Hi there, my name is Doug Perkul and I am the former AP at SPIN Magazine. Together with Sundance Award Winner Stefan Nadelman, we created a new literary site called Lit Mob (http://www.litmob.com). Now, before you start to yawn, please note that this is not like what is currently online--the site is more like Pitchfork in that it focuses on books, but also design and musical artists. We would love your thoughts on the site as well as any editorial love that you may be able to share.

Thanks a million! I have attached our press release for your review and am of course available to answer any questions that you may have.

Best,
Doug

Doug Perkul
Publisher & Founder
LIT MOB
doug@litmob.com
http://www.litmob.com
READERS UNITE!

You get a note like this and you feel something. "This is not like what's currently online"? "Readers unite!"? It's heartwarming, no? The language of revolution is a little crazy, but literary culture is Saltine-y and ridiculous and nowhere near commensurate with how great great writing can be, and it's refreshing to hear from one of those valiant few who's with you on this, who likewise believes that something must be done, that reading The Elegant Variation and Maude Newton and Arts & Letters Daily and subscribing to The New Yorker and n+1 and The Believer is not enough, and moreover that literature and music have some things in common, that there's got to be a way to get the average person as excited about books as they are about bands, that more alliances between to two mediums could be forged for... well, marketing reasons, really, horrible as that sounds. Reading could use a marketing update. Writers are rock stars. This at least was the thinking behind The Stranger's reading and dance party with Charles D'Ambrosio and Jonathan Safran Foer at Chop Suey in April 2005, and the one with Zadie Smith and Amos Latteier and the Dead Science at Neumo's in October 2005, and the one with Miranda July and Sarah Rudinoff and "Awesome" at Neumo's in May 2007.

Anyway, then I visited the website to see what a site about books that's "more like Pitchfork" is like, because that sounds pretty great, and started to read it and skipped right past yawning to narcolepsy. I have keyboard shapes on my cheek. The writing on Lit Mob is a lazy pile of unnecessary first-person and book-review cliches ("The protagonist is extremely self-absorbed yet easy to root for"). How can book reviewers who can't write be trusted? There is one page on Lit Mob that's kind of not a bad idea--a page of "what our favorite artists are reading now," where members of Earlimart and Cut Copy and Menomena and other bands recommend titles by dead people you already know about (Phillip K. Dick, Kurt Vonnegut, Charles Bukowski) and not-dead guys too (David Berman, Alex Ross, Keith Gessen, Jeffrey Eugenides). It's a handsome page, but it doesn't make for compelling reading. I reread Doug/Schatzi's email--what's an "AP at Spin magazine"? Apple polisher? Aryan procreator? Awful person?--and wondered why I ever extended any hope in his direction, then visited the website for Schatzi Marketing, just to round out the picture, and, well, here's what came up on the first page:

In case that's too fuzzy for you to read:

Schatzi is a unique marketing firm that specializes in creating compelling campaigns and programs for brands seeking "authentic" interactions with the marketplace.

Doug/Schatzi writes that he is "available to answer any questions that you may have." OK: Is this a joke, Doug/Schatzi? Could it please be a joke? What does "'authentic'" mean? Does that refer to something that seems authentic but isn't? Something that doesn't seem authentic but is? Something that doesn't seem authentic and isn't? It's compelling, that grammar there. It's packed like a poem.

I'm moving up to Seattle in a few weeks, and neglected to get a friend in the city to save a copy of the "Best of Seattle" issue. You surely did one, as mid-late summer seems to be when all weekly entertainment/liberal papers publish such things.

A search yielded the best of The Stranger and the a "Best of SeaTac" issue, but neither is quite what I'm looking for. Can you provide the correct link?

Jenni

Here you go, Jenni.

Submission 1:

You left our Burlesque Troupe because you knew we were getting rid of you. To save face you announced that you were instead leaving us behind. What you don't realize is that nobody cares. You treat everyone like shit, and no one likes you. Your breathe stinks, your teeth are nasty, and you can't dance. You are a diva with nothing to back it up. Keep living in poverty and chasing your dream of modeling (which is a joke). We are all laughing at you!

Submission 2:

You produce a local Burlesque Show, which although has been around for a while, lacks any form of growth. You think so highly of yourself but you are a joke and your shows aren't selling like they used to. Performers don't want to work with you because you have such a bad reputation. Karma is biting you in the ass, and we are all laughing at you!

Identical closing lines and weird capitalizations? I smell a sexy, saucy I, Anonymous letter-writing campaign...

[Received yesterday, 6:15 pm.]

...came this letter (regarding this):

Transcribed:

--I love freedom of expression so here is my opinion--

Aug. 9. 08

Editor:

I was in Seattle 2 days ago & read some of your mostly fine articles in “the Stranger.”
I am not even close to being a JOHN McCain fan. That being said, the former military man you are mocking with your “JOHN McCain’s Swollen Gland” column is in part a veteran of the American military’s responsibility for the freedoms you & your staff enjoy to write such pathetic rubbish.
THAT being said: May any member/members of your staff that find this column amusing “vomit into their own mouth, fall to the ground, suffocate on the puke, & then have gasoline poured onto their now totally worthless lifeless bodies & be lit on fire”
--Thank you for your time--

Lovely sentiment, Murray! And nice stamp. Let's forget about the immolation wish and just focus on the stamp.

Anyone with a degree in contemporary American poetry want to take a crack at this one?

[Can anyone find the link to that original letter, the one this references, by the person who moved here, couldn't stand it, and left? Can't find it...]

A reader writes:

You know, i'd really not want to be hopping on the assuredly large number of letters responding to your "what's more offensive..." feature, but fuck it, why not? I figured it was bad enough that the walls of random neighborhoods have been bogged down by the obama-beret-hussein stencils, but now my regular mirth-reveling last days viewing has to be ruined by this shitty bigoted display. Oh, you had a little POW McCain so it balances out. You all pushing for a white history month too? It doesn't weight in the same way at all.

Irony seems to run rampant nowadays, its trumped that retro-90s flannel cynicism and phased out passe early-00s popped collar disinterest as the perfect fashion accessory. Me, i'm as jaded as the ming dynasty, I buy into youth disenfranchaisement as any other hip go-getter. However this ironic racism just makes me think we're a couple a hairs away from the "handlebar" being replaced by the "chaplin" as the moustache du jour.

Knowing that you all still love irony, here's some hot tips on recent faves. Most of our own "Peace Park" has been sacrificed for a piece of parking, echoing are obviously shitty involvement in Iraq on the behalf of our cars. The other being the good-riddance attitude towards the disappearance of big fast food on the hill. Yes, indeed, we've finally ended our support of these evil faceless corporations. This calls for a celebration, how bout a smoke?

The point is in there somewhere, but you'll have to pick through the rambling.

Enjoy,
a kid

Bobcat Goldthwait is at city hall ?!

for real. he was just buying coffee at the coffee cart.

if you know who he is...he was a somewhat famous comedian before you were born.

WHOA! What is happening up on Capitol Hill???

We're watching from the Convention Center building, and we've seen AT LEAST 17 SPD cars headed up the hill...

Any news up there?

Is everyone alright up there?

~Flinga~

A:

That steady stream of squad cars was related to a West Seattle bank robbery, which happened in the 2300 block of California Ave. earlier this morning.

Minutes ago, police spotted the robbery suspects near 1st and Spring and, according to SPD Spokeswoman Renee Witt, are now taking them in to custody.

Nothing to see here.

UPDATE: Apparently, the police chase wasn't as wrapped up as SPD implied.

It appears one alleged bank robber—wearing a dress, wig and surgical mask—ended up in a standoff with police on 1st and Spring.

According to a witness at the scene, shots were fired and police now have the suspect on the ground.

The chase apparently began on Broadway.

More info as it becomes available.

From a scientist:

I do drug research for a biotech company. One day, when I was taking blood samples from some rats that had been dosed with a radiolabeled (Indium 111) MS drug, the little son of a bitch bit me (not that I really blame her, we fuck them up pretty good). So, I am proud to say that I have been bitten by a radioactive rat.

I have as of yet developed no superpowers. If I do, I will let you know.

Another childhood dream bites the dust.