What I learned… (4) [Roman, Immortalized]

My friend Roman has just been immortalized in a blog–and not even this one, although now this makes two; granted my immortalization pales in comparison to THIS ONE. Congratulations Roman, for being The 50th Inductee Into Utter Wonder’s Hall of Fame! You can be in my hall of fame as well! And, while you would [...]

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What I learned… (3) [Book covers]

Obviously, I’m stealing my book and album cover art from Amazon.com. I could scan them myself, but let’s face it, no one has that much time. So, I’m sorry for the Search Inside logo, which I suppose I could crop, but I’m simply not going to. Not if I’m going to have time to write [...]

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Heather McGowan–Duchess of Nothing (2006)

SOUNDTRACK: DEFTONES-B-Sides & Rarities (2005).
The Deftones are fascinating. They play some really really heavy metal, and yet they have a softer side, like Sears. One of the all-time great metal songs is the Deftones’ “My Own Summer (Shove It)”, it has a dynamic loud-soft interplay and an excruciating chorus. Sheer madness. And then, you get [...]

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What I learned… (2) [Leaving things unfinished]

[DIGRESSION]: Previously, in Sarah’s Book Journal there was a post about a book that she didn’t finish because she didn’t think it was good enough to finish. This is an admirable trait; in fact, if you do some basic searches online for “not finishing books” you will receive a lengthy hit list. However, I don’t [...]

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Ted Naifeh–Polly and the Pirates (2005)

[READ: June 2007] Polly and the Pirates.
This is a pretty cute graphic novel. Stylistically it is somewhat unique, in that Naifeh’s style is idosyncratic and odd (see his Courtney Crumrin books and note that Courtney Crumrin has no nose!). This tale is of a young girl in a boarding school who is captured [...]

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David Foster Wallace–Consider the Lobster (2005)

SOUNDTRACK: TOM WAITS-Orphans (Bastards) (2006).
This is the piece de resistance of the Orphans set. All of the really, really weird songs by Waits get thrown together on this disc. Weird and wonderful, including a crazy cover of “Heigh Ho” from Snow White.
[READ: Summer 2006] Consider the Lobster.
When I was living in Boston, and going [...]

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Joshua Braff–The Unthinkable Thoughts of Jacob Green (2005)

SOUNDTRACK: TOM WAITS-Orphans (Bawlers) (2006).
The thought of Tom Waits singing lullabies is a pretty scary one. The strange thing is that his lyrics and melodies are really quite beautiful, I’m just not sure I want that voice in my kid’s head at night.
[READ: May 2007] The Unthinkable Thoughts of Jacob Green.
After the heaviness and length [...]

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Richard Brautigan–Trout Fishing in America (1967)

SOUNDTRACK: TOM WAITS-Orphans (Brawlers disc) (2006).
People either love or hate Tom Waits. My wife, bless her, hates him, but was kind enough to get me this great 3 disc set for Christmas. The Brawlers disc is full of noisy raucous story/songs from the gravelly voiced troubadour. There’s some great pointed political songs on this disc, [...]

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Jeanette Winterson–Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit (1985)

SOUNDTRACK: CHAVEZ-Better Days Will Haunt You (2006).

I first fell in love with Chavez when I saw a video for their song “Break Up Your Band.” I loved the video, and loved the music. And, I basically became of fan of them because of this video, which I think I must have seen on 120 Minutes, [...]

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FINISHED-Vikram Chandra–Sacred Games [pre-pub] (2006)

SOUNDTRACK: PRIMUS-They Can’t All Be Zingers (2006).
Such a great name for a greatest hits album. I’m delighted to know that Primus is still fun after all these years. How on earth they were every popular is simply beyond my comprehension.
[READ: May 2007] Sacred Games.
Here’s a link to Vikram Chandra’s Sacred Games blog.
Whew, I thought this [...]

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