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Archive for June, 2012

Margaret Atwood–“The Spider Woman” (New Yorker, June 4 & 11, 2012)

Posted in Books about writers, China Miéville, Culture Shock, Essays, Fantasy, Fears, Margaret Atwood, New Yorker, Nostalgia, Sci-fi, Squarepusher, Supernatural, Technology, The Future on June 10, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: SQUAREPUSHER-Solo Electric Bass 1 (2009).

Yesterday I said that one Squarepusher CD was enough for me.  I did some digging and found out that he has put out a whole bunch of CDs.  And, to the surprise of me, at least, not all of them are crazy electronic music.   This CD, as the title states, is a collection of electric bass solo songs.  The songs were performed live as part of the Jazz à la Villette 2007 festival and were played on an electric six-string bass with no pedals or effects.

And that is all you get—serious solo bass songs.  The man behind Squarepusher, Tom Jenkinson, is apparently a virtuoso musician (who knew?) and these songs really show off his chops (just listen to the insanity of “Seb-1.05” (catchy title, eh?)).  He can play some impressive Spanish-sounding songs–that would probably sound better on a guitar, but sound more impressive on a bass (“Seb-1.06”).  He’s got some great slap stuff going on (“Seb-1.03”), and he really knows from melody (also “Seb-1.03”).  True, 12 all bass songs can meld into one another, but the crowd really loves it (and like a lot of things, seeing it is probably more impressive than just hearing it).

It’s not exactly “fun” listening (even if you love bass solos).  Only 850 copies of the disc were released, so it’s not like they expected a big audience for this.  But it is pretty neat to hear a) how good he is and b) that his main musical output is noisy electronic noodling.  That gives me even more respect for his electronic output.

[READ: June 5, 2012] “The Spider Women”

Margaret Atwood is another author I wish I had read more of—and I’m getting there.  I often wonder if I should just read an author start to finish and be done with him or her or if that just leads to madness.

Much like Miéville says in the previous essay, children don’t read genres, they just read what they like.  I loved Atwood’s idea that “below a certain age, [children] don’t distinguish between ‘true’ and ‘not true,’ because they see no reason why a white rabbit shouldn’t possess a pocket watch, that whales shouldn’t talk, or that sentient beings shouldn’t live on other planets and travel around in spaceships.”  After all, sometimes reality lives under the bed and has sharp claws. (more…)

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China Miéville–“Forward Thinking” (New Yorker, June 4 & 11, 2012)

Posted in Alfred Bester, Anachronisms, Beatrix Potter, Book Reviews, Books about writers, China Miéville, Dungeons & Dragons, Enid Blyton, Essays, Fantasy, Golems, LMFAO, New Yorker, Sci-fi, Skinny Puppy, Squarepusher, The Future, Virginia Woolf on June 9, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: SQUAREPUSHER-“Dark Steering” (2012).

Hot on the heels of a review of LMFAO I get to the other side of the spectrum in electronic music—Squarepusher.   There’s no big choruses, heck there’s no words, but this music shares something with LMFAO.  Well, actually it really doesn’t—except maybe keyboards.

Squarepusher play dark angular music. It’s very electronic and alien (and sounds like it may have been used in the background of Skinny Puppy songs back in the day). It’s abrasive and the sounds are otherworldly and yet in this song, there’s a melody to it.  I have but one Squarepusher CD—that’s probably enough for me.  But I am always interested to hear new music by him.  It’s impressive the way he can take a song that starts out so noisy and get it to sound like real music by the end.  It like the science fiction of music.

[READ: June 5, 2012] “Forward Thinking”

I have read only one book by China Miéville—Perdido Street Station.  I found it to be quite challenging for a bunch of reasons and figured I wouldn’t read more by him.  And yet I find that images from that book stay with me to this day (at least ten years on).  So maybe it’s time to give him another shot.  But where to start?

This entry in the New Yorker’s Sci-Fi issue is written as an “E-mail sent back in time to a young science-fiction fan.”  And I loved it.  I enjoyed how it started (with the author knowing that E-mail doesn’t exist at the time the recipient will get this—so who will it show up?)  And I loved the central question: “How did you get into this stuff?”  The sender knows that the kid will get asked this a lot, but the question should be turned around: “How did you get out of it?”  Because all kids love sci-fi concepts.  It’s just that some move away from it as they get older.

Miéville includes a few key moments in (his) sci-fi history: Page 40 of “The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher” by Beatrix Potter.  What?  Indeed, for this is the first time that (you) will be ware of knowing something the protagonist doesn’t—that there’s  fish coming up to get him.

Next is Chapter 13 of Golem100 by Alfred Bester.  I have never heard of this book.  Although Miéville does warn us about it—he read it far too young and there’s some sadistic violence in it, what attracted him (and me, now) is the disrespect for text—part of the story is a musical score, another is a picture.  It sounds cool.  And of course it is long out of print. (more…)

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Jennifer L. Holm & Matthew Holm–Squish: Brave New Pond (#2) (2011)

Posted in Children's Books, Daft Punk, Fears, Funny (ha ha), Graphic Novel, Jennifer L. Holm, Led Zeppelin, LMFAO, Matthew Holm, Mogwai, Set at School, Short Books, The Beatles on June 8, 2012| 2 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: LMFAO-“Party Rock Anthem” (2012).

My son doesn’t seem to care about music.  It’s shocking to me since I love music so much.  He really likes They Might be Giants’ Here Comes Science, but I think more for the words than the music (which makes me proud for other reasons).  He likes the music from Kirby and Star Wars and he liked some Mogwai because it sounded like a soundtrack to a movie.  When he sings to himself it’s always the tune from Christmas Carols.  In fairness, I didn’t really appreciate music until I was 7 or 8, but so many young kids seem to really be into music (with amazingly bad taste), that I’m not sure what to think.

So the other day he was singing some words to this song.  I was shocked.  Where in the hell had he heard it anyhow?  Then the other night his CD player didn’t work so I tuned in a random radio station and he heard this and wanted it on.  So, he finally has a song that he likes.   I hadn’t really listened to this song, so I figured I’d give it a try.

I don’t really have an opinion of it.  It’s a dance song.  It reminds me of Daft Punk and maybe early Prodigy.  I’m a sucker for the keyboard riff that sounds kind of twisty (fake electronic music appeals to the sci-fi geek in me).  Lyrically it’s innocuous enough I guess–it is a dance song after all (wait are they dissing The Beatles and Led Zeppelin?).  The funny thing to me about songs like this is that they are all kind of interchangeable–each year or so someone comes out with a new dance theme that everyone can pogo to and do X to and “have a good time.”  I think perhaps that this was even played at a recent Cub Scout function to the confusion of most of the adults.

Since my son doesn’t dance and would certainly never dance in public (I don’t even think he’d even “put his hands up”), I’m not quite sure what the appeal of this is to him (“other kids like it” is probably as far as it goes).  But hey, maybe this is a gateway into his actually wanting to listen to his dad’s music.  [And when does he ask me what LMFAO means?  Probably never, because he has no idea that that’s the band’s name].

[READ: June 6, 2011] Squish: Brave New Pond

The second squish issue depends a bit on the first one.  There are a number of references in the book to the first one (with a comment about half way through that says to just go and read the first one already).

In this one Squish, who is an amoeba, is reading a comic about Super Amoeba.  He’s a superhero who helps everyone in Small Pond (including an amusing scene where a girl drops her ice cream and he flies to her rescue).   But then he is asked to join The Protozoans, heroes who help the World, not just Small Pond.  And Super Amoeba is thrilled  and is soon off to join them (in their spiffy (and tight) uniforms).

This parallels to Squish’s own situation.  It’s his first day of school.  And he has decided to make some changes.  Maybe he won’t hang out with his old friends so much, maybe he’ll try to become more popular, maybe he’ll even get picked for the kickball team, and maybe, just maybe, he’ll get to hang out with The Algae Brothers, the biggest, meanest, coolest kids in school.  [This story line has striking parallels to Queen Bee, eh?  Does anyone ever make stories from the POV of kids who are already popular?].

He has a hard time ditching his old friends (they’re so clingy).  But it turns out that last year, when Squish stood up to Lynwood, the meanest amoeba in the pond, the Algae Brothers noticed.  And when they recognize him, they invite him to hang with them (where nachos with cheese are actually delivered to their table at lunch!).  He’s made it!

Being cool is pretty great.  Sure he misses his old friends a bit, but everyone is in awe of his new found status. (more…)

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Chynna Clugston–Queen Bee (2005)

Posted in Anachronisms, Chynna Clugston, Chynna Clugston-Major, Contests, Funny (ha ha), Glee, Graphic Novel, Set at School, Short Books, Simon and Garfunkel, Supernatural, The Go-Go's on June 7, 2012| 1 Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: Retro songs for teen audiences (ie. Glee) (2012).

I’m not really going to talk about Glee here.  I’m using it as a springboard for a question that the show has raised for me.  And this question pops up a little in Queen Bee as well.  I know that retro things are always cool.  Full stop.  And I know that the retro coolness shifts accordingly to be always 20/25 years in the past.  But in my experience, the retro craze pretty much applies to fashion, not necessarily to music.

So given that, it makes me wonder about the premise of some of the music on Glee.  Now, I know, Glee is about as far from reality as anything on the Syfy Channel.  I accept that.  I accept that the universe in which the show is set is more or less not even our own.  But when they have nods to actual history, I’m curious.  And this leads me to ask:  Do kids in high school really care about Michael Jackson?  Or, more to the point, about Whitney Houston?  I mean, sure if you’re in glee club, you’ve probably had to sing “I Will Always Love You” a million times.  But were high school kids really upset when she died?  I mean, sure she released an album in 2009 (that I didn’t even know about) and it went to #1 (really?), but in terms of actual pop relevance, she’s been on the down low since the 90s.

I don’t know any high school kids well enough to ask them about this, but I knew some middle school kids when I worked at the library, and they were all about whoever the flavor of the minute was.  Again, musically talented kids may be different, but it seems really odd to me that even on Glee, the kids seemed to love some retro songs and then of course were arbitrarily against some other ones.  [That’s a good subtitle for the writing of the show: “Glee:  It’s All Arbitrary”].  I think back to my high school years, and I didn’t like anything retro, in fact I thought all old music sucked.  (Of course I listened pretty much only to heavy metal, so I’m not a good sample audience).  But aside from some Simon & Garfunkel, I don’t recall there being a lot of folkie kids in my high school.  The cool kids listened to 80s pop and the alt-kids listened to college music.

This brings to Queen Bee.  The song that she chooses to sing (see below) is The Go-Go’s “We Got the Beat.”  A classic of 80s pop music, undoubtedly.  And yet, I have to wonder how many kids in her middle school class even knew the song.  A bit of research shows that it has been used in films and such, but would that have garnered any real recognition/excitement?  Aside from the fact that it’s catchy as anything and the drumming is awesome, of course.  [I also realize that that isn’t the point of her using the song in the story, I’m moving beyond the text here].

I know this is all fiction and I just need to relax.  But I’m mostly curious.  Aside from getting stuck listening to their parents iPods, do kids actually listen to older music?  When I was little my parents listened only to big band music.  And I hated it.  Until I got to college and realized it was pretty cool.  But still, in my teen years, I was all about the present.  Isn’t that the point?

[READ: June 5, 2012] Queen Bee

I have enjoyed most of Chynna Clugston’s books (Blue Monday and Scooter Girl in particular).  I love her style of drawing (anime, but with a twist) and her pop culture sensibilities.  I had no idea that this book existed until I saw it in the children’s comics section at the library!

I also assumed that this was an earlier work by her (what’s she doing writing for Scholastic?).  But no, this book came out many years after the books I love so well.  It’s kind of funny that she went from alt rock hipness to middle school (and then moved to Legion of Super Heroes).  But wait, she hasn’t done anything in five years?  Gasp.  Actually I see she has a new blog and a new husband–so she’s clearly busy.

Anyhow, back to the book.

This book is set in middle school.  It features a young woman named Haley Madison (that must be a joke about over-common names).  She is a geek and a loser.   But when her mom gets a new job at the hippest and coolest teen magazine, Haley gets to move to a new school.  Which means fresh start!  And she plans on becoming the queen bee at JFK intermediate.  She is introduced to a nice girl named Trini.  Trini shows her around and introduces her to her cool friends (who are super nice to her).  But when Trini shows her the Hive–five girls who are super duper popular, Haley has a goal in front of her. (more…)

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Ursula K. Le Guin–“The Golden Age” (New Yorker, June 4 & 11, 2012)

Posted in Anachronisms, Books about writers, Concert, Fantasy, History, Michael Chabon, Neil Young, New Yorker, Playboy, Sci-fi, Sexism, Squeeze, Tarkio, The Decemberists, Ursula K. Le Guin on June 6, 2012| 2 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: TARKIO-Live on KGBA (from Omnibus) (1998).

Tarkio released an album called Live on KGBA in 1998.  Omnibus collects 4 songs from that release (according to various websites, the other tracks include “Kickaround” “Neapolitan Bridesmaid” “Helena Won’t Get Stoned” “Caroline Avenue” and “Candle”  (from the I Guess… album) “Weight of the World” (from Sea Songs) and “Whipping Boy” (the only song that’s not elsewhere on Omnibus).  This live record was distributed in some fashion way back when and there are copies floating around the internet.  I’m not willing to risk a virus by clicking on these links though, so I’ll stick with the few tracks on Omnibus.

The sound is excellent, and the full collection would no doubt be a welcome addition to anyone’s Tarkio fandom.

“Carrie” has a very Neil Young feel, from the rough acoustic guitars to the aggressive strumming technique.  It doesn’t sound like any Neil Young song in particular but you can imagine Neil looking on and smiling.  Even the solo is kind of Neil-ish (electric guitar over the acoustic main song).  “Am I Not Right?” sounds like a newer Decemberists song—there’s some very cool abrasive chords at the chorus “Knowledge!”  “Mess of Me” is a boppy acoustic number that’s fun to sing along to.  It opens kind of like the Decemberists song “The Infanta” but quickly turns into something else entirely.  “Goodbye Girl” is a cover of the Squeeze song done with a dominant banjo.  Although it lacks the original’s punch, it works well as a folk number.

[READ: June 5, 2012] “The Golden Age”

I feel like I’ve really been missing out by not reading any Le Guin.  The more I read from her now, the more I feel like I should be dropping everything and reading her output.  And I will read at least some of Earthsea eventually.

But in the meantime, I can enjoy pieces like this.  She talks about how science fiction has never really been considered “literature” and how it’s always been relegated to the genre ghetto.  Be that as it may, she’s also disappointed when science fiction writers try to deny their ghetto by saying, “Pay no attention to the spaceships…[this] is Literature.”  She thanks Michael Chabon for smashing down at least some of the ghetto walls.

Which allows her to look back at the past and the early Science Fiction Writers of America conventions.  She remembers the fun talk and open mindedness—except for a notable few who were deeply conservative, a surprise for a group of men who were supposed to be looking forward, not back.  And yes…men.  There were very few women sci-fi writers back in the fifties (in “The Golden Age”).  Indeed one SFWA member wanted to create a members-only necktie! (more…)

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Ray Bradbury–“Take Me Home” (New Yorker, June 4 & 11, 2012)

Posted in Books about writers, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Essays, History, New Yorker, Ray Bradbury, Sci-fi, Short Story, Tangled, Tarkio, The Decemberists, The Replacements, Time Travel on June 5, 2012| 4 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: TARKIO-three song demo (from Omnibus) 1997.

These three songs are part of a demo released in 1997.  I actually assumed that Omnibus would have collected all of Tarkio’s releases (how many more can there be?), but I learned that “omnibus” means “a book containing reprints of a number of works.”  So there ya go.

Nearly every review of Omnibus complains about the size of the release.  Some complain that the songs are too long (which is something else entirely), but many seem to suggest that 27 songs is too many for this collection.  I don’t quite understand this attitude, because if it were the collected works, there would be no reason to complain.  As such, I suspect I am the only person who wishes there was a little bit more–like why not the other two songs from this demo?

And demo is a rather unfair name for this, because it sounds wonderful.  (I suspect a demo from 1997 could be recorded with much better equipment than a demo from say 1984).  And these three songs are really something.  I suppose also, listening to these songs in this manner–not as a two disc set but as an original demo of three songs, makes them seem like maybe there isn’t too much of a good thing.

“This Rollercoaster Ride” opens with an interesting pseudo Middle Eastern violin.  But it quickly settles down into a very catchy rock/folk song.  It sounds very Decemberists, and it’s extremely catchy.  “Following Camden Down” is a beautiful song (the reminds me of The Replacements’ “Skyway”).  Meloy’s voice sounds subdued and not as immediately notable as he normally does.  It’s a wonderful little song.  “Slow Down” is a bouncy folk number (with dominant violin).  It’s got a rocky alt feel, although it still reads as traditional folk.

True, none of these songs reach the delirious heights of the best Decemberists songs, but they’re a nice step towards the kind of music Meloy and friends would put out next.

[READ: June 5, 2012] “Take Me Home”

This issue of the New Yorker is devoted to Science Fiction (see the cover).   In addition to five stories (which I assume are science-fiction-y) we also get five (more or less) one-page pieces from masters of the genre (genre being a dirty word, we’ll find).  When I first saw the names of these writers, I thought they were each creating a cool one-page story.  So I was a little disappointed to realize that these are “personal histories” with sci-fi.  But I shouldn’t have been disappointed, because even though these are short, they are really impactful–and come on, they’re classic writers.

I’m surprised by the fact that I haven’t read more Ray Bradbury.  I know I’ve read Fahrenheit 451 and I’m sure I’ve read some of his stories, but I haven’t even scratched the surface–he has written so much!  Indeed, I was surprised to hear that he was still alive (in fairness, he is 92).

This piece begins with Bradbury’s recollections of his introduction to sci-fi with Buck Rogers (1928) and John Carter of Mars (not Disney’s creation, but a series of stories by Edgar Rice Burroughs). (more…)

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Kurt Vonnegut–Jailbird (1979)

Posted in Anarchy, Bible, Consumerism, Corporate skewering, Death, Decadence, Fears, Funny (ha ha), Gangsters, Greed, History, Kurt Vonnegut, LGBTQ, Marriage (Happy), Mogwai, Nazis, Political Humor, Racism, Sesame Street, Thomas Pynchon, Threats, Universities on June 4, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: MOGWAI-Special Moves (2010).

This is Mogwai’s first live album and it really captures the band in all of its intense glory.  This is a good year for a Mogwai live recording because they play some of their newer song which are a bit more melodic (and sometime have words) but they also revisit their older songs–which still sound intense.  It’s a great overview of their career so far and it’s a great testament to how different their music sounds over the course of so many years–even though they still sound like Mogwai

We get two songs from Their (then) latest The Hawk is Howling –“I’m Jim Morrison I’m Dead” and “I Love You I’m Going to Blow up Your School.” Two songs from Mr Beast “Friend of the Night” and the stunning set closer “Glasgow Mega Snake.” Two from Happy Music “Hunted by a Freak” and “I Know You Are But What am I.” Two from Rock Action “You Dont Know Jesus” and “2 Rights Make 1 Wrong.”  From Come On Die Young we get “Cody” and from their debut, two classics: “Like Herod” (which is amazing live) and “Mogwai Fear Satan” (also amazing)–each one over 10 minutes long and full of the emotional release that we’ve come to expect from Mogwai.

This is a great place to start if you want to hear what Mogwai is all about.

[READ: June 4, 2012] Jailbird

First off I want to say how neat it is that I took this book out of the library and that it’s from 1979.  Thirty-three years old!  Books are cool.

Anyhow, I have a stack of dozens of books I want to read, and yet somehow Vonnegut said, no, read me now.  In addition to Vonnegut books being relatively short, they are also very quick to read.  I read this in a couple of days, which is very satisfying.

My old boss at the library told me that she thought Vonnegut more or less stopped writing good books after Breakfast of Champions.  I disagree, but that has certainly colored the way I look at his later books before I read them–which one had she read that turned her off?  I kind of suspect it was this one.

In some ways this is a minor novel.  It’s fairly brief (240 pages, although there’s  30 page Prologue which I gather is from Vonnegut himself (you never know, he has so many layers going on)).  He explains some of the details that are in the book and several other interesting preface-type things.  I enjoyed the bit about the fan who wrote to Vonnegut and (Vonnegut claims) summed up all of his works in just seven words: “Love may fail, but courtesy will prevail.”  And that is the basic plot of this book. (more…)

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Rivka Galchen–“The Region of Unlikeness” (New Yorker, March 24, 2008)

Posted in Brewer & Shipley, Colin Meloy, Emily Bronte, Oddities, Rivka Galchen, Short Story, Supernatural, Tarkio, The Decemberists, The Future, Time Travel on June 3, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: TARKIO-Sea Songs for Landlocked Sailors (1999).

Tarkio was Colin Meloy’s band before he formed the Decemberists.  My first reaction to the name Tarkio was that it sounded like Tarkus, the album by Emerson lake and Palmer.  And, since I heard about it during The Decemberists’ The Crane Wife album, which is proggy, I assumed Tarkio would be a prog rock band.  Little did I know that the real name of Tarkio comes from a train stop in Montana and that the real (at least to me) forerunner for this album is Tarkio by folkies Brewer & Shipley which featured the song “One Toke Over the Line.”

All of Tarkio’s music was collected in 1995 on the album Omnibus.  Omnibus contains their album I Guess I was Hoping for Something More, this EP, and various other unreleased tracks.

This EP actually came out after Tarkio’s debut album (when I decided to write this first I assumed it came first).  It seems especially surprising to me because the opening song sounds very different from anything on the LP.  Not worse, just like a direction they chose not to go in.  His voice is kind of processed and sounds, yes, funny.  Although I have to admit I rather like it—it’s much more alt sounding than the rest of the disc, which has a more folkie charm.  This disc was self released.  And I cannot believe that there are no images of it online anywhere.  Decemberists fans are crazy intense and no one has a copy of this CD?  Weird.

So as I said, the first song, “Devil’s Elbow” is full of vibrato and sounds like an alt rock song circa the mid 90s.  The solo sounds like it could be done by Robert Smith.  “Weight of the World” sounds more alt-folkie, big guitars and whatnot.  And the chorus sounds very much like a Decemberists song.  And check out these lyrics: “we hear the homeless philharmonic singing all the Charlies Angels to their heavenly convergence in the sky.” Pure Colin.

If you had any doubt that this was Colin Meloy’s band (which you wouldn’t, but if you did), this song title will tell you all you need: “My Mother Was a Chinese Trapeze Artist.”  Lyrically it is pure Meloy, although musically it’s more spare.  Decemberists fans will recognize this song from Castaways and Cutouts (that version is over a minute longer).  The Tarkio version has louder guitars as the song progresses, although the Decemberists’ version has more interesting instrumentation.  “Mountains of Mourne,” is a sad ballad played mostly on banjo.  “Never Will Marry” is a slow dirgelike song–very traditionally folk-sounding.

I really don’t know much about why Tarkio broke up.  This EP shows a band experimenting with their more ballad-y side.  Probably not destined to be a big seller, it works as a nice companion to their debut.

[READ: May 26, 2012] “The Region of Unlikeness”

This was the last short story I found by Galchen and I was really excited to read it.  It starts off a little oddly—it’s one of those stories where there are two characters spoken about and they are inseparable and it’s not always clear which is which.  Especially when the opening is as peculiar as this, “Ilan used to call Jacob ‘my cousin from Outer Swabia’”  Originally the narrator thinks it a joke, but she later decides it’s a sort of a clue.  She met the two of them by chance.  They were talking loudly and boisterously about Wuthering Heights in a coffee shop.  And that intrigued her to no end.  So she chimed in, and the three of them ended up talking for a while.  The crazy thing about them was that Jacob had a daughter. He seemed so carefree and like he had no responsibilities.   She never met the daughter, he barely mentioned his family, and yet she was always there in the back of his mind.

And she fell hard for Ilan—he seemed antiquated and resourceful like “fancy coffee and bright-colored smutty flyers.”  Of course all of her friends found the two of them arrogant and pathetic, but the narrator could not be drawn away from them.  Although really she was drawn to Ilan, who was generous with praise, while Jacob was kind of sulky and dark and was “jealous of Ilan’s easy pleasures.”  The narrator felt Jacob was pedantic.  All of this makes it surprising that the bulk of the story is about the narrator and Jacob.

And then she stopped seeing them.  Literally, they were nowhere to be found. (more…)

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Science News Letter for March 25, 1939

Posted in Albert Einstein, Death, Egyptology, Essays, History, Mac Lethal, Nature, Research, Science News Letter, Universities on June 2, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: MAC LETHAL-“You’re vs. Your” (2012).

Mac Lethal is a YouTube sensation (he did the pancakes video that I liked quite a bit).  And, yes, he does actually have albums for sale.  He raps really fast (so fast that I wondered if it was sped up–I don’t believe so).  I am 100% behind the sentiment of this song (possessive vs contractions, this is something you used to know).

I’m a grammar freak, so it bothers me when I see these common mistakes made.  It’s nice to hear a song about it (even if it’s not a terribly catchy song or anything).

I like his name dropping and his lecture is pretty effective.  I’m a little confused by the big dick reference/joke at the end of the song…it’s not really relevant.  But his fast tongue is really impressive.  As for his singing….mmm, stick to rapping.

I like the T-shirt!

[READ: May 15, 2012] Science News Letter

I’ve mentioned before when my company sends out links to articles that are interesting or cool.  This is the second time a link to a Science News Letter has gone out.  I swear if I had time, I would love to read all of these.  I wonder how often it was published?

This letter has only two articles in it–one from Physics and one from Archaeology.

The Archaeology one is called “Find Sacred Kitten in Bronze Cat Coffin.”  And indeed, two metallurgy experts were cleaning a bronze cat (which had “bronze disease”) and inside of it they found the bones of a fetal cat.  This was one of the first times that actual bones were discovered in one of these cat idols.  There’s even a (kind of creepy) picture of the bronze statue with the far creepier caption: Cat Coffin.

The Physics article is headlined: Fifth Dimension is New Realm Entered by Professor Einstein”  What?  How cool is that… “Professor Einstein!”  Einstein died in 1955, so it’s not weird that he’d be in a Science Letter.  But still!  Einstein talking about his current theories?!  The subtitle is “Celebrating Sixtieth Birthday, Scientist Wants New Dimension To Account for Electro-Magnetic Effects.” (more…)

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Richard Ford–“The Bank Robbery” [excerpt from Canada] (Harpers, June 2012)

Posted in Canadian Content, Cars, Concert, Excerpt, Harper's, Phish, Richard Ford, Short Story, The Simpsons on June 1, 2012| 1 Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: PHISH-Live Bait Vol 6 (2011).

Yesterday was my coworker Jay’s last day here, so I’m writing about this Phish bootleg set in his honor.

So these Live Bootleg Series are fun in that they’re a free sample of live songs–warts and all–from various shows in the band’s touring history.  These shows are primarily 1993-1996, with a 1988 song and two from 2003 thrown in for good measure.  The opening of “The Curtain” into “Tweezer” is from Red Rocks.  In fact, the first 8 songs are from Red Rocks at different times in their career (I like that they meld the shows together like this).  From 1996, “The Curtain” sounds amazing, so it’s really surprising how badly Trey messes up the opening guitar riff of “Tweezer.”  It’s so bad I would have thought he might have considered starting over!  But after an ugly beginning the band settles in for a 17 minute version.  “Split Open and Melt” also comes 1994.  The band sounds great on this song.  This is one of my favorite jam sections–it goes in a really weird direction.  And, there’s great bass and a guitar solo.  “It’s Ice” and “The Wedge” are from 1993 (touring their 4th official release!).  They sound really on for these songs.

Next comes a trio of songs from 1995 that always go together: “Mike’s Song” (everybody’s favorite), “I am Hydrogen” and “Weekapaug Groove.”  The middle of the “Mike’s Song” jam gets a little weird (some of their slow sections can sound very strange especially if people overhear them out of context), but they bring it back very nicely.

“The MOMA Dance’ and “Limb by Limb” are from 2003.  And they are fantastic.  “McGrupp and the Watchful Hosemasters” actually comes from the Colorado ’88 CD, but it’s a fun addition within this set.  It certainly sounds older than the others, but not radically out of place.  It’s followed by “Ghost” from 1997.   “David Bowie” has a lot of fun in the intro–the begin playing several different songs, including “Mike’s Song” and several other intros before finally settling into “DB.”  The jam also gets pretty dark, but I love at the end when the conventional shredding solo keeps getting interrupted by a strange minor key riff.  Similarly, “Wilson” takes a really long time to get going, including a nice little nod to “The Simpsons” in the intro.  And then there’s a really long pause before the “blap boom” part comes in.  It’s a fun version of the song.  The disc ends with a wild version of “Run Like an Antelope” from 1993.

It’s a pretty great set, and not bad for free.  You can download it here.

[READ: May 25, 2012] “The Bank Robbery”

I’ve never read Richard Ford.  I have a copy of Independence Day but I never read it. I hear it’s great.

So, here’s this excerpt from Ford’ new novel called Canada.  As has been said before, you can’t really write a review of  an excerpt.  However, a excerpt can get you excited about a book.

And that’s what this did.  It doesn’t make me want to pre-order Canada or anything, indeed, I’m not even sure how this excerpt can relate to the rest of the story as it’s pretty self-contained, but I loved the way it was written and the tone and pacing that Ford employs.

This excerpt opens with the narrator recollecting what he knows about the bank robbery.  The one that his parents committed.  His parents are pretty normal people, except for one thing—they actually thought they could pull of a bank robbery.  I love this section:

Conceivably many of us think of robbing a bank the same way we lie in bed at night and delicately plot to murder our lifelong enemy….  [details excised].  After which we conclude that though it’s satisfying to think we could murder our enemy in ambush…only a deranged person would carry out such a plan.  That is because the world is set against such acts…At which point we forget about our plan and go to sleep….  But for my parents this kind of thinking didn’t occur. (more…)

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