Just when I've resigned myself to having no reason to leave the futon for at least two weeks, I get an email from Electric Literature about the issue 05 release party at Housing Works. I've been paying attention to Electric Literature for some time now, mostly for their progressive approach to publishing: their issues are released in print, online, through email and on mobile apps. And on cosmic rays. And quantum carrier pigeons.
This in an age when print media is being about as forward-thinking as a backwards man named Backy Backwards from backwardston, backwardshire.
Print media is the dude still flying a confederate flag after relocating to Portland. Or something.
Of course the event gets a Time Out NY top pick, so everyone and their hipster grandma is there.
Housing Works Bookstore Cafe is both dark and complicated, but you can forgive the hit-or-miss selection because the proceeds go to the homeless and those suffering from AIDS. Though most of these books would be more useful as insulation. Or coat liners.
It is a good place to find random anthologies and lit mags for fiddy cent though.
The upside to all the bustle, though, is that Harpoon was giving away drinks for donations. So not only could you get trashed on fine irish red at $3 a pop, but you could do it all for charity.
Let me tell you, I did my best to help out those homeless. Almost makes up for years of ignoring panhandlers by pretending to listen to an invisible iPod.
After a short movie about eating alien crustaceans, magic crystals and masturbation, there were readings by Ben Greenman, Lynne Tillman and J. Robert Lennon.
Ben Greenman read "What 100 People, Real and Fake, Believe about Dolores."
In general the fiction was hip and full of ironic tics and casual references to pop culture. Which I suppose is what the kids are into these days.
The crowd was your usual SoHo mix, young urban professionals followed by old urban professionals and occasionally a middle-aged urban professional.
Photo by Liz, who doesn't know what animal this is either
By then end I was pretty sodden with charity, and headed down to Tom & Jerry's where I randomly met an architect, a girl from Doncaster and an asian from Alaska. Then I followed someone who was trying to bum cigarettes through the cold for several blocks and randomly punched my best friend in the face for fun. Woo!
