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The new Mat
thew Robert Cooper record has leaked, and thanks to Casey letting me know, I finally snagged it, and it's not surprisingly a very beautiful record. MRC usually puts out records under Eluvium, whose "Talk Amongst the Trees" is one of my favorite records ever. There's some Eluvium type guitar washes on this, but also more "Accidental Memory..." piano pieces. I wasn't a huge fan of "Copia," as a lot of the songs just didn't gel for me. Maybe it was the hugeness of the aimed production. I'm not sure. But this one seems to be on the money. Hopefully I'll get inspired to write to it. I've written most of my poems to atmospheric music. It's cliched as hell to say that now, since so many people run with that, but it's true for me and has been for as long as I can remember.*
Craig Beaven sent me his 100 Favorite Movies list, as he and some friends have sent them to each other, so of course I decided I'll be making one too. I feel like mine's going to be a bit weird, as I won't have nearly as many "classics" on there as others may. "American Movie," for example, will easily be in my top 10, while "Little Monsters" will probably make the top 100. And there are a slew of directors like David Gordon Green, Paul Thomas Anderson, Alexander Payne, Harmony Korine, whose comprehensive films thus far may be spread out over the list, while leaving out a few I imagine.
And this is "Favorite" movies, which to me are the ones I can put on in any mood I'm in and watch, regardless of length, style, or anything else. 100 Desert Island Movies, then? The same type of thing? I'm not sure. But for me no Hitchcock will be on the list, and "Citizen Kane" doesn't make my Favorite list for sure.
I challenge anyone who's reading this to do the same. I'd love to see some of these lists. It would be good for me to see how many amazing movies I need to see that I haven't thus far for whatever reason.
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To me, this whole argument is hilarious and uncalled for. I have to admit, however, that I was indeed entertained by it. I really don't know why Eduardo, who I don't even know, have never met, and whose work I've never seen, talks so much shit on people. It may all be seemingly innocent, but I can see why Collin and Steve got so pissed off. Then again, maybe that's why he does it, to get a rise out of whoever he can. If we write and send out we're involved in Po-Biz. Get used to it or become a dentist. But just like Foetry, if all of us spent less time bitching, we'd probably be producing more quality work, or at least work we're proud of, myself included.
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The new issue of Diode is up, and in just a year Patty and Jeff have really done a hell of a job. The design's slick, simple without looking too basic or hurting the eyes, and they've had a number of great poets involved. Not only that, but they want moving work and have no defined aesthetic, which are the journals I tend to gravitate toward. Narrative poems by language poems by prose poems by completely experimental and uncategorized pieces. It's all there.
Recently, Nick Courtright had an interesting blog post (which I stole from Eduardo, who actually has a lot of good links when he's not starting blog brawls), and I think Diode is a journal that subscribes to this. I've never had a problem with reading just one poem by someone, and often I've bought books on the strength of one poem that blew me away. I've emailed poets and fiction writers to tell them how much I liked their single piece. But Diode tries to have a sampling, and that's great. And they're someone who may need to be mentioned on the post.
If you haven't sent work yet, you should. Greater things will be happening with the journal, and they're getting quality stuff by a ton of great up and comers in addition to the "established" folks, whatever that means. Now I'm starting to sound like a journal.
