Field-goal kicking mules and stubborn authors

Time for a Round-up!
A semi-regular feature in which, having nothing important to say, I point out a few things that happened on the web, then make a few half-thought-out observations on them for your amusement.

Short Story: Calm by Clare Needham
I've been interested in smaller magazines, those in orbit to the Tin Houses and McSweeney's of the world, and found a little gem called Bodega. Here you can find smaller pieces with great impact like Clare Neeham's Calm, a story of a woman, a man, a road trip, and the kind of joy you can only achieve through denial. Enjoy!

Tournament of Books controversy:
The LA Times follows a (non) story about Scott McClanahan, author of Hill William, who allegedly tried to withdraw his book from The Morning News's Tournament of Books. There was no author reaction included, which I find strange. This didn't stop the article, or the commentariat of the tourney from typing furious comments on the matter: he was ripped for being ungrateful, a money grabber, and other sad things. All for a single Facebook post he never followed through on. It's a tempest in a teapot, of course, a single ill-advised post being exploited for clicks, though I'd love to hear Scott McClanahan's take on it. I kind of want to root for him now that he's been lynched in the comments section, but that would bust my bracket.  Sorry, Scott!

You can read the thread here, at the bottom of the play-in judging round.

Retro-movie due for a remake: Gus

Don Knotts and Gus.
Why the long face?

I had a few beers the other day and was reading a story about how the NFL is considering moving field goals to the 25 yard line because they're so easy. So I immediately thought of Gus, the field goal kicking mule from the 1976 Disney sports-sploitation movie. I even tracked it down and watched ten minutes of it, and realized that Gus sits at the nexus of so many movie genres it should be the subject of a much longer critical essay.

It's an animals do sports movie. It's got an all-star cast (Don Knotts, Ed Asner, Tim Conway) slumming for paychecks. Most intriguingly, it's among the last of the Disney studio's cash-strapped post-Walt pre-Eisner slump films (The Apple Dumpling Gang! The Love Bug!). Did I mention it's about a goddamn field-goal kicking mule?

And it sits in the heart of my childhood, released in that golden summer of 1976. Ah, childhood. Nothing else could make this movie sound good except that I watched when I was eight. So, seriously - is Gus any good? Nope, not really. Even Roger Ebert didn't like it. Here's his original review from 1976.

But seriously, NFL, why not consider mules?

Movie trailer of the week: 
And the award for best use of "Hooked on a Feeling" since the Ally McBeal dancing video baby craze of 1997 goes to: Guardians of the Galaxy:

Andy Kaufman, the Rooster, and more

First, a Story: Rubies

Something lovely and strange from Maria Mutch on Necessary Fiction. I love the constant allusions to cuts with little pain, the lightly addressed second person, how multitudes of the narrator's life are hidden but present, a larger world seen only through the distorting and selective glass of these assorted vignettes.

The Rooster is here, the Rooster is here!

And now the real awards season begins with the announcement of the 2014 Tournament of Books, from The Morning News. And despite a year of training, of reading more new releases than in any previous year, I have read only two of the nominated books. Two! They were: Life after Life, by Kate Atkinson, and A Tale for the Time Being, by Ruth Ozeki. Both were wonderful, by the way. I will have more to say on this later.

Looking ahead

If December's for looking back, January is for looking ahead. In that vein, The Millions has posted their most anticipated literary books of the year. BookRiot has posted their 60 most anticipated YA books. 

non-fiction: Andy Kaufman

I used to watch Andy Kaurman when I was a kid. Watched may be the wrong word: I observed him, looking for clues to his human-ness, what lay underneath the strangeness of his persona. So I read with interest Margaret McCullen's very Andy Kaufman story on The Morning News, about the time she wrestled Andy Kaufman and how they became strange friends. Also appearing is Blondie, and a young cub reporter's favorite dress.

Sometimes in real life you get to know someone, a strange someone, and you keep waiting for the nervous persona to drop so you can meet the real person. And it's sad to realize that sometimes there is no person under the persona, that they're touched in some strange other-worldly way. It's just as sad when this happens to one of your childhood icons. But also it's beautiful in its own way.

Here's Andy spending time building a persona, on David Letterman's short-lived morning show.