Ravi Mangla's Blog, page 13
February 19, 2015
Geert Goiris
- Geert Goiris (from Whiteout)
February 12, 2015
"Vancouver Smoke" by Terese Svoboda
"That was how Sharon, tie-dyed and Indian-bloused, her dirty-blonde hair dripping wet from the shower after a night of stripping, concluded the roommate interview. Present but prone, holding a book and lying on the three-legged couch with its back to the living room for the view of the city’s more grimy industry, Clark raised a hand with his pro vote, and a small grey man—Gerry—with a bare chest as plated as armor, hair snarled to his elbows, seated deep in an ancient easy chair, played air piano in response. The arpeggio looked approving."
- “Vancouver Smoke" by Terese Svoboda at The Normal School
February 9, 2015
February 6, 2015
Chris Kraus
"Most of the people in the art world are rich, or at least upper-middle class. I think it’s important to maintain a transparency about how one actually supports oneself. Often, an artist or writer working without any other means of support is being supported by other means, elsewhere. But envy kicks in, and others believe that the person is a “better” artist, or at least making work that’s more financially viable. And this isn’t true. Very few people are able to support themselves through the proceeds of their work alone. There’s support from academe, through a teaching job, or family money, or spousal support. I chose to support my work partly by buying and operating low-end residential real estate.
Keith Gessen talked about this on an n+1 panel about money. He disclosed the advances he’s received for his books, and the advances his friends have received. A New York fiction writer receives a six-figure advance; a Russian poet he’s translating receives $8,000 that must cover the cost of translation. Rather than compete against each other, it’s interesting to examine how creative work is valued. Entry into the art and intellectual worlds is very limited to people who don’t have independent means.”
- Chris Kraus (from an interview in Full Stop)
February 4, 2015
January 31, 2015
Michael Haneke
"I would never set out to make a political film. I hope that my films provoke reflection and have an illuminating quality—that, of course, may have a political effect. Still, I despise films that have a political agenda. Their intent is always to manipulate, to convince the viewer of their respective ideologies. Ideologies, however, are artistically uninteresting. I always say that if something can be reduced to one clear concept, it is artistically dead. If a single concept captures something, then everything has already been resolved—or so it appears, at least. Maybe that’s why I find it so hard to write synopses. I just cannot do it. If I were able to summarize a film in three sentences, I wouldn’t need to make it."
- Michael Haneke interviewed in The Paris Review
January 30, 2015
Susan Rothenberg
Susan Rothenberg, Blue Flash, 2010
January 29, 2015
John Dermot Woods
Humor is our way of coping with everything from the inconvenient to the unspeakable. But, I think the truest humor is the humor that doesn’t try to deflect the truth and the pain, but tries to stare it in the eye without blinking. I knew I was walking the line of cracking jokes when I was writing The Baltimore Atrocities and I wanted to my prose to beg for punch lines. But, I hope, I never delivered them. I didn’t want to provide my reader with the solace of a comfortable laugh. I think the best laughs are ones we feel guilty about indulging in.
- John Dermot Woods at Full Stop
