2.10.2013

Sunday Funday (#fuckyourgrammys Edition)

It is raining outside. I ate a sandwich earlier from a Mexican restaurant. I finished reading A Moveable Feast last week (yes I know it's by Hemingway; no, I'm not including it in my 52 books). I have a hangover today. What that means is I rewatched multiple Arrested Development episodes and prowled the Internet for new music. So here's some musical treats for you:

Beck. Covers David Bowie. With a 167 piece orchestra. Some stupid car company had something to do with it, so I can't embed, but I promise it's worth the extra click. SOUND AND VISION. Stupid car company actually had a cool idea though; this is the first in a series. Consequence of Sound has full details.

Netherfriends x Fess Grandiose. Hot jams, funny opening, and a silly little video.




I didn't post this Jamaican Queens video last week, so here you go:



Three and a half years ago, I stumbled across a bizarre and surreal singer/songwriter named Natti Vogel at a venue in Beijing. Weird mix of Amanda Palmer, Fiona Apple and Oscar Wilde. It was just him and a keyboard, and was exactly what I needed at that point in my life. Having rediscovered him, I found out he is a part of something called the Bushwick Book Club, which writes albums based on books. Their most recent session was about Slaughterhouse Five, my first favorite book. Natti is featured on the compilation.





And oh, some guy named Nick Cave is releasing a new album. It's streaming on NPR right now. 

2.05.2013

52 Books 52 Weeks

(Full reviews for Heroines and the Aviator's Wife on Frontier Psychiatrist:  Behind Every Great Man...)

3. Heroines by Kate Zambreno (finished January 19th)

Zambreno takes an experimental approach to describing the lives of specific women writers over the past 150 years, particularly with Vivienne Eliot and Zelda Fitzgerald. Plenty of wordplay (particularly with homonyms; for example, the title of the book), non-linearity and changing perspectives (including autobiographical accounts) make it a challenging but important read for anyone interested in feminist works. Read more of Zambreno at Frances Farmer is My Sister.

4. Mrs. Dalloway by Virgina Woolf (finished January 26th)

While I've never read anything by Woolf I would say has drastically changed my life, I feel she is an important writer and one I particularly need to catch up on. Mrs Dalloway is throwing a party in early 20th century London, and the book describes through various perspectives and stream-of-consciousness writing the eccentricities and complexities of the people involved. I hated parts of this book (a few of my annotations include circling phrases and wondering "WHY?") but found other parts rather poignant. Certainly not a long novel, but could have benefited from even more edits and finished as a novella.

5. The Aviator's Wife by Melanie Benjamin (finished January 29th)

No, I haven't gotten around to The Paris Wife yet, although that may hold more interesting subject matter. Benjamin's historical fiction work explores the personal relationship between Anne Morrow and her husband Charles Lindbergh. An overwhelmingly popular couple, harassed constantly by the paparazzi, they had to deal with communication issues (duh), a kidnapped and murdered first born child, and a perpetual state of movement, the couple eventually betrayed by the country that once adored them (some of that may have had to do with Chuck's anti-Semetic, pro-Nazi point of view, pre-WWII). The book was interesting enough, but I feel like Benjamin just didn't get as deep into Morrow's mind as she could have.