Rojak: Retirement.

Rojak is a regular collection of assorted links as well as a bulletin summarising the week (or thereabouts) on this blog.

Assorted

There’s this about Chris Ware. [via The New Yorker] His new book, Building Stories, is gorgeous, by the way.

Samizdat. [via A Piece of Monologue]

Interview with Mark Z. Danielewski. [via The Millions]

“In an age when rockers never seem to want to depart the stage, and every broken band with at least two members still alive has reunited, could Bowie really be the first rock star to have embarked on a quiet and dignified retirement?” [via The Telegraph]

On the Haruki Murakami fans disappointed by Nobel non-award. [via The New Yorker]

Tangerine Dream will cover the Beatles, Pink Floyd, David Bowie, REM, and more. [via Consequence of Sound]

An illustrated panorama of Finnegans Wake. [via The Paris Review]

Quiz time! [via Hark! A Vagrant]

A new Ultraísta video. [via YouTube]

Bulletin

• Hilary Mantel wins the Booker again.
• Radiohead.
• Lionel Shriver.
• Joan Didion.
• And…

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Nobel betting.

Man, is it that time of the year again? Apparently, this year’s favourite in the betting market for the Nobel Prize for Literature is Haruki Murakami. (And I do not advocate gambling, children.) [via the Guardian] So it is time to play that game again.

So, in the spirit of playing along (as I tend to do), I will again allow myself five guesses. This year, I’m putting my non-existent money on 残雪, Cormac McCarthy, Nicanor Parra, László Krasznahorkai, and… Javier Marías.

All right, let’s do this.

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Rojak: “Sartre looked like an ogre.”

Rojak is a regular collection of assorted links as well as a bulletin summarising the week (or thereabouts) on this blog.

Assorted

The new Dirty Projectors album is out in July, but for now you can catch their video for “Gun Has No Trigger”. [via YouTube]

Excerpt from Juan José Saer’s Scars, translated by Steve Dolph, which everyone should read. [via Numéro Cinq]

Speaking of whom… More Juan José Saer material to be published. [via Conversational Reading]

Sartre, Camus, and a woman called Wanda. [via The Telegraph]

Faber is publishing an ebook-only music criticism series called Faber Forty-Fives. [via the thought fox]

Pictures from Primavera. [via Pitchfork]

“Consequently, brother, As a human I am disgusted with your what appears to be desperation and poor execution. And disregard for others . As a director I am unimpressed . As a sociologist I understand your type. As your fellow artist I am uninspired. As a woman I feel violated and underestimated.” This will not end well. [via Consequence of Sound]

On postcard collectors. [via The Millions] (I am one, albeit not a very good one.)

On Prometheus (and Dark Horse). [via The New Yorker]

Let’s play Haruki Murakami Bingo. [via The New York Times]

Bulletin

Remember that Bonnaroo is live-streaming over at YouTube.

• Ray Bradbury.
• Lucian Freud.
• Daniel Sada.
• Clarice Lispector.
• Beach House.
• Baudrillard and Inception.

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The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

In the interest of getting my hype on, here is the trailer for Stephen Earnhart’s multimedia adaptation of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. [via YouTube]

I am not the biggest Murakami fan (though I certainly don’t mind him) but this really fascinates me. I’m watching it on Friday.

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Disappointing Murakami.

Scott Esposito is quite disappointed by Murakami’s 1Q84:

All this leads us to the unavoidable conclusion that after over 30 years and countless pages Murakami has very little left to say. If the mediocre books of the 2000s didn’t evidence it enough, this book does; in 1Q84 there is simply nothing that Murakami hasn’t said better elsewhere. I write this with a great sadness, as a reader who has loved Murakami’s novels and who feels a sense of shame at having to warn off other lovers of Murakami’s work. But there is no other verdict to register. 1Q84 is a great disappointment to the reputation Murakami has built as a writer, and it will not be remembered very favorably when assessing his legacy. It raises a serious doubt as to whether Murakami has anything left to tell us.

I’m not a big Murakami fan, but that sounds pretty serious.

Be sure to read the full review in the link. [via The Quarterly Conversation]

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Rojak: A few good links.

Rojak is a regular collection of assorted links as well as a bulletin summarising the week (or thereabouts) on this blog.

Assorted

Short interview with David Lynch. [via The Guardian]

How Viktor Shklovsky writes. [via Context]

Girls perform “Vomit” in a church. [via Pitchfork]

Nice book cover designs. [via JACKET MECHANICAL]

Singaporean bookstores. [via The Wall Street Journal]

Review of Murakami’s 1Q84. [via The Guardian]

A really interesting web thing that turns the New York subway map into a musical instrument. [via Alexander Chen]

Abbey Road turns 80. [via The Telegraph]

Bulletin

• Camus.
• Sergio Chejfec.
• Jeffrey Eugenides (or rather, his vest).
• Radiohead.
• Laura Veirs.
• Kuwata Keisuke.
  
• Blue Nights.

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Haruki Murakami story.

Here’s “Town of Cats”, a Haruki Murakami story over at the New Yorker. Excerpt:

This was Tengo’s photograph of his mother. The ten-second scene was burned into his brain with perfect clarity. It was the only concrete information he had about her, the one tenuous connection his mind could make with her. He and she were linked by this hypothetical umbilical cord. His father, however, had no idea that this vivid scene existed in Tengo’s memory, or that, like a cow in a meadow, Tengo was endlessly regurgitating fragments of it to chew on, a cud from which he obtained essential nutrients. Father and son: each was locked in a deep, dark embrace with his own secrets.

[via the New Yorker]

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Cover!

 

Haruki Murakami, 1Q84; Knopf, 2011.

The cover for Haruki Murakami’s 1Q84 has been revealed. It is pretty okay.

[via Amazon]

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Rojak: CNY Edition

The site took something of a break this week with the Chinese New Year, so here are a few extra assorted links to make up for it:

Assorted

Franz Kafka, covers; designed by Peter Medelsund; source: Jacket Mechanical.

Brilliant new covers for upcoming Kafka books from Schoken. Designed by Peter Mendelsund. [via Jacket Mechanical]

James Joyce, Finnegans Wake; "Page 42", by Stephen Crowe; source: Wake In Progress.

Page 42 of Stephen Crowe’s God-you’re-a-much-braver-man-than-I-am attempt to illustrate Finnegans Wake. [via Wake In Progress]

Gregg Allman talks about his new album and his life. [via the Telegraph]

Haruki Murakami’s 1Q84 will be published in English in October 2011, translated by Jay Rubin. [via the Guardian]

Asymptote is a new journal dedicated to literary translation. Issue One is available now. [via Asymptote]

Beckett’s “German Diaries” will be published, with a bilingual edition forthcoming in 2015. [via A Piece of Monologue]

LCD Soundsystem announces farewell NYC show. [via Pitchfork]

Bulletin

This week, we put up:

• Anna Calvi
• Arnold Newman
• Vladimir Nabokov (and his butterflies)
• And Google’s Art Project

Also remember to get your tickets to the Timbre Rock & Roots Festival.

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