On the Shelf 10.31.2012

My reading life has been woefully inadequate this week, mainly because the books I've wanted to read have remained, well, on the shelf.

Required reading such as Profiles in Courage, East of Eden, and Foundations of Economics: AP, Third Edition has commandeered most of my time; however, I've still managed to leaf through some interesting writing.

I made some major headway on Pigeon English this week, and hope to finish tomorrow. I'm still not quite sure what I think of this book...I'm normally a fan of coming-of-age genre fiction, but this novel doesn't quite fit the mold. I liked it? I think?

I guess I really would have liked to have seen more of the pigeon, an arcane, omniscient presence in Harri's narrative. All the substance comes with the bird.

Also, by way of dare from Jay Parekh, I will now be reading The Children's Blizzard. Oh boy. 

DOWNLOAD: 10.26.2012

Listening: 

Slow It Down by The Lumineers
Lonesome Day by Bruce Springsteen

Walking With A Ghost by Tegan and Sara
Whole Lotta Losin' by Monsters of Folk'
All 'Cause Of You by The 88
Daydreaming by Dark Dark Dark
Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) by Arcade Fire
Summer Mood by Best Coast
Bloom by Gypsy & The Cat
Merry Happy by Kate Nash Man, I wish I had her accent.

Appreciating:

Laurent Chéhère

I am so captivated by Chéhère's series of floating houses. It's like UP...but so much cooler...

Drew Young 

I am absolutely in love with Young's method of painting. His multi-layered surfaces and dimensional viewpoints make for some truly great images. 

Brandon Boyd 

Boyd's drawings and other illustrations are okay, but I'm really digging his series of drippy, symmetrical paintings. Rorschach done right. 

Anticipating: 

It's official: My family is definitely going to New York City during Christmas break! I can't wait to see the lights, feel the chill, and hear saxophones in the streets. 

Consuming: 

Angel Hair Pasta with Lemon and Garlic Such a great recipe. And Oprah likes it. Seriously. 

Launching the Ambivalent Nemesis

I really think content from So Deep It's Shallow, These Islands Condescend, and Hysteria's Lament would make for great Ambivalent Nemesis material.

Especially loving the 80's retrospect on Hysteria's Lament. Publish this!!!

DOWNLOAD: 10.19.2012

Listening: 

Knock Knock by Band of Horses

Easy/Lucky/Free by Bright Eyes

Dark Blue by Jack's Mannequin

Are You Lonesome Tonight? by Henry Burr

Teardrop Windows by Benjamin Gibbard

All The King's Men by Wild Beasts

God's Will by Martina McBride

Gray or Blue by Jaymay
Take Off Your Sunglasses by Ezra Furman and the Harpoons
Dancing in the Dark covered by Ben Howard and Yael Naim

Appreciating: 

Tim Noble and Sue Webster I just can't get over how cool this shadow art is. 

Catrin Welz-Stein This Malaysian artist has the most captivating collages. Especially loving the series entitled "The Storyteller."

Seonna Hong These paintings are so great. I especially love the series rendered on paint swatches. 

Anticipating: 

The second installment of the Atlas Shrugged Movie was released on October 12th. I can't wait to see it--the first part was extremely well-made and astonishingly true to the book. 

Consuming: 

Blueberry Greek frozen yogurt. Scrumptious. 

Cerebral Fissures

I was reading Franny and Zooey the other day when I came across a passage that really struck me:

Phooey, I say, on all white-shoe college boys who edit their campus literary magazines. Give me an honest con man any day.

J.D. Salinger was no great shakes in the realm of academia, and was quick to call pretty much anyone a phony. (Poor Holden. So misunderstood.)

But he did attend NYU and Columbia. Salinger's novels have gone down in the cannon as "American classics." So what gives?

Salinger isn't the only critically-acclaimed author to voice his disdain for institutionalized education. In a letter to Conrad Aiken in 1914, T.S. Eliot himself wrote:

"I hate university towns and university people, who are the same everywhere, with pregnant wives, sprawling children, many books, and hideous pictures on the walls...Oxford is very pretty, but I don't like to be dead."

It's not like Eliot was exactly new to the "university" scene either. The guy studied at Harvard, Oxford, AND the Sorbonne. Not to mention his grandfather was one of the founders of Washington University in St. Louis.

What is it that makes these authors scorn college? Is it insulting to imply their talents weren't the product of solely their own cultivation? Or is it just a tried-and-true brushoff of "the establishment?"

Interesting questions to ponder. Maybe it's the trademark author-viewpoint: the road to artistic success is the road less-traveled by.

What We're Loving: 10/12/2012

I'm a huge fan of David Sedaris. Ever since Laura Zweig gave me a copy of Me Talk Pretty One Day, I knew I'd entered a serious love affair with the dry wit and zany imagination of this cynical, saucy guy. 

I checked out some of his other work, and burrowed through  When You Are Engulfed in Flames and Holidays on Ice in carefree contentment. Oh, how blind I was.

Listening to Sedaris read one of his stories on This American Life  was like seeing your favorite band live. Then...begrudgingly realizing...how much your CD sucks.

Sedaris's account of the homely couple he encounters at a coffee stand is one that's familiar--the busybody wife and abrasive old man treating any bright-eyed barista like their good-ol' chum. While you stand, waiting.

This story is one I actually may have read before; but the fluctuations of his voice make all the difference. Taking in Sedaris's nasally, albeit shrill, interpretation of this meat-and-potatoes couple made the once-lively voice in my head, well, pretty much seem like Ben Stein. All this, coupled with Sedaris's signature sardonic ending twist.

"Turn Around Bright Eyes" is definitely a radio segment you should check out. Sedaris really has a talent for finding absurd in the mundane, and hearing him perform adds a whole new level of nuance and meaning.

Oh, and during the reading he was apparently in full clown makeup. Just keep that in mind.

DOWNLOAD: 10.12.2012

Listening: 

Changing by The Airborne Toxic Event

Old Friends by Simon and Garfunkel

Varúð by Sigur Rós

All I Ask Of You by Andrew Lloyd Webber

The Universe is Laughing by The Guggenheim Grotto

Miss Misery by Elliott Smith
Quiet As a Mouse by Margot and the Nuclear So and So's
Army by Ben Folds Five
All These Things That I've Done by The Killers Great throwback. 

One Step Up by Eddie Vedder Did Pearl Jam's leading man seriously cover the Boss? YES.

Appreciating: 

Ellen Gronemeyer These gestural portraits suggest a more colorful take on Edvard Munch. 

Eric Carle Carle's animal paintings hold a special place in my heart--his children's books make up some of my fondest childhood memories. Hermit crab for lyfe!

Phoebe Rudomino Rudomino specializes in underwater photography, and the results are captivating. Especially loving her aquatic portraits and smoke-like inks and dyes. 

Anticipating:

I'm really looking forward to some new movies coming out soon. The trailers for Argo, The Great Gatsby, and Cloud Atlas all have me hooked.

Consuming: 

Panera Bread's Creamy Tomato Soup. Delish. 

Facing the Facts

I've just begun to delve into Susan Cain's treatise on introspection, and I'm pleasantly surprised by how Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking has captured my attention.

Truthfully, this is the first year I've given any serious consideration to non-fiction. This summer, I started off reading The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson, and then it hit me: everything in the book is true, and I still couldn't put it down. Now that's saying something. 

Larson has mastered the art of storytelling. It doesn't matter that TDITWC is grounded in historical fact--he picks out significant, compelling details and parses them together in a fresh and memorable way. 

After I got my feet wet with TDITWC, I discovered the same is true even in the realm of science. I initially picked up Joshua Foer's bestseller Moonwalking With Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything solely because Joshua is brother to Jonathan Safran Foer, one of my literary idols. Truthfully, I was kind of just hoping JSF had edited it. And it had cool cover art. And it was required summer reading. 

But upon reading the book, I discovered a shocking truth: It was funny. It was ENTERTAINING. In Moonwalking, Foer intermingles scientific case studies with uproarious drinking escapades and memory-nerd shenanigans. Surprisingly, the driving force behind this scientific account is humor. By humanizing characters, Foer was able to hold even my attention.

I gave creative non-fiction a try, and whaddyaknow, I liked it. This is definitely a genre I'll be exploring in the future. I guess sometimes the truth really can be stranger (or more entertaining) than fiction. 

DOWNLOAD: 10.5.2012

Listening:

The High Road by Broken Bells

Moth's Wings by Passion Pit

Mass Romantic by The New Pornographers

Broken Strings by James Morrison (feat. Nelly Furtado)

Dirty Paws by Of Monsters and Men

Whiskey, Whiskey, Whiskey by John Mayer

Tornado by Little Big Town
Fast Car by Tracy Chapman What a classic.
He War by Cat Power
Ho Hey by The Lumineers

Appreciating:

Carne Griffiths I'm totally loving Griffiths' drippy portraits. She's mastered the perfect balance of containment and organic texture.


















Peter Alexander Alexander's paintings have a strikingly minimalist quality--but he makes up for it in richness and texture.

Banksy A famous British guerrilla artist, Banksy's graffiti and public art is often politically-charged. But it just looks so cool.

Anticipating: 

MIKA's new Origin of Love album is set for release in the U.S. on October 16th. I JUST LOVE THIS MAN SO MUCH. 

Consuming: 

Celestial Seasonings peppermint tea. Always. 

Androgynous Bowl-Cuts: The Gateway to Fame

I just finished reading Mindy Kaling's Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns), and I've come to a conclusion: the secret to comedic fame is surviving a childhood bowl-cut.

Kaling's playful memoir inevitably recall's Tina Fey's recent narrative, Bossypants, (which, if you can get past the nauseating cover photo, is an excellent read.) Female comedians, NBC programming, awkward anecdotes--they're just so darn similar.

But the primary unifying factor in these books is bad hair. Both of these women proudly tout their childhood 'dos, and credit their mangy locks for making them the person they are today.

Fey (above) rocking a combination
bowl-cut-mullet. That's gotta hurt. 

"The author as child star of the TLC
series 'Androgynous Kids and Puppets,' the
less-successful predecessor of 'Toddlers and Tiaras.'"

I survived a pretty gruesome pageboy in first grade. Who knows; maybe there's hope for me yet.