Christine Hamm, one of the fine contributors to the first issue of Wooden Fish, has launched a new online literary journal called Thirteen Feet. Her attitude toward the project is excellent, and while her poetics are not my poetics (I like Shakespeare and Eliot, she doesn’t; she likes Gertrude Stein, I don’t), I encourage you all to submit your work. Projects like this deserve to succeed. I know I’ll be submitting as soon as I have something suitable ready.
I’d like to announce to the world two new websites. First, we have Soul of the Web Magazine, which includes work by (and I believe was also co-founded by) Jim. In their own words, their goal is “to provide new articles on a quarterly basis, leading you to discover more of the people and places around the web we feel have Soul.” This first issue is pretty good, and I hope you’ll all go and take a look. Secondly, I’d like to announce the launching (or rather relaunching) of a project I’ve been involved in. The New Quarterly, a Canadian literary journal, has just relaunched its site, which I redesigned for them. It’s simple, easy to use, and gives you a good glimpse of what you’ll find in the journal.
Thing the first: I just returned from my first screening of The Two Towers, and while reactions to this film have been overwhelmingly positive, I have mixed feelings. One of the strengths of the first film was how closely it followed the book(s), with the possible exception of Tom Bombodil, who is a delightful character, but ultimately serves a function unnecessary to the film. At the same time, the actors were allowed to do their jobs, which is to create believable characters through, well, acting. The Two Towers does not follow the book quite so closely, particularly with the addition of the scenes with Liv Tyler. I think this is a good thing, because it humanizes the relationship (and its potential problems) between Aragorn and the Horse-Princess, and makes Aragorn’s moral dilemma quite sharp in our minds. We feel for these characters in ways the book does not allow us.… Continue Reading