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Archive for the ‘Comedians’ Category

Grantland Quarterly, Number 9 (2014)

Posted in Advice, Alex Pappademas, Andrew Sharp, Andy Greenwald, Andy Kaufman, Baseball, Basketball, Bill Simmons, Books about music, Books about writers, Breaking Bad, Brian Phillips, Chris Ryan, Counting Crows, Daniel Kellison, Dave McKenna, David Shoemaker, Emily Yoshida, Essays, Football, Fruitvale, Grand Theft Auto V, Grantland, Harris Wittels, Hockey, Jay Caspian Kang, Jonathan Abrams, Jordan Conn, Mark Harris, Mark Lisanti, McSweeney's, Miley Cyrus, Molly Lambert, Myst, Nirvana, Nostalgia, Rany Jazayerli, Rembert Browne, Sean McIndoe, Shane Ryan, Shea Serrano, Soccer, Surfing, Tennis, The Eagles, The O.C., The Office, The X Files, Tom Bissell, Tom Carson, Univore, Violence, Wesley Morris, Wrestling, Zach Lowe on April 9, 2014| Leave a Comment »

  9SOUNDTRACK: UNIVORE-“Vampire” (2013).

univoreI never watch the ads that come before Youtube videos.  But this came on as an ad and I was utterly mesmerized by it.

I didn’t even know what it was for.  Turns out that Univore is a band and “Vampire” is one of their songs.  The 1 minute ad video was actually the whole thing.

It’s got a simple buzzy synthesized riff, backing vocalists singing “Oh yea” when appropriate and an occasional deep voiced man saying “vampire.”  The video is of an older gentleman (who a little research suggests is Marco Casale) dressed like a vampire running around a small green space on a campus.  The whole video looks like it took 15 minutes to film.  It is weird and wonderful.

I still know nothing about Univore, which may be for the better, but I did enjoy this video.

[READ: April 6, 2014] Grantland #9

I’m surprised that there aren’t better cover images online for these books.  For #8 i had to use one with a big flash in the middle of it and this one is the illustration from the Grantland website.  The books are quite pretty so why uses these pale imitations?

So this issue proved to be a lot better about weird typos and “we just took this from the web and pasted it and never bothered to check to see if there was anything weird” problems.  So thanks for at least running it through Spellcheck.  The only other thing left is to either remove the lines that talk about attached links/images if they are not there or to include the url or make up a tiny url (but that would be actual work!).  Oh, and please make sure all of the footnotes are included.

I have given up on ever finding out how these things turned out several months after the fact–I’ll just happily live in ignorance of reality there.

This issue was taken from during basketball’s downtime which was a nice change (even though the still managed to talk about basketball).  There was more pop culture and some wonderful articles about team nicknames and mascots–something I absolutely love.  So this is one of my favorite issues overall.  (more…)

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Hilton Als–White Girls (2014)

Posted in Acting, America's Next Top Model, André Leon Talley, Beck, Books about music, Books about writers, Buddy Ebsen, Death, Eminem, Essays, Feist, Flannery O'Connor, Gender, Gone with the Wind, Hilton Als, LGBTQ, Louise Brooks, Malcolm X, Marriage Trouble, McSweeney's, Michael Jackson, Nels Cline, Pornography, Primus, Prostitution, Record Club, Richard Pryor, Sex, Sexism, Skip Spence, South, Truman Capote, Wilco on March 28, 2014| Leave a Comment »

hiltonSOUNDTRACK: BECK/RECORD CLUB-SKIP SPENCE: Oar (2010).

skipOf the four Record Club discs, this is the only one I don’t own.  Although I do have a different covers collection called More Oar (which Beck also appears on). I may have never heard any of the original songs on this disc, so I can’t even compare them.

For those who don’t know (as I didn’t), Skip Spence was one of the founders of Moby Grape, a band who was vaguely successful in the late 60s and then sort of fell apart (especially when Spence tried to kill his bandmates and was put in an asylum for a year).

Beck doesn’t have anything special to say about why they picked this album.  But he must have been very excited that Wilco and Feist were around to play on it.  He says

This one took place last June when Wilco was in town for the release of their new eponymous album. They came by after a long day filming a TV appearance and still managed to put down 8 songs with us. Jamie Lidell was in the studio with me working on his new record. Leslie Feist happened to be in town editing her documentary and heard we were all getting together. Recording took place at Sunset Sound Studios in the room where the Stones did a lot of Exile On Main Street (and looking at the records on the walls it appeared that the Doobie Brothers recorded most of their output there too). Sitting in on drums, we had James Gadson, who’s played on most of the Bill Withers records and on songs like ‘Express Yourself’ and ‘I Will Survive.’ Jeff Tweedy’s son Spencer played played additional drums. Also, Brian Lebarton, from the last two Record Club sessions is back.

And if you don’t know what Record Club is, see the summary on yesterday’s post.

Wilco plays on 8 tracks (of 12) and they sound great.  Indeed, overall this is the most “professional” sounding recording.  Which is not to say that they don’t have fun. It sure sounds like they do.

Little Hands (2:59).  This has a traditional folk band sound.  It’s a great recording.
Cripple Creek (4:14).  This is not THAT “Cripple Creek,” by the way.  “Jamie takes the lead and Gadson gets behind the kit, while Beck and Brian back them.”  There’s a funky drum breakdown in the middle.
Diana (3:48).  Another good sounding song.
Margaret/Tiger Rug (2:27). This song is a little boppy and slightly silly sounding, but not really that silly.
Weighted Down (The Prison Song) (4:58) “Feist takes the lead this week with Nels Cline arpeggiating some ridiculous 64th notes on a toy guitar.”  Feist adds some beautiful vocals to this song.
War In Peace (5:04).  This begins a little slow and shambolic but it soon builds into a full band that gets even crazier when they start playing “Sunshine of Your Love.”  It was fun to hear them let loose.
Broken Heart (3:39).  This sounds like a traditional song.  A little drunken and fun–a nice duet with Feist.
All Come To Meet Her (2:02).  This is a simply beautiful harmonized a capella rendition.
Books Of Moses (7:21) “Gadson lays down the heaviest RC beat ever, while Jamie loops his voice into a voice army and Brian plays some kind of octagon shaped synth.”  This had a kind of Primus-y weird synth opening.  But as Jamie loops his voice over and over it sounds really good, although it is too long.
Dixie Peach Promenade (Yin For Yang) (3:56).  This is a synthy bouncy song.  It’s a little silly, especially with th Ace of Base coda at the end.  But it sounds good.
Lawrence of Euphoria (5:17).  The lyrics of this song are very silly. This version has a fake cowbell and  funky bass but is otherwise just electronic drums and vocals.
Grey/Afro (7:35).  This has echoed vocals and noisy bass.  It’s hard to figure out what’s going on here, especially at the chaotic ending. But it’s nice to hear them all let loose a bit.

As I said, I don’t know how this compares to the original, but I really enjoyed it.

[READ: March 23, 2014] White Girls

This book was madly hyped and I was pretty excited to read it (even though to be honest I didn’t know if it was fiction or non-fiction–and wasn’t even entirely sure as much as half way through the first piece).  I knew Als’ name from the New Yorker, although I wasn’t really conscious of having read anything by him.  It turns out I read one of these essays in McSweeney’s 35 about four years ago.  The fact that I didn’t remember reading that essay does not speak all that well about it.  But overall I enjoyed most of the essays in the book quite a lot; however, the two longest ones I found, well, way too long.  And I honestly don’t understand the title.

Overall the book is a collection of essays (often told from an interesting perspective, like from the dead person’s first point of view).  The problem with pretty much every essay in the book at least for me was that Als presupposes a base knowledge of these people.  Without that, the essays can be frustratingly vague and unclear.  But again, these people are all famous enough that it seems likely that one would have that base knowledge (even if I don’t).  I do wish there was a small bio or even a photo with these essays (as there was with the Truman Capote one) as I feel that grounded me nicely.

I was a lot more confused by his essays that were more personal.  I didn’t really understand the context for what he was talking about, since i know very little about him.  And as you’ll see from the first essay, he covered a lot in a very un-straight way. (more…)

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Maxwell Eaton III–The Flying Beaver Brothers: Birds vs. Bunnies (2013)

Posted in "Weird Al" Yankovic, Adventure, Allan Sherman, Children's Books, Dan Zanes, Funny (ha ha), Graphic Novel, Kids Corner, Maxwell Eaton III, Ratboy Jr., Sara Hickman, Short Books, The Board of Education, The Doubleclicks, The Plants, Trout Fishing in America on January 4, 2014| Leave a Comment »

bbbSOUNDTRACK: KIDS CORNER Top Ten of 2013 (2014).

kidsEvery year I’m curious to see what the kids who vote for Kids Corner music will pick as their top ten.  It is usually reliably silly.  But this year I have to say I was a bit disappointed in their selections.  Here’s the Top um, Eleven (two were tied of tenth) from 11 to 1.

  • Allan Sherman – You Went The Wrong Way Old King Louie
  • Dan Zanes – Turn Turn Turn
  • The Plants – Aziphrale
  • Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band – Thingamajig
  • Shine And The Moonbeams – Bully Bully
  • Trout Fishing In America – My Sister Kissed Her Boyfriend
  • Weird Al Yankovic – The Saga Begins
  • The Doubleclicks – Worst Superpower Ever
  • Ratboy Jr. – Champion Of The Universe
  • Sara Hickman – Radiation Man
  • The Board Of Education – Why Is Dad So Mad?

I am especially surprised by Allan Sherman as I can’t imagine that too many kids would enjoy that song (which is funny if you know your history, but not really otherwise) and while I love Dan Zanes, “Turn Turn Turn” is not exactly a rollicking fun Top Ten song.  I actually dislike “Bully Bully” and while I love Trout Fishing in America and like “My Sister,” it’s certainly not their best song (and this list isn’t just new songs obviously).  The rest of the list is quite good, though.

And it’s a great choice for number one.  But next year, kids, more silliness!

[READ: January 1, 2014] The Flying Beaver Brothers: Birds vs. Bunnies

We were unreasonably excited to see that there was a new Flying Beaver Brothers book out!  We loved the first two quite a lot, so any return of Ace and Bub is a good thing.  But to also have the return of a nasty villain is quite nice too.

Yet it’s not all the same faces, because this time there are birds and bunnies causing havoc with our heroes.

Bob and Bob (the penguins who get a brief cameo) are rebuilding Beaver Island and Bub and Ace are heading there in a boat.  But a storm rages and makes them crash.  They walk around an island where they are quickly captured by an angry bunch of bunnies who accuse them of being bird spies (those are real?).  Indeed, the birds have been playing a  very loud sound that hurts the bunnies ears and makes them go underground.  So the bunnies are fighting back with a wind machine that makes the birds leave the sky.  Both of these machines were funded by a mysterious fellow named Wally (unbeknownst to the others). (more…)

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Nathan Rabin–You Don’t Know Me But You Don’t Like Me: Phish, Insane Clown Posse, and My Misadventures with Two of Music’s Most Maligned Tribes (2013)

Posted in "Weird Al" Yankovic, Anarchy, Books about music, Brian Posehn, Culture Shock, Death, Decadence, Drugs, Fantasy, Fears, Hannibal Buress, Ice Cube, Insane Clown Posse, Nathan Rabin, Phish, Sex, Vanilla Ice, Violence, Workaholics, Wrestling, Yuck! on January 3, 2014| 1 Comment »

youdont SOUNDTRACK: INSANE CLOWN POSSE-“Bang! Pow! Boom!” (2009).

icopSince I have posted about Phish already, it seemed like time to listen to an ICP song.  I admit that when their first album came out, they seemed goofy enough to check out their album.  I love a cartoony band that is going to “ruin America.”  But I had heard that their music was just too awful to enjoy ironically, so I never bothered with them (if I had been a few years younger, I probably would have embraced them wholly).  In the book below, Rabin says that their newer stuff is not only a ton better than their early stuff (which he admits is raw and pretty terrible) he says that it is quite poppy.

So I listened to a few of the songs that he mentions (and there are some funny lines), but I decided to focus on this one which Rabin describes as “a groovy throwback number that finds ecstasy in a bleak moral reckoning…finding the joy in the macabre and the celebration in the gothic.  Also, it’s catchy as fuck.”

That’s a highfalutin way of saying that they sing about blowing shit up.  Lyrically the song seems to be about ICP talking to their fans (in the harshest terms possible, which I guess is affection: “Cuz you’re the evilest pedophiles, rapists and abusers/All together we’ve got fifty thousand of you losers”).  It’s an insider tract and if you don’t like it or get it, well, you’re not supposed to.

But aside from the lyrics about rapists and all the cursing, this song could easily be a big hit.  It is, yes, catchy as fuck.

But I won’t be listening to more from them.

[READ: January 2, 2013] You Don’t Know Me But You Don’t Like Me

Every year my brother-in-law gets me cool and unusual books, most of which I’ve never heard of.  This year, he got me this book which I’d never heard of.  I was confused by the title (which is confusing).  The author’s name sounded familiar, but I wasn’t sure—until I saw the A.V. Club connection.  So, at first I thought this was going to be about going to interesting shows or basically having something to do with the A.V. Club.  But, as the subtitle says, this book is exclusively about Rabin’s travels following Phish for a summer and also going to some ICP Gatherings of the Juggalos.

The theme of the book is how most people have never heard the music of either band, but they have formed opinions not only of the bands, but their followers.  Rabin points out plenty of exceptions to the stereotypes, but you won’t be leaving this book thinking much more of the preexisting stereotypes than you already do.  Sure, some Phish heads are doctors, and some Juggalos are employable, but the majority are (despite his best efforts) what you think they are.  But one of the main messages that he seems to promote in the book is that each of these groups have created tribes around them.  And those who aren’t part of the tribe may scoff, but they secretly wish they could be having as much fun as the members of the tribes.  And that may in fact be true.

I’ve enjoyed Phish’s music for years, although I’ve never seen them live.  And as for ICP, I didn’t even realize they were still around—although that Workaholics episode should have clued me in.  Naturally these two bands could not be more polar opposite in terms of music and fanbase (although Rabin did encounter some crossover). So he sets out to show how he can enjoy both groups. (more…)

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Breakfast on Mars: Your Favorite Authors Take a Stab at the Dreaded Essay Assignment (2013)

Posted in Adventure, Advice, Alan Gratz, Alane Ferguson, Angels of the Universe, April Sinclair, Biography, Birds, Books about writers, Boredom, Casey Scieszka, Cecil Castellucci, Chris Epting, Chris Higgins, Clay McLeod Chapman, Craig Kielburger, Daisy Whitney, Elizabeth Winthrop, Ellen Sussman, Essays, Fears, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Gigi Amateau, History, Jennifer Lou, Joe Craig, Joshua Mohr, Khalid Birdsong, Kirsten Miller, Laurel Snyder, Léna Roy, Lise Clavel, Maile Meloy, Margaret Cho, Marie Rutkoski, Mary-Ann Ochota, Michael David Lukas, Michael Hearst, Myths, Nature, Ned Vizzini, Nick Abadzis, Ransom Riggs, Rita Williams-Garcia, Sarah Darer Littman, Sarah Prineas, Scott Westerfeld, Sigur Rós, Sloane Crosley, Steve Almond, Steve Brezenoff, Steven Weinberg, Technology, The Future, Time Travel, Travel, Wendy Mass, YA Books on December 4, 2013| Leave a Comment »

bomarsSOUNDTRACK: SIGUR RÓS-“Ný batterí” (2000).

nyThe single opens with “Rafmagnið búið” a kind of brass introductory piece.  There’s lots of horns building slowly, growing louder but not really playing a melody.  By the end of five minutes, it segues into “Ný batterí” which opens with horns as well.  Then the bass comes in, a slow, deep rumble of simple melody.  After 4 and a  half minutes, the drums are a powerful counterpoint to the sweet melody.

“Bíum bíum bambaló” is a slow piece (aren’t they all) that is mostly percussion.  Apparently it is an Icelandic lullaby.  The final track, “Dánarfregnir og jarðarfarir” was a theme used for death announcements on Icelandic radio.  I love the way it builds from a simple melody into a full rock band version and then back again.  It’s very dramatic.

Both tracks were used in the film Angels of the Universe (and appear on the soundtrack).

That certainly makes this single less interesting than the first one (although I’m not sure that the soundtrack was readily available at the time).

[READ: December 1, 2013] Breakfast on Mars

This is a collection of 38 essays (and an introduction by Margaret Cho).  It also includes an introduction geared toward teachers–an appeal that essays do not need to be dull or, worse yet, scary.  The editors encourage teachers to share these essays with students so they get a feel for what it’s like to write compelling personal nonfiction.  The introduction proper gives a brief history of the essay and then talks about the kind of fun and funny (and serious) essays that are included here.

This was a largely fun and largely interesting collection of essays.  When I grabbed it from the library I didn’t realize it was essays (I was intrigued by the title and then looked at the author list and immediately brought it home).  I know it says essays on the cover, but I chose to ignore that apparently.  When Sarah saw the authors (she knows more of them than I do) she had to read it first.  This proved to be a great counterpoint to the very large novel that I was reading at the same time.

The essays each take on different topics.  And what I liked was that before each essay, they include the question that inspired the essay.  I have included the questions here. (more…)

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The Walrus: Tenth Anniversary Issue (October 2013)

Posted in Adventure, Andrew Coyne, Biography, Books about music, Books about writers, Canadian Content, Canadian Music, Corporate skewering, Culture Shock, Dan Rubinstein, Death, Edward Burtynsky, Essays, Fears, Harper's, History, Katrina Onstad, LGBTQ, Matthew McKinnon, Melissa Fung, Michael Harris, Nostalgia, Parenting, Poetry, Political Humor, Religion, Ron Graham, Russell Peters, Sex, Sexism, Short Story, Technology, The Future, The Walrus, Violence, Voivod on September 28, 2013| Leave a Comment »

2013-10SOUNDTRACK: VOIVOD-The Best of Voivod (1992).

bestvoivodMost Best of records promise you a selection of popular songs from a band.  Voivod never really had any popular songs, so this is an interesting choice to start with.  This may also be the only Best of compilation of a band where people who like some of the songs almost assuredly will not like other songs.

As my posts about the band have indicated, Voivod changed drastically over their first six records (which is the  period this collection covers).  And so in twelve tracks and 50 some minutes you get the very diverse history of this very unusual band.  I’m not going to talk about each track (already done that), but I will list the songs

  • Voivod [War and Pain] classic screaming metal.

  • Ripping Headaches [Rrröööaaarrr] brutal, but I must say sounds a ton better than the original CD.  I wonder if this was remastered for the compilation).

  • Korgull the Exterminator [Rrröööaaarrr] hard to believe they used two songs from this album.

  • Tornado [Killing Technology] heavy but quite catchy.

  • Ravenous Medicine [Killing Technology] signs of complexity enter the heaviness.

  • Cockroaches [EP] a strange inclusion, almost a rarity.

  • Tribal Convictions [Dimension Hätross] very complex with some heaviness.

  • Psychic Vacuum  [Dimension Hätross] I’m surprised they didn’t pick other songs though from this album.

  • Astronomy Domine [Nothingface] their hit.

  • The Unknown Knows [Nothingface] very hard to choose just two songs from this masterpiece.

  • Panorama [Angel Rat] Their newest single and quite a departure from everything that has come before.

  • The Prow [Angel Rat] their prettiest number ever.  If you buy this CD for this song you’ll hate the early stuff.

Although Voivod fans (like Dave Grohl)

are diehard, anyone who would buy only a Best of record from the band is sure to be disappointed. There are so many phases of the band and they are so radically different from “Voivod” to “The Prow” that it’s almost not even the same band.  I’m very curious as to what sales for this album were like.  (Even the cover isn’t that inspired)

[READ: September 2013] The Walrus: Tenth Anniversary Issue

It’s hard for me to believe that The Walrus has been around for ten years (even they seem a bit surprised).  I still remember hearing about the magazine on Book TV from some Canadian channel that I just happened upon.

When I heard about it The Walrus seemed interesting–kind of like Harper’s and elements of the New Yorker but all about Canada.  I’ve been a Canuckophile for decades now, so it seemed like an interesting prospect.  And over the ten years of the magazine, while I haven’t written about every issue, I have read every article.  I have written about all of the short stories that they’ve published.

This issue eschews some of my favorite elements (the short articles in the front and the arts section in the back), but they make up for it with an oversized issue (twice as long as usual and the articles are all packed with content) and some fascinating articles.

And while there are none of the short articles from the front, there are “Time Capsules,” one page articles about things that have happened in the last ten years: The iPhone, Sports Concussions, Armed Drones, The Residential School Apology, Justin Bieber, Foodies, Hand Sanitizer and Cyberbullying.  It’s interesting to read about these phenomena from a slightly different perspective.  We know that Canada and the U.S. share many similarities but there are, at heart some core differences.  And it’s these differences that make you rethink a subject.  (more…)

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Jason–Almost Silent (2009)

Posted in All Songs Considered, Amber Tamblyn, Dan the Automator, David Chang, David Cross, Death, Del the Funky Homosapien, Deltron 3030, Funny (ha ha), Graphic Novel, Jason, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Kid Koala, Sex, Short Story, Zombies on September 27, 2013| Leave a Comment »

almostsilentSOUNDTRACK: DELTRON 3030-“The Return” (2013).

Deltron3030-EventII-caa19c164f9e01c2441aab420c0b54356b261e87-s1After thirteen years, alternative rap supergroup Deltron 3030 is back.  If you’ve forgotten, Deltron 3030 is comprised of Dan the Automator, Del the Funky Homosapien and DJ Kid Koala.  Evidently the album is chock full of guest stars (which I usually dislike, but the guest stars are a weirdly unexpected bunch–David Cross, Amber Tamblyn, chef David Chang?–so I’m curious to hear what they are going to add to the sound.

Okay even I admit I don’t really remember what the first Deltron album sounded like, but if memory serves this seems to be picking up in that same spacey vibe that made Deltron so weird and fun.

There’s a story going on here, told in Del’s awesome rapping style–mellow and trippy with big words and convoluted phrasings.  Of course, this is only track 2 on the record so I don’t know exactly what the story is about.  But I know that Deltron 0 is back and I’m pretty excited to hear the whole thing.

You can hear this track on NPR and you can watch the intro track (featuring Joseph Gordon-Levitt) here:

[READ: September 20, 2013] Almost Silent

This book collects four of Jason’s previous books “Meow, Baby,” “Tell Me Something,” “You Can’t Get There from Here” and “The Living and the Dead.”

“Meow, Baby” (2006) is a collection of  “short stories” from Jason.  They feature the same (looking) cast of characters as most of the other Jason books I’ve read (anthropomorphic animals), but there’s a few additions: a mummy, a zombie,a  skeleton and a vampire.  None of the pieces are titled and the only way to know when each is done is when you see his signature.  This is just to note that if there is a mummy in two stories, it’s good to know he’s not necessarily the same mummy.

The stories are quite funny with variations on mummy stories (wrapping your head in a bandage after you are hurt, getting an erection(!)), and vampire stories (the same looking guy is always following him with a stake) and some very amusing domestic scenes with skeletons.  I enjoyed the one where the mummy comes out of the sarcophagus, looks at a newspaper and then walks back into the sarcophagus with a look of despair on his face (his face is still covered in bandages—Jason has an amazing way of expression even with people who have no faces). There’s also a whole series of skeletons who climb out of their graves and go about mundane tasks .  There’s even a guy dressed like the Terminator who has some funny moments where he misses the opportunity to say his trademark lines.

The last few pages are three panel strips—like daily cartoons .  Were they ever shown in newspapers?  These show that Jason is also very funny at punchlines, not just dark stories and black humor.  True, all of these three panel comic are black humor (with the same cast of zombies, vampires, mummies and skeletons), but he really makes some funny and unexpected strips here. (more…)

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Kurt Vonnegut–Palm Sunday: An Autobiographical Collage (1981)

Posted in Arthur C. Clarke, Blivit, Bob Elliot, Books about writers, Boredom, Communists, Daily Sun, Essays, Funny (ha ha), Gore Vidal, History, Hitler, Holocaust, Humiliation, Interviews, Jonathan Swift, Joseph Heller, Kurt Vonnegut, Louis-Ferdinand Céline, Mark Twain, Mark Vonnegut, Marriage (Happy), Marriage Trouble, NASA, Nazis, Pornography, Pulp Fiction, Ray Goulding, Religion, Short Story, Technology, The Future, The New York Times, The Statler Brothers, Violence, War, William F. Buckley on June 1, 2013| Leave a Comment »

PalmSundayFrontandBackSOUNDTRACK: THE STATLER BROTHERS-“Class of ’57” (1972).

stalerI don’t know much about The Statler Brothers.  They are considered country, although this song is hardly country–it’s more folk with some bluegrass and, the real selling point–great harmonies (especially the bass singer with the big mustache).

The song is a wonderful coming of age song, sad and funny with a list of what happened to everyone in the class of ’57.  Like:

Betty runs a trailer park, Jan sells Tupperware,
Randy’s on an insane ward, Mary’s on welfare.
Charlie took a job with Ford, Joe took Freddie’s wife,
Charlotte took a millionaire, and Freddie took his life.

John is big in cattle, Ray is deep in debt,
Where Mavis finally wound up is anybody’s bet.

But the kicker comes at the chorus:

And the class of ’57 had its dreams,
Oh, we all thought we’d change the world with our great words and deeds.
Or maybe we just thought the world would change to fit our needs,
The class of ’57 had its dreams.

And then at the end:

And the class of ’57 had its dreams,
But living life from day to day is never like it seems.
Things get complicated when you get past eighteen,
But the class of ’57 had its dreams.

Vonnegut quotes the entirety of this song in the book and I’m glad he did, it’s a very moving song and really captures American life.

[READ: May 26, 2013] Palm Sunday

After writing several successful novels, Vonnegut paused to collect his thoughts.  And Palm Sunday begins: “This is a very great book by an American genius.”  It is also a “marvelous new literary form which combines the tidal power of a major novel with the bone-rattling immediacy of front-line journalism.”  After all the self praise, he decides that this collage–a collection of essays and speeches as well as a short story and a play which is all tied together with new pieces (in TV they would call this a clip show)–this new idea of a book should have a new name and he chooses: blivit (during his adolescence, this word was defined as “two pounds of shit in a one-pound bag.”  He proposes that all books combining facts and fiction be called blivits (which would even lead to a new category on the best seller list).  Until then, this great book should go on both lists.

This book is a collection of all manner of speeches and essays, but they are not arranged chronologically.  rather they are given a kind of narrative context.  What’s nice is that the table of contents lists what each of the items in the book is (or more specifically, what each small piece is when gathered under a certain topic).

Chapter 1 is The First Amendment in which he talks about Slaughterhouse Five being burned and how outraged he was by that–especially since the people so anxious to burn it hadn’t even read it (and the only “bad” thing is the word motherfucker).  The first speeches included are “Dear Mr. McCarthy” to the head of the school board where his books were burned and “Un-American Nonsense” an essay for the New York Times about his book being banned in New York State.  The next two are “God’s Law” for an A.C.L.U. fund raiser–it includes his confusion as to why people don’t support the A.C.L.U. which is working for all of our own civil liberties. (more…)

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Thomas Mullen–“The Art of a Basketball” (Grantland Quarterly, Number 3, 2012)

Posted in Art, Basketball, Cheech and Chong, Grantland, McSweeney's, Short Story, Sports, Thomas Mullen on August 30, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: CHEECH & CHONG-“Basketball Jones featuring Tyrone Shoelaces” (1974).

When I was a kid this was a favorite song on the Cheech & Chong’s Greatest Hit album (although not quite as good as “Earache My Eye”).  Anyone who grew up in the 70s and early 80s should know the teeny tiny voice singing “bassetball jones, I gotta bassetball jones…i got a bassetball jones oh baby ooooo.”

This song is pretty simple and straightforward–a young boy gets a basketball and he loves it and keeps it with him everywhere he goes.  And he becomes the best basketball player ever.  There’s more or less one or two verses and then an ever-increasing choir of voices sings the chorus.  The joke is about 30 seconds long but the song last for over three minutes, growing bigger and more epic.  Tyrone brags about his awesome skills (I can dunk with my nose) all the way through. There’s also a pretty great guitar solo from George Harrison!

I never knew that there was a cartoon for the song–it was made to promote the album Los Cochinos, and was shown before films in the theater! and was included in a Robert Altman film!!.  The cartoon was created by Paul Gruwell, and now you can watch it here:

[READ: August 20, 2012] “The Art of a Basketball”

The last story I read in Grantland was okay, but I didn’t have very high hopes for another one.  And when Mullen described a room as “like the lair of some mad villain from a Spiderman movie” I didn’t think I’d be enjoying this one much either.  But this story proved to be pretty interesting.

The premise is that the main character has his degree in art and he make a living touching up paintings that have eroded over the years.  As the story opens he is restoring the color to chipped sections of a $12 million Cezanne (is that even a job?).  Anyhow, he messes up the Cezanne (d’oh) and is fired.  He messed it up because he was unfocused–he just broke up with his girlfriend and that was all he could think about.  She is an artist (she says so at every opportunity) and he found her pretentious and really not very good.  And she found him very negative–they should have broken up ages ago, clearly.  Anyhow, he is fired and gets a job in Providence at CAMP.  He’s now working on Contemporary art which he doesn’t respect at all (some serious art bashing in this section!).

His first assignment is to fix up Jay Winthrop’s Water Ball from 1981 (not a real installation).  The piece of art is a basketball floating in water.  It had developed black gunk on the ball and his job was to clean it (I of course wondered how the water stayed in there for 30 years).  He created his own solvent which removed the black, bit also some of the coloring of the ball.  Now he was in deep shit. His only choice was to replace the ball without anyone knowing.  But it turns out the ball was not just a regular old 1981 championship ball (on ebay for $500) but a 1981 Championship ball with Dr. J’s signature on it (they weren’t in the playoffs that year)–a factory error valued at $5,000.  The narrator is already in huge debt, but he needs the job.  What is he going to do? (more…)

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Tony Abbott–Danger Guys series (1994-1996)

Posted in Adventure, Boredom, C., Children's Books, Chris Rock, Fantasy, Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park, Mad Scientists, Madagascar, Star Wars, Technology, Tony Abbott, Waffles on August 24, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: “Neverending Afro Circus” (2012).

If you’ve seen the movie Madagascar 3, you’ll recognize this song as the earworm that you will be singing all the way home.  And that your kids will no doubt be singing for days.

I actually want to jump in and say that I saw Madagascar 3 without seeing Madagascar 2 and I was quite lost (and missed a lot of in-jokes, apparently) for the first 20 or so minutes.  Who would have guessed that a kids movie could do that to you?

Anyhow, back to this song.  C. and T. love it.  And it turns out that YouTube loves it too.  There are dozens of different videos of varying lengths (from 10 seconds to 59 minutes!!) repeating this wonderful nonsense.  But for real neverending Afro Circus, please visit AfroCircus.com and see how much you can stand.

For a measly ten minute loop, please enjoy this:

[youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aELcXyjpts%5D

[READ: July 2012] Danger Guys series

We loved Droon so much we had to see what else Tony Abbott had written.

Turns out that he has written a lot of books and a bunch of series.  In addition to Droon he has written four books that are not part of any series, a series called The Haunting of Derek Stone and a brand new series called UnderWorlds.  UnderWorlds looks like a great series for C., although Haunting and the stand alone books seem like they might be a little too old for him.  He also has some older series like Don’t Touch That Remote!, Goofballs, Time Surfers and The Weird Zone.  (I think that’s all of them).

He also has this Danger Guys series, which I believe comprised his first novels.

My major complaint about the series is…why is it out of print?  Why was it so hard for me to find?  I had to do an Inter Library Loan and the copies I received were so beat up that we may wind up being the last people to read them!  This is a real shame because these books were fantastic!  The series is about two boys Noodle (the smart one) and Zeke (the athletic one).  They are best friends and do everything together.  I’m not exactly sure how old they are…I’m guessing middle school?  In each book they get into an escalating series of adventures which can be resolved by logic, brains, strength and sometimes a little luck.  The books are mildly scary (the Halloween one is the most scary but even that…not really), they’re not violent or gross, but they are full of adventure and they’re very funny (an Abbott specialty).  There were several moments that C. was laughing very hard at these.

There are six books in total in the series.  And because the books aren’t radically different from each other, I’m only going to say a few lines about each. (more…)

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