Setting neurons and taste buds abuzz

Continuing with Fusebox & other adventures, last Saturday was a real culture binge. I began my afternoon at the New Fiction Confab, an annual event held by the Austin Public Library Foundation (<3). I had the pleasure of listening to excerpts of the latest works of seven novelists (six actually, I was a bit late) based in Austin and elsewhere. They covered a lot of ground in those fleeting few hours- family tensions, isolation, cultural upheaval, sexual dynamics, even some laughs! I enjoyed everything I heard, but if I had to list my favorites, they are (ahem ahem):

• Mary Miller, The Last Days of California. Evangelist road-trip to the apocalypse.
• Elizabeth McCracken, Thunderstruck and Other Stories. 1920s Pinkwater-esque adventuring awaits!
• Anthony Marra, A Constellation of Vital Phenomena. Desperate times in Chechnya.

As luck would have it, a few blocks away from the library, Fusebox was holding an Art Flavours tasting: the products of an art critic's and a gelato-maker's attempt to translate modern art concepts (The Body, Spectacle, The Archive, Memory) into gelato flavors (delicious, delicious, delicious, I had to stop I was getting a tummy ache). What really struck me about this project was that it asked not only what can you translate between media, but also what cannot be translated. And of course, free and refreshing desserts.

Saturday evening, I had signed up to run the merch table for Looking for Paul, a play by Dutch company Wonderbaum about... hmm, how can I sum it up without giving it all away? Come to think of it, I couldn't possibly give this one away, but I'll still try not to. The first section is a discussion of the piece's own creation. The second section is a discussion of the piece's own creation, along everything else that happened along the way (I think). Looking for Paul left me (and a fair percentage of the rest of the audience) dazed and uncomfortable, grasping for what to make of it all. I wasn't sure I liked it, which I always count in a piece's favor. After letting my brain shake off the chocolate sauce and reflect a bit, though, I find I stand firmly in the camps of "Liked," "Enjoyed," and "Would see again."