The Howling Fantods

Hi everyone!

DFW 2015, the second annual David Foster Wallace conference begins today!

Follow the official Twitter account @DFW2015 for updates, and tag your own contributions with #DFW2015 (There's no way I'll be awake all night, so make sure you give all of us on the other side of the planet something to read in the morning.)

Feel free to broadcast live via Periscope while you're wandering around and tag your stream with #DFW2015. I'm hoping at least one session on Friday will be live via Periscope...

Check out the Facebook page for details, including the final schedule. It's going to be a huge couple of days, including a screening of The End of the Tour (Sundance roundup here) tonight.

Now over to guest blogger Tony McMahon (did you sign up for twitter, Tony?)

-Tony McMahon

Hello again Fantods readers,

Some of you may remember me from my blogs here from the Infinite Wallace conference in Paris last September. For better or worse – or perhaps just because of a severe lack of good judgement – Nick has asked me to keep you updated again on DFW15, the second annual David Foster Wallace conference, held in our fave writer’s hometown of Normal, Illinois.

For reasons largely tied up with Jack Kerouac’s On the Road being my favourite book as a teenager, I made the decision to drive to Normal when I arrived from Australia in Los Angeles. Big. Mistake. We’re talking Melbourne to Perth here, with the treacherous and knuckle-whitening Rocky Mountains in between, all of which I’ve somehow managed to make happen in three days. To say I’m frazzled is something of  an understatement up there with ‘Infinite Jest is a pretty long book’.

-Leaving Las Vegas. Plenty of fear, just the regular amount of loathing, but thankfully no bats in the sky

-The Utah Bad Lands, on the way to DFW15

Nonetheless, I’m in Normal now, comfortably settled and showered and ready to be THE VERY FIRST PRESENTER AT THE CONFERENCE TOMORROW. The bad news (for me) is that this makes me more nervous than a bucket of butcher’s knives. The good news (for this website) is that I’ll be able to give the rest of the conference my full, unworried attention, and report back. Stay tuned.

-Arriving in Wallace’s Illinois, as seen from a Chevy convertible, accompanied by Allard Den Dulk’s amazing new book

So here's the official trailer for The End of the Tour:

An adaptation of David Lipsky's interview with David Foster Wallace, Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself.

More over at Indiewire's The Playlist.

Update:

Here's the poster:

An excellent piece from Chris Power over at The Guardian about David Foster Wallace's short stories, A brief survey of the short story: David Foster Wallace:

Continue reading, A brief survey of the short story: David Foster Wallace here.

Based on direct word from ProPublica, their newest project, Cruise Control, has hidden references to "A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again" throughout the story.

Apparently there will be a 'solutions' page posted later in the week, so get looking!

[Image via Playboy]

Okay, now this is interesting! Redditor, disumbrationist, seems to have found the original 1987 interview that inspired David Foster Wallace's short story,"Late Night" (via Playboy), collected as "My Appearance" (Via Vulture) in Girl With Curious Hair!

via Reddit /r/davidfosterwallace:

• Letterman greets her by saying "Terribly nice to see you" (at 9:12 in the video)

• They start discussing her commercial appearance (at 12:43)

• She claims that she "did the commercial for fun" (at 13:02), like in the story. This line was altered to "for nothing" in the newer version.

Continue to read all of disumbrationist's analysis over at Reddit here.

More on this story from Playboy, The Letterman Clip That Became David Foster Wallace's First Print Story.

It's no too late to register for DFW15 (open until Mon evening), the second annual David Foster Wallace conference... big news because there will be a screening of The End of the Tour! (Sundance roundup here)

Check out their Facebook page for details!