Now that Labor Day has come and gone, it seems like the months for playing games are over — it’s time to hunker down and get serious as the weather gets colder. Not so! Even as the real life days get shorter and we’re forced inside, we can still live vicariously through our favorite fictional characters, whose games are never threatened by weather or sleepiness. There are about a million fictional games, documented in all mediums and genres, and though some of them have blossomed into a certain kind of reality — as you probably know, Muggle Quidditch is now a thing, as is the 3d chess from Star Trek — most remain just out of our reach. But we have hope! Click through to see our list of games and sports from literature, film, TV and comics that we’d like to play in real life, and let us know if we’ve missed any of your favorite fictional pastimes in the comments.
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The Decemberists have made their reputation on being indie rock’s most literary band, so we’re hardly surprised that they’ve made a music video inspired by David Foster Wallace. In an interview with NPR, Colin Meloy explained that he wrote The King Is Dead‘s “Calamity Song” after finishing Infinite Jest and realized that Wallace’s singular style of humor had impacted his own writing. With that in mind, Meloy said, “I had this funny idea that a good video for the song would be a re-creation of the Enfield Tennis Academy’s round of Eschaton — basically, a global thermonuclear crisis re-created on a tennis court — that’s played about a third of the way into the book.” That is exactly what happens in the excellent video below, directed by Parks and Recreation co-creator Michael Schur, who was delighted to participate in the project, telling NPR, “The Decemberists are my favorite band, and Infinite Jest is my favorite book.”
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This week, our friends at The Rumpus alerted us to an amazing new project that allows us to indulge our David Foster Wallace fandom/love of all things film-related/geeky sensibilities all at once, and in the best way: Poor Yorick Entertainment, created by Chris Ayers. The website, Ayers writes, is “a visual exploration of the filmography of James O. Incandenza and the world of David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest… ‘Poor Yorick Entertainment’ is the name of the fictional independent film company started by James O. Incandenza in David Foster Wallace’s novel Infinite Jest. . . . This project is an attempt to bring some kind of visual life to the fictional filmmaker’s body of work.” Um, this is the best idea ever, and it isn’t only limited to fictional movie posters — though those are wonderful. Ayers also treats us to various other artifacts from the novel, so if you’re a fan, be prepared to grin your face off. Click through to see our favorites of Ayers’ work, and be sure to check out the main website for even more Infinite inspiration.
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If you’re already a David Foster Wallace fan we’re guessing that you won’t need our help pointing out that tomorrow marks the publication of his posthumous novel, The Pale King. But if you’ve been following the various reviews, remembrances, and commentary that Wallace has inspired over the past few months with a curiosity and mild puzzlement — sure the guy seems great, but a 600-plus page unformed novel about taxes? — we’ve got your back. Likewise if you once picked up a copy of Infinite Jest but found yourself drifting away after the first 200 pages … well, we’ve been there. Brevity is not one of the man’s many virtues. But an incredible eye for detail, a gut-busting sense of humor, and the ability to tell a story so engrossing that you don’t want it to end? Those DFW has. So for the uninitiated, the intimidated, or the intrepid reader, we’ve compiled a guide to reading Wallace’s work.
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Today at Flavorpill, we found out what people really think of the first page of David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest, including “There are so dang many HYPHENS!” We looked at a photo of Company costars Christina Hendricks and Neil Patrick Harris hanging out in their underwear. We imagined what it would be like to live in a $4.65 million replica of the White House. We were impressed by this artist’s crazy banana carvings. We watched the old Britney Spears and the new Britney Spears have a tragic dance off. We made plans to stream all five Sidney Lumet films that are currently available on Netflix Instant. We read Salon’s exhaustive primer on HBO’s Game of Thrones. We were intrigued by the news that Zooey Deschanel will be contributing a few original songs for the upcoming reboot of Winnie The Pooh. We were surprised that God agreed to be interviewed by Vice — even if it was about the Westboro Baptist Church (also surprising: how much he resembles Dumbledore). And finally, we became incredibly nostalgic while reading this New York Times profile of Beverly Cleary, who turns 95 years old (!) tomorrow.
A well-written character can come to life outside the walls of his or her prescribed narrative. This was most recently the case with Mad Men’s Roger Sterling, whose fourth-season memoir Sterling Gold recently hit real shelves as Sterling Gold: Wit and Wisdom of an Ad Man, a time-traveling stocking-stuffer straight from the fictional mouth of the sharpest mind on mid-century Madison Avenue. Far from being the autobiography portrayed on the show, the slim volume is a collection of Sterling’s barbed witticisms (“When God closes a door, he opens a dress”), which are sure to sate Mad Men fans jonesing for sustenance between seasons.
The idea of a fake-memoir-turned-real-book got us thinking about tomes we wish our favorite literary characters — the ones who jump from the page and occupy a place in time and space — would write. Here’s a list of fantasy books we’d love to read by our favorite fictional personalities. Tell us in the comments section who else you’d like to read and what they’d likely write.
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A gift for those of you who find the non-linear world of Infinite Jest as confusing as we do. Or for David Foster Wallace fans who love a good diagram. Click here to check out the larger version. [via @drmabuse]
We all know how it ends. In September 2008, David Foster Wallace hanged himself. But do we know how it begins? In 1996, shortly after the publication of Infinite Jest, the novel that would define his style and propel him into the literary pantheon, Wallace was interviewed by David Lipsky for Rolling Stone magazine. Over five days, the two Davids discussed everything from television addiction and book tour sex to philosophy and mental illness. That conversation is recorded in Although Of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself. A gift to all those who worship at the alter of DFW, this is a hauntingly beautiful portrait of Wallace as a young artist, a raw and honest account of a writer struggling with what it means to have all of his dearest dreams come true. Read on for more on the book and some of our favorite quotes.
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In March of 2009, Little, Brown and Company announced plans to publish an unfinished novel titled The Pale King, which David Foster Wallace worked on sporadically for at least a decade before his death. The novel is based on main character Lane Dean careening into transcendence simply by living a life of utter boredom. In a new excerpt just published by The New Yorker, we catch a glimpse into the troubled childhood of Pale King’s floundering leading man. As a reader, the selection is both comforting and frustrating to devour, much like Lane’s encounters with the voices in his head.
“(…The experience of the voices was analogous to the feeling of turning a pillow over to the cool side.) Sometimes the experience of the voices was ecstatic, sometimes so much so that it was almost too intense for me—as when you first bite into an apple or a confection that tastes so delicious and causes such a flood of oral juices that there is a moment of intense pain in your mouth and glands.”
Basically, it’s so good it hurts. More on DFW, the bookworm’s Cobain, after the jump.
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If you’re in New York: Tonight’s SWEET comedy show at the Slipper Room features some funny people Judd Apatow hasn’t managed to recruit just yet.
If you’re in Los Angeles: Skylight Books hosts a party for all those tackling Infinite Summer, the project to read David Foster Wallace’s gargantuan Infinite Jest in its entirely. Unlike the summer reading you did as a child, this won’t require a book report at the end.
If you’re in San Francisco: John Doe & the Sadies make beautiful alt-country music together at the Great American Music Hall, with a special appearance by our girl Jill Sobule.
If you’re in Chicago: Born Yesterday (the 1950 version, not the one starring Melanie Griffith) screens at Grant Park as part of the Chicago Outdoor Film Festival..
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