What I learned… (20) Entertainment Weekly

I have been an off and on subscriber to Entertainment Weekly for about fifteen years. Usually I subscribe because it’s cheap and I enjoy it. Then something happens to let my subscription lapse (usually it’s when I move). And then I resubscribe some time later. I’ve been steadily subscribed now for [...]

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Paul Theroux–”Twenty-Two Stories” (Harper’s, April 2008)

SOUNDTRACK: MASTODON-Blood Mountain (2006).
As I was in a metal/Black Sabbath kick, and Mastodon is always mentioned as a fantastic metal band, I figured I’d give them a try. As with The Sword, I saw no resemblance to Black Sabbath, and at first I was afraid it was just another sludgy death metal record.
[DIGRESSION]: [...]

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Steven Millhauser–”The Next Thing” (Harper’s, May 2008)

SOUNDTRACK: THE SWORD-Gods of the Earth (2008).
So I used to be really into heavy metal. I’m not so much anymore, although I do enjoy the occasional bout of heaviness. However, I had been listening to some Black Sabbath recently, and I guess I was in the mood, because when I read some descriptions [...]

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Joshua Bearman–”The Perfect Game: Five years with the master of Pac-Man” (Harpers, July 2008)

SOUNDTRACK: GNARLS BARKLEY-The Odd Couple (2008).
So “Crazy” was Gnarls Barkley’s ubiquitous and fantastic single from 2006. The rest of St. Elsewhere was nowhere near as catchy, although it was all quite good. It was funny to see the backlash for this record because there was no “Crazy” on it. And yet, the [...]

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Marisha Pessl–Special Topics in Calamity Physics (2007)

SOUNDTRACK: AGAINST ME!-New Wave (2007).
I’m not sure why I never listened to these guys before. I’m not crazy about the band’s name: it makes sense, but it’s awkward to work with. And I think I lumped them in with the whole emo scene, which I was pretty well done with. Anyhow, I read [...]

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Robert Coover–”The Case of the Severed Hand” (Harper’s, July 2008)

SOUNDTRACK: AGENT ORANGE on 21 Jump Street (1987).
Sarah and I are watching 21 Jump Street on DVD.  We were both fans of the show when it came out, but our only thought about it was to sing JUMP every once in a while.  So, we got Season One and have been very pleasantly surprised [...]

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Joyce Carol Oates–”Suicide by Fitness Center” (Harper’s, June 2008)

SOUNDTRACK: STARS-Do You Trust Your Friends (2007).
Stars released Set Yourself on Fire in 2005. It was a surprisingly good and catchy pop album from a band I hadn’t heard of before. It was lyrically downbeat, and yet the choruses were sweeping and grand. A great paradox of a record that I liked [...]

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Simon Rich–”Animal Tales” (New Yorker, June 30, 2008)

SOUNDTRACK: LCD SOUNDSYSTEM-Sound of Silver (2007).

When this album came out it was hyped as a great dance record. I ordered it on Amazon, but there was some kind of problem (I ordered the import by mistake) and it wasn’t going to be shipped for months. So, I ordered their first album instead [...]

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Alex Stone–”The Magic Olympics: with tricks explained!” (Harper’s July 2008)

SOUNDTRACK: JENS LEKMAN-Night Fall Over Kortedala (2007)
My friend Eugenie introduced me to Jens. She put a song on a mix CD for me, and I really liked it. I picked up his EP collection Oh You’re So Silent, Jens. And he just released Night Falls last year.
Jens’ voice is unique. He’s got [...]

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Alice Munro–”Free Radicals” (New Yorker, February 11 & 18, 2008)

SOUNDTRACK: SHE & HIM-Volume One (2008).
If you’ve seen Elf, and I’m sure you have, then you know that Zooey Deschanel has a beautiful voice. This record is a collection of her songs, sung by her with instrumentation by M. Ward, whose music I don’t know. The thing I learned about her voice [...]

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