Shane Jones & Tom Roberge

This is my last post on Everyday Genius... so to mark the end of an era (aka month), I sat down with Shane Jones and Tom Roberge. I've "known" Shane since 2009 when Adam Robinson (coolest guy ever!) mailed me a copy of the Publishing Genius version of Light Boxes after I had written about it on my blog. This led to me "meeting" Shane online, which led to me making his book trailers, which led me to me actually meeting him in person, which led to me working on turning Light Boxes into a film. At the time, Tom worked at Penguin as an editor on their version of Light Boxes and now we are all friends! Long story short: thank god for the internet!

I actually was quite interested in hearing how any type of visual art might inspire their work and, as you will see if you watch the video, was excited like a wee little girl when Shane started listing off all of my most favorite films, artists, etc... (Note: Unfortunately, somehow the first clip of the video was deleted by my computer.. Maybe when I banged my laptop against a metal electrical box on the subway platform on the way home? IDK. What you missed is my introducing them, Tom talking about a lot of art films he loves that are really dark, plus a lot of discussion over "Independence Day" & Will Smith. Granted, I was slightly bummed when I realized the intro clip went missing, however I managed to salvage a lot of good comments on experimental film.)  

I've enjoyed being the January editor for Everyday Genius - thanks for reading/watching!!


Shane Jones: is a novelist, short story writer, and poet. He is most known for his novels Light Boxes and Daniel Fights A Hurricane.   //  Tom Roberge: Formerly an editor at Penguin Books, and the editor for the Penguin release of Light Boxes, Tom is currently the Publicity & Marketing Director at New Directions. 

*Alternative titles for this post: Sitting With 2 Cool People in the Morning, Welcome to Erf , Everything I Like Tom Hated, and Everyday Genius: Handsome Friends Edition

Here are some of the films/artists that we talk about in the video if you want to watch them:

Ryan Trecartin: A bunch of people suggested I write up Trecartin this month, but for some reason I didn't. I don't hate, I appreciate, but IDK. I feel like I used to make this stuff with my friend Danny or Tao or alone at 4am when I was a drunk back in 2008. Still, he's making a bunch of points with his work that people seem to respond to - he's only won every award ever. His videos comment on social media, pop culture, the internet, etc etc etc etc... discuss amongst yourselves...





Kenneth Anger: I did a whole post dedicated to Kenneth Anger, though no matter how much factual information from interviews or wiki I regurgitate, I can never do his work, or his impact on experimental film, or music videos, or the occult in art, justice. The film which Shane points out as having an impact on his novel "Daniel Fights A Hurricane" is Eaux d'Artifice:



Harmony Korine: He made KIDS, and he made Trash Humpers, he's made several films, but also Gummo - which I found a bit hard to watch at times, as is most of his work -- though as Shane says, there is a dark humor and beauty to his work which depicts screwed up truths about America and humanity... Shane talked about the scene where everyone is fighting a chair. In an interview Korine says: On the last day of shooting, Escoffier shot the chair-wrestling kitchen scene alone with a rigged boom on his camera. Some people had just gotten out of prison and Korine felt the performance would be greater if he wasn't in the room. The crew shut all the doors and turned off all the monitors, so no one knew what was going on. In between takes, Korine would run in and get everyone hyped up. At the end of the scene there is a moment of silence where no one knows what to do next. Korine comments, "When I saw that in the dailies, it amazed me, because Jean Yves really captured that awkwardness, that sad silence; it was beautiful." Here is a trailer for Gummo:



David Lynch, Eraserhead/Mulholland Drive: If you want to see me get really excited, just start talking to me about Eraserhead. I love everything about that film, as well as it's back story. I could go on and on and on, but I will spare you. Tom said he prefers Mulholland Drive -- Here are the trailers: