Throwing in the vowel

I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but Shigesato Itoi, producer and writer of Earthbound was bff with Haruki Murakami. They even wrote a book together, called Let’s Meet In A Dream.

Earthbound is on my list. Earthbound, and Faxanadu (even though it’s not very good) and Bionic Commando, and The Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, and Blade Runner, and Harriet the Spy and a bunch of others. Pleasure-giving lizard-narratives. The blowjob, as an institution, is also on that list, and I’m sorry to be vulgar but it’s true and not sorry enough to take it back. There’s such a huge span between say Perec or Marcus and [a blowjob or Earthbound or an Asterix book] it’s not even funny. That list is about moods. You read Harriet the Spy, it puts you in a mood. Perec or the Russians or your favorite hard read make you think, and the thinking obscures the feeling, unless you’re a supergenius like Nabokov or something. What I write I’ve always wanted to fall under the first heading, and I’ve always failed, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop trying.