Hari Kondabolu's Homecoming: One week from tonight, the terrific, formerly Seattle-based comic will start a two-night run of all new material at the Comedy Underground. In the meantime, here's a clip from Kondabolu's show earlier this year at the Neptune, concerning tolerance, gays, and Matthew McConaughey:
API Flying Bookshelf Coming to Capitol Hill: We at The Stranger are big fans of API Flying Bookshelf, a moving library devoted to works by Asian and Pacific Islander authors. After a successful launch at the Eastern Cafe, the Bookshelf is about to make its first move. On Facebook, Bookshelf founders announced that the next home for the library will be Cafe Argento on 12th and Olive. The Bookshelf moves in this weekend and will stay at Argento through mid-November.
Feel Better, Hilary Hahn: The Seattle Symphony announced today that violinist Hilary Hahn had to cancel her October 2 and 4 appearances on the advice of her physician, to âallow her to recover fully from a muscle strain.â This is a disappointment for sure, but sheâll be replaced by the immensely talented Philippe Quint. The show must go on, after all.
Seattleâs Classical Stationâs Online New-Music Station Wins Award: Did you even know there was such a thing? You should check it out. Itâs called Second Inversion.
Don't Be Fooled: ClearChannel, the shitty conglomerate that destroyed commercial radio by buying every station and replacing all the human beings with robots, has changed its name to iHeartMedia. They still suck. Fuck them.
âThe âdeath of adulthoodâ is really just capitalism at workâ: Andrew OâHehir on Salon responds to A.O. Scottâs "borderline-reactionary cultural jeremiad" on the disappearance of white dudes like Don Draper in todayâs world. OâHehir: â[T]he death of adulthood is just another name for the fabled âcrisis of masculinityâ weâve been hearing about for 30 years or longer, in which men often feel that their power has been undermined by ball-busting feminists when whatâs really happening is that their economic role has changed and they donât know what the hell to do about it.â
Plagiarist Finds Work: Wonkette notes that Benny Johnson, who was only recently fired from BuzzFeed for dozens of instances of plagiarism, has found a new home writing at the conservative National Review. National Review founder William F. Buckley could not be reached for comment, because he is dead.
So You Want to Write Like Stephen King? Here's an interview with Stephen King about how he teaches literature and writing:
When it comes to literature, the best luck I ever had with high school students was teaching James Dickeyâs long poem âFalling.â Itâs about a stewardess whoâs sucked out of a plane. They see at once that itâs an extended metaphor for life itself, from the cradle to the grave, and they like the rich language. I had good success with The Lord of the Flies and short stories like âBig Blondeâ and âThe Lottery.â
King also urges young writers to be merciless when it comes to editing their own work. This tip should be especially funny to anyone who has read a King novel written in the last fourteen years or so.
Libertarian Fraudsters on the March: Galt's Gulch of Chile is taking Ayn Rand's pure and beautiful idea of a world where everyone cares only for their own interests and making it into something ugly.