--AND SO IT IS THAT WE FIND OURSELVES HERE TOGETHER AT THIS EXACT MOMENT, AT THIS EXACT PLACE

…I have some new things:
--A new poem, "Father's Day" and an interview up at Stoked Press.
--"Walking on the Sun," a mostly true story at Apollo's Lyre
--I also have a story, "Lilies From a Fallow Field" up at Pipe Dream Fiction.
All are here under "Words in Print."

…This week people are celebrating the 20th anniversary of the release of "Nevermind" by Nirvana. Originally the record label had hoped to sell 45,000 copies. The album has sold over 30,000,0000 thus far.

--I'm not digging Ashton Kutcher on "Two and a Half." Admittedly, I'm a Charlie Sheen fan (I know he's acted despicably, but his talent is undeniable.) Ashton, from the interviews I've seen him do, seems like a great guy. His character on the show is a less funny, greasy-haired, bad Jesus-looking version of his "That 70's Show." Despite the record setting season opener, I don't expect the show to make it.

…I saw "Drive" with Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan.
It's a very unusual film, and I loved it. You have to be the patient sort, however.
The pacing is very slow the first half. There's very little dialogue. Ryan Gosling says less than 200 words in the entire film, and he's the lead.
The movie takes an unexpected and very violent turn in the second half. It is reminiscent of Tarantino.
Gosling is one of greatest actors, proving his range in films from "The Notebook" to "Blue Valentine" to "Crazy Stupid Love" and now this.

…I just finished reading "Northwest Corner." It's by John Burnham Schwartz, who wrote "Revolutionary Road," which got turned into a film starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet.
I had insomnia.
Woke up at 12:30.
Got out of bed at 1:30.
Finished the book by morning.
The novel is so well written, lyrically so, in present tense, which is rare, which I like, which my new novel is written in.
There are many tough and tragic moments but you will root for these characters to make into the light, and you won't be able to stop reading until they, hopefully have.

Here are some sound bites for you:

"--She would like to learn to live like that, without punctuation, hearing just the words themselves.
--The word always is fraudulent. There is only now; there is only this.
--You can do all the planning you want, or you can do none: once their bags are packed, people leave.
--A place gets defined by what's in it.
--A fist is nothing without rage.
--Because, for fuck's sake, the goal of life must not be to lose it all, to cause other people grievous harm and suffering, to wholly give up one's pride and respectability.
--Let's face it, all the good folks really want is a lacrosse stick.
--We think we are solid and durable, only to find that, placed under a cruel and unexpected light, we are the opposite: only our thin, permeable skin holds us intact. Hemophiliacs walking through a forest of thorns.
--Penny leans forward, trying to get as close to her daughter as possible. Thinking that love has a memory, too. It knows how to come home.
--Despite what the mathematicians assure us, zero is not a meaningful number in real life.
--Words leave me then. You spend them carelessly, flagrantly, and the next thing you know they're gone." all from "Northwest Corner"

--"There are heroes, and then there are the rest of us." John Schwartz, "Revolutionary Road"