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Archive for the ‘Set at School’ Category

Danny Gregory–Change Your Underwear Twice a Week: Lessons from the Golden Age of Classroom Filmstrips (2004)

Posted in Black Flag, Bob Mould, Danny Gregory, Dip-in Books, Funny (ha ha), Grant Hart, Hüsker Dü, Minnesota, Outer Space, Racism, Set at School, Short Films, Work on July 12, 2009| Leave a Comment »

changeSOUNDTRACK: HÜSKER DÜ-New Day Rising (1985).

new dayAfter Zen Arcade, who would have guessed that Hüsker Dü would finally release a regular album…not live, not an EP, not a double record, just a standard platter of 40 minutes of music.

For the longest time, “New Day Rising” was one of my favorite songs.  I think its simplicity combined with its basic absurdity really struck a chord with me.  It starts with a  pummeling drum and then is all distorted guitars chugging away at a single chord while Bob Mould screams, really screams “new day RI-sing” over and over again.  The chord changes from time to time and eventually Grant Hart busts in with backing chanting and hollering while Mould gets even more berserk with his screams.  And then it ends.  Just like that.  Two and a half minutes of noisy bliss.

That fuzzy guitar is a really a trademark of Hüsker Dü, something I tend to forget when I think about the songs themselves.  I’m not sure what Mould did with his settings, but his guitar is always loud, kind of tinny and heavy on the distortion.  It’s a good way to mask some simple pop songs as raging punk.

And the songs on New Day Rising are quite poppy. Grant Hart continues his great songwriter streak with “The Girl Who Lives on Heaven Hill” and the ridiculously poppy “Books About UFOs,” while Mould’s pop side is really starting to peek through: “I Apologize” and “Celebrated Summer” hit some great poppy strides (and the distorted guitar is toned down a little bit too).

There’s also another favorite: the weird and creepy “How to Skin a Cat.”  It’s something of a nonsense/throwaway song and yet the music is so weird that they must have had a lot of fun playing it.  “Feed the cats to the rats and the rats to the cats and get the cat skins for nothing.”  The song also makes me think of SST records in general.  If you follow music labels, SST was the home to some seminal punk bands like Black Flag and Hüsker Dü, but they also had a lot of weird punky-California bands.  And all the records have a similar soud quality.  “How to Skin a Cat” to me is the encapsulation of the SST sound.

SST is also a thorn in everyone’s side because they won’t release any of the Hüsker’s disc for remastering. I wonder what a remastered Hüsker disc would sound like? Would it still be as noisy and tinny?

[READ: July 3, 2009] Change Your Underwear Twice a Week

When we went visiting my brother-in-law in Vermont, he took us to an awesome local bookstore called Brown Dog Books.  Sarah and I made sure to do our part for the local economy.  One of the books that I bought was this one.  Tim was also very interested in reading it, as would anybody else who grew up in the 60s and 70s.

As the subtitle suggests, this is a book that looks at a number of the filmstrips shown in grade school. (more…)

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David Foster Wallace–[Week 3] Infinite Jest (1996)

Posted in Allstonians, Big Books, Books about writers, Boredom, Boston, MA, Canadian Content, Consumerism, Corporate skewering, David Foster Wallace, Drinking, Drugs, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Infinite Summer, James Joyce, Morrissey, Pearl Jam, Postmoderism, Prison, R.E.M., Racism, Religion, Russell Brand, Set at School, Smarty Pants, Suicide, The Smiths, WYYY 109 FM: The Largest Whole Prime on the FM Band on July 10, 2009| 2 Comments »

jesySOUNDTRACK: MORRISSEY-Years of Refusal (2009).

years ofI’ve been a fan of The Smiths for years.  And I think that Morrissey’s debut, Viva Hate, is on par with much of the Smiths’ catalogue.  Over the years his output has been mixed, but with Years of Refusal he comes fighting back with a really solid disc.  The disc is so good that if one had no idea of who he was, one could easily get into it with no preconceived notions of Morrissey, The Smiths or any of that glorious past.

From the start, the disc rocks out. That’s right, Morrissey totally rocks, with a real attitude.  “Something is Squeezing My Skull,” in addition to being quite funny, has one of Moz’s most loudly sung choruses in like, forever.  The martial beat of “Mama Lay Softly on the Riverbed” showcases Moz’s “political” songwriting without ever losing its catchiness.  “I’m Throwing My Arms Around Paris” is a pretty classic Morrissey song, complete with a simple picking guitar riff.

“All You Need Is Me” has some great squeaky guitars and recalls Morrissey’s own “I Don’t Mind If You Forget Me”), while “When Last I Spoke to Carol” has a Mexican feel, which is different for him.  And “That’s How People Grow Up,” the single, has one of those classic Morrissey lines in which he subverts expectations with a left-field word choice: “So yes there are things worse in life than never being someone’s sweetie.”

The end of the album is full of longer songs which tends to skew the rollicking feel of the disc. (In the first 8 songs only 3 are over 3 minutes while the last 4 songs are each over 4 minutes).  Nevertheless, “It’s Not Your Birthday Anymore” is a wonderfully caustic song and the album closer, “I’m OK By Myself” is just fantastic, and I find myself singing “I don’t need you, or your morality” because they way he sings it gets stuck in my head for days.

There’s also a bonus disc which includes an interview with Russel Brand which is very funny indeed.

Welcome back Morrissey.  Well done, sir.

[READ: Week of July 6, 2009]  Infinite Jest (to page 227).

While looking for this cover of Infinite Jest (the one that I most associate with the book even though I never owned a copy with this cover), I noticed that Powell’s Books is selling a first edition hardcover copy of IJ for $450. The copy that I am currently reading is also a first edition hardcover.  If anyone wants to send me like $400 for it, just let me know!

On my Week Two post, I had a comment that criticized me for giving out spoilers.  While I disagree, I will preface this and future posts by saying that I will certainly be discussing what has happened in the week’s read (including footnotes endnotes and future footnotes endnotes if they are referred to in current footnotes endnotes), I will not intentionally reveal any spoilers.

On to Week 3 of Infinite Summer.  And at this point I not only feel good about the book, I feel somewhat refreshed. This whole week’s worth of reading has been fairly easy and often very funny.  We’re past the initial shock that you’re running a marathon, and are into that 3rd or 4th mile where you just start to feel good and enjoy the scenery.  I also hate to admit this, but I really want to peek ahead into the next week’s reading.  But no, I am going to pace myself!

I also have a question for faithful readers who are actually trying to map the location of the book.  I lived in Brighton, MA, very close to Boston College as well as in a location nearer to Allston, MA.  I have a vague sense of exactly where Enfield is supposed to be located, but if anyone has used the details in the book to map out where Enfield would be, do pass it along (someone has probably created a Google Map for it, but I haven’t actually checked).

This week’s reading had a lot of lengthy sections that focused on one person/issue for multiple pages which is either great or terrible depending on how you like this book broken up.  And TA DA!  The Chronology is spelled out very clearly! (more…)

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David Foster Wallace–[Week 2] Infinite Jest (1996)

Posted in Big Books, Consumerism, Corporate skewering, Dave Eggers, David Foster Wallace, Drugs, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Gangsters, Hawaii Five-0, Hüsker Dü, Hill Street Blues, Infinite Summer, Meta, Postmoderism, Set at School, Suicide, Technology, The Who on July 2, 2009| 7 Comments »

jestSOUNDTRACK: HÜSKER DÜ-Zen Arcade (1984).

zen arcadeWhen I was younger and more amused by things like this, it amused me that Hüsker Dü’s first three records were a live album an EP and a double album.  They just couldn’t put out a regular old LP?

It also amused me that they put out a song on this disc that was almost as long as their EP and was even almost as long as their Live record.  Such was the difference of Zen Arcade.

In reading about it lately I have learned that it is sort of a concept album (Someone even called it the Quadrophenia of 80s punk).  I gather I simply never paid enough attention to the lyrics to realize that (although it does explain “Hare Krshna”).  There’s also a lot of talk about how influential this disc was.  That may also be true, although I can’t say for sure.

Perhaps the most notable thing is how the disc is not just straight punk. Up to this point the Hüskers had released fast, straight ahead punk.  Distorted guitar and often screaming vocals.  And indeed, Zen Arcade starts off that way “Something I Learned Today” is a classic Hüsker Dü pop punk song.  It’s got a cool opening bassline and super distorted guitars, and yet its got a sing along chorus.  And “Never Talking to You Again” continues Grant Hart’s streak of great catchy punk.  This one includes acoustic guitar, though, just to break things up a bit.  It’s with Track 5 “Dreams Reoccurring” that you know things are going to be very different this time around.  This 2 minute song is full of reversed guitars sounds and all kinds of weird tape mixing.  It’s quite trippy and unlike anything else that the band had done.

As we near the middle of the disc, “Whats Going on Inside My Head” and “Masochism World” are absolute punk vocal shredders (so you know they’re not really going soft).  As the disc ends, “Turn on the News” plays around with recorded Newscasts, not a new concept, but new for them.  And then, of course, the final track, “Reoccurring Dreams,” a reprise of “Dreams Reoccurring” that goes on for 13 minutes of squalling feedback and demented solos (with a cool, if disconcerting, guitar motif).

One of my favorite facts about the disc is that it was all recorded in one take (except for, as the liner notes point out, 2 tracks that started too fast) and there were no overdubs.  It was mastered just as quickly so that the whole thing to about 85 hours to make.  It’s amazing that anything done that quickly can be that good.  But such is the case of this disc.  There’s a clunker or two in the mix, but how could there not be with all that energy bouncing around?

[READ: Week of June 29, 2009] Infinite Jest (to page 151)

After Reading the Infinite Summer site, I see that I got at least one thing wrong.  Mario is in fact not Hal’s younger brother, but is Hal’s older, but not oldest, brother.

I ordered 2 copies of IJ for our library since we did not have any (!).  I’ve been sneaking peeks in the second copy which has the above cover.  And an intro by Dave Eggers, which I enjoyed.

Also, when I dropped my old copy, a whole bunch of small squares of paper fell out: notes that I took the first time through.  I started to look at them but it revealed too much so I stopped.  I’m going to try and read this as purely as possible.

So, surprisingly (or perhaps un-) new characters are coming fast and furious in week two, (up to page 151). (more…)

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Deb Olin Unferth–“Wait Till You See Me Dance” (Harper’s July 2009)

Posted in Canadian Music, Deb Olin Unferth, Funny (strange), Harper's, Moxy Fruvous, Set at School, Short Story, Supernatural on July 2, 2009| 2 Comments »

harperSOUNDTRACK: MOXY FRÜVOUS-the C album (2000).

cMoxy Früvous broke up (or went on indefinite hiatus) almost ten years ago.  But they released this final compilation, basically for fans only.  I’m not sure if it’s even available anywhere anymore.

And, hey, what happened to the Früvous website???

C is not quite as fun as b.  Although it is definitely a fun, silly collection.  Highlights include “Pisco Bandito” (the bandit fish!) and “The Goal Judge” (without him there would be no hockey game).

Some other fun tracks include “Video Disco Bargainville” a wild disco-fueled version of “Bargainville.”  “The Norbals” is another faux TV show theme.  And “Beware the Killer Tents” is an inside joke, but a good one.  It’s about a folk festival and name checks a number of artists who appeared with MF.

This seems like a good end of career recap for fans who missed the humor that the band was so good at.

[READ: June 25, 2009] “Wait Till You See Me Dance”

DIGRESSION: I had a dream last night and Deb Olin Unferth was in it.  It was one of those dreams where I was standing next to a woman on line for something or other and after twenty minutes or so dream-time I realized it was her.  I have no idea if she looks even remotely like the woman in the dream.  Great story huh?

Deb Olin Unferth must have grown up in a world that is very different from mine.  In the few things I’ve read by her, her characters seem to act in ways or experience things that are simply not what I’ve known people to experience.

In this story, the narrator is able to look at people and see how long they have left to live.  So, this is going to b a weird sci-fi story?  No.  Not at all.  For even though that characteristic is very important to the story, it has very little to do with the plot.  In fact, I was a little put-off at how the story started like that.  It didn’t seem like it would be very interesting.  And yet as soon as the rest of the story kicked it I was hooked.  And that aspect of the narrator turned out to be very cool.

So, the narrator is an adjunct who works at a college.  She teaches the 99 class (ie, they’re not yet eligible for 101 classes, and if they fail, they will not be admitted into the school).  She is accosted by one of the assistant admins who invites her to go to an Indian dance (the admin is not Indian).  No, not that kind of Indian, Native American Indian (the admin is not that kind of Indian either).

But the narrator doesn’t really like the admin.  The admin has convinced everyone to call her Mary because she is like the woman from that film, you know with George and the angel who shows him the future. [Yes, I know what the film is].  The narrator doesn’t like this, because in addition to it not being her name, she also realizes that Mary is really quite insignificant in the movie.

But the dance isn’t the main focus either.  For Mary finally has a vested interest in whether one of her students passes the 99 class.  She has no say in whether they pass or fail as the final tests are graded by someone else.  In this particular semester an Iraqi violin piano prodigy is admitted to her school two weeks into the semester. She finds his music so haunting that she will do whatever she can to make sure he passes the class.  (he has no hope of passing the class).

And that means buttering up the admin, and maybe even going to this weird dance.

The things that happen in the story are bizarre and unexpected. And yet despite all of that, it offers some real truths and insights about humanity.

How does she do that?

For ease of searching I include: Moxy Fruvous.

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David Foster Wallace–[Week 1] Infinite Jest (1996)

Posted in Big Books, Boston, MA, Canadian Content, Consumerism, Corporate skewering, David Foster Wallace, Drugs, Dystopia, Funky Web Sites, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Hüsker Dü, Infinite Summer, Minnesota, Set at School, Smarty Pants, Suicide, Unreliable narrator on June 26, 2009| Leave a Comment »

jestSOUNDTRACK: HÜSKER DÜ-Land Speed Record (1982).

landspeedMentioning Hüsker Dü during the Replacements reviews made me bust out their records too.  Land Speed Record was their first release, and it always amazed me that their first record was a live record.

It is an amazing blast of hardcore punk.

It is poorly recorded, stupidly fast and impossible to follow.  The CD is divided into two track (sides one and two) despite the 17 songs.  Most of the songs are simple, balls-out screaming punk.  In fact, it’s surprising how much you can tell it is Hüsker Dü given how shouty Bob Mould sounds.

In truth, it’s not entirely impossible to follow one song to the next (there are times when you can hear the choruses (“Guns at My School” and “Do the Bee” stand out).  But really it’s a pretty shocking discovery for anyone familiar with their alterna-pop that would come later.

The one real highlight is the final song, “Data Control.” It slows the pace and adds some mood (although it’s not that easy to discern).  But it contains a great deal of depth (for this album) and suggests that maybe the Hüskers were going to be more than a simple hardcore band.

The funniest part is that after the 25 minutes or so of noise, Bob Mould says, “we’ll be back for another set.”

[READ: Week of June 22, 2009] Infinite Jest [78 pages + endnotes]

So as I said, I’m going to be doing this Infinite Summer thing, reading 75 or so pages every week.  I haven’t figured out what I’m going to say each week, just some observations and characters to help keep things straight.  But there will be spoilers, so be warned.

Having read this before certainly helps put some context on things, even if I don’t remember a lot of the book.  But, for instance, it helps to know ahead of time that the “Year” chapter headings have been subsidized.  However, I don’t remember the chronology of them at this point.  See below, footnote endnote for more on the chronology.

The characters:   (as of page 78): (more…)

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Roy Blount Jr.–Alphabet Juice: The Energies, Gists and Spirits of Letters, Words, and Combinations Thereof: Their Roots, Bones, Innards, Piths, Pips and Secret Parts, Tinctures, Tonics and Essences; With Examples of Their Usage Foul and Savory

Posted in 180-G's, Books about writers, Carl Kasell, Consumerism, Corporate skewering, Digression, Dip-in Books, Funky Web Sites, Funny (ha ha), Les Claypool, Negativland, Peter Sagal, Poetry, Political Humor, Primus, Roberto Bolaño, Roy Blount Jr., Set at School, Set in New Jersey!, Smarty Pants, Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me, WRSU 88.7 FM--New Brunswick, NJ on May 20, 2009| Leave a Comment »

juiceSOUNDTRACK: WRSU 89.7 FM.

wrsuComing straight out of Rutgers University in New Brunswick (my grad school alma mater), this was the first station that I happened upon while I was scanning the lower numbers on the radio station.

The brief set that I heard was amazing.

I heard the end of a song that I didn’t know, but which I found very intriguing. It was followed by Les Claypool’s new track “Mushroom Men” (which was wonderful) and then the 180-Gs doing an a capella rendition of Negativland’s “Christianity is Stupid.” I had heard about this band but never heard one of their recordings.  First, if you’ve never heard Negativland, then you’re missing out.  They are a surreal band of audio collagists, playing with sounds and samples and all kinds of weird things.  To have an a capella rendition of a five minute song, the bulk of which is a spoken loudspeakered voice saying “Christianity is Stupid” goes beyond bizarre into the sublime. I have tuned to this station from time to time and each DJ plays his or her own weird and often wonderful thing. What a great experience.

[READ: May 14, 2009] Alphabet Juice

My mother-in-law gave me this book for Christmas because she heard about it on NPR and thought I’d like it. And boy was she right.

waitI hadn’t heard of this book, although actually I’m sure I had–but I ignored it.  Roy Blount Jr is on Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me, NPR’s news quiz, almost every week.   We love the show because it is funny and it tests your awareness of what’s going on in the world (both serious and ridiculous).  And we try our best to get our kids to let us listen to it each week.  (more…)

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Oisín McGann–Daylight Runner [Small Minded Giants] (2006)

Posted in Adventure, Dystopia, End of the World, Free Speech, Harry Potter, Irish Writer, John Keats, Modest Mouse, Oisín McGann, Roddy Doyle, Sci-fi, Set at School, The Smiths, Threats, Violence, YA Books, Yuck! on April 15, 2009| Leave a Comment »

daylightSOUNDTRACK: THE SMITHS-The Queen Is Dead (1986).

queenisdeadYears ago, when I was a young metal head, my friend Garry expanded my musical palette by introducing me to a lot of college rock (or whatever it was called back then).  The album that had the most impact on me back then was this one, The Queen Is Dead.

Unlike most listeners and fans of The Smiths, I was first drawn to them because I found this album to be very funny.  Now, true, Morrissey is a funny, literate writer, but the general consensus is that the Smiths are mopey, sad, depressive, you know, goth.  I guess I was more interested in the words than the music at the time?

And of course, it was “Bigmouth Strikes Again” that really sold the deal for me, as “Now I know how Joan of Arc felt…when the flames rose to her Roman nose and her Walkman started to melt,” is pretty twisted and funny.  [To the sticklers: all these lyrics are paraphrased somewhat].  And “Vicar in a Tutu” is weird and wonderful, with a rollicking skiffle beat that propels the song at a mighty pace as the vicar “comes sliding down the banister.”

Even “There is  Light that Never Goes Out” is a depressing sing about dying together, and yet the phrasing is pretty darn funny: “If a double-decker bus crashes into us, to die by your side is such a heavenly way to die.”  And lest we forget the peculiar disc ender, “Some Girls are Bigger Than Others.”  Certainly a true statement regardless of whatever he’s talking about.

My introduction to this disc was in the days of cassettes, and we listened to side 2 a lot, but side 1 is also fantastic.  The title track is a great opener: fabulous melody, rocking drums and a great verse about Morrissey breaking into the palace and being told by the Queen that he cannot sing.  Next, “Frankly Mr Shankly” is a 2 minute poppy song, also twisted, with lines about “making Christmas cards with the mentally ill.”  And “Cemetery Gates” is a twisted little fun piece which namechecks Keats, Yates and Oscar Wilde.

And lest we forget the rest of the band, the music on this disc is varied and wonderful.  The music of “The Queen is Dead” is funky bass, smashing drums and the gorgeous guitars of Johnny Marr.  Since The Smiths broke up, Morrissey has been in the spotlight far more than Johnny Marr.  Morrissey’s solo career is flying pretty well these days, while Marr has been a sideman in a lot of different  bands (currently Modest Mouse).

Johnny Marr’s guitar playing has always been a fascinating mix of textures and effects.  No one would say that he was a show offy guitarist–I don’t think there are any solos in his career at all–but the sounds he creates are weird and more than appropriate to the songs.  I’ve been playing guitar for years and I’m not even sure how he makes some of those sounds.

The Smiths were a great band, and this is one of my favorite albums.

[READ: April 10, 2009] Daylight Runner

My friends Louise and Ailish told me that they met this author in their hiking group.  I imagine all kinds of interesting Irish folks climbing the coastline of Ireland talking literature….  Anyhow, when they told me about this author I pictured a fledgling writer who was trying to get his book published…and they read it and thought it was really good.  I was intrigued, and Louise said she’d send me a copy.  And she did.

What I didn’t realize is that she was able to order it from Amazon, and that McGann is a rather prolific author in Ireland.  He is primarily known for his kids and YA books.  So they know a widely respected and published author.  That is almost as cool as my friend Christopher being taught by Roddy Doyle before he wrote The Commitments. (more…)

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Erik P. Kraft–Miracle Wimp (2007)

Posted in Erik P. Kraft, Funny (ha ha), Jeff Kinney, Quatte.f, Set at School, Short Books on March 28, 2009| Leave a Comment »

miracleSOUNDTRACK: QUATTE.F- “I’m So Glad” from My Space (2009).

Quatte.f is a patron at my library.  He had asked me to help him transfer some photos and eventually to help him upload his demo song to his MySpace page.  He told me that he was in a local group of some sort–I don’t recall who they were–and this was his chance to go solo.

I’m not much of an R&B fan (NO!), but after we uploaded the track, he asked me to listen and I did.  And I have to say I really liked it.  It’s catchy as heck.  And his voice is really strong.  He also avoids most of the histrionics that I dislike so much about R&B.

So, I wish him much success, and since I doubt he’ll ever see this, if you click on his link and listen to his song he’ll be pretty psyched that he’s suddenly gotten all of these listens to his song.  And if you’re from a label, he’s currently unsigned.

Check it out.

[READ: March 22, 2009] Miracle Wimp

Sarah got a copy of this in the mail.  She said, hey, this looks like something you’d like.  So I read it, and finished it in like three hours.

At first, I was afraid that it was  just jumping on the bandwagon of the Diary of Wimpy Kid phenomenon.  But when I checked the release dates I found that the first Wimpy Kid came out in 2007 and so did this book.  We got a pre-released copy of the paperback edition (which is soon to be released in 2009) so no complaints about riding on coattails!  (Although, the online cartoon started in, I believe, 2005).

The book is about Tom Mayo, a junior in a high school set in the boonies of western Massachusetts.  The book details the ritual humiliations that come with being a wimp in high school.  There aren’t diary entries per se, but each page has a title and about a page worth of stuff that happened about that topic.  There’s also some rudimentary drawings (not as charming as Wimpy Kid’s, which is especially weird since Tom wanted to be in art class) that convey what happened in that “entry.” (more…)

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Trenton Lee Stewart–The Mysterious Benedict Society (2007)

Posted in Adventure, Canadian Music, Carson Ellis, Children's Books, Contests, Corporate skewering, End of the World, Funky Web Sites, Handsome Furs, Mystery, Set at School, Smarty Pants, Sunset Rubdown, Technology, The Decemberists, Threats, Wolf Parade on March 20, 2009| Leave a Comment »

benedictSOUNDTRACK: WOLF PARADE-At Mount Zoomer (2008).

zoomerThis album made many best of lists of 2008.  It is considered a side project of both Spencer Krug (of Sunset Rubdown) and Dan Boeckner (of Handsome Furs).  I’d not heard of either band, but I was very intrigued by this disc and I’m so glad I got it.

Every track has something outstanding about it, be it a cool guitar break (“Soldier’s Grin”)  or a cool keyboard break (“Language City”–which builds to a rollicking climax).  While “Bang Your Drum” has multiple parts, each one weird and wonderful.

“California Dreamer” has  wonderfully sinister soundtrack, with a great rocking chorus. And it’s followed by a surprisingly upbeat “The Grey Estates” (keyboard pop at its best).

The albums ends with the epic “Kissing the Beehive”: a ten minute track with several parts to it.  The first seven minutes just fly by, and then the song breaks down into a quieter feel.

It seems rare that an album comes out of nowhere to me (even if the album didn’t come out of nowhere for people who loved their first release (which I also have not heard) or the two main songwriter’s OTHER projects, but I’m very glad I found this one.  Its frenetic pacing and overall quality made it one of my favorite releases of 2008.

[READ: March 9, 2009] The Mysterious Benedict Society

While you can’t judge a book by it’s cover, you can certainly check it out because of it. I saw this book on our shelves and brought it home calling it The Decemberists’ book.  It was only later on that I realized that the cover (and interior) art is by Carson Ellis, who is, indeed, the primary artist for the Decemberists.

The second selling point was the blurb on the back cover: “Are You a Gifted Child Looking for Special Opportunities?”  How can you not say, “Why, yes, I think I am.” This blurb appears in the book in a newspaper and is the catalyst for the young children (orphans and runaways mostly) who will show up for the challenging test that comprises the beginning of the book. (more…)

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Jeff Kinney–Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw [#3] (2009)

Posted in Children's Books, Funky Web Sites, Funny (ha ha), Jeff Kinney, Set at School, Shel Silverstein, Short Books, Smarty Pants, The Flaming Lips on February 12, 2009| 12 Comments »

strwaSOUNDTRACK: THE FLAMING LIPS-Waitin’ for a Superman [US maxi single] (1999).

supermanmaxiThis single contains the official stereo mixes of two Zaireeka tracks: “Riding to Work in the Year 2025 (Your Invisible Now)” & “Thirty Thousand Feet of Despair.”  Unlike the downloadable homemade mixdowns, these were  created by the band.  The tracks are modified somewhat from the originals.

On the album, “Riding to Work in the Year 2025 (Your Invisible Now)” is 7:02, and on the mixdown, it’s only 5:54.  While “Thirty Thousand Feet of Despair” is the same length: 4:59.

Because they are mixed down properly, they do not present the glorious insanity (out of synch items etc.) like the online versions, but they sound really good and allow you to appreciate the songs.

[READ: February 3, 2009] Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw

Boy I love this series.

This is the 3rd book in the Wimpy Kid series.  I was very excited that it came out, and I plowed through the book in a couple of hours.  Although I can’t be certain, I think that this book may be even funnier than the first two. (more…)

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