BRAD LISTI WAS HERE

THE 24-HOUR LITERARY MARATHON

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 16:33:00 -0400

I’ll be appearing at the 24-Hour Literary Marathon on Saturday, July 24th as part of an author panel which will also feature Deirdre Shaw, Mark Sarvas, and Brooke Berman.

Feel free to come by for a cocktail….

INTRODUCING THE TNB BOOK CLUB...

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 16:28:13 -0400

It’s a book club you can attend in the nude.

And it’s one of the greatest deals on the planet.

For more info, click the image above, or simply CLICK HERE.

THE VIEW FROM THE WEST - VOL. 4

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 16:18:00 -0400

The other day I was sitting here at my desk, listening to music, staring at my screen. And the lampshade to my left started shaking.

I looked down at my dog and my dog did nothing. We sat there for a moment and then the shaking went away.

One thing you might not know is that an earthquake can make you feel seasick.

In his 1999 book entitled The Ecology of Fear, Mike Davis points out that at least 138 novels and films dating back to 1909 have dealt with the destruction of Los Angeles.

Earthquake. Fire. Flood. Nukes. Alien or human invasion.

A storyline that never grows old.

“The entire world,” Davis argues, “seems to be rooting for LA to slide into the Pacific or be swallowed up by the San Andreas Fault.”….

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE

WIN, LOSE, OR DRAW

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 20:48:33 -0400

I played competitive soccer as a youth.

I remember hating the idea of a tie.

Even back then.

Playing to a draw.

It pissed me off as a kid, and it pisses me off now, watching the World Cup.

The USA plays England to a draw!

So what?

This bores me.

I think it stinks.

Tying should not be allowed. In any sport. For any reason.

SUBVERSIA TRAILER

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 18:17:00 -0400

TNB Books - Official Press Release

Fri, 11 Jun 2010 17:26:23 -0400

***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE***

The Nervous Breakdown and Hukilau partner to launch TNB’s new publishing imprint.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. (June 2010) - Readers addicted to nonfiction, fiction and poetry have long been getting their fix at the online culture magazine The Nervous Breakdown (TNB), a site founded by bestselling author Brad Listi (Attention. Deficit. Disorder.). Now, in partnership with Hukilau, TNB will be launching its own publishing imprint, producing print, e-book, transmedia, and audio books for lit fans worldwide. Its e-book offerings will be targeted for the iPad, Kindle, and other major e-publishing platforms.

REALITY CHECK: AN INTERVIEW WITH DAVID SHIELDS

Thu, 10 Jun 2010 02:58:58 -0400

Few books in recent memory have caused as much of a stir as Reality Hunger, the 219-page “manifesto” by David Shields.

It’s a book that defies easy classification.

An argument. A clarion call. An affront. A life story.

An unapologetic assault on the literary status quo.

An essay-memoir-pointillistic-literary-collage-and-exercise-in-appropriation-art, one which argues that a new artistic movement is forming, a movement which prizes as its virtues things like randomness, self-reflexivity, reader/viewer participation, and the total obliteration of the line between fiction and nonfiction.

The book has been greeted as a revelation. A game-changer. A thunderous ars poetica.

The book has been greeted as reprehensible. Tired. An irresponsible attempt to subvert existing copyright law, all while generating a massive wave of cheap publicity.

Writers in particular have reacted strongly to the book. Some with venemous anger; others, a fit of nervousness; others still with unbridled enthusiasm.

“To call something a manifesto is a brave step,” writes Luc Sante in the New York Times. ”It signals that you are hoisting a flag and are prepared to go down with the ship.”

Shields—-as far as I can tell—-is still afloat, and he was kind enough to speak with me recently about his life, his work, and his assessment of the cultural moment.

THE VIEW FROM THE WEST - VOL. 3

Fri, 04 Jun 2010 02:47:00 -0400

Charles Manson, David Letterman, Michael Jackson, Axl Rose.

All four, as young men, fled Indiana and headed West.

As did I.

Los Angeles, California.

Doves on power lines. Rats in palm trees.

One of my all-time favorite Letterman jokes: Autumn is my favorite season in LA, watching the birds change color and fall from the trees.

In my youth, I didn’t really have an urge to drive East. It was always South or West.

Now? I think about New York a lot. And Buenos Aires.

I’ve never been to Buenos Aires.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE

TNB GETS A MENTION IN THE LA TIMES

Wed, 19 May 2010 17:18:00 -0400

I moderated the Q&A portion of Chuck Palahniuk’s reading at Largo here in Los Angeles last night. A lotta fun.

The Nervous Breakdown co-sponsored the event in conjunction with Tyson Cornell’s Rare Bird Lit.

A nice write-up by Carolyn Kellogg in the LA Times can be found here.

THE VIEW FROM THE WEST - VOL. 2

Wed, 19 May 2010 16:46:05 -0400

A few words about readings.

Authors and poets standing up in front of people and reading from their work.

I have it in my head that a good reading should take on the character of its town. Meaning: a New York reading should be different than a New Orleans reading. A Seattle reading should be different than a Portland reading. A Chicago reading should be different than an Austin reading.

And so on.

Here in LA, it seems like a reading has to be entertaining. Meaning: It can’t just be a reading; it also must be a show. I don’t mean this in a bad way, either. It’s a natural extension of LA culture. The Entertainment Capital of the World. “A reading with jazz hands,” I like to say. People in Hollywood seem to expect jazz hands. They want some pyrotechnics, some musical theater, some weirdness, some special effects.

Maybe even some fake blood.

Or, on a lucky night, some nudity.

THE VIEW FROM THE WEST - VOL. 1

Fri, 07 May 2010 01:13:00 -0400

Lauren Cerand gave me the idea for this. We were talking recently. The subject turned to publishing. Specifically, it turned to “The Future of Publishing,” as most conversations in BookWorld tend to turn these days when “where to procure cyanide tablets” isn’t the main point of focus. From there we started talking about The Nervous Breakdown and its humble origins out here in The West—-Los Angeles, to be exact—-a town which, to my great surprise, has been my home for the past ten years.

Lauren suggested that I write a regular column documenting American literary culture from a Western perspective. I’m taking her up on it. This is the first installment.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE

CHART OF THE DAY

Mon, 19 Apr 2010 17:44:00 -0400

THOUGHTS THAT MAKE YOU THINK

Wed, 07 Apr 2010 13:17:00 -0400

Conservatives of today vs. conservatives of yesterday:

“A nuclear-free world has been a 60-year dream of the Left, just like socialized health-care.” - Rudy Giuliani, NRO, 2010.

“A nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought. And no matter how great the obstacles may seem, we must never stop our efforts to reduce the weapons of war. We must never stop at all until we see the day when nuclear arms have been banished from the face of this Earth.” - Ronald Reagan, 1984, in China.

And then this thought from Jonathan Chait at The New Republic.

Generally speaking, social policy has grown less restrictive throughout American history. People are are currently 70 years old are far more liberal on, say, the question of women’s suffrage than were people fifty years their senior. But women’s suffrage is settled fact, and no longer exerts any electoral impact. Several decades from now, we may well be looking at an even more liberal or left-wing social issue landscape. Today’s young voters are much less freaked out about an African-American president than are today’s old voters. But what about fifty years from now when the Democrats have nominated a transgendered Presidential candidate?

(With thanks to The Daily Dish for pointing the way.)

HAPPY EASTER

Fri, 02 Apr 2010 17:01:00 -0400

Life is a Miracle, Y’all! (2004)

Thu, 25 Mar 2010 17:29:23 -0400

Life is a Miracle, Y’all! (2004)

Chart of the day. Note the correlation between 1929 and 2008.

Wed, 24 Mar 2010 14:55:07 -0400

Chart of the day. Note the correlation between 1929 and 2008.

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO

Mon, 22 Mar 2010 19:29:00 -0400

During one brief respite from work this past weekend, my wife and I snuck away to the movie theater to see The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

It’s a satisfying—-if slightly over-long—-Swedish thriller.

Swedish thriller.

It’s a curious film in some ways.

Among other things, there’s a lot of raping in it.

Lots of Nazis and raping.

An unusual amount.

Like, three out of four men in the film are either Nazis and/or rapists.

And possibly murderers.

My wife and I both noted that the rape scenes were unusually long.

We couldn’t help but think that an American-made film would’ve had shorter rape scenes.

Instead, there were graphic, 7-minute-long rape scenes, and things of that nature.

It’s an edgy movie.

Entertaining.

A bit implausible, story-wise.

It is based, of course, on the bestselling novel by the late Stieg Larsson.

In its native Swedish tongue, the book and its film adaptation are known by this title: Män som hatar kvinnor.

Translation: Men Who Hate Women.

So American publishing executives presumably liked the book and saw its commercial potential, but then decided that Men Who Hate Women was a title that did not lend itself to big sales.

So instead they called it The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Lisbeth Salander, the heroine of the story, is a sexy (and sexually ambiguous) young woman with a tortured soul.

She is played with convincing brio by an actress named Noomi Rapace.

Lisbeth has a sexy dragon tattoo on her back.

Also: She is repeatedly abused by men who hate women.

I haven’t read the book yet.

I sort of want to now, just to see what all the fuss is about.

These books have been wildly successful, and they paint a portrait of Swedish culture that is in many ways strangely menacing, which strikes me as a little odd.

But maybe not that odd.

I have no idea who this is.

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 22:07:56 -0400

I have no idea who this is.

This is Bennie. She is Walter’s girlfriend. (Walter is...

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 16:38:18 -0400

This is Bennie. She is Walter’s girlfriend. (Walter is my dog.)

CAMERA SHY

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 16:33:00 -0400

Got up early.

Was still dark outside.

Sunrise.

Went for hike.

Brought camera.

Thought: I should take pictures.

Have had it in my head lately that I should take at least one photo a day.

Get into photography more.

So I bring the camera.

I’m walking.

I see some graffiti.

It says: EAT THE RICH.

I pull out my camera.

But the battery is dead.

I think to myself: Goddammit.

I get home an hour later.

I charge the battery a bit.

I run up to the grocery store on the corner to get some provisions.

I bring the camera.

Thinking to myself: I’ll take some photos inside the grocery store. Wouldn’t that be interesting?

But then I get self-conscious.

I feel strange.

I can’t bring myself to pull out the camera and start taking pictures in the grocery store.

I’m worried about what people might think.

I see a security guard in the store.

I feel like he’s casing me.

(He’s not.)

I’ve got this camera in my pocket.

I keep thinking: Just take it out. Just take some pictures.

I decide I’ll walk to the soup aisle.

I’ll take some photos of some Campbell’s soup cans.

Wouldn’t that be funny?

But there’s an old lady standing in front of the Campbell’s soup cans, and I can’t bring myself to do it.

Having the camera on my person was stressful.

Trying to decide what to shoot.

It was too much.

Eventually I left the store.

Never did take a single photo.

Maybe tomorrow.