about what they are publishing. For one, the indie presses are keeping literature alive. They are publishing the stuff that’s too risky for most of the big houses—and by too risky I mean too weird and thus unpalatable to the majority of readers out there. I’m not trying to be a snob, it’s just that most people don’t know what to do with novelty. Because if you can’t turn it into a movie, what have you? I like that Dzanc quotes Gary Lutz and Brian Evenson because when you get endorsements from writers like these, and when you publicize them, you are pretty much saying: We are the real deal. And it’s true, they are.

Apropos the business of the good childhood, here comes the Netherlands. Crooked Timber reports UNICEF’s findings that the Dutch excel when it comes to the well-being of kids. Who doesn’t excel? We don’t, of course. The United Kingdom, too. There follows a paean to the Netherlands that has me wanting to immigrate and then an anti-paean that’s making me feel better about where I am, should I ever manage to have kid of my own.

This is what I like about Crooked Timber—they aren’t so bad at flipping the coin, despite the overall lefty bias of the thing. What I don’t like is how self-referential some of the posts are. Like that bit about Jodi Dean and formal modeling; not only is Dean’s post unintelligible, but so is the discussion that follows, if only because this guy assumes we know something about formal modeling beyond the obvious. I suppose most people who regularly read this blog do know about such matters. Me? I’m done. Can’t say the same of Drezner who, apparently, reads Crooked Timber with regularity.

I wanted to watch his bloggingheads tv thing, but I guess I need some intel-based mac plugin. Worth the trouble? No. Maybe I should just read his new book, which looks hot.

Richard Feynman on 3 Quarks: most satisfying. Likewise the snippets from the Orr/Dennett smackdown. It’s getting personal. By time it’s over, they will have long departed from debate over The God Delusion. Did you read The God Delusion? It’s on my pile, just below Anna Karenina, but above Catch-22. Props to 3 Quarks: I learned more from reading the site this week than I have in months.

Unfortunately, I also learned one great way not to get any work done is to read the aforementioned. I have been so unproductive! It’s a little depressing. And when depressed, instead of taking a walk or reading a book, I’ve gone to the Nerve Scanner. Today’s array? A clip from the startlingly unfunny “The Half-hour News Hour,” evidence that John Mayer looks like Edward Scissorhands, and a posing of the age-old question: is Vladimir Putin looker or loser? In short, what 3 Quarks inspires—brain activity, I guess—the Scanner destroys.

I’m signing off, Michael. It’s been fun corresponding with you. Maybe when we meet in the flesh, we can talk cupcakes.

Cheers,

fiona

 

From: Michael Helke To: Fiona Maazel Subject: Today, We Are All New York Intellectuals

Maaz:

I agree with you: one can’t talk about books in polite company anymore without it metamorphosing into talk of movies.

And as if to prove the point, just wanted to say, first off, if you haven’t seen “Pitch ’n’ Putt with Joyce ’n’ Beckett” at YouTube, you should. Feckin’ brilliant, it is.

Back to books: Jane Smiley’s new novel about Hollywood is due to – MERDE! I’m doing it again…

You want to get meta-meta? I just read about us reading about Crooked Timber and reading what Crooked Timber thinks we’re doing. Suddenly I’m very dizzy…

Dunno about you, but I don’t think I’ve ever had what I’m doing mentioned within the same paragraph as the fabled New York Intellectuals. But I suppose there’s a first time for everything, isn’t there? And other clichés. Ever wondered what it means to be “post-ironic”? I think I do: it’s when you think you’re being sarcastic but don’t realize you’re actually telling the truth. That is, talking “in quotes” about things that can be safely said without them.

As of this moment, no news yet from The Elegant Variation about Martin Amis’s teaching stint at Manchester Uni, so check it out at the Guardian. (The Mancs are going to have his balls for breakfast with his scalp as a side salad…) There is mention of Simone de Beauvoir being honored at the 16th International Book Fair in Argentina. Didn’t the Times run a story a couple years ago that the English translation of Beauvoir’s Second Sex is actually rather shitty, and a generation of novice scholars might therefore have derived erroneous notions from it? Too bad this is the end of the line for discussion – would love to solicit your thoughts on that…

Oh, dammit, woman – you scooped me on Richard Feynman! Another late, lamented scientific mind. He and Carl Sagan. If you haven’t read Tuva or Bust: Richard Feynman’s Last Journey, you should. Would have been fun and interesting man to have hung around with: that stoner dewd who actually had a 180 IQ and excellent taste in music, lit, etc.

I read it first at Nerve’s Scanner: Al Franken is running for Senate, and Rudy Giuliani’s declared for president. Would have thought Giuliani’s cancer scare of a few years ago might have put him off the rigors of campaigning; and think Franken hasn’t a chance of winning, as he’s much too much fun to listen to. Think he’d get bored after awhile anyway. Drezner also weighed in with some drive-by thoughts on Giuliani worth pondering.

Maaz, my mighty heart is breaking. As we are being separated, perhaps never to see or hear one another again, I thought I’d bequeath to you a link of Joy Division performing “Love Will Tear Us Apart” as a sort of musical summing up.

Speaking of which: I knew a bit about Nerve and Elegant Variation beforehand but never really gave it a sustained look – so many wasted nights! Well, not anymore, buster. Crooked Timber, Drezner, and 3 Quarks Daily I hadn’t a clue, and am glad that I was clued in before I died. It’s been a pleasure sniping.

(Of course, Fiona, there is always e-mail, you know…)

Helke

To see Day One of Michael and Fiona's Movable Snipe, click here.

To see our first installment of Movable Snipe, featuring Spencer Ackerman and Melissa Lafsky, click here.

Fiona Maazel has previously written for Jewcy on why unhappiness is the key to happiness. She also participated in a piety contest with both the U.S. and Iranian presidents in our "Letters to Ahmadinejad" series.

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Michael Helke, Books Editor for Stop Smiling magazine, lives a quiet life in an unassuming house in a suburb in the Midwest. Pause. Like someone in the Witness Protection Program.

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