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Archive for the ‘Travel’ Category

David Sedaris–“Stepping Out” (New Yorker, June 30, 2014)

Posted in David Sedaris, Funny (ha ha), Minux, New Yorker, Placebo, Travel on September 28, 2014| Leave a Comment »

30SOUNDTRACK: PLACEBO-B3EP (2012).

b3Placebo went away for a time and now (well, 2012) they’re back with an EP and an album.  This EP has 5 songs and it returns their sound to days of old (although their sound hasn’t changed all that much, honestly, but their last album seemed less…something).  This returns to noisy days of yore.  “B3” has a sleazy kind of synth, big rocking guitars and drums, and of course Brian Molko’s voice (they wouldn’t be Placebo without his voice).

The second track is a cover of a Minux song “I Know You Want to Stop” and it falls right in with the placebo sound.  I actually thought it was one of their own.

“The Extra” slows down the craziness of the EP, but it sounds very much like a Placebo ballad.  Rather than a love ballad it is a creepy ballad.   The theme is summed up”If I am an extra in the film of my own life, will someone please turn off the camera.”  There’s great guitar sound on “I.K.W.Y.L.” with Molko’s keening voice adding tension.

And the final song, “Time is Money” is one of Molko’s aching slow song.  “Time is Money bastard, so like Jesus, give it all away.”  Somehow he turns that sentiment into a love song.  And I love Molko for that.

For an EP, this is a really solid collection of songs–no throwaway tracks here.  Let’s hope the full length is as good.

 [READ: September 18, 2014] “Stepping Out”

In this piece, I can’t decide if Sedaris is messing with us or not.  This essay is all about his love affair with the Fitbit.

In my head, Sedaris is a pampered homebody who only goes out when he has to.  While I would never say he was unfit, I just can’t picture him exercising, even if that exercise is walking. On the other hand, I know that he is rather obsessive, so I can see him taking to something like this and really running (or walking) with it.

Sedaris’ friend Lesley explained the pedometer to him.  “The goal is to take ten thousand steps per day and, once you do, it vibrates.”  He asks, “Hard?”  She says “No, it’s just a tingle.”  So he bought one.  And he quickly learns that 10,000 steps is a little more than 4 miles for him.

He says he can achieve that easily in a day, especially since he has people coming to his door all the time, “wanting you to accept a package or give them directions or just listen patiently as they talk about birds, which happens from time to time when I’m home in West Sussex….” (more…)

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Justin Taylor–“The Happy Valley” (Lucky Peach, No. 10: The Street Food Issue: Winter 2014)

Posted in Foals, Food, Justin Taylor, Kevin Moffett, Lisa Hanawalt, Lobster, Lucky Peach, Mark Ibold, Short Story, Snobrød, Travel, U2, Wrestling, Yuck! on September 10, 2014| Leave a Comment »

peach SOUNDTRACK: FOALS-Holy Fire (2012).

I foalsloved Foals’ debut album Antidotes, it was a modern rock/prog rock/dancable mashup with angular guitars and all kinds of weird time signatures.  Then Foals returned with a new album which I haven’t heard anything of, except to have heard that it was very different.  Then I heard “Inhaler” from this album and I loved it.  It was easily in my top ten songs of 2012.

But it was so different from the Foals of Antidotes that I wasn’t sure what to make of it.  And in fact, that Foals, with all of their angularity, has been replaced by this much dancier version of the band.

“Prelude” is like an extended intro to “Inhaler.” It’s 4 minutes of intro music with chatter and noises.  Then comes “Inhaler,” a slow building song that rises and falls, rises again then falls again and then bursts into a big rocking chorus.  It’s fantastic, it feels louder than is possible for such a song.  “My Number” introduces some of that unusual staccato song style but in a far more dancey framework. The synths are louder and bolder.  I really like this song.   “Bad Habit” is a far slower song, but it’s a nice tempo changer.  And the chorus is still catchy.

“Everytime” brings in more shoegaze elements (so let’s see, there’s angular punk, shoegaze and dance music here).  This song even has a discoey chorus.  “Late Night” and “Out of the Woods” feel even more dancey than the earlier tracks–with a kind of earlier 80s British alt rock flavor–spiky guitars and exotic percussion.  I hear some of the guitar sounds of early U2 as well, especially on the intro of “Milk & Black Spiders” (the rest of the song sounds nothing like U2.

“Providence” brings back some of that louder guitar, coupled nicely with a combination of shoegaze and screamy vocals.  The heavy guitar plays a very nice counterpoint to the picking of the second guitar.  It’s the last great song on the record.  “Stepson” is a slow song, the slowest on the disc, and I fear that it rather runs out of steam.  “Moon” continues the slow drifting sense of the end of the album.  It’s pretty song, but it feels so far removed from “Inhaler” that it seems to be from a different record.

So I’m not entirely sure what to make of this record.  It has a few great songs, and then a number of songs that seem to want to go in a different direction, but what direction that might be remains unclear.

[READ: September 6, 2014] “The Happy Valley”

Lucky Peach 10 is “The Street Food Issue,” and it is a fun issue with all kinds of interesting food you can buy on the street (and recipes to try them at home).

Like food in tubes.  Take “Sausage Quest” (what the locals do with their various sausages all around the world), or “I Went to Thailand and All I Got was a Sausage Stuffed in My Mouth” (I can’t wait to make sausage blossoms).  Beyond sausages there’s a list of the most compelling street foods around the world from New York to Naples to Tunisia. We look at street food vendors in Malaysia and South East Asia.  And then we meet the Lucha Doughnut Man of East LA (Mexican donna vendor by day and masked wrestler by night).

Then there’s some articles that are not about food.  Like the surprising article about the microbiology of used cigarette butts (no butts were eaten).  Or the very interesting history of charcoal (which dates back to Henry Ford).  I had no idea charcoal came from trees.   There’s an essay about rapper Jibbs and his song “Chain Hang Low” which was apparently ubiquitous in 2006 although I don’t know it).  The essay discusses how it used “Turkey in the Straw” as a motif.  Most likely, he took it from the ice cream trucks that he heard as a kid, but there is a whole history of racism packed in to that song, let me tell you.

I enjoyed the idea (throughout the issue) that if you’re in a new place, sometimes you can’t always trust reviews for what’s good, you just have to trust your gut (and your nose).

Then there’s several articles about corn.  Making tortillas or masa–the whole process of nixtamilization.  (more…)

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Breece D’J Pancake–“Trilobites” (Lucky Peach, No. 12: The Seashore: Summer 2014)

Posted in Breece D'J Pancake, Chris Ying, Food, Lisa Hanawalt, Lucky Peach, Oxford Drama, Robert Sietsma, Sex, Short Story, South, Travel, Violence on September 7, 2014| Leave a Comment »

lp12SOUNDTRACK: OXFORD DRAMA-“Asleep/Awake” (2014).

dramaOxford Drama is, unexpectedly, from Poland.  Their lyrics are in English, although their Facebook site is all in Polish.

“Asleep/Awake” is a slow, synthy track with Małgorzata Dryjańska singing in a breathy whispery voice.  Her voice feels delicate even if the lyrics are somewhat empowering (and she has no discernible accent).  The instrumentation (all synth and electronic drums) is by Marcin Mrówka.  I like the way he throws in some occasional bass lines to add more texture to his simple beats.

The song feels very much like a 90s British trip hop sound.  Although on the more mellow side of trip hop. It’s quite pretty and dreamy.  It’s interesting to hear this kind of music coming out of Poland (although why shouldn’t it, honestly?).  I rather hope they break through in the states.

Their 4 song EP is available on bandcamp.

[READ: September 7, 2014] “Trilobites”

Lucky Peach issue 12 is all about “The Seashore.” And thus there are lots of beach-related foods under discussion. Lisa Hanawalt has a wonderful story about hanging out with otters (if she weren’t so hilariously vulgar (she’s wearing a shirt that says “Every day I’m not covered in otters is a piece of shit”) I’d have my kids read it because it is so cute). There’s a brief article explaining the particular smells of the seashore.

Chris Ying has a hilarious article about sea cucumbers (and just how hard it is to make them appetizing). And there’s a wonderful little section that compares the “sea” version of things to their “land” counterparts. Like the Sea Anemone, the Sea Cow and the Sea Horse and how different they are from the land based creatures with the same names.

There’s an amusing tribute to the Goonies (a movie I haven’t seen in 30 years); and a lot of talk about Crayfish. Perhaps the most interesting of these articles was the seaweed farmers—who basically say that any seaweed is edible, so next time you’re in the ocean, chow down.

And then there’s the clams and abalone and whatnot. This includes a brief explanation of the edibleness of 8 different bivalves. There’s also Robert Sietsema’s trip down the Atlantic Seaboard going to as many clam houses as he can.

There’s also an article about sushi—but not the sushi itself, rather the stuff that comes with it. Like Krab, which is not crab at all, but various fish pieces minced up and dyed to look like crab! Or the wasabi that you get, which is not real wasabi (real wasabi is super expensive ($100/lb)). That green paste is actually horseradish, mustard oil, citric acid and yellow and blue dye.

And what beach/resort issue would be complete without s tory about the Harvey Wallbanger (I enjoyed this history quite a bit).

The issue is also chock full of recipes and then it ends with this piece of fiction

“Trilobites” is set on a downtrodden farm in the South. I wonder if the South gets tired of their fiction depicting fathers as brutal drunks. In this case, there’s this instance of the father whipping the narrator: “One time I used an old black snake for a bullwhip, snapped the sucker’s head off, and Pop beat hell out of me with it.”

He is also not too fond of his mom. Once Pop died, his mother was interested in selling the fam. She’d like to move to Akron where she has family. He has no interest in the farm but doesn’t want to leave either. This exchange, in which they laugh at the funny phrases Pop used to say sums up his attitude:

I think back. “Cornflakes were pone-rakes,’ and a chicken was a ‘sick-un.’
We laugh.
“Well,” she says, “he’ll always be a part of us.”
…I think how she could foul up a free lunch.

The trilobites in the story are in Company Hill, a former river bed that is now home to fossils. The narrator has never been able to find a trilobite.

The narrator pines for his love from high school, Ginny. In her yearbook he wrote “We will live on mangoes and love.” But she left for Florida.

Now she’s back in Charleston on break and asked to visit. But as with many stories full of desperation, especially in the South, nothing good can come from anything.

He has to deal with the man who wants to buy the farm. He can’t really communicate with his mother. The girl who is still around (who is super cute) is jailbait. Even his “date” with Ginny is a disaster. She has a boyfriend back in college, she tells him. But she wants to have fun with him while she’s back. They fool around, but it is ugly and ends with Ginny mad. And even the trilobites don’t come out.

I just didn’t really get this story. I know I am out of my depth in a story like this as the boy huntsfor a “turkle” in the water (which I guess is a turtle). His father used to like “turkle in a mulligan” whatever that means. This is just not my kind of story.

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Gordon Korman–Flashpoint [The 39 Clues: Unstoppable: Book Four] (2014)

Posted in Adventure, Aphex Twin, Death, Fears, Gordon Korman, Greed, History, Kiss, Pink Floyd, Romance, Short Books, Sloan, Threats, Travel, Violence on September 5, 2014| 1 Comment »

39unstopSOUNDTRACK: SLOAN-“Get Out” (2014).

Sloan_CommonwealthSloan has a new album coming out next week.  It is currently streaming on Picthfork.  The album is like a small version of the Kiss solo albums (except that there is only one album) or like Pink Floyd’s Ummagumma (because it’s a double album and one side is kinda crazy). Each member of the band has written the songs for a side.  The imagery for the disc is a deck of playing card, and each member gets a suit:  Diamond (Jay Ferguson); Heart (Chris Murphy);  Shamrock (Patrick Pentland); Spade (Andrew Scott).  Even though I am a big fan of Sloan, I have honestly never been able to tell their vocalists apart. True, they do sound distinctive, but I can’t keep them straight at all.  So this album should help with that (and maybe see if there is one composer I like better–I don’t think so).

I chose this song primarily because it seemed to tie in well with this book and also because it a rocking song that last for less than 2 minutes.

The guitar comes rocking right at the start.  The verses are short and the bridge , a simple “Get out, you can get out” propels the song along nicely.  There’s a loud squalling guitar solos.  And a cool chorus with backing vocals.  And after two verses, two bridges and two choruses, the song ends.  A great soundtrack for an escape.

I’m looking forward to the release (although I won’t be getting the deluxe edition, sorry guys).

[READ: September 4, 2014] Flashpoint

In all of my time reading the 39 Clues, this is the first time I actually caught up to the series–I read this book almost in the week that it came out.  So if I was actually playing online with the clues, I may have been able to win whatever it is the online competition is.  Actually it’s quite rare that I read anything soon after it has come out, so that was fun in itself as well.

Okay, so this series has concluded with major 39 dude Gordon Korman taking over the reins.  And that made me happy, because he knows that the family working as a team is what is so important to the series.  And he got them working together again–even if it was because Amy was days away from death by the side effects of the serum.

As the story starts out (yes, I am still bitter about what happened at the end of Book Three–and I must report that that was not redeemed in any way, so yes, I am mad at the series for the senselessness of what happened to a favorite character of mine), Dan is being held prisoner by Galt Pierce.  (I love how nutty the Patriotist party is portrayed, and how easily susceptible people are to the platitudes Rutherford Pierce offers).  He and his sister Cara are trying to extract information from Dan.  Dan is given a truth serum and reveals some information, but then he takes a sleeping potion to knock himself out.

When he awakens, Galt threatens him, but Cara tells Galt to back off.  And then, unless Dan is mistaken, and he may be, she seems to help him escape from the plane that they are currently waiting in.  At the same time, Jonah Wizard’s plane is nearby (through some clever tracking by Pony), and they are able to rescue Dan.  Then they are off to Phenom Penh to find the final ingredient–the venom form a Tonle Sap snake.  Which means a trip through the amazingness that is Angkor Wat (more…)

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Natalie Standiford–Countdown [The 39 Clues: Unstoppable: Book Three] (2014)

Posted in Adventure, Aphex Twin, Death, Fears, Greed, History, Natalie Standiford, Romance, Short Books, Threats, Travel, Violence on September 4, 2014| Leave a Comment »

39copuntSOUNDTRACK: APHEX TWIN-“minipops 67 [120.2]” (2014).

syroI can’t write the whole title of this because the rest of the words make it seem like it is xml code, so it is not printing properly.  Well played, trickster.

Aphex Twin videos have no business being anywhere near a children’s book (even a book as dark as this).  But the music itself is pretty safe since it’s instrumental (or unintelligible vocals if there are vocals).

Anyway, this is the opening track from the first Aphex Twin album in thirteen years (really? yes!).

“Minipops” is the first single from the album (due out later this month).

It is less aggressive than what I think of as Aphex work (like say “Windowlicker”) but it is no less warped.  It opens with some complex drums and a simple but warped keyboard riff.  Some voices come in, and there may be words but I can’t make them out.

It actually feels like a kind of verse chorus build up.  Just before the half way point the music almost drops away leaving a simple keyboard and an even more processed voice.  By the three minute mark a new voice comes in, it is deeper and scarier, and it is followed by the most clean voice of all (although it is still quite fuzzy).  Again, I have no idea if words are being spoken, but there is a weird melody being vocalized.  And the music floating around seems to slowly get more and more distorted as the song lurches to an end.

It’s not my favorite Aphex Twin piece as it’s not as dynamic as some of his others, but I’m happy that he’s putting out an albums worth of stuff.

This video has no actual visuals (except what you see), so it is totally safe for all ages.

[READ: August 28, 2014] Countdown

Book Three of this series has an aspect that I really like and an aspect that I, like less

I’m starting with the part I liked less because it involves the main plot.  As we left the Cahill family in Book Two, they were in big trouble.  Rutherford Pierce had taken the super mega strong serum and his henchmen were closing in on Amy and Dan and friends wherever they went.

As this book opens Amy and Dan are racing through an airport to get to their private helicopter, when they are spotted by the paparazzi (Pierce owns the media and sends the paparazzi after them wherever they are).  On the other side of the airport are some of his serum-fueled goons, who are looking to stop them at any cost.  The kids run through the airport and make it to the helicopter just in time.

They start flying to Guatemala, where they are looking for the next ingredient for the antidote to the serum.  Suddenly the pilot puts on a  parachute and leaps from the helicopter, leaving the kids to land the plane in the Guatemalan ruins.

This was all quite exciting and I enjoyed it very much.  What I liked less was that after what happened in the last book–Amy going off on her own to spare the lives of her family and nearly getting killed–the boys are mad at her.  They barley talk to her and consider that she has betrayed them.  One of the things I have loved about the series was the bond that Amy and Dan had.  And I hate that this series has dissolved the bond and that Amy has felt like an outcast.  I understand it builds the drama and that there are many exciting elements to this approach, but it’s not what I read this series for.  I also realize that as this book draws to and end, the isolation of Amy become almost the point of this series, but it still changes the series in a way I don’t like.

After they are nearly killed, though, the kids bond again, and set off on their quest to find this missing element. (more…)

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Jeff Hirsch–Breakaway [The 39 Clues: Unstoppable: Book Two] (2013)

Posted in Adventure, Death, Fears, Greed, History, Israel Nash, Jeff Hirsch, Neil Young, Pink Floyd, Short Books, Threats, Travel, Violence on September 3, 2014| Leave a Comment »

breakSOUNDTRACK: ISRAEL NASH-“Rain Plans” (2014).

rainI heard this song on a download of 10 Songs NPR Can’t Stop Playing.  The opening chords sounded so Neil Young and Crazy Horse that I was immediately hooked.  Then when Nash starts singing, it sounded even more like a kind of CSN&Y pastiche.  After the first verse, the powerful descending chords are a great introduction to the falsettoed chorus.  (No idea what he’s saying).

Nash is lumped in with the alternative country field, but I don’t hear any of that on this song.  It comes across as pure classic (maybe folk) rock.  The solo which starts at around 2:45 has elements of Pink Floyd in it.  It is a brief introduction to the much lengthier solo that takes the song out.  But what I especially like about it is that the in between section doesn’t have more vocals, just a bunch of whoo hoos before the bombastic solo (the backing music is bombastic as well) just keeps going.

It’s not a pretentious showing off solo, it’s just a lengthy jam that keeps jamming.  Until around six minutes when the band starts rocking faster and the solo grows more intense (the song is 7:19).

I’m really interested in what the rest of this album sounds like.

[READ: July 27, 2014] Breakaway

I was so hooked on Book One that I had to jump right into book two (which is considerably shorter than book one).

This book was a little frustrating (intentionally so I believe) because Amy is trying her best to distance herself from her family and friends.  She is so afraid of anyone else getting hurt (and anxious because Dan wants to leave the family) that she keeps trying to send them away, believing that they will be safer away from her.   And yet, as they have learned in each and every mission–they work best as a team.  So while Amy starts pushing the others away they not only get more frustrated, they keep making mistakes.  And by the end, Amy’s solitude nearly gets her killed and has her alienated from her closest ally, Dan.

Of course she is under a lot of pressure, especially since the media scrutiny of them has gotten so much more intense–Pierce has amped up his attacks against Amy and Dan and has brought her family members into the spotlight (basically saying they are all her thugs).  The Pierce foundation has even gotten to Evan’s family and Evan’s parents publicly denounce their dead son’s former girlfriend as a snake, someone who draws people in and doesn’t care what happens to them.  Basically, everyone hates the Cahills.

Including Jake and Atticus’ father.  For when they call on him for a favor, he is furious that his sons are still hanging around with the Cahills.  Until he sees that the book they are carrying has information about something near and dear to their father’s heart: the lost city of Atlantis. (more…)

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Jude Watson–Nowhere to Run [The 39 Clues: Unstoppable: Book One] (2013)

Posted in Adventure, Death, Fears, Greed, History, Jude Watson, Kanye West, Shabazz Palaces, Short Books, Threats, Travel, Violence on September 2, 2014| Leave a Comment »

39SOUNDTRACK: SHABAZZ PALACES-“#Cake” (2014).

cakeI don’t know much about Shabazz Palaces, although I understand their debut was pretty popular in alternative circles (they were the first rap band released on Sub Pop).  This new song is from their new (also Sub Pop) album and I think it’s really weird and quite wonderful.

There’s a loping bass line echoey and almost spacey.  There’s rapped echoey fast words all over the palce (I’m having my cake and I’m eating cake–“eating cake” seems to be the refrain).  It’s all very spacey and weird.  And then at around 1:45 a whole new sound emerges out of static, as if a jazz radio station was tuned in and someone like Nina Simone begins singing a very standard-sounding jazz song.  What?  And after about 15 seconds it drifts out and the song returns to normal.

Around 2:48 a new style of song drifts in, also kind of early jazz (but a different song with lyrics, “let it waver why not savor the flavor”), but this time a bit more faint with twinkly sounds played over the top.

When the song return, there is a list of cities rapped over a more string heavy riff (but that same bassline).  It’s pretty darn weird.  It all reminds me of the way Kanye West introduced such weird elemnst on his Yeezus album.  This is less aggressive but no less unexpected.

I really have no idea what this song is actually about, but I really enjoy listening to it, and I want to explore Shabazz Palaces a bit more.

[READ: July 26, 2014] Nowhere to Run

There’s something about the first book in 39 Clues series that is just so good.  Although I did enjoy the end of Cahills vs Vespers, the end was nowhere near as exciting as the beginning of this book.

It is six months after the events of the last series.  Dan and Amy are not in any way over the deaths of their friends and family.  But they feel that the end of the Vespers leadership must give them some peace and quiet.  And things are starting to get back to normal.  (The awesome) Nellie is back with them, cooking and being generally cool.  But there is one last detail that they must attend to: the funeral of their lawyer, Mac.  He too was killed six months earlier, but they have just gotten around to dealing with the funeral (he was cremated).

But at the funeral, they are attacked by some really tough, like really tough guys.  Uncannily tough in fact.  And as they flee the cemetery a group of paparazzi comes into the cemetary looking to take pictures of the Cahill kids. And soon enough, their photos are posted all over the internet with crazy untruths said about them–that they are spoiled rich kids looking for thrills.  What the heck is going on?

Well, it turns out that J. Rutherford Pierce has found a bit of the serum that Dan was creating.  And unlike the dose that Isabel took, he seems to have tinkered with it just enough to make him superhuman but not freakish.  Pierce has been mostly an also ran–a failure at many businesses, and a failure at much more.  But since taking the serum, he has had many successes, including taking over a media empire (hence the headlines) and making ton of money.  And he has it in for the Cahills. (more…)

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Andrew Norriss–The Unluckiest Boy in the World (2006) [audiobook 2006–Glen McReady]

Posted in Adventure, Andrew Norriss, Audiobooks, C., Children's Books, Fears, Funny (ha ha), Michigan, T., Travel on August 29, 2014| 1 Comment »

[LISTENED TO: August 2014] The Unluckiest Boy in the World

unlkcyMy kids enjoy just about any audio book, but I try to find ones that seem funny (and age appropriate for both of them).  For reasons I’m unclear about, it seems like most of the audio books that are age appropriate are British or Australian–either they release more audio books, or that’s just what my library orders.  So we wind up listening to a lot of British readers (I think my kids can tell a British accent now).

I didn’t know anything about this book (or its author) but the title sounded great and the age was appropriate.  We listened to it on our trip to Michigan, and it was a perfect length to fit near the end of our arrival.  Boy did we like this book.  There are so many funny unexpected moments.  And the story has a great sense of companionship and closeness among outcasts.  And of course, really bad things happen in inappropriate places, which is quite funny.

I’m really glad I got this book, and I’d be interested to see what else Norriss has written.

So just who is the unluckiest boy in the world?  Nicholas Frith is an average boy eleven year old English boy–not really lucky but not really unlucky either.  Indeed, nothing interesting ever happens to him.  Although he does have an interesting parental setup (which is complicated and best left for the story to reveal, but suffice it to say that his dad is in the United States, but not because he was trying to get away from Nicholas or his mum.

As the book opens, Nicholas and his mum are on a vacation in Spain.  They don’t speak Spanish and while the taxi driver/tour guide is nice, neither he nor his mom is really sure what’s going on.  At some point he leaves the taxi to go pee.  As it turns out though, he winds up peeing on the ancient grave of a very bad man, Toribio de Cobrales.  Of course, there is a curse on this grave (it really should have been better protected, no?)–anyone who defiles it in any way will have nothing but bad luck thrown at him for the rest of his life.  Nicholas is really sorry, he didn’t realize any of that, but it doesn’t matter.  As soon as he defiles the grave the curse comes at them, with thunderclaps and earthquakes and all manner of trouble falling on them in the next few minutes. (more…)

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Clifford Riley–Operation Trinity [The 39 Clues: Cahill Files #1] (2012)

Posted in Adventure, Clifford Riley, Death, Fears, Greed, History, Jan Van Eyck, Mystery, Religion, Short Books, Spies, Threats, Travel, Violence, WFMU 91.9 FM--Jersey City, NJ on August 24, 2014| Leave a Comment »

trinitySOUNDTRACK: GREASY KID STUFF–WFMU 91.9, New York City (1997-2006).

grekidIn my vast exploration of Greasy Kid Stuff (seriously, at least 15 minutes at work), I found the WFMU website.  It turns out that Greasy Kid Stuff, the radio show broadcast weekly from WFMU from 1997 until 2006.  Then they moved to Portland and couldn’t manage the remote connections properly, so the show ended on WFMU.

The good news is that you can hear weekly playlists of all of the shows from 2000-2006 on the playlist page.  They have playlists that date back to the beginning, but there’s only audio starting in 2000.  The bad news is that you the shows are all archived in Real Audio.  Which, I don’t know, may or may not really work anymore.

But for a historical look at a funny and weird kids show check out the archives, and if you still have Real Player, give it a listen.

[READ: June 17, 2014] Operation Trinity

The Cahill Files were a series of “books from the vault” of the Cahill family.  They were originally released as e-books and some of them have been collected as print books.  The first was Operation Trinity.  And like Vespers Rising, it chronicles the history of the Cahill Family.

The story is broken into three parts, each one chronicling the “life” of a painting.  The painting in question is Jan Van Eyck’s altarpiece (see bottom of post for picture of it). The first part is set in Ghent in 1566.  In reality, the painting was finished in the 15th century and was installed in the Saint Bavo Cathedral.

The story follows Matheus Jacobs, an ordinary, some might say even less than ordinary, boy whose family doesn’t seem to think all that much of him.  Until one day when his mother says that she wants him to become an altar boy so he can protect this altarpiece from the Vespers.  (His father doesn’t think he is worthy, but she disagrees).  He doesn’t know why his mother chose him, or what his mother has to do with anything like this, until she reveals that she can speak several languages and is well versed in the history of the Vespers.  He rides his untrusty mule to the church, where he marvels at the beautiful painting.

He soon meets Father Gerard who sends him on an errand.  While away, he hears a man inciting a mob against the church.  The mob grows incensed, as mobs do, and sets out trying to weed out the Catholics in the village.  Matheus is freaked because they are heading for his home village.  And when he arrives, he sees that the mob is trying to burn down his house.  In the fracas, one of his family members is killed, and the rest of his family insist that he head back to the protect the altarpiece because the Vespers are behind the mob and they are headed for the church. (more…)

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David Baldacci–Day of Doom [The 39 Clues: Cahills vs. Vespers: Book Six] (2013)

Posted in "Weird Al" Yankovic, Adventure, David Baldacci, Death, Fears, Greed, History, Pixies, Short Books, Threats, Travel, Violence on July 24, 2014| Leave a Comment »

doomsdaySOUNDTRACK: “WEIRD AL” YANKOVIC-“First World Problems” (2014).

fwp“First World Problems is what Al calls a style parody.  This is a parody of the Pixies.  I can kind of hear it (especially in the riffs), but his Black Francis voice is somehow off (he’s usually so spot on with his mimicking).  But as it is basically a Pixies song, it is loud and quite rocking.  And, better yet, it’s really funny.

I get a kick out of the expression “first world problems” because why should that make a problem any less invalid, and yet, Al’s first world problems are outstanding.

I couldn’t order off the breakfast menu, cause I slept in till two
Forgot my gardener’s name, I’ll have to ask him later
Tried to fast forward commercials, can’t – I’m watching live T.V
My barista didn’t even bother to make a design in the foam on the top of my vanilla latte

The opening bass and the female backing vocals are fantastic, and as always, guitarist Jay West gets their guitar sound perfectly.  The video doesn’t scream Pixies to me (although it is very very funny).  In fact at one point he looks more like Iggy Pop than anyone else (except with a shirt on), but that’s okay, it still makes me laugh a lot.  Who knew Al was a fan of the Pixies?

[READ: July 10, 2014] Day of Doom

This is the first book by David Baldacci that I have read.  Baldacci is typically an adult writer who I know is quite popular and prolific (he has done some kids books too).  I very much enjoyed the suspense and thrill of this book, but I have to say I feel like he really does not write very believably for his characters.  There is a romance that is played off quite flatly, there is an act of contrition which I don’t think anyone would believe, especially not a family member, and the bad guys are just so bad they are cartoonlike.

These characters have been through seventeen books now, so we know them pretty well, and I hated to see them get smoothed so much here.  I also didn’t care for the way Amy’s love dilemma was solved fairly easily for her.  And I was really surprised by the body count in this book.

Four major characters were killed by the end of the book.  It’s pretty brutal and really takes the series out of the realm of kids book and way into the realm of YA. (more…)

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