Overlooked

In the Times, Believer contributor Robert Ito has the dope on Room 237, a documentary about the mind-boggling array of theories concerning Stanley Kubrick's The Shining:

“Room 237,” the first full-length documentary by the director Rodney Ascher, examines several of the most intriguing of these theories. It’s really about the Holocaust, one interviewee says, and Mr. Kubrick’s inability to address the horrors of the Final Solution on film. No, it’s about a different genocide, that of American Indians, another says, pointing to all the tribal-theme items adorning the Overlook Hotel’s walls. A third claims it’s really Kubrick’s veiled confession that he helped NASA fake the Apollo Moon landings.

What are the other hotel room numbers of note, in film and literature? (Haven't I asked this question before, in this space? I'm sure I have. Annnnnyway...)

1. Room 208 in Trout Fishing in America.

Disambiguations™ for June 2, 2011

Some catch-up...

I. Rachel Aviv made her amazing New Yorker (!) debut last week with "God Knows Where I Am," about a psychiatric patient who refused treatment, moved into the attic of an abandoned house, and subsisted on apples while keeping an extensive diary. Such a good piece. You need to subscribe to read it (though the abstract is oddly compelling).*

II. Hans Keilson, who found late-career American literary success last year (at the age of 101), has passed away. Damion Searls, who translated Keilson's Comedy in a Minor Key, wrote this appreciation/profile of him last year for The Believer, which you can read now in full online.

III. Speaking of The Believer—the June issue is out! Robert Ito kicks it off with a fascinating piece on Josiah Flynt Willard—hobo, writer, turncoat. Charity Vogel finds the godfather of the game show; Hillary Chute (!) interviews Joe Sacco, the war reporter/graphic narrativist; Brandon Stosuy listens to Destroyer's Kaputt; the usual columns including the new Daniel Handler one; and much more...

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*A side effect of reading Rachel's piece was wanting more, which meant reading some of the rest of the magazine. Great magazine! I liked the profile of Cory Arcangel—excellent. As if a quote from Ed Halter wasn't enough, it also mentions that he was a star lacrosse player at my alma mater. Then I started reading the açai berry piece and a review of a bio of Rabindranath Tagore. But then I had to leave the magazine (it was my sister's).

January Believer

The first Believer of 2010 is out! Epic John D'Agata piece on Las Vegas, Robert Ito on weird Japanese folk tales, Sarah Weinman on Don Carpenter! Aleksander Hemon talks to Colum McCann? (Yes.) Francis Ford Coppola talks to Ruth Reichl? (Yes.) Plus Chris Bachelder, Jack Pendarvis, Meehan Crist on a chapbook from the early ’70s, Justin Taylor on the Momus novel, Greil Marcus, and much more!

New Believer is out!

For a taste, check out Dizzyhead Andy's piece online, "The Official Guide to Official Handbooks." Other fun stuff: Elizabeth Gold on '70s pop feminist fiction (Erica Jong, et al.), Dizzyhead Robert on Fletcher Hanks, that Hornby/David Simon (The Wire) interview I mentioned before, and much more...oh yes, the naming article! And something on Boris Vian! It's a great issue!