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Archive for the ‘McSweeney’s’ Category

McSweeney’s #11 bonus DVD (2003)

Posted in Books about writers, Daphne Beal, Dave Eggers, David Means, Denis Johnson, Doug Dorst, Dow Mossman, Environmentalism, Essays, Excerpt, Fears, Jonathan Ames, Joyce Carol Oates, Marcel Dzama, Marriage Trouble, McSweeney's, Military, Political Humor, Russia, Samantha Hunt, Sean Warren, Short Story, Stephen Elliott, T.C. Boyle, Threats, Tom Bissell, Violence, Yuck! on December 21, 2012| Leave a Comment »

[WATCHED: December 16, 2012] McSweeney’s #11

11

THE DVD that came with Issue #11 was listed as a “Deleted Scenes” bonus feature for this issue.  The colophon of the book explains in great detail what they wanted to do and how they went about doing it all.  And that’s all quite amusing in itself.

Now, of course, there are no “deleted scenes” up front.  The DVD is, at first glance, authors reading from the works in the book.  But as you scroll down the menu, there are some deleted scenes, as well as behind the scenes features and audio commentary.  All in all there’s about two hours worth of stuff crammed in here and some of it is quite interesting.

DELETED SCENES

This is where the authors read from their works.  They each read between 3 and 6 minutes, with some of them reading different sections (Samantha Hunt), but most of them reading a chunk.   (more…)

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McSweeney’s #11 [It Can Be Free/We Are as Surprised as You Are/Bring Light/…And [x] is free] (2003)

Posted in A.G. Pasquella, Alison Smith, All Songs Considered, Antlers, Ben Greenman, Benjamin Lytal, Benjamin Rosenbaum, Books about writers, Brent Hoff, Culture Shock, Daphne Beal, David Means, Death, Decadence, Demons, Denis Johnson, Doug Dorst, Dow Mossman, Emilio Oliveira, Environmentalism, Essays, Excerpt, Fears, Ian McDonnell, Jeffrey Rotter, Joyce Carol Oates, Marriage Trouble, McSweeney's, Military, Political Humor, Politicians, Robert Olmstead, Russia, Samantha Hunt, Sean Warren, Short Story, Stephen Elliott, T.C. Boyle, Threats, Tom Bissell, Trevor Koski, Violence, Yuck! on December 19, 2012| 2 Comments »

11SOUNDTRACK: THE ANTLERS-Live at the Black Cat, Washington DC, May 11, 2009 (2009).

antlersI mentioned that I was uncertain about my appreciation of this band.  And I wondered how they would hold up to a longer show.  The answer is surprisingly well.  The sound quality of this set isn’t great–the levels seem way too loud (not sure if that’s the band or the recording) and I really can’t understand the words, but the music is very moody and evocative and I like it quite a lot.

This set comes from the album Hospice, which is a concept album about a person dying of bone cancer (with lyrics like “they told me that there was no saving you” and song titles like “Kettering”).  Earlier descriptions made me think the album was a major drag to listen to– I mean the subject alone is exhausting–but musically it’s a different story.  There’s lush strings and interesting guitars.  And, at least live, the band can make a holy racket.

I’m a little surprised by the number of keyboard errors in “Atrophy.”  I mean an occasional bum note is fine, but there’s a bunch in that track.  It’s very weird.  But that is made up for by the vocals which are angsty and impassioned, especially on the final song “Cold War.”  The NPR site has three tracks available for viewing and I must say that watching the band is more exciting than just listening to them.  But I have really gained an appreciation for The Antlers.

Check out the show here.

[READ: December 16, 2012] McSweeney’s #11

This crazy title for this Issue/Post comes because the cover and spine of the book are all text.  Indeed, the book is gorgeously bound in black leather(ish) with shiny gold print.  Each author gets a summary of his or her work and a note that he or she is free (see each story below).

I did not read Issue #10 yet because it came out as a thrilling paperback, and I’ve been putting it off for a reason even I can’t quite fathom.  I anticipate reading that one last.  Again, no idea why.  In some ways, Issue #11 picks up where Issue #9 left off.  There’s lots of text on the cover, there’s letters and everything else that makes it look like McSweeney’s.  But as I said this one seems more somehow.  It’s the hardcover.  And, it’s also the DVD that accompanies the book.  I have a hard time believing I’ve owned this book for almost ten years and never watched the DVD but I finally got around to it.  More on that soon.

This issue contains letters, fiction, non-fiction and a play that picks up from Issue #9 (more…)

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McSweeney’s #41 (2012)

Posted in Aimee Bender, All Songs Considered, Boredom, Cassandra C. Jones, Chris Flynn, Death, Deb Olin Unferth, Drinking, Drugs, Eileen Van Neerven-Currie, Essays, Excerpt, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Gracia Lam, Henry Bean, History, J. Malcolm Garcia, Jess Walter, Jesus Christ Superstar, John Brandon, Jowhor Ile, Kelsey Dake, Letters, Marriage Trouble, Matt Rota, Max Shoening, McSweeney's, Memoirs, Native Americans, Racism, Robots, Ryan Boudinot, Sex, Short Story, Sibylla Brodzinsky, Steven Millhauser, Swans, Tara June Winch, Thomas McGuane, Tony Birch, Track, Violence, Viveca Mellegard, War on December 14, 2012| Leave a Comment »

41

SOUNDTRACK: SWANS-Live at All Tomorrow’s Parties, October 2, 2011 (2011).

swansatpBefore Swans released this year’s amazing The Seer, they toured supporting their previous album (with a number of songs from The Seer included). This set has two songs from The Seer, “The Apostate” and “The Seer, Pt 1” together they comprise 50 minutes of the nearly two hour show.  The set also includes “No Words No Thoughts” (24 minutes) and “Jim” (a teeny 6 minutes) from 2010’s My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky.  The final track is an eleven minute version of “I Crawled” which goes all the way back to 1984’s Young God EP.

I would never have thought of Swans as a jam band, and yet here they are, with 5 songs in 2 hours.  Although unlike jam bands, they aren’t showing off their musical chops or noodling solos, they are created expressive and moody soundscapes–not as scary as in days of old, but very intense nonetheless.

The set sounds great, although I imagine this would be more enjoyable to watch than to listen to (there a great swaths of music where there’ s not a lot happening).  I wonder what Gira is doing during these stretches.  My friend Phil (or Phillipe Puleo as Gira calls him here) plays drums on the album and on this tour, and I have to say he must be exhausted–man he hits the drums hard.

I listened to this show before I heard The Seer, but it didn’t prepare me for what the album would contain.  Now having heard that album, I appreciate this live show even more–they really master these long songs.  I am going to have to try to see them the next time they swing by.  I admit I used to be afraid at the thought of seeing them because their early music was so intense, but this seems to be a different Swans now, one that an old man like myself could even handle.

The set is no longer available on NPR.

[READ: December 10, 2012] McSweeney’s #41

The cover of this issue has a series of overlapping photographs of lightning.  I didn’t really look at it that closely at first and thought it was an interesting collage.  Indeed, Sarah said it looked like a science textbook of some kind.  But when I read the colophon, I learned that Cassandra C. Jones finds photographs of lightning and (without manipulating them digitally) places them together so that the lightning bolts create shapes.  And indeed, that is what is going on.  And it’s amazing!

The cover’s pictures create a greyhound running (front and back covers show different stages of the run).  There’s also circles and a rabbit running.  It’s incredibly creative and very cool.  You can see some of her work at her site.

The feature of this issue is that there are four stories from Australian Aboriginal Writers, a group that I can honestly say I have never read anything from before.  There’s also beautiful art work accompanying most of the longer stories, three gritty non-fiction pieces and some letters, most of which aren’t very silly at all.

LETTERS (more…)

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Mac Barnett–The Ghostwriter Secret [Brixton Brothers Book #2] (2010) [audiobook 2010–Arte Johnson]

Posted in Adventure, Arte Johnson, Audiobooks, Children's Books, David Foster Wallace, Funky Web Sites, Funny (ha ha), Gangsters, Mac Barnett, McSweeney's, Noir, Spies on December 7, 2012| Leave a Comment »

[LISTENED TO: November 2012] The Ghostwriter Secret

brixton2We enjoyed Brixton Brothers Book 1 so much that we couldn’t wait to listen to Book 2.  And it did not disappoint.

Steve Brixton (who is 12) has set up his own detective agency (after the massive success of his first case) and his chum Dana is actually kind of on board with it this time.  Of course, his mom’s boyfriend Rick (jerk) thinks it’s all for laughs and he chuckles at Steve’s business cards.

With the agency all set up, all Steve needs is a case.  Which he quickly gets.  A local billionaire has had his diamond stolen and he wants Steve to help (he heard all about Steve’s success in Book 1).  Rick makes a joke about a bird stealing it (that was a plot in Book 1), but Steve knows that isn’t the case here.  The diamond is an incredibly expensive and valuable diamond which the billionaire keeps on display in his house (under intense security).  And yet somehow, the thief got in.  And the security system must be broken because the alarm keeps going on and off.

Steve quickly solves that case and the billionaire asks Steve to hold onto the diamond until they can catch the crook (Steve figured out HOW it was done, but is leaving it up to the police to figure out WHO did it).

Steve gets a ton of cash to hold onto the diamond, but he’s bored by the case.  He wants some excitement as a detective.  And then he gets a letter–from none other than MacArthur Bart!  Bart is the author of Steve’s beloved Bailey Brothers mystery stories (which he has read hundreds of times and has based all of his sleuthing skills upon).  Steve has been writing to Bart for years, telling him how much he loves the books with no response.  Once he set up the agency, he wrote to Bart telling him about the cases.  And now, finally, Bart has written back.  But it’s not a thank you letter, it’s a request for help.  Bart thinks someone is after him! (more…)

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Brian McMullen & Jason Jägel–Hang Glider & Mud Mask (2012)

Posted in Brian McMullen, Children's Books, Community, Jason Jägel, McSweeney's, Michael Haggins, Short Books on November 26, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: MICHAEL HAGGINS-“Daybreak” (2004).

If you’re a fan of the show Community, you know that they play around with all kinds of conventions.  If you follow Community closely, you know that there are many recurring gags.  If you really pay attention, you may have heard a recurring gag.  There’s a song that has appeared in a number of episodes and each time it is heard, it is because a cast member is singing or hummng it.  The first time I encountered it was in the Halloween Episode where Abed is telling a story.  In his version, the kids turn on the radio and rather than hearing an immediate late breaking news story (which would never happen in real life), a song comes on the radio.  When they flash back to Abed telling the story, he hums the tune that goes on longer than you might think.  [I love that someone created an looped version of it].

The song appears again in various spots including at the end of an episode where Annie is on Troy and Abed’s show and she rearranges their bedroom.  Troy puts up a technical difficulties sign and hums the song too.

Well, it turns out that it’s a real song.  Forbes magazine (!) describes it as a relaxing number that could easily be played on any adult contemporary or smooth jazz radio station across the country.  It’s by Michael Haggins and it’s called “Daybreak.”  In the pillow forts and blankets episode when Real Neal plays the song over the radio, he announces it as “Daybreak,” which I guess is the real clue people needed to finding out the song (I assumed it was just something the staff made up).   So the next time that someone on the cast whistles or hums a song, there’s a good chance it’s this.

Here’s a clip of all the uses of the song on the show:

[READ: November 20, 2012] Hand Glider & Mud Mask

Brian McMullen is the guy behind the McSweeney’s McMullens childrens book imprint.  And this is his first book (I have no biographical info on Jägel).

This book has a terrific gimmick.  It was bound like a letter S, so there is a front cover, a middle cover and a back cover, but when you get to the back cover, because of the design, it is once again a front cover.  In other words, there are two short stories in this book Hang Glider and Mud Mask and when you get to the end of Hang Glider, the cover has turned so that you can now begin Mud Mask (no flipping necessary).  And the stories are connected, so it all works together very nicely. (more…)

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Mac Barnett–The Case of the Case of Mistaken Identity [Brixton Brothers Book #1] (2009) [audiobook 2009–Arte Johnson]

Posted in Adventure, Arte Johnson, Audiobooks, Children's Books, Dave Eggers, Funky Web Sites, Funny (ha ha), Gangsters, Jeff Kinney, Jon Scieszka, Mac Barnett, McSweeney's, Noir, Spies on November 4, 2012| Leave a Comment »

[LISTENED TO: October 2012] The Case of the Case of Mistaken Identity

I found this book because I was looking for audio books for my kids.  When we take longish car trips, they absolutely love audio books (which is pretty frikkin awesome by itself).  Anyhow, I was browsing the shelf and saw this title.  Clark and Tabitha enjoy A to Z Mysteries, so I thought this might be a bit more stimulating (it says it’s for 8-10 year olds, but Tabitha (5) enjoyed it and I didn’t find it too harsh for her).

I had never heard of the author [that is not true…more on that later], but the back of the book had accolades from Jeff Kinney, Dave Eggers and Jon Scieszka a triumvirate of trustworthy praise.

The audio book was read by Arte Johnson (yes, that Arte Johnson).  I don’t know if it was Arte’s delivery, but I enjoyed this book more than anything I have read in a long long time.  I wonder if the book would have been as enjoyable had I read it–I assume so because it was really fantastic, but it was a lot of fun listening with the whole family.

So this story is about 12-year-old Steve Brixton, a regular kid who happens to love the The Brighton Brothers Mysteries, a classic series of adventures (think Hardy Boys) in which two brothers get into scrapes and situations, take out thugs using their combination of brawn and brains and solve the mystery.  Steve loves them so much he has written down all of their suggestions for successful sleuthing which he keeps in his Secret Book Box.  He also got the Detective License for 12 box tops and $1.95.

He and his chum (all good detectives should have a chum) Dana have plans for the weekend until their teacher assigns them an 8 page research paper due on Monday.  Topics are randomly assigned and while Dana gets “detectives,” Steve gets “early American needlework.”  Miss Gilfeather suggests that it might be more interesting than he fears.

And boy is she correct. (more…)

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Matt Furie–The Night Riders (2012)

Posted in Children's Books, Funny (strange), Lullatone, Matt Furie, McSweeney's, Surreal on October 6, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: LULLATONE-“The Best Paper Airplane Ever” (2011).

Lullatone is a duo from Kentucky and Japan (!). Their personal story may be more interesting than the music.  Shawn James Seymour met Yoshimi Tomida when she was an exchange student.  They became romantically involved and he moved back to Japan with her.  They started making music in their shared apartment.  They make music for both kids and adults.

And most of their songs have lyrics, although this one with such a wonderful title, does not.  It has a simple orchestration (which is more Casio than orchestra) and a melody that would not be out of place in a Wes Anderson film.  It’s kind of a slight piece–pretty but not overwhelming.   But it’s very nice nonetheless.  It gives me very little indication of what the rest of their music might sound like.  You can hear this in the OWTK March podcast.

[READ: Summer 2012] The Night Riders

This McSweeney’s McMullens book is actually wordless.  Matt Furie designed and painted this rather bizarre story of bizarre and somewhat frightening characters. There is something unearthly and strange about everything in this book–and that’s entirely intentional.

As the book opens, a frog grabs his bicycle out of the garage and goes for a  midnight bike ride–with a mouse in his basket.  They meet some scary creatures, like a bright red dragon-like creature who is scary but sweet.  Indeed, most of the creatures turn out to be very nice.  And together, they all go on some underworld adventures.  They go underground  and they go underwater  where they met otherworldly animals who take them on further adventures until the sun comes up. (more…)

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Amy Martin–Symphony City (2011)

Posted in Amy Martin, Books about music, Children's Books, McSweeney's, The Not-Its! on October 5, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: THE NOT-ITS!-“Puppy Dog” (2011).

This song was paired with the Billy Kelly song in OWTKs March podcast.  And it, too, is very funny.  It is almost aggressively catchy and in your face.  I found it a we bit off-putting, but it quickly won me over.

It has a kind of Ralph’s World feel (although they don’t really sound like Ralph’s World or anything).  I like the way the chorus actually slows the song down.  The “third part” of the song has quite an unexpected sound twist–so there’s more than a simple pop song here.

The lyrics are really quite funny (if a little dark).  And the talking dog at the front of the song is awesome.

[READ: 2011] Symphony City

Amy Martin wrote and illustrated this beautiful children’s book.  In it, a young girl with nothing to do, hopes to go to the free Symphony in the city today.  She gets lost from her parents and experiences the vibrant colors of the music of the city.

While it should be frightening and is a little bit (it gets resolved in a very quick and rather confusing way, but that clearly isn’t the point), the strength of the book is the vibrant colors on every page–bright yellows and reds, dark and moody blues, with different sounds evoking different colors.  It actually has a bit of a synesthetic effect, which is all very cool. (more…)

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Vladimir Vagin & Frank Asch–Here Comes the Cat! СЮДА ИДЕТ КОТ! (1989/2011)

Posted in Billy Kelly, Cats, Children's Books, Fears, Frank Asch, McSweeney's, Russia, Vladimir Vagin on October 4, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: BILLY KELLY-“People Really Like Milk” (2009).

I enjoyed Billy Kelly’s song with Davy Jones so much that I investigated him a little further and found this wonderful song.

It’s a poppy folk song about a very important topic: milk, and how much everyone loves it.  Kelly has a great delivery (especially the rhymes with milk) and the song itself is funny and bouncy   It will stay in your head for hours (in a good way).

I really can’t get enough of Billy Kelly.  And if you Google the song you’ll see him performing the it at a kid’s backyard party.  But here’s the official video (which Kelly animated).

[READ: 2011] Here Comes the Cat

Of all of the McSweeney’s McMullens books, this one has been our favorite.  It is a very simple story (told in Russian and English) with only four (English) and three (Russian) words repeated over and over.  And the colophon explains the history: “Here Comes the Cat!, the first ever Soviet/American picture-book collaboration  was originally published by Scholastic in 1989.”

СЮДА ИДЕТ КОТ! is pronounced syu-DAH ee-DYOT KOT! and it along with the translation Here comes the cat! is on every page in both languages (along with some other bilingual phrases–Hello, Mice at Work etc). And on every page, a mouse runs through the mouse village announcing Here Comes the Cat!  The villagers all look surprised as they run across the city with the news.  But what will happen when the shadow of the cat appears in the village?

This is a wonderful story, simple, yet full of humor and cleverness.  It tells a story that not everything is what it seems.  And the ending is quite funny. (more…)

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Sheila Heti &Clare Rojas–We Need a Horse (2011)

Posted in Billy Kelly, Children's Books, Clare Rojas, Davy Jones, Flight of the Conchords, McSweeney's, Sheila Heti, Surreal on October 3, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: BILLY KELLY with DAVY JONES-“Me and My Brand New Haircut” (2010).

This is a fun and silly song in which the beat is kept by scissors.  It’s a very light song (as befits a song about a haircut).  Indeed it’s amazing how much you can sing about a haircut.

The lines that Davy speaks (there’s some call and response) reminds me a lot of Flight of the Conchords.  This is the kind of silly kids song that I really like.

I see that Billy Kelly has a few albums out.  He may be worth investigating further.

[READ: sometime in 2011] We Need a Horse

Like with Arthur Bradford, this book is Sheila Heti’s first children’s book.  I haven’t enjoyed Heti’s adult work all that much, but it’s hard to disagree with the message of this book.  The message is simple enough–you are what you are and what you are is valuable.  But I have to admit that the first few pages are a little unexpected (a horse talking to light, a sheep with a tennis racket, etc).  Nevertheless, it has a happy ending. (more…)

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