In my continuing effort to serve you, dear readers, by Sharing more, here are some unapologetic, unpaid endorsements. Howsabout you leave some of your own in the Comments box?
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Yankees vs. Red Sox - A last minute phone call allowed me to go to the game last night. Though I generally keep my intense love of sports (baseball, the NBA) under wraps, a Game 7 between the Yankees and the Red Sox is about as great an event as one can hope for. And, if the Red Sox win, an incontrovertible sign of the Armegeddon.
Ben Folds, “Sunny 16″ - The second of three pre-album EP’s, and this one is truly great. You have to visit his website or the iTunes music store to get it. “There’s Always Someone Cooler Than You” is a near-perfect pop song.
“Intolerable Cruelty” - A lot of Coen brothers fans were worried because this seemed like a very conventional Big Studio flick. As it turns out, it’s a bit lighter than a lot of their stuff, but completely entertaining. How can you stay away from a movie that has a hitman named “Wheezy Joe?”
Jacky Terrasson, “Smile” - I’ve been living with this album all year, and I haven’t tired of it. Terrasson’s my favorite young jazz pianist, and “Smile” (his latest) is probably his best stuff yet.
Neal Stephenson, “Quicksilver” - Okay, I’m not done with this book yet, but it gets my endorsement in the face of some pretty tepid reviews. There may not be much of a market for a historical novel of ideas. It’s almost self-evident: historical novels are generally very story-oriented, while your typical novel of ideas tends to focus on, well, newish ideas. But at least I’m vastly entertained by the early days of the Enlightenment being treated with the same breathless enthusiasm as the internet boom. Plus, Stephenson’s funny.
Fanny Roborat
23 comments
John Isbell
October 16, 2003 at 1:20 pm
1I read your Sox-Yankees review with extreme care, as I imagine many will, and you survived. Phew! But then you plunged me into despair with the news that some piece of vapid fluff they’ve been advertising lately is directed by the Coens. That will just have to remain part of their oeuvre I miss.
Here are my endorsements:
Lost in Translation, great film.
Morning showers: baths suck and bath water isn’t even negatively ionized the way cool shower water is.
Autumn leaves. I know I’m going out on a limb here.
Just about anything by Billy Bragg. He’s so earnest. It’s endearing.
The opening chords of Honky Tonk Women.
Here are things I unequivocally condemn.
Slavery. Slavery sucks.
Raising taxes. Only utter wankers raise taxes.
Sleazy sex lives. If they’re Democrats.
Godless Communism. If they would just add a deity it wouldn’t be so bad! How about Kali, she’s got eight arms.
White House leaks.
Treason.
Drug addiction.
Racism.
And cuddly puppies. God, how I hate cuddly puppies!
Eric
October 16, 2003 at 1:48 pm
2I don’t know about anyone else, but I thought “Intolerable Cruelty” was going to be about the Cubs-Marlins game 6. :-p
Mousepads, Shoe Leather and Hope - The Great Grassroots Campaign
October 16, 2003 at 2:12 pm
3If the Red Sox win, it will be a great omen for the Democrats, because they are having their convention in Boston next summer and the Republicans are having theirs in NYC. See my blog for more details about why all Democrats should root for the Red Sox.
tim
October 16, 2003 at 2:13 pm
4Oooh, looks like a meme. I’ll bite.
Endorsements:
Adam Felber’s Fanatical Apathy. I’m such a suck-ass.
Al Leiter. If it’s between Bret (Disappears For Hours At A Time And Then Says Something Monosyllabic) Boone or Al as the Third Man in the Fox booth for the World Series, I’d have to go with Al. Maybe he can even get McCarver to shut up for a second. No, that would take a small nuclear device.
School Of Rock. I know I’m risking mass unpopularity here, but I loved it! Eh, it was OK. Is it creepy to say that I’m definitely going to check back in on the bass player in 8 years? Yeah, probably.
Edie Brickell And The New Bohemians, Shooting Rubberbands At The Stars. Shows you how far I’ve evolved musically.
Audible.com. Sure, I’m having other people read books to me because I’m too lazy to do it myself. Frankly, I don’t see a problem with that.
K Street. Did anybody see Mary Matalin pretend to be distraught about being fictionally implicated in the Plamegate scandal? Either she’s the best actress on television, or Ashcroft should go arrest her today. Also, Roger G. Smith’s character, Francisco Dupre, is eerily Mephistophlean, and you can’t beat Mary McCormack as a closet lesbian.
Unendorsements:
Long, useless blog comments posts. Don’t you hate those?
historyenne
October 16, 2003 at 2:25 pm
5I, at least, agree with your endorsement of Quicksilver, –though I confess I’m not quite done with it either. I like the concept, and with people like Franklin and Newton appearing as children, it can be like a big game of “Guess the Historical Figure” Great for history geeks.
Bob
October 16, 2003 at 2:41 pm
6“Welcome Interstate Managers” (Fountains of Wayne) - Chris Collingwood and Adam Schlesinger can write songs with smart lyrics *and* a hook. There are at least five songs on this album that, in a just world, would be played endlessly on the radio.
“Quicksilver” - Still working through this. Despite being a big Neal Stephenson fan, I’ve got to admit that it’s awfully talky in spots. But a so-so Stephenson novel trumps most of what’s out there. And yes, the guy’s a riot.
tatonka
October 16, 2003 at 3:16 pm
7Armegeddon averted - Cubbies lost the pennant.
How about linking to www.Powells.com for books. Amazon is so lame.
Thanks for the reading and music recommendations.
mdr than a htr
October 16, 2003 at 3:17 pm
8Neil Stephenson best book is, in my opinion, “In the Beginning was the Command Line”, a work of non-fiction, and a sanguine look at the growth of the computer industry and how capitalism (OK, greed) skewed the evolution of computers. It could have all been much different…
Murray
October 16, 2003 at 4:02 pm
9You know what really sucks?
Knowing that the only thing I can contribute to this commnent file is that Armegeddon is a place, while the Apocalypse is an event. So Adam you have an extra “the” before Aremgeddon.
I really need to get out more.
Teaflax
October 16, 2003 at 5:00 pm
10Paddy Macaloon - I Trawl the Megahertz. How often does an album come along that is at once perversely eclectic and utterly beatiful? The Prefab Sprout supremo releases a five-year-old private musing on radio, distance, loss…and, um, all sorts of other stuff. This year’s best antidote against the resurgence of three-chord rock.
The Office - Complete first season DVD I guess the cat’s out of the bag even on the western side of the Atlantic, but this has been a thing to savor over a long period over here. And, for those who already own this: People Like Us - Complete First Season DVD, which is the godfather of the British mockumentary style.
MeanTim
October 16, 2003 at 7:43 pm
11Chicago’s Cross Town Series next year: You heard it hear first, folks.
Kill Bill: While it lacks the witty dialouge of Pulp Fiction and Resevoir Dogs (sp?) it has some of the most thoroughly entertaining fight scenes I have ever scene. And It has a bunch of very flexible and very atractive women beating the hell out of each other. I loved this movie and can’t wait for the second volume. However, if you have a weak stomach don’t see it.
Dee
October 16, 2003 at 9:22 pm
12I have nothing to recommend, butlet me take this opportunity to say I really hate the Yankees. As did my father before me. His father before him WOULD have hated the Yankees, but he was too busy harvesting potatoes in Poland.
adam
October 17, 2003 at 2:03 am
13Oh. My. God.
that hadda be the best post-season game that’s ever been…
Curtis
October 17, 2003 at 10:12 am
14Adam, it was a great game, but the wrong team won. Nobody was dying for a Yankees-Marlins World Series. Just goes to show that God doesn’t answer prayers.
I’ve got to plug two other blogs I’ve been devouring lately:
http://dearraed.blogspot.com/
and
http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com
Written by two Iraqis, they give you a very human perspective on the current situation in Iraq.
aaron
October 17, 2003 at 10:41 am
15What happened in the game? I, like most of Boston, shot my television when Grady left Pedro in there.
Shallow Throat
October 17, 2003 at 10:45 am
16My endorsement is the “White House Leak”.
He must be on world tour now. With his “Boss”. But I hear tickets for performances are hard to get.
From the Philadelphia Inquirer:
WASHINGTON - Concerned about the appearance of disarray and feuding within his administration as well as growing resistance to his policies in Iraq, President Bush - living up to his recent declaration that he is in charge - told his top officials to “stop the leaks” to the media, or else.
News of Bush’s order leaked almost immediately.
Bush told his senior aides Tuesday that he “didn’t want to see any stories” quoting unnamed administration officials in the media anymore, and that if he did, there would be consequences, said a senior administration official who asked that his name not be used.
This could be a good future routine.
sly
October 17, 2003 at 11:34 am
17Sometimes Pedro throws 100mph fastballs in the 8th. Sometimes, his pitching falls apart. No one in my bar was speaking a word, but they were all tipping well. Hell of a game. My recs:
Summerland: You’re a Baseball fan and you haven’t read Michael Chabon’s ode to Narnia and the boys of summer?
Gun, with Occasional Music: Reading it now. Talking kangaroos and snorting Soma.
Mike Doughty: Former Soul Coughing lead singer who turned out to be a delicate and poetic songwriter.
Skipping the World Series this year: Zzzzzzzzzzz. Marlins and the Yankees? Gee, who will win . . .
Aaron Headly
October 17, 2003 at 11:39 am
18Quicksilver: I took two days off work this week to read it; yes, I finished it. I loved it, but I’m a history geek - your milage may vary.
Rebecca
October 17, 2003 at 12:54 pm
19I will endorse 7 Nations, a band I’ve been listening to a lot lately. Also Bostonians who don’t care about baseball.
Glad to hear people are liking Quicksilver, it’s on my holiday list. My big worry: Has he learned to write an ending yet?
Tim
October 17, 2003 at 1:14 pm
20Autumn. From the same people who brought you “Spring” and “Summer,” this year’s edition brings back the tried and true falling leaves, warm days and chilly nights, and more “golden hour” lighting. Pumpkins. The smell of damp earth. Heck, even here in the Mediterranean climate of the San Francisco Bay Area, it’s managing enough of a presence to take our minds off the political revolution in Sacramento. Four stars.
Murray
October 17, 2003 at 2:18 pm
21Bike riding, Mountain and road. Fun, good for your body, mind and soul and it’s fun. Repetitious aerobic exercise releases endorphins, serotonin and other fun chemicals (known as the runners high). Excellent exercise with out the pounding of running. Oh, it’s also fun.
Solar heating. Biologically, ecologically, economically, morally, socially, responsible. Both active, to heat water and passive to heat your home. Pays for itself with in a few years and saves money after that until eternity.
Wood heating, see above, also has the benefit of exercise.
Grandchildren. Your reward for not having killed your own children. All of the fun and none of the work or expense.
Susie
October 17, 2003 at 5:09 pm
22Recommended:
I’m Alan Partridge
Dude, when are you coming over to watch this brilliant stuff? Stuff the Office, this is the stuff!
Brass Eye
More amazingly good Brit Tv comedy.
Unfortunatly we need to get them re-done as we gave away our copies that had been transferred to NTSC to our favorite U of M prof.
Not especially recommended:
Evelyn Waugh autobiography I’m reading is a bit dull.
Making lunch out of left over homemade meat sauce straight up because you are too lazy to make pasta so you tell yourself not having the carbs is really a good thing.
Not recommended at all:
Shoving eels up your poop shoot.
N.L.McGill
October 18, 2003 at 3:07 am
23Recommendation:
The Elements of Style. William Strunk, Jr. and E.B. (”the Charlotte’s Web Guy”) White. The best and most necessary book on How To Write, available in cheap paperback editions. Get one for yourself; give one to someone whose syntax you can’t stand.
J.S. Bach. Why didn’t anyone tell me about this guy back when my youth was being spent listening to Wings and Sly and the Family Stone?
Bleu cheese on pear slices. I thought it sounded unlikely too, but ooooooh baby! With port if you’ve got it.
Breathing. Wonderful thing to do, highly underrated.