Read/read/reading: Bright Wall/Dark Room, Issue 1; Up in the Air, by Walter Kirn; Drive, by James Sallis.

(Minor declaration of interest: I write sometimes for BWDR, though none of my work appears in the first or second issues.)

First off, the first issue of BWDR’s Newsstand app is everything I hoped it would be - excellently-designed, featuring illustrations like this and containing some of the best writing they’ve ever published. It’s an extremely solid start (and contains nothing like this tripe), and I can’t wait to see where it goes next. It’s a hallmark of an excellent publication when you’re a contributor who honestly doesn’t care if his work is included or not, so long as it continues to be good; that’s exactly what I felt reading this.

Up In The Air is an odd book. The film is decidedly different - the one entirely sympathetic character is missing in the novel, and the Ryan Bingham as written in prose is a lot more jaded and on edge than smooth-talking George Clooney ever could be. I’m hesitant to say too much about this - I’ll be saving it for an upcoming podcast - but I liked it a lot, despite a couple of issues with narrative voice that came up once in a while. Overall, though, Walter Kirn is a brilliant writer, and this ranks amongst the best of his work.

Drive is in-keeping with the film-oriented stuff I’ve been reading; oddly, I haven’t yet seen the film, despite the fact that it contains two huge crushes of mine, but I’m still interested nevertheless. Brooding, ultraviolent existentialism is how I got into reading in the first place.

brightwalldarkroom:

Hello, everybody. This is Chad, the guy behind this site. I am coming to all of you today, directly, because A Bright Wall in a Dark Room has arrived at a (very promising) crossroads—but if it’s to go any further, we need your help.

I was fairly brief before, so here’s why this is important to me: A Bright Wall In A Dark Room is singlehandedly one of the most interesting cultural interest things I’ve ever read, and I’ve been lucky enough to have piqued their interest on a few occasions (1, 2, 3). I once saw someone describe it as “Thought Catalog for film”, but that doesn’t even get close to covering it - each of the writers, whether they’re regular contributors or people who occasionally peek their heads in, tread a very careful line between a thoughtful, personal response and a considered treatment of the film itself. There are no top ten lists (or if there are, they’re easter eggs you’ll never find).

Chad is an excellent editor; the content is brilliant; this is an opportunity to dig deep and take that content onwards and upwards. I’ll be donating as soon as the next payslip comes in, and you should too. This is an opportunity to help bring about a film magazine that operates with an unprecedented amount of creative control, and it’s something I can’t wait to see (and maybe write for, if they’ll have me back).