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Archive for the ‘Technology’ Category

Terry Moore–Echo #10 (2009)

Posted in Christmas on Mars, Fantasy, Graphic Novel, Military, Mystery, Technology, Terry Moore, The Flaming Lips, Threats on March 3, 2009| Leave a Comment »

echo102SOUNDTRACK–THE FLAMING LIPS-THE W.A.N.D. (2006).

wandThe first single from the Lips last album contains three tracks: the title track, “You Got to Hold On” and “Time Travel…Yes!”

W.A.N.D is quite a departure from the previous few records, as it begins with a brash guitar line, one of the harshest sounding songs they’ve recoded in several years.  Yet despite that, the lyrics are as positive an uplifting as ever.  It sounds like some kind of masterful protest song from the 1970s.  “You Got to Hold On” exhibits some of the sounds of the last two records, although it’s not nearly as lush.  It seems like it might have been a transitional song between Yoshimi and Mystics.  And the final track is a meditation on time travel, narrated by Steve from Blues Clues (he sure does get around…he appeared in Christmas on Mars too).

It was an excellent appetite whetter for the new album.

[READ: February 27, 2009] Echo #10

In Issue #10 we finally learn (although Julie herself doesn’t) just what exactly is all over Julie Martin.  We also get wonderfully complex behavior from Ivy–is she sympathetic to Julie, or is she just moving in for the kill.

An intriguing series just got really exciting.

(Wow, there’s not much to say about one issue of a comic book).

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Christopher Moore–Practical Demonkeeping (1992)

Posted in Adventure, Christopher Moore, Demons, Dreams, End of the World, Fishing, Funny (ha ha), Marriage Trouble, Supernatural, Technology, Threats on January 6, 2009| Leave a Comment »

practicalSOUNDTRACK: FISHBONE-The Reality of My Surroundings (1991).

realityThis was my first real exposure to Fishbone (except for John Cusack wearing the fish skeleton shirt in Say Anything, of course–which, no images available on the web?  How is that possible?).  At 60 minutes it’s one of  the first really long alternative discs to come out.  It does run a little long, but there’s so much packed into it that it’s easy to forgive their self indulgences.

Reality starts with the heavy, thrashy “Fight the Youth” an amazing guitar workout.  It’s almost not the same band as on Truth and Soul, except that all the Fishbone elements are still in there.  I listened to this album a lot in college.  I distinctly recall singing the line “Dooooo the Howwwwssssswork!” from “Housework” a fun return to the Fishbone of old.

But two other big highlights come near the end: “Everyday Sunshine” is just a beautiful song.  But even that doesn’t compare to “Sunless Saturday” a fantastic catchy and wonderful song.  It starts like a ballad but turns into a speedy rocker by the end, never too heavy, just perfect for what should have been a massive single.

The album has 18 songs, and interspersed throughout are silly songs that are about a minute each.  “Asswhippin” is 37 second of well, asswhippin.  But it’s the 4 “If I Were A…I’d” pieces that shows the band taking things they dislike and throwing them into a thrash song explaining what they’d do.  They were always fun back in the day, and even though, as songs, they are pretty silly, I enjoyed hearing them again.

This is a pretty massive record, and will always remain a favorite for me.

[READ: December 26, 2008] Practical Demonkeeping

After reviewing You Suck, I was inspired to read some more Christopher Moore (even though I have SO MANY OTHER books to read).  Anyhow, I put this book (his first) on hold, and it came much sooner than I expected. So, I decided to read this one instead of what’s next on my list.

But anyhow.

This book is set in Pine Cove, California.  A tourist trap that prides itself on being touristy.   As the book opens, one of Pine Cove’s residents is driving The Breeze around town looking for action. The Breeze is a small time drug dealer and trailer resident awaiting his big score tomorrow.  And so, he is obviously bummed not to make it through the night when he is swallowed by a giant demon. (more…)

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Jonathan Lethem–“Lostronaut” (New Yorker, November 17, 2008)

Posted in Cancer as plot device, Epistolary Novel, Fishbone, Jonathan Lethem, New Yorker, Outer Space, Selecter, Ska, Technology, The Specials, Threats on January 5, 2009| Leave a Comment »

ny1117SOUNDTRACK: FISHBONE-In Your Face (1986).

inyourfaceFishbone’s first full length starts out with two great songs.  “When Problems Arise” has the great stop/start techniques that Fishbone uses so well, as well as a great riff and some fantastic funky bass playing.  The second track “A Selection” has  a great ska feel, and could easily be The Specials or Selecter; however, Fishbone throw in a bit of humor (“No toothpaste?”) to make the song their own.

The rest of the album is good, but it stands in the shadows of its follow up.  (And, actually a bit in the shadow of the preceding EP).   The album admirably mixes up styles throughout.  It includes some of Fishbone’s lightest, most soul/gospel songs like “Movement in the Light,” but it also has some rocking tracks, especially the ending pair: “‘Simon Says’ The Kingpin” and “Post Cold War Politics” (the two songs together are less than two and a half minutes).

My copy still has the Used: $5.99 sticker on it, and I know I got it much later in my Fishbone appreciation.  But really the only problem with the disc is that Truth and Soul and The Reality of My Surroundings are just so good, this one can’t compare.  It’s a good stepping stone though.

[READ: December 26, 2008] “Lostronaut”

The title tells you pretty much all you need to know about this story.  “Lostronaut” is set up as a series of letters from Janice (an astronaut) to her boyfriend, Chase.  Janice is an astronaut at a space station called Northern Lights.  Things are going pretty badly for all on board, and each letter tells of the deterioration of both ship and spirit. (more…)

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J.K. Rowling–The Tales of Beedle the Bard (2008)

Posted in Canadian Music, Children's Books, City and Colour, Entertainment Weekly, Fables, Fantasy, Harry Potter, Illusion, J.K. Rowling, Magic, Meta, Short Books, Supernatural, Technology on December 26, 2008| Leave a Comment »

beedleSOUNDTRACK: CITY AND COLOUR-Live (2007).

ccliveCity and Colour is the solo project of Alexisonfire singer Dallas Green (get it?).  I was really impressed by Dallas’ voice within the noisy metalcore of AOF.  And I wondered what his solo stuff would sound like without the dissonance of the rest of the band.  I saw this disc was available from Maplemusic and it was considerably cheaper than on Amazon.  A live record isn’t always the best venue to check out an artist but in this case, I figured his solo stuff probably translated fine live as well.  (Still haven’t actually heard a solo record so I can’t say).  The set is also not entirely solo, as he calls out an accompanist for a few tracks (the DVD gives more information about who he is).

In AOF, Dallas’s voice is strong and powerful and yet totally catchy.  His voice is the reason that I like AOF so much.  So I was a  little disappointed in the live release because he seems to be holding back.  As I said, I haven’t heard the original discs, so I don’t know how it compares.  But on some of the songs, he seems too restrained.

The songs are all very catchy, and the between-song banter is fun (it was excised from the CD but is available on the DVD) .  But as I said for some of the songs it’s almost as if he’s inhaling rather than exhaling when he sings.  I guess I find it weird for a punk rocker to be so restrained.  Despite that, several songs do stand out as excellent.  “Comin’ Home” (there are two versions on the disc), “Save Your Scissors” (the second version on the disc is especially fun because the crowd sings along).  And lyrically Green is very interesting.  “Comin’ Home” has some nice name-checking of cities around North America (poor fans in Lincoln, Nebraska, though).

Despite my reservations about his singing, his voice still sounds great.  I’m interested in checking out a studio release to see how it compares.

[READ: December 18, 2008] The Tales of Beedle the Bard

There’s two funny stories about this book:

1) At my library, we received a notice from Scholastic Books that this book COULD NOT be put out before the release date of December 4.  We had to sign a release form promising it would not go out any sooner.  We all laughed about that because, while we knew that Book 7 of the Harry Potter series was going to be HUGE (and we had the same release form to sign for that book) we also knew that this was, at best, an esoteric addendum to the series for die-hard fans only.  (As of this writing our copies haven’t even arrived yet, and there are only eleven holds in our entire system). (more…)

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Chetan Bhagat–One Night @ the Call Center (2005)

Posted in Chetan Bhagat, Christmas on Mars, Consumerism, Corporate skewering, Foreign Books, Funny (ha ha), Marriage Trouble, Racism, Religion, Short Books, Supernatural, Technology, The Flaming Lips on December 20, 2008| 5 Comments »

onenightSOUNDTRACK—FLAMING LIPS-Christmas on Mars (film & soundtrack) (2008).

marsI’ve been a fan of the Flaming Lips for a pretty long time.  I first heard them with “She Don’t Use Jelly” (a novelty hit from 1993…who would have thought they’d have become so amazing) but I really got into them from the time of The Soft Bulletin (and Zaireeka).  Since around this time, Wayne Coyne and the Lips have been working on Christmas on Mars.  It is a “home movie” of sorts that the Lips and some special friends made in their home town (and their backyard).  They recently released the film on CD/DVD.

The film, based on the snippets I saw and everything I’d heard about it was nothing like what I expected.  wayneChristmas on Mars sounds like a cheesy/funny movie about, well, what Martians do for Christmas.  And seeing Wayne as a Martian seemed to confirm my suspicion.  But rather, what you get is a much less joyful celebration.

The movie is structured around a space station on Mars. There are only a half a dozen or so humans on board, and they are all going slowly crazy from a lack of oxygen.  Also on board is a “virgin” mother who is incubating a baby that was born on Mars.  One of the crew believes that the fate of the baby will determine the fate of the entire mission.

It is Christmastime on Mars, and there’s going to be a Christmas party.  But the Santa freaks out and runs outside just as a Martian walks up to the station.  The Martian is “captured” but he serenely walks around the ship, observing, mending and just being there.

There is very little dialogue.  There are really far out-trippy images.  There are lots of really creepy images (the people who let their baby be in the film were VERY trusting).  And there’s lots of vaginal imagery (in whacked out dream sequences) which makes me wonder what kind of MPAA rating this would get.

The film is a little dull at times (especially in the beginning)–although it could have just been that since I didn’t know what I was getting into, I wasn’t in the right mind frame for it…kind of like Eraserhead.  But it definitely picks up, and gets rather suspenseful.  It’s also nice that some “real” actors are in it, like SNL’s Fred Armisen,  AdamGoldberg (!) and Blue’s Clue’s Steve Burns (!!).

What’s most impressive though is the look of the film.  From interviews I read, I learned that Wayne was constructing most of the set himself (and that he got to use an abandoned processing plant for many of the scenes).  He very wisely films in low light and black and white, (with occasional splashes of supervibrant color) but the sets look really amazing.

The Flaming Lips are usually pretty upbeat and positive.  This film is overall pretty dark and negative, although there is always a ray of light shining through it.  I’m not going to give away the ending, though.

The CD is the soundtrack to the film.  It is not for the casual listener, or even necessarily for the Flaming Lips fan.  There’s no lyrics at all.  And the score is very befitting of a “lost in space at Christmastime” movie.  Unlike the typical Lips’ mood, the soundtrack is quite dark (and short at about half an hour).  The overall feel is ambient, but restless ambient.  And there’s very little in the way of tunes.  That’s not a criticism, as it is a soundtrack to the film, it’s just a warning for those expecting another “Waitin’ for a Superman.”  Although I admit it won’t be getting a lot of play in my house.

[READ: December 16, 2008] One Night @ the Call Center

A patron asked me to order Chetan Bhagat’s newest novel for her.  In the process, she told me that this novel, One Night @ the Call Center was very funny, and had finally gotten released over here.  I don’t always listen to patron suggestions, but for some reason this one stuck with me, so I inter-library loaned it.

As the title suggests, this story is set in a call center, and all the action takes place in one night (with some flashbacks).  The characters are six twenty-something Indians living in Delhi.  They work for Connections, a call center for an American appliance manufacturer. And their shift is from 10PM-2AM. (more…)

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Berkeley Breathed–Opus: 25 Years of His Sunday Best (2004)

Posted in Art, Baby Snakes, Berkeley Breathed, Bloom County, Bruce Bickford, Corporate skewering, Frank Zappa, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), NASA, Opus, Political Humor, Secondhand Lions, Smarty Pants, Technology, The Mike Douglas Show, Time Travel, War on December 13, 2008| Leave a Comment »

opusSOUNDTRACK: FRANK ZAPPA-Baby Snakes [the movie & soundtrack] (1979).

babyThis is sort of a review of the soundtrack album to Baby Snakes, but really it’s a review of the film, which I just watched over the last 4 days.  Baby Snakes (A Movie About People Who Do Stuff That is Not Normal) was not as depraved as the subtitle (and the history of Zappa) would lead you to believe.  In fact, primarily it is a concert film.  There are a bunch of other things in the film as well, but easily 3/4 is a live Halloween concert in New York City.

More on that in a moment.

In today’s market, the other parts of the film would simply be packaged as bonus features on a DVD.  The claymation and subsequent interview with the artist Bruce Bickford would be a (somewhat) interesting short film, and a lot of the behind the scenes footage would also go well as a bonus attachment to the concert.

But I won’t get ahead of myself.  The claymation sequences are, frankly, amazing to watch.  There’s a clip on YouTube of Frank on the Mike Douglas Show (which is a trippy/weird thing to watch in and of itself) in which he shows an example of the claymation from the film and from elsewhere. Unlike the amazing work of Aardman on Wallace and Gromit, Bickford’s work is not polished.  However, each new image slowly morphs into the next in a series of mindblowing sequences…there are scenes of sex and violence and driving and mountains and flowers, and naughty bits and vomiting and you name it.  It is the most stream-of-consciousness looking visuals I may have ever seen.

During the sequences, Frank interviews Bickford.  The interview is pretty long, and it sounds like Bickford may be completely stoned. I tuned out a lot of what he was saying.

The backstage footage is the kind of sillydebauchery that you imagine happens back stage: there’s a blow up sex doll, there’s most of the band members telling little stories about what’s going on and there’s Adrian Belew dressing in drag.  But again, the editing is not great, and the footage is just sort of randomly inserted…the worst part is when Adrian Belew is actually talking OVER the Frank and the Devil negotiation during “Titties and Beer.”  Boo!

So, both of these segments could have worked very nicely as their own short films, rather than being inserted into this longer piece.  In fact, the haphazardness of the proceedings seems even worse when you realize that they are no longer inserted into the film after about the two hour mark: the last stretch of the concert is interruption free.  The problem is that the whole film is nearly three hours long, and since he intersperses these interviews/animations in between live footage, watching five or ten minutes of animation feels disjointed (overall, the editing leaves something to be desired)

The live footage, however, is pretty amazing.  Watching Terry Bozzio beat the crap out of the drums while singing/narrating is pretty fantastic.  And Andrian Belew is amazing to watch at any time. It’s also fun to see the percussionist going nuts on what must be a hundred different instruments (including the ever-present Zappa Xylophone.)

But clearly the highlight is watching Zappa.  Zappa conducts a whirlwind percussion jam, giving the musicians the key (A is a triangle of two hands, C is his hand shaped like a C) before getting them to strike their chords.  It is a fun improv moment, and shows that even back in the 70s, he was interested in composing music, not just writing rock songs.

Incidentally, the soundtrack, of Baby Snakes contains many of the live songs from the film,(but not the improv)  including the excellent “Punky’s Whips” and “Black Page #2.”  The soundtrack is short (especially compared to the movie) but is really great.

Watching Zappa solo on the guitar is also pretty amazing.  I’ve listened to all of his guitar solo releases.  And he simply knows the guitar backwards and forwards.  So, this concert is a good way to just sit back and watch him play.  But it’s also a good way to watch him interact with the fans.  Frank is right there with the fans, shaking hands, slapping high fives (and doing this while he is playing an extended solo as well).  His charisma is undeniable.

And his charisma is in great evidence during the audience participation section where some of the thronging masses are invited onstage to enact a scene out of Frank’s imagination (a young volunteer is “whipped” by a young woman whose face is painted white with flowers on it, and her friend Donna U Wanna).  The woman in the white makeup is all over Frank when she’s down in the crowd, too.  While Frank is singing, she starts kissing him and even taking his hair out of a ponytail holder–and he never flubs a word!  What a professional.

By the end of the film you kind of forget about the editing, but in the first 2/3, mostly you come away thinking that the editing is just not very good.  Much of the claymation is repeated (some is repeated three times).  While I understand that Frank reedited the film down to 90 minutes in a failed attempt to find a distributor, and I know everyone is happy to get this unedited version of the film, nevertheless I think the whole film should be broken up into smaller films for maximum enjoyment.

[READ: January 2008 ] Opus

I was a huge huge huge fan of Bloom County back in the day. It was one of my favorite comics, and I can recall doodling Opuses and Bill the Cats during downtime in class.  I sort of liked Outland, but then, I didn’t get a paper, so I never really saw those.  And, lo and behold, I didn’t even KNOW about the Opus strip.  I also just read that he just finished the Opus strip in November.  The final panel is supremely touching and is available here (what appeared in the Sunday paper) and then here (the link that’s in the cartoon).

I found this book remaindered, and figured I’d have to give it a try.  And it filled me with nostalgia! (more…)

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Joshua Ferris–Then We Came to the End

Posted in Books about writers, Cancer as plot device, Consumerism, Corporate skewering, Funky Web Sites, Funny (ha ha), Joshua Ferris, Marriage Trouble, Michael Nyman, Pregnancy, Q, Sex, Smarty Pants, Technology, The Beach Boys, The Divine Comedy, Threats, Violence on December 12, 2008| Leave a Comment »

thenwecameSOUNDTRACK: THE DIVINE COMEDY-Liberation (1993).

libeartiuonThis is considered by many to be the “first” Divine Comedy album, even though Neil Hannon released a previous album under the name Divine Comedy (Fanfare for the Comic Muse).  He disowned that album, but, as you do, he reissued it several years later after much demand.

This is the second Divine Comedy album that I bought (after Promenade). And so, because I just reviewed Promenade, this review works as something of a comparison, which is of course, unfair, as Promenade should be compared to this, but so be it.

What I was most struck with, when listening to this disc after Promenade is how, even though the album covers are designed similarly, and everything about the discs suggests they should be similar, just how dissimilar the music is.  Not in a global “who is this band?” sense, but just in the particulars of the orchestration.

With Liberation, there’s no Michael Nyman influence.  Rather, you get some beautifully written orchestral pop music.  Although the orchestra is not terribly conventional: with harpsichord and organ being among the top instruments heard.

In a comparison to Promenade, Liberation is less thematically consistent but has more singles to offer.  “Bernice Bobs Her Hair” (the title of an F. Scott Fitzgerald story, so the literate songwriting is clearly in evidence) is a wonderful pop song.  As is “The Pop Singer’s Fear of the Pollen Count,” (“Even when I get hay fever I find, I may sneeze, but I don’t really mind… I’m in love with the summertime!”) the catchiest ode to summer this side of the Beach Boys.  “Your Daddy’s Car” speeds along on plucky strings and is just so happy, even when they crash the car into a tree.  “Europop” is a fantastic dressing down of Europop songs while still being hugely catchy.

Because I really enjoy Promenade (and Casanova) I tend to overlook this disc, but really it is just as good, and in some cases better than those two.  An air of pastoral glee pervades the record making it a real joy to listen to.  Especially in the summer.

[READ: December 8, 2008] Then We Came to the End

This book has the great distinction of being written in the first person plural (the narrator is “we,” for those of you who don’t remember eighth grade grammar).  This, of course, brings the reader into the story almost against his or her will.   Really, though, as you read it, you don’t think of yourself as being in the book, but rather, that the company that the unnamed narrators work for is something of a collective mentality.  And so it is.

The narrators work at an unnamed advertising agency in Chicago.  The time frame is the late 1990’s to early 2001 and there are lots and lots of layoffs.  Any time someone is laid off, “we” say they are “walking Spanish down the hall” (from a Tom Waits song).  And slowly they watch as one by one, staff are let go. (more…)

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Eoin Colfer–Artemis Fowl And The Time Paradox (2008)

Posted in Adventure, Broken Social Scene, Canadian Music, Eoin Colfer, Fantasy, Feist, Magic, Supernatural, Technology, Threats, Time Travel, YA Books on November 27, 2008| Leave a Comment »

fowlSOUNDTRACK–BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE-Bee Hives (2004).

bssB-side collections come in a couple of forms: the awesome collection of fantastic rare tracks, the self indulgent crap that only true fans would like, and the middle road.

This collection fits nicely into the middle road.  I’ve enjoyed Broken Social Scene’s two later discs (I haven’t heard their first one).  This collection comes between the second and third.  And it contains remixes of songs from the first two, as well as some instrumental tracks.

The tracks are all dreamy and sort of atmospheric.  It’s definitely the kind of disc that requires the right mood, as the instrumentals are pretty but not exactly pulse-racing.  The highlights are Feist’s rendition of “Lover’s Spit” which is ghostly and haunting.  And “Backyards,” a wonderfully catchy, beautifully sung song that could easily be one of their best.

This collection is not for the casual fan, but if you really like BSS, it’s a worthy addition to their catalog.

[READ: November 1, 2008] Artemis Fowl And The Time Paradox.

fowl2Just another example of how the British cover, while not drastically different, is still much cooler than the US cover.

This is the sixth book in the Artemis Fowl series.  Sarah asked me if you could read any of them without having read the previous ones.  Aside from the first, which you should read just for background information (and because it’s a great story), it doesn’t REALLY matter which you read next.  Although references to previous events do crop up in the subsequent stories, the plot events of each book are not dependent on previous knowledge. (more…)

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Christopher Monks–The Ultimate Game Guide to Your Life® Or, The Video Game as Existential Metaphor (2008)

Posted in Christopher Monks, Contests, Einstürzende Neubauten, Funky Web Sites, Funny (ha ha), Marriage (Happy), McSweeney's, Michael J. Nelson, Portishead, Set at School, Super Mario Brothers, Technology, Tekken, Universities, Video Games, Virginity (Loss of) on November 19, 2008| Leave a Comment »

yourlifeSOUNDTRACK: PORTISHEAD-Third (2008).

3rdThis is probably one of the spookiest albums I’ve heard in a long time.  And, boy, do I love it.

Portishead has been away from the music scene for about ten years.  They’d had a couple of hits, sort of gloomy trip hop all held together by Beth Gibbons’ otherworldly voice (“Nobody loves me, it’s true, not like you do”).  But frankly, after ten years I wasn’t even sure if I cared about Portishead anymore.  And then, I heard the songs!

Beth Gibbons’ voice sounds even more ghostly than before.  And the noises that Geoff Barrow and Adrian Utley make are totally beyond the pale.  Some of the music sounds like pieces from a late night horror movie.  Take the bizarro verse music of “Hunter,” guitar chords stretched beyond recognition alternating with a keyboard riff straight out of “Revenge of the Cheapo Zombie Monster.” Or the aggressive soundtrack of “Machine Gun,” in which Gibbons sings over a musical piece that is more or less an electronic drum that sounds like a machine gun.  It’s pretty intense.

But just when you think the whole disc is nothing but uneasy listening, they thrown in the beautiful acoustic simplicity of “The Rip,” a simple acoustic guitar playing over Gibbons’ sultry voice, or “Deep Water” a minute and a half of old timey ukulele music.  Of course, these songs are bookeneded by two creepy tracks: “Plastic” in all its eeriness, and “We Carry On” some of the most unusual sounds ever to be called music (aside from Einsturzende Neubauten, of course).

Somehow all of the unsettling sounds work wonderfully together.  And, although I haven’t processed all the lyrics yet, previous Portishead albums would lead me to believe that things aren’t very peachy in Gibbons’ world.  And yet, despite that, I find the album very uplifting and not at all depressing.

Maybe every band should take ten years between records if it yields results this great.

[READ: November 16, 2008] The Ultimate Game Guide to Your Life®

I used to work with the author of this book.  Perhaps a dozen or so years ago, Christopher (just Chris back then) Monks and I worked at Wordsworth Books in beautiful Cambridge, MA.   When I learned that he was writing for McSweeney’s (and has since become the editor of their online website) I was very impressed and happy for him and not at all jealous or seething with envy at his wonderful, picturesque life in the Massacusetts suburbs.  But, more to the point, when I read his works, and his website, he displayed humor that was in little evidence at work.  (Talk about compartmentilization…).

Anyhow, he recently sent a generic email to everyone who has ever written him to say that he has a book out (and would we all go buy it, please).  Well, I’m always game to help someone who over the years I have come to consider a former co-worker. (more…)

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Ben Schott–Schott’s Miscellany 2008: An Almanac (2007)

Posted in Airlines, Ben Schott, Books about music, Canadian Content, Collecting, Consumerism, Corporate skewering, Dip-in Books, Ian Hollingshead, King's X, Military, Radio, Religion, Sex, Sports, Technology, Threats, Universities, Violence, War, Wikipedia on October 20, 2008| 1 Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: KING’S X-Manic Moonlight (2001).

This disc is not terribly popular among the King’s X fans.  A big complaint is that they dared to use drum loops.  It’s kind of a funny complaint because aside from adding a bit of texture (and for some reason, having each song start out with the drum machine), it’s not like they’ve suddenly gone all techno.  In fact, overall the album has a feeling of insular claustrophobia.  It feels like the songs are just densely packed with little room to breathe.

To me, the loops aren’t that odd for a band that’s big into experimentation (although you’ll note they were not used again).  What’s unusual is the addition of funk elements in “Believe,” and some really funky elements in “Vegetable”  There’s also some noisy/crunchy guitar workouts in “Yeah.” This song is also kind of odd as the verses are practically inaudible, but the choruses (which consist of the word “Yeah”) are just so great! Perhaps the most unusual track on the disc is “Skeptical Wind” which comes across as a rhymed/spoken-word piece that references Mia Farrow among other things.

But the title track sounds most like the King’s X we know and love.  In addition, “False Alarm” and “Jenna” are pretty close to the earlier Ty ballads (even though Ty doesn’t sing them).  They contain the harmonies we’re used to, but really they are sort of smothered in all of the surrounding noise.

The album is still full of great songs…the guys never lost their songwriting chops.  It’s just the way the songs are presented that makes them sound so different. It’s an interesting experiment, for which I give them credit, but it really doesn’t showcase the best aspects of the band.

[READ: Throughout 2008] Schott’s Miscellany 2008

In the best case of “but I thought you liked him” ever, Sarah bought me this book for Christmas, certain that I had read and enjoyed other books by him.  Interestingly, I had never heard of him or his books.  But I was very intrigued by the concept of it.

As you might imagine, I enjoy trivia and I like facts.  And for a person like me, this collection is fantastic.  As the subtitle says, it is an almanac; however, unlike the standard almanacs (Information Please, etc.) which are just lists of information.  Ben Schott (could he be the only one who works on this book?) gathers all of the interesting things that happened from September 2006 through August 2007 into interesting, subjective groups, with interesting, subjective names, and then writes about them. (more…)

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