Ken Baumann

this post is part of a 'giant blogging thing' organised by Brandon Gorrell. the plan was to all post simultaneous articles about other internet writers at the same time, creating something, i don't know what exactly, maybe a giant black whole in the internet. mass hysteria. instant celebrity. nervous breakdowns. i don't know. anyway, Brandon 'assigned' people to write about other people: i was assigned Ken Baumann. i think Colin Bassett was assigned me. anyway, here is my Ken Baumann post:


information about Ken Baumann

Ken Baumann just turned nineteen. he lives in America. he does a lot of things on the internet. he writes stories and poems. he has a website and a blog. he has just completed a novel. he edits the online litmag NO POSIT and co-edits the print mag NO COLONY (with Blake Butler). he also helps maintain an online 'artist collective' called BRAIN. is that all Ken Baumann does? nope. he also acts full-time in a TV programme in America which i think is quite popular, but i'm not sure exactly how popular.


interview with Ken Baumann

please describe an 'average day' in the life of Ken Baumann

hmm. when i'm working: i wake up early, most days around 6am, and drive to the warner brothers ranch studios. i arrive, eat breakfast, then work 4-10 hours most days filming a television show called The Secret Life of the American Teenager. I get home, read, or spend time with friends, go on the internet for at least 1 hour a day, then sleep.

if i'm not working (i'm not working now, the show is on a hiatus), i generally wake up, eat, swim for 1-3 hours, eat, spend time with friends, read, and go on the internet for at least 2-5 hours.

hmm. i feel 75% satisfied with that answer, let's continue (.)(?)


you're editing NO COLONY with Blake Butler, right? can you explain how that came about -- the merge of NO POSIT and LAMINATION COLONY, and also talk a bit about your experience of working with Blake?

i am. NO COLONY came about really fast, i feel. i commented on one of his posts on a blog, mentioned that we should do a print journal. he agreed, and i think he emailed me the next day. in retrospect, i think that me running NO POSIT really helped me, i think blake definitely knew that i was committed because of it. for NO COLONY, he had some pieces he could insert from authors he had solicited from LC. i got excited. derek white of calamari press sent him info about pricing and format, who to use. then we just said, 'let's do it' and did it. we started soliciting work from authors we liked. people responded. pre-orders came in, we found an artist who would let us use her art for free for the front cover ( juliespeed.com )

as far as the title: we were gchatting and i suggested NO COLONY. he immediately said yes.

it will be here soon.

working with blake is a kind of heaven. he is totally receptive to all ideas, really nice, willing to work/help. we both had the same aesthetic in mind for the literature and art involved with NC, which was good. it made things easy and fun.


i didn't realise you spent so much time acting. i guess i sort of knew from somewhere that you had been in some things, but it sounds like a full-time job. is it difficult balancing writing and acting? is one more 'important' to you?

I don't find balancing writing and acting difficult. they are different beasts. i love acting and writing very much. acting seems like more of an escape, and more of a challenge. writing seems like a confrontation with myself. writing is very lonely, acting is not. acting supports me, pays the bills, writing does not. they are both equally important to me. i see myself writing until the day i die, though, and not the other way around. acting takes stamina. my stamina will diminish.


what is your favourite thing you've published online? (please supply link and say why)

either this story at titular journal ( http://www.titular-journal.com/035.htm ) or this poem at juked ( http://juked.com/2007/08/cake.asp )

i like looking at them on my computer screen. they both make me smile and laugh. i can't decide between the two.


what is your least favourite thing you've published online? (ditto)

http://www.darkenergysf.com/stories/ConscienceGuide.htm i wrote it in 15 minutes and edited it for 5 minutes when i was 14. i feel like that story was written by a different person. i was mentally a very different person. hmm.


how do you feel about living in America in 2008? (please answer this question with one digital photograph of yourself)



what would you like to be doing, ten years from now? (please answer this question with one pre-existing youtube video of anything you like)




i keep listening to Casy and Brian at the moment. do you like Casy and Brian?

oh wow, yes. i hadn't heard of them until now. i really like them.


have you ever thought about writing/acting in something of your own -- making your own short films?

i have considered the idea, yes. i will be directing my first 'serious' short film soon, based on my recently completed novel. i will not be acting in it. maybe one day the acting/writing venture will happen, but i'm not actively working toward it.


you just completed a novel. congratulations. please draw something on microsoft (or equivalent) about your novel.

http://artpad.art.com/gallery/?k58t9vojee4


list of other participants in the 'giant blogging' thing:

Blake Butler writes about Mike Bushnell
Brandon Gorrell writes about Colin Bassett
Chris Killen writes about Ken Baumann
Colin Bassett writes about Chris Killen
Connor O'Brien writes about Tao Lin
Gena Mohwish writes about Sam Pink
Gene Morgan writes about Noah Cicero
Jereme Dean writes about Blake Butler
Jillian Clark writes about Kathryn Regina
Justin Rands writes about Matthew Savoca
Kathryn Regina writes about Kendra Malone
Ken Baumann writes about Jereme Dean
Kendra Malone writes about Brandon Gorrell
Matthew Savoca writes about Gena Mohwish
Mike Bushnell writes about Zachary German
Noah Cicero writes about Shane Jones
Sam Pink writes about Justin Rands
Shane Jones writes about Jillian Clark
Stephen Daniel Lewis writes about Two Tears Boy
Tao Lin writes about Gene Morgan
Two Tears Boy writes about Connor O'Brien
Zachary German writes about Stephen Daniel Lewis