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Archive for July, 2008

David Goldberg, Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg–Superbad: The Drawings (2008)

Posted in Art, Comedy Album, David Goldberg, Evan Goldberg, Funny (ha ha), Graphic Novel, NPR/PRI/PBS, Paul F. Tompkins, Seth Rogen, Short Books, Smarty Pants, Superbad, The Sound of Young America on July 13, 2008| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: PAUL F. TOMPKINS-Impersonal (2007).

Since the book had no words, I figured I’d review a record with no music. We heard Paul F. Tompkins on some random NPR show one night during dinner. They played the “Peanut Brittle” skit and Sarah and I were in tears. The kids must have wondered what was going on. We could barely eat; for six minutes we ignored all but Paul.

I tracked down the CD and it is very funny. Tompkins has a wonderful delivery and a way of making asides that keep the joke going longer than it should, but still staying funny. The very premise of the first joke is seeing a goth girl running, which is funny in and of itself, but he takes it in a new direction and turns it back against himself. Some other great tracks include the hilarious “Elegant Balloons” “Genetic Engineering” (house bears!), and the so true it hurts “Letters to Magazines.” Oh, and “Jazz” is also very funny, and I even like jazz.

It is clearly impossible to describe a comedy album without retelling the jokes, but I will say that Sarah and I had both listened to the CD individually, and then on the way back from the airport we listened to it together and were in tears yet again. Now we even get to make a few remarks just to relive the hilarity.

A little research uncovers that Tompkins was a player and writer for Mr Show as well as the Tenacious D series. And, in fact he is bubbling under in many venues. I guess don’t read credits well enough to have remembered him. So, good for him, and thank you NPR.

More research uncovers that this NPR shows was The Sound of Young America. Diligent readers will know that I discovered Simon Rich on this show as well. So I have listened to this show twice and come away with new material both times. I should make this a regular listen. You can hear an interview with Paul here.

[READ: June 21, 2008] Superbad: The Drawings

Now this book has nothing to do with the Ben Greenman books I mentioned earlier. This is a collection of 90 some pages of phallohgraphics (ie drawings of penises). If you’ve seen the movie Superbad, and who hasn’t, you’ll know there’s a story about the Seth character drawing penises and getting into trouble. Well, this is the collection of all the penises that the cowriter’s brother David Goldberg drew for the movie.

What can one possibly say about this except that the book is hilarious, childish and totally obscene. From an artistic standpoint, the drawings are first rate. Somehow, he was able to draw penises that look just like McLovin, Seth and Evan. Why on earth would anyone buy this? Beats me. I know I did. I’m sure I’ll peruse it from time to time and then hide it when my kids get old enough to browse the bookshelves.

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George Saunders–“Antiheroes” (New Yorker, June 23, 2008)

Posted in Bad Religion, Funny (ha ha), George Saunders, New Yorker, Short Story, Supernatural on July 11, 2008| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: BAD RELIGION-The Empire Strikes First (2004).

I’ve been a fan of Bad Religion for ages. And then a few years back they reissued all of their old CDs, and I got BR overload. I didn’t listen to them for a while. Then recently, I decided to check out their newest CD, and was delighted to find that I’d only missed this one in the interim.

So, Bad Religion writes eloquent, fast punk songs. They are typically political, anti-religion, anti-war, anti-Republican. And main lyricist Greg Graffin has a PhD in what is essentially evolutionary biology. So, basically, Graffin is well-read (the lyrics have footnotes!) and knows big words. All of this in a two minute punk song.

And it’s the poppiness that surprises. BR have always given credit to the “oozin ah’s” on the records, and there are always lots of ooh’s and ah’s in the background. The choruses are catchy as all get out. And the songs are over in under three minutes. Actually, it’s when the songs go past 3 minutes that they tend to get into trouble. Fortunately that doesn’t happen too often. I’m not sure why, but the record seems to be lined up almost in order from short to long songs. So you get suckered into these great under two minute songs and then they pile up the long ones at the end. But that’s okay too, as some of the longer ones do add nice complexities to their arrangements.

There’s not a lot one can say about Bad Religion albums from one to another. Either you like the style or you don’t. However, for a bunch of old men, they rock pretty hard and they rock pretty well. And yet for all of their aggression (“Social Suicide” “Atheist Peace” “Sinister Rouge”) they are often uplifting and get you to sing along (“Live Again”). With a little less guitar these might even be chart toppers (perish the thought!).

[READ: June 30, 2008] “Antiheroes”

I recently flew to California. I brought all of the back issues of magazines that have been piling up in my house. For some magazines it was four or five months! I didn’t finish them all but I knocked a good three or four pounds off of my carry on luggage by the time I arrived. (more…)

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Alice Munro–“Deep-Holes” (New Yorker, June 30, 2008)

Posted in Alice Munro, Canadian Content, Canadian Music, Marriage Trouble, New Yorker, The Weakerthans on July 11, 2008| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: THE WEAKERTHANS-Reunion Tour (2007).

I have talked about some previous Weakerthans albums, and this is their newest. I also think it’s their best. The sequencing of it is really fantastic. It has some catchy poppy songs followed by some of the quieter, more unusual tracks [“Elegy for Gump Worsley”, a very spare tribute using plucked banjo and little else, followed by “Sun in an Empty Room” a song that gets more catchy with each listen.] It also has a fantastic “single” in “Civil Twilight,” as well as what is without a doubt the best song ever to use curling as a metaphor for a relationship: “Tournament of Hearts.” Everything about “Tournament” is great. It’s catchy and fun, with all kinds of curling going on. And, maybe some folks will look up what a bonspeil is and get interested in the great sport. We also continue the saga of Virtue the Cat from the last album.

Samson continues to write beautiful songs. They all seem so simple and effortless. It lulls you into either singing along or really listening to the lyrics. His lyrics are consistently above average too. He talks about “diabetic moons.” For sheer originality I enjoy the line ” So praise the things I can’t forget…with burgers and a silhouette” for rhyming silhouette, not cigarette (the obvious choice). And how many rock songs start with a line like this: “It had something to do with the rain leeching loamy dirt.”

I’m really quite delighted with this record, and although they seem to wait 4 years to put them out, I’ll be ready for the next one in 2011.

[READ: June 30, 2008] “Deep-Holes”

I have yet to read Munro’s Runaway, but I have now read maybe five of her short stories, and I consistently like them. Runaway is on my bedside, and I’ll get to it eventually. In the meantime, I guess I just have to keep looking in magazines and I’ll have more from her.

I hesitate to say there is something particularly Munro-like about her work, having read only a few stories, but I feel like I know what I’m to expect when I start one: a laid back pace, beautiful detail, and, it seems, a great sadness that looms over the characters.

In this case the sadness is brought on by the “deep holes” of the title. Sally and Alex go on a picnic to celebrate the publication of Alex’s first solo geology paper. They go to a site that figures largely in the work, a site with a caution sign warning of “deep-holes” The deep holes turn out to be, in fact, very large, very deep holes, which, predictably, one of their two boys falls into. Kent, the unlucky boy, is hurt quite badly, but is saved by his father. He and his father had a somewhat contentious relationship before, and this confuses things even more. All of this happens in the first two pages, and there is quite a lot left, so don’t feel that I gave anything away.

The remainder of the story concerns what happens to Kent after the accident. He distances himself from the family, corresponding only occasionally. At the time of the accident, Kent had a baby sister.  As she gets older, she wants to learn more about the brother she never knew.  She is the one who finally uncovers his whereabouts and tells her mom.  When Sally finally encounters him again, the conflict inevitably turns personal. Munro really gets into the mind and spirit of her characters. And, you can really see Sally grow older emotionally over the course of this short story.

Munro continues to impress me with her quiet, beautifully composed stories.

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Dan Martin–All Known Metal Bands (2008)

Posted in Bathory, Books about music, Canadian Music, Cirith Ungol, Dan Martin, Dip-in Books, Funny (strange), Kerrang, Manowar, McSweeney's, Slayer, Venom on July 11, 2008| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: Metal Shop (radio program 1980’s).

Back in high school, my friend Al and I listened to this syndicated radio show, which always came back from commercials with “MumumumumumuMetal Shop.” The more I listened to the show, the more into metal I got. And, in high school I rebelled against pop music by delving deeply into the metal scene. I had one of those denim covered 3 ring binders with nearly 100 bands inked on it. Whenever I saw a logo in Kerrang or some other place, I added it, even if I never heard the band. It was good fun.

I also liked to find weird heavy bands to shock anyone who cared to listen (which was no one, actually). So, I have some albums from Bathory, and Venom, Cirith Ungol, and Manowar, sweet, ridiculous, Manowar. These bands all predated the really crazy death and black metal scenes. Somehow, even though Venom were “satan worshippers” they were still pretty goofy. I have a great VHS of Slayer and Venom live at Studio 54. It has some interviews with them afterwards, and they’re just a bunch of silly dudes.

My musical tastes have expanded greatly since those days, but after reading the book below, I may have to dust off my Bathory vinyl and see what it sounds like.

[READ: June 30, 2008] All Known Metal Bands.

This is one of those strange books that surfaces from time to time. What you get is a list of some 50,000 names of heavy metal bands. And that’s it. (Well, there’s an epigram and a concluding remarks pages, but otherwise just an alphabetical list of every metal band that Marin could find while surfig the web.)

Probably not worth the $20some but I joined the McSweeney’s 10 for $100 program, so I got this for $10, so I got that going for me.

It is certainly fun to see the names that have been used over the years. He mentions that some names were used by many different bands, and I do rather wish he had put parenthetical notes for how many of each band, or perhaps a country of origin, but what can you do.

UPDATE:  Why you should never post before reading the book: Even better than parentheses, he lists all of the times that a name was used.  So, you get a list that inlcudes Paranoia eight times!  It is actually quite funny, especially when you see some of the really obscure names that have been used multiple times.  So, thank you, Dan Martin, for doing that.  (Country of origin would have been very interesting but would have ruined the flow, admittedly.)

The seling point, such as it is, is the design. The cover is a beautiful dark blue and silver cloth, and the interior pages are all black with silver writing on it (of course). That probably goes some way to explaining the cost.

My interesting side note is that I started to read it last night (and, yes, I’m actually writing about this without having finished it, but COME ON, it’s 50,000 names), and just as I read the first three names, we had a power failure and I was cast into utter darkness. There was none more black.

[Secret devil worship sign].

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