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Archive for the ‘Greed’ Category

Cory Doctorow and Jen Wang–In Real Life (2014)

Posted in Adventure, Cory Doctorow, Daniel Radcliffe, ELO, First Second :01, Graham Linehan, Graphic Novel, Greed, Huh?, Jen Wang, Joe Elliott, Matt Berry, Michael Penn, Neil Finn, Neil Hannon, Pugwash, Set at School, Stephen Fry, Technology, The Divine Comedy, The Duckworth Lewis Method, The Future, Thomas Walsh, Threats, Video Games, YA Books on November 12, 2014| Leave a Comment »

irl  SOUNDTRACK: THE DUCKWORTH LEWIS METHOD-Sticky Wickets (2013).

stickyThe cricket-loving songwriters are back with their second disc.  Although I bought their first disc because I love Neil Hannon, I found myself enjoying the songs by Pugwash’s Thomas Walsh even more.  (Which led me to get some discs by Pugwash, a great, sadly unknown band).

I’m inclined to say I like Walsh’s songs better on this disc as well–his title track has a groovy classic ELO-inspired guitar riff and Walsh’s great falsetto vocals.  But I also love the bouncy fun of “Boom Boom Afridi” (written by Neil Hannon). So maybe I just like the two of them together.

These are followed by the amusing “It’s Just Not Cricket” which features a group of rowdy indignant cricket fans singing along. See the awesome accompanying picture below which shows the kind of sort of naughty but not really way the sport is portrayed on the disc.  cricket“The Umpire” gives some real sympathy to the Cricket umpire (who eats his eggs and soldiers) as his position is taken over by machines.

I don’t know much about cricket, so I don’t claim understand what most of these songs are about, but the awesomely bouncy and catchy “Third Man” is a total mystery to me.  But that doesn’t stop me from singing along. It’s like a classic lost Pugwash song.  It even has a (weird) narration from Daniel Radcliffe.  “Chin Music” is a pretty, carnivalesque instrumental.

“Out in the Middle” is a slower Walsh song which is also very pretty.  “Line and Length” is a silly song which (in spoken word) explains how line and length are used in cricket. It has a very discoey chorus which differs nicely from the formality of the verse. “The Laughing Cavaliers” is a march with a big choral vocal line. “Judd’s Paradox” has a lengthy spoken section by Stephen Fry (at his most formal). It’s a very enjoyable song with an interesting perspective on cricket and history.

“Mystery Man” is a pretty, sixties-sounding song with bouncy jaunty keyboards and a catchy chorus–except that the verses are all about how he’s a tough bowler.  It’s also got a hilarious spoken word section read by Matt Berry “trod on wicket.”

“Nudging and Nurdling” ends the disc and is more or less 5 minutes of people saying the words “Nudging and Nurdling” set to a boppy silly melody.  The list of contributors is extensive, although I’ve only heard of Daniel Radcliffe, Neil Finn, Joe Elliott, Matt Berry, Graham Linehan, an Michael Penn (!) who sounds so American. I love they way they build something so simple (and kinda dumb) into such a big song by the end.

Hannon and Walsh know how to write gorgeous songs (even if they can be rather silly).  This is a great collection–even if you don’t know anything about cricket.  You too will soon be shouting along with the Laughing Cavaliers.

[READ: November 9, 2014] In Real Life

I was pretty excited when I saw this book.  I really like Cory Doctorow and here was a comic of his published by First Second, one of my favorite graphic novel publishers (I need to make a category for them…there, done).  I didn’t know Jen Wang’s artwork, but that hardly mattered as the cover was gorgeous.

So the story is an interesting one.  It begins simply enough with Anda, a young girl who has moved from San Diego to Flagstaff (of course, we don’t learn that she moved to Flagstaff for a few pages, so the fact that we are introduced to Flagstaff by a snowfall was confusing to me–I assumed she was on the East Coast).  However, this was not as confusing to me as the other character in the book who doesn’t know where Flagstaff is.  What high school aged person doesn’t know that Flagstaff is in Arizona?

Anyhow, we see Anda in school and her class is given a presentation by Liza the Organiza, a woman who is introducing the class to an online virtual game called Coarsegold (I’m also confused as to why this woman would be allowed to give this presentation in school, but maybe I’m too nitpicky here?).  Incidentally, I really enjoyed most of the art in the book, but the picture of Liza the Organiza on this same page is quite disturbing to me.  In fact, a few pictures in “real life” seem a little “off” to me, and I was worried that I wouldn’t enjoy the visual aspect of the book.  But when we get into the game, the pictures are simply fantastic, so I don’t know what that’s all about. (more…)

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Gordon Korman–Flashpoint [The 39 Clues: Unstoppable: Book Four] (2014)

Posted in Adventure, Aphex Twin, Death, Fears, Gordon Korman, Greed, History, Kiss, Pink Floyd, Romance, Short Books, Sloan, Threats, Travel, Violence on September 5, 2014| 1 Comment »

39unstopSOUNDTRACK: SLOAN-“Get Out” (2014).

Sloan_CommonwealthSloan has a new album coming out next week.  It is currently streaming on Picthfork.  The album is like a small version of the Kiss solo albums (except that there is only one album) or like Pink Floyd’s Ummagumma (because it’s a double album and one side is kinda crazy). Each member of the band has written the songs for a side.  The imagery for the disc is a deck of playing card, and each member gets a suit:  Diamond (Jay Ferguson); Heart (Chris Murphy);  Shamrock (Patrick Pentland); Spade (Andrew Scott).  Even though I am a big fan of Sloan, I have honestly never been able to tell their vocalists apart. True, they do sound distinctive, but I can’t keep them straight at all.  So this album should help with that (and maybe see if there is one composer I like better–I don’t think so).

I chose this song primarily because it seemed to tie in well with this book and also because it a rocking song that last for less than 2 minutes.

The guitar comes rocking right at the start.  The verses are short and the bridge , a simple “Get out, you can get out” propels the song along nicely.  There’s a loud squalling guitar solos.  And a cool chorus with backing vocals.  And after two verses, two bridges and two choruses, the song ends.  A great soundtrack for an escape.

I’m looking forward to the release (although I won’t be getting the deluxe edition, sorry guys).

[READ: September 4, 2014] Flashpoint

In all of my time reading the 39 Clues, this is the first time I actually caught up to the series–I read this book almost in the week that it came out.  So if I was actually playing online with the clues, I may have been able to win whatever it is the online competition is.  Actually it’s quite rare that I read anything soon after it has come out, so that was fun in itself as well.

Okay, so this series has concluded with major 39 dude Gordon Korman taking over the reins.  And that made me happy, because he knows that the family working as a team is what is so important to the series.  And he got them working together again–even if it was because Amy was days away from death by the side effects of the serum.

As the story starts out (yes, I am still bitter about what happened at the end of Book Three–and I must report that that was not redeemed in any way, so yes, I am mad at the series for the senselessness of what happened to a favorite character of mine), Dan is being held prisoner by Galt Pierce.  (I love how nutty the Patriotist party is portrayed, and how easily susceptible people are to the platitudes Rutherford Pierce offers).  He and his sister Cara are trying to extract information from Dan.  Dan is given a truth serum and reveals some information, but then he takes a sleeping potion to knock himself out.

When he awakens, Galt threatens him, but Cara tells Galt to back off.  And then, unless Dan is mistaken, and he may be, she seems to help him escape from the plane that they are currently waiting in.  At the same time, Jonah Wizard’s plane is nearby (through some clever tracking by Pony), and they are able to rescue Dan.  Then they are off to Phenom Penh to find the final ingredient–the venom form a Tonle Sap snake.  Which means a trip through the amazingness that is Angkor Wat (more…)

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Natalie Standiford–Countdown [The 39 Clues: Unstoppable: Book Three] (2014)

Posted in Adventure, Aphex Twin, Death, Fears, Greed, History, Natalie Standiford, Romance, Short Books, Threats, Travel, Violence on September 4, 2014| Leave a Comment »

39copuntSOUNDTRACK: APHEX TWIN-“minipops 67 [120.2]” (2014).

syroI can’t write the whole title of this because the rest of the words make it seem like it is xml code, so it is not printing properly.  Well played, trickster.

Aphex Twin videos have no business being anywhere near a children’s book (even a book as dark as this).  But the music itself is pretty safe since it’s instrumental (or unintelligible vocals if there are vocals).

Anyway, this is the opening track from the first Aphex Twin album in thirteen years (really? yes!).

“Minipops” is the first single from the album (due out later this month).

It is less aggressive than what I think of as Aphex work (like say “Windowlicker”) but it is no less warped.  It opens with some complex drums and a simple but warped keyboard riff.  Some voices come in, and there may be words but I can’t make them out.

It actually feels like a kind of verse chorus build up.  Just before the half way point the music almost drops away leaving a simple keyboard and an even more processed voice.  By the three minute mark a new voice comes in, it is deeper and scarier, and it is followed by the most clean voice of all (although it is still quite fuzzy).  Again, I have no idea if words are being spoken, but there is a weird melody being vocalized.  And the music floating around seems to slowly get more and more distorted as the song lurches to an end.

It’s not my favorite Aphex Twin piece as it’s not as dynamic as some of his others, but I’m happy that he’s putting out an albums worth of stuff.

This video has no actual visuals (except what you see), so it is totally safe for all ages.

[READ: August 28, 2014] Countdown

Book Three of this series has an aspect that I really like and an aspect that I, like less

I’m starting with the part I liked less because it involves the main plot.  As we left the Cahill family in Book Two, they were in big trouble.  Rutherford Pierce had taken the super mega strong serum and his henchmen were closing in on Amy and Dan and friends wherever they went.

As this book opens Amy and Dan are racing through an airport to get to their private helicopter, when they are spotted by the paparazzi (Pierce owns the media and sends the paparazzi after them wherever they are).  On the other side of the airport are some of his serum-fueled goons, who are looking to stop them at any cost.  The kids run through the airport and make it to the helicopter just in time.

They start flying to Guatemala, where they are looking for the next ingredient for the antidote to the serum.  Suddenly the pilot puts on a  parachute and leaps from the helicopter, leaving the kids to land the plane in the Guatemalan ruins.

This was all quite exciting and I enjoyed it very much.  What I liked less was that after what happened in the last book–Amy going off on her own to spare the lives of her family and nearly getting killed–the boys are mad at her.  They barley talk to her and consider that she has betrayed them.  One of the things I have loved about the series was the bond that Amy and Dan had.  And I hate that this series has dissolved the bond and that Amy has felt like an outcast.  I understand it builds the drama and that there are many exciting elements to this approach, but it’s not what I read this series for.  I also realize that as this book draws to and end, the isolation of Amy become almost the point of this series, but it still changes the series in a way I don’t like.

After they are nearly killed, though, the kids bond again, and set off on their quest to find this missing element. (more…)

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Jeff Hirsch–Breakaway [The 39 Clues: Unstoppable: Book Two] (2013)

Posted in Adventure, Death, Fears, Greed, History, Israel Nash, Jeff Hirsch, Neil Young, Pink Floyd, Short Books, Threats, Travel, Violence on September 3, 2014| Leave a Comment »

breakSOUNDTRACK: ISRAEL NASH-“Rain Plans” (2014).

rainI heard this song on a download of 10 Songs NPR Can’t Stop Playing.  The opening chords sounded so Neil Young and Crazy Horse that I was immediately hooked.  Then when Nash starts singing, it sounded even more like a kind of CSN&Y pastiche.  After the first verse, the powerful descending chords are a great introduction to the falsettoed chorus.  (No idea what he’s saying).

Nash is lumped in with the alternative country field, but I don’t hear any of that on this song.  It comes across as pure classic (maybe folk) rock.  The solo which starts at around 2:45 has elements of Pink Floyd in it.  It is a brief introduction to the much lengthier solo that takes the song out.  But what I especially like about it is that the in between section doesn’t have more vocals, just a bunch of whoo hoos before the bombastic solo (the backing music is bombastic as well) just keeps going.

It’s not a pretentious showing off solo, it’s just a lengthy jam that keeps jamming.  Until around six minutes when the band starts rocking faster and the solo grows more intense (the song is 7:19).

I’m really interested in what the rest of this album sounds like.

[READ: July 27, 2014] Breakaway

I was so hooked on Book One that I had to jump right into book two (which is considerably shorter than book one).

This book was a little frustrating (intentionally so I believe) because Amy is trying her best to distance herself from her family and friends.  She is so afraid of anyone else getting hurt (and anxious because Dan wants to leave the family) that she keeps trying to send them away, believing that they will be safer away from her.   And yet, as they have learned in each and every mission–they work best as a team.  So while Amy starts pushing the others away they not only get more frustrated, they keep making mistakes.  And by the end, Amy’s solitude nearly gets her killed and has her alienated from her closest ally, Dan.

Of course she is under a lot of pressure, especially since the media scrutiny of them has gotten so much more intense–Pierce has amped up his attacks against Amy and Dan and has brought her family members into the spotlight (basically saying they are all her thugs).  The Pierce foundation has even gotten to Evan’s family and Evan’s parents publicly denounce their dead son’s former girlfriend as a snake, someone who draws people in and doesn’t care what happens to them.  Basically, everyone hates the Cahills.

Including Jake and Atticus’ father.  For when they call on him for a favor, he is furious that his sons are still hanging around with the Cahills.  Until he sees that the book they are carrying has information about something near and dear to their father’s heart: the lost city of Atlantis. (more…)

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Jude Watson–Nowhere to Run [The 39 Clues: Unstoppable: Book One] (2013)

Posted in Adventure, Death, Fears, Greed, History, Jude Watson, Kanye West, Shabazz Palaces, Short Books, Threats, Travel, Violence on September 2, 2014| Leave a Comment »

39SOUNDTRACK: SHABAZZ PALACES-“#Cake” (2014).

cakeI don’t know much about Shabazz Palaces, although I understand their debut was pretty popular in alternative circles (they were the first rap band released on Sub Pop).  This new song is from their new (also Sub Pop) album and I think it’s really weird and quite wonderful.

There’s a loping bass line echoey and almost spacey.  There’s rapped echoey fast words all over the palce (I’m having my cake and I’m eating cake–“eating cake” seems to be the refrain).  It’s all very spacey and weird.  And then at around 1:45 a whole new sound emerges out of static, as if a jazz radio station was tuned in and someone like Nina Simone begins singing a very standard-sounding jazz song.  What?  And after about 15 seconds it drifts out and the song returns to normal.

Around 2:48 a new style of song drifts in, also kind of early jazz (but a different song with lyrics, “let it waver why not savor the flavor”), but this time a bit more faint with twinkly sounds played over the top.

When the song return, there is a list of cities rapped over a more string heavy riff (but that same bassline).  It’s pretty darn weird.  It all reminds me of the way Kanye West introduced such weird elemnst on his Yeezus album.  This is less aggressive but no less unexpected.

I really have no idea what this song is actually about, but I really enjoy listening to it, and I want to explore Shabazz Palaces a bit more.

[READ: July 26, 2014] Nowhere to Run

There’s something about the first book in 39 Clues series that is just so good.  Although I did enjoy the end of Cahills vs Vespers, the end was nowhere near as exciting as the beginning of this book.

It is six months after the events of the last series.  Dan and Amy are not in any way over the deaths of their friends and family.  But they feel that the end of the Vespers leadership must give them some peace and quiet.  And things are starting to get back to normal.  (The awesome) Nellie is back with them, cooking and being generally cool.  But there is one last detail that they must attend to: the funeral of their lawyer, Mac.  He too was killed six months earlier, but they have just gotten around to dealing with the funeral (he was cremated).

But at the funeral, they are attacked by some really tough, like really tough guys.  Uncannily tough in fact.  And as they flee the cemetery a group of paparazzi comes into the cemetary looking to take pictures of the Cahill kids. And soon enough, their photos are posted all over the internet with crazy untruths said about them–that they are spoiled rich kids looking for thrills.  What the heck is going on?

Well, it turns out that J. Rutherford Pierce has found a bit of the serum that Dan was creating.  And unlike the dose that Isabel took, he seems to have tinkered with it just enough to make him superhuman but not freakish.  Pierce has been mostly an also ran–a failure at many businesses, and a failure at much more.  But since taking the serum, he has had many successes, including taking over a media empire (hence the headlines) and making ton of money.  And he has it in for the Cahills. (more…)

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Clifford Riley–Operation Trinity [The 39 Clues: Cahill Files #1] (2012)

Posted in Adventure, Clifford Riley, Death, Fears, Greed, History, Jan Van Eyck, Mystery, Religion, Short Books, Spies, Threats, Travel, Violence, WFMU 91.9 FM--Jersey City, NJ on August 24, 2014| Leave a Comment »

trinitySOUNDTRACK: GREASY KID STUFF–WFMU 91.9, New York City (1997-2006).

grekidIn my vast exploration of Greasy Kid Stuff (seriously, at least 15 minutes at work), I found the WFMU website.  It turns out that Greasy Kid Stuff, the radio show broadcast weekly from WFMU from 1997 until 2006.  Then they moved to Portland and couldn’t manage the remote connections properly, so the show ended on WFMU.

The good news is that you can hear weekly playlists of all of the shows from 2000-2006 on the playlist page.  They have playlists that date back to the beginning, but there’s only audio starting in 2000.  The bad news is that you the shows are all archived in Real Audio.  Which, I don’t know, may or may not really work anymore.

But for a historical look at a funny and weird kids show check out the archives, and if you still have Real Player, give it a listen.

[READ: June 17, 2014] Operation Trinity

The Cahill Files were a series of “books from the vault” of the Cahill family.  They were originally released as e-books and some of them have been collected as print books.  The first was Operation Trinity.  And like Vespers Rising, it chronicles the history of the Cahill Family.

The story is broken into three parts, each one chronicling the “life” of a painting.  The painting in question is Jan Van Eyck’s altarpiece (see bottom of post for picture of it). The first part is set in Ghent in 1566.  In reality, the painting was finished in the 15th century and was installed in the Saint Bavo Cathedral.

The story follows Matheus Jacobs, an ordinary, some might say even less than ordinary, boy whose family doesn’t seem to think all that much of him.  Until one day when his mother says that she wants him to become an altar boy so he can protect this altarpiece from the Vespers.  (His father doesn’t think he is worthy, but she disagrees).  He doesn’t know why his mother chose him, or what his mother has to do with anything like this, until she reveals that she can speak several languages and is well versed in the history of the Vespers.  He rides his untrusty mule to the church, where he marvels at the beautiful painting.

He soon meets Father Gerard who sends him on an errand.  While away, he hears a man inciting a mob against the church.  The mob grows incensed, as mobs do, and sets out trying to weed out the Catholics in the village.  Matheus is freaked because they are heading for his home village.  And when he arrives, he sees that the mob is trying to burn down his house.  In the fracas, one of his family members is killed, and the rest of his family insist that he head back to the protect the altarpiece because the Vespers are behind the mob and they are headed for the church. (more…)

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David Baldacci–Day of Doom [The 39 Clues: Cahills vs. Vespers: Book Six] (2013)

Posted in "Weird Al" Yankovic, Adventure, David Baldacci, Death, Fears, Greed, History, Pixies, Short Books, Threats, Travel, Violence on July 24, 2014| Leave a Comment »

doomsdaySOUNDTRACK: “WEIRD AL” YANKOVIC-“First World Problems” (2014).

fwp“First World Problems is what Al calls a style parody.  This is a parody of the Pixies.  I can kind of hear it (especially in the riffs), but his Black Francis voice is somehow off (he’s usually so spot on with his mimicking).  But as it is basically a Pixies song, it is loud and quite rocking.  And, better yet, it’s really funny.

I get a kick out of the expression “first world problems” because why should that make a problem any less invalid, and yet, Al’s first world problems are outstanding.

I couldn’t order off the breakfast menu, cause I slept in till two
Forgot my gardener’s name, I’ll have to ask him later
Tried to fast forward commercials, can’t – I’m watching live T.V
My barista didn’t even bother to make a design in the foam on the top of my vanilla latte

The opening bass and the female backing vocals are fantastic, and as always, guitarist Jay West gets their guitar sound perfectly.  The video doesn’t scream Pixies to me (although it is very very funny).  In fact at one point he looks more like Iggy Pop than anyone else (except with a shirt on), but that’s okay, it still makes me laugh a lot.  Who knew Al was a fan of the Pixies?

[READ: July 10, 2014] Day of Doom

This is the first book by David Baldacci that I have read.  Baldacci is typically an adult writer who I know is quite popular and prolific (he has done some kids books too).  I very much enjoyed the suspense and thrill of this book, but I have to say I feel like he really does not write very believably for his characters.  There is a romance that is played off quite flatly, there is an act of contrition which I don’t think anyone would believe, especially not a family member, and the bad guys are just so bad they are cartoonlike.

These characters have been through seventeen books now, so we know them pretty well, and I hated to see them get smoothed so much here.  I also didn’t care for the way Amy’s love dilemma was solved fairly easily for her.  And I was really surprised by the body count in this book.

Four major characters were killed by the end of the book.  It’s pretty brutal and really takes the series out of the realm of kids book and way into the realm of YA. (more…)

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Ross Campbell–Water Baby (2008) [Minx #8]

Posted in All Things Considered, Boredom, Graphic Novel, Greed, LGBTQ, Minx, Morning Edition, Revenge, Ross Campbell, Sex, Sharks, Surfing, Tiny Desk Concert, Tracy Silverman on July 13, 2014| Leave a Comment »

waterSOUNDTRACK: TRACY SILVERMAN-Tiny Desk Concert #368 (June 28, 2014).

Ttracyracy Silverman is an electronic violinist. In addition to playing the violin, he uses loops to build his sound (I love how many people are using loops these days).  Not only that, he has created his own violin–a six string with frets on the three low strings.  (It’s also shaped more like a guitar than a violin). He gets an incredible breadth of sound out of it (and he is an amazing violinist as well).

He plays three tracks. The first is “Matisse: La Danse,” which really shows off the breadth of his instrument and the effects that he uses.

The second piece he introduces by saying how much he loves listening to NPR and composer BJ Liederman.  So for the second song, which he calls “Sonata No. 4, Opus 37 “All Notes Considered”” he uses pieces of the themes from All Things Considered and Morning Edition.  It’s at once familiar and new, and it’s quite pretty.  He then takes a video of the studio for his Facebook feed.

The final song “Axis And Orbits/Mojo Perpetuo” opens with a trippy pizzicato section, which sounds echoey and almost underwater.  As that section loops, he plays slow, long bowed notes that seems to bring you into outer space.  By the end, after some interesting scratchy guitar-like sounds, he moves into a much faster solo section which really shows of his chops.

I’d never heard of Silverman before but I was pretty impressed with his technique and technology.  It’s a pretty wild ride of music–such diversity and unexpected sounds our of a simple (or not) violin.

[READ: July 5, 2014] Water Baby

I recognized the art from Ross Campbell immediately.  He writes and draws Wet Moon and I find his style (he draws women who are very powerful and very sexual) arresting and confrontational.  This book almost seems like it doesn’t belong at Minx, which tended to skew a little younger.  Even though these girls prove to be younger than I thought, their dress (or lack of—there’s a lot of underwear and tight shirts) is quite risqué (although it proves to be less explicit that Wet Moon).

The story itself was rather unexpected as well.  Brody is a surfer girl. She has cool punky hair and a rocking bod.  But in the first few pages, she is out on the water when she is attacked by a shark and loses a leg.  When she wakes up her best friend Louisa is there, taking care of her.  Since Brody’s mom is working full time, she asks if she can stay with Louisa —the answer is yes, and Louisa becomes an essential part of Brody’s life.  Many of Campbell’s stories focus on the young people, rather than the parents.

Brody soon learns to use a prosthetic leg (and crutches when necessary), but she can’t stop dreaming about the shark (which gets bigger in her dreams and sometimes has legs or comes through walls—it’s pretty terrifying).

Brody gets a call from Jake, and old boyfriend.  Brody hates Jake now and even says she’s off of boys for good.  But he shows up anyhow—he’s blond and hot and maybe a little stupid.  Stupid or not he is a total mooch and he asks to crash with them for a few days.  Jake is clearly crushing on Brody, but he is also making moves on Louisa (who has bigger boobs and tighter shirts).  He even brings a third girl over to fool around with (which freaks out everyone else in the house). But it’s not until the girls wake up one morning to see that Jake has thrown up all over their house that they evict him—which means an immediate drive to Rochester NY. (more…)

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Flinch: a collection of stories to inspire wonder…and question the darkness within us all (2014)

Posted in All Songs Considered, Andrew Richardson, Anton McKay, Birds, Bobby.N, Boredom, Cancer as plot device, Chris Bolton, Chris Bones, Christian Read, Christian Scott, Colin Wilson, Culture Shock, Dave McKean, Death, Disease, End of the World, Fears, Ghosts, Graphic Novel, Greed, Hauschka, James Barclay, Justin Randall, Mark Welsh, Mel Tregonning, Michael Katchan, Pigeons, Ray Fawkes, Revenge, Shaun Tan, Short Books, Short Story, Skye Ogden, Terry Dowling, Tom Bonin, Tom Taylor, Volker Bertelmann, Weekend Edition on June 27, 2014| Leave a Comment »

flinchSOUNDTRACK: HAUSCHKA-“Improvisation,” “Random Gifts” and “Mt. Hood” in the NPR studios (2010).

hausckaHauschka is German composer Volker Bertelmann and he plays the prepared piano.  What that means is that he places things on and in the piano to alter the sound of it.  (Nothing he does creates any permanent damage).

Mostly he creates percussive sounds with things like bottle caps,Tic Tac boxes and skewers.  And while it sounds simple, it is really quite ingenious.

This Vimeo link shows him talking to Guy Raz at NPR about the random materials that Raz has given him and then demonstrating how they change the sound of things.  Then he plays the “Random Gifts.”

The Youtube Video below shows another improv piece from the same day using different items.

This Vimeo link to him playing “Mt. Hood” shows off his use of ping pong balls.

All of his songs are fairly simple and fairly slow, primarily because the preparations add resonances and percussion that would overwhelm if he played faster.  Thus his pieces are often moody and reflective

Hauschka has a new album out as of this month called Abandoned City.  Every track on the new CD is named after a city that has been abandoned, that is vacant.  And his spare oftentimes eerie music goes very well with that theme.

There’s lots more videos of him on YouTube which are worth checking out.

[READ: June 23, 2014] Flinch

I was grabbed by the cover of this graphic novel.  The book is so short that I was really surprised to see that it was actually a collection of short stories.  As you can tell from the subtitle, this work is going to be dark and more than a little creepy.  And it is.  And while there are some similar visual styles, it’s interesting to see just how different these 13 stories can be.  Most of the stories use very few words, relying instead on the power of the visuals.  And it works pretty well.

I didn’t think any of them were especially creepy or dark, although the first one is kinda gross.  I enjoyed them for what they were, short stories that revel in the darker side of life.  I hadn’t heard of most of the artists.  The only one I knew was Shaun Tan. (more…)

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Linda Sue Park–Trust No One [The 39 Clues: Cahills vs. Vespers: Book Five] (2012)

Posted in Adventure, Death, Domenico Scarlatti, Eliot Fisk, Fears, Greed, History, Paco Peña, Roland Smith, Sabicas (Agustín Castellón Campos), Short Books, Threats, Tiny Desk Concert, Travel, Violence on June 22, 2014| Leave a Comment »

parkSOUNDTRACK: ELIOT FISK AND PACO PEÑA-Tiny Desk Concert #364 (June 14, 2014).

eliotIt may not be correct to say that these two guitarists rock, but man do they rock.  I have a  couple of Eliot Fisk CDs but nothing prepares you for watching his fingers fly on that big old classical guitar.  And Paco Peña plays an amazing flamenco guitar.  Watching them play together is really something magical.

It’s especially fun to see Fisk so clearly enjoying himself as his hands fly all over the neck of the guitar.  It’s also interesting to compare Fisk’s guitar with the flamenco guitar, just to see how differently the instruments sound.  There’s little more that I can say about this except that it is really amazing.

Together, they play four pieces:

Domenico Scarlatti: Sonata in D Major K.33; Bach: Prelude in F major, BWV 927; Sabicas: “Farruca” and
Peña: “El nuevo día (Colombiana)”

Watch below:

[READ: June 17, 2014] Trust No One

All along through this series I felt that perhaps it was too old for my nine-year old.  And this book really felt like it pushed this book clearly into the YA realm.  It opens with a talk about the Twin Towers’ destruction, which I realize is before a nine-year old was even born, but it still feels very sensitive.  But, most intense of all, a beloved character dies.  I won’t say which one, but suffice it to say I was really shocked.  In the first series, people got hurt, but this time people actually die.   It’s pretty rough.

As for plot, this book really brings a lot of plot threads out into the open.

First, we learn who the mole is.  Second we learn who Vesper One is.  And third we finally see what’s going to happen with the serum that Dan has been collecting ingredients for.

I haven’t mentioned the serum in the other reviews.  It has been going on throughout the books, but was never near the forefront until now.  Because the mole tries to sneak it away from Dan.  And by the end of the book, Dan has mixed all the ingredients together.

But first we go back to New York where the kids have hired a cab to take them to Yale (for $600).  On the way there they are stopped by a motorcade, which they assume is the Vespers.  But it proves to be a far more shocking piece of information.  After fleeing the scene (and Amy getting a chance to use some of her physical training, they make it to the Yale library where they see out the Voynich manuscript.  One thing I love about this series is that all of the locations and artifacts are real.  like this Voynich manuscript (which you can certainly read about on Wikipedia). (more…)

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