All posts by Monsieur Curateur

The baroque noodles of 2024 for Raymond Federman

A montage of noodle casseroles, over which Raymond Federman is shown in a profile.

The noodles of 2024 were serious: noodle casserole with breadcrumbs. It’s a love story, of sorts, noodles loving cheese & breadcrumbs. It dominates the image—helping to make space so we can reflect on Raymond Federman. Federman, however, is also brought into the picture. It is for him that we gathered here, is it not? He looks ahead, into our future histories together. See you next year (we hope).

The absurd noodles for Federman of 2023

A picture of outer space, with a star flare and many stars in the background. In the front is a colander like a spaceship, angled to show it is holding noodles, and on the back, peeking above the noodles is a picture of Raymond Federman giving the finger.
Noodles floating in an outer space created from NASA’s Hubble Traces Dark Matter in Dwarf Galaxy Using Stellar Motions, c 2024, Attribution (CC BY 2.0). This section is an excerpt of the original.

The noodles of Noodle Day (for Raymond Federman) 2023 happened. But the post, the record of the event of Noodle Day itself? When the time came to post the picture, we spaced. Yes, non-uploaded but not forgotten, the noodles of 2023 languished. Finally, the are here.

Our double noodle update happens with a slight nod towards Federman’s sci-fi novel, The Twofold Vibration. The title of the post is another nod to Federman, this time his poem, The Museum of Imaginary Asses. Bon appétit.

Noodles for Raymond Federman, Despite 2020

A plate of noodles for Raymond Federman, on Noodle Day for Raymond Federman, with a picture of Ray watching out from the corner

Reading Federman’s work around this year’s Noodle Day had a suprisingly soothing effect. It’s not because Federman’s work is necessarily soothing—at least not in a way that would be recognized by many people. Yet it is the undercurrent of darkness, the loss, and the laughter in the face of it that soothes. As the tagline on Federman’s blog says

Laugh: yes because when some guy weeps somewhere in the world there is always some other guy who laughs somewhere else: happy balance! Never fails its normal equilibrium: laugh or cry it all comes out the same in the end!

Thanks to everyone who joined in. Curious? Join our mailing list. Want to offset some of our hosting bills? Buy a Federman book at our Bookshop store named, appropriately, Raymond Federman Books for Noodle Day for Raymond Federman.

Raymond Federman, Watch Over Our Noodles of 2018

From noodles we are birthed, to noodles we return.

Our website may be our home, but if you weren’t following along with us on twitter, you may have missed out. Germany, Scotland, and the US were just some of the countries that were part of the Noodle Day adventure.

We shared pictures, we chatted, some bought Federman books, while other wrote Federman words. Yes, a truly invigorating experience. But why would Federman be shushing us? Is it that those noodles are, perhaps, evocative of the mother noodle from whence we all boiled out of, or does he just want some quiet after a long day? Qui put dire?

To all noodleurs, mailing list members, and noodle voyeurs: thanks for your participation. Let’s do this again, soon.

Au revoir!

Happy (88th Anniversary of Your) Birthday, Raymond Federman! (and Alternate Noodle Day)

Noodles a la Warhol
An alternate view of October’s noodles.

Happy Birthday, Raymond Federman aka Ray aka Federman!

Today marks the 88th anniversary of Raymond Federman’s birth. As we say, every day can be Noodle Day. Noodle Day’s the only holiday that happens once a few times a year. Every day can be a noodle day, if you are thinking of Federman, and eating noodles.

The idea is to remember him, and that his death is not death. That’s why Noodle Day started and is celebrated by most municipalities on Oct 6. Yet, if that is too morbid for you, too X-X-X-X-X, and sad, then please—celebrate today. Federman wouldn’t mind, and neither would we.

Bon appétit!
Bon anniversaire, Raymond Federman!