Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for the ‘Death’ Category

Kate Clanchy–“The Not-Dead and the Saved” (Prospect, December 2009)

Posted in Black Sabbath, Boredom, Cancer as plot device, Death, Kate Clanchy, Ozzy Osbourne, Prospect, Short Story, Suicide, Tony Iommi, V.S. Pritchett on December 4, 2009| 1 Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: BLACK SABBATH-Paranoid (1970).

Black Sabbath’s second album is certainly their most famous.  I mean, it features “Iron Man,” the first song everyone learns to play on the guitar.

But the whole first side of the disc is pretty famous.  “War Pigs” is a wonderful anti-war song.  “Paranoid” was their first big hit, and I read recently that it was a last minute addition to the album.  And it’s really short, too!

The next track, “Planet Caravan” is, in context, insane.  It is an incredibly slow, meandering track.  Back in the day, we used to skip this track all the time.  But since then I’ve grown to appreciate this trippy psychedelic song.  It feels a bit long, especially when you want to rock out, but it’s still pretty interesting.

And then there’s “Iron Man,” and, well, there’s nothing much to say about it that hasn’t been said elsewhere.   Except of course that it rocks!

Side Two was pretty unlistened to before CDs made it all one side.  “Electric Funeral” is a major downer about nuclear war, but it has an amazing opening riff with a wonderfully wah-wahed guitar.  “Hand of Doom” begins slowly with what’s more or less just bass and vocals.  And then guitars blare forth like sirens leading to some cool heavy sections.  About half way through it turns into this fast rocking song and becomes yet another anti-drug song.  This anti-drug stance is rather surprising given what lies in store in the not too distant future.

“Rat Salad” is a short instrumental.  It’s one half extended guitar solo with the second half comprising a drum solo.  Despite that, the riff of the song is pretty awesome.  The final track is the wonderfully named “Jack the Stripper/Fairies Wear Boots.”  The opening is another cool riff with lots of drums that melds in to a wonderfully heavy, bad-assed song (“a fairy with boots dancing with a dwarf”).  It ends the album very well.

For a record that’s nearly 40 years old, it’s still remarkably heavy and it set a great standard for heavy metal.

[READ: November 29, 2009] “The Not-Dead and the Saved”

This was a sad story about a woman with a dying child.  The child is older (late teens) and he has been coping with this issue for all of his life.  Consequently, he is cynical and more than a little bitter.

It’s hard for me to be critical of the story seeing as how it won the VS Pritchett Memorial Prize.  However, I didn’t find the story all that compelling. I think it was the completely detached narrator (third person distant, I would say) or maybe it was something else. Whatever it was, I just couldn’t connect to it.

[UPDATE:  December 15, 2009.  The story also just won the National Short Story Award.  Maybe I need to re-read it]. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Periodical: McSweeney’s

Posted in A.M. Homes, Art, Books about music, Books about writers, BritLit, Consumerism, Contests, Corporate skewering, David Foster Wallace, Death, Essays, Fables, Fantasy, Flash Fiction, Funky Web Sites, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), George Saunders, Graustarkian Romance, Hollow Earth, Irish Writer, Joyce Carol Oates, Language, Legendary Saga, McSweeney's, Meta, Michael Chabon, Music, Postmoderism, Roddy Doyle, Short Story, Smarty Pants, Socratic Dialogue, Stephen King, Suicide, The Believer, The Collins Library, They Might Be Giants, Wholphin, Whore Dialogue, Word usage on November 25, 2009| Leave a Comment »

17Many many years ago, I discovered Might magazine.  It was a funny, silly magazine that spoofed everything (but had a serious backbone, too).  (You can order back issues here).  And so, I subscribed around issue 13.  When the magazine folded (with issue 16–and you can read a little bit about that in the intro to Shiny Adidas Track Suits) it somehow morphed into McSweeney‘s, and much of the creative team behind Might went with them.

The early volumes (1-5 are reviewed in these pages, and the rest will come one of these days) are a more literary enterprise than Might was.  There’s still a lot of the same humor (and a lot of silliness), but there are also lengthy non-fiction pieces.  The big difference is that McSweeney’s was bound as a softcover book rather than as a magazine. And, I guess technically it is called Timothy McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern as opposed to Timothy McSweeney’s Internet Tendency. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Albert Innaurato–Gemini (1978) & The Transfiguration of Benno Blimpie (1978)

Posted in Albert Innaurato, Death, Demons, Donald Sutherland, Drinking, Drugs, Food, Funny (ha ha), Happy Birthday Gemini, Kate Bush, Marriage Trouble, Morality, Neurotics, Pink Floyd, Play (Drama), Short Books, Suicide, Universities, Unlikable main character on November 22, 2009| 1 Comment »

geminSOUNDTRACK: KATE BUSH-Hounds of Love (1985).

I have a very specific memory of the first time I heard the song  “Hounds of Love.”  I was in high school and the Wilderness Adventure Club was heading towards whatever destination we were going to (funny I can’t remember the destination, but I recall the car trip there).  The head of the club (who was a teacher, but not one I had) was driving a bunch of us in his station wagon and this song came on.  My friend Brad and I howled with laughter at the “barking” that Kate does. “Roo Roo Roo Roo.”

It only occurred to me recently that the driver probably enjoyed the music or else he wouldn’t have had it on, so that wasn’t very nice of us.  It also occurs to me that he must have had the disc (actually the tape, as there were no discs then) because I don’t imagine the song was ever on the radio.  (Although I also think there may have been a DJ talking about the songs, so my memory is shaky).  I just remember laughing and laughing and quite likely Roo Rooing for much of the trip.

So, it’s funny now how much I love this disc (my high school self was a metal head, my college self expanded his musical mind rather a lot).

Kate’s previous two records were a wonderful precursor to this monumental disc.  The big hits come at the top: “Hounds of Love” is indeed an amazing song, as is “Running Up That Hill.”  But they’re familiar enough that I don’t have to say anything.  “The Big Sky” is a rollicking romp of fun.  And “Cloudbusting” is just simply amazing.  (Look for the video with Donald Sutherland!).  It’s five minutes of intense storytelling.

But for me, the second side of the album (starting with track 6 on the disc) is the real selling point.  It’s something of a story called The Ninth Wave.  And what I love about it (in addition to the awesome music) are the amazing effects and sounds and voices that are all over the tracks.

It begins simply with a delicate piece, “And Dream of Sheep,” a beautiful piano ballad.  It’s followed by the mesmerizing “Under Ice.”  The opening string sounds evoke someone skating on an ice (which is what the song is about).  As the tension grows (is someone under the ice?) voices far back in the distance compete with Kate singing “Its me!”

The next track, “Waking the Witch” begins with some awesome headphone voice work.  Voices from various family members implore her to wake up.  Left, right, middle, back.  Then, a voices asks “Can you not see that light over there?”  With a far off voice whispering “over here.”  When the song finally bursts forth, her voice is manipulated in a creepy disjointed way.  Followed by different musical sections with cathedral bells.  All through the track a male authority figure condemns the girl for being a witch.  And as the song ends (with a sample of the helicopter from Pink Floyd’s The Wall she is found guilty.  It’s quite intense.

The intensity slackens somewhat with the mellow “Watching Me Without You.”  But it builds again with the manic intensity of “The Jig of Life” a traditional jig with uilleann pipes in the background and Kate’s vocals over the top.  The song breaks into a very traditional sounding step dance seisiun until Kate starts whispering “I put this moment here” (more of that cool headphone stuff) and the song takes of again.

“Hello Earth” starts as a simple ballad reminiscent of “And Dream of Sheep” but it grows in intensity only to break for a choir passage.  It then returns to the intensity of Kate’s voice which fades and ends with Kate’s whispered:  “Tiefer, tiefer.  Irgendwo in der Tiefe.  Gibt es ein licht.” (Roughly: Deeper Deeper, Somewhere in the depths there is a light.)

The disc ends with “The Morning Fog” a respite from the intensity of the music and the contents.  It’s a light ballad (with amazing fretless bass work) that seems like it could have been used in a John Hughes film.  Especially for the “I tell my mother/father/loved ones/brother how much I love them” lyrics.

The Ninth Wave is one of my favorite suites to listen to.  It not only demands attention, it usually gets it.

Hounds of Love is, simply put, fantastic.

[READ: November 15, 2009] Gemini & The Transfiguration of Benno Blimpie

When I was a kid, watching cartoons on Channel 11, WPIX, there was a frequent, (in my memory it was incessant) commercial for a Broadway play.  And the only things I remember about the commercial were two snippets:  In the first, a young boy is gorging himself on food and his mother yells “TAKE HUMAN BITES!”  The second shows a woman who says “I’m  not hungry, I’ll just pick” who then grabs a handful of spaghetti from someone else’s plate.

This commercial was such a part of our culture, that my friends used to shout “TAKE HUMAN BITES” at each other all the time.  And yet, after all these years, I couldn’t remember what the play was.  So, out of curiosity, I did some searching to see if I could find this mysterious play (and, more importantly find the commercial).

So, thank you, internet, for helping me discover the play is Albert Innaurato’s Gemini.  No commercials have been forthcoming, sadly.

Well, I thought it would be fun to read this play and see if it was as funny as the commercial seemed.  Who could have guessed that the play would have turned out like this? (more…)

Read Full Post »

Stephen King–“Premium Harmony” (New Yorker, November 9, 2009)

Posted in Consumerism, Death, Marriage Trouble, New Yorker, Short Story, Sonic Youth, Stephen King, Summer on November 16, 2009| 2 Comments »

ny119SOUNDTRACK: SONIC-YOUTH-the eternal (2009).

eternalIt was the release of this disc that inspired me to see what they’ve been up to since the 80s.  And, sometimes it’s really fun to root through a band’s back catalog to see what kind of progression they’ve made over the years.

There are three things that set this disc apart from  many other SY discs.

The first is the dual/harmonized vocals. I don’t recall ever hearing Thurston and Kim split vocals duties in a song before, least of which in a half-line by half-line way.  There’s also some points where they sing (sort of) harmonies.  It’s a really interesting addition to their sounds.

The second is the staccato playing.  In the past I’ve always felt like SY ‘s sounds flowed over everything (even if it was noise, it was a continuous wash of noise).  On The Eternal, there’s three or four songs where the band plays a chug chug chug chug rhythm (with everyone playing along).  It’s most notable in “Anti-Orgasm,” where the chug chug part is accompanied by Thurston and Kim chanting uh uh uh on every beat.

The third is the bass.  The band has added Pavement bassist Mark Ibold to their lineup.  And as far as I can tell he does things on bass that Kim never did.  He seems to complement Steve Shelly as a rhythm section.  I always felt that Kim played something of a lead bass: she didn’t seem to go in for a notable steady bass rhythm (note on “Kool Thing” where her bass plays the main riff).  And since Thurston and Lee were often playing noise, it was essential for Kim’s bass to be more than just a rhythm instrument.  On this disc you have bass sections playing the song’s rhythm. Its a simple thing, something that all bands do, but it sounds so different for them.

They even mix up the song lengths quite a bit.  The opener is a two minute bit (with great lyrics from Kim: “What’s it like to be a girl in a band?  I just don’t understand.  That’s so quaint to hear.  I feel so faint my dear.”)   While “Anti-Orgasm” is over six minutes (three of the chug chug section and then three of an extended jam).  Lee’s awesome song, “What We Know” runs about 4 minutes.  And the final song, the very cool “Massage the History” runs over 9 minutes.

These elements give the band a revitalized sound.  And they sound like they’re really having a lot of fun. And boy are they rocking.  The band sounds heavy, they sound intense, and they sound great.  There’s not a bad track on the disc.

[READ: November 6, 2009] “Premium Harmony”

This story takes a look at a dysfunctional husband and wife on the way to Wal-Mart.  She wants to stop at the Quik-Pik on the way, to buy something that he thinks will be cheaper at Wal-Mart anyway.  This detour turns out to be significant, and nothing will be the same for them again.

I have to be this vague because saying anything more will give away too much of this rather simple story. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Tessa Hadley–“The Godchildren” (New Yorker, October 12, 2009)

Posted in Charlotte Bronte, Death, Kate Bush, New Yorker, Short Story, Tessa Hadley on November 13, 2009| Leave a Comment »

nyoct12SOUNDTRACK–KATE BUSH-The Kick Inside (1978).

Kick+InsideFor the longest time, Kate Bush was my soundtrack for reading.  There was something about her voice and her musical style that I felt was conducive to reading (must be the Wuthering Heights connection).

This, her first record, was recorded when Kate was 19, and now that I’m older (and have heard her later discs) I can really hear how young she sounds.  And with that youth comes a certain degree of naivete.  If you bring any amount of cynicism to this disc, it completely crumbles.  I mean she’s a teenager in the late 70s, so there’s an awful lot of earnestness here.  There’s Buddhist chants, there’s a lot of well written feminist thought, there’s an interpretation of Wuthering Heights.  There’s even whale songs in between tracks!

But there’s also a lot of songs about lost love.  And the thing that is so strange about that is, if I understand her biography correctly, she was not terribly worldly.   So the songs about lost men or Berlin pubs or even pregnancy are unusual to say the least.  And they show a furtive imagination.

So, you get songs of love and longing.  Songs about “Strange Phenomena.”  But you also get some wonderfully weird lyrics, like my favorite couplet: “Beelzebub is aching in my belly-o / My feet are heavy and I’m rooted in my wellios”

And I just love the audacity of her writing a song about Wuthering Heights (and, yup, it got me to read the book).  Not to mention the audacity of the notes she hits in the song.

Because clearly the thing most notable on the disc is her voice.  She wails and screeches and hits notes that were previously unheard in popular music.  The chorus of “Over the Moon” is striking in its ambition.  And let’s not forget the outrageous opening notes of “Wuthering Heights” (she’s so out there that she had to re-recorded it for the greatest hits record to try to get more airplay).  But no matter how otherworldly and at times bizarre her singing is, there is no doubt that her voice is a phenomenon unto itself.  Just listen to the gorgeous control she uses on “The Man with the Child in His Eyes”).

As she got older, she reined in some of the excesses of her voice (while unleashing excesses in other areas!).  She would begin multitracking her voice for awesome effect, as well as using some surprisingly deep gutteral vocals on other songs.

kickinsideKate would go on to write a few brilliant records in to 80s.  And this is certainly a fun starting point.

Of course, I’m disappointed that the US cover is the one featured above, which is clearly dumbed downed for US audiences who didn’t get (or like) her.  Because check out the cool original cover.  I mean, I’m not even sure what it’s all about, but it’s certainly more interesting!

[READ: November 6, 2009] “The Godchildren”

I loved the premise of this story from the get go.  And I thought it was a genius way to bring together three strangers who know each other.  The three characters: Amanda, Susan & Chris are the godchildren of Vivien.  Vivien was a friend of each of their parents, but she herself never had any children.  So, it was agreed early on that the three kids would occasionally spend a day with Vivien.  But the parents soon lost interest in talking to Vivien and the kids’ visits became something of a substitution for the parents actually talking to her. (more…)

Read Full Post »

John Uri Lloyd–Etidorhpa; or, The End of Earth: The History of a Mysterious Being and the Account of a Remarkable Journey (1895)

Posted in 19th Century, Adventure, Death, Demons, Dreams, Drinking, Drugs, Fantasy, Funny (strange), Hollow Earth, J. Augustus Knapp, John Uri Lloyd, Jules Verne, Oddities, Supernatural, Tindersticks, Unlikable main character on November 10, 2009| Leave a Comment »

uriSOUNDTRACK: TINDERSTICKS-Waiting for the Moon (2003).

moonThis Tindersticks disc shows a bit of a departure for them.  Two of the first three songs are not sung by Stuart Staples (which is nice for diversity, but it is shocking to hear the first sung words on a Tindersticks disc be in the relatively high register of Dickon).  Not to mention, the song opens with lines about killing someone (!), which is a bit more drastic than most of their lovelorn lyrics.

The fourth song “4.48 Psychosis” is the most guitar heavy/rocking song in the band’s catalog, I think.  And the rest of the disc falls into a fairly traditional Tindersticks camp.

I’ve read a lot of reviews of this disc that describe it as a grower.  It’s entirely possible that I haven’t allowed this disc to grow on me enough, but I’m not as enamored of this one as I am with the rest.  The problem for me is that the first batch of discs are so magical that it just feels like this one is simply not as exciting.  Of course, any Tindersticks record is a good one, this one just isn’t quite as good as the rest.

Mayhaps I need to go back and try it a few more times?

[READ: October 31, 2009] Etidorhpa

I found out about this story when a patron requested it.  I’d never heard of it, and when I looked for it, it was very hard to find in our library system.  But when I Googled it, it was available as a Google Book.  They had scanned the entire thing and (since it was old and out of copyright) it was available free online!  Awesome.

I printed out the whole thing (double sided) and figured I would read it fairly quickly.  [Oh, and just to ruin my cool story about Google books, I see now that it is available in paperback for about $10 from Amazon.  Doh!]

Of course, I’m not just going to read something because it’s available as a Google Book.  The patron said that it was like Jule’s Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth.  I had just read “Symmes Hole” in McSweeney’s #4, so Hollow Earthers were already floating around my mind.  It all seemed to work out quite well.

By the time I started reading it, I had forgotten about the Hollow Earth ideas.  Which is fine, since the first 100 pages or so are given up solely to the ideas of occult sciences.  But, let me back up a bit first.

First there is a Preface.  Lloyd claims to have found this manuscript which was hidden by Llewellyn Drury.  Before he gets to the manuscript, though, he gives a little background about himself.   He also relates a lengthy story about the value of libraries and shared knowledge.  He concludes with speculation about Drury, and the revelation that although he is unwilling to specify how he came into possession of the manuscript, he has had it for seven years (as of 1894) and is finally convinced that it’s time to get it published.

My edition also contains a Preface about Daniel Vaughn. Vaughn is mentioned as a character in the story (but he was a real person as well).  In the story, Drury sought Vaughn’s assistance with some scientific matters.  So there’s a brief biography about the man.

AND THEN, there is a section called “A Valuable and Unique Library” which is another preface about the value of libraries.  I’m not even clear about who wrote it, if it’s supposed to be a plug for this book itself or if it’s just an ad for something.

Finally, the story proper begins.  But not without a preface by Drury himself, giving his own life story (his full name is Johannes Llewellyn Llongollyn Drury) but he decided to remove those two ugly names. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Rick Spears & Chuck BB–Black Metal (2007)

Posted in Books about music, Chuck BB, Concept Albums, Death, Demons, Fantasy, Graphic Novel, Oni Press, Possessed, Primus, Rick Spears, Short Books, Supernatural, Threats, Violence, YA Books on November 6, 2009| 1 Comment »

blakcSOUNDTRACK: POSSESSED-Seven Churches (1985).

7Back in high school I was really into heavy metal.  And I got into something of a contest to find the heaviest, scariest metal bands around.  (To counter the guy in class who was into Stryper, naturally).  Well, I think I hit the jackpot with this album.

larry
Larry in Possessed

This is brutally fast speed metal.  Growling vocals, staccato super fast drums and a general sense of doom.

The song titles tell it all: “Burning in Hell,” “Holy Hell,” “Pentagram,” “Satan’s Curse” and “Death Metal.”  Allmusic.com states that this is the first death metal album.  So, how about that?

larrry
Larry (in the middle) in Primus

At this point, though, I think it is most notable for featuring Larry LaLonde on guitars.

LaLonde went on to be the guitarist for Primus for many many years.  So, he turned in his upside down cross and fake blood for purple hair and an alternative rock gig.

And I’ve got the pictures to prove it.

[READ: November 3, 2009] Black Metal

This graphic novel comes from the beloved Oni Press.  It’s the story of the brothers Stronghand, adopted siblings who live and breathe black metal.  They are notoriously evil and their past precedes them. They have been to five schools in four years and, as the story starts, we see them on their first day at Ronald Reagan Jr High.  (Which at first I thought was actually “Ronald Reagan Junior” High School, which would have been even more hilarious.)

By lunchtime, they have intimidated everyone with their black metal stares.  But, when someone questions their manhood, they strike back and are instantly expelled. (more…)

Read Full Post »

McSweeney’s #32

Posted in Adventure, Anthony Doerr, Chris Adrian, Chris Bachelder, Consumerism, Corporate skewering, Death, End of the World, Heidi Julavits, J. Erin Sweeney, Jim Shepard, LGBTQ, McSweeney's, Natural Disasters, Plague, Salvador Plascencia, Sesshu Foster, Sheila Heti, Short Story, Technology, The Future, Threats, Tindersticks, Wells Tower on October 24, 2009| Leave a Comment »

32SOUNDTRACK: TINDERSTICKS-Tindersticks [the red one] (1993).

tsTindersticks are a fascinating band.  The first distinctive thing about them is Stuart Staples’ voice: a deep rich bass that he uses almost like a whisper.  The second thing you notice is the music.  It’s an orchestral/chamber pop collection of dark rockers with fantastic moodiness to it.  And then you notice the lyrics: dark songs of lost (and decayed) love.

Yet despite the description of chamber pop, the nad is really much darker than chamber pop suggests.  The band has a very noir sound: organs that penetrate through walls of sound, tinkling pianos suring hushed moments.  The horns and strings add dark atmospherics (strings zing like a Hitchcock movie).  And the minor key chords are rich and loud.

You also get a song like “Whisky and Water” which genuinely rocks hard (loud guitars are featured).  Or a simple acoustic guitar driven song like “Blood.”  Throughout the disk you get these fantastic melodies that play off of Staples’ voice and the twisted lyrics.  “City Sickness” and “Patchwork” are just two of the tracks that are very catchy.

And then there’s the fantastic “Jism” with its awesome noir organ.  Or “Raindrops” with its accents of vibes and the beautiful piano trilling at the end (and the detailed and emotional lyrics: What we got here is a lazy love / It mooches around the house / Can’t wait to go out / What it needs, it just grabs / It never asks / We sit and watch the divide widen / We sit and listen to our hearts crumble”).  “Her” follows up with a wonderfully flamenco-infused spaghetti western number.

And lets not forget “Drunk Tank” a propulsive song that is as sinister as it is catchy.  Oh heck, I could just keep raving.  But there’s 22 songs!   Four songs are about a minute each, and the disc is about 75 minutes (not bad for a debut!).  And the disc never loses momentum or its sense of purpose.

What really distinguishes this disk is the mood of the music.  Like the best soundtracks, you can feel the emotions and imagery with the music alone, but when you add Staples’ evocative lyrics and powerful voice, it’s a deadly potent combination.

The disc was reissued a few years ago with a bonus disc of demo tracks.  The demos are surprisingly rich (they’re not at-home recordings or done without accompaniment) so they don’t differ that dramatically from the originals.  But they have a slightly less polished feel, which doesn’t hurt the band at all. There’s also a demo of the fantastic “For Those…” which doesn’t appear on the original disc.

I have to thank my friend Lar for getting me into this band. (Thanks Lar).

[READ: October 19, 2009] McSweeney’s #32

The concept for this issue is this: McSweeney’s asked several authors to “travel somewhere in the world–Budapest, Cape Town, Houston, any sleepy or sleepless outpost they could find–and send back a story set in that spot fifteen years from now, in the year 2024.”

And so, all of the stories are vaguely sci-fi-ish in that they are future related, but they are all grounded very heavily in reality, in particular, the reality of individuals trying to live in this future world. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Ludmilla Petrushevskaya-“Hygiene” (Harper’s, October 2009)

Posted in Death, Fables, Harper's, Ludmilla Petrushevskaya, My Morning Jacket, Plague, Short Story, Yuck! on October 14, 2009| Leave a Comment »

harperoctSOUNDTRACK: MY MORNING JACKET-Acoustic Citsuoca (2004).

mmjThere was a lot of fanfare when this EP was re-released recently (at least I think it was re-released; there was a lot of fanfare about it recently whatever the case). This is a live acoustic performance which features 5 songs from MMJ’s earlier recordings.

I’ve become a pretty big fan of MMJ over the last few years, but I haven’t really delved into their back catalog all that much.  As such, this album doesn’t blow me away, because to me, these aren’t different versions of the songs.  They’re just the versions of the songs.

That said, the disc is very enjoyable, and the band, especially Jim James, sound in great form.  If you’re a fan of the earlier discs, this is probably a stellar addition to the collection, especially since (as I’m led to understand) the early discs are full of reverb and all kinds of fun things like that.  And this is a very stripped down recording.   (Although I have to admit that I think “Sooner” sounds an awful lot like “Sweet Jane”).

If you’re new to the band, I recommend either their newer discs or Okonokos, the live disc, where the band really rocks out.  It’s a great introduction to latter day MMJ.

[READ: October 12, 2009] “Hygiene”

scaryThis story is listed as coming from the book There Once Lived a Woman Who Tried to Kill Her Neighbor’s Baby: Scary Fairy Tales.  Which sounds pretty cool.  But I only have this one story to mention.  And, it seems to fit in quite nicely with the title of the book.

“Hygiene” is set in a city in Russia.  As the story opens, a stranger rings the Family R’s door and informs them that a plague is coming.  They should stay housebound, and not speak to anyone.  And, most importantly, they should stay away from mice (who as we all know, are carriers).  He also confides in them that he is one of the few people who has survived the plague.  If they agree to pay him some money he will happily go out and get them supplies on a regular basis. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Periodical: The Walrus

Posted in Books about music, Books about writers, Canadian Content, Canadian Music, CBC Radio 2, Contests, Death, Demons, Dreams, Drinking, Essays, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), History, Marie-Claire Blais, Memoirs, Military, Nature, Religion, Research, Suicide, Technology, The Future, The Walrus on October 9, 2009| Leave a Comment »

walrus1I found out about The Walrus while watching an interview with Noah Richler on Book Television (back when I had Canadian satellite).  During the interview, they mentioned that the first issue of this cool new magazine, The Walrus, had just come out.  I was very intrigued; amazingly, the local Barnes & Noble had a copy!  I was delighted.  And since then The Walrus has become one of my favorite magazines.

In fact, in comparison to similar magazines (Harper’s, maybe The New Yorker) it is the only magazine that I read cover to cover.  I’m not sure why I insist on this (it’s probably got to do with it being an import from Canada, but really it’s just so well written that I enjoy everything), but I never regret reading every piece.

The magazine has recently had a face lift, a new cover design and, what seems to me to be a little more white space…it feels like each issue is a little less text-heavy.  Which is obviously a little disappointing, and yet when you have a lack of free time, as I do, it makes it a bit easier. (more…)

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »