Nazis and Pornstars and Gangstas, Oh My!

Louis Theroux apparently had a show in Britain on which he would interview bizarre subcult figures in the USA. Crazy Yanks and all that. He eventually followed up with a number of his subjects and collected his experiences in Call of the Weird. He does get a nice sampling of fringers, including Deep South Gangsta rappers, UFO cultists, Ike Turner, pornstars, prostitutes, Nazis of a few flavors, including teen sensations Prussian Blue, and pyramid scheme fleece artists. I'm sad he missed out on the eco-freaks of the Pacific Northwest and the cable access performers. Portland alone is chock full of nuts including the late lamented Jim Spagg.

The book could just be a cataloging of the odd, but this one works because of the vulnerabilities of the characters and Theroux's sympathetic treatment of them. Theroux clearly wants to find these people again and see what happened to them. In many cases, they have left their former trade, such as Earth Defender (vs. UFOs) or prostitution for new means of support. None of these people have particularly nice lives. Most people would consider the people he meets as freaks, but he helps us see them as people. Horribly deluded people in most cases, but people nonetheless.

The topics won't appeal to everyone. The porn chapter is a bit explicit, but what will really get people are the full kickin' racists. These aren't the casual racists that tell a rude joke when drinking, but the kind preparing for the race war. Theroux lightens the mood with humor, ( one of the skinheads has a bumper sticker that says "My Boss is an Austrian painter"--- sure it's evil, but I laughed.) but humor only goes so far with people with views this repugnant.

All in all, a fun read for those fascinated by those who follow REALLY different drummers. Europeans may shake their heads and mutter about Americans, but come on, there are 300 million of us. There have to be some outliers in there somewhere.

Fire, I'll teach you to burn

So Heat is an excellent read. This is hardly a controversial stand, as metacritic indicates it was the second highest scoring non-fiction book of 2006 (slightly edged out by the Looming Tower.) Anyway, the story is pretty well known. He meets Mario Batali and asks him to teach him how to cook. So he gets a job at Babbo, which is a bit like a weekend league baseball player getting a spot on the Yankees. The book then becomes the story of the author, Bill Buford, learning to cook at one of New York's great restaurants with side trips to Italy to learn how to make pasta and to butcher livestock. He also provides the stories of the people with whom he interacts and they are quite something. Batali's story is an interesting one, but even the line cook's tales are diverting.

So what set's it apart? For me it was the general humility the author brought to the story as well as his generous treatment of all of those around him. It could have devolved into a horn tooting exercise, but instead it was an penetrating exploration of the life of the restaurant worker. Buford, by the way, is a writer for the New Yorker. Earlier I mentioned a few reasons not to read a book, but author-regularly-writes-for-The-New-Yorker is a great reason to try a book.

Music funnies

I would think that getting Arcade Fire tickets would be a challenge, but not so much to warrant this spoof. (via CG) Still, it is based in New York and clubs there are the same size as most other towns, which must make it harder to see the shows you want. If you think Neon Bible is getting too much love, you will find this funny too (via Matthew Yglesias).

No Direction, Period is a brief parody of Bob Dylan's ridiculous productivity. High-larious.

And this will at least warrant a giggle.

Two reasons to drop a book

There are certain signs that indicate you shouldn't read a book. One is the use of an ellipsis in a blurb. For example, PW had this to say about Natural Selection: "this Michael Crichton adventure wanna-be suffers from other odd plot elements, unconvincing romance and pedestrian prose, but it might make an awesome beach read." As you might guess with ellipsis the cover said "...an awesome beach read." Evil and wicked, that one.

Even that trickery is better than just plopping the publicity photo on the back. I suppose there are enough brand loyal people who turn it over and shout "Say! I didn't notice the letters spelling Dean R Koontz on the front, but who can forget that photo!" Its not surprising that at least half of the books at an airport stall will be emblazoned with the smiling mug of the author. When the marketing staff doesn't even bother with the enticing copy on the back, I have to give it a pass.

I place the blame on the worm in the bottle

These days, I have a mixed drink about once a quarter. If I am going to drink, I'd much rather have a beer or a glass of wine. It doesn't take much to give me a hangover, and with the kids getting up early whether I am hating it or not, I really can't take a hangover.

Still, I am always interested in learning about booze, so when I saw Straight Up or On the Rocks at the library, I picked it up. The book is a history of the development of the cocktail, from the colonial times to the modern world. There are some good stories in here, but the book is pretty slight with only 100 or so pages of story. The rest is a best-of cocktail recipes. Read this one for anecdotes, but don't expect depth.

One of the more interesting stories concerns the Mint Julep, a tasty southern beverage. Apparently newspaper editors in Virginia and Kentucky used to debate which state owned the beverage and bourbon itself. The VA argument was that when bourbon was created, what is now KY was still Virginian territory hence it is Virginian! Tricky, that. Anyway, Mint Juleps are delightful, and if you like Mojitos you will like a Julep. Unfortunately, they are both a pain to make, and if you screw it up, it won't taste great.

Pynchon

Tyler Cowen gives his take on Pynchon and which novels ( if any) to read. I concur with his take (read Gravity's Rainbow and V.) Mason & Dixon left me cold.

Freedom of choice, is what you got

This is a test to see whether you can identify a number of political and pop culture figures. Based on how well you do, it tells you whether you should vote or not. I did pretty well.

Tunes for you

Apparently the world needs more ELO, or so say the members of LEO. Instead of covering ELO, this band has decided to make songs that sound like songs ELO would have played. The Myspace page has lots of neo-ELO for you to enjoy. It really does sound like ELO.

Listen to Jeff Lynne explain that little "Bruce" sounding word in Don't Bring Me Down.

What's that? It's the mid-90s you miss, not the early 80s? May I suggest Silversun Pickups? Click on media.

Happy and sad

Arlington, VA drinkers must be sad that Dr. Dremo's is on the way out. I will shed a tear for it. My fave 703 beer purveyor, Lost Dog, remains strong. I've yet to make it to the sister restaurant, the Stray Cat.

In much closer ( as in three blocks as opposed to 3,000 miles) to my house news, Foxfire Teas get a review on Roadfood. The folks there are very nice and they have great tea. My only complaint is that they serve beer (Dogfish Head on tap!) but close at six. That's barely enough time for me to have a sip.

I tried trivia last night at the New Old Lompoc. It was pretty good, although there were too many hints. Also no trivia in the summer! And it starts at 7:30. I remain uncertain.

I think I'm going to die today, and everyone that hurt me is going to pay

Vengeance flicks are surprisingly idea driven. Many dwell on the idea of justice as Deathwish and its cartoonish sequels show. Last House on the Left and the Hills Have Eyes take a nihilistic view that there is no justice and that all people are essentially beasts that prey upon each other, whether they be criminals or the bourgeois. For me the most interesting movies put the idea of justice idea aside and take the Count of Monte Cristo* approach.

That book argued that vengeance destroys both the original criminal and the original victim. The outstanding and incredibly violent Oldboy is a great example of the type. A step or two down from that level is the British Dead Man's Shoes. Paddy Considine plays a British solider whose mentally retarded brother is tormented by small town hoods, while he is away on the service. He comes back to deliver a little payback. Considine plays the role well, becoming increasingly menacing as the story progresses. The tormentors are presented well too. With a single exception, they aren't evil, they are just stupid, normal people who go too far. And it is this that drives the avenger crazy.

*If long 19th century novels or their film adaptations aren't your thing, consider Stephen Fry's Revenge. In his amusing afterword, Fry notes that about halfway through writing his book he realized he stole the whole thing from Dumas. As in the entire plot.

When I die, I expect to find him laughing

When you peruse the apocalyptic fiction aisle, do you pine for a leftist satirical take on the Left Behind books? Well maybe you should take a look at Matthew Moses's Anti-Christ. For all the try before you buyers, he is kind enough to provide the first three chapters free.

I just need to admit I want sugar in my tea

Harold Bloom has apparently read every significant book, in the whole world. Now it's just re-reading for him I guess. While we may tsk at his snobbery, he at least will avoid mistakes like Natural Selection. This clunker involves a newly evolved ray ( The Demonray!) that is super smart, and can FLY. That's right, this amphibious manta ray comes out the ocean to hunt arrogant humanity along the coast of California. I was hoping for giant ray vs. Apache helicopter scenes among the B of A and TransAmerica towers, but no suck luck. Instead the demonrays hunt paper thin characters out at sea and in the woods. Or something. I'm not sure because I just read the first forty or so pages and then flipped through looking for anything interesting. No luck.

You might ask yourself, why put yourself through it? Why read these when you have so many good books at hand? Well, as the song goes, you never can tell. The Sea, was awarded one of the highest of literary prizes and I didn't like that. Also, the well-written monster book, as epitomized by Jurassic Park and Relic, is some of the purest escapist fun imaginable. And there is great pleasure in the hunt. I will fully admit I love bringing a new treasure to my friends. Unfortunately I find far more pyrite than gold.

Left unmoved

I am feeling rooked. I made the mistake of reading last year's Booker Prize Winner, The Sea. It starts out rather nicely, with superb use of language. At a number of points, he captures the feelings of memory and how it can almost overwhelm you. He also does some, but not enough, work on how memory can trick you, how the little details are filled in after the fact. And that's pretty much it. There is a story of sorts. The main character's wife has recently died, so he travels to the seashore where he passed an idyllic summer, and where another inexplicable tragedy happened.

And that is a large part of the problem. The tragedy is random and the results are unexplored. So why does he include it in the book? I suppose it is about dealing with grief and how you never get over certain things, but I didn't think it worked at all. He mulls over the memories of the past, but the tragic element is tacked on at the end. I guess you could argue that we don't like to face the awful, and instead surround it in the happy, but even so, I don't think that worked. Curse you, Booker Prize Committee.

I shouldn't be so mean to the Booker Prize People. Looking back at the prize winner's I have read, I like far more than I dislike.

2005 The Sea by John Banville (thumbs down)
2004 The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst (Rather enjoyed it)
2002 Life of Pi bby Yann Martell (Quite liked it)
2000 The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood (Great book)
1999 Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee ( it was OK)
1998 Amsterdam: A Novel by Ian McEwan ( not his best, it was OK)
1997 The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy (OK)
1996 Last Orders by Graham Swift (Loved it, like I do most of his work)
1995 The Ghost Road by Pat Barker (so-so)
1994 How Late It Was, How Late by James Kelman (I've not read it but I should mention this is my wife's least favorite book of all time. I think she is down on the Booker thanks to this one)
1992 Sacred Hunger by Barry Unsworth (co-winner) (Too long, but overall excellent)
1990 Possession: A Romance by A.S. Byatt (Super fantastic)
1989 The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro (So much reading fun that some buzzkill somewhere has probably banned it)
1988 Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey (Great)
1983 Life & Times of Michael K by J.M. Coetzee (Pretty good)
1981 Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie (Not my favorite)
1978 The Sea, the Sea by Irish Murdoch (Definitely not my favorite Murdoch who I tend to like)
1975 Heat and Dust by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (OK)
1973 The Siege of Krishnapur by J.G Farrell ( A wonderful book)

Pies

Ken Haedrich's Pie Cookbook is a five for five winner. This weekend I made the chocolate custard cream cheese pie and the Creamsicle pie. I think I may have made a mistake on the chocolate by using bittersweet chips instead of semi-sweet chips. In most circumstances, I prefer bittersweet, but the cream cheese taste was a bit more than I would like. The semisweet may have been a better counterpoint. People cleaned their plates so I suppose it was good enough.

The Creamsicle was a big winner. It's a simple assembly. First you press orange sherbet and vanilla ice cream into a graham cracker crust. Then you whip some cream, add orange juice concentrate, vanilla and confectioner's sugar and add the whipped cream to the pie. Freeze and serve. My kids couldn't get over this one. Even the adults were surprised by how much they liked it.

Only 295 pies to go.

From bad to worse

Samantha Power has an op-ed on reducing the chances of genocide in Iraq. If you've not read her outstanding A Problem From Hell, now might be a good time.

By the way, when I recommend policy books like this one, some people seem to think they need to read the book as closely as they would their favorite novel. Ideally you would, but given the number of books necessary to be informed, this isn't alway feasible. Read the introductory chapter, the conclusions and the chapters that interest you. Perfect, no, but as the Happiness Project reminds us, we must not let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

Procastinating while I should be fixing my bike

This is good for a laugh, if you like Star Wars and conspiracy theories.

Here is a long piece about the rise of the respectable graphic novel. Just another sign of Nerds Rising.

In food news, another reason to go back to Fast Food Nation.

Long piece on the Arcade Fire in the NYT. I have yet to decide where I stand on Neon Bible, but the inclusion of No Cars Go deserves applause.

Today is James Ellroy's birthday. Check out this piece, which has this great line: He gives us American history as a pulp history of organized crime, tabloids, corruption, bureaucratic tyranny, disordered desires, and the eternality of vice. His books, in total, present for us a stylized and staggering master view of the dark heart of mid-20th-century America. That sounds about right.

Lev Grossman has a review for 300. Makes we want to see it even more.

I'm a shock trooper in a stupor, yes I am

Yesterday, while gathering my library selections, my eyes fell upon a book that seemed out of place. It looked quite like the pulpy volumes you used to find at five and dimes. Take a gander at the cover. Not only does the cover feature garish colors and explosive action, but the two esses in the author's last name are styled like that of the Schutzstaffel, Waffen no doubt. Now, Nazi imagery is often used in book marketing, but it is often used as a threating icon. In this case, the Nazis are associated with the author's name.

What makes that all the more peculiar is the the author, a Dane who claims Eastern front experience, may have been a member of the Gestapo! According to reviews, his books take a anti-Nazi, anti-war line (to a point, of course, people read them for the battle action) so I wonder if they are meant to atone for prior sins.

I remain amazed that there are people who take a murky approach to the Nazis. Here we have re-enactors of the first SS Panzer division, a unit of which perpetrated the Malmedy massacre. The we have books like Watch on the Rhine. In this book, aliens invade Germany, so the leadership decides to reanimate the Waffen SS, to fight the aliens. Personally I think reanimating Blucher or Moltkes the Elder's armies, since they actually won wars, without perpetrating mass atrocities across an entire continent. But that's just me.

They keep calling me

A visit to the library is a trip to Trader Joe's. You have one thing you really need (ok, you really want) and you leave with five more. At least with the library the only cost is an opportunity cost. Given that I would be grievously wounded, if not crippled, if all my unread but owned books fell on me, one could argue that I should just read the books I have. I reject that sunk cost argumentation.

The Devil of Nanking - Mo Hayder. Hayder's reputation is for hyper-violence, but I hear she toned that down and upped her writing game on this one. I'm also a fan of the region, so I am all the more interested.

States of Mind - Jonathan Yardley. One nice thing about libraries, is that find lesser known volumes like this one. Yardley grew up in Virginia as a transplanted New Yorker and the book is his adult exploration of the middle Atlantic. Given Yardley's erudition and my historical, personal and familial ties to Virginia (home state) , NC and DC, this one looks like a winner.

The Wrong War - Jeffery Record. Record is an admirably analytical and non-ideological writer. He recently co-wrote a study on Iraq vs. Vietnam arguing they are very different. I imagine most of the argumentation will be familiar, but I think it is useful to revisit Vietnam to understand elements of the Iraq failure.

Embers - Sandor Marai. I'd like to say I randomly select slim volumes from Central European novelists, but really my uncle just recommended it to me.

Last night, he could not make it

Here is a pro take and a con take on last night's Lost. Taken by itself, the episode was fine, nothing special but enjoyable. In the context of the season, it was more disappointing. The producers have to make up for the disaster that was last fall.

A former Canadian Defense Minister is calling for governments to use their secret UFO technology to fight global warming. No foolin'. I guess he fell for the same op that Bush 41 used on Carter.

The readers of SF Site have voted for their top ten nerd books of 2006. As a lover of nerd books and Pavlovian slave of book marketing, I am generally aware of all the books that would appear in the list. I was quite surprised that the number one choice, The Lies of Locke Lamora, was completely new to me. So, I guess I should check it out.

I am checking out a site called Shelfari. It is billed as a book lover's community site. It seems to combine the book cataloging features of some sites with interactivity. Anyway, I am trying it out.

That's when I reach for my gigawatt plasma rifle

Back in the 60s, Harry Harrison wrote Deathworld, a trilogy of books about a planet with exceptionally dangerous native life. British scifi author Neal Asher has taken the concept and added his vision of evolved humanity to the mix. His book, the Skinner, is a wild tale of vengeance and interstellar politics.

The planet, Spatterjay, on which the story is set has a strange ecosystem. Large leeches have evolved a viral symbiont which confers high survivability and potentially immortality on its victims. The advantage to the leeches is that it can eviscerate a victim and eat it again later after it recovers. Humans that are bitten become nearly immortal (there are thousand year old characters) and super tough. If they fail to take in human food they eventually become a leech themselves (mmmmmmm, Shai-Hulud.)

The author uses the planet's environment and its effects well (a case of a human ultimate fighting match is rather nasty), but the focus of the story is on a number of characters who have come to Spatterjay. One is an agent of the Hive, the intelligent group mind of hornets. One is a 700 year old reification, a dead man walking who wants vengeance. Two more are war criminals working together for opposite ends. All of these are being watched by the Warden, an AI that represents the largest human government. It eventually plays out in classic scifi manner, the battle of the badasses, but it is very well done.

If anything suffers, it is characterization. With ten or more point of view characters and action on multiple fronts a number of characters that appear to be central end up being tertiary. The main character, if one can be said to exist, is not quite as developed as I would have liked, but the book is well worth reading despite it.