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Archive for the ‘Steve Martin’ Category

Steve Martin, My Vacation, and a Brush with Glory

Posted in Steve Martin on August 20, 2007| Leave a Comment »

What I learned today is that my vacation cost me a chance for unparalleled glory! While I was away, I decided to really sink into a vacation: absolutely no contact with email or blogs or even cell phones. Just total isolation. And, it was delightful. I really enjoyed relaxing and having fun with friends. [Note: Cleveland is far too maligned. It is a delightful city, with cool shops, access to a beautiful Great Lake, and charming houses. In fact, I have visited several towns in central Ohio which are so much more depressing that, you could shoot an hour south of Cleveland and easily have a more deservedly mocked city.] But I digress. (more…)

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What I learned… (6) [Hypocrisy]

Posted in Daniel Tammet, Digression, Politicians, Steve Martin, Vikram Chandra on June 19, 2007| Leave a Comment »

I may be a hypocrite. In the short time that I’ve been keeping this blog, I have contradicted, or flip/flopped or undermined myself in almost everything I had originally stated! First I railed against the iPod, and then complained about getting screwned (see What I leaned… (5)) which is all but alleviated by the iPod. Next, I write a big post about not being able to leave a book unfinished, and less than a week later I leave one unfinished. Then I have a huge rant against memoirs, and, lo and behold, two of my last three books are memoirs. However, what I learned is that memoirs are a very different beast from novels. And I found while reading these two is that you really don’t have to pay attention when reading a memoir. When I was reading Sacred Games I had dozens of characters to try and keep straight, any of whom could pop up and do or say something meaningful at any time. When reading the Steve Martin memoir, the only character I had to keep in mind was Steve (since almost every time he would say My Mother or My Father or My Sister for the other important characters. In Daniel Tammet’s book he consistently explains who each person in his life is. So, I guess what it comes down to is that memoirs are much easier to read, and by extension, easier to pick up and put down. And in that respect, I really don’t like them. I enjoyed Martin’s because his career was funny and had an impact on my childhood, but in general, you won’t see too many more popping up here.

What’s interesting to me is that all of these changes of mind or opinion are a sign of growth for me. I said something, and then tried something else. Whether I liked the new way or not, there’s nothing wrong with admitting you were right or wrong. It’s funny how politicians are so fearful of changing their minds and being seen as flip-floppers. Whoever started that particular insult has pretty much condemned us to a group of leaders who can never change their minds. What a terrible display of leadership that is. How can you ever trust anyone who shows no sign of growth? So, hypocrite or open minded, you be the judge.

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Steve Martin–Born Standing Up [prepub] (2007).

Posted in Digression, Funny (ha ha), Memoirs, Muse, Short Books, Steve Martin, Tenacious D, Vikram Chandra on June 6, 2007| Leave a Comment »

martin.jpgSOUNDTRACK: TENACIOUS D-The Pick of Destiny (2006) & MUSE-Black Holes and Revelations (2006).

d.jpgTENACIOUS D-The Pick of Destiny: Let’s face it, The D are the greatest band in the world. However, this album, basically a soundtrack to their film, is not their greatest work. The interludes are pretty slight and while the tunes all rock, the lyrics are too much of an “advance the plot” rather than “just song” nature. Having said that, the opening song is awesome, and the rock-off with the devil is pretty amazing. My other gripe is how many “fuckings” there are on the record. It’s practically more than in Scarface! I’m no prude by any means, I just think it’s lazy writing.

SOUNDTRACK CONT.: MUSE-Black Holes and Revelations (2006).

When Muse firstmuse.jpg came out they were pegged as a Radiohead knock-off. But the thing was that they sounded like Radiohead USED to sound like circa OK Computer, and since Radiohead no longer sounded like that, we can be thankful for Muse for picking up that mantel. Now with this latest record they moved somewhat beyond Radiohead, although a voice is a voice after all (see DIGRESSION below), and are now verging into Queen territory. With a healthy dose of Philip Glass (or is that Michael Nyman?) thrown in. And it is filled with pretension, and overblown orchestration, and earth-saving geopolitical ideas, and it simply rocks! Not for everyone, that’s for sure (my friend’s wife cannot STAND this band), but if you like RadioheadmeetsRush, then check out Muse and be blown away.

[READ: June 2007] Born Standing Up.

I surprised myself, by actually reading this book very quickly and before it came out! I picked up an Advanced Copy at BEA. At a previous ALA I had picked up Sacred Games and it took me over a year to even look at it. This prepub attracted me immediately because the cover was Steve Martin in a b&w photo of him in a white suit with his bunny ears on. (more…)

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