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Archive for November, 2008

Simon Rich–Free Range Chickens (2008)

Posted in Faith No More, Funny (ha ha), Kid Koala, Kool Keith, Mike Patton, Mr. Bungle, NPR/PRI/PBS, New Yorker, Norah Jones, Peeping Tom, Religion, Set at School, Short Books, Simon Rich, Smarty Pants, The Sound of Young America, Time Travel on November 28, 2008 | Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: PEEPING TOM-Peeping Tom (2006).
Peeping Tom is one of the many side projects that Mike Patton (known mostly as the vocalist for Faith No More) has created in the last few years.
As Faith No More moved past “Epic” into their later releases, it became increasingly clear that Mike Patton was one wacky little monkey.  And [...]

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Vladimir Nabokov–Pnin (1957)

Posted in 19th Century, Elvis Costello, Funny (ha ha), Marriage Trouble, Russia, Set at School, Short Story, Smarty Pants, Universities, Unreliable narrator, Vladimir Nabokov on November 27, 2008 | Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: ELVIS COSTELLO AND THE IMPOSTERS-Momofuku (2008).
I’ve enjoyed Elvis Costello for many years.  I’m not a die hard fan, but his Best of is often in play in our house.  I got into a little phase where I was buying a bunch of his things, but that has more or less subsided now.  And, since [...]

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Eoin Colfer–Artemis Fowl And The Time Paradox (2008)

Posted in Adventure, Broken Social Scene, Canadian Music, Eoin Colfer, Fantasy, Feist, Magic, Supernatural, Technology, Threats, Time Travel, YA Books on November 27, 2008 | Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK-BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE-Bee Hives (2004).
B-side collections come in a couple of forms: the awesome collection of fantastic rare tracks, the self indulgent crap that only true fans would like, and the middle road.
This collection fits nicely into the middle road.  I’ve enjoyed Broken Social Scene’s two later discs (I haven’t heard their first one).  This [...]

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Vladimir Nabokov–”Natasha” (New Yorker, June 9 & 16, 2008)

Posted in Loudon Wainwright III, New Yorker, Paul Debraski, Russia, Short Story, Vladimir Nabokov on November 26, 2008 | Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: [REVISITED] LOUDON WAINWRIGHT III-Strange Weirdos: Music from and Inspired by the Film Knocked Up (2008).
We used Loudo’s “Daughter” from this soundtrack in the birthday video that we made for my daughter.  (We also used Dolly Parton’s “Shine” for the first half).  Because we were listening to the song, I listened to the rest of [...]

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Christopher Monks–The Ultimate Game Guide to Your Life® Or, The Video Game as Existential Metaphor (2008)

Posted in Christopher Monks, Contests, Einsturzende Neubaten, Funky Web Sites, Funny (ha ha), Marriage (Happy), McSweeney's, Michael J. Nelson, Portishead, Set at School, Super Mario Brothers, Technology, Tekken, Universities, Video Games, Virginity (Loss of) on November 19, 2008 | Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: PORTISHEAD-Third (2008).
This is probably one of the spookiest albums I’ve heard in a long time.  And, boy, do I love it.
Portishead has been away from the music scene for about ten years.  They’d had a couple of hits, sort of gloomy trip hop all held together by Beth Gibbons’ otherworldly voice (“Nobody loves me, [...]

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Roddy Doyle–”Sleep” (New Yorker, October 20, 2008)

Posted in Canadian Music, Marriage (Happy), New Yorker, Roddy Doyle, Short Story, The Go! Team, Tokyo Police Club on November 18, 2008 | Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: TOKYO POLICE CLUB: A Lesson in Crime EP (2006).
When Toronto’s Tokyo Police Club released their album Elephant Shell, there were quite a lot of rave reviews for it, but almost all of the reviews talked about how great this EP was.  So, I opted to check out their EP first.  And how can you [...]

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George Saunders–”Hypocrites” (New Yorker, June 9 & 16, 2008)

Posted in Essays, George Saunders, New Yorker, Religion, Short Story, Yo La Tengo on November 18, 2008 | Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK [RECONSIDERED]: YO LA TENGO-I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass (2007)
When I reviewed this record a while ago, I had enjoyed it, but it didn’t leave that much of an impression on me.  Well, I just listened to the disc again, and I was amazed by how much I [...]

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Wells Tower–”Leopard” (New Yorker, November 10, 2008)

Posted in Ferris Beuller's Day Off, Grinderman, New Yorker, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Short Story, The Birthday Party, Wells Tower on November 17, 2008 | Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: GRINDERMAN-Grinderman (2007).
Nick Cave has been making interesting and varied music for decades.  From his original noisemakers The Birthday Party to his countless albums with The Bad Seeds, there isn’t really a style that Cave hasn’t explored.  In fact his last four albums with the Bad Seeds cover some vastly different terrain right there.
So, why, [...]

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Ian McEwan–On Chesil Beach (2007)

Posted in Books about music, Funny (ha ha), Ian McEwan, Jonny Greenwood, Kronos Quartet, Marriage Trouble, Radiohead, Short Books, There Will Be Blood, Virginity (Loss of) on November 17, 2008 | Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: There Will Be Blood Motion Picture Soundtrack (2007).
This soundtrack was composed by Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead.  I have not yet seen the movie so I can’t speak about its use in the film (which I assume is very good given all the raves I’ve read about it).
Anyone expecting something Radioheadesque will be disappointed in [...]

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Louise Erdrich–”The Fat Man’s Race” (New Yorker, November 3, 2008)

Posted in Cat Stevens, Dreams, Glen Hansard, Louise Erdrich, Marketa Irglova, New Yorker, Once, Short Story, The Frames, Van Morrison on November 14, 2008 | Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: Once Motion Picture Soundtrack (2007).
Sarah and I saw a preview for this film a long time ago and promptly forgot about it.  Then, she remembered it was called One or The One or something….  Luckily Netflix set us straight, and we rented Once.  We were amazed at how much we liked it.  It’s clearly [...]

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