2014 was the tail end of the Obama years, which was a time in our country where there was relative domestic peace and prosperity.
I could bunch up a mound of sheets and it was fun and meaningless. Back then we smiled. Back then joy was possible.

Kalina, Noah. Newsletter #47: “Bedmounds.” electronic mail, MailChimp. Retrieved from https://mailchi.mp/noahkalina/newsletter47 June 15, 2021.

If things changed since 2014—and they have, without doubt—one thing remained: Kalina’s sense of humor and playfulness, even when making serious political commentary. And Bedmounds is a reminder: even in times of slow-motion national catastrophe, there is beauty and joy and even silliness to be had.

Continue reading “Noah Kalina – ‘Bedmounds’”

I don’t recall where I first heard about the ‘Cabin Porn‘ blog. It was probably through a podcast or blog or something, and probably related to Noah Kalina, who came onto my radar back in 2012 sometime, when his “Everyday” project update hit and got a bunch of press.* Back in mid-2019, I think, I saw a copy of Cabin Porn in a used bookstore in Springfield, MO (or Kansas City, maybe?), and almost bought it, but was in debt-reduction mode and didn’t buy it.

Then, while cleaning out his studio, Kalina found a box of British-edition copies of Cabin Porn and offered them for sale. I snatched one up… for ~double the price of the one in that Missouri bookstore…

Continue reading “Zach Klein, Steven Leckart, Noah Kalina – ‘Cabin Porn’”

Departure Lounge is the third book in Jason Eskenazi’s trilogy on contemporary fairy tales. Unlike the first two books, I bought this one myself rather than receiving it from the Charcoal Book Club, which delivered Black Garden, the second book, in 2019, and a second edition copy of Wonderland in 2020, and I bought it just to have the whole trilogy. The other two are signed, so it’s not a matching set, but like Wonderland my copy of Departure Lounge has greasy handprints on the cardboard cover, so, taken together, they sorta match…

Continue reading “Jason Eskenazi – Departure Lounge”

Charcoal Book Club is a wonderful thing… after delivering Jason Eskenazi‘s Black Garden in May, 2019 (reviewed here in February 2020, where I half-lamented being unable and unwilling to cough up the $800+ for a copy of the first volume of his trilogy), they (Charcoal) went and delivered, and in August, 2020 a signed, second edition copy of Wonderland: a Fairytale of the Soviet Monolith arrived on my doorstep. Win!

Continue reading “Jason Eskenazi – ‘Wonderland’”