SOUNDTRACK: KISS-Alive! (1975).

This was the first Kiss live album and was the album that broke Kiss worldwide.  I’m not entirely sure why a live album of songs that didn’t sell very well would do better than the original studio albums, but so it was.

And, yes, the live recording is pretty awesome.  It is clearly a collection of greatest hits off their first three records, and the band sounds on fire: the songs are heavier and faster and largely more consistent than some of the odder tracks on the original records.

There has been considerable controversy about whether the album was overdubbed.  Wikipedia lists a few different possibilities for what originally recorded sounds were kept for the disc.  It never occurred to me that the disc might be overdubbed (and honestly that doesn’t bother me all that much).  But since I had the pleasure of watching Kissology recently, and I could see the state of their vocals live, it would surprise me entirely if the vocals were not overdubbed.  Not because the band didn’t sound good live (they did), but because they were very sloppy with their vocals, consistently leaving off the ends of lines and things like that, and the disc sounds perfect.

Of course this is all nitpicking.  Alive! is a fantastic document because the live versions add a lot of punch to the originals.  But on top of that, you get fun extras like the drum solo and banter of the 12 minute “100,000 Years” as well as Paul’s drinking banter: “I know there’s a lot of you out there that like to drink…vodka and orange juice!” (How can you pass that up?).  It’s hard to pick highlights from such a good record, but “She” is a particular one with Ace’s wild guitar pyrotechnics.  Right on to the end, the disc is a rocking good time.

It’s also funny to hear that “Rock And Roll All Nite” is not the final encore; rather it is the next to last track with “Let Me Go Rock n Roll” being the BIG FINISH.  That’s the last time that THAT would happen!

[READ: December 28, 2009] The Elfish Gene

I happened to pass this book in the New section of my library and I loved the title.  I read the blurb, made a mental note of it, mentioned how much I liked the title to Sarah and then more or less forgot about it (although, actually, I still see it every day, as it’s always facing out, cover forward).

Imagine my surprise to see that Sarah got it for me for Christmas!

So, yes, this is the best parody-titled book that is not a parody or a make-a-buck joke book that modifies a popular title.  Rather, it is a memoir of a British guy who spent his teen years utterly absorbed in Dungeons & Dragons.  But I must disagree with the Christian Science Monitor’s review as “laugh out loud funny.”  I only laughed out loud once in the book (the dog walking scene is hilarious), but that’s because I don’t think it was meant to be funny (at least I hope it wasn’t).

I’ve said before that I’m not a big fan of memoirs in general.  I find them mostly to be a big “so what,” and often without the subtlety required for a good novel.  But the topic here was delicious enough for me to dive right in.  And I think that this book, which I absolutely enjoyed, sort of proves my theory.

Barrowcliffe has done nothing worthy of anyone caring about.  He’s just a guy who played D&D, so when checking out the book, you kind of feel, so what?  Plus, the book is completely unsubtle, with him summarizing his attitude over and over and over.  But nevertheless, I could not put it down. I was hooked from the opening and was totally intrigued all the way to the end.  (I even put down the book I had been reading to speed right through this).

And yet, Barrowcliffe himself is so unlikable.  And not, as he suggests, because of the D&D.

From the get go, Barrowcliffe basically says that his obsession with D&D made him a loser, and worse, an unlikable loser.  And so what we get is the author’s detailed love affair with fantasy which is perpetually undermined by him regretting that he spent so much of his life doing it.  But as you read the details of his obsession and the fun that he was having in chapter after chapter, this regret, this embarrassment, this humiliation is totally misplaced.  For it is not the D&D that makes him the way he is, it’s a combination of where he lived, the time he grew up, and his rather bad personality.

But let’s get back to basics.  Barrowcliffe grew up in the 70s in Coventry, England, which was pretty much the middle of nowhere.  And this was a time when there was no way to connect to other people aside from going up and talking to them (phone were prohibitively expensive, and obviously there was not internet).  The author was a nerdy kid who willingly accepted the nickname “Spaz” and actually told people to call him that well into his teenage years.

In school, he found a fantasy wargamers group and discovered that he really enjoyed it.   They would create alternate histories of battles and conflicts (I imagine it like an advanced Risk).  One of the main guys in the wargamers group told Mark about D&D.  None of them could afford it as it was an import from America (and cost like £7).  But the author had saved up a few pounds and mail ordered it (the small white box of original D&D which I have, although I ordered it much later).  And what happens when the set arrives is a nutshell version of Barrowcliffe’s life: the other kids are thrilled that he bought the game, but unfortunately since it’s his game, that means that he has to play with them.  He is loud, obnoxious and opinionated.  And unfortunately he doesn’t have that much original thought to keep up with anyone else.

Around the same time that Barrowcliffe was playing D&D, so was I. I’ve included the covers of the 5 first edition books that I own at the side here.  If yo click on them you can buy them too!  Sadly, my original copies are obviously worth nothing if you can buy them for $12, eh?

I started a few years after him and I am also about five years younger than him.  But I am well aware of the mania that D&D produces.  I created characters all the time.  I played with friends.  I joined a group at the library and I read a bunch of fantasy.  So I know what the author is talking about.  The big difference between us is that I didn’t get outrageously obsessed with the game.  The friends I had also liked playing the game, whereas Barrowcliffe made friends through D&D.

D&D attracts all manner of people, but without a doubt the most obsessive gamers tend to be obnoxious, opinionated, condescending and persnickety.  And that’s fine (the game encourages people to feel superior about themselves).  if you act this way while wargaming.  But once you start acting this way in real life, well that becomes a problem.  And if all your friends act that way and you have no other friends to temper them, you become that person yourself.  And this is what happened to him.

So, for Barrowcliffe to blame D&D for his lack of social life is just false.  Not to mention he got a girlfriend at a far younger age than I did, so his social life was better than mine.  It’s quite clear that he has a certain personality which was magnified by the people he played with. And that judgmental personality is still evidence as he writes this book.

He explains that when he was a kid his D&D friends got him into heavy metal (also true for me), but now, his adult self sets out dismissing heavy metal as a stupid genre, just as he dismissed non-metal when he was a teen.  I take personal offense at his mocking of Black Sabbath.  Because even though I like the band that his mature self is now into, I’m not going to dismiss the music that I loved as a kid.

Eventually, Barrowcliffe, grows up, goes to college, acts like a total jerk until he cops on that he’s being a jerk and then somehow gets married.  And yet even at the end of the book he’s still judgmental (against fatties).  His saving grace is that he realizes these errors and apologizes for them (as he retroactively apologizes for his bigoted views as a teen).

But I fear that he overcompensates by disparaging his entire life rather than just his bad behavior.  In fairness, he does include one line in the book where he says that D&D was not to blame for his behavior (phew), but that seems to be undermined by all of the preceding chapters which pretty much imply that it was all D&D’s fault.

What’s especially weird though is that he defends D&D against all the weirdos who were sure that it led to satanism and all that jazz.  It feels like he can’t decide if he’s bashing or enjoying his younger self.  And that conflict is a problem for a memoir.

The thing is that Brrowcliffe clearly is a creative person, and fantasy was  a perfect outlet for a creative kid in what seems like the wastelands of Coventry in the 70s.  The fact that he cultivated the role of an outsider is not surprising when you don’t like anything around you.  And I can’t help but think, with his personality, that if it were not for fantasy that he would have been doing far worse things than inventing characters.

Having gotten that gripe out of my system, I really loved the book.  I enjoyed reading about his obsessions, and about the characters he created, the games he played and even the unlikable people that he hung out with.  I would love to have heard more about Billy during the intervening years, and was sad to hear how he turned out).

Barrowcliffe became a professional writer of fiction and non-fiction (and a stand up comic? really?).  Although many of the example of his earlier writing he mocks as being over the top (which they were), no doubt the fantasy worlds he created were essential to his eventual career.

The strangest thing about this book which more or less trashes D&D is that the target audience has got to be D&D players.  I can’t imagine any non D&Der seeing that title and saying, ooh, just what I wanted to read!  Because yes, D&Ders are still the butt of jokes, except in Freaks & Geeks where even the cool guy gets into playing it with the geeks–hooray!).  And yes, even I find obsessive D&Ders to be offputting (but that’s more about obsessive personality types than what they are currently obsessed with).  So, to write this book and essentially mock D&D players (which he does) seems to be shooting your target audience in the foot.  Weird.

So, overall, I really enjoyed this book.  No, really, I did.  I honestly couldn’t put it down.  I couldn’t wait to see what was going to happen to him next (and there are so many interesting friends and situations described).  And I loved remembering all of the books that came out and making sure to get the latest one (I’m surprised he never mentioned my personal favorite, The Fiend Folio).  I even enjoyed remembering the die rolling and seeing the cool campaigns that they go on.  I just flinched whenever he held D&D responsible for what was clearly his own personality defects.

So, if you like D&D be advised that you may be on the receiving end of some abuse.  But if you used to play D&D and have long since given it up, it’s an amusing book to reminisce about what you used to do (written by someone who was clearly more obsessed than you).  It’s also interesting to see it from a British perspective, where it wasn’t as readily available (even if all the best fantasy bands came from Britain.  Come on, Barrowcliffe, you’re going to mock Saxon?).

We all regret things that we did in our childhood, but to dismiss them and assume that they are the cause of our lameness is not a valid excuse. Of course, having said all that, I suppose a memoir about playing D&D with no regrets wouldn’t be quite as dramatic, so what do I know.

The book also made me go online and finally track down some Hawkwind (after learning about them from The Young Ones nearly 25 years ago: “Play some Hawkwind or Marillion!”).

SOUNDTRACK: BLACK SABBATH-Sabotage (1975).

Sabotage seems to be somewhat forgotten (maybe because of the creepy cover art 0f Ozzy in a kimono and fascinating platform shoes, Bill Ward in red tights with a codpiece (and visible underwear on the back cover), and Geezer and Tony’s mustaches).
But this album rocks pretty hard and heavy.
“Hole in the Sky” is a sort of spastic rocker with Ozzy screaming vocals over the top of the rocking track.
“Don’t Start (Too Late)” is the by now obligatory acoustic guitar piece.  But this one is different, for it has some really wild and unpredictable aspects to it.

“Symptom of the Universe” is another classic Sabbath track, a blistering heavy fast riff with the wonderful Ozzy-screamed: “Yeaaaaaahs!”  It then surprises you by going into an extended acoustic guitar workout for a minute and a half at the end.

“Megalomania” is a slow ponderous piece. Unlike the psychedelic tracks from the previous records, this one moves along with a solid back beat. It also has a great bridge (“Why doesn’t everybody leave me alone?”). They definitely had fun with the effects (echoing vocals, etc.) on this one.  And, like their prog rock forebears, this song segues into another rhythm altogether when we get the wonderfully fast rock segment.  And the humorous point where the music pauses and Ozzy shouts “Suck me!”

“Thrill of it All” is a pretty good rocker, which after a  pretty simple opening morphs into a slow, surprisingly keyboard-fueled insanely catchy coda.  “Supertzar” is a wonderfully creepy instrumental.  It runs 3 minutes and is all minor-keys and creepy Exorcist-like choirs.  When the song breaks and the bizzaro Iommi riff is joined by the choir, you can’t help but wonder why no horror film has used this as its intro music.

“Am I Going Insane (Radio)” is a very catchy keyboardy track.  It clearly has crossover potential (although the lyrics are wonderfully bizarre).  But it ends with totally creepy laughing and then wailing.    “The Writ” ends the album. It’s another solid rocker and it ends with an acoustic coda with Ozzy’s plaintive vocals riding over the top.

Sabotage has some truly excellent moments.  It’s just hard to fathom the amount of prog-rock tendencies they’ve been throwing onto their last few discs (we’ll say Rick Wakeman had something to do with it).

Black Sabbath made two more albums before Ozzy left.  I haven’t listened to either one of them in probably fifteen years.  And my recollection of them is that they’re both pretty lousy.  Maybe one of these days I’ll see if they prove me wrong.

[READ: December 16, 2009] McSweeney’s #7

This was the first McSweeney’s edition that I didn’t buy new.  My subscription ran out after Issue #6 and I never saw #7  in the stores.  So, I recently had to resort to a used copy.

This issue came packaged with a cardboard cover, wrapped with a large elastic band.

Inside you get several small volumes each with its own story (this style hearkens back to McSweeney’s #4, but the presentation is quite different).  7 of the 9 booklets feature an artistic cover that relates to the story but is done by another artist (not sure if they were done FOR the story or not).  I have scanned all of the covers.  You can click on each one to see a larger picture.

The booklets range from 16 to 100 pages, but most are around 30 pages.  They are almost all fiction, except for the excerpt from William T. Vollman’s 3,500 page Rising Up and Rising Down and the essays that accompany the Allan Seager short story.

KEVIN BROCKMEIER-”The Ceiling” [cover by Eric White]
The basic plot of this story is quite simple: a large black square appears in the sky one day.  Slowly it sinks towards the earth, growing larger and larger.  Despite the somewhat Stephen King-like nature of the premise, the story is really all about how people live their lives: specifically, how one man’s family acts during this crisis.  I enjoyed the story quite a bit.

However, I was confused by the beginning.  The opening scene is at the son’s  birthday party.  There’s a lot of detail given, but it doesn’t seem to have much to do with the rest of the story.  It begins with the son telling a fictional tale about himself in a hot air balloon with the father noting, on a separate line: “This is a story.”

It seemed like this was all a set up for something special.  And I’m just not sure how that ties together with the rest of the story.  But I’m not too worried about it as I enjoyed the piece as a whole.

ANN CUMMINS-”Red Ant House” [cover by Tim Bower]
I really enjoyed Cummins’ story in McSweeney’s #6, so I was excited to read this one.  The red ant house is a house down the block that is infested with red ants.  A new family moves into the house and the daughter of that family immediately latches on to the narrator of the story, Leigh.  Leigh is one of 6 kids whose mother is pregnant again.

The new girl, Theresa Mooney, lives with a man who is not her father and a woman who is her mother.  The man seems to have families all over the place.  None of this is good news for Theresa Mooney, especially when Leigh and her siblings decide to point it out to her.  Despite her best intentions however, Leigh and Theresa become friendly, and their bonding is complete when they dare each other to do something risky.

This story didn’t blow me away as much as the previous one, but there was something oddly affecting about it.

A.M. HOMES-”Do Not Disturb” [cover by Melinda Beck]
This is a very prickly story.  It can easily be summed up by the exchange: “You knew I was a bitch before you married me, say something original.”  In the story, a man and his wife are quite obviously falling apart (as individuals and as a couple).  Before the evening’s events, the couple had yet another huge fight.  And he thinks, yet again, of leaving her.  But that night, during dinner, she becomes gravely ill.

Since she is a doctor, she is reluctant to go to the ER, but after several hours of agony, she relents.  She is diagnosed with cancer.  But this diagnosis, rather than softening her, as everyone suspects, just makes her more prickly, more demanding, even less compassionate.  But he can’t leave a cancer-riddled wife can he?  Even if she pushes him out?  This was a very dark story, but it was very powerful.  And, as with all of A.M. Homes work that I’ve read, it was very good.

MICHAEL CHABON-”The Return of the Amazing Cavalieri” [front & back covers by Chris Ware]
I loved The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay when I read it a few years ago.  I was delighted to discover that this story (the cover art suggests it is an “Un-Told Tale of Kavalier and Clay”) was included here.  Sadly for me, I don’t remember too many details of the novel (it was like ten years ago, right?).  Happily for me, they are not relevant to this story.

This piece concerns Cavalieri himself.  He is walking to school with his nephew and the fear and dread he had during grammar school is rushing back at him.  Cavalieri’s nephew has promised his class that The Amazing Kavalier will perform some magic tricks (maybe even escape from a safe!) for Sharing Time.  Cavalieri susses up the class and decides that they are at the perfect age to be simply skeptical.  He grows more nervous as Sharing Time approaches.

He proceeds to perform his simple tricks, but when he suspects that the kids are not all that impressed, he attempts one grand feat.  I enjoyed this story immensely and it makes me want to re-read Kavalier and Clay (or at the very least Maps & Legends, which is sitting on my bedside right now).

The cover art by Chris Ware is, of course, fantastic.  The front cover is designed to look just like a comic book.  And the back cover is even more fun (in a sick and twisted way) as an ad for how much your life will suck if you have a baby.

HEIDI JULAVITS-”Little Little Big Man” [cover by Elizabeth Kairys]
This is, frankly, a bizarre story.  It involves a tiny man named Big who works for a rodeo.  And beyond that the story is full of what I can’t decide is fantasy, magical realism or just hallucinations.

Big becomes involved with a large woman who carries him over her shoulder (his face getting caught in her skirt ruffles as it bumps against her behind).  This part was very funny.

They become serious and settle down.  He grows unhappy and winds up spending a lot of his time climbing into her uterus to read the graffiti that her six children have written in there.

[Pause for people to digest that sentence].

So I’m not sure what to make of details like that.  There are questions of impotence, unfaithfulness and pseudo-bestiality.  And while I understand what happened plot-wise, arriving there was a very bizarre path.

J.T. LEROY-”Harold’s End” [cover by Sharon Leong]
Of course, now we know that J.T. Leroy is a fraud or a pseudonym depending on your opinion of the author’s stunt.  It makes it hard to read this for the first time without having the author’s reality impinging on the story.  I’m not sure if I would have been quite as cynical about the story if I didn’t know what I know about Leroy.  But I an inclined to think that I would have been at least suspicious of the details of the story anyhow.

The basic premise here is that a man approaches a group of kids on the street.  They are suspicious of him (is he a cop, a social worker, a john?), but when they see he is handing out free needles, they relent.  He singles out one boy and invites him back to his house, where they shoot heroin and hang out for an extended period of time.  A single event (that I will get to in a moment) happens which causes friction between them and the boy is asked to leave.

I was immediately suspicious of the story because the kids seem completely unreal.  I’m not even sure how old they are supposed to be.  They hang out on the curb but it’s unclear if they are trying to score drugs, if they are trying to score dates or what.  The only thing we know is that they all have pets (a rat, a pit bull and a boa constrictor)  hanging out with them.  And, the kids tell the man that all of their pets have pedigrees (in far more exacting detail than one might expect a kid to know).  The title of the story comes because the boy who the man brings home did not have a pet.  Along with the heroin, the man gives the boy a snail named Harold as a pet that he can take care of himself.

So, despite the fact that the man is in the role of chickenhawk for this young boy, nothing sexual ever happens between them, except for the event that causes the friction (which is wholly unexpected and really rather disgusting).  But it’s not even entirely apparent afterward why the man is upset (because it didn’t work? was he just embarrassed?).  The whole scene from start to finish seemed unbelievable.  Finally, as the story ends, we see the boy is too squeamish to clean out the snail’s poop, yet moments later he willingly dives into a dumpster (not to mention the disgusting scene above).  It just doesn’t add up.

The whole story rang false to me.  Maybe it was meant to be over the top; maybe it was meant to be surreally funny.  Maybe it was a hyperreal or fantasy look at kids on the street.  But I don’t think so.  It was just creepy.

COURTNEY ELDRIDGE-”The Former World Record Holder Settles Down” [cover by Katherine Streeter]
This is one of the longest stories that McSweeney’s has published.  It’s 75 pages.  And, what is so great about it is that it never feels like a long story.  And what’s even better is that the story goes through many twists and turns to end up in a sad but interesting place.

I loved the fact that the story begins by talking about the narrators’ husband.  And he is a bowling dork.  He loves bowling, he bowls all the time, and he has even gotten the narrator–a hipster New York woman who only thought of bowling ironically–to enjoy bowling.  As well as other sports, too.  He gets her to watch and enjoy baseball (and she develops a mad crush on Don Zimmer (!)).

But back to bowling.  Her husband, Joel, gets very mad at himself if he doesn’t bowl well.  And his mood stays dark for quite some time.

But.  He’s not the titular record holder.  The world record of the title comes as a complete shock (and I won’t reveal it).  But once we learn of the record, everything in the story changes (except they still love bowling).

As the story progresses, we learn more and more about the narrator and how much her father’s disappearance had affected her.  And how much she hates to talk about her past.  And how much she loves her husband for not pushing things about her past.  Until he does.  And then things comes to a head.

There’s so much going on in this story, and it all starts so simply as a bowling tale.   It was a great, great story.

WILLIAM T. VOLLMAN-”The Old Man:  A Case Study from Rising Up and Rising Down“
This is a 100-page excerpt from Vollman’s 3,500 page study of violence called Rising Up and Rising Down (which I will never read).  This excerpt is a case study, written in 1995 and concerns Muslim terrorists in Thailand.

The excerpt reads like a real-life version of Apocalypse Now.  Vollman is in Thailand trying to get an interview with The Old Man, the reputed head of PULO, the Pattani Unification Liberation Organization.  Vollman interviews (with his faithful translator D.) citizens of Thailand and Malaysia as well as political figures and former members of PULO.

The main problem I have with the excerpt is that the context is left out.  We never learn who D. is or how he met her.  And, we have no context for WHY he wants to do this.  He spends days and days negotiating with bureaucrats, thugs and taxi drivers only to ultimately end up right where he started from.  Is it all in aid of this book?  I’m not entirely sure.  I’m sure that the full text covers this, so it’s not really a compliant.  I just wish I had a little context  for this daunting piece.

As for the piece itself although it is a look at only one instance of violence, it is still fascinating to hear people involved in this organization (the quotes are direct in broken English, lending credence to the authenticity).  And it is fascinating to see the kind of security that this man, the head of a terrorist organization, has and yet doesn’t have (and the difficult in actually finding the man).  And to hear how much is hidden in plain sight about members of the organization is rather surprising.

No answers are forthcoming about the why’s of terrorism (maybe they are answered in the big book).  But Vollman is a dogged investigator and an excellent writer.  And although I don’t want to say I enjoyed the excerpt, I’m glad I read it.  (But I’m still not going to read the 3,500 page version).

ALLAN SEAGER-”This Town and Salamanca”
Seager is a once-revered writer whose work has largely gone out of print.  This booklet contains this short story as well as some commentary from others.  The three nonfiction essays attached add a lot of backstory, and certainly allow the reader to learn a lot more about his work and about Seager himself.

I didn’t think I would enjoy the story all that much.  They way it opened, I feared it was going to be a travelogue.  But as it progressed I found it really enjoyable and surprisingly deep.  The premise is that in his youth, John was a world traveler.  He built a boat and sailed to Cuba.  He joined the army to learn how to fly, and then he left the army and then he rejoined the army once again.  He learned to fence in Italy and France.  And then he returned from Salamanca to settle down in “this town.”

The story is really about the other residents of the town and how they more or less hung their hopes and dreams on his journeys, since none of them would ever leave the town.  They relish his stories when he returns and ask for as many details as they can get.  And his details are juicy and quite delightful.

But when he settles down in his home town, everyone is a little disappointed that their wanderer has stopped wandering.  It is a simple no-frills story, and was quite effective.

JOHN WARNER-”Allan Seager: An Introduction”
Warner provides a brief sketch of Seager’s life: his rise to fame as a short story writer (and the numerous places that have published his work: Esquire, The New Yorker, Playboy) and his eventual loss of recognition.  He also fills in details about his personal life (and health).

JOAN FRY-”Colorless in Limestone Caverns: a remembrance”
As a student, Fry set out to seduce Seager.  She was ultimately successful.  But their relationship proved to be a terrible hindrance to her creative writing (although she wound up being the impetus for one of Seager’s own stories).  She spent much of their time together trying to get away.  I actually found this true story to be slightly more compelling than Seager’s short story itself.

STEVEN CONNELLY-”Man is Born For Sorrow as the Sparks Fly Upwards: a remembrance”
Connelly was a student of Seager’s.  His essay here describes how autobiographical “This Town and Salamanca” is.  Seager also traveled the world and then settled down in his home town to write.  It also describes him as a wonderful teacher, who knew as much about James Joyce as anyone.  Seager was inspirational for Connelly as well as many other students.

~~

McSweeney’s #7 is another great collection of stories.  It was absolutely worth tracking it down.

SOUNDTRACK: The Believer June/July 2007 Music Issue Compilation CD: Cue the Bugle Turbulent (2007).

The 2007 Believer disc smashes the mold of folkie songs that they have established with the previous discs in the series.  The theme for this disc is that there’s no theme, although the liner notes give this amusing story:

one decaffeinated copy editor (“the new guy”) made a suggestion: “The Believer CD should be composed of eight a.m. music/breakfast-substitute jams, like that commercial from a while back with the guy who gets out of bed over and over again while ELO plays over his morning routine. You should tell all of the bands to write/contribute songs worth listening to within three minutes of waking up.”

So, without a theme, they just asked artists for some great songs.  There’s one or two tracks written especially for the disc (Sufjan Stevens, Lightning Bolt).  There’s a couple B-sides.  There are some wildly noisy raucous songs: and three of them come from duos!  No Age offers a very noisy blast of feedback.  Magik Markers play a super-fast distortion-fueled rocker, and Lightning Bolt play 5 minutes of noise noise noise.  Oh, and there’s even a rap (Aesop Rock)!

Tracks 3-7 are just about the 5 best songs in a row on any compilation.  Oxford Collapse plays a catchy and wonderfully angular song with “Please Visit Your National Parks.”  It’s followed by a song from Sufjan Stevens that sounds NOTHING like Sufjan Stevens, it’s a noisy distorted guitar blast of indie punk.  I’m from Barcelona follows with a supremely catchy horn driven song that would be huge on any college campus.  Aesop Rock comes next with a fantastic song.  I’d heard a lot about Aesop Rock but had never heard him before, and he raps the kind of rap that I like: cerebral and bouncy.  This is followed by Reykjavik! with a crazy, noisy surf-guitar type of song.  It reminds me of some great college rock from the early 90s.

Of Montreal, a band I’ve been hearing about a lot but who I’ve never heard (and didn’t think sounded like this) plays a wonderfully catchy two minute love song that sounds ironic, but which likely isn’t.  The melody is straight out of the Moody Blues’ “Wildest Dreams,” and yet it is still fun and quirky.

There’s a couple instrumentals as well: The Clogs do a cool, mellow instrumental and Explosions in the Sky do one of their typically fantastic emotional tracks.  Also on the disc, The Blow contribute a delightfully witty song and Bill Fox, a singer I’d never heard of (but who has a great article about him in the magazine), really impressed me with his Bob Dylan meets Nico delivery.  The disc ends with an alternate version of a song by Grizzly Bear.

This is definitely my favorite Believer disc thus far.  See the full track listing here.

[READ: Throughout 2009] Schott’s Miscellany 2008

This year’s edition of Schott’s Miscellany is very much like last year’s edition (see that review here).  I mean, it is an almanac after all.  However, it is a wondrous testament to Schott that even though I read every word of the 2008 edition, I was able to read every word of the 2009 edition and not feel like I was duplicating myself very much.

Obviously the news, facts and events of 2008-09 are different from last year.  And since Schott’s writing style is breezy and fun with a hint of sarcasm and amusement thrown in, you don’t get just a list of facts, you get sentences with subtle commentary on the facts.  And it’s a fun way to re-live the past year.  Plus, the Sci, Tech, Net section discusses science stories that sounded really impressive and important which I can’t believe I didn’t hear about at the time.

Obviously, there are some duplications with last year.  The States & Presidents section provide the same basic information (statistics about states and deceased presidents haven’t changed).  But it is an almanac after all, so he can’t leave the stuff out!  Plus, with updated news and events, it casts a new light on these same stats.

But what I was delighted with was that so many of the sections that could have had duplications were not.  The Money section has different information about currencies.  The Form & Faith section had different statistics and categories.  So, while the categories are the same, the bits and pieces are different.

So, yes, check out the previous year’s post for the general information about the almanacs.

I am concerned, though, that there is no mention on Amazon of a 2010 edition!  His website lists the 2010 Almanac, but it appears to be only the UK edition (gasp!).

SOUNDTRACK: KATE BUSH-Aerial (2005).

This was Kate’s first release in 12 years!  There’s a part of me that would expect unparalleled genius to emerge from a 12 year hiatus, but realistically, what we get is a more mature and confident singer, and songs that sound very much like Kate Bush songs. There’s not a lot of experimentation, although there is a song cycle (two in fact) to hold the disc together.

The first disc (for there are two, totaling about 80 minutes) is listed as “A Sea of Honey”

It opens with “King of the Mountain” a great upbeat single.  Next is “Pi” a fascinating song in which Kate sings out the decimal places of Pi (3.14…).  It’s airy and ethereal, and pretty neat.  “Bertie” is an adorable ode to what I assume is her son. It’s a very sweet love song to a child.

“Mrs Bartolozzi” opens with a piano sequence that sounds very uncomfortably close to a Phil Collins.  And, later in the sings she sings a “sloshy sloshy” part which is pretty odd.  But despite all of this, the song is closest to the Kate of old.

“How to be Invisible” has some really cool choral effects (and is a very neat concept lyrically).  It also features a very nice guitar line that sneaks out of the musical tapestry from time to time.  “Joanni” rocks in Kate’s inimitable way (and it’s about Joan of Arc).  It has also got some fun and funny parts the reflect the Kate of old (screaming vocals way down in the mix and “Mmm Hmms” that are kind of silly).  The disc ends with the gorgeous ballad “A Coral Room.”

The second disc “A Sky of Honey” is more of a complete song cycle (It starts with a Prelude AND a Prologue).  There’s a couple of short songs (90 seconds each) thrown in the middle.  My favorite is the final track, “Aerial” which has a cool dance rhythm (that seems so unlike Kate) which propels the song almost magically.

Overall, this disc doesn’t overwhelm me as much as say Hounds of Love, but it’s a really solid disc and I’ve found myself listening to and enjoying it a lot over the last few weeks.  It’s nice to have Kate back.  I wonder how long it will be for her next disc.

[READ: November 27, 2009] Unspeakable Practices Unnatural Acts

After reading (the incomplete) “The Balloon” (see the post), I decided to give the entire collection a spin.  I didn’t really enjoy the short stories I had read in Harper’s, but I did enjoy “The Balloon,” so I thought it would be worth investigating Barthleme (a little) further.

This collection is a mix of utterly absurdist stories (many of which seem to have multiple vantage points that I found rather difficult to keep track of ).  One of the most noteworthy things about the collection is that it seems to me to be very topical circa 1968.  And I think I’m missing a lot of what is happening in the stories.   I’ll cite examples below, but oftentimes I assume that I’m just not getting something that I should be getting

The opening story “The Indian Uprising” was one of those stories.  The premise seemed pretty enjoyable: a modern city is attacked by Comanche Indians, and I understood that part, but I don’t know where it went from there.  Characters came in, points of view changed, I’m not even sure what happened.  I probably wouldn’t have read the whole collection if I had started with this one.

“The Balloon” I’m going to give its own post to make up for the previous one.

“This Newspaper Here” is another weird one (okay they’re all weird) in which the narrator (a dirty old man) repeats phrases (“The little girl come along come along dancing doggedly…”).  It gets rather dark and is actually amusing in its darkness.

“Robert Kennedy Saved from Drowning” is a series of sections with their own titles (“K. at His Desk,” “K Reading the Newspaper” etc).  I’m not sure if Kennedy was alive when this story was written, so I’m not exactly sure what to make of it.  This 1968-era work is especially tough for me to pin down because there was so much going on culturally but since he’s in the middle of it, I’m not sure if there’s a side point or a specific point or if he’s just reflecting the craziness at hand.

“Report” was one of my favorite pieces.  It was a much more straightforward, wonderfully observant anti-war piece. And it ends with a great punchline (even though it’s not funny).

“The Dolt” was also great.  In it, a man is planning to take (for the third time) the National Writers Examination, which will (apparently) guarantee him a job as a writer (which is funny in and of itself).  His wife is beleaguered by his failures at this test, but when he finally reads what he has written, she gets turned on by his proficiency.  Good stuff.

“The Police Band” was also rather fun. I suspect there is a lot more at work that what a surface reading would propose, but then again, this may be another circa 1968 political story that I’m just not getting the full impact of.  Nevertheless, the premise, that the police have a band, a musical band, that lies in wait ready to be called into action in the event of an emergency was quite delightful.

“Edward and Pia” and “A Few Moments of Sleeping and Waking” both follow Edward and Pia. I found the first one to be a weird jumble of misunderstandings and deliberate confusions.  The second story was a bit more fun as a third character is introduced and dream analysis is proposed.  Pia reveals secrets about herself but then invents things too.  A dysfunctional relationship if ever there was.

“Can We Talk” is one of those stories where I enjoy the language (“he tickled the [door]bell”) but which elude me when I try to see the whole story.

“Game” was wonderful.  Two men in an absurd situation (and how many stories/movies/TV shows have used this premise since then) try to deal with each others’ neuroses.  These two men are placed in charge of a very important job.  But when the short tenure of their job is extended indefinitely, their facades begin to crack.  The way the story is written, it seems that neither man is aware of the other’s secrets but clearly they are, or are they?  An enjoyable descent into madness.

“Alice” is a story with no punctuation  it is a rumination about Alice whom the narrator wants to fornicate   but the lack of punctuation while liberating makes you work extra hard for this story which is ultimately just about a man who wants to sleep with another man’s wife

“A Picture History of the War” I found kind of annoying. Military stories are usually lost on me as I know virtually nothing about the military at all.  This one has amusing repetitions of the same passage as a man relates his story to different people.  Ultimately, I felt the story dragged too much.

“The President” was a weird little story (and the first one I read in the collection).  The narrator is not altogether sympathetic to the new president.  I couldn’t help read this in terms of our new president, which didn’t help matters.  It’s funny, though, how the story about the President ultimately hangs on a woman who sings at a party.

See the Moon?” is a fascinatingly odd story about lunar hostility.  This story also seemed a little too long.

And that is one of the basic things I noted about Barthelme: the shorter the story, the more I enjoyed it.  He seems to edit himself much more efficiently when he writes less than 10 pages.

This collection is definitely not for everyone.  You need an affinity for the absurd to enjoy this work.  Even the most straightforward stories are a bit off-center.  I also found myself being less impressed by his work than I likely would have been if I read it 40 years ago.  His work is described as groundbreaking.  And, I assume that that is true.  But now, 40 years later, a lot of the things he likely invented have been done by others.  And probably by others that I have read.  So, it doesn’t seem that exciting. And that is one of the problems of reading a work so much later than it was written.

Havign said all of that, I think I have gotten my fill of Barthelme, and I doubt I’ll read anything else by him.

I received my second issue of Prospect magazine just in time for the Thanksgiving holiday.  I’m pleased to say that this issue not only confirmed my suspicions of the magazine, it actually impressed me a little bit more.  And it sort of made me wish I had done something similar with all the magazines:  do a write up and then see how the latest issue compares (but I won’t).

I’m not going to go into extravagant detail with this issue, since I just wrote about the previous issue, but I wanted to mention the article that I was not only fascinated by, but that made me wonder why I had to cross the Atlantic to read about them.

But referencing back: yes, If I ruled the world appears to be a regular feature and this one (about abolishing receipts for transactions under £5) was funny and well argued.  And Brian Eno is back, with a funny column about increasing segmentation in music.

In this issue, I enjoyed the article about the sinister use of the word “inappropriate” (which asserts official power) instead of “indecent” (which appeals to you as a human being).  And since I use inappropriate all the time with my kids, I totally got it.

The article about stronger maternity leave (in Sweden) was really great, arguing from both sides and giving me new things to think about (as I think women and men should get more).  And most interestingly, the argument for importing vegetables from Africa was a shocking strike across the bow of the “eat local” argument.  Africans hand pick their vegetables, and therefore use farm less carbon than machine-operated farms; this completely offsets any carbon they use in transport (most of which is shipped on commercial airlines that were going to fly anyway).  Oh, and yes, the money spent on African food would obviously help poor African farmers quite a lot.

On the U.S. front, this was the first I’d heard of a theoretical presidential bid for General Petraeus.

I was also fascinated to read about the shortage of rare earth metals–China is planning on reducing the amount it sells to keep them for home production–which could vastly impact future technologies.  And, in a another cool “word” article, I learned about the new online dictionary Wordnik, which, OED be damned, includes words from all over the web, provides context, and lets people know what words are being used, whether they are stupid or not (example: “awesomepants“).

In the book world, I’ve been getting a lot of requests at the library for Steig Larsson’s The Girl with Dragon Tattoo.  I’ve wondered what the fuss was about, and conveniently, there was a review of the whole trilogy here (which makes me not want to read the books, although I’m delighted to find out the main character is a witch).  Next, Sam Leith has a fun hypothetical: would you rather be bitten by a vampire or a zombie.

And there’s media reviews of both Law & Order (!) and Saw VI (as a metaphor for American political commentary).

I’m delighted to see The Way We Were back with quotes from old authors. And I was fascinated to read a personal history by a mixed-race man who discovered that his white mom grew up with a dog named Nigger.  But when she married a black man, it showed that the name wasn’t mean to be racist, just culturally insensitive.  It was a surprisingly funny recollection.

And of course, the cover article: about dictators using the web to disrupt civil disobedience was absolutely eye-opening for me (even if in retrospect, it seems obvious).

So, yes, Prospect, you rock my world.  Thanks.

I was in Barnes and Noble recently and I looked for Prospect on the shelves.  But the overwhelming breadth (and sheer disorganization) of their magazine section made me give up after a couple of minutes.  So, I’m still not sure if you can get the magazine in the States.  But you can subscribe here.

Many many years ago, I discovered Might magazine.  It was a funny, silly magazine that spoofed everything (but had a serious backbone, too).  (You can order back issues here).  And so, I subscribed around issue 13.  When the magazine folded (with issue 16–and you can read a little bit about that in the intro to Shiny Adidas Track Suits) it somehow morphed into McSweeney’s, and much of the creative team behind Might went with them.

The early volumes (1-5 are reviewed in these pages, and the rest will come one of these days) are a more literary enterprise than Might was.  There’s still a lot of the same humor (and a lot of silliness), but there are also lengthy non-fiction pieces.  The big difference is that McSweeney’s was bound as a softcover book rather than as a magazine. And, I guess technically it is called Timothy McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern as opposed to Timothy McSweeney’s Internet Tendency.

Issue #6 came with a CD of music by They Might Be Giants.  And from then on it was anybody’s guess what the next issue would look like.  (This Wikipedia page provides a nice summary of all of the issues that have been published, including authors).

The latest issue (#33) is being printed as a newspaper (just to give an idea of the diversity of product here).

The books (for most of them are books, despite the above newspaper) come out occasionally.  I gather it was supposed to be a quarterly, but I don’t know that they’ve ever really kept a schedule. Many of the books are hardcover (beautifully bound).  Some have been paperbacks.  Occasionally they come in a fancy packaging (boxes, slipcases etc). You never know what you’re going to get, which is a lot of the fun.

Although you do know that you’re going to get quality short stories.  The list of fantastic (and well-known) authors grows and grows. (Just a few: Michael Chabon, Stephen King, David Foster Wallace, George Saunders, Roddy Doyle, A.M. Homes, and Joyce Carol Oates.)  And mixed in with them are less well known (ie. more indie) authors, as well as occasional unknowns.  And even if I don’t love every story, I know that they’ll all be worth a read.

McSweeney’s itself has grown from a publisher of this quarterly to include an empire that publishes books (their book of the month club is the way to go), an official periodical (The Believer), and a video magazine (Wholphin).

I am probably a little too steeped in McSweeney’s-world, but I’ve never been disappointed with a release of theirs (okay, that’s not true, they have published a few clunkers).  I’m always excited to get the box with the little chair as the return address.

And, of course, I began a Wikipedia page of all of the McSweeney’s Books. I’m delighted to see that folks have been adding to it!

Original mention in Periodicals Page:

McSweeney’s. Technically a periodical. A collection of short stories and things like it. I’m usually too overwhelmed by the time this comes in, and frankly, I am many many issues behind on reading this. However, I plowed through 21 and 22 recently, and just got 23. So, I’m looking forward to it and its brethren. I got turned onto McSweeney’s because I used to subscribe to MIGHT magazine (R.I.P) which was a hilarious magazine ala Spy (R.I.P). Might ran for a dozen or so issues and then strangely morphed into McSweeney’s. I think somehow my subscription ran over into McSweeney’s and the rest is 23 issues of fun!

SOUNDTRACK: TINDERSTICKS-The Hungry Saw (2008).

It was the releases of this Tindersticks disc (their first in 5 years) on the venerable Constellation Records (in North America) that inspired my trip through their back catalog. I was completely surprised to see them released on Constellation, as the band doesn’t exactly fit with the label’s stereotypical style (although, realistically with the last dozen or so releases, Constellation has really expanded the kind of music they release).

And this is a fantastic Tindersticks release!  There’s not a bad song on the disc. And, even though nothing is as immediately gripping as say “Can We Start Again,” the disc contains some of the band’s strongest songs.  “The Hungry Saw” is simply amazing, both lyrically and in its catchy (yet creepy) chorus.  But the highlight is probably “Boobar, Come Back to Me,” a song that begins slowly and builds gloriously, including a call and response segment that makes this song really swagger.

“Mother Dear” features a strangely comical musical episode.  In an otherwise very mellow piano based track, right in the middle of the song, come slashing, somewhat atonal guitar chords.  It’s as if a more rocking song is trying to overtake the mellow track.  (The coup is rebuffed, though).

The biggest thing to note about the disc is that longtime co-songwriter Dickon has left the band.  And so, some of the co-writing duties have been taken up by David Boulter.  While it is obviously sad that Dickon has left, Staples seems revitalized on this disc, and Boulter’s additions (especially his quirky instrumentals) bring a new point of view to the proceedings.  Also of note is something of a return to the orchestral style (albeit a much more understated version).  However, different songs emphasize different aspects: horns on one, strings on another, but always underscored by the ubiquitous Hammond organ.

It’s not a radical departure or anything like that.  It’s more of a continuation after a well earned vacation.  And it’s certainly their strongest release since their first four.

[READ & WATCHED: October 2009] Souvenir of Canada, Souvenir of Canada 2 & Souvenir of Canada (the movie)

I got the first Souvenir of Canada when it came out.  (I was on a big Coupland kick and may have even bought it in Montreal).  I didn’t get #2 when it came out, probably because I didn’t really invest a lot of effort into the first one.  But after recently reading City of Glass, I wanted to get a little more involved in Coupland’s visual art.  So, I picked up #2 and, while investigating this second book, I discovered that he had made a film of the books, too.

Coupland explains in the introduction that this book is his personal vision of what Canada is like. It is designed for Canadians as something of a nostalgia trip, but it is also something of an introduction to unseen Canada for non-Canadians.  And so, what you don’t get is pictures of mounties and Tim Hortons and other things that fit the stereotypical Canadian bill. Rather, you get things that are significant to Coupland (and maybe the average Canadian born on the West Coast in the 60s).

He begins with Baffin Island and moves more or less alphabetically through significant things in his Canadian existence: chimo (the short lived Canadian greeting), wonderfully aggressive anti smoking ads on packs of smokes, the Group of Seven, Inuksuit rock statues (like on the cover of this Rush album), the maple leaf (the flag’s only been around since 1967), ookpik, Poutine, stubbies, Trans-Canada highway, through to Zed.

Coupland give s brief paragraph or two (or more in some cases) about the item/idea/concept and how it related to his life.  It certainly provides an insight into a culture that is often hidden in plain sight (especially to Americans).

I especially enjoyed learning about Capitaine Crounche.

Pictures feature heavily in the book.  There are a lot of stock photos of various Canadian items.  And there are a lot of photos that Coupland has used by permission to enhance his descriptions.

Coupland has also created several “still lifes” which he finds to be quintessentially Canadian.  They feature elements from his childhood mashed together into a disconcerting yet oddly familiar scene. So there are beer bottles and electronic hockey games and Canada geese and all manner of things.  Although I have to say that I don’t find them very appealing as art.

The second book picks up where the previous one left off two years earlier.

The first book is more text heavy than the second.  This volume has a lot more photos (not original ones, more stock footage pictures, which I rather like).  It begins with some abstract ideas about Being Canadian, but moves steadily into the CMHC Houses (which will come into play for Canada House), the brilliant Robertson screwdriver, his mom’s kitchen (a favorite of mine), Terry Fox, Tranna (Toronto), Treeplanters , Y?? (airport designations…Toronto’s is YYZ, hey, like the Rush song!), through to Zut!

The Robertson Screwdriver looks like this. And it doesn't strip like a Phillips head.

This volume feels even more personal. He discusses the prevalence of Canada Geese (and that his family raised some when he was little).  There’s his mother’s kitchen and of course, Canada House.  Canada House was a project that DC undertook.  He found a CMHC house that was destined for destruction.  He was able to decorate it with his art to make it quintessential Canadian.  It is fascinating to see, and seems like it would have been quite cool to visit (for the two weeks it was in operation). The fact that he adds personal information about the experiment (people who visited and where they were from) is great.

As I said the pictures in the books are a lot of fun.  I loved the Eatson’s catalog from the 70s, and, of course, the shots from Canada House are wonderful.  DC also wrote a book about Terry Fox a couple of years after this, so the pages about him are quite moving.

This is a wonderful continuation of the series, and I think I wound up enjoying this volume more.

As far as I can tell the Souvenir of Canada DVD was recently reissued with this new cover (on the left).  I prefer the original cover (on the right) [or is that the U.S DVD release?].  I didn’t read about any real difference between the two editions, so I assume it is just repackaged.

The DVD is something of a video version of the books, but there are many differences. The documentary doesn’t go through either book with a lot of detail.  It does mention a half or dozen or so entries, and there may even be some quotes from the books.  For the most part, it contains a few highlights from the books, but it goes off on its own tangents quite a bit.  The film also features music from the New Pornographers, so that’s nice too.

The first notable thing to me was Coupland’s voice.  I have never heard him speak before and it was absolutely nothing like what I expected (especially how slow his pace is).

The main focus of the DVD tends to fall on the aforementioned Canada House.  Even though the pictures of Canada House in the book are very cool, I felt like the book didn’t show enough of this cool exhibition.  The centerpiece of the film shows Coupland picking, tearing apart, cleaning up and assembling Canada House.  We get to see a lot of the things that he talks about it the book, but we get a more 360 degree Canada House experience.  It’s very interesting.

Like the books, the film is one man’s opinion of what Canada is.  What I like about it is that it is a very uncommerical (and I think very Vancouver-centric) opinion.  It also reflects back onto Coupland’s childhood (in the lat 60s/early 70s), and I learned more about him in a few moments than in all of the book jacket blurbs I’ve read.  It comes across as so much nostalgia.  But it clear that Coupland loves his home land.  And it’s that kind of passion that makes any art compelling.

As I said, I found a lot of his still lifes to be to random at best (he says you have to be Canadian to really appreciate them, but I think even aesthetically they’re a little blah).  But the standalone sculptures are all pretty cool.  He made some lamps out of fisherman’s floats (which are HUGE!).  But the most interesting items are the quilts.  He didn’t make them, but he designed them and they are all very cool. I especially liked the $1,000 quilt which is made of 1,000 loonie coins.

It was also interesting to learn that the Canada House exhibit was exported to London (the final line of the movie is hilarious).

So, which is the best of the three?  Obviously I think the film is the most fully formed and three-dimensional.  (The Canada House thing is very neat). But the books are also a lot of fun too.  Even if you’re not especially interested in Canada, if you enjoy seeing pop culture before it gets assimilated into corporate culture, this is a fun look at what Canada used to be like.  And, of course, Coupland’s writing is always engaging.

SOUNDTRACK: TINDERSTICKS-Donkeys 92-97 (1998).

Donkeys is a collection of singles, rarities and unreleased recordings.  It came out just before Simple Pleasure, and has tracks from the era of the first four discs.

With the reissue of those first four discs (and all the bonus tracks therein) and the Greatest Hits collection, it’s not really necessary to get this for these rare tracks.  (I admit that I haven’t actually checked to see if all of the tracks here are now available elsewhere…there seems to be a number of different mixes and versions of songs, so I’ll let someone else do the legwork).

However, if you’re disinclined to get the reissued discs for whatever reason, this is a great collection of songs that are worth having for any Tindersticks fan.  And, interestingly, it works quite well as an introduction for the newbie: it features several of the most accessible songs from the first few discs.  But, for fans, the highlights include their great cover of “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long.”  Also “Plus de Liaisons” a French version of  “No More Affairs.”  It also has the fabulous duet with Isabella Rossilini (“A Marriage Made in Heaven”) and another version of “For Those”  (I’m not entirely sure how many versions of that song exist, but there’s got to be about 3 or 4.

This disc is probably easy to track down cheaply since all the tracks are available elsewhere now (although my copy came from my friend Lar and has the Euro symbol on the Used sticker to prove it). Or, maybe it’s now totally rare and out of print and is hugely expensive.  Either way, it’s still a great collection of tracks.

[READ: November 5, 2009] “Too Much Happiness”

It’s a little lame to lump these two pieces together, but the Charles Foran article isn’t something I would review on its own.  Nevertheless, it is a very interesting look at Alice Munro’s hometown, and the Self-Guided Tour of Points of Interest in the Town of Wingham Relating to Alice Munro sounds like a fun thing to do if you’re in Ontario.  (Even if Munro herself is never actually there).

But onto Munro’s story.

I’ve only read a few stories by Alice Munro (they’ve all been reviewed here).  And yet, I’ve come to think of her as writing a certain type of story.  And this one does not conform to any of my notions of a Munro story.

First, it’s rather long. Second, it’s not set in Canada.  And third, it’s a historical piece about a real person.  There’s an author’s note at the end of the story which informs us that she learned about Sophia Kovalesky when she was looking up something else in the Encyclopedia Britannica (which I find charming in and of itself).  So, all of this seems to be something of a departure for her (at least from what I’ve read).

I admit right off the bat that I have a hard time with Russian stories (so, not too much Dostoevsky for me).  I have difficulty keeping the names and locations straight (despite my nationality).  And given that this is a historical piece (set in and around 1891) and there’s a lot of historical Russian information, I struggled with portions of this story.

Although I think what caused the biggest difficulty was that the story is designed as a reflective journey.  Sophia reflects back on different times of her life: her sister and questionable husband; her own first marriage (a political marriage designed to allow her to escape from her life); and her mentor and friend, Weierstras.

Sophia is a mathematician at a time when women were not mathematicians.  As the story opens she is awarded the Bordin Prize and has become something of a celebrity in math circles.  But she is still not offered a job.  She is also spending a lot of her time with Maksim Kovalevsky.

Despite having the same last name, they are not related (Sophia’s first marriage was to a distant cousin of Maksim’s).   Maksim is an academic but because he is a Liberal, he cannot teach in Russia.  (This is some of the historical Russian politics that I don’t know, so a lot of this infighting was lost on me).  Their friendship blossoms into more than friendship until she wins the Prize.  Suddenly, her star shines more brightly than his and he pulls away from her.

After several months apart, Sophia tries to rekindle their relationship, and it works.  He pledges to marry her (although she is not entire sure of his sincerity or even his motives).  And since they are both in their forties with little else in the way of romantic prospects, well, why not.

The remainder of the story shows Sophia taking a trip to give a lecture.  The trip entails trains, ferries and more trains.  It also involves trudging through snow and carrying her own bags (because of a currency mix up).

On the trip, Sophia reflects back on her life, and the many events that led her to this stage.  But she is also clearly becoming feverish from the travel.  So, as the story moves along, the dream sequences get a bit more hazy, and it’s not always clear when the action is happening.  Because the main story is also in the past tense, there are times when I had to really work on which storyline she was presently in.

After reflecting on the story, the timeline did make sense; it all seems to fall into place nicely, but during the story I was a bit confused.

And confusion is something I don’t expect from a Munro story.

Knowing that this is a piece of historical fiction changes things for me somewhat, even if I’d never head of Sophia Kovalevsky before.  Hers was a fascinating life, and I appreciate Munro for introducing her to me.  I feel like this might have worked better as an even longer story, as a lot of details seemed condensed.  But, Munro acknowledges that she didn’t intend to write Sophia’s history, just a portion of it.  And at that, she succeeds.

She also notes a great book about Sophia’s life (where she began her research): Little Sparrow: A Portrait of Sophia Kovalesky by Don H. Kennedy.

[READ: July 19, 2009] “Alice in Borderland”

This article provides some insight into Munro’s life, and the kind of people and places that she grew up with (many of whom appear (somewhat disguised) in her stories).  And, since most of her stories seem to be situated in Jubilee (a fictionalized version of the town of Wingham) in Huron County, Ontario, it’s a fascinating insight into her work.

Munro (born in 1931) grew up outside of Wingham, but after going to college, she moved to the West Coast and did not return to Ontario until the 1970s.

Foran’s article focuses on The Self-Guided Tour of Points of Interest in the Town of Wingham Relating to Alice Munro, a brochure available at the North Huron Museuem.  It includes a stop at the Alice Munro Literary Garden (where Munro herself has only visited once).  But mostly it reveals the locations and scenery where her stories are set.

While walking around the town, Foran talks with many residents (to see if he can recognize anyone from the stories).  Munro’s stories offended sensibilities when they were first published (she revealed Secrets); however, it seems like now people are rather fond of her and the modicum of celebrity she has given the region.

Foran also has a (somewhat rare for the publicity-shy Munro) lunch interview with her.  And this little insight into her personality makes the article completely rewarding for any Munro fan.

It’s available here.

I recently received an e-mail from a nice person at Prospect (a British magazine).  The email asked if I’d like to review their magazine.  After being completely flattered, I said, “Of course!”  And then I waited nervously hoping that the magazine was good and that I wouldn’t have to say anything mean about it, because I would.  Oh yes, I would.

But I don’t have to. They grabbed me right off the bat because the c & the t in the title are connected by a little filigree doodad.   I love typography, so that little flourish was a selling point (okay a superficial one, but I liked it immediately).

The “subtitle” of the magazine is “Good Writing About Things That Matter” and it is a totally apt description.  Prospect is a monthly magazine that covers all aspects of society: British, European, American and the world.  And, indeed, the writing is quite good.

In many ways it reminded me of The Walrus, a favorite magazine of mine.  (It’s a weird comparison since The Walrus has only been around for a few years, while Prospect has been around for about 13 (the November issue is number 164, so I’m guessing here), but it’s an apt comparison for its coverage: politics, culture, arts and more.

Because this was a new (to me)  magazine (and because I knew I’d be reviewing it), I decided to read every article.  There were a few that I thought I wouldn’t care much about.  But the writing totally grabbed me.  For instance, the article about Princess Diana (about whom I am indifferent) was fantastic.  It was cynical and funny and totally engaging.  And the same was true for just about every article in the magazine.

Normally I like to have at least two issues to refer to when reviewing.  So there may very well be things about this issue that are different from the others.  So, forgive, please, if I generalize incorrectly.

The first thing I wanted to mention was advertising.  In the magazines I read, I pretty much completely ignore the ads.  I see a picture of a car and I flip the page.  But in a new magazine, especially a foreign magazine, I like to see what’s up for sale.  (I especially like to see ads for products that are unavailable here).  But Prospect is virtually ad-free.  I’m not sure how things work for British magazines and advertising–if like NPR, there is a “sponsor” or two, or if it’s a pay as you go thing.  Anyhow, flipping through, we get a few full page or two page ads in the beginning: BMW, IBM and Baillie Gifford (which I’ve never heard of).  But once you get into the heart of the issue, there’s really no more (well, one for ExxonMobil just before the Letters).  But after that the ads are small and are for web sites that I’ve never heard of (a lot of publishers & small businesses).

The last few pages also have Classifieds Section (like the ones in most of the progressive magazines I read).  And that’s it.  It’s rather refreshing.  (But I guess I’ll have to read Heat to get the fun trashy ads–and yes I only know about Heat from The IT Crowd).

But moving on…

The opening article, In Prospect discusses what’s in the magazine.  This issue has a special section on the upcoming Copenhagen Climate Conference.  I’m not sure if all of the issues have special sections like this (set off in a different color and everything) or if this is a one off.

The thing that I liked immediately about the magazine was the If I Ruled the World Column.  From what I can tell, this is a regular feature of the magazine in which various people tell how they would make things better.  What an interesting concept, especially if the authors are smart (not just celebrities). (Or maybe it’s a regular column by Sam Leith…I’m not quite sure).

Next, there’s the second thing that delighted me: Six Things to Do This Month.  Lots of magazine recommend entertainment to see and do, and it’s interesting to see what kind of taste a new magazine has (while it’s true that these are all things happening in England, you can still judge the taste of the magazine as it applies to your location).  So, they suggest (and gives reasons why you should see): Film (An Education); Art (David Hockney); Music (Martha Wainwright(!)); Painting, Dance and Theatre.  So, even though I won’t be able to do 5 of the 6, I enjoy the artistic taste of the magazine.

This is followed by Political Notes.  It’s a brief article British politics.  While this may not affect me directly, whoever wins the British election will shape the world.  It’s an interesting insight into the politics of the magazine to see what they talk about here.

Next comes Diary (and this reminds me a lot of the opening Walrus pages).  It contains short articles about various things around the world: Media (Giving the newspaper game away in London); Finance (Global finance keeps on drifting eastward) North America (Obama and the Nobel Peace Prize…which offers an insight I had not heard before and one I found quite useful).  And (my friend Rich would have loved this) evidently a monthly column by Brian Eno (!).  I also really enjoyed the “Word of the Month” paragraph. (This month’s was “Dingbat,” a font type that I always talk about in my computer classes).

The Data page presents a few factual tidbits: a chart (about internet use) and a series of facts and quotes from various sources (In Detroit the average sale price of a house is $7,100 (from The Wall Street Journal)).  And, my favorite: Didier Drogba studied accountancy (from Didier Drogba’s Facebook page).

Next comes Letters and Opinions.  The first piece discusses the option of diminishing the power of British arms producers (to save the budget for the military).  The second encourages Bill Gates (and the Gates Foundation) to go after HIV like they did Netscape and wipe it off the map (great parallel there).  And then two articles: one about the Soviets and one about suffragettes which show personal insights into these issues.

From Our Correspondents has stories from across the globe.  It’s always embarrassing when you have to go abroad to hear about your own country, but the article about Republican Eric Cantor was completely enlightening to me.  The other articles abroad this month were from Brussels and China.

Then some of the major articles come up.  The first is about President Obama and his failure to heal party divisions in the country (despite his political successes).  There’s a second one about Obama’s foreign policy.  In the States, we’re stuck hearing the same talking points over and over again (just watch the Daily Show to see how many media people use the same exact phrase over and over.)  So it’s refreshing to have a thoughtful new perspective on something so close to home.

The rest of the big articles are what I love about monthly newsmagazines and why they are so much better than weeklies.  First off, if you need news now, you go to the internet, there’s no question.  But the problem with a weekly is that they often get stuck reporting about what’s happening NOW, THIS WEEK! whether it is significant or not (balloon boy?).  A monthly magazine, on the other hand, may not be current, but it can always be significant.

So, an article about Angela Merkel and the state of German elections is timely without being up to the minute.  But it was wonderfully informative (and check out the awesome election campaign poster graphic they included–the German reads: “We have more  to offer” (with that delightful shot of Merkel’s cleavage).  Then came the article on Princess Diana (which was actually about her family’s attempt to cash in on her at her birth home).  It was a first person narrative and was quite fascinating (and which I’m sure the Spencer’s didn’t appreciate).

The third one was possibly the most interesting article I have read in a while, period.  “How to really hug a hoodie” discusses an attempt in Glasgow to use a controversial American technique to reduce gang violence.  First off, why hadn’t I ever heard of this technique being used in America?  And second, it is clearly effective, so why are people shying away from it elsewhere.  This article was simply fantastic.  It’s available here.  Check it out!

Then comes the Arts section.  Now, clearly I love the arts, so it was a treat to see nearly half the magazine devoted to them.  But what I liked about them was the (in context) serious nature of the articles.  Why Britain Can’t Do The Wire looks at the struggles of writers in dealing with the BBC.  This very issue was brought up in the recent Monty Python documentary.  They complained about how much the BBC hierarchy has changed in the last 40 years, and how hard it is to do anything creative there.  Now, I of course love BBC comedies and think that many of them are fresh and better than what we can do here.  But I don’t know a lot about their dramas (they compare The Wire to Life on Mars, but I thought the UK Life on Mars was brilliant while the US version was rather flat.  Nevertheless, the points they makes are really strong.

Another TV article looked at the gruesomeness of current TV medical dramas.  They compared the calm and mellow medical examinations of Quincy to shows like NCIS, and how we aren’t squeamish about intense medical investigations anymore (or maybe we are, but we can’t turn away).

Sporting life covers sports.  I don’t really care about sports, but (and this will tell you how out of touch with sports I am), I was interested to read it because it told me about Mark Buehrle’s perfect game (and DeWayne Wise’s amazing catch in said game.  I used to watch and play sports a lot when I was a kid so I am well versed in the language and can totally appreciate magnificence in sports, I just don’t care about it).  So, thanks for that, anyhow (I watched the catch online and it was pretty amazing).  Although I do like reading about English football, for some reason, even if I don’t know anything about the teams.

The Arts & Books section features a number of great reviews.  And the reviews are fascinating for many reasons.  But first, the section opens with a print of The Suicide of Lucretia by Lucas Cranach the Elder.  This very painting was featured prominently in a Warehouse 13 episode we watched a few weeks before (synchronicity!).

The first book review is a first person account by another author.  The reviewed book is a fictional account of the writer’s father’s suicide; the reviewer talks about her own father’s suicide.  Rather than reviewing the book in great detail (she says it was amazing and kind of leaves it at that) she talks about the effect the book had on her life and on her writing.  It was a unique attitude in the often dull world of reviews.  There was also a review of Superfreakonomics which is just making the rounds here, and I’ll be curious to see how this review compares.

The Music article was “Who’s Afraid of the Avant Garde” and it was absolutely correct: avant garde painting is accepted (even if not everyone likes it) but avant garde music is often derided as just noise.

There’s a lot of good articles in here about painting as well.  I don’ often read gallery articles because I don’t get to go very often, but this one about an unknown (to me) painter Frank Auerbach was really interesting.

The Way We Were shows extracts from diaries that are quite amusing (and I rather hope that’s a regular feature).  While the Widescreen page looks at filmmaking in Iraq (and I, too, hope that the boy he mentions can indeed become a filmmaker when he grows up).

Finally, there’s Fiction.  I reviewed the story yesterday, and it seems like many well-respected authors get published here.  But I don’t think any of the stories are online so I can’t go back and check.

Lastly, one of my favorites: Puzzles!  There’s a rather difficult puzzle (with a contest) and then a very difficult crossword (with a contest).  I love crosswords, and I have always had a hard time with British ones. Although I greatly appreciate that they include the number of letters/words in the answer.  So far I have managed to get only three out of some 60 clues.  Phew.

And, of course, the back page.  Prospect’s back page features an Agony Aunt.  I’ve always enjoyed the phrase “agony aunt,” and find it be more dynamic than our simple “advice” sections.  This Agony Aunt seems to deal with various problems (elder parents, job stresses) with a very stern hand.  I don’t read advice columns generally (unless, you know, I see them) but I liked the way the Agony Aunt didn’t pull punches.

The special section about Copenhagen was very informative.  I’m a little weirded out that it appears to have been sponsored by Shell Oil, which seems counterintuitive (although I do appreciate that corporate “greenwashing” was discussed).  The Copenhagen Conference is an important environmental meeting that, consensus suggests, will likely not do all that much for preventing global catastrophe.  But these articles showed both positives and negatives, optimists and pessimists and, most importantly tried to be realistic about the whole thing.  So I finished the section feeling kind of glum about the future, but with a ray of hope.

So, yeah, I pretty much loved this magazine.  I feel like I may have been a little too gushy (and verbose) in this review, but this magazine spoke to me like few others do.  It reminds me of Harper’s but there’s more original work (as opposed to Harper’s excerpts from elsewhere).  And, as far as I can tell its not aggressively political (there is obviously a political slant to it, but it’s not in your face (or at least not in my face).

So, yes, if you can find Prospect here (and I haven’t actually seen what its availability is in the States), it’s a really great magazine.  In depth, but not overlong articles about issues that impact the world.  What more can you ask from a magazine?

SOUNDTRACK: TINDERSTICKS-Trouble Every Day [soundtrack] (2001).

This is the second soundtrack that Tindersticks made for director Clair Denis.  This disc is rather unlike Nenette Et Boni, in that this soundtrack is much more stark.  There are several moments on the disc where there is nothing but silence for several seconds.   “Core on Stairs” features a bass note or two and then even more silence, then one more note and more silence.  On “Room 231,” there are times when the only sound is a gently shaken maraca.  It’s rather eerie (and I’d like to believe it suits the film well).  But predominantly this is a string laden affair, highlighting the sadness of the movie.

The title track, however, contains the full band, including Stuart Staples’ singing.  And it’s a moody, evocative song.  Strings are plucked as Staples croons about trouble.  Actually the title song is broken up into the Opening and Closing Credits.  But they rather thoughtfully include the whole song at the end of the disc as well.

This is not an essential Tindersticks disc (you can get the title song elsewhere).  But if you like your music moody, this is a good one.  It may be a bit too sparse for casual listening, but it certain conjures up some interesting ideas.

[READ: October 27, 2009 ] DFW’s comments in The Oxford American Writer’s Thesaurus

According to the Howling Fantods I have read all of the uncollected DFW pieces (except for the ones from the Pale King), and so this is my final piece (hooray!). It’s not really anything major.  As you can read from the Fantods’ summary below, this excerpt contains DFW’s comments inside this 1100 page Thesaurus.  Several authors contributed comments to the Thesaurus and all of their comments appear after the entry for the word.  They rest in boxes and are capped off by their initials.  The PDF that you can click on below is 85 pages long.  But if you search for DFW there are only 24 entries.  I copied and pasted them into a Word document that came out to 8 pages long.  So, it’s not unmanageable to read just DFW’s entries.

I’m not sure that this is the entirely of his contribution to the book.  (I assume it is, as I wouldn’t imagine The Fantods would skimp on us, but I’m also not going to find the book to confirm either.

“The Oxford American Writer’s Thesaurus”. Compiled by Christine A. Lindberg. Oxford University Press; October, 2004. [NOTES: This is an actual (1100-page plus) thesaurus for writers. Scattered throughout are 'Word Notes' wherein various authors, DFW among them, discuss usage and that forever quest for the perfect word. Read selections featuring DFW here.]

Basically what you get here is DFW’s knowledge about word usage.  Anyone who has read his work knows he’s practically memorized the OED.  And with his familial love of grammar, he is  stickler for using words correctly.  Which makes him kind of a prig, except that he’s not a prig; he’s very funny.  And the examples he cites are great!

It will make you feel foolish of course if you do any of the things that he says make you look ignorant at best, but such is the price of learning.  If you have any interest in language and words, DFW’s comments are really very useful.  I don’t mean to short change the other contributors (I don’t even know how many other contributors there are or who any of them may be) as they are not listed anywhere in this excerpt.  I didn’t read any of their contributions (it is a thesaurus after all, so I’m not, just, you know, going to read it all).  But DFW’s entries at least, are certainly enjoyable.

If you plan to be a writer I would think the book itself is pretty indispensable.

DFW comments on 24 words in the book: all of, pulchritude, beg, bland, noma, critique, dialogue, dysphesia, effette, impossibly, feckless, fervent, focus, hairy, if, individual, loan, myriad, privilege, that, toward, unique, utilize, mucous.

Some of his entries are quite long, but a few are brief and funny.  Like pulchritude: A paradoxical noun because it means beauty but is itself one of the ugliest words in the language….”  His entry on if makes a good explanation for the distinction between if and whether.  His entry for loan begins: “If you use loan as a verb in anything other than ultra-informal speech, you’re marking yourself as ignorant or careless.”  He points out the distinction (that I never knew) that toward is the U.S. version and towards is the U.K. version, and you should always, always use toward, unless you are writing in the U.K.  And, my favorite, in the commentary on that, he writes, “you can occupy a bright child for most of a very quiet morning by challenging her to use “that” five times in a row in a single coherent sentence… ‘He said that that that that that writer used should really have been a which.’”  It took me a few reads before I could figure out how to say it properly (it’s about the distinction of using “which” instead of “that,” by the way.

And that’s what you get.  Smarty pants assistance for helping you become a better writer.  The geek in me thinks it would be kind of fun to read the whole book (or at least the boxed comments).  That I’d learn an awful lot.  Maybe if they made it a page-a-day calendar!