I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: LOCAL NATIVES-Tiny Desk Concert #113 (February 21, 2011).

I’ve decided to cherry pick some Tiny Desk shows for the end of the year–order be damned.

Local Natives are from L.A.  They play (in this Tiny Desk Concert anyway), a folkie alt rock which really emphasizes the band’s gorgeous harmonies.

For this set there are two acoustic guitars, an acoustic bass, a drummer and some cool extra percussion.  It also makes me laugh to see them all packed so tightly in that little space.

The first song “Wide Eyes” has lovely harmony vocals by the guitarist and the percussionist.  But when the backing vocals kick in, the sound really soars.

“Cards & Quarters” has a lovely guitar intro and fantastic three part harmonies.  I love the way the songs builds and builds to the end–it’s very dramatic.

For the final song, “Airplanes,” the percussionist switches to guitar (and sings lead vocals) and one of the guitarists plays the mandolin.  This song is very personal, with lots of details about the singer’s grandfather.  Again, the harmonies are gorgeous.

I’ve heard a lot about Local Natives and now I need to check them out more closely.

[READ: May 23, 2015] The Lightning Thief

I have seen the Percy Jackson movie and now I’ve read the comic book, but I have yet to read the actual novel (or series).  I figure I will some day.  But for now I’ve had this cool graphic novel to flesh out the movie.

It’s interesting how the movie and graphic novel (with art by Attila Futaki) emphasize different things.  It felt to me like the movie spent more time on introducing the characters once they got to “camp,” while the graphic novel seemed to gloss that.  But there were some other adventures that the group went on which were different between the book and movie (which may have just been for expenses).

Okay, so the brief summary of the book is that Percy Jackson is a boy in school.  He has trouble reading and his teacher gives him a hard time.  As we open, the class is learning about ancient Greek myths and the teacher is emphasizing how important they will be for Percy.  On the next page, one of Percy’s teachers turns into a demon and attacks him.   But no one else is aware of it.  Except maybe his best friend, Grover.

When school ends, Percy heads home to his mother’s house.  His mother is living with a totally awful guy (there was more about this in the movie) and explains that Percy’s father left before he was born.  But just as they settle in, Grover shows up and tells them they have to go.  Now.

They flee to the woods, where they are attacked by…a Minotaur?  Percy’s mother appears to be killed and Percy rescues Grover and pulls him to safety.  Where his nicer teacher is waiting for him.  The teacher is no longer in a wheelchair and in fact is something very different.

And then Percy is introduced to Camp Half-Blood, which proves to be a camp for children of Greek gods and human parents.  And the reveal of Percy’s real name is quite lovely.  As with any new school, Percy is hazed when he gets there.  But he quickly gains the confidence of some of the kids there. And then he is sent on a quest.

The reason he is sent is because someone has stolen Zeus’ master bolt.  And because of Percy’s connection to the parties involved, he is the one half-blood with the best chance of getting it back.  The real reason we need it back is because if it is not returned, there will be war on Olympus.  And no humans want that.

Much of the end of the story is taken up with the quest.  It’s exciting and funny.  And it is handled very well.  One of these days I’ll have to see how Riordan actually wrote it!