Victor D. Infante's Blog, page 193

Skitz, Part Three

It's occurring to me that a great deal of the reason I'm obsessively blogging about Steve right now is so I have a place to put this torrent of grief and frustration. It's not that death is anything new to me -- quite the contrary, really -- but this one feels different. Steve was a close friend, once upon a time, even though we'd drifted. And maybe I'm feeling a bit guilty for drifting. And maybe I just feel helpless that he's 3,000 miles away in a coma and there's not a damn thing I can do ...

Skitz, Redux

Haven't head anything from San Francisco, but then, I can't imagine there's much to say. Even brought out of the coma, it's doubtful he was very present. And that's frustrating, because Steve was always one of those people who seemed very present. He seemed to be paying attention. It was kind of unnerving, actually.

I first encountered Steve on a day I've written about a ridiculous number of times: the first time I went to Rocky Horror. Years later, when I wrote about that day last for OC...

The WeirdPolitick of "Project Runway"

Every now and again, this little piece of reality TV fluff shows us something illustrative about the world we live in:

Designer Jason Troisi, to Tim Gunn: "I'm a straight man in a gay man's world," inferring that Tim should cut him some slack.

Bloggers Tom & Lorenzo : "Listen, asshole. When you are barred from marrying, adopting children, serving in the military, visiting your spouse in the hospital, or even joining the fucking Boy Scouts, you get the right to whine about how unfair life is. Whe...

Steve Skitz

Received a jarring note yesterday from my friend Genevieve, that my friend Vern Wilson, better known as Steve Skitz, is in the hospital and not expected to recover. Writes Genevieve:

He went in complaining of stomach pains and was admitted about three days ago. Since then, he's had a heart attack and has been diagnosed with liver failure and pancreatic failure. He's been in a forced coma, on life support, but they're pulling him out on Friday, so we can say our goodbyes.

She says there is...

One night in Worcester makes a hard man humble ...

... or, maybe not. But still, it's certainly not been boring around here, lately.

Been going to a lot of goodbye readings, retirement parties, et al, the last of which for the time being (Dear God, I hope) was David Keali'i's excellent reading Sunday for the Poets Asylum. A fantastic set. David weaves sexuality, heritage and geek culture together like no one I've ever seen, and rocks a mean cover of a Pablo Neruda poem. I'm going to miss him terribly as he goes off to grad school in Hawaii. Ex...

With a Little Help From Our Friends ...

Hi. If you're reading this, you probably know that my name is Victor D. Infante, and I'm a Write Bloody Publishing author. Hi, Victor!

As you may or may not know, Write Bloody is in the midst of a fund-raising push to raise enough capital to leap to the next level in book distribution. Here's the official spiel, from the home office in beautiful Long Beach, California:

We have just been offered a deal with a great distribution company that will help us get our books in more bookstores and...

The Weekend, so far ...

The Kitchen Sessions Friday night -- the last one, at least at the McGee/Lee residence -- was an absolute blowout. And certainly, a good part of that was the poetry. The open was fantastic (and, although I'm obviously biased, Lea's new poem blew the lid off the roof. The applause was thunderous), Megan Thoma and Melinda Lee's short sets were excellent (I am so consistently amazed by both. I just keep seeing them raising the bar, over and over again) and Tony Brown and Mike McGee's sets were a...

SERIOUSLY, Project Runway?!??! WTF!?!?!

Overall, I'm intrigued by this season of Project Runway, but I DO have one question ...


***

In non-"Project Runway" related news, I find myself increasingly drawn to discussions of literary theory, particularly the intense discussion of Susan Somers-Willett's book ...

Art & Emotion

Both tonight's episode of "Work of Art" and a conversation with a friend about writing today have made me ponder something about extrapolating emotion through art, be it poetry, fiction or a visual medium.

It does not have to be a literal experience. If, as Mark says, the scar on your torso really isn't a big deal, that's no reason to not consider using t as a basis to elicit emotion from the viewer. It is entirely possible -- and indeed, often necessary -- to magnify and heighten emotional ex...

Stirrings From Whatever Cave I've Been Hiding In

I feel as though I've been living in a cave since my feature at the Poets Asylum, sort of locked into a cycle of intense work (the job I'm paid for, of course, as well as the whole writing thing, both of which have been unusually demanding this past week and change) punctuated by trash TV at ungodly hours. (Except for Sunday, where I missed Trevor's going-away feature for a wedding. But it was a very nice wedding.)

Sometimes, when I get this buried, I realize that I am barely cognizant of the ...