January 13, 2022 by Paul Debraski
SOUNDTRACK: hiatus
[READ: January 13, 2022] The Genius Under the Table
Why would anyone read an autobiography of someone they’d never heard of?
Well, in part because it’s a children’s biography, and therefore a fairly easy read. But mostly because Eugene Yelchin grew up in the Soviet Union under the watchful eyes of Lenin and his KGB informants. And it’s a fascinating look at a world that is as bizarre as it is unsettling.
And it’s a well-written and interesting story, too!
Yelchin was the youngest of two sons. His older brother was on track to become a national figure skater. His mother worked in the ballet, assisting the ballerinas and having a close up view of the amazing Mikhail Baryshnikov. His father was a working man as well–they needed all the money they could get (which wasn’t much). And what of Eugene (Yevgeny)? He had no talent.
He couldn’t play sports (not even chess). He couldn’t dance. He wasn’t super smart. He wasn’t exactly a disappointment to his parents (although he was, kind of), but they knew that the only way to get out of the squalor they lived in was to be great at something.
And he wasn’t great at anything. Continue Reading »
Posted in Artists, Autobiographies, Ballet, Eugene Yelchin, Lenin, Leningrad Russia, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Oleg Mandelstam, Religion, Russia, Soviet Union, T.G. Bruni, Tatiana Georgievna Bruni | Leave a Comment »
January 12, 2022 by Paul Debraski
SOUNDTRACK: hiatus
[READ: January 12, 2022] The Bad Guys Episode One
A movie is coming out about this book series (Scholastic must have SO MUCH MONEY!). S. brought it home from the library and I figured I’d give it a read. And five minutes later I’d finished it.
It’s pretty funny (although not as funny as I would have liked).
It’s also clearly designed for young readers since there are usually no more than five words per page. I guess it’s a graphic novel, although there are chapters.
The book opens with Mr Wolf staring at us and telling us to come closer. But we are smart, we know he is a monster so we do not get any closer. Continue Reading »
Posted in Aaron Blabey, Children's Books, Fairy Tales, Funny (ha ha), Graphic Novel, Morality, Piranhas, Sharks, Snakes, Wolves | Leave a Comment »
January 11, 2022 by Paul Debraski
SOUNDTRACK: hiatus
[READ: November 2021] Soul Music
This book is about Music With Rocks In! (With a timeless CD on the cover). But it’s also about Death having (another) existential crisis.
The book opens with the explanation of why Death had a granddaughter. For reasons all his own, Death rescued a baby girl, Ysabell, and took her home. He allowed her to age for sixteen years and then she stopped aging.
He also hired an apprentice named Mort who best Death (which Death allowed, truth be told) in a fight.
So Mort and Ysabell fell in love and were sent back to the real world where they had a daughter, Susan. Susan technically wasn’t related to Death, but Death was her grandfather so…..
Susan went to boarding school, where she had an uncanny ability to be unseen–even by her teachers. She was also very smart (Neither of these things made her teachers very happy). Susan could also see things that others couldn’t. And she found this upsetting. Like when a rat that seemed to be more skeleton than anything else looked at her and said SQUEAK? As the book opens we learn that her parents have just died in an accident. Continue Reading »
Posted in Alfred, Binky, Buddy Holly, Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler, Death, Discworld, Funny (ha ha), Glod Glodsson, Imp y Celyn, Lias Bluestone, Magic, Mort, Music, Susan Sto-Helit, Terry Pratchett, The Dean, The Librarian, Unfinished series, Wizards, Ysabell | Leave a Comment »
January 10, 2022 by Paul Debraski
SOUNDTRACK: hiatus
[READ: January 9, 2021] The Panda, The Cat and the Dreadful Teddy
This book is subtitled “A Parody” but it does not say what it is a parody of. And I genuinely had no idea. I guessed maybe Winnie-the Pooh. But I was wrong. According to the reviewers it is a parody of The Boy, The Mole, The Fox & The Horse, by Margerie Swash and artist Emmanuel Santos, which I have never heard of. Apparently it’s a book of positivity.
This book is a book of negativity. The handwriting is really hard to read and the drawings are really crude (intentionally). And then every other page shows Panda picking on the Dreadful Teddy, who is ever the optimist.
There’s few words per page like Panda seeing Teddy and saying “That’s the little arsehole I’m trying to avoid.” And, “oh shit, it’s that awful Teddy.”
Then there’s the Cat who is kind of a mediator: “I find that Teddy is full of tolerance and empathy” Panda replies, “I find he’s full of shit.” Continue Reading »
Posted in Funny (ha ha), Huh?, Margerie Swash, Paul Magrs, Unfunny | Leave a Comment »
January 9, 2022 by Paul Debraski
SOUNDTRACK: hiatus
[READ: January 9, 2022] It Only Comes in Orange, Mr Zuma
This is the second collection of editorial cartoons from South Africa’s Daily Maverick newspaper. Zapiro (Jonathan Shapiro) has been making editorial cartoons and caricatures since the early 1990s and has 25 books of cartoons published. Turns out I have access to most of them so I may need to d a deep dive–maybe I’ll understand some of the politics more.
I really don’t know very much about the South Africa, and I feel like news about the country is not covered very much here. I don’t understand all of the jokes in here, but I do feel like I have a vague grasp on the country now. However, it’s when Zapiro turns his pen abroad–especially against trump, that I can see how good of a satirist he is. I posted this picture when talking about the previous book, but this cartoon appears in this one:
When he publishes the cartoons in the newspaper, they speak for themselves. But in these collections, he adds a caption since most of the details are no longer fresh. For the above he wrote:
Hell-bent on overturning the election result, trump supporters storm the Capitol building in Washington. The riot leaves five people dead.
How is it that there is any question about this still in our country. Why is our justice system so slow?
Well, given the justice system in South Africa, our looks like a quick resolution. Continue Reading »
Posted in Comic Strips, Coronavirus, Corporate skewering, Cyril Ramaphosa, Daily Maverick, donald tRUMP, Floyd Sivambu, Funny (ha ha), Jacob Zuma, Joe Biden, Julius Malema, Kamala Harris, Liars, Lies, Political Humor, Politicians, Quarantine, Racism, Sexism, Shaleen Surtie-Richards, South Africa, Violence, Zapiro | Leave a Comment »
January 8, 2022 by Paul Debraski
[CANCELLED: January 8, 2022] Nap Eyes / Kiwi Jr.
Nap Eyes opened for Destroyer in the last show I saw before the quarantining. I really wanted to see them headline a tour and do their own thing.
They had scheduled a show at Johnny Brenda’s for May of 2020 which was cancelled. Then they bided their time and waited until 2022 to schedule their new tour. But people are jerks and wouldn’t get vaccinated and now the virus had transformed itself so that everyone is going to get it.
I actually tested positive this week and wouldn’t have been able to go to this show anyhow, so I guess I’m glad the tour is on hold for a bit.
But damn, I want to see some Nap Eyes!
Kiwi Jr. is a fun Canadian band, recently described as “clever, easy-going jangle pop” that I’d really like to see live. So I hope this lineup stays the same when Nap Eyes comes back to Philly again. Some day.
Posted in Coronavirus, Destroyer, Johnny Brenda's, Kiwi Jr., Nap Eyes, Postponed, Quarantine | Leave a Comment »
January 7, 2022 by Paul Debraski
SOUNDTRACK: Right-wing lies about the Insurrection (2021).
[READ: November 2021] Small Blows Against Encroaching Totalitarianisms: Volume Two
Two years into the previous administration, McSweeney’s published two small books which railed against everything the Criminal in Chief stood for and had done.
Reading these books in 2021 after he had been soundly trounced in the election and with the possibility of jail time (for any of multitude of the illegal things that he did) is somewhat calming. I think if I had read this in 2018 it would have been thoroughly dispiriting. Because even though these essays provide hope, they are just full of recounting of the horrors that that [fill in the blank] and his crew of reprobates did.
It has been a year since the brainwashed masses tries to overthrow our government. And still nothing has happened. Our country is broken. These essays don’t really fix it, but it’s nice to know you’re not alone in thinking this way. Continue Reading »
Posted in #ITMFA, #RESIST, Anti-war, Antiracism, Chen Chen, David Alexander, donald tRUMP, Feminism, Hillary Jordan, James Carroll, Jane Wong, Jaswinder Bolina, Jay Cantor, Jonathan Lethem, Joshua Ferris, Kaveh Akbar, Kids Say the Darndest Things, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Lewis Hyde, McSweeney's, Nalini Jones, Poetry, Poets, Politicians, Porochista Khakpour, Racism, Riane Konc, Richard Howard, Samuel G. Freedman, Sarah Gerard, Scott Turow, Sexism, Sexual Assault, Shane McCrae, Sloane Crosley, Vu Tran | Leave a Comment »
January 6, 2022 by Paul Debraski
SOUNDTRACK: The sounds of trump supporters violating our National Buildings in a failed Insurrection plot (2021).
[READ: December 2021] Small Blows Against Encroaching Totalitarianisms: Volume One
One year ago trump and his lackeys tried to overthrow the government. Thankfully they failed. But one year later not enough people have been punished.
Two years into the previous administration, McSweeney’s published two small books which railed against everything the Criminal in Chief stood for and had done.
Reading these books in 2021 after he had been soundly trounced in the election and with the possibility of jail time (for any of multitude of the illegal things that he did) is somewhat calming. I think if I have read this in 2018 it would have been thoroughly dispiriting. Because even though these essays provide hope, they are just full of recounting of the horrors that that [fill in the blank] and his crew of reprobates did.
Not even including the attempted insurrection and overthrow of our country.
It has been a year since the brainwashed masses tries to overthrow our government. And still nothing has happened. Our country is broken. These essays don’t really fix it, but it’s nice to know you’re not alone in thinking this way. Continue Reading »
Posted in Anti-war, Antiracism, Bill McKibben, CAConrad, Dodie Bellamy, Feminism, George Orwell, Harmony Holiday, Jim Shepard, Kao Kalia Yang, Karen Joy Fowler, Kevin Boyle, Lev Grossman, LGBTQ, Liars, Martin Seay, Matthew Zapruder, Melissa Chadburn, Mitra Jouhari, Owen King, Poetry, Poets, Racism, Raquel Salas Rivera, Rick Moody, Sally Wen Mao, Sex, Sexism, Sexual Assault, Steve Erickson, Terence Hayes, Tom Bissell, Tracy O'Neill, Violence, Yahia Lababidi | Leave a Comment »
January 5, 2022 by Paul Debraski
SOUNDTRACK: hiatus
[READ: December 31, 2021] You Can’t Be Serious
S. and I were wrapping presents for Christmas this year and put on A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas (which I thought was new and didn’t realize was ten years old). I had said something about thinking Kal Penn was really cool and respecting his decision to work for the White House.
And lo and behold but there was this book in my Christmas pile.
Kal Penn, Jersey represent!, has led a fascinating life. And he seems like a very cool (but not scoring you weed on the weekend kinda cool) guy.
Kal starts his book by saying that in kindergarten, the fastest, dumbest boy in his class called him the n-word. He didn’t know what it meant, but he knew it was bad from the way the kids reacted.
A traumatic way to start a book and a school. But things got better from there. He recalls not paying much attention in school and also class trips to Old Sturbridge Village–that’s over three hours away! His class went there–multiple times? He loved the acting that went on there.
He talks about getting picked on for being a nerd. But also about being grateful for living in a diverse New Jersey town–he went to a lot of mitzvahs. His story of being on a boat for someone’s mitzvah is pretty funny. And yet, he also talks about a hate group called Dotbusters based in Jersey City (I am so shocked to hear about this) who harassed assaulted and even killed Indian people. His aunt lived there and his grandmother visited her there. Continue Reading »
Posted in A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas, Autobiographies, Barack Obama, Funny (ha ha), House M.D., India, John Cho, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Kal Penn, LGBTQ, M.K. Gandhi, Memoirs, Michele Obama, Mira Nair, Mississippi Masala, NASCAR, Racism, Sunnyside, The Namesake, Van Wilder | Leave a Comment »
January 4, 2022 by Paul Debraski
SOUNDTRACK: hiatus
[READ: January 10, 2021] Gravepyres School for the Recently Deceased
I found this book at work and was instantly intrigued by many things. The title Gravepyres sounded unusual to me. It also seemed like a children’s book (which it is). Plus, it had a stamp that said “For sale only within the territories of India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.” Which I found pretty fascinating.
Even more so because this is a children’s fantasy book about being dead and the kind of “life” that you can have “there.” I thought it might be quite different than an American book.
The book opens on Jose who has just died. He has no idea that he just died and as he is trying to get his bearings, he is greeted by a small, bossy girl named Mishi. She brings him to Gravepyres School for the Recently Deceased. She tours him around the place, scolds him for his poor clothing (she provides him with a tunic) and tells him to get ready for classes..
Of course there is school when you are dead! There is mathamythics. Where the seemingly simple question 6+4= is not what one expects. None of the students answered until finally one of them said four hundred and sixteen. Jose chuckled, but the teacher said “Good, excellent.” Other seemingly correct answers were ninety seven and a half, eight thousand, fifty two, even twelve. But when Jose said the answer is ten, Professor Styx said Oh dear. not quite. The rest of the classes made the same amount of sense.
Like Scare Studies from Madam Morte and Seeing from Dr Chiplunker (who wore the most outrageous spectacles he had ever seen). Can you See the pencil in front of you? Look closely. Look at it for an hour. Jose decided it was the most boring class he had ever heard of. Continue Reading »
Posted in Adventure, Anita Roy, Boredom, Children's Books, Corporate skewering, Death, Fears, India, Set at School, Supernatural, Vultures | Leave a Comment »
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SOUNDTRACK: hiatus
I Just Read About That... 