Wei to go!

Jing Wei has been chosen by PRINT magazine as one of the 20 best illustrators under 30!

(Look for her art on the cover of Jane Yeh's new book of poetry, The Ninjas, later this year.)

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In other news, up to 500 bees will surround an invading hornet and cook it to death.

Stolmy weather

Jane just wanted to point out these interesting names she ran across:

Righthander Stolmy Pimentel, who was 6-13 with a 6.79 earned run average in the minors last season

Dalton Del Don is a senior writer for RotoWire.com

Plush life

Doug Melvin thought he was getting a speedy backup outfielder with a checkered history when he acquired Nyjer Morgan from the Washington Nationals late in spring training.

“I wanted Nyjer Morgan,” Melvin said. “I didn’t know I was getting two people for one. I got Nyjer Morgan and an alter ego to be named later.”

At a moment’s notice, and frequently in range of a television camera, Morgan becomes Tony Plush, a fun-loving personality who creates words and nicknames, much like the Hall of Fame pitcher Dennis Eckersley.

Also known as T-Plush, Morgan calls the fundamentals of his game like bunting and moving up runners Plushdamentals. Morgan’s teammates often salute T-Plush by forming a timeout signal with their hands.

Tony Plush is not a new invention. Morgan said he and two buddies from home in San Jose, Calif., created personas for themselves about 10 years ago. One friend was Frankie Sleaze, the other James Dot Dean, and Morgan became Tony Plush.

(Via Jane; not sure where the original article is from)

O tempura, O monkeys!

I. Yellowfront Manor, Brooklyn edition:



(The other two Y.M.s are here.)

(Photo by F.S. Caroline.)

II. Jane Yeh's new poem is featured on Like Starlings. The title is so good, I can't say it here. OK, I'll say it:

"Sherlock Holmes on the Trail of the Abominable Snowman"!

It reads like the best cryptic crossword you've never solved. Here's the second stanza:

6. Time for acrobatic whitewashing of someone's back story
7. Settled how to prune the epistemological topiary
8. O tempura, O monkeys
9. Himalayan word for mishegoss, or a type of pasta
10. Behind the scenes at the prickly ambassador's ball

II.

Los Angeles Times Book Award b/w "On Baseball"

I. The Los Angeles Times Book Award finalists have been announced! Fiction, biography, blah de blah...what you're really wondering is: Which artists are in the running for best graphic novel?! (Once again, I had the honor to judge, along with Douglas Wolk and Joel Rose.)

Here is the tantalizing list:

Graphic Novel
Adam Hines, "Duncan the Wonder Dog: Show One" (Adhouse Books)
Dash Shaw, "Bodyworld" (Pantheon)
Karl Stevens, "The Lodger" (KSA Publishing)
C. Tyler, "You'll Never Know, Book Two: Collateral Damage" (Fantagraphics)
Jim Woodring, "Weathercraft" (Fantagraphics)

Who will win? You need to wait till April 29...

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(I might post, later, some thoughts on other really strong titles...or maybe just the names...there was a lot of good stuff...)



II. Poets Jane Yeh and H.L. Hix are featured on the site Like Starlings, going mano a mano, poetry-style! Here is the first part of her new poem, "On Baseball":

My mechanics are almost entirely self-taught.
Hawking and strutting, I hit my spots.

Nobody talks to me, they are all afraid.

The nature of perfection is half fluke, half
Fiction, like the mighty appaloosa

That haunts the hometown lake. I'm from one of those states
That never got finished, that just sort of unravelled, like the sound

Speed makes as it blows right past you.

(Jane is a die-hard Yankees fan.)

Marabou alert

Jane Yeh reads tonight! In London! 7:45! With Francis Leviston!

More info here.

Dizzies Newsfeeds for November 13

Andrew Lewis Conn has a long appreciation of Norman Mailer up at The Fanzine: "Let us sing of the man’s ambition: that wild, prodigious, uneven, infuriating, embarrassing, brave and blustery and bruising arc, the longest, greatest song of himself in American letters."...Shades of End Zone: "After Jets linebacker Jonathan Vilma sustained a knee injury this season, Coach Eric Mangini was asked at a news conference if he knew which play the injury occurred on. He said no.

Q: Do you know which knee?

A: Yes.

Q: Are you going to tell us?

A: No.

Q: Right or left?

A: Tricky. It’s one of those two."

—"Paranoia Strikes Deep, Into Your Headset It Will Creep," NYT (via Dizzyhead Jane)...

Dizzies Newsfeeds™ for Saturday, August 4

1. Via Jane:

“There’s a huge market for it with very little advertising,” Ms. Herald said. “Customers are great and spread it by word of mouth.”

What is she talking about? Would you believe—accessories made of duct tape?

2. An interesting post on OgreCave, regarding criticism of role-playing games, that mentions Heidi's inaugural Believer essay.

Attention Potter fans!

Time to re-read this poem by friend Jane: "THE ONLY CONFIRMED CAST MEMBER IS OOK THE OWL, WHO HAS BEEN TAPPED TO PLAY THE SNOWY WHITE OWL WHO DELIVERS MAIL FOR HARRY"

The Yeh Yeh Yehs

Old pal Jane Yeh's long-brewing, just released poetry collection Marabou is the bee's knees—and I'm not the only one who thinks so: She's just been nominated for the Whitbread! (The bee in question, however, is unhappy, and wants its patellae back.)(Wha?)

Anyway—she had better win! Or I'm never buying a book of poetry again! Ye Whitbread judges! Do the right thing! And while you're at it, let's give Nick Hornby a Whitbread, too!

Here is one of Jane's top hits, just in time for ye olde Goblet of Fire! (I like this one because it shows her sense of humor, or as they say over there, "humour.")(Wha?)

THE ONLY CONFIRMED CAST MEMBER IS OOK THE OWL, WHO HAS BEEN TAPPED TO PLAY THE SNOWY WHITE OWL WHO DELIVERS MAIL FOR HARRY
—article on preproduction for the first Harry Potter film, New York Post, August 2000


Claw up. Claw down. Cut.
My fine eyes. My fine eyes are— Cut.

I was fluffed and plucked, like a beauty-pageant winner,
Between takes. Like a news presenter.
Could I be a news presenter?

Rider: 5 rashers bacon. 8-oz. tin mixed nuts.
2 lbs. rabbit fillets. Assorted drupes.

Between takes, I did leg-lifts in my trailer.

If asked what is your most treasured possession, I would say
The woolly toy Tracey, my personal trainer, gave me when young.
I learnt to spy it from afar, then swoop down and seize,
But only on cue. Mr Sheep goes everywhere with me now.

If I could wake up having gained one ability,
It would be the capacity for more facial expression.
It is so tedious to have one's beak set in a permanent frown.

My greatest talent is impersonation—
To simulate a person's idea of an owl.
Sadly, I owe my success to typecasting.

My greatest fear is to be found wanting.

At the premiere party, the women were not very clothed.
It is of advantage to be clad always in feathers.

I allowed fake friends to pet me.
My picture was taken several times with the boy.
I enjoy parties because otherwise I see only Tracey.
Afterwards, you wonder what the glitter was for.