I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: AND THE KIDS-Tiny Desk Concert #452 (June 30, 2015).

I hadn’t heard of And The Kids before, but I was intrigued by their name and the lead singer’s look (is that a tattoo on her lip?).

But I didn’t like the way the first song started with a modified military “Glory Glory Hallelujah” musical refrain–it seemed strangely forced, especially for the first song I’d heard by them.  Although I may have liked it better if I knew the band better. It was a weird way to start.

Especially since I ultimate liked “Glory Glory.” (I am hearing a chorus of “I’ve been picking up floor milk” which is as fascinating as whatever the lyrics really are).  The drummer has great harmony vocals that really adds something to the song. I also love at around 2 and half minutes when the song turns into something very different—faster guitars with lead vocals by the drummer.  And even the bassist who has been quiet thus far chimes in with another layer of voices (and some interesting bass lines). It’s very cool.  So the song which started out kind of shaky really rocks out at the end.

The band trio, with a singer/guitarist, bassist and a great drummer.  There’s something about the lead singer’s guitar–it seems really big (maybe it’s just the head of the guitar?).  And the sound that the drummer gets is really great too—it may just be this recording, but the snare is really sharp.

For “All Day All Night” the drummer busts out a glockenspiel. It has a kind of shouted chorus that borders on dissonance but isn’t quite.  I like the way the song slows down (with the guitarist playing keyboard as it builds back up), the drummer plays the glockenspiel and the drums at the same time.  And the all three start singing with interesting harmonies. The ending whoo hoos are sharp and distinct as well.

“Cats Were Born” has a very interesting lyric: “The cats were born to kill for fun.”  But perhaps even more interesting than the words are the yodels and screams and yips that punctuate the song.  What’s also strange is the way the bassist seems so reticent to look goofy while the other two are wild.   The guitarist busted out a small four string guitar for this song which sounds really distinct. And the drummer really shines.  Through many of the songs she’s playing rim shots which is a distinctive sound in itself, but when she switches over to a faster style for the middle section, it’s really intense.

I don’t think any bands has gone so far from me not thinking much of them to being really won over by the end of their Tiny Desk.

[READ: February 26, 2015] Gunnerkrigg Court [1-14]

I discovered this book through my Goodreads account.  It was suggested because, well, I don’t recall, it had something to do with schools and supernatural and graphic novels or whatever.  There was also one that was suggested for Sarah (it was about boarding school and tea) which turned out to be Japanese softcore porn, so beware the Goodreads suggestions.

Although there was nothing to beware of with this book.

I actually thought Sarah would like it more because she loves boarding school fiction.  But she gave up on the book after a few stories.  Interestingly I almost did as well. It wasn’t that it was bad, in fact we both enjoyed the beginning.  But it was the kind of book that once you put it down, you didn’t feel compelled to pick it up again.  Perhaps because each chapter feels so self-contained–with no real cliffhanger–that it seemed like the stories were done.  And while the stories were good they weren’t awesome…so.  She gave up, but I continued

And I’m glad I did.

The story is about Antimony Carver, a girl who was recently orphaned.  She wears a necklace which is the alchemist’s symbol for antimony. Her mom was in the hospital for quite a long time and Antimony spent most of her time there. But now she has been sent to Gunnerkrigg, where her family has a history.

I have to say that I absolutely hate the way Antimony looks in three quarter view.  Her face reaches a point which I suppose is an exaggerated jawline, but it looks crazy. And it really made me question Siddell’s drawing skills.  And yet, when she is face on–typically the more difficult style, Antimony is quite pretty (especially in later stories).  So it was obviously a stylistic choice.  And one I really have to question.  Somewhat around Chapter 8 the exaggerated triangle head goes away and she looks much better.

There’s a lot of different things going on as the story opens.  There’s a demonic looking shadow who attaches itself to Antimony.  She builds a robot (!) and gets it safely across the forbidden bridge which leads to the forest (yup all good elements are in place here).

In the next chapter, Antimony befriends Katerina, who is the daughter of Mrs Donlan, and the bratty boy William (who is quite demonic looking).  I was pretty excited by this chapter because Antimony and Kat do a project on minotaurs and manage to bring a real minotaur into class (it was very funny).

We learn that Kat has a crush on Mr Eglamore, the gym teacher and we also learn that Mr Eglamore knows of a demon, Reynardine, who is trapped on school grounds.  Antimony sneaks out and finds the demon who instantly recognizes her (she looks just like her mom).  After some back and forth and a heroic rescue, Reynardine leaps into the body of Antimony’s stuffed wolf (he can jump into the body of anything with eyes).  This is terrible, except that since Antimony possesses the doll, Reynardine must now do anything she says (which upsets him to no end).

There’s some other characters around too, a ghost (who is not scary at all), Zimmy, the typical mean girl (who is so creepy looking since he eyes are blacked out and seem even scratched out) who proves to be more than we first encounter her.  And her friend Gamma, who tries to keep up with Zimmy but can’t (Zimmy doesn’t need sleep, but Gamma does).  There’s Muut, the Native American personification of death; there’s fairies who want to die so they can be reborn and go to Gunnerkrigg.

Interestingly, there’s lots of other languages too.  Kat speaks Spanish, and Antimony speaks Polish (!); Kat is wearing a shirt that says a dwr budr (Welsh for Dirty Water).

There’ plenty to like in the story as well. Like that Kat is super duper smart.  She makes an anti-gravity machine in order to test the growth of crystals in zero gravity.  Everyone is so excited about the anti grav machine–about which she is totally ho-hum–she’s upset that no one wants to talk about her crystals.  There’s a hologram type room.  There’s even a love story for Kat (who I think is my favorite character) which goes in a very unexpected direction

As the book draws to a close (Chapter 14) there’s  an interesting new addition oo characters who are unhappy with the way Antimony has been carrying on.  Including a blonde woman who is quite suspicious of all the goings on.  She does make for a compelling cliffhanger to find book 2.

I see that books 2-4 are out and book 5 comes out this year.  I’m intrigued to read them, and I will make a note to look for book 2.