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Archive for May, 2010

Herman Melville–Moby-Dick [Week 2] (1851)

Posted in Adventure, Art, Bible, Big Books, Death, Demons, Fishing, Funny (strange), Grateful Dead, Herman Melville, Huh?, Infinite Zombies, Moby Grape, Racism, Religion, Whales on May 31, 2010| 5 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: MOBY GRAPE-Moby Grape (1967).

Moby Grape is one of those bands that I’ve always heard of but had never heard.  I know, their debut is 43 years old and yet I’d never heard it.  Well, thanks to the internet (lala.com, RIP as of today), I was able to listen to what I assumed was their Greatest Hits.  If only I had done a modicum of research.  The disc I chose was Legendary Grape, which it turns out is not a greatest hits at all, but is actually some weird pesudo-Moby Grape record released in 1989 under a different band name due to legal protractions, but then reissued as Moby Grape.  It was rather uninspired and nothing at all what I thought it would sound like.  Nothing dreadful, just nothing worth thinking that this band “legendary.”

So, with a little research, I learned that their first album is what I should have been checking out.  Moby Grape is the eponymous release and it sounds much more like what I assumed this psychedelic era-band would sound like.  This disc is pretty much in keeping with what a band that produced an album cover like this would sound like.

It’s sort of a folksy Grateful Deadish sound.  But they move beyond a simple genre with a host of writers and instrumentalists contributing their own thing, man.  So there’s a few rocking numbers, a few ballads, and a bunch of other fun things. To me the most notable thing is that in a time when trippy psychedelic songs were long events, Moby Grape played mostly short songs (the longest one is the final track at 4 minutes, but most are around 2 minutes long).

I think I may be too far removed from this scene to really appreciate the disc.  I like what I hear, and a second listen made it even more enjoyable, but I can’t imagine investing a lot of  time with the band.

[READ: Week of May 31, 2010] Moby-Dick [Chapters 19-41]

Plug #1:
In case you didn’t see it on Infinite Zombies, Daryl has created what he calls Moby-Diction, which allows you to search the text for any word and see where and how often it occurs.  Geek heaven!

Plug # 2:
A visual treat is found at Matt Kish’s monumental: One Drawing for Every Page of Moby-Dick, which is pretty well explained by its title.  It is an amazing site (sight) to behold.

Now, back to our story.

Week 2 of the Moby-Dick read is amusing because it continues a minor thread that has been going on for some 100 pages (of my edition): When are we going to meet Captain Ahab?  We hear a lot about him, including a portent of doom from Elijah, but he doesn’t appear until Chapter 28.

Elijah, meanwhile, appears on the Nantucket streets.  He reveals himself to Ishmael and Queequeg as a sort of homeless man who asks them if they’re sailing with Ahab.  When they say yes, of course, he warns them about some bad things that happened to Ahab and his leg and future portents of doom.  Ishmael is a bit freaked by the guy, especially when Elijah seems to be following them, but he tries to out the madman out of his mind. (more…)

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Minute to Win It, Hour to Watch It

Posted in Contests, Funny (ha ha), Minute to Win It, TiVo, Unfinished on May 30, 2010| Leave a Comment »

There’s a new (reasonably) new show called “Minute to Win It.”  The premise was so delightful, so “I want to do that” that I of course set up a TiVo Season Pass for it.

Basically, contestants have 60 seconds to complete really stupid, yet slightly challenging tasks.  And, unlike a lot of shows in this vein, there’s no threat of violence, there’s no crazy embarrassment, there’s no nonsense.   Simply: can you empty two tissue boxes, one hand per box in 60 seconds.  Or, can you flick a box of raisins from underneath a bottle and keep the bottle standing.  Or, can you kick a shoe across the rink onto a table and have it stay there.

Genius.  Stupid human tricks.  Best show ever.  Until you watch it. (more…)

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BEA 2010

Posted in Comic Strips, David Foster Wallace, David Lipsky, Gordon Korman, Graphic Novel, Martin Amis, Mo Willems, Project Runway, Tim Gunn, YA Books on May 29, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Thursday I went to BEA–Book Expo America.  I wasn’t all that thrilled to go this year as last year was kind of a drag (and publishers were stingy).  But this year I had a very good time.

By the time I got there it was already 11.  But I was thrilled to see that at that moment Mo Willems (we own all of his books, and my kids are huge fans of Pigeon and Elephant & Piggie) was signing posters for his new book.  He signed a poster for Clark (only one per person, sorry Tabitha).  And then over the course of the day I managed to lose the poster (sorry Clark). (more…)

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Dagoberto Gilb–“please, thank you” (Harper’s, June 2010)

Posted in Dagoberto Gilb, Huh?, Language, New Yorker, Racism, Short Story, The Beatles, Unreliable narrator on May 28, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: THE BEATLES-Help! (1965).

At last, a Beatles album that I knew from start to finish.  And here it is, another soundtrack album.  This disc is the first that starts to really embrace the diversity that The Beatles were capable of.

The title track starts out with the fairly shocking screams of “Help!” but it settles nicely into a poppy Beatles track.  Of course, I’ve yet to see the film of Help, so I don’t know how these songs fit in the movie. But as with A Hard Day’s Night, the first half of the songs were in the movie and the second half were not.  And somehow I’m surprised that “Act Naturally” (one of their funnier songs, even if they didn’t write it themselves) was not in the film.

Their other cover, “Dizzy Miss Lizzy” is probably my least favorite track (I just don’t like their cover choices).  But by then, the disc has well proven itself to be fantastic.

This also leads me to my first “huh?” moment with Beatles lyrics.  I have never understood “Ticket to Ride.” “She’s got a ticket to ride and she don’t care.”  Okay.  Why should I care, then?  I suppose the verses reveal more of the story, but from a chorus point of view, that’s a head scratcher.

To me, this is where The Beatles became THE BEATLES.

Oh, and did you know the semaphore doesn’t actually spell “HELP”?  They were going to do that, but the photographer didn’t like the way those semaphore letters looked.  So, he created this arrangement, which spells “NUJV.”

[READ: May 25, 2010] “please, thank you”

This story is written from the point of view of a stroke victim.  Mr Sanchez had a stroke and is hospitalized.  And we see him watching, unable to communicate, frustrated as people–nurses and others–hover around him, asking questions, turning on lights when he’s trying to sleep, and–the nerve–speaking to him in Spanish as if that was why he didn’t answer.

As the story progresses, we watch Mr Sanchez get stronger, go to therapy, feel better about himself and even, kind of, become friendly with the nurses and others who work in the hospital.

The story is basically that simple: regrowth after a stroke.  However, the writing style–the first person narrative–was absolutely compelling.  I enjoyed that the story was from his point of view, so we learned details as he felt they were worth revealing.  I enjoyed slowly learning more about his family.  And I really enjoyed learning why the story was written with no capital letters. (more…)

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Padgett Powell–“Afraid to be Men” (Harper’s, June 2010)

Posted in Carla Bozulich, Constellation Records, Evangelista, Fears, Funny (strange), Harper's, Padgett Powell, Short Story on May 27, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: EVANGELISTA-Prince of Truth [CST061] (2009).

This is the second disc by Evangelista, the band fronted by Carla Bozulich. This disc continues in the vein or the previous disc, which is a little disappointing.

The disc is chock full of a lot of noise: stringed instruments, textures, layers, but they all add up to very little.  Bozulich’s voice is in another location entirely.  On most of the songs, there’s no real connection.

Two songs in the middle, “You Are a Jaguar,” and “Iris Didn’t Spell” are more reasonable attempts where Bozulich’s wild vocals are wedded to a more standard musical composition.  And those tracks work pretty well.  But when there’s so much directionless stuff floating around on the disc, it’s hard to want to listen to it.

[READ: May 25, 2010] “Afraid to be Men”

This is a conversation between two men.  They are given no context and are speaking abstractly.  These two things combines make for a less than satisfying read.

Admittedly, this piece is excerpted from a longer piece called “Manifesto.”  I’m not planning to read the longer piece, so I’ll never find out of context is given. (more…)

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Billie Livingston–“Do Not Touch” (The Walrus, June 2010)

Posted in Billie Livingston, Canadian Content, Canadian Music, Fears, The Walrus on May 26, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK:  RUSH-Beyond the Lighted Stage (film) (2010).

Okay, so I haven’t seen this yet, but I’m delighted to be able to add the link to the trailer.

This film is an in depth look at Rush’s history.  There’s interviews with all three of them (Neil speaks!) as well as all kinds of fans.  According to the website, it will air one day only, June 10 in the US and Canada, June 7th in the rest of the world.  It’s only playing in 4 theaters in NJ, and there’s a slight chance I can get to it.

Otherwise, I’ll have to wait for the DVD. But those 2 minutes of trailer were very exciting!

[READ: May 24, 2010] “Do Not Touch”

This story works a lot like an onion.  It starts in one place, then it sort of burrows in through a series of layers.

We open with the narrator falling for Thomas because he seems nervous (she find this an attractive quality in everyone).  He is a music reporter, and she is able to assist him with information about Diana Krall.  Soon enough, she has moved in with him.

But things aren’t great.  And then, one day, when she brings a watch to a jeweler, she marvels at the man’s delicate touch and his charm.  And she rummages through the house to find more watches for him to fix.

One of these watches she found at the zoo.  No one claimed it, so she kept it.  It is engraved and is quite old.

The story more or less culminates on a return visit to the zoo, where it takes a decidely different turn.  The narrator watches a woman makes a connection with a primate; a connection that aleinates her son.  And as the narrator watches this scene, she makes a personal decision.

What I loved about this story was watching the onion unfurl in just a few paragraphs.  The only problem I had was that I felt the onion didn’t unfurl all the way.  Many decisions were reached, but I’m unclear what her final decision will be.

Nevertheless, this story was very enjoyable.

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Ross Campbell–Wet Moon 4: Drowned in Evil (2008)

Posted in Abba, AC/DC, Boredom, Corporate skewering, Fears, Goths, Graphic Novel, LGBTQ, Metallica, Ongoing, Oni Press, Punks, Romance, Ross Campbell, Threats on May 25, 2010| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: WALLER NOT WELLER blog.

WallerNotWeller found me when I reviewed Metallica’s Kill ‘Em All.  I went to his site and I adore it!  He writes some great reviews of concerts, CDs and singles.  His current project is the best singles and discs of 1983.  But while he’s working on that, he’ also reviewing a bunch of concerts that he’s been to recently.

What I love best about this site is his amazing breadth of appreciation for music.  There’s been a flurry of activity as he is completing the Top 50 list.  And, since I subscribed by email, I love that my Inbox has been inundated with reviews of this diverse collection: AGNETHA FALTSKOG (She of Abba fame), ECHO AND THE BUNNYMEN, MINUTEMEN, MISFITS, The B-52’S, DAVID BOWIE, DANIEL JOHNSTON, THE CARPENTERS, JOHNY CASH & AC/DC.  Now that’s breadth!

His reviews are a bit more comprehensive than mine (which I think means he points out a number of negatives that I don’t), but he and I see eye to eye on a lot of these discs.  It’s quite a treat.  And, he’s British, so his viewpoint is slightly different than mine…it’s a good eye-opener!

[READ: May 23, 2010] Wet Moon 4

With each new volume of this series, Campbell changes the appearance of his characters more and more.  Most of the characters now have softer features and big round eyes.  I find it more and more disconcerting, especially since the thing I loved about the book was the utter realism of his characters.

Fortunately the bodily features of the characters haven’t changed: they’re still believably shaped and realistically drawn, it’s just the faces are so weird (Trilby is so soft-looking now, oh and Cleo has a mohawk!).  But at least  the look is consistent throughout the volume.

So Wet Moon, the town, continues to thrive with this strangely intense goth subculture.  Yet this volume seems to introduce an “outsude” world too.  There’s a woman who recoils at two gay men sitting in her booth at a coffee shop. There’s even talk of homophobes attacking gays in the area.  And here I thought that Wet Moon was an idyllic place where all kinds of subculture thrives happily. (more…)

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Herman Melville–Moby-Dick [Week 1] (1851)

Posted in 19th Century, Adventure, Big Books, Chowder, Damion Searls, Dazed and Confused, Funny (ha ha), Herman Melville, Infinite Zombies, Led Zeppelin, Mastodon, Religion, Whales on May 24, 2010| 2 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: LED ZEPPELIN-The Song Remains the Same (1978).

I don’t normally try to have my soundtracks correspond to the book. But since Andrew suggested that Mastodon’s Leviathan was a good match, I decided I’d try to have all six Soundtracks relate to the book some how.

The obvious starting point was Led Zeppelin’s “Moby Dick” and where better to look than at the over-the-top live version contained here.

As a classic rock guy, I grew up worshiping Led Zeppelin.  And I have no way of objectively talking about their music, really.  However, when I was in college, some guys in my dorm played this particular release all the time and claimed it to be the best CD in the history of music.

And thus, I have a delightfully convoluted relationship to this live album.  I used to really dislike it: extended jams of silliness rather than rocking live tracks.  However, as I’ve gotten older, and I’ve begun enjoying jam bands more, I see the enjoyment of this kind of show.  And yet I read a review of this very disc the other day that described it as being a few shows past Led Zep’s prime, and I think that’s pretty valid.

I haven’t heard any of the other recently released live discs (which are supposed to be amazing).  But this one feels overblown and pretentious.  And there’s nothing wrong with that if that’s the kind of band you are, but Led Zep was not that (until later);  they were meaty and heavy.

This version of “Moby Dick” is 12-minutes long.  Over 10 minutes of it is a drum solo.  This always reminds me of the line from Dazed & Confused: “Man, I ain’t belivin’ that shit about Bonham’s 1-hour drum solo…I mean, 1 hour on drums…you couldn’t handle that shit on strong acid, man.”  The rest of the disc is the same way: long solos that don’t really showcase virtuosity, they just sort of go on and on.  I do like the kevboard solo in one of the songs, but the “ah ah” part in “Dazed and Confused” is pretty silly.

In some ways, the song “Moby-Dick” (and the album itself) is like the book: a product of its time.  In 2010 , if you played a ten-minute drum solo (even Rush have added electronic horns and a swing number  to Neil’s drum solo) you’d be mocked.  But back in the 70s, it was a badge or honor.  Similarly, Moby-Dick seems quaint and weird to most contemporary readers.  And yet, put in context, it’s funny and surprisingly forward thinking.  And I suppose the music does make a good background for reading it, too.

[READ: Week of May 24, 2010] Moby-Dick [Chapters 1-18]

So, the instigators at Infinite Zombies are hosting a read along for Moby-Dick (and yes, the hyphen is supposed to be there).  I’m going to be a contributing writer to this shindig, so I’m going to curtail what I say here somewhat [see my post about religion, here]. Also, unlike Infinite Jest and 2666 which had difficult, multi-charactered, multi-layered, confusing plots, Moby-Dick is fairly straightforward.  And so, there’s not a great need for in-depth story summary (not to mention each of the 100+ chapters is titled, so you know what’s going to happen in each one!).

But with that out of the way, let’s see what I can say about this book.  Oh, one more thing, I’ve been trying to include page numbers in my citations, but there are just too many versions of this book (and I am using one for my reading and another for my copy-and-paste-quotes–the whole book is available at that link), so I’m just going with Chapters.

I was joking with some friends recently that their sister thinks Moby-Dick is very funny.  And I have to say I was surprised about how funny it was, too.  Not gut-busting funny, mind you, but funny enough. (more…)

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Better Off Ted Canceled and Other New TV News

Posted in 30 Rock, Better Off Ted, Chuck, Community, Glee, How I Met Your Mother, Modern Family, New Adventures of Old Christine, Parenthood, The Big Bang Theory, The Office, TV 2010 on May 23, 2010| Leave a Comment »

I just learned that one of my favorite shows, Better Off Ted has been canceled for next year.   I’m not going to blame Lost for its demise, although, Ted did get pushed around a lot because of the return of Lost.  I’ll just blame it on the sad fact that hilariously quirky comedies need to build an audience, and on the sadder fact that a quirky show with a devoted audience seems to be less desirable than a popular show that burns out after a  season or two.

Also canceled of shows we watch:

Scrubs (no surprise, really, the show should have ended on a high note last year).
Happy Town (we season passed this show, but never even finished watching the first episode.  It was pretty good, and quite spooky, but it was very late so we saved it for the next day (several weeks ago).  I wonder if it’s worth watching it now.
New Adventures of Old Christine (This surprises me as the show got an Emmy not long ago; however, it was getting a little sloppy lately, so I’m not too upset by this).
Sit Down, Shut Up (no surprise here).

Shows that got renewed: (more…)

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David Foster Wallace–Girl with Curious Hair (1989)

Posted in Belle and Sebastian, Contests, Corporate skewering, David Foster Wallace, Death, Demons, Jeopardy!, John Barth, Meta, Nicholson Baker, Short Story, Smarty Pants, The Beautiful South, The Smiths, Therapy?, Tindersticks, Unlikable main character, Unreliable narrator, Violence, Word usage on May 22, 2010| 6 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: BBC Sessions (various).

Many many bands that I like have recorded tracks for the BBC.  And after several sessions, they tend to get released as BBC Live or BBC Sessions discs.  In the last few years, I’ve gotten discs from the Cocteau Twins, Tindersticks, The Beautiful South, Belle and Sebastian and Therapy?  One of the first ones I’d every gotten was The Smiths’ Hatful of Hollow.

I’ve always loved these releases.  The recordings are “live,” even though they’re not in front of an audience.  For the most part they don’t vary greatly from the originals (that’s not always the case, mind you, but most of the time it’s true.)

What makes these releases so great is that by the time the bands do these recordings for the BBC, the original album has been out a while and the band has toured a bit.  So, they know the song backwards at this point, and they usually record a version that’s faithful to the original but a little more playful.  I always thought that the Hatful of Hollow versions of songs were better than the originals.  It was many years before I understood why there were two “official” releases of the same songs.

There are so many BBC recordings out there (this is an incomplete list).  If you like a British band, chances are they recorded some sessions.  And I don’t know if the BBC is hard pressed for money or what, but they seem to be releasing them by the handful lately.  The biggest problem of course is that most of them are not available in the States (at least for a reasonable price).  And that’s a drag.  So find them used and enjoy!

[READ: May 19, 2010] Girl with Curious Hair

This is DFW’s first collection of short stories.  I clearly bought this copy soon after finishing Infinite Jest.  I was delighted to find as a bookmark an old stub from a sub shop that I used to go to all the time when I worked in Cambridge, Ma.  I wonder if that sub shop is still open.  It was in Brighton, was more or less on my way to work, had a predominance of Irish products and had delicious subs that were almost cheaper than buying the stuff yourself.  I had checked off a few stories in the table of contents (most of the shorter ones) but that stub brought back more memories than the stories did.  I didn’t even recognize the ones that I had apparently read.

And the stories are pretty memorable.  So I wonder if I didn’t read them at all.

The first story is “Little Expressionless Animals” (or, the Jeopardy! story).  In fact, if I may back up, the whole collection is really rife with pop culture, especially television references.  In David Lipsky’s book, Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself , DFW states matter-of-factly that he has an obsession with TV and pop culture, so this shouldn’t be surprising.  But for me it was disconcerting to have the pop culture not incidental or as a set dressing, but absolutely central to the stories. (more…)

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