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Archive for the ‘Humiliation’ Category

Joshua Ferris–“Good Legs” (New Yorker, June 9 & 16, 2014)

Posted in Essays, History, Humiliation, Joshua Ferris, New Yorker, Romance, Sex, Slothrust, You're the Worst on September 23, 2014| Leave a Comment »

jun9SOUNDTRACK: SLOTHRUST-7:30AM (2011).

slothThis song is the opening theme to the FX show You’re the Worst, which I like very much.

The theme is only a few seconds long although the song (which has been around since at least 2011) is considerably longer (although it doesn’t reach 3 minutes).

Every time we’ve watched the show, I’ve tried to imagine who the guy is singing this song–he sounded strangely familiar.  Well, imagine my surprise to find out that the music from the band Slothrust is pretty much written and sung by a woman, Leah Wellbaum.  Well who would have guessed (it’s more evident in some of their other songs).

I love the simplicity of this song–repeated lyrics set to a ramshackle guitar which bursts forth into loud wailing in every repeated section.  There’s even a guitar solo (equally as uninhibited).  The band is a typically more punky than this folk song might hint, but you can feel all their glorious chaos in this one track.

 It’s funny and rather catchy.  Check out the song on bandcamp.

[READ: June 17, 2014] “Good Legs”

This year’s Summer Fiction issue of the New Yorker was subtitled Love Stories.  In addition to the two graphic stories, we have a series of five personal essays which fall under the heading of “My Old Flame.”  I liked that all five writers have slight variations in how they deal with this topic.

Joshia Ferris has written a number of things that I enjoyed.  This piece, which  found very peculiar, takes a very different approach than Kushner did.  Where Kushner focused on different people in her past, Ferris Ferris focuses on one old flame. Or is she?

He says he met her in the hallway of a dorm.  There’s this near-opening line that sets the tone: “I didn’t think much of her, but I was sure she had never seen anyone quite so handsome.”

It turns out that she was dating someone else anyhow.  And then she graduated, leaving him behind (perhaps unbeknownst to her).  He says, “I didn’t miss her,”  because he was “in this terrible on-off thing with Sisyphus, who kept dragging me up a pretty blond hill and hurtling me down.” (more…)

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Rachel Kushner–“The Adolescents” (New Yorker, June 9 & 16, 2014)

Posted in Essays, Ex-Cops, Funny (ha ha), History, Humiliation, LGBTQ, New Yorker, Prefab Sprout, Rachel Kushner, Romance, Sex, The Replacements on September 22, 2014| Leave a Comment »

jun9SOUNDTRACK: EX-COPS-“Ken” (2014).

excopsIn this song, I get a vibe of Prefab Sprout singer over a swirly indie band (at least for the verses).  The chorus is bigger–swirling guitars and fast drums, with Ooohs building and building.  And yet the song never quite launches the way “Black Soap” did.

Amalie Bruun doesn’t really contribute to this song.  And while I wouldn’t say she is crucial to the band, something is definitely lacking without her sharing vocal duties.

I wanted this song to be a bit…more, somehow.  I’m not quite sure about Ex-Cops after two songs.  We’ll see if I get blown away by something else later on.

The whole reason I checked out this song was for the video, which is a tribute to The Replacements’ “Bastards of Young” video.

[youtbue=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgRil7yidDg]

[READ: June 17, 2014] “The Adolescents”

This year’s Summer Fiction issue of the New Yorker was subtitled Love Stories.  In addition to the two graphic stories, we have a series of five personal essays which fall under the heading of “My Old Flame.”  I liked that all five writers have slight variations in how they deal with this topic.

Kushner presents a series of past boys that she had crushes on when she was young.  Each one is presented with a “random initial.”  First there was B who looked like an angel.  He asked to carry her books in sixth grade.  It is a sweet introduction until the conflict: an eighth grade girl, she was stridently white, says something about his race.  And in the span of one paragraph, “many things were new to me that day.  B and I never reconnected.”

Next there was D.  D was white and proclaimed that he would hurt others (presumably those who were black).  The race issue was complicated then.

She once kissed M, who was black, although R would have been a better match.  R flirted with her on the playground and treated her like a sexy woman.  (more…)

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Chris Ware–“Possession” (New Yorker, June 9 & 16, 2014)

Posted in Chris Ware, Circus, Graphic Novel, History, Huh?, Humiliation, New Yorker, Romance on September 21, 2014| Leave a Comment »

jun9SOUNDTRACK: EX-COPS-“Black Soap” (2014).

blackAfter listening to Myrkur yesterday I wanted to check out Amalie Bruun’s other band, Ex-Cops.

It’s interesting how many musicians can enjoy playing in so many different styles.  Because Ex-Cops sounds absolutely nothing like Myrkur.  Indeed, an Ex-Cops fan may be shocked by the sounds of Bruun’s black metal alter ego.

Ex-Cops remind me a lot of Garbage and The Cardigans sort of mixed together.  Bruun shares lead on this track with Brian Harding and her voice is pleasant and at times sounds like Aimee Mann’s.  The song is simple enough, with an easy melody for the verses and a big powerful chorus (stadia await).

The thing that I do like about this song is that Bruun and Harding exchange lead vocal duties.  But they duet with each other with the other in backing vocals.  It keeps the song from being very obvious.  I have no idea what they’re singing or where the title comes in, but that’s okay.

Depending on what other songs on this record sound like, this band could either be a cool indie band with pop leanings or a blatantly pop band. And I’m curious to hear more.

[READ: June 17, 2014] “Possession”

This year’s Summer Fiction issue of the New Yorker was subtitled Love Stories.  And thus, we have a series of personal essays which fall under the heading of “My Old Flame.”  There are several short pieces.  And this year there are two illustrated stories by two wonderful artists.

The second is by Chris Ware.   I love Ware’s style, despite how depressing his stories usually are.

This story is about the narrator’s fixation on a girl named Daisy.  When he was a kid, she lived right across the street from them.  He says that he knows her, he has all of these memories of her, but he cannot picture her.  He can picture the street and a few concrete memories, but little else.

The first odd thing comes when the narrator was a little older.  His family had moved across town.  But when his mom asked who he wanted to invite to the circus with them, he said Daisy.  (I’m trying to imagine what he parents thought of that).  However, when they stopped at her house, the girl who emerged looked nothing like Daisy (what?).  And they said nothing to each other the whole time they were at the circus. (more…)

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Alison Bechdel–“Gradual Impact” (New Yorker, June 9 & 16, 2014)

Posted in Alison Bechdel, Ex-Cops, Graphic Novel, History, Humiliation, LGBTQ, Myrkur, New Yorker, Romance, Sex on September 20, 2014| Leave a Comment »

jun9SOUNDTRACK: MYRKUR-“Nattens Barn” (2014).

myrkurMyrkur is a black metal band whose sole member is a woman–Amalie Bruun, a Danish model who co-leads the Brooklyn indie-pop band Ex-Cops.

This six-minute song has elements of black metal (loud guitars, fast drums) and elements that transcend the genre (the first entire minute of beautiful choral voice).  As the song opens, multilayered voices sing (presumably in Danish) about what I imagine is the heavens (I’m curious about a translation, but won’t look for one).  After a minute the heavy guitars kick in–loud, but not scary loud (a kind of pleasant black metal, if you will).

Until 1:43 when she creams, the drums kick in, and it becomes black metal as we all know it is meant to be.  The song is loud fast and heavy.  But unlike most black metal, there are no vocals (at least that I can hear).  So the song cycles through a few sections.  After returning to the more melodic style, that heaviness keeps pushing its way back in.  It all ends rather suddenly after that five minute buildup.  Although there is a return to the choral voices of the beginning.

I’m intrigued by this and I love that the choral voices (something black metal has done in the past) are done (I assume) by Bruun herself, rather than a male band tacking on the ethereal voices.   Her new release is an EP, and I would like to hear some more of it, just to see what kind of vocals she uses.

[READ: June 17, 2014] “Gradual Impact”

This year’s Summer Fiction issue of the New Yorker was subtitled Love Stories.  And thus, we have a series of personal essays which fall under the heading of “My Old Flame.”  There are several short pieces.  And this year there are two illustrated stories by two wonderful artists.

The first is by Alison Bechdel.  Although I honestly don’t know if Dykes to Watch Out For is still an ongoing concern (which is a shame since i have so many of the early books), I love that Bechdel’s “self” character looks an awful lot (bit not identical to) DTWOF‘s Mo.  It brings a sense of comfort to the story (which I know is not her intention, but still).

In this story, the main character talks about falling for a woman in her karate class.  As it opens, the narrator berates herself for breaking off an affair with a woman who was “kind, beautiful, smart, interesting, sane and available.”  She asks, “What the fuck was my problem?” (more…)

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This is How You Die: Stories of the Inscrutable, Infallible, Inescapable Machine of Death (2013)

Posted in Aaron Diaz, Ada Hoffmann, Alexandra Douglass, Alice Duke, Anthony Clark, Becky Dreistadt, Ben McSweeney, Bill Chernega, Braden Lamb, Brigita Orel, c. billadeau, Cancer as plot device, Carla Speed McNeil, Carly Monardo, Chandler Kaiden, Chris Schweizer, Claire Hummel, D.L.E. Roger, Daliso Chaponda, Dana Wulfekotte, Danica Novgorodoff, David Malki, Death, Demons, Diarrhea Planet, Disease, Drinking, Drugs, Dustin Harbin, Ed Turner, Emily Partridge, Erika Hammerschmidt, George Page III, Gord Sellar, Grace Seybold, Graham Annable, Greg Ruth, Hollan Lane, Horror, Humiliation, Indigo Kelleigh, John Chernega, John Takis, Karen Stay Ahlstrom, KC Green, KEXP 90.3 FM--Seattle, WA, Kris Straub, Kyle Shoenfeld, Law, Leela Wagner, Les McClaine, Lissa Treiman, Liz Argall, M. Bennardo, M.J. Leitch, Mad Scientists, Magic, Marleigh Norton, Marriage (Happy), Marriage Trouble, Martin Livings, Meredith Gran, Mike Dawson, Mike Peterson, Nathan Burgoine, Nick Abadzis, Ramón Pérez, Rebecca Black, Ren Warom, Rhiannon Kelly, Richard Salter, Ryan Estrada, Ryan North, Ryan Pequin, Sam Bosma, Sarah Pavis, Shari Chankhamma, Short Story, Threats, Toby W. Rush, Tom Francis, Tony Cliff, Trudy Cooper, Tyson Hesse, Violence, Yuck! on September 13, 2014| Leave a Comment »

how you dieSOUNDTRACK: DIARRHEA PLANET-“Lite Dream” Live on KEXP (2014).

dpHow to pass up a band with a name like this?  Well, it’s pretty easy, actually.  Who would even want to say their name?

The name conjures images, no, let’s not go there.  The name conjures music that is just abrasive and rude–ten second punks songs.  But in reality, their music is pretty traditional old school heavy metal.  They have 4 lead guitarists after all! (There’s 6 guys in the band altogether, surprisingly, there’s no women).   One of the lead guitarists even plays with his teeth (for a few seconds).

This song is about heavy metal, although I’m not sure what about it.  There’s some big riffs, solos galore.  There’s even a classic 80s style dual lead guitar solo.  There’s big loud drums.  There’s feedback.  It’s everything you think of as heavy metal, with a seeming wink and nod thrown in.

This is basically a goofy feel good band, playing fast heavy metal.  Shame about the band name, though, really.

Watch it all here.

[READ: spring and summer 2014] This is How You Die

It is quite disconcerting to open a Christmas present from your wife and have the first thing you see be the words “This is How You Die.”  To then look at her confusedly and try to interpret the look of excited delight on her face as she wonders why you’re not excited.  Then she explains that it is a sequel to the interesting collection Machine of Death that you both had read several years ago (but which I evidently never posted about).  Sighs of relief and then Christmas can proceed with more merriment.

So over the course of the new year I read these stories and I enjoyed most of them quite a lot.

The premise of the book is that there is a Machine of Death.  This machine states how you will die, but it does not give you a time, place or real definition of what it means by hope you will die.  Statements seem obvious but may in fact be different in some twisted way.  As it says on the back of the book, OLD AGE could mean either dying of natural causes or being shot by an elderly bedridden man in a botched home invasion.  The book revels in the irony that you can know how it’s going to happen , but you’ll still be surprised when it does.

The way the machine works is that you insert your finger, it takes a blood sample and gives you a card with the way you die printed on it.  No matter how many times you do it you will get the same result.  These are the guidelines, and each author made a story with just that set up.

Pretty cool right?  The first collection was really great.  And so is this collection, done by writers and cartoonists that I had never heard of before.  There are 34 stories and 12 comic strips (it’s a hefty collection).  Because each story is basically about how a person dies, I had to think about how best to review the book–without giving away any twists.  So I think the title and a very brief plot will have to suffice.

There’s even a funny promo video for the book (at the end of the post). (more…)

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Christopher Healy–The Hero’s Guide to Storming the Castle (Book II of The Hero’s Guide) (2013) [audiobook 2013–Bronson Pinchot]

Posted in Adventure, Big Books, Children's Books, Christopher Healy, Demons, End of the World, Fables, Fantasy, Fears, Humiliation, Supernatural on August 27, 2014| Leave a Comment »

[LISTENED TO: August 2014] The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom

stormThis audio book was ten hours long.  We listened to it on a long car trip (from Michigan to New Jersey) and when it looked like we might not finish the book, I considered slowing down on the interstate so we’d get to the end before we got home.  THAT is how good this book was.

This book picks up a few months after the exciting conclusion of the first book.  The Princes are back home (well, most of them are), reveling in the glory of their accomplishments.  Except that those blasted bards have written new songs about the League of Princes, like the incredibly popular “The Embarrassment of the League of Princes” which is causing the Princes even more grief than they had before they saved the world from blowing up.

Prince Liam is living with Prince Frederic (in Frederic’s castle).  He is trying to train Frederic to be a better fighter (with very poor results).  Princess Ella is living there too (in separate rooms, of course).  Ella and Frederic have been engaged since their first adventure, but not much has been spoken about it since that first day.  Indeed, Ella is a much better fighter than Frederic and she has been training harder with Liam. Liam is clearly smitten with Ella, but he doesn’t want to hurt Frederic.  When Frederic’s father gets fed up with Liam trying to teach Frederic how to fight, he makes it clear that Liam is unwanted.  So Liam leaves.

Gustav is not fairing any better.  It is his brother’s birthday and the humongous cake has been set out for them (while Gustav has been sent to the kiddie table).  When he disrupts the ceremony once the bard sings “The Embarrassment of the League of Princes,” he is unceremoniously sent off to teach the trolls how to farm (so they stop stealing from the villager’s gardens).  Of course, Gustav knows next to nothing about farming, so he teaches them how to brawl, which the trolls love even more.

Duncan has been writing a book since the first book. It was originally to be called The Heroes’ Guide to Saving Your Kingdom (hey!), but has since been changes to The Heroes’ Guide to Being a Hero.

The Prologue of our book tells us about Duncan’s book and then says:

No you may be asking yourself, Who is this Prince Duncan and what makes him such an expert on heroes? To which I will respond by saying that perhaps you may have skipped a book on your way to this one.  You should probably check on that.

So yes, the series will continue to be hilarious. (more…)

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Christopher Healy–The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom (Book I of The Hero’s Guide) (2012) [audiobook 2013–Bronson Pinchot]

Posted in Adventure, Alternate Reality, Audiobooks, Big Books, Bronson Pinchot, Children's Books, Christopher Healy, Demons, End of the World, Fables, Fantasy, Fears, Humiliation, Revenge, Supernatural, Trilogy on August 26, 2014| 1 Comment »

[LISTENED TO: June 2014] The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom

heros1Holy cow, did I love this audio book!

I was looking for an audio book that the kids would enjoy on a long car ride.  The title sounded terrific and when I saw that it was read by Bronson Pinchot, I didn’t wait another second to download it.  And yes, Pinchot’s reading was stellar and amazing, but in addition, the story was hilarious and fantastic.

And I’ll get out of the way that the book is completely kid-friendly.  There’s nothing objectionable (the harshest word is crud).  Some of the violence is cartoony (and Pinchot makes it pretty visceral) but it doesn’t last long.  My nine-year old and six-year-old were just as hooked as the adults.

This book aims to set the record straight about Prince Charming.  Prince Charming is of course in every fairy tale, but you did know that they are not the same Prince Charming, right?   Those lousy bards who created the songs about the female leads certainly got the Princesses names correct, but they never bothered to get the Princes’ names into the songs.  (Charming is an adjective, not a name).  So, meet Prince Liam, Prince Frederic, Prince Duncan and Prince Gustav. They’re the Prince Charmings (actually it is Princes Charming–the book is very much a stickler for proper grammar), who saved–Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Snow White, and Rapunzel, respectively.  And they are out to make names for themselves or at least make their names known.

Each one of them starts as an outcast for a different reason.  The only thing I found confusing about this story was trying to keep the kingdom names straight.   So I’m trying to outline them here. (more…)

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Derek Kirk Kim and Jesse Hamm–Good as Lily (2007) [Minx #4]

Posted in "Weird Al" Yankovic, Death, Derek Kirk Kim, Funny (ha ha), Graphic Novel, Humiliation, Jesse Hamm, Minx, Short Books on July 20, 2014| Leave a Comment »

lilySOUNDTRACK: “WEIRD AL” YANKOVIC-“Sports Song” (2014).

sportsNot every Al song is genius.  This original song parodies marching band anthems.  In this case, it comes down to Our team is great.  You Suck.

The music is top notch (the video shows a marching band, and I wonder if they used one for the song).  And lyrically it’s pretty funny (with Al explaining in great detail how their sports team is going to beat the other.

It’s the kind of song that would be fun to sing along with (and I’ll bet it will be a hoot live), but I ‘m not too crazy about my kids singing “You Suck,” so we differ a little on family friendly there (yup, I’m a prude).  As long as it doesn’t replace “Harvey the Wonder Hamster.”

He should have saved this for a Sunday release.

[READ: July 11, 2014] Good as Lily

I’ve enjoyed Derek Kirk Kim’s books quite a bit, so I was delighted to see that he had one with Minx as well.  I have to admit I was a little disappointed with Jesse Hamm’s art because the cover (done by Kim) is just so magnificent (I really like Kim’s style clearly).  Hamm’s work on the other hand is more comic strip than full characters.  That isn’t bad, and actually works well by the end of the story, but it’s quite difference from the sensuous cover art.

So, anyhow this story is about Grace Kwon.  She has just turned 18 and her friends (including her best friend Jeremy) are throwing a big bash in the park.  Things turn out weird when a lady with an ice cream cart gives them a piñata instead of ice cream.  The piñata turns out to be fun at first but it is revealed to have some kind of weird magical powers (of course).  After it lands on Grace’s head as she’s walking home she encounters three other versions of herself–a young six-year-old Grace who only wants to eat, a super-hot 28-year-old version of herself and an old granny-aged version who only smokes and watches TV.  And they all become Grace’s responsibility. (more…)

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Mimi Pond–Over Easy (2014)

Posted in Andrew Hewitt, Drawn & Quarterly, Drinking, Drugs, Graphic Novel, Humiliation, Marriage Trouble, Mimi Pond, Roz Chast, Sex, The Double on June 25, 2014| Leave a Comment »

over easySOUNDTRACK: ANDREW HEWITT-“A Boy Held Up with String” (2014).

Yhewittesterday I mentioned the soundtrack to The Double.  The score was composed by Andrew Hewitt, and this is one of the more popular pieces from the film.

It opens with some fast violin runs that seems to be racing each other, until about twenty seconds in the piano takes over the runs, but with a high note that keeps the pieces grounded (in the air somewhat).

The end of the song is primarily the piano with violin swirling around on top of the melody.

It actually feels like an introduction to something epic, but as with most scores, 75 seconds is all you’re going to get out of this cool, dramatic piece.

You can hear it here.

[READ: June 5, 2014] Over Easy

I saw this book at work and more or less ignored it.  Then a few days later I saw a review of it in somewhere and decided to read it.

This is a graphic novel about a young artist making ends meet at a diner in Oakland, California in the 1970s.  The back of the book says this is a fictionalized memoir (which I hate because, well, let’s just call it fiction, huh?).

Margaret is an art student.  As the story opens, she is in a diner, the only one there, when a guy named Lazlo starts talking to her. He is funny, cleverly dressed and probably high.  (He claims his full name is Lazlo Meringue).  Margaret is broke and knows that most waitresses hate poor students, but Lazlo is willing to take one of her drawings in exchange a meal.  And a friendship is born.

A flashback shows us that Margaret grew up in San Diego.  When she graduated high school, she didn’t want to do anything, but was forced to go to college–so she chose Art school at San Diego State.  Then she moved to Oakland, and got mired in the art scene.  In which punks were starting to push out the hippies.  And the center of it all was the Imperial Cafe (the diner in the first scene).

She says that you can discern the various culture who came into the cafe by the drugs they took: Professional crowd (cocaine); punks (speed); hippies (pot).  And since she could no longer afford school, she felt that she could do worse than working at the Imperial.  Lazlo says she has to tell him a joke or a dream and if he likes it, she’s hired.  Her joke is quite vulgar and she is welcomed as Madge.  Her first job is washing dishes and scrubbing out all the shit.  It is backbreaking and strangely satisfying. (more…)

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Pascal (MEZZO) Mesenburg & Michel PIRUS–King of the Flies: 2. The Origin of the World (2005) [translated 2010]

Posted in Black Flag, Boredom, Cian Nugent, Cigarettes, Dag Dascher, Death, Drinking, Drugs, Foreign Books, Graphic Novel, Helge Dascher, Humiliation, Kim Thompson, Marriage Trouble, Michel Pirus, Pascal (MEZZO) Mesenburg, Revenge, Sex, Short Story, Tiny Desk Concert, Translation, Violence, Yuck! on June 8, 2014| Leave a Comment »

flies2SOUNDTRACK: CIAN NUGENT-Tiny Desk Concert #353 (May 3, 2014).

cianCian Nugent is from Dublin.  In this Tiny Desk Concert, he plays two guitars, including a crappy no name electric guitar with a great raw sound.  For the first song, he plays a pretty acoustic guitar instrumental called “Grass Above My Head.”   It has a slow melody that turns into a ragtime jaunt over the course of 6 and half minutes.

The next two songs are on that electric guitar and are both rather different (he says the songs comes from “incoherent range of the mess that is my musical career”).  Before playing “Hire Purchase” he tells a very funny story about getting a pencil from a garage (and that he uses it to keep his string from detuning–does that work?).  This is an electric guitar instrumental, bluesy and mellow with some great riffs.

The final song, “Nightlife” has words.  It’s a simple blues song. Nugent has a nice delicate voice.  I’m not a big fan of bluesy songs, but he does a great job with this and the other two styles.

He also wrote a song called “My War Blues” which is variations on a Black Flag song (I don’t recognize the original in his version, myself).  But you can hear that here.

[READ: June 4, 2014] King of the Flies 2. The Origin of the World

This book picks up right where Book 1 left off.  This edition was also translated only by Helge Dascher although it says she had help from Dag Dascher and Kim Thomspon (I didn’t notice any change in quality).

As this book starts, Eric’s mother is making serious advances with Francis–the man whom she just met but who she is already calling her fiance.  Eric fantasizes about killing him (his dream sequence mother says this is the 13th time he has killed Francis).  Marie and Eric are still together and, through a strange series of events, Ringo is asking Eric to hold on to a cool looking elephant bowling bag.

By the end of this first story, Eric has saved Becker from drowning.  And yet neither Becker nor Karine bothers to thank him.  Indeed, Karine seems even more angry at him.  But this blow off makes Eric want Karine even more.

In a later story we finally meet Karine’s family who are just as freaked out about her “dating” this old guy.  And, by the end of the story Becker has a heart attack and dies.  When she returns home after the funeral she sees Eric and she confides in him that she is pregnant.

The newest development in the book comes in the next story in which we learn that Damien is a ghost and that he visits everyone that he knew.  Some people who are receptive to seeing him can actually talk with him.  He’s obviously pissed about Eric and Sal, but he has come to terms with a lot of things.  He even forgives the man who killed him (by accident).  He also winds up meeting ghost Becker at some point. (more…)

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