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The Drunken Odyssey

~ A Podcast About the Writing Life

The Drunken Odyssey

Tag Archives: Literature

Gutter Space #8: Interactivity in Randall Munroe’s XKCD

25 Wednesday Sep 2013

Posted by thedrunkenodyssey in Gutter Space

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

exploration, Humor, interactivity, internet culture, Literature, math, Randall Munroe, romance, sarcasm, stick figures, webcomic, xkcd

Gutter Space #8 by Leslie Salas

 Interactivity in Randall Munroe’s XKCD

xkcd

I’ve already talked about xkcd, “A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language,” before, but I think Randall Munroe merits a second post for comic 1110, “Click and Drag.”

Regular readers of xkcd will tell you that xkcd is known for a certain level of intelligence and Internet sophistication from its readers. So for a comic to be titled “Click and Drag,” and for the hover-over text to also say, “Click and drag,” one would hope the readers would get the hint: click on the largest panel, and drag your mouse across the screen.

The result of following the commands yields hours of exploration in this giant black and white canvas of stick figure people interacting with their silhouetted environment. Hidden among the landscape is  not only a peculiar scenery, but thought-provoking circumstances and statements posed by some of the stick people, as well as a few hidden references to Internet and popular culture.

This kind of interactivity with a comic—the choice to move the contents of a panel and discover new places and situations that were previously uncovered—could not easily be replicated in a traditional print medium. The clicking and dragging lends itself to a sense of exploration and excitement for the reader; choosing which direction to move in and whether or not to follow a line of parked cars, a tunnel into a mountain, or looking up toward the sky, gives each reader a choice and a unique reading experience. How much time spent exploring and which areas are explored first—if at all—is completely up to the reader. And if the reader happens to get lost, they can simply refresh the page to start at the beginning and explore again.

To read another brief review of “Click and Drag” featuring an extended interview with Munroe, check out this article from The Atlantic.

___________

Leslie Salas (Photo by Ashley Inguanta)

Leslie Salas writes fiction, nonfiction, screenplays, and comics. She earned her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Central Florida and attended the University of Denver Publishing Institute. In addition to being an Associate Course Director at Full Sail University, Leslie also serves as an assistant editor for The Florida Review, a graphic nonfiction editorial assistant for Sweet: A Literary Confection, and a regular contributing artist for SmokeLong Quarterly.

Episode 61: Chad Benson, or Quinn W. Shagbark!

10 Saturday Aug 2013

Posted by thedrunkenodyssey in David Foster Wallace, Episode, Music, Postmodernism

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Chad Benson, Creative Writing, Fiction, Literature, Music, Writing Podcast

Episode 61 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing and literature, is available on iTunes, or right click here to download.

This week, I interview my friend, the fiction writer Chad Benson, who also happens to be a rock musician called Quinn W. Shagbark,

chad

plus Jesse Duthrie talks about John Barth’s The Floating Opera.

Jessie Duthrie

TEXTS DISCUSSED

Live at the Mint

Ill Shoot You Ac

The Floating Opera

NOTES

If you are writing in Denver, check out the Lighthouse Writer’s Workshop.

lighthouse writers workshop

Read about Quinn W. Shagbark in Slate.

On Tuesday, August 13th, at Urban ReThink in downtown Orlando, I will read with

JOSEFINE KLOUGART,

DAN LAUER, &

DREW JOHNSON

in Jesse Bradley’s series, There Will Be Words, which was just named the best reading series in Orlando by Orlando Weekly.

Two days later, I will be reading an art-inspired piece in this event:

AvalonGalleryPoster

Episode 60 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing and literature, is available on iTunes, or right click here to download.

Buzzed Books #1: Mastering the Dinner Party, Dialogue, and First Person Narrators

06 Tuesday Aug 2013

Posted by thedrunkenodyssey in Buzzed Books, Craft of Fiction Writing, Drinking, Recommendation

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Alise Hamilton, Craft of Writing, Creative Writing, Literature

Buzzed Books #1 by Alise Hamilton

Mastering the Dinner Party, Dialogue, and First Person Narrators

Recommendation: Bobcat And Other Stories by Rebecca Lee

Bobcat

Bobcat is a collection of seven short stories so rich and expansive they leave the reader walks away feeling she has read seven novels. Rebecca Lee manages to fit an amazing scope in each story, both through breadth of time and depth of character. Such an ability has earned her (rightful) comparisons to Alice Munro, but I would argue there are stronger similarities to short-story writer Amy Hempel. It is not just Lee’s inclination to use first person (each story in Bobcat is presented in first person, and the vast majority of stories throughout Hempel’s career are written in first person point-of-view as well), but her ability to reveal a kind of truth. Truth with a capital “T.” The undeniable yet often ignored observations of the little things that make us human.

Lee is not afraid to allow her characters to be intelligent—the stories are full of lawyers, professors, writers, architects and students. And since each story is presented through a first-person narrator, one would be correct in assuming the stories are, in fact, smart. This is not to say the work is littered with little-known literary allusions, is unnecessarily convoluted, or is held down by a kind of high-brow, academic snobbery. No, the stories here are both intelligent and accessible. Lee respects her characters (and therefore, her readers) enough to give them actual, working brains.

The collection opens and closes with two very different stories, each revolving around dinner parties. Lee deftly handles multiple characters in the same room, so that the reader is never confused about keeping everyone at the table straight—a feat in itself. Her dialogue is superb. Take these lines, from the title story:

“We’re not prepared at all. We just found out yesterday at our Lamaze class that we’re supposed to have a theme for our nursery.”

“Theme?” Lizbet said. “What do you mean, theme? Like man vs. nature?”

“How about alienation in the technological age?” Ray said.
“Hollywood under McCarthy?”

“It’s going to be Winnie the Pooh,” John said, which was true. Everyone seemed a bit dejected that John was closing down the joke so early, but he made a recovery. “Winnie the Pooh and the Reconstructed South,” he said.

These are not simply stories about people sitting around and talking, although sitting and talking do occur, it is what is brewing and bubbling under the surface—what people don’t say, lies they tell each other and themselves, incorrect assumptions, deep desires, fears and regrets—which are the meat of the stories in Bobcat.

In “Fialta,” a famous and celebrated architect describes what building “ought” to be composed of: “Even the simplest buildings, he said, ought to be productions of the imagination that attempt to describe and define life on earth, which of course is an overwhelming mix of stability and desire, fulfillment and longing, time and eternity.”

It is these characteristics precisely that make Bobcat the beautiful book it is.

To be paired with: Sugar Gin

 Find BOBCAT now at your local independent bookseller or purchase at Powells.com.

___________

Alise Hamilton

Alise Hamilton earned her MFA from Lesley University and holds a BFA in creative writing, literature, and publishing from Emerson College. Her short fiction appeared in the Francesca Lia Block-edited anthology Love Magick.

Episode 60: Gilbert King!

03 Saturday Aug 2013

Posted by thedrunkenodyssey in Episode

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Craft of Writing, Creative Writing, Crime Fiction, Fiction, Gilbert King, History, Literature, Nonfiction, Pulitzer Prize, Spirituality, Writing Podcast

Episode 60 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing and literature, is available on iTunes, or right click here to download.

This week, I interview the Pulitzer Prize-winning non-fiction writer Gilbert King,

Gilbert King

Plus Monty Joynes discusses coming across Talks and Dialogues by J. Krishnamurti

Monty Joynes

TEXTS DISCUSSED

Devil in the Grove

Talks and Dialogues with J Krishnamurti

NOTES

On Tuesday, August 13th, at Urban ReThink in downtown Orlando, I will read with

JOSEFINE KLOUGART,

DAN LAUER, &

DREW JOHNSON

in Jesse Bradley’s series, There Will Be Words, which was just named the best reading series in Orlando by Orlando Weekly.

Two days later, I will be reading an art-inspired piece in this event:

AvalonGalleryPoster

Episode 60 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing and literature, is available on iTunes, or right click here to download.

Episode 59: Alissa Nutting!

28 Sunday Jul 2013

Posted by thedrunkenodyssey in Episode, Literature of Florida

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Alissa Nutting, Craft of Writing, Creative Writing, Erotic literature, Fiction, Literature, Short stories, Writing Podcast

Episode 59 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing and literature, is available on iTunes, or right click here to download.

On this week’s show, I talk to the fiction writer Alissa Nutting,

Alissa Nutting cr Aaron Mayes

Plus Graham Liddell talks about reading What is the What.

Graham Liddell

TEXTS DISCUSSED

Tampa

Unclean Jobs for Women and Girls

What is the What

NOTES

Margaret Atwood has penned a libretto about the life of Pauline Johnson, according to The Guardian.

Booksmatter has reposted Jonathan Lethem’s essay “The Squandered Promise of Science Fiction.”

This episode proudly featured music from The Intoxicators and Carlton Melton.

Country Ways

Episode 59 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing and literature, is available on iTunes, or right click here to download.

Episode 58: Philip Raisor!

22 Monday Jul 2013

Posted by thedrunkenodyssey in Episode, James Joyce, Memoir, Poetry, Sports

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Craft of Writing, Creative Writing, Literature, Memoir, Poetry, Writing Podcast

Episode 58 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing and literature is available on iTunes, or right click here to download.

On this week’s show, I talk to the poet Philip Raisor,

Philip Raisor

Plus Melissa Crandall brings us some Xmas in July!

Melissa Crandall and Holly

TEXTS DISCUSSED

Hoosiers the Poems

Swimming in the Shallow End

Outside Shooter

Tuned and Under Tension

A Christmas Carol

NOTES

J.K. Rowling is Robert Galbraith, the author of The Cuckoo’s Calling.

The Cuckoos Calling

Episode 58 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing and literature is available on iTunes, or right click here to download.

Episode 57: Functionally Literate!

13 Saturday Jul 2013

Posted by thedrunkenodyssey in Disney, Episode, Poetry

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

Burrow Press, Creative Writing, Disney, Fiction, John King, Literature, Poetry, Shakespeare, Writing Podcast

Episode 57 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing and literature is available on iTunes, or right click here to download.

On this week’s show, I share a Functionally Literate event I participated in back in May with Monica Wendel and Philip Deaver.

maxresdefault

Functionally Literate

fl

This was an accidental DO reunion, since Monica was a guest on episodes 5  and 49,  and Philip was a guest on episode 35. Alas, Enid Schumer could not attend.

BOOKS DISCUSSED

15Views_small

4131RKXM2ML

 No Apocalypse

NOTES

See our kickstarter campaign to travel to Weeki Wachee Springs to interview Lu Vickers about Florida literature and the world famous Weeki Wachee mermaids. We reached our goal on day 1, but we welcome your continued contributions to keep the show going strong!

WeekiWachee

A Drunken Odyssey Video Exclusive: Carolyn Forché Reading & Talk at UCF, Feb. 25, 2013

The Drunken Odyssey Recommendsseason2013_coriolanus2

The Tempest

Episode 57 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing and literature is available on iTunes, or right click here to download.

Episode 56: Chuck Klosterman!

04 Thursday Jul 2013

Posted by thedrunkenodyssey in Craft of Fiction Writing, Episode, Memoir, Music, Postmodernism, Sports

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Chuck Klosterman, Cinema, Craft of Writing, Creative Writing, David Foster Wallace, John King, Literature, Postmodernism, Sports, stephen king, Writing Podcast

Episode 56 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing and literature is available on iTunes, or right click here to download.

On this week’s show, I talk to the essayist and novelist Chuck Klosterman,

Chuck Klosterman

Plus John McCaffrey discusses Leo Durocher’s Nice Guys Finish Last.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

BOOKS DISCUSSED

I Wear the Black Hat

Downtown owl

Killing Yourself to Live

SexDrugsandCocoaPuffs

Nice Guys Finish Last

NOTES

On July 9th, Mattew Peters will read prose at There Will be Words in Downtown Orlando.

See our kickstarter campaign to travel to Weeki Wachee Springs to interview Lu Vickers about Florida literature and the world famous Weeki Wachee mermaids. We reached our goal on day 1, but we welcome your continued contributions to keep the show going strong!

WeekiWachee

The Drunken Odyssey Deeply Recommends

season2013_coriolanus2

When I complained that Britney Spears was in Esquire back in the early paleolithic days of 2004, I confess I didn’t dwell sufficiently on what Chuck Klosteman’s article said about her cognitive dissonance, although his words were competing with Britney Spears’s anatomy at the time.

Esquire

On May 14th, 1988, Atlantic Records held a 40th Anniversary Concert during which, in my infallible opinion, and it pained me to say this, Debbie Gibson outplayed Led Zeppelin. Want to disagree? Watch the footage:

Debbie Gibson

Led Zeppelin

For the record, Jason Bonham was drumming, although I don’t this Hindenburg of a performance can be blamed on him.

According to a Times profile, Alice Munro is retiring.

According to The Guardian, Neil Gaiman is writing a new Sandman series.

Episode 56 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing and literature is available on iTunes, or right click here to download.

Episode 54: Bloomsday in Orlando!

22 Saturday Jun 2013

Posted by thedrunkenodyssey in Bloomsday, Episode

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Bloomsday, Cinema, Craft of Writing, Creative Writing, Fiction, James Joyce, Literature, Shakespeare, Ulysses, Writing Podcast

Episode 54 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing and literature is available on iTunes, or right click here to download.

On this week’s show, I share the live Bloomsday event!

Bloomsday 2013

NOTES

See our kickstarter campaign to travel to Weeki Wachee Springs to interview Lu Vickers about Florida literature and the world famous Weeki Wachee mermaids.

Weeki-Wachee-Mermaids

Richard Peabody, our guest on episode 45, has a new audio book of poems available through Eat Poems.  Sample the poems, then pay what you wish for the download!

Nylon Soul

On Saturday, June 22, from 5 to 8, The Drunken Odyssey will sink anchor here:

Rumfest-Banner-300x120

Here’s this week’s book:

Episode 54 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing and literature is available on iTunes, or right click here to download.

Episode 52: Nathan Holic!

08 Saturday Jun 2013

Posted by thedrunkenodyssey in Drinking, Episode

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Craft of Writing, Creative Writing, Fiction, John King, Literature, Writing Podcast

Episode 52 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing and literature is available on iTunes, or right click here to download.

On this week’s show, I talk once again to Nathan Holic, who first appeared on this show all the way back on episode 1,

Nathan Holick

Plus Drew Perlmutter discusses the Cannes Film Festival,

Drew Perlmutter

Plus Nicholas Brown discusses Larry McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove.

Nicholas Brown

Texts Discussed

American Fraternity Man

Lonesome Dove 1

NOTES

flyer

Bloomsday 2013
A Drunken Odyssey Exclusive: Matthew Pitt Reading & Talk at UCF, Feb. 19, 2013

Michael Shannon Reads the Insane Detla Gamma Sorority Letter
[youtube http://youtu.be/dngOH9G4UPw]

Episode 52 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing and literature is available on iTunes, or right click here to download.

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