Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for the ‘Short Story’ Category

Amy Parker–“Rainy Season” (Narrative Magazine, Winter 2012)

Posted in Adventure, Amy Parker, Boredom, Drinking, Drugs, Kiss, Narrative, Sex, Short Story, Van Halen on August 16, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: KISS-Crazy Nights (1987).

I’m going to make a bold statement here—Crazy Nights is worse than The Elder.  Whereas The Elder was a mistake–weird songs, a bizarre concept, it showed some pretty ballsy moves.  Crazy Nights on the other hand is just a pandering mess.  There’s keyboards.  Keyboards!  The band has always been money makers (Gene Simmons’ face could be on the $100), but at least usually their music would find its own version of poppiness.  But this album sounds like any generic metal album from the late 80s.

“Crazy Crazy Nights” is an obnoxiously poppy sell-out of a song (although it is at least catchy, but man…).  “Fight Hell to Hold You” is the exception to the disc, a solid song from Paul with a good chorus.  But “Bang Bang You” is as dumb as it sounds.  It has cheesy keyboards, a lame riff and even has the audacity to reference “Love Gun.”  It’s hard to fault Bruce Kulick for his wild playing, but it seems so out of place on this disc–as if his crazy solos will make the album heavier.  Much like on Asylum, he gets a song to wail on the opening: “No No No” which is sort of winning by virtue of its non-stop propulsion (like say, “Hot for Teacher”).  But it’s not really a song so much as a series of connected sounds.

  “Come Hell or High Water” is pretty close to being a good song, perhaps the rest of the album taints this one too.  What’s especially crazy about the keyboards on “My Way” is that they sounds straight out of Van Halen’s 1984. [None of this is to imply I don’t like Van Halen, I just don’t want Kiss sounding like them].  “When Your Walls Come Down” feels heavy in comparison to the rest of the disc, especially when followed by the super-ballad “Reason to Live” (which despite myself I kind of like).  “Good Girl Gone Bad” is generic lyrically and musically.  “Turn on the Night” brings more cheese and more keyboards.   And “Thief in the Night” ends the disc on a reasonably high note.  But the problem is that the music is such generic pop metal that it’s hard to be inspired by any of it.

I’m kind of surprised Kulick stuck around during this–two albums in a row!.  Although he did get to show off his squealing chops, so maybe he was happy.

[READ: August 10, 2012] “Rainy Season”

This story came in second place in the Narrative Magazine Fall contest.  I had been putting off reading it because it was quite long and I didn’t really have enough time to devote to it.  When that time finally arrived, I was glad I waited.

This is a story about Jill and Maizie.  Their father works at the Thailand consulate (something to do with drugs).  And so the girls have been living in a gated compound for three months in Chaing Mai, Thailand. They are bored out of their minds.  They are not permitted to leave the compound, they are the only Americans around and all they can really do is watch Gone with the Wind (which they have memorized).  The girls have been trying to make the best of things, although it’s not always easy.  Especially given the way their father is.

Their parents got divorced some time ago and the girls have never lived in the same place for more than two years.  What’s worse is that their father is working all the time.  So when he is around, he’s not really around for them.  He is very strict about arbitrary things but is completely blind to others: “Maizie and Jill aren’t allowed to pierce their ears until they’re sixteen, he says. But he goes on trips to the Golden Triangle and leaves them alone in the house.”

Maizie is younger and she is super cute with comment-worthy blonde hair.  She gets away with a lot.  Jill is older.  She is no longer cute and she is resentful of both her father and her sister.  Of course, they only have each other, which Jill resents a bit too. (more…)

Read Full Post »

McSweeney’s #40 (2012)

Posted in Adam Levin, Amy Fusselman, Calvin Godfrey, Culture Shock, David Vann, Death, Essays, Etgar Keret, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Graphic Novel, History, Humiliation, Jack Pendarvis, Kevin Moffett, Kiss, Marriage (Happy), Marriage Trouble, McSweeney's, Nathan C. Martin, Neil Gaiman, Saïd Sayrafiezadeh, Short Story, Tom O'Donnell, Translation, Van Halen, Violence on August 15, 2012| 2 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: KISS-Asylum (1985).

This series of mid-80s Kiss CDs is regarded pretty poorly.  In fact, I believe that Gene and Paul have distanced themselves from Asylum.  And yet, despite its pop metal vine and really dayglo appearance, there’s some good stuff on it.  The solos are really notable on this disc.  Bruce Kulick has taken over lead guitar duties and he is wailing maniac.  He has speed and flash and he, frankly, really stand out (not always in a good way) in these songs.  His solos seem to signal a shift to a more pop heavy metal sound.

The disc opens with a pounding drum salvo and aggressive guitars!  “King of the Mountain” is a classic Kiss song—loud, with a great sing a long chorus from Paul.  “Anyway You Slice It” also rocks pretty hard, one of Gene’s fast, sex songs.  But man I hate songs that break down to just vocals and drums. “Who Wants to Be Lonely” seems like a ballad—lyrically and all—but it’s actually a pretty heavy song, again, perfectly suited for Paul’s voice.  “Trial By Fire” is the first song that really falters.  A generic anthem with the really lame chugga chugga guitars that Kiss would really push in this era.  “I’m Alive” opens with more crazy drumming and wild soloing and for all the world sounds like mid 80s Van Halen.  Until Paul belts out a fast vocal line.  This is a fast, aggressive song with a great chorus.

“Love’s a Dirty Weapon” almost turns into a great song—the chorus is just a little lacking.  And there’s that other part with just drums and a guitar solo—again, very Van Halen, which is good for Van Halen, but sounds really weird for Kiss.  I should hate “Tears Are Falling,” it’s got the chug chug chug guitars, and very little else, but I love a good Paul ballad—when he starts wailing at the end, it’s pretty great.  I am aware that the lyrics suck, yes.  But the solo is more like old school Kiss.  “Secretly Cruel” is cheesy, but delightfully so, and actually sounds like Kiss of old as well.  “Radar for Love” is an awkward song that never quite flows the way it wants.  It’s a good song that shows them branching out, though.  “UH! All Night” is a, well, look at the title.  It’s the kind of throwaway song that is so over-the-top ridiculous that it comes back around to be kind of fun.  And I imagine that some fans are still singing that chorus to themselves.  “When you work all day you gotta Uh all night.”  No one ever said Kiss was classy.  Note:  I listened to this song a week ago and that frikkin chorus is STILL in my head.

[READ: August 11, 2012] McSweeney’s #40

This issue came in a double pack–with a paperback issue of the magazine and a hardback edition of In My Home There Is No More Sorrow by Rick Bass.  I have not yet read Bass’ book [UPDATE: read it at the end of July 2013], because it sounds really depressing [UPDATE: It was].  But I do hope to get to it before the end of the year.  This issue has a few short stories and  a non-fiction at the beginning.  The entire back half of the journal is devoted to the January 25 uprising in Egypt.  It is full of testament and testimony about the event from all kinds of people–bloggers, poets, musicians.  It’s pretty profound–and almost seems like having a silly story in the journal is inappropriate.

As has been the trend lately, the journal also opens up with a series of letters. (more…)

Read Full Post »

Zadie Smith–“Permission to Enter” (New Yorker, July 30, 2012)

Posted in Boredom, Food, Kiss, Masturbation, Monie Love, New Yorker, Set at School, Short Story, Sonic Youth, Zadie Smith on August 9, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: KISS-Lick It Up (1983).

Kiss takes off their makeup!  And they look…like normal guys with lots of hair (How has Paul’s hair stayed so spectacular for so long?).

Lick It Up was a transformative album for Kiss, in which they suddenly gained new respect and new fans.  And yet somehow, that impressive amazing tongue really looks kind of dumb without all the makeup on, sorry Gene.  They also added (officially) Vinnie Vincent to the band (see he’s right there on the cover!). I tend to hate the song “Lick It Up” with a real passion.  In part because it was overplayed and in part because it’s terrible.  Vinnie Vincent was supposed to be this amazing guitarist and that’s what he came up with?  Blah.  Maybe he felt hampered by Kiss and that’s why he made the wank-fest that was Vinnie Vincent Invasion.

As a result I tend to overlook this album, but “Exciter” is a great, rocking track.  It’s fast and heavy and is really propulsive.  “Not for the Innocent” is one Gene’s great songs—heavy and dark with a cool chorus (Much better than some of his recent affairs).  “Young and Wasted” starts out kind of tripping over itself but man the chorus is great.

“Give Me More” is a straight out fast rocker.  The song never stops and there’s a great old-school Kiss Chorus  too.  “All Hell’s Breaking Loose” also has an old school sound—a kind of “Hotter Than Hell” feel.  And of course, who doesn’t love when Paul rambles nonsensically, “Hey man, I am cool, I am the breeze.”  “A Million to One” is kind of a generic Kiss song—not bad (certainly not as bad as some of their songs) but nothing terribly exciting.

“Fits Like a Glove” is one of Gene’s dirty songs, it has a good bridge/chorus structure.  Kiss may have set a record for the most similes when it comes to sex.  “Dance All Over Your Face” is pretty silly, probably the worst song on the disc.  The lyrics are, well, Gene, and it even has a break where it’s just drums (a terrible way to force a song to be an anthem).  At least the album ends on a high note with “And on the 8th Day.”  True it’s yet another attempt for the band to have an anthem about rock, and it starts out a little anemic, but this is what they do best, and even a middling Kiss anthem is a good one.   Somehow I think about Eric Carr singing along to this and it makes the song seem better.

Whereas Creatures of the Night was overlooked by most people, Lick It Up is overlooked by me.  It needs a higher ranking in my Kiss lists.

[READ: July 30, 2012] “Permission to Enter”

I’m very happy to see a new Zadie Smith story in The New Yorker.  I know she left her gig at Harper’s to work more on writing.  And here’s some of the fruits.  It’s funny to me that this one is done in a series of numbered sections–a strange microtrend that I have been experiencing lately.  It’s strange for Zadie because I find that her transitions and narrative structure are always very strong, so to eschew that for these little chapter breaks is surprising.  Of course, if she spelled everything out it would have been much longer and–given the content, potentially less effective.

So this is the story of Keisha Blake and Leah Hanwell.  When they first met they were four years old.  They were “swimming” in a shallow trough in a park in Hampstead when (and no one saw it happen) Keisha rescued Leah from drowning.  Leah’s mother was so grateful that she invited Keisha over and Keisha and Leah became best friends (even though there are so may differences between their families and they clearly would have never been friends otherwise, really under any circumstances).

And so each titled section reveals something new about their young friendship.  For example, “6. Some Answers” gives just the answers to a series of questions which economically show the difference and similarities between these two girls).  The girls grow up together.  They grow apart a little as friends will.  While Leah and her other friends liked Sonic Youth, Keisha (and no other friends) liked Monie Love. But they stayed close friends anyhow (never really questioning why they were friends–a wonderful detail). (more…)

Read Full Post »

Hanna Pylväinen–“Jonas Chan” (Harper’s, August 2012)

Posted in Boredom, Cars, Decadence, Hanna Pylväinen, Harper's, Kiss, Religion, Sex, Shoplifting, Short Story on August 8, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: KISS-Creatures of the Night (1982).

In true fair-weather fashion, Music from The Elder ended my Kiss love–and I was a HUGE Kiss fan!  Which is a shame because their follow up album–Creatures of the Night, which I wouldn’t get for many many years is one of their heaviest and strongest albums.  Although there may be just as much fun/controversy about the cover than there is talk about the music.  Ace Frehley was contractually obligated to appear on their album covers, so his face is on the (original) cover even though he didn’t play a note on the record.

The album was re-issued in 1985 in a non-makeup version.  And this album features Bruce Kulick’s photo on the cover because he was then the guitarist in the band.  However, it was actually Vinnie Vincent who played all the guitar on the record and while he is credited, he doesn’t appear on the cover of either version.

This album also features Eric Carr on drums and he pounds the hell out of them.  Carr was on The Elder, but, well, we won’t talk about that.  Peter Criss had a kind of jazzy impact on the drums, but Carr was a heavy metal drummer and it really changes the sound of the album.

“Creatures of the Night” opens with a really heavy title track sung by Paul–he’s got his aggressive vocals down very well here (a song that might normally gone to Gene but which works better with Paul).  The only problem is the little poppy section just before the guitar solo–it’s almost dancey and doesn’t really fit.  “Saint and Sinner” starts off kind of unpromising–an almost poppy song by Gene, but the chorus redeems it.  “Keep Me Comin'” has a pretty typical-by-now Kiss chorus and a fast riff.  “Rock and Roll Hell” opens with almost all bass notes (and Gene’s voice).  It’s a pretty standard rocker for the time, but it still sounded fresh coming from Kiss (and it’s about Ace Frehley who wanted out of the band so badly).

“Danger” has some unexpected chord changes and features some of Paul’s excellent vocals.  It’s also got some genuinely fast guitar work (something that most Kiss song don’t have aside from the solos).  “I Love It Loud” is the anthem that should have been huge.  Slow, ponderous and catchy, this song should be played at every sports event.  It’s followed by the impressive 6-minute sorta ballad “I Still Love You,” the kind of song that Paul shines in–he gets a place to show off his impressive range and his ability to hold long notes (especially live).  Between this and “I Want You” Paul could keep an audience entertained for 20 minutes.  What’s best about the song is that although it opens as a ballad, it gets really heavy with some great drum fills from Carr.

“Killer” opens with a guitar sound like “Makin’ Love” of old.  Simmons’ songs about women are usually pretty uninspired and lyrically this is poor, but the music more than makes up for it.  An album this good can’t possibly end strong though, can it?  Why yes, it can.  “War Machine” is another awesome heavy track.  A great riff and a fantastic chorus.  It’s a shame that this record was lost in the shuffle, it really stands tall as a great heavy metal album.

[READ: August 8, 2012] “Jonas Chan”

I loved looking at the author name and the title of this story and having literally no idea what to expect.  I couldn’t even imagine what nationality the name Pylväinen was.  The first character introduced was named Uppu Rovaniemi (nor could I fathom what nationality that was).  And then the main character is Chinese and is named Jonas.  Woah.

Well, it turns out the story is about Finnish people.  I assume that means that Pylväinen is Finnish, although her website only says she is from suburban Detroit.

I have never read anything about Finnish people, I don’t believe.  So this was a wonderfully unique story for me.  And then to narrow the focus even more, Uppu and her family practice Laestadianism, a kind of Lutheranism that I had never heard of (Wikipedia is pretty informative about its convoluted history).  Her family is pretty lax about her (they have nine kids and she gets lost in the shuffle), but they are very strict about her religious upbringing (her father is a preacher).  And Uppu hates that.

Uppu is the ninth child of the fabled Rovaniems, the well-known family in the community, full of intelligent people, all of whom Uppu intended to show up.  She was confident and smart and seemed immune to everyone.  She flies through her exams.  She even recognizes that Jonas was a violin player who switched to viola (she could tell by the amount of weight he put on his bow).  Cool.

Jonas Chan was new to the school, but of course he knew who Uppu was as well.  He couldn’t imagine ever talking to her.  I love this description of him: “He wasn’t nerdy enough for the nerds, no one cared that he came from California, and there were exactly enough Asians for him to be different without being interesting.”  And yet one day Uppu linked arms with him and said “Let’s be friends.”  And so it was. (more…)

Read Full Post »

F. Scott Fitzgerald–“Thank You for the Light” (New Yorker, August 6, 2012)

Posted in Canadian Music, Cigarettes, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Religion, Short Story, The Pursuit of Happiness on August 7, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS-“Cigarette Dangles” (1993).

TPOH’s “I’m an Adult Now,” (especially the first version) was a favorite song of mine back in the late 1980s.  It was raw and funny and fun to listen to.  TPOH has had a hard time of it over the years, getting bumped from labels and whatnot, but they’ve consistently released decent hits.

By 1993, Moe Berg’s voice is remarkably conventional.  Indeed, there’s not all much that’s alternative about this song at all.  It’s not that it’s a bad song, it’s just kind of blah, the roughness has been smoothed off and despite words like: “Cigarette dangles, makes me hard,” the backing vocals and such make it sound like a poppy B-52s.

Huh, given what I just wrote, why wasn’t this song massive?  Cool guitar sound too.

[READ: August 2, 2012] “Thank You for the Light”

I always like when the New Yorker throws in a “classic” story, although I do wonder if contemporary artists are pissed by their famous elders coming back. In all fairness though I would think this story was chosen for its length (it’s only one page).

This is a straightforward and simple story.  Mrs Hanson is a pretty, forty-year-old divorcee.  She’s a saleswoman and has been given a new contract closer to her home state of Ohio.  When she gets to her new territories, she learns that people frown on smoking: “It’s not that I mind, but it has a bad influence on the employees.”   But man, she really wants a smoke, especially after a long day: “Smoking meant a lot to her sometimes.”  And so, she tries to find a place to light up without anyone seeing her.  And that’s pretty much it.  (more…)

Read Full Post »

Simon Rich–“Unprotected” (New Yorker, July 30, 2012)

Posted in All Songs Considered, Cocteau Twins, Funny (ha ha), Mark Lanegan, New Yorker, Ormonde, Sex, Short Story, Simon Rich, Virginity (Loss of) on August 4, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: ORMONDE-“Cherry Blossom” (2012).

This song was also mentioned in the July 31 All Songs Considered Post.  The album had been singled out because the cover is so awful. It had even made their repository of awful covers.  And then they actually listened  to it.

It opens with some female vocals, but they are quickly replaced by a kind of whispered/sung male vocal.  Behind the vocals are some simple guitar melodies and a straightforward drum.  But there’s something otherworldly about the whole proceedings–not least of which comes when the whole thing shifts to a minor key.  The keyboard solo (which sounds like it’s a $5 Casio) brings more ethereal female vocals (maybe Cocteau Twins-y) and introduces a kind of Middle Eastern mysticism to the whole thing.

The track is so strange and so pretty (the vocals are not unlike Mark Lanegan or a mellower Josh Homme) and the pieces fit together very well.  I’m very interested in hearing more from this album, regardless of the cover.  Bob and Robin admitted that although they can usually judge an album by its cover, they had no idea that the music inside would be this interesting.

[READ: July 30, 2012] “Unprotected”

I love Simon Rich’s comedy.  Simple as that.

But there are some things of his that I like more than others.  I like his really short (like one paragraph) absurdist jokes quite a lot.  I have liked less his longer story-jokes.  So I was a little bummed that this was the latter.

Especially since it seemed kind of obvious at first (and  I really don’t care for this type of “uneducated” narration: “I born in factory.  They put me in wrapper.  They seal me in box.  Three of us in box.”  It seemed like it was going to be obvious.  And I guess it was kind of, except that Rich found a new angle on the life of a condom.

A boy steals the box and puts him in his wallet.  But where that could have gone in a very bad direction, it doesn’t.  Rich is clever and funny and introduces us to all of the other things in the wallet (Blockbuster Card (when was this set?), Learners Permit etc).   And we see that as the condom goes unused, the makeup of the wallet changes–in comes a Metrocard (who is all hilariously knowledgeable) and a creepy lady named Visa.

By the end of the story, the narrator has been taken out twice–both results are funny.  And the end of the story is surprisingly touching.

It’s a more mature outing from Rich, even if it is about a condom.

Read Full Post »

Jerome Edwards–“The Places You Find Yourself” (Epiphany, Fall/Winter 2010-2011)

Posted in Boredom, Consumerism, Corporate skewering, Epiphany, Jerome Edwards, Junot Díaz, Marriage Trouble, Mogwai, Sex, Short Story on August 2, 2012| 2 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: MOGWAI-Burning DVD (2010).

What might one expect from a Mogwai DVD?  Well, what one gets is a high contrast black and white concert with excellent sound (I have since burned the audio on a CD).

The film zooms in on the players–the guitar necks, the cymbals–and occasional two or three person shots (but very rarely faces).

The faces come in the interstitials, where the filmmakers show the band walking around (getting on subways–walking in rain), and where they talk to fans.

The film is gorgeously shot, but I have to admit it’s not the kind of live show that I enjoy watching.  It’s a little dull–not in individual moments because just about every shot is gorgeous, but in five-minute blocks.  Don’t get me wrong, I love seeing how these guys make this wall of music.  I love watching Stuart’s hands on the neck of his guitar, but this is not a very mobile bunch.  Indeed, many of the people in the audience seem to just be closing their eyes and absorbing the music rather than watching them.  And I found myself doing the same thing (in which case, I would just get an audio concert, right?).  This is compounded by the fact that the camera is in so tight, any big movements are missed.

This is not to say that there aren’t moments of brilliance to see.  Watching the band wait and wait and wait as the chords from “Fear Satan” fade out before they blast into the finale is pretty darn awesome.  And there are moments like that–crisp clarity where everything comes together.

Some kind souls have put the entire show on YouTube.  Here’s part 3 (with “Fear Satan”)

And the fan who speaks over the closing credits is trippy but cool.

[READ: July 31, 2012] “The Places You Find Yourself”

I found this story because a reader left a comment that Junot Díaz’ story ”The Cheater’s Guide to Love” was just like this one.

I have to disagree almost entirely with that sentiment because Díaz’ story talks about what it is like after someone has broken up with you and this story is about being stuck in a relationship that you feel compelled to get out of.

Edwards’ story (which won the 2009 Open City Rrofihe Trophy) is about settling.  And it’s a very realistic portrayal of the frustrations of life: relationships, job, commute–it’s a rather cathartic story.  It is especially cathartic because there is no main character, only “you.”  And Edwards keeps this second person narrator throughout the story.

The story is set up as a series of monogamous relationships: “Then one morning you’ll wake up and there will be another one lying next to you, maybe this one a brunette…” (more…)

Read Full Post »

McSweeney’s #39 (2012)

Posted in Art, Avery Lee, Benjamin Cohen, Casablanca, Culture Shock, David-Ivar Herman Düne, Death, Decadence, Dicky Murphy, Drugs, E.C. Osondu, Elizabeth Sankey, Elmore Leonard, Essays, Funny (ha ha), Greed, Harry Potter, Jennie Erin Smith, Jess Walter, Julie Hecht, Letters, Marco Kaye, Marriage Trouble, McSweeney's, Nostalgia, Roberto Bolaño, Settlers of Catan, Short Story, St. Vincent, Stephen Elliott, Tabitha Soren, Tom Barbash, Václav Havel, Violence, Yannick Murphy on July 26, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: ST. VINCENT-Actor (2009).

I had seen St Vincent on Austin City Limits, and her juxtaposition of waif-singer with noise mongering guitar player blew me away.  So I was a little disappointed when this album opened up with this gentle, practically 1950s sounding vocal and string line in “The Strangers.”  It takes two and a half minutes, but the noise eventually comes and it totally changes the texture of the song.  Of course now, “make the black hole blacker” is a fun thing to sing along with (and the lyrics in general are pretty great).  “Save Me from What I Want” is another quiet song with a catchy chorus.  “The Neighbors” has a great melody with interesting strings over the top of it.  “Actor Out of Work” brings in some stranger sounds to the album.

There’s something interesting about the songs on this album, like the way “Black Rainbow” has these sweet string sections but for the end half builds a crescendo of tension. I also love that a seemingly delicate song can be called “Laughing with a Mouth of Blood.”  Perhaps the strangest song on the disc is “Marrow” which has a strange horn section and the chorus: “H.  E.  L.  P.  Help Me Help Me.”  “The Bed,” “The Party” and “Just the Same But Brand New” continue in this vein–like a Disney princess song with a horrible threat underneath: “Don’t Mooooove, Don’t Screeeam.”  But that sense of princess who are slightly askew really resonates on this record.  It’s not as willfully dissonant as her first record, but lyrically it’s a knife covered in cotton candy, it’s still a gem.

[READ: March 20, 2012] McSweeney’s #39

One of the bad things about having a job with actual work is not being able to write complex posts about compilation books.  It’s hard to have your book open while bosses walk by.  So, its been a while since I read this and I’ll do my best to remember it all.  Incidentally, if you’re keeping track I skipped 38, but I’ll get to it.

Issue #39 is a hardcover and a pretty one at that. It has a front cover photo (as well as many interior photos) taken by Tabitha Soren.  Yes, forty-somethings, THAT Tabitha Soren, from MTV who has a new career as a photographer.

This issue continues with the recent return of the Letters column (as the magazine and front matter become more serious the return of the Letters adds an air of silliness). (more…)

Read Full Post »

Junot Díaz–“The Cheater’s Guide to Love” (New Yorker, July 23, 2012)

Posted in Andy Warhol, Babies, Claude Monet, Junot Díaz, Mogwai, New Yorker, Sex, Short Story, Suicide, Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait, Zinedine Zidane on July 25, 2012| 3 Comments »

SOUNDTRACK: MOGWAI-Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait-An Original Soundtrack by Mogwai (2006).

It’s no secret that I love Mogwai.  I like them so much that I even track down soundtracks to obscure films that I’ll never watch.  (Of course, since Mogwai play mostly instrumentals, soundtrack work suits them quite well).

The Zidane of the film is Zinedine Zidane, a French footballer whom many consider to be the greatest ever (don’t yell at me for that, I don’t have an opinion of the man).  I had to look up exactly what the film is about and I have to say I’m intrigued: The film is a documentary focused on Zidane during the Spanish Liga Real Madrid vs. Villarreal CF game on April 23, 2005 at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium and was filmed in real time using 17 synchronized cameras.  I watched a couple minutes on YouTube, and indeed it is a football match.   How on earth did they decide on that game (in which Zidane is ejected for fighting as the match nears its end).

The music is designed primarily for background and pacing, although there are certainly moments of great melody as well.  There are three songs that are more or less played twice (with different variations): “Terrific Speech 2″ and Terrific Speech” “Half Time and “Time and a Half” are similar piano melodies, and the opener and closer “Black Spider” and “Black Spider 2.”  “Black Spider 2” opens with the same melody as 1, but this song is thirty minutes long.  After a few moments of silence, it tuns into 17 minutes of quiet noise.  The remaining five experiment with distant feedback squalls.  Not loud and crazy, but something that creates a lot of tension, which goes with the end of the film.

Despite the titles, “Wake Up and Go Berserk” and “I Do Have Weapons” are a mellow songs.  They’re very pretty tracks.  Indeed, there’s nothing too wild at all here.  Fans of Mogwai’s wilder music will be a little disappointed.   And indeed, the overall feel is almost kind of sleepy, but it really captures another side of Mogwai, and the music is quite good.

[READ: June 20, 2012] “The Cheater’s Guide to Love”

Not bad… Junot Díaz had a story in the New Yorker just a few weeks ago, and now he’s got another one.

The familiar criticism of Díaz is that he writes the same story over and over (well, the other criticism is that he always writes in Spanish and English, but I think that’s a stupid complaint).  So here’s another story about Yunior and how he cheats on women and is basically a shit-heel.

While there is some validity to criticizing an author for retelling the same basic story, it is not unheard of in art.  Monet, for instance painted over 30 paintings of Rouen Cathedral.  And while they are all the same composition, individually they are very different.  Here’s four paintings (not prints a la Andy Warhol):

While I’m not suggesting that Díaz is on par with Monet, I am trying to say that you can work with a similar subject and create very different pieces of art.

So, yes it’s another Yunior story and yes, Yunior has cheated on his girlfriend again.  But this story is constructed differently.  And at this point I’m starting to wonder if maybe there aren’t multiple Yuniors–I’ll even think of them as in alternate realities.  Because Yunior sure has cheated on a lot of women by this time.

It makes him the perfect writer for “The Cheater’s Guide to Love.”

Unlike in the other stories, this one takes place over five years!  In Year 0 you are caught cheating by your girl (the story is set in second person).  She sticks it out with you for a time and then dumps your ass.  I liked how it was revealed just how many women he had cheated in her with over the years that they were together–he really is a shit.

In Year 1, you act like it doesn’t matter, but it does.  And you are crushed.  Your friends try to help out, but how much can they really do?  You think suicidal thoughts and imagine that that will make her forgive you.  It doesn’t.  By year 2, you have met someone.  But you find some bullshit reason (she hasn’t put out yet) and you break it off and go into another spiral.

Year 3 sees you looking after yourself–running and fitness.  In what I think of as a wholly accurate happening, you injure yourself running and are knocked back on your ass for months–momentum and caring are gone.  You look for substitutes but nothing feels as good as running.  So you stop.  And you let yourself go.

What I also liked about this story is that despite this background of the break up, there are other interesting things spiraling around Yunior.   There’s a fascinating look at racism in Boston (perceived or real?); there’s the woman who claims to be the mother of his child, the woman back in the DR who claims to be the mother of his friend Elvis’s son.  Both men act very differently to the news.  Elvis is thrilled to have a son, Yunior is freaked by this woman.  This is probably the first time that I’ve seen Díaz have a woman do behave the way they do in this story.  It’s also interesting to compare Yunior and Elvis by the end of the story.

I also got a kick out of all the women he used to cheat on his girlfriend with star getting married and they all start sending him invitations: “Revenge is living well, without you.”  Year 5 sees a completion of the spiral for all parties.  And a cool resolution to this story.

Much like with the Monet paintings, if  Díaz can keep his Yunior stories interesting (and varied enough), I will keep reading them.

For ease of searching I include: Junot Diaz, Bernabeu

Read Full Post »

Jason Planer–“Arach niD” (unpublished, 2012)

Posted in Contests, David Foster Wallace, Fears, Film & TV, Franz Kafka, Jason Planer, Modest Mouse, Short Story, Violence, Yuck! on July 21, 2012| 1 Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: MODEST MOUSE-“Lives” (2000).

This song (quoted in the story) comes from the first Modest Mouse album that I ever bought, The Moon and Antarctica.  I have very vivid memories of listening to this album on a long dark stretch of road–not a bad image to connect with the album.  This song comes near the end of the album after the stomper “I Came as a Rat” and the slow guitar and slightly ill sounding bendy note really set the unease of the song.  After about 45 seconds the tribal drums kick in and change the pace of the song.  But rather than bursting forth, the song kind of falls back in on itself until what feels like a brand new song comes out of this little cocoon–an upbeat acoustic number with strings that tries to remind you to live before you die.  After a brief flirtation with yet another style, the song returns to whence it started.

It’s representative of Modest Mouse’s quieter side, although it barely showcases the extremes that the band is capable of.

[READ: July 11, 2012] Arach nID

My former co-worker Jay is one of the few people I know who is “writing a book” who has actually written most if not all of said book.  He has been writing a sci-fi opus for a few years now and at last count it eclipsed 600 pages.  I mean, sure, I’m “writing a book” but it’s all in my head.  Anyway, I told him about a short story contest and asked if he had any short stories to submit.  We once had a discussion about how novelists shouldn’t really write short stories if what they wanted to write was a novel, so I didn’t know if he had anything handy.  He told me he had this work partially written and, with a deadline in mind, he polished it up and finished it off.

Because the story is unpublished, I’m not going to give away too many details, as that’s not cool (and because he may always revise it).  But I will talk about the basics of the story because I think it’s pretty interesting. (more…)

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »