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Archive for the ‘Boredom’ Category

Dav Pilkey–Captain Underpants and the Big Bad Battle of the Bionic Booger Boy Part 2: The Revenge of the Ridiculous Robo-Boogers (2003)

Posted in "Weird Al" Yankovic, Adventure, Berlin, Boredom, Children's Books, Dav Pilkey, Deep Purple, Devo, Foreigner, Funny (ha ha), Iron Butterfly, Jimi Hendrix, Mad Scientists, Talking Heads, The B-52's, The Beatles, The Clash, The Doors, The Police, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Yuck! on March 3, 2013| Leave a Comment »

booger1SOUNDTRACK: “WEIRD AL” YANKOVIC in 3-D (1984).

in3dAfter Al’s debut he came roaring back the next year with In 3-D a disc which opens with his first Michael Jackson parody “Eat It.”  The song was leaps and bounds above anything on the debut (even if there are still hand farts in it).  The song actually sounds like the original (if a little less “full” and a little goofier and on the whoo hoos).  But the solo by Rick Derringer rocks and the whole song works very well.  The rest of the album is a solid mix of originals and parodies

I didn’t really understand that “Midnight Star” was meant to parody the Weekly World News and such (I didn’t really know those papers at the time) but I thought the headlines were funny.  And yes its a lot of fun to sing a long to.  It’s always funny when Al parodies a song that is already rather stupid (My Sharona, or in this case Safety Dance), and “The Brady Bunch” opens with a general overview of stupid TV shows and then morphs into the The Bunch’s theme song to the music of “Safety Dance.”  “Gonna Buy Me  A Condo” is a reggae song which I never really got the joke of as a kid.  I mean, I knew it was reggae but I didn’t know enough about reggae to know that this song is kinda funny, about selling out for the mainstream life.  It’s not genius or anything but it’s kinda funny–in fact I think it’s funnier now than I ever did as a kid.

“Jeopardy” works perfectly as a parody.  It retains all of the weird sounds and “drama” of the original and yet it works entirely unto itself.  It’s definitely an early highlight.  This disc also introduces what would be come a staple on all his later albums:  “Polkas on 45” where he mashes together a string of songs into a polka beat.  They are always fun and clever.  This one is a mix of new wave and classic rock bands Devo, Deep Purple,  Berlin, The Beatles,  The Doors,  Iron Butterfly, Jimi Hendrix, Talking Heads, Foreigner, The Police,  The Clash,  The Rolling Stones,  and The Who.

“Mr Popeil” is another one that I didn’t full get until later (why did i like Al if I didn’t get any of the jokes?).  Ron Popeil is the king of the As Seen on TV  product (as listed in the song).  The thing that I really didn’t get was that this is was a parody of the B-52s–one of the first parodies he’d done that’s a parody of band but not really a song.  This is not a parody of Rock Lobster exactly, but it sounds quite a lot like it–and that’s a neat trick.

“King of Suede” is a parody of The Police–I never really liked it even though it does work as a parody–perhaps the original isn’t a very string song.    “That Boy Could Dance” is instantly forgettable, so much so that I had forgotten all about it.  “Theme from Rocky XIII” is a pretty funny parody of “The Eye of the Tiger.”  But it doesn’t prepare you for the genius that is “Nature Trail to Hell.”  An epic song about horror movies with the great line “if you lie the 6 o clock news you’ll love Nature Trail to Hell (in 3D).”  It’s over the top and very silly–the music escalates  with screams and strings and several different sections (although the solo section is a little anemic).  I can’t imagine what he would do with it today if he rerecorded it.

So In 3-D was a big jump in quality for “Weird Al” and was actually a pretty big hit (charting at #17).

[READ: February 22, 2013] Captain Underpants and the Big Bad Battle of the Bionic Booger Boy Part 2

Since it is 2013 and not 2003, I don’t have to wait several months for Part 2.  Huzzah!

The opening comic in this book not only gives all of the Captain Underpants background that it usually does, it also includes what happened in Part 1.  At the end of the book, the robotic booger monsters (Carl, Trixie and Frankenbooger) were on the attack.  They destroyed the Combine-O-Tron 2000 so it would not reverse the effects of the machine on Captain and Melvin.  But Sulu the hamster rescued them by hurling the boogers into space (with his mouth, ew).

The boys want to get things back to normal.  But Professor Krupp (who is in Melvin’s body) is going about his business getting everyone in trouble.  Except that since he looks like Melvin people are getting angry at him rather than listening to him.  This book features a wonderful letter swap from “Check out our school’s big internet website at http://www.jhes.com” to “We shake our big butts when we swim in the toilet.”

The boys give up on trying to fix the Combine-O-Tron and decide to use the Purple Potty Time Machine that is in the library and go back in time.  There’s a great sequence in which the librarian has banned every book but one and I love the posters that are up encouraging the banning of books–it’s another awesome dig at those who censor.  And the librarian is named Miss Singerbrains. (more…)

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Dav Pilkey–Captain Underpants and the Big Bad Battle of the Bionic Booger Boy Part 1: The Night of the Nasty Nostril Nuggets (2003)

Posted in "Weird Al" Yankovic, Adventure, Boredom, Children's Books, Dav Pilkey, Funny (ha ha), Mad Scientists, Yuck! on March 2, 2013| Leave a Comment »

boogerpt1SOUNDTRACK: “WEIRD AL” YANKOVIC-“Weird Al Yankovic” (1983).

wayI have evidently always loved parody.  When “Weird Al” first came out I heard about “Another One Rides the Bus” (from where?  where could I have heard about this in like 1981 or 1982, I didn’t know about Dr. Demento), and really wanted to hear it.  I knew (and loved) “Another One Bites the Dust” but I had no information about the “Weird Al” song.  And there was really no way to learn about it in 1982 or 1983.  My only source of record buying was Pathmark.  And asking the clerks for “Another One Rides the Bus” inevitably brought me to the Queen album.  I’m somehow astonished that even at the tender age of 13, I was more hip and indie than “mainstream records stores” (or at least Pathmark).

I’d be lying if I were to say that “Another One Rides the Bus ” has stood the test of time (although really, hand farts never go out of style).  Indeed, no matter how much I love  “Weird Al” (and I have seen him on every tour  for the last several tours), that first album just doesn’t really do it for me anymore (although I know I loved it when I got it).  It may have something to do with the song parody choices or just the fact that I’ve heard them so many times.  But I think part of it is that Al has matured into a really consummate recording artist–his songs are as full and complex as the originals he parodies (and his originals are comparably full).  By contrast, this first album is very sparse–focusing on the accordion and sound effects more than trying to recreate the song.  And hey, I know he had no budget, it’s totally understandable.  It’s just that now all these years later, it sounds more like a demo than anything else.

I also have to wonder if I ever thought these songs were actually funny–at this point Ricky seems just as preposterous a song as Mickey (And, yes, Ricky is better).  “I Love Rocky Road” holds up better than “Ricky” (hand farts you see) and is actually better than the original too.  “Stop Dragging My Car Around” is a pretty funny parody in theory–I like the idea of deflating the original, although I’m not sure that the new lyrics actually work.  There’s some funny car jokes, but I’m not sure that the chorus is actually right.  I do love the way Al plays with his voice (and the backing hey hey heys are great).  Somehow “My Bologna” still holds up surprisingly well–certainly as good as the original.

Al’s originals are a mixed bag.  I’ve always loved “Gotta Boogie” even if I didn’t quite get the double meaning until a few years after hearing it.  “Buckingham Blues” is a weird topic choice, although I guess the Charles and Diane wedding was a big enough deal to mock it.  “Happy Birthday” is a pretty funny song and it could easily stand up to a re-recording.  (Lyrically the song is very dark and not really kid-friendly (birth and death and all that).  “The Check’s in the Mail” is another song I didn’t “get” until many years later–why would I know these business cliches?  Nevertheless, I knew the words quite well and think of it whenever I hear someone spouting a cliche.  “I’ll Be Mellow When I’m Dead” is a fun song that mocks the “self-help” scene.  This was probably funnier for older people who might actually know what he’s talking about (Like wow, man can you relate).  But even if you don’t get all the references, the chorus is sure fun to sing along.  The lyric, “I don’t want no part of that vegetarian scene” is a funny line since he is a vegetarian (although I don’t know when he became one).  Musically it’s interesting though because he throws different styles of music into the one song, something he would definitely play with later.  “Such a Groovy Guy”  tries a little too hard.  And the final song “Mr Frump  in The Iron Lung” is just bizarre (and something I didn’t get for many many years–did they even still use iron lungs in 1983?)

In retrospect this isn’t a great indication of what Weird Al would eventually achieve, but there’s a lot of fun stuff and songs that I still remember the lyrics to thirty years later–not a bad thing at all.

[READ: February 22, 2013] Captain Underpants and the Big Bad Battle of the Bionic Booger Boy Part 1

Every Captain Underpants book ends with “Here we Go Again” and an assumed next book.  But this is the first book in the series that ends with an actual stated next part (see title).  This is also the first book where events of the previous book impact this one.  Ms Ribble is still nice!  And she is still making cookies every day.

Two things struck me in this book: the language that Pilkey uses is a little more difficult.  He’s using bigger words and some harder ideas and I wondered if the audience was getting older with Pilkey or if he just wanted to stretch his audience a bit.  Conversely, George and Harold’s spelling is getting worse.  It initially bothered me that their spelling was so bad (I don’t want kids to learn bad habits), but now Pilkey points out how bad their spelling is and it is so bad (they spell “once” wrong), that I guess it’s more funny than anything else.

This book also introduced me to squishies.  I don’t know of this prank ever took off in schools  but of all the things that this series had done that might get parents upset, squishies has to be the worst.  Basically you put packs of ketchup under the toilet seat so when someone sits on it–splat.  I could see that catching on and causing a lot of trouble.

The bad guy in this book proves to be uber-geek Melvin Sneedly.  Melvin has a appeared before.  He is a rule-follower and a tattle-tale.  He’s also really smart and makes cool inventions like the Combine-O-Tron 2000 (it cracks me up that every thing is still “2000” even though the books were written in 2003).  The Combine-O-Tron in this case combines a hamster and a robot to make a cyborg hamster.  But the kids in class are too interested in squishies to care about this cool cyborg.  Which really angers Melvin. (more…)

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Dav Pilkey–Captain Underpants and the Perilous Plot of Professor Poopypants (2000)

Posted in Boredom, Children's Books, Dav Pilkey, Funny (ha ha), Mad Scientists, The Diggity Dudes, Yuck! on February 18, 2013| Leave a Comment »

poopySOUNDTRACK: THE DIGGITY DUDES-“Grover Cleveland” (2012).

groverIn honor of Presidents’ Day, I offer you this song by The Diggity Dudes.

This song talks about some of the less famous presidents (Grover Cleveland, James K. Polk (doesn’t get any credit at all), William Henry Harrison, Rutherford B. Hayes (actually I feel like he’s pretty well known, no?)).

But what I like best is how they say there are so many Presidents, they can’t get through them in a three minute song.  Or can they?  Yes indeed.

So there’s a fun and fast list of all of the Presidents (mostly last names).  The song is recent enough that Barack Obama is included as well.  Although their list is not terribly catchy, it does get all of the Presidents in.  And the “take your time, check the list and remember them all” section is certainly catchy.

Do you remember them all?

[READ: February 16, 2013] Captain Underpants and the Perilous Plot of Professor Poopypants

The books keep getting bigger and the cast of characters keeps getting larger (like Mr Rected and Miss Labelled).  This book also introduces us to Professor Pippy P (which stands for Pee-Pee) Poopypants who hails from New Swissland.  Professor Poopypants’ name is not unusual in New Swissland–everyone’s name is preposterous there (like Jiggles T. Chunkyskunks, for example).  But when Professor Poopypants tries to show off his amazing new shrink ray and enlarging ray, he is laughed at constantly for his name.

This makes him mad.  And he will seek revenge.

Like the other Captain books, this one opens with a comic by George and Harold which recaps the other books (their comic is also longer than the others).  And unsurprisingly, the story opens with the boys getting in trouble.  This time they switch the school sign to read Don’t Fart in a Diaper. But they are nabbed red-handed by Professor Krupp.  Their punishment is to clean the teacher’s lounge while the rest of the school goes on an awesome field trip.

So they do what they do best–a very very funny take on tarring and feathering (totally justified, those teachers are MEAN!).  But after the prank, their science teacher Mr. Fyde (ha!) quits.

Mr Krupp doesn’t know how he will replace the science teacher.  But when Professor Poopypants reads about the open Poisson  he imagines it as a way to get respect from the scientific community.  And, he knows it’s a good place to start because he can get respect in the school–little kids are so sweet and understanding. (more…)

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David Almond, Eoin Colfer, Roddy Doyle, Deborah Ellis, Nick Hornby, Margo Lanagan, Gregory Maguire, Ruth Ozeki, Linda Sue Park, Tim Wynne-Jones–Click: One Novel Ten Authors (2007)

Posted in Beach House, Boredom, Boxing, Cocteau Twins, David Almond, Death, Deborah Ellis, Eoin Colfer, Gregory Maguire, Linda Sue Park, Margo Lanagan, My Bloody Valentine, Nick Hornby, Roddy Doyle, Ruth Ozeki, Tim Wynne-Jones, Travel, War on February 12, 2013| Leave a Comment »

clickSOUNDTRACK: BEACH HOUSE-Teen Dream (2010).

teendreamI didn’t know Beach House until this album got huge raves in end of the year lists.  I decided to investigate it and I was really pleasantly surprised by the album’s Cocteau Twins meets My Bloody valentine feel.  I have recently read that their first two albums were not quite as big and full and orchestral as this album, which meant that this one marked a recording (but not necessarily song stylistic) change for the band.  Part of me wants to hear what the earlier, more homemade version of the band sounds like, and yet I like the full almost orchestrated feel of this album so much that I can’t imagine going back to a less big sound.

The album opens with a delicately reverbed guitar riff—it feels warm and summery and then the angelic voices kick in and the ahhhs launch the song into the stratosphere.  And it pretty much stays there for the whole album.  There’s virtually no bass and only the slightest hints of drums (time-keeping measures rather than percussion).  Well, okay, “Better Times” has drums but even they are mild.  Victoria Legrand’s voice just soars, sometimes in staccato bursts, but mostly in otherworldly seeming falsetto (with occasion moments when she sounds kind of masculine and yet still angelic–it’s an amazing range).  There’s mostly reverbed guitars but on some tracks like “Used to Be” there are keyboards as well.  They’re even more prevalent (and more 80s sounding) on “Lover of Mine.”

Despite the sameness of the songs, the album doesn’t feel like one song repeated over.  The melodies are unique and the composition of the songs really shows a lot of diversity within a format.  Like “10 Mile Stereo” which has a faster pace than the other but still maintains that ethereal vibe.  Or “Real Love” which introduces a piano into the mix, and the song feels a little less ethereal, but only a little.  The album is also not too long.  It’s like a wonderful blast of summer.

The CD comes with a DVD with videos for each song, although I have not watched them yet.

[READ: February 11, 2013] Click

I discovered this story because it was listed in Roddy Doyle’s bibliography on Wikipedia.  I’m somewhat surprised that I’d never heard of it as I know so many of the authors that were involved (indeed, several of them are involved in the 39 Clues, another multiple author series).  This book is billed as a YA book and I guess it is as many of the sections are about teenagers, but some characters grow old and there’s some talk of the bombing of Hiroshima which may be a bit intense (there’s no pictures and no detailed descriptions, but still…).  It is a quick read though, so I guess it can qualify as YA.

The story is about a photographer named Gee (real name George Keane) and how he impacted so many lives.  In the first story/chapter (each chapter is like a short story that contributes to the overall picture and each one of these is written by someone different), written by Linda Sue Park, we learn that Gee has just died.  He left his granddaughter Maggie (who I came to think of as the “main” character, even though she doesn’t appear in every story) a box with seven compartments.  In each compartment was a shell with a clue, suggesting that she should take all of the shells back to where they came from–a subtle encouragement to travel the world.  But Maggie is utterly distressed by Gee’s death and she can’t get off the couch where she used to spend time with him.  Eventually her parents offer to take her to one of those locations–Japan–getting her life started at last. (more…)

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J. Torres & J. Bone–The Collected Alison Dare: Little Miss Adventures 2 (2005)

Posted in Adventure, Boredom, Children's Books, Egyptology, Funny (ha ha), Graphic Novel, J. Bone, J. Torres, Marriage Trouble, Nazis, Pirates, Portlandia, Religion, Short Books on February 11, 2013| Leave a Comment »

alsion1SOUNDTRACK: THE DOUBLECLICKS-Pirates!  The PPDXYAR EP (2012).

pdxyarI wanted to explore more of The Doubleclicks’ music, and their site showed off this EP.  It was made for Talk Like a Pirate Day (you’re already sold, right?) and EP is a tribute to the Portland Pirate crew of PDXYAR (whatever that is).  The first song is “The Pirates of PDXYAR highlights what I’ve come to understand is the real Doubleclicks sound: ukulele and cello.  But this one also has a host of backing vocals (make and female).  The song is all about the pirates of PDXYAR and how they came to be and how the represent Portland.

The second song “How Not to Touch a Pirate” is a simpler song which insists that, tempting as it may seem, you should NOT be touching any of the pirates (this seems like a real inside joke).  Its amusing and would probably be funnier if I knew more about PDXYAR.  And oops, this song even has an F-bomb at the end–watch out!

The final track is a remix of “The Pirates of PDXYAR, ”  And mostly it allows more funny backing vocals.  It’s a better, funnier track because of it.

I’m not sold on The Doubleclicks yet.  I like them, but I think more in small doses.

So it turns out that PDXYAR is a Portland-based pirate crew, which you can read about on their website.  The lyrics to the song seem to explain  the origins of the pirates (kickstarter).  Frankly, I don’t know why the pirates (and the Doubleclicks) haven’t appeared on Portlandia yet.

[READ: February 7, 2013] Alison Dare: Little Miss Adventures 2

Volume 2 of Alison Dare is just as fun as Volume 1.  Although I admit the first story was a little confusing (I was never really sure exactly how these books were published originally, so it wasn’t clear that the first few stories were connected.  Although in retrospect it seems obvious enough.

In the first story, “What I Did on My Summer Vacation” it’s obvious that Alison doesn’t have much in the way of the excitement that girls expect from her.  So she makes up an elaborate story which all of the girls (except her two close friends) find wonderful   In “The Unbelievable Truth” we see what really happened (and we see that Alison’s story wasn’t far off, but that details make all the difference).

In “The Perfect Gift” the Blue Scarab (aka Alison’s dad) searches for the perfect gift for his daughter.  But that proves harder than he thought, especially when she accidentally takes a precious jewel that he has recovered in a mission.  In “A Day at the Museum” the girls open something they shouldn’t and unleash a plague.  This ties to the previous story in an unexpected way.  And in “The Gift Exchange” the previous two stories come together for a satisfying conclusion. (more…)

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Bannister & Nykko–The ElseWhere Chronicles Book Four: The Calling (2009) & Book Five: The Parting (2011) [translated 2010/2011]

Posted in Bannister, Boredom, Carol Klio Burrell, Children's Books, Fantasy, Fears, Garbage, Nykko, Short Books, Supernatural on February 9, 2013| Leave a Comment »

elsewhere4SOUNDTRACK: GARBAGE-Not Your Kind of People (2012).

notyourkinddAfter Bleed, I had basically given up on Garbage.  And they had given up as well, so it made the breakup easier.  For seven years they stayed away, but in 2012 the band reunited and released Not Your Kind of People.  I wasn’t planning to get it–two great albums and two very mediocre albums l leave a listener with a tough decision   But I heard good things–a return to form, less dance more rock and I gave in.

And it was a good choice.  The slickness is still there, which makes sense given who we are dealing with, but it feels more powerful than recent albums and, even better, Manson seems angrier which always makes her vocals better.

“Big Bright World” could have been a hit (for a new band) although it’s a little generic.  “Blood for Poppies” returns to that good grungy guitar sound and yet with its “Wo Ho Ohs” it also has pop song trappings.  “Control” is big and loud with some interesting sounds thrown on top.  It’s probably the closest to 2.0  Even the chorus is very old school Garbage, something they seemed to shy away from on the last two albums.

“Not Your Kind of People is a slow ballady type song but it stands above their recent ballads–the song is cleaner and darker, much more interesting.  And given how sweet the backing vocals of the chorus sound, I’m surprised I like it as much I do.  “Felt” has a real “Stupid Girl” feel to it, except for the poppy bridge.  I don’t like the end where she repeats the Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh bit, but that’s just something I dislike about pop music in general.  “I Hate Love” brings in all of the glitches and electronics that the band uses so effectively, and despite the retro-90s feel of that, it really adds to the music.  “Sugar” is a beautiful slow song. The kind that, when they do it well, sounds great.

“Battle in Me”  is almost a great song.  The guitar builds and then stops short–it worked so well on “Supervixen” but sounds just too sterile here–the technology too crisp or something   But “Man on a Wire” does everything right–the guitars, Shirley’s screaming/singing, the rough guitars–it’s a shame this is buried so far down on the album.  “Beloved Freak” is a nice closer although as I complained from “Special” quoting someone else’s song in your song is cool once, but dong it again sounds lazy. So here we get her ending the song with a line from “This Little light of Mine” which doesn’t work and rather than making you smile like it did on Special it makes you go, “Huh?”  Plus as anyone who ever wrote a paper knows, never end with someone else’s words!

Still, this is a nice return to creative excitement from the band.  And while it never reaches the majesty of their first two albums it comes close to some of their past glories.

[READ: February 1, 2013] The ElseWhere Chronicles Book Four and Five

After a hiatus, Bannister & Nykko return with what feels like a new version of The Elsewhere Chronicles.  The look of the art is slightly different.  It’s clearly the same artist but the lines and angles look a little different on the characters–just a wee bit harsher.  It’s odd.  But it shows that things are a little different now.

The setting is nine moths after the end of book three.  Max has not spoken to any of the others since the lat book when his mother slapped him. Indeed, he’s been hanging around with his brother and his brother’s friends who are no good (especially to Max).  But Theo and Noah had rescued a bunch of things from Grandpa Gabe’s house.  They stored them safely somewhere before the house was demolished.  Meanwhile, Rebecca has been ill and hasn’t seen any of them.  She believes that the illness was caused in the other world and knows she needs to return there to get better.

Max is having a hard time with his new gang  They don’t respect him at all and he actually hates hanging around with them all.  In fact they just kicked him out of their gang and he is sulking when he believes he sees Rebecca.  Could she really have returned?  He follows her as she goes to her grandpa’s house.  She starts to break down when she sees that it was demolished.  She’s about to despair when and old friend sees her and gives her comfort.

Noah and Theo show her that they have Gabe’s possessions.  And they show her that the have figured out how to use the machine.  So they reactivate the passageway and the three of them return to the other world.  Before we can really see what happens over there, Max heads off to the hiding place.  He also passes through the passageway where he runs into Gabe who (after threatening to kill Max) offers to drive him to where Rebecca and the boys must be.

They arrive just as Rebecca and friends sneak into a cave.  Gabe says that the cave leads to nothing but danger.  And as the book ends, we see that that is true…. (more…)

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Zadie Smith–“The Embassy of Cambodia” (New Yorker, February 11 & 18, 2013)

Posted in Africa, Boredom, Garbage, New Yorker, Racism, Short Story, Swimming, Zadie Smith on February 7, 2013| Leave a Comment »

CV1_TNY_02_11_13Greiner.inddSOUNDTRACK: GARBAGE-Beautiful Garbage (2001).

beautifulI loved Version 2.0 but never really absorbed just how poppy it was.  So Beautiful Garbage took me by surprise.  It seem like more of a natural progression if you listen in sequence but it’s impossible to imagine that the buzzing guitars of “Queer” would morph into something like “Can’t Cry These Tears” in just two albums.  “Tears” is practically girl groupy, it is so poppy and Spektorish.  Yes, there are some buzzy guitars, but wow.  What’s more surprising though  is the amount of manipulation that is done to Manson’;s voice.  Garbage was always about deconstruction and technology–they always mixed genres, but “Til the Day I Die” uses some pretty generic voice scratching  as if trying for a pop hit.  Or more specifically a dance hit.

The single from the album, “Cherry Lips (Go Baby Go)” doesn’t even sound like Garage–Manson’s voice is so treacly it has to be processed (and indeed it was sped up for the song).  “Shut Your Mouth” also seemed to head straight for the dancefloor and the rather anemic introductory sounds of “Androgyny” were a surprise.  What’s weird is that even the aggressive guitar riff is really so wimpy compared to the earlier albums.   Which is not to say that the song is bad–the riff, wimpy though it may be is still a good one and the chorus is catchy as anything.  It’s just a different audience.

“Cup of Coffee” removes all of the dancey/techno and is a simple ballad.  And it sounds like the Garbage of old.  It’ a very pretty, sad song.  “Drive You Home” is also a beautiful natural-sounding ballad.

But “Breaking Up the Girl” is the closest to the Garbage sound of old(ish) it could easily have come from 2.0.  “Nobody Loves You” has a much more interesting guitar based sound as it opens–implying something grand.  But after the opening, the song slows down into a more dark feel.  “Uncountable” returns to the dance floor (and even has some”uh uh”s).

So, overall this is a weird and unsatisfying album.  It sounds like they gave up on the rock side of things because their poppy songs were such a hit. But at the same time it sounds like their hearts just aren’t in it.  Even Manson’s lyrics are kind of lame.  Which is not to say the album is a disaster, it’s just…different.

[READ: February 6, 2013] “The Embassy of Cambodia”

In Zadie Smith’s previous piece in the New Yorker (which was an excerpt from her novel), she broke her story into a series of small sections.  It was unexpected from her.  And now she  has done it again.  The story has as a basic plot point a game of badminton.  Accordingly, all of the chapters are listed as a badminton score (a one-sided rout actually): 0-1, 0-7, 0-21.

The sections are mostly brief and kind of bounce back and forth between the main character of the piece, Fatou, and the citizens of Willesden (represented by a a single person–who took it upon herself to represent them, even if they didn’t want her to).  This unnamed narrator gives background information about Willesden and the eyes of the community who watch Fatou go about her business.  The narrator also talks about the titular embassy and how it’s not that unusual to see a building like it on their street, even if they never really see anyone Cambodian going into it,

The only thing that people can really see from the outside of the embassy is the shuttlecock which can be glimpsed over the top of the wall that surrounds the embassy   Clearly there is some kind of field there, although no one has ever seen it.  They just see the birdie arc over (and then get slammed back).

And Fatou enjoys watching it and imagining the people inside.  For Fatou is a housekeeper and sort of child watcher for a family that lives down  the street (the Derawals).  Fatou is African and her prospects are bleak.  She is not paid to work for them–she gets free room and board in exchange for her services.  In fact she does not even know where her passport is (Mr Derawal took it and she hasn’t seen it since).  At one point, after reading an article about a slave girl, she even wonders if she might be a slave.  (She decides she is not). (more…)

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McSweeney’s #13 (2006)

Posted in Adrian Tomine, Africa, Alex Robinson, Alison Bechdel, All Songs Considered, Anarchy, Ander Nilson, Archer Prewitt, Art Spiegelman, Ben Katchor, Books about music, Books about writers, Boredom, Bud Fischer, Bust, Canadian Content, Charles Burns, Charles Schulz, Chester Brown, Chip Kidd, Chris Ware, Collecting, Comic Strips, Consumerism, Corporate skewering, Culture Shock, Daniel Clowes, David Collier, David Heatley, David Lasky, Death, Debbie Dreschler, Depression, Dreams, Drinking, Drugs, Essays, Esther Pearl Watson, Excerpt, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Gary Panter, Ghosts, Gilbert Hernandez, Gilbert Shelton, Glen David Gold, Graphic Novel, History, HOB, Huh?, Ira Glass, Ivan Brunetti, Jaime Hernandez, Jeffrey Brown, Jesse Reklaw, Joe Matt, Joe Sacco, Joel Priddy, John McLenan, John Porcellino, John Updike, John Woodring, Jonathan Bennett, Julie Doucet, Justin Hall, Kaz, Kim Deitch, Kurt Wolfgang, LGBTQ, Lilli Carré, Lloyd Dangle, Louis Reil, Lynda Barry, Malachi B. Cohen, Mark Beyer, Mark Newgarden, Marriage Trouble, Masturbation, McSweeney's, Memoirs, Michael Chabon, Military, Milt Gross, Oddities, Olivia Schanzer, Parts & Labor, Philip Guston, R. Crumb, Rebecca Dart, Richard McGuire, Richard Sala, Rodolphe Töpffer, Ron Rege, S. Kierkegaard, Seth Tobocman, Sex, Short Story, Sonic Youth, Supernatural, Surreal, Tim Samuelson, Tom Hart, Violence, Virginity (Loss of), War, William Faulkner, World Cafe Live on January 29, 2013| 1 Comment »

13SOUNDTRACK: PARTS & LABOR-Stay Afraid (2006).

partslaborParts & Labor have changed t heir style over the years going from noisemakers who have a melody to being melodious noisemakers.  This album is one of their earlier releases when noise dominated.  Right from the opening you know the album is going to be a challenge.  The first song has pounding drums (electronics that sound like bagpipes) and heavy distorted shouty vocals.  By the end of the songs there is squealing feedback, punk speed drums and screaming distorted vocals (complete with space sound effects).  It’s an aggressive opening for sure.  Song two opens with a long low rumbling and then “Drastic Measures” proves to be another fast-paced song.

“A Pleasant Stay” is 5 minutes long (most of the rest of the album’s songs are about 3 minutes).  It continues in this fast framework, although it has a bit more open moments of just drums or just vocals.  The way the band plays with feedback in the last minute or so of the song  very cool.

“New Buildings” has a hardcore beat with a guitar part that sounds sped up.  “Death” is a thumping song (the drums are very loud on this disc), while “Timeline” is two minutes of squealing guitars.  “Stay Afraid” has a false start (although who knows why–how do these guys know if the feedback sounds are what  they wanted anyhow?).  The song ends with 30 seconds of sheer noise).  The album ends with the 5 minute “Changing of the Guard” a song not unlike the rest of the album–noisy with loud drumming and more noise.

The album is certainly challenging, it’s abrasive and off putting, but there;s surprising pleasures and melodies amidst the chaos.   Indeed, after a listen or two you start to really look forward to the hooks.  If you like this sort of thing, this album s a joy.  It’s also quite brief, so it never overstays its welcome.

[READ: April 15, 2011] McSweeney’s #13

I have been looking forward to reading this issue for quite some time.  Indeed, as soon as I received it I wanted to put aside time for it.  It only took eight years.  For this is the fabled comics issue.  Or as the cover puts it: Included with this paper: a free 264 page hardcover.  Because the cover is a fold-out poster–a gorgeous broadside done by Chris Ware called “God.”  And as with all Chris Ware stories, this is about life, the universe and everything.  On the flip side of the (seriously, really beautiful with gold foil and everything) Ware comic are the contributors’ list and a large drawing that is credited to LHOOQ which is the name of Marcel Duchamp’s art piece in which he put a mustache on the Mona Lisa.  It’s a kind of composite of the history of famous faces in art all done in a series of concentric squares.  It’s quite cool.

So, yes, this issue is all about comics.  There are a couple of essays, a couple of biographical sketches by Ware of artists that I assume many people don’t know and there’s a few unpublished pieces by famous mainstream artists.  But the bulk of the book is comprised of underground (and some who are not so underground anymore) artists showing of their goods.  It’s amazing how divergent the styles are for subject matter that is (for the most part) pretty similar: woe is me!  Angst fills these pages.  Whether it is the biographical angst of famous artists by Brunetti or the angst of not getting the girl (most of the others) or the angst of life (the remaining ones), there’s not a lot of joy here. Although there is a lot of humor.  A couple of these comics made it into the Best American Comics 2006.

There’s no letters this issue, which makes sense as the whole thing is Chris Ware’s baby.  But there are two special tiny books that fit nearly into the fold that the oversized cover makes.  There’s also two introductions.  One by Ira Glass (and yes I’d rather hear him say it but what can you do).  And the other by Ware.  Ware has advocated for underground comics forever and it’s cool that he has a forum for his ideas here.  I’m not sure I’ve ever read prose from him before. (more…)

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Stephanie Lacava–An Extraordinary Theory of Objects: A Memoir of an Outsider in Paris (2012)

Posted in Books about writers, Boredom, Collecting, Essays, Kurt Cobain, Memoirs, My So Called Life, Salvador Dali, Short Books, Stephanie Lacava, Unlikable main character, Unreliable narrator on January 27, 2013| Leave a Comment »

lacavaSOUNDTRACK: FUCKED UP-David Comes to Life (2011).

Fdavidor a band named Fucked Up, they make music that is surprisingly catchy.  Of course, as befits their name, they also have a pretty aggressive punk sound with lots of drums and loud guitars.  But many of the guitar lines and choruses are surprisingly melodic.  And then comes singer Pink Eyes.  He screams in a gravelly, rough, cookie-monster type voice (although he is mixed lowish in the mix so he doesn’t often overpower the music).  Despite the fact that most of the words are indecipherable, he also have a good sense of melody.

So how does a band that plays distorted hardcore punk with a barely comprehensible singer decide to make a 78 minute concept album?  Beats me.  But guitarist 10,000 Marbles has written a pretty solid collection of songs.  Of course, it also beats me exactly what the concept is.  According to allmusic the plot is: In the fictional town of Byrdesdale Spa UK, David has a humdrum life working at a light bulb factory, and finds an escape by falling in love with a communist rebel rouser, only to find out later that she has died in a terrorist bombing and that he has a lot of emotional turmoil to face.

I’ve listened to the disc a dozen or so times and never got that plot.  I even followed along with the lyric sheet and never got that plot.  Part of the reason may be that Pink Eyes sings all of the parts in the same way, so it’s really hard to notice that there are different characters (like Veronica) in the story.  While it is fascinating to hear a really catchy choruses sung by someone who is kind of scary, it doesn’t do a lot for the story.  The other odd thing is when Mustard Gas provides female backing vocals–they are sweet and pretty–a drastic counterpoint to the noise that Pink Eyes makes.  But she only comes in on a few songs.  I wish she did more.

There are some really great songs on this disc.  Song two, “Queen of Hearts” has some incredibly catchy sections.  And the “dying on the inside” harmony in “The Other Shoe” compliments the grizzly “It can’t be comfortable when you know the whole thing is about to fall” very nicely.  The b vox are also great in “Turn the Season.”  I find myself singing the “Hello my name is David, your name is Veronica.  Let’s be together. Let’s fall in love” section over and over.  It’s surprisingly sweet when sung by such a voice.

Since this is a concept album (or rock opera I suppose), there’s things like the nearly two-minute instrumental intro to “Remember My Name” which doesn’t fit with the rest of the song but is really catchy.  There’s also a kind of introductory “theme” that crops up in the album.  Fucked Up confound you at ever turn with beautiful melodies that morph into noisy punk.

By the middle of the disc (where I gather David is a low point), there’s some really loud heavy songs.  Amid the pummeling noise, there’s some nice acoustic guitar in “A Slanted Tone” and some very cool rumbling drums and bass that propel “Serve Me Right.”  These songs help to break up the flow nicely.  “Life in Paper” which is near the half way point opens with the same staccato notes as the disc itself, and it proves to be a very catchy song in which David asks “Who can I trust?”

The second half of the disc continues with the more catchy style with “Ship of Fools.”  But as the story nears the end, it starts to feel very samey.  There’s a few breaks, but it’s a hard row to hoe.  There is redemption in the end, but you still feel exhausted.  Perhaps 78 minutes of Fucked Up is too much.  For some listeners even 5 minutes will be too much.  Despite the accolades (and they received a lot), you won’t be hearing this one the radio (and not because the DJs couldn’t say their name).

And yet amid all of the noise, there are some really shiny gems.  They have even released four music videos for the album!  The first one, “Queen of Hearts” is especially cool as the video is set in a classroom and the kids sing all the parts (after a nearly two-minute spoken intro of the song.  I admit to not having any idea what’s actually happening in the video, but it’s still cool.

[READ: January 26, 2013] An Extraordinary Theory of Objects

This is a strange little book.  It was another one that I saw while waiting online at the library.  I was attracted to the cover (I know, don’t judge… but honestly, you can tell a little bit about a book by the way it is marketed. And this was marketed at me.)  It’s a small book with a stark cover and interesting drawings on it.   And then there’s the unusual title.

The book was only 180 pages (plus notes and a bibliography) and it was chock full of pictures.  I mean, this thing can be polished off in an afternoon.

And here’s what it’s about.  Well, let me modify that.  Here’s what’s in the book.  Stephanie is a young girl when her family moves to France (for her father’s work).  She has always felt like an outsider and now feels even more so in France.  She is introverted and spends a lot of her time in books.  Then she moves back to America and reflects on her childhood.

Yeah, that’s about it.  For here’s the thing, Lacava isn’t famous and she hasn’t done anything that you might have heard of.  She’s just a person who went to France as a kid.  The introduction kind of gives you some reason as to why you should read the book.  Lacava was a sad and miserable child and she took refuge in objects–not as a collector so much as an admirer.  On her windowsill she has collected various geegaws that she treasured (and which she brought from America in her carry on, they were so precious).  And she has this interesting relationship with objects.  Although, as with many things in the book, that relationship is not really delved into very much.   (more…)

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Bannister & Nykko–The ElseWhere Chronicles Book One: The Shadow Door & Book Two: The Shadow Spies (2007) [translated 2009]

Posted in Bannister, Boredom, Carol Klio Burrell, Children's Books, Fantasy, Fears, Nykko, Short Books, Supernatural, The Board of Education on January 25, 2013| Leave a Comment »

elsewhere1SOUNDTRACK: THE BOARD OF EDUCATION-“Know Your Inventors, Part I” (2008).

boardI enjoyed yesterday’s Board of Education song so much I wanted to listen to more.  So I went back to their first album for this song whose title intrigued me.  To my surprise, the song is very slow, a languid kid’s song?  Of course, this being a kid’s song, it does run through a series of styles.  The song picks up the pace some, then throws in a waltz, a little disco and a mildly catchy chorus (all in three minutes).

The song is about the inventor of pavement (“nobody knows his name”): William W. Averell, and it’s informative and kind of funny.

It’s not nearly as catchy as yesterday’s song, but it has moments of joy.  I now wonder if this is a different sound for the band on their first album or if all of their songs sound different.

You can hear it here.

[READ: January 21, 2013] The ElseWhere Chronicles Books One & Two

I found this series at the library–Book One was prominently displayed and it looked really interesting.  The artwork on the cover (and inside, it turns out) was really compelling–simple lines (little white circles for eyes for some of the characters) and a bunch of kids looking scared–what more could you want?

So it turns out that Book One is cool, but Book Two is amazing.

In Book One, Max Theo and Noah are watching a funeral (well, they are sitting in a graveyard) for Old Man Gabe, a local eccentric who lives in a haunted house.  Meanwhile, a young girl, Rebecca, is with her family watching them bury her Grandpa Gabe.  (I don’t know if this is significant, but Rebecca is black and her parents/guardians are white with two white children, but nothing is made of this in book one except that someone points out that she is black.  She says she was adopted, and that’s that).  She never met Gabe (and neither did her father–who has a hip soul patch).

Rebecca wants to explore Gabe’s house–she is not afraid of it being haunted (there’s wonderful surprises as they tread through the building).  But all of the rooms are strangely empty.  Except the library which is full of books, including some written by Gabe.  There is talk of demolishing the house, and Rebecca is now determined to save the books.  But the kids also discover a kind of movie projector.  And when they turn it on it opens a kind of portal.  And Rebecca gets sucked into it.

The boys eventually get her out–she says it was locked from her side and she looks awful.  But before they can lock it again, she is grabbed by something from the other world and dragged back in.  Max jumps through the portal to save her and they are both trapped in this new world.  The reason I said book 1 wasn’t as good as 2 is because the world they go into is dark with lots of shadows and hard to see things.  It’s scary (but not really) but not very easy to figure out what’s happening.

Then they run into an old man (who speaks English and a young girl (who doesn’t) .  They assume he is Grandpa Gabe, but he later claims he is not, he is Norgavol and he explains this world to them.  A little. (more…)

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