Stands for Decibels by The dB’s (1981)
This debut album is experimental and mercilessly catchy. Chris Stamey (formerly of The Sneakers) and Peter Holsapple take a creative approach to the blossoming genre of power pop. Stamey’s post-punk/psychedelic leanings and love of playing with sound(s) are reined in by Holsapple’s more conventional, simple songwriting that is at the same time completely infectious.
The album starts off with a powerful Continue reading
The Quiet American by Graham Greene (1955)
Innocence
The term “innocence” continues to appear in The Quiet American and we learn very quickly that Fowler has his own definition. “Innocence is like a dumb leper who has lost his bell, wandering around the world, meaning no harm.” Innocence is also dangerous according to Fowler. He considers Pyle to be the most dangerous man he knows. Fowler knows that Pyle is intelligent (a Harvard boy), and has good intentions at heart, but he is entirely ignorant with regard to the local politics. Continue reading
Isn’t Anything by My Bloody Valentine (1988)
This album, although frequently overlooked as the less attractive older sister to 1991’s Loveless, is an impressive and well-balanced introduction to shoegaze in its infancy. It is a near-perfect marriage of terror and warmth.
The wonderful, wandering bass-line in “Soft as Snow (But Warm Inside)” immediately draws the listener in. Continue reading
What is the hipster fascination with skinny jeans? It baffles me. And the worst part is, most of my jeans are skinny jeans. They leave little to the imagination, yet seem to have nothing to do with phallic exhibitionism. If anything, my jeans just tip women off immediately that my ass is like a shelving rock.
We’ve reached a point in hipster fashion where skinny jeans just aren’t skinny enough. First we had slim fit. Then slim fit, straight leg. Then slim fit, low waist, tapered pant. Hipster girls already made the transition to tights (and really, what’s better than a cute little hipster girl in black tights?)
What now for the modern hipster? Denim plastic wrap? Continue reading
You Turn Me On by Beat Happening (1992)
I figured I would start the music reviews with a bang (a bang of an album that is…hopefully the review is passable).
You Turn Me On is one of my favorite albums by Beat Happening, one of my favorite artists. It is Beat Happening’s fifth and final album. It is also a sonic departure from Beat Happenings earlier repertoire of two-minute, lo-fi, twee-ful pop diddies. In fact, there isn’t a song under three minutes on the album. Continue reading
Dead Babies by Martin Amis (1975)
Those books.
Martin Amis is a master of debauchery, depravity and douchebaggery. Amis’ second novel, Dead Babies, is well-written, dark and hysterical at times. That being said, his novels often contain characters that though wildly entertaining, elicit little or no sympathy from the reader. Dead Babies is no exception.
Perhaps Lucy Littlejohn, the “golden-hearted whore” as we are told even before the novel starts, is deserving of sympathy. She at least has a heart as evidenced by her Continue reading
Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov (1962)
Though Vladimir Nabokov’s Pale Fire could be challenging and indeed trying at times with its intentional incoherence, I found it to be absolutely fascinating. It is a novel strewn with endless Easter eggs of clarity left for the reader to tinker with. And “novel” is a term to be used loosely; the reader is given a forward by a fictional scholar to a 999-line poem by another fictional poet, followed by notes and a corresponding index by said scholar. Not to mention the fact that he is insane. The story is constantly jumping from forward to poem, note to poem, note to note. I’m fairly certain that the unabridged version of Pale Fire would be well over 999 pages…or index cards.
Pale Fire is only the second Nabokov novel that I’ve read, Continue reading
the self-hating hipster 