Posted in Adventure, Ann Cummins, Ann Sillman, Art, Barry Blitt, Books about music, Boredom, Collecting, Corporate skewering, Death, Demons, End of the World, Graphic Novel, History, Ian Frazier, Johannes Vermeer, Judy Budnitz, Lawrence Weschler, Lydia Davis, M. Doughty, Marriage Trouble, McSweeney's, Philip Glass, Sean Wilsey, Sheila Heti, They Might Be Giants, Violence, Work, Zadie Smith on December 9, 2009 | 1 Comment »
SOUNDTRACK: McSweeney’s #6 comes with a CD.
Most of the music on the CD is performed by They Might Be Giants (a rather perfect fit for McSweeney’s). Some other musicians who appear are: M. Doughty, Philip Glass, Michael Meredith. Roger Greenawalt & S.E. Willis
Instructions included with book:
#3. The compact disc contains music. There are 44 discrete [...]
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Posted in Black Sabbath, Corporate skewering, Death, Discworld, Douglas Adams, Dreams, Drinking, Fantasy, Funny (ha ha), Gods, Magic, Oddities, Project Runway, Racism, Red Dwarf, Religion, Sports, Supernatural, Terry Pratchett, Universities on December 7, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
SOUNDTRACK: BLACK SABBATH-Vol. 4 (1972).
When I was younger I liked this Sabbath album a lot more than I do now. There are some absolutely stellar tracks on here, but most of the songs are a rather peculiar for Black Sabbath. It showcases ballad-y nature that Ozzy would have for some of his biggest hits twenty [...]
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Posted in A.M. Homes, Art, Books about music, Books about writers, BritLit, Consumerism, Contests, Corporate skewering, David Foster Wallace, Death, Essays, Fables, Fantasy, Flash Fiction, Funky Web Sites, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), George Saunders, Graustarkian Romance, Hollow Earth, Irish Writer, Joyce Carol Oates, Language, Legendary Saga, McSweeney's, Meta, Michael Chabon, Music, Postmoderism, Roddy Doyle, Short Story, Smarty Pants, Socratic Dialogue, Stephen King, Suicide, The Believer, The Collins Library, They Might Be Giants, Wholphin, Whore Dialogue, Word usage on November 25, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
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 [...]
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SOUNDTRACK: KATE BUSH-Aspects of the Sensual World (1989).
This was the first CD single that I can remember acquiring. I got it from the radio station at school, and I felt like I was in on a big secret having all of these bonus tracks.
There are five songs on this disc. The original “The Sensual World” [...]
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Posted in Books about music, Books about writers, Boredom, Canadian Content, Canadian Music, Collecting, Consumerism, Corporate skewering, Douglas Coupland, Drinking, Drugs, Essays, Fishing, Foreign Books, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), History, Hockey, Hockey Night in Canada, Memoirs, Nanaimo bar, Nature, New Pornographers, Nostalgia, Oddities, Photo Essays, Poutine, Rush, Souvenir of Canada, Tindersticks, War on November 20, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
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, [...]
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Posted in Beverly Hills 90210, Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band, Corporate skewering, Devandra Banhart, Eoin Colfer, Funny (ha ha), Humiliation, Josh Lieb, Political Humor, Set at School, Smarty Pants, Thomas Pynchon, YA Books on November 19, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
SOUNDTRACK: CAPTAIN BEEFHEART AND HIS MAGIC BAND-Trout Mask Replica (1968).
–Fast and Bulbous.
–Bulbous yes, but also tapered.
This is an infamous disc in the history of music. Which surprises me, as I can’t imagine many people have ever listened to it in its entirety. I learned about it though my Frank Zappa fascination (he produced the record).
This [...]
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Posted in A.M. Homes, Aaron Naparstek, Amy Fusselman, Ben Greenman, Books about writers, Chris Bachelder, Christopher Monks, Clay McLeod Chapman, Corporate skewering, Daniel Handler, Darin Strauss, Dave Eggers, Demons, Denis Johnson, Digression, Dip-in Books, Dreams, Ezra Pound, Funky Web Sites, Funny (ha ha), Humiliation, J.M. Tyree, Jake Swearingen, Jim Stallard, John Hodgman, John Moe, Jonathan Ames, Jonathan Lethem, Kurt Luchs, Lawrence Krauser, Margaret Atwood, McSweeney's, Mike Bullard, Myla Goldberg, Neal Pollack, Negativland, Neil Gaiman, One Ring Zero, Paul Auster, Political Humor, Postmoderism, Rick Moody, Sci-fi, Sean Carman, Sex & Violence, Smarty Pants, Sports, Stephany Aulenback, Summer, Supernatural, Technology, They Might Be Giants, Tim Carvell, Todd Pruzan, Zev Borow on October 29, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
SOUNDTRACK: ONE RING ZERO-As Smart as We Are (2004).
I had this CD sitting around my house for about 4 years. I had received it as a promo disc from Soft Skull Press (along with several other books on CD) and I just never put it on. Then one day I was going through all these [...]
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Posted in Adventure, Anthony Doerr, Chris Adrian, Chris Bachelder, Consumerism, Corporate skewering, Death, End of the World, Gay/Lesbian, Heidi Julavits, J. Erin Sweeney, Jim Shepard, McSweeney's, Natural Disasters, Plague, Salvador Plascencia, Sesshu Foster, Sheila Heti, Short Story, Technology, The Future, Threats, Tindersticks, Wells Tower on October 24, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
SOUNDTRACK: TINDERSTICKS-Tindersticks [the red one] (1993).
Tindersticks are a fascinating band. The first distinctive thing about them is Stuart Staples’ voice: a deep rich bass that he uses almost like a whisper. The second thing you notice is the music. It’s an orchestral/chamber pop collection of dark rockers with fantastic moodiness to it. And then you [...]
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Posted in Canadian Content, Canadian Music, Consumerism, Corporate skewering, Danko Jones, Dip-in Books, Douglas Coupland, Drugs, Essays, Everything's Gone Green, JPod, Kid Rock, Oddities, Photo Essays, Short Books, Souvenir of Canada, Technology, Thin Lizzy on October 19, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
SOUNDTRACK: DANKO JONES-Never Too Loud (2008).
Danko Jones is a hard and fast rock band, with a one track mind and a straightforward sound. They deal in excessive cliches (album titles include: Sleep is the Enemy, We Sweat Blood, Never Too Loud, etc) and play mostly short songs. And despite all that apparent negativity, I enjoy [...]
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This is another periodical that’s not really a “real” magazine. Sierra comes free when you join the Sierra Club. I originally didn’t really look at this magazine much either. Then one day the cover caught my eye, and I discovered there’s a lot of cool stuff in it. Not the least of which is that [...]
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