[15.8.05][Andrew Stevens] THE MISSING LINKS Open Wide and Route magazines are worth a look. * The ever-reliable Splinters mentions Ballardian.com. Helmut Newton, motorways, keyboard violence, it's all there. * John Harris, author of Britpop expose The Last Party, gets misty-eyed about Oasis et al on its 10th anniversary: "I loved their honesty, their openness, the way they treated their success," says Louise Wener, the one-time singer with Sleeper, now a successful writer whose third novel is about to go into print. "They weren't embarrassed or ashamed by it. It was, 'I'm going to be a rock'n' roll star, I'm going to ride around in a Rolls-Royce, if I make a million quid I'm going to roll around in it.' They were the chavs of Britpop." * Liam Gallagher to become a Labour MP? * More on Louise Wener (and others) in DJ Taylor's "Why the great rock'n'roll novel is so elusive" in The Independent recently: "Joel Lane's descriptions (a boy with a fringe so floppy that it "could get him signed to Creation Records") are practically sociological in their minute accuracy... The twentysomething Martin Amis, watching the Stones at Earl's Court in 1976, simply thought the music too loud and himself too old. Three decades later, curiously enough, there are any number of fortysomething writers prepared to take the lyrics of Mark E Smith at least as seriously as the novels of Julian Barnes." * BBC4 is to hold a Britpop night! * The Observer reports from Greenwich Village and finds Sex and The City and coffee shops, though neither of the Anatole Broyard variety. * Mark Thwaite has put in some considerable effort to overhaul ReadySteadyBook.com, which if you haven't stopped by to check out, you are strongly advised to. * The Grammar Puss blog is also worth your perusal. * Jeanette Winterson on 50 years of Playboy in The Times: "Feminists complain that porn depends on a fantasy of the female which is nothing like real women. In porn, as in cartoons, body parts are caricatured - inflated like airships at the top, squeezed tight as a snake around the middle, and weeded and prim as a pot plant below the waist. Hair is allowed only on top of the head, and it has to be as abundant as a Medusa's. Nails are long as talons and the trout pout swells into a Moby Dick." * Iain Sinclair in the LRBon London, of all things. * Scarecrow on Julian Maclaren-Ross, literature and booze. * Slate on what makes a good review: "To begin with, the world of fiction is pretty small. The number of folks who are any good at writing reviews of fiction is smaller still. By the time you find one willing to review a book, it's inconceivable that he or she not have preconceived notions about the author, the author's work, or the proper way to write a novel. A hundred other conflicts may exist: relationships with literary agents, friends, or friends of friends; workplace affiliations; political sympathies, religious views; and on and on. Also, writers are notoriously petty people: I'd wager that nine out of 10 who receive a bad review can discover some undisclosed conflict or conspiracy that caused the reviewer to slag them." (the author also praises the British for their obituary-writing craft, citing this as the exemplar. But what about this?) [permalink]
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