My five-year old daughter T. was in her second recital last night. Last year she performed in one routine and this year she moved up to two–a ballet routine and a tap routine.
And my little girl got to lead the group out on stage!
She performed in two routines, “Ice Cream Ballet” (to the tune of Frank Mills’ “Music Box Dancer”) and “Hot Dog!” (the closing theme from the Mickey Mouse Show).
As with last year, I have no intention of critiquing any performances on the stage tonight. Every girl and boy tried his or her best and they all did better than I could do. However, I want to make some general observations about the performance.
This year’s theme was all about summer, so imagine my surprise when the first act was a dance routine set to “School’s Out” by Alice Cooper! I feel like one of the big things that the dancers need to learn is to really exaggerate your excitement on stage–really get into it. I know it is very hard to let loose in this way (although I noticed some of the boys really got into it), but if you just think about the sentiment of “Schools Out” you’d expect these kids to be wildly excited–exaggeratedly so. (more…)
I learned about Trabant from the magazine pictured to the left. It came with McSweeney’s issue #15 and is completely in Icelandic. Trabant are apparently a pretty huge band in Iceland, and they have a lot of songs on YouTube. And many of their songs are very different sounding so I’m not entirely sure what kind of band they actually are.
This song begins with strange clicks and sound effects and then a big throbbing bass. There’s kind of a funky keyboard background and then a slightly off kilter riff.
Then the big guitars kick in and the vocals (which are “if you want a love song”) don’t start until about two minutes in. There’s a break in the middle where the band starts changing Ma Mo Ma Mo Maria and then the singer starts free associating over some wild guitar riffing and more sound effects. It’s a really weird song and I have no idea if this is representative of the band (they did make a video for it so it can’t just be a throwaway, right?).
I’m really intrigued by these guys, and I’m going to have to look for more.
[READ: May 18, 2013] McSweeeny’s bits.
Over the course of my reading the McSweeney’s issues, there were bits and pieces that I missed for one reason or another. I tried to be complete, but sometimes it wasn’t easy. So, with the publication of The Art of McSweeney’s I have now been able to read two things that I missed earlier. And the third is something I didn’t exactly read, although I tried.
Just as issue 1 had a short story by Dave Eggers on its spine! issue #4 (the box of books) had a brief piece by Ben Greenman ringing the contents list of said box. I never noticed it before (indeed I may not have ever read the back of the box before, shame on me). But anyhow, in very tiny print is “More Notes on Revising Last Night’s Dream” by Ben Greenman. And in this brief piece (which is several bullet pointed items–although arranged as a line rather than bullets) there are several ideas about last night’s dream which include “Egg on breakfast plate need not bloom into flowers” and “Cut out part in which Leslie Nielsen meets Trotsky–silly.” And, of course, “More Invisibility.” This is the kind of short silly thing that the first issues published which have more or less been relegated to the McSweeney’s website now. And while I feel the website is a better place for it (and I need to go read the website more), these silly things are certainly missed.
The second missed item is also found thanks to The Art of McSweeney’s. I mentioned in my review of Issue #20 that the story on the cover was completely covered by art. And I wondered why and I wondered if you could find the whole text anywhere. Well, in The Art of McSweeney’s they print the original cover!
I was delighted by this because it did two things–it explained how the cover was made (the 3D art was not “added on,” rather the white section under the art was “Compressed” which is how it came out 3D. Very cool. There’s also a brief breakdown of costs of the issue. But the bulk of the cover story is about how the author (Eggers, I assume) broke up a fight in New York City. A man and his family are walking down the street when a lady bumped into their little girl. The man freaks out because she didn’t apologize and he gets right up in the lady’s face (really, dude?). Eggers is on the phone arranging to meet someone when he says he has to get involved. So he tells the guy to chill out. Things quiet down a bit, but then the woman starts screaming “You got knocked up!” And that’s when Eggers takes a look at her and realizes that she is homeless and crazy and not ever going to apologize. But the screaming gets the mother involved in the fight which starts up again. Things finally settle down with the family acknowledging that the lady doesn’t understand anything. And they all depart. It’s probably the most exciting editor’s note of them all, and yet it was covered up.
My guess is, from what I know about Eggers, that story may have seemed too self-serving to include Or maybe it was just fun to cover up words with a picture.
The final item comes from Issue #15. It is a small magazine called Séð og Heyrt (Seen and Heard). It is a real weekly magazine, although I’m not sure if our version is complete (I assume it’s not since it’s only 16 pages, but who knows how much tabloid you can fill each week in Iceland). It is a pretty typical scandal magazine For some insight into this magazine, check out this post on I love Icelandic Music.
I can’t even begin to guess what half of the articles are about as the pictures are mostly crazy. There seems to be something about an Idol show, there’s a female body builder, something about some wholesome looking people who may be called Icelandic Pearls. And then the centerfold is called Rokkorgia, which should be easily translated. It features half naked pictures of the guys from Trabant. The next page has Love Guru in strange positions with his lady friend and a big headline Bingo I Beinni. The back page has an ad for Krit Paradis Eyjahafsins which appears to be a nice resort. What a fun, odd addition to the Icelandic Issue of McSweeney’s.
Then as I was glancing through I caught something that said That 70s Show. And sure enough, it was a preview of a new episode tonight (is it dubbed into Icelandic??). So even though I played around with translating bits and pieces of the magazine, this was the only one I did fully. So in Icelandic (excluding some accents)
I kvold hefjast syningar a nyrri syrpu um unglingana i Wisconsin. Jackie þarf ad velja a milli Hyde of Kelso. Red er að ba ser eftir hjartaafall og Eric er með samviskubit yfir þvi að vera að fara i burtu i haskola. þokkadísin Estella Warren leikur gestahlutverk i þaettinum
Which Google tells me means:
Tonight begins exhibiting a new series about a teenager in Wisconsin. Jackie has to choose between Hyde of Kelso. Red is ba after a heart function and Eric is guilty not be going away to college. charm diesel Estella Warren plays a role in the show.
Cool huh? What a strange thing to find in a magazine that was not meant for me. But I’m glad I read it because now I know all about Trabant!
For ease of searching, I include, well, I’m only including the magazine, because there’s way too much otherwise: Sed og Heyrt.
On the Pogues album If I Should Fall from Grace with God, they sing a song called “Fiesta” that is more or less a punk Spanish song which, while very Spanish sounding, still retains a feeling of Irishness. Piñata Protest, a band from San Antonio who sing in Spanish and English, sounds like a similar mix of Mexico, Ireland and punk (especially on the second track, “Vato Perron”). I feel like the Ireland comes from the accordion (one of the primary instruments on the disc), while the punk lasts throughout (the whole album is 9 songs in 20 minutes).
The band plays loud guitars at a fast pace. And it’s amazing how well the accordion brings it all together.
The band sings a few really fast songs and a couple slower ones. Interestingly, the slower songs (“Tomorrow Today” and “Guadalupe”) are probably the most conventional and, consequentially, of the least interesting songs on the album. They sound like pretty typical punk pop, albeit with touches of accordion. It’s the more fast songs like “Vato Perron” and “Life on the Border” (with the great lead accordion and the fun “Hey!” refrain) which really stand out.
“Volver Volver” is a traditional song which starts out slowly (with big guitars) and after a few verses and a very long held note, the punk can’t be contained any longer and the song ends in a blur. The title track is a great rocker with some interesting guitar sounds an a cool accordion solo. Then there;s the rocking (and amusing) cover of “La Cucaracha.” It starts out as a blistering punk song with no real connection to the original until about mid way through when a lone trumpet begins laying the familiar melody. It’s only a minute long and so is the final cut “Que Pedo” which is just a blistering punk song with lots of screaming.
And with that album is done. It’s a fun an unexpected treat of an album, and if you like your punk musically diverse, it’s worth checking out (NPR is streaming it this week).
[READ: May 11, 2013] Dread & Superficiality
Sarah got me this book for my birthday. If you have ever seen Annie Hall (and if you haven’t, go watch it now), you’ve seen Woody-as-cartoon. Hample is the person who created the cartoon for the movie. Around the time that that happened, Hample was pushing Woody to have a comic strip based around him (Hample had a moderately successful strip at the time already) and also convincing newspapers that this was a good idea. All parties agreed and Inside Woody Allen ran from 1976 to 1984. 1984! I can’t believe I never saw this in a newspaper. My parents were daily subscribers to two newspapers and I know I read the comics. Of course, I didn’t care about Woody Allen until I went to college, so maybe I did see it but ignored it.
Anyhow, this book collects a bunch of those strips (I have no idea how many but I would venture around 200–which is a far cry from the nearly 3,000 that would have been produced over those years. But hey since there’s no other place to see these strips (there were three books published but they are all long out of print), this is a good place to start and a nice collection. But more than just the strips, most of the book collects the original proofs of the strips, so you can see Hample’s lines and notes (there are several pieces that deal with his color choices and notes on the same).
The book is broken down into subjects and is in no way chronological. This makes sense as it’s good to see him dealing with the same topic in different ways, but it makes for weird continuity issues (something that will obviously occur when you only select random strips). Woody is with various women over the strip and it’s hard to know if he was after Laura for a few months or the duration of the strip. Of course, the sections aren’t really all that different–they all deal with Allen’s philosophical attitude, his attempts to woo women, his therapist and his parents. However, the breakdowns, while somewhat arbitrary are enjoyable. (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: GIRAFFES? GIRAFFES!-“Fucking Ants Man! Where They Coming From? (Let’s Hang The Carroll Footnoteitsists)” (2005).
I just learned that there is a band named Giraffes? Giraffes!, which is the name of a silly book published by McSweeney’s. I was so delighted to find out about this band, that I immediately went to their band camp site, where I was further delighted to find out that they are an instrumental post-rock kind of band with some great tunes. And, of course, when your songs are instrumental, you get to make up the best titles. Like this one.
There’s only two guys in the band which must mean overdubs (I hope so, otherwise they defy physics). This song starts out with a riff in what I think is 5/4 time which discombobulates for a while until it becomes a wild guitar riff (and the drums come more to the fore). While that speedy riff is going on, another more pleasant solo plays over the top. Then the song plays some really fast drums with chords that sound like mid 70s Who, which is followed by another pretty guitar solo. The end resorts back to some mild chaos and fun until it ends very prettily.
If you like post rock, give Giraffes? Giraffes! a try.
This song comes from their debut album, Superbass!!!! (Black Death Greatest Hits Vol. 1). Which you can hear here.
[READ May 5, 2013] Places, Strange and Quiet
This is a book of photographs by Wim Wenders, filmmaker extraordinaire. What I fouond very interesting about this book is that it is not a book of art (as far as I define it). It is rather a book of documentation. These pictures are not beautiful, they are not artistically arranged, they are not profound. Rather, it is the combination of picture and text that really makes the story. In some ways this becomes a book of stills from a never-to-be-made film. And as such, it’s very cool.
The first one is a picture of a family in front of a dinosaur (which looks like it is from the 1970s—huh turns out to be 1983). It is under-lit and not very impressive. Until you read the sidebar: “A picture is defined twice. When you see the whole at first glance: “A dinosaur! A family!” And then when you find a detail that changes everything…Mom reading in the backseat. He’s absolutely right.
I loved “Sun Bather” with a crazy scene of polka dotted sun benches in Palermo. Wender’s text: “Nothing exists without its opposite…But what could the opposite of this be?” To me the most profound pictures are the series Ferris Wheel from two different angles. His comment “Sometimes only the reverse angle tells the truth” is really powerful, because from one angle the Ferris Wheel shows one scene and yet from the other the background is entirely different.
I loved the wall with sink and the Armenian alphabet—although the Armenian cemetery was even more impressive. And the gorgeous gorgeous (this one is art) pictures of the islands off of Japan is simply beautiful. (more…)
Cirque Zuma Zuma was the final theater show of our 2012-2013 season. When I bought tickets for this I didn’t realize that it was designed as an all ages show (hint, shows that start at 7PM are for families, shows that start at 7:30 are for adults only). So I felt a little bad that the kids didn’t come as there were so many kids there. And they would have enjoyed this, although it’s probably just as well that they had a nice night with their grandma.
So Cirque Zuma Zuma is an African-based show of dance and acrobatics. There was a large banner that said that Cirque Zuma Zuma had been on America’s Got Talent. Now, I don’t quite understand this as the announcer of the show seemed to say that the performers were from countries in Africa. How could they be on America’s Got Talent if they are not American? I don’t get it.
Anyway, the show got off to a rousing start with drumming. Lots of drumming. There was a man with two drums (big bass drum sounding drums) and then two drummers who were playing what I thought of as an African bongo but which I believe is called a Djembe. And, man, they pounded the hell out of these things. It was amazing how musical three (or four) drums can sound. They played lead drum parts while the bass drum kept a steady rhythm. And then the dancers came out. Two women and a man dressed in what I assume is a traditional outfit. And they danced. Ecstatically. Nonstop. For about eight minutes. And what frenetic and crazy dances they were. They moved with such force and power. It was really amazing and it looked exhausting.
Then came the acrobatics. And was surprised at just how many of the acrobatic pieces were the same as ones done by the Chinese acrobats. It strikes me as odd that two very distinct cultures would do the same kinds of things. Are these just standard feats that contemporary performers learn?
The first was the climbing of and doing handstands on a stack of chairs. The big difference here was that these chairs were very large (as opposed to the many tiny ones the Chinese acrobats use). It was still impressive, and the chairs looked quite wobbly, but it was weird to open with a show stopper from another Cirque.
Other things that they did which we had already seen were jumping through hoops, spinning hula hoops, foot juggling and hat juggling. It was very strange to see these same things. The big difference was the music, which was African as opposed to Asian. (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: “WEIRD AL” YANKOVIC-Bad Hair Day (1996).
Bad Hair Day is an uninspired album title, especially given how great of an album it is. As I posted last week, “Amish Paradise” is great, (I forget to mention the funny Gilligan’s Island verse in the middle. “Everything You Know is Wrong” is just a magnificent They Might be Giants parody. Now, TMBG and Weird Al are pretty kindred spirits (they both use accordions and sing silly songs). In that respect, this song isn’t that different from a typical Al song, but there are so many great musical nods to TMBG that the song is just awesome. And it’s very funny too.
“Cavity Search” is a parody of U2’s “Hold Me Touch Me Kiss Me Kill Me” and it works very well, both as a great soundalike (Al’s vocal tricks get better with each album) and the way he plays with the original (the drill solo is great) are really clever. “Calling in Sick” is a kind of Nirvana parody, although I don’t hear it as well as other band parodies. It’s certainly a grunge song and, as such it works. But it was “The Alternative Polka” that proved to be my favorite of his medleys so far. “Loser,” “Sex Type Thing” “All I Wanna Do” “Closer” (hearing him do Nine Inch Nails is hilarious–especially this song!), “Bang Bang Blame” (so much R.E.M. lately), “You Oughta Know,” “Bullet with Butterfly Wings” (Weezer’s song was supposed to be included here but they asked it to be removed and he did at the last minute–see the video below). “I’ll Stick Around,” “Black Hole Sun” and “Basket Case”–a great mix of songs that I loved at the time and still do, this song is like reliving the mid 90s.
“Since You’ve Been Gone” is a fun a capella band version of a funny break up song. He gets better and better at this kind of lyric (“a red hot cactus up my nose” is particularly wonderful). “Gump” is a very funny parody of “Lump” by Presidents of the United States of America. Evidently they liked his parody so much they used some of his lyrics in the final verse when they played it live.
“Sick of You” has a fun bass line (reminiscent of Elvis Costello) and a great chorus. And “Syndicated, Inc.” is a very funny parody of that overplayed Soul Asylum song “Misery.” It’s a very funny song about syndicated TV shows. “I Remember Larry” is a pretty funny original about a prankster, although it’s the weakest song on the album. “Phony Calls” is a parody of TLC’s “Waterfalls” and it’s pretty funny (especially hearing Al do TLC vocals). The parody works pretty well, and it’s certainly helped by the sample of Bart and Moe on the Simpsons. “The Night Santa Went Crazy” is a pretty funny twisted take on Santa.
This album is definitely one of his best. Just about every song is a winner. And it’s his best-selling album too.
[READ: February 22, 2013] Captain Underpants and the Revolting Revenge of the Radioactive Robo-Boxers
Clark was pretty excited when this book came out. He had just finished up book #7 or 8 when the book was published. And so it didn’t take too long for him to get caught up with the series. I was also pretty lucky to have just finished book nine so this “last” book (although not really) was very well timed.
When we left off in Book Nine, Tippy Tinkletrousers had inadvertently destroyed the earth and the giant zombie George and Harold were stomping through the town. And, shockingly, they had just crushed Tippy in his robo-pants. But as this book opens, Pilkey gives us the truth about zombies. They are really slow. So slow that Tippy was able to get out of the way of the giant foot (and do lots of other things) and put a giant ketchup packet under the foot so it got squished instead of him.
The rest of the book is simply chock full of time travel, overlapping people and all kinds of paradoxes. I have to wonder if Clark got it, but he just read it again and he did seem to have decent understanding of what happened. (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: FAMILY GUY-“Everything is Better with a Bag of Weed” (2009).
I recently posted about the song “Me Ol’ Bamboo” from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. When I was looking it up, I discovered that Family Guy had created a song called “Everything is Better with a Bag of Weed” that is sung to the tune of “Me Ol’ Bamboo.” And holy crap I nearly busted a gut laughing when I watched it.
Of all the weird songs to parody, this was a brilliant choice. The song is catchy and fast paced and absurd and just adding these new lyrics has made it funnier and more absurd. There’s even the same odd instrumental break which they animate as playing glass bottle with drumsticks and as far as I can tell that’s really what it is.
My o my, this is very funny indeed.
I can’t seem to embed the video here which is a shame, but by all means check it out here.
[READ: April 9, 2013] Highly Inappropriate Tales for Young People
I have read most of Douglas Coupland’s work and I like him quite a bit. But I have discovered from re-reading his books recently that he’s not exactly the author I thought he was. And one thing is that he’s really not very funny. Existential? Yes. Comically absurd? Yes. Funny? Not so much. So I was surprised to see that he made this book with the rather funny title.
I assume this book is supposed to be funny since the inside flap says “Seven pants-peeingly funny stories featuring seven evil characters you can’t help but love.” And indeed, the premise is funny, the title is funny. But the stories are really not funny at all. Here’s the list of the seven stories: Donald the Incredibly Hostile Juice Box; Sandra, the Truly Dreadful Babysitter; Hans, the Weird Exchange Student; Brandon, the Action Figure with Issues; Cindy, the Terrible Role Model; Kevin, the Hobo Minivan with Extremely Low Morals; Mr. Fraser, the Undead Substitute Teacher. Judging from the titles of the tales you may think there’s humor in them…a juice box as a main character? But there’s something about them that falls flat. (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: BOBTOWN-“Don’t Fear the Reaper” (2012).
I heard this song on the radio today. When it started I didn’t think much of it–a nice acoustic guitar which… suddenly sounded familiar. And then, no doubt, it was “Don’t Fear the Reaper.” With banjo! A good song can be played in any genre, and while I never would have guessed that this song would work in this genre, man, Bobtown knock it out of the park.
Bobtown has five members–two men, on bass and banjo, and three women who sing in gorgeous harmony. And if you know “Don’t Fear the Reaper” you know that there are various vocal parts, which these woman tackle beautifully. Their version gave me chills.
Now, befitting a bluegrass band, they did not play the super fast part (in fact they ignored that entire section of the song–the didn’t use cowbell either). I was initially a little disappointed because I wanted to hear what they would do with it. But it was truer to their version to leave it out and by removing it, they made the song a little different–more sombre, less wild. And it was really good.
This version below is not the studio version, it was recorded in a stairwell. But the band sounds great in this unlikely location.
[READ:April 7, 2013] Seminar
I grabbed this book at work (just like Cousin K). This book was also short, which was a plus since I knew nothing about it. It was also a play and it listed the cast from the opening on Broadway. And I was rather surprised. Hamish Linklater (the brother on New Adventures of Old Christine), Jerry O’Connell and..Alan Rickman! I hadn’t heard of either of the women (Lily Rave–she’s been in nothing I’ve seen and Hetienne Park–her first role).
The story is a one act play about four college-aged writing students taking a seminar with a former great writer and current old man.
The four students are Douglas, a cocky writer who has connections and talent and who has been published in Tin House and is soon to be published in The New Yorker. Martin, a shy writer who is rather insecure, although he proves to be very talented. Kate is a girl who Martin knew from high school. She has been writing the same story for six years and is outraged at the way her fellow students and their teacher behave. And Izzy (who I thought was a man for a few pages) is a sexually adventurous woman who seems to be willing to do anything to succeed. (more…)
Alapalooza came out hot on the heels of Off the Deep End. I was in college, the perfect time for a “Weird Al” rebirth. And the fact that “Jurassic Park” and “Bedrock Anthem” had a great videos (and my college cafe played MTV), meant I got to see these videos quite a bit. (So I was surprised to read recently that this album didn’t sell like gangbusters (it went gold whereas Off the Deep End went platinum)).
“Jurassic Park” is a crazy wonderful parody–a spoof on the crazy song “MacArthur Park,” a song that I like a lot because it is over the top and absurd, although truth be told, I like “Jurassic Park” better.
“Young Dumb and Ugly” is a heavy metal song this is certainly dumb. This is one that parodies a style so well that it’s actually not a very fun song to listen to. “Bedrock Anthem” is a Red Hot Chili Peppers mashup/parody with the intro from “Under the Bridge” melding into a rocking parody of “Give It Away.” I’m not exactly sure that it works as a parody (the Yabba Dabba part is a wee bit forced) but the song rocks well and Al and co. do a great job with it.
I never much liked “Frank’s 2000″ TV.” I’m surprised to read (Wikipedia) that it’s a style parody of early R.E.M. I can kind of hear it but compared to some of his other style parodies, I don’t think it really works. “Achy Breaky Song” is the most apt song, lyrically, ever: “Don’t play that song, that achy breaky song, the most annoying song I know.” It’s surprisingly mean about the song it is parodying and it turns out the proceeds from the track were donated to United Cerebral Palsy, as both Cyrus and Yankovic felt that the song was “a little bit, well, mean-spirited.” “Traffic Jam” is a synthy number that sounds like it’s from the 80s.
“Talk Soup” was commissioned as a new theme for the show Talk Soup. Although the producers approved the lyrics and enjoyed the final result, they decided against using it. Which I can understand as it would make a terrible TV theme song. It sounds a bit like Peter Gabriel’s Sledgehammer.
“Livin’ in the Fridge” is a fun parody of Aerosmith and it really sounds like them. This parody works both as a twist on the original and lyrically–it’s very funny. “She Never Told Me She was a Mime” is a weird original. It doesn’t sound like any other bands, and is kind of a classic rock type of song. The lyrics are pretty funny, but not all that funny. And there’s not all that much to enjoy musically.
“Harvey the Wonder Hamster” is an awesome anthem which at 21 seconds, can be enjoyed again and again and again. It’s funny that I felt that “Talk Soup” sounded like Peter Gabriel because “Waffle King” is actually a style parody of Gabriel. This is a weird song because the verses are good, but the chorus falls kind of flat. But the final song is a wonderful twist on Al’s usual polka medley. This is a polka version of “Bohemian Rhapsody.” I read complaints that it sounds too much like the original (which it doesn’t) but it’s a testament to Al’s skill as a mimic that he can make his crazy polka version (which is much faster and with lots of his silliness thrown in) sounds so much like queen. It’s certainly an Al highlight.
After this release, Al put out Al in the Box a 4 CD box set and then a series of greatest hits type albums–an actual Greatest Hits and then a collection of Food Songs and TV Songs. I would never have bought the Food album except that I got to meet him after a show and I wanted something for him to autograph (which he did). He was super duper nice and very cool.
[READ: February 22, 2013] Ricky Ricotta Books 7
Dav Pilkey planned to do nine books in this series (with Martin Ontiveros adding pictures). According to Wikipedia, he had serious family emergencies for a while, which is why such a prolific author had literally no output for a number of years (from 2007-2010). It also explains why book 7 is the last book that Pilkey has written in the series. But the good news is that he’s back writing and that the eighth book is due out in December.
Of 2014. Oh.
Well, in the meantime we have this book to enjoy. Ricky and the Mighty Robot are learning what is fun and what is not fun (most of the things that Ricky likes to do are too small for the robot to do and are consequently not fun for him). Meanwhile, Uncle Unicorn lives on Uranus. And he has turned it into a universe-wide dumping ground for toxic waste. I really liked seeing that all of the other bad guys from the series had a cameo dumping their stuff on Uranus.
But then Uncle Unicorn has had enough of the trash and he wants to leave. He plans on going to Earth, but he knows that Mighty Robot is his major enemy. So he sends Mighty Robot a gift–a Ladybot who immediately hypnotizes him and chains him up. And now Ricky is alone. (more…)
I don’t know much of Justin Timberlake (he’s not my jam). Although I have found him very enjoyable in the last few years when he’s been acting. His comedy skills are great. And Of course, I love him with Lonely Island (the guy can sing).
This story mentions this song as the main character’s favorite song so I gave it a listen. It strikes me as an extremely unlikely single. The music is really erratic and mechanical. There’s just bursts of sound that keep the beat going. Although the music is very visceral..
Indeed, the main melody seems to be his voice, which doesn’t let up a lot. The first time I heard it I thought there was no way it could have been a hit, which shows what I know about popular as it was #1 for 7 weeks. It’s such an unusual song, and musically I find it very odd, which I like quite a bit.
I’m surprised by how much I enjoyed the song (maybe I’m a dance diva at heart).
Take ’em to the story.
[READ: March 25, 2012] Arach nID (to be one thing)
Almost nine months ago, Planer asked me to read this short story. He has since revised it and expanded it, making it about 16,000 words.
It’s funny to read something that has been revised and which now makes you think that the original wasn’t nearly as good. I enjoyed the first version a lot, but the revisions improved the story so much it makes the first draft seem pale. This is obviously good news for the revision, but it means that when referencing the original it makes it seem less than it was.
The same story is in place–the main character is a sentient spider who grows to human size and believes, because of his sentience, that he may indeed be human. After leaving the web and his (dangerous) mother and sisters, he seeks his fortune in the human world. Luckily for him he lives in the 2000s, where he can do most things remotely and virtually. But he manages to pass in the human world (especially on Halloween, a great scene indeed). He even manages to meet someone interesting (who is almost as smart as him). Ultimately he must decide is he is really human or arachnid. (more…)
My five-year old daughter T. was in her second recital last night. Last year she performed in one routine and this year she moved up to two–a ballet routine and a tap routine.
My guess is, from what I know about Eggers, that story may have seemed too self-serving to include Or maybe it was just fun to cover up words with a picture.
I Just Read About That... 