Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for the ‘Holidays’ Category

Colson Whitehead–“A Psychotronic Childhood: The B-movies did it” (New Yorker, June 4 & 11, 2012)

Posted in Alien, Colson Whitehead, Death, Demon Seed, Demons, Dystopia, End of the World, Essays, Fangoria, Fears, Food of the Gods, Friday the 13th, Halloween, Marriage (Happy), Mother's Day, MST3K, My Bloody Valentine, New Yorker, Oddities, Prom Night, Regimen, Rosemary's Baby, Sci-fi, Sex, Sexism, Silent Night Evil Night, Skraeckoedlan, Slumber Party Massacre, Terror Train, The Birthday Party, The Devil's Run, The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!?, The Shining, The Virgin Prunes, Vampires, Violence, Yuck!, Zombies on June 27, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: INVISIBLE GUY BLOG (2012).

Jonas from Invisible Guy contacted me about a project he’s working on.  I’m not quite the right fit for it, but I had to check out his site to see what he was all about.  As his About page explains; “This blog is generally a platform for unknown bands to get promoted and interviewed.”  That’s pretty awesome in itself.  But as I browsed the site, I saw that in his post Invisible Guy recommends: 80s Post-Punk – 1982 (Part II) he includes not only The Birthday Party but also The Virgin Prunes.  Much respect there (especially for someone who wasn’t alive when those records came out!).

But the bulk of his site is full of really obscure bands (lots of bands that I’ve never heard of).  He interviews band members (sometimes in Swedish!) and has quite an impressive list of publications that he’s worked for.

So head on over to Invsible Guy for a wonderful collection of punk and hardcore music as well as some iconic (and really obscure) new wave and post-punk tunes.  He’s also got some great stuff on death metal too.  Not bad for a site that’s only a few months old.  Invisible Guy has a lot of samples and videos as well as a bunch of streaming music from unreleased or just-released albums (like this demo from the Swedish band Regimen called Välkommen hem).

And here’s a video for the Swedish stoner metal band Skraeckoedlan.  The song is “Apple Trees” and no you can’t understsnad the words because they are in Swedish.  I love that.

It’s a great site.

[READ: June 15, 2012] “A Psychotronic Childhood”

The more I read Colson Whitehead, the more I like him, not just as a writer, but as a “person” (the person he presents to us anyhow.  Although I met him briefly at a convention and he was super friendly and very nice).  This essay shows that he and I occupied some of the same headspace when we were kids (we were born in the same year)—watching sci-fi and horror movies on Channel 7 & 11 after school and on the weekends.  Of course, I didn’t really get into horror movies until much later them him (his first time was when his parents took him to  a horror film in the theater at the age of 5).  FIVE!

These early horror movies really shaped his outlook.  He lists about 70 movies in this article, of which I have seen at least half (although more from MST3K than actually sitting through them unaccompanied) and his summaries about them (four or five parenthetical words) are apt and often hilarious:

  • Food of the Gods (giant chickens rain pecking doom on a small island)
  • Alien (an outbreak of tummy trouble among space miners)
  • Demon Seed (rom-com about a horny computer that wants to impregnate Julie Christie)
  • The Devil’s Run (A negligible and mind-numbing film, notable only for the utter ineptitude of its attempt to cash in on the brief occult-movie fad that followed Rosemary’s Baby and The Exorcist.

The Devil’s Run is the first movie he saw, back in 1975, in the theater.  He says that there was something good in it, that it really captured the element of terror when your loved one turns on you.  And he tapped into this for his novel Zone One.

Then he reflects back on 1981, when his family bought a VCR and he and his brother would head to Crazy Eddie (remember Crazy Eddie?) to rent 5 movies for the weekend (I didn’t even know they rented movies!).  The movies were inevitably 4 horror movies and one mainstream film.  And the family would gather by the TV and watch together.  How wholesome!  Except when you read what they were watching (I can’t IMAGINE my family watching these together when I was a kid–even now, Sarah hates horror films).   This is getting into the era of Friday the 13ths and Halloweens as well as classics like Terror Train, Prom Night, Slumber Party Massacre, Silent Night, Evil Night, Mother’s Day and My Bloody Valentine (“not even the holidays, hallmark or otherwise were safe”). (more…)

Read Full Post »

“Happy New Year” (The Lotus Magazine, Vol 7, No 4, January 1916)

Posted in 19th Century, Canadian Music, Chocolate, Drinking, Essays, Food, History, Holidays, Jim Bryson, The Lotus Magazine, The Weakerthans, Tyrone Power on January 24, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: JIM BRYSON & THE WEAKERTHANS-The Falcon Lake Incident (2010).

I don’t know who Jim Bryson is (he’s a Canadian folk singer, duh), but I do know The Weakerthans.  And since this CD is always listed in The Weakerthans’ discography, I thought it was worth investigating.

All of the songs have a Weakerthans feel, there is no question (I mean, they play all the music).  And while I like the album quite a lot, I feel like without John K. Samson’s voice, the disc is missing something.  Nevertheless, the album is a wonderful folky album, a great mix of upbeat and slow tracks.

“Metal Girls” is a wonderful upbeat folk rocker.  It’s incredibly catchy.  “Fell Off the Dock” is a much slower, sadder song with the final repeated line, “everybody loved it here, but you.”  “Wild Folk” ups the tempo again.  “Constellation” is another slow song, this one with beautiful harmonies.

“Freeways in the Frontyard” has even better harmonies, from Jill Barber–a kind of minor key harmony that works very well.  “Up All Night” is another more uptempo track that could easily be an adult alternative hit.  “Kissing Cousins” is a slight track that seems like it should be funny but isn’t really.  “Decidedly” is one of my favorite tracks on the disc.  It’s boppy with a fun chorus: “Why would you ever grow leaves just to watch ’em fall off again.”

The first and last tracks feel more like filler or intro/outro than real songs.  But that’s okay.  It’s a tidy little album of very pretty songs.  And the tempo changes keep everything interesting for half an hour or so.  You can’t complain about that.

And in case you were wondering, the Falcon Lake Incident is a reported UFO encounter near Falcon Lake, Manitoba, Canada claimed to have occurred on May 20, 1967 (thanks Wikipedia).

[READ: January 19, 2012] “Happy New Year”

Of course, I wish I had read this article earlier in the month, but then I only found out about it a couple of days ago.

This is an article (I assume from the editor of The Lotus Magazine) which bemoans the loss of the New Year’s Day tradition of going to (pretty much) anyone’s house for meals and snacks and drinks and good times.

The article states that it may have been about 35 years ago (circa the 1880s) that the Dutch custom was abandoned.  Before then, people in New York City would throw open their doors and it was:

a breach of etiquette to omit any acquaintance in these annual calls, when old friendships were renewed and family differences amicably settled.  A hearty welcome was extended even to strangers of presentable appearance.

Indeed, it seems that certain houses were known for:

particular forms of entertainment.  At one was eggnog; at another, rum punch; at this one, pickled oysters; at that, boned turkey, or marvelous chocolate, or perfect Mocha coffee, or, for the connoisseur a drop of old madeira, as soft as rainwater and as delicate in flavor as the texture of the glass from which it was sipped. (more…)

Read Full Post »

John Lanchester–“Expectations” (New Yorker, January 9, 2012)

Posted in Consumerism, Funny (ha ha), Holidays, JEFF The Brotherhood, John Lanchester, Marriage Trouble, New Yorker, Short Story on January 12, 2012| 2 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: JEFF The Brotherhood-“Bone Jam” (2009).

My friend Andrew pointed me to this song after reading my write up about JEFF’s other song a few days ago.  I’m still not sure just who JEFF the Brotherhood is, but this is easily the most catchy song I’ve heard in ages.  I mean, the whole song is practically one long “oooh”.  And the parts that aren’t “oohs” are simply: “I’m gonna grind your bones to make my bread” and “How much money can we spend?”  This latter lyric is hilariously appropriate when paired with the cheap cheap cheap video that they’ve made. 

The song is simple, fuzzy guitars, three chords and a steady beat.  It’s free of pretension and complexity.  And it will stay with you all day and you’ll wonder why you’re just walking around going “oooooh.   oooohh.  ooooh”

Speaking of the video, I don’t think there’s anyone who looks less like a rock front man than the lead singer and guitarist of JEFF.  I don’t even know what his name is, but look at him.  His mustache makes Prince look hirsute.  Somehow it’s even more charming.  As is the fact that there’s only two of them (not including the guy playing the leaf blower). 

The JEFF package just gets better and better with each exposure.

[READ: January 6, 2012] “Expectations”

Following hot on the heels of a broke family in the Ozarks who I didn’t think I’d care about, I get this story about a rich son a bitch London banker who I didn’t think I’d care about.

The story starts with Roger Yount trying to figure out if he’ll be getting £1,000,000 for his bonus this year.  “Oh, fuck you,” was my first thought.  The story seems to try to give us perspective on this guy and how he needs the million pound bonus because their huge house with £600,000 of additions and their £1,000,000 summer house simply cost a lot of money to keep up.  Especially since the million pound summer house is a bit too dowdy to go for the summer, so they still need a vacation spot. 

Why did I still keep reading this?

There was something about the prose.  It didn’t give sympathy for the man, but it also didn’t vilify him.  It just made him seem human.  Not a bad thing at all.  Plus at this point I figured the story had to end with a massive comeuppance.  I figured the comeuppance would be obvious and predictable and I was bound to be disappointed when it happened.  But I was still curious to see what the comeuppance would be–a poor person who makes him see the goodness of people at Christmas (bleah)?  OWS protestors (too topical)?  A bomb in the building (unexpected by possible)? What? (more…)

Read Full Post »

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Read Full Post »

John G. Richardson and Carl H. Simpson–“Children, Gender, and Social Structure: An Analysis of the Contents of Letters to Santa Clause” (Child Development, 1982, Issue 53)

Posted in All Songs Considered, Carl H. Simpson, Child Development, Essays, Holidays, John G. Richardson, John Zorn, Scholarship, Toys on December 24, 2011| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: JOHN ZORN-“Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” (2011).

Wild skronking horns, screamed vocals, chaos chaos cha–.  No.

Piano and vibraphones with some gentle guitars thrown on top.  This is a beautiful, gentle jazz rendition of this song.  What makes this so strange is well, frist, because John Zorn loves death metal and all things noise.  But also because John Zorn revels in Jewish culture.  So what’s up with this holiday album?

Evidently he always wanted to make a holiday album.  And he’s using most of the same guys who have played with him for years. 

That’s a real Christmas miracle! Read more about it here.

[READ: December 16, 2011] Children, Gender, and Social Structure

Our director sent us a link to this article to get us in the holiday spirit (you have to subscribe to JSTOR to read it).  Although he spoiled it in his email (boys and girls are different), I still enjoyed reading the contents here.  At least somewhat.  The article was really quite dry and relied on some scientific terminology which I found confounding.  Nevertheless, the results were easy enough to follow, and that’s what really matters.

The most interesting thing was the setup.  They read all of the letters mailed to Santa that were received in the Seattle post office in 1978.  (I wondered why it was so long ago before I confirmed that this was written in 1982, so that makes sense).  They received 855 letters that year.  And I found this breakdown as interesting (if not moreso) than the rest of the article: 63% were from within the state; 29% were from out of state (how did they get there??); and 8% were from out of the country (what?? how, why?–no answer is given, sadly).  31 letters were illegible, so they were out.  The rest were assessed by gender of the names based on a baby naming book (from 1966!).  This yielded 359 from boys, 391 from girls, 46 gender ambiguous (what percentage would there be today??) and 28 with no name. 

I was also fascinated by  the age breakdown: 24%: 5 or under; 41% 6 or 7; 29% 8 or 9 and 7% were ten or older! (more…)

Read Full Post »

Frederic Miller–“The Tragedie of Frosty the Snowman” (Mississippi Review, Summer 2001)

Posted in Bad Brains, Cocteau Twins, Essays, Frederic Miller, Frosty the Snowman, Funny (ha ha), Holidays, Mississippi Review, Oddities, Scholarship on December 23, 2011| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: COCTEAU TWINS-“Frosty the Snowman” (1993).

Cocteau Twins released Snow, a “holiday” EP in 1993.  Their version of “Winter Wonderland” is quite sublime.  This version of “Frosty the Snowman” on the other hand is a bit…off.

I don’t know if the tempo is too fast (I think that may be it), or if the lyrics are too silly (even if the Twins weren’t filled with gravitas, most of the time you couldn’t hear what they were saying anyhow) or if they just can’t get their brand of lush to envelope the song, but it just doesn’t quite work for me.

[READ: December 13, 2011] “The Tragedie of Frosty the Snowman”

My work director sent this article around as an amusing academic piece for the holidays.  It’s a short article (one and a half pages) but it does a good job of analysing the real tragedy that is Frosty the Snowman: “Frosty’s tragedy is not simply that he must melt, thaw, resolve into etc.–this is merely the common fate of all men, persons, who are made out of snow.”

The tragedy of Frosty is personal, for he has an inner greatness.  When he encounters the magic hat he claims to be coming “back again someday.”   But can he every really understand that?  [We watched this special just the other day, and it must be said that Frosty, who seems to be quite naive and unaware (what’s a traffic light?) is also quite savvy about a lot of things that he should not know–winter flowers, frozen boxcars]. (more…)

Read Full Post »

My Most Hated Christmas Songs [Updated and Expanded for 2011]

Posted in "Weird Al" Yankovic, Arthur Christmas, Beck, Bible, Canadian Music, Children's Books, Christmas Album, David Bowie, David Sedaris, Eartha Kitt, Holidays, Johnny Cash, Judas Priest, Lauren Hill, Run D.M.C, The Beach Boys, The Flaming Lips on December 19, 2011| 2 Comments »

Sarah suggested that I update my most hated and most favorite Christmas songs list as it has been THREE YEARS (!) since I last posted it.  I haven’t changes the list at all, but I have updated the comments (with one retraction!).

In my original post, Sarah chimed in with her two cents.  And I’m going to leave her original comments.  If she has changed her mind (she told me yesterday that she liked a song that she never liked before, she’ll have to do the updating herself).

Here’s my two new additions for this year.  Oh and by the way, in the original post, I mentioned a couple of songs that I didn’t include in my list because we don’t own copies of them.  And while that is fair, I feel compelled to mention them this year.  (more…)

Read Full Post »

Jeff Kinney–Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever [#6] (2011)

Posted in Boredom, Buffalo Springfield, Canadian Music, Children's Books, Consumerism, Funny (ha ha), Holidays, Jeff Kinney, Neil Young, Pac Man, Short Books, Technology on November 28, 2011| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: NEIL YOUNG AND THE INTERNATIONAL HARVESTERS-A Treasure [NY Archives 09] (2011).

Continuing with the randomly numbered Archive releases, Neil Young has released A Treasure, the sixth release (which is labelled #09) in the Performance Series.  This is with the Neil Young band called the International Harvesters.

I had never even heard of this iteration of a Neil Young band–they toured during 1984/5 for the Old Ways album.  This is an album that I barely knew but is one that Sarah loved, so this one is more for her than me.  The band is a very country band–fiddles and slide guitars and all that.  Neil’s even got a twang in his voice.  But even with that, (it’s not my music of choice), this album has a lot of great stuff on it (including five previously unreleased songs).

There are a number of real country songs on this disc–“Amber Jean” and “It Might Have Been” are straight-up country.  Although “Are You Ready for the Country” (which has some major country trappings like that fiddle solo) is actually a bit more of a countrified Neil Young song than a country song per se.  “Nothing is Perfect” is a kind of group sing along.  The kind of song that you might hear at the end of the night at a pub.

Despite this being the Old Ways tour, there are only two songs from that album here.  “Bound for Glory” is the song I knew best from this era.  And it is indeed a very country song (that steel pedal guitar!). “Back to the Country” is the other one, and it, too is a true country song.

“Let Your Fingers Do the Walking” and “Flying on the Ground is Wrong” are different takes on country songs.  The funny thing is that “Flying” (which was originally a Buffalo Springfield song) has a very Neil Young guitar progression built in, during the “I miss you” parts.  He does this very simple chord progression which he uses quite a lot in his songs.

“Motor City” is (another) song about cars.  He may have more songs about cars than Springsteen.  This one is all about his old cars and how “there’s too many Toyotas on the road.”  It’s super catchy, even as I listen to it in my Prius.  “Southern Pacific” is another song that gets a good honky tonk treatment.  It’s seven minutes long with lots of solo.  This is the kind of country-style music I prefer and this one is great with wonderful runs from the fiddles.  Both of these songs appeared on Neil’s Re*Ac*Tor album.

“Soul of a Woman” is more of a blues song, with some country inflections.  And the final song “Grey Riders” is a wonderful stomping track.   It has a great riff and the strings really complement the song.  After all of that country, this song has some awesome screaming guitars on it.  And if you like your Neil rocking, it is absolutely worth it for this song.

The newspaper article that’s included with the set refers to a show during this tour and, not to grouse about a record, but the show it describes sounds awesome–a few old Neil classics at the end of the set which really whetted my appetite for some of those other songs with this band.   But this seems to be a truncated version of that set list.  Nevertheless, as I said, this isn’t my favorite era of Neil’s music, but the band sounds really great.  And these songs shine very nicely.  It’s an enjoyable and unexpected addition to his archives.

[READ: October 20, 2011] Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever

I managed to get on the promotional mailing list for this book and so in addition to the free pencils (awesome!) and posters (3 in my son’s room), I also received an email update about the release almost daily.

I was a little less than 100% happy with the previous Wimpy book.  I liked it, but I didn’t love it as much as the first couple.  But man, this one came roaring back on all cylinders and it is one of the best in the series.

Three things really work to make this one so great:

One:  the return to school and a host of new school-related problems.  Although it’s funnier for me since my son is in school now, the issues are general enough that anyone can really laugh about them.

Two: the return of Rowley.  I feel like he was sorely missed when he and Greg were fighting.  He’s not a great character on his own, but he rubs Greg the wrong way enough to bring out some great humor.

Three: The increasing power of Manny.  I don’t understand Manny at all, I don’t even know how old he is.  He’s like a really really tiny kid, which makes me think that he’s a baby.  And yet he is so smart and totally has the run of the family.  That has been obvious in the past with the tantrums he threw to get what he wanted, but now he is combining his evil genius with a sophisticated mind to really wreak havoc on the Heffley household (he changes passwords all over the house, for instance).

So this book is all about Christmas break and snow (hence the title).  I love that it starts with the Heffley version of Elf on a Shelf (but this one is even more creepy because it’s a homemade doll from Greg’s mom’s childhood). (more…)

Read Full Post »

Jennifer L. Holm & Matthew Holm–Babymouse: Monster Mash [#9] (2005)

Posted in "Weird Al" Yankovic, Cats, Children's Books, Cupcakes, Fears, Funny (ha ha), Graphic Novel, Halloween, Holidays, Jennifer L. Holm, Matthew Holm, Mice, Set at School, Short Books, Vampires, Zombies on November 27, 2011| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: “WEIRD AL” YANKOVIC–Alpocalypse Bonus DVD (2011).

Included with the new “Weird Al” disc is a DVD of videos from the disc.  Only one of them is a video proper in that Al himself is in it.  The rest are animated.  Although of the animated ones, the one for “CNR” is, I believe, an “offical” video release (they were all official, but “CNR” was sort of a pre-album video).

All of the videos are of good quality and are well crafted with varying degrees of fidelity to the song.  The one bad thing about these animations is that Al’s own videos are usually so spot on, they are often funnier than the song itself.  So, having these, what I think of as tossed off animations–even though clearly a lot of work went into them–is a bit of a bummer.

Having said that, the video for “CNR” is great–cut-out animations of Charles Nelson Reilly doing outrageous things, like the song says.  “TMZ” was directed by Bill Plympton.  I like Plympton’s animations quite a lot and have for a long time.  And this one is pretty funny, although I find that his videos are often repetitive and don’t really hold up for a whole song.  “Skipper Dan” is a good Flash-type animation and it very effectively conveys emotions with such simple animations.  And the fidgety to adventureland is also really good.

The “Craigslist” video is the only one in which Al appears–dressed like Jim Morrison, of course.  The video has a great mid-70s feel with nonsensical cuts to Native Americans and westerns as well as swirly splotches and lights.  It’s not a “funny” video per se, except fo how accurately it apes the original style.   “Party in the CIA” is surprisingly violent (Al’s videos are often cartoonishly violent, but this one is pretty specific, of course with the animations it’s not so bad but it’s a lot more real than Al usually is).   “Ringtone” follows a few character storylines and looks good.

“Another Tattoo” is enjoyable because it cycles through a series of really funny (cartoon) tattoos.  Perhaps a series of regrettable tattoos would have been even funnier.  “If That Isn’t Love” to me undermines the song somewhat as it shows a less sincere declaration of love.  I think of the narrator of the song as clueless, but the video portrays him as devious.

“Whatever You Like” is creepy–there are a lot of real photos that are animated (the main woman’s mouth is utterly grotesque!).  Finally “Stop Forwarding That Crap to Me” is majorly disappointing because all it is is the lyrics animated.  True the animation is clever, but really, it’s just the lyrics.  A lot could have been done with this video.  Opportunity wasted.

So, all in all, these videos aren’t amazing.  Certainly they pale in comparison to Al’s greatest videos. But there is certainly some amusement value.

[READ: November 15, 2011] Babymouse: Monster Mash

I missed this Halloween-themed book in time for the holiday, so I’ve saved it for the end of Thanksgiving.

The first thing you’ll note when you look at the book is that it is not black and pink!  For Halloween, the whole book is black and orange.  It’s a cute idea.

For Halloween, Babymouse wants to be a big scary monster (and she even has a cool, scary mask).  But Felicia Furrypaws point out that it’s a rule that girls must be pretty for Halloween.  Babymouse is appalled at this idea and decides to go ahead with her (very cool) scary costume ideas anyhow.

But when she lets it slip that her parents are letting her have a Halloween party and everybody wants to come, Babymouse is torn.  She’s excited that people want to come, but when Felicia insists on coming, and insists she dress like a princess…. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Jonathan Franzen–The Corrections (2001)

Posted in All Songs Considered, Big Books, Consumerism, Cosmo Jarvis, David Foster Wallace, Holidays, Jonathan Franzen, Marriage Trouble, New Yorker, Punks, Threats, Unreliable narrator on September 19, 2011| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: COSMO JARVIS-“My Day” (2011).

I learned about Cosmo Jarvis through NPR.  The DJs called it a love it AND hate it song.  But I find that I mostly love it.  The video is a blast to watch, but even without the video, the song is quite catchy and fun.  It’s a half punk song and half folkie/trad song.

So who the hell is Cosmo Jarvis?  Well, he was born in NJ, but is really from England.  He’s a filmmaker and musician and he’s had a hit with the song “Gay Pirates” that Stephen Fry raved about on his Twitter feed!  “Gay Pirates” is a fun shanty, but “My Day” is a full-on punk blast.

The song laments the state of things today and talks about how things were back in “my day” (which is of course funny since he’s 21).  The verses are a kind of folkie/storytelling style (but with electric guitars) and the end of each verse has a guitar riff that sounds traditional to me.  But when the chorus jumps in, it’s heavy, rocking, screaming punk.

Okay so the song is nearly 8 minutes long, which is probably overkill.  There’s a fairly lengthy instrumental bridge about 5 minutes in which features guitar and tin whistle solos.  And then the final 2 minutes are just fast metal screams of “My Day” with some wild soloing.  Yes, it’s too much (I’ll bet the single mix is awesome), but it’s still an enjoyable song.  Even without the video.

But you should watch the video, if only because it’s what the guys from Jackass would do if they were in a band and lived in the English countryside.

[READ: July 15, 2011] The Corrections

My company recently asked us if we had read any books over the summer.  I was able to pony up this review for our company newsletter.  I’ll be fleshing it out, but it’s pretty apt.

I’d put off reading this for a number of years, and I wish I had read it sooner.  It’s a very detailed look at one family: Elderly parents, thirty-something kids, and a few grandkids.  The depth of character development is amazing (and includes even depth of characters that the main characters interact with).  It’s a long book but it is very rewarding—comic scenes, moving scenes and one or two shocking moments.  It’s also the first time I’ve read a book where I thought, “even though I like this character, I think it would be better for everyone if he died.”  It’s an unnerving thing to think, but Franzen really makes you think about how family members impact one another.

It took me forever to start reading this book, obviously.  I wasn’t really interested in Franzen when all of the Oprah commotion came out, so I blew off this book entirely.  I’ve recently grown more interested in him.  But rather than reading his novels, I had decided to read all of Franzen’s New Yorker pieces.  (And even though I wanted to read Freedom when it came out, I felt that I should read this one first).  I wasn’t hesitant about reading it, I think I just wanted time to devote to it.  Much like I needed time to devote to writing up this post.  It’s been well over two months since I finished the book.

The Corrections is a wonderful, engaging story about three generations of the Lambert family (and many of the people they interact with).  The matriarch and patriarch of the family, Enid and Alfred, live in the midwestern town of St. Jude.  They have three children: Gary, a banker in Philadelphia who is (more or less unhappily) married with three children; Chip, a former school teacher and current playwright who sponges off of his younger sister while he tries to live the high life in New York City; Denise, a very successful chef who also lives in Philadelphia.  She has no children.  Gary’s children play a small but significant part in the story, keeping the three generations aspect working very well.

I found the first chapter a little slow and somewhat off-putting.  I read an excerpt from the novel in the New Yorker, which was a piece about Chip.  So I was surprised that the book opened with an older couple.  The chapter deals with Alfred and Enid.  Alfred’s dementia is hitting their household quite hard but Enid just feels that Alfred isn’t trying very hard.  Because Enid has very little in her life, she wants nothing more than to have her whole family together “one last time” for Christmas.  Enid and Alfred are long-married and this chapter picks up in the middle of a typical day.  So it takes a few pages to get up to speed.  Of course, once I did, I felt that the whole family was completely real and believable. (more…)

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »