I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: THE ENFIELD TENNIS ACADEMY-“My Missing Eye” (2017).

The Enfield Tennis Academy is one of the major locations in David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest.  So, of course, a band that names itself after it must be listened to.

This is the first release by the band (which states “The Enfield Tennis Academy is TR.”

The bandcamp site describes this song as

“Garbage thrown together on a free trial of Reason. Song’s about missing a fucking eye. Real music soon.”

This is two minutes of noisy instrumental metal math rock.  There’s a lot of different sounds in this two minute song.

It opens with some staccato pummeling sounds–the guitars are interesting in that they sound like they are chords yet ringing out at the same time.  The middle is a really fast pummeling section that reminds me of Ministry.  Those opens stringed chords come back late in the song, and they sound really cool.

I’m curious to see what TETA’s “real music” is going to sound like.

[READ: July 20, 2017] Reheated Liō

I have really enjoyed the Liō books (going forward, I’m leaving off that line over the o, because it’s a real pain).

The strip has been going on for some 12 years now, which is pretty amazing.  And yet, there don’t seem to be any new or recent collections out.

So Lio is strip about a boy named Lio.  Lio is a dark, dark kid.  He has a pet squid, he loves monsters and he’s delighted by chaos.  Over the years his character hasn’t changed much but Tatulli has given him some surprising tenderness, which is a nice trait.

This is the fifth collection of Lio strips.  And it covers the date range from September 14, 2008-June 26, 2009 with one extra strip at the end.

This book begins with school, he has a very funny joke about his amazing bubble gum skills (in which his head bursts instead of the gum).

Halloween is obviously a huge deal for him–his box of decorations is massive (and he sings “it’s the most wonderful time of the year.”  But I especially love that he creates a Jack O’ Lantern with a small firecracker (the results are very funny).

He plays pranks on his dad (hot sauce on his morning cereal).  And there’s a lot of household gags that twist perception–like the one where he’s scuba diving in his bathtub (and he comes up covered in black squid ink).

Sometimes the monsters fight back, like the one who baits a trap with a book called Horror Comix.

There’s also a bunch of alien jokes in this book most of which made me laugh out loud.  Like when the garbage man take away the alien’s rocket because it looks like a garbage can–or aliens that look just like popable packing material–look out!

His love for Eva Rose is unabated and the Valentine’s day strips show him pining for her and losing over and over.

Occasionally the strip engages with the real world like when Lio walks past a bunch of statues (including Tom Cruise) in the “Museum of the Just Plain Weird.”    I also get  a big kick out of Lio holding a box of Mike and Ike and when he dumps them out its photos of the heads of Mike Tyson and Dwight Eisenhower (how many kids get that?).

And sometimes there’s just funny jokes .  Like when he goes to the library and describes a vampire and the librarian gives him Vladdy The Little Vampire who Loved everyone.  Or when Lio is reading Curious George and the dullard boy next to him is reading Apathetic Ed.  It really made me laugh to see a Facebook profile of Captain Nemo and you see Lio’s squid typing “Nice beard you idiot.”  And what do you suppose would happen if an appropriately sized cat found the Biggest Ball of Twine?

Every once in a while you see that Lio is kind of a normal kid–like when he puts himself in a box that reads Fed Ex to Disneyland.

My favorite jokes are the ones the reference other comic strips.  Like the one in which he’s in a graveyard with Bloom County and Outbound but the grave for Opus has been dug up.  Or when he hits a baseball and it smashes into “Family Circus” and knocks out Billy.  Or the ones that just plays with strip conventions–he sneezes and knocks over a panel square (which falls on his dad).  Or tying back to Halloween where Lio and the Great pumpkin interact somewhat.  I also totally cracked up when Lio’s pet “rips” the paper (the paper is visually ripped and underneath you can see other cartoons (Foxtrot and Cathy).

Tatulli also likes to rip on strips that have been around forever.  Like when Lio makes a Time machine and then newspaper headline says Gasoline Alley celebrates 15,000 years on the comics.

And every once in a while Lio’s dad wins, like when he opens his wallet at the Christmas store and moths fly out (and you see it’s a trick–nothing says “I’m Broke” like Adam’s moths).  Or sometimes his dad plays along–and it shows just how sweet the family is.  His dad packs Lio’s lunch and labels his food Pond Muck Sandwich, Deep-Fried Troll Skin, Nuclear Mutant Werewolf Potion.

The book ends around the last day of school (with a sweet Father’s Day joke, too). What’s strange about this book is that it repeats a comic–the one with Lio and his squid sitting on Santa’s lap. It appears at Christmastime but also   It seems to have been swapped out for a May 17 2009 strip in which a giant TV falls on Lio

Since there have been different variants of the same books, I like to keep track of the publications:

 

(2007) Happiness Is a Squishy Cephalopod [covers May 15, 2006 – February 23, 2007]
(2008) Silent but Deadly: Another Liō Collection [covers February 25, 2007 – December 2, 2007.]
(2009) Liō’s Astonishing Tales: From the Haunted Crypt of Unknown Horrors [collection of first two years with commentary; May 15, 2006-December 2, 2007]
(2010) There’s Corpses Everywhere: Yet Another Liō Collection [3rd year? (2008/2009) not read yet]
(2011) Reheated Liō: A Delicious Liō Collection Ready to Devour [covers September 14, 2008-June 26, 2009]
(2012) Zombies Need Love Too: And Still Another Lio Collection [5th year? (2010/2011) must confirm dates]
(2012) Liō: There’s a Monster in My Socks [covers May 15, 2006 – February 16, 2007]
(2003) Liō: Making Friends [covers April 5, 2010 – November 25, 2010]