Lechuza Love

Hello, hello.

Music changes, as does the weather. While it's getting slightly cooler here, that tinge of fall coming into the air, I find myself unintentionally flashing back to my high school years and the music I listened to as classes resumed. I recall the feeling of crisp fall air as I pulled in to the practice field for soccer, playing my tunes loudly to get myself geared up to run for far too long. One band I adored, who never got proper recognition for their excellent music, was Fenix Tx.

Originally named River Fenix, the group had to amend their name after threats from the Fenix estate. Their first full release, a self-titled album propelled by the single 'All My Fault',  was a middling affair that I loved, warts and all. The songs were kinda punky, but a little more straight forward than anything else I was listening to at the time. When I saw their sophomore effort in the bin at the music shop I frequented (yes, that was still a thing, just a decade ago) I picked it up automatically. Titled Lechuza, this release saw the band go harder and faster, their songwriting developing further and as a result, rocked harder than their first release.

 The thing about Fenix Tx, and Lechuza as a whole, is that the band never really was much of a pop-punk outfit. You'd see that title thrown at, say Blink 182 or Green Day, but there was a harder edge to Fenix Tx, just a tad more grit to their writing and production that gave the group a heavier, more serious feel. Sure, you could have a poppy and pop-culture focused album opener like 'Phoebe Cates' to hook in the casual listener, but it gives way to the fantastic Foo Fighters-aping 'Katie W.' With it's clean/soft, hard/loud dynamics it could easily have been an outtake from The Foo's spectacular The Colour & The Shape. Here, though, it stands out among the tracks as a reason not to dismiss Fenix Tx as just another pop punk band from the turn of the millennium. Further illustrating their growth and divergence from under the feet of their forbearers, the next track, the single 'Threesome', also makes deft use of tempo changes and stuttering riffs. When the chorus whips in with singer Will Salazar wailing "Let's try this all again, only faster now!" it works on a couple levels. It's a great song and was a natural choice for a single.

 Another inspired song that is more the Foo Fighters vein than (ugh) New Found Glory is the grand and sweeping alt-rock 'Tearjerker'. The song, with it's singing guitar lines and heavy rhythms, is a fantastic way to show not all of the music from this time frame was horrible. While so many people were enduring pre-fabricated pop or the horrors of (ugh) nu-metal, I had this album to let my head breathe a bit. It's an album that rocks, but without being balls-to-the-wall, in-your-face about every track. It has energy, but it's not manic. To give a back handed compliment, it's a great album almost for what it's not. It's not over-the-top, it's not aggro, it's not a rip off and it's not just their first album re-hashed. In a sense the almost unremarkable is what makes it so solid.

Lechuza is a straight-ahead, no frills rock record that got too-quickly passed over by an ever changing scene right after the turn of the millennium. If you have any affection for left-of-center rock bands that evoke a Foo Fighters vibe, give this album a listen and see what they were. It's a far stronger outing than their debut and an under-appreciated stealth effort.

Get It While It's Good

Alright, kids. Gather round and listen.


I've written about Toussaint Morrison before, but you need to hustle up and get on his momentum while you still have a chance. His new mixtape dropped yesterday and it's even better than the last.


Hot on the heels of his last outing with Dr. Wylie, last spring's Toussaint Morrison Is Not My Homeboy, this week saw the Middle West rapper let loose his best outing yet. Titled Makin' Mistakes & Feelin' Great, the mixtape is full of the perfect little idiosyncrasies that make Toussaint so unique and fantastic. I hate to fawn but there are times, listening to it, that it feels eerily like it was tailor made to suit my tastes, only with more laser-like precision this time around.

 Lighting right up with an assist by local charmer and songbird K. Raydio, 'Jon Bones Jones' sets up the soundscape deftly. While Morrison whips through his verses like it's a steeple chases, his hooks get a touch of lightness and snap from K. Raydio's melodies. Showcasing the energetic mad-scientist work ethic of Dr. Wylie, 'Veronica Hotel' kicks in with a manic beat that practically knocks your ear off kilter intentionally. When it switches gears about 45 seconds in, Toussaint slips effortlessly into the pocket and you get the best of both worlds - heavy hip hop with insanely catchy dance track synths. Some new-wave-esgue stuff that gets you moving, no matter the office. Toussaint makes cracks about his critics still bringing their ipods to the office but at least I get to bob my head on the bus.


There are fresh new sounds on this mixtape, too. 'N.O.A.' has a fresh feel due to it's throw-back roots - it has an air of soul music and Al Green channeled through modern day thinking man's lyricism. 'F*uck School', a super fun rager with Jus Rhyme, shows that Morrison knows how to write a hook, making you want to shout out the title whenever it comes up. Despite the fact I've not set foot in a college in five years, it still feels fresh and rebellious. 'Favorite Game', featuring vocals by local legend Lucy Michelle, is a classic example of Toussaint at his most introspective while spinning yarns and name checking heavy hitters on the Minneapolis scene. The tone of the keys is so smooth and slick, it's a great track. 'Freedom Cobra', featuring Mayda, makes great use of a sample from The Strokes, while 'Mutant After All' has a hooky bit from Natalie Fine, adding to both track's dance-ability. From the construction and production of the track 'Ashley', there are times it feels like marketing execs wrote it just to appeal to every divergent taste in my brain.

My favorite track hands down, though, has to be 'Uppercut', with a guest spot by my favorite underground rapper, Homeless. Homeless, as you may or may not know, granted the first ever interview for this site. His back and forth volley with Morrison on this track is fantastic, their distinct but complimentary voices playing well off each other. I love the references they both drop, from Minneapolis landmarks to special moves in Street Fighter. 


It's easy to see why this mixtape is great. If you were lucky like I was, you were able to catch a download while they were available. If not, you can still stream it, but your best bet may be catching the man live, in action. Follow his twitter feed to see what's up and when he has a show coming. You'd do well to keep your ear on the ground.

Nobody Wins, Ever

What's up, gang?


Book Worm Week is over and done. I feel pretty good about it. In hindsight I don't feel like I made a total fool out of myself or betrayed a complete lack of comprehension. If I did I certainly wasn't aware of it. To thank you for stick around during the theme week, I thought I'd share a bit of a tale about music and the ebb and flow of bands. Something a little literary and a little musical, perhaps. 


Here goes.


After a tumultuous senior year of high school my parents made the kind suggestion that perhaps I'd be better off with my uncle Chuck on the west coast, where I could make a little money in his tavern and get away from unsavory influences. I figured my life as I knew it, up to that point, was ending, so what the hell? A single suitcase later, I was heading to Federal Way, Washington to live with Chuck, the two of us sharing his lovely suburban home. I toiled away in the tavern and spent my free time either chain-smoking and reading on his deck (I've long since quit - youthful indiscretion) or wandering local galleries and taking in the Seattle sights.

Being a young man with no friends and little family in the area (Hi Gail! Hi Ben!) I was at a loss for what to do while in the area for the four months I lived in the Pacific Northwest. Unlike my recent obsession with Twin Peaks, this was a sunny, adventurous time of my life, full of punk music and sunshine. So imagine my delight then, when my cousin Jason (and boss, let's be honest) offered a ticket from a friend to the Warped Tour. I was stoked. Only catch - it was three hours away in the Gorge amphitheater and I had no one to go with. This being the days before Craigslist, I decided to just say the hell with it and hopped in the car with a couple packs of smokes and some soda, making the three hour drive through the mountains to see the show.

It was a beautiful drive - we have nothing like the mountains in the middle west. There's just nothing that compares to the clear air of the coast. The Gorge is a hell of a place to see a show, I should say. A natural amphitheater, a whole slew of stages were set up, too many bands to see at any given time to take it all sufficiently in. Aside from the mainstays like NOFX, Bad Religion and Lagwagon and some local band that did a great cover of 'Holiday Road' from National Lampoon's Vacation, there was one little band that caught my ear.


Nobody Wins.


I asked some pierced and tattooed girl near me who they were and she could only offer a name. In my pre-wiki days I thought I'd never hear them again, so I paid rapt attention to their heavy yet melodic show, damn energetic and passionate. I thought I had stumbled on something fantastic and unknown. Plunking down what little money I had at the time, I picked up their only CD - a single with two B-sides, title 'Words Unspoken'. I loved it.


But that was all I ever heard from them. 


Even now, I can only find this bare bones Myspace page. How is that possible? Listen to the tracks they put on their page and tell me there aren't countless inferior groups that get more airplay every day. How did I hear this band once, and then never again?


It's stayed with me all these years, this secret awesome single that no one else seems to have any knowledge of. Anyone with any info on the band, throw it in the comments. All I know is they were based out of Seattle and may have put out one more album that I've heard, but it was like a rough precursor to the single. What connection do they have to this other group, The Four Color Process? There seemed like so much promise, but instead they vanished into thin air. 


Damn shame.

Noses in Books

...and so ends Book Worm Week.

It's been a fantastic journey into the imagination, gang. I love reading, there's nothing quite like sitting down with a great book and whiling away an afternoon, especially when it's raining outside or if you've opened a nice bottle of wine. You just kick your feet up, sit back and get lost in a world that assembles gradually in front of your mind's eye, bit by bit. As much as I enjoy TV or a good movie, the written word is so simple and essential, such a vital part of being human that has such a profound effect on how we see the world. Books are able to transport us, both through stories and new ideas, to places we would never dream of. It brings me so much joy to know there are people out there who still love a good book. Hey, doesn't even have to be a book - the first thing I bought for a kindle was The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, appropriately enough. Although I suppose my phone would be The Guide, instead of a kindle. Regardless, people (even American people) still love to read. To wrap up Book Worm Week here's everything I've posted about the written word:

Sleepwalk With Me - Mike Birbiglia's hilarious and touching stories about sleep disorders, interspersed with comedy.

Simpsons/Futurama Crossover Crisis - a bizarre and super-fun comic that sees two great things mashed together.

Calvin & Hobbes - the smartest comic strip ever to grace the funny pages, in my humble opinion.

A Dirty Job - Christopher Moore at his best, in a tale of a man having to do horrible things to save the world.

The Stand - Stephen King's take on an American Lord of the Rings. Simply phenomenal.

Fluke - Another Moore novel, this time about whales and secrets and hidden evolution. Mind bending.

Sin Titulo - A free web-comic that tells a trippy and engaging story, absolutely worth a look.

Norwegian Wood - Haruki Murakami, the rock star of Japan, tells a sad and poignant tale of loss and love.

A Wild Sheep Chase - More Murakami, this time a surreal gum-shoe story about missing sheep.

Dance, Dance, Dance - The sequel to Sheep Chase, just as good and just as weird.

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle - Still more Murakami, now even weirder and more emotional.

House of Leaves - The trippy meta narrative about a book about a book about a movie about a house.

Bossypants - Tina Fey's hysterical and insightful memoirs about being the boss of everyone.

Next - Michael Crichton's bleeding-edge look at a harrowing future full of ethical genetic dilemmas.

Batman: Year One - The best Batman comic ever, told in a believable fashion. Really. I swear.

The Long Halloween - The followup, which served as a basis for The Dark Knight. Phenomenal.

World War Z - The best damn book about Zombies and the end of the real world you'll ever read. I swear.

That is the full list of my verbal devotions. I love reading, as long as I have time for it. I hope you do, too. It feels like, when you really get hooked by a good book, you're feeding your brain, giving it sustenance that TV and pop culture can't. Then again, half of that list is comics and comedians, so what do I know? Regardless, I'm happy to know anyone would take a recommendation. Thanks for sticking out another themed week. Tomorrow it's back to the usual tricks. I'll see you on the flip side!

The Zed Word

Beautiful weekend, kids. 


Book Worm Week is drawing to a close tomorrow, so let's get right to it by switching gears yet again. Today's book is the one and only World War Z by Max Brooks.

Serving as a conceptual sequel and an extrapolation of the concept presented in Brooks' premier effort, The Zombie Survival Guide, World War Z is a sprawling account of the global catastrophe that occurs when an outbreak of the living dead goes out of control. But before we get ahead of ourselves here, a word of explanation - the Survival Guide was written as just that, a guide or instruction manual on how to survive and what to do when plagued by the undead. World War Z is a book that plays off of the rules established in the guide - that the zombies are in the Romero line of work, i.e. no running, no thinking, just relentless shuffling following by flesh-eating and you getting your day wrecked. While Brooks could have simply b.s.'ed a couple of short stories about outbreaks similar to the coda of the survival guide, he instead went for broke, creating a fictitious series of accounts of a global outbreak and the near-extinction of all humanity. 


It's crazy stuff.


Broken up into sections for every stage of the pseudo-apocalypse, World War Z breaks down the events into digestible (forgive the word choice) bits of story. What starts as a virus reanimating the deceased in rural China spreads via the black-market organ transplant business, exploding into an epidemic after a series of riots and out breaks in South Africa. Soon after, the world begins crumbling - in the most affecting passages, Brooks creates detailed anecdotes about humanity collapsing in the face of death. We are clearly a society that struggles to work together and this occasion is no different - riots, looting and a failure in military strategy on the national level. Abroad, things get just as bad - Russia clamps down in abhorrent military tactics while Pakistan and India fires nukes, obliterating each other. Ecosystems are destroyed, cities are overrun. It looks like time is up for mankind. 


But not all is lost.


Soon a plan is hatched to regroup and refocus military efforts, at the cost of large segments of the population. As unthinkable as it may be, letting huge sections of the world go in order to save the rest is the only workable option. Soldiers are re-trained to make slow, deliberate head shots and are re-equipped with the proper equipment. When the tides turn, the soul crushing tale starts to become a thing of remarkable optimism and cheer. It's actually a remarkable twist of narrative.

The sheer scope of what Brooks has done in World War Z is amazing. The manner in which he breaks down a global catastrophe into comprehensible segments is not unlike some of the History Channel's longer exercises on tragedies like Katrina or the September 11th attacks - events that were so massive in size that you have to approach them on a smaller, human level to begin to understand them. A zombie apocalypse would be similarly unwieldy - to huge to wrap one's head around and too many unforeseeable results. Yet somehow, through an overwhelming amount of research and homework, Brooks has lain out an impressively detailed and well-crafted series of events. The scope is staggering.

If by any means you have an interest in Zombies or horror, you have to read this book. In fact you may well have already. But that should not limit it's appeal in any way - there are fascinating insights into politics, economics and sociology as well, not just from a fictional stand point. Countless times I found myself marveling at the plausible consequences presented by Brooks. Slated to start production as a major Hollywood movie soon, you'll be hearing more about this astounding book in the future. Just be ready and do your homework. Tomorrow, we wrap up Book Worm Week! See you then!

Batboy

Happy Weekend, everyone!

We're still in the midst of Book Worm Week. In the interest of switching genres abruptly, let's go completely outside of the box and look at something fun and easy for a Friday night thing, shall we? Today's post is on Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli's stunning Batman: Year One. 

I know what you're thinking. Comics, for real? I know, I'm another in the long line of emotionally stunted men who still read comics as adults. Some are more like actual novels, like the sprawling and long form Y: The Last Man. Others are completely whacked out, like Hellboy or anything involving the X-Men. Batman, I honestly believe, falls somewhere between the two. Sounds insane to say, but hear me out - Bats has no superpowers to speak of. He's just a very wealthy, well trained man with an over-accentuated sense of justice. Nothing supernatural or completely far out, depending on the story you're reading. My preferred tales of the Batman are all closer to reality than some of the more fantastical story lines and continuities. So this excellent tale of how the Dark Knight got his start grounds itself in that same sense of reality. Let's take a closer look. 

I've got to assume that if you're reading this, you have at least a passing familiarity with Batman's origin. As an child, Bruce Wayne witnesses the death of his parents at the hands of a desperate mugger, the tragedy creating a void in his life that can never be filled. As a young man he travels abroad for 12 years, studying martial arts and along with a wide range of studies, preparing himself for cleansing corruption from Gotham City. The opening of the book sees him returning to the city and setting about the process of figuring out what to do. The plot for the book essentially follows the arc of Bruce Wayne's first year in his foray in donning a cape and cowl to fight the corruption threatening to destroy Gotham City. Simultaneously Detective Jim Gordon deals with transferring into a corrupt police force and has to face the task of combating crimes from the inside while holding on to a struggling marriage. The two men and their divergent methods of dealing with the problems they face make for an excellent read, the contrast in their dramas making for an engaging back-and-forth storytelling style. What many would dismiss as flights of fancy for teenagers and kids is actually a well written and beautifully drawn book that tells a believable tale of vigilantism taken to the extreme. 

The wonderful power of Year One comes not only from the images but the script. Too often you find hammy and over-the-top writing can pull you out of what could otherwise be a great story. Frank Miller's script, though, is fantastic - the dialogue and action are, given the circumstances, fairly grounded and true to life. Sure, it's hard to suspend you belief to accept a man dressing as a bat to fight crime, but if you read the scene in that sees Bruce finally deciding to use the likeness of a bat in his quest it really can be powerful. Likewise, the scene in which The Batman finally makes his presence explicitly known to the Mob families of Gotham is a tense, dramatic scene that plays incredibly well on the page.

The artwork here is simply gorgeous. They style of Mazzucchelli isn't one of over-exaggerated muscles and impossibly proportioned women with too little too wear. Instead it's all grim and grit, the smoke of the cigarettes wafting off the page, the rain making you feel chilled. The tone of the visuals is a bit of a throwback, drawing influence from old-school yarns that originated the format, re-contextualized in the style of the time (late 80s). It's a tale told in the shadows and gloom, yet it never gets lost in the dark - the dynamics make for a remarkable piece, all pops of color and highlights that draw attention to key elements. For men who work in the shadows, it's incredibly bright work.


No matter your stance on the format, you owe it to yourself to read one of the finest tales the medium can offer. If you've never read a comic, or anything about Batman, it's the perfect place to start. If you're passingly familiar with the world, it's an example of how high a standard the form can set. If you're a die hard, you already know just why you should re-read this classic. Batman: Year One is gospel. Do it for justice. Do it for the art.

Bleeding Edge

Exclamations! 

We're still in the midst of Book Worm Week, just passing the halfway point. So where does that leave us? Which genre can we jump to next? In a convenient twist, Next is the book du jour, a startling and strange look ahead by the late, great Michael Crichton. 

It was a sad day in the literary world when he passed away - Crichton was fantastic. His books vacillated between science fiction thrillers to cutting edge techno-parables that fueled their pace with frantic and dire warnings of progress run amok. Like anyone alive during the 90s (except paleontologists) I loved Jurassic Park - even re-reading it on a plane ride during the first decade of the millennium I thought it aged pretty well. It's a great story. Crichton had this relentless energy and nerds-pushing-glasses-up-their-noses aggression that added a level of seriousness without pomp. In short, I really dug his work. So when my (eventual) mother-in-law happened to leave a copy of his last finished published work on their coffee table, I eagerly borrowed it and got down to business. What I read was an interesting if uneven tale that Crichton made accessible despite the jargon within. Since my last read of any of his works was about five years prior, I was pleasantly reminded of why I love his work. 

Next, published in 2006, is technically a novel about a loosely connected group of people in the genetic-research industry and the implications of their actions. In the same sense, though, the book functions more as a collection of interconnected vignettes about out-of-control and unchecked advances in the legal and ethical realm of scientists at the front of their field. Beginning with the tale of a man who loses the rights of ownership of his own cells (due to not understanding the language of a research waiver while being treated for a leukemia), Crichton begins spinning yarn after yarn about potential developments due to court-enabled precedents. The man loses the rights to his cells, which a university uses for research and eventually profit while barring him from any information, let alone profits. This ties in with a story of a geneticist who inadvertently creates transgenic specimens, one of which is a chimp that is blurring the lines of humanity in unnerving ways. Further concepts such as genetic predispositions to risk-taking and chimera genes are brought into the story as both plot points and parables. The collection of stories hold together well, but from my understanding Crichton wasn't aiming to do so - Next is intended as a single, cohesive novel and yet it comes across as segmented and uneven, some passages feeling too heavy handed to be legitimate fiction, while some fiction comes across as to much of a lecture to be engaging. Despite this uneven nature, I still enjoyed the book, if not for the diverse range of characters than for all of the startling and accurate developments in science and the legal system.

 One gets the sense, coming late to the Crichton party, that his books are not always read for their rich stories and characters but for the concepts and execution. I enjoyed reading Prey when it came out (Xmas of 2004) but I can't recall the characters. Similar story for The Lost World, save for Ian Malcolm. In fact, were it not for his science and adoration of boundary-pushing, would I have any inclination to read his books? Probably not. But that's neither here nor there. What really tickles my brain is that, having read this book just a few years after publishing, so much of it has come to pass that it becomes unnerving. We may not have full ownership of our bodies, given certain circumstances. Following a multitude of science and tech blogs (Hi Giz!) plus being obsessed with science fiction (Hellooooo io9!) I'm startled to read about the bizarre and incomprehensible discoveries and developments that occur on a daily basis. Just the other day I read about a lab that was creating a whole slew of transgenic animals and just wasn't telling anyone, just because they wanted to do it to see if it could be done (and supposedly what we can learn in the process). Or how we can cultivate bacteria to eat the oil in the Gulf or break down plastics in the Great Pacific Garbage Heap. Or everyone's favorite - the mouse with the ear grown on its back: 

Next is a bit of a hybrid itself - an imperfect development that spans multiple worlds. Crichton was a visionary, predicting both good and bad from this rapidly changing field - the main lesson to draw from it seems to be that we need to be judicious and cautious in our approach. It's not the most engaging story he's told (*coughcoughdinosaursrunningwildcoughcough*) but man, if it isn't crazy science. maybe I'm just a nerd who's suckered in by geeky subject matter and a pulpy story. Maybe I'm being to hard on a great author, now that he's gone. Tell you what - you read Next and weigh in. Am I a jerk or what? While we're doing homework, read these five summarizing conclusions Crichton made after writing this book:

Stop patenting genes.

Establish clear guidelines for the use of human tissues.

Pass laws to ensure that data about gene testing is made public.

Avoid bans on research.

Rescind the Bayh-Dole Act

...and read this critique on his reasoning, then weigh in. Test tomorrow. Okay, no test. It's Friday.

Nerf Herder

Welcome back to Book Worm Week!

To continue with my trend of abruptly switching gears with every post, I thought I'd get away from the heady, symbolic texts worth hours of introspection to focus a bit more on the lighter side of things. So today, instead of grim surrealism we're looking at Bossypants by Tina Fey

Tina Fey is, in a word, awesome. I adore her. Yes, I am a married man, but I have to admit a certain fondness for her witty charm and insightful writing - plus her words can cut like a razor, which doesn't hurt. Frankly, anyone who has met me and my better half could attest I have a thing for genius-level brunettes with a strong sense of humor. My own embarrassing admissions aside, I remember first seeing Tina Fey on SNL hosting the Weekend Update segment. As someone who has always paid close attention to the news and politics, I found her cutting and delightful, a snarky and hysterical woman at a time in my life where those type were not in abundance. Plus, she wore glasses - not a lot of people in my small No-Coast town embraced the whole intelligence-fostering ideal, but it was high school and let's be honest - neither did I. Anyway, I regret not watching SNL more in those days and leading into college, because anything of hers I've seen has been awesome, like the Mom Jeans or Annuale commercial, or any of her work on Weekend Update. It was also around this time 30 Rock debuted. I remember thinking that it was either that show or Studio 60 that would survive and thankfully Fey persevered. Around the second season of that show I fell in love with it, and I have quickly glommed on to Fey's voice and perspective, figuring out what her general style is. Never one to relish in the spotlight, Fey was elusive and a bit mysterious, but she would probably chalk that up to being a social misfit and not wanting to be a reality TV star. 

So imagine my delight, then, when I heard about her (then) forthcoming book Bossypants. As a generally biographical tale sprinkled with her insight into the worlds of comedy and beauty, I was instantly sold on the book. While it is clear at times Fey was not writing for my general audience (young men) I still found what she had to offer to be absolutely hysterical and interesting, if not illuminating. Fey writes a fair amount about her experiences growing up; there were no great tragedies the reader can point to and say "Oh, that's where the bitter comedy comes from..." but there was just enough demeaning experiences and self-loathing to gain an understanding of her approach to writing and being a reluctant public figure. Her home life comes across as supportive and normal, her school experiences seem, while certainly unique, not impossible for anyone else to identify with, even a 28 year old guy lying on a beach on his honeymoon. Those were great conditions for reading the book, by the way - Fey's a whip-smart woman with a jovial, engaging writing style, so buzzing through a couple quick chapters while lying in the sun were ideal. A crowded bus? Maybe not so much. But it was a fun, quick read that was hard to put down. 

Her rise to prominence wasn't a tale of overcoming adversity but trying to get through to foolish people who struggled to understand that women were just as capable as men when it comes to being funny. In fact her tales of career choices and the events in her life pale in comparison to when her sense of justice and humor fire up at the same time - when writing on the idea of whether or not women are inherently funny, Fey goes after her detractors with both barrels blazing, to delightful effect. I should admit, though, that these passages were, in essence, preaching to the choir - I was still in my formative comedy years when women took over SNL and I see everyday women like Kristen Schaal and Samantha Bee kill it on The Daily Show, so I don't see where the 'women aren't funny' concept generated. Furthermore, her take on the whole Sarah Palin period was particularly revelatory.

But I digress.
Fey is most alive in the book when straying from her loose autobiography. She shares funny, if perfunctory, anecdotes about her her honeymoon and raising kids while being a writer, but they're more to give insight into 'being the boss' of her life, the theme of the book. Her musings on women's fashion, photo shoots and the experiences of being both over-and-underweight are the most entertaining and revelatory. Again, as a guy who's almost 30, these aren't truly aimed at me. I still found them to be entertaining and worthwhile reading, though. I also particularly enjoyed her tales of backstage at SNL and the assembling of her writer's team on 30 Rock, which is, in my humble opinion, one of the hands-down funniest shows, period. Citing her writing staff's highlights and MVP moments is also great for fans of the show - it gives a glimpse at how the insane scripts come together, instead of springing forth from creative people's minds, pre-assembled.

 I simply can't say enough good things about Bossypants. I'm one of those guys who think Tina Fey can do no wrong, Sarah Palin-skewering included. I love her writing style, I adore her comedy and sense of humor and I really enjoy and admire her take on what it is to be a woman. Again, though, this is coming from a dude who's been a dude all his life, so make of that what you will. That being said - if you know me and are the least bit curious, just ask. I gladly loan out my books. 

Corridors

Hello! 

Welcome to day two of Book Worm Week! 

After looking at such a dense and heady text as Murakami's Windup Bird Chronicle yesterday, what would you say to switching gears completely, to something like a total inversion of that experience? Instead of an emotionally driven tale of a lonely man's search for identity in the world while dealing with dream-obsessed psychic prostitutes in a doorstop of a novel, how about a pop-culture influencing, quick read that almost makes a game out of the reading experience - would that pique your interest? Good, because today we're looking at House of Leaves, by Mark Z. Danielewski.

 Published back around the turn of the millennium, House of Leaves could be the very definition of a post-modern book, one that is just as much about the book itself as it is about what happens both in and on the page. On the surface (which is a statement, in and of itself) the plot is as follows: a young man working at an LA tattoo parlor named Johnny Truant is told about a vacant apartment for rent, whose previous tenant was a blind old man named Zampano. In the old man's belongings they find a book the man apparently dictated, the subject of which was a film called The Navidson Record. As Truant begins to edit and assemble a workable copy of the book from the scraps and fragments left by Zampano, the tale of The Navidson Record takes over. The Navidson record was a (possibly) fictional movie the documented a family whose home suddenly gains a large closet it hadn't previously held. The patriarch of the family, (fictional) famed photographer Will Navidson, begins an obsessive quest to document the exact measurements of the house, finding it to be exactly 1/4 inch larger on the inside than the outside. This discrepancy begins to consume him, and when there appears a doorway on the living room wall which opens into a corridor that exists seemingly in hammer space, he begins to explore it. 

So to recap - a book about a book about a movie about a strange and impossible labyrinth. 

As I stated at the beginning of the post, the book is a poster child for the modern non-book, a work with multiple levels of interpretation and meta-contextually that becomes a winding, inescapable journey into the author's mind. In a cheeky move, the book itself is 1/4 inch larger than the cover, the pages jutting out intentionally. The text inside changes fonts, sizes and formats, depending both on the narrating character and the context of the action. Passages of prose are broken up by poems, which are footnoted; these footnotes often contain there own footnotes, at times telling entirely capsular stories of their own. As the reader reaches the point of Navidson exploring the labyrinth in his home, the text shifts and twists around the page, reflecting the alien nature of the story and the sub-protagonist's perspective. It's fascinating but at times it makes it either impossibly off putting or entirely engrossing. When fleeing sounds in the darkness in the labyrinth, the text becomes small, claustrophobic blocks, forcing the reader to rapidly flip pages to keep up, as though running along side the action. When lost miles beneath the house, the text circles back around in isolated boxes that are upside down in other chapters, highlighting the impossible physics and skewing the reader's sense of perspective. Text changes color at times randomly, other times quite intentionally for specific phrases and words.

 To be candid, though, I found this to be simultaneously inspired logic yet it absolutely withdrew me from the reading experience. I found myself wistfully thinking, at times, how nice it would have been to simply have the straight text of The Navidson Film in a standard book format - the idea of inner-space being more extensive than outer-space was fascinating and (I felt) at times fumbled by Danielewski. What could have made for a disturbing and haunting tale becomes, instead, a case of 'look how clever I am' exercises in an author's debut work. It felt like at times the book would reach out and slap me if it had hands, just to defy the typical reading experience.

 I say all this, yet I still have read the book more than once. I can bag on the post-modern theatrics that Danielewski foists upon the reader and yet I still adore the central concept on display. This no doubt has ties to my love of the Silent Hill series, which has often featured long and winding passages that don't exist in reality yet force the player through them in effectively disorienting sequences. As much as I love the adventure of the characters getting lost somewhere in the walls of the house, it is, at it's heart, a book about a married couple clutching each other's hands as their relationship stumbles. I didn't realize it until my second read through (with some internet-assisted hand-holding) that the book has just as much of a focus on the characters as it does the house itself. Johnny Truant's crumbling mind and Will Navidson's obsessions fuel the plot developments in such a deft and sly manner that it adds another layer to an already massively choreographed work - you don't notice it as you read about a 'haunted house' but it's the character's you're becoming unknowingly invested in, not the labyrinth. 

It's divisive, it's notorious, it's over a decade old and still post-modern. House of Leaves is strange and wonderful journey that is fundamentally unlike anything else I've ever read. I would highly suggest you track down a copy and see what you find. Book Worm Week continues tomorrow with another abrupt change in style - stay tuned! 

Bird On A Wire

Happy Monday, dear readers.

Or rather, just Monday.

Mondays are a bite. I don't care for 'em. So I'll take the opportunity to flip it on its head. Like I promised when I resumed writing after the honeymoon, I'm doing more themed weeks here on the blog. Video Game Week went pretty well, and I have something lined up for October that I'm really excited for. In the mean time, starting today it's officially Book Worm Week! In a bold attempt at breaking my own conventions and exposing my own limited comprehension skills I'm going to spend the week highlighting books that are fantastic, underrated or fantastically underrated. So where do we start? Instead of easing in to the week, let's go full-bore: The Windup Bird Chronicle.

 This book is heavy, both in the figurative and literal sense. It functions as a doorstop as well as a dense, symbolic text about the author's search for identity in post-World War II Japan. The post-modern work of celebrated Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami, The Windup Bird Chronicle tells the tale of a young man named Toru Okada as he searches for things gone missing: first his cat, then his wife, then his sense of self, both real and perceived. But upon reading the book it becomes apparent its' actually about much more than that. The book is a heavily symbolic examination of identity and loss in a world with which I am only passingly familiar. As Okada begins a search for his cat, his wife introduces a sort of psychic woman named Malta Kano, who has an obsession over water and flow in the lives of her clients. Her sister, Creta Kano, also displays a sort of clairvoyance. The manner in which these characters are connected slowly is brought into focus throughout the first third of the book, until it becomes clear that for better or worse, they are drawn together to make sense of the world around them.

 Okada's brother-in-law, Nobroru Wataya, is the central figure in the book, serving as both motivation, plot mechanism and antagonist. His character is, by its very nature, murky and ominous, ill defined. His presence is one that fills the other characters with dread and loathing, though they struggle to comprehend just why that is. Murakami has done an incredible thing in creating this character, who eludes the reader's grasp yet exudes an air of malice and otherworldliness, even when speaking quite simply and bluntly about his motivations. It's fascinating to watch him come to life.
The book is, indeed, a chronicle - it works both in chapters and as a larger, arching tome. The manner in which the plot meanders and segues into other ideas is bit serpentine and unpredictable. At times it feels like entirely different books and plots are overlapping with the central themes Murakami presents. That's the thing about this book - it's incredibly hard to describe. While I've mentioned the basic plot and characters, there are vignettes of other tales and divergent paths all over the place. Okada meets a variety of characters, all having distinct and whole lives that figure in - an old soldier from Japan's failed invasion of China who recounts the horrible things he witnessed in Mongolia and Russian Labor camps. A designer and holistic healer named Nutmeg Akasaka whose guidance is central in later plot developments. Okada's neighbor, the morbidly obsessed May Kasahara, actually leaves the story, only to appear in a series of letters to the protagonist through the remainder of the book. Like I previously stated - The Windup Bird Chronicle is a dense complicated book.

 I should say, though, that despite the complex nature of the book, I've adored it through multiple readings. The first time I made my way through it, I was admittedly confused by the events and the (at times) disconnected nature of syntax; it felt like while I understood the literal language, there were sub textual things that were lost on me. Upon further readings of the book, however, it became much clearer that I was reading too deep into the text. Things that were originally murky became much more simple and straight forward on a second pass. What also became much clearer was the nuanced, interconnected nature of the plot. Where my first pass through the text took over a month with me scratching my head at seemingly unrelated events, my second time through took only days, with the plot becoming so much more cohesive. The manner in which Murakami ties in his characters with overlapping themes and repeated motifs is breathtaking in their beauty and scope. Once again at the end of the book, I found myself asking how it all tied together. In just a few short pages and a handful of developments, the plot's central essences is laid bare, elegant in its simplicity but masterfully played out by the author.

It's about a man searching for things he's lost, but it's also so much more than that. If you have any patience whatsoever for a fantastical, strange text, I would emphatically recommend The Windup Bird Chronicle. To fully describe it would rob it of the journey it presents - you simply must read it to experience what Murakmi has created. So begins Book Worm Week! I'll see you tomorrow for more literary adventures.