Miranda July is one of my personal local heroes (in fact, I’m with Ben on this one–I kind of love her). I thought Me and You and Everyone We Know was pretty easily the best film of 2005, and I am currently reading No One Belongs Here More Than You and loving it.

So I knew I had to ante up when I found out that MJ is the first of four artists (including writers, musicians, filmmakers and so on) whose work comprises The Thing. Each artist creates an everyday object that somehow uses text, and those objects are wrapped up in brown paper packages tied up with string (okay, there wasn’t really any string on mine, but still) and sent to subscribers quarterly. I split a subscription with my boyfriend (because I’m a tightwad who works at a nonprofit), and we just got the Miranda July installment last week. This morning when I staggered out to the kitchen to put on a pot of coffee, The Thing was the first thing I saw, and it brought me some joy before I’d even had a cuppa–no mean feat.

It’s not too late to subscribe (though I know I just spoiled the surprise of the first Thing–sue me).

And there are a couple of other treats forthcoming from Ms. July. She’s a guest reader for George Saunders on the 29th (tickets are $20), and the book Learning to Love You More, springing from her online public art project by the same name, is due out any minute as well.

Related posts:

1. Aspiring Chefs Take Note: The Top Kitchen
2. About Your Script…
3. No one belongs here more than you
4. From abLA :: LA Sprawl Rocks
5. Paying the Price for Being Silly