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Archive for the ‘Short Books’ Category

Tony Abbott–Goofballs #3: Superhero Silliness (2012)

Posted in Adventure, C., Children's Books, Funny (ha ha), Kids Corner, Lunch Money, Mystery, Short Books, T., Tony Abbott, WXPN 88.5 FM--Philadelphia, PA on November 30, 2013| Leave a Comment »

gb3SOUNDTRACK: LUNCH MONEY-“Ate too Much of My Favorite Food” (2009).

lunchmoneySurely everyone has experienced this horrible feeling–you love some kind of food so much that you eat too much and get sick.  My example was peanut butter Rice Krispie treats, an invention that I assume was my mothers.  They were sooooo good.  But I have never eaten them since that day (over 30 years ago.  In fairness, no one has offered them to me either).

So this is a fun song–opening with snapped fingers and a solo female voice before the horn fueled simple melody comes in.  I enjoyed the way the “ba ba ba” section turned into baba ghanoush.

There’s a shout-out section about the foods that did you right and wrong.  My only quibble with the song is that the foods that they list are really strange–foods that no one thinks of as their favorite foods–zucchini??, creamed spinach??.  Even gummy bears?  Where’s the heavy foods that kids actually overeat?

Lunch Money has another song called “I Love My Library” that I may have to check out.  This one came on the Kids Corner 25th Anniversary CD.

[READ: October 25, 2013] Goofballs #3: Superhero Silliness

This book introduced me to a word that I evidently should have known for some time: derder.  A derder is the cardboard roll inside of toilet paper or paper towels.  You put your lips up to it and go “der der der” and it’s a musical instrument.  Seriously.

But what does that have to do with Superheroes?  Well, in this case, plenty.

The kids are on line at Pizza Palace, the site of their very first mystery (which we never saw).  Luigi, the owner, had named a pizza after them for their brave deeds–cheese, garlic, pineapple and peanut butter.  And now it was one year after that deed and he was adding a new mystery topping.  Everyone was waiting to see what it would be when a lino pulled up to the line and called the Goofballs over.  It is Randall Crandall’s driver and he says that Randall Crandall needs their help.

Randall has the world’s largest collection of derders and he is afraid that someone is planning to steal it.  He is having a superhero costume party and he fears that the thief will try to steal them during the party. Will the Goofballs come dressed in original superhero costumes and catch the thief?

Will they ever! (more…)

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Ben Greenman–The Slippage (2013)

Posted in Art, Ben Greenman, Fire, Marriage Trouble, Phish, Pregnancy, Sex, Short Books on November 11, 2013| Leave a Comment »

slippageSOUNDTRACK: PHISH-Farmhouse (2000).

farmhouseThis album has a very acoustic feel to it and I really enjoy this disc.  It is one of their most “mature” records and I feel a lot of fans don’t enjoy it as much, but I think the songs are really pretty.

“Farmhouse” is another one of my favorite Phish songs.  I love the harmonies and the melody is beautiful.  The end of the song with the two singers doing different lines of vocals is just beautiful.  “Twist” is a live favorite although here it opens with percussion only before Trey starts singing.  But then the song proper starts and it is just a riot of fun. Woo!

“Bug” is a mellow contemplative song about God.  It a little long and I must admit, a little dull.  “Back on the Train” is usually much faster live—it sounds like a slow train here.  “Heavy Things” returns the album to excellence, it’s a wonderful uptempo song that is fun to sing along to.  “Gotta Jibboo” is a silly dancey song with horns.  It’s a long jam about 5 minutes most of which is instrumental.  “Dirt” is a piano ballad.

“Piper” is a wonderful round with a melody that circles around the song, I really enjoy this song live and it’s fun to hear how fast they do it here.  I love the way the “words and words I say” gets cycled through.  “Sleep” is a 2 minute gentle ballad.  And “The Inlaw Josie Wales” is a pretty acoustic guitar/piano instrumental.  “Sand” is a funkier number that brings up the tempo.  Of all the songs on the album, I don’t know this one all that well, but it is very Phish like.  “First Tube” ends the disc with a staccato guitar riff that sounds very much like Santana to me.  It’s got a great beat and is very cool.

Perhaps I’m showing my age but I so is Phish, and I think this is a really solid album.

[READ: November 4, 2013] The Slippage

I knew Ben Gereenman from Superbad, a McSweeney’s book.  I liked it a little—but it was more trickery than story telling.  I had gotten it in my head that The Slippage was a good novel (I’m not sure why), and when I saw it at work on Friday, I grabbed it in hopes of reading it before I got back to work on Monday.  And I am pleased to say that I polished off this 288 book in a weekend (and suffered for my lack of sleep).  But I didn’t only finish it because of a self-imposed challenge, I really got into the story.

For this book Greenman’s style is simple and straightforward (a far cry from his earlier, more deliberately challenging work) and the story itself is also rather simple.  But it is engaging, funny and emotionally exhausting.  So the simple story is one of suburban discontent.  The blurb that stayed with me was “If Emma Bovary had lived in the ‘burbs, she would have left a novel like this in her wake.”

The main characters in the story are William Day, his wife Louisa and her brother Tom.  Indeed, the book is really about William and how he handles suburban discontent.  We meet all of the Day’s friends.  In addition to these people there is Emma, the woman who William has an affair with. (more…)

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Brendan Connell–Lives of Notorious Cooks (2012)

Posted in Advice, Brendan Connell, Chômu Press, Cook Book, Decadence, Food, Phish, Roberto Bolaño, Short Books on November 6, 2013| 5 Comments »

cooksSOUNDTRACK: PHISH-The Story of the Ghost (1998).

storyghostThe Story of the Ghost is one of the first Phish albums that I was aware of when it came out.  I remember buying it and liking it, especially the first few songs.  This is not surprising as the first few songs are much more electric and funky.  By the end of the album there’s a lot of mid tempo songs that feel like they’re somewhat incomplete—good ideas but the songs feel…unfinished?

“Ghost” has a funky guitar and drum section, it’s a song I’ve liked from the day I bought the disc.  But the real hit was “Birds of a Feather,” which has an amazingly catchy chorus.  This version (as opposed to the live one) is weird in that Trey is kind of whispering the vocals, but the guitar is ferocious.

“Meat” is a weird skittery song that sounds cavernous here.  The weird processed vocals are certainly something that keeps this song like more of an oddity.  “Guyute” sounds an awful lot like early Phish—like it has come from Gamehendge, it’s a nice return to old form.  It’s a great song with a really lengthy instrumental section.  This features one of Trey’s great extended pretty solos.

“Fikus” is a strange little song (2 minutes), with lots of percussion and a quiet bass line.  “Shafty” has got  some cool wah wah guitars, and is also only 2 minutes long, but it shows that there is a bunch of funk on the disc.  “Limb by Limb” is a fun if simple song that seems sparse until the chorus kicks in.  “Frankie Says” is a kind of circular song that is interesting but doesn’t really go anywhere.  “Water in the Sky” is a short piece but it is full of ideas—percussion, slide guitar, and nice harmonies.  “Roggae” is a fun little song with some fugue like vocals.

“Wading in the Velvet Sea’ is a very pretty song with very nice harmonies.  “The Moma Dance” is a funky wah wah guitared track which really comes to life live, although I like the way they reprise “Ghost” at the end.  The final track is called “End of Session,” it’s a very mellow little number (also less than 2 minutes) with organ and gentle guitars.  There’s a small verse of harmonies as the albums drifts off.

This album is one of the band’s less popular recordings, but i think it’s quite good.

[READ: October 30, 2013] Lives of Notorious Cooks

Brendan Connell is back with a book which demonstrates that whatever subject he writes about, he delves in deeply and with great relish.

Connell’s new book is, as the title says, a series of brief lives of fictional cooks.  There are 51 biographies in this book.  From Connell’s previous works and from the title, I expected that these cooks might be somewhat less than savory characters.  But Connell makes these chefs genuinely impressive—making delicious meals from both the finest ingredients or the lowest of items.

As with previous stories by Connell, the depth of his knowledge is impressive—he includes not only recipes but complete menus of feasts.  And as usual, his word choices are wonderful—exuberant when necessary, obscure if useful and always spot on.

Although I am normally inclined to make a comment about each “story “ in a  collection, this one really resists that.  There are not enough distinguishing characteristics between cooks for me to write enough about each one (without rewriting the book).  This is not in any way to say that each is not unique, but that they are all cooks, each specializing in a different food or style.  But rather than from saying “Agis cooks fish” it’s better to take this book as a whole rather than in pieces. (more…)

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César Aira—The Miracle Cures of Dr. Aira (2002) [translated 2012]

Posted in Alternate Reality, César Aira, Death, Disease, Fraud, Hospitals, Humiliation, Katherine Silver, Phish, Short Books, ZZ Top on November 5, 2013| Leave a Comment »

curesSOUNDTRACK: PHISH-Billy Breathes (1996).

billyBilly Breathes is a much more mellow, acoustic feeling album from Phish.

Although the opener “Free” is a great song, with wonderful riffs.  It’s another of my favorites live, although the production sounds a little flat here, but the harmonies are great.  “Character Zero” again has a real ZZ Top feel (something many don’t really associate with Phish I’m sure).  But once the song proper kicks in, it rocks in a very Phish way.  “Waste” is a delicate song about insecurities that turns into a nice love song.  “Taste” is a rollicking piano-heavy song that gets played live pretty often and it sounds good here.

“Cars Trucks Buses” is a 2 minute instrumental that has a lot of organ in it, it’s very groovy.  “Talk” is an acoustic guitar/folky song.  You don’t hear it much live.  “Theme from the Bottom” gets us back into often-played territory, with its weird opening riff.  I really enjoy the way the bridge goes into a brief minor key, despite the overall happy vibe.  I like the harmonies towards the end, although the actual end of the song is a bit dull (the live endings are a bit more fun).

From here the album mellows out a lot.  “Train Song” is a pretty acoustic number with nice harmonies.  “Bliss” is an acoustic guitar solo.  “Billy Breathes” has more delicate harmonies and an acoustic feel.  “Sept Away” is another delicate short (90 second) song, with some more great harmonies. “Steep” is a slow, simple song (also 90 seconds) that has a pretty melody but serves more as an introduction to “Prince Caspian.”   “Prince Caspian” is a great epic-seeming song (even though it’s only 5 minutes long).  The build up is long , with the pretty chords repeating and growing fuller.  It’s a great live song and a great ending to this disc.

Although this disc has some great songs on it, it’s definitely not my favorite overall.

[READ: October 4, 2013] The Miracle Cures of Dr. Aira

This was another weird and fun book by César Aira (one of about six books he wrote that year). This one was translated by Kathleen Silver.  Ever since reading that Aira doesn’t edit his books—that he simply begins writing and lets the story keep coming out–I’ve grown suspicious of the beginnings of his stories. And so I am with this one. In the beginning there’s a whole thing about Dr Aira sleepwalking through a town.  He wakes up in various places, unsure where he is, but he’s never lost because he knows the streets so well.  This goes on for a few pages and then the plot kicks in.

Dr Aira is picked up by an ambulance—a man is dying right there in the ambulance and only Dr. Aira can save him.  Won’t Dr Aira help him? The Dr. refuses point blank.  He is convinced that this whole thing is a set up—why else would the ambulance (which he had heard for many blocks going up and down the street) be driving around with a sick man looking just for him instead of going to the hospital?  He will not help this man.  Disgusted, the ambulance driver pulls over and the Dr gets out.

So what is all this about? (more…)

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Peter Orner—Last Car Over the Sagamore Bridge (2013)

Posted in Alison Krauss, Babies, Cars, Death, Depression, Kiss, Marriage (Happy), Marriage Trouble, Parenting, Peter Orner, Phish, Politicians, Short Books, Short Story, Tom Bissell, ZZ Top on November 4, 2013| Leave a Comment »

ornerSOUNDTRACK: PHISH-Hoist (1994).

hoistI always think of Hoist as a kind of goofy album because of the way they are dressed on it (and the crazy cover).  But it is absolutely not.  Indeed, opener “Julius” sounds like a ZZ Top song.  In fact, every time they’ve played it live I assumed it was a cover.  It is less restrained in the live setting, because this version has more acoustic guitar.  There’s even backing vocalists and horns.  “Down with Disease” has that great watery bass, but the song (which sounds good) here is a little stiffer than the live version.  It also has something of an R&B feel (with backing vocals) even if the guitar is certainly not R&B at all.  It bleeds right into “If I Could” a pretty harmony-voiced mellow song.  The big surprise comes from the Alison Krauss vocals–she gets a solitary line or two and then harmonies.  The song is very pretty but the strings are overkill.

“Riker’s Mailbox” is indeed a reference to the Star Trek character, although the 30 second burst of noise is pretty hard to explain. Nevertheless, the trombone is played Mr Riker himself, Jonathan Frakes.  It jumps into the rocking “Axilla, Pt. 2” which is usually a little faster live (I like the sloppier crazier live version better). There’s some vulgar dialogue in the middle of the song.

“Lifeboy” is a mellow acoustic song that builds from just guitar.  Lyrically it’s interesting: “God never listens to what I say…and you don’t get a refund if you overpray.”  It folds into “Sample in a Jar,” which is just as good here as any live set.  “Wolfman’s Brother” ahs horns thrown on top and some interesting sound effects.  Although overall l don’t like this version nearly as much—I don’t care for the horns or the backing vocals plus in the live version they emphasize the bruh of brother more which is cooler.  (Although I do enjoy the weird “Shirley Temple” line at the end).  “Scent of  Mule” opens so strangely with crazy guitars and a thundering drum.  The singing is very silly (with silly voices) and has a very twangy style (complete with banjo and yeehah).

“Dog Faced Boy” is a sweet (but weird) acoustic guitar number.  “Demand” is a ten minute song which I don’t really know at all.  It has a strange, staccato style riff.  At 2 minutes in, a car starts and after a commercial on the radio the driver pops in “Split Open and Melt” (a nod to “Detroit Rock City,” perhaps?).  This goes on until 9:30 at which time there’s a car crash and choir of angels (sick!).

I don’t car for the horns and R&B flavoring of this album, but the song selection is really quite good.

[READ: September 24, 2013] Last Car Over the Sagamore Bridge

I read about this book in Tom Bissell’s reviews recently.  He really made it sound like an interesting book.  So when I saw that we had just received a copy, I grabbed it and brought it home for the weekend.

There are 52 short stories in the short book (which is less than 200 pages).  Some of the stories are very short (1 page) with a few coming in at 5 or 6.  The 1 page stories are like flash fiction but they seem to be more of snapshots than actual full stories and they seem like they might be diary entries or something. The fact that a number of them are italicized with dates at the end make them seem like a selection from the same person rather than individual stories.

The stories are set all over the world, although they tend to focus on Chicago and Boston.  They are pretty universally dark with themes of death and loss permeating the collection.  And yet despite their overall negative feeling, the stories aren’t really depressing, exactly.  Bissell described the narrators as like someone telling a story about someone telling a story.  And that is true and that distance seems to take some of the edge off the stories.

But what’s impressive is the consistently strong and powerful writing.  The way that Orner is able to convey so much with such few words.  Some stories are just a scene, others are a whole lifetime.  But either way they are all really gripping.

I wasn’t going to write about each story, but it would have nagged at me if I didn’t, so here’s a few words about 52 stories. (more…)

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Tony Abbott–Goofballs #2 The Startling Story of the Stolen Statue (2012)

Posted in Adventure, C., Children's Books, Funny (ha ha), Kids Corner, Mystery, Short Books, T., The Plants, Tony Abbott, WXPN 88.5 FM--Philadelphia, PA on November 2, 2013| Leave a Comment »

goof 2SOUNDTRACK: THE PLANTS-“Monster Under My Bed” (2013).

plantsI found this song on the WXPN Kids Corner 25th Anniversary CD (WXPN plays it a lot, and it’s a good Halloween song).

The song opens up with a lot of horns—a kind of horn solo section.  When the actual song melody starts it has a vaguely spy theme feel, although the main verse is a little sillier.

Lyrically, the song is all about the real concern that there is a Monster under the singer’s bed.  The song is fast and bouncy—especially the verses, so you know it’s not meant to be too scary.  But then the song slows down and we get the big surprise of what the monster actually is.

The song is pretty funny.  And the final verse—”monsters are nothing but make believe” is a very satisfying one.

[READ: October 12, 2013] Goofballs #2: The Startling Story of the Stolen Statue

I didn’t love the first Goofballs book, but I really enjoyed this one a lot.  It’s possible I was a sleepy dad while reading the first one or maybe it suffered from first book in a series stiffness.  But this new book hits its stride and doesn’t stop until the end.  What I especially liked about this book was that it knows its audience.  So it is a detective mystery, but the mystery isn’t too complicated, nor are there tons of impossible to figure out clues.  While I don’ think any kids would figure out who did it (I didn’t), the trial and error of figuring out the culprit is what’s fun.

It is Badger Point School’s 100th anniversary and there is going to be a huge party which includes the unveiling of a statue of the first principal.  Everyone is very excited.

Until the principal went to look at the statue and discovered that under the tarp that was covering the statue was not a statue at all—it was a stack of chairs.

Well, the Goofballs are on the case (without even the principal asking them).  They start finding clues—a broken pencil, a scrap of paper that say HEES GRATE (we had fun guessing what that could mean) and even a splash in the school’s pool. (more…)

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David Edgar–If Only (2013)

Posted in Airlines, All Songs Considered, David Edgar, Play (Drama), Political Humor, Politicians, Short Books, The Blow, The Future, Travel on October 10, 2013| Leave a Comment »

ifonlySOUNDTRACK: THE BLOW-“Make It Up” (2013).

blow2This song from The Blow is what Bob Boilen played the other day on NPR.  He had just seen them live and liked the show so much that he listened to the whole album three times in a row on the way home.  He said the live show was amazing—Khaela Maricich is on stage singing and talking to the audience all by herself.  He thought that the music was all backing tapes, but then he realized that her partner was back at the soundboard—creating the music and doing the lights at the same time.

Yesterday I said that The Blow’s “Parentheses” was the perfect pop confection.  “Make It Up” is far more complicated anc more challenging.  It has many elements of pop perfection but it is nowhere near as immediate as “Parentheses.”

The song, despite its simplicity, has many complicated elements—the opening drum sequence is elaborate with all kinds of rhythms and sounds.  But when the verse starts, the vocals are delicate and simple and the keyboards are single notes.  Until the chorus when the complexity jumps in again—in addition to the drums, we get several versions of Maricich‘s voice doing background vocals, singing leads, making sound effects and then they disappearing again.  The third part introduces a new, simple, very pretty melody with beautiful voices playing counterpoint to each other.

The song feels so busy but it is really just a few simple elements piled on top of each other.  It’s simultaneously pretty and mind-boggling.  More pop songs should do that.

[READ: September 25, 2013] If Only

You shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but sometimes a cover grabs you.  I have no idea what it was about this cover that made me look at this book twice, but I did.  And when I investigated the author, I discovered that Edgar is a prolific playwright and that this play is a contemporary political story set in current and future England.

What struck me immediately was this disclaimer at the bottom of the character page:  “The second half of the play concerns the future of the coalition government.  This text went to press before the end of rehearsals and so may differ considerably from the play as performed.”  How interesting is that?  First that they would do that and second that it might actually be a different play that I have read.

The opening of the play takes place in the spring of 2010, right after the eruption of the Icelandic volcano which grounded European air traffic to a halt.  In the airport are three politicos: Peter, who works for the Conservatives, Jo, who works for the Liberal Democrats and Sam, who works for Labour.  They are all fairly high up in the party (but not name recognized). They are stuck because of the volcano and are seeking any way to get back home as the general election is but a few weeks away.  I really enjoyed the continual jokes about charges for their phones and devices.

Most of the first act concerns their attempts to get back home and their discussions about the upcoming election.  Thy can’t get back home despite their various clever ideas, until they learn that they can by a car for a few hundred pounds and can all drive together back home.

The political discussion is far more complicated—and it certainly helps if you know more about British politics than I did [I had no idea what UKID was or who Clegg was, for instance]. (more…)

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Ailís Ní Ríain–Desolate Heaven (2013)

Posted in Ailís Ní Ríain, All Songs Considered, Death, Depression, Gender, Irish Writer, Marriage Trouble, Play (Drama), Short Books, The Blow on October 9, 2013| Leave a Comment »

ailisSOUNDTRACK: THE BLOW-“Parentheses” (2006).

blow1I learned about The Blow from NPR Music.  The lads played a new song by them, but this song, which is also available on NPR, is from 2006.  I don’t know anything else about The Blow.  But I do know that “Parentheses” is a delightful little pop confection (with enough elements of weirdness that explain why it was never a hit).

“Parentheses” immediately sounds like something I’ve heard before.  That chorus is just so perfect—“when you’re holding me, we make a pair of parentheses” that I can’t believe no one has thought of it before.  Of course, the bit in the verses about the deli aisle is certainly unexpected.

I normally don’t like the bap bap // bap drum beat, but it’s perfect here.  The stripped down nature of the music (simple chords on a few different keyboard sounds) accompanies this perfectly.  It’s sung with Khaela Maricich’s sweet and almost fragile (but not) voice.

It is so catchy I have now listened to it three times in a row.  And that little guitar tail at the end is very inviting as well.  I can’t believe this song wasn’t huge.

[READ: September 26, 2013] Desolate Heaven

I read this play because of my friend Ailish—I’ve never seen anyone with a name almost like hers—Ailís—before.  And, given the Irish name it is no surprise that the story is set in Ireland.  But rather than Dublin, it is set on a desolate beach.  We see two young girls: Orlaith (13) and Sive (12) messing about.  They are acting like adults—complaining about the beach and “the kids” and how everything is awful.  Despite some tensions, the girls bond over their difficult lives.  Each lives with a single parent and in each case, the parent is an invalid.  Each girl has to do everything for her parent in addition to going to school.  And in the next few scenes we see just how desperate their situations are: Sive’s mother has broken her pelvis (and has been unable to move for two years) and Orlaith’s father didn’t get up at all today because he didn’t feel he was able to.

In the next scene, we see the girls acting out a plan—to meet at the beach with as much money as they can grab.  And just like that, they are off on a road trip. (more…)

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Pierre Huyghe & Douglas Coupland–School Spirit (2002)

Posted in Boredom, Canadian Content, Death, Douglas Coupland, Ghosts, Photo Essays, Pierre Huyghe, Pink Floyd, Set at School, Short Books on October 6, 2013| Leave a Comment »

school spiritSOUNDTRACK: PINK FLOYD-Live BBC 1970-1971 (1970/1971).

pink-floyd-paris-theatre-london-bbc-archives-back-cover-17638Since I am delving deeply into early Pink Floyd, I came across this bootleg of Floyd on the John Peel show.

The first show is Live at Paris Cinema, London 07-16-1970, just before the release of the album Atom Heart Mother (which we know because Peel says the song will be on their forthcoming album).  The first set includes “Embryo” (which only ever appeared on their compilation Works, in a much shorter version), “Fat Old Sun” (from AHM), “Green is the Colour” (from the More soundtrack), “Careful with that Axe, Eugene” (available on Relics and in live formats), “If” (from AHM) and “Atom Heart Mother.”

The version of “AHM” here is interesting  because the cello solo is played by a horn instead.  The reason for this is because it allowed them to have fewer musicians on tour.  It’s the same theme but the horn brings a very different feel than the cello did.  It’s also interesting to hear that the horn players are nowhere near as polished as they might be.  (In Geesin’s book he does talk about the lack of rehearsal the orchestra had for their live shows).

The second show is Live at Paris Cinema 09-30-1971, just over a year later.  They once again do “Fat Old Sun” but in 1970 it was 6 minutes and in 1971 it is now 15 minutes long with a lot of jamming and keyboard stuff thrown on top.  Next up is “One of These Days” (from the forthcoming Meddle) a favorite of mine. From this set I learned that the distorted voice that says “one of these days I’m going to cut  you in to little pieces” is actually that of Nick Mason (and interestingly, in this version, the quote comes at the end of the song rather than the middle).  Then they play “Embryo” again (it was clearly a concert favorite even if it never got a proper release (same length for each show and not drastically different).  Then comes “Echoes,” the big side long epic from Meddle.  And the set ends with “Blues,” which is indeed a blues.  I don’t really expect to hear a blues from Pink Floyd, but here it is, and it’s a good one (Gilmour clearly can jam to anything).

The video below contains the two complete shows running at over 2 hours.

[READ: September 29, 2013] School Spirit

This is the final obscure Douglas Coupland book that I’m aware of and will be the final DC book that I need to hunt down for this blog (I have three other proper novels that I haven’t posted about, but those are proper books and will be dealt with in turn).

This book has about the least amount of information about it that I’ve seen in a book.

The (I assume) official description of the book (which I get from Amazon and Google Books) says

Dis Voir’s Encounters series invites a well-known contemporary artist to choose a subject for a book. The artist also selects a person with “elective affinities”–someone with whom he or she would like to share this exchange. The resulting collaborative volumes serve as an artistic and political laboratory of the present. For this first installment, French artist Pierre Huyghe choose Canadian writer Douglas Coupland, author of Generation X, for the influence that Coupland has had on his generation, and on Huyghe’s own work. Using a high school yearbook as scaffolding for their meditations, they discuss the construction of character, narrative techniques based on chance and the political dimensions of Coupland’s work–themes that are also fundamental questions for Huyghe’s projects.  Using a high school yearbook as the framework for a meditation on memory.

But my copy (which has a different cover and limited publication information so may possibly be a different version) does not have anything to say at all about “the construction of character, narrative techniques based on chance and the political dimensions of Coupland’s work.” (more…)

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Tom Angleberger–The Strange Case of Origami Yoda (2010)

Posted in Children's Books, Funny (ha ha), Origami, Pinback, Romance, Set at School, Short Books, Star Wars, Tom Angleberger on October 4, 2013| Leave a Comment »

yodaSOUNDTRACK: PINBACK-“Fortress” (2004).

pinbackMy friend Jay just introduced me to this band.  I’m surprised I didn’t know them since they have been on Touch & Go Records and now Temporary Residence, two labels that I like.

He didn’t suggest any particular songs to start with, but this was the first one that came up with a search.

Over a simple guitar line a quiet voice sings near-whispered lines.  The bridge moves up an octave or so, but keeps the gentle sway of the song.  The chorus adds an angular dimension to the vocals but doesn’t change the gentle guitar melody–it’s an interesting example of contrasts working well together.

It’s a very pretty song and what I like about it is that based on just this one song, their other songs could go in any direction from here–more angular, more mellow, even heavier.  I’m looking forward to hearing more from them.

[READ: September 29, 2013] The Strange Case of Origami Yoda

Clark brought home the second book in this series (Darth Paper Strikes Back) and seemed to enjoy it.  I didn’t really know anything about the series so I decided to check it out, especially since we enjoyed Angleberger’s other books so very much.

This is a fairly simple story of some kids in 6th grade.  Tommy is a sort of uncool kid.  He’s shy and has no luck with girls.  He’s not picked on (I liked that this story never got really nasty), but he’s certainly not a cool kid or a jock.  He’s the perfect underdog character.  For this book, he is assembling a case file about Origami Yoda.

Origami Yoda was created by Dwight.  Dwight is a weird kid.  We hear from his neighbor that she used to see him digging holes in his back yard and then sitting in them for hours.  Dwight doesn’t seem to care about much–he wears crazy clothes, doesn’t do great in school and, weirdest of all, he wears an origami Yoda puppet on his finger.  Seemingly all the time (possibly even in the bathroom).

But the thing is that people have been asking Yoda questions and he (well Dwight, with the worst imitation of Yoda ever) answers them.  And, weirder still, the advice seems to be very good.  Which is especially weird because Dwight is not very smart and doesn’t seem to follow any of the advice that Yoda gives to others.  So what gives? (more…)

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