Tag: Lazy blogging

October Reading List

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October is here–time to read (or reread) favorite scary stories, watch our favorite horror films, and carve up Jack O’ Lanterns. We have a couple of spooky reviews coming up (vampires!) but in the meantime, those searching for a good horror read can troll through a few older posts. Biblioklept: Lazy blogging at its best since 2006.

Two of our favorite posts ever are analyses of the scary stories our students wrote for extra-credit in’06 and ’07. Not sure what happened in ’08, but the ’09 contest is in full effect, yo.

For good horrific fun, check out Quirk Book’s recent Jane Austen mash-ups Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

Eddie Campbell Alan Moore From Hell psychogeography

One of our favorite books ever is From Hell, by Eddie Campbell and Alan Moore. If you haven’t read it yet, that should be your sacred Halloween mission in ’09.

Snapshot 2009-10-04 19-58-53

My glorious alma mater, the University of Florida, had a lovely zombie preparedness plan at their official website–up until a day or two ago. When university officials were alerted to the pdf (written in full academic language, complete with citations!) they quickly removed it. Too bad. It was really fun and funny. Don’t worry though, you can still download the official document here.

As non-scary (or at least not overtly-scary) reading goes, we’ve got a pretty big stack of books we vow to get through in October, including W.G. Sebald’s Austerlitz, Julio Cortázar’s Blow-up and Other Stories, and the newest issue of McSweeney’s. There’s also a ton of promos of upcoming releases to wade through.

Back to the scaries–check out the Brothers Quay illustrating His Name Is Alive’s “Are We Still Married?”:

How to Write a Lazy Post

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1. Begin with some kind of excuse or explanation for why your post is so lazy. Remember to be earnest and emphatic.

Example: Sorry this post is so lazy! It’s Monday! I was swamped all weekend with school work and reading!

2. Link to somebody else’s work, preferably work that’s more creative and interesting than your own, but still within the realm of your blog’s subject.

Example: For a humorous take on the prose styles of some of our favorite authors, check out “The American Canon of the Choose-Your-Own-Adventure, Volume II” at McSweeney’s. Funny stuff.

3. If possible, link to some past post of your own that may or may not be tangentially related to the link to more-creative stuff above (of course, this older post of your may contain numerous links to other people’s more-creative-than-your-own stuff). Linking to your own previous work may help present your lazy post as something other than lethargic hackwork. Or not.

Example: Then check out our own post from last year on the Choose-Your-Own-Adventure series.

4. Then, so your readers don’t feel totally cheated (remember, they’re only really reading your blog to kill time at “work” anyway), post a completely unrelated mp3 or video.

Example A: On a completely unrelated note, my little baby two month old daughter just loves this song:

YMCK–“Magical 8bit Tour”

Example B: On a completely unrelated note, I recently saw the 1961 version of Sanctuary (adapted from a combination of two Faulkner books–Sanctuary and Requiem for a Nun). The film featured a standout performance from blues singer Odetta, which reminded me of this killer footage from that Bob Dylan movie Scorcese made:

5. Finally, apologize again for your lazy post and make an unsubstantiated promise to post more meaningful, more original content in the near future.

Example: Again, sorry for the lazy post folks, but look forward to upcoming posts on canceled TV shows, books-on-tape, a graphic novel about Mohawks (the people, not the hairstyle), and more griping about Faulkner.

From The Believer: Stephen Elliot’s “The Score”

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I have a subscription to The Believer, a magazine I truly love but am consistently unable to finish each month. They just pile up on my coffee table, the site of all sorts of literary flotsam and jetsam. Of course, when I first get each month’s issue, I like to skim through it and read any articles that catch my eye immediately–this is the only way they’ll get read. The tone of the majority of The Believer‘s articles and features tends to be a mix of post-modern pop culture criticism, faux academese, and general smart-assed winking and nodding. Also, they have some pretty great interviews.

Anyway, last month’s issue had a beautifully earnest personal essay by Stephen Elliot called “The Score.” I loved this essay so much that I actually called people to tell them about it. Luckily, The Believer website has the full text of “The Score” for all to read for free. This isn’t the type of essay that will make you smarter or enrich your vocabulary or provide any kind of hipster insights…it’s just a very good personal essay, a genre which I pretty much despise. Elliot discusses his dysfunctional relationship with his ex-girlfriend, drug use, and the Chicago Bulls of the 1990s in an unnerving but oddly affecting manner. Tell me that you don’t love this essay.