"Good Warm Sad Blood
Spilling Out in the Forest"

A conversation with Heather Christle, Hannah Gamble, Matthew Rohrer, Zachary Schomburg, and Matthew Zapruder.

Check out Gulf Coast's conversation (here) with these fine poets. This is probably one of the best conversations I’ve ever read about “surrealist” or “absurdist” poetry. These contemporary and extremely influential poets tell all, and explain the misused term “surrealist.” They’re searching for a new term and I like that idea. Comparing their work to French surrealists is awfully confident on what their work might represent. I vote for something comparable to film terms, “The New-Absurdist” or “Post-French Surrealism” or “New American-Surrealism.” These are all extremely silly, but it’s fun to try and think of something new.

The sky is definitely becoming dark. You have a decision to make and I recommend you take the path to www.darkskymagazine.com. They have my poem “The Decision You Made at the Fork in the Road” up on their site today ready for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy!

I’ve given a short listen to the new 65daysofstatic and it’s still definitely no One Time for All Time, but it seems to be acknowledging that there past LP and few EP’s have been really disappointing. Maybe this is just my infantile brain trying to understand electronic music, but they’ve really been slacking and I think it’s because One Time for All Time is just completely the epitome of epic. However, We Were Exploding Anyway (2010) does try to gain that archetype again, and they even added Robert Smith from The Cure to one of their songs. I think I just really miss the fact that a lot of guitars were driven with the beats in OTFAT, while their newest record seems to be filling that void with more beats, and more synth. At least their cover art is unbelievable. My favorite of 2010 so far (artwork wise). Help me out on this…

Tonight we will be discussing Rear Window (1954) for History of Narrative Film. Here are some of my broad questions about the film. What do you think?

In the film Rear Window, does Alfred Hitchcock create several narratives by making the audience “peeping toms” as well? Does Hitchcock use Jeffries character as a parallel to the audience? It seems that we are as much interested in the lives of these characters as Jefferies. The rise of the story is through Lars Thorwald’s actions and through the narratives of the other neighbors. Do we become obsessed with Thorwald as much as Jefferies? Do Jefferies and Lisa represent the characters of Mr. and Mrs. Thorwald? It seems that everything is fine before he murders his wife, and the same applies to Jefferies and Lisa’s relationship. Jefferies attitude towards Lisa is a lot like Thorwald, because as Thorwald becomes overwhelmed with caring for his wife, Jefferies becomes weighed down by the idea of marrying Lisa. It’s also interesting to think of the comparable Lisa taking care of Jefferies as Mr. Thorwald cares for his wife. Their characters are all very similar and I think that it’s possible the film could be told from any narrative to drive a story, but the one we have with Lisa and Jefferies solves a murder.

Denver was a blast. The Rockies game was great, their local beer was delicious, and I met some pretty damn good writers.

Back home and ready to send out my chapbook. This is an amazing feeling/accomplishment for me and I think I want to start working on another. Maybe I should spend a little more time on my thesis?

Oh, brother. I've been slacking again. I'll be heading to Denver on Wednesday and you can find me at the Oyez Review table on Thursday 2-5pm, and Saturday 2-5pm. Then on Saturday night, you can catch me at the Rockies game. It is a dying wish to visit every stadium and ballpark in the MLB. Speaking of the MLB, yesterday was opening day, a tradition is Cincinnati like no other. My brother, father, and I are notorious for skipping work/school to watch the game like so many other Cincinnatians do. I have good vibes about this year although we started off the season getting crushed 11-6. I believe Albert Pujols is a machine. No human parts, just robot parts.

I'm also extremely dedicated to Fantasy Baseball. I'm apart of a Keeper, 11 team National League only group. My team goes really deep, but I have a good feeling about this team as well.

Active Batters
Hernandez, Ramon C CIN
Ruiz, Carlos C PHI
Cantu, Jorge 1B FLA
Weeks, Rickie 2B MIL
Rolen, Scott 3B CIN
Escobar, Alcides SS MIL
Renteria, Edgar SS SF
Loney, James 1B LA
Bay, Jason LF NYM
Dickerson, Chris LF CIN
Ethier, Andre RF LA
McCutchen, Andrew CF PIT
Velez, Eugenio LF SF
Ross, Cody CF FLA

Active Pitchers
Arroyo, Bronson SP CIN
Coffey, Todd RP MIL
Dotel, Octavio RP PIT
Maine, John SP NYM
Parra, Manny SP MIL
Rhodes, Arthur RP CIN
Santana, Johan SP
Wells, Randy SP CHC

Reserve Batters
Reyes, Jose B. SS NYM
Matthews, Gary CF NYM

Reserve Pitchers
Kawakami, Kenshin SP ATL
Maholm, Paul SP PIT
Wang, Chien-Ming SP WAS

Minors Batters
Johnson, Chris 3B HOU
Frazier, Todd OF CIN M
Francisco, Juan 3B CIN
Kieschnick, Roger LF SF
Mayberry, John LF PHI

Minors Pitchers
Chacin, Jhoulys RP COL
West, Sean SP FLA

See, I wasn't kidding. Live auction drafts are extremely fun.