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Archive for the ‘Romance’ Category

Simon Rich–“Amazing Proposal Stories” (New Yorker, October 13, 2014)

Posted in DJ Disk, Funny (ha ha), Invisibl Skratch Piklz, Metallica, New Yorker, Peter Gabriel, Primus, Romance, Stanley Clarke, The Police, The Reddings, XTC on January 16, 2015| Leave a Comment »

oct13SOUNDTRACK: PRIMUS-Rhinoplasty (1998).

Rhinoplasty_primusThis is a kind of follow-up EP to Miscellaneous Debris–a covers and live song compilation EP that runs 48 minutes.

While there are some of the same artists covered, there are also a few surprises.

XTC-“Scissor Man.”  I didn’t know the original of this song, but I like the cool bass and the chorus’ da da da da nyow”  They tack on about a minute and a half of extra nonsense at the end, but it’s a still a fun cover.  The original is quite similar (Primus should be commended for getting more people into XTC, although it’s a small shame that this song is on the same album a “Making Plans for Nigel”).  See the original:

Peter Gabriel-“The Family and the Fishing Net” is next and fortunately this song is off a different Peter Gabriel album (although it is also called Peter Gabriel)  The original of this song is 7 minutes long (Primus lops off 30 seconds).  The Primus version is quite faithful (which shows just how odd the PG version is).  You can compare here:

The first surprise (sort of) is their cover of Stanley Clarke’s “Silly Putty.” It’s obvious that Claypool is a huge fan of Stanley Clarke, it’s just an unusual sound to hear from Primus.  There’s some turntable scratching by Disk from the Invisibl Skratch Piklz.  The song is quite faithful to the original spirit (although the original had horns).

The next surprise is “Amos Moses” as done by Jerry Reed, a honky-stomping song if ever there was.  And their version is honky-stompin and pretty much right on to the original–a huge surprise to me.

The Police-“Behind My Camel” is an unusual choice –a Police song with no words?  It’s one of their weirder songs too, and Primus does it perfectly. (If not a bit heavier with more popping bass).

“Too Many Puppies” is the first song the Les ever wrote.  I believe that this is how it was originally written, although it is listed as a remix.  It sounds quite different–watery bass instead of popping bass and no I don’t like it as much.

Metallica-“The Thing That Should Not Be” is quite faithful to the original, even down to Les’ growly singing.  He says in the Primus book that he wished he had sung it more like himself and I kind of do too–I’d have liked to hear a bit more “Primus” in the version as well.  But it’s fun to hear them do other people’s songs reverentially.

There are two live bonus tracks.

“Tommy the Cat” is a fun wild live version–it has changed somewhat over the years–a little faster and Les’ singing is rather different.  This version is 9 minutes long.  The first part is the song proper (I love that Ler plays the same wild guitar sounds perfectly and Brain is perfect with the drums).  But this song also features a bass solo at around 3:31 (which is primarily Claypool playing the song “The Awakening” from his Holy Mackerel album (it’s a cover from the Reddings) and a drum solo at 5:30 (which is okay, nothing special).  By 7:30 the song more or less resumes till the end.

It blends right into a live version of “Bob’s Party Time Lounge” (from The Brown Album).  It’s one of my favorite recent songs from them  and the live version is quite good.

As with Debris, this is a really enjoyable stopgap–one that shows how normal the band can sound, but which also lets you see just what formed Primus.

[READ: January 12, 2015] “Amazing Proposal Stories”

In this one page story, Simon Rich gives us three “amazing” proposal stories.

The first one comes from Alice.

On Valentine’s Day her boyfriend did something really special, which involves a ship, the US Embassy and, uh, hostages.

The second one comes from Kayla. (more…)

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Joann Sfar & Emmanuel Guibert–The Professor’s Daughter (1997) [translated 2007]

Posted in Adventure, Alexis Siegel, Christmas Album, Egyptology, Elvis Presley, Emmanuel Guibert, Fantasy, First Second :01, Foreign Books, Funny (strange), Graphic Novel, Joann Sfar, Romance, The Blue Hawaiians, Translation, YA Books on December 17, 2014| Leave a Comment »

profSOUNDTRACK: THE BLUE HAWAIIANS-Christmas on Big Island (1995).

blue ha I was to get this disc used because I already knew one of their songs and I thought that a surfing Christmas album would be fun.

So I was pleased to add this to our collection.  But upon listening to it, I learned that while I enjoy surf guitar instrumentals, I do not enjoy the Hawaiian style of music popularized by Elvis.  This album features both of these types of songs.

The songs that I like include these instrumental surf guitar renditions: “Christmas Time is Here” (the Peanuts song); “White Christmas,” “Jingle Bells” (the guitar is a little too untamed for my liking in this version).  “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” is a good instrumental, but there’s a very lengthy middle section that makes the song too long.  “We Four Kings (Little Drummer Boy)” is my favorite track on the album and the one that made me look into more from them.  It’s a great surf guitar rendition of “We Three Kings” with some excellent tribal drumming as a segue into a surf version of “Little Drummer Boy.”

The vocal songs are fine, they’re just not my style.  “Jingle Jangle” and “Blue Christmas” are just way too Elvis-y for my liking (we actually just watched some of Blue Hawaii so it’s in my head).  “Big Island” stars with Hawaiian style drums which I like, then it turns into a kind of blues song.  “Mele Kalikamak” is my favorite song with vocals, probably because of its nontraditional nature (to me).  It ends with about 20 seconds of waves breaking.

“Enchanted Xmas” ends the disc with some Western sounding guitars and some cool wordless backing vocals.  It gives the whole thing an eerier (or enchanted) feel.  Pretty cool.

So something of a mixed bag, but a great album to select tracks for a fun Christmas mix.

[READ: December 15, 2014] The Professor’s Daughter

From the team who brought us Sardine comes this very different kind of story.  Interestingly, in this book, it is Sfar who wrote it and Guibert who drew it.  And I have to say I like it a lot more than the Sardine books (both in content and drawing style).

The story is quite unexpected.  As it opens, a young lady (in Victorian times) is seen stepping out with, well, with a mummy.  It turns out that he is Imhotep IV and she has taken him from his holding spot and is going about town with him.  (And no, it isn’t all a dream.  At least I don’t think it is).

They go out for tea (which makes him tipsy).  He causes all manner of mayhem, including offending someone who slaps his face and challenges him to a duel.  Later when the police come, the professor’s daughter takes matters into her own hands (which only makes the situation worse!).  A man is killed and the mummy is the suspect (which leads to a few very funny scenes). (more…)

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Alessandro Baricco–Silk (1996) [translated 1997]

Posted in Alessandro Baricco, Guido Waldman, Morality, Romance, Short Books, Silk, Stars, Translation, Travel on November 19, 2014| Leave a Comment »

silkSOUNDTRACK: STARS-Heart (2003).

stars I found out about Stars with their second album but I like their debut quite a lot too.  There’s a few songs that i don’t love, but overall the album is really solid.

The opening synths belie the beautiful guitar (and nice bass work) of “What the Snowman Learned About Love.”  Singer Torq’s voice is low and muted while other singer Amy Milan has gorgeous  harmony vocals.  “Elevator Love Later” features’ Milan on lead (for some verses)–the album really comes to life with this song.  It’s got a great chorus and a cool bass line that elevates the song above typical pop fare.

“Heart” has a melancholy piano riff (something Stars excel at) and some wonderfully poignant lyrics: “Sometimes the TV is like a lover, singing softly as you fall asleep.”  And yet it, once again, has a really catchy chorus (with lots of “All rights”).  “Woods” is mildly orchestral and has a plaintive vocal line and a sampled spoken word section (which I can’t identify).

“Death to Death” is one of my favorite Stars songs.  A slinky discoey song with Torq’s cool verses and Milan’s sultry “I am destroyer I am lover” chorus.  I love the sound of the next song (synthy flutes and the very clear guitar) that play throughout “The Vanishing” even though I don’t love the song.

“Romantic Comedy” surprises with its baritone guitar sound (instead of the sprightly synths), but the chorus is once again super catchy.  There’s some great lyrics in this song as well: “You’re not bad, but you were just badly raised,” and the chorus “don’t walk away then turn and say I love you anyway.”  “Time Can Never Kill the True Heart” is a beautiful song with a lovely sentiment.  “Look Up” is a pretty Amy Milan sung song.  I love the way the chorus’ words don’t pause for breath even though the song itself is not very fast.  “Life Effect” is pretty song sung by Torq (I really like when the guitars come to the fore even though I think of Stars primarily as a synth band).

stars other“Don’t Be Afraid to Sing” is the final song on the album,.  It’s a simple ballad, and once again the bass line is great–nothing fancy but it’s a great melody behind the guitars and vocals.  It’s got a great ending of an album sentiment: “We all come to an end / And we all end together.”

There’s a “bonus” track on my version of the album (cleverly hidden about 20 seconds after the previous song).  It has a with a great hidden bonus track title–“The Comeback.”  It actually sounds perfect with the album–an instance where a bonus doesn’t really feel tacked on.  It’s a nice addition if you can’t get enough of the band.

Incidentally, the American version has the reddish cover above, while the original cover is this black and white one down here.

[READ: November 17, 2014] Silk

I enjoyed Mr Gwyn so much that I wanted to read more by Baricco.  And when I saw that many of his books are so short, it  was easy to grab them and devour them.

I didn’t know anything about Silk–somehow I missed it when it came out.  It was even made into a movie, so it must have been a big important book (and it was a huge best seller).  So imagine my surprise to see that the book is 91 pages and that each chapter is basically one page (sometimes half a page).   And Baricco creates this beautiful, taut story that is really compelling, in what is really only about 70 pages of text.

I’ve admired Baricco’s ability to write gorgeous novellas, and this must be where it all started (his earlier books are somewhat longer than this).  The fact that none of his stories are about similar things is also pretty amazing.

This story is about a Frenchman who makes his fortune buying silkworm eggs and the lengths and distances he is willing to travel for them.  But it is also about something much more poignant. (more…)

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The Understudy (McCarter Theatre, Princeton NJ, October 15, 2014)

Posted in Adam Green, Danielle Skraastad, Funny (ha ha), JD Taylor, McCarter Theatre, Meta, Princeton, NJ, Romance, Set in New Jersey!, Spamalot, The Understudy, Theresa Rebeck on October 18, 2014| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 15, 2014] The Understudy

understudyI feel like we haven’t been attending as much live theater this year (this year was more about concerts), but I was happy that McCarter was showing this comedy (they just showed Antony & Cleopatra which I just was never quite in the mood for).  I got good seats and off we went.

I didn’t realize this was a preview performance (and what exactly that means I’m not sure–we saw a preview performance of Spamalot on Broadway and it was wonderful).  With our programs was a survey of things we liked/didn’t like or suggestions we might have about the show.  I though the show was wonderful and wouldn’t change anything.

The premise of the play is fantastic, especially if you like plays about the theater and acting.  The story is that one of the lead actors and his understudy are going to have a rehearsal of their upcoming play.  There are only three characters: the lead, the understudy and the stage manager.  Any behind the scenes type of story is bound to be funny, and so this was.  But what elevated this story to levels beyond a simple behind the scenes comedy was that the play the the actors are rehearsing for is a recently uncovered play written by Franz Kafka called The Man Who Disappeared.

The play is looking to be a huge success (Broadway loves Kafka!) especially since it stars two movie stars (there’s jokes about movie stars being on Broadway).  The main lead of the Kafka play is never seen, but we learn that he makes $20 million per picture.  The second lead is Jake–his recent film made $68 million in the first weekend and he is considered a major draw.  The understudy is Harry, a down on his luck artiste who is really happy to just get paid, even if he will likely never go on.  The third character is Roxanne.  She is the stage manager and she has a very compelling back story that is slowly revealed.

The fourth “character” is Laura. We never see Laura, but she is in charge of the lights and set during this rehearsal.  She is apparently high and is constantly causing trouble–missing light cues, bringing down incorrect sets.  For a nonexistent person, she is a highlight of the show. (more…)

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Prudence Shen & Faith Erin Hicks–Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong (2013)

Posted in Basketball, Django Django, Faith Erin Hicks, First Second :01, Funny (ha ha), Graphic Novel, Marriage Trouble, Prudence Shen, Robots, Romance, Set at School, Super Furry Animals, Technology, The Soundtrack of Our Lives on October 3, 2014| Leave a Comment »

 nothing canSOUNDTRACK: DJANGO DJANGO-Django Django (2011).

220px-Django_Django_Album_CoverI heard about this band when “Default” became a kind of alt rock standard.  It got a little overplayed, but there was something so catchy and yet so slightly odd about it that I really wanted to hear more.  So when I heard how catchy and fun “Hail Bop” proved to be, I knew it was time to check out the whole album.

And the album is full of quirky, delightful songs.  In fact, despite how weird the album cover art is, it actually represents the sounds of the album pretty well.  It’s a kind of arid looking desert but with a futuristic weird alien thing scampering amidst it.  Thus, there are acoustic twangy guitars underpinning the songs that are liberally sprinkled with oddball sci-fi sounds and tweaks of gloriously fun synths.

The album has a completely cohesive feel (which I believe comes from the sunny vibe and the beautiful harmonies), and yet there is a great amount of diversity in the music.  Many of the songs are synth heavy and catchy, but not dance rock at all.  “Waveforms” is a strange song with synths being manipulated over a heavy drum beat.  But it’s those vocals (especially in the chorus) that elevate the song above the mechanical nature of the music.  “Zumm Zumm” is even weirder with the kind of sci-fi effects that get thrown around, and yet that chorus once again is really pretty.  And “Default” sounds like it is skittering and repeating as it pounds away–a strange and infectious single.

But for all the weirdness, “Hail Bop” is a supremely catchy sweet song.  And “Firewater” is propelled by a low bass with acoustic guitars on top.   Reference points for me include Super Furry Animals and The Soundtrack of Our Lives, neither one glaringly obvious sign posts but they have that same harmony filled vibe.  See especially “Love’s Dart” another catchy song with a fun twangy Western feels.  There’s mellow guitar on “Hand of Man” and there’s a surf guitar stomper in “Wor” and more stomping drums in “Storm.”

My album contains some extra remixes.  I’m not a big fan of remixes so these are needless additions (and add about 20 minutes  to the total running time).  But that’s got little to do with the album itself, which is really a treat for fans of poppy quirky rock.

[READ: August 2014] Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong

Sarah gave me this book for my birthday because we both like Faith Erin Hicks (and we both like First Second books).  And I was not disappointed.

Obviously, a title like this leads you to conclude that everything will go wrong, and it pretty much does.  The cover image doesn’t quite convey what’s at stake in the story, although closer inspection reveals a kind of geeks (the ones with glasses) and cheerleader (the ones in uniforms) vibe.  Which this story certainly has.

Nate and Charlie are old friends.  Charlie is the captain of the basketball team and Nate is the president of the robotics club.  But unlike a typical pairing of these two types, Charlie is laid back and totally mellow while Nate is neurotic and angry with a huge chip on his shoulder.

As the story opens, Charlie has just been dumped by his girlfriend, the head cheerleader. Charlie doesn’t seem so upset by it but Nate is furious (as usual).  Of course, he is mostly furious because he thinks that Charlie is still with Holly and because the cheerleaders have declared war on the robotics team.  Specifically, they are trying to take the science funding to use for new uniforms (can this actually happen in school?  It happens in fictional schools all the time).  Obviously there’s nothing that Charlie can do about it, so he just goes home, allowing Nate to stew.

But mellow Charlie also has a dark storyline.  There’s a note from his dad telling him to call his mom to which he says “Yeah, that’s not happening.”  We learn a smattering of information about why Charlie is mad at his mom, and it is clear that their feud is going to build to a head before the story ends.  So tension is definitely present in the story. (more…)

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Karen Russell–“The Bad Graft” (New Yorker, June 9 & 16, 2014)

Posted in Foxygen, Huh?, Jefferson Airplane, Karen Russell, New Yorker, Romance, Short Story, The Flaming Lips, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, The Rolling Stones, The Velvet Underground, Trees on October 2, 2014| Leave a Comment »

jun9SOUNDTRACK: FOXYGEN-We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic (2013).

foxyI had no idea this was Foxygen’s third album (they have a new album out this week as well).  I had only heard of this because of NPR.  And I was delighted with the band’s utterly retro feel and sound–so much retro that it is almost too much.  But they do it with such flair that it works.  Indeed, the whole feeling of this album is one of sampling all of recent music history–with elements thrown in haphazardly (but effectively) and really celebrating a whole 60s/70s vibe with a sprinkling of modern technology.

“In the Darkness” is a 2 minute piano heavy track with horns, big swelling vocals chorals and all kinds of joy.  “No Destruction” though is where the retro sound really shines.  Sounding like a Velvet Underground track with a sweeter singer (who is no less blase).  Except that the chorus rises into a glorious hippie happiness.  It also features funny lines like the deadpan, “There’s no need to be an assshole you’re not in Brooklyn anymore.”

“On Blue Mountain” opens with a kind of Flaming Lips vibe (deep morphing voices counting down), but Sam France has a much higher pitched voice as he sings the slow intro.  Once the song kicks in faster, the real hippy vibe (combined with some Rolling Stones and some girlie backing vocals) kick in.  There’s even a big friendly chorus (that reminds me of “Suspicious Minds”).  After almost 4 minutes, the song shifts gears entirely into a raucous sing along  (with what sounds like a children’s choir).

After the manic intensity of “Mountain,” “San Francisco” emerges as a sweet delicate flute filled hippie song.  This was the first song I heard by them and I loved it immediately–the simple melody, the delicate (funny) female responses, the swelling strings. it was delightful.  “Bowling Trophies” is a weird little less than two-minute instrumental that leads to the glorious “Shuggie.”  “Shuggie” is the least hippie song on the album and screams more of a kind of French disco pop, with some wonderful lyrics.  The chorus is just a rollicking good time and the wah wah synth solo is terrific.  At three and a half minutes the song is just way too short, although it seems that anything that last longer than 4 minutes will shift gears into something else eventually anyway.

“Oh Yeah” brings in a staggered kind of sound, with some interesting breaks and stops.  It also inserts some doo-wop into it.  I love how the end once again shifts gears into a “freak out” with a wild guitar solo and fast drums.  The title song is fuzzy and distorted (the vocals are nearly inaudible).  It’s fast paced but still very retro sounding (Jefferson Airplane?) except for the modern electronic and guitar breaks.  And of course, the last minute is entirely different from the rest of the song, as well.

The album ends with “Oh No 2,” a five-minute track that begins as a slow swelling almost soundtrack song.  Indeed, when the spoken word part (“I was standing on the bed, birds were landing on my head”) emerges later on, it comes close to The Rocky Horror Picture Show (which is not a bad thing), including the piano outro (with slightly out of tune voice).

This whole album could just be an obnoxious rip off of old timey sounds, but instead it’s more like a fun reference point for those who know the music and just a fun good time for those who don’t.  And at something like 35 minutes, it never overstays its welcome.

[READ: September 17, 2014] “The Bad Graft”

This year’s Summer Fiction issue of the New Yorker was subtitled Love Stories.  In addition to all of the shorter pieces that were included in this issue, there were also four fiction contributions.

This was the final story in this issue and, sadly for me, it was the one I liked least.  It has three sections: I. Germination; II. Emergence; III. Establishment.  And while I enjoyed (mostly) section I., I really didn’t enjoy the turn the story took once it entered section II and the “plot” emerged.

The story opens with two young (actually not that young) lovers traveling towards Joshua Tree.  This couple is madly in love and are basically eloping.  Except, of course, that they don’t want to ever get married, so it is a symbolic elopement.  On their first date they had decided to run away together.  They left their homes in Pennsylvania more or less unannounced, took all their money and drove to the desert.

Andy and Angie, for that is what their names are, prepared well with Andy having, among other things a large knife (note to Chekovians).  After a few days they are startled to discover how expensive this road trip is.  But they are undaunted because they are in love.  Of course, they are also exhausted and perhaps a little on edge.

When they arrive at Joshua Tree, it is 106 degrees.  The park ranger informs them that they have arrived in time to see the yucca moths do their magic with the trees.  he calls it, the ‘pulse event.”  The entire range of Joshuas is in bloom and the moths are smitten.  This sounds exciting but it is also sad, as the Joshua Teees may be on the brink of extinction and this massive blossoming is like a distress call.

With all of this set up, it is a total surprise when half way through the section, the story informs is that “This is where the bad graft occurs.” (more…)

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Haruki Murakami–“Yesterday” (New Yorker, June 9 & 16, 2014)

Posted in Hanshin Tigers, Haruki Murakami, History, New Yorker, Nicotine, NOFX, Romance, Short Story, The Beatles on October 1, 2014| Leave a Comment »

jun9SOUNDTRACK: NICOTINE-“Yesterday” (2005).

dudeSince this story is about a guy making up words to “Yesterday,” I thought I’d find a cover of it.  Evidently there are several hundred covers to choose from, so I chose this one, from a band I didn’t know.

As you might judge by the cover, this is a punk version of the song.  But what a little research tells me is that Nicotine is a Japanese punk pop band.  And you can hear in Howie’s vocals that although his English is quite good, his accent shows up at certain moments.

The guitar starts out nicely, in a non-punk way.  Then when the vocals kicks in, you will either love it or hate it camp.  Howie’s voice is kind of whiny/bratty sounding, making the song either funny or irritating depending.

After the first verse, the band turns into the kind of fast pop punk that NOFX does–speedy drums, heavy guitars, etc.  Interestingly, his voice doesn’t speed up for the verses which makes the contrast all the more striking.

The album pictured above is indeed a full album of Beatles covers (the band seems to do a lot of covers), most of which are entertaining enough to listen to more than once.

[READ: September 17, 2014] “Yesterday”

As this story opens the narrator says

As far as I know, the only person to put Japanese lyrics to the Beatles song “Yesterday” (and to do so in the distinctive Kansai dialect, no less) was a guy named Kitaru.  He used to belt out his own version when he was taking a bath:

Yesterday
Is two days before tomorrow
The day after two days ago.

While “Yesterday” features prominently in the story, it is really a story of love and romance and friendship.  The narrator met Kitaru at the coffee shop where they worked.  There is a great deal of emphasis placed on Kitaru’s use of the Kansai dialect (which I know little about except to know that it is not the dialect of Tokyo).  The strange thing about Kitaru (well, one of the strange things) is that he was born in Tokyo.  But he adopted the Kansai dialect because he was a fan of the Hanshin Tigers.  He was such a big fan that he learned their dialect to be able to communicate with the fans when he went to the games.  (Learning Kansai is apparently like learning another language).  He was so into it, that he spoke it all the time.

The narrator, on the other hand, grew up speaking Kansai but after living in Tokyo for a month, he became fluent in Tokyo Standard (which also shows how odd it for Kitaru to do this).

This is mostly set up to show how odd Kitaru is.  Kitaru is a super nice guy and is clearly smart (if he learned the dialect), and yet he has failed his college entrance exam twice.  This is a problem because his girlfriend, the very pretty Erika, got into college on her first try, and he says he can’t date her properly unless he is also in college.  He and Erika have known each other for ever and are romantic without actually “doing ” anything.  He admits that he thinks of her almost like a sister and can’t imagine touching her in that way.  They are super close, and he considers her his girlfriend, but that’s it. (more…)

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David Gilbert–“Here’s the Story” (New Yorker, June 9 & 16, 2014)

Posted in David Gilbert, Funny (ha ha), History, Jefferson Airplane, Meta, New Yorker, Rainy Daze, Romance, Short Story, The Flamin' Groovies, The Peanut Butter Conspiracy on September 30, 2014| Leave a Comment »

jun9SOUNDTRACK: THE PEANUT BUTTER CONSPIRACY-“It’s a Happening Thing” (1967).

pncWho would have guessed that a band from 1967 would come up with a name that seems relevant in 2014 (what with all the peanut allergies).  But they didn’t have that on their minds when they named the band.

I’m not sure that I knew of this band (they are mentioned in this story–although I had heard of the Flamin’ Groovies, also mentioned), although by now they seem like an obvious touchstone.  Because this is a major hippie band.  Indeed, this song seems almost quintessentially hippie.  The title, obviously.  But also the (sixties) fuzzy guitar, the super funky bass, the group vocals (very Jefferson Airplane).  The wild solo with even more fuzz on the guitar.  I especially enjoy the descending vocal line at the end of the chorus.

It’s a fun song, although kind of forgettable (possibly because of the lyrics).  After the chorus, the most repeated line is “Love is the grooviest thing up til now in the world.”  Up til now?

A little research says that the production on their second album is less obviously hippie, but this seems to be their most notable song.

Peace Man.

[READ: September 17, 2014] “Here’s the Story”

This year’s Summer Fiction issue of the New Yorker was subtitled Love Stories.  In addition to all of the shorter pieces that were included in this issue, there were also four fiction contributions.

This story takes a look at an already extant story and finds a story beneath it.  I didn’t realize this until about two paragraphs from the end of the story when it all came clear.  And then in retrospect I realized that there were a lot of hints thrown into the story and either I should have figured that out or, more likely, Gilbert made the hints minor and casual so that, like me, a reader might realize what he or she missed at the end of the story.

I’m not going to give anything away about the story; however, at the end of this post I’m going to put some of the hints that made me tilt my head at the story which proved to pay off in the end).

But without that information, the story was compelling but also frustrating.  Gilbert starts out the story so that you know there will be a sad ending: “It ends with his right hand griping her left…the plane is on final approach.”  The two people, both married meet and think about having an affair.  Both of them are pretty unhappily married with children and living in California.  But the story is told as an impartial report: “we also know that seven weeks earlier the Los Angeles Dodgers played their final game of the season.” (more…)

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Ramona Ausubel–“You Can Find Love Now” (New Yorker, June 9 & 16, 2014)

Posted in Essays, Funny (ha ha), History, Homer, Humiliation, John Grant, Late Show with David Letterman, New Yorker, Ramona Ausubel, Romance, Technology on September 29, 2014| Leave a Comment »

jun9SOUNDTRACK: JOHN GRANT-“GMF” (live on The Late Show with David Letterman) (2014).

grantI was introduced to John Grant with this song.  And since the G stands for Greatest and the MF stands for what you think it does, I was really surprised to hear that he played this live on Letterman (Grant’s network TV debut, no less).

He sounds great live (his voice is rather gentle for such a song title).  He has a full band but the song is primarily acoustic guitar with swells of keys.  The backing vocals on the later verses really flesh out the song.  And it is immensely catchy.  I’ve been singing it to myself for days.

But the best part of course are the lyrics.

In the first chorus of this version he dares to sing the dreaded MF words, which get silenced (sophisticated recording keeps the music playing though).  The rest of the choruses he changes it to “I am the greatest living creature” which I find funny and possibly even better.  I also love the way the percentage of laughing you could be doing decreasing as the song ends.

They edited down the song (the original over 5 minutes), removing a middle section that adds dimension to the song, but is not missed in this version.

Even Letterman enjoyed it, saying those same bleeped words at the end of the song.  It’s a great live performance

[READ: September 17, 2014] “You Can Find Love Now”

This year’s Summer Fiction issue of the New Yorker was subtitled Love Stories.  In addition to all of the shorter pieces that were included in this issue, there were also four fiction contributions.

Interestingly, this one was very short as well (possibly shorter than some of the essays).

This story actually reads like a Shouts & Murmurs piece.  It is a funny conceit dragged to its logical ends.  In this case, the story pokes fun at online dating.

The story opens with a pitch from the dating company saying that after creating a profile, within 24 hours “you’ll be on your way to eternal happiness.”  The first joke comes when the profile creator writes, “Find me at cyclops15.  Cyclops 1-14 were taken.”  Then in his second typed section we learn that, indeed, he is really a cyclops: “I am eight feel tall and I have one giant eye.” (more…)

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Colm Tóibín–“Stories” (New Yorker, June 9 & 16, 2014)

Posted in Colm Tóibín, Destroy Tomorrow 666, Essays, Funny (ha ha), History, LGBTQ, New Yorker, Patrick Pentland, Romance, Sloan on September 26, 2014| Leave a Comment »

jun9SOUNDTRACK: DESTROY TOMORROW 666-“Distortasaur” (2005?).

6666Destroy Tomorrow 666 is a DJ project from Sloan’s Patrick Pentland.  I had never heard of it until reading about him recently (Sloan has a new album out).  It is Pentland’s Alternative / Electro / Punk outlet that he’s been doing since 2005.

Pentland is known for writing gorgeous pop songs with wonderful harmonies.  But he grew up listening to hardcore punk, so his musical tastes are all over the place.  This track (I love the name) is, like the others here, a distorted fuzzy “dance” song that is all instrumental and not poppy at all.

While I’ll stick with Sloan, I imagine this was a lot of fun to whip together.  And yes, I think it’s very good dark dance music.  Although surely if he was going to use 666 he could have turned Pentland into Pentagram.

You can check it out at ReverbNation.

[READ: June 17, 2014] “Stories”

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.

Colm Tóibín is a prolific writer whom I know very little about.

In this essay, Tóibín flashes back to 1978 when he was 23 and living in Barcelona.  He had been there for a few months when he heard about a cheap charter flight back to Ireland.  So he packed up and got out of Barcelona and returned to his home.

He often wonders what would have happened had he stayed in Spain.  He most likely would have stayed with the guy he was seeing, spending days on the beach and nights in the boy’s apartment in the city.  He even thinks he might never have gone home.

After he left, they kept in touch for a time, then inevitably, they lost touch.  (more…)

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