News, Fun, and Obstinance
This video is amazing. It's everything I'd want to ask Melo, plus a bizarre disclosure about what college team he favors—presumably in addition to Syracuse. I think.
Exciting developments on the still-glowing FD book front: In conjunction with Blazer's Edge, I'll be making a Portland appearance next month. All will be one at Burnside Powell's on 2/9 at 7:30, with further festivities to follow. More info here. Also, I'll be in Texas for a week in March. Any interest in an Austin or Dallas "reading"?
Earlier: A major post about everything and questions about our growing influence.
Finally, be prepared for some more ads popping up on the site in the near future. It will interfere with the design as little as possible and make my life easier.
Labels: book tour, carmelo anthony, FD book, nuggets, video
posted by Bethlehem Shoals @ 1/26/2009 03:02:00 PM
25 comments
25 Comments:
Hey Shoals, How bout a reading in San Diego? You guys never come down this way...
there's like 4 local universities, 4 law schools, and a lot of really good fish tacos.
It would be awesome.
That was a pretty funny interview. Rock!
Yes! An Austin reading would win.
I'd second an Austin or Dallas reading.
I'd show up for a metroplex reading.
pumped to see the whole interactive experience. Thanks for coming down I-5.
I'd like to meet someone who wouldn't answer that question with Omar.
Puns aside, I think Melo is more of a creme soda - it's a nice change of pace every once in awhile, but I definitely wouldn't want it on a regular basis. sorry melo
I officially forbid this from becoming a Wire/NBA comparison thread, but I was surprised Melo didn't say Bodie. Obama, though, had no other choice (even though that wasn't a comparison, it was "favorite character.")
Major interest if FreeDarko were to come to Austin. I am a PDX resident, but am going to school in Austin. Devout reader of FD.
Come to Austin.
I'd be psyched to see you come to my town, but I'm interested to see that most of the comments are centering around that instead of what tries to (almost) pass as a post-script: ads? Here? Hm. I mean...I understand. But...it seems...off.
I'd attend a metroplex visit too.
A reader, whose alias I'm not sure of, sent me this even more meticulous Durant/Neil Young image.
And Michael, I really don't care if ads seem off. I need money.
Marlo had Bodie killed. You want a supposed NBA star and sometime FD fave to like the character who gives up on the game and dies for that? I know you weren't inviting further comment along these lines, but shouldn't Melo have said Michael, given how things ended, or is he too much of a veteran now to admire the new blood? You should be deeply concerned about the NBA future of anyone you assign star qualities to, that would say Bodie. I might expect Tracy McGrady to say Bodie. Shoals, I don't want you to take this as sniping, but if needing money is an issue, try to take it less seriously when some of the comments don't jibe with your thinking, such as the anti-Iverson sentiment on the last post's thread, or everything in general related to Bill Simmons, (I know you can't hate his podcast guests like Chuck Klosterman and J.A. Adande, or his sports-blogging pioneering spirit). These commenters are new fans who may now not buy the book if they haven't already, and may not recommend it to friends if they already have it. If you want the big time, and not just to write for your college buddies, you will certainly be faced with people who don't agree with you, but as long as they don't insult you outright (and you won't get very far being insulted by people who don't share your exact ideology), it probably behooves you, at this stage in the game, to suffer a few fools in the short term. If I sound like a whiny grandmother or the same fools of which I speak, I apologize, but I only say this because, though I feel like you've started a potentially great legacy of expanding the discussion on liberated fandom and all other principles you are passionate about, and simply writing well in general, that when you want to dismiss someone, your tone feeling like liberated fandom really means nihilistic facism is a huge letdown. Simmons loves/loved D'antoni and SSOL as much as you, but he expresses it differently than you, so you think he attacks it. (He'll just never root for it to beat his Celtics). Just because someone who may have loved Iverson at one time, but is sick of watching his anti-chemistry destroy or at least certainly not advance their team's fortunes deigns to post to that effect, should not inspire a "yawn" from you. J.R. Smith's development was set back years by Iverson's presence in Denver, to the point that he may never become the supernova it seemed he was destined to be, doesn't that bother you at least a bit? Try to read a little below your preferred vocabulary and you might find a way to connect to a Simmons-sized audience without having to ever dumb your writing down. Educate, don't alienate, my gramma might've told me, and I'll implore you to do the same. And again, I apologize, if you've experienced a personal tragedy, like Ben Wallace's brother passing before "The Brawl" that has been the secret catalyst for some of your recent crabbiness. See you at Powell's on 2/9, I'll be wearing one of two road jerseys: Sprewell of the Warriors (no choking reference intended) or Ceballos of the Suns (unscheduled vacation and rapid fade into obscurity references perhaps intended), so you can pick me out and inform security/run screaming/kick my ass/verbally dress me down/give me a healthy dose of man-love, whichever you feel is necessary.
SSMcF—I've always associated Melo with Bodie, since both were imperfect, grew up in public, and ended up with personal principles. But yeah, getting killed for working with police isn't the most attractive ending, metaphor-wise.
As for my snippiness, dude, know thy fellow commenter. Michael wrote a long post on his blog during Lakers/Celtics about how FD as we know it might be done because. . . I was getting annoyed at being told I'd betrayed my own principles.
I'm not stupid when it comes to stuff like marketing. This site is where anything goes, my other gigs—which get far more audience—are where I try and meet readers halfway. My knee-jerk reaction was more like "really? you would be less interested in my writing regularly here if there were two prominent ads?" I don't know, that's a little short-sighted. As for snippiness toward the likes of Simmons, he's still bigger, more influential, and more widely-read than me. I can be a little devious when I talk about him without it making me look unprofesional or whatever.
Oh, and my mood, incidentally, has probably been wrecked by trying to set up these fucking ads on our 13th century template.
"Bling Bling? I know. And did you know I'm the creator of the term/
I just straightened the perm/They let it sit too long/they just making it burn "
Why shouldn't you get snippy when commenters try to tell you what your shit means?
Lil Wayne - "Hollywood Divorce" - by Outkast, Idlewild Soundtrack.
I would be behind an Austin meet-up. Where you thinking during SXSW?
An Austin reading would be tremendous! I'd be there for sure, and will volunteer now to buy the first round of drinks.
My bad if you read my comment with that much of a negative slant. I only meant that it seemed different from what I expected here. I'm not a hater who yells when anything is different, I was merely trying to remark. My blog post, also, wasn't trying to say that FD was done, but that it was changing. Maybe you equate change with death?
In a related note, as far as betraying your principles, I have no idea what those are, and every time I try to nail anything like an "ism" down for this site, I find that it's constantly shifting. So I wouldn't know anything about what principles you have, much less whether you've betrayed them or not.
I'll stand by my comment, too: it looks odd to have ads on this site. Don't take it as an attack. It's merely a remark.
Shoals - don't let the haters bring you down. If they are reading your site now and won't let you put a few ads up to make you a viable entity to provide even better content, than let them be the losers in life and wallow in their self pity that creates such undue non-sense toward a creative genius that they should be considering diving off a cliff into a vat of mayo mixed with a little darko
AUSTIN. AUSTIN. AUSTIN. We the longhorns anyway.
Austin.
Bookpeople would probably be an option.
Alamo Drafthouse would be another option. You could do some kind of multi-media deal, show a movie afterward, whatever.
There's a million bars that could host. Mean Eyed Cat is a favorite.
Either way, get your ass down here.
I really wish the interviewer had jumped in right after Melo said "Omar" and interjected "Is that because you're gay?"
I bet we would have seen another patented slap to the face and run combo from everyone's favorite advocate for the cessation of snitching.
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