George Saunders liked it

April 6, 2007 7:25 PM

OK, Here I go, I'm going to make this whole website right now on this dry-erase board.
posted by 31d1 (93 comments total)

Please add Web 3.0 to tags.
posted by Krrrlson at 7:30 PM on April 6, 2007

I can't decide if links to page four resulting in a 404 error is intentional or not.
posted by eustacescrubb at 7:30 PM on April 6, 2007

I love it.
posted by WPW at 7:34 PM on April 6, 2007

I think it's dumb. Too gimmicky.
posted by jayder at 7:39 PM on April 6, 2007

A crumby commercial?
posted by puke & cry at 7:39 PM on April 6, 2007 [2 favorites]

Looking forward to this. Me and You and Everyone We Know ranks among the best movies I've ever seen.

))<>(( forever.
posted by rafter at 7:39 PM on April 6, 2007 [1 favorite]

Hi Miranda July!
posted by R. Mutt at 7:40 PM on April 6, 2007

This is pretty cute, I guess.
posted by grobstein at 7:40 PM on April 6, 2007

I love the idea, but (and this could be due to traffc), it's awfully slow. She's also right that no one has time for all the song and dance, even if it does add a nice personal touch.
posted by djgh at 7:41 PM on April 6, 2007

A picture is worth a thousand words.
posted by adamrice at 7:42 PM on April 6, 2007

*erases the extra c in reccomendations and adds an m*
posted by iconomy at 7:42 PM on April 6, 2007

(how come the top of my fridge never looks that undusty?)
posted by R. Mutt at 7:44 PM on April 6, 2007

song and dance = boring.
lighting the stove = satanic fun.
posted by phaedon at 7:44 PM on April 6, 2007

...and that is why we don't make websites on dry erase boards.
posted by muddylemon at 7:45 PM on April 6, 2007 [4 favorites]

What a cute advertisement.
posted by BeerFilter at 7:47 PM on April 6, 2007

Me and You and Everyone We Know ranks among the best movies I've ever seen.

Seconded.
posted by R. Mutt at 7:55 PM on April 6, 2007

Meh.

Would have been better in Flash.

And this time I'm actually not joking.
posted by Ynoxas at 7:57 PM on April 6, 2007

ya know, this made me smile..... clever, funny....
thanks....
posted by HuronBob at 8:00 PM on April 6, 2007

I like it.
posted by tkchrist at 8:00 PM on April 6, 2007

i clicked through all the way, so i guess i find her charming.
posted by jcruelty at 8:04 PM on April 6, 2007

I liked it but yeah... took way too long. I want the book though. I hearted that movie too... I like her quirky style. :)
posted by miss lynnster at 8:06 PM on April 6, 2007

i have a big crush on miranda.

Me and You and Everyone We Know ranks among the best movies I've ever seen.

Thirded.
posted by bhnyc at 8:08 PM on April 6, 2007

unThirded
posted by localhuman at 8:12 PM on April 6, 2007

You know, if you wanted to read Miranda July's book but were wearing an inappropriate color, you could probably just take the jacket from a color-matched book and put it on her book.

Also, I think she burned her oatmeal.
posted by trip and a half at 8:12 PM on April 6, 2007

A crumby commercial?
posted by puke & cry

Rather a clever commercial, I thought.
posted by taosbat at 8:16 PM on April 6, 2007

I feel like she's tricking everybody.
posted by _sirmissalot_ at 8:17 PM on April 6, 2007

It's published by Scribners but I thought I was getting a whiff of McSweeney's in there. Lo and behold, there's the obligatory Dave Eggers quote. Shit, I bet Chris Ware chose the jacket colors and Heidi Julavits has already finished her gushing review.
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 8:19 PM on April 6, 2007 [1 favorite]

I feel like I ought to loathe everything Miranda July does. And yet... I don't.
posted by aaronetc at 8:19 PM on April 6, 2007 [1 favorite]

Me and You and Everyone We Know ranks among the best movies I've ever seen.

Thirded.

unThirded

Re-thirded. It's all I came in here to say.
posted by intermod at 8:19 PM on April 6, 2007

Me and You and Everyone We Know ranks among the best movies I've ever seen.

Seconded / Thirded / Unthirded / Re-thirded

Fourthed. In fact, "back and fourthed--forever!"

Thanks for the link--I found it charming also. I think only Miranda July could pull off the dry-erase fridge/stove webpage design!
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 8:22 PM on April 6, 2007 [1 favorite]

I still can't make through the whole thing. It just goes on and on. You people talk like I should know who Miranda July is. Is this one of those blog things I'm missing out on?
posted by puke & cry at 8:22 PM on April 6, 2007 [1 favorite]

Fourthed.
posted by cgc373 at 8:22 PM on April 6, 2007

Damn. Fifthed, then.
posted by cgc373 at 8:23 PM on April 6, 2007

Not a blogger, puke & cry; a filmmaker. Probably in a similar category to Wes Anderson, if I'm any judge.
posted by cgc373 at 8:24 PM on April 6, 2007

SIXTHED
posted by Rumple at 8:27 PM on April 6, 2007

Who the Hell is Miranda July, and when the Hell did she break into my kitchen?
posted by ZenMasterThis at 8:28 PM on April 6, 2007

I want some of that oatmeal. I bet she makes it with lots of brown sugar.
posted by joannemerriam at 8:35 PM on April 6, 2007

That was pretty cute. I would be much more inclined to buy her book if she had included a link to one of her stories, though, rather than subjecting me to a seemingly endless barrage of self-consciously faux-precious whimsy.

Still, I'm a bit of a sucker for precious whimsy, faux or otherwise, so i might well check out her films.

Is there a name for the Wes Anderson/Dave Eggers/Demetri Martin/ Sufjan Stevens/McSweeney school of whatever the hell it is they're doing yet?
posted by Jon Mitchell at 8:40 PM on April 6, 2007 [1 favorite]

So this dry-erase board, it vibrates?
posted by Samuel Farrow at 8:43 PM on April 6, 2007

crapdotcom.com
posted by blaneyphoto at 8:45 PM on April 6, 2007

huh, That was cooler than I expected. It was charming and pleasantly funny in a mild and friendly way. Sounds like her movie may be worth seeing and maybe her book worth reading too.
posted by nickyskye at 8:49 PM on April 6, 2007

Is there a name for the Wes Anderson/Dave Eggers/Demetri Martin/ Sufjan Stevens/McSweeney school of whatever the hell it is they're doing yet?

The Regressivers
posted by _sirmissalot_ at 9:00 PM on April 6, 2007

I stopped clicking after three pages. I cannot abide by a website advertised to feature a dry-erase board, but that is actually presented on the top of a refrigerator.
posted by Dave Faris at 9:30 PM on April 6, 2007 [1 favorite]

So where can I get that demonology book? It looked interesting..
posted by kisch mokusch at 9:33 PM on April 6, 2007

Seventhed.
posted by oddman at 9:45 PM on April 6, 2007

That was fun.

You people who thought it was too slow need to relax.
posted by blacklite at 9:47 PM on April 6, 2007

Is there a name for the Wes Anderson/Dave Eggers/Demetri Martin/ Sufjan Stevens/McSweeney school of whatever the hell it is they're doing yet?

It's called, in this brilliant essay, the new male infantilism...
posted by Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese at 9:59 PM on April 6, 2007 [1 favorite]

I seem to be one of the few who thought that Me and You and etc. was a boring turd of a movie.
posted by Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese at 10:00 PM on April 6, 2007

seconded. nothing like making your real life self-indulgent laughable PC crap art into a movie about a character who does self-indulgent laughable PC crap art that no one gets cause they're not brilliant like her.

Gotta give her credit for discovering meta-self-indulgence I guess.
posted by drjimmy11 at 10:11 PM on April 6, 2007

It's called, in this brilliant essay, the new male infantilism...

Wow, what a shitty essay. Style over substance, anyone? I'm not a huge fan of any of the artists in the essay, but basically the whole point of it is that some dudes who are famous this 15 minutes aren't as macho as the dudes who were famous a few 15 minuteses ago. Give me a fucking break. I want the 10 minutes I spent reading that back.
posted by eustacescrubb at 10:13 PM on April 6, 2007 [2 favorites]

oh and bonus points for the sounds-good-but-actually-utterly-vapid-intellectual-junk-food-closet-Taliban-in-PC-clothes-bullshit premise of "the internet stops people from communicating in this awful modern world of ours and oh yeah the media makes young girls slutty omg"
posted by drjimmy11 at 10:17 PM on April 6, 2007

didnt read it, but anyone who conflates Dave Eggers (real artist) and Sufjan Stevens (not so much) in any way is full of shit.
posted by drjimmy11 at 10:18 PM on April 6, 2007

I seem to be one of the few who thought that Me and You and etc. was a boring turd of a movie.

Yo, here too. I thought it was boring and I'm a Tsai Ming-liang fan. It sorta fits in with Garden State as a annoying cute romantic indie-type film ("precious" as one reviewer put it) that I've seen too many times.
posted by bobo123 at 10:21 PM on April 6, 2007 [1 favorite]

That was fun. I think I'll have to buy that.

I might even wait till the tour gets hear and get it then.
posted by Artw at 10:22 PM on April 6, 2007

I heart Me and You and Everyone We Know too.

))>< )) back and forth scene had me laughing so hard i cried. the rest of the movie pleasantly reminded me of a quirkier em>Napoleon Dynamite (yes it is possible). I need a good laugh. Think I'm going to watch it again right now.

Thanks for the link. Didn't know it was Miranda until I clicked through. Low bandwidth haters will complain. If you can't/don't wanna click through to July's Bio here ya go [from her website]:

Miranda July is a filmmaker, performing artist and writer. She grew up in Berkeley, California where she began her career by writing plays and staging them at the local punk club. July’s videos, performances, and web-based projects have been presented at sites such as the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim Museum and in the 2002 and 2004 Whitney Biennials. Her short fiction has been published in The Paris Review, Zoetrope All-Story, and The New Yorker, and a collection of stories is forthcoming from Scribner in spring 2007. July created the participatory website, learningtoloveyoumore, with artist Harrell Fletcher and a companion book will be published by Prestel in fall 2007. She wrote, directed and starred in her first feature-length film, Me and You and Everyone We Know (2005), which won a special jury prize at the Sundance Film Festival and four prizes at the Cannes Film Festival, including the Camera d’Or. July is currently working on a new performance. She lives in Los Angeles
posted by HyperBlue at 10:32 PM on April 6, 2007

drjimmy11 typed "didnt read it, but anyone who conflates Dave Eggers (real artist) and Sufjan Stevens (not so much) in any way is full of shit."

Your favorite dot dot dot.

Also, anyone remember a similar concept page that went around the webosphere in the late 90s? If I remember correctly, the idea was that every member of school faculty had to have a homepage. This one dude didn't have a computer so he sarcastically drew a homepage on paper, including a bad drawing of himself, fake links, etc. And then someone else scanned it in and made the links work.

Also also, who else screamed "What a huge stove!" when they got to page 27?
posted by roll truck roll at 11:22 PM on April 6, 2007

Well, Eggers compared the July's book to Lorrie Moore's work, and given that (a) I'm a complete Lorrie Moore addict; and (b) Lorrie Moore hasn't published a new book in almost a decade, I think I'm probably going to have to give it a shot.
posted by palmcorder_yajna at 11:29 PM on April 6, 2007 [1 favorite]

Terrible design... it took me 5 minutes to find the tiny red navigation arrows in the bottom right, due to winamp occupying that space.
posted by tehloki at 11:52 PM on April 6, 2007

Thanks, 31d1, excellent post.

The slide show is clever, low tech and funny.

It shows to every non-techie around that it is not that complicated to tell a good story. Good point.

It also shows that she is bright and funny so I visited her site and now I want to know more.

Well played, Miranda, well played.
posted by bru at 12:03 AM on April 7, 2007

This is now my favorite website - ever.

I thought Me, You, and Everyone We Know was so-so - lot's of potential that for me, didn't go anywhere, but as a video artist, I think Miranda July is fucking sharp, brand-new, and squeezes me in the heart. This website cinched my crush on MJ.

Nice one.
posted by serazin at 12:14 AM on April 7, 2007

Charming, if uneven.
posted by beerbajay at 12:52 AM on April 7, 2007

is she single?? :P
posted by zouhair at 1:32 AM on April 7, 2007

In the video clips on the meandyou website, she said "like" 12 times and "y'know" 17 times, which means that I'm too old for this sort of movie.
posted by sidereal at 1:34 AM on April 7, 2007 [1 favorite]

Cute.
posted by meh at 4:37 AM on April 7, 2007

I thought it was going to be the new UPS website.
posted by Rock Steady at 4:55 AM on April 7, 2007

This has everything but the kitchen sink.
posted by hal9k at 5:04 AM on April 7, 2007 [2 favorites]

Fun.
posted by Anything at 5:05 AM on April 7, 2007

I have the same teapot as Miranda July. I am going to assume this makes me cool; please do not contradict me.
posted by cubby at 5:54 AM on April 7, 2007

Great website... I mean fridge... I mean gas stove... I mean, I liked it!
posted by saturnine at 6:43 AM on April 7, 2007

Not a blogger, puke & cry; a filmmaker.

Ah... not exactly. Well, yes, she's made films, but before that (and still) she was a musician and a audio collage artist.

Folks might also dig Learning to Love You More.

Years ago she did some fantastic audio clips for people to listen to while in elevators. I think the elevators were at the Whitney, but I can't recall. They used to be online. Can't find them now.
posted by dobbs at 6:54 AM on April 7, 2007

I think its fabulous.

The only thing its missing is some quirky magnets.
posted by trishthedish at 6:59 AM on April 7, 2007

omg. magnets are so....web 1.0.
Magnets via ajax...that load in the background...that's what is needed.
Magnets that can be shared with other web fridge sites!

(call my attorney!)
posted by exparrot at 7:03 AM on April 7, 2007

Result: Failed validation, 4 errors.
posted by ryanrs at 7:35 AM on April 7, 2007 [3 favorites]

))<>((
posted by ryanrs at 7:36 AM on April 7, 2007

God, that's brilliant.
posted by cortex at 8:12 AM on April 7, 2007

I still can't make through the whole thing. It just goes on and on.

It's like a three minute read.
posted by cortex at 8:39 AM on April 7, 2007

This vaguely reminds me of the interface to Joel Hodgson (of MST3K fame) 1999 website.
posted by Staggering Jack at 9:16 AM on April 7, 2007

I still can't make through the whole thing. It just goes on and on.

It's like a three minute read.

Last night there was a 15-20 second lag time between pages for me, which kind of slows the whole thing down. I could've made oatmeal in the time it took to get to hers.
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 9:26 AM on April 7, 2007

I want to hate Miranda July for being so twee and precious, but, damn, she does it better than anyone else.

And for all the McSweeney's haters: who else has beautifully printed books; unending support for new writers; quirky, surreal storefronts; a nonprofit promoting literacy; and John Hodgman?

Is there a name for the Wes Anderson/Dave Eggers/Demetri Martin/ Sufjan Stevens/McSweeney school of whatever the hell it is they're doing yet?

I was flipping through a magazine recently, and the writer called it tweemo. I then vomited.
posted by lunalaguna at 9:31 AM on April 7, 2007 [3 favorites]

Tweemo

Oh, yuck. That won't do at all. On the other hand, I was pretty pleased to come across the word Emover to describe the asymmetric emo fringe.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 10:13 AM on April 7, 2007

Genuis.
posted by signal at 3:09 PM on April 7, 2007

I'm just glad that she took a risk and did something with personality. It would be so easy to do a simple page with reviews and an author bio and some other lackluster, obvious choices; I think it's great that she tried to give a little flavor. Besides, the page provides a nice glimpse of her sense of humor and narrative style; it's probably as good an indicator as any of whether you'll like her book.
posted by Help, I can't stop talking! at 3:21 PM on April 7, 2007

PS: I found A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius to be gimmicky and overrated. Sorry, Eggers fans.
posted by Help, I can't stop talking! at 3:22 PM on April 7, 2007

I'd love for someone to explain the appeal of her work. I watched the film the other week and the tweeness just drove me nuts. And ultimately I just couldn't see anything there, just a kind of vapid celebration of eccentricity without any insight. Or put another way, a bit like a feature-length version of that "You don't have to be mad to work here... but it helps!" poster.
Anyhow, rant over, I would genuinely like to know what the appeal is, several good friends recommended the film very highly and I feel I'm missing out on something.
posted by chrispy at 4:20 PM on April 7, 2007

i liked the site. i liked but didn't love the movie. What i did love was that it had Jason Pierce (Spiritualized) singing a Trogg's song I'd never heard him cover before. nice touch!
posted by rollerball at 5:14 PM on April 7, 2007

I.

LOVE.

IT.
posted by The Deej at 6:55 PM on April 7, 2007

Dammit. I don't even have any yellow or pink clothes. I'll just have to groove to the quirky websiteness of it all and hope the stories are of similar quality.
posted by Sparx at 9:21 PM on April 7, 2007

uh, ed, so what if she hasn't had a day job since she was 23? She's an artist. Maybe she manages to sell her work. Maybe that means she is a successful artist. Maybe you don't like successful artists?

Based on this post, it appears she does work in advertizing, when necessary.

I don't disagree this link is getting cut a bit of slack on the pepsi-blue front, though.

pssst she's more than "somewhat" cute
posted by Rumple at 9:55 PM on April 7, 2007

I love this site like I loved the web back in 1995, when all the cynics were still on USENET.
posted by holgate at 10:40 PM on April 7, 2007

Sorry, ed, but I'm decidedly homosexual, so the fact that Miranda July is cute and single can't consistently be assumed as the motivation behind enjoying her site. Besides, she never mentions being cute or single on the page and provides only a blurry snapshot of herself as a child, so I don't think there's evidence of her trying to win us over with her sex appeal. You're right that if this site were put up by Nike, it would be a different story, but that's because a major corporation can throw a bajillion dollars at their web design: a lone author's creatively thrifty, self-made approach is kind of scrappy and authentic, while a multi-million dollar corporation's thrifty, self-made approach would come across as a big lie.
posted by Help, I can't stop talking! at 7:05 AM on April 8, 2007

It should be noted at this point that Miranda July isn't cute.
posted by Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese at 8:16 AM on April 8, 2007

that certainly killed this post.
posted by YoBananaBoy at 12:39 AM on April 9, 2007

I have never seen a picture of Miranda July nor read nor seen her work - in fact, I've never even noted her name previously (though through this discussion it's apparent I've vaguely heard of her work, but I wasn't cognisant of the fact before this thread as I've never read or seen any of it)

That said, as an impartial web-working person, this site had some charm.

Mind you - I didn't hit usenet until '96. So perhaps I'm missing out on something.
posted by Sparx at 4:19 AM on April 9, 2007