I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: SHABAZZ PALACES-“#Cake” (2014).

I don’t know much about Shabazz Palaces, although I understand their debut was pretty popular in alternative circles (they were the first rap band released on Sub Pop).  This new song is from their new (also Sub Pop) album and I think it’s really weird and quite wonderful.

There’s a loping bass line echoey and almost spacey.  There’s rapped echoey fast words all over the palce (I’m having my cake and I’m eating cake–“eating cake” seems to be the refrain).  It’s all very spacey and weird.  And then at around 1:45 a whole new sound emerges out of static, as if a jazz radio station was tuned in and someone like Nina Simone begins singing a very standard-sounding jazz song.  What?  And after about 15 seconds it drifts out and the song returns to normal.

Around 2:48 a new style of song drifts in, also kind of early jazz (but a different song with lyrics, “let it waver why not savor the flavor”), but this time a bit more faint with twinkly sounds played over the top.

When the song return, there is a list of cities rapped over a more string heavy riff (but that same bassline).  It’s pretty darn weird.  It all reminds me of the way Kanye West introduced such weird elemnst on his Yeezus album.  This is less aggressive but no less unexpected.

I really have no idea what this song is actually about, but I really enjoy listening to it, and I want to explore Shabazz Palaces a bit more.

[READ: July 26, 2014] Nowhere to Run

There’s something about the first book in 39 Clues series that is just so good.  Although I did enjoy the end of Cahills vs Vespers, the end was nowhere near as exciting as the beginning of this book.

It is six months after the events of the last series.  Dan and Amy are not in any way over the deaths of their friends and family.  But they feel that the end of the Vespers leadership must give them some peace and quiet.  And things are starting to get back to normal.  (The awesome) Nellie is back with them, cooking and being generally cool.  But there is one last detail that they must attend to: the funeral of their lawyer, Mac.  He too was killed six months earlier, but they have just gotten around to dealing with the funeral (he was cremated).

But at the funeral, they are attacked by some really tough, like really tough guys.  Uncannily tough in fact.  And as they flee the cemetery a group of paparazzi comes into the cemetary looking to take pictures of the Cahill kids. And soon enough, their photos are posted all over the internet with crazy untruths said about them–that they are spoiled rich kids looking for thrills.  What the heck is going on?

Well, it turns out that J. Rutherford Pierce has found a bit of the serum that Dan was creating.  And unlike the dose that Isabel took, he seems to have tinkered with it just enough to make him superhuman but not freakish.  Pierce has been mostly an also ran–a failure at many businesses, and a failure at much more.  But since taking the serum, he has had many successes, including taking over a media empire (hence the headlines) and making ton of money.  And he has it in for the Cahills.

He also plans to run for President (his son is named Galt, and he is going to run on the Patriot Party platform–I loved this aspect of his sinister intents).  But he needs to get rid of Dan and Amy because they know about the serum.  And he has created a superman army who are set on killing them.

The kids go to a safe house in Ireland, in Meenalappa, called Bhaile Anois (which means Home Now).  There they are able to rest, gather their supplies and more importantly discover the book that Grace left for them (in case a dire need like this had occurred).  They are able to find some clues in the book (with the help of Jake and Atticus) which leads them to, they think, an antidote to the serum.

Now they must travel to Istanbul to find the first ingredient.  But Pierce and his men seem to know where they are and where they are headed at all times.

Which leads to the other aspect of this book that i found really exciting.  Nellie introduces Dan and Amy to a boy named Pony.  Pony is their tech guy (he speaks in wonderful hacker gibberish), and he has designed their hackproof system.  But someone has hacked it, someone named WALDO.  Actually, she is a girl named April May, but her company is called Waldo, and she’ll hack anything for a price, especially if it means getting spoiled brats in trouble.  So she and Pony fight their battle behind firewalls. With Waldo always  a step ahead.

We’re also reunited with a number of the family members–Jonah, Hamilton, Ian and as I said Jake and Atticus.  After the end of Cahills vs Vespers, the Amy/Jake relationship has chilled somewhat, and things are not good between them.  She is hesitant to call the family for help, even though they are the best and they want to help–she doesn’t want anyone else to get hurt.  But when Jake sees her hanging round with Ian, he grows jealous.  Does Amy have time for this while trying to protect everyone in her family?

I’m pleased that no one died in this book, as I really hope this body count stays low in this (four book) series.  But this series is pretty heavy (ie. not for kids), because they are all coping with the horrible deaths of siblings and family members and boyfriends.

I do have one quibble.  They talk to a student from Columbia University who says that a car license plate said “The First State” and the University student says “I didn’t even know there was a first state.”  Really?  Really??

But aside from that one really weird moment, the book was solid–the characters were great, well written and deep (Dan is seriously thinking of getting out of the Cahill business, he just cant take it anymore), and the action was really exciting.  I’m pretty happy to be reading this new series, and the fourth and final book will be coming out at the end of August, so I will actually be able to read it right when it comes out.