Dumb Riffs » Sixties

Crosswords, lightly thrown

Karl Whitney — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 14:03:20 +0000

I’ve written a short piece about Georges Perec for 3:AM Magazine here. It’s the first time I’ve sat down to write anything about Perec since finishing my PhD, and I really enjoyed dipping in again to Perec’s novels and writings, which are often gleefully playful. My article gives a brief overview of Perec’s major writings, touching on some of the themes that colour his work. I’ve previously written about Perec and the rue Vilin here (on last 4 pages of magazine).

Some Parisian Walking

Karl Whitney — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 15:54:10 +0000

Two recent articles by me, written for 3:AM Magazine: a review of Tom McDonough’s new Situationist reader, and an interview with Eric Hazan, radical publisher and author of The Invention of Paris.

Karl Whitney — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 16:57:55 +0000

I review Adam Braver’s novel about the day of JFK’s assassination, November 22, 1963, on 3:AM here.

Karl Whitney — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 12:41:47 +0000

This evening in Berlin, a new literary journal will be launched. Titled The Kakofonie, and edited by John Holten, the contributors come from Italy, Germany, Ireland, the USA and Denmark. In the first issue, American cruciverbalist Charlie Stadtlander provides a crossword puzzle, French-based Irish artist John Lalor provides a textual exploration of notions of the void, and there are stories and poems from Luke Sheehan, Patrick O’Beirne, Christian Ward and Andrea Bedorin. In addition, I contribute an essay on Georges Perec and urban form. The first issue is available for download in PDF format here.

Karl Whitney — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:50:24 +0000

My review of Michael Sorkin’s very good book on New York urbanism, ‘Twenty Minutes in Manhattan’, is on the 3:AM Magazine website here.

Karl Whitney — Wed, 13 May 2009 13:49:38 +0000

Reading Owen Hatherley‘s enjoyable and timely polemic Militant Modernism, I came across this critique of the work of Alain de Botton:

Perhaps the most irksome of Ikea Modernism’s products was Channel 4’s The Perfect Home, presented by Alain de Botton, promoting his The Architecture of Happiness. Perambulating about the place with an expression of casual intellectuality and immense self-satisfaction, he encapsulates all that is malign in British intellectual life. De Botton personifies the faux-naïve stance of the televisual idiot-expert, who ventriloquises thinkers from Proust to Boethius to Le Corbusier, emphasising how they can enhance (but certainly never truly change, or question the purpose of) the lives of the administrative classes of terminal capital.

Karl Whitney — Mon, 04 May 2009 12:36:55 +0000

My interview with legendary ex-NME writer Nick Kent is available in full from 3:AM Magazine here.

Karl Whitney — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 11:22:34 +0000

My article on the Beatles visit to Dublin in November 1963 is in the Irish Times today, here.

Karl Whitney — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 14:38:58 +0000

Actor Rip Torn, of the Larry Sanders Show:

- Dennis Hopper pulled a knife on him just before the filming of the film Easy Rider; Torn left the movie, and his role went to Jack Nicholson.

- Later, Hopper claimed that it was Torn who had actually pulled the knife on Hopper. Torn sued, and won $475,000 in damages, Hopper appealed the decision, and subsequently had to pay another $475,000.

- Has had a couple of drunk-driving charges against him, but has only been convicted once.

- During the filming of Norman Mailer’s movie Maidstone, Torn hit Mailer three times on the head with a hammer. Then Mailer bit Torn’s ear. In the background, Mailer’s children could be heard screaming at Torn to stop. Unbelievable. You can watch the footage here. Be warned – it’s quite insane, and, perhaps more shockingly, contains some hep-cat-isms from Torn.

Karl Whitney — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 14:17:37 +0000

Mike Marqusee on 1968 here.