I mentioned in my previous post my feelings of being left out on the "Girl Talk" music phenomenon until it exploded into a full-on cultural sensation. Along those same lines, I somehow manage to remain completely ignorant of any and all "viral videos" yet live a relatively internet-savvy life here in 2008. This point was driven home to me, rather forcefully, when at a recent ComedySportz rehearsal, we rehearsed a bunch of games that have been developed in response to popular YouTube videos. I didn't have a clue what any of it was about.
The first video used as inspiration is known as the "numa numa" video. (The guy in the video, who has taken on a minor form of celebrity it seems, is creatively known as "the 'numa numa' guy.") Are you like me, or do you already know what the "numa numa" video is? I sure didn't. So, for those of you like me, enjoy:
Now at first glance, there's nothing much to write home about here. It's just a fat kid lipsynching and dancing like a dork to a europop song. Sure, the song is catchy, but that's it? Yet...I admit that I laughed at this video. My fiancé laughed at it even harder than I did -- when I made her stop whatever productive activity she was engaged in to watch this tiny bit of digital weirdness. And all across America (the world?) people have done -- are doing -- the same thing: to the tune of 18,564,433 views, as of my last viewing. That's a hell of a lot more people than watch the best comedy on TV right now (30 Rock, naturally). What's the deal? And MORE disturbing, how did so many millions of people manage to watch this thing and not a single one of them ever got around to telling me about it?!
Same with this video, part of some sort of zeitgeist of people using their bodies in synch with the lyrics a Daft Punk song, again, a catchy song, no doubt about it (23,384,378 views):
This one is more impressive than poor numa numa guy, whose popularity I have to assume is at least partly based on the fact that the guy's fat. Right? Can I say that? It's like the "Star Wars Kid" -- popularity by schadenfreude. But THIS Daft Punk-fingers thing, at least this has a degree of difficulty; there's some sort of talent at work here, albeit of the minimal variety. But kudos for being unique and interesting. Hey, hold on a second: IS it unique? With all these viral videos, as soon as something gets popular, there instantly seems to pop up a million "remakes" -- do the kids call this "sweding" or am I misusing that new, made-up term? Anyway, popularity breeds imitation, and for someone who turns out to be utterly clueless as me, there's not even a particularly clearcut way to tell which came first. Here's a different (sexier?) version (3,583,708 views):
Did fingers-guy rip off sports-bra-chicks? Vice versa? Who knows. Who cares. Even more compelling are the remakes of "numa numa"!! Some have real costumes and "production values" (2,518,239 views):
And some even involve our "boys in blue" (1,237,660 views):
I mean, what the hell? How did these guys -- in wartime! -- hear about this thing while I sit on my pale, lazy, privileged ass in a quiet office 40 hours a week and STILL have less of a clue about the video sensations around me? How can I call myself a Culturephile?
Honestly, and most embarrassingly of all, the only one of these YouTube smash hits that have ever been sent to me was the video known simply as "Charlie Bit Me." At long last! One of my hip 20-something friends finally deigns to clue me in about something popular. Couldn't be farther from the truth: "Charlie Bit Me" was sent to me by...wait for it...my MOM! Yes, even my mom has more of a clue about these videos than I do. This one is really funny, though, probably because nobody is reaching for anything (48,054,134 views):
In closing, I guess the point of this post is twofold: ONE, I'm fascinated and baffled by the viral video phenomenon. What makes something go viral? How does it WORK? And why did "numa numa" go viral and not this small masterpiece (550 views)?
Why is the slice-of-life we see in "Charlie Bit Me" any more compelling than that? And what's with the remakes? Why do even less talented people think that they should try and recreate (as precisely as possible) these fascinating instances of obvious lightning-in-a-bottle? Just to see if it will catch on and be viewed millions of times (those two links have been, 1,561,722 views and 2,772,264 views, respectively)? Because they want to be a part of those things they most enjoy and laugh at? Because it's so simple that they CAN, so why not do it? I wonder. The Lawrence Lessig lecture I linked to before has a compelling idea -- namely, that youth today relate to culture by remixing and regurgitating it, and therefore participating in it. (By way of comparison, that small, fascinating lecture has been viewed 57,651 times. Sorry Stanford professors, not up to the standard of "numa numa".) But Lessig's idea is peripheral to the main thrust of his argument. I am fascinated by this viral phenomenon, and the endless repetitions. Then again, I guess if someone (with many millions of dollars at their disposal nonetheless) feels they should remake both "The Dukes of Hazzard" AND "These Boots are Made for Walking" why shouldn't some kids do the same to "numa numa" (for free...4,668,519 views, by the way)? Who are the idiots when I put it that way, right?
Anyway, the second point is an adjunct: TWO, I am baffled how I can completely whiff on these cultural tidal waves. Hand in hand with the question about how videos go viral is how I manage never to catch the virus.
August 31, 2008
August 11, 2008
Summer CD Roundup, Part II
This summer is turning into a high-volume season musically (no pun intended?). Perhaps boredom is spurring increased purchases, perhaps this time of global uncertainty is fueling more excellent new releases than usual, perhaps people just need something - anything - to do with those old "stimulus" checks. Whatever the case may be, here are some new discs that have come into my possession in the past couple weeks that may (or may not) be worth your time.
My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges
I’ve never been a huge My Morning Jacket fan, but I liked It Still Moves OK and then liked Z even more. So I figured I was slowly being won over by these crazy guys. Well, Evil Urges arrived and I can’t say it’s another step forward for me and the Jacket boys. It’s pretty trippy (even moreso than before) and WAY funkier than before. It seems a highly conscious move on the band’s part, as the further-afield tracks seem to be stacked up towards the beginning of the album (seemingly to turn off fans of their old work?), before the second half of the album sounds a little more like the older stuff (and are the songs I like better). It’s not a bad album – though the #3 track (a pretty heavy-hitter slot on an album) called “Highly Suspicious” is unlistenable – but it’s also not probably going to stay on my iPod for too much longer. Two stars maybe? It’s certainly a considerable distance further out into experimental-land than their earlier albums, which were already a bit weird, but once it stops trying to be so self-consciously different and crazy, it really ends up not being that bad an album. I wish they hadn’t felt the need to push their experiments so aggressively in my face. It’s kind of like Wilco’s A Ghost is Born: an experimental album I don’t particularly like very much by a band I generally like, sandwiched between two albums I do really like (Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and Sky Blue Sky for those of you keeping track at home). In Wilco’s case, the album after their high-water-mark for experimentation was a really straight-ahead, almost mainstream album (Sky Blue Sky). Perhaps this means that My Morning Jacket’s next effort will place them back on a more mainstream map, and also put them back in my good graces. We’ll see.
Watson Twins - Fire Songs
The twin singers who came to my attention as Jenny Lewis’s backup singers (albeit with co-billing) on her solo album Rabbit Fur Coat have put our a solo disc, Fire Songs. The voices of siblings (twins!) are always cool and wonderful to hear blended, and these two are no exception. But the trouble here is the songwriting is frankly mediocre. It’s got a laid-back, Jenny-Lewis-ish vibe, tinges of country (my always beloved pedal steel guitar), and hints of folk-ish pop with some nice production touches. But there are just no songs on here that jump out at you. I listened to the album for the first time and when it was over I had basically zoned out and couldn’t remember anything about it. I went back to the beginning and tried again. Same deal. It’s just not a very memorable or exciting effort. What I’m trying to say is that it’s boring. There’s nothing particularly wrong with it on a basic level, and I don’t necessarily dislike it, I just don’t have much to say about it or many ways to recommend it. It’s boring, plain and simple; I would throw these Fire Songs back into the fire. Ha ha ha!
*barf*
Martha Wainwright - I Know You're Married But I've Got Feelings Too
On the other hand, Martha Wainwright’s second album I Know You’re Married But I’ve Got Feelings Too pops out at you big time. The leadoff track is stellar: it sounds like simultaneously like something you’ve heard before and something very new and different and interesting. And the whole album essentially walks that same line: familiar/new, approachable/different. The guys in My Morning Jacket should have a healthy listen to help them realize you don’t have to travel to an entirely different planet to innovate your sound and/or style. Martha Wainwright (sister of Rufus, daughter of Loudon & Kate McGarrigle (of Kate & Anna McGarrigle semi-fame)) takes seemingly simple pop structures – sounding a bit at times like a Fiona Apple or a Tori Amos – and twists them in cool and interesting ways. It’s totally listenable, yet also seems a little indie, a little edgy. Some clever lyrics, some scathing and funny lyrics, some catchy tunes (Watson Twins, take note!), and a nice production-sheen, without being overproduced or bombastic. Wainwright, much like her entire family, has a funny voice; it’s squeaky and quirky and may take some getting used to, but it’s also super-expressive and stronger than it may seem at first listen. I remember thinking I would never like Rufus Wainwright’s voice, way back when, but his is a much more acquired taste, I’d surmise. Her voice is funny, but not hard to get acclimated to, especially since she can write such a mean song. This is the opposite album of Fire Songs – everything is interesting here. Not every song is an A+ song, but there are no duds. This one’s a summer sleeper!
Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
I don’t know where I heard about these guys but all of a sudden I’m seeing them everywhere. I guess I’m only cool enough to hear about things just as they hit the mainstream, and not a moment before. Anyway, Fleet Foxes’ eponymous debut album is also a winner. It actually reminds me a little of My Morning Jacket (I can’t get away from them!!!) at their simplest, and the lead singer of Fleet Foxes sounds a lot like whatever that guys’ name is from My Morning Jacket (Jim Jones, Jim James, something like that). There’s a little bit of that same reverb-heavy, harmony-drenched sound, but the songs are simpler and (I would argue) more evocative lyrically. Where My Morning Jacket goes a million different, opaque directions, Fleet Foxes keeps it more focused and concise. And, on their individual merits, these are interesting songs, nice tight harmonies, and an expansive sense of heavily rootsy folk/rock/pop. It’s not really any one thing, and you can hear little elements from all sorts of traditions in the mix. It’s really interesting and (somewhat like Martha Wainwright) has that different/familiar feel. You can hear some Crosby Stills Nash & Young, you can hear some Beach Boys, you can hear My Morning Jacket and Midlake (another of my new favorites), and plenty of that sort of jangly Byrds-y folk-pop. It’s a great mélange and a super interesting debut. I like it a lot.
Conor Oberst - Conor Oberst
I’m a huge fan of the most recent Bright Eyes’ album, Cassadega. In fact, to Greg’s chagrin, it was my favorite album of 2007. Now comes this little album from Conor Oberst, essentially the entirety of Bright Eyes, as far as I understand it (please let me know if I’m wrong about that). It seems to be an album he wrote and recorded while on some sort of vacation/journey/expatriation in Mexico. It’s good, but it’s also kind of a step backwards from Cassadega – which I loved for its tight songs and interesting production that never teetered over into being heavy-handed. This is a decidedly low-fi experience, and while the band is good and the songs are superb as usual, it’s still a small and intimate album that sort of starts to sound the same after awhile. I longed for some more “production,” though there is plenty to like in this album, and I feel like some people who like their pop a little more stripped down might really get a kick out of this album. Oberst again keeps his vocal tics in check thankfully (as he did on Cassadega), and the result is a nice, pleasant, occasionally very good record that never manages to break out into excellence. I would liken it to a short story collection by a master novelist – it doesn’t have the heft or feeling of importance that Cassadega had, but it has more than its fair share of good songs, and is totally a pleasing listen. Where Cassedaga was a straight-up, A+ record for me, I would give this one a B+. Good, not great. It's not going to be my #1 album of 2008, that's for sure. But I have really started to like Oberst’s songwriting, and the great strength of this album is that the songs are all of a high caliber.
Girl Talk - Feed the Animals
Once again, I hear about the cutting-edge, underground successes as soon as they achieve utterly unavoidable, mainstream popularity, and such is the case with Girl Talk. The very next day after I heard about Girl Talk on a cool indie-music blog and downloaded his album off his website for whatever price I wanted to pay, I saw an extensive interview with him in the Washington Post. Sigh. Then came the big feature in the New York Times. Double sigh. But complaining and self-pity aside, this guy is an amazing song-masher-upper (is he a DJ? A musician? A technician? An artist? All of the above?) and his album is a crazy, wild, bucket of fun. Girl Talk is (again I believe) just one guy (Greg Gillis) who mashes up bajillions of songs to create totally new, danceable tracks. It’s also a great jumping-off point for fascinating discussions on the state of the copyright in the digital age, what constitutes “fair use,” whether something that is an enormously creative combination of pre-existing elements is itself original, and what is “originality” really? Naturally, I will enter into none of these discussions. Just kidding! I think it’s just a matter of time until poor Girl Talk/Greg Gillis is sued by someone like Missy Elliot, who (fairly, I think) might listen to his track called “No Pause” and just hear a her smash hit “Work It.” I can see her side of things – Girl Talk didn’t come up with any of these enormously catchy lyrics or tunes, he just appropriated them from Missy and Radiohead and played them at the same time as Heart and Blackstreet. On the flip side, there is without any doubt a talent and artistry to the complex task of combining two, three, four recognizable songs at the same time and flitting from sample to sample with such rapidity. I don’t know; it’s a fascinating area of legal complexity and confusion and change. I guess I tend to think that Missy Elliott’s (and others’) creativity (originality?) shouldn’t be appropriated by somebody for their own gain, even if it’s just a section of a sample-laden song. Part of the point of Girl Talk is to recognize and enjoy all the famous songs getting interwoven with each other, and to me, that means that the success of Girl Talk is entirely dependent on using famous, recognizable tunes – none of which have been created by Girl Talk himself. At the same time, I’m sure Missy Elliott samples too (doesn't everybody?). And so much popular music through the ages has been appropriated and re-appropriated, packaged and re-packaged, taken from older artists and forms and traditions and re-imagined for a new time and place…isn’t that art and creativity too? You see how this could go on. It’s a fascinating topic. The real point of this: Girl Talk is totally fun as hell, amazing to listen to, and really puts the body in motion. (I didn’t come up with that last part myself…so sue me. Ha ha ha! Ha. *barf*)
My Morning Jacket - Evil UrgesI’ve never been a huge My Morning Jacket fan, but I liked It Still Moves OK and then liked Z even more. So I figured I was slowly being won over by these crazy guys. Well, Evil Urges arrived and I can’t say it’s another step forward for me and the Jacket boys. It’s pretty trippy (even moreso than before) and WAY funkier than before. It seems a highly conscious move on the band’s part, as the further-afield tracks seem to be stacked up towards the beginning of the album (seemingly to turn off fans of their old work?), before the second half of the album sounds a little more like the older stuff (and are the songs I like better). It’s not a bad album – though the #3 track (a pretty heavy-hitter slot on an album) called “Highly Suspicious” is unlistenable – but it’s also not probably going to stay on my iPod for too much longer. Two stars maybe? It’s certainly a considerable distance further out into experimental-land than their earlier albums, which were already a bit weird, but once it stops trying to be so self-consciously different and crazy, it really ends up not being that bad an album. I wish they hadn’t felt the need to push their experiments so aggressively in my face. It’s kind of like Wilco’s A Ghost is Born: an experimental album I don’t particularly like very much by a band I generally like, sandwiched between two albums I do really like (Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and Sky Blue Sky for those of you keeping track at home). In Wilco’s case, the album after their high-water-mark for experimentation was a really straight-ahead, almost mainstream album (Sky Blue Sky). Perhaps this means that My Morning Jacket’s next effort will place them back on a more mainstream map, and also put them back in my good graces. We’ll see.
Watson Twins - Fire Songs
The twin singers who came to my attention as Jenny Lewis’s backup singers (albeit with co-billing) on her solo album Rabbit Fur Coat have put our a solo disc, Fire Songs. The voices of siblings (twins!) are always cool and wonderful to hear blended, and these two are no exception. But the trouble here is the songwriting is frankly mediocre. It’s got a laid-back, Jenny-Lewis-ish vibe, tinges of country (my always beloved pedal steel guitar), and hints of folk-ish pop with some nice production touches. But there are just no songs on here that jump out at you. I listened to the album for the first time and when it was over I had basically zoned out and couldn’t remember anything about it. I went back to the beginning and tried again. Same deal. It’s just not a very memorable or exciting effort. What I’m trying to say is that it’s boring. There’s nothing particularly wrong with it on a basic level, and I don’t necessarily dislike it, I just don’t have much to say about it or many ways to recommend it. It’s boring, plain and simple; I would throw these Fire Songs back into the fire. Ha ha ha!
*barf*
Martha Wainwright - I Know You're Married But I've Got Feelings Too On the other hand, Martha Wainwright’s second album I Know You’re Married But I’ve Got Feelings Too pops out at you big time. The leadoff track is stellar: it sounds like simultaneously like something you’ve heard before and something very new and different and interesting. And the whole album essentially walks that same line: familiar/new, approachable/different. The guys in My Morning Jacket should have a healthy listen to help them realize you don’t have to travel to an entirely different planet to innovate your sound and/or style. Martha Wainwright (sister of Rufus, daughter of Loudon & Kate McGarrigle (of Kate & Anna McGarrigle semi-fame)) takes seemingly simple pop structures – sounding a bit at times like a Fiona Apple or a Tori Amos – and twists them in cool and interesting ways. It’s totally listenable, yet also seems a little indie, a little edgy. Some clever lyrics, some scathing and funny lyrics, some catchy tunes (Watson Twins, take note!), and a nice production-sheen, without being overproduced or bombastic. Wainwright, much like her entire family, has a funny voice; it’s squeaky and quirky and may take some getting used to, but it’s also super-expressive and stronger than it may seem at first listen. I remember thinking I would never like Rufus Wainwright’s voice, way back when, but his is a much more acquired taste, I’d surmise. Her voice is funny, but not hard to get acclimated to, especially since she can write such a mean song. This is the opposite album of Fire Songs – everything is interesting here. Not every song is an A+ song, but there are no duds. This one’s a summer sleeper!Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
I don’t know where I heard about these guys but all of a sudden I’m seeing them everywhere. I guess I’m only cool enough to hear about things just as they hit the mainstream, and not a moment before. Anyway, Fleet Foxes’ eponymous debut album is also a winner. It actually reminds me a little of My Morning Jacket (I can’t get away from them!!!) at their simplest, and the lead singer of Fleet Foxes sounds a lot like whatever that guys’ name is from My Morning Jacket (Jim Jones, Jim James, something like that). There’s a little bit of that same reverb-heavy, harmony-drenched sound, but the songs are simpler and (I would argue) more evocative lyrically. Where My Morning Jacket goes a million different, opaque directions, Fleet Foxes keeps it more focused and concise. And, on their individual merits, these are interesting songs, nice tight harmonies, and an expansive sense of heavily rootsy folk/rock/pop. It’s not really any one thing, and you can hear little elements from all sorts of traditions in the mix. It’s really interesting and (somewhat like Martha Wainwright) has that different/familiar feel. You can hear some Crosby Stills Nash & Young, you can hear some Beach Boys, you can hear My Morning Jacket and Midlake (another of my new favorites), and plenty of that sort of jangly Byrds-y folk-pop. It’s a great mélange and a super interesting debut. I like it a lot.
Conor Oberst - Conor OberstI’m a huge fan of the most recent Bright Eyes’ album, Cassadega. In fact, to Greg’s chagrin, it was my favorite album of 2007. Now comes this little album from Conor Oberst, essentially the entirety of Bright Eyes, as far as I understand it (please let me know if I’m wrong about that). It seems to be an album he wrote and recorded while on some sort of vacation/journey/expatriation in Mexico. It’s good, but it’s also kind of a step backwards from Cassadega – which I loved for its tight songs and interesting production that never teetered over into being heavy-handed. This is a decidedly low-fi experience, and while the band is good and the songs are superb as usual, it’s still a small and intimate album that sort of starts to sound the same after awhile. I longed for some more “production,” though there is plenty to like in this album, and I feel like some people who like their pop a little more stripped down might really get a kick out of this album. Oberst again keeps his vocal tics in check thankfully (as he did on Cassadega), and the result is a nice, pleasant, occasionally very good record that never manages to break out into excellence. I would liken it to a short story collection by a master novelist – it doesn’t have the heft or feeling of importance that Cassadega had, but it has more than its fair share of good songs, and is totally a pleasing listen. Where Cassedaga was a straight-up, A+ record for me, I would give this one a B+. Good, not great. It's not going to be my #1 album of 2008, that's for sure. But I have really started to like Oberst’s songwriting, and the great strength of this album is that the songs are all of a high caliber.
Girl Talk - Feed the Animals
Once again, I hear about the cutting-edge, underground successes as soon as they achieve utterly unavoidable, mainstream popularity, and such is the case with Girl Talk. The very next day after I heard about Girl Talk on a cool indie-music blog and downloaded his album off his website for whatever price I wanted to pay, I saw an extensive interview with him in the Washington Post. Sigh. Then came the big feature in the New York Times. Double sigh. But complaining and self-pity aside, this guy is an amazing song-masher-upper (is he a DJ? A musician? A technician? An artist? All of the above?) and his album is a crazy, wild, bucket of fun. Girl Talk is (again I believe) just one guy (Greg Gillis) who mashes up bajillions of songs to create totally new, danceable tracks. It’s also a great jumping-off point for fascinating discussions on the state of the copyright in the digital age, what constitutes “fair use,” whether something that is an enormously creative combination of pre-existing elements is itself original, and what is “originality” really? Naturally, I will enter into none of these discussions. Just kidding! I think it’s just a matter of time until poor Girl Talk/Greg Gillis is sued by someone like Missy Elliot, who (fairly, I think) might listen to his track called “No Pause” and just hear a her smash hit “Work It.” I can see her side of things – Girl Talk didn’t come up with any of these enormously catchy lyrics or tunes, he just appropriated them from Missy and Radiohead and played them at the same time as Heart and Blackstreet. On the flip side, there is without any doubt a talent and artistry to the complex task of combining two, three, four recognizable songs at the same time and flitting from sample to sample with such rapidity. I don’t know; it’s a fascinating area of legal complexity and confusion and change. I guess I tend to think that Missy Elliott’s (and others’) creativity (originality?) shouldn’t be appropriated by somebody for their own gain, even if it’s just a section of a sample-laden song. Part of the point of Girl Talk is to recognize and enjoy all the famous songs getting interwoven with each other, and to me, that means that the success of Girl Talk is entirely dependent on using famous, recognizable tunes – none of which have been created by Girl Talk himself. At the same time, I’m sure Missy Elliott samples too (doesn't everybody?). And so much popular music through the ages has been appropriated and re-appropriated, packaged and re-packaged, taken from older artists and forms and traditions and re-imagined for a new time and place…isn’t that art and creativity too? You see how this could go on. It’s a fascinating topic. The real point of this: Girl Talk is totally fun as hell, amazing to listen to, and really puts the body in motion. (I didn’t come up with that last part myself…so sue me. Ha ha ha! Ha. *barf*)
August 8, 2008
Vacation Reading
I was on vacation this past week, so please enjoy these book reviews from the two (very different) novels I read while relaxing!
The End of Vandalism: A Novel by Tom Drury
rating: 5 of 5 stars
The End of Vandalism was a great book once you start to "get it." It is written in extremely simple language, deliberately paced, and the humor is DRY in the extreme. The writing has a very specific rhythm to it -- unlike any book I can think of that I've read before -- that takes some getting used to. But once you are won over to these characters and style and pacing it is an absolutely wonderful read and ultimately very affecting. (I am interested to read something else by Tom Drury; this was his first novel.) The dialogue is especially wonderful - seeming disconnections and roundabout rejoinders that (again, once you start to hear it) ring true and can be absolutely hilarious. The characterizations in the novel are especially razor-sharp and always accomplished with a complete deadpan. No character seems to be authorially judged in the book, nor does anyone stray into the realm of "comedic creation" or "caricature." No wild or wacky hilarious people in this book, only deft and quietly funny (and/or quietly tragic) people that you might know, do know, or could certainly imagine knowing. And while there IS a lot of dry humor, there's also a lot of quiet philosophy and rumination about America in general, the Midwest more specifically, the way people relate to each other, and also about a certain quiet, small way of life that may or may not be endangered at this time in the world. It funny, sure, but also smart and sad and moving. A really terrific book full of purposeful, careful writing. Five stars for sure.
Be Cool by Elmore Leonard
rating: 4 of 5 stars
I realized after rating "Be Cool" that I have rated all the Elmore Leonard books I have read three stars. This may be unfair; I absolutely LOVE Elmore Leonard. I guess since I devour his books so quickly and they go down so easily they tend to not make much of an impact or be terribly memorable. Yet, they are just great books. Pitch-perfect, hilarious, exciting, gritty, always delicious. I love Elmore Leonard, so much I can’t find enough food metaphors to describe him and his writing.
At any rate, probably all of his books should be five stars, but I guess out of snobbery or general lack of weight, I have rated them all three stars. In deference to my love of Elmore, I am hereby revising my rating of this book to four stars, even though it’s probably my least favorite of the books of his that I have read. Oh well. I’m doing it and it feels good! It’s for the grading curve in general, I suppose.
As for "Be Cool" itself, I enjoyed it a lot up until the climax, which really is a misnomer in this case. This book ended too abruptly, having so many fun and widely varied plot threads, they all have to collapse at the last minute. As I finished the book on the plane back from my vacation, with 20 pages left I turned to my fiancée and said: "there's a lot to cover in the last 20 pages of this book." Unfortunately, I don’t think it all got "covered" sufficiently; "paid off sufficiently" might be more along the lines what I mean -- everything wrapped up, I suppose, just not in a terribly satisfying or awesome way.
That said, it was still a super-fun book, full of hilarious characters and just incredible dialogue. You can tell why some great movies have been made from Leonard’s oeuvre: he writes the best "crime fiction" dialogue out there. I wouldn’t recommend anybody start reading his work with "Be Cool" but it’s certainly a worthy installment in an awesome body of work.
View all my reviews.
The End of Vandalism: A Novel by Tom Druryrating: 5 of 5 stars
The End of Vandalism was a great book once you start to "get it." It is written in extremely simple language, deliberately paced, and the humor is DRY in the extreme. The writing has a very specific rhythm to it -- unlike any book I can think of that I've read before -- that takes some getting used to. But once you are won over to these characters and style and pacing it is an absolutely wonderful read and ultimately very affecting. (I am interested to read something else by Tom Drury; this was his first novel.) The dialogue is especially wonderful - seeming disconnections and roundabout rejoinders that (again, once you start to hear it) ring true and can be absolutely hilarious. The characterizations in the novel are especially razor-sharp and always accomplished with a complete deadpan. No character seems to be authorially judged in the book, nor does anyone stray into the realm of "comedic creation" or "caricature." No wild or wacky hilarious people in this book, only deft and quietly funny (and/or quietly tragic) people that you might know, do know, or could certainly imagine knowing. And while there IS a lot of dry humor, there's also a lot of quiet philosophy and rumination about America in general, the Midwest more specifically, the way people relate to each other, and also about a certain quiet, small way of life that may or may not be endangered at this time in the world. It funny, sure, but also smart and sad and moving. A really terrific book full of purposeful, careful writing. Five stars for sure.
Be Cool by Elmore Leonardrating: 4 of 5 stars
I realized after rating "Be Cool" that I have rated all the Elmore Leonard books I have read three stars. This may be unfair; I absolutely LOVE Elmore Leonard. I guess since I devour his books so quickly and they go down so easily they tend to not make much of an impact or be terribly memorable. Yet, they are just great books. Pitch-perfect, hilarious, exciting, gritty, always delicious. I love Elmore Leonard, so much I can’t find enough food metaphors to describe him and his writing.
At any rate, probably all of his books should be five stars, but I guess out of snobbery or general lack of weight, I have rated them all three stars. In deference to my love of Elmore, I am hereby revising my rating of this book to four stars, even though it’s probably my least favorite of the books of his that I have read. Oh well. I’m doing it and it feels good! It’s for the grading curve in general, I suppose.
As for "Be Cool" itself, I enjoyed it a lot up until the climax, which really is a misnomer in this case. This book ended too abruptly, having so many fun and widely varied plot threads, they all have to collapse at the last minute. As I finished the book on the plane back from my vacation, with 20 pages left I turned to my fiancée and said: "there's a lot to cover in the last 20 pages of this book." Unfortunately, I don’t think it all got "covered" sufficiently; "paid off sufficiently" might be more along the lines what I mean -- everything wrapped up, I suppose, just not in a terribly satisfying or awesome way.
That said, it was still a super-fun book, full of hilarious characters and just incredible dialogue. You can tell why some great movies have been made from Leonard’s oeuvre: he writes the best "crime fiction" dialogue out there. I wouldn’t recommend anybody start reading his work with "Be Cool" but it’s certainly a worthy installment in an awesome body of work.
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