Got plans for July 10th? Liar! That's like 8 days from now, you're not that organized. Anyway, here's what you should do: Head to the Strand for the launch of Significant Objects (the book). "Join contributors LUC SANTE, MATTHEW SHARPE, MIMI LIPSON, BEN GREENMAN, ANNIE NOCENTI, SHELLEY JACKSON, JASON GROTE and Editors JOSHUA GLENN and ROB WALKER as they read their stories from and celebrate the release of SIGNIFICANT OBJECTS: 100 EXTRAORDINARY STORIES ABOUT ORDINARY THINGS." So yeah, do that.
This is pretty cool: Significant Objects is a project from Rob Walker (Buying In) and Joshua Glenn (Taking Things Seriously) wherein writers are paired with a cheap garage sale/thrift shop item chosen by the curators. The writers compose a short story about the item, and the item is put up for auction on eBay. "Invested with new significance by this fiction," write Walker and Glenn, "the object should – according to our hypothesis – acquire not merely subjective but objective value." The contributors list includes a ton of names with which you're probably familiar. How's it going so far? "As of Monday morning, 57 thrift-store objects purchased for a [...]
