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Archive for the ‘Vampires’ Category

Malachai Nicolle & Ethan Nicolle–Axe Cop: Volume 3 (2012)

Posted in Advice, Axe Cop, Children's Books, Chronicles of Narnia, Death, Ethan Nicolle, Graphic Novel, Malachai Nicolle, Michael J. Nelson, Mystery Science Theater 3000, Nick Offerman, Spirits of the Red City, Tiny Desk Concert, Tiny Desk Contest, Vampires, Violence, Yuck!, Zombies on March 1, 2015| Leave a Comment »

axe3SOUNDTRACK: SPIRITS OF THE RED CITY-“Halfway Poem” (Tiny Desk Contest Runner-Up 2015).

spiirtdLast week, a Tiny Desk Contest winner was announced. This week, All Songs Considered posted ten runners up that they especially liked.  And I want to draw extra attention to a couple of them.

I know very little about these bands, but I assume that this folkie collective uses this kind of instrumentation all the time, although I have to suggest that two upright basses and a viola seems excessive.  The beginning of this video shows an early aborted attempt with different instruments (accordion, banjo, flute, drum and ukulele), so that sounds promising–and honestly the overload of large strings doesn’t sound bad at all in the final product.

It’s interesting that bands with lots of members are a kind of trend–it’s so impractical.  And yet when done well, it’s quite lovely.  And when these seven folks starts singing along near the end of the song it’s really pretty.

The story of this video is also interesting.  They had planned to film their video outside.  But on the day of their video shoot it was 33 degrees below zero (in Minnesota).  They have some brief footage at the beginning and then the video switches to them inside a quite cozy cabin.

It’s hard to tell from just this one song what kind of folk collective Spirits of the Red City is, but I enjoyed this song quite a bit.

[READ: February 20, 2015] Axe Cop Volume 3

Axe Cop Volume 3 returns to the format of Volume 1 (the one I liked better) with a mix of shorter comics and the return of Ask Axe Cop!

The first comic we see features the return of Bat Warthog Man and features the practical science of Chemist M (whom Axe Cop buys for ten dollars). It also has a chihuahua who was a soldier that was turned into a chihuahua when the soldier’s dog bit him (Malachai’s understanding of how transformations work makes me hope he never gets bitten by anything).  The dog can turn back into a man “only when I am not ready to fight…which is almost never.”  There’ also a hilarious scene where Axe Cop is inside the imagination of a mouse which is in color and is “full of unicorns and cheese.”

The Ask Axe Cops are more intense in these later variations, like the one that asks if he ever got in trouble (he got in trouble with his mom when he chopped the head off a rabbit who was not following rabbit rules).  We also see the introduction of head trash–a place where all the heads that axe cop has removed are disposed.  There’s dating advice (very sound); a jumping competition and a hilarious bit about Halloween (where he gets 1,051 candies to share with his friends, but the bad guys have poisoned 1,040 pieces of it.  There is also Axe Cop’s strangely violent generosity on Thanksgiving (yipes).  (more…)

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Trinie Dalton–Sweet Tomb (2010) [Madras Press: Series One, Book Three]

Posted in Canadian Music, Madras Press, Rheostatics, Short Story, Small Books, Surreal, Trinie Dalton, Vampires, Witches, Yuck!, tagged on February 16, 2014| Leave a Comment »

madras3SOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-Barrymore’s Ottawa, ON (January 17, 1997).

barryAfter two recordings in Barrymore’s in 1996, Rhesostatics Live has another concert from Barrymore‘s to open 1997.  And this one is fantastic.  The sound is perfect, the band sounds great and they play a wonderful selection of songs.

They open with a long version of “Record Body Count,” and a rousing “Dope Fiends and Booze Hounds.”  They are also having a lot of fun on stage with the lengthy introduction to “Sweet, Rich, Beautiful and Mine” and the fun teasing that opens “Saskatchewan.”

But the most fun comes in “Fan Letter to Michael Jackson” which sees the band joking around and sounding almost giddy. It’s not the best rendition of the song for novices to the band, but for long time fans, this must have been fun to see.  It’s also amazing that the band has played yet another 2 hours plus show.

[READ: January 8, 2014] Sweet Tomb

I don’t usually mention the book publisher when I post about books, but I’m quite taken with Madras Press.  From their website:

Madras Press publishes limited-edition short stories and novella-length booklets and distributes the proceeds to a growing list of non-profit organizations chosen by our authors.  The format of our books provides readers with the opportunity to experience stories on their own, with no advertisements or miscellaneous stuff surrounding them.

The format is a 5″ x 5″ square books that easily fit into a pocket.  At present there are four series with four books in each series.

Proceeds from Dalton’s book go to the Theodore Payne Foundation for Wild Flowers & Native Plants.

I have a lot of strange synchronicites with the books I read.  As it turns out, yesterday’s comic book was about a witch and this collection of related short stories is also about a witch.  It’s especially strange because I didn’t know that either book would have a witch character at all (even Zombillenium–it seems like it would be about zombies not witches).  So it’s funny to read two different stories and to see two entirely different attitudes about witches.  In Zombiellenium, she says that being a witch is not hereditary and yet in Sweet Tomb, she says it is (and then wonders why anyone would pass that on to her children).

So yes, these are linked short stories (I assume, and not a novel with chapter titles).  They are all about Candy, a witch, and her exploits.  Typically, I summarize each short story, but it’s more interesting to talk about this narrative as a whole. (more…)

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Arthur de Pins–Zombillenium: 1. Gretchen (2010)

Posted in Arthur de Pins, Canadian Music, Demons, Foreign Books, Funny (ha ha), Ghosts, Graphic Novel, Magic, Rheostatics, Vampires, Witches, Zombies, tagged on February 15, 2014| Leave a Comment »

zombieSOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-Record Runner, In Store Acoustic, Ottawa, ON (November 29 1996).

I haverecord already posted about this show before.  And I concur with my assessment of what I said last time.

But I wanted to add a few things.  This was recorded by someone in the audience, I assume.  The sound is good (you don’t hear the audience at all, which strangely almost makes it seem like there is no one there).  But it’s not perfectly clean.

This is an acoustic set done on the morning of their second night opening for The Tragically Hip.  (Dave says that you shouldn’t buy their new shirts at the show that night because they had to charge the same amount as the Hip and you will be able to get their stuff cheaper when they come by again in a few months).

In addition to some interesting renditions of fan favorites, we have a fan singing “The Ballad of Wendell Clark.”  It’s notable not only because of the fan singing it but because they doesn’t really play that song live, at least not circa 1996/1997.  They also throw in some Stomping Tom Connors during the song.

As an intro to “Four Little Songs” Dave says that they were planning on writing a bunch of different little songs so that you might never know which ones they would play on any given night.  He says it’s very easy to write little songs like that and it would be fun.  That seems to have never happened though.  You don’t hear too many acoustic Rheostatics shows.  You can download it here.

[READ: February 11, 2014] Zombillenium No 1

The cover of this book was so arresting I had to check it out.  I don’t know Arthur de Pins.  He’s a French artist and this is his first book to get distribution in America, I believe.  You can tell he’s European from the artwork–I wonder why that is.

Well, I loved this story.  It is very very funny and extremely twisted.  And there is something about the main character Gretchen that is so appealing (I love that her nose is so strangely bulbous, which makes her even cuter, somehow).

As the story opens, we see a man hitchhiking.  After a few panels, it is revealed that he is a mummy. One car speeds away from him, but another soon pulls up.  It is driven by a vampire and there’s a skeleton in the passenger seat. They know who he is, and they’re bringing him back where he belongs.  Which is to Zombillenium: “The Family Amusement Park for Chills and Thrills.” (more…)

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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…)

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Archie Meets Kiss [#629] 3 of 4 (2012)

Posted in Alex Segura, Children's Books, Culture Shock, Dan Parent, Dance, Funny (strange), Graphic Novel, Kiss, Kiss Meets the Phantom/Attack of the Phantoms, Supernatural, Surreal, Vampires on May 9, 2012| 1 Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: KISS-“Rock and Roll All Nite” (on Dancing with the Stars April 9, 2012).

When I decided to write this post, I thought about how weird it was that Kiss did an Archie comic.  And then I remembered that Kiss performed on Dancing with the Stars, which may be the weirdest sell-out thing I’ve ever heard.  [Realistically it is impossible for Kiss to sell-out any further I realize].  The only thing crazier is that they had men and women dressed in Kiss make up doing some crazy dance routine to the spectacle.

The fact that Gene screws up the lyrics in the first verse…to one of the most well-known songs possibly ever is even more unfathomable.

The band sounds good though, and I’m pretty excited to see them live this Fall.

But boy I hope they don’t have these dancers on stage:

[READ: May 9, 2012] Archie Meets Kiss

For my birthday, Sarah bought me this comic (we were in the store for Free Comic Book day and she found it in a box).  This is number 3 in the 4 part series.  She didn’t know that and I didn’t know it until I was about 2/3 of the way through the book.  (I’m surprised it doesn’t say so on the cover).  Knowing that it’s Part 3 makes the opening of the story seem more sensible, since it starts in the middle:

Archie is a zombie, Sabrina the Teenage Witch is helping them out and Kiss come through a portal to the rescue.  Talk about lack of exposition!

When I saw this crossover event was coming, it made me smile.  Kiss has sold out in so many bizarre ways that appearing on Archie hardly seems weird at all.  What does seem weird to me is how underutilized Kiss are as characters.  Kiss has been in comics before, they have had several of their own series, each more disturbing  than the last.  And, if you even go as far back as Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park, the guys each have their own “speaking” personality.  Yes, I know that the characters are personalities as well, but I’m just talking about dialogue here.  And that’s where this book fails.   (more…)

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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…)

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Téa Obreht–”Twilight of the Vampires” (Harper’s, November 2010)

Posted in 20 Under 40, Built to Spill, Essays, Gustav Flaubert, Harper's, Leptirica, Lydia Davis, Téa Obreht, Vampires, Violence, William T. Vollmann on December 15, 2010| 1 Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: BUILT TO SPILL-There is No Ememy (2009).

I’ve liked Built to Spill for quite a few years (I first encountered them on Perfect from Now On), but they always hang just below my radar when I think about great albums.  Nevertheless, many of their songs have landed on compilations I’ve made.

I listened to this disc a few times when it came out and when I popped it in again today I couldn’t believe how well I knew the whole album and how much I really, really liked everything on it.

This may in fact turn out to be my favorite BtS disc.  It isn’t radically different from other releases of theirs, but there’s some ineffable quality that seems to raise the whole disc above the fray.  The total package is fantastic.  The first few songs are quite short, just over three minutes each (which is surprising after the release of the live album which had so many extended songs and solos (a 20 minute cover of Neil Young’s “Cortez the Killer”).

Of course there are a few extended jams as well.  Four songs are over six minutes long (and three of them make up the last four tracks, so the disc does to tend feel a little heavy at the end–although “Things Fall Apart” has a horn solo (!) and “Tomorrow” has some unexpected time changes).  But the first long song, “Good Ol’ Boredom” has a great chugging riff that hold ups to the six minutes very well.  The nearly seven minute “Done” has a wonderfully effects-laden end section. The solo is pretty lengthy, but the backing music/sounds keep the whole thing interesting.  Of course, there’s also “Pat” a two and a half-minute blast of punk abandon.

Doug Marsch has a pretty high voice, but it never grows whiny or annoying, and in fact, it has a kind of gravitas to it.  And it is more than matched by the full band sound on the disc.  Martsch’s lyrics are also wonderfully unexpected [“Is the grass just greener because it’s fake?”].

BTS has made a great album and I’m going to have to revisit their back catalog too.

[READ: November 14, 2010] “Twilight of the Vampires”

This was a banner issue of Harper’s (I’ve felt kind of down on the magazine lately, but it made up for itself this month).  We have the Lydia Davis/Flaubert stories, a lengthy piece by William T. Vollmann and the cover story about Rupert Murdoch (which I won’t be posting about).  In fact, normally I don’t post too much about non-fiction (recent obsessions notwithstanding), but this particular piece was by Téa Obreht, one of this year’s New Yorker 20 Under 40.  Obreht had barely had anything published when they selected her, and so I figured it would be easy to keep tabs on her.  So here’s a nonfiction to add to her two stories.  (And it’s about vampires!)

Obreht is originally from Russia (her family is apparently still there).  As the essay opens, she is going to meet her mother in Belgrade for their trip to Serbia.  Their ostensible reason to travel to the Balkans is to find out about vampires.   (But when her mother injuries herself before the trip is about to commence, it convinces her mother that the whole trip is possessed by devils).

But why travel to the Balkans in search of vampires when her adopted homeland of America is overrun by vampires right now?  Because as she relates, our vampires are rather different from theirs. (more…)

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Jason Anderson–“Living on a Lighted Stage: Are We Finally Ready to Take Rush Seriously?” (The Walrus, March 2010)

Posted in Alex Lifeson, Ayn Rand, Books about music, Canadian Content, Canadian Music, Chris McDonald, Essays, Funny (ha ha), I Love You Man, Jason Anderson, Rush, Suck, The Walrus, Vampires on March 10, 2010| 3 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: RUSH, obviously (1974-present).

I’ve loved Rush since seventh grade.  They introduced me to prog rock, Canadian accents, Lakeside Park and Ayn Rand.  They taught me how to play killer bass lines, wild guitar solos and to ponder the existence of washing machines on stage.

[READ: March 5, 2010] “Living on a Lighted Stage”

I don’t often write about non-fiction pieces in magazines, but because this one is about Rush, it seemed necessary to bring it up.

The rather humorous subtitle of the piece sets the tone here. Rush has been together since 1974.  They’ve been taken seriously by musicians and die-hard fans, but aside from that, the average person likes “Tom Sawyer” and that’s about it.

This article notes that Rush is appearing more and more in unexpectedly public places (to both the delight and consternation of fans).  From the Colbert Report (their first time on American TV in 30-some years), to appearances is movies, including appearing as themselves playing live in I Love You, Man.

In addition to all of this there are two new works that are designed to really delve into the history of Rush. One is a new book, an academic treatise that I am sure I never would have heard about if it weren’t for this article, called Rush, Rock Music and the Middle Class: Dreaming in Middletown by Chris McDonald (which I just received and hope to start reading shortly).  And, there’s also a new documentary coming out (possibly in the Spring) tentatively called: Rush A Documentary.

And finally, a new film coming out has Alex Lifeson (as well as about 100 other musicians) in a cameo (he plays a border guard). It’s called Suck, and you can see the trailer (which has Lifeson in it) at Rushisaband.com.

I can’t possibly explain the recent influx of Rush (“Tom Sawyer” even played a major plot point on Chuck not too long ago) except to suggest that maybe all the die-hard Rush fans have grown up and gotten jobs in some kind of prominence.

Some Rush fans bristle at the idea of the guys selling out (yeah, right) or, heaven forbid, having fun.  They’ve always had a silly side (read the liner notes, look at Geddy wearing a Devo pin in the late 80s), and it’s nice to see them showing that side off a bit.  And the thing is, none of this attention is going to make “Cygnus X-1” any more popular than it is.  But if it gets some new people into prog rock, well, where’s the harm in that?

I won’t be first in line when the documentary comes out, but I’ll certainly watch it!

This article is available here.

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Satoko Kiyuduki–Shoulder-a-Coffin Kuro 1 (2008)

Posted in 1-Speed Bike, Canadian Music, Death, Do Make Say Think, Elizabeth Anka Vajagic, Fly Pan Am, Godspeed You Black Emperor, Graphic Novel, HangedUp, Manga, Satoko Kiyuduki, Sofa, Supernatural, Vampires on December 20, 2009| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: SONG OF THE SILENT LAND (2004).

This is a compilation from Constellation Records.  It features mostly unreleased tracks and turns out to be a great sampler for both the fan of the label and the novice.

Since the label never had any “hits” per se, they couldn’t really release a “greatest hits” collection.  But they went the extra mile by selecting rare tracks rather than just a songs from their albums,.

It also belies the idea (put forth by me as well as many others) that Constellation had “a sound.”  While they have branched further afield since this collection was released, even prior to this you can see a lot of diversity.  From the epic instrumentals of Godspeed You Black Emperor, to the noise structures of Exhaust, to the sort of spoken word of 1-Speed Bike to the viola/bass duet of HangedUp.  This compilation contains one track from pretty much every artist on their roster from the (then) new artist Elizabeth Anka Vajagic to early bands Sofa.

The Do Make Say Think track, “Winter Hymn Winter Hymn Winter Hymn” is described as a condensation of the album of that name into 5 minutes, and I believe it is).  Many of the other artists’ tracks are remixed.  But the remixes aren’t dance remixes or dub versions, they are just remixed, usually by Efrim or one of the other Hotel2Tango individuals.

If you’re a fan of the label, hunt down this disc.  If you’re not familiar with the artists, this is a great place to start.  The bands’ tracks, even the remixes are representative of the bands.  So, you get a good sense of Exhaust, 1-Speed Bike, Fly Pan Am and HangedUp.  Although the real selling point is the live track by Godspeed You Black Emperor.  It’s not one of their “real” songs per se (as it is just an outro) but it’s a nice indicator of their live show (which was one of the best live shows I’ve seen).

[READ: December 18, 2009] Shoulder-a-Coffin Kuro

I’m not sure how this book ended up in my house.  I was looking at a pile of graphic novels and there was this one.  I hadn’t really noticed it before and Sarah didn’t know anything about it, so…who knows.  Anyhow, I decided to just go ahead and read it.  It turned out to be my very first manga (awwww).  And it took me a few pages to understand the style at all.

Manga primer: First off it’s written right to left (so at first I wasn’t even sure where to start the book, as this one starts without a real “start”).  Then I realized that the 4-panel style means you read all four columns down on the right and then all four columns down on the left.  And, just to complete the culture shock, you read the speech balloons on the right of the panel before the ones on the left.  After about twenty or so pages it grew easier, and by the end it wasn’t an issue anymore.  But wow!

Oh, and for a little more confusion, there are occasional full color pages thrown in, but they aren’t chapter breaks or any special pages, they just seem to be in color.

So, anyhow, on to the story. (more…)

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Christopher Moore–You Suck: A Love Story (2007)

Posted in Adventure, Christopher Moore, Fantasy, Foxboro Hot Tubs, Funny (ha ha), Green Day, Sex, Supernatural, The Kinks, The Rutles, The Who, Threats, Vampires, Violence, YA Books on December 18, 2008| Leave a Comment »

yousuckSOUNDTRACK: FOXBORO HOT TUBS-Stop Drop & Roll!!! (2008)

fhtThis is the least cleverly concealed “side-project” in rock history.  At this point Billie-Joe Armstrong’s voice is so recognizable, that it’s impossible for him to hide.  But Foxboro Hot Tubs were a way for Green Day to release something different after their mega-successful American Idiot album.

I mean, how do you follow up a number-one reaching concept album?  Answer: drop all pretense, drop all complexity, and churn out a dozen songs that sound like they were written and recorded in your garage.

At first listen I didn’t like the album very much. Well, that’s not true.  I liked the first song, “Stop Drop and Roll” quite a bit, but the rest of the record got a little repetitive for me.  And, worst offense: they TOTALLY ripped off “You Really Got Me” by the Kinks for their song “Alligator.”  I mean, chord riffs, chord changes, even the chorus are so close as to be actually irritating.

It was only after listening more carefully that I realized that FHT rip off a lot more than the Kinks.  And, although not quite a pastiche like The Rutles, the ripping off is more of an homage/twist, rather than just cheesy thievery (because honestly, who thinks that Green Day could get away with ripping off the Kinks’ most popular song?)

On my last listen through I heard “I’m Not Your Stepping Stone” in “Sally,” “Roadrunner” in “She’s a Saint Not a Celebrity,” some earlier Green Day songs (like “When I Come Around” ) in “Pedestrian” and “Run Run Run” by the Who in “27th Ave. Shuffle”

After getting past those “influences” the album is mostly fun (especially the flute (!) solo in “Dark Side of the Night.”  They’re clearly not trying to write the next epic, they’re just cleansing their palette before their real follow up.  And, heck, the fact that it actually did quite well in radioland didn’t hurt either.  Foxboro Hot Tubs make some fun garage rock.

[READ: Winter 2008] You Suck

Christopher Moore’s book covers are very striking.  That’s not a good reason to read his books, though.  The titles are also pretty funny.  Which is also not a good reason to read his books.  It’s the content inside that is the reason to read him.  A little while ago I had read Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal and it was very fun indeed.  So, I picked up You Suck, which was his most current one at the time.

I didn’t realize it was a sequel to Bloodsucking Fiends until after I started reading it, but I didn’t find that to be a problem.  (more…)

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