Rob Walker's Blog, page 28

Wooden Figurine + Katie Hennessey story

Object No. 27 of 50 — Significant Objects v3

[Bid on this Significant Object, with story by Katie Hennessey, here. Proceeds from this auction go to Girls Write Now.]

This little statue stood on the window sill in my favorite aunt's front hall. Perched between plants of varying shapes and sizes, surrounded by shards of broken pottery and miniature ceramic elephants from the Red Rose Tea box, dappled with sunlight shining through the leaded glass figures of St. Francis in his garden and the...

Metal Flashlight + Brian Evenson story

Object No. 26 of 50 — Significant Objects v3

[Bid on this Significant Object, with story by Brian Evenson, here. Proceeds from this auction go to Girls Write Now.]

The thing about flashlights — and really, if we are inclined to be completely honest, the thing about any of the objects that we carapace ourselves with, that we use to hedge ourselves in — is that they are, more or less, interchangeable. As long as they function as they are meant to function, we hardly notice them. Nine times out...

Significant Objects Meme (6)

Tila Tequila's garage sale — very telling. Here's a person who obviously has never invested any object with narrative significance.

Electric auctions

Nice cover, eh?

The auctions on our five-story team-up with Electric Literature will conclude this week, starting with the one for Toy Car + Marisa Silver Story, which ends today.

We were really excited about this batch of stories, and we're pleased to see the prices looking so good. (Good cause, people: All proceeds to Girls Write Now. Please, shop away!) So it seems worth taking a moment to say just a little more about Electric Literature. As it happens, three of the contributors to this...

Significant Tweets for Week Ending 2010-03-28

Objects that are significant because they are murder weapons: http://bit.ly/kinNR #
What a nice writeup! "Two Great Tastes: Electric Literature and Significant Objects" http://bit.ly/aUS4MY #
Books: The Idea: Series of posts on Murketing.com. http://bit.ly/agwula #
Geoffrey Ellis photographs of junk/thrift stores: http://bit.ly/aTGiNT #

Bonus: Adfreak's Rebecca Cullers Q&A's S.O. cofounder R. Walker on the value of narrative.

Kickstarting COCKY

I recently mentioned a micro-fiction contest over at my other website, HiLobrow. Significant Objects readers are welcome to enter; deadline is the 31st.

I also wanted to note that HiLobrow is hoping to serialize, and then print a funny, tragic, fox-and-rabbit adventure novel-in-progress by one of our favorite writers, James Parker, who contributed a terrific story about a Kitty Plate to SO v1. In order to do so, we're trying to raise $4,000 via Kickstarter.

In fact, we've already raised over h...

Tiny Jar of Mayo + Rick Moody story

Object No. 25 of 50 -- Signficant Objects v3

[Bid on this Significant Object, with story by Rich Moody, here. This story is part of a special collaboration with Electric Literature. Proceeds from this auction go to Girls Write Now.]

Guy comes on the train, Sunday morning, I have slept one hour, I think, *#%$!, here I am again, hostage to some psychotic mother*#%$er who is going to give me the whole *#%$!ing if-only-I-will-be-reborn thing, I have no patience, not another ounce, and it's...

Significant Objects Meme (5)

Check out this New York Magazine slideshow titled "A History of Obama Feigning Interest in Mundane Things." This sort of thing is the flip side of the Significant Objects Meme!

From now on, instead of "More Cowbell," I want hipsters to demand "More Significance!" (Instead of Will Ferrell's bearded mug on the tee-shirt, you can use Rob Walker's.)

Craft Doll + Matt Sumell story

Object No. 24 of 50 — Significant Objects v3

[Bid on this Significant Object, with story by Matt Sumell, here. This story is part of a special collaboration with Electric Literature. Proceeds from this auction go to Girls Write Now.]

This beautiful lady is a handmade-by-me replica of my sweet Grandma E. after she had a stroke four years ago. You can see I did a pretty decent job, considering I'd never sewn anything before, except for a soccer ball pillow that I made in home ec class in like...

Craft Doll + Matt Summell story

Object No. 23 of 50 -- Signficant Objects v3

[Bid on this Significant Object, with story by Matt Summell, here. This story is part of a special collaboration with Electric Literature. Proceeds from this auction go to Girls Write Now.]

This beautiful lady is a handmade-by-me replica of my sweet Grandma E. after she had a stroke four years ago. You can see I did a pretty decent job, considering I'd never sewn anything before, except for a soccer ball pillow that I made in home ec class in like t...