Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Chris Grabenstein–Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library (2013) [audiobook 2014–Jesse Bernstein ]

November 15, 2014 by Paul Debraski

lemocello[LISTENED TO: November 5, 2014] Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library

We were looking for an audiobook for a recent trip and I decided to get Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library.  I didn’t know anything about it, but the title sounded fun, especially for two librarians.

Well, I had no idea how much fun it would be for two librarians (and for others, too, I assure you).

So Mr Lemoncello is a game maker.  He has hundreds and hundreds of board games and in this universe, everyone loves playing them.  In the very first scene, Kyle Keeley and his brothers are playing Mr Lemoncello’s Indoor-Outdoor Scavenger Hunt (which is just what it sounds like).  In an attempt to finally beat his brothers, Kyle tries to sneak back into his house through a basement window (thereby saving the time of going down the stairs.  He inadvertently breaks the window and is grounded or a week (although he did win, so that’s something–and it shows just how intensely they play games in that family).

The next chapter opens up on the finishing touches of the brand new library in Kyle’s town.  Alexandriaville, Ohio has not had a library for 12 years and Mr Lemoncello’s gift to the town is the coolest most state of the art library ever built.  (Seriously, it is practically every librarian’s fantasy library with books and books and books (rooms coded by dewy number) and all kinds of high tech gadgetry to go with it.  I would love to see this place built).

Kyle is bummed about being grounded.  And to make matters worse, he forgot about the extra credit essay contest “Why I am excited about the new public Library.” At the last minute he throws together a lousy essay (which consists of “Balloons. There might be balloons,” and he is laughed at by just about everyone.  But when the essay winners are announced (12 of them), he is the final winner–how could that be? Continue Reading »

Posted in Audiobooks, Big Books, Children's Books, Chris Grabenstein, Contests, Funny (ha ha), Games (Non Video), Library Related, Mystery, Technology | 1 Comment »

Florida Vacation–Airlines and Chain Food product placement (2014)

November 14, 2014 by Paul Debraski

abe[TRAVELED: November 1-November 8, 2014] Airlines & Chain food

Our Florida trip ended a week ago, so it seemed time to mention a few things  that were pretty great which were not related to theme parks at all.

The first was our flight from Lehigh Valley International Airport.

I used to love flying.  I remember flying on Eastern as a kid and getting free wing pins.  I even got invited to see the cockpit of the plane (but I thought I would have to fly up there without my parents so I turned them down–my parents were probably bummed that they didn’t get to check out the cockpit themselves).  I even have a few good memories of flying.  My best memory was flying on Dec 31, 1999 to Vancouver and, because it was the eve of Y2K, getting nearly an entire airplane to myself (chickens!) and being served champagne as a toast to the new year (in coach, mind you).

Since 9/11, flying has been an ordeal and I swore I’d never do it again.  We usually fly out of Newark, which I always assumed was a normal, busy airport, not the best but certainly not the worst.  But after flying out of ABE, I hope to never et foot in Newark again. Continue Reading »

Posted in Cici's Pizza, Red Robin, Steak n' Shake, Thai Thani, TSA, Universal Studios, Vacation, Waffle House, Walt Disney World | Leave a Comment »

Alessandro Baricco–Mr. Gwyn (2014) [translated 2014]

November 13, 2014 by Paul Debraski

gwynSOUNDTRACK: STARS-No One is Lost Tour EP (2014).

stars epStars are back with a new album and this downloadable 5 song EP.  There’s something about Stars’ aggressive pop sensibilities that I just love.  It’s the dual vocals, the big choruses and I’m sure to a certain degree it’s the darkness in the lyrics that compliment the poppy music so much.

The EP has five songs, “No One is Lost” and “From The Night” are from their new album.  “Hold On When You Get Love And Let Go When You Give It” is from their previous album The North.  There’s also two exclusive tracks: “Blue Is The Colour” and “From The Night” (A Tribe Called Red Remix).

“From the Night” has simple, keyboard note-driven verses which are obliterated by the dancey and even discoey chorus.  Surprisingly at the 4 minute point, it adds a third fast part which segues back into the catchy chorus.  “No One is Lost” opens with Amy Milan speaking French before the keyboards wash in.  It has a slightly faster pace than their usual fare.  But despite the bouncy music in the chorus, we get the twisted lyric: “put your hands up coz everybody dies” (that’s Stars in a nutshell).

“Hold On When You Get Love And Let Go When You Give It” is less dancey (perhaps less discoey sounding is more accurate).  It’s got a real Stars feel to it (when Milan comes in at the chorus it is really angelic), and showcases Stars’ previous album very well.

The two new songs include the Tribe Called Red remix of “From the Night.”  I’m not that big a fan of remixes, but this one is pretty good.  I like the way they stripped the big chorus of the music and left it spare–which makes their catchy vocals seem kind of sinister.  I actually expected a bit more of Tribe’s signature sound put into the song, but that’s not really what remixes are all about, so I guess it’s no real surprise they didn’t.

“Blue is the Colour” is a dark sounding song as well, until the chorus comes in with some poppy keyboards and slinky guitars.  It’s very electronic sounding which I love in contrast to Torquil’s mellow vocals.  But at 6 minutes long, this song has many sections up its sleeve, and the twist at 4 minutes really turns the song into something else, with an almost epic feel.

It’s a great sample of Stars more recent work.  This link takes you to WXPN from which you can download the EP from NoiseTrade.

[READ: November 5, 2014] Mr. Gwyn

I loved this book.  It has been one of my absolute favorite books in years.

The premise is fairly simple.  A successful writer (Mr. Gwyn) has had three books published to much acclaim and financial success.  But one day he wakes up and decides that he is done writing. He crafts a list of 50 things he will never do again, and one of them is write a book which he publishes in the newspaper.  His agent thinks it is a great marketing scheme, but Gwyn is quite serious.

Gwyn then disappears from society for a while.  Only his agent is able to fin him (Gwyn and the agent are very close).

After a series of small incidents, Gwyn’s agent tracks him down at the laundromat.  He has sent his new employee, a young woman named Rebecca, to give him a phone through which they can talk.  Rebecca is respectful and Gwyn is fascinated by her.  Over the next few months, he and his agent only communicate via Rebecca.

One day, in order to avoid a rain storm, Gwyn ducks into an art gallery.  He has never really understood art.  But he becomes fascinated with the portraits there.  And he decides that his new “job” is that he is going to create portraits with words.  He calls his new occupation, “copyist.”  Obviously his agent freaks out about his–no one even knows what “copyist” means.  But Gwyn is determined.

He spends the next few months getting ready–he rents a studio, buys furniture and specially ordered light bulbs.  And then he is ready to work.  But who will he his first portrait be? He finally settles on Rebecca–someone he knows a little and feels comfortable enough to ask to pose for him.  And this is where the story became fantastic. Continue Reading »

Posted in A Tribe Called Red, Alessandro Baricco, Ann Goldstein, Art, Books about writers, McSweeney's, Morality, Short Books, Stars, Translation, WXPN 88.5 FM--Philadelphia, PA | Leave a Comment »

Cory Doctorow and Jen Wang–In Real Life (2014)

November 12, 2014 by Paul Debraski

irl  SOUNDTRACK: THE DUCKWORTH LEWIS METHOD-Sticky Wickets (2013).

stickyThe cricket-loving songwriters are back with their second disc.  Although I bought their first disc because I love Neil Hannon, I found myself enjoying the songs by Pugwash’s Thomas Walsh even more.  (Which led me to get some discs by Pugwash, a great, sadly unknown band).

I’m inclined to say I like Walsh’s songs better on this disc as well–his title track has a groovy classic ELO-inspired guitar riff and Walsh’s great falsetto vocals.  But I also love the bouncy fun of “Boom Boom Afridi” (written by Neil Hannon). So maybe I just like the two of them together.

These are followed by the amusing “It’s Just Not Cricket” which features a group of rowdy indignant cricket fans singing along. See the awesome accompanying picture below which shows the kind of sort of naughty but not really way the sport is portrayed on the disc.  cricket“The Umpire” gives some real sympathy to the Cricket umpire (who eats his eggs and soldiers) as his position is taken over by machines.

I don’t know much about cricket, so I don’t claim understand what most of these songs are about, but the awesomely bouncy and catchy “Third Man” is a total mystery to me.  But that doesn’t stop me from singing along. It’s like a classic lost Pugwash song.  It even has a (weird) narration from Daniel Radcliffe.  “Chin Music” is a pretty, carnivalesque instrumental.

“Out in the Middle” is a slower Walsh song which is also very pretty.  “Line and Length” is a silly song which (in spoken word) explains how line and length are used in cricket. It has a very discoey chorus which differs nicely from the formality of the verse. “The Laughing Cavaliers” is a march with a big choral vocal line. “Judd’s Paradox” has a lengthy spoken section by Stephen Fry (at his most formal). It’s a very enjoyable song with an interesting perspective on cricket and history.

“Mystery Man” is a pretty, sixties-sounding song with bouncy jaunty keyboards and a catchy chorus–except that the verses are all about how he’s a tough bowler.  It’s also got a hilarious spoken word section read by Matt Berry “trod on wicket.”

“Nudging and Nurdling” ends the disc and is more or less 5 minutes of people saying the words “Nudging and Nurdling” set to a boppy silly melody.  The list of contributors is extensive, although I’ve only heard of Daniel Radcliffe, Neil Finn, Joe Elliott, Matt Berry, Graham Linehan, an Michael Penn (!) who sounds so American. I love they way they build something so simple (and kinda dumb) into such a big song by the end.

Hannon and Walsh know how to write gorgeous songs (even if they can be rather silly).  This is a great collection–even if you don’t know anything about cricket.  You too will soon be shouting along with the Laughing Cavaliers.

[READ: November 9, 2014] In Real Life

I was pretty excited when I saw this book.  I really like Cory Doctorow and here was a comic of his published by First Second, one of my favorite graphic novel publishers (I need to make a category for them…there, done).  I didn’t know Jen Wang’s artwork, but that hardly mattered as the cover was gorgeous.

So the story is an interesting one.  It begins simply enough with Anda, a young girl who has moved from San Diego to Flagstaff (of course, we don’t learn that she moved to Flagstaff for a few pages, so the fact that we are introduced to Flagstaff by a snowfall was confusing to me–I assumed she was on the East Coast).  However, this was not as confusing to me as the other character in the book who doesn’t know where Flagstaff is.  What high school aged person doesn’t know that Flagstaff is in Arizona?

Anyhow, we see Anda in school and her class is given a presentation by Liza the Organiza, a woman who is introducing the class to an online virtual game called Coarsegold (I’m also confused as to why this woman would be allowed to give this presentation in school, but maybe I’m too nitpicky here?).  Incidentally, I really enjoyed most of the art in the book, but the picture of Liza the Organiza on this same page is quite disturbing to me.  In fact, a few pictures in “real life” seem a little “off” to me, and I was worried that I wouldn’t enjoy the visual aspect of the book.  But when we get into the game, the pictures are simply fantastic, so I don’t know what that’s all about. Continue Reading »

Posted in Adventure, Cory Doctorow, Daniel Radcliffe, ELO, First Second :01, Graham Linehan, Graphic Novel, Greed, Huh?, Jen Wang, Joe Elliott, Matt Berry, Michael Penn, Neil Finn, Neil Hannon, Pugwash, Set at School, Stephen Fry, Technology, The Divine Comedy, The Duckworth Lewis Method, The Future, Thomas Walsh, Threats, Video Games, YA Books | Leave a Comment »

Megan Kelso–Artichoke Tales (2010)

November 11, 2014 by Paul Debraski

artichokeSOUNDTRACK: PLACEBO-Loud Like Love (2013).

lllI enjoyed Placebo’s previous EP and I had high hopes for this album.  And I was not disappointed.  Loud Like Love is a great record–with very catchy songwriting, clever word play and a return to the sound that we love best from them–loud guitars, sleazy bass and so much angst.

The title track opens with a quiet guitar riff until the whole band bursts forth and it emerges as the rocking Placebo of old.  The track is a loud brash rocker—catchy as anything they’ve done. “Scene of the Crime” introduces some keyboards to the opening and slowly builds to a bracing end chorus. “Too Many Friends” has always bugged me for the opening line, “My computer thinks I’m gay” which I find inscrutable, especially since it is sung with virtually no musical accompaniment. Later, the follow-up line makes up for it: “Whats the difference anyway? when all that people do all day is stare into a phone.”  The song turns around from there and has a great chorus.  “Hold on to Me” is the slow brooding song on the disc, full of angst.  “Rob the Bank” has a great raunchy bass sound that propels this rocker

“Exit Wounds “is a longer song (almost 6 minutes) with a very electronic sounding drum beat introduction. “Purify” has a breakdown in the middle with some spoken word echoes.   “Begin the End” is the first of two 6 minute songs that close the disc.  This one has a kind of epic feel—he’s not hurrying through this one, allowing it to linger with us a bit longer.  I enjoy the way it seems to ramp up a bit after 5 minutes. “Bosco” ends the disc with a piano intro.  It’s slow song with a great melody.  It’s even a little touching.

Those who hate Molko’s voice will not like this album, and it clearly is not designed to convert anyone.  But new listeners may find this batch of quite accessible songs to be a great introduction to the band.

[READ: November 4, 2014] Artichoke Tales

I saw this book in the children’s section of my library and the cover drawing of a girl with an artichoke on top of her head blowing a dandelion looked so peaceful and nice that I brought it home for my daughter.

And I’m glad I read it first because on page 24, two artichoke people have sex (in shadow) and on the next page the guy thinks to himself “I made her come” (which could, of course, be taken two ways, but still).  A couple of “fucks” later on in the book coupled with my late realization that this book was published by Fantagraphics confirmed that this is in no way a children’s book–it may not even a be a teen book.

But it is a good book, nonetheless–just don’t be fooled by how sweet it looks. Continue Reading »

Posted in Graphic Novel, Megan Kelso, Placebo, Sex, War | Leave a Comment »

Dave Bidini–For Those About to Write: How I Learned to Love Books and Why I Had to Write Them (2007)

November 10, 2014 by Paul Debraski

writeSOUNDTRACK: NELLY FURTADO-“Time Stand Still” (2010).

scoreI stumbled upon this cover of a Rush song when I learned about Score: A Hockey Musical (which I stumbled on when looking for information about Dave Bidini).  I hadn’t heard of the movie, but i was sure intrigued by it (the parts I’ve seen have terrible songs but since it’s all jokey, it’s okay).

This cover song is presumably an end credits song.

I don’t really have an opinion of Nelly Furtado, but, man, I really don’t like this cover.  I’m of course delighted that she covered Rush at all (and it makes sense in a Canadian hockey movie to have a Rush song) but she basically strips away all of the music and adds a very simple synth riff and drums.  It’s painful for a Rush fan to hear all the music taken away from this song.

Furtado’s voice actually works pretty well (especially since Aimee Mann does the backing vocals on the original) and she sings it quite nicely.  I think I might like it if I didn’t know it was a Rush song, originally (the music is good, eh?).  It just hurts my sense of righteousness to hear this weird lite version of Rush.

[READ: February 24, 2014] For Those About to Write

After reading Pseudonymous Bosch’s writing guide for young people, I figured I’d compare it to Dave Bidini’s writing guide for young people.

It’s interesting to see how two writers can try to accomplish the same thing in such vastly different ways.  Bidini doesn’t really write fiction (he has written some, but not much), so unlike Bosch, he doesn’t try to get the young writer involved with a made up story.  Rather, he presents his own life as an example of one way to become a writer.

Bidini talks about how he loved books as a kid–stapling together stories, or loving the feel of cardboard binding books together (he fondly remember his first writing project for school and how it all felt so official).  He was also fortunate to have parents who could appreciate his artistic needs–so if he needed to write or to play music, they were supportive. Continue Reading »

Posted in Canadian Content, Canadian Music, Culture Shock, Dave Bidini, Keith Maillard, Nelly Furtado, Paul Quarrington, Peter Golenblock, Rheostatics, Rush, Score: A Hockey Musical, Shades, Short Books, Sunshine News, YA Books | Leave a Comment »

Pseudonymous Bosch–Write This Book: A Do-It Yourself Mystery (2013)

November 9, 2014 by Paul Debraski

writeSOUNDTRACK: THE MINIONS-“Banana” (2014).

Ibanan really enjoyed both Despicable Me movies, and the minions crack me up.  So how did I not know that bananas are a big deal for them?  At Universal Studios, bananas are a huge part of the Minion gear that they sell, but I had no idea why.  When we watched Despicable Me recently, I saw them fighting over a banana, but it seemed like a minor thing.

Well, anyhow, the minions have done a cover of “Barbara Ann” as… well, you get the point.

And man, is it irritating, especially in the two hour version I present you with below.

I honestly can’t wait for the next movie though.

[READ: November 9, 2014] Write This Book

I’ve had this book on my shelf for a while.  I didn’t want to read it until I finished the Secret series.  And since I did, I decided to read this right away.  (You don’t need to read the Secret series to enjoy this book–especially for the h ow-to elements which are outstanding whether you know his work or not)

I wasn’t really sure how this would work–there was an excerpt at the back of the You Have to Stop This paperback.  He sets up the story for us and has us finish it, was it just going to be blank pages?  No, it is not.

Indeed, it is a very clever book because it accomplishes two things very well.

1) It creates a simple yet compelling mystery (with Bosch’s typical flair for twisting things around on their heads) and

2) It teaches young writers a ton about how to write.  In fact, I hope Clark reads this soon, because I think it will really help him with his storytelling. Continue Reading »

Posted in Adventure, Advice, Anachronisms, Children's Books, Despicable Me, Fantasy, Fears, Funny (ha ha), Horror, How to, Marriage Trouble, Mystery, Noir, Pseudonymous Bosch, Smarty Pants, Supernatural, Time Travel | Leave a Comment »

Pseudonymous Bosch–You Have to Stop This (2011)

November 8, 2014 by Paul Debraski

stopthisSOUNDTRACK: PHARRELL WILLIAMS-“Despicable Me” (2010).

meAfter coming back from Universal, we watched Despicable Me again.  I had totally forgotten that Pharrell Williams, that “Happy” guy, had written this song about “having a bad bad day.”

Now since this is an open credit sequence, I think he can be forgiven for repeating the two verses FOUR TIMES.

Of course, that makes it insanely catchy (I’m havin’ a bad bad day), and the melody is a nice combination of bouncy jingle and suspenseful spy type movie.

It’s nice to see Williams run the gamut of emotions in these two songs (“Happy” comes from Despicable Me 2).

[READ: November 7, 2014] You Have to Stop This

This is the final book in the “Secret” series.  It has been quite a while since I read book four, so I was a little worried that I wouldn’t remember what was going on.  And I really didn’t, but that didn’t matter too much, because I immediately jumped right back into he plot and figured out the details as I went along.  And I flew through this (it was a great vacation book).

One of my favorite things about this series is the way that Bosch plays with the conventions of storytelling.  I’m not even sure if young readers can appreciate the jokes at this level (have they read enough to know what is being spoofed?).  So when chapter one begins with a pick your own beginning, it made me laugh because of the types of opening lines you can choose, but also because of what the answer is.

And then in chapter 2, the narrator promises to reveal the Secret right away… Continue Reading »

Posted in Adventure, Anachronisms, Children's Books, Despicable Me, Egyptology, Fears, Marriage Trouble, Mystery, Pharrell Williams, Pseudonymous Bosch, Smarty Pants, Supernatural | Leave a Comment »

Universal Studios–Islands of Adventure (2014)

November 7, 2014 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: November 7, 2014] Universal Studios Island of Adventure

ioaOur final day of vacation, and…nobody was sick at all!  Hooray!

It was another day at Universal.  I didn’t know if it could compare to the first day–how could it, really?  And while we didn’t do quite as many thrilling things, we fully explored the world of Harry Potter’s Hogsmeade and even left that island to explore others.  It was quite easy to forget was that there were so many other islands outside of the Harry Potter World.

We knew we wanted to ride the Harry Potter Express again–what’s the point of getting the MultiPark Pass if you don’t?  But we also knew that we wanted to start in Universal Studios Florida again because we wanted to go on the Despicable Me Minion Mayhem (the one ride that had a perpetually long line–oftentimes up to an hour) before heading over to Hogsmeade.

Remember, the entrance is shaped kind of like a Y.  You come in via City Walk and then you go left for Universal’s Island of adventure or you go right for Universal Studios Florida (the older f the two parks).  Unlike Disney, both parks are right next to each other.  But like Disney, if you pick to go in one, you can’t go in the other.  Unless you buy the Two Park Pass.  Then you can leave one and enter the other through the front, or you can go via the Hogwarts Express.

Continue Reading »

Posted in C., Rides, S., T., Universal Studios, Vacation, Walt Disney World | 1 Comment »

Universal Studios Florida (2014)

November 6, 2014 by Paul Debraski

[ATTENDED: November 6, 2014] Universal Studios

usfS. and I had been to Universal Studios about a decade ago during a library conference.  It was super fun–we were there after the park closed and got to ride all kinds of things.  Despite that, we didn’t remember much about the park, and so much had been added since then, that we were very excited (for The Simpsons Ride and especially the whole Harry Potter experience).  As we approached S. said that it felt so much more commercial than Disney, and then we realized that Disney is the most commercial place in the world, so it wasn’t that exactly.  And then we decided that Universal is like Disney’s tacky cousin.

The set up of entering the park is quite unusual, especially compared to Disney.  You park in a parking garage (which is certainly more convenient than the Disney lots) and enter the CityWalk portion. This is an aggressively neoned area with every conceivable chain restaurant you have ever imagined–mostly larger ones (the kind that we assume people who don’t live near a city a very excited to eat at) which I won’t name, but they are usually associated with a TV show, movie or Hollywood in general.

Here’s what’s so unusual about Universal Studios.  The entrance is shaped kind of like a Y.  You come in via CityWalk and then you go left for Universal’s Island of Adventure or you go right for Universal Studios Florida (the older of the two parks).  Unlike Disney, both parks are right next to each other.  But like Disney, if you pick to go in one, you can’t go in the other.  Unless you buy the Multi Park Pass.  Then you can leave one and enter the other through the front, or you can go via the Hogwarts Express (recommended).

Universal also has a FastPass type deal, but unlike with Disney, you have to pay for the FastPass experience.  And the prices are something like $70-$90 per person on top of park admission.  So the heck with that.  The good news was that when we were there there were very few lines for anything, so it didn’t matter too much.

We entered the park and realized right away that the big attraction at Universal is Despicable Me’s minions–they are the Mickey Mouse of Universal.  But Universal is also super proud of The Simpsons, and as we entered the park, there were Homer and Lisa, and we jumped on line and got our pictures taken with them.  What a weird thing!

Continue Reading »

Posted in Butterbeer, C., Despicable Me, Harry Potter, Revenge of the Mummy, Rides, S., Shrek, T., The Simpsons, Universal Studios, Vacation | 1 Comment »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »