SOUNDTRACK: DARK WAS THE NIGHT-That Disc (2009).

The second disc in this set is a somewhat more raucous affair than the first (which was pretty much all acoustic performances).  On the surface, this seemed like the better disc of the two.  I like so many bands on this disc: Spoon, Arcade Fire, My Morning Jacket, The New Pornographers, Stuart Murdoch, Blonde Redhead.

And the disc starts out really great. The Spoon track, “Well Alright” may just be my favorite song on the whole compilation.  The Arcade Fire are typically great.  Beirut, whom I’d not heard before have a great track and My Morning Jacket’s song is very good, in a mellow sort of way.

From there, though, the disc kind of goes downhill. The Sharon Jones track is okay.  Dave Sitek’s (of TV on the Radio whom I love) track is fine.  It’s very basic, especially for him.  It has grown on me somewhat, but it’s nothing too exciting.  The New Pornographers track is catchy but nothing amazing.  Even the Stuart Murdoch (who has never done a bad track) song is mild at best.

But Riceboy Sleeps, which is a side project from the amazing Sigur Rós just kills the disc in its tracks.  The thing about Sigur Rós is that if you’re not in the mood for them, they are too ponderous by half.  So, in the midst of these kind of rocking songs, this 9 minutes ambient instrumental is just death.  And, it’s followed by a dreadful version of “amazing Grace” by the usually delightful Cat Power.

And then comes the Conor Oberst song.  This is the second song by him that I’ve listened to in a short period of time (the other was on Future Soundtrack of America).  And I just don’t get this guy’s appeal.  I feel like I must be a crotchety old man thinking this but I’ll say it: he sounds like a total knockoff of Paul Westerberg.  And the weird thing is, he sounds like a 19 year old P.W. singing the songs of the middle-aged P.W.  “Lua,” the track on here has some clever wordplay, but the melody of the song is pretty much note for note of The Replacements “Sadly Beautiful.”

And at this point in the disc I never even give Blonde Redhead and Kevin Drew a fair chance.

Track sequence means a lot, and I fear they do a disservice to the disc on this one.  I’m still a fan of Disc One and there’s a number of great tracks on Disc Two, but I was rather disappointed by this one.

[READ: December 22, 2009] Love as a Foreign Language Vol. 2

This volume concludes this engaging romance from Oni Press.

I was a little concerned as the volume opened because the Joel-Hana budding romance is derailed by a couple of silly misunderstandings.  (I was afraid we were heading towards TV-slapstick territory).  But, they proved to be just a few moments of comic relief in what was heading into a pretty emotional conclusion.

There’s also the sudden realization/crisis that his fellow teacher, the fun and flirty British woman also has a thing for Joel (what’s a guy to do with two women into him?  And realistically a British romance seems more feasible than a Korean one).

So, there’s not a lot more to say about this book without giving away the various exciting plot points.  Suffice it to say that the ending is quite dramatic.

I was not at all disappointed with this volume, and the author’s note at the end was kind of an unofficial epilogue that explained the origins of the story in very satisfying detail.

It’s a great, tender book and a fantastic graphic novel.

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: KISS-Dressed to Kill (1975).

I feel like I used to  give this disc short shrift because (horrors) its cover is in black and white.  But, unlike the first two discs which were heavy (poppy, but heavy), Dressed to Kill is very anthemic and, well, a little wimpy.  Despite these caveats, I still know every word to the disc, and I do rather enjoy it.

In fact, the first four songs on the disc are not featured on Alive!.  It starts out really poppy with “Room Service” which has a pretty wild guitar solo.  The next track, “Two Timer” is a Gene-sung slow track which even has Gene getting into a spoken word bit: “That’s the truth baby, you’re a two timer.”  “Ladies in Waiting” is one of those fun Kiss songs that starts out a little off-sounding but ends up being a really poppy singalong.  “Getaway” continues a trend of songs that Ace wrote but which Peter sings.  (Evidently Ace didn’t feel confident in his vocals yet).  The side ends with the cool “Rock Bottom,” a slow, pretty guitar intro opens into a rocking song.

This is the rare Kiss disc where Side Two has more hits than Side One.  “C’mon and Love Me” (an unusual request, frankly) is a fun rocker with a lot of baby baby’s.  “Anything for My Baby” is a really upbeat song which amuses me for all of the things that he swears he would do for her: steal, wheel and deal, crawl or kneel, etc.  Next is “She,” one of the all-time great Kiss songs.  It’s heavy, it’s menacing, it has an awesome guitar riff and a great guitar solo.  The fact that they tucked it away in the middle of side two is really weird.  “Love Her All I Can” is a fast rocker that’s followed by Kiss’ most popular song of all time, “Rock And Roll All Nite.”  At this point in my Kiss listening career I’m a little tired of this song.  It’s a very catchy anthem, no doubt, but it’s really not a very good song as far as Kiss songs go.

The recordings for the Kiss Alive! disc were taken on the Dressed to Kill tour and yet the live album has the fewest songs taken from this album.  It’s kind of funny that their most popular song comes at the end of this disc.

[READ: December 22, 2009] Wet Moon

This is a fantastic goth-inspired graphic novel with the absolutely worst title ever.  Wet Moon is the name of the town the book is set in, but it is never mentioned beyond the welcome sign, and I just can’t imagine what inspired the name.

Okay, actually, I just looked up wet moon on Wikipedia, and found out that it is an astronomical term for when the “horns” of a crescent moon point up, away from the earth (like devil horns).  And so I completely take back my complaint, as I now think the term is pretty cool and very appropriate.

And that is the only thing that I find disagreeable about this book.  (Well, actually I don’t like the lettering either, but more on that on a moment).

The town of Wet Moon is a college town where goths live and thrive (and no doubt many fans of the book wish the could live there).  Our heroine is Cleo, a young, slightly overweight goth with a pierced nose and bottom lip.  She has just moved out of her parents house and is living on campus.  (There is an implication that her house is a dorm, but if so, it is the single most beautiful dorm ever, anywhere, so I’ll pretend it’s an apartment–I mean, there’s a walk-out balcony for cripes sake).

Anyhow, Cleo’s friends include Trilby, a rambunctious skinny punk (you can’t be blonde and goth, right?).  She is foul-mouthed and a ball-buster.   Audrey is a beautiful black woman who is the least punk of all the girls, but who is good friends with everyone.  Mara another black girl is a scary punk with spikes in her nose and under her bottom lip.

Cleo’s new roommates are Natalie (we don’t know much about her yet) and Malady (a black woman with blonde dreadlocks and a lip ring).  Their first introduction comes when Malady finds Cleo bent over the toilet throwing up.

And that introduction kind of sums up the way Cleo feels these days.

The story is largely plot-free in this first book.  We meet Cleo’s friends and hear them bicker with each other.  They go to a goth club where the underage Trilby gets drunk.  And Cleo goes to her first class, which she flees from as soon as she sees….

Well, actually I don’t know who the person is.  I’m not even entirely sure if the person is a man or woman (s/he’s very tall with long hair and an intense demeanor).  Cleo has seen this person a couple of times and s/he has made her nauseous each time (there is clearly a past between them, although it is not explained).

There’s also a scene in a Denny’s which I found rather amusing.  The kids are smoking and cursing while Trilby tells them that she is supposed to be meeting a guy for a possible date.  The reactions of the friends was totally believable.

Cleo also discovers the phrase “Cleo Eats It” all over town.  Since she’s the only Cleo any of them know, she assumes someone has it in for her.  (Although I secretly hope it’s a new band in town).  Cleo does have an enemy around town, however.  She’s a former friend and she is certainly spreading bad tidings about her.

The really fascinating story line concerns Fern.  Fern is a completely hairless (the only nudity we see concerns her) woman with crazy piercings (she has rings in her back (ow!)) and what I believe is an amputated arm.  It’s unclear who she is or what her story is, but as the book ends she expresses and interest in Cleo.  Hmmm.

I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed this story.  I had my own tiny goth phase (although again, being blond is quite a hindrance) and am still friends with people who are, so I appreciate the scene.  All of the characters are compelling and interesting.  Not all are likable, and I think that’s what keeps the story believable.

But beyond that, the artwork is simply amazing.  Cleo is rendered so wonderfully, with such love and detail.  There’s even a sequence where Cleo is examining herself in the mirror and it’s a grand opportunity for Campbell to show off his incredible detail work with faces.  Cleo makes all kinds of funny faces that people make in the mirror, and the renderings are spot on.

And, of course, its nice to see normal looking people in a book.  These women are wonderfully shaped, they are believable.  Even skinny Trilby is believable-skinny not supermodel-skinny.

Emotionally, the story feels real too.  The cast is mostly women, although there are a few men in there too.  And the interactions between women and men are believable (although it is clear that Campbell writes women better than men, as the male characters are mostly peripheral). In many ways it reminded me of a punk version of Alison Bechdel’s Dykes to Watch Out For (and who would have thought when DTWOF came out that there would be anything more subversive than that?).  It is multicultural, accepting of different sexualities and is a fully formed, self-contained universe that gently pokes its head into the real world.  It’s fantastic.

The only gripe I had was with the lettering.  It feels very sloppy to me.  I suppose it kind of works in the context of these characters, but it doesn’t feel intentionally sloppy, it feels a little hurried (like words don’t fit properly).  I’m not sure what to make of it, but honestly it doesn’t bother me that much. It’s just at little surprising since he takes so much care with the rest of his page.

There are a total of five books in this series, and I can’t wait to read the rest.

Ross Campbell has written a few different graphic novels, but this is my first exposure to him.  I’m definitely going to be looking into some of his others, too (The Abandoned & Water Baby seem like good contenders).

SOUNDTRACK: DARK WAS THE NIGHT: This Disc (2009).

This compilation was released to benefit the Red Hot organization, who raises money to fight AIDS.  I’ve gotten about a half dozen or so of their compilations over the years (and was surprised to see that they have released about 2o of them!).

This collection is a two disc set of contemporary cutting edge indie rock bands.  And, when it came out it was definitely billed as a who’s who of cool.  The first disc is more or less an acoustic/folky collection of songs.  While that’s not entirely true, the discs are more or less broken down that way.  The artists include David Byrne & The Dirty Projectors, Jose Gonzales, Feist (on two tracks), Bon Iver, The National (a band I don’t know but whose song I love) and Iron & Wine.

Probably the coolest song of the disc (although not my favorite) is Kronos Quartet’s take on Blind Willie Johnson’s “Dark was the Night.”  For years, Kronos has been interpreting rock and other genre songs to fit into their string quartet style.  And this song sounds amazing.  I’ve no idea what they’re doing, but they turn their standard quartet instruments: violin, cello, etc into really cool blues sounding strings (even a slide guitar at one point).  It’s really amazing.  As I said it’s not my favorite track, but it sounds great.

The Decembersists contribute a 7 minute song (that I believe is new as I don’t recognize it).  It’s very good, but it seems like the kind of song that normally would have had a lot of effects/orchestration on it.  And this is an acoustic rendition, so it sounds more sparse than I would think.  It’s still very good though.

Finally, the disc ends with the weirdest track, an 11 minute freak out by Sufjan Stevens.  Every time you think it’s going to end, it morphs into a new instrument which continues the track.  It works well as a soundscape, although it’s a bit tedious in comparison to the rest of the disc which is largely concise acoustic gems.

Disc one is a great collection of tracks, and the overall style works well together.  It’s a very worthy collection of songs and it’s for a good cause.

[READ: December 18, 2009] Love as a Foreign Language 1

This graphic novel is the kind of great romance story that I’ve come to expect from Oni.  It is clever, it is funny, it plays games with pop culture and, of course, the writing and art are fantastic.

Joel is a Canadian living in Korea teaching English to native Koreans.  The book opens with the 4 H’s of culture shock: The honeymoon (you love the place), the horror (you hate the place), the humor (you accept the place and its flaws) and the home (you see yourself living there).  Joel is clearly in the horror stage.  He hates everything about Korea, especially the food. Joel has a few months left on his contract but he wants to get out of it and just go home.

He is sick of eating take out, he is sick of eating the red (spicy) things in every meal, and he is sick of standing out (he is blond and about 6 foot tall, easy half a head taller than most of the Koreans).  He also speaks virtually no Korean, so he imagines that everyone is talking about him (a glossary in the end of the book explains what everyone is really saying around him).

But if he leaves early, he loses a lot of money as well as airfare home.  To complicate matters, the owners have asked him to stay on for another year because they are so busy.

There are a few other teachers at the school as well, of course. There’s a loud Korean-American (this is his first time to Korea) who just wants to go out and party, there is a very helpful British woman (still in the honeymoon phase) and of course, there are the owners of the school: Mrs Park, Miss Park and Mrs Park (no relation).

He has finally made up his mind to leave early, when a new secretary is hired.  She is a beautiful woman named Hana.  Joel met Hana once before and he has been awkward and tongue-tied every time they are together.  He knows (or is told) that he has pretty much no chance with her (no Korean family would let their daughter go with a Westerner), but he is smitten nonetheless.

And, it seems, she is quite fond of him, as well.  What’s a young Canadian to do?  Wait for Volume Two, evidently, because Volume One ends on a great cliffhanger.

The story line in this book is fantastic.  Joel is likable, despite his grousing, and the other characters round out his experience well.  But it’s the art that really sells the book. The lines are thin and very detailed, the drawings and backgrounds are gorgeous.  The expressions are breathtaking.  Most of our encounters with Hana show just how shy she is, and they are stunning.  And Joel himself is given amazing breadth of emotions.  Even the cockroach that lives in Joel’s apartment is rendered wonderfully (I especially enjoy that the cockroach is given a “love heart” even when Joel tries to flush it down the toilet).

There’s also the wonderful introduction of Let’s Go the “learning English” TV show for kids.  It is wonderfully surreal (and made even more surreal when Joel dreams about the show) as the children chant a phrase of the day, like “big eyes!” (from red riding hood).  Many of the background characters speak Korean, with Korean characters.  So you get an idea at least of what the language looks like, even if you have no idea what they are saying (there is a translation guide in the back).

I’m really excited to finish the story, all the plot points are in place to make this a very satisfying conclusion.

SOUNDTRACK: BLACK SABBATH-Black Sabbath (1970).

I’ve talked about Black Sabbath quite a bit, so why not take a look at their records directly?

One of the fun surprises about their first disc is the stereo mix (although it was 1970, so maybe one shouldn’t be surprised).  Guitar in one ear, bass in the other and sometimes only a guitar solo in one ear with nothing else going on!  The other surprise is that even though Tony Iommi’s guitar is on fire and he has huge lengthy guitar solos (the one in “Warning” is like 8 minutes long), the other members, especially the drums, really come to the fore.

What can one says about the title track?  The opening thunderstorm (with creepy bell tolling) sets the mood perfectly and then the killer riff kicks in and Ozzy Osbourne’s weird, loud, somewhat whiny and frighteningly frightened voice asks “What is this that stands before me?”  It’s a slow song, especially for one that spawned a genre of fast heavy metal, but it sense of ominousness is tangible.

“The Wizard” undermines everything you think you know about heavy metal since it begins with a harmonica.  However, it is a pretty creepy harmonica, and the melody is certainly spooky.  What’s so fascinating about the song is the drums.  While the whole band plays the somewhat odd riff, the drums have a huge place of prominence in the song, with little snare drum solos after each line (and a prominent cowbell at one point).  There are some wild guitar solos, but you wouldn’t be crazy thinking that this was the  drummer’s band.

The next song is listed as four songs: “Wasp/Behind the Wall of Sleep/Bassically/N.I.B.”  “Wasp” is a short, fairly upbeat instrumental, but “Behind the Wall of Sleep” is where the words kick in.  It’s a pretty explicitly anti-drug song (“turns your body to a corpse”).  And I’m fairly certain there are two vocal tracks, one in each ear.  “Bassically” is the wild bass solo (again, taking away the dominance from the lead guitar). Which leads to “N.I.B”., one of the great, classic Sabbath songs.  An awesome bass riff that propels the song to its climax of “My name is Lucifer please take my hand.”  Although it also features a strangely plaintive refrain of “Your love for me has just got to be real.”

“Wicked World” comes in a little preachy and kind of out of place.  But mostly because it’s got a strangely jazzy feel. It’s not out of the ordinary in concept, it’s just a little less subtle than some of the other tracks.

“A Bit of Finger/Sleeping Village/Warning” is the ending trio of tracks (14 minutes in all) that are really hard to distinguish.  “A Bit of Finger” is a very short acoustic guitar solo (I assume, I mean, the “Sleeping Village” lyrics kick in pretty quickly). But I love that there’s a Jew’s harp in the background.  Then there’s a crazily long guitar solo.  Or, should I say there are two guitar solos: a different one in each ear.  I think that the solo is part of “Warning” (it’s the same melody after all) but who can tell.  “Warning” is another fantastic Sabbath song.  The bass line is great and Ozzy sings one of his oddly plaintive songs of loss: (“the feelings were a little bit too strong”).  But the middle section is an astonishingly long guitar solo, or should I say solos. This solo even stops at one point and he comes out with a whole new melody/solo after that.  And then another solo.  Most of the soloing is in the right ear, which leaves the left ear struggling in vain to hear what’s going on (it’s fun to listen with just the left ear phone in).  With about a minute to go, the song proper returns.  It’s pretty bizarre.  And maybe that’s when Tony Iommi’s ego was placated.

Despite this being one of the first really heavy albums, it still retains a bluesy/jam feel to it.  The songs are long, there’s wild freewheeling guitar solos, and the sound itself isn’t a constant bludgeoning (like later heavy metal), it comes in bursts, which somehow makes it more ominous!

It’s really tremendous.

[READ: November 27, 2009] “Midnight in Dostoevsky”

Although I don’t know where this story is set exactly, I can totally picture the scene.  And I am superimposing it directly onto a location from where I went to college.  I realize that’s totally wrong, but I couldn’t resist.  This story had very weird overtones to me and actually inspired me to want to write a story that has apparently been percolating in my head for years.  We’ll see about that.

Anyhow, as for the story itself, I confirmed my suspicion that DeLillo doesn’t write short stories too often.  According to his Wikipedia site, he wrote one short story in 2002, another in 2007 and then this one.

DeLillo is a postmodern master, which leads one to think that his stories will be convoluted and difficult.  But this story is pretty straightforward.  Two college kids, walking around on a cold winter day spot an old man walking toward them.  They create a backstory for the man and, in the end, attempt to confirm or deny what they have concocted.  Fairly straightforward.

But as with any great story, the real action happens in the characters’ heads, or in this case, in the narrator’s mind and his spoken dialogue with his compatriot.

The two boys are college students and they spend most of their time arguing.  But it’s a friendly, competitive arguing, with each one trying to best the other.  When they first see the old man walking down the street, he appears almost as an apparition; he’s practically unreal. When the boys witness him walking around town a few more times, they begin creating the man’s history.  They even have a fantastic argument about what kind of coat the man is wearing (parka or anorak).

What fills out the story is the narrator’s academic life.  He is taking a class with a wonderfully bizarre professor named Ilgauskas (clearly skimmed from the best quirks of DeLillo’s college profs).  Ilgauskas is a name that is crazily close to a college friend of mine, so there’s another reason why this story rings so close to me.  The one thing that saves the class is the beautiful woman that he sits opposite.  After class one day he accosts her about the professor (clearly hoping to get an inroad into her life).  But when she reveals that she has seen Ilgauskas off campus, at a diner (!), reading Dostoevsky (!!), well, the narrator becomes even more obsessed with the professor.

The stories of the professor and the old man collide in a fascinating way (even if only in theory).  And the friends’ argument continues until the very end.

I’m not entirely pleased with the way the story ended.  The last line was a great redemption, but I felt like the story went in a much darker direction than I wanted it to.  But hey, it’s not MY story.

As I said, I really enjoyed the story.  It was strangely meaningful to me.  I have been intending to read more DeLillo (I’ve only read Underworld), and this is inspiring me to do so.

It’s available here.

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 disc also holds some kind of fascination for fiction writers.  I recall an episode of Beverly Hills 90210 (yes, of course I watched it) in which a new character was introduced.  He was a cool hip indie guy and I thought he was finally a cool character on a show I was getting rather sick of.  But because he was different, he was of course mocked.

He is first mocked for keeping his records in alphabetical order (and come on, anyone with more than 50 discs has to, it’s not a sign of weirdness, just common sense).  And second he was mocked for owning this album (picture a 90210er say Captain Beefheart?).  Of course, later on, he goes on to commit murder or arson or some other thing, thereby proving that alternative music is only for psychopaths, but heck, when has TV ever lied to us?

And now, this disc is a favorite of the hero of this book (which is what prompted me to bust out the disc and give it a listen).

And so wow, what a weird album.  Even 41 years later this record is still waaay out there.   The disc opens with “Frownland.”  And how to describe it?  The left speaker is playing sort of free jazz guitar chords.  The right speaker is playing a wild atonal guitar solo with a thumping bass.  In both speakers you get all over the place (but rather quiet) drums and the good Captain himself singing in a voice that could have inspired Tom Waits.  And the Captain’s song would be a very catchy melody if it had anything to do with what everyone else was playing (which it doesn’t).  And the whole things lasts for under 2 minutes.  There’s 28 songs not unlike this one, for a total of about 75 minutes.

Some other treats: a wild skronking horn solo on one song.  There’s also a song about the Holocaust.  And there’s even several music-free spoken word “poetry” readings.  And of course, the aforementioned bulbous quote.

Amidst this chaos are three songs that are more or less songs in the conventional sense, “Moonlight on Vermont,” “Veteran’s Day Poppy” and “Sugar ‘n Spikes,” meaning they have verses and choruses and whatnot.  But even those are still pretty far out and won’t be (and haven’t been) on the radio anytime soon.

Word is that this is a hugely influential disc and it lands on all kinds of Best Album Of All Time lists.  I can see that it has influenced a few people over the years (Devandra Banhart comes to mind), but still.  This is the kind of music you put on at a party when you want everyone to go home.

[READ: November 6, 2009] I am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to be Your Class President

I heard about this book when Jon Stewart gave it a big plug on The Daily Show (the author is one of the writers for the show).  After many of the “heavy” titles that I’d been reading, it was a delight to read something that was purely comic.

And it was very funny indeed.

The book reminded me in many ways of Artemis Fowl (if Aretmis hadn’t turned over a new leaf–and without the fairies, of course).  In fact, I’m not entirely sure what the age group for the book is.  The main character is in seventh grade (and the language is very mild, certainly suitable for kids).  But when I found it in the book store, it was in the adult section.  So, I’m not entirely sure where to place it.

Anyhow, the premise here is that Oliver Watson is an evil genius.  Evil here doesn’t mean psychotic or sociopathic, he doesn’t want to kill people.  He just wants things to go the way he wants.  All the time.  And he is usually quite successful.  He is, after all, one of the top 5 wealthiest people in the world.  And he’s only in 7th Grade.

But as any genius knows, a 7th grader can’t be one of the richest men in the world, so he needs a front.  And he has hired Sheldrake to be the face of his wealth (at least until he is 18).

Oliver is pretty contemptuous of people in general, but of children in general.  He believes that all children are stupid (and he cites many examples of middle school behavior to back him up).  He also thinks most of his teachers are stupid (and in one case he tries to set two of them up so that they can make each other miserable (ha!)).

And so, his public face to the whole school (and even to his parents) is that of a complete moron.  He sleeps during class, he answers poorly and, most importantly he talks like a blithering idiot.  But if he thinks everyone is beneath contempt, then why does he wan to be class president?

Well, first, because he was nominated. The most evil girl in school Tati, nominated him, presumably as a joke (although she may suspect that he’s not as dumb as he seems).  But he refused the nomination.  So then, why?

Well, that has a lot to do with his family.  The most important part of his family is his dog Lollipop.  Lollipop is a specially trained pit bull (photo included in the book).  And wait till you here how well trained she is!  As for the rest of his family, his mother is fat and dumb and rather lovable (and he does love her…he allows that much affection in his life). His father is, well, let’s say his father is not very happy that his life was ruined by the birth of this idiot son of his.  In fact, his father has made no bones about his distaste for his son.  So, when Oliver learns that his father won class president and it was the most important day of his life, well Oliver sets out to show him that any idiot (namely himself) can do it.

And he is willing to do ANYTHING to win (including spend a lot of his vast fortune) and deliberately make a fool of himself in front of everyone.  So imagine his surprise when he suddenly gets a trio of girls in his class making posters for him (their moms will have to “win” a lottery one of these days).

But what happens when all of his plans go awry (as you know they will)?  And just how many enemies can a 7th grader make?

This book was very very funny.  The way that Oliver spoke and dismissed others was great.  The running cigarette joke is hilarious.  As are all of the wonderful literary jokes (he’s trying to set up the English teacher after all).  In fact, everything to do with Mr Moorhead is fantastic.  And the pacing is wonderful  It’s a super fast read, and I laughed on just about every page (except during the explosions).

I was also very amused by the whole Captain Beefheart thing.  (What a wonderfully weird thing to have as a kid’s favorite band…how on earth would he have ever heard of it?)

The only complaint about the book I had was with the plates (well, specifically because one was missing).  There are pictures scattered through out the book.  They are all referenced in the text (ie. See Plate 1 for  picture of Lollipop).  And many of them are funny.  The problem was that Plate Number 16 was not included in the book!  It’s nowhere to be found.  And it had the potential to be the funniest one of all, as it was meant to show a typical PBS pledge drive (his father works for the local affiliate).  Given the mock up of other scenes, I think the PBS one would have been great.

That said, one printing error does not in any way detract from the book.  It’s a great read.  It’s very funny. What else can I write?

As Oliver himself might say:

Chapter 1:

I am Done now

Chapter 2:

Stop reading

Chapter 3:

What are you, an idiot?  I said stop reading.

SOUNDTRACK: FEIST-Let It Die (2004).

I’ve recently discovered Feist through Broken Social Scene.  I know that she is huge (and “1,2,3,4″ is a really great song that we used for our son’s 4th birthday video), but it took me a while to catch on.

This first album (technically her second, but her first was released only on tour in 1999 and is out of print) is, to me, shocking that it catapulted her into fame.  Not because it’s bad, but because of what a strange amalgam of songs, none of which are indie rock, are on this “indie rock” record.  The opening songs are sort of mellow rock, but really they strike me as more of a mellow jazz or maybe torch singer-style.  And then there’s all that disco!

The exception is “Mushaboom” which is an amazingly catchy song that defies categorization, at least on this record.  It’s sort of folky but dancey and has an absurd but defiantly fun chorus.  After some folky bits and some jazzy torch songs, the disc morphs into something of a disco album.  Not modern R&B but actual 70’s disco.  I mean “Leisure Suite” sounds like it could be played in the background while men with thick mustaches lie in front of the fireplace with their woman of choice.  And then there’s the genuine disco song: a cover of the Bee Gees’ “Inside and Out.”

I was really taken aback by the disc because it was nothing like what I expected.  But once I got used to what the style actually was, I found the album really compelling.  Feist has a great voice.  It’s seductive and very pretty. In many ways the disc reminds me of Fiona Apple (although I think Fiona has a stronger more interesting voice and a better selection of background instrumentation).

But comparisons aside, this is a really solid record, one that I have enjoyed many times.  Oh, and once again, the British cover is more interesting.

[READ: January 2007 (and earlier)] Amelia Rules

I first discovered the Amelia Rules comic at The Joker’s Child in Fairlawn, NJ, (one of my favorite comic book shops).  There was something about the art work…a weird amalgam of simple lines and computerized coloring that really grabbed my attention.  But it’s the story that kept me coming back.

Amelia is a young girl whose parents are getting a divorce.  Amelia and her mom move to a new town in the country, away from the city where she grew up.  She winds up spending time with her Aunt Tanner, a former rock goddess (and there’s a cool subplot about that later on) turned country recluse.

Amelia tries to make friends in the new neighborhood.  And the boys she hangs out with are Reggie (whose goal is to become a superhero) and Pajamaman (the one unrealistic character in the story, although he does achieve more depth than just the “weirdo who wears pajamas all the time” as the comic continues).  Amelia also gains a nemesis, Rhonda, who has a thing for Reggie but who is generally too cranky to do anything but snark about everything).

So I started reading this comic and managed to go back and get every issue.  Although at some point I missed issue #11, I think because when I moved, my new store didn’t carry the single issues.   The issues have been compiled in four books (I’ve read three, as I didn’t know #4 was out).

Book one is The World’s Gone Crazy The Whole World’s Crazy (issues 1-5, plus extras).  [UPDATE: It's absurd and embarrassing to have given this book the wrong title when A) I had the book in my hands as I typed it and B) there's two pictures of the cover in the post.  But it's even more embarassing to have it pointed out by the author.  Mea culpa].

As the series opens we meet Amelia and all of the characters in the story.  Amelia turns out to be the perfect main character for this series: she is smart (but not a brain), very funny, and with a clever wit.  She reads people pretty well, but she’s still a young girl who makes major goofs. There’s a gym class issue, a great Halloween issue and a surprisingly touching Christmas issue (where Pajamaman gets his depth).  There’s also a very good arc of Amelia trying to deal with her dad now that he’s not living with them anymore.

The second book, What Makes You Happy (issues 6-10 plus extras), introduces us to G.A.S.P., Reggie’s superhero gang and their rivals, the Park View Terrace Ninjas (who have uniforms!).  [UPDATE: As the comment below correctly points out (duh), G.A.S.P. (which stands for the Gathering of Awesome Super Pals) appeared in Volume 1.  But they really gain prominence in Volume 2].  This volume also features the excellent Tanner back story.  And we meet one of Amelia’s old city friends, Sunday (and how weird it is to hang out with someone you miss but haven’t seen in a long time).

The third volume, Superheroes (issues 11-16 plus extras), sees Amelia passing 4th grade when she’s told that they are moving.  Again.  There’s also a very humorous plotline in which the kids decide that everyone named Steve is nothing but trouble.  And G.A.S.P. goes on the attack. And finally, we meet  Amelia’s new friend Trishia.  We learn later on that she is suffering from Venticular Septal Defect, a very serious heart disease.

So as you can see, the stories vary from the ridiculous to the serious.   Amelia is a warm and totally winning character.  And she deals with each crisis in a reasonable and really human way.  It’s an emotionally rewarding series, and it’s appropriate for all ages.

My only gripe comes with the whole HUH nature of figuring out just what is going on with the series. Even the website which is beautiful, offers very little in the way of information about the series.  There’s no information about the single issues.  There’s precious little information about the beginning of the series, and just forget about trying to figure out what books are available.

At least it seems to get updated a little more frequently now (Oct 5th is the last update), which is nice.  But it’s a shockingly incomplete resource for information.  I tried to contact them/him a few years back to see about ordering the last single issues that I’m missing, but I never got a response.  I’m delighted that the issues are in trade paperback now, but I’m still not sure what the state of the individual issues is.

And how weird that the Books link on the website lists only three books. The front page says that book #5 is due out soon.  But there is no mention of  Book #4 When the Past is a Present (issues 17-19 plus extras) which according to Amazon has been out since 2007, but which seems out of print now, but is being reissued in 2010.  So much chaos here!  (In some way to explanation, the trades were issues by one publisher and are being reissued by Simon and Schuster, but seriously Ameliaverse, let us know this.  I kept coming to your site waiting to see if Book 4 ever came out but it never got mentioned on the Books page!  Gah! Even if the book is not available, the least you can do is tell your fans about the books and what’s happening with them!

I’m also unclear if Gownley is actively writing anything in the series anymore.  Does volume 5 contain new stories?  The Ninja Christmas issue sort of does).  Are there any regular issues coming out? And don’t just post this information ala a blog.  This basic information should be easily accessible somewhere.

I understand the difficulties involved in making a comic and making a successful one at that.  I would think that Jimmy Gownley would want people to know as much as possible about this fantastic series (and his previous one, Shades of Grey, as well).  I’m just surprised what little information is available from the source’s mouth.  (Wikipedia makes things a little, but not much, clearer)

But for heaven’s sake, don’t let any of that stop you from reading the books.  They’re really great.  And even if you can’t find them in print, check them out at your library.  (They’re probably near Bone, another great comic).

Whether you’re 10 and living the life of a 4th grader or are older and remembering what it’s like to be a kid, Gownley doesn’t look down on anyone.  It’s a rare find.  And an emotionally enjoyable one, too.

Okay, now that I’ve had time to digest the book (and to cope with the ending) I wanted to give some final thoughts on the book.  I also wanted to tie up some loose ends by posting my original response to the Salon.com questions as well as my letter to the posted article (keeping all my IJ stuff in one place).  I also found a map of Enfield that places things nicely in context.  I’ve included that at the bottom of the page.

But on to the book:

My previous post ended with what feels like a somewhat bitter taste in my mouth.  And yet I the disappointment I felt at the end of the book was not so much at what was said, but was actually a sort of disappointment that the book is over.

The book, the world, these characters became a part of my life.  I know for a fact that I have never spent this much time and effort on a book before (I didn’t even spend as much time on Ulysses, which I’ve read twice for a class).  And I think having the book left so open keeps the characters floating around in my head without actually letting them rest.  (Wraith-like if you will).

When I finished the book, the first thing I did was to go back to the beginning and re-read the Year of Glad section (now, for the third time!) [And I now I'm not the only person to have done so....just how many posts will say that that's what they did?]. And I know that’s sort of the set-up of the book, like Finnegans Wake or even Pink Floyd’s The Wall.  And, in re-reading, even more gaps were filled in.  And that is, of course, why people read it multiple times.  And yet, do any of the multiple-times readers come any close to filing in the gaps of that lost year, or do they just find more and more awesome details to obsess over (or both)?

But before I get wrapped up in trying to “figure out what happened” I have to mention just how much I enjoyed the book.  I’ve never read anything like it.  The details, the quotes, the laughs, the pain.  It all sounds so trite (“It was better than Cats!”)  And yet, whether it’s the work itself or the amount of time spent on it, these characters are now with me.

So, I had read IJ when it came out.  And sometime in 1997 or 1998 after DFW published A Supposedly Fun Thing… he did a promotional tour stop in Boston.  And I recall getting up there and getting his autograph and saying how much I loved IJ and how it has stayed with me two years later. And that was true then (of course, if you’ve read me fumbling around and not remembering anything, you’ll know the details didn’t stay with me for 13 years, but that’s okay…the writing and the imagery stayed there somewhere.)

I think also, given the amount of time I spent on the book, and the amount of effort I expended keeping track of things, having this vacancy (both in the fact that the book is over and in the gap of one year) is really weird.  I’ve since read a bunch of reviews of IJ and the one thing I cannot imagine is how anyone with an advanced readers copy of this book could hope to read it in a few days (typical reviewer turnover time) and actually have something useful to say about it in time for a slated book review date?  I would think that if you weren’t following quite so closely you wouldn’t feel the sense of loss at the end of the book.

But enough pontificating.

Let’s think about what happened from 11/20 YDAU to Whataburger in late November, Year of Glad.

• We know that Hal was starting to lose control of his features once he had stopped smoking marijuana.
• We know that Orin was captured.  And in reading the post at Infinite Tasks, I realized that I had missed Orin yelling “Do it to her! Do it to her!”  Is the “her” Joelle?  That would make some sense, (although it seemed as if JvD was being protected by Steeply).  But, if the AFR were going after the Incandenza family, would they have Avril rather than Joelle?  But I wouldn’t think that Orin would have to be pushed very hard to give up Avril.  And really, Avril seems above the fray somewhat.
• We know that Steeply warned JvD about Marathe being at Ennet House.
• We assume the AFR captured the Quebec team and did whatever they intended to do at E.T.A. (whatever that was).

In the Year of Glad we know that:

• Hal had been in the hospital (psychiatric) about one year ago.
• Cosgrove Watt is dead  (although why is Hal thinking of him?)
• Hal’s ankle hasn’t hurt all year.
• Hal and Gately dug up Himself’s head while John Wayne watched (in a mask).  And somehow this impacted Wayne’s ability to win this years’ Whataburger (which Hal is in the middle of during his interview at AZ college).
• Given everything that happens, the world seems to be proceeding as normal (ie., O.N.A.N. hasn’t been decimated, there’s no sign of any major changes w/r/t The Entertainment destroying people).
• Hal doesn’t think about Mario or the moms except about her alphabetizing cans above the microwave.  One assumes nothing happened to them.
• Orin is okay: “The brother’s in the bloody NFL for God’s sake.” (14)
• There is no mention of JvD at all.

So, we’ll never know all the details.  But let’s assume that Hal never did the DMZ (Pemulis was seen crying around a dumpster on 11/20 after looking in the ceiling…his drugs were removed).  [Okay, see several paragraphs hence where I pretty well discount this idea].

Regardless, he clearly had some kind of breakdown between the WhataBurger and the AP exams he was planning to take (his scores were a little too close to zero).  But Hal is seeded third in The Year of Glad’s WhataBurger, so he clearly has been playing quite well, despite his losing interest in playing anymore.

At some point, he and Gately and Wayne go up to the Concavity to dig up Himself’s head. How does this transpire?  Well: The AFR and Steeply’s team (with insider dope from Marathe), know all of the parties involved.

Since it’s a blank year, Gately is likely healed by the time they go up there (Gately has “dreams” about these events: driving in a bus due North… although really why would he be in a bus?).  Joelle appears with wings and no underwear…is she dead? At the end of Gately’s dream, Hal, who can’t speak, mouths that it’s Too Late (to “divert the Continental Emergency”) (934).

All that suggests that they couldn’t dig up whatever (Master or Antidote) to prevent the dissemination of the Entertainment.  And Endnote 114 says that the Year of Glad is “the very last year of O.N.A.N.ite Subsidized Time” (1022).  So, something has happened (presumably a new president has been elected, as who would vote for the guy who let the Entertainment happen?)  And yet, when Hal is at the U of A, everything seems pretty normal (true it comes from Hal’s P.O.V. but there’s no talk of anything apocalyptic in the office).

And so, the question really isn’t so much what happens (which we do sort of know), but how does it happen?  And the reason I’m bummed about trying to figure this out is that 1) I’m not as clever as DFW and 2) I don’t have enough time to ponder this and 3) I really enjoyed reading about these characters, and even though I feel that I know them quite well, I imagine they were in for some tumultuous character changes over this year.

I also wondered again about the narrator of the book.  There are so many different possibilities for who is telling this story.  In this interview for Bookworm with Michael Silverblatt, DFW says, “and Infinite Jest is the first thing that I wrote where the narrator — it’s supposed to sound like the narrator’s talking to you.” (about 3/4 of the way through the interview…there’s no pages).  The obvious one is Hal, and yet there are a  number of things that suggest it is not him.  And of course, Infinite Tasks has a thoughtful post about the narrator here.  Axford maybe?  Or even J.O.I.?  I’m inclined to say it’s a student/academic deal, what with the scholarly information/paper type thing.  Especially since, and I don’t know who has brought this up before, the notes section is called Notes and Errata, whatever that means for the book.

Is there the possibility that the author is Gately, after getting that influx of brains through J.O.I.?  (Or am I just reaching now?)

And something I just thought of…is the preponderance of Drug company information in the Endnotes indicative that the “readers” of the work wouldn’t know what these drugs/drug companies are anymore?  Is that suggesting that the book was written several years after the fact (and possibly after the Entertainment has ceased the need for the drugs?)  Again, I’m reading too much here, I think.

And but so for what is ostensibly disappointment (at so much unanswered), it has in no way diminished my love for DFW, his style, his sensibilities, everything. Since finishing IJ, I have downloaded all of the uncollected DFW works from the Howling Fantods, and have begun re-reading Brief Interviews with Hideous Men in light of the new John Krasinski film that is coming out soon.

So, yes, I’m still a committed DFW-phile.

As for IJ itself, I hope that some answers will, like Gately’s ghostwords, come out of the ether. I hope that one of these days I’ll read just the right words that fill in what I’m missing.  And yet, if none of that happens, that’s okay too.  I enjoyed the ride, I enjoyed the book club, and I enjoyed being a part of the whole thing.

And, I’m quite certain I haven’t written my last word about IJ yet either.

See, here’s more already.  A very clever person has concocted this fantastic explanation of what happened which certainly works for me.   It’s amazing how many people theorize that the mold & the DMZ are interrelated somehow (of course, as with any gun on the wall that will eventually go off, the mold has to be significant, I mean it gets mentioned THREE TIMES!)  And, yes, the DMZ is pretty crucial to the story too, so perhaps my (earlier)  naivete about Hal not taking the DMZ was, well, naive (or actually quite foolish).

My calculation is that I have written nearly 60,000 words about Infinite Jest this summer.  (Which is more  than Slaughterhouse Five (49,000 words) and darn close to Lord of the Flies (59,900 words).  Now, if only they’d been original coherent and publishable, eh?

My questionnaire for the Salon.com article

I wanted to include my answers to the questions that Joe Coscarelli asked me (during Week 3) for the Salon.com article.  In true DFW fashion, I’m removing the actual questions (plus I didn’t ask him for permission).  So if you’re interested in just what he asked, you can email me.  But here’s my Week 3 frame of mind.  (I particularly like my guess at that 80% of the participants would finish the Infinite Summer project…I think I overestimated).

Q? Q?

My name is Paul Debraski.  I’m 40 years old.  I work as a librarian in NJ.  I’ll also fill in that I’m married and have two kids (ages 4 and 2, which may come up regarding how much time I have to read this thing).
Q? Q? Q? Q?

I read Infinite Jest the week it came out.  I was absorbed in all of the hype (I was living in Boston at the time, and the Boston Phoenix newspaper was really hyping it).  My recollection is that I read the book in three days, although as I think about it time-wise that doesn’t appear possible.  But I LOVED the book, and was hooked immediately (that it was partially set where I was living certainly helped).  I wasn’t working at the time, so I had a lot of free time, so I must have read it in about a week.
I saw the first incarnation of A Supposedly Fun Thing… in Harper’s, and I was blown away by that too.  After that I’ve read everything he’s done.

Q? Q? Q?

Ah book clubs.  My wife tried to join a few book clubs in the last year and ultimately ended up starting her own.  My experience with them (as a librarian) is that geographically you’re lucky if you can find a number of people who are genuinely interested in what you want to read.  Often times you get stuck reading a book that you would never read on your own, which may be okay, but if you get stuck reading junk, that’s a month you’ve just wasted.  The only thing worse is when you’re excited about a book and the rest of your group just couldn’t get into it. In this respect, the internet has opened up so many possibilities.  And yet, as you ask, it can be way too big to be useful.  I mean, the infinite summer site has hundreds of posts every day.  I can’t read IJ AND all the posts too!  I think ideally you would like to use the internet to find people who broadly enjoy the kind of literature you like, and then narrow them down to people reasonably local so you can meet face to face once in a while.  It’s that face to face that really heightens the experience.
Q? Q?

I did the Five Boro Bike Tour in New York two years in a row, which certainly had that social feeling to it.  But I have never done anything big online like this before. I log into Facebook a few times a week.  I could easily get sucked into a lot more if I’m not careful. Twitter is a bit too inconsequential for me at this stage, although if I found something I was really interested in, I could see subscribing to it.  At this point, email notification, which I check throughout the day, is fast enough.   I blog at http://ijustreadaboutthat.wordpress.com.  I started it primarily as a place to keep track of the books I was reading.  I had started a print notebook of the information, but blogging seemed like more fun.  Once people actually started reading it, it became a rush of excitement as well.  I like to think I haven’t caved to reader pressure too much, but I do keep an “audience” in mind when I write.

Q? Q?

I was attracted by the camaraderie, and the idea of achieving something big in a group.  I’m not the kind of person to go to New Year’s Eve in Central Park so this is social without actually having to bump into people.

I check the site every day to see what the guides and directors have said.  I wasn’t sure what to expect from the guides, and I like that they are frustrated and enjoying themselves and just having fun.  I read some of the forums, although as I said, there’s so much, that it gets daunting.

On a purely mechanical level, the summary timelines (and the percentage countdown) have been very helpful.  As for my fellow readers’ comments, I’ve been really enjoying seeing the kinds of things that people are attracted to about the book.  There’s so much in it, and so many different aspects that you can like (or hate), that it’s fun to see others’ perspectives on what I love or, more importantly to get something out of a section I didn’t like as much.  I also really appreciate the people with a bit more time on their hands who are willing to really look into something to find out everything they can about it.
Some of the vernacular sections I haven’t been willing to fully parse out who is talking about whom, I get the gist and the plotpoints, but I’m hoping the characters will reveal themselves later.  When the forum folks talk about them, I get a nice, Aha! moment.  They also helped when I was under the impression that Mario was younger than Hal.  Not sure how I messed that up, but it was nice to get that straightened out.

Q? Q? Q?

My reading has been solid. I have been hitting each deadline and imagine I will continue to do so.  I have an hour lunch, so I get in my car, drive to a quiet spot and try to read 20-25 pages (about as much as is possible to read in an hour and digest everything).  That gives me about three days to read the allotted portion.  Why three days?  Well, this summer I had planned to enter several Summer Reading programs at the libraries.  In them, the more books you read, the more chances to win.  So am I stuck reading one book for the whole summer?  Well, I’ve been sneaking in some “easy” books on the other days (Kurt Vonnegut is a nice compliment).  As I mentioned I have two young kids so there’s very little chance of reading at home (if I want to remember anything, that is).

When I started re-reading the book, I was worried that I wouldn’t enjoy it as much, that it was all right-place, right-time of my life.  But in starting again, I am totally hooked.  I actually don’t want to only read the pacing that I’m sticking with.  But I will continue on my projected course.  It’s all about discipline!
Q? Q? Q?

I know that DFW was a teacher.  I think that any teacher knows that a group of people can really learn from each other, or at least ask questions that other people weren’t thinking of.  Having said that, a teacher also knows when the class is getting too tangential.  Now, IJ is nothing if not tangential, so I think he would probably want a bit of reining in so people don’t get too into their own heads (rather than DFW’s).  Of course, who will do the reining in?

I agree that reading is a wholly personal endeavor up to a point.  For instance, I won’t read any spoilers; I won’t get in any discussions that will impact my reading of the next section.  I want my first reading to be my own.  But I am more than happy to be influenced after the fact.  If this new information radically affects what I read, I’ll go back and read it again.  For instance, one of the guides said that the first ten pages of the book were fantastic on their own.  I certainly enjoyed them, but since I was in for the long haul I didn’t really delve into those pages the first time through.  After reading that post I went back and re-read that first section and I was really blown away.  It also made me slow down during some of those dense parts to really appreciate what DFW was doing.
Q? Q?

IJ is daunting.  First because it is long, but also because the language is colorful, dare I even say beautiful.  As with any endurance thing, I’ll say the obvious, it’s about pacing.  Whether that means keeping up with the pages per week, or, as seems to be more relevant to IJ, not getting burnt out if you get lost/confused/feel like throwing it against the wall.  There is a lot going on. Both in the overall plot, but even in the individual sections.  So, if you don’t care about tennis, I think it’s safe to not read too deeply into the tennis parts.  While they are certainly important, they are not going to help with the “plot” (as far as I can remember, I could be totally wrong about that plot part, actually).

There’s a lengthy session where the older kids are assisting their little buddies.  It goes on for some 15 pages.  Now, I’m not sure how that will impact the plot specifically; mostly it’s just stuff about tennis and competition.  And I’m not entirely sure if it’s important that Hal talks about one aspect while John Wayne talks about another.  And it’s tempting to sort of sail through that because it doesn’t “really matter.”  But, if you slow down and enjoy the language.  Enjoy that each kid has a different style of teaching and think about how that kid also plays on the court (which is sort of described in that section too) it’s a totally enjoyable read.  It’s funny, and it’s insightful.

I think some people will give up because they fall behind.  It’s not easy to read a lot (although what else do people do on their lunch hour?).  But I think there is satisfaction in finishing it.  Even if you fall behind, it’s worth it to not drop it altogether.  We just got (in week 3) to a very funny series of seemingly unrelated almost short stories (about the demise of videophones, and a 7th grade essay of Hal’s about police shows on TV) that are so much fun and so lighthearted that they are worth any grief you may feel from other sections.

As for life being too hectic for novels…  I have many friends who sort of proudly proclaim that they only read nonfiction, as if nonfiction is somehow better.  I read some nonfiction, but in general I find it to be less satisfying than fiction.  I find that I can put down a nonfiction book and pick it up several months later and more or less continue without losing any momentum.  With a novel, you have to pay attention or you literally lose the plot. Sure, that’s more work, but it’s so much more rewarding.  And, at the risk of sounding very pretentious (as if a 7 page email response isn’t pretentious enough) I find that I learn more about people or humanity (or at least learn to appreciate things about people) from novels more than nonfiction. Plus, I think the creativity inherent in fiction trumps nonfiction.  I’ve also noticed that the popular memoir trend is written in a much more fictional style.  Why?  Because novels are fun!

Q?

I honestly have no idea how many people are reading.  I’m delighted that it appears to be several hundred.  In reading reviews from various places it sounds like a lot of people bought the book but not so many read it.  I’m thrilled that this will get more people to read the book.  I’d say that the people who were actually willing to try to read this are the kind of people who won’t be daunted easily.  Let’s say 80% completion rate!

A.

Same here, I hope I didn’t prattle on too much.  Let me know if I can help in any other way, too!

After the Salon article came out, there were several letters written.  I added to the discussion with this one.  A follow up person asked me to clarify, the my sentences were a little unclear, so I have tried to clean it up without changing any meaning:

I’m biased obviously

I was quoted in the article, so I’m biased, obviously.

When IJ came out I read it in about a week. Absolutely loved it. It spoke to me in many ways, not least of which was that I lived in the (real) town where the (fictional) book is set (more or less). So, I had a lot of connections to the details.

And “details” is the crucial word. DFW is hyper-aware of details. Way back in high school English Lit, I was one of those people who hated books that had too much detail…Get to the plot! I don’t need 3 pages describing the landscape. Since then, I have grown as a reader and realized that books are not necessarily for plot. That may sound like heresy, but we often read for reasons other than getting from point A to B.

IJ gets from point A to B, but it goes to a lot of other places first, and in fact, it starts somewhere around point F and winds its way back to point A (not unlike Pulp Fiction, to take a far more mainstream example).

The two things that are daunting about IJ are 1) its length. Duh. Although I’ve never quite understood what is so much harder about reading one 1,000 page book than five 200 page books. And 2) his way with words. DFW loved language. He loves to play with language. He spends time on flourishes, on detours, on, yes, cul de sacs, and I totally agree that sometimes I want to just scream…get to the point. But if you take the time, not work, just time, to read it…it is very rewarding.

About the big words and the endnotes…you don’t have to understand most of the big words, heck, like in the spelling bee, context is everything. Look it up if you want, but it’s not necessary. The endnotes…well, I loved them. I thought it was clever and amusing, and as I read it through this time (my 2nd) I’m realizing that there’s something else going on that warrants the endnotes. Not sure what it is yet, but I can’t wait to find out.

All this is to say, hey, you may not like the book. That’s pretty likely actually. But if you enjoy challenging yourself a little, it’s a good investment. And, as people have said, it’s really very funny (amidst the drug addiction and tennis), and it’s pretty easy to get hooked, even if you don’t follow every detail of every section.

And you can click on my signature to see my post about the book, maybe it will encourage you to give it a second chance.

All along, I had been wondering if there was a good map of Enfield so I could see exactly how it was superimposed over Allston/Brighton.  Sure enough the good folks at boston.com made one.  Click on the map to see the original.

SOUNDTRACK: SONIC YOUTH-”Rather Ripped” (2006).

When Rather Ripped came out, I was really excited by it.  It rocked heavy, it was catchy and it featured a lot of Kim.  I listened to it all the time, and would have said it was my favorite SY disc of this era.  However, listening to Sonic Nurse reminded me how much I liked that one too, so I’m unclear now which one I like better.

Jim O’Rourke left the band, so they’re back to a 4 piece.  And the overall sound of the album is more minimal. There’s less squalling feedback (although there are noisy parts).  And the song structures are tighter.  It sounds more like a punk album that a jazz album.  It’s a great release.

“Reena” is so instantly catchy, it’s an amazing opener.  And it’s followed by ”Incinerate” which might be even more catchy.  A simple guitar riff and a beautiful chord progression.  ”Do You Believe in Rapture?” is a delicate guitar-harmonics filled song.  The only thing that keeps it from being totally poppy are the off-kilter harmonics between verses.

It’s followed by the screaming noise guitars of “Sleepin’ Around.”  This has some amazing tom-filled drums from Steve Shelley which really propel the song along.  It eventually morphs into a pretty straightforward chugga-chugga song until the noise solos in the middle.  ”What a Waste” is a lo-fi rocker with Kim singing angrily.  It’s followed by Kim’s more delicate/sexy “Jams Run Free,” a rather tender guitar line.  And, with Kim playing more guitar, I’m wondering if she’s writing these more delicate guitar riffs?  They seem kind of bass-like rather than the complex lines that Lee typically writes.  I’ll never know.

“Rats” is a noisy Lee song that I’m quite fond of.  It’s immediately followed by an even more delicate Kim song, “Turquoise Boy.”  This is a slow ballad that is quite surprising.  ”Lights Out” continues the quiet mood with Thurston’s own brand of sinister/seductive singing.

“The Neutral” continues Kim’s delicate singing.  While “Pink Steam” is a beautiful six minute near-instrumental that Thurston reins in with great vocals at the end.  ”Or” ends the disc in a quiet frame of mind.

I’m still undecided if I like Nurse or Ripped better.  But I am delighted by this new style that SY has been playing with.

[READ: September 17, 2009] Infinite Jest (completed!)

Hal is remembering the ‘98 blizzard (which I actually tried to remember if I had been in Boston for and then realized that ‘98 came after the book was written…Doh!)

It was the year that E.T.A. opened and they moved from Weston to E.T.A.  The Moms was attached to the Weston house so she dragged things out.

And the carpeting in Hal’s dorm room is the Lindisfarne Gospels with pornography in the weaves.  (See, Hal did like Byzantine porn–gosh, when was THAT discussed?).

Hal remembers the Weston house in stills rather than movies, as he doesn’t have Mario’s memory for detail.  But when he thinks back to Himself sitting there, legs crossed but feet still on the floor, shaving with Noxzema, he can’t even comprehend him so much as thinking of a homosexual love scene like in Accomplice!

Hal thinks back to other things in Weston, like him eating mold–although he doesn’t remember it, it’s all from Orin’s story.  And then he thinks back to another story Orin had told him.  Back when E.T.A. first opened and Orin and his pals were like 15, they were caught with a good old fashioned porn videotape.  James’ response was more of sadness than anger.  He told Orin that he hoped he wouldn’t watch it until he’d actually made love to a woman, so that the porn wouldn’t impact his worldview of sex from this point forward.
Orin laughed because his dad thought he was a virgin.  But Hal felt sad about the whole thing because James was actually trying to be honest with Orin–in a way he never was with Hal–and Orin didn’t see it.

Wayne pops his head in towards Hal.  Hal thinks of Wayne as a machine, able to control his breathing and even his pupil dilation, which is really creepy on court.  And he knows that the Moms and Wayne have been sexual since like his second week here.  Then he imagines all the people he knows she’s been sexual with (and there are many, including Uncle Charles).  And in each scene she lies there motionless staring at the ceiling, with the only emotion coming later when she tries to keep it a secret.

And then, because with twenty pages left we wanted a section about someone we didn’t know anything about, we get a brief story of addict Mikey whose temper prevents him from seeing his own son (who supposedly got his cast off, finally).

When JvD walks home (knowing that Steeply is following her) she sees the A.D.A. cruiser parked at E.T.A.  Turns out that the A.D.A. is confessing to Pat that he needs to forgive Gately, the man who did THAT with the toothbrushes to him and his beloved wife.  He admits that his wife had the OCD neuroses long before Gately violated them.  In both of their best interests, in order to get past the events, he has to let Gately go.  He has already agreed to drop Gately’s case, but he can’t bring himself to forgive him. Yet.

And then back to 11/20 and the party.

They are going to move the tennis matches to MIT’s indoor courts. And rumor has it that the Quebec team is really adults…. in wheelchairs!

Hal is getting his ankle wrapped up, his face alternating between hilarity and a painful grimace and all the while he’s talking like normal.  The man taping him up is Barry Loach.

Barry Loach’s back story comes through.  The mom of the super-Catholic Loach family hoped one of her kids would become a priest or nun. No one had so far, and Barry is last in line.  His next older brother professed a desire to join the order, so Barry could pursue his dream of sports medicine.  But then his brother had a crisis of faith.

In trying to persuade him to stay in the seminary, Barry agrees to an experiment: sit in a T station like a bum and ask that somebody just touch him.  Nobody does (although he gets a lot of money).  He stays that way for nine months, growing more and more indigent and homeless-like, including failing out of his classes for sports medicine. He is on the verge of spiritual collapse when good old Mario walks up.  Mario doesn’t realize why he shouldn’t touch the creepy homeless man, so he does.  And, long story short, Barry gets a job at E.T.A. despite not having finished his degree.   No word on if the brother went back to the seminary.

And then we’re back to Orin.  Orin is trapped in an upside down glass.  The Swiss hand model, the wheelchair guy and Lurie P_____ are standing outside.  This all parallels very closely to Orin’s own proclivity for trapping roaches that we saw in the opening scenes; then these AFR folks suddenly open a door and drop, ew, an unlimited number of roaches in with him.

Back at St, E’s, Gately is feverish. And so he floods his memory back to that final day with Fax.  He sees Pamela in a tree outside their window.  Then he sees C. out there too.  C. busts the glass open and climbs in.  C. surveys the scene, kicks Gately in the balls and then opens the door for the rest of his crew: punk Asians and trannies in leather jackets.

C. says they all know that Gately’s not responsible for what Fax did, so he should just sit back and enjoy the show.  They put the TP back on the wall, remove the Flames video and insert a video of Sorkin in his anti-headache commercial.  (Remember we read about them like 8 weeks ago?)  His cranio-facial footage is a painting of him having his brain pulled out through the top of his head.

C. then busts out his favorite CD: a disc of Wings with all but the Linda McCartney backing vocals and tambourine removed.  Gately thinks it is not only sad, but actually cruel to listen to this poor woman “sing.”  C.’s men tie up and then tie off Fax and inject him with something (which proves to be an anti-narcotic to maximize the pain).

And they tie off each other, as well as Pamela, (who broke her shin falling out of the tree and is pretty much passed out).  And they are all going to partay!

C. then injects Gately with Sunshine, which is even more powerful than the venerable DMZ.  Gately is impressed with it immediately and he can’t help but watch it go into his veins.  But then Gatley notices Fax screaming.  They are sewing Fax’s eyelids open.  He recognizes A Clockwork Orange tribute immediately.  But it’s unclear what they are showing him…could it be The Entertainment?  No, because that would tie up some kind of loose end, right?

Then C.  gently lowers Gately to the floor and when Gately reopens his eyes, he’s on a beach in the freezing sand with rain pouring on him.

And that’s it.

Really.

That’s how it ends.

So, obviously, the first reaction is WHAT?

But realistically, when there was about thirty or even fifty pages left, it was quite evident that we weren’t going to catch up to the Year of Glad.  The microscopic details of the November days were just too great not to warrant another two or three hundred pages.  And so that also begs the question, were the pages that were deleted for editing in any way relevant to any unresolved issues?

And but so, yes.  Infinite Tasks and myself worried so much about the Joelle timeline and then he goes and leaves a one year gap between the beginning and the end of the book.  So, the question is: would the book be less frustrating of it didn’t include the Year of Glad stuff? Is that one year gap more frustrating than if the book just ended?

As for the ending itself, I do really like it.  I like that it ends in this weird way with Gately (because, really how could this book actually end?)  I just wish that it had ended that way after included a few more clues as to what had happened.  (I mean, hell, the chronology of the story is so askew the Gately ending could have happened anywhere).

But I’m annoyed that:

• The Stice/moving items thing isn’t explained at all.
• We have literally no idea what happened to: Joelle, Orin, Mario or any of the other Ennet/E.T.A. folks (Pemulis?  Kate Gompert?  DFW has shown us multiple times that unless he explicitly states someone’s death, they probably aren’t dead, so did she view the Entertainment or not?).
• What about Avril’s involvement with anything?

To just scratch the surface of unresolved issues.

I’m going to write up a final post (in the next couple of days) [it's here if you want to read it] that talks about more of these issues and what I’m sure will turn out to be my overall positive experience with the book.  But for now, I’m still a little bummed about the ending.

SOUNDTRACK: SONIC YOUTH-Sonic Nurse (2004).

After the glorious Murray Street, SY return with an even better disc: Sonic Nurse.  This is probably their most overtly catchy (and therefore in my opinion wonderful) record since the Goo/Dirty period of 1991.  (Can it really be 13 years between these discs?).

This disc features Jim O’Rourke as well.  I’m led to believe that he has been playing bass with the band in order to free Kim up to do other things.  Although what she is doing I can’t really imagine.

“Pattern Recognition” opens with the most catchy guitar line in Sonic Youth memory.  Such a great and easy guitar riff.  Kim’s voice is sultry and wondrous.  And Steve Shelly really gets a chance to shine with some fun drum parts.  And, as is typical lately, the catchy songs get some lengthy end treatments, so this song ends with a 2-minute noise fest.  But it’s a good one.  ”Unmade Bed” is one of Thurston’s special mellow-singing songs but the guitar solo is weird and wonderful.

“Kim Gordon and the Arthur Doyle Hand Cream” was originally called “Mariah Carey and the…” (and I have no idea if the original was different).  Is one of those noisy Kim-sung jams that SY are known for. But it also features a “Hey hey baby” sing along chorus too.

“Stones” continues this midtempo catchiness with another amazing guitar riff that runs throughout the song.  While “Dude Ranch Nurse” is another mellow Kim piece that has a great riff and wonderfully noisy bridges.  And of course, Lee is awesome on “Paper Cup Exit,” yet another fatastic song.  The cool breakdown in the song is a nice unexpected twist.

“I Love You Golden Blue” may be the most beautiful song the band has ever done.  Kim’s voice is delicate and delightful as she whisper/sings over a gorgeous guitar line.  The final song is another of Thurston’s beauties: “Peace Attack” a slow builder, complete with verse ending guitar solos.

Sonic Nurse is a beuaty.

[READ: Week of September 14, 2009] Infinite Jest (to page 949)

Flying in the face of potential spoilers, I was looking for any evidence of there ever being a “unedited Director’s Cut” version of Infinite Jest.  There is, supposedly, one copy of the full text floating around, and I’m actually quite surprised no one has tried to capitalize on DFW’s death by releasing it (I’d rather see that than another “This is Water” type publication).

But while looking around, I got this pleasant surprise from the Howling Fantods–these are comments on a first draft of IJ (without too much unpublished work shown).  But there’s also this disturbing (to me) item:

(N.B.: Wallace made numerous corrections for the paperback edition of 1997, so that edition is the one scholars should use. Put a Mylar cover on the pretty hardback and leave it on the shelf.)

Great. So I read the wrong copy?  Twice??

I haven’t said very much in any of these posts regarding DFW himself.  I don’t feel it is my place to comment on the man or his situation.   However, through a nice shout out to me, I found this really cool site: The Joy of Sox.  It’s primarily about the Red Sox but it has a delightful side venue in DFW information.  There’s not a ton, and he quotes extensively from others who have done more research than he–he’s a fan of DFW, but this is a sports blog after all.  But it is a delightful collection of miscellanea.  And he pointed me to this article, “Democracy and Commerce at the U.S. Open“, which I had never read (so thank you!).   So, do check out the site, he’s not doing Infinite Summer, but he’s likely going to read IJ again in the fall.

As this almost-final week opens, the book is flying downhill like an AFR wheelchair, paralleling Gately’s literal inability to talk with Hal’s metaphorical? literal? we’ll see? one.  But it really is the Gately show.  We learn more and more about him, and his back story makes him more and more likable.  Who ever would have guessed?

This week’s reading opens with a transcript of a meeting with Rodney Tine Sr (and Jr, who is driving his dad crazy tapping a ruler against the table), Mr Veals (formerly of Viney and Veals), “Buster” Yee, the epileptic director of marketing from Glad, and Maureen Hooley, V-P  for Children’s Programming, InterLace.  The meeting concerns the upcoming anti-Entertainment PSAs.  After dumping Frankie the No-Thankee Hankie as a spokesperson, they settled on Fully Functional Phil, the prancing ass, who offers a sage word of advice for kids not to watch unknown TP cartridges.  And if they find their parents slumped over and unresponsive don’t look at the TP player, No-ho-ho-ho way!  An enjoyable comic interlude during all of this heaviness.

Because then we’re back to Gately.

Gately dreams that a nurse gives him a pen and steno pad (JvD understood what he was motioning!).  Dream-Ferocious-Francis and the Crocodiles are there, and they know a surprising amount of detail about the Nuck fight and Lenz’s responsibility there (of course it is a dream).  And, as the dream continues, a Pakistani doctor is trying to convince him that he should just take the Class II or Class III painkillers.  Gately tries to his hardest to argue with the steno pad and his weird left handed hieroglyphics, but the doctor persists.  And yes, Gately is sorely tempted to take the drugs because the dream doctor tells him the pain is just going go get so much worse.  Francis G doesn’t help him out during this except to tell him “You might want to Ask For Some Help, deciding” (889).

The ghost doctor is lucky that Gately’s testicular grab is all a dream as well.  (Good for you, Don).

We also get a look back via Gately about when he was an addict.  He was always quite considerate (for an addict) but when he got high, he got really self-involved.  One of his mates said it was like he shot cement rather than drugs.

Later McDade & Diehl come in from visiting Doony Glynn is the gastrointestinal ward.  Glynn is on a drip of something pretty nice, and even though his problem is virtually inoperable, he, Glynn, is pretty happy right now.  Oh, and Unit #3 on the Ennet House grounds is going to open up as an agoraphobic’s residence which should bring about some pretty intense cabin fever come wintertime, no? Heh Heh.

As for the bad news, McDade & Diehl say they probably won’t testify on Gately’s behalf as it would be suicide for them to step anywhere close to a DAs office.  And, even worse, that gun is totally M.I.A.  They think maybe Lenz took off with it.  But he was seen in an alley that night, so it might still be recoverable (that also gives us an estimated time for Gately, which no one has bothered to tell him yet). And hey, damnit why has no one brought him a pen or anything?  McDade & Diehl slink off when the nurse brings in a box printed with Fleet on it.

Hal meanwhile, is still unsure of what’s going on.  He is having…feelings.  Genuine panic and exhilaration for the first time since he can remember.  He deals with them by lying down in VR5 and just reflecting on/ignoring everything.  Hal muses about people being so devoted to one thing for their whole life.  Now that he’s actually thinking about it he finds it admirable but also rather pathetic (and clearly that’s why they start the tennis kids so young).

Kent Blott had spread a rumor that Pemulis would be doing a mini Escahton today.  But Pemulis has been avoiding him since he got back from Natick, as if Pemulis knew he went there.   Hal also thinks back to how Uncle Charles is not blood related to Avril (and we see a lot of the miserable family that sprung up in Quebec back then).  We also learn that Orin was 7 when Mario was born (so that should put to rest the suggestion that Orin is his dad, right?)

Hal also thinks about Stice’s comment that Hamlet questions so much in life but he never actually questions the existence of the ghost, which seems like an obvious thing to question.  (I almost feel like that was for you, Avery). This parallel to Gately’s ghost-vision of James is, of course, not a coincidence.

And then back to Gately when he was a happy kid.  Gately devoted his whole life to football. It was his one ticket to success.  He was very good at it and had a real future because he was huge but he was also fast.  It was inevitable that Gately would get involved with the party crowds, but he still kept football as his number one priority, and he only took Substances when he was done with football.

And then he meets Trent Kite, a geeky science kids who cooks up his own drugs.  Kite’s homemade drug of choice was a Quaalude-like object that he called “Quo Vadis.”  Gately thinks of this period with Kite as the Attack of the Killer Sidewalks, when the drink and drugs would combine to aggravate sidewalks all over town and cause them to jump up and hit them in the face.  Despite the heavier drugs that he got involved in, he never let it get in the way of his football.

It was only English class that kept Gately down.  He had always been told he was ADD, even though he could focus plenty on football and the like.  He was also told he was stupid, especially at English.  And then he was assigned Ethan From (sic) and it was that damn boring book that kicked his ass.  Coaches had found ways to get him through every other subject, but the English dept wouldn’t budge.  And soon Gately was suspended from playing ball.  [I have never been one to think it a good idea to pass kids who were good at sports, and yet in this case, it seems an exception would have made a very big difference in one man's life.]

Without the structure of ball, he did tons of drugs, grew very fat and basically lost his prime spot to the next new kid.  And that was that for Gately and school.

Meanwhile, Pemulis comes into find Hal on the floor. He asks for a personal meeting one on one, which Hal declines, as he is too inert. Pemulis explains that it’s about the DMZ, which Hal tries to talk him out of. They are interrupted with news that half of Stice’s face is left on the window upstairs.

Hal, ignoring Pemulis’ requests, asks him to put in the film Good-Looking Men in Small Clever Rooms That Utilize Every Centimeter of Available Space with Mind-Boggling Efficiency (another film not in the videography) and they watch the final scene with Paul Heaven giving a monologue.

Gately is reminded again about his old pal Eugene “Fax” Fackelman.  He and Fax used to work for the bookie Whitey Sorkin.  They were more or less his muscle, and he treated them quiet well (for a bookie).  In fact, he treated almost all of his clients quite well, rarely resorting to violence.  But when things got too overdue, it was Fackelman who Sorkin resorted to for the initial stages of violence on non-payers.  (Gately actually tended to get too aggressive and couldn’t control himself).  And over the years Gately grew a strong distaste for violence).

Pemulis sneaks out to find the drop ceiling panels removed.  He gets out his stool and starts  looking for his sneaker stash.

During this time a super-hot R.N. comes in with a dweeby M.D. (and Gately realizes for like the first time that the kids with violin cases seem to have become the doctors later in life).  And he is mortified that the super hot R.N. has recently given him a Fleet enema.

Gatlely reminisces about his “girlfriend” Pamela Hoffman-Jeep (his first hyphen!).  She was a binge drinker who would pass out nightly. Any man who would take her home without Taking Advantage of her she would call chivalrous and would immediately fall for him. Gately was a pretty nice guy and never took advantage of her (despite Fax and Vine’s warnings that she was way too clingy for her own good and if would just X her he wouldn’t have to deal with her anymore).  And they stayed together for quite a while.

She also gave him the straight dope about why Fax was sitting slumped over in the living room with a huge bag full of Dilaudid.

Turns out that in one of Fax’s stupidest (and final) moves, he tried to scam two close friends.  Fax took a bet from 80s Bob who was a die-hard Yalie.  But on this one bet (having air-tight insider scoop), 80s Bob bet against them.  When Fax called it in, the secretray who always knows that 80s Bob bets for Yale, entered it wrong.  The game turns into a fiasco (through the involvement of radical feminists on motorcycles) and Yale winds up winning big.  80s Bob doesn’t know he won, so he pays off Fax.  Sorkin doesn’t know he lost so he gives 80s Bob’s winning to Fax to deliver.  Fax now has $250,000 and goes straight to Mr Wu (they always show up aagain!) where he buys thousands of dollars worth of his drug of choice.

He runs home to Kite and says they should take off and start somewhere fresh with this amazing stash.

Kite says, hey, 80s Bob is the son of 60’s Bob, the craniofacial doctor that Sorkin goes to every day.  They’re going to figure it out.  Not to mention that C (the junkie from earlier in the book who also makes a return) also shops at Dr Wu and will certainly hear that Fax made a huge purchase of his favorite drug.  Kite tells Fax he’s dead.  Fax knows he’s dead, so he takes it like a junkie and shoots up and puts his chin on his chest.

60s Bob, by the way, has multiple ties to Gately and Kite.  And we also learn that he fleeces items to small dealers to buy 60s artifacts (like the guy who sold TP cartridges to the Antitois in exchange for a lava lamp)….  So 60s Bob is (pretty obviously) how the Antitois got The Master (but, of course, how did the AFR know that?).

Gately was watching good old BU on the telly and he watched as an amazing punter making his debut on the field was blowing everyone away. The announcer talks about this young punter and how he played his cards right and that he is set for a lifetime of success in football.   And as Gately watches this, he realizes that he was crying.

Back at E.’s Gately rouses himself and realizes that the wraith is back but this time there’s a yoga guy in faggy gym shorts licking his forehead (everyone repeat after me: Hi Lyle!).  He goes to hit the man but the pain is too great.

He then dreams that he is with a sad kid digging up the kids’ father’s head, although he has no idea who the guy is or why they’d be doing it.

Oh, and an absurdly large woman (with stubble on her legs–Steeply is that you?) grabs JvD as she is leaving Gately’s room and tells her that she is in grave danger.  Which JvD says, Duh.

Gately then recalls knowing he should help Fax in some way, but instead just goes over and starts shooting up Mt. Dilaudid with Fax.  They do it all day until they have peed their pants and other disquieting ideas.  Fax has been watching his favorite film (which Gately doesn’t like) which turns out to be JOI’s Various Small Flames.  When they run out of distilled water, Fax “That’s a Goddamned lie” decides he’s going to shoot up with the puddled urine (shudder).  Even Gately is freaked out by that idea.  And somehow he gets the phrase “more tattoos than teeth” to pop in his head.  Phone calls and buzzers at their apartment are ignored, but when he hears Pamela’s voice through the intercom, he tries to make his way to the door but collapses, sending everything, including the flat screen TP player crashing to the floor.

Oh and Kite, nobody’s fool, has long since taken off with everything he could carry, under the guise of leaving the state for a “conference.”

JvD is talking, presumably to Steeply, about the Entertainment. She describes her scenes in the movie.  There were only two: in one she is walking in a revolving door where she sees someone she recognizes.  Later she is talking down to a camera in a baby carriage.  She is apologizing over and over.  The lens itself was special, kind of wobbly with the view of an infant.

She has never seen the finished Entertainment and believes the Master was buried with Himself.   Oh, and when Jim said that he was making something so good that people would die from seeing it–literally terminally compelling–he was kidding.  Really.  He had a dark sense of humor.  And that the final joke is that he himself is buried in the Concavity so they’ll never be able to retrieve it.

Hal returns to his room to find Mario and Kyle Dempsey Coyle watching James’ film Accomplice!  This disturbing film features an old man (J.O.I. regular Cosgrove Watt, the only “professional” actor (as in, did a few local ads) he’d ever employed) purchasing a beautiful male prostitute (Stokely ‘Dark Star’ McNair, the videography informs us) who Hal never saw in any of James’ other films.  The old man is so offended when the prostitute asks him to use a condom that–while he does use one–he also employs a straight razor to slice the condom up during the act (which also, of course, slices himself up.  OUCH and Ew!)

It is then that the old man realizes it was the prostitute himself that was Infected, and so now the prostitute is a murderer (which the last 1/3 of the film shows them repeating the word “murderer” over and over.)  Mario loves this film but Hal thinks it’s a but much.

When the film ends, the room watches weather reports from all over the Metro area (and we get to laugh at stupid weather and news people).

But oh hey, the reason that Kyle Cole is in here is because in his room (which is also Stice’s room), Stice is in there covered with toilet paper and bloody as all hell (and really who thought that toilet paper would help with great hunks of flesh ripped off your face?).  But that’s not the weird part.

Stice’s bed is, like, affixed to the ceiling somehow.  Troeltsch had requested a room switch some time ago (which is why he was in Axford’s room–and Hal is a little freaked out that he didn’t hear about that sooner) because he couldn’t handle Stice’s bed things going mysteriously all over the room.

Stice has locked himself in the room, mumified in toilet paper sitting on a bed that is somehow affixed to the ceiling.  And he thinks (hopes) this is all in aid of him becoming a better player (somehow).  Kyle has had enough of all of that, frankly.

And Otis P Lord had his monitor removed on Thursday (does this savvy up with when Gately saw the man with the square head next to him in the hospital?)

Hal thinks back to when Himself got involved with films.  Everyone thought that it would be a passing phase.  In the past, he would get obsessed with something until he grew successful at it.  Once he mastered it, he would move on (James, that sounds familiar, like something your wraith told Gately about Hal).  Hal thinks this means he was never successful as a filmmaker but Mario disagrees.

This lengthy Hal section continues for several more pages, but in honor of my final Spoiler Line, I will end here.  Oh, and since we’re supposed to be finishing the book on Monday, I hope to have my final week’s post up then too!

It is also dawning on me that with 30 pages left in the book, many many things are going to be left wide open!