February 29th, 2008
Life in six words… and Chuck Klosterman
Annette recently confessed that she’s addicted to Smith Magazine’s Six Word Memoirs, and challenges people to come up their life manifesto in the same amount of words.
I’ve posted before about Six Word Short Stories, and both the idea of summing up a person or a narrative in six words reminds me of something I read this week by Chuck Klosterman. I’ve just finished his book of essays Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Brow Manifesto. It collect his essays and writings for Spin and Esquire on everything from the over-ratedness of Star Wars, people he’s acquainted with who have known famous serial killers and reality as examined through films like Memento, Vanilla Sky and The Matrix.
Between each essay, is an interlude and in one of the most memorable ones in the book, he writes about the Oklahoma bombing. A newspaper report on all 167 victims pays tribute by listing a hobby or characteristic of the deceased (”Donald L. Burns Snr., 63, taught woodworking for many years”.)
Klosterman says:
“Everyone agrees that creating life is important, so having a child guarantees you’ve done at least one act of consequence. Moreover, it extends the window for greatness; if your kid becomes president, your biography becomes “the parent of a president.” The import of your existence can be validated by whoever you bring into the world. But this doesn’t always work. In fact, sometimes it makes things worse. Which is why the most depressing thing about the Oklahoma City bombing is that there’s now an innocent woman whose one-sentence newspaper bio will forever be, “She was Timothy McVeigh’s mother.”
It was a short piece, but it really struck a chord with me.
February 29th, 2008 at 9:49 am
Holy co-incidence Batwoman - I bought that book online on Monday. Really looking fwd to reading it now
February 29th, 2008 at 10:17 am
Jim, you’ll love it. He crams in music, TV, film, hash, porn and lots more. Reminds me of Charlie Brooker a lot.
February 29th, 2008 at 10:44 am
He crams in music, TV, film, hash, porn and lots more
You really know me, don’t you?
February 29th, 2008 at 11:21 am
Another book to add to the out of control book pile!
February 29th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
Open book, Jim, open book.
Annette, it’s great. You going to the Awards/tea party thingy?
And also, I cleverly managed to delete a comment from Middled Aged, who linked to this post with a piece about what has recently happened in Drimnagh.
http://middleages.wordpress.com/2008/02/29/an-act-of-consequence/
March 2nd, 2008 at 9:18 am
A female artist whose international renown has grown posthumously was Frida Kahlo (1907-1954). Her portraits are very hispanic in flavour and she did many drawings and paintings depicting alienation and pain, influenced by her physical handicaps and what she saw happen to people during revolutionary times in her native Mexico.
I first heard about her only a few months ago when I did a TEFL class using a textbook with a chapter devoted to her art and unorthodox life. Here’s a link with reproductions of her art:
http://www.myhero.com/myhero/hero.asp?hero=f_kahlo