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David Foster Wallace–Girl with Curious Hair (1989) [audiobook 2010–Robert Petkoff & Joshua Swanson]

Posted in Audiobooks, Boredom, Consumerism, Corporate skewering, Culture Shock, David Foster Wallace, David Letterman, Death, Decadence, Drinking, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Jeopardy!, Joshua Swanson, Language, Punks, Robert Petkoff, Short Story, Yuck! on January 16, 2012| Leave a Comment »

[LISTENED TO: January 12, 2012] Girl with Curious Hair

I saw a placeholder on Amazon for this audio book in early 2011.  And then I promptly forgot all about it.  My friend George just asked if anyone had heard it yet, so I decided to check it out.  I downloaded it through Audible.com.

And here’s my two cents about Audible.  Although it was free (for a 30 day trial), it was a lot of work.  The entire book (14 hours) downloaded in two files.  Each was about 7 hours with no breaks or chapters of any kind–just two huge 7 hour files.  Okay, I often download stuff and bring it into Audacity to make my own chapter breaks.  But you can’t import this file into Audacity because it is its own proprietary format and doesn’t want you to put it in MP3 format.  So, I had to burn it to CD (but not in MP3, only in WAV) and then put the CDs back in to iTunes to import them as MP3.  From there I could import them into Audacity and put tracks where I wanted.  That’s a lot of work to save $29.

I’m also going to say that I didn’t want a membership to Audacity because it costs $15/mo and the savings aren’t really that good anyhow.  Even kids books are about $10 each.  Oh, and just see how many hoops they have you go through to try and cancel.   Heavens to Betsy.

And but so on to the actual audiobook.

The book was read by Robert Petkoff (who is Reader A below) and Joshua Swanson (who is reader B below).  I don’t know anything about them, but their websites will give you more info about them.

I found the readings to be simply wonderful.  They were impassioned and articulate and dealt with some of DFW’s tongue twisting word choices with ease.  They also handle DFW’s dialect and accents with ease.  And while Swanson has a much much broader range of voices to play around with (his women voices are far superior to Petkoff’s), Petkoff also pulls of some amazing voices, especially in “John Billy.”  I never questioned what was happening.

Some of these stories are challenging and I admit I found them difficult to read.  But the audio versions seemed to really clarify things.  (There are all kinds of reasons why this could be so, but I’m not going to delve into that, for there lies madness).  Nevertheless, this was a great way to hear these stories.  Especially the ones that had heavy dialect.

“Little Expressionless Animals” [Petkoff] (90 minutes)
Petkoff sounds uncannily like Kyle McLachlan–no bad thing.  Although Petkoff doesn’t work too hard trying to do different voices, he puts in enough distinction to make the characters distinguishable.  (We have been listening to a lot of kid’s audio books, and the narrators of those are amazing with the kind of vocal acrobatics they can do!).  Petkoff is more subtle, but it is also effective–it’s not just a straight voice, which I think might get confusing especially in the dialogue scenes.

There is a hint of Alex Trebek’s voice when doing Alex Trebek, but he’s definitely not trying to mimic the voices of the celebrities.  For the most part, the voices are slight variations of the main narrator.  Indeed, during the later Faye and Julie dialogue section, he does slight differences between their voices to help distinguish the characters.  Which is quite helpful in the story.

This story works very well in audio book format.

One of the things that I loved about this story this time was really piecing together all of the various compnents.  Inclduing things like the revealtion of why Julie does poorly on the subject of animals.  It’s quite obvious when the story ends, but through the whole story you keep wondering, what is it about the animals?  I’m aslo intrigued at the number of gay characters in the book.

And, of course, this story has a major obsession with pop culture, especially TV.  And knowing (from interviews) that DFW sais he would just get sucked in to watching TV all day if it wa svailable, his tone (as is Petkoff’s) is perfect when dealing with the TV issues.

“Luckily the Account Representative Knew CPR” [Petkoff] (18 minutes)
Petkoff sounds slightly differnt than in “LEA.”  Since thist story has no dialogue, there’s not a lot of differentiation in the story.  His deadpan delivery is perfect for all of the details in the story. Although at the end, his “Help”s are quite empassioned, letting you know there’s a little bit more going on.

“Girl with Curious Hair” [Swanson] (50 minutes)
Swanson’s voice is of a much higher timbre, and it’s kind of fun to have two different voices in this book.  This story benefits quite well from an audio format.

The story is deliebrately flat and, I have to admit, is not terribly easy to read.  Swanson handles the flatness very well, he reads it incredibly deadpan and yet he puts enough inflection in it to keep it from being monotone.  I have to assume it wasn’t easy to read this.  I think that he has really made this disturbing character quite real.

Obsevrations about the story.  Hearing this story out loud was more shocking than reading it.  The explicit sex is pretty shocking for DFW and the revelation about what happened to Sick Puppy when he was a kid is prodoundly distrubing, especially when it is read in this non-inflected voice.  It was uncomforatble and very effetcive.

There were times when I wondered about the believability of the charcter.  The use of the word negro, the utter flatness of him. I realize that he is quite damaged, but at times it seemed like maybe this story was too much.  Which is a bit of a surprise, as I find DFW’s charcatersto be very real.

“Lyndon”  [Swanson] [1 hr 45 min]
I didn’t really enjoy “Lyndon” when I read the story.  It’s a little long and had many different things going on.  I kept wondering about Lyndon himself.  About what made DFW write a story based around Lyndon Johnson, around jhis life and politics.

But hearing this story read aloud, with the Swanson’s various voices and accents and newspaper stories all differentiated really brought this to life.  I felt like it was so much more vibrant and alive and passionate in this audio version.  I read in my post that i found the ending quite moving when I read the story, but it felt even more so, with Lady Bird’s quiet, dignified delivery, here.

Observations on the story.  How odd that he chose to make this story that is about a real, and quite famous and well studied person.  I don’t know a thing about Lyndon, so I have no idea how much of this is true (the few LBJ quiotes I looked up seem faked).  I don’t think I spent enough time thinking about the main character when I read the story.  Boyd is so fully realized and amazing that Lyndon is really superflous.  This is awonderfully emotive story.  And Swanson really does an amazing job.

“John Billy” [Petkoff] (1hr 10 min)
I thought “John Billy” was a real challenge to read.  The dialect is pretty crazy.  And the story is not exactly easy to begin with.  But much like Swanson in “Lyndon,” Petkoff’s voices are outstanding here.  The main voice of John Billy is great–he handles the accent and the crazy word choices that John Billy has with ease.  The story flows perfectly.  It’s really impressive.

And while the voice of Glory Joy isn’t wonderful (Petkoff’s women are just softer versions of his voice), he more than makes up for it with the amazing transformation of Simple Ranger.  In the reading, it is clear that Simple Ranger “grows younger” from a quiet, hard to hear older to a youthful loud charcater.  And Petkoff takes that literally so you can really hear him change into a man with a “curious plus haunting voice that was not…of his gravelly, gray-lunged voice somehow, his own, somehow.”  And then, later in the story Ranger’s voice changes again when he “whispered, the big sharp clear new Ranger in a smooth new clear young voice.”   But nothing prepared me for the voice of T Rex Minogue. It is stunning.  It’s an amazingly processed voice that is as malevolent as it is “mechanical.”  It’ s masterful.

As for the story itself, the whole saga of C.Nunn Jr is bizarre and wonderful, a crazy hyperbole of a story.  It also seems crazily over the top hearing it aloud (like in “GwCH”).  The whole story’s end with C Nunn’s eyes is preposterous (what is it with people’s eyes in this book?).  And yet it feels like the nonsense is there as a balance for the heaviness.

The story is funny and silly but by the end it gets incredibly dark and thoughtful.  It’s a challenge to listen to, especially the end, but I think it benefits from an audio version.

“Here and There” [Swanson] (55 min)
I found this story somehow more confusing while listening than when reading.  There’s so much back and forth with voices and the whole conceit that this is some kind of fiction therpay doesn’t really translate easily here.  I also found some of the more academic sections to be kind of dull in his reading.  It’s a challenge to read aloud and keep interesting, I’m sure, but I found this story to be the least successful of the collection.

“My Appearnce” [Petkoff] (58 minutes)
This is written in frist person from a woman.  Petkoff, who has quite a deep voice conveys a woman very well.  This is a great reading for this story.  He does “versions” of David Letterman and Paul Schaffer.  They are not impersonantions by any means, but he has the tone down perfectly.   The male voices whispering in her ear are done in a very simple whisepred voice.  Very effective.

This is a great story and the audio is also wonderful.

“Say Never” [Petkoff and Swanson] (42 minutes)
Petkoff does a very good job with the accents in this story.  Labov’s heavy Jewish accent is very impressive.  And although Mrs Tebof is not very different from Labov, it is different enough to convey the accent and the tone.   He also does Lenny’s voice, which is the bulk of the story.

Swanson also comes in this story as well, doing the voices of Mikey and Louis (two very distinct voices, even if they are both a little Hollywood Gangster from the 40s).  I would have been interesting to hear them interact more in the book somehow.

I was struck by this story more in the listening than the reading.  There’s something about hearing people say these things that makes them more shocking.  Especially the note that he sends to his family (talking about his wife’s lack of sex drive–gasp!).  This is another one of DFW’s stories that ends before something big happens.  It’s funny how many of his stories seem like preludes.

“Everything is Green” [Petkoff] (3 minutes)
It’s also amazing that this whole story is only 3 minutes and thirty seconds long.  Petkoff reads this story in a perfect DFW deadpan style.  He even does May Flys voice with a (slight) accent.

“Westward the Course of Empire Takes it Way”  [Swanson] (6 hours)
Swanson does an amazing job with this difficult story.  There are nearly a dozen charaters in here and he manages to keep them all separate and distinct.  It’s really great.  This is especially true late in the story, when they are in the car on the way to Collison.  He has six people in the car and he manages to make sthem all unique:  J.D. is dark and gravelly while DeHaven has a kind of Midwestern Stoner tone.  Tom Sternberg is neurotic and aggressive at the same time.  D.L. is snotty and presumptuous (although it may be Swanson’s weakest voice, it really conveys the character well).  Magda is exhausted.  And Mark is a solid late teenager.

Let’s not froget the pissed off Fertilizer salesman, the Avis clerk and the bartender.  And the narrator of course.

This story is also fairly complex and hard to follow (when reading).  There so much going on what with the narrator’s interruptions and the metafiction.

What I really noticed this time is how the parts that are not metafictional, the actual narrative of the story is really good, really strong and emotional.  Not to say that the more meta- sections of it are bad, they just don’t have the same kind of impact.  Of course, the whole point of the story is to play around with meta-fiction, so I’m not entirely sure how successful it is in that regard.

Nevertheless, it’s a fascinting look at youth in America.  And I have to say that it really works as a foreshdaowing of issues that he would explore more in his later stories and IJ.

Some things I notice din this listen.  DFW uses the word “plus” instead of “and” a lot.  It’s a fascinating word choice, and one that I think virtually no one uses.  Sometimes it’s effective and other times it’s very clunky.  I never noticed it while reading but it’s very obvious when listening.

I just read my review of the short story collection, which I think was kind of brief.  I feel like I got a lot more out of the book this time around. Of course this is my second reading so that makes sense as well.  It’s also interesting how I enjoyed some stories more and other stories less.

Overall though, this is an excellent audio book.

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Max Barry–“Max reviews the classics: Mary-Kate and Ashley #20” (maxbarry.com, 2004)

Posted in Bon Iver, Book Reviews, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Max Barry, Mr. Dream, Mystery, Nirvana, PJ Harvey, Punks, Short Books, Slint, St. Vincent on January 14, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: MR. DREAM-“Holy Name” (2011).

The cool site Bob Dylan Wrote Protest Songs created a Top 20 list of 2011 albums.  It was an interesting mix of stuff other people liked (PJ Harvey, St. Vincent, Bon Iver) and a whole bunch of stuff that I’d never heard of (like this band).

BDWPS explains that the two guys in Mr. Dream met in college and are music critics (with Pitchfork in common among their employers).  And we all reflexively gag at the thought of music critics making music. 

This song opens as a direct rip off of Nirvana’s “Lithium.”  I mean, it’s unavoidable–same quiet guitar playing virtually the same chords.  It infuritaed me.

But on a second listen, I heard the differences.  They are the same chords as “Lithium” except that the final chord in the sequence goes in a different direction, as does the rest of the song.  It’s rawer than Nirvana (at least than Nevermind), but it has the same feel and attitude.  Maybe with a hint of Slint thrown in. 

I was prepared to write this off as a Nirvana rip off, but of course, Nevermind is twenty years old.  I think their music is just part of punk consciousness now.  And it’s nice that Mr. Dream makes good use of it.  Raw and angry.  Very nice.  I can’t wait to hear the rest of the album.

[READ: December 30, 2011] “Max reviews the classics”

May-Kate and Ashley Olsen are a really really easy target, and I’m a little embarassed for Max that he went after them with this review, but it is still pretty funny (and it’s not like they can’t take it).  The “review” is not as fish-in-a-barrel as it might be. 

The introduction is funny: “Last night I took a break from re-reading Cryptonomicon to pick up a book roughly as long as one of its paragraphs: Sealed with a Kiss” (with links provided for each).

He is clearly setting out to mock the book, I mean how could he not.  But the things he points out are interesting not so much from a Kate and Ashley standpoint as from a book standpoint.  Indeed, he spends a lot of time on just the first sentence: “‘We’re going home to Chicago for only two weeks!’ Mary-Kate Burker told her sister Ashley.”  Max points out, “who, exactly reads the 20th book in the Mary-Kate and Ashley series without realizing they’re sisters?  …If you’re worried about readers that stupid, you probably need to point out that they’re twins too.”  That’s a little harsh to the series as, yes, it is obvious, but the series is clearly written for young kids, and frankly in terms of exposition, that’s pretty brief.

A more salient (and funnier observation): “I can’t help but wonder what percentage of Mary-Kate and Ashley books contain an excalamtion point in the first sentence.  I haven’t checked, but I get the feeling it’s a high number.”  Hilarious. (more…)

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Marc Watkins–“Two Midnights in a Jug” (Boulevard, Spring 2009)

Posted in Adam Goldberg, Boulevard, Craig Ferguson, David Bowie, Drugs, Late Late Show, Marc Watkins, Radiohead, Religion, Sex, Short Story, Smashing Pumpkins, The Beatles, The Goldberg Sisters, Toilets, Yuck! on January 11, 2012| 3 Comments »

This is not the right cover for the issue. I couldn't find it online!

SOUNDTRACK: THE GOLDBERG SISTERS-The Goldberg Sisters (2011).

I don’t often make lists of “Best” records or anything like that.  But I’m making an exception for this.  This was easily the best album that I had low expectations for.  That sounds like half a compliment but it’s not.  I really didn’t expect much from this album when Adam Goldberg promoted it on Craig Ferguson’s show.  But when I checked out the video for “Shush” I was really impressed.  So I bought the CD.

And I have to say that it is really, really good. 

I need to get this out of the way because it will influence the whole write up otherwise.  Adam Goldberg is an actor, a very good, very funny actor.  And this is just one of his music projects.  It was not an entirely solo affair, but Goldberg plays guitar, piano, harmonium, keyboards, key sitar and melodica.  And of course, he sings as well.  I was more or less expecting an at-home-sounding demo, maybe, or some standard rock-n-roll like many other side projects.  But the album is lush and full, complete with cool psychedelic effects on certain tracks and there’s even clever wordplay. 

Goldberg has a soothing, slightly feminine singing voice (I would not have expected that from his speaking voice).  And his backing vocalists really complement him well. 

The disc opens with “The Room” a simple acoustic guitar and a very nice complementary piano (which reminds me of some of Radiohead’s acoustic moments).  The long instrumental ending is quite intense.  “Mother Please (The World Is Not Our Home)” has questionable lyrics, but a really great sound.  There’s cool spoken words deep in the mix, which bring a creepy effects to the song.  It runs very long, but there’s lots of parts and a cool coda.

“Shush” is still outstanding after all of these listens.  It has a kind of Bowie/Beatles/90’s revival of same feel.  This kind of song only works if the production is right, and Goldberg’s is perfect.  “Don’t Grow” opens with cool fiddle strings and Goldberg’s slightly sinister whispered vocals.  It’s 7 minutes long (see, psychedelic) and features a really pretty denouement with tinkling pianos and everything.

“You’re Beautiful When You Die” is a weird little interlude–muffled piano and dark, dark lyrics.  I could probably do without it, but it’s only 2 minutes so I’ll deal.  It’s made up for by “Erik Erikson” a great rocking acoustic number that reminds me of The Smashing Pumpkins (in vocal style). 

“Third Person” returns to that Beatles-y style with a folk song with full instrumentation.  And “The Difference Between” has some cool backing vocals which elevate this simple piano based song into something more.  “Skin of the Patriot” is a slow piano ballad.  It’s not my favorite song on the disc, but it leads into the wonderfully upbeat ender “The Heart Grows Fonder” (which features a surprising and surprisingly effective melodica solo).  It runs about five minutes (of an 11 minute track).  The ending 90 seconds are a goofy riff on The Beatles’ “Revolution.” 

So overall this album is really enjoyable.  There’s one or two misfires and it could use a wee bit of editing, but man, am I glad I bought this.  And I can’t wait to see what Goldberg does next.

Watch the Ferguson bit here (wait for the hilarious awkward pause at 10:30)

Find out more at his wonderfully named website: Adam Goldberg Dillettante.

[READ: January 6, 2012] “Two Midnights in a Jug”

This is the final individual story that Karen Carlson recommended to me (the rest are all in anthologies that I’ll have to check out).  She writes: “Because it’s a grim, tough read, it might take a second read to get past the oppressive weight and find the delicate art. And it doesn’t hurt to look into the background of the writer a bit; he isn’t writing about these people by accident. A little Willie Nelson might work [for the soundtrack].”

Karen’s comments sound a little defensive!  But I admit I was pretty turned off in the beginning of the story.  I’ll also admit a personal bias of mine is that I don’t really like to read stories about the rural poor or folks in the Ozarks.  I know, it’s not very nice, but it’s true. 

So, this story is set there.  And it opens with just about every stereotype I hate about the region: single wide trailer that borders a hog farm, neon orange muumuus, coon hunting and a repossessed house.  Things are even worse than my stereotypes though, because the plumbing is unconnected and their toilet sits over a bucket.  Which they cover with lime after every use and which they have to empty daily.  Good god.

Oh and the hog farm?  They had so much hog shit that they decided to burn it.  Well, the fire has been raging for a month.  And the only thing worse than the smell of hog shit is the smell of burning hog shit.  And the only thing worse than burning hog shit is having the ashes from the hog shit fall onto your property and into your trailer every day for a month. 

Oh yeah, and Cordell, the man of the trailer, accidentally shot their hound, Trixie last time he was hunting.  She’s okay but had to have a leg removed.  Jee.  Sus.

I seriously almost stopped reading. (more…)

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Max Barry–Machine Man (2011)

Posted in Belle and Sebastian, Better Off Ted, Corporate skewering, Death, Fears, Foo Fighters, Mad Scientists, Max Barry, Military, Norah Jones, OutKast, Robots, Supernatural, Technology, The Beautiful South, The Who, Threats, Violence on January 10, 2012| 4 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: BELLE & SEBASTIAN-Write About Love (2010).

I’ve enjoyed Belle and Sebastian’s music since their debut album all those years ago.  For some reason I didn’t get into this album as much as previous releases.  In part it’s because the band has morphed quite a lot from what they used to do.  It’s true that I have really enjoyed their more rocking songs on their more recent albums, and this one is full of them.  It’s also true that a band needs to evolve, but somehow this album just never really gripped me.  I think it’s because the album takes so long to start.  The fade in is like 20 seconds!  But I’ve listened again with renewed interest recently and I’m changing my mind a bit about it.  There are plenty of great songs on this disc. 

“I Didn’t See It Coming” is a classic B&S song (after that awful delay).  It’s a wonderful duet with Sarah Martin (this is how to do a duet, guys–the ending is fantastic!).  “Come on Sister” is one of the great faster B&S songs.  The “gotta have a little FAITH” line is great and then the unexpected shift into the third part of the sing is just stunning.  I also love “Calculating Bimbo” first because who would every have thought there’d be a song with that title but also because Murdoch sings it so wonderfully.  I generally don’t like slow music, but there’s something about slow B&S song that I find myself leaning in instead of tuning out.

“I Want the World to Stop” is another wonderful “rocker.”  It’s a fast paced little ditty with great backing vocals (and it always makes me go “two, three, four” before the chorus kicks in–always the sign of a great song).

“Little Lou, Ugly Jack, Prophet John” slows things down really far.  Possibly too far for me. It’s a duet and it reminds me just a little too much of a Beautiful South duet (not a particular song, just their style).  And I have to say that The Beautiful South would have done it better.  After looking at the liner notes I realized that Norah Jones is the duettist here.  I like that Jones has been providing her services across a wide spectrum of music (Foo Fighters, OutKast etc) but I really just don’t have anything good to say about her.  The melody is nice though.  I also didn’t realize that the sing came out on Norah’s disc before the B&S disc.

The album quickly redeems itself with “Write About Love,” a great keyboard fueled rocker (with backing vocals from Carey Mulligan who I don’t know, but who nails the song “I haaate my job”).  “I’m Not Living in the Real World” has lots more keyboards and oooh vocals (it reminds me of a Who songs from Sell Out) and it’s sung by Stevie. 

From the there, the disc kind of slows down.  “The Ghost of Rockschool” is the least memorable song on the disc for me (although the horn section is nice).  “Read the Blessed Pages” is so quiet (even for B&S) that it kind of gets lost on the disc.  (The instrumental break is pretty though).  “I Can See Your Future” opens with a catchy horn blast that kind of wakes you from the slumber of the previous song.  “Sunday’s Pretty Icons” opens with a cool guitar riff, but it’s not all that memorable either.   While these last few songs are fine, they’re not as strong as the beginning of the album.  They kind of meld together. 

So I guess what I’m saying is that the first half of the disc is great and the second half is okay.  The  good songs are worth it though.  I’ll stop being so hard on the disc.

[READ: January 5, 2012] Machine Man

Don’t worry if you’re suffering from Barry blog overload, this post is about Barry’s new novel, which I just finished.

I have enjoyed Barry’s previous novels quite a lot.  They typically deal with corporate skewering and this book is no exception.  Except that the corporate skewering takes a back seat to the major sci-fi elements of the story.  Before I mention the story itself, I wanted to mention the origin of the story.  In the Acknowledgements at the end of the book, Barry explains that his fans had been nudging him to write something.  And while he had been doing projects, he hadn’t written a book in a while.  So he decided to write the book online.  He wrote a few hundred words a day and posted them online.  And then he sat back and waited for the comments to come in.

He talks about how he’s basically showing everyone his rough draft of a story and letting people tear it apart.  But he found that his fans were supportive and even offered ideas (which he then callously stole, muhahaha).  And so the story online is actually rather different from what appeared as the final draft.  (No, I’m not going to read the online version, but you can.  It’s available here).

Anyhow, as the story opens, Dr Charlie Neumann (I just got the bad pun of that name, shame on him and shame on me for not seeing it sooner) loses his phone.  He feels totally cut off without his phone.  The scene seems a little over the top (he checks his car while wearing only a towel) but it shows how technologically dependent he (and we) feel most of the time.  This kind of mild slapstick scene resolves itself in a shockingly brutal way.  When Dr Neumann gets to his office (he’s an engineer at Better Future) he finally sees where he left his phone.  Unfortunately, he has already started an industrial vice and he’s distracted by his phone long enough to have his leg crushed by said vice.

When he wakes up in the hospital, he is surrounded by people trying to help him–nurses, doctors, therapists, but he’s really just distraught about the loss of his leg.  And then he sees Lola Banks, who is bringing him a pile of artificial legs.  Lola is quite possibly the first woman who Charlie has ever spoken to who seems in any way empathetic to him (Charlie is, admittedly a pretty cold and cerebral individual). She shows him some prosthetics which he’s not too thrilled by.  But when Lola reveals that Better Future is paying for top of the line stuff for him, she shows him the highest end of the high end legs.  And Charlie falls in love (with Lola and the legs). 

Lola Banks proves to be an interesting person.  Not ony does she not recoil from Charlie and his handicap (it is her job), but she seems to almost admire Charlie for seeing the beauty in the prostheses.  Lola proves to be the kind of woman who falls for certain kinds of men, but with Charlie it’s different.  Really, it is.  Shut up, it is.

Although Charlie does see the beauty in the prostheses, he can’t help but see how they can be improved (he is an engineer after all).  And so, he sets out to make the artificial legs not just replacements but better than their human counterpart.  Better Future is on board with helping Charlie recover (which is quite nice, and somewhat unexpected coming from corporation hater Barry), but we see that Better Future knows what it has with Charlie–a single-minded, focused engineer. A man who only wants things to be more efficient.  So when Charlie starts outfitting the prosthetics with motors (and considers putting in wifi) the company is kind of impressed.  And so is Charlie.  The leg is heavy and a little unwieldy, and it’s not very pretty (it has hooves), but it sure works. 

The problem, as Charlie sees it, is that his intact leg is holding back his new invention.  How can he fully test the artificial legs if his human leg is less than the prosthetic? (more…)

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Elliott Holt–“Fem Care” (Kenyon Review, Summer 2009)

Posted in 2 Broke Girls, Canadian Music, Constellation Records, Elliott Holt, Kenyon Review, Menstruation, Short Story on January 4, 2012| 1 Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: NICK KUEPFER-Avestruz [CST072] (2011).

This is the first disc in the Musique Fragile 01 set that I’ll be writing about.  Kueper’s disc is pretty daring, at least for an unsigned artist.

The album is a series of short (1-4 minute) instrumentals, with each one featuring a different instrument as the lead–guitar, accordion, drums, violin.  And yet they aren’t songs so much as sketches, or even soundtracks to an unmade film.  The songs don’t have standard construction–they just seem to ramble on a little bit until they stop.  And yet the whole album has a cohesiveness that creates a picture.  In some places it’s more obvious than others, but you can hear woodpeckers and other birds (or possibly people whistling like birds?). .

I love “Corpse in the Wildflowers” (accordion), “Kettle” (percussion), “Red Sand Market” (acoustic guitar and accordion), “Blue Pig” (guitar and violin) and “Public Transit” (acoustic guitar).  “Tail Still Moves” is a slightly off-kilter sawing kind of song.  It’s not exactly pleasant but it brings an interesting aspect to the disc.  The final instrumental track has a kind of lo-fi Sebadoh feel (cool guitar riffs played on a crappy guitar).

Some of the tracks in the middle don’t really go anywhere “Vampyro” is just kind of meandering and “Bus Windows” is a bit long, but they all add to the soundtrack of this fake movie.  I keep picturing a dry Western town, a windmill creaky in the slow wind.

The final track is very confusing, however, it’s a “live,” poorly recorded song in which Kuepfer sings along with his strumming.  You can barely hear him and I’m nots ure what to make of it.  The birds are pretty, though.

The Constellation site says that these were field recordings done in Argentina.  So that’s pretty cool too.   I’d like to hear more from him, but I’d also like to hear a bit more of a complete idea rather than sketches.

[READ: December 3, 3012] “Fem Care”

This is the first story that I read which was recommended by Karen Carlson.  She describes it like this “As much fun as you can have with menstruation. Literary fiction doesn’t often look at professional women at work. This could be a little chick-lit for a guy. Somehow I’m thinking Carly Simon would be good here [for a soundtrack].”

Karen is pretty much right on the money.  I really enjoyed this story quite a lot.  It deals with women and business and women’s business.  The story takes place at the annual Beauty Summit in Miami.  The unnamed narrator works as a market researcher for a company that sells feminine beauty products.  “Fem Care” is shorthand for her division: feminine care products, a division that lacks any of the sex appeal of, say, skin care products.

The summit sounds dreadful.  As we zoom in on the scene a German man is making everyone laugh as part of  a kind of team building exercise.  The narrator has had enough and excuses herself.  This part in which the department head, Luis, is embarrassed by tampons, when that is what his very division markets is quite funny and is done very well.  And, I might add, the same basic joke was played out on 2 Broke Girls just this week, but Elliott Holt handles it with so much more grace and simplicity that the 2 Broke Girls writers should really read this story. (more…)

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Starting Off the New Year with a Brag! (Versatile Blogger Award)

Posted in Art, Artists, Book Reviews, Canadian Content, Film & TV, Paul Debraski, Photo Essays, Project Runway on January 2, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Stop the presses…  I just received an email that I was given a Versatile Blogger Award!

The super cool folks at tripsfor2 ranked me as one of 15 bloggers deserving this award.  And just as I was fearing I would have to reduce my output, they rave about my output!

The rules of the award state that I must write some details about myself and also pass along this award to fifteen other bloggers.  Since I just found that out, that will have to wait until probably next week, when I have a moment to think about it.

But in the meantime, I want to thank Hadi and Kathleen who have really wonderful posts about traveling (I swear, they’ve been everywhere) including, but not limited to some wonderful posts about aboriginal art.  And the photos are really great.  They are (just about) all by Hadi.  I mean, check out the birds here and the hummingbird that attracted me to his photos in the first place (on a different site but the same folks).

This was a delightful way to start of 2012.  As was a wonderful selection of short story recommendations from Karen Carlson over at A Just Recompense.  She has given me a selection of really intriguing stories to read and I’m quite grateful for them.  I hope to start those this week.  Oh, and just when I thought that Karen was only about the books, a quick browse over to her site shows that she’s also a Project Runway fan.  I’ll be checking in with her as the year progresses.

A final note, my wife has been taking beautiful pictures for over two years now.  She posts a picture every day at her site The Fair View.  For her end of the year post at her other blog Sew Buttons, she posted her favorite photos of the year.  And while I’m biased (and even more because there’s several of my kids), I think she takes some really stunning pictures. So, if you like nature photos (and photos of other people’s kids, pop on over.  And if you like what you see, spread the word.  I know there’s a million photographers out there, but I happen to think she’s terribly under-recognized (she needs some work on the shameless self promotion side of things). (more…)

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John Layman & Rob Guillory–Chew: Volume Three: “Just Desserts” (2010)

Posted in Food, Graphic Novel, John Layman, Marriage Trouble, Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, Rob Guillory, Sex, Sloan, The Doors, Violence, Yuck! on December 30, 2011| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: SLOAN-The Double Cross (2011).

Sloan never fail to make enjoyable punky pop songs.  Surely it has something to do with having four songwriters in the band (which must minimize clunkers).  I can never decide who my favorite songwriter of the group is as they all do fairly varied work.

“Follow the Leader” is a fast rocker (with a very cool guitar solo bit and a nice acoustic break in the middle).  While “The Answer Was You” is a bouncy piano-based song that starts out fast and then settles into one of the more recognizable Sloan voices (I wish I knew who was who–even after twenty years I have never quite determined who was singing what).  This song also has a great third part, minor keys and very dramatic structure.  It’s the first of several songs that hover around the 2 minute mark, as well.

“Unkind” is a simple guitar based song and man is it catchy, with a chorus that sticks with you.  “Shadow of Love” is a great fast rocker and even at only 2 minutes long it has several great parts.  “She’s Slowing Down Again” has some great bah bahs and a strong chorus.  “Green Gardens, Cold Montreal” actually slows things down, with a gentle acoustic ballad.  But it’s followed by one of their screaming punk tracks, “It’s Plain to See,” simply put, it’s two minutes of adrenaline.

The album changes somewhat with “Your Daddy Will Do,” a catchy disco song.  Yes, disco.  How else do you explain those keyboards riffs?  And man is it catchy.  “I Gotta Know” may be the stupidest song they’ve recorded yet.  How many times is the phrase “I gotta know” repeated in 82 seconds?  Still, you can’t deny how catchy it is.  “Beverly Terrace” returns to that cool pizzicato piano that they do so well.

“Traces” is the longest song (almost 5 minutes) and is one of the longer Sloan songs in general.  It feels like  an old classic rock song for many reasons (including Doors-y keyboards), and yet it doesn’t feel retro at all.  Neat trick, that.  The disc ends with “Laying So Low,” a piano ballad with a great catchy melody.  It slows the album to a nice ending.

12 songs in 33 minutes.  Multiple genres, multiple styles, multiple singers.  All of it wonderful.  Just an other typical Sloan album. Great jobs guys, here’s to twenty more years.

One word to yeprock records, though.  If you offer “free bonus” songs for purchasing their album, I would suggest in the strongest possible terms that the four bonus songs should not be one song each from their previous records.

[READ: December 29, 2011] Chew: Volume Three

We were quite excited to get this book–we were on the Hold list forever at the library.  So I’m surprised to see it came out back in 2010!  I assumed it was much newer than that.  I guess there’s a Volume Four out already (yes it came out, and they have just published issue 22 in single issues).  Volume three covers issues 10-15.

This mini-arc, as they call it, isn’t so much of an arc as a continuation of the awesome story line.

For those in the dark, read the first two posts.  But in a nutshell, Tony Chu is a Cibopath, which means that anything he tastes he knows the entire history of, be it vegetable, meat (ew) or, since he is a cop, human (bleagh, but hey it’s a comic book, right?).  His partner, John, is part machine now, having been practically blown up and then put back together.  And, as we start Chapter One (Issue #11), Tony is out on his first date with Amelia Mintz (alright, they got together!).  Amelia Mintz is a Saboscrivner which means she can write about food so wonderfully that you can literally taste it. (more…)

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Mindy Kaling–Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) (2011)

Posted in 30 Rock, Books about writers, Brazil, Consumerism, Essays, Fantasy, Food, Funny (ha ha), Ghosts, Humiliation, Marriage (Happy), Memoirs, Michael Nyman, Mindy Kaling, Monty Python's Flying Circus, New Yorker, Paul Rudd, Saturday Night Live, The Divine Comedy, The Office, The Sopranos, Tina Fey on December 29, 2011| 2 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: THE DIVINE COMEDY-BANG goes the Knighthood (2010).

I’ve really enjoyed The Divine Comedy since their earliest Michael Nymanesque music.  I loved the orchestral pop that Neil Hannon seemed to effortlessly create.  His last few records have been less exciting to me.  He has toned down the orchestration and made his songs more subtle.  They’re still beautiful but they’re not always as immediately arresting.  I thought that was true of this album as well, although I found that when I sat down and really listen to the music and words together (what a novel idea) the music played so well with the lyrics that the album overall is easily one of his best.  Although I still prefer the pomp and full orchestration of the earlier music, this newer stuff is very interesting. An artist has got to grow, right?

The new sound is more Tin Pan Alley.  It’s piano with guitars and occasional horns–very limited strings are present at all.  And, as any fan knows, Neil writes wonderful songs about love, and the songs on here are some more great love songs.  The non-love songs span the gamut of ideas–from emotionally wrenching to downright silly.  Neil is definitely a “get to know him” kind of songwriter.  And it’s rewarding when you do.

“Down in the Street Below” is a piano based song that morphs into a jaunty little number after some quiet verses.  It features yet another of his great melodies.  “The Complete Banker” is a jaunty piano song that mercilessly mocks the banking industry.  Not terribly original but certainly fun and lyrically it’s quite clever.  “Neapolitan Girl” is a faster song (reminds me of a Broadway musical or movie instrumental) which is (as they all are) very fun to sing along to).  “Bang Goes the Knighthood” is a musical hall song that is really quite funny despite the somber sound of the music (it’s about a knighted man who indulges in certain proclivities that might cost him what he has).

“The Indie Disco” is the exact opposite, it’s bouncy and shuffly and yet understated as only an indie disco can be (this may be the softest, least excited “yea!” in any song ever.  Name checking Morrissey may not be original but it would be a less real picture without him.  The songs he mentions are kind of dated, but are probably pretty accurate to what gets played in an indie disco these days.  “Have You Ever Been in Love” could be used in any rom-com film montage.  Although maybe it’s too obvious?  Sweetly filled with strings (yes strings).

“Assume the Perpendicular” is a slightly faster song, as befits lyrics, “I can’t abide a horizontal life while “The Lost Art of Conversation” is another bouncy tune with a whistle for an ending!

“Island Life” is one of the first duets I can think of from the Divine Comedy–it sounds like something out of the movie Brazil.  “When a Man Cries” is an emotionally wrenching song.  It seems somewhat out of place for Hannon’s usual topic, but it’s quite beautiful.  The silly fun of “Can You Stand Up on One Leg” is the perfect antidote.  Each verse provides something that’s harder to do than you think.  The final verse offers, “can you hold a singing note for a stupidly long time…. Let’s see how long you can hoooooooooo….oooold on to a note.” For the record, Neil’s note is 29 seconds long….stupidly long!  Is that really him holding that high note for 29 seconds?

The final song “I Like” is a wonderful poppy ditty, in which the full band rocks out (more or less) to another great melody.  It’s a perfect love song (even modernized to include a kind of rhyme with sexy and texting).

Initially I was a little disappointed by this disc, but it really proved to be fantastic.  More, Neil, more!

[READ: December 28, 2011] Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?

Is Mindy Kaling a big enough celebrity to write a book (memoir or otherwise?).  To use her own in-book comparison, she’s nowhere near Tina Fey’s level of fame, right? (although I actually think she is funnier).  I mean, she’s a minor character on a popular show.  True, she’s also a writer and producer, but that’s not going to lead you to fame or anything.  The more I read about her in the book, the more I wondered exactly who would know her aside from fans of The Office.

None of that is to say that Kaling isn’t awesome.  She is.  She’s funny and talented and I am thrilled she wrote a book–sometimes within an ensemble your individual voice will get lost.  But I have to wonder how much name recognition she has.  And the book doesn’t do a lot to dispel this sense for me.  I mean, she tells about everything she’s done, and really all she had done was write Matt & Ben (which sounds awesome and which I remember hearing about back in the day) and work (a lot) for The Office.  Not minor accomplishments by any stretch, but not a fame-inducing resume.  Nevertheless, good for her that someone was interested in letting her write a book.  And good for us who read it.  If you are amused by the use of the subtitle of the book (which I am) you will like enjoy the humor here.

I had read some excerpts from the book so I assumed it was all funny essays and whatnot, but it’s not.  It’s actually a memoir with funny essays mixed in.   Of course, Mindy’s life before Matt & Ben isn’t really very “interesting” (the book is very funny during this time of her life, even if she really didn’t do much more than babysit for rich folks and watch Comedy Central).

In the Introduction, Mindy provides a FAQ about the book.  One of the questions is if she is going to offer advice and she says yes.  And here’s the thing, Mindy’s advice is outstanding.  She offers advice about many topics and I don’t think I disagreed with her about anything (except maybe pea coats).  She’s like the voice of reason in a world gone mad and an excellent role model for anyone. (more…)

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Grantland Quarterly, Number 1 (2011)

Posted in Andy Greenwald, Anna Clark, Babe the Blue Ox, Bill Barnwell, Bill Simmons, Brian Phillips, Bryan Curtis, Carles, Charlie Pierce, Chris Jones, Chuck Klosterman, Colson Whitehead, Cricket, David Shoemaker, Death, Essays, Frank Deford, Friday Night Lights, Grantland, Harris Wittels, Hockey, Hoosiers, Hope Solo, Ichiro Suzuki, Jane Leavy, Jay Caspian Kang, Jess Walter, Jimmy Kimmel, Katie Baker, LeBron James, Lucky Peach, Malcolm Gladwell, McSweeney's, Megan Rapinoe, Michael Schur, Michael Weinreb, Mike Lupica, Molly Lambert, Moneyball, Nate Dimeo, Newspapers, Poker, Primus, Robert Mays, Roger Federer, Seinfeld, Short Story, Statis Pro Baseball, Suicide, The National, The New York Times, Track, Ty Cobb, Usain Bolt, Video Games, Wesley Allsbrook, Wesley Morris, William Faulkner, Wright Thompson on December 26, 2011| 1 Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: BABE THE BLUE OX-“Basketball” (1998).

This was the first song I’d ever heard from Babe the Blue Ox, and I was hooked (sadly, The Way We Were, where this song is from was their last album).  This is also my favorite songs about sports (and it will never be played in an arena).

It opens with this great funky keyboard over a cool walking bass line.  And after a verse about playing basketball, we get the gorgeous bridge: “pass it to me, I am free, look there’s no one guarding me) sung by one of the women in the band (who sounds vaguely like Edie Brickell).  When the chorus kicks in “And when she gives it to me, I am as high as can be” both singers harmonize wonderfully.

There’s even a cool instrumental break.

Everything about this song is catchy and wonderful.  And it should have been huge.

[READ: December 21, 2011] Grantland

McSweeney’s seems to keep trying to push me away.  Or maybe they are just trying to push me out of my comfort zone.  First they publish Lucky Peach, a magazine about cooking (with recipes that contain ingredients that I couldn’t find anywhere).  I don’t read cooking magazines, but I loved this one.  Now they publish Grantland, a book about sports.  I don’t follow sports.  At all.  I used to play sports and I used to watch sports, and then when I got out of college, I did neither.  I have a very good knowledge of most sports (so I can still follow any game that’s on), but as for actual people playing the games right now–I’m ignorant.  So, why on earth would I want to read this book about sports?

I was pretty sure I would finally not be getting this book until I read the author list: Chuck Klosterman, Colson Whitehead (!), Malcolm Gladwell (?)  I knew this was going to be no ordinary sports book.

So it turns out (and I didn’t know this until just now) that the book is a collection of works from the website Grantland, which is created and run by Bill Simmons.  I haven’t explored the site but it sure looks interesting enough–longish articles about sports and culture and all kinds of interesting things.  And evidently this issue is a sort of best of the website.  The whole Grantland experience, including this book, are connected to ESPN, indeed, ESPN gets a copyright for the book, McSweeney’s is just the publisher.

And this volume was wonderful.  I couldn’t put it down.  I even wound up putting aside a book I was in the middle of to read it.  None of the articles are terribly long and, despite the basketball textured cover (which is very cool–no one can walk by and not touch it) the variety of sports covered is wonderful: from boxing to cricket!  And there are short stories and essays about the entertainment industry as well (articles on Shia LeBeouf and Amy Winehouse (!)).

If I had one complaint about the book it’s that many of the articles don’t give a time from when they were written.  I assume they are all fairly recent but since I don’t follow sports I can’t say for sure.  The other problem is that several of the stories end with a game/match unresolved.  Clearly they have been resolved since then, but even one line saying what happened would be comforting for those of us not glued to ESPN. (more…)

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Jennifer L. Holm & Matthew Holm–A Very Babymouse Christmas (#15) (2011)

Posted in Cats, Children's Books, Christmas, Christmas Album, Consumerism, Cupcakes, Fears, Funny (ha ha), Graphic Novel, Holidays, Jennifer L. Holm, Matthew Holm, Mice, New Girl, Set at School, Short Books, The Bird and the Bee on December 25, 2011| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: THE BIRD AND THE BEE-“The 12 Days of Christmas” (2011?).

I’ve heard this version of the 12 Days of Christmas twice.  Once in Ulta and once on the show New Girl (in the Christmas episode, where Jess and her friend are (ew) sitting on the floor in the bathroom, you can hear it faintly behind them).

This is a very intriguing version of the song.  It sounds like the Cocteau Twins–a kind of lush, waves upon waves sound.  There’s a female singer (who sounds like Liz Frasier) and as the song progresses down through the numbers it almost seems to be done in a minor key or something.  Of course I’ve only heard snippets of the song so I don’t have any major moments to report about.  Nevertheless, I really enjoyed it.

The problem is I have no idea who sings it! (circa 2014: well now I do).

Obviously the people in Ulta were useless, and I’ve been trying to find out from TV song sources, but I still don’t know who it is.

And you know, the internet is a wonderful thing, but trying to find a song that has been covered at least 100 times and using a search term like “new girl” is not going to give you results that you want.

If anyone wants to give me a Christmas gift, tell me who sings this!

[READ: December 22, 2011] A Very Babymouse Christmas

I have caught up with the Babymouse books!  And look, I finished the Christmas one for Christmas Day!  Hosannah!

I set little goals for myself, most of which I never meet.  But one of my little goals was to read all the Babymouse books by the end of the year (not a difficult task, admittedly), and I did it!

I really enjoyed the series (the end of the book says there’s a new one due out in August 2012 (wow, serious withdrawal) so the series isn’t over or anything.  It’s funny to me that she never made a Christmas book before (the series has been around for years), but it wraps up my reading nicely.

My favorite part of the story has been the growing depth of the narrator.  We find out that the narrator has parents! (although I’m still not sure if it’s a man or a woman–I assume a woman).

But really Christmas is all about the presents and the big present this year is the Whiz Bang™.  I love this conceit–the Whiz Bang™ is a Kindle/iPod/techie product that does everything–it even has a calculator!  And when the moment of truth comes, there’s even a surprising surprise twist.  (more…)

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