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Archive for the ‘Greed’ Category

Roland Smith–Shatterproof [The 39 Clues: Cahills vs. Vespers: Book Four] (2012)

Posted in Adventure, Death, Fears, Greed, History, Iestyn Davies, John Dowland, Morrissey, Roland Smith, Short Books, Thomas Dunford, Threats, Tiny Desk Concert, Travel, Violence on June 1, 2014| Leave a Comment »

shatterSOUNDTRACK: IESTYN DAVIES-Tiny Desk Concert #357 (May 17, 2014).

falsettoIestyn Davies (pronounced YES-tin DAY-vis) is a countertenor, which means he sings in s striking falsetto (especially when you hear his deep speaking voice).  Davies sings three songs from  Elizabethan composer John Dowland. Joining Davies is Thomas Dunford, who has been affectionately dubbed “the Eric Clapton of the lute” by the BBC.  They play this early music and it sounds amazing (I am super impressed by his voice, but the lute blows me away).

The songs are very melancholy about lost love.  Like this wonderful line that would make Morrissey jealous: “I sit, I sigh, I weep, I faint, I die/In deadly pain and endless misery” (all done is in a staggering falsetto in a beautiful ascending melody).

He plays three songs (none of which had I heard before) “Come again, sweet love doth now invite,” “Now, O now I needs must part” and “Can she excuse my wrongs.”

I loved listening to these and to watching the lutist wail on that instrument.

[READ: May 25, 2014] Shatterproof

Much to my discomfort, this series is getting darker and darker.  I’m almost not sure if my 9 year old is ready for the intensity (and the death) in this book.

While there was real danger in the first series, people we know have actually died in this one.  And there is another (shocking) causality in this book as well.

As soon as the four kids (Amy and Dan Cahill and their friends Atticus and Jake Rosenbloom) land in Germany, they are set upon by police.  Since the four of them are wanted by Interpol, they assume that they are caught, done.  But it turns out that these are not real police, they are employed by Vesper One, to let them know that he knows exactly where they are.  And to give them their next clue.

Which is that they must steal a diamond from a heavily guarded museum that is about to close in two hours.

Meanwhile Hamilton and Phoenix are still tailing Luna Amato.  They are being assisted by Erasmus who is really calling the shots and using the boys as a kind of decoy.  Luna seems oblivious to the pursuit, which makes Erasmus even more suspicious.  So while the boys follow her, Erasmus sneaks in to what he believes is a Vesper stronghold.

The other real plot in the book coes from the prisoners.  The clever Cahill clan has devised a way to get out of their prison cell.  And it works–at a price.  Although their story evolves over the book, suffice it to say that they do escape, but at the risk of losing one of their number and at Nellie getting bitten by attack dogs.  By the end of the book, some of them have been brought to new facility where the consequences are all the more severe.

But back to the diamond heist. (more…)

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Peter Lerangis–The Dead of Night [The 39 Clues: Cahills vs. Vespers: Book Three] (2012)

Posted in Adventure, Death, Fears, Greed, History, Peter Lerangis, Short Books, The Roots, Threats, Travel, Violence, Yo Gabba Gabba on May 17, 2014| Leave a Comment »

39SOUNDTRACK: THE ROOTS-“Lovely, Love My family” (2009).

miaThe Roots are known for many many things–most recently being the house band for Jimmy Fallon.  They do intelligent hip hop, but they also play “neo-soul” and this fun sorta-ska-like sweet song from the first Yo Gabba Gabba Music is Awesome CD.

It’s 2 minutes of poppy happiness. It’s fun to see ?uestlove bopping along, and to see the whole band in front of these bright colors.

This song is utterly catchy, with smart fun lyrics that are easy to sing along to And unlike some of the Yo Gabba Gabba songs it’s not terribly repetitive.  It’s even got a tuba solo.

Check it out:

[READ: May 6, 2014] The Dead of Night

I was pretty excited to get into this third book of the series, but something about this book burnt me out a bit.  It may have been because it was increasingly dark.  Or maybe that Atticus was in trouble from the get go and had to do a lot of work by himself–that seemed somehow more difficult to read than Dan and Amy working together.  It also seemed to have a bit less humor than the other books–like this one was all down to business, or that the stakes were higher or something.

Indeed, the book opens with Atticus in the back of the truck being taken away by the evil Wyoming kids.  They know he is a Guardian, even if he doesn’t know quite what that means. They are taking him somewhere in secret–which involves an airplane.  How is he ever going to notify anyone of where he is?  But it turns out that Dan and Amy aren’t the only techie kids, and soon Atticus has a way of signaling his friends that he has been taken to Turkey.

Meanwhile Amy is feeling especially guilty for everything that has happened–she’s supposed to be the senior family member in charge.  And Jake isn’t helping with that.  At the same time Dan keeps getting texts from AJT–the man he believes to be his father.  And they are making his mood even darker. (more…)

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Jude Watson–A King’s Ransom [The 39 Clues: Cahills vs. Vespers: Book Two] (2011)

Posted in Adventure, Biz Markee, Death, Fears, Greed, History, Jude Watson, Short Books, Threats, Travel, Violence on May 11, 2014| Leave a Comment »

ransomSOUNDTRACK: BIZ MARKEE-“Pancakes and Syrup” (2012).

awesome4Never really sure what to make of Biz Markee, it is nevertheless very hard to resist this anthem to a delicious breakfast.

Biz has one verse (the last two lines rhyme tummy with yum yum yum yum yum yum yummy) with some actual lyrics (I like that he rhymed syrup with Europe).  And another verse which is basically him saying “eat em up” and “yummy” over and over.

But the real sell (as if that wasn’t enough) is the super catchy, utterly fun-to-sing-along-to chorus “Pancakes and Syrup…It’s breakfast time!”

You have to be pretty curmudgeonly to dislike this son , especially since it is only a minute and 16 seconds long.  Although I’m not sure why he seems so mad at the end….

[READ: May 6, 2014] A King’s Ransom

As I said, I was totally hooked by Book 1 of this new series and I started book two before the first one was even cold. I had to know what was going on!

Because the new task for Dan and Amy Cahill is to steal an ancient map that no one has seen for generations.  And there’s no clue as to where it might even be.  And if they don’t find it ion four days one of their kidnapped relatives will be killed.  Not to mention, they are being followed by Interpol and they have alienated Dan’s only friend.  And as the story starts, they learn that one of the new enemies that they knew about (Caspar Wyoming) has a twin sister, Cheyenne.  And she spends the first few chapters of the book spying on them.

It turns out that Cheyenne has been promoted to V-6 in the Vesper hierarchy (her brother was V-6 but he was dropped down and he is super angry that she overtook him).  And with Caspar angry at the Cahills and at V-1, who know just what he’ll do.

So Dan and Amy are on their way to Lucerne, Switzerland to find the de Virga World map which was created in 1411.  Their lead is an auction house where it was last seen–over fifty years ago.  This search leads to a history of Nazis and a woman (who turns out to be related to someone on their team) who fought the Nazis in her own way.  The auction house is a funny, chaotic scene–especially when a fax from Interpol comes in and shows their passport pictures. (more…)

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Gordon Korman–The Medusa Plot [The 39 Clues: Cahills vs. Vespers: Book One] (2011)

Posted in Adventure, Death, Fears, Gordon Korman, Greed, History, Michelangelo Merisi (or Amerighi) da Caravaggio, Peter, Bjorn & John, Short Books, Threats, Travel, Violence, War, Yo Gabba Gabba on May 10, 2014| Leave a Comment »

medusaSOUNDTRACK: PETER BJORN & JOHN-“I Wish I Was a Spy” (2012).

awesome4Yo Gabba Gabba has always been a source of interesting music–very cool bands devote time and music to this, frankly bizarre kids show.

This song from Peter Bjorn and John is fantastic.  While the lyrics are kid friendly, there’s no reason that this song need be played only for kids.

The song opens with a good vibrato “spy” guitar lick and vocal breaths.  The unusual percussion really shows how much this song sounds like a PB&J song even if it is of a very specific genre.  When the vocals come in (sounding very PB&J), the lyrics simply state that he wishes he was a spy, and then he gives some great examples of what he would do as a spy.

But the big surprise comes from the chorus which s bright and bouncy and talks about how we can all pretend we are all agents.

The Yo Gabba Gabba version ends at 2 minutes, but the extended version has more instrumental surf/spy guitar work.  It’s kind of an extraneous coda, but the sound they capture is really cool, so it’s fun to get the extra minute of guitar work.

[READ: May 6, 2014] The Medusa Plot

When I finished Vespers Rising, I said I would pace myself because the Cahills vs. Vespers series was six book which would conclude in March 2013.  Clearly I paced myself too slowly because here it is May 2014, Cahils vs. vespers is long done, and they are on the next series already.

But hey, I’m not playing the online game so there’s no time constraints for me.

Also, Clark started reading the original series so I wanted to keep a little ahead of him.  It seemed like a good time to start this middle series.

And man, once I started reading I was immediately brought back into the exciting world of Dan and Amy Cahill.  I had forgotten about the short story in Vespers Rising (about the ring that Amy now has) and about the Vespers in general.  But that didn’t matter, because it was quickly set up that the Vespers (led by the unknown V-1) in particular are bad and they will stop at nothing to achieve their goal (which we don’t know yet).

It has been two years since the end of the 39 Clues.  As the book opens, several members of the disparate Cahill family clan are kidnapped: Fiske Cahill, Reagan Holt, Natalie Kabra (who, with her brother is now poor since their evil mother disowned them for not being evil enough), Alistair Oh (no!) and Ted Starling (his brother Ned escaped), Phoenix Wizard (Jonah’s little cousin) and, gasp, Nellie Gomez!  They are taken to an undisclosed location, given jumpsuits and left in a small cell with nothing to do and minimal food on a regular basis. (more…)

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A Christmas Carol [McCarter Theatre, Princeton, NJ, December 20, 2013]

Posted in 19th Century, A Christmas Carol, Acting, C., Charity, Charles Dickens, Funny (ha ha), Ghosts, Greed, McCarter Theatre, Play (Drama), Princeton, NJ, Short Story on December 24, 2013| 1 Comment »

[ATTENDED: December 20, 2013] A Christmas Carol

headerI had never seen A Christmas Carol performed.  I was, of course, familiar with the story–from the original (the Patrick Stewart audiobook is amazing) and from the many, many versions of it that have been performed in cartoon and live action formats.

We took the kids as this is a holiday classic and we thought it would be fun for all of us.  And we were right.  Except–this version is at times quite scary and (as my son pointed out) quite loud.  I didn’t find it terribly loud, although the scary bits were considerably louder than other bits.  And yes, the ghosts were certainly scary.  (I had actually warned him that the ghost of Christmas Future would be very scary, but it proved to not be the case, although it was really frikkin cool).

And I must say I was charmed immediately–as soon as the kids ran out on stage in period costume, singing songs and being very Christmassy, I was hooked.  (more…)

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Cormac McCarthy–“Scenes of the Crime” (New Yorker, June 10 & 17, 2013)

Posted in Adventure, All Songs Considered, Canadian Music, Cormac McCarthy, Death, Drugs, Excerpt, Greed, Neko Case, New Yorker, Short Story, The Counselor, Threats, Violence, Yuck! on June 21, 2013| Leave a Comment »

CV1_TNY_06_10_13Schossow.inddSOUNDTRACK: NEKO CASE-“Man” (2013).

neko-case-the-worse-things-getIt was Neko Case who got me out of my NPR summer music doldrums. From her new,  wonderfully titled album The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You, comes this fast, rocking track.

It has everything that Neko does great—fast, clever lyrics over a simple but propulsive beat.  There’s a cool, unexpected guitar squiggle at the end of each verse that just makes the song seem that much faster.  But it is just an uptempo stomper from the great Case.

The song slows down in the middle with just a bass and drums and then as Case starts singing about her manliness, a harpsichord plays over the back giving it a nicely pompous air.  Which is quickly deflated by the buzzy guitar solo.  The song is clever and pointed and very well done.

The only thing missing is a great Neko Case wail, but the song (and the lyrics) are too fast for her to hold any notes for too long.  I’m really excited about this new album from her,.

[READ: June 18, 2013] “Scenes of the Crime”

The New Yorker doesn’t often tell you when something is an excerpt, but this time they tell us right up front.  This is an excerpt from an upcoming Ridley Scott film written by McCarthy called The Counselor.

Although I am told that I would love McCarthy, I have never read him with any seriousness.  And from what I have heard of his writing I don’t think I would like him.  This excerpt is more or less a useless attempt to try and get any sense for McCarthy as a writer.

There is no dialogue.  Rather, it is just a series of scenes–shot after shot, establishing the action of the movie.

I have no idea if there is dialogue in the movie or not.  I would be really impressed if there was no dialogue during these scenes and this whole sequence took twenty some minutes–with no dialogue at all.  That would be pretty cool. (more…)

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Annie Proulx–“Rough Deeds” (New Yorker, June 10 & 17, 2013)

Posted in All Songs Considered, Annie Proulx, Black Hippy, Canadian Content, Death, Greed, Kendrick Lamar, New Yorker, ScHoolboy Q, Short Story, Threats, Trees, Unlikable main character, Violence, Yuck! on June 19, 2013| Leave a Comment »

CV1_TNY_06_10_13Schossow.inddSOUNDTRACK: ScHoolboy Q “Collard Greens” (2013).

colalrdgreens-f7ef9a5569c897652952a2688c4af9911361663a-s1NPR opened their summer preview show with two rap songs.  This was the second.  The bass line is very neat—propulsive and continuous and there’s this little keyboard sprinkling across the top.  This is West Coast rap style and I like the music quiet a bit.

The rapping is unusual—some amusing voices and nonsense words, but I admit I didn’t really get into it until about half way through when the rapper (ScHoolboy Q or guest Kendrick Lamar I don’t know) comes in with an unusual-sounding voice—sped up and goofy.  And he does one of my favorite rap things—singing really fast in a high voice then ending with a low word (Gawd).

The song feels atmospheric, although overall, I’m not a fan.  The DJ who introduced the song says that he is part of the “supergroup” Black Hippy, along Ab-Soul, Jay Rock and Kendrick Lamar.  She describes ScHoolboy Q as the darkest of the bunch, which makes me think I should check out the rest to see what other kinds of things they do.  [I did, and I didn’t like them–lyrically they are remedial at best].

[READ: June 18, 2013] “Rough Deeds”

This story is set in New France, (also known as Canada).  Duquet is a timberman, seeking his fortune by amassing the largest area of woods to be exported both to the Americas and back to Europe.   He connected with a man named Dred-Peacock (I included him mostly for his name) who set him up with a connection in Scotland.

Duquet wasn’t exactly sure about trading with the enemy, the English, but money is money and they had lots of it and need for lots of wood.  And soon a fortune was made.

Then Dred-Peacock encouraged him to head to Maine where thousands of acres were there for the asking.  Indeed, Duquet was able to buy twenty thousand acres at 12 cents an acre.  But when he and his man Forgerson went to investigate, they found a crew cutting down trees on his property!  When he accosted them, they fled.  The youngest member of the thieving team had a limp and fell behind–which gave Duquet the opportunity to hurl his tomahawk at him, felling him instantly.

When the boy won’t talk, Duquet cuts off two of his fingers (Duquet does not mess around) and the boy reveals that he works for McBogle.  The boy already had an infected leg and Duquet had no intention of healing him, so he allowed the boy to die, ultimately killing him and burning his body in McBogle’s makeshift mill.

While Duquet was doing this, Forgerson was off scouting a new way to get the timber to the mill and finding people to work with them.  When he returned, he wondered where the boy had gone, but said nothing.

And there were no consequence for Duquet. (more…)

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David Byrne–Arboretum (2001)

Posted in Anachronisms, Consumerism, David Byrne, David Byrne, Demons, Funny (strange), Gods, Greed, McSweeney's, Religion, Short Books, Supernatural, Talking Heads, War on May 26, 2013| Leave a Comment »

arborSOUNDTRACK: DAVID BYRNE-uh oh (1992).

uhohI received this CD free when it came out (radio station perk), and I listened to it a few times, but not really all that much.  I never really thought that much about it because I didn’t really like the cover–it looked too babyish.  It’s been a while since I listened to it and I am delighted at what a good, solid, Talking Heads-ish album this is (with David Byrne, you never know exactly what you’ll get from a record, but this is poppy).

“Now I’m Your Mom” opens with an early 90s funky electronic bass and some crazy guitar sounds.  But as soon as the bridge kicks in, the song is pure Byrne/Talking Heads.  And that world music style chorus means that this song could have been huge (even if it is about a transvestite or transgendered person–I didn’t listen that carefully).  However, the extended section at the end makes the song feel a little long.  “Girls on My Mind” is a strange (but good) song from start to finish—a weird cheesy synth sound pervades the song, and yet once again, it’s very Byrne—especially the crazy singing of the chorus.

“Something Ain’t Right” opens with an odd chant but then turns very conventional—with choral voices giving big oohs.  “She’s Mad” opens as a kind of sinister song.  And yet, after some verses about her being mad, the chorus is as bright as anything else on the record—a very schizophrenic song.  “Hanging Upside Down” has a very commercial Talking Heads Feel, like “Stay Up Late.”

“Twistin’ in the Wind” has more of those big choruses of voices to “well well well” up the song.  “The Cowboy Mambo” has another weird sound that circulates through the song, but it’s got a good beat and a great chorus and it would be fun to dance to.  “Monkey man” is a horn-heavy track that opens in a sinister vein once again.  “A Million Miles Away” just gets stuck with you and makes you want to sing along.  “Somebody” ends the disc with more Latin horns and rhythms.  It’s a fun song, and a good ending.

Overall, this is a surprisingly good record.  All of the songs are a little long–Byrne songs should really max out around 4 minutes.  For that extra time, he either tends to repeat himself or add superfluous codas that drag out the end.  But aside from that, this is a real treat, especially for Talking Heads fans.

[READ: May 20 2013] Arboretum

The back of the book describes this as a collection of enigmatic, enchanting mental maps.

And that is kind of what the book is.  It is a collection of drawings–tree and branch-style drawings mostly–that endeavor to map relationships.  But the subject matter is crazily diverse–oftentimes nonsensical or at the very least unparseable.  The good news is that many of the drawings have an explanatory text in the back of the book.  I acknowledge that ideally the drawings should make sense without needing an explanation, but the explanations were really useful–they really give you the frame of mind that Byrne was trying to explain through the pictures. (more…)

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Jeanne DuPrau–The City of Ember: The Graphic Novel (adapted by Dallas Middaugh; Art by Niklas Asker) (2012)

Posted in "Weird Al" Yankovic, Children's Books, Dallas Middaugh, Dystopia, Graphic Novel, Greed, Jeanne DuPrau, Niklas Asker, Trilogy on April 19, 2013| 1 Comment »

ember

SOUNDTRACK: “WEIRD AL” YANKOVIC-“Gump” [single] (1996).

gump

This was the second single I purchased from “Weird Al”‘s Bad Hair Day album, this time it was “Gump” with six, yes six, B-sides.  The first one was “Spy Hard” the theme from the movie (starring Leslie Nielsen).  It’s a funny theme song, very Bond, but also with great spoofy lyrics.  It wasn’t available anywhere else, although it has since been released as its own single (with no B-Sides).

The rest of the B-Sides include “Since You’ve Been Gone” from the album and a karaoke version of the same song.  This karaoke version is quite funny and is probably the best B-side he’s released.  The band provides the backing vocals to keep you in place.  Which means that in the middle of a quiet bit you suddenly hear “red hot cactus up my nose!.”

Then the B-sides get even weirder–an instrumental version of “Callin’ in Sick”
which really nobody wants.  And then two more versions of “Spy Hard,” and instrumental and an orchestral mix.  I can’t really tell them apart, and frankly they’re rather useless anyhow.  So all in all, not a great single, but that karaoke song is pretty great.

[READ: April 20, 2013] The City of Ember: The Graphic Novel

I have had the City of Ember t trilogy on my to-read list for a long time, but I’ve never gotten round to it.  So I was pleased to see this graphic novel version.  I know that the novel is pretty long, so I was surprised that this graphic version could be polished off in less than an hour.  (It’s also written at a level that is more appropriate for younger kids—the dark darknesses of the novel are condensed to just one or two pages in the beginning.  Of course, how young you want your kids reading books about corruption and dystopian societies is something else entirely.  The focus is on the kids’ attempts to escape and their working together (again, I haven’t read the novel so I don’t really know how that breaks down in the book).

So the story as presented here is a simple one.  The city of Ember is the only place where there is light in an otherwise dark world.   As the story opens we see a classroom where children are set to pick their future occupation.  Lina, our heroine, picks Pipeworks laborer, which she is utterly distressed at—she wanted to be above ground. Later, Doon, our hero, chooses Messenger, but he is disdainful of the whole process— courting the wrath of the mayor who says he’s going to keep an eye on Doon.

When class ends, Doon offers to switch jobs with Lida (which I assumed would get them in trouble, but didn’t).  Lida is thrilled to work as a messenger and agrees eagerly.  Doon believes that he can cause trouble from the inside by working in the Pipeworks.  Although when he finally gets down there he sees that it is a much bigger and more daunting project than he ever imagined. (more…)

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McSweeney’s #39 (2012)

Posted in Art, Avery Lee, Benjamin Cohen, Casablanca, Culture Shock, David-Ivar Herman Düne, Death, Decadence, Dicky Murphy, Drugs, E.C. Osondu, Elizabeth Sankey, Elmore Leonard, Essays, Funny (ha ha), Greed, Harry Potter, Jennie Erin Smith, Jess Walter, Julie Hecht, Letters, Marco Kaye, Marriage Trouble, McSweeney's, Nostalgia, Roberto Bolaño, Settlers of Catan, Short Story, St. Vincent, Stephen Elliott, Tabitha Soren, Tom Barbash, Václav Havel, Violence, Yannick Murphy on July 26, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: ST. VINCENT-Actor (2009).

I had seen St Vincent on Austin City Limits, and her juxtaposition of waif-singer with noise mongering guitar player blew me away.  So I was a little disappointed when this album opened up with this gentle, practically 1950s sounding vocal and string line in “The Strangers.”  It takes two and a half minutes, but the noise eventually comes and it totally changes the texture of the song.  Of course now, “make the black hole blacker” is a fun thing to sing along with (and the lyrics in general are pretty great).  “Save Me from What I Want” is another quiet song with a catchy chorus.  “The Neighbors” has a great melody with interesting strings over the top of it.  “Actor Out of Work” brings in some stranger sounds to the album.

There’s something interesting about the songs on this album, like the way “Black Rainbow” has these sweet string sections but for the end half builds a crescendo of tension. I also love that a seemingly delicate song can be called “Laughing with a Mouth of Blood.”  Perhaps the strangest song on the disc is “Marrow” which has a strange horn section and the chorus: “H.  E.  L.  P.  Help Me Help Me.”  “The Bed,” “The Party” and “Just the Same But Brand New” continue in this vein–like a Disney princess song with a horrible threat underneath: “Don’t Mooooove, Don’t Screeeam.”  But that sense of princess who are slightly askew really resonates on this record.  It’s not as willfully dissonant as her first record, but lyrically it’s a knife covered in cotton candy, it’s still a gem.

[READ: March 20, 2012] McSweeney’s #39

One of the bad things about having a job with actual work is not being able to write complex posts about compilation books.  It’s hard to have your book open while bosses walk by.  So, its been a while since I read this and I’ll do my best to remember it all.  Incidentally, if you’re keeping track I skipped 38, but I’ll get to it.

Issue #39 is a hardcover and a pretty one at that. It has a front cover photo (as well as many interior photos) taken by Tabitha Soren.  Yes, forty-somethings, THAT Tabitha Soren, from MTV who has a new career as a photographer.

This issue continues with the recent return of the Letters column (as the magazine and front matter become more serious the return of the Letters adds an air of silliness). (more…)

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