Literary

Here is the trailer for the new movie, Age of Dragons. 

Within the clip, a tag line reads "Herman Melville's 'Moby Dick' told like never before." I'll say. It should be telling that the title Moby Dick is actually in quotes instead of italicized, as if it's some nebulous idea rather than a published work. 

There may be more to this movie than metal music and rusty harpoons, but consider this - if your sci-fi world is overrun with vicious dragons, a quest to hunt one of them is probably a practical defensive goal. 

However, what makes Moby Dick interesting is that Captain Ahab and his crew elect to go on a fool-hardy quest out of revenge and hubris, rather than out of necessity. As such, it creates a brilliant metaphor of the struggle against fate and unattainable desires.

Maybe I'm missing the point about a movie where people hunt CG dragons with harpoons, but it's probably better to allude to the book, rather than claim "adaptation." That said, Danny Glover does look pretty cool. 

Now to cleanse the pallet. From Moby Dick:

All men live enveloped in whale-lines. All are born with halters round their necks; but it is only when caught in the swift, sudden turn of death, that mortals realize the silent, subtle, ever present perils of life.

Current issue of King-Cat

Comic hero John Porcellino has been self-publishing his independent comics for over twenty-five years. His much lauded comic series, King-Cat, has brought readers into his own mind since 1989.

The prolific artist has also written on his teenage depression (Perfect Example), Thoreau (Thoreau at Walden) and his time as an exterminator (Diary of a Mosquito Abatement Man).

Tonight at Richard Hugo House, Porcellino, along with Noah Van Sciver, self-publisher of the Blammo comic series, present a slideshow of their works and discuss life in the outer realms of self-publishing.

Talk starts at 7:00pm, followed by a Q&A.

Richard Hugo House, 1634 11th Ave.

What makes a book controversial enough to get banned from libraries and schools? Depends on who's counting.

The Tempest Lounge had a warm vibe last month as I grabbed myself a Manny's and joined King's Books' monthly Banned Book Club meeting. Up for discussion this month were John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men and J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye. I was excited to return to these classics with a more adult mentality, compared to when I was assigned to read them some years ago in high school.

As the discussion began, some of the controversy surrounding both books elicited chuckles and eye rolls from the group. Mice and Catcher, usual suspects on the Top 100 banned books list, have mainly been challenged for profanity, which some parents actually took the time to count. (Catcher has over 700 instances of profanity, and Mice has over 100, if you consider "sonuvabitch" profane.) Other reasons for outrage include sexually explicit, anti-white, obscene and racist content, as well as the "profane use of God's name." 

Holden Caulfield from Catcher inspired the bulk of discussion in last month's meeting, as some members utterly despised the negative teen angst, while others completely relate to the character in all of his cynical anguish. Despite the disagreement, the group could not stop smiling at one member's gratuitous admiration for Caulfield's "brilliant mind."

It's important to note that banning books is not a practice exclusive to the 1950s, nor to small towns. Tacoma author Brent Hartinger's young adult novel, Geography Club, was banned from Washington junior and high school libraries in 2005 because of a paragraph that described a romantic meet-up between the protagonist and an online acquaintance, organized via a chat room. When it comes to banning books, concerned parents and educators are generally not voices that go unheard.This makes the consideration of what's "obscene" and what's "appropriate" for children all the more relevant for public discussion.

So join the group tonight, August 17, at 7:00pm to discuss Olive's Ocean by Kevin Henkes, which was banned in 2008 for sexually explicit and offensive language. The young-adult novel follows the protagonist Martha Boyle, whose experiences her typical summer vacation in Cape Cod much differently after a classmate is killed in a hit-and-run accident.

Or, if you need a little more lead time, next month's meeting, on September 21, features Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld.

Looking for more profound profanity? View a complete list of classics, their challenges and bans. 

The Tempest Lounge, 913 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Tacoma. Must be 21 to attend the meeting, or accompanied by an adult. All books available for purchase at King's Books.

King’s Books in Tacoma hosts their Distinguished Writer’s Series Open Mic every month, sponsored by Puget Sound Poetry Connection.

Although the open mic is open to anyone wanting to read some of their own work, there is always the special treat of a guest reader. This month’s installment includes Nicholas Karavatos reading from his first published book No Asylum.

Nicholas lives near Dubai and teaches literature and writing at the American University of Sharjan in the United Arab Emirates. He has been described as a poet with “great range and clarity” often speaking of life, love and the Middle East where he resides.

His words are relatable, humorous and captivating.

Read an excerpt from his book, No Asylum, after the jump:

Verse Chapter Verse, Seattle's newest literary series, which has already brought notable readings from authors Cory Doctorow and Jonathan Lethem, presents its third reading from Gary Shteyngart, author of The Russian Debutante's Handbook and, his latest, Super Sad True Love Story.

Set in a dystopian America, where illiteracy is the norm, credit scores define one's emotional self-worth and nanotechnology keeps the rich alive forever, Super Sad looks at a possible future for America, where its contribution to the world has all but ceased to exist and complete downfall could happen at any moment. In the midst of which, an awkward love story begins. 

Shteyngart will read and take questions from the audience, and there will be music from Orkestar Zirconium, an interview between Shteyngart and Paul Constant (books editor for The Stranger) and it's all happening at the Sunset Tavern, where, unlike most readings, you can drink overpowering Manhattans while learning about literature. 

Reading and music starts at 8pm. 

Sunset Tavern, 5433 Ballard Ave NW.

If you haven't attended an installment of the Seattle reading series, The Off Hours, yet, this is one to try.

Series founder Lacey Henson will join the lineup of readers for the first time tonight. And she surely won't disappoint. Lacey's writing draws clear parallels with the irresistible Lorrie Moore.

Joining her tonight are poets Don Mee Choi and Matthew Nienow and writers Ian Sherman and Elissa Washuta. Fellow writer Colleen O'Brien hosts.

Another first: the series has finally made its way to Capitol Hill. The reading starts at Sole Repair at 7:00pm; and a post-show party continues there until 11:00pm or so . . .

Tickets are $5 each. (All proceeds go to the readers.)

Sole Repair is a private event space on 10th in Capitol Hill, near 10th & Pike. It's just behind Quinn's and opposite Neumos.

You'll come to like these forms. 

When you submit information in an online form, you're often prompted to fill out a box like the one above.

These help Web sites deter spam, because the slightly oblique words can only be read by a human. Good for Web sites, but pretty annoying – in fact, users spend 150,000 hours a day entering security words.

Luckily, someone found a way to make use of those hours. Soon, many anti-spam query boxes will be replaced with a tool called reCAPTCHA .

Instead of just entering random words, when users are prompted with a reCAPTCHA box, they will actually be helping to clarify words from scanned documents, which certain literacy projects are using to put books, magazines and other documents online. The software that scans physical documents, not surprisingly, can't interpret all words correctly, so it needs a pair of human eyes to decipher certain words.

When you are prompted with two words, one of those words is known by reCAPTCHA, but the other word is from that big list of indecipherable words. By entering the known word correctly, users help the scanning system determine the correct reading of the other word.

So take heart - every time you post information online with reCAPTCHA, you're helping to advance and preserve literacy. 

Thanks to kukkuzejt on reddit for the story. 

When I was an intern at an unnamed local paper a few years back, one of my first tasks was to transcribe an especially long interview with Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida, Eggers' wife. They were discussing the couple's film, Away We Go. 

At the time, I didn't know much about Vida, editor at the The Believer, journalist and novelist who wrote Let the Northern Lights Erase You and her latest, The Lovers, which she reads from and discusses tonight at University Bookstore.

The pic you will always see of Ms. Vida.

The Lovers, like her previous work, explores the lives of women in transitional points in time, in exotic locations. However, in The Lovers, the protagonist, a widow on vacation in a small Turkish village, spends her time examining her own emotional history, her unclear memories of marriage, her distance from her children and her own happiness.

Going back to my intern days: there's something lost in transcribed interviews – the casual asides and the tone of delivery, and the general mood of the interviewee. Listening to Vida talk casually about her work, her approach to writing and her enjoyment of discussing literature, got me excited to read and write. 

So while The Lovers may be good, the reading is worth the trip to hear Vida talk about books. Starts at 7:00pm.

University Bookstore, 4326 University Way NE

Seth Tobocman's comics didn't see a huge surge in popularity when graphic novelists like Alan Moore, Chris Ware and Jeff Smith began to be picked up by serious literati, major critics and film studios. 

Tobocman probably never will be either, and that's how he would like it. Anti-corporate, politically radical and talented, Tobocman's comics are a direct representation of his own political views, personal experiences as a squatter in New York and stories of others who have been overrun by corporate or government irresponsibility. 

Best known for his series of comics World War III Illustrated, Tobocman is a political and social advocate for lower classes and for fair business practices. His drawings feature violence between dark silhouettes and often distorted or half-animal authority figures, woodblock-style inking and re-imaginings of real-world crisis such as 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina.

Tobocman reads tonight at Elliott Bay Book Company from his latest book, Understanding the Crash. In the book, Tobocman and journalist Eric Laursen examine the history of the recent financial collapse and the possible futures of the world economy, using Tobocman's evocative style to argue for a change in the financial system. 

Starts at 7:00pm.

Third Place Books, 17171 Bothell Way NE.