After 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…)
After Angel Rat, original bassist Blacky left the band. That’s never a good sign. After the tour for this album, original singer Snake left the band. That’s an even worse sign. I still can’t quite figure out exactly why Snake left (personal problems) but he went on to form the band Union Made. For a very detailed history of the band, check out this very cool timeline at Voivod dot net.
The Outer Limits got a pretty big release. I have an original copy that came with 3D glasses and all of the illustrations in 3D. But I was a little disappointed in Angel Rat and I don’t think I gave The Outer Limits much of a chance. It was no Nothingface. But the band was always morphing. Since Angel Rat went very commercial, this album brought things back into the prog realm (with a 17(!) minute song) but also had a lot of commercial songs.
The album opens with “Fix My Heart” which starts out much heavier than anything on Angel Rat. It’s also got some metal guitar pyrotechnics (squeaks and harmonics). Snake’s voice isn’t quite as pretty as on Angel Rat either—he growls a bit, but maintains his nicer voice overall. Nevertheless, “Fix My Heart” is a pretty commercial enterprise (as the title might even suggest). There’s some good “spacey” guitars sounds which bode will for the sci-fi angle of the album (and there’s some cool effects that reward headphone use). “Moonbeam Rider” starts with a very classic rock sounding riff and then morphs into a kind of pretty, mellow verse. But the interstitial guitar is all speed. It’s a nice mix of fast and slow. This song features some interesting bass work—nothing fancy but for the slow parts it is actually keeping the beat instead of the drums. The bassist was a studio musician for this album. There’s also what sounds like a bong during the pre-guitar solo section (the solo is fairly traditional).
“Le Pont Noir” is a mellow, slow guitar song with a very cool delay effect and Snake’s whispered vocals. The bridge gets heavy with a wonderfully weird Piggy guitar riff. It’s one of my favorite songs on the album.
Then the band’s second Pink Floyd cover appears. This time it’s the even more obscure “The Nile Song.” They have rather heavied this one up with crunching guitars and Snake’s distance screaming filling in the void (although in fairness the original vocals are also screamed). It’s not as dynamic or exciting as “Astronomy Domine,” but it’s still a cool cover. “The Lost Machine” starts off heavy with Away’s double cymbal work (a noisy splash and a fast ride cymbal). Then Piggy’s guitars have a slight delay on them which makes the opening chords sound especially odd. The bridge is a place for Piggy to show off some more weird spacey chords and some very cool guitar riffs. There’s even a spoken word narrator in the middle of the song that explains the “mission” “Time Warp” opens with a very bright and up beat sounding verse. But it quickly disintegrates into (intentional) musical chaos as the narrator gets lost in space.
This all leads up to the 17 minute “Jack Luminous.” If anyone doubted their prog rock leanings, this should dispel that immediate. 17 minutes, multiple parts, a sci-fi epic, it is prog (but heavy prog) at its finest. There are some incredibly catchy parts as well as some less catchy parts, and sections seem to change every two minutes or so. The slow down at 10 minutes is very cool—different guitar effects and the suspenseful bass line. There’s repeated sections as well, which means if you like some guitar line (the spacey part near the end) it comes back! It’s not quite as dynamic as say 2112, but it’s a very successful sci-fi epic.
“Wrong Way Street” returns to the normal and more conventional. The bass that opens the song sounds great and the chords are fairly conventional–the chorus is even really catchy. “We Are Not Alone” is a break-neck metal song, The drums are super fast, the guitars are relentless and the chorus even has an echoed “Hey!” that gets you to sing along. The song also features a cool slow, almost jazzy bass and drum section that lets Piggy throw some soloing in before returning to the fast paced verses.
There’s lots of theories about what happened to Voivod after this album. The success they had achieved earlier was now gone and the band seemed like they couldn’t decide to be metal or prog or is they should go for more pop music. The problem of course is that they were too weird to get mainstream acceptance anyway.
So Snake left and then there were only two original members. The next step would be a drastic one.
[READ: July 9, 2013] Grantland #7
This issue seemed to come hot on the heels of #6. But I enjoyed it just as much. A few notes: no Jeremy Lin in this issue. Lots of LeBron James, three articles about soccer! And a few pop culture moments that I had forgotten about.
REMBERT BROWNE AND DUSTIN PARKER-“The Jeopardy! Teen Tournament JUST. GOT. REAL.
Leonard Cooper didn’t know the final Jeopardy answer but he still won and he made a hilarious joke at the end (in cartoon format);
BILL SIMMONS-“Daring to Ask the PED Question”
Simmons talks a lot about PED’s in this forum. Of course, to me PED is my initials. For him (and sports fans) it is performance enhancing drugs. He asks why sports doesn’t do more about it. There are so many people who do it that every time we see someone who might be doing it or who suddenly has a good season, we assume they are doing them too. It would be a service to the players and the fans to have rigorous testing or none at all.
CHRIS RYAN AND ROBERT MAYS-“The NFL Coaches Family Portrait By the Numbers”
A silly analysis of a photo of NFL coaches.
WESLEY MORRIS-“Jodie Foster’s Big Night”
What exactly did Jodie Foster say at the Golden Globes? (This was in January and everybody talked about it and now it’s September and I’ve completely forgotten about it—funny ephemera of pop culture).
JONATHAN ABRAMS-“Out of Africa”
A serious look at trying to bring basketball to Africa. How the culture and language problems make it very difficult to establish any real cohesion in the diverse country. But there are a few examples of boys coming from Africa and benefiting from host families and then heading back to help those who love basketball back home. The main focus is on a 15-year-old Alexis Wangmene who came to the States (and left his family!) to try to gain an education and basketball skills. It’s a heartfelt story.
MOLLY LAMBERT-“Modern Love”
About the show Catfish which just goes to show we can sink even lower as a culture.
CHUCK KLOSTERMAN-“Mental Health Protocol”
About Royce White again. Last time there was a lengthy look at him. Now we get to hear that he thinks that everyone has some kind of mental health issue.
ANDY GREENWALD-“Eat Bray Love”
How cooking shows have gone from educational to crazy and annoying. He dislikes Top Chef and the new Anthony Bourdain show The Taste (which he says is awful) but he likes a decent show called Chopped.
ZACH LOWE-“The Fragile Science of Basketball Chemistry”
Sure the Heat were great this year, but it’s the way they evolved as a team, creating chemistry, that is so impressive.
RAFE BARTHOLOMEW-“The Pariah”
Timothy Bradley beat Manny Pacquiao in a disputed judges call. Instead of rising to fame, he has been avoided like the plague.
BILL SIMMONS-“The All-Manti Te’o Mailbag
Remember that crazy story about the football guy with the dead girlfriend who turned out to be fake? I never really understood the story and while they spend a lot of time talking and theorizing about it I still don’t get it. Did they ever find out the truth about it?
CHRIS BROWN-“Speak My Language”
When you play for the Patriots, you learn their way of doing things—it is simple and efficient, a streamlined version of what other coaches try to do.
KIRK GOLDSBERRY-“The Evolution of LeBron James”
Using diagrams, we see how much of a different player James is in just the last few years with The Heat. This article has made me want to watch James in a game while he is at his peak. So, Heat vs Bulls at the end of October, you’re on my schedule.
SEAN McINDOE-“The Non-Hater’s Guide to the NHL”
Even people who hate everyone in the NHL (which is everyone) can agree that there are some players who are universally admired: Martin Brodeur, Pavel Satsyuk. Teemu Selanne, Jarome Iginla, Jonathan Toews, Martin St. Louis, Gabriel Landeskog, Patrick Elias (Devils get two!), Ryan Smyth, Steve Sullivan, Saku Koivu, Henrik Lundqvist.
ALEX PAPPADEMAS-“God Needs a Hobby”
A look at Dan Harmon and his podcast Harmontown. Harmon seems like he might be a crazy alcoholic, but he’s also pretty darn funny.
MARK TITUS-“Duke’s Ignominious Son”
Everybody hates Christian Laettner, but that’s only because he’s pretty and he made The Shot
MARK LISANTI-“Three Days in Austin”
Dealing with the craziness of the South by Southwest film festival. Sounds awful.
HUA HSU-“The Alien Has Landed”
Soccer legend Ronaldo returns to Old Trafford
BILL SIMMONS-“The Greatest Action Franchise That Ever Was”
Live blogging the Fast and Furious 6 trailer. I admit I may have to see these films after reading this.
ZACH LOWE-“Lights, Camera, Revolution”
There’s some kind of new technology that will change the NBA forever. I pretty much don’t care.
TESS LYNCH-“Nostalgia Bites”
Watching old Real World episodes shows how much things have changed in reality TV, but also how much certain behaviors are not new.
BRIAN PHILLIPS-“Maradona, Then and Now”
Maradona was an amazing kid—at 15 he was remarkable at his ball control. Now at 52 he’s a crazy loon. What exactly happened in between?
ANDY GREENWALD-“From Big to Small, From Movie to TV”
Why not make Men in Black into a TV show—with some other film recommendations.
AMOS BARSHAD-“How Soccer Explains Israel”
I didn’t expect to enjoy this but I found it very interesting. An Israeli soccer team has signed two Muslim players and it has caused incredible animosity and even arson. How this look at a team is like a microcosm of the whole Israeli situation.
LOUISA THOMS-“Back to School”
Missy Franklin won a ton of medals in the Olympics. And then she went back to high school. What’s it like to be on her team at Regis Jesuit?
WESLEY MORRIS-“Run, Frank, Run”
Frank Ocean apparently wasn’t as huge as I thought he was.
MALCOLM GLADWELL AND CHUCK KLOSTERMAN–“The Lies He Told”
More about Manti Te’o. This discussion was a bit more helpful about what happened and how crazy it is.
CHRIS RYAN AND REMBERT BROWNE-“A List of Possible Reasons for Rob Gronkowski’s Arm Infection”
Hypothetical humor.
JORDAN CONN-“The Invisible Man”
Marc Gasol is extremely respected by scouts and agents, but the fans all think of him as Pau Gasol’s chubby little brother.
REMBERT BROWNE-“French Quarter Lessons”
While in New Orleans for the Super Bowl, Browne decided to go to a bunch of used bookstores. This is very funny and enjoyable.
JAY CASPIAN KANG-“Fiercely Disputed”
Mike Tyson’s one man show is weird and strangely affecting.
KATIE BAKER-“Do Svidanya to All That”
Several NHL players went to Russia’s KHL during the lockout. And some don’t want to come back.
CHRIS RYAN-“The All-Star Circus”
NBA All-Star weekend is a crazy circus (and sounds worse than the above SXSW festival).
CHUCK KLOSETRMAN AND ALEX PAPPADEMAS-“The Nobituary”
There was a serious rumor that David Bowie was on death’s door. Klosterman and Pappademas imagine writing his obituary.
DAVID SHOEMAKER-“Glenn Beck vs. WWE”
The WWE has always had racists as part of the act. What happens when some goons start acting like the Tea Party?
DAVID JACOBY-“The Pure Heart Meets The Bachelor”
Jacoby’s grandmother watches The Bachelor and he feels badly for her.
STEVEN HYDEN-“Is This It?”
The Strokes’ fifth album had just come out [really?]. It could be their last, but Hyden thinks their last two have been quite good.
BILL SIMMONS-“The Heat in Hindsight”
The Miami Heat came close to breaking the longest winning streak in the NBA. Simmons looks at the fallout and who “wins” and “loses” in the effort.
CHARLES P. PIERCE-“Bleu, Blanc et Rouge”
I had no idea that Charlie Pierce was a Canadiens fan!
KATIE BAKER-“The Ethics of a Family Plan”
Is it ethical to pretend that you are married to your roommate to get a family discount a ta gym? Hell yes.
EMILY YOSHIDA-“A Dark Force”
J.J. Abrams is going to direct the next Star Wars films. Why, when sci-fi is so multifaceted and so different is everything coming down to J.J. Abrams?
SEAN FENNESSEY-“The Case Against Justin Timberlake”
Timberlakes’s previous album was amazing. Then he took years off to make (bad) film and (good) TV. His star would only continue to rise if he stopped making music and only hinted that he would make another album. But the release of his new album (which isn’t that good) can only hurt him.
BRYAN CURTIS-“Waiting for Bettman”
While many New Yorker’s didn’t care about the NHL strike, Canadian writers camped out waiting for Bettman to announce the strike was over.
WESLEY MORRIS-“30 Rock Landed on Us” 30 Rock was many things, but it dealt with racial issues (at least between blacks and whites) better than any show.
RANY JAZAYERLI-“Fall of the Evil Empire”
The New York Yankees look like they won’t make the playoff this year (this was written in March and as of my writing this they have a slim chance at getting the wild card slot). It will be the firs time in a while, perhaps, just perhaps, it’s the start of a new drought for the Evil Empire.
BILL BARNWELL-“The Master Raven”
Ozzie Davis knows how to pick players for the Baltimore Ravens.
REMBERT BROWNE AND DUSTIN PARKER-The Best Chappelle’s Show Sketches of All Time”
Done as a series of cartoons (by Parker); Browne picks his eight favorites:
Charlie Murphy’s True Hollywood Stories: Prince
Wayne Brady’s Show
Charlie Murphy’s True Hollywood Stories: Rick James
Black Bush (especially now that Obama is president)
Clayton Bigsby: Black White Supremacist
Making the Band (P. Diddy)
The Racial Draft (Tiger Woods Now 100% Black)
The Niggar Family (uncomfortable and hilarious no matter how many times you watch it).
Once again, there’s another great issue of Grantland. Once again, I wish they would follow up on some of their speculative stories. But it’s fun to have a time capsule of events that occurred just a few months ago and yet which I have totally forgotten about.
And here’s the cover of The Outer Limits in non 3D style (which I haven’t see before)
SOUNDTRACK: DAVID LYNCH-“Crazy Clown Time” (2012).
It’s hard for me to divorce this song from the video, because the video is so…David Lynch. Even though it pictures the lyrics literally, there’s so many weird little Lynchisms that it’s an art unto itself. Imagine David Lynch directing a rocking music video, but of a song he wrote. Wow. But I’m not going to talk about the video.
Musically, his song is a fairly simple construction–it’s primarily drums with some echoing guitars (with no real melody) and other crazy noises. Over the rhythmic cacophony, we get David Lynch’s bizarre falsetto/spoken words. Lyrically the song seems to be describing a party that gets pretty out of hand (and the video certainly shows that).
Lyrics include: Paulie he had a red shirt; Suzy, she ripped her shirt off completely; Petey set his hair on fire. And then the chorus: It was crazy clown time. It was real fun.
Lynch’s voice sounds like an excited child (or demonic clown) as he talks about certain details of this party. This is definitely a song that people will ask you “what are you listening to?” There’s very few who will want to listen to this, although I’ve found that after three listens, it makes a kind of twisted sense.
If you dare, watch the NSFW video
[READ: September 10, 2013] Animal Instincts
I very rarely talk about reviews of TV shows–that’s a slipper slope if ever there was. But I like Lorrie Moore and I like Jane Campion and I hadn’t heard about Campion’s show called Top of the Lake Moore suggests is the best show on TV. It aired on the Sundance Channel but was originally a BBC production. Like Campions’ other works, it is set in New Zealand and the location and cinematography are part Deliverance, Road Warrior, Winter’s Bone and Hobbit.
The show sound very dark, but as soon as Moore started describing it I couldn’t help but think of Twin Peaks. And indeed, there is a David Lynch nod within the show (girls say they are reading Blue Velvet for their book club). (more…)
Since I mentioned “Artificial Light” the other day, I thought I’d link to it today.
The song opens with a pretty guitar melody punctuated by horns. The singer’s vocal style is dramatic and often unexpected–especially the way he gets louder mid sentence and then drops to a whisper at other times (reminds me a bit of Wolf Parade or perhaps even Modest Mouse).
There are very pretty moments in the song (especially when the orchestration fills in). But the horns also give it a kind of Spanish feel, which rides on top of the heavier guitars in the verses.
At about two and a half minutes, the song drops out completely. It is picked up by some gentle guitar and horns as it builds back up. By the end the chorus of voices builds the song to new heights and widths.
It’s interesting what you can do with so many band members in five and a half minutes. This song really runs a breadth of ideas but remains quite pretty throughout.
[READ: September 12, 2013] “The Colonel’s Daughter”
The Kids in the Hall once made a sketch in which there was no beginning or ending, just a middle.
In the sketch, a man in a tutu slaps a man in a scuba diving suit saying. “Stop it. stop it. I’ve got to stop you and your revolutionaries from taking over this country.”
This story is like the inverse of that sketch. It has a beginning and an end but no middle. Interestingly, since it is also about revolutionaries taking over a country, I now just insert that sketch into the story (I’m sure that makes Coover very happy. I wonder if anyone else mentions this sketch in the review of this story).
I have mixed feeling about Coover’s work in general. It often feels more style over substance. And I fear that this one may have been playing with that somewhat. Interestingly as well, there is a lot of substance, but it is played in such as way as to make it almost seem meaningless—unless you are willing to really unpack it (which I wasn’t).
So, the Colonel is intent on overthrowing the President (the country is unnamed). He has chosen the group of men sitting in the room with him. Some of them know each other but not all do. They look around and size each other up. Indeed, 5/6 of the story is the men sizing each other up. To me, the men are interchangeable. I don’t know if that is lazy reading on my part or if it is indeed on purpose.
Each man gets a brief biography—the Deputy Minister, the Police Chief, the biplane pilot, the business man, the professor, the doctor and possibly someone else.
We learn a little about each man and why the Colonel would have chosen him. We learn about his fears about the mission and who he mistrusts the most. We also learn that one of the men is a double agent, working for the President. Like a game of Clue, pieces of information are given that would let you know who the man is, but again, I didn’t feel like doing the work to figure it out. I am curious to know if you can tell who it is from the story, but not curious enough to do the work (so I should not be rewarded). (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: TYPHOON-“Dreams of Cannibalism” (2013).
NPR was steaming this album for a while. Now they’re giving away this song.
Typhoon is yet another band that has a crazy amount of people in it (between 12 and fourteen) and they have a vast array of instruments in play at any one time (Horns, violins, xylophones, electric guitars and mandolins for example).
At the same time, Singer Kyle Morton’s vocals are distinctive enough and are used like an instrument as well as to deliver lyrics. This gives them quite a unique sound.
The song opens with an array of horns slowly building to a simple guitar melody. The verses are somewhat quiet with occasional punctuations of band (and great backing vocals). But as the song progresses, more instruments kick in (horns adding a melody line). I really like the way the end of the song shifts direction totally, bringing in a complex instrumental section with interesting time shifts and even better backing vocals..
I enjoyed the whole album while it was streaming. And while I can’t say that this song stands out more than the other songs, (I think “Artificial Light” is probably the best,) it represents the sound of the band pretty well.
[READ: September 2013] Lucky Peach Issue 8
I haven’t been reviewing Lucky Peach issues in their entirety because they are mostly about food and cooking and recipes and I don’t really have anything to say about that (I enjoy the articles a lot, but I don’t need to comment on them).
But I wanted to bring special attention to this issue because of the way it is presented. This is the Gender Issue. It has two covers (see the “female” cover tomorrow) and the magazine must be flipped over to read the different genders.
It’s not often that I think of food and gender as being connected, but there are some really interesting articles in here that talk about not only food itself, but about the people who prepare it. Like the fact that most big name chefs are men even though cooking has traditionally been “women’s work.”
The women’s side of the magazine has these interesting articles: (more…)
I know Reggie Watts from Comedy Bang Bang, but his name sounds familiar, like he’s been around for a long time. And he has, although not in ways that I am familiar. He’s been in a million bands (none of which I’ve heard of) and done a number of short films and concerts (prominently as of 2004). Interestingly he was born in Germany to French and American parents. And, yes, he lived his early life in Montana.
In his early bands, Reggie sang (he has a beautiful voice). In recent years he has become sillier, doing improv and a lot of looped vocals. he also has a lot of funny comedic lyrics. But not all of them. In this Tiny Desk concert, Reggie does three songs (with funny intros). The first one “Song #4” is a “proper” song.
The other two are improved. The middle one, about NPR is very funny (if you know your NPR). In all of the songs he samples his voice creating bass lines and whatnot (he does amazing beat box work). The set is really impressive that one guy can make so much beautiful music.
Although normally I enjoy just listening to the Tiny Desk shows, this is one that demands watching, just to see how he does it all.
[READ: September 6, 2013] “Motherhood”
Manguso writes about being a mother and how sleep deprivation as a new mom is actually somewhat enjoyable (I suppose she means in retrospect). She doesn’t say anything all that new about being a mom and the experiences of waking up at the slightest sound (or lack of sound) from your children. Although of course it’s original to everyone when it is their child.
And she does make some interesting observations about how when the baby is first-born you rush to help him or her at the first cry but as they get older you feel even more protective of them. I also enjoyed the idea that maternal love is in no way a softening or weakening force but is actually a courageous act–sacrificing yourself for someone else. (more…)
By my count there are fourteen people in Mother Falcon (the notes say 17 but I couldn’t see them all)–that’s a lot of people in a Tiny Desk concert. And they all play an instrument. I count trumpet, bassoon, three saxophones, three violins, two cellos, an upright bass, accordion, guitar and mandolin (the mandolin player is the lead singer (and a cello player too).
Despite the orchestral set up, the songs are short pop songs but with a lot of, well, orchestration. The songs have gorgeous instrumental sections, especially in “Marigold” where the riff is powerful and made all the more dynamic by the woodwinds.
“Marfa” has vocals by the female lead (who plays guitar–I don’t see any band member names on the NPR site). The strings really dominate here and remind me of the way The Dambuilders used strings–even though there is no heavy guitar. The strings feel like they are playing rock songs rather than being used as background for a rock song. “Dirty Summer” is a sing-along track with no real words–lots of oh ohs.
Watching one of the members climb on the desk to sing louder was pretty fun. It was also cool hearing how excited they were to be on the Tiny Desk. Check it out.
They sound really great and, although I have to suspect that they must be more dynamic live than on record–how could they not be?
[READ: September 6, 2013] “Herbal Remedies”
Curtis is a holistic nutritionist. I was a little concerned that this whole essay was going to be about prescribing alternative medicines to people to help them sleep (that’s only part of the article–and sadly there’s no quick suggestions either). Actually, I’m normally all for herbals, but I’ve been watching Doc Martin lately and, man, he really rails into the herbalist on that show. I’m generally torn about herbal remedies–I absolutely believe in science, but I have no faith in corporations. So I believe scientists find cures for things and then corporations mess with them and make us need more than we do. And I also feel like old herbal remedies probably work to an extent and yet they have also not been scientifically proven. What’s a skeptic to do?
Anyhow, the switch comes when Curtis admits that while her patients can’t sleep, she has no problems with it. Except that she doesn’t want to sleep, she hates it. She even slept with the light on (until her business associate warned that it ruins your “kidney jing.)”
She talks about what it’s like to sleep in different men’s beds. I liked the descriptions–the way each bed and each man makes her feel a different way in the bed–like a princess, or someone who wakes up several times a night so she can cuddle again or, like a safe and secure person who can sleep uninterrupted all night long. (more…)
I had seen the cover of this book in the library almost every time I went in. I loved it but I wasn’t sure if the book was too old for the kids (it’s rated 8 and up, but it turns out there’s nothing too intense that my 5 year old didn’t love it too (she didn’t get it all, but she liked it). Angleberger is best known for the Origami Yoda series–I haven’t read it and frankly without knowing anything about it, the entire concept of the series baffles me. But I enjoyed this book so much that I may have to dive into the folded paper series too.
This audio book was read by Jonathan Todd Ross and Jessica Almasy. And while I liked Almasy, I really enjoyed Ross’s two sections–there was something about is style that really appealed to me.
This is the simple (albeit complicated) story of a boy whose friend buys a fake mustache. In the town of Hairsprinkle, young Caspar lives with his parents who believe in wholesomeness—in other words, they don’t have a TV. Nor do they believe in an allowance—material goods are not so good. But every year Caspar’s aunt gives him a couple hundred dollars to by something frivolous. And this year, Caspar has his sites set on a man-about-town suit. Not just any cheap suit, but a very nice tailored, man-about-town suit (this phrase, repeated throughout the beginning of the book cracked me up. I’m sure my kids didn’t know what it meant but it made me laugh every time it was used). After buying the suit, he went to the Heidelberg Novelty Store to buy the Heidelberg Handlebar #7—a glorious fake mustache which is made from real human mustache hair (ew). With suit and mustache, Caspar looked like a short man-about-town. And the citizens of Hairsprinkle were impressed
The main character and narrator of the story is Lenny Flemm, Jr. Lenny is something of a loser and his only real friend is Caspar. Turns out that he himself is responsible for giving Caspar the extra ten dollars that he needed to get that mustache (they had raised the price). When Lenny goes shopping with Caspar, he is excited not to buy a suit or a mustache but to buy a sticky grabber hand (for $1). The lady at the desk, Sven, is hilarious (and Ross’ voice for her is dynamite).
That night a bank is robbed—by a short man in a man-about-town suit. And the next day Caspar gives Lenny his money back, with a lot of interest. Then another bank is robbed. And then another. The next time Lenny visits Caspar’s room, there are stacks of gold bars against the wall. Lenny decides to call the police, but they don’t believe him—Caspar is a boy, they are looking for a man. But now that Caspar knows that Lenny is onto him, he tries to make trouble for Lenny.
But before Lenny can prepare for this, there is a new player in town—Fako Mustacho—a man who plans to save the town, the country, the world, from itself. Fako Musatcho is a short man with a glorious mustache and a suit—not a man-about-town suit, mind you, but a different kind of suit. And it seems that whenever Fako speaks, people automatically listen–including the mayor who agrees to step down because she can’t catch the bank robber. Except for Lenny who seems to be the only one who can see that Fako is really Caspar. So, what is a kid with no friends supposed to do?
Call for help from Jodie O’Rodeo, of course. Jodie is the star of the now cancelled kids show The Jodie O’Rodeo Showdeo. On the show she sang and did trick riding stunts. Turns out that she can really do them (the stunts, not the singing) and she also knows that Fako Mustacho is a kid wearing a mustache. By the middle of the book, when Part 2 opens, we hear Jodie’s side of things (in the audio book this is where Jessica Almasy takes over). Interestingly Jodie and Lenny meet because Lenny is dressed like Jodie O’Rodeo (long story). Lenny always thought she was cute (and was embarrassed to say so) but the show has been off the air for a few years and Jodie is really cute now. And she still has her horse, Soymilk. And she wants to help Lenny save the world! (And she thinks Lenny is cute, even though it’s weird because he is dressed like her).
Once the two begin working together, hijinx ensue and the story gets very exciting indeed. Whereas Lenny is a man of words, Jodie is all about action, and there is a ton of it (most of it very funny indeed). By the time they free themselves from Fako Mustacho’s henchmen, Fako has the whole world hypnotized and, since it is an election year, he has them all hypnotized to vote for him as the President of the Unites States. It’s going to take nerves of steel, great horsemanship and perhaps a sticky grabber hand to stop the plans that are afoot (including the other plan to assassinate Fako should he become president—don’t forget, he is only Caspar in a fake mustache).
This story was so funny. It is riddled with absurdities and hilarious asides. The situations are preposterously simple and yet also dangerous. All throughout there were wonderful jokes, hilariously silly set ups (they fall into a vat of oozing slime) and preposterously funny foolishness—who doesn’t love when no one can see the bad guy but one kid?
I enjoyed this book so much I insisted that the kids only listen to it when I was in the car. And it did not disappoint.
As I said earlier I loved Ross’ reading. He was very very funny (and reminded me at times of John Hodgman’s deadpan delivery–absurdity always works best in deadpan). And his pronunciation of Fako Mustacho made me laugh every single time. Jessica Almasy’s reading was also really good (I don’t want to give the wrong impression). It’s just very different—Jodie’s story is more exciting than Lenny’s while it is still funny, it’s not as absurdly funny as Lenny’s (although Almasy does a great job with the different character voices as well).
Here’s trailer for the book (ha). I feel compelled to point out that the “its” in the trailer should have an apostrophe, but at least they didn’t put one in where it didn’t belong, which is so much more common. I also didn’t realize the book had illustrations (that’s the trouble with audio books).
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I am sold on Angleberger and am not only preparing to read the Origami Yoda books, but I can’t wait to get the audio for Horton Halfpott: Or, The Fiendish Mystery of Smugwick Manor; or, The Loosening of M’Lady Luggertuck’s Corset. The fact that it also has a crazy subtitle means I like it already.
Incidentally, Angleberger has also written under the pseudonym Sam Riddleberger and I hear that his The Qwikpick Adventure Society is quite enjoyable too.
SOUNDTRACK: TAVI GEVINSON-“Heart of Gold” and “Heart” (2013).
Both of these songs were recorded for the release of the film Cadaver (see below). Neither song appears in the film, although Gevinson herself is the main character. I admit to being awed and repulsed by Gevinson [insert standard issue comments about fashion, young fame and blogging here]. But I am glad she’s using her fame to write feminist theory instead of fashion anymore. And I enjoyed her article in The Believer recently.
As for the film, she does a very good job as the voice in the movie. But let’s hope she doesn’t pursue her singing career any further.
She has the kind of flat delivery that Zooey Deschanel does, but Deschaenl’s voice has a gravitas that Gevinson doesn’t (sure, you can say she’s only 16 or whatever, but there are tons of teenagers who can sing amazingly). Her take on “Heart of Gold” is fine. She enunciates very clearly, but there’s very little passion in the song. Her take on Pet Shop Boys’ “Heart” (a song I know very well, but didn’t know that was the title) is a little better. Primarily because she takes the very discoy song and turns it into a slow acoustic number. The instrumentation is a little bland (not her fault) but she puts moments of excitement into the singing. In both cases I’d much rather hear the original, and in fact I am going to listen to the Pet Shop Boys version right now.
And before you yell at me for picking on a teenager, she is far more successful than I will ever be, so just assume this is all sour grapes.
[READ: August 31, 2013] Cadaver
This book came across my desk and I was intrigued because it was a comic book about cadavers. It’s shaped like a comic strip book (reminding me of early Far Side books) and it turns out to be a comic book adaptation of a short film which was originally a poem. In the introduction, Jonah Ansell explains that his (baby) sister was going off to medical school so he wrote her a (funny) poem. Eventually, the poem was turned into an animated short film. And after being made into a short film it was made into this book.
The story is told in rhyme and is quite funny, until it gets rather touching. In the introduction, Ansell also explains that there was more to the story than medial school–it’s about love and loss and cynicism vs romanticism. Not bad for a 7 minute film.
An unnamed med student is handed a scalpel by the scary professor. She is told to make the first incision into the cadaver. She does so, but as she removes the heart (nicely shaped like a cartoon heart), the cadaver sits up and says that he needs it back. The student’s partner passes out. The man says he’s not read to die, he has a heart to give someone. (more…)
Dimension Hatröss takes the advances from Killing Technology and moves them even further into craftsmanship and prog excellence. In the Killing Technology band photo and in this one, Blacky had shaved part of his head—which was pretty outrageous for a metal band in the late 80s. It’s just a small visual showing how the band was different from other metal bands.
It also opens with some interesting sounds—a swirling noise that coalesces into a fantastic solid heavy riff—a confident metal riff that is more sophisticated than most of their output already. And then a cool noisy chord from Piggy lets you know that this album is going to be…different. And so it is, a wonderful mix of metal and prog rock chords (and long songs) all used as the background of a sci-fi story of The Voivod. The dissonance is amazing on the album—Piggy is playing chords that seem like they shouldn’t come from a guitar.
“Tribal Convictions” is a little less harsh than “Experiment” and you can really hear Snake has been honing his singing skills. There’s even multiple tracks of vocals (including a deep voice singing along on this track). And there are so many different sections—and the first that stands out on the album is Piggy’s echoed guitars just before the “who’s the God” section. Or the repeated chords that open the fantastic “Chaosmongers”—sounding for all the world like electronic malfunction. And yet for all of the experimentation, the songs are still heavy—the chorus of this song is very fast and full of Away’s noisy splash cymbal. My favorite parts comes at around 2:15 where Piggy plays these great fast chords and Blacky plays a very cool accompanying bass line. Indeed, Blacky’s bass sounds great on this record. And when that riff repeats later in the song, it’s followed by a great concluding section.
“Technocratic Manipulators” is a fast heavy song—a very traditional sounding metal song until the “that’s not for me” comes in with a huge time change that last… for one measure. I love how the song ends with a repeated section of “I’d rather be…” until the final line, “I’d rather…think.”
Then comes one of my favorite Voivod songs with the awesome title “Macrosolutions to Megaproblems.” It opens with some increasingly dissonant chords, but also features some loud chanted singalong sections followed by a ringing guitar solo that sounds like a siren. All within a few seconds of each other. It also has the thoughtful bridge, “You better shake up your mind, coz if you’re just staying blind, integrity you won’t find.” And another super cool dissonant chord sequence on the high notes of the guitar—I don’t know how Piggy thought of these sequences. Just to top it off, the ending sequence is a series of descending chords, each one odder than the last.
“Brain Scan” has a cool riff at the end of each verse that is actually surprisingly major chord bright—amidst the chaos of the rest of the song (more great bass from Blacky and some crazy sounds of a brain scan—Snake’s voice processed?). “Psychic Vacuum” is one of the songs where I have to wonder how they can switch to different sections so fast. “Cosmic Drama” opens with a distant echoic riff and then nothing but heaviness. And yet it keeps up that sci-fi experimental feel. This is one of the great heavy metal records of the 80s. technically brilliant playing, odd time signatures and yet still some really catchy music.
The CD has an addition of the Batman theme song. It’s a very odd addition and has no place on the record, but I’ve always liked it because it is so weird. (It’s also only 1:45).
[READ: August 29, 2013] “Nirvana”
I was apprehensive about reading this story because I tend to dislike Esquire fiction. But Adam Johnson won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for The Orphan Master’s Son (which I haven’t even heard of), so I figured this must be better than the male bonding stories that usually appear in Esquire.
And so it was.
This also happens to be the second stories about a virtual reality President that I’ve read in a few days. How about that.
So this story is set in some kind of future. And in this future the President has been assassinated (and has been dead for three months). The story seems like it is set in the near future (so I kept imagining Obama as the dead President and I wonder if others do too). But something is odd, because the protagonist has been whispering to the President (and evidently the President is talking back to him). However, what’s more significant to the narrator is his wife. (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: DELTRON 3030-“The Return” (2013).
After 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.
