what I'm reading now

newest from one of my favorite writers. I feel in love with Coetzee with Disgrace and never looked back.

I like short stories because they're convenient for subway and gym reading. Meloy's fiction is fast and sweet.

another short story collection (I actually don't have a short attention span). describing her characters in great detail and with touches of welcome humor, Munro's prose sucks you into another world.

this one I have yet to crack open, it won the National Book award this year and takes place in NYC in the 70's

Has this ever happened to you?

This comic illustrating "design by committee" is literal and correct. (also good to laugh with/at). does anyone know how to avoid or deal with this situation? care to share your experiences and heartaches?

The Americans

Robert Frank, Swiss, unobtrusive, nice, with that little camera that he raises and snaps with one hand he sucked a sad poem right out of America onto film, taking rank among the tragic poets of the world.
To Robert Frank I now give this message: You got eyes.

– Jack Kerouac

Excerpt from The Americans

I wanted to post some pictures by photographer Robert Frank whose seminal book, The Americans, was published 52 yrs ago. Preceding Diane Arbus, Lee Friedlander and Garry Winogrand by a decade, he captured America in a raw informal way that most likely offered a viewpoint only an outsider could provide. Swiss born Frank arrived on American shores in 1947 at the age of 23. From 1955 to 1956 he drove a used Ford across the country traveling through 30 states and taking 27,000 pictures, he financed his trip with a fellowship from the Guggenheim. From this was born his defining work, The Americans. He later went on to produce other books of photography as well as 31 films and videos including Cocksucker, a documentary of the Rolling Stones, that has been restricted by copyright use. He also made the film Pull My Daisy with Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg. I enjoy the spontaneity and truth in Frank's photos. Most things you see from the 50's are forced, conformist, and generally fake. These photos pull back the veneer and show a glimpse of real humans living in real time. A true artist.