SOUNDTRACK: THE FLAMING LIPS-Fight Test EP (2003).
The test begins NOW!
With the success of Yoshimi, the Lips put out a couple of multitrack EPs. The first one was for “Fight Test.” In addition to the title track, this EP features three great covers: “Can’t Get You Out of My Head” is a slow acoustic guitar/timpani version of the infectious Kylie Minogue hit. Despite its slowness, the “La La La” part is still catchy! Next is a cover of the Beck song “The Golden Age.” It’s also an acoustic guitar version. Finally is a cover of Radiohead’s “Knives Out.” It’s not quite as manic as the Radiohead version but it’s still very good.
The next three tracks include a 9 minute dance remix of “Do You Realize??” which is fun enough, if you like that sort of thing. “The Strange Design of Conscience” sounds like it could have been an outtake from Yoshimi. It fits in quite well with the music and themes of the CD. “Thank You Jack White (For the Fiber Optic Jesus That You Gave Me)” is a 3 and a half minute folk song relating the (presumably true) tale of a plastic Jesus that Jack White gave to Wayne.
It must be fun to be able to write a thank you song that thousands of people will hear.
Lots of times EPs aren’t really worth the time, but this is a very good one. The covers are a lot of fun, and you’ll be La La Laing right along with Wayne.
[READ: February 24, 2009] McSweeney’s 30
This issue of McSweeney’s hearkens back to their initial three issues: a white paperback with words in a graphic design on the cover. The cover design is an homage to Obama’s presidency, and has some thoughtful as well as funny lines on it (You Can Take That Canadian Flag Sticker Off Your Backpack Now). It was also printed in Iceland once again (in a nice bid to help Iceland’s economy, which is actually worse than ours) by Oddi Printing.
The contents of the issue are also pretty straightforward: eleven short stories and some occasional art by Jason Polan which ties into the stories.
BILL COTTER-“Pfaff II”
This is the story of a young man in a mental health ward outside of Boston. He is essentially in solitary, slowly getting better. After some time, he meets the woman across the hall from him, and they form a bond over the Chesterfields she smokes. When a new patient is admitted, he suggests that escape would be fairly easy if they were motivated. The remainder of the story considers this option. I was a little thrown at the beginning trying to get my bearings, but once located, I enjoyed the story. It was fast paced and thought provoking.
NICK EKKIZOGLOY-“Stowaways”
This story confused me from the start because it is set in Albany. But it is only later that you learn that it is the Albany that’s not to far from Macon. And, so, rather than being in upstate New York, they are in Georgia. Well, that made the flooding part make a lot more sense. In this story, two young men work as linemen on the night shift, getting drunk while they await a call for emergency repair work. One of them also works as a lawnmower in a graveyard. The aforementioned flooding causes some great trouble for them.
KEVIN MOFFETT-“Further Interpretations of Real-Life Events”
Second story in a row with a graveyard in it. This story works on many levels, and the title is great. In this story Frederick Moxley is a young writer who writes stories primarily about father and son relationships. One day, his girlfriend reads one of his stories in a journal and, for a change, she really likes it. It turns out, however, that the story is written by his father, who is also Frederick. The byline in the journal reads “This is his first published story” which young Frederick finds pretentious.
His father gets more and more stories published even though they break all of the writing rules that young Frederick’s writing professor taught him (illustrated to great effect throughout the story). The stories also deal with real life events that the son knows; they make him reconsider his own memories of them. A very cool story.
ETGAR KERET-“Bad Karma”
In this story, set in Israel I assume as I don’t know where else a kibbutz would be located, an insurance salesman has a life-altering event that changes his business for the better. While selling a policy, something falls on his head from a great height, knocking him into a coma. The irony that he himself did not have insurance provides him with a fantastic story that helps him sell even more policies. But that’s just the beginning of this story in which Oshri finds himself relishing his dreams about his peaceful life during the coma.
SHELLY ORIA-“The Beginning of a Plan”
Second story in a row set in Israel. This story starts fairly innocently; it is only during the second section,when all of time stops for, well, for an undetermined amount of time, that you know this story is a bit different. As the story opens in 1991, Bambi is arrested for improper canning. When time stops in section two, life as everyone knows it changes. When Bambi gets her new profession as a soaper (as in one who soaps people), she meets the man who will hatch the plan mentioned in the title. The plan is fairly complicated, and in fact, Bambi and even the readers are a little in the dark as to exactly how Phil is going to make his fortune. This story has some thoroughly surreal moments, and is quite enjoyable.
MICHAEL CERA-“Pinecone”
I enjoyed that Michael Cera’s byline “Pinecone is his first published story.” is just like the byline from the Kevin Moffett story above… can’t decide if that was an intentional inside joke or not. And of course, we love Michael Cera in every role he’s done from Arrested Development to Superbad and beyond, so of course, we’re very biased when reading this story.
This is one of those weird cases where you know enough about the author to wonder about the story (as Cera is not 38). The story concerns Carroll Silver, a 38 year old actor who fears that he is past his prime. He lashes out at everyone around him including his agent, which leads him to be in bad financial straits. It is only when he lashes out at an innocent young fan, who criticizes his movie Pinecone, that Silver wonders just how far his star has fallen. Silver’s attempt at redemption is simultaneously creepy and touching. The attention to detail in the story is very good, as is the way Cera understands awkward stardom (or at least it seems genuine to me, a person who has experienced no awkward stardom). I look forward to more work from him.
CARSON MELL-“Diamond Aces”
This is another story about sons and fathers. In this one, the narrator’s father, Will, is a mysterious man whose life outside of the house is a complete mystery to the narrator. When the narrator and his wife go to visit Will (and Will’s new wife), the narrator learns some details about his father. While he knew, vaguely, that Will owned a club called Diamond Aces, he never knew the full extent of what went on there. Rather than this story going in the way of prostitution and/or extra marital affairs, what we find is that Will is some sort of guru to club owners in the area. Will and his son travel to Cherries, a depressing and pitiful strip club, where the narrator learns of Will’s authority and toughness. They also almost get into a fight. It’s interesting to see how the men deal with their upset wives when they get home. A depressing, but good story.
MATEI VISNIEC-“Madness”
Madness indeed. This surreal story concerns carnivorous butterflies, pestilential snails and animal rain. It gives a very literal meaning to not griping about the bad things around you.
J. MALCOLM GARCIA-“Cuts”
This is another depressing story. It concerns working in a shelter for the mentally handicapped. Although it was depressing, it was very good and quite affecting. Essentially, the shelter, Out of the Rain, is facing cutbacks. None of their options are very good point. The only glimmer of hope is that Don, the HIV positive second in command, has applied for work elsewhere. The tensions of working in a hopeless situation really come to the fore.
CATHERINE BUSSINGER-“Foothill Boulevard”
In this story, a white woman buys a repossessed house in a black neighborhood on Foothill Boulevard. The house has been vacant for quite some time. And, since she bought it for about $3,000, she is able to put a lot of work into it to get it back in shape. The story follows the meticulous care she uses to rebuild her house. Yet from the onset she is burdened by the neighborhood kids. All of them are a nuisance, some more threatening than others. In fact, the entire neighborhood seems bent on seeing her fail. When her hard work is vandalized, and a gun comes into play, things reach a boiling point. A very affecting story.
WELLS TOWER-“Retreat”
Wells Tower wrote this story for McSweeney’s 23. The introduction to this volume explains why Tower is submitting it again. (Basically, he was dissatisfied with the story, because he felt that the brother who lives in Maine’s tale was more interesting. And so he has rewritten the story from a different POV). Given that, I assumed that the story would be largely the same with a few changes here and there. But no, it is more or less a complete rewrite (although the part with the moose at the end is mostly the same).
I wish I could remember more about the first version (but I read it almost 2 years ago). I can’t give a paragraph by paragraph comparison. But I think I enjoyed this version more. It really felt like a completely different story until the moose, (which is still cool and unsettling). As an exercise of re-envisioning a story it was certainly cool. And, as a story in and of itself, it was very good.
The intro about why he wrote this version was also really enjoyable. Wells Tower will be releasing a collection of short stories very soon.
Overall, I found this issue to be very strong. I enjoyed all of the stories, either a little or a lot. A wonderful way to start the third decade of issues.
[…] is a summary of the story, which likely fills the proper role: This is one of those weird cases where you know enough about […]
[…] was published in McSweeney’s 23. Then he completely rewrote it and published it again in McSweeney’s 30 (that’s the version here). It was enjoyable this second/third time as well. This is a […]