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Archive for the ‘Authors’ Category

Max Barry–Machine Man (2011)

Posted in Belle and Sebastian, Better Off Ted, Corporate skewering, Death, Fears, Foo Fighters, Mad Scientists, Max Barry, Military, Norah Jones, OutKast, Robots, Supernatural, Technology, The Beautiful South, The Who, Threats, Violence on January 10, 2012| 4 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: BELLE & SEBASTIAN-Write About Love (2010).

I’ve enjoyed Belle and Sebastian’s music since their debut album all those years ago.  For some reason I didn’t get into this album as much as previous releases.  In part it’s because the band has morphed quite a lot from what they used to do.  It’s true that I have really enjoyed their more rocking songs on their more recent albums, and this one is full of them.  It’s also true that a band needs to evolve, but somehow this album just never really gripped me.  I think it’s because the album takes so long to start.  The fade in is like 20 seconds!  But I’ve listened again with renewed interest recently and I’m changing my mind a bit about it.  There are plenty of great songs on this disc. 

“I Didn’t See It Coming” is a classic B&S song (after that awful delay).  It’s a wonderful duet with Sarah Martin (this is how to do a duet, guys–the ending is fantastic!).  “Come on Sister” is one of the great faster B&S songs.  The “gotta have a little FAITH” line is great and then the unexpected shift into the third part of the sing is just stunning.  I also love “Calculating Bimbo” first because who would every have thought there’d be a song with that title but also because Murdoch sings it so wonderfully.  I generally don’t like slow music, but there’s something about slow B&S song that I find myself leaning in instead of tuning out.

“I Want the World to Stop” is another wonderful “rocker.”  It’s a fast paced little ditty with great backing vocals (and it always makes me go “two, three, four” before the chorus kicks in–always the sign of a great song).

“Little Lou, Ugly Jack, Prophet John” slows things down really far.  Possibly too far for me. It’s a duet and it reminds me just a little too much of a Beautiful South duet (not a particular song, just their style).  And I have to say that The Beautiful South would have done it better.  After looking at the liner notes I realized that Norah Jones is the duettist here.  I like that Jones has been providing her services across a wide spectrum of music (Foo Fighters, OutKast etc) but I really just don’t have anything good to say about her.  The melody is nice though.  I also didn’t realize that the sing came out on Norah’s disc before the B&S disc.

The album quickly redeems itself with “Write About Love,” a great keyboard fueled rocker (with backing vocals from Carey Mulligan who I don’t know, but who nails the song “I haaate my job”).  “I’m Not Living in the Real World” has lots more keyboards and oooh vocals (it reminds me of a Who songs from Sell Out) and it’s sung by Stevie. 

From the there, the disc kind of slows down.  “The Ghost of Rockschool” is the least memorable song on the disc for me (although the horn section is nice).  “Read the Blessed Pages” is so quiet (even for B&S) that it kind of gets lost on the disc.  (The instrumental break is pretty though).  “I Can See Your Future” opens with a catchy horn blast that kind of wakes you from the slumber of the previous song.  “Sunday’s Pretty Icons” opens with a cool guitar riff, but it’s not all that memorable either.   While these last few songs are fine, they’re not as strong as the beginning of the album.  They kind of meld together. 

So I guess what I’m saying is that the first half of the disc is great and the second half is okay.  The  good songs are worth it though.  I’ll stop being so hard on the disc.

[READ: January 5, 2012] Machine Man

Don’t worry if you’re suffering from Barry blog overload, this post is about Barry’s new novel, which I just finished.

I have enjoyed Barry’s previous novels quite a lot.  They typically deal with corporate skewering and this book is no exception.  Except that the corporate skewering takes a back seat to the major sci-fi elements of the story.  Before I mention the story itself, I wanted to mention the origin of the story.  In the Acknowledgements at the end of the book, Barry explains that his fans had been nudging him to write something.  And while he had been doing projects, he hadn’t written a book in a while.  So he decided to write the book online.  He wrote a few hundred words a day and posted them online.  And then he sat back and waited for the comments to come in.

He talks about how he’s basically showing everyone his rough draft of a story and letting people tear it apart.  But he found that his fans were supportive and even offered ideas (which he then callously stole, muhahaha).  And so the story online is actually rather different from what appeared as the final draft.  (No, I’m not going to read the online version, but you can.  It’s available here).

Anyhow, as the story opens, Dr Charlie Neumann (I just got the bad pun of that name, shame on him and shame on me for not seeing it sooner) loses his phone.  He feels totally cut off without his phone.  The scene seems a little over the top (he checks his car while wearing only a towel) but it shows how technologically dependent he (and we) feel most of the time.  This kind of mild slapstick scene resolves itself in a shockingly brutal way.  When Dr Neumann gets to his office (he’s an engineer at Better Future) he finally sees where he left his phone.  Unfortunately, he has already started an industrial vice and he’s distracted by his phone long enough to have his leg crushed by said vice.

When he wakes up in the hospital, he is surrounded by people trying to help him–nurses, doctors, therapists, but he’s really just distraught about the loss of his leg.  And then he sees Lola Banks, who is bringing him a pile of artificial legs.  Lola is quite possibly the first woman who Charlie has ever spoken to who seems in any way empathetic to him (Charlie is, admittedly a pretty cold and cerebral individual). She shows him some prosthetics which he’s not too thrilled by.  But when Lola reveals that Better Future is paying for top of the line stuff for him, she shows him the highest end of the high end legs.  And Charlie falls in love (with Lola and the legs). 

Lola Banks proves to be an interesting person.  Not ony does she not recoil from Charlie and his handicap (it is her job), but she seems to almost admire Charlie for seeing the beauty in the prostheses.  Lola proves to be the kind of woman who falls for certain kinds of men, but with Charlie it’s different.  Really, it is.  Shut up, it is.

Although Charlie does see the beauty in the prostheses, he can’t help but see how they can be improved (he is an engineer after all).  And so, he sets out to make the artificial legs not just replacements but better than their human counterpart.  Better Future is on board with helping Charlie recover (which is quite nice, and somewhat unexpected coming from corporation hater Barry), but we see that Better Future knows what it has with Charlie–a single-minded, focused engineer. A man who only wants things to be more efficient.  So when Charlie starts outfitting the prosthetics with motors (and considers putting in wifi) the company is kind of impressed.  And so is Charlie.  The leg is heavy and a little unwieldy, and it’s not very pretty (it has hooves), but it sure works. 

The problem, as Charlie sees it, is that his intact leg is holding back his new invention.  How can he fully test the artificial legs if his human leg is less than the prosthetic? (more…)

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Chris Monroe–Monkey with a Tool Belt and the Noisy Problem (2009)

Posted in Children's Books, Chris Monroe, Funny (ha ha), Monkeys, They Might Be Giants, Tools on January 9, 2012| 2 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS-“Robot Parade” (2002).

They Might be Giants first children’s album, No! featured a ton of great songs.  TMBG were practically writing for kids anyhow, so they just removed some of their songs of love and death and replaced them with songs of pre-teen angst.  The title song “No!” is a wonderful look at life as a child.  But there is something so wonderfully absurd (but possibly not for kids) about “Robot Parade.”

It starts out with a funky distorted keyboard.  Which gives way to a slinky keyboard melody.

The lyrics are so simple and so joyful (despite the robotic singing style):  “In a future time/Children will work together/To build a giant cyborg.  Robot Parade, Robot Parade…robots obey what the children say”  To me this song exemplifies the childish fantasies that TMBG can present.  And even though the song is less than 90 seconds long and it doesn’t do a whole lot (listening to it again now, I was sure there was more to it), it has left a wonderful impression on me. 

And I’m sure that my children, who love putting pots on their heads and saying “I am a Robot” will one day be singing, “Robots obey what the children say.”

[READ: December 2011] Monkey with a Tool Belt and the Noisy Problem

I picked up this book on a whim when I saw the title at the library.  I mean, who wouldn’t love a monkey with a tool belt?  The art is weirdly wonderful, but it’s the story itself that was so intriguing.

First off, the monkey, the one with the tool belt, has the best name in all of children’s picture bookdom: Chico Bon Bon.  How great is that?  So great I must say it again.  Chico Bon Bon.

The real selling point (literally selling point, because I bought this for my kids for Christmas) is that there’s an elephant in the book named Clark (if you haven’t been paying attention, my son’s name is Clark.  And you NEVER see his name in anything).  So how cool to have it as a character in a book series?  And Clark’s initial appearance is awesome!

But so, if you don’t know anyone named Clark (or Chico Bon Bon) why should you read it? (more…)

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Anthony Marra–“Chechnya” (Narrative, Fall 2009)

Posted in Anthony Marra, Davila 666, Death, Prostitution, Russia, Short Story, Slavery, Threats, Wavves on January 8, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: DAVILA 666-“Eso Que Me Haces” (2011).

The Davila 666 album Tan Bajo made NPR’s Best Albums of the Year list.  And they cite this song as an example. 

This is a fuzzy, kind of tinny guitar song (that reminds me a bit of Wavves).  It’s only two minutes long and the riff is simple and catchy.  The vocals are shouted and the chorus is gang shouted.   And there’s a big “Oh Oh!” to really grab you.

So basically it’s catchy but nothing original.  The novelty of the song is that the whole thing is sung in Spanish.  If you don’t speak Spanish the vocals sound distorted enough that you may not even realize they’re in Spanish.  This band is from Puerto Rico.  And this album has been a hit both in Puerto Rico and in garage rock circles in the States. 

I’m pretty intrigued, and I’m going to have to check out the rest of their album.  NPR says it’s kind of offensive–maybe I need to re-learn Spanish.

[READ: January 4, 2012] “Chechnya”

Karen Carlson also recommended this story.  She wrote: “I didn’t think I’d like this, but it grew on me, and by the end it had me in the palm of its… well, if a story had a hand, it would’ve had me there.” 

This was a dark story.  It was a little slow to get going but once it started flowing it was really gripping.  It was as if the story picked up adrenaline as it (and the danger) progressed.  While at first the story seemed pretty obviously about Sonja, it is really about Chechnya. 

As the story opens, we meet Sonja, a nurse in war-torn Chechnya.  We learn that she works in the only hospital in the area and that even they were bombed not too long ago.  All that is left is a maternity ward and a trauma ward, and they can’t spare any electricity because their generator can’t handle anything more.  Sonja is one of the few nurses on call.  She hasn’t been home in ages and she just sleeps at the hospital. 

When Sonja wakes up, she hears that a man is waiting to talk to her.  He asks if the hospital will take in an eight-year-old girl, since both of her parents were killed.  Sonja informs the man that they are not an orphanage.  But the man, whose name is Akhmed, says that he will work at the hospital (he was in training when his wife got sick) if they will help the girl.  he immediately gets to work. 

The story then follows the parallel lives of Sonja and Akhmed as they work at the hospital.  Akhmed’s wife is delusional and dying at home.  So he can be out for 16 hours at the hospital and she doesn’t realize how long he has been gone.   Sonja forgets immediately about the girl and just stets about healing the sick.  What else can she do? (more…)

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Max Barry–“Attack of the Supermodels” (maxbarry.com, 2001)

Posted in Dinosaur Jr., Funny (ha ha), JEFF The Brotherhood, Jesus and Mary Chain, Max Barry, Models, Short Story on January 7, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: JEFF The Brotherhood “Bummer” (2011).

This song made NPR’s list of 100 Top Songs of the Year.  JEFF The Brotherhood even played a Tiny Desk Concert.  And all the while I had never heard of them.  I’m still not even sure what their story is or what their name means, but that’s okay. 

This is a very simple song (and only 2 and a half minutes long).  It features fuzzy guitars, simple chords and a catchy woah-oo-woah-oo-woah at the end of each line.  The song has a very 90s alt rock feel (Dino Jr guitar sounds, but with no solo).  And the vocals sound kind of like Jesus and Mary Chain.  Indeed, this song might have come off of any number of fuzzy guitar rock albums from the 90s.  Except that there is something thoroughly modern about the track–maybe the infusion of keyboards as effects?

What’s most surprising about the song is that although it seems fast and heavy it’s actually got kind of a slow pace, especially for a song with fuzzy guitars.  My guess is that this song stands out because there’s not a lot of bands who sound like this now.  So good for them.  I could put this song on a mx tape very easily.

[READ: December 30, 2011] “Attack of the Supermodels”

Barry admits on his site that he doesn’t write much short stuff: “I like writing novels, so I don’t write much short stuff. But I’ve done a little.”  This is one of his short stories–the earliest one listed on his site which came out about a year after Syrup, his first novel.

The amusing thing about this story is that it starts out kind of like an essay, like Barry simply describing supermodels: “they were six feet tall and when they walked, their hips transcribed perfect arcs in the air.”  However, you know something is up when the introduction posits, “They got on TV a lot, and that’s how we got used to them….  And then it was too late.”

For all of Barry’s themes of government and corporate repression and such, at heart Barry is really a sci-fi author (a humorous sci-fi author).  And he likes to have fun within the genre. So after that introduction, we get a fairly short story about, well, the attack of the supermodels. (more…)

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Linda McCullogh Moore–“Final Dispositions” (The Sun, February 2009)

Posted in Canadian Music, Constellation Records, Eric Chenaux, Linda McCullogh Moore, Short Story, The Sun, Unreliable narrator on January 6, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: ERIC CHENAUX-Warm Weather with Ryan Driver [CST068] (2010).

I just checked my review of Chenaux’s previous album and it’s funny how similar it is to what I figured I’d write about this one: soporific, free-form, sweet, hard to get into at first but ultimately rewarding.  Chenaux must be the most mellow person ever.  His songs just sort of drift around without any real theme to guide them.  Sometimes the chord changes even seem arbitrary.  And Chenaux’s voice is so slow and gentle that it’s not always clear he’s even singing along with the music.  But the thing about all of this is that it sounds very pretty (so he must know what he’s doing).

It’s not even worth me doing any kind of song by song evaluation because they are all pretty much the same–slow guitar with occasional keyboards and backing vocals.  I find the disc maddening at times and yet at other times I find it achingly beautiful.  My favorite song, the one with the most compelling melody to me, is “Mynah Bird.”  I suppose it’s the most “obvious” song, very Nick Drake-like, but it’s a great way into this record.

The Ryan Driver of the title is a piano/synth/melodica player who contributes all of the accents to the record.

There are times when I adore this album.  In the right frame of mind, this is simply a gorgeous record.  But in the wrong frame of mind, this is just slow plodding dullsville.  Choose wisely–and you will be rewarded.

[READ: January 4, 2012] “Final Dispositions”

This is another story recommended to me by Karen Carlson (see all of her recommendations in the comments to this post).  Of this one she writes: “from her linked-story collection This Road Will Take Us Closer To the Moon, available online in The Sun, Feb. 2009. A little sentimental, but well done. Try it with S&G’s “Bookends” or Janis Ian’s “Hymn [as a soundtrack].”

I loved the way this story was set up.  It opens with a woman, Margaret, who seems off somehow: “I am the oldest sibling.  Always have been.  I thought the years might mute the effect of that, but nothing so far.”  Her siblings are deciding “what to do with her.”  And after they have their confab, they call her up and ask her questions based on what they decided.

Initially you feel angry on her part, that her family is so dismissive of her.  But it soon becomes clear that they feel she needs help.  Interestingly, since the story is from Margaret’s point of view and she is lucid, it’s hard to know exactly what is wrong with her.  She talks of depressive things and speaks very deadpan but then wonders why no one has a sense of humor.

There’s not a lot of plot in the story, but there’s an initial “subplot” point when Margaret’s sister (“Irene–I mean, Eileen…. I like it that I can never keep her name straight”–[I love this joke/telling remark.  It is such a smart encapsulation of a person who is forgetful but still with it]) sends her husband over to pick Margaret up.  Tom, her brother-in-law, was previously married and the beginning of the story focuses on that a bit–on Margaret’s prying into Tom’s past presumably to needle Eileen.  The narrator soon finds out Tom’s ex-wife’s name and plans a surprise for her sister. (more…)

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Colleen AF Venable–Guinea Pig, Pet Shop Private Eye, Books 1-4 (2010-2011)

Posted in Birds, Children's Books, Colleen AF Venable, Funny (ha ha), Ghosts, Graphic Novel, Mystery, Pets, Ralph's World, Short Books, Stephanie Yue on January 5, 2012| 1 Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: RALPH’S WORLD-“Red Banana” (2006).

There’s something about kid’s music.  It’s simple, typically, and it can be either cloying or fun. But it’s a really fine line that stands between the two.  Ralph Covert of Ralph’s World manages to keep the line in view and stays on the fun side.  Ralph has a rock history (with The Bad Examples) but I think his kids music is much better and much more interesting.

“Red Banana” is a simple folk song with a wonderfully catchy chorus (“What am I gonna do if my mom finds out?”).  The verses are fun as well.  “Who ever heard of a red banana? Have you ever heard of a red banana?  I’ve never heard of a red banana.” “Who ever heard of a green gorilla?”  (Who is eating the red banana, of course.) 

Ralph knows silly, and he knows how to make silly catchy.  This whole Ralph’s World album, Green Gorilla Monster & Me is a lot of fun.

[READ: December 2010] Guinea Pig, Pet Shop Private Eye

My kids love books (surprise).  And Clark has been reading a lot by himself.  So I’ve been getting him some graphic novels for his reading pleasure.  I stumbled upon this series at the library.  It’s a little too much for him to read by himself–he read it but I know he didn’t get all of what is going on.  Nevertheless, we enjoyed the first book very much and when I learned there were four more I was thrilled!

This series is clever and funny.  And while the kids may not get all the jokes, I sure do, and I think they’re really funny.  And, there are more than enough jokes (visual and verbal) for them to enjoy and for me to enjoy reading to them.

There’s a Guinea Pig (with the best name–Sasspants) who lives in a pet store.  The pet store is owned by Mr Venezi, the most incompetent pet store owner (and business owner, frankly) ever.  Mr Venezi loves his animals but not only does he not know how to take care of them, he doesn’t even know what most of them are called.  Their tanks are mislabeled and often times animals are simply in the wrong places.  Obviously in real life this would be a disaster, but these animals are funny and clever and roll with the problems quite easily.

In the first book, the hamster named Hamisher reads the sign for Sasspants’ tank which says Guinea PI.  Naturally Hamisher thinks that Sasspants is a detective.  The story behind this name change is quite funny.  Sasspants seems to be the only animal with not only the correct name but also a name made out of sticky tiles rather than tape (one assumes this is because Sasspants is very smart and an extensive reader (as well as writer, rappeller and, eventually sleuth)).  When the G from Guinea Pi”g” falls off and goes missing, well, it’s time for our reluctant Guinea Pig to get to sleuthing. 

There are currently four books in the series and I can only hope that more are on the way soon!  All of the illustrations are by Stephanie Yue.  And they are wonderful (it is odd since Venable is a wonderful artist that she uses someone else, but hey, spread the wealth!) (more…)

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Elliott Holt–“Fem Care” (Kenyon Review, Summer 2009)

Posted in 2 Broke Girls, Canadian Music, Constellation Records, Elliott Holt, Kenyon Review, Menstruation, Short Story on January 4, 2012| 1 Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: NICK KUEPFER-Avestruz [CST072] (2011).

This is the first disc in the Musique Fragile 01 set that I’ll be writing about.  Kueper’s disc is pretty daring, at least for an unsigned artist.

The album is a series of short (1-4 minute) instrumentals, with each one featuring a different instrument as the lead–guitar, accordion, drums, violin.  And yet they aren’t songs so much as sketches, or even soundtracks to an unmade film.  The songs don’t have standard construction–they just seem to ramble on a little bit until they stop.  And yet the whole album has a cohesiveness that creates a picture.  In some places it’s more obvious than others, but you can hear woodpeckers and other birds (or possibly people whistling like birds?). .

I love “Corpse in the Wildflowers” (accordion), “Kettle” (percussion), “Red Sand Market” (acoustic guitar and accordion), “Blue Pig” (guitar and violin) and “Public Transit” (acoustic guitar).  “Tail Still Moves” is a slightly off-kilter sawing kind of song.  It’s not exactly pleasant but it brings an interesting aspect to the disc.  The final instrumental track has a kind of lo-fi Sebadoh feel (cool guitar riffs played on a crappy guitar).

Some of the tracks in the middle don’t really go anywhere “Vampyro” is just kind of meandering and “Bus Windows” is a bit long, but they all add to the soundtrack of this fake movie.  I keep picturing a dry Western town, a windmill creaky in the slow wind.

The final track is very confusing, however, it’s a “live,” poorly recorded song in which Kuepfer sings along with his strumming.  You can barely hear him and I’m nots ure what to make of it.  The birds are pretty, though.

The Constellation site says that these were field recordings done in Argentina.  So that’s pretty cool too.   I’d like to hear more from him, but I’d also like to hear a bit more of a complete idea rather than sketches.

[READ: December 3, 3012] “Fem Care”

This is the first story that I read which was recommended by Karen Carlson.  She describes it like this “As much fun as you can have with menstruation. Literary fiction doesn’t often look at professional women at work. This could be a little chick-lit for a guy. Somehow I’m thinking Carly Simon would be good here [for a soundtrack].”

Karen is pretty much right on the money.  I really enjoyed this story quite a lot.  It deals with women and business and women’s business.  The story takes place at the annual Beauty Summit in Miami.  The unnamed narrator works as a market researcher for a company that sells feminine beauty products.  “Fem Care” is shorthand for her division: feminine care products, a division that lacks any of the sex appeal of, say, skin care products.

The summit sounds dreadful.  As we zoom in on the scene a German man is making everyone laugh as part of  a kind of team building exercise.  The narrator has had enough and excuses herself.  This part in which the department head, Luis, is embarrassed by tampons, when that is what his very division markets is quite funny and is done very well.  And, I might add, the same basic joke was played out on 2 Broke Girls just this week, but Elliott Holt handles it with so much more grace and simplicity that the 2 Broke Girls writers should really read this story. (more…)

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Max Barry–“Things Critics Do That Piss Me Off” (maxbarry.com, 2002)

Posted in Book Reviews, Khôra, Les Momies De Palerme, Max Barry, Nick Kuepfer on January 3, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: MUSIQUE FRAGILE 01 (2011).

Constellation Records released this 3 volume set of unsigned Montreal-based musicians in 2011.  It comes in a package of three LPs or 3 CDs (the CD package is the same shape as the vinyl, with the 3 discs inserted into the front–see picture).  Both version come complete with all kinds of cool artwork–posters and postcards–that really set the tone for each album.  You can see the contents here.

Presumably if they have an 01, they’re planning on an 02, but in the meantime, we have this collection.  The artists are Les Momies De Palerme, Khôra and Nick Kuepfer.  I’ve been listening to the discs over the holiday break and I’ll write about each one individually over the next couple of days.

But in the meantime, you can hear a sample at the link above.

[READ: December 30, 2011] “Things Critics Do That Piss Me Off”

I said that I’d be writing about a whole bunch of Max Barry things from his website.  I was going to focus on just the short stories, but there were only three.  So I figured I’d write about all of the things he had posted on this page (assuming they were his favorite).  He doesn’t write very often on the website/blog.  A cursory view of the front page shows a post every month or so.  So it’s not like he culled these posts from thousands.  But that’s okay.  They’re still interesting.  And they’re a nice corollary while I read his new book Machine Man.

Of course, not every post will blow your mind.  “Things Critics Do That Piss Me Off” is, as the title says, a little rant.  Now since, ostensibly I am a critic (sad fact must be faced) I actually get to read this as the target of his rant rather than the audience for the rant.  Of course, I always imagined I would write fiction myself, so I can also look at it from that point of view too.

Regardless of which side of  the coin you find yourself, these are pretty good things to hear from a writer.  And I’ll look at it as a kind of resolutions for 2012.

1) Reads my mind (his example is of a critic saying that Barry got bored at some point while writing the book).  I think I have done this once in a while (not the bored part, just tried to guess the author’s mindset).  It’s kind of fun to try to imagine what the writer is going through.  But I don’t do it very often and I shall try to do it less.

2) Spots Plot Holes That Aren’t There (his example is of a critic misunderstanding when something happened in the story).  This one is hard to know when you are guilty.  I would never do this on purpose (who would?), but if I make a mistake, I always correct it.

3) Spots Plot Holes That Are There (his example: shut the fuck up).  I admit I don’t often find plot holes unless they are glaringly obvious.  I like to give the writer the benefit of the doubt. (more…)

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Looking ahead to 2012

Posted in A.M. Homes, Douglas Coupland, John Sayles, McSweeney's, Short Story on January 1, 2012| Leave a Comment »

That’s right, I hopped on a meme bandwagon.  I like most of the Ryan Gosling “Hey Girl” pictures, but this one was particularly amusing.  Thanks, Feminist Ryan Gosling.

Last year I had started a post called “Things to expect in 2011.”  I never finished the post and never published it.  I looked at the draft the other day and was intrigued that not only didn’t I finish what I prepared to read, but as I was prepping this post I wound up with many of the same goals for 2012.  One thing I realized was that it takes longer to read than I think it does.  I have ten McSweeney’s issues left that I want to read.  It won’t take me a month to read one, but it could take upwards of two weeks.  So, that’s almost half a year.   Astonishing. (more…)

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Max Barry–“Succeeding in Business Through Marketing Fads” (maxbarry.com, 2000)

Posted in Consumerism, Corporate skewering, Essays, Lemonheads, Max Barry, Technology, The Future on December 31, 2011| 5 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: LEMONHEADS-Varshons (2009).

This is a Lemonheads covers album.  The amazing thing about this covers album is that mot of the originals are quite unknown (heck I didn’t even recognize some of the artists).  But he manages to put a good Lemonheads spin on most of them (the  later country/folk Lemonheads style) and it makes for an enjoyable listen.  ALthough truth be told, most of the songs aren’t as catchy as a good Lemonheads song.

“I Just Cant Take it Anymore” and “Fragile” are folky/country songs, not too far out of line with the Lemonheads sound.  “Living with Linda” is a strange choice on the disc.  It’s a cover of a song by G.G, Allen, a performer who I know a lot about (he’s infamous) but who I have never heard.  I assume that the original is a brutal punk song (it’s about killing an ex girlfriend, after all) but Dando turns it into something of a Johnny Cash type song (using his best deep voice).

“Waiting Around to Die” is a dark song, another good country ballad.  “Green Fuz” has a cool backwards guitar solo.  “Yesterlove” is a long, slow builder of a song that, intriguingly seems to move seamlessly from one section to another.  I really like it.  “Dandelion Seeds” is a trippy weird song  that works quite well in the Lemonheads universe.

“Dirty Robot” is the really big surprise on the disc. After all of the folky country music, this song is a totally electronic song (and a very simple one at that). In addition to the electronic surprise is the fact that the lead vocals are supplied by Kate Moss (Dando has a robot-processed spoken verse).

The only song I knew here was the cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Hey That’s No Way to Say Goodbye.”  This is a fine but very quiet version which features a duet by Liv Tyler (!?).  (It would be impossible to screw up this song).  The final song is probably my favorite.  It’s a cover of Christina Aguilara’s “Beautiful.”  I’ve always liked the song (it’s quite touching) but I must say I like Dando’s version better.  It’s very understated (and he changes the words to “I am Beautiful” instead of “You are beautiful”–interesting change or egotism?).

So this is a strange covers album, quite atypical for the world of covers.  It’s not often that a covers record introduces yo to a whole bunch of new material.

[READ: December 30, 2011] “Succeeding in Business Through Marketing Fads”

I am running dangerously close to not having anything to post about in 2012.  Not for the entire year, but on a daily basis.  I have effectively caught up to all of the posts that I had planned to write.  I have read all of the New Yorker and Harper’s stories that I had lying around and because of my new job it’s taking me considerably longer to read books.

I was seriously planning on having this post be about how I wouldn’t be able to have any more daily posts in 2012.

Enter Max Barry.

I’ve read all three of Barry’s previous books (indeed I read his first book years and years ago and didn’t even tie it into his other ones until his bio did it for me).  I’ve enjoyed them all.  He has a new book out that I am currently enjoying called Machine Man.  Anyhow, reading this book made me want to see about his short stories and the like.  Well, his website has a few short pieces on it.  Enough to get me through the next week anyhow.

For you, dear reader, that means you’ll get a whole week’s worth of Max Barry before you can get to whatever else I manage to finish next year. (more…)

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