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Archive for the ‘Funny (ha ha)’ Category

Jasper Gibson–A Bright Moon for Fools (2013)

Posted in Big Books, Canadian Music, Drinking, Funny (ha ha), Jasper Gibson, Knives, Luke Doucet, Mark Sasso, Marriage (Happy), Martin Tielli, Michael Palin, Murder, NQ Arbuckle, Sex, Six Shooter Records, Threats, Unlikable main character, Violence, Yuck! on November 19, 2015| Leave a Comment »

moonfoolsSOUNDTRACK: MARTIN TIELLI-Ottawa Bluesfest Ottawa, ON (July 5, 2008).

bluesfestThis brief set at the Ottawa Bluesfest was for a Six Shooter Records showcase. As such it is short (about 30 minutes).  By the end there are tons of guests playing with him, which is fun.

He opens with three solo acoustic songs: “I’ll Never Tear You Apart” which sounds great and “Something in Those Woods” which would appear on his third album The Ghost of Danny Gross the following year. When the song ends, he says he is still  “working on it.” The third song “The Underbrush” will also appear on Danny.

Then the band comes in: Ford Pier, Greg Smith and Doots (Steven Pitkin) on drums.   Someone in the band says that Martin looks great, the treatments really paid off to which Martin replies “What?” incredulously.

The rocking “My Sweet Relief” segues nicely into the rocking “That’s What You Get for Having Fun.”  Interestingly, Martin seems to forget the words, so they play an entirely instrumental verse (complete with a solo) before resuming the song.

The final song is a great version of “Shaved Head,” with a full cast of Six Shooter Records players in the guest list: Luke Doucet, Paul LaPlante, Christine Fellows, Justin Rutledge, NQ Arbuckle, Casey Laforet and  Mark Sasso as well as a few others whose names I missed.

It’s a great fun show and a great quality recording.

[READ: July 1, 2015] A Bright Moon for Fools

I found this book at work and was intrigued by it.  Not by its title or cover, which is dreadful, but because on the edge of the pages was printed Up on two legs, man!  I love a book that plays with convention so I decided to check it out.  Then on the front is a blurb from Michael Palin(!) which says “Very funny, very unpleasant and very moving.”  And this is a very apt blurb for this book.  It is quite funny, it is very unpleasant and it is also rather moving.

The story is about a man named Harry Christmas.  Christmas is a scoundrel.  He is mid-fifties but appears much older–fat, drunk and be-mustached.  He fancies that he looks fantastic, but no one is fooled.

Christmas suffers no fools. He expounds vociferously about any slight (especially slights against common courtesy–for although he is belligerent, he does believe in common courtesy).  He hates all of the vulgar inanities of modern life, which he calls, “The Rot.”  He hates people who use air quotes, he hates people who listen to walkmen (or whatever other technological marvel is out there), he hates people who want to sit and talk to him while he is eating, and worst yet he hates those who assume that because he is British, he loves football.  None of these hatreds seems that unreasonable to me, but since Harry is a big drunken man, his belligerence moves past justifiable and into the realm of scary.

And yet, he is a funny and enjoyable protagonist to be sure.  Well, except that he has stolen the life savings from his previous girlfriend and has fled London for Venezuela. (more…)

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Jesse Armstrong–Love, Sex & Other Foreign Policy Goals (2015)

Posted in Charity, Funny (ha ha), Guns, Humiliation, Instant Klazzix, Jesse Armstrong, Martin Tielli, Neil Young, Peep Show, Political Humor, Queen, Selina Martin, Sex, Smog, Threats, Travel, Violence, War, tagged on November 17, 2015| Leave a Comment »

jessee SOUNDTRACK: MARTIN TIELLI-Operation Infinite Joy (2003).

oijThis was Martin Tielli’s second solo album and the first disc in his Subscription Series.  Basically, you paid up front and were guaranteed four discs from the man.  Each disc came in a cool metal box, with artwork on the outside and gorgeous artwork in the booklet.  This disc was also available commercially, but I believe the other three were never made available.

This album is really lovely–lots of epic, dramatic moments, with sweeping guitars and choirs.  It’s a real testament to Martin’s songwriting and playing chops.  Although interestingly, Martin is a guitar guy and this album has a lot of piano (from Ford Pier I believe).

The disc opens with “Beauty On” which has some fanfare and a grand introduction about the rock singer who shouts, “Are you with me, Cincinnati are you ready to rock???!!” and a pause and a quietly spoken, “i am not.”  When playing this song live he often left out that intro and simply included the piano melody and the second part of the song.

“OK by Me” has a jaunty feel as it opens.  It has a simple but ornery guitar riff which morphs into several different things in this five-minute song.  There’s an acoustic guitar bridge that gives way to a chorus of voices and then the main verse melody line.  It’s catchy and meandering at the same time.  After the line “I’m playing guitar with all my dinosaurs and me” he busts out  wild raging guitar solo that sounds uncannily like Queen.

“The Temperance Society Choir” is another great dramatic song, with a choir (naturally) and some wonderful harmony vocals.  It also features lead vocals by Selina Martin for the opening lines.  There’s some great guitar and bass sounds in it (mixed low in the mix) and the wonderful lines: “All those in favor just say Aye.”  “Aye!”  “All those opposed just say no.” (pause, quietly) “no.”  It even features an old style piano interlude.

“Segeant Kraulis” is a weird song with lots of great sections.  It opens with a vocoder’d voice saying it is 60238 in the narcotics division.  After several sections, there’s a super catchy chorus, and then a noisy section with presumably Sgt Kraulis screaming “make me visible, you fuckers.”  The last section of the song devolves into a  kind of reggae section with all kinds of glitchy sounds and the repeated declaration, “We were opening packages we did not know the contents of.”

“Andy by the Lake” is the first of Martin’s longer, quieter songs.  Like some of the songs on his first solo album this song is quiet and meandering although the spikes of drama (thunder, lightning) are much welcomed.  The most conventional song on the album is a cover of Smog’s “Cold Blooded Old Times.”  I like the original but there’s something about the way Martin does it that I think is even better–the bassline is great (not present on the original).  I love Bill Callahan’s delivery on the original, but Martin makes it more dramatic (surprise).

“Winnipeg” is a great long song with multiple parts.  It’s got a fantastic intro on bells or vibes (when the wind blows, 50 below) and then shifts into a Neil Young-esque epic.  It features the interesting line “I’ve had cole slaw.”  (Cole slaw also was mentioned on his first solo record). I love the chorus of vocals singing the “ahhhha” before “any day.”  There are so many parts to this song that when people first started recording it live before it was released, I saw three different possible titles for it.

“Waterstriders” is another slower song but the intricate guitar lines are gorgeous throughout.  It’s a great chance for Martin to create all kinds of interesting sounds over a simple rhythm.

“Ship of Fire” also has a Neil Young feel–especially when the intro guitar comes in over the bass.  This song also has many parts and is a pretty fascinating story.  There’s a recurring section about a boy across the Atlantic that is very trippy.  But the lyrics are dark.  There’s also a really noisy section that builds in drama until the final concluding chorus and roaring, guitar-fueled outro.

“Kathleen” ends the disc as a delicate ballad.  I really like this disc a lot.  It’s my favorite of Martin’s solo records and is just an all around great album (with amazing artwork in the booklet).

The Subscription Series disc features two bonus tracks.  “National Pride” which is simple but nice.  And “Diamonds on Our Toes” which is a great song with a fantastic end section and the bizarre screams of “I play electric guitar!”  Both of these tracks come from the Instant Klazzix session which you can download on Rheostatics live.   The versions here have been remixed by martin.

I can’t find all that much out about Instant Klazzix, but there is stuff online about the “group.”  One of these days I’ll post about it.

[READ: June 10, 2015] Love, Sex & Other Foreign Policy Goals

This book was written by a writer of the British comedy Peep Show, which I liked a lot.  However, this book is not very funny (I don’t think it is supposed to be very funny).  Rather, this book falls into the “how far would you go to win a girl” category.  And it wonders if you would go all the way to war-torn Bosnia?

For narrator Andrew, if the girl is smoking hot Penny, then the answer is yes.

Andrew is a middle class working guy.  He is part of the Department of Works, although he’s not glamorous like the real construction guys–he’s more of a gopher.  He has been dating Helen for quite some time.  But he’s quite sure that she is cheating on him.

One night he meets a bunch of students.  They are radical and interesting, and Andrew enjoys their company.  Then they start talking about the problems in Yugoslavia (the book is set in 1994).  They decide that they should drive to Bosnia, bring some aid and, yes, put on a play that will blow everyone’s minds and stop the war. (more…)

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Brendan Connell–Jottings from a Far Away Place (2015) [prepub]

Posted in マキシマム ザ ホルモン, Brendan Connell, Death Note, Food, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), John Zorn, Maximum the Hormone, Religion, Sex, Short Story, Smarty Pants, Supernatural, Surreal, Violence, Virginity (Loss of), Yamantaka Eye on November 16, 2015| 1 Comment »

jottingsSOUNDTRACK: マキシマム ザ ホルモン–“え・い・り・あ・ん” (2013) [MAXIMUM THE HORMONE-“A.L.I.E.N” (2013).

maxi2This Japanese band has gained some ground in the United States (having two of their songs used in the anime Death Note).  They are a heavy, heavy metal band which explores many different genres.

This song begins with a heavy metal guitar riff.  When the song proper starts, it is clearly a heavy song sing in Japanese.  The second vocalist (who screams like Yamantaka Eye with John Zorn) screams in an unmistakably Japanese way.  And at 1:15, the song slows down into a very heavy almost mosh.

So far so good.  The first big surprise comes at 1:44 when the song is hijacked by a funk metal bass line and the follow up section is a less scary sounding but still heavy metal.

And then it’s back to the speed and noise once more, complete with a pause and a “Go!” and then a series of “He!y Hey! Hey!” metal chants.

maxiBut the real surprise comes at 3 minutes when the whole song slows to a sweet section with whispered vocals by the (female) drummer?  And then the entire song switches to a sweet song–delicate guitar and super sweet vocals with the new lyrics “Stop Stop Winny Upload.”  The boys come back in, but now they are playing along to this poppy (but guitar heavy) “Stop Stop Winny” section.

This runs on until the end of the song which has the band members conversing in Japanese (about what, I have no idea).

It is one of the most jarring songs I’ve heard, combing at least five genres in its 5 and a half minutes (and several of their other songs do this too (check out “Yoshu Fukushu”).

maxi3This is to say nothing of the video, which opens with the band playing in a live setting.  The  guitarist has long hair and a beard and sings the first verses.  The short-haired singer sings the really fast growly stuff and the bassist has a nifty side shave.

As the funk metal stuff starts, the band switches to a studio scene in which, why not, they all grow extra heads and limbs.

The Stop Stop Winny section switches from a segment with the drummer in a wedding dress singing gently.  And then the final section shows the band in a psychedelic set with little kids and balloons.

It’s fantastic.

[READ: November 13, 2015] Jottings from a Far Away Place

Brendan Connell has this new book coming out (on December 1st) from the wonderfully named Snuggly Press.  (I love that it says This is a Snuggly Book) on the title page verso.

Connell has written all kinds of books in his career but this one is something of a new style in his vast oeuvre.  The title word “Jottings” is a giveaway because so many of the parts of the book are very short–notations, indeed, jottings, that may or may not relate directly to the rest of the pieces.  I found the book a little challenging to read at first because of this.  However, when I wrapped my head around what was going on, it really gelled.  And when I read it a second time, with this in mind, it worked beautifully.

Connell has created a kind of labyrinth of a book in which some fragments lead to dead ends, but other fragments lead to longer stories.  And when you hit on the right path you are rewarded with a longer story that is as well written (Connell’s eye for detail is, as always, exceptional) as it is interesting.  But unlike the mythological labyrinth, there is no Minotaur if you take a wrong path–rather there is just a fragment that forces you to think about where it might belong. (more…)

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Jeff Kinney–Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Old School [#10] (2015)

Posted in Avengers: Age of Ultron, Children's Books, Fears, Funny (ha ha), Humiliation, Jeff Kinney, Khaira Arby, Nostalgia, Parenting, Poo, Short Books, Technology, Tiny Desk Concert, Toilets, Yuck! on November 15, 2015| Leave a Comment »

 schoololsSOUNDTRACK: KHAIRA ARBY-Tiny Desk Concert #94 (November 29, 2010).

khairaA year ago I would have said I know nothing about music from Mali, but the shows at NPR have given me a greater appreciation of it.  And, while I wouldn’t say I’d have been able to pick this out as music from Mali, I definitely recognized the style of the what I’m going to call fiddly guitar that seems to be prominent in Mali music.

You can really hear how good guitarist Drahmane Toure is with the way he keeps up the constant soloing and fiddly bits.  It brings a cool distinctive sound to the otherwise steady rhythm from the bass and percussion (which looks like a beautifully carved salad bowl covered in duct tape).

The rest of the band includes an acoustic guitar, a bass backing singers and some other instrument that i can’t figure out.

Of course, this show is meant to celebrate singer Khaira Arby, the queen of desert rock.  And she is fine.  I don’t really have much to say about her.  She sings perfectly for this music, and sounds almost more like a prayerful singer than a professional one.

[READ: December 27, 2013] Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Old School

Clark said that this book was the best Wimpy Kid yet (a claim he has made before, so this must be really great).  My story about this book is that I knew the cover was black and I know basically what the back cover looks like, so when we saw Age of Ultron this summer, imagine my surprise to see that the boy was reading this book (which didn’t come out until last week).  Movies are magic.

Anyhow, this book begins in September with some hilarious snark about “the good old days.”  I love Greg’s reaction, “I think they’re just jealous because MY generation has all this fancy technology and stuff they didn’t have growing up.”  And now Greg’s mom’s big kick is to get everyone to unplug.  To unplug and reconnect with the community. (more…)

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Jeff Kinney–Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul [#9] (2014)

Posted in Babies, Children's Books, Davíð Þór Jónsson, Family Frolic, Family Fun, Fears, Funny (ha ha), Jeff Brown, Jeff Kinney, Olof Arnalds, Parenting, Pets, Pigs, Short Books, Summer, Tiny Desk Concert, Vacation, Video Games, Walt Disney World, Yuck! on November 14, 2015| Leave a Comment »

longSOUNDTRACK: OLOF ARNALDS-Tiny Desk Concert #93 (November 22, 2010).

olof Olof Arnalds is from Iceland and she sings in Icelandic.  She sings a kind of experimental folk, although in this Tiny Desk it is just her and a partner, Davíð Þór Jónsson, playing acoustic guitars.

And playing acoustic guitars keeps these songs pretty grounded.    Arnalds is a classically trained violinist, but she sticks to guitar on two of the tracks.

“Innundir Skinni” is a beautiful melody and our first exposure to Arnald’s voice, which is certainly unconventional.  Her voice is quite high and really rather lovely, just more Icelandic than Western.  Although even though she sings in Icelandic, anyone can sing along to the “la la la” part.

On “Surrender” she plays a churango made from an armadillo shell.  It brings a beautiful delicateness to this song.  I love the staccato chorus

“Crazy Car” sung in English as a duet, in which their accents and non-English delivery (especially Davíð’s) is most notable. The end, when she sings a different vocal melody is lovely.

Her voice might be off-putting to some, but I always like to hear someone with a bit of character.

[READ: November 10, 2015] Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul

This has been my favorite Wimpy Kid book so far.   I tend to like the ones that focus on a single long event and the whole family more than lots of little episodes at school.  So this book, which follows the Heffley family on a summer road trip was perfect for me.

I also love the way Kinney taps into real things but modifies them just enough to make them somehow even funnier.  Like the way he creates the magazine Family Frolic (but uses the font of Family Fun magazine) and describes it perfectly–showing idealized family moments which no family can ever hope to recreate.   There’s also the hilarious way that trying to surprise kids with a trip can backfire (Manny is so excited to visit their aunt, that they have to delay their real trip to Disney World).

I also enjoyed the use of Flat Stanley (from the book by Jeff Brown) and the hilarious way he changed Captain Underpants to Underpants Bandits (by Mik Davies, rather than Dv Pilkey) which allowed him to make his own underwear jokes. (more…)

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Neil Swaab–The Secrets to Ruling School (Without Even Trying) (2015)

Posted in Advice, Football, Funny (ha ha), Humiliation, Neil Swaab, Poo, Set at School, Short Books, The Red River, Threats, Tiny Desk Concert, Violence, Yuck! on November 13, 2015| Leave a Comment »

rulingSOUNDTRACK: THE RED RIVER-Tiny Desk Concert #97 (December 13, 2010).

redriverThe Red River are a ten piece band (whom I have never heard of).  They have two keyboardists, a drummer, a violist, a french horn player and guitars and vocals.  But in this Tiny Desk, the band decided to remove all of their instruments, save for the guitar, and to sing four of their songs more or less a capella (such is the coolness of the Tiny Desk).

The first song “Milk n’ Honey” is completely a capella and they kind of make each other laugh at a few moments (where maybe their instruments might have covered up some unsightly notes).

“Morning Routine” begins with just guitar and duet vocals.  Again, they seem to be trying to make each other laugh when after the line “the kitten cries,” the lead singer makes some kitten noises.  The chorus of backing vocals sounds wonderful here.

For “St. Bernard’s Lily” the nine players all do body percussion to provide the beat while Bill Roberts plays guitar and sings.  The band does some great backing vocals (especially in the do do do do do doooos).  The final song “Dirty Dave” is dedicated to him.  Roberts says they miss him very much then quickly points out that he’s not dead, he just couldn’t make it on that tour.  The song has a pretty melody and when the band sings the chorus together its really beautiful.
Lyrically the songs are about the mundane, which is what makes them rather interesting. I can’t quite imagine what their full band sounds like given this stripped down version.

[READ: November 12, 2015] The Secrets to Ruling the School

I saw this book when I was in Chapters Bookstore in Toronto.  I was happy to see it again in my library, so I checked it out.

The premise of the book is familiar–getting by in Middle School–although this book takes it a few steps further.  Not just getting by in Middle School, but actually ruling it.

And the structure is cool.  You are the person who will soon rule Middle School.  And you will be tutored by Max Corrigan.  Max meets you on your first day.  He’s a clean cut kid with a binder full of information.  He is the school’s Welcoming Committee.  But as soon as you open his Official New Student packet, you see that Page 2 describes the school as The Worst Place in the Entire World.  And that Max will help you survive bullies, tests, hall passes, psycho teachers and even ditching class.

And his plan is simple–makes friends with every clique in school as quickly as possible. (more…)

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Claire Cock-Starkey–How to Skin a Lion: A Treasury of Outmoded Advice (2015)

Posted in Africa, Anachronisms, Birds, Claire Cock-Starkey, Disease, Elephants, Essays, Etiquette, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Greed, Guns, History, How to, Lions, Los Lobos, Nature, Tiny Desk Concert, Yuck! on November 8, 2015| Leave a Comment »

skin SOUNDTRACK: LOS LOBOS-Tiny Desk Concert #90 (November 10, 2010).

loslobosI don’t really know all that much about Los Lobos.  I frankly got sick of them because of “La Bamba” (which came out 20 years ago!) and I don’t think I’d ever heard much else by them.  So I wound up enjoying this Tiny Desk much more than I anticipated.

The one big problem with this tiny desk is that the drummer is playing one of those plastic mail bins and it sounds awful.  Especially on the first song.  I think anything would have had a better drum sound than that.

I really enjoyed the first song “Burn It Down.”  It has a propulsive minor key structure and an excellent bass line.  I would never have guessed it was Los Lobos, but that may be because it’s not the singer I most associate with them (he sings on the next two songs).

“Yo Canto” is a cumbia, sung by a different guy (in Spanish) who also plays lead guitar.  The mail bin sounds better on this song because of the placement (and use of) a cowbell.  The singer sounds amazing.  I rather like the riff that underlines the song.

Those two songs are from their then latest album.  And the band sounds really good all these years on.

The final song is “Don’t Worry Baby.”  It has the same singer as the middle song (this time in English) although it is a pretty standard blues song that I found just okay.  It also features a bunch of saxophone.  I didn’t realize that it was from their major label debut in 1984! and is something of a classic.

So three songs, all of them enjoyable, from a band I didn’t really think I’d enjoy.  The funniest part is just before the show stops and someone asks, “Okay, where’s the beer?”

[READ: October 1, 2015] How to Skin a Lion

This book sounded awesome–I love outdated things that we can laugh about now (because I’m a superior git, of course).

But this book proved to be not all that funny.  The outmoded advice wasn’t treated comically exactly (well, some was), rather it was looked at rather seriously–some as good advice that still stands, some as crazy advice that is way outmoded and a few things that are, yes, just comical.

Cock-Starkey (insert joke here) says that this is a collection of materials from the vast archives of the British Library.  It culls from medieval manuscripts, Victorian manuals and self-help guides from the early 20th century.  She explains that the book aims to reveal the secrets of lost arts, remind us of how modern conveniences have changed our lives, recall the complexities of etiquette, highlight changing attitudes and beliefs and furnish us with still useful tips and guidance.

Although she also points out that readers should be advised that some pieces of advice contained herein have stood the test of time better than others. (more…)

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Lizzie Skurnick–That Should Be a Word (2015)

Posted in Black Dub, Chris Whitley, Daniel Lanois, Funny (ha ha), Language, Lizzie Skurnick, Rich Hall, Sniglets, The New York Times, Tiny Desk Concert, Trixie Whitley, Word usage on November 7, 2015| Leave a Comment »

lizzie SOUNDTRACK: BLACK DUB-Tiny Desk Concert #89 (November 8, 2010).

black dubBlack Dub is the collaboration between Daniel Lanois and Trixie Whitley (daughter of Chris Whitley).

I think I might have been more excited about this if I hadn’t seen Daniel Lanois’ other performance on Tiny Desk, where he came across as kinda jerky.  I also had not heard of Whitley (who was 23 at the time).

Whitley has a huge voice (especially given how tiny she is).  It’s big and brash and bluesy in a Janis Joplin sorta way.  And she’s really passionate about what she’s singing–look at her face, for crying out loud).  But it’s actually too bluesy for my liking.  And it almost seems over the top given Lanois’ simple acoustic guitar strumming.

They play four songs, “Surely” which pushes five minutes; “Silverado” which has a nice duet between Whitley and Lanois to start (and then I feel like she adds too much during her section); “I Believe in You.”  For the final song, Whitley straps on an electric guitar and plays a rocking riff (I enjoyed the accidental feedback that Lanois created).  Her voice works a little better with the extra volume of the guitar.  Although the song builds and buildups and never really goes anywhere.

I just never got into this Concert.

[READ: July 1, 2015] That Should Be a Word

I heard a big hyped review of this book, so I was really excited when Sarah brought it home.  But I wound up being a little disappointed by it.

I imagine that since these items come from her newspaper column, it might be more fun to read a few at a time rather than all at once.  Because while I enjoyed the premise, I got tired of the punny schtick after a few sections.  And that’s a shame.

The one major gripe I have is that nowhere in the book does it ever acknowledge the pioneering work of Rich Hall and Sniglets, the guy who really spawned the idea of creating words for every day things.  Skurnick does things differently of course, but I feel like at least a nod to the man would have been nice (especially since she is–admirably–so into the whole retro thing).

The premise behind this book (and the column is that Skurnick (and readers, I gather) create words for things that don’t exist.  But the real premise is that the newly created words are sort of punny based on two other words (which Sniglets didn’t do). (more…)

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Charles M. Schulz–The Complete Peanuts: 1961-1962: The Definitive Collection of Charles M. Schulz’s comic strip masterpiece: Dailies & Sundays (2006)

Posted in A Charlie Brown Christmas, Angst, Baseball, Brinsley Schwarz, Charles Schulz, Comic Strips, Diana Krall, Elvis Costello, Fantagraphics, Football, Funny (ha ha), Halloween, It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, Nick Lowe, Peanuts, Rachel Carson, Rick Astley, Tiny Desk Concert, Vince Guaraldi, Willie McCovey on November 6, 2015| Leave a Comment »

1961SOUNDTRACK: NICK LOWE-Tiny Desk Concert #87 (November 1, 2010).

lowe Nick Lowe is legendary.  And yet I don’t really know that much about him.  I knew he did “Cruel to be Kind” which is very dated sounding but still great.  I didn’t know that he wrote my favorite Elvis Costello song “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding?” (which he first recorded with his band Brinsley Schwarz).  He also produced a bunch of Costello’s albums.

This Tiny Desk is a mellow affair, with Lowe gently playing acoustic guitar and his low, smooth vocals singing interesting lyrics: “His heart’s a prune / when it once was a plum / If you know him / that’s the kind of man that I’ve become” (from “Man That I’ve Become”).

“Rome Wasn’t Built in a Day” is done in the same vein.  Cathy, mellow pop, with an almost countryish feel.

“All Men Are Liars” is a pretty typical song about lying men, until you get this fascinating lyric: “Do you remember Rick Astley?  He had a big fat it.  It was ghastly.  He said I’m never gonna give you up or let you down.  Well, I’m here to tell you that rick’s a clown.”

“House for Sale” was a then new song.  And it’s just as sharp and strign as the rest.

At the time of this recording, Lowe was 61 and he sounds great.  His voice has changed, but it hasn’t lost anything.

[READ: October 29, 2015] The Complete Peanuts 1961-1962

By this book, Peanuts had been in print for nearly 12 years.  And the core group has remained Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus, Snoopy, Schroeder, and now Sally.  And to a smaller extent Shermie, Patty and Pig-Pen are still around.   But in 1961 he added a new character: Frieda, the girl with naturally curly hair.

One thing I hadn’t noticed so much in previous books is that he has been getting some very funny “jokey” punchlines.  Most of the Peanuts punchlines have been funny/thoughtful/amusing.  But I felt like this book had a few that were really funny.  Like Lucy saying in response to beauty being only skin deep “I have a very thick beauty.”  Or this funny groaner: Linus: “Do they always bring the cows in from the pasture at night?” Lucy: “Of course you blockhead, if they leave them out over night they get pasteurized.” I especially like that it isn’t even the final panel.  And in 1962, Charlie asks this question when he turns on the TV and sees reruns: “What would happen if comic strips had nothing but re-runs all summer?”

And of course, there’s a lot of baseball strips.  Including this one with a great set up and punchline.  Charlie is talking about the game and how “For one brief moment victory was within our grasp.”  To which Linus says, “And then the game started.” (more…)

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Christopher Healy–The Hero’s Guide to Being an Outlaw (Book III of The Hero’s Guide) (2014) [audiobook 2014–Bronson Pinchot]

Posted in Adventure, Big Books, Bronson Pinchot, Children's Books, Christopher Healy, Demons, End of the World, Fables, Fantasy, Fears, Funny (ha ha), Humiliation, Supernatural, Trilogy on November 1, 2015| Leave a Comment »

[LISTENED TO: August 2014] The Hero’s Guide to Being an Outlaw

outlawThis audio book was ten hours long.  We listened to it on a long car trip (from New Jersey to Canada).

I wasn’t quite sure how the title of this book would make sense since the heroes are heroes after all.  But we quickly learn that all of the good guys have been accused of killing Briar Rose (they didn’t even know she was dead!).  And her father has put a bounty on all of our heroes: Prince Frederic, Prince Gustav, Prince Liam, and Prince Duncan and Cinderella, Snow White, Rapunzel, and Princess Lila.

Of course, it shouldn’t take anyone long to determine that there has been a nasty plot afoot and that someone from their past has some pretty evil plans to attend to.

However, the way the story is written–with each character getting his or her hilarious chapter–it does take a little time before the truth comes out.  But it takes only a few pages before the scary news comes out–Rundark, Warlord of Dar is back, and he is angry.  Well, he was always angry, but I suspect he’s even more angry. (more…)

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