Monday, August 18, 2008
(1:57 PM) | Adam Kotsko:
A slight change
Due to inexplicable disk space overuse charges from my ISP, I have decided to move The Weblog to a Blogspot. The old address should now redirect to this one.All previous links to The Weblog are now broken, because I have deleted all the files at the adamkotsko.com address. You may also have to resubscribe to the RSS feed. All those with posting privileges are able to post normally -- publication will likely also be faster. (It seemed to republish the entire blog to the Blogspot server instantaneously, for instance.)
I'm considering moving to Wordpress as well -- the switch to Blogspot doubles as a necessary intermediate step should I decide to go that route. The only drawback is that their free accounts offer no control over the template, and you all know how much I love my design.
UPDATE: I decided to go through with the switch to Wordpress, and the new address is much better than my stupid name. Please update all bookmarks, blogrolls, feed subscriptions, etc. Thanks for your patience.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
(6:20 PM) | Adam Kotsko:
The hell?
I notice many people saying "the hell" when they seem to mean either "what the hell?" or something along the lines of "the hell they did." They need to stop doing that, because it's ridiculous.They also need to stop saying "natch."
Friday, August 15, 2008
(12:00 AM) | Adam Kotsko:
Friday Afternoon Confessional: John Edwards
I confess that I was led astray by John Edwards. What has led me to this conclusion? It's not just the fact that he cheated on his wife who had cancer -- though I have to think that even in more enlightened Europe, people might be able to work up a little outrage about that. It's not the fact that the woman he cheated with appears to have been really into New Age bullshit and honestly wasn't very attractive. It's not even the unbearable hubris that led him to seek his party's nomination even knowing he had this skeleton in his closet.What really cut to the quick for me was the fact that his poverty non-profit was in large part a slush fund allowing him to keep up his public profile in anticipation of running for president in 2008. I further confess that this article, which just came to my attention, was actually from last year -- meaning that I should've known. The one issue that not only made me vote for Edwards but also made me a little bit smug about it was poverty.
I confess that before his affair was revealed, I might have dismissed any ethical questions about this non-profit -- in fact, maybe I already did and simply forgot about it. After all, wasn't the best way to fight poverty precisely to elect John Edwards? Now I'm wondering how much of that money was spent on healing crystals for his little fuck-buddy.
(I confess that though I've been writing in the first person, this post grows out of an IM conversation with Brad.)
Thursday, August 14, 2008
(3:27 PM) | Brad:
Sports Nerds Unite!
Weblog football fans, a couple of you have mentioned to me a desire to assemble a fantasy football keeper-league. What say the rest of you, anybody interested.We're looking for five committed football fans with time on their hands ready to waste in the service of meaningless competition, and is keen on at least a three-season commitment. We're not aiming for a high-stakes league or anything. The first step is to glean the interest, and then we'll work out specifics.
If you're interested, just include your email in the appropriate comment field -- or, if you're daring, paste it into the comment itself. Preference goes to those who comment early and/or we like more.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
(8:33 AM) | Adam R:
Publishing Genius press press
There's nice press on my press and Stephanie Barber's book in this week's Baltimore City Paper. Bret McCabe's article saysThese Here Separated to See How They Standing Alone is her new book, just issued on local poet/performer Adam Robinson's Publishing Genius press, and it is both the printed text of her shorts' narration and another ripple to Barber's works in and of itself. On the one hand, you can follow along with the film's narration in the book--which comes with a DVD containing the six shorts covered in it--but divorced from their visual counterparts and the often distorted vocalizations, they become their own little catalysts to imagined headspaces. And seeing only the words on the page reminds you just how powerful a spell her often simple and still images cast over viewers.I'm happy to see the book's title understood like this. The article references her work a lot, sort of more than is typically seen in alt-weekly arts writing. He even characterized me as a poet and a performer, which is how I like best to be known.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
(1:11 AM) | Ben W:
Tuesday Hatred: Bringing in the consultants
I hate that Adam offered me the chance to hate again after I had already written something that was at least supposed to be hateful at unfogged. I hate that jms will probably jump all over me for even mentioning that other thing, because she's such goddam purist about repetition. I hate that even though some guy called Dan thought it was a good post, I thought it sucked: I felt in writing it as if all my vitriol, of which I formerly had such a large measure, had disappeared. I couldn't go through with it. They say this is normal, but I can't stand it anyway.
I hate that the art library only checks books out to people for one week, and that their generous online renewal offer extends to two (2) one-week renewals for grad students (undergrads get only one!), which meant that I had to take Painting as an Art, a moderately heavy book, back in just so that some library worker could fumble his sweaty paws all over my ID card for what seemed an eternity. Then I had to take it back, of course. This despite the fact that I read the first lecture and a half in the book the day I checked it out, then didn't read any of it at all until today (that is, three weeks later), and actually only decided to check it out again after reading some of it on the train and deciding that it possessed sufficient interest despite its many manifest flaws. Maybe I won't read any of it until three weeks from now. WE'LL SEE.
I hate the fact that, on facebook, one can "become a fan" of modus tollens. Come on. What the shit is that. (Asks the person who's facebook-friends with Cicero.)
Adam recently IMed me to complain about his dissertation progress—I hate that. It is a cosmic upset that Adam should complain to me about procrastinating or whatever the substance was. I don't even have a frikkin' topic, by gum.
Did you know that our gracious host really is bringing in an outside Hatred evaluator? I don't know if this person works for McKinsey or some such or not, but I do know this: this person and I have a history—one enacted in part on this very blog—so I fear that this background might color the evaluation of my performance. I hate this fucking uncertainty.
Monday, August 11, 2008
(11:37 AM) | Adam Kotsko:
A neglected pun makes a comeback
Whatever else one could say about the fighting between Russia and Georgia, one thing is for certain: it has led to a major upsurge in the number of articles and blog posts entitled "Georgia on my mind.""The Devil went down to Georgia" is also enjoying a bit of a renaissance.
