Twenty years later, Vale Vale and Company finally return to the land of pranksters with Pranks 2 (RE/Search). These interviews, mostly done by V. Vale himself, illustrate just how deep pranks run in our current cultural milieu — and how far they’ve spread since the last volume (RE/Search #11: Pranks). From the spread of culture jamming and parody to the mainstays of satire and social commentary, pranksterism is standard fare. Heck, just the mainstreaming of the lyrical spoof, which has nearly put Weird Al Yankovic out of business, is proof enough. All of this makes it that much more difficult to shake things up with a good prank. Well, the time has come for the O.G.’s and the current reigning few to get their due. Continue reading “Pranks 2, Applicant, and And Your Point Is?”
From Pixels to Pencils
I was going to wait until I had more of these done, but I have too much other stuff going on at the moment. I started drawing again, and here are a few of the results. Continue reading “From Pixels to Pencils”
Soft Skull News Blurb
Richard Nash over at Soft Skull posted this in their news today:
Roy Christopher, a David Frost of the counter-culture, has a new book out, and I’ll quote a Soft Skull fellow traveler, the ingenious Disinformation Company, on why you should check it out: Continue reading “Soft Skull News Blurb”
Not Bad Meaning Bad, but Bad Meaning Good
While I don’t agree with everything in Steven Johnson’s semi-recent book, Everything Bad is Good for You, it does present an interesting lens through which to reexamine pop culture. In a theory he calls “The Sleeper Curve,” Johnson states that pop culture is getting more cognitively demanding, not less, as is conventionally assumed. Johnson bolsters his theory with examples from video games, television, and film. Though he doesn’t mention it, where hip-hop is concerned, I couldn’t agree with him more. Continue reading “Not Bad Meaning Bad, but Bad Meaning Good”
Sean Walling: My Mind Spray
Okay, I’ve been sitting on this one for way too long. Originally slated for my zine-in-progress, “Fractal Pterodactyl,” this interview with my man Sean Walling (a.k.a. SIR ONE) is over a year old. What it lacks in timeliness it makes up for in pretty pictures. Continue reading “Sean Walling: My Mind Spray”
Looking for the Perfect Beat (Poet)
“I burned my only copy of Naked Lunch to start a fire.” — William S. Burroughs Jr.
The Beats have always been of tangential interest to me. I have certainly enjoyed what I’ve read, as pedestrian as it has been (e.g., On The Road, “Howl,” some Burroughs, etc.), but the only writer associated with their scene that I can claim that I’ve truly explored is Kenneth Patchen. Continue reading “Looking for the Perfect Beat (Poet)”
Disinformation Blurb
From today’s Disinformation newsletter (Thanks Alex):
“A special shout out to Disinfo ally Roy Christopher, whose much-anticipated interview collection Follow For Now is about to hit bookstores near you. The collection includes stellar discussions with the key cultural luminaries, blogerati, and intellectuals of our time, from Douglas Rushkoff and Bruce Sterling to Doug Stanhope and Howard Bloom. Read the Table of Contents and you’ll see why I believe, if you’re interested in these people and their personal visions, that Follow For Now will be amongst the most important books published in 2007.”
Pre-order Follow for Now
Appy polly logies for the multiple messages on multiple sites, but I’ve been working hard on the book-length anthology of the best of frontwheeldrive.com. Entitled Follow for Now: Interviews with Friends and Heroes, the book is now available for pre-order from followfornow.com. Copies will be available in the next few weeks. Continue reading “Pre-order Follow for Now”
Woozy BMX Entry
I have a tiny blurb in an article on Woozy BMX called “What Motivates You to Ride.” Check it out about halfway down the page here. Continue reading “Woozy BMX Entry”
One-Word Description
Dres: “Yo, you found some wealth?”
Posdnous: “More in my mind than in my pocket.”
— De La Soul, “En Focus”
One morning at the bus stop several years ago, an old woman walked up to me with a copy of The Adventures of Sally by P.G. Wodehouse. She said, “Excuse me, sir, do you know what that word means?” Her finger was on page six, pointing to the word “impecunious.” I had to admit to her that I did not know the meaning of this word, and that I was unable to ascertain its meaning from the context of the sentence: Continue reading “One-Word Description”