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Archive for the ‘Radio’ Category

Tobias Wolff–“Beautiful Girl” (New Yorker, June 9 & 16, 2014)

Posted in Black Sabbath, Budgie, Essays, Funny (ha ha), History, Humiliation, Metallica, New Yorker, Romance, Rush, Sex, Tobias Wolff, WXPN 88.5 FM--Philadelphia, PA on September 25, 2014| Leave a Comment »

jun9SOUNDTRACK: BUDGIE-“Breadfan” (1973).

budgieI am pretty much wholly ignorant of Budgie. I know this song “Breadfan” because Metallica covered it back on one of their covers EPs. I really Metallica’s version, but since that was pre-internet, I was never able to explore Budgie more.  And then I forgot about them.

Well, just the other night, WXPN played “Breadfan” (as part of a 70s power trio segment) and I was shocked at how high-pitched Burke Shelley’s voice was (the comparisons to Rush are apt).  And I was also surprised at how heavy this song was.  While Black Sabbath had certainly been releasing heavy albums up until this time, this song introduced a much faster element.  And there were only three members in the band!

What’s also interesting is the prog rock leanings in some of their songs, like the middle of this one.  The fact that Roger Dean did this album cover and that they have a 10 minute song on this album seems to lean towards prog rock as well).

Time to dig deep in to the Welsh band’s catalog, I think.

[READ: June 17, 2014] “Beautiful Girl”

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 like that all five writers have slight variations in how they deal with this topic.

Wolff surprises (me anyhow) by saying that when he was fifteen, he cut off the last joint of his left ring finger.  This piece of information just sort of lingers there until the end of the story.

Because he then talks about how he never really had a girlfriend.  In sixth grade he and his friend Terry would meet Terry’s cousin Patty and another girl in the movie theater and they would pair up and make out (clearly Terry did not make out with his cousin).   But they pairings were never seen in public and never went on a further date.

But later that winter his family moved to the Cascades, where the elementary school had all of four rooms.  There were ten kids in his class and nine were boys.  The one girl, Nevy, drove them all crazy. She favored one then the other but her real love was horses not boys. (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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Kate DiCamillo–The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane (2006)

Posted in Adventure, Bagram Ibatoulline, Barry Louis Polishar, Children's Books, Death, Ham and Burger, Hobo, Kate DiCamillo, Kids Corner, Revenge, Short Books, South, Trains on September 9, 2014| Leave a Comment »

edwardSOUNDTRACK: HAM AND BURGER-“Don’t Put Your Finger in Your Nose” (2010).

tributeCoverA very serious and sad book needs a very silly song to accompany it.

I heard this on Kids Corner last night and it led me to this tribute album to Barry Louis Polishar, an artist whom I’ve never heard of (and am not sure why he has a tribute album to him, but whatever).

The title of the song tells you all you need to know.  But I enjoyed the way it went beyond the nose, into other body parts where you shouldn’t put your finger–eyes, ears, throat.  As with most kid’s songs, this one is short.  And when it starts to fade out at around a minute fifty seconds, you think it’s over.

But they add an extra chorus and then a final punchline which is really funny.  Check it out at this link to the Tribute to Barry Louis Polisar record.

[READ: September 8, 2014] The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

The students entering fourth grade in our town were supposed to read this book over the summer. Clark’s teacher actually read the book to them last year, and he was disinclined to read it again.  So I offered to read the book to everyone in the family.  I figured if it was important enough for all the kids to read, maybe I should read it, too.  He said he really didn’t like it, but I persisted and read it to everyone anyway.

And I totally understand why he didn’t like it.

Although the cover looks kind of haunting (the illustrations by Bagram Ibatoulline are awesome), I didn’t realize just how dark this book could get–all in the name of love.

I’ve never read anything else by Kate DiCamillo so I don’t know if this is typical of her work.  But man, is it a tear-jerker.

The book itself is rather short.  It’s 200 pages, but there’s a lot of pictures and the type was very large.  And it read fairly quickly, perhaps because it was so episodic.  Before I get on to the story, I want to say how beautiful the illustrations are.  The chapter headings are wonderful grayscale drawings, and the occasional full color plates are stunning.  Very dark and foreboding and at times a little creepy, but very evocative of an older time.

The strange thing is that the book is summarized pretty well on the jacket, as well as in the book’s coda.  So, if you prepare yourself in any way, you might expect just how low Edward has to go before the miracle happens. (more…)

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Clifford Riley–Operation Trinity [The 39 Clues: Cahill Files #1] (2012)

Posted in Adventure, Clifford Riley, Death, Fears, Greed, History, Jan Van Eyck, Mystery, Religion, Short Books, Spies, Threats, Travel, Violence, WFMU 91.9 FM--Jersey City, NJ on August 24, 2014| Leave a Comment »

trinitySOUNDTRACK: GREASY KID STUFF–WFMU 91.9, New York City (1997-2006).

grekidIn my vast exploration of Greasy Kid Stuff (seriously, at least 15 minutes at work), I found the WFMU website.  It turns out that Greasy Kid Stuff, the radio show broadcast weekly from WFMU from 1997 until 2006.  Then they moved to Portland and couldn’t manage the remote connections properly, so the show ended on WFMU.

The good news is that you can hear weekly playlists of all of the shows from 2000-2006 on the playlist page.  They have playlists that date back to the beginning, but there’s only audio starting in 2000.  The bad news is that you the shows are all archived in Real Audio.  Which, I don’t know, may or may not really work anymore.

But for a historical look at a funny and weird kids show check out the archives, and if you still have Real Player, give it a listen.

[READ: June 17, 2014] Operation Trinity

The Cahill Files were a series of “books from the vault” of the Cahill family.  They were originally released as e-books and some of them have been collected as print books.  The first was Operation Trinity.  And like Vespers Rising, it chronicles the history of the Cahill Family.

The story is broken into three parts, each one chronicling the “life” of a painting.  The painting in question is Jan Van Eyck’s altarpiece (see bottom of post for picture of it). The first part is set in Ghent in 1566.  In reality, the painting was finished in the 15th century and was installed in the Saint Bavo Cathedral.

The story follows Matheus Jacobs, an ordinary, some might say even less than ordinary, boy whose family doesn’t seem to think all that much of him.  Until one day when his mother says that she wants him to become an altar boy so he can protect this altarpiece from the Vespers.  (His father doesn’t think he is worthy, but she disagrees).  He doesn’t know why his mother chose him, or what his mother has to do with anything like this, until she reveals that she can speak several languages and is well versed in the history of the Vespers.  He rides his untrusty mule to the church, where he marvels at the beautiful painting.

He soon meets Father Gerard who sends him on an errand.  While away, he hears a man inciting a mob against the church.  The mob grows incensed, as mobs do, and sets out trying to weed out the Catholics in the village.  Matheus is freaked because they are heading for his home village.  And when he arrives, he sees that the mob is trying to burn down his house.  In the fracas, one of his family members is killed, and the rest of his family insist that he head back to the protect the altarpiece because the Vespers are behind the mob and they are headed for the church. (more…)

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Patrick Jennings–We Can’t All Be Rattlesnakes (2009)

Posted in Children's Books, Death, KNRK 94.7--Portland, OR, Patrick Jennings, Pets, Short Books, Supernatural, They Might Be Giants, Video Games on August 23, 2014| Leave a Comment »

rattleSOUNDTRACK: THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS-“Greasy Kid Stuff” (2013).

3This song was recorded especially for the Greasy Kid Stuff radio show and appears on Greasy Kids Stuff Vol 3.

It starts out like a very TMBG song–with funny lyrics (by John L) over a simple keyboard melody.  The lyrics are about his unruly hair (it needs some schooling).  But it quickly turns into a plea to the radio for songs about Greasy Kid Stuff!

The chorus sounds very “rock n roll” (with old style backing vocals).

It’s only 1:40 and it’s the kind of song TMBG seems to be able to whip out in a couple of minutes.  But it’s really quite catchy.  It’s nice to get some new fun from John and John and the Dans.

[READ: August 11, 2014] We Can’t All Be Rattlesnakes

Indeed we cannot all be rattlesnakes. Even the main character of this book, a gopher snake, can’t be one, despite how much she looks like one.

The gopher snake is unnamed because even though she is the main character, she has just been captured by a boy named Gunnar.   Well, actually he calls her Crusher, but that’s not her name, and she refuses to acknowledge it (especially since she doesn’t crush her prey, she asphyxiates it).  We see everything that happens to her from her own eyes. This allows us to see everyday human items (like a video game console) as completely foreign.

Gunnar is a kinda dumb, kinda violent boy, at least that’s what the other captive animals claim (reptiles can communicate telepathically, you know).  Speedy the tortoise and Rex the lizard tell Crusher all about how things are in this house.

Gunnar plays violent video games, disobeys his mom, has dumb friends and refuses to accept that Crusher is a girl.  At first Crusher is really angry about being captured and she vows revenge.  Not only won’t she eat the dead mouse he puts in there with her, she refuses to eat the live mouse he puts in there with her.  In fact the mouse, named Breakfast, becomes quite taken with Crusher, and cuddles up next to her. (more…)

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Patrick Jennings–Guinea Dog 2 (2013)

Posted in C., Children's Books, Dogs, Gloria Balsam, KNRK 94.7--Portland, OR, Patrick Jennings, Short Books, Supernatural, T., Unlikable main character on August 20, 2014| Leave a Comment »

gd2SOUNDTRACK: GLORIA BALSAM-“Fluffy” (1983).

wwrThis song is also on Greasy Kid Stuff 3 (I was disappointed to realize that I couldn’t find all that many of the other songs online).  But when I found the video for it, it had also been gathered on a compilation called The Rhino Brothers Presents The World’s Worst Records.

The song is about the narrator trying to find her missing dog, Fluffy.  In all honesty I don’t know if she ever found the dog because her voice is so (intentionally, I hope) off-key and distracting that it’s hard to pay attention to what she is saying  The music is a big sweet ballad, which is completely undermined by her voice.

I suppose this is funny, but I’m honestly not sure what to make of it and I don’t intend to listen to it again to find out.  Maybe that Greasy Kid Stuff album isn’t as desirable as I thought.

[READ: August 3, 2014] Guinea Dog 2

When I picked up Guinea Dog, I also grabbed Guinea Dog 2.  Since the kids enjoyed the first one so much that we started #2 right away.

This book picks up right where the first one left off. It may even be the next day.  Everyone has learned about Fido and her amazing tricks (thanks mostly to Dmitri taking a video and threatening to show it on YouTube).  And Lurena is so totally in love with her (she has offered to take her home many many times, but Rufus keeps refusing).  Heck even his dad seems to like her now.  Rufus has had it with the attention.

So he decides to stop playing with her like a dog.  He doesn’t let her out of the cage as much.  He stops treating her like a dog too–he wants to untrain her, to make her a proper guinea pig.

Now, like in the first book where I didn’t understand the motivations behind Rufus’ actions, here again I don’t get it.  No matter how much he hates the attention, how can he not think that having a guinea dog is awesomely cool.  (We have guinea pigs and they are certainly cute but they are not awesomely cool).  So the more he protests and tries to hide how cool she is the more weird it seems to me (and to his friends).

Murphy of course wants to get a guinea dog just like Fido, even the wicked Dmitri wants to buy her from him.  And rodent loving Lurena would do anything to own her.  But Rufus doesn’t want to give her away, he just wants her to be normal.  Which I guess is motivation enough, I suppose. (more…)

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Patrick Jennings–Guinea Dog (2010)

Posted in C., Children's Books, Dogs, Kids Corner, KNRK 94.7--Portland, OR, Patrick Jennings, Short Books, Supernatural, T., Unlikable main character on August 19, 2014| Leave a Comment »

gdSOUNDTRACK: KEY WILD & MR. CLARKE-“Favorite Names” (2012).

wild This is a simple song (as kids songs should be).  But what appealed immediately was the big fuzzy guitar that introduces the song.  Lyrically it’s very simple: a list of the singer’s favorite names (all of which start with the letter J).  After repeating them twice, a voice asks about girls names, and we get a few J fronted  girls names.

The twist comes with the next verse when it is sung “en Espanol” and a new collection of Spanish names crop up (with the rest of the words in Spanish, too).  And then they switch the en Francais.  It’s multilingual!

greasyI found out about Key Wild & Mr Clarke from WXPN, but I see that this song comes from an album that sounds awesome: Greasy Kids Stuff 3, a collection of songs from KNRK in Portland.  The collection sounds great and I’ll mention more songs from it this week.

[READ: July 31, 2014] Guinea Dog

I was unfamiliar with Patrick Jennings when I grabbed this book.  The title sounded intriguing, especially since we own guinea pigs.  Interestingly, after reading this book we read several other Patrick Jennings books, so this will be like Patrick Jennings week here at I Just Read About That.  I enjoyed reading this book to the kids, and they found it rather funny as well.

Guinea Dog is about a boy named Rufus. All he wants is a dog.  He would like a big, friendly, fast, funny dog.  Like the one his best friend has.  In fact, he would love his best friend’s dog.  The problem is that his father hates dogs. He hates them big time.  He has a list of reasons why he hates dogs and that list goes on for two pages (and it was fun to read aloud).

Rufus’ father is an anal retentive, stay at home annoyance (a little over the top frankly, but it works for dramatic comeuppance, right?) who needs everything to be perfectly clean and who doesn’t want to be bothered while he is working.  And there is no way he will cave on the dog thing.

Rufus’ mom looks for a way to make things better, so she buys Rufus a pet.  The pet is…  a guinea pig.  Rufus is devastated.  He decides to mock the guinea pig by naming her Fido.  Rufus and his dad finally agree on one thing–they want the guinea pig taken back to the store.  But when they go look for Petopia, the store is gone, without a trace.  They are stuck with Fido.

But very soon, Fido starts acting like a dog.  She makes little barking sounds, she plays, she catches Frisbees (sort of), she runs with him, she fetches things.  She does everything a dog can do.  Frankly, she is amazing (I certainly looked askance at my guinea pigs after reading this).

And yet, Rufus doesn’t want anyone to see this creature.  He doesn’t like having attention drawn to himself (unlike his best friend who is a major attention hound). So he doesn’t want anyone to know about Fido’s skills.  But of course Fido is a playful, outgoing creature (who follows hm to school one day).  And soon, more and more people are aware of Fido. (more…)

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McSweeney’s #44 (2012)

Posted in Adventure, Andrei Codrescu, Andrew Palmer, Baseball, Baynard Woods, Ben Katchor, Bill McKibben, Bill Morrison, Books about writers, Dance, David Hockney, Death, Depression, Dogs, Drugs, Errol Morris, Essays, Geoff Dyer, James Stephen George Boggs, Jenny Shank, Jessica Hopper, Jim Shepard, Joe Meno, Jonathan Lethem, Lauren Redniss, Lawrence Weschler, McSweeney's, Mike Sacks, Monty Python's Flying Circus, Peter Vermeersch, Prison, Rachel Cohen, Rebecca Curtis, Revenge, Ricky Jay, Riva Lehrer, Rob Curran, Ryan Mrozowski, Sex, Short Story, Simon Rich, Stuart Dybek, Stuart Glover, Tom Barbash, Violence, Walter Murch, Wells Tower, Wendy Lesser, Wesley Allsbrook, WNYC--93.9 New York on May 26, 2014| Leave a Comment »

44SOUNDTRACK: WNYC SOUNDCHECK GIG ALERTS (2009-).

soundcheck There are so many places to listen to free music.  But i prefer places where you can (legally) download free music.  So here’s a place I’ve just discovered: WNYC Radio’s website which features a section called “Gig Alerts.”  The feature talks about a different interesting band playing that night (in New York).  After a small blurb, there is (almost always) a free downloadable track.   There’s twenty listings per page and 86 pages.  Do the math and that’s a lot of songs.

The feature covers virtually every genre, although there is a preponderance of alt- and indie- rock (mostly lesser known bands).  If you are interested in new (to you) music and in exploring different artists, this is a great resource for a ton of free music.  So, check out Gig Alerts here.

[READ: May 20, 2014] McSweeney’s #44

I was pretty pleased with myself when I got caught up on the McSweeney’s issues.  But I remember wanting to take a break when this one came in.  I now see it has been almost a year since I read the last issue.  So the break was too long and now I have three issues to catch up on again.  Sigh.  But this one proved to be a great issue to return on.

This is a pretty quintessential issue of McSweeney’s.  It’s got letters, some fiction, a special section dedicated to Lawrence Weschler (which includes a lot of art), and a cool, interesting section of plates with full color art.  It’s also got an interestingly designed hardcover with a kind of raw cardboard in the back, a slightly raised colorful section for the spine and then a further raised section for the giant 44 on the front cover.

LETTERS (more…)

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Christopher Ford–Stickman Odyssey, Book 2: The Wrath of Zozimos (2012)

Posted in Adventure, Alternate Reality, C., Children's Books, Christopher Ford, Fables, Funny (ha ha), Golems, Graphic Novel, Homer, Justin Roberts, Kids Corner, Phineas and Ferb, YA Books on April 13, 2014| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: stickman2JUSTIN ROBERTS-“Pop Fly” (2008).

popflyThis is a wonderful pop song from Justin Roberts.  Roberts is regarded as a top-notch children’s song writer.  I hadn’t heard him before, but i was totally sold by this one.

It’s a poppy almost dancey song–it certainly makes you want to move around, anyway.  There’s a catchy acoustic guitar and a fast beat and Roberts’ voice is really solid and warm.  Interestingly I didn’t even realize this song was about baseball when I heard it on the radio (I missed the song title).  I was totally hooked by the pa pa pa pa pa pa chorus.

And there’s a great third section of the song that changes the mood but not the tempo.  This reminds me a bit of Ralph’s World, but a bit…more full, perhaps?  Or maybe like something from Phineas and Ferb.  I’m going to have to check out more from him.

Oh, and the video, while cheaply made, is quite funny when the chorus kicks in.

[READ: April 8, 2014] Stickman Odyssey, Book 2

I enjoyed Book 2 of this series more than Book 1. It felt like it had a little more plot and was a little less slavish to the original myths.  or maybe I just like quests.

The story starts in the middle, with Nestor having captured Zozimos and having tied him up for failing to avenge Sticatha (which was Nestor’s plan all along).  He says that Zozimos has been doing nothing all this time. But Zozimos says no, he has been on an epic adventure.

Which brings us to where book one left off.

Praxis (the strongest man in the world) Atrukos (a guy who looks like a frog) and Zozimos set off to find a piece of the sky.  In book one, Praxis had knocked a piece of the sky out when he hurled a cyclops at it.  He wanted to retrieve it to prove to his love that he was actually a worthwhile person.  This story is left all of a sudden (in a very funny way) so they can help Atrukos with the witch who cursed him before Book 1 even started.  That’s when Nestor captured Zozimos, as he was on his way to help Atrukos. (more…)

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Christopher Ford–Stickman Odyssey, Book 1: An Epic Doodle (2011)

Posted in Adventure, Alternate Reality, C., Children's Books, Christopher Ford, Danny Weinkauf, Davy Jones, Fables, Funny (ha ha), Golems, Graphic Novel, Homer, Kids Corner, They Might Be Giants, YA Books on April 12, 2014| Leave a Comment »

stickman1SOUNDTRACK: DANNY WEINKAUF-“Archaeology” (2014).

noschoolDanny Weinkauf is one of the Band of Dans that plays with They Might Be Giants.  In 2014 he successfully funded a Kickstarter campaign to create his solo album, No School Today.  (I knew nothing about the Kickstarter campaign).

The album comes out this month and I have to say I really like what I’ve heard so far.  This song has been played on Kids Corner a lot.  It’s very catchy and reminds me of good indie pop music.  There’s even a feel of 70s British pop (or like Davy Jones singing).  It’s super catchy.  The chorus and the oft-repeated “arc” “arc” “arc” before “archaeology” can be a bit much at the end of the song, but for the most part this is a real winner.

Danny also wrote “I am a Paleontologist” from They Might Be Giants Here Comes Science album, so his bona fides are good.  And the lyrics are clever and smart, too:

Archaeology It’s human evolution From the Caveman to you and me analyzing their solutions (yeah now)
/Archaeology the secrets they left for us We can study activities Of those who came before us

[READ: April 7, 2014] Stickman Odyssey, Book 1

While I was looking for Stickdog books for C., I came across Stickman.  There are two books in this series (with book two being set up for a third, but no sign of it yet).

This book is a kind of spoof of Homer’s Odyssey, but not really. It is set in the time of the ancient Greek gods and some of those gods make appearances.  Even the style is done in a generically Homeric epic storytelling style.  But none of the characters from Homer appear.  This is an alternate reality of sorts.  The Great Whirlpool exists (shades of Scylla and Charybdis), but so does Candy Island and a place called Odonoros and Stickman’s home world of Sticatha (which made me laugh once I pronounced it correctly).  So, you don’t need familiarity with Homer to appreciate this, indeed, it kind of confused me at first because I wasn’t sure if I should be looking for parallels.

Stickman’s name is the awkward Zozimos (which I want to be significant but can’t figure out any reason why it would be).

The gods do play with the humans, though.  On the second page we see that Athena wields a giant pen and makes Zozimos a raft while he is struggling in the ocean.  Days later he lands on what he thinks is Sticatha, but no, he lands on an island with fair maidens.  He tries to charm one of them, Asteria, but is immediately grabbed by a golem and dragged to jail.  The evil King Marnox imprisons every castaway who lands on the island–he has his reasons.

But Asteria is mad that her father is locking up all of these eligible men, so he brings Zozimos out of the jail for him to tell his story.  And it is…epic! (more…)

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