Comments on: In Defense of Dial-up Blogging and, Generally Speaking, Taking It Slow

By: Rick Ramdeen

Rick Ramdeen — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 01:23:25 +0000

Jason, blogging, on the interweb – brave new world indeed. Just when I was losing interest in the internet. I don’t get the whole YouTube phenomenon – watching poor quality America’s Funniest Videos. Although I do appreciate someone taking the time to put up Style Council videos. Now I actually have something worthwhile to read, when I don’t feel like working (Facebook is blocked at work, so is my personal email – arrgh).
I did not however, take too long to think, or write this comment (mostly due the Chardonnay I’ve been enjoying tonight). But this is what it’s all about it isn’t it – you take your time posting, and I quick-draw a comment.
Looking forward to reading a great deal more!

By: Jason Guriel

Jason Guriel — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 23:37:27 +0000

Thanks, Michael. And that is funny, the high hit rating in Google; I wonder what the creators of AVP would think about the poem…
And congrats, Mary, about the reviews. Just great. I’m looking forward to them.

By: michael robbins

michael robbins — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 19:01:10 +0000

Yeah, I haven’t seen the movie either, but that’s where the title comes from. It’s not so difficult to find metaphorical analogues for the titular creatures. I was struck by the resonance each term has for us now, living in our gated communities at the end of capitalism (to be reductive about it, something permissible in a comment stream I should think). But it’s also funny, I think, & I’m especially tickled that the poem is now in the top 20 Google results for “alien vs. predator.”
Jason, thanks so much for yr kind words! I admire yr reviews very much as well, & I’m not just saying that to be reciprocal.

By: Mary Meriam

Mary Meriam — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 16:38:23 +0000

Jason, I do remember the Alien, with Weaver - not that I saw it - just from general awareness of pop culture. And thanks for inviting me to your threads - if I had time, sir, time! However, I wanted to tell you that my first three book reviews (which were actually written for a different readership) are forthcoming in RATTLE (3/25, 4/10, 4/30) here: http://www.rattle.com/blog/ So I'm pretty excited about that. Possibly more Darth Vader mask weirdness in store from the fledgling critic.

By: Jason Guriel

Jason Guriel — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 15:02:24 +0000

Mary, thanks for the generous words. I plan on doing more readings of poems I like, on Harriet, so feel free to add your much-appreciated readings of things you appreciate to my threads. And yes, Michael's poem's title refers to a movie, Alien Vs. Predator, which draws from two movie franchises. (The first installment of the Alien franchise, starring Sigourney Weaver, came out circa the first Star Wars trilogy, so you may remember it.) I gather the movie to which Michael's title refers is a bad one, so you're probably not missing too much; I haven't seen the movie, though, so maybe I'm missing something (and maybe it's a good flick, after all). But I still enjoy Michael's poem in the Eliotic sense: it's a thing communicating (and entertaining) before it's understood, etc.

By: Former Berkeley Girl

Former Berkeley Girl — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 15:00:02 +0000

Hi Mary,
If I recall correctly, “Alien vs. Predator” *is* a movie that brings together two franchises. Either that, or I’m confusing it with “Freddy vs. Jason.”

By: Mary Meriam

Mary Meriam — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 14:26:48 +0000

Did I say Star Trek? I meant STAR WARS, which I saw when it first came out, and that was my last movie.

By: Mary Meriam

Mary Meriam — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 14:03:12 +0000

Michael, thanks, but please tell me then, are alien and predator referring to movies? Because the last movie I saw, just about, was Star Trek, hence.
Jason, thanks to you, too. I’m just about beside myself that you think what I said is cool. True cool would have to be your latest – Going Negative – just marvelous. More, more!

By: Jason Guriel

Jason Guriel — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 12:08:38 +0000

Thanks, Michael. I’m not sure if Jordan and Mary are still following this thread, but I enjoyed your poem. And speaking of very cool critical language – a la the Darth Vader mask – I really admired your recent reviews in the print magazine and the suggestion that “Bidart is one of those rare artists, like Sonic Youth or John Ashbery, whose every new work is worth buying the day it appears on the shelves.” I’m not a huge Ashbery fan, but it’s still an apt, nicely put point. I love, too, the line “when the world is weird and reverberating, before thesauruses have been consulted.”

By: michael robbins

michael robbins — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 23:29:33 +0000

Am just finding this discussion (have not haunted Harriet for a while): many thanks for taking the time to think about my poem, Mary, Jordan, & Jason. I particularly like the idea of the poem as a Darth Vader mask, though I’d have to back up Jordan & say that it has no langpo in it & isn’t about meta-poetical concerns (except insofar as any poem is). But that’s cool: I’m really flattered that you read & thought about it, Mary.