Auto-Fun Archive: October

10.31.07
quote: "First of all, are you our sort of person?" (Sylvia Plath, "The Applicant")
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10.30.07
quote: "Until I was in my early thirties, I never sent a Birthday, Christmas, or anniversary card. Not because I didn't think to, but because I could never get it together in time. I had no training in this simple, respectful task. I specialized in chaos. In nearly destroying myself, and then rebuilding myself, which is exactly what I watched my mother do, year after year, throughout my childhood. It's amazing how this happens. How you become your parents, even though you are determined not to. And sometimes, you become them in ways that are quite transparent to your own eyes. Such as, becoming the opposite." (Augusten Burroughs, "Santa Shrink," Black Book)
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link: fourfour's ANTM Recap: "Despite What She Says, [T]yra [B]anks is Not Jesus Christ."
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10.28.2007
quote: "From infancy on, we are all spies; the shame is not this but that the secrets to be discovered are so paltry and few." (John Updike)
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link: "A Teenager in Love (So-Called)", New York Times. (opening line: "To a certain sort of woman who is somewhere between late youth and unacknowledged middle age, the name Jordan Catalano isn't a television reference, it is a sense memory.")
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10.27.2007
quote: "What makes humans human is precisely that they do not know the future. That is why they do the fateful and amusing things they do: who can say how anything will turn out? Therein lies the only hope for redemption, discovery, and -- let's be frank -- fun, fun, fun! There might be things people will get away with. And not just motel towels. There might be great illicit loves, enduring joy, faith-shaking accidents with farm machinery. But you have to not know in order to see what stories your life's efforts bring you. The mystery is all." (Lorrie Moore, "People Like That Are the Only People Here.")
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link: David Sedaris interview, The Chicago Tribune
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10-26-2007
quote: "After all, your style is you. At the end the personality of a writer has so much to do with the work. The personality has to be humanly there. Personality is a debased word, I know, but it's what I mean. The writer's individual humanity, his word or gesture toward the world, has to appear almost like a character that makes contact with the reader. If the personality is vague or confused or merely literary, ca ne va pas." (Truman Capote, Paris Review Interview)
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link:'How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read' Proves its Own Point [New York Magazine]
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10-25-2007
quote: "One day, standing in the river with my flyrod, I'll have the courage to admit my life." (Jim Harrison)
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link:Video of Tegan & Sara covering Umbrella
Auto-Straddle "L Word" Pilot Recap
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10-24-2007
quote:
"I want to get up early one more morning, at least.
And go to my place with some coffee and wait.
Just wait, to see what's going to happen."
(Raymond Carver, "At Least")
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FourFour's ANTM Recap 10-22
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10-23-2007
quote:
The past around us is deeper than.
Present events defy us, the past
Has no such scruples.
(Jack Spicer, "Six Poems for Poetry Chicago")
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link: Marjane Satrapi-Interview with Deborah Soloman at NY Times Magazine
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10-22-2007
quote: "I used to hate writing assignments, but now I enjoy them. I realized that the purpose of writing is to inflate weak ideas, obscure poor reasoning, and inhibit clarity. With a little practice, writing can be an intimidating and impenetrable fog!" (Calvin, Calvin and Hobbes)
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link: My Favorite part of this is the Comments [Why Don't We Get Drunk and Blog?]
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10-21-2007
quote: "None of us seemed to know the nature of the coincidences that bound us together, as I know now, or that junkies and masochists and hookers and those who have squandered everything are the ring of brightest angels around heaven." (Rick Moody, The Ring of Brightest Angels Around Heaven)
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10-12-2007
quote: "What a terrible mistake to let go of something wonderful for something real." (Miranda July, "Making Love in 2003," No one belongs here more than you.)
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link: Cecily Von Ziegesar's Note to GG Readers on Amazon
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10-11-2007
Gran: Talking to yourself dear? That's the first sign of madness, you know.
Eddie: Really? I thought it was talking to you.
(Absolutely Fabulous)
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link: Girlbomb: How Long Were You Working On Your First Book?
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