I wouldn’t call myself a fan of comic books. I collected them when I was young, but it was mainly for their art. There are some stories that I still treasure the memory of, and there are even some I’ve thought of revisiting for the Cannonball, but I haven’t really felt the need to do so. These days, most of my superhero interactions come from whatever the latest release from the MCU is. But, the other day a friend of mine posted a hypothetical choice […]
Arrested Development, No Bluths. No, strike that, I refuse to be flippant about this gorgeous novel.
When I read Donna Tartt’s “The Secret History” over a decade ago, it stuck with me for quite some time. I think “The Goldfinch” is going to haunt me even longer. I don’t know how she does it, but Tartt’s writing style is, for me at least, the literary version of an earworm that has no burn factor. I could not stop thinking about this book every time I put it down. I kept bringing it up with people at work. My dreams were screwed up. […]
strumming the cosmic chord
What is this book? It’s a musical autobiography by The Talking Heads’ David Byrne. It’s an art manifesto. It’s a history of exploitation in the music business. It’s a punk rock how to guide. It’s cosmic mysticism and star science. It’s good. How Music Works is about how music is made, and how music makes us. Specifically, chapters focus on certain aspects of music creation such as context, technology, commerce, and collaboration. The book doesn’t necessarily build a narrative, and individual sections can be read […]
What is Art? Everyone’s favorite transvestite Turner Prize winner explains.
Grayson Perry has always been one of my favorite artists. I’ve admired his work, from his pre-Turner Prize days and felt a kinship to his interesting attempts to take ugly subject matter (poverty, drug addiction) and turn it into intimate and beautiful decoration on his masterful ceramic pottery. Who Are You?, his recent exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, (as well as a 4-part series on Channel 4) was one of the highlights of my last visit to London. Playing to the Gallery is a […]
“Sorry. Accident. Couldn’t be helped.”
The book begins with a Prelude in Blue, which is absolutely beautifully written. Our story begins with the death of Victor van Gogh, which some of his friends see as a mystery to be solved. It is the beginning, but not always the focus. The mystery leads to others, and our main characters of baker/painter Lucien Lessard and his bon vivant/painter friend Henri Toulouse-Lautrec find themselves involved in a plot that has a much farther reach than they could have ever anticipated or imagined. As […]
Faces are scenes. People are films.
I like Patton Oswalt. I appreciate his appreciation of things. He is a nerd; he knows how to be a fan. His standup can be biting, but is not devoid of wonder, awe, of fully investing in something. He loves good standup, he loves funny people, he loves cinema. In Silver Silver Screen Fiend, Oswalt relives the mid-90s in a memoir that ties together his early creative career and his concurrent obsession with film. He divides segments of his early years as different Night Cafes, […]