Dead End Follies

The Heavy - Short Change Hero

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Sun, 27 May 2012 13:36:00 +0000

The Heavy's THE HOUSE THAT DIRTY BUILT is a really good album and I think SHORT CHANGE HERO might be the best song overall. HOW YOU LIKE ME NOW? is awesome too, but this is the most eclectic and original of the two. It has influences of hip-hop, electronic music, western movies and oh yeah, also cool lyrics. Some people don't like the intro, but I love it. It's an atmospherical song and the intro puts you right in the mood, so I put the unedited version. It's been on my playlist for a few weeks now and I don't think it's going anywhere.

The Heavy - SHORT CHANGE HERO

I can't see where you comin' from
But I know just what you runnin' from:
And what matters ain't the "who's baddest" but
The ones who stop you fallin' from your ladder, baby

And you feel like you feelin' now
Doin' things just to please your crowd,
But I love you like the way I love you,
And I suffer, but I ain't gonna cut you cus

This ain't no place for no hero.
This ain't no place for no better man.
This ain't no place for no hero
To go "home."

This ain't no place for no hero.
This ain't no place for no better man.
This ain't no place for no hero
To go "home."

Every time I close my eyes, I think,
I think about you inside,
And your mother, givin' up on askin' why -
Why you lie, and you cheat, and you try to make
A fool outta she...

I can't see where you comin' from,
But I know just what you're runnin' from.
And what matters ain't the "who's baddest," but the
Ones who stop you fallin' from your ladder, cos

This ain't no place for no hero.
This ain't no place for no better man.
This ain't no place for no hero
To go "home."

Ben Tanzer - My Father's House (2011)

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Fri, 25 May 2012 12:42:00 +0000

Country: USA

Genre: Literary

Pages: 171

Shop for some Ben Tanzer on Amazon

I want to believe, not just be hopeful and positive and supportive, but believe, but can I, really?

It's common practice to have a high body count in today's fiction. Arguably, the most popular works of fiction of our times are cable television crime epics, such as BREAKING BAD, THE WIRE, THE SOPRANOS or even DEXTER. Those series, as awesome as their are, feature litres of blood, tears, dead relatives and sworn vengeances. Whenever death strikes (or looms around the corner, really) in real life and threatens someone you love, it's a different ball game. It grabs you someplace within, stretches you up, makes you tense and squeeze the breath out of you. That's this unromantic but oh-so-real side of death that Ben Tanzer explores in his novella MY FATHER'S HOUSE. While Tanzer doesn't have the most accessible style, his musings come from a honest, painful place. I think Socrates said: "The unexamined life is not worth living", Ben Tanzer takes this idea to heart as he focuses on a difficult part.

The narrator's father is dying. Well, yes and no. He has a rare form of cancer and things aren't looking up. He needs a bone marrow transplant, but finding the right match proves to be difficult. He's also looking towards experimental treatment out of despair. The narrator is married, no kids, works in one of those places where people try to turn themselves around when they fell off the deep end. Homeless, prostitutes, addicts, he sees all the ills of the world during his shift. MY FATHER'S HOUSE is the existential struggle he leads against the death of his father. The mourning of everything he didn't do with him, the abandonment of the idea of truly knowing him and the realization that they aren't so different.

I can't say I relate a hundred percent to MY FATHER'S HOUSE, but I know where it comes from. I understand the feeling of existential void and the places where death takes you. For the longest time, I didn't know what to think of MY FATHER'S HOUSE, until I sat down and read about half of it in one sitting. That's how it's meant to be read. It's deliberately structured to reward patience and I thought it was pretty clever. The evolution of the narrator's trail of thoughts doesn't appear evident if you read ten pages, but if you read forty or fifty, the transformation becomes noticeable. I appreciated this particularly because it's hard to render the concept of time passing in a book, while being fair to the reader. I thought Tanzer found a very creative way to do so. His chapters are short, but resonate with each other. It's textbook dialogism, I suppose but it's applied to such a minimalistic execution, it makes it beautiful and rewarding to read.

"Maybe you need to be confronted to feel things. Is that possible?"

"Sure, " I squeak, barely loud enough to be heard.

"And how does that make you feel?"

I pause. How much of me does she want?

The comparison might appear easy, bordeline oblivious to you, but I could definitively feel an influence of John Irving in Tanzer's prose. Tanzer is more minimalist an philosophical, but both have the same life-affirming quality and most interestingly (from my experience of Irving anyway), both are centered around the problems occured by an alienated narrator's inner life. There are good friends, a loving family and yet and terrible, oppressing loneliness the narrator is trying to transcend. While not being a realist writer per se, it's a variable that has visibly a lot of value to Tanzer. There is no Hollywood ending, but his characters don't go down in flames like in a Greek tragedy either. There is life, there are things to be learned and most time you will never be sure what it is. I appreciated that control, MY FATHER'S HOUSE is not a story of excesses and it stays coherent throughout.

I liked MY FATHER'S HOUSE. It was not a transcending read for me, but I know it will be for some people. I know it will serve its purpose and help some people who have lost a loved one. The reason why it didn't sweep me away is deeply enrooted in me. I was raised in a very rationial, working class household and I was taught to never question the way of things. Things happen, you deal with them the best you can, so you can go on with your life. That straightforwardness is hardcoded in me. MY FATHER'S HOUSE will appeal to a certain type of people, which is both its strength and its weakness. It reads half like fiction, half like philosophical musings. It's a beautiful existential battle that display the vulnerability of human condition and cleverly crafted novella and Ben Tanzer's an interesting new voice. Give him a chance to seduce you.

THREE STARS

It's not the Hit, It's the Swing that Matters

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Thu, 24 May 2012 13:39:00 +0000

All hail Rob Darken

I have the strangest relationship to black metal. The music is fine *, it's the closest music has ever been to a perfect mix of aggression, darkness, artistic value and actual musicality. No, it's the people I have difficulty with. You think hipsters are an elitist bunch? Spend a little time on black metal internet forums and you will find that once again, hipsters have invented nothing. If you're a black metal fan, you can't ever listen to the proper bands or have the right ideas. There is always someone to tell you satanic black metal is for idiots, that grown-up listeners are into NSBM **. Other will tell you the themes have no importance, that it's the music that counts. There's always this band from Poland or Hungary, which you've never listened to, who are printing about thirty-three copies of their albums and then proceed to leak it to a worthy elite on the internets.

So, in order to be the most extreme, dark, misunderstood and tortured musician ever, there is all sorts of entertaining excesses committed, creating myths and folklore for the genre. Most people know about the tragic saga of Mayhem, who's line-up was so evil it self-destructed ***, but they are superstars, legends in the field. If you want to find the real folkloric guys, you have to dig deeper. Here are a few of these ever-so-fascinating people...

Silencer (Sweden)

This guy strikes me as someone who understood perfectly how the game is played. The legend of Nattramn wants that he's been institutionalized for psychological issues after the release of their only album DEATH - PIERCE ME. Since in black metal, you're never as good as your first album, Silencer just retired after him, leaving 48:57 of the laments of a tortured soul as their only legacy. They are an object frozen in time and therefore can do no wrong anymore. Unless they want to reunite. That's right, apparently, Nattramn is out in the world again and still making music with industrial/dark ambiant band Diagnose: Lebensgefahr. I don't know if anything about Nattramn's problems is true. If it wasn't, that would make him one of the smartest men in black metal.

Lucifugum (Ukraine)

Lucifugum will go down in history as the band who shot the most ambitious video with the least financial means of all time. I think ALL MOTHERS DIE was meant to be epic. There's an impressive cast, the narrative implies the story of an inter-generational struggle, there are special effect and there's even a troll..or a shaman or whatever. Some guy once told me I didn't understand the beauty of this video, that it was full of "Slavic Imagery", but somehow I doubt that. I watch ALL MOTHERS DIE a few times here and there and I'm astonished at every viewing. I don't know much about them, except that they are still active today and they graced humanity with one of the most mind blowing videos of all-time.

Ildjarn (Norway)

It's unclear how much we know about Vidar Vaaer, better known as Ildjarn. He used hang around the black metal elite, he played bass with Thou Shalt Suffer the band that would ultimately create symphonic black metal giants Emperor. But everybody knew each other back then. Since, he has retreated in the woods, became a poster boy for misanthropy and recorded stuff like this and this. Then he bought himself a keyboard and started recording stuff like this. I know, quite the contrast. Then he released a Greatest Hits in 2005 titled ILDJARN IN DEAD and proceeded to drop from the face of the Earth. But not before leaving an awesome final statement for us to wrap our heads around.

Les Légions Noires (France)

There are so many legends about these guys, I don't even know where to start. They were a collective of bands, but their two most legendary members were Vlad Tepes and Mütiilation. They released albums in ridiculously low copy numbers (going as low as seven, I heard). Allegedly, one of their album is dark ambient, mixed with a microphone jammed in an eviscerated rat. Meyhna'ch of Mütiilation ended up having a record deal for playing actually great black metal and proceeded to be ejected from Les Légions Noires. Officially for being a junkie, but word was that there was a lot of jealousy involved. Legend wants that Meyhna'ch has been forced to drink piss by other members. Also, since then he has proceeded to play live with a dead rat on his belt, faked his own death, made a very successful comeback and then disappeared again. Some people are just not meant to live normal lives.

Gorgoroth (Norway)

Gorgoroth are superstars in their own right, but have earned themselves a place on this list due to the legendary antics of their ex-frontman Gaahl. Some of you might remember him for giving that creepy interview in METAL: A HEADBANGER'S JOURNEY. The man has an impressive rap sheet. He was imprisoned in 2002 for assaulting someone and rumor wanted that he drank his blood. His mother then testified at his trial, saying he was vegetarian. He said in interview that he supported the church burnings in Norway and that his favorite historical characters, those he drew inspiration from were Julius Caesar, Nero, Caligula and Adolf Hilter (of course). Then he kicked out founding member Infernus and sued him for the rights to the name Gorgoroth. He lost, then he came out of the closet (probably becoming the first gay nazi sympathizer ever) and retired for music.

I might catch hell for the fanboys for this article, but I don't care. I like these people and their music, they are the flagship for a fascinating subculture. They don't always hit, but do they swing hard. I'm just not part of that culture, I'm a mere observer. If the reaction to this article is good enough, I might just pull a part deux.

*For the most part, like in every musical genre, nothing is really absolute.

** National-Sociatlist Black Metal, I'm not even kidding.

*** Not everybody outside black metal know they are still a flagship band for the genre today. The two surviving original members and singer Attila Csihar are still writing music and touring.

Lawrence Block - In The Midst Of Death (1976)

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Wed, 23 May 2012 11:50:00 +0000

Country: USA

Genre: Hardboiled

Pages: 244

I hadn't planned on fucking his wife.

There was a point where I hadn't even considered it, and another point where I knew for certain that it was going to happen, and the two points had been placed remarkably close together in time.

Hard to say exactly why it happened.

Writing a series without an expiration date, like James Lee Burke's Dave Robicheaux or Lawrence Block's Scudder's is a breakneck thing to do. There are so many ways to get boring and repetitive and yet, if your character is your trademark, he's also your lifeline. While the two first Scudder novels THE SINS OF THE FATHERS and TIME TO MURDER AND CREATE were rather straightforward murder investigation, Lawrence Block raises the stakes and offers something completely new for the third installment of his series. There is a murder investigation to IN THE MIDST OF DEATH, but it's part of a larger, deeper, more complex narrative that shows the strength of the chains that binds the ex-cop to his old life. Scudder is not just an wounded observer anymore. That's my kind of character progression. With masterful patience and timing, Block shows you the other half of Matthew Scudder for a few hundred pages. The part he doesn't want you to see.

The novel starts as Scudder pays a visit to a blackmailing prostitute named Portia Carr on behalf of his client, a certain Jerry Broadfield. Only problem, she turns up dead a few pages later and Broadfield is arrested for murder. When visiting his client in jail, he claims he's been set up by the police, because he collaborated with Special Prosecutor Abner Prejanian on a police corruption affair. The policemen Scudder still know in the force all think Broadfield's an asshole and wish him a fate worse than death, regardless whether or not he killed Portia Carr. Smells enough like foul play for Scudder and he decides to dig deeper. When you go back to the life you walked away from, you can't go back and not expect ghosts to gnaw away at you. Scudder puts the quiet and fragile inner balance he found in his drifting lifestyle on the line, so he can make things right for his client.

Matthew Scudder is such a successful character because he keeps running away from who he is, but his line of work keeps bringing the truth back to him. He would probably live a peaceful life if he decided to be a brick layer, but he know how to do only one thing, sniff out the wolves in sheep clothing and putting them behind bars. While finding Portia Carr's murderer is necessary to his investigation this time, it's not what the novel is about. IN THE MIDST OF DEATH is about the illusion of the thin blue line. The more human and often uglier side of the police. What drove Scudder away from the force was his own fallibility, when he killed by mistake young Estrellita Rivera while pursuing robbers when off-duty. Being confronted to that trait in the policemen he meets for his investigation will weight extremely heavy on his shoulders.

A gradual process, death. Someone had stabbed her to death forty-eight hours ago in this very apartment, but her voice still answered the telephone.

I called two more times just to hear her voice. I didn't leave any messages. Then I had another can of beer and the rest of the bourbon and crawled into his bed and slept.

Lawrence Block strikes me at someone who understands very well the dynamic of a series. It's easy to say, you'll tell me. The man has launched multiple successful series over the years (three, I think?). But don't forget IN THE MIDST OF DEATH was written during the late seventies, when the Scudder series was still a newborn (and we're talking of a character who had a longer life than me). There is something new involved every time. A new difficulty, weather it's in regards to his task or emotional. There's also a sense of continuity. The alienation, the inscrutability, the alcohol problem, the musings, these anchor Scudder in our minds. Block make good, strategic usage of those in his writing.

IN THE MIDST OF DEATH and TIME TO MURDER AND CREATE are generally regarded as interchangeable titles since what was supposed to be tome 2 was published after tome 3 and I tend to agree that the order in which you read those is not very important. I decided to read them in order their were designed to, but don't let it guide your decision. I'm three books down in Matthew Scudder's legacy right now and IN THE MIDST OF DEATH is the best so far.

FOUR STARS

Interview with Tom Piccirilli

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Tue, 22 May 2012 12:13:00 +0000

I am very excited today to have Tom Piccirilli in interview. After reading EVERY SHALLOW CUT and THE LAST KIND WORDS, I had many questions that I was dying to ask him. Yesterday, I had the privilege to ask them and he has been more kind, generous and earnest in his answers that I could've ever wish. THE LAST KIND WORDS will be released on June 12th. Pre-Order your copy, because this will be very popular. This is my book of the year so far and it will be on many reviewer's year end list. In the meantime, get to know Tom Piccirilli a little more...

The profession of writing has always been very romanticized. "Everybody has a best-seller in them", "This is the best job in the world", etc. You've been openly critical about being a career writer. What would you say to a young soul who wants to write for a living?

I would tell him that it's a harder job than he could ever fathom. It takes you to places inside yourself you might not ever be able to get back from. It hurts, digging that deep. The financial instability, the disappointments, the loneliness tend to mount up day in and out, year by year. Writing isn't really a thing you choose to do. You don't decide to become a writer. You either are or you aren't. But be prepared. Be cautious. Chasing your dream, any dream really, is like chasing a tiger into the jungle. You could be lost, you could be eaten. But you follow because that's the thing you do.

You've made a lot of material available through the Kindle Store over the last few years. Novellas, stuff we can't really get elsewhere. Do you think eBooks are going to change the publishing game? If yes, how so?

They've already changed the game. Writers can get their catalogs back into print. Newbies don't have to spend years learning their craft, they can self-publish a book on kindle that hasn't been edited or even spell-checked. Some people are making fortunes via this form of publishing whereas they couldn't pay their rent with traditional publishing. I just hope we find some kind of balance between e-books and physical books. I'm a bibliophile. I want to be able to touch a book and feel the pages in my hands. I want to stick it on the shelf. I want to visit brick'n'mortar bookshops. I don't want to think of a world without bookstores.

Your fans point you out as the go-to guy for dark fiction. Personally, I think you're one of the darkest writers in the game. What do you think are the common threads between noir and horror (which are arguably your two main genres)?

I think there's more common ground than differences, that's for sure. Both fields ostensibly take you to a place where you are thrilled and horrified. Horror might be more graphic or delve into the supernatural whereas noir, historically, is more reality-based. But both deal with fearful situations, painful dead-ends, the long dark night of the soul. Characters might lose just as easily as win. In noir, true noir, your destiny is sealed. You will die at the end. You will have your heart torn out by a femme fatale. You will be betrayed by your best friend. In horror there's a chance that good will conquer evil. In noir, you're dead from the first sentence.

THE LAST KIND WORDS is hailed by many (included yours truly) as a breakout effort. Did you have that feeling while writing it? How did you felt about the novel throughout the writing process?

In a way I guess we all think that our latest effort is going to be the breakout, the one that takes us up to the next ring of the ladder, whatever that ring might symbolize or whatever we might associate with it. As with all my other novels, I was just trying to tell the best story I could tell at the time. The only difference was that I made a wilful decision to put emphasis on the "family drama" element of the story and dig a little deeper where the familial relationships were concerned. I didn't want women to read the book and feel it was just a "guy story." I wanted to alter my style a touch so that it didn't just feel like a crime novel but a literary (whatever that means) novel with its roots in the crime genre.

What is there about family that fascinates you?

Family is representational of the world. How one reacts to the world. You have love, you have resentment, regrets, pain, tragedy, sorrow, joy, history. Studying the depths of your feelings toward family is learning about how you'll act in almost any situation throughout the rest of your life. It's so fundamental in us. It's genetic. You are raised, you are loved, you are hurt, you carry scars, you forgive if you can, you deal. Within the context of that is just about every story you could possibly want to tell. So I dove in.

Collie's impending execution is treated very straightforwardly. You never give your take on it. What's your opinion about capital punishment in the US?

I'm unsure, really. You'd think I might have a firm stance one way or the other on such an important topic, but I just don't know. And since I didn't know, I thought I would use it as the basis of the plot so I could examine the subject from different angles. That's what makes for good drama, I feel. The not knowing, the examination, the reflection.

THE LAST KIND WORDS is dark, but also human and heartbreaking. Terrier is taking many selfless decisions, out of love for his family. Would you say it's an anomaly in your career or is your writing gearing towards that in the future?

I think I drew the story from the same well I've drawn many others. The themes are ones I've tried to mine several times before: the search for identity, the killing draw of the past, the selfless act that destroys, the lost love that reemerges. These are the building blocks for a great deal of my fiction. It's difficult to revisit themes and topics and subject matter without winding up just retreading the same ground. So we shift focus, emphasize other elements, toys with the ingredients and gravy.

Tom Piccirilli is the author of more than twenty novels including SHADOW SEASON, THE COLD SPOT, THE COLDEST MILE, and A CHOIR OF ILL CHILDREN. He's won two International Thriller Awards and four Bram Stoker Awards, as well as having been nominated for the Edgar, the World Fantasy Award, the Macavity, and Le Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire.

Chris F. Holm - 8 Pounds: Eight Tales of Crime, Horror & Suspense (2010)

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Mon, 21 May 2012 13:09:00 +0000

Country: USA

Genre: Suspense/Horror

Pages: 294 kb (eOriginal)

Buy It Here

Darkness. It seemed to Emily that darkness was all she'd ever seen. It had been two weeks now, two weeks that she'd been stranded in this cold, cramped place. A well, they told her now. Hell, it seemed to her.

8 POUNDS is the type of book you will only find on Kindle. A complete, well-shaped work and yet only a taste of what a writer can offer. Chris F. Holm was a perfect candidate to release a 99 cents eBook. The man doesn't write short stories all that often, but when he does, everybody talks about it for the following weeks. Eager to get cracking on his new novel DEAD HARVEST, I thought I should give a go to his short stories first. Because I like his shorts, because I can and because it was ungodly cheap to do so. While it's about the shortest, most non-committal read you can find (which is not necessarily a bad thing, in a .99$ eBook situation), there are many things to love about 8 POUNDS. It goes it many directions, but the pen of Chris F. Holm is strong enough to bind the stories together under his vision.

First of all, let's get clear of the elephant in the room. Stephen King. Holm draws inspiration from the grand master, that's for sure. But it's done right, without plagiarizing themes or even atmospheres. Holm's stories feel unique and vibrant. If they reminded me of King, it's because they flow exceptionally well and they focus on tight storytelling. Holm knows which kind of writer he is and who he's writing for. SEVEN DAYS OF RAIN, his Spinetingler Award winning story brought a terrific setting that both wraps up the readers and the characters in its embrace. It's not quite a paranormal story, but more mythical I'd say, which makes its power. Using elderly protagonists made this approach possible and even seducing. It was one of my favorites of the lot. It's easy to understand why it won an award.

Two other stories stood out for me. THE TOLL COLLECTORS, which is definitively more horror-oriented (despite standing on the edge of several genre) and THE WORLD BEHIND. Holm has such a knack for bone-chilling settings, it makes his (great) character seems like the icing on the cake. THE TOLL COLLECTORS happens over a dark and lonely patch of the Interstate, where a hired killer has to go through an unexpected life-examination. It's the pinpoint place where this story needs to be. THE WORLD BEHIND deals with the weight of childhood memories through a life-defining moment. I love that theme, that childhood always weights a lot more than you think it should and Holm offers a very accurate, controlled and sharp story about the haunting of childhood.

Prison was a rebirth for Ray; he read and lifted and he fought, winning more than he lost. He learned that he enjoyed inflicting pain, and that he was good at it. When he got out, he found a more productive outlet for his talents than beating on drunks in bars or felons behind them. He'd learned control. He'd learned patience. And he's learned that a man with his proclivities was always in demand.

There were stories I thought didn't work as well. A BETTER LIFE wasn't my cup of tea. Thought it offered a wet balloon for a plot twist. THE BIG SCORE also didn't do much for me. But with such a scatter shooting approach (there are more or less three genres announced in the collection's title), I was expecting some of the stories to be less to my liking. I find Chris F. Holm is at his best when working on the edge of horror and the paranormal. When he tackles the theme of innocence, his game gets even better. That's what makes his strength because genre restraints are obviously not made for him, hence his latest novel DEAD HARVEST that seems to blend genres with the author's trademark accuracy and minutiae.

It's hard not to recommend 8 POUNDS. Yeah, the stories are many different genres, but there will be stories that hook you up and leave their mark in your flesh. In my case, there were three which I keep thinking about still, more than one week after reading. 8 POUNDS is a display of power by Chris F. Holm. No matter what he writes about, his storytelling is tight and his prose spare and focused. If there is such a strong parallel to make with Stephen King, it's not because he's a copycat. It's because he's cut from the same mold as the best selling author.

THREE STARS

Ray LaMontagne - Crazy

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Sun, 20 May 2012 13:35:00 +0000

Anthony cover. I'm partial about Ray LaMontagne. He has one of the best voices in the business but the's the perennial dude-with-a-guitar that signs many songs that sound like each other. But this is really good. Great even. I like the Gnarls Barkley song (who doesn't, really?), but with Ray's voice, the stripped down simplicity, it gives the song another layer of depth. That kinda blew me away the first time I heard it. It's going to be hard for you to listen to the original with the same expectations afterwards. It's a sunny day here, supposed to be over thirty degrees for the first time this year, thought it would fit the Sunny Sunday vibe pretty well. Enjoy!

Ray LaMontagne - CRAZY

I remember when, I remember, I remember when I lost my mind
There was something so pleasant about that place.
Even your emotions have an echo
In so much space

And when you're out there
Without care,
Yeah, I was out of touch
But it wasn't because I didn't know enough
I just knew too much

Does that make me crazy?
Does that make me crazy?
Does that make me crazy?
Probably

And I hope that you are having the time of your life
But think twice, that's my only advice

Come on now, who do you, who do you, think you are,
Oh bless your soul
Do you really think you're in control

Well, I think you're crazy
I think you're crazy
I think you're crazy
Just like me

My heroes had the heart to lose their lives out on a limb
And all I remember is thinking, I wanna be like them
Ever since I was little, ever since I was little it looked like fun
And it's no coincidence I've come
And I can die when I'm done

But Maybe I'm crazy
Maybe you're crazy
Maybe we're crazy
Probably

Uh, uh

Dead End Follies Vs Law 78

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Sat, 19 May 2012 15:50:00 +0000

I try to keep off political arguments as much as I can. They always bring a crowd of raucous, emotional commenters who love being right way too much. But injustice has been hitting home this week, so I feel compelled to drop you a word about this. I have written considerably less this week and this has something to do with it. I have been hitting news sites for the whole week, looking for updates in this really nasty conflict. It took a turn uglier than all I could've imagined though.

In order to jugulate the student strike (which is heading into its fifteenth week), our Prime Minister Jean Charest pulled Law 78 out of his sleeve. This atrocity enables the government and the police to supervise the right to protest. That applies to everybody. Anyone with a chip on their shoulder, they need approval from the police and the government to proceed to a gathering of more than twenty-five people. They need to provide an itinerary, which can be altered by law enforcement at any time.

According to the Prime Minister, Law 78 was necessary to preserve social peace. The students have been walking the streets for a month now and nobody died. There were a few windows broken every night and a few inured people, but the protesters have the most wounded players in their rosters by FAR. I don't think they even injured one person. That social peace argument was bullshit. The Liberal Party has been in power for about eight years now and have become notorious for their corruption. They stole ungodly amount of money, but they have never stepped on fundamental rights. Nobody ever did. Not here. The worst part about that law is thaty polls show MASSIVE support despite the numerous breakdowns about how disastruous it can be. There is still a political numbness going over the province right now, but I hope this horrible law will help politicize people again, so we can kick the Liberals out for the next election.

Please, don't have the wrong idea about this post. I am neither for or against the raise of tuition fees that started all this mayhem. I think the raise is way too steep, but it's been an inevitable political issue for years now. They would have been raised sooner or later. The debate has been horrendously mishandled though. The Liberal Party refused negociations for weeks and multiplied insulting comments as students associations showed very poor rationality and negociation skills. The most radicals even tried to turn the protests into something larger. Into a "Quebec Spring". All they did was to get Quebec in trouble. Now the tuition fee raises remain integral, the points students associations won in negociations are now voided and there is this stupid law. Nobody's happy. Except for this strange majority who just want their calm, quiet, comfortable househould. Their entertainment on television. News about riots in North Africa instead of here. Until they have something to get angry about. Then they'll get thrown to prison. Fuck.

Warren Ellis - Crooked Little Vein (2007)

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Fri, 18 May 2012 13:04:00 +0000

Country: U.K

Genre: Hardboiled/Satire

Pages: 277

The guy next to me began frantically scrubbing his crotch with the glove. I decided to keep my eyes on the screen. It was obvious to me by this point that I was never ever going to have sex again, and I just needed to get through this until the lights came up and I could find someone to question.

CROOKED LITTLE VEIN landed on my desk at work, from the firm swing of a coworker who also gave me the proverbial "Dude, you gotta read this." I was a little skeptical at first, because my coworker isn't exactly into hardboiled/noir, so I doubted him despite his good intention. Well, I shouldn't have. Maybe CROOKED LITTLE VEIN isn't an award winner, but it's a good, original novel. A little background might help you understand this bad boy if you decide to give it a chance. Warren Ellis is first and foremost a comic book writer. His agent was pushing him to write a novel, so he hammered the first ten thousand words of an extreme satire of America and the hardboiled genre, thinking she would leave him alone after that. The word "satire" might make the purist in you wince, but let me reassure you. This novel is actually funny. Very funny, in fact.

P.I Michael McGill's business is a little low. The novel opens, he wakes up to find a rat pissing in his coffee mug. But his luck is turning as men in suits invade his office and the heroine-addicted White House chief of staff walks in with a mission he deems tailor made for Mike. He needs to find the constitution. The REAL constitution that the founding father wrote to steer the American people towards the light in the darkest hour. That's only chapter one. Mike accepts the investigation due to the sheer amount of money the chief of staff drops to convince him and embarks on the strangest journey of his life through the American underbelly. Over the course of his adventure he will find love, excess and sex. A lot of sex. In every possible way you can imagine doing it wrong.

The satirical treatment of the American Way of Life given by Warren Ellis is hilarious. Because it's not judgmental and most important, it's not one bit mean. It's based on a logical fallacy he willingly commits himself in reducing every angle of desire to one thing. Fucking *. Mike and his sidekick Trix are running into waves of perverts and windows trying to get their hands on the constitutions. It's being traded amongst powerful people and that said powerful people are letting their desire go loose when the world doesn't look at them. That often means fucking. And Ellis portrays it as such a good-natured act sometimes, I couldn't help but to crack up loud. My favorite scene was when a bunch of homosexual party animals are dealing with Mike to inject brine into his testicles to get the information he wants. Then they proceed to call him out for being a pussy when he doesn't accept right away. The scene where he puts his pants back on afterwards is gold.

There we go, Mike. An inch over your nuts, you clever bastard you. Cold zipper metal where it really really should never be. Lift up your ass, buy a little wiggle room...

Of course, 277 pages of maximum-overdrive satire and full of over-the-top characters who surrendered to their darker impulses, some things will get lost in the way. Michael McGill is a forgettable protagonist, despite the use of first person narration, you often lose the sense of who he is in front of that continuous Vaudeville spectacle. There's a lot of low brow humor, which won't be everybody's cup of tea and it kinds of dulls the senses after a while. You have to have the stomach for it. Nonetheless, I can see CROOKED LITTLE VEIN having a tremendous success with a younger demographic (let's say 17 to 25). Become a cult classic even. The Lynchian dreamlike logic and the Mark Leyner inspired absurdity, wrapped up as a hardboiled novel, is a very seducing package. CROOKED LITTLE VEIN is a lot of fun, if a little unfocused, like a booze soaked night. To me, it was a nice break from the bleak atmospheres and the bloodbaths I'm used to. Whenever you need a change of pace in your reading, this is a book you want to give a chance to.

THREE STARS

*Or almost, really. It's not 100%, but fucking is the predominant thing here.

Dead End Follies Book Club: CODE FOR FAILURE

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Thu, 17 May 2012 12:47:00 +0000

My fellow book bloggers will understand this. When you get an unsolicited request for review, it usually goes from good to terrible. It's never great. It's not that it can never be great, but great writers often don't have to do this. Well, Ryan W. Bradley did this and man, CODE FOR FAILURE was about the greatest thing. Not the usual type of novel you'll find in the HarperCollins library though. It doesn't respect any format standards or any traditional ideas in terms of its content. Ryan W. Bradley has to market his book the hard way because he has new ideas.

I was reminded of many artists I loved when reading CODE FOR FAILURE. Kevin Smith being the first. CLERKS was the first big time comedy about over-the-counter jobs. It reminded me of personal hero of mine Henry Rollins, who brings politics to the masses in an entertaining, digestible format. There were echoes of Raymond Carver also. It had everything to charm me. But what made it truly remarkable is that despite that his influences are clear, the ideas are his alone. He is a new voice, a new force to be reckoned with.

Buy CODE FOR FAILURE here

THREE REASONS TO READ: CODE FOR FAILURE

1) It's a credit to realism. Anybody that ever called realist novels boring need to read CODE FOR FAILURE. By using a clever form (short vignettes), Bradley captures the bare essence of what makes life soul crushing and yet beautiful.

2) It's a fun political novel. Your usual friendly neighborhood political novel will talk about mass movements and revolutions. The macro side of politics. This novel deals with the micro. How you're affected in your daily life by thing such as gas prices, the self-esteem movement and the shift of values of a nation.

3) It's human and deeply positive. David Foster Wallace once said the novelist's job was to highlight what it is to be a human being. To find what's still shining in the darkness. Bradley understands that. His protagonist is flawed and wounded, but he refuses to give up.

THREE TOPICS ABOUT: CODE FOR FAILURE

1) Do you think the protagonist's longings are a construction or do you think it's human nature to long for something better? As children of this generation are sheltered from physical and economical need, is it a normal shift they take towards things like love and fulfillment?

2) CODE FOR FAILURE almost has a sketch-like approach, like in comedy. Do you think it helped or it hurt the most dramatic points of the novel and why?

3) Do you think college is carrying a certain romanticism about life on the work market? If so, how?

The Avengers (2012)

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Wed, 16 May 2012 13:17:00 +0000

Country:

USA

Starring:

Robert Downey Jr.
Chris Evans
Mark Ruffalo
Chris Hemsworth
Scarlett Johansson
Jeremy Renner
Tom Hiddleston
Samuel L. Jackson
Gwyneth Paltrow
Paul Bettany (Voice)

Directed By:

Joss Whedon

A curious kind of hype surrounded the release of THE AVENGERS. Fanboys and casual moviegoers expected Marvel's ultimate blockbuster to reward them for putting them through years of introductory films that would lead up to this very moment. It was the case for Thor and Captain America (who got dealt a particularly bad movie) and to a certain extent Hulk, who never found the right people to do him justice on film. The Iron Man franchise has already lifted off, but it's the exception that confirms the rule. So did it? Yes, the Marvel-Joss Whedon team delivered. Now, let's get things in perspective. It's a pertinent celebration of the Marvel Universe, but this is more entertainment than a piece of cinema that makes you drop to one knee. I'm happy it is what it is, though. THE AVENGERS knows what it can do well and what it can do. Joss Whedon took the right decisions to make it work. He created a clever blockbuster that plays the right cards to please everybody and managed to pack major surprises.

If you're not familiar with The Avengers comics, it's not very complicated. You don't really need have any background on superheroes to understand, not even to have seen the prior movies. It helps, but it's not mandatory. You just need to know that Nick Fury (Jackson) of governmental agency S.H.I.E.L.D deals with paranormal events. One of his projects was the Avengers Initiative, that had for goal to assemble a commando of individual with superhuman capacities (read superheroes) to deal with a variety of threats mankind doesn't have the firepower to deal with. While it first failed, Fury brings it back together in a hurry when alien substance called Tesseract opens a vortex from another dimension and Thor's bad boy little brother Loki (Hiddleston) comes in to steal the Tesseract cube and use it for nefarious plans. It's up to Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, Steve Rogers, Thor, Natasha Romanov and Clint Barton to stop him.

There are two angles to THE AVENGERS, action and comedy. This philosophy is taken so literally, it's almost beautiful. The comedy segments will appear overbearing to certain viewers and have been the principal issue negative reviews put forward. I loved it. Joss Whedon spent enough time polishing the clever game of wits between his characters to make a statement - This will not be a mind numbing series of exploding things like TRANSFORMERS was. I thought this was a smart decision, since the Hasbro franchise has hurt the public's faith in action movie. There are great characters to root for and fun clashes of personality. Captain America is pushed into the cupboard a little bit, but I don't think fans will mind. He's kind of a dated superhero and clearly not a Joss Whedon favorite. Good thing, because Chris Evans is by far the less talented guy of the acting crew.

Speaking of acting, there is a come-from-nowhere surprise in THE AVENGERS. There was a general surprise when Mark Ruffalo was chosen over Edward Norton to play Bruce Banner. I thought it was an interesting risk as Ruffalo is a severely underrated talent. His face isn't yet a trademark and he tends to morph into his character in spectacular fashion. I'm a fan of Hulk. Along with Spiderman, he's my favorite Marvel hero (the two are probably my favorite superheroes, period). Ruffalo IS the right man to play Bruce Banner. He plays the variables of the character with a subtlety that maybe clashes with the movie, but the script gives him enough spotlight to pull it off. Watching Ruffalo, you will understand the omnipresent anger within the character, that stigmatizes the character. The fear, the sadness, the paranoia. Ruffalo can filter it through one look and a few works. This guy needs a standalone Hulk movie. He has enough game to do justice to this amazing character.

THE AVENGERS is half personality clashes and half fighting, using superpowers. That makes for a two hours and a half movie that passes by like fifteen minutes. I had to see it in 3D, because of the bad call of somebody I went to see it with * and just don't bother. The editing is a particularly bad fit for 3D. It's fast paced and before you can realize there's a 3D trick being pulled off, the shot is over. It's aggravating. There is no shaky cam tricks pulled off, so kudos to Joss Whedon for keeping it simple and enjoyable. Those are the two keywords here. Simple and enjoyable. THE AVENGERS will write itself in a long series of summer blockbusters, but it's a good one that's both entertaining and respectful towards its origins. It's a rarity in the Hollywood landscape. If you have one superhero movie to go see, this is the one you should choose.

SCORE: 85%

* "There's a screening at 7PM, let's go see this one."

At the cinema...

"Fuck, it's a 3D screening. Next 2D is at 8:20"

"Let's go see it in 3D man, how bad can it be?"

Thor (2011)

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Tue, 15 May 2012 13:08:00 +0000

Country:

USA

Starring:

Chris Hemsworth
Natalie Portman
Tom Hiddleston
Anthony Hopkins
Idris Elba
Rene Russo

Directed By:

Kenneth Branagh

Good marketing will get inside your head and create a need for something your never cared about before. Great marketing will take something already successful with a small but dedicated demographic and reintroduce it to a new platform, cashing in on both the old and the new fans. Whoever introduced Marvel Comics to Hollywood did just that. Whoever in Marvel (or Disney) had the vision of hyping up an Avengers movie by introducing the initiative's members saw through the appeal of an immediate cash-in, so I can respect that *. THOR was part of this Avengers "vision" and it shows. If anything, it's a safe movie. It has decent star power, goes through the necessary details not to offend the Marvel fanbase, sets the table for THE AVENGERS (Loki's the bad guy too) and manages to keep the political variables under the lid pretty well. It's just...not...all that great, really. It left me the impression it was made not to loose money, rather than to entertain people. According to IMDB, it tripled its initial investment, so mission accomplished.

The Thor fans will be familiar with the story. I was more of a Hulk type of kid, but I knew the basic elements of the story. Thor (Hemsworth), son of Odin (Hopkins), is next in line for the throne of Asgard, which is another realm of the cosmos in Marvel's universe. Mythology aside **, long story short, Thor gets banished from Asgard by Odin for ignoring his word and heading into battle with another realm Asgard had a truce with. He is stripped of his powers and sent to earth, where he is found by scientist Jane Foster (Portman) and her team. The easy conclusion is that they stumbled upon a very buff mental patient who eats a lot and who's obsessed about his hammer. But a government agency named S.H.I.E.L.D is interested in that hammer too and many more people. Meanwhile, back in Asgard, Odin is caught with a mysterious ill and goes under while Loki (Hiddleston) takes power. He has one thing on his mind, getting rid of Thor so he can reign freely.

THOR is a competent movie. I found myself being mildly involved in a story I pretty much knew, part due to Kenneth Branagh's sense of drama and to the chemistry between Chris Hemsworth and Natalie Portman. But it's a movie that spends a lot of time and energy trying not to drop things. That makes any potential mistake the movie would make look so much bigger. I would've loved a little boldness, like let's say a little more inspiration from the actual Norse mythology. The figure of Odin, for example was disappointing. Anthony Hopkins is a great actor, but he doesn't look like he takes this part not very seriously. In fact, he looks like he's interpreting a Shakespearean tragedy where you walk around an altar and yell a lot. Not exactly the powerhouse Odin is supposed to be. I know it's Marvel's Odin and not the Norse one but Hopkins' overdramatic approach got on my nerves.

It was unintentionally funny at times too, which I thought made for part of his charm. The Thor-Odin relationship and the latent daddy issues were not subtle at all. Thor wants to live to Odin's legacy of blood and his old man knows better than to put his people through an excruciating war again. The dynamic is interesting and while Chris Hemsworth isn't the most talented actor, the part of Thor seems cut out for him. It's not too difficult and it relies on his physicality more than emotions and subtlety.

My viewing of THOR felt like walking in a Marvel Museum wing dedicated to the character. It's fun but there's not all that much for your friendly neighborhood cinema lover. This is what you get for making an introductory film, I guess. I suppose later Thor adventures are much more exciting. The liberties taken with the characters are minor, which is in Hollywood more good than bad. It was a nice surprise to see Idris Elba, better known as Stringer Bell from THE WIRE, have a small part as Heimdall. He's a very talented actor. The main objective of THOR was to keep the Marvel ball rolling and not to mess things up for the Avengers initiative (sic). Well, mission accomplished Kenneth Branagh. THOR doesn't wow you and will probably be seen in very few DVD collections, but it's a nice afternoon movie with decent pacing. It's even better when you're supposed to see THE AVENGERS the same night (tee hee hee).

SCORE: 71%

* I got two bucks on Joss Whedon.

** Thor explains it to Jane surprisingly well in about three minutes. Kudos to whoever came up with this straightforward explanation.

Nik Korpon - Old Ghosts (2011)

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Mon, 14 May 2012 13:13:00 +0000

Country: USA

Genre: Noir

Pages: 102/114 kb

Buy It Here

The sun bled through the exposed window over the sink. Bars of light caught dust motes, swirling like we were standing in a Billy Wilder movie.

If there is any issues that plague genre literature, it's creativity. When certain variables determine whether or not you belong to a certain artistic current, it's so easy to surf whatever somebody else has created and tweak it just a little. Many stories sound the same. Pulp writer Nik Korpon doesn't suffer from any creative issues, though. BY THE NAILS OF THE WARPRIEST didn't read like anything else ever and OLD GHOSTS even more so. But unlike its predecessor, this story fits the novella format just right. I can't say it's an easy read, but it's original and daring and it manages to deconstruct the ideas that make noir. Chalk it up as experimentation, as character study, as a unique object, but OLD GHOSTS is a great story that knows its strengths and its limits. It's the kind of book that given enough time, will be quoted as one of the books that brought a genre forward. Avant-Garde is the word I'm looking for.

OLD GHOSTS will require some patience. Protagonist Cole is working construction is Baltimore. He recently married his girlfriend Amy and are trying to have a baby. Cole appreciates to the fullest his luck to have found a great girl for himself. His colleague/partner Paddy introduce him to a potential client whom Cole recognizes. His old friend Chance Miller from Boston. He came to Baltimore with his sister Delilah (an old girlfriend of Cole...sort of) with real estate projects...sort of. They are the life Cole ran away from when he moved to Baltimore and they want him back. They mirror danger and excitement to him and make him miss the excitement of his past life. But Cole is a smart guy. He knows there is more than meets the eye to this apparition of old ghosts. They want him back for a reason.

When I say OLD GHOSTS is a novella that requires patience, I'm sure many of you winced. How can a hundred pages novella requires patience? It's all about instant gratification, right? Not here. Please, don't let it turn you away though. You've read stories like that before. They are my favorite kind. Layers of information add up and change the meaning of what you're reading gradually. The elements you begin with are just symptoms of what's really going on. While the narrative builds itself up, Korpon nails his trademark unique atmospheres and vivid symbolism. OLD GHOSTS is particularly apt in this department as it messes around with your head. Korpon deconstructs Cole's life on construction sites and he uses the empty, half-built houses as a metaphor for change and the concept of aging. You can reinvent yourself, but you can't deny who you once were. That allows him to play with other genres' tropes such as horror and..well..ghost stories. I don't remember who said reading OLD GHOSTS was like listening to a Nick Cave record, but it's a great comparison.

I saw Amy's smile, her golden hair swimming among the debris of Boston, the shards of an abandoned life. I saw myself lying in an alley with ice picks stabbed through my eyes.

I liked OLD GHOSTS for many reasons and the main ones were that it skewed some old ideas of noir and flirted with crossover again. Reading Nik Korpon feels like a breath of fresh air, in that regard. If you have read BY THE NAILS OF THE WARPRIEST already, don't expect to get into OLD GHOSTS and find a something similar. One has very little to do with the other. Only thing they share is Korpon's beautiful writing style (although I thought it flowed better in WARPRIEST). OLD GHOSTS is a clever piece of storytelling that will crawl up your spine and find its way inside your skull. The Baltimore of Nik Korpon is the most seducing rendition of the city since David Simon's. It's bold, somewhat mythical and most important, it feels new and pulsing with unexplored possibilities. I haven't read that many writers who nail the concept of darkness in their writing like Korpon does.

FOUR STARS

Marilyn Manson ft. Johnny Depp - You're So Vain

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Sun, 13 May 2012 14:45:00 +0000

You will press play and then hate me. Carly Simon's YOU'RE SO VAIN is the biggest earworm and Marilyn Manson is one of the best cover artists I know. Not that his own stuff isn't good because it totally is, but he's extremely talented at reappropriating other people's music and lyrics and giving it a new dimension. If you're not 100% convinced, try also his I PUT A SPELL ON YOU or even YOU SPIN ME ROUND. Part of this new cover's drawing power still lies in the Carly Simon's original arrangements, but Manson gives it a new polish it didn't have. Oh yeah and can you hear Johnny Depp sing? I'm not sure I can. Meanwhile, enjoy and hate me for the rest of this week.

Marilyn Manson ft. Johnny Depp - YOU'RE SO VAIN

You walked into the party
Like you were walking onto a yacht
Your hat strategically dipped below one eye
Your scarf it was apricot
You had one eye in the mirror
As you watched yourself gavotte
And all the girls dreamed that they'd be your partner
They'd be your partner, and

You're so vain
You probably think this song is about you
You're so vain
I'll bet you think this song is about you
Don't you? Don't you?

You had me several years ago
When I was still quite naive
Well, you said that we made such a pretty pair
And that you would never leave
But you gave away the things you loved
And one of them was me
I had some dreams they were clouds in my coffee
Clouds in my coffee, and

You're so vain
You probably think this song is about you
You're so vain
I'll bet you think this song is about you
Don't you? Don't you?

I had some dreams they were clouds in my coffee
Clouds in my coffee, and

You're so vain
You probably think this song is about you
You're so vain
I'll bet you think this song is about you
Don't you? Don't you?

Well, I hear you went up to Saratoga
And your horse naturally won
Then you flew your Lear jet up to Nova Scotia
To see the total eclipse of the sun
Well, you're where you should be all the time
And when you're not, you're with
Some underworld spy or the wife of a close friend
Wife of a close friend, and

You're so vain
You probably think this song is about you
You're so vain
I'll bet you think this song is about you
Don't you? Don't you?

The Road in your Rearview Mirrow

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Sat, 12 May 2012 21:39:00 +0000

It was thirteen years ago today, so I was sixteen. The world was still reeling from the Columbine tragedy. Our society tasted chaos and death at its heart. I woke up and left for school, just like the day before and like every day before that one. It wasn't supposed to have a story. High schools in May are full on teenagers clenching their teeth through the last segment of the school year. I walked to school that day, dreaming of the end of June.

Bad news travel fast in small towns. When I passed the door, I was immediatly told: "Have you heard? There's been a big accident." There was indeed. Four girls, including one of my best friend's sister and my cousin had died. Well, she wasn't really my cousin. She was the daughter of my mother's best friend. We called her Auntie and I called her children my cousins. We spent many Christmases and summer vacations together. I knew her better than any of my blood-related cousins. Her name was Marie-Ève and she was eighteen years old.

There was snow that morning. It's not uncommon in northern regions to have snowstorms in May, but it hadn't snowed in two weeks prior to that morning. There was very little snow left on the ground. But it snowed that morning and it never snowed afterward, until the following month of November. An ice patch formed on the road, in a very difficult curve. The girls were car pooling, on the way to their last exam of the semester at Cegep de Sept-Iles, a place I would spend two years of my life in, less than eighteen months later. Well, they never made it. I don't remember precisely, but I think it's them who hit the ice patch and drifted in the other lane. They hit another car face to face.

Everybody in their vehicle died. All from severed spine. Word was that they didn't suffered. That death was instantaneous. In the other car, there was only one man. He survived. It wasn't his fault. He was on the way to work and suddenly had a car in his face and few minutes later, four deaths on his mind. His ghosts are probably meaner than mine. I wonder sometimes if they really all died on the spot. What really happened as life left the car? Did they say their last goodbyes? Were her last thoughts lucid and collected or did she see where she was going?

This is a drama like there are thousands. I don't pretend it's an everyday haunting for me, but it's important to remember. She was worth remembering. Still is. May 12th 1999 and its consequences have taught me many things. It was the first time I saw death for what it really was. To me before, it was the end of the road. Something associated with old age. But to see Marie-Eve in her coffin, to kiss her cold forehead, being there when the shut the lid on her for the last time. It changed things. Brought me closer to the man typing those words today.

People don't really die if you remember them. So May 12th is important for me and I hope it always will. It's a curve on my road.

Tom Piccirilli - The Last Kind Words (2012)

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Fri, 11 May 2012 15:08:00 +0000

Country: USA

Genre: Literary/Noir

Pages: 320

Pre-Order It Here

He had two weeks to go before they strapped him down and injected poison into his heart. I knew Collie was divided about it, the way he was divided about everything. A part of him would look forward to step off the big ledge.He'd been looking over it his whole life in one way or another.

You have to understand. I gave a five stars review to Tom Piccirilli's EVERY SHALLOW CUT last Winter and it was damn earnest. Now, his latest novel THE LAST KIND WORDS is longer, more layered, more complex emotionally and believe it or not, bolder. It's also very different from his 2011 powerhouse novella, which is the only variable that saves my scoring system from looking silly. I had the priviledge to read this novel which is only released on June 12 and expect it to turn heads. Many heads. I expect THE LAST KIND WORDS to win awards this year. Probably more than one. It's been my favorite read this year so far and there's a reason for that. Not only it's a great noir novel, but Piccirilli's concern while writing it went far beyond the tropes of a single genre. This is a great novel, period. You will find it dark and tough, but you don't need to be into any genres to appreciate it.

There is a plot (a damn good one) but going into THE LAST KIND WORDS, you have to understand the dynamics it's build around. It's a family story. The Rands, a family of thieves from generation to generation. Old school thieves who mastered the art of sneaking without recurring to violence. Oh and they are also all named after dog breeds, which I think it's awesome. Pinscher, Collie, Grey(houd), Mal(amute), (Air)Dale and the protagonist himself, Terrier Rand. He's coming back home after cutting the ties for five years, two weeks shy of his brother Collie's execution. His elder brother has went mad dog five years ago and killed eight people for absolutely no reason. The issue is, Collie pretends he killed seven people that night, not eight. He has information regarding other potential victims from the same unknown killer. Terrier will investigate those claims, torn in between the pain he caused by leaving and the pain Collie caused to the family.

What made THE LAST KIND WORDS larger than life is the dimension Tom Piccirilli gave to his characters. His premise was risky. A serial killer whoddunit has been done to death. But Piccirilli masterfully leaped over this potential issue by making his story about the Rands. Terrier abandonned his family for five years, thinking he was running away from thieves, from a lifestyle. But he came back to human beings, who missed him and who could've used having him around all that time. Terrier's relationship to his parents is particularly heartbreaking in its veiled conversations and the affirmation of love through symbolic gestures. I thought it was an interesting commentary on the crime genre, that the function doesn't make the individual. To have given to thieving such a small place against family issues was a bold move. This conflict is expressed within Terrier in a bone chilling scene at the end of chapter one.

He showed teeth and I loathed his smile. It said that he had me in his hand, that he could make me come to him whenever he called. I'd thrown a hundred fists into that smile and I'd never hit it even once.

There is so much more to THE LAST KIND WORDS than what I can fit into a review. Piccirilli has made the neighborhood of the Rand family come alive with great characters and problems and Terrier is bouncing all over the city trying to solve issues for his family with a nagging feeling of guilt and at the same time, wrestle with his own demons. This is layered with many subplots that will keep you reading as Terrier is slowly pulling the strings on his brother's claims. Many other strange bird are flying around the Rands nest. A policeman with an Oliver Twist complex, a deadbeat boyfriend, a horny journalist, a mobster living in the shadow of his father. There is a lot going on, but it never gets derivative due to Tom Piccirilli's amazing sense of pacing. The right amount of new information comes at the right time and often through the support cast, so it binds all this people together and the most experienced readers/writers will barely notived, because they will be way too involved emotionally in the story to pick apart and find issues. On a technical standpoint, THE LAST KIND WORDS is nothing short of a tour-de-force.

While Piccirilli has his very distinctive style and themes, THE LAST KIND WORDS kept reminding me of one of my favorite novels, MYSTIC RIVER. It's imbued with the same sense of place and the same taint to the characters. To me, comparing anything to what Dennis Lehane has done is the highest compliment and Tom Picciirilli's latest novel holds up to what my favorite writer does. It's that good. Piccirilli writes crime with a perspective and a sense or urgency that nobody else has. He finds the beauty in chaos and darkness. You want to know what's even more exiting about THE LAST KIND WORDS? Word is that there's a sequel coming...

FIVE STARS

Michael Offutt discusses William Gibson (Guest Post)

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Thu, 10 May 2012 12:15:00 +0000

I don't remember if I found Mike Offutt or if Mike Offutt found me, but we've been fan of each other's work for about a year or so. Anyway, he got a deal for SLIPSTREAM, which I reviewed here. It's a good nudge of hard sci-fi to the face. You should definitively read it if you like your sci-fi infused with a strong zest of cyberpunk. Think William Gibson's nerdy little brother meets David Cronenberg. Mike blogs out of SLC Kismet, so check it out.

William Gibson is the author of Neuromancer. More so than any other author, he shaped the creation of SLIPSTREAM which is my attempt at writing a science-fiction story that embraces the noir-ish atmosphere of the cyberpunk genre. The first time that I read the opening line to Neuromancer:

“The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.”

I was hooked.

Neuromancer is written in almost purple prose. But I like it. It won the Hugo, the Nebula, and the Philip K. Dick Award in the year it was released. For those of you that don’t know what these are…it’s an honor that is stratospheric in comprehension.

Neuromancer is about a guy named Case who is a hustler in the dystopian underworld of Chiba City, Japan (set somewhere in the future). This is a book that captured the essence of the movie “The Matrix” twenty years before “The Matrix” ever became a film. This is a book that foretold the coming of the internet, and the Blade Runner-ish cities that would rise in Japan and China. The dominant theme in Neuromancer is the evolving relationship between humanity and technology and how scientific advances will one day blur the lines dividing the two. Gibson’s human characters rely on electronic enhancements to survive. How is that any different than our reliance on computers? How long will it be before we will need computer storage put into our brains in order to be competitive in the marketplace and make a living? How long will it be before quadriplegics can control robotic appendages with their own thoughts?

At the core of SLIPSTREAM is an all-powerful A.I. who goes insane. The question I ask in my book is “What would happen if God had a nightmare?” My “Chiba City” is named “Kilvarough City” and it looks exactly what Blade Runner’s Los Angeles would look like if it threw up on itself. If you choose to read it, I hope you find that it does justice to the cyberpunk world of Mr. Gibson and those writers that followed in his footsteps.

I have a contest for the release of my book. I will pick one random person who comments on this post to win a $5 Amazon Gift Card and a SLIPSTREAM jeweled spider (the same person wins both prizes). The jeweled spider really sparkles in the sunlight. I hope whoever wins it really likes it. Also, please make sure that your email is linked to your signature in some way . And yes, the crystal spiders play an important role in my book

Rules:

1) Mark my book “To Read” on Goodreads.

2) Comment on this post.

3) Tweet this post if you have twitter. You don’t have to sign-up for twitter. It’s the “honor” system.  That’s it. I will choose a winner on Saturday, May 19th. And thank you, Ben, for having me on your fine blog.

BUY SLIPSTREAM HERE

The Credits Roll on a Creed Song

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Wed, 09 May 2012 13:15:00 +0000

The Hollywood Finale of Jermaine Paul

So for the last three months, I renewed with the everyday man in me by sitting down, shutting up and watching people sing for two hours every Monday. Well, every Monday and Tuesday for the past month or so. Why have I done this? I really don't know. While I think THE VOICE was as manipulative as anything out there, I was thoroughly entertained by it and even intellectually stimulated. Once again, I'm not sure why. My guess is that the show employed some of Vince McMahon's old writers to extract every drop of drama from the formula. It worked. I'm not going to break down the entire season today. I'm planning to do a longer piece on this soon enough. I'm only going to break down the final. Why? Because I've been a fan of Joe Berkowitz's weekly recaps of this season in Rolling Stone and because I have things to say about it.

From the original 48 cast members chosen through the blind audition process (probably the most exciting and original part of the show), we were down to four. One representative per team. Blake Shelton had R&B machine with football player physique Jermain Paul, Christina Aguilera had...ugh...Opera singer Chris Mann, Cee-Lo Green had rocker and frontrunner Juliet Simms and last but not least, Adam Levin had former Mouseketeer turned folk/indie/whatever Tony Lucca. While I think some major talent was wasted in the elimination process *, This wasn't a bad combination to end the show with. Not at all. At least three of the four finalists had a rightful claim to be there.

If the final was so goddamn interesting, it's because the masks all fell down and we could admire how strategical the contestants had been. Jermaine Paul kicked off the night with a killer "I believe I can fly". That guy's been smart. He kept himself just one nose above the pack for all the show and just kept getting steadily better from week to week. He never had a bad performance ** and just constantly built up. I think he saved R. Kelly's song for last because he's knew he could nail it better than the others. Chris Mann did a Josh Groban song...don't even get me started about him. Tony Lucca I thought should've lost to Katrina Parker last week, BUT...we would've been deprived of this wonderful moment of television if it had happened ***. While I think Tony clearly wasn't a frontrunner in the final four, he was with Katrina Parker the most improved contestant on the show and this was the best song played in the finals. That's a testament to Adam Levine's coaching skills if anything. I'd eventually check out his next record. Playing last, Juliet Simms interpreted "Freebird" by Lynyrd Skynyrd. While she was put last again and was expected to impress, she didn't nailed it as bad as last week and left the impression she peaked at the wrong moment. Maybe it's because she overkilled it. "'Freebird" is not exactly a song you have to scream out. Why didn't she chose a Janis Joplin song? I don't know. It would have been a natural fit to her voice.

So Jermain Paul won. It makes sense. He chose the strong and steady approach as all the contestants had high and lows throughout the season. He was never the strongest coming into the finals, but he was never weak or vulnerable to elimination. I don't think he even sang once on Tuesdays to save his life. It's funny how the team everybody deemed the weakest had won the show by sticking to a no non-sense approach.

I couldn't help myself but think: "Did America really vote?" Part of the reason why I liked the show so much is that it managed its drama so well, it could offer a Hollywood ending and crown a super marketable family man. Everybody got what they wanted. The producers got their juicy storyline. Universal Republic got a great potential to work with and Jermaine had the spotlight he so desperately wanted. I have no doubt he will succeed better than season one winner Javier Colon. Judging by the comments I've read online, I can't help being surprised Jermaine won. It was all Juliet Simms Vs Chris Mann. Knowing the public regularly screws the pooch when asked to vote, this is way too perfect of an ending to be genuine, I think. But who cares? NBC's web site got a lot of clicks and we get a winner that nobody really hates.

The show is called THE VOICE, but except for the first four weeks it doesn't really lives up to its name. Like the other shows, it's about who's most marketable and who's more likely to survive the show business industry. If it was based on the contestant's voice, Christina's Lindsay Pavao and Adam's Whitney Myer were the two contestants with the most singular voices ****. They didn't win but hopefully both of them get recording contracts. If anything, that's a testament to the fact we were watching something heavily controlled. Another example of that is the Spring Lounge. What the fuck was this place about? Really? There has been so many surreal filler moments in there. Anybody has a .gif of Erin Willett being force fed cupcakes for her birthday?

THE VOICE is an unapologetic display of the America that fascinated and scared Hunter S. Thompson. A place where the elite runs the show and you get to pay for watching. Where reality has better writers than fiction. He would've been the best man to follow this show and would've written something like The Hollywood Finale of Jermaine Paul. Will I watch season three next fall? I'll see if summer and free Mondays can raise my enthusiasm again. Sure thing, a weekly recap would complement the pop culture side of this site very well.

* Jesse Campbell, Lindsay Pavao, Whitney Meyer, Jamie Lono, Jamar Rogers, Katrina Parker, not to name them.

** Well, except maybe for his blind audition. I wouldn't have turned my chair for him. Would you?

*** A little background on this. The rumor wants that it was retaliation against Christina Aguilera for calling him one-dimensional a few weeks earlier. Ballsy.

**** Oddly enough, they are friends in real life. There are videos of them singing together on YouTube.

The Lure Theory

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Tue, 08 May 2012 13:24:00 +0000

I have theories. I'm not very outspoken about them, because formulating theories and living up to them is a different ball game. Today, I'll share one with you. Because it's not a theory about success per se. It's about focusing on what's important and letting go of everything else. Many speakers will offer you the world. They will tickle your emotional core and send you bolting out of their conferences a few hundred bucks lighter and a head full of dreams. This is where I pick things up with my lure theory. After the credits rolled.

How do you keep up? It's easy to set fire to somebody, but keeping the flame alive is the bigger challenge. We live in a world where patience is no longer a virtue. Everything is instant gratification. We expect things to happen, because our attention span has been hijacked by the sales department. I'm not trying to lecture you about the ills of contemporary life here. I'm just telling you it's the hand we've been dealt and that we have to work with it if we want to change it.

So it can be thoroughly frustrating not to succeed immediately. Donald Trump is making money, Mark Zuckerberg is making you spend more time with him than with your family, Aaron Rodgers is throwing touchdown passes and Ryan Gosling is getting all the girls. So why can't you? Are you born in the wrong cast to succeed or are you devoured by the demons on envy, jealousy and that fucking need for instant gratification. Why working towards your dream when your idea of success seems to far away? It's counter-intuitive.

Have you ever watched a greyhound race? One of the greatest greyhounds to ever race was named El Tenor. I don't know much about him, except for two things. First, he won most of his races and second, he probably lived with as much of a burning feeling of dissatisfaction as a dog can have. The main reason why a greyhound runs in a race is to catch the lure. The mechanical bunny at the head of the race. A hound is a dog with a strong hunting instinct. They don't want to win race, they want to catch rabbits.

My point is that in order to be the strongest, fastest, smartest of your kind. To be the best you can be at what you do, you need a lure. Something to chase, to make you run faster than everybody else. Whether you reach it or not isn't important. What you need to understand is that racing is the shitty part of success. It's tiring, it's stressful and when you're in it, you can't wait for it to be over. But you need to get ahead of the pack and you will never do it if your sight is not set on a point ahead.

My lure is Dennis Lehane. Most likely, I will never be as successful as he is. I will never have my stories turned into a movie, even less have three of them adapted to the silver screen by directors like Martin Scorsese and Clint Eastwood. It's fine. It doesn't matter. Because reaching for this ideal makes me write. It puts my ass on the chair, makes me hammer down words and makes me leap over my self-consciousness and send my work for submission. Because I want what's beyond those three obstacles. They have become easy to overcome in the greater picture.

Whatever is your thing, whatever it is that you do, you always need a lure. It will make your accomplishments seems smaller to you, it's true. But don't forget you're not the sole judge of your success. The people coming to you and telling you how you influenced them, changed their lives. That's the true yardstick of achievement. I like to have Dennis Lehane as a lure. He's far enough to remain an idea. I'm not even sure I want to meet him someday. He serves his purpose to me as a reader and as a writer also. He's being awesome at what he does and makes me want to push myself. That's the two important variables of our lure/hound relationship. But what about you? Who's your lure? Do you have one?

Roger Smith - Dust Devils (2011)

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Mon, 07 May 2012 13:20:00 +0000

Country: South Africa

Genre: Noir

Pages: 272/1091 kb

Buy It Here

"When last did it rain?" Zondi asked the man. The Zulu laughed.

"Can a dry old woman remembers her wedding night?"

These fucking people, Zondi thought, Everyone a poet.

The Washington Post said about Roger Smith that he "writes with the brutal beauty of an Elmore Leonard in a very bad mood." Ultimately, this would be a correct statement. In the reality of things, while Smith shares the pulp legend's knack for dialog and eye for character, it would be selling him short to call him an angry clone. DUST DEVILS is a novel with a strong individuality. It's a bleak but thorough outlook on South African society. Most important, it's a political novel. I know this might turn off a few of you, but please don't let one word scare you off. While injustice, ignorance and horror is exposed like an open wound in DUST DEVILS, there is a heartbreaking honesty to it. Roger Smith understands very well the potential of fiction as a vehicle for education. His novel is fast, exhilarating and dangerous, like racing humvees through the South African landscape.

Part of the fun in DUST DEVILS is how Roger Smith layered his story. There are a lot of variables and it doesn't matter how scattered you think they are, Smith keeps them wrapped up in one neat package. First, there's Robert Dell. A journalist who saw his family being murdered before his very eyes and who's being framed for it. His father, an ex-CIA hitman and a haunting figure in Dell's life saves his son the inferno of South African prison and offers his son a chance to avenge his blood. There are multiple points of view here, Dell and his father Earl. Inja Mazibuko, a Zulu warlord with Godlike powers over his territory. Disaster Zondi, a Zulu that adapted to contemporary South African urban life and Sunday, a young Zulu girl about to be married to the warlord. All these people are linked through the death of Dell's family and they are set on collision course.

There are two angles to a memorable novel. Great writing and great storytelling. While Roger Smith is no slouch in the writing department, where he really gets ahead of the pack is with his amazing storytelling skills. There is a scope to DUST DEVILS' storyline, which is gradually revealed. While Dell just drew the short straw, he finds himself way over his head into a murder story that's everything but a straightforward home invasion. That's where the novel gets political. Smith exposes the clash in between the Zulu society and the rest of Africa. The monster created by racism, ignorance and lack of communication is portrayed by Inja Mazibuko, one of the most efficient bad guys I've read this year. It's more than a simple murder story. Well, it starts as a murder story but it becomes way more than that because in South Africa, straightforward is not the way to do things.

Goodbread, wearing faded brown fatigues, crouched beside him. At fifty he was tanned and muscular, good looking in a craggy Clint Eastwood way. White teeth exposed in a fuck you grin.

While the cast of DUST DEVILS is a memorable one, my favorite character was perhaps the most difficult fit in the lot, Disaster Zondi. In fact, Roger Smith pulled a bit of an Ivan Karamazov with him. He kept Zondi on the sideline for about half the storyline and as things became more heated, he stepped to the frontline, started taking risks, exposing the gap that separates him from his origins and the principles that were born from it. He's very complex and his motivations aren't obvious. He wants to do what's right, but he's animated by very human feelings of self-preservation and by his conflicted nature. His inner struggle I thought was the hidden gem in DUST DEVILS. How Roger Smith gradually inserted him into the center of the storyline also. He's the link in between the two torn halves of South Africa.

Did I talk about the ending? Of course not. It's a reviewer's faux pas. Let's just say this. It's the type of ending that often ruins a story. In fact, it probably ruins a thousand novels. But the way Smith pulls it off, it works. It's a perfect fit. It solidifies DUST DEVILS as noir. I would go as far as saying it's the a credit to the genre. It's noir with ambition. It's a genre that is often associated with pulp and stories of bad guys in trench coat shooting each other, but this is different. This is noir with a purpose. It's a trip to the heart of darkness, a concept brought up by Joseph Conrad in the 19th century and still exploited as of today. It's the dark side of the human condition, where men aren't bound by law and ethics. Count me as a Roger Smith fan from now on. The man writes with vigor and blood.

FOUR STARS

The Heavy - How You Like Me Now?

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Sun, 06 May 2012 13:21:00 +0000

Up to last Monday, I didn't know who these guys were. I was watching a certain singing competition .and heard HOW YOU LIKE ME NOW? I told myself: "Wow, this is a great tune. Really." Then I hit the YouTubes to find out about the original and...here it is. No comparison. This is a lot better, dirtier, funkier and it had a lot of gusto for an indie rock back. Since then, I have downloaded their album THE HOUSE DIRT BUILT and developed some sort of band crush on them. There is still great music being done nowadays. The influence of Motown is palpable in their music musically and lyrically, but there is a unique twist to it. A very interesting, unplanned discovery.

The Heavy - HOW YOU LIKE ME NOW?

Now there was a time
When you loved me so
I could have been wrong
But now you needed to know
See, I've been a bad, bad, bad, bad man
And I'm in deep, Yes I am
I found a brand new love for this man
And I can't wait till you see
I can't wait

So how you like me now
How you like me now
How you like me now
How you like me now

How you like me now
How you like me now
How you like me now
How you like me now

Remember the time
When I eat you up
You know that I wasn't lyin'
that you can't give up
So if I was to cheat
on you baby would you see right through me
If I sing a sad, sad, sad, sad song
would you give it to me

How you like me now
How you like me now
How you like me now
How you like me now

How you like me now
How you like me now
How you like me now
How you like me now

Does that make you love me baby
Does that make you want me baby
Does that make you love me baby
Does that make you want me baby

How you like me now
How you like me now
How you like me now
How you like me now

Beastie Boys - So What'Cha Want

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Sun, 06 May 2012 02:38:00 +0000

This wasn't planned. Having a post today or MCA dying. I liked the Beastie Boys. Never my favorites, but CHECK YOUR HEAD and ILL COMMUNICATION were always somewhere in the CD player (you know, in the past era where we thought it was awesome to play more than one CD at the time). So I decided to make this week-end a musical double-header. It's sad when an artist die, but it's something when a singer dies at 90 years old, but it's another ball game when his life is reaped halfway through by disease. The Beastie Boys always have been a socially engaged band and MCA still had a lot of music to give to people. This week-end's going to be all musical folks and today, my favorite Beastie Boys song as a send off to Adam Yauch, also known as MCA. Godspeed and thanks for the music, man

Beastie Boys - SO WHAT'CHA WANT

Just plug me in just like I was eddie harris
You're eating crazy cheese like you'd think I'm from paris
You know I get fly you think I get high
You know that I'm gone and I'm a tell you all why
So tell me who are you dissing maybe I'm missing
The reason that you're smiling or wilding
So listen in my head I just want to take 'em down
Imagination set loose and I'm gonna shake 'em down
Let it flow like a mud slide
When I get on I like to ride and glide
I've got depth of perception in my text y'all
I get props at my mention 'cause I vex y'all
So what'cha what'cha what'cha want what'cha want
I get so funny with the money that you flaunt
I said where'd you get your information from huh?
You think that you can front when revelation comes

Yeah, you can't front on that

Well they call me mike d the ever loving man
I'm like spoonie gee well I'm the metropolitician
You scream and you holler about my chevy impala
But the sweat is getting wet around the ring around your collar
But like a dream I'm flowing without no stopping
Sweeter than a cherry pie with ready whip topping
Goin' from mic to mic kickin' it wall to wall
Well I'll be calling out you people like a casting call
Well it's wack when you're jacked in the back of a ride
With your know with your flow when you're out getting by
Believe me what you see is what you get
And you see me I'm coming off as you can bet
Well I think I'm losing my mind this time
This time I'm losing my mind
That's right, said I think I'm losing my mind this time
This time I'm losing my mind

Yeah, you can't front on that

But little do you know about something that I talk about
I'm tired of driving it's due time that I walk about
But in the meantime, I'm wise to the demise
I've got eyes in the back of my head so I realize
Well I'm dr. spock I'm here to rock y'all
I want you off the wall if you're playing the wall
I said what'cha what'cha what'cha want what'cha want
I said what'cha what'cha what'cha want what'cha want
Y'all suckers write me checks and then they bounce
So I reach into my pocket for the fresh amount
See I'm the long leaner vincent the cleaner
I'm the illest motherfucker from here to gardena
Well I'm as cool as a cucumber in a bowl of hot sauce
You've got the rhyme and reason but no cause
Well if you're hot to trot you think you're slicker than grease
I've got news for you crews you'll be sucking like a leech

You can't front on that
So what'cha what'cha what'cha want what'cha want
So what'cha what'cha what'cha want what'cha want
I said what'cha what'cha what'cha want what'cha want
I said what'cha what'cha what'cha want what'cha want
So what'cha want

Gaston Leroux - The Phantom of the Opera (1910)

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Fri, 04 May 2012 13:41:00 +0000

Country: France

Genre: Gothic/Romance

Pages: 342

“Know that it is a corpse who loves you and adores you and will never, never leave you!...Look, I am not laughing now, crying, crying for you, Christine, who have torn off my mask and who therefore can never leave me again!...Oh, mad Christine, who wanted to see me!”*

Not so long ago, literature didn't wear the burden of reality on its shoulders. Back when the masses were surviving before exploring the nature of their feelings, they read or went to the theater for different reasons than we do now. They wanted catharsis. Liberation from the everyday grind. Access to adventures and feelings life didn't grant them. Even if written in the twentieth century, Gaston Leroux's THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA belongs to this era where everything was larger than life. It's also a work of great pertinence today, because it's a gothic novel that branches in many directions. There's paranormal, crime, romance and the good-natured pen of Gaston Leroux was prescient to pulp fiction. Did I forget something? Oh yeah, THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA is awesome. It has a storyline quite more complex than the musical (and I am a fan of Andrew Lloyd Webber's extravaganza) and it stands proud as one of the great gothic novel.

Forget what you've learned about THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, this is deeper, more subtle. First, it opens with a prologue where Leroux says the phantom was a real person named Erik, which is important. Then we're introduced to Christine, a young singer who grew up very close to her father, a traveling musicians. He told her stories about "the angel of music" ** and on his deathbed, he tells her he'll send the angel of music from above to visit her. When she scores a place in the Paris Opera chorus, she starts hearing a beautiful, otherworldly voice coming from behind the walls. When Christine disappears, he childhood friend (and childhood love interest) Viscount Raoul de Chagny starts hearing rumors about a phantom that possesses the opera and forces the staff and the performers to do his bidding. The courageous young Raoul is at lost without his better half and will risk life and limb for her.

Here's a novel where the principle of contrasts is used almost as efficiently as in painting. It's not as simple as Raoul-Good/Erik-Evil, not at all. Erik's characterizes darkness, yes. But darkness is always longing for a little bit of light. That purity is Christine. Where the heart of the drama lies, is that Christine needs Erik too. He's her dark muse. While she's a great technical singer, the emotions he will pull out of her will transform her into the all-star singer she was meant to be. Raoul also needs Erik to a certain extent. He needs to prove his strength and his courage to Christine. What I thought was the secret ingredient that made the dish was egocentric nature of the characters. Nobody's really, selflessly in love here. Erik wants hope to transcend his condition, Christine wants to live up to the music and Raoul doesn't want the portrait of his childhood to break. There are good intentions, mixed with the not-so-noble human nature, which create a real human dynamic behind this crazy, action packed and larger-than-life narrative.

“Poor, unhappy Erik! Shall we pity him? Shall we curse him? He asked only to be 'someone,' like everybody else. But he was too ugly! And he had to hide his genius or use it to play tricks with, when, with an ordinary face, he would have been one of the most distinguished of mankind! He had a heart that could have held the empire of the world; and in the end had to content himself with a cellar. Surely we must pity the Opera ghost!”

France used to rock this literature thing and it's too bad they lost their way sometime last century. The hardships THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA has went through to survive is the living proof of that. Here's a novel with amazing dialogues, multiple elements of successful contemporary commercial fiction and a deep stance on romance and it had to travel to another continent and be adapted to the stage to survive. Most people don't know this is a novel. I saw the musical on broadway and now I have read the novel. Both are excellent for very different reasons, but it's important to remember that we owe Andrew Lloyd Webber for saving this classic from oblivion. While it doesn't match France's literary merit heritage (thing that blew out of proportion over the last century anyway), THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA is a narrative jewel that measures to the grand masters of gothic fiction.

FOUR STARS

* I have read the book in french. So the quotes are from the internet. Fortunately, most of the passages I had underlined were turned into quotes anyway. Because they were that cool.

** Referring to the muse in a metaphorical manner, this is important...again.

Classic Romance

My Life in 3D

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Thu, 03 May 2012 12:23:00 +0000

Let's talk real for a moment. Who here is older than twelve and has genuine interest in seeing a 3D movie? Or better, who here really wants to buy one of these pricey 3D televisions because they enjoy this technology? It's the latest thing Hollywood is trying to bleed us dry with and good lord, are we dumb enough to think is enhances anything? AVATAR was a movie that worked the 3D aspect really hard to cover its poor screenplay and it was something different. IMAX technology used in a Hollywood blockbuster. But it was still a bad film and no matter how hard it tried, it still relied on that clumsy, cumbersome technology to exist.

First of all, you need glasses to enjoy a 3D movie. That's a great idea when your vision is 20/20, but for someone like me, who's wearing thick glasses with a -4 vision in both eyes, it's a major inconvenience. Wearing glasses over glasses is uncomfortable and annoying, plus it's also a guarantee that you will see double for the entirety of the movie. My choice is 1)seeing double or 2)seeing a succession of blurry blobs talk to each other on screen. Thank God I'm not hearing impaired, because going to the movies would be a metaphor for death.

But I'm not done with these fucking glasses. Since they have to be mass produced, very little thought is going into their actual design. Common sense would be to make it a thin, wraparound device that you can wear alone or wear over your glasses. But no, they are these big, obnoxious glasses that you have to wear over whatever you need to see. Some models are so cheap that the plastic of the branches cuts into your ear as you're watching the movie. Even moreso if you're wearing 3D glasses over your glasses because you constantly need to readjust them. I almost titled my AVATAR review "Being Vincent Van Gogh".

Have I even talked about the quality of the movies? No, of course. Every series that's been running for too long or not was granted a 3D sequel. The RESIDENT EVIL movies for example, who never worked that well (and never had all that much to do with the video games), was granted a 3D sequel. SAW also. Anybody has anything better to do than watch SAW on Halloween? What about other, less formulaic horror movies? There's some good stuff out there if you look hard enough. Freakin' TITANTIC was dusted off and given a 3D coat. Who gives a shit anymore? The potential audience of TITANTIC 3D is split in betwen people who have watched this movie way too much and people that showed zero interest in watching it for the last fifteen years (category which I fall in). Why would the promise of an iceberg spearing through the screen lure me? What am I? Eight years old.

Not to mention that the "made-for-3D" movies all suffer from a deliberate structure that cuts the actual movie time in favor for visual stunts. You know what I'm talking about here. The now famous "made-for-3D" scene. Nothing's happening in that scene really, expect that something is darting towards the audience in slow motion. SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS had this forest scene where Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law and Noomi Rapace are running from slow motion bullets for what seems to be forever. I'm sure the stunts were breathtaking in 3D, but I actually watched the movie on a normal silver screen and it looked fucking goofy.

I've went to the movies about five times since 2011. Saw DRIVE, THE DESCENDANT, TAKE SHELTER, THE HUNGER GAMES...and that's about it, I think. And I've watched over a hundred movies last year, easy. I cloister myself home now, abuse of my Netflix membership, go to the video club...shit, I even watch movies on television again. Anything is better than being overcharged for a rubbish, gimmicky technology that doesn't add anything to my viewing experience. I'm not calling to an official boycott here, but I'm not going to throw away my money on 3D movies and I think my reasons are good. Do you?

Spinetingler Awards, Crime Factory and Other Shenanigans

noreply@blogger.com (Ben) — Wed, 02 May 2012 12:59:00 +0000

The crime fiction community is an ant farm this week. Lot of stuff has been happening. First of all, the Spinetingler Awards winner have been revealed yesterday. For the unfamiliar, the Spinetinglers have been for five years now rewarding new voices (as well as legends) in the community, for their most outstanding work on a yearly basis. The Spinetingler committee Dead End Follies was nominated for the David Thomson Community Leader Award, but unfortunately we didn't win. Elizabeth A. White, from Musings of an All Purpose Monkey got the public's nod this year. I say unfortunately, but in all truth, Elizabeth's been doing this for longer than me, has been more organized and more efficient at reviewing books, so I'm happy she got the love. She was my favorite, along with Sabrina Ogden, to win the prize this year and well...she did. Congratulations Elizabeth!

I was nominated for another Awards though...sort of. BEAT TO A PULP: HARDBOILED and OFF THE RECORD were in nominated for best short story anthology. BEAT TO A PULP: HARDBOILED ended up winning! So, I'm like 5% of a Spinetingler Award winner! I'd like to thank David Cranmer and Scott D. Parker for showing me trust and putting the first short I ever written in their now award-winning anthology. I was full of doubts when I wrote SECOND ROUND DIVE, but you guys had the balls to give a new voice a place in your much-coveted venue. I appreciate that a lot. By the way, for those who read and liked the story, there's another collaboration with Beat To A Pulp at the horizon. I'm not gonna say more for now, you guys will be informed soon enough....

Another Spinetingler Award winner yesterday was Crime Factory, who won Best Magazine. The factory boys had the busiest day of us all yesterday, because they released a new issue also. Which features? THAT'S RIGHT, ME. Yes, my latest short AUTOPSY OF A COMMUNITY LIFE is on page 121 of Crime Factory Issue 10, which you can read for free here. It's only a few pages and it's free, so you have zero excuse not to read and if you're kind enough, leave some feedback. You will also find in there and interview with Megan Abbott, killer pieces by Josh Stallings, Pete Dragovich and Cameron Ashley, fiction by Patti Abbott and Thomas Pluck and Deborah Sheldon, Rob Loughlin, Seamus Scanlon and Mark Joseph Kiewlak. I have no idea who the last four are, but I'm sure they are great if they made their way into Crime Factory while slipping under my radar. Once again, thanks to Cameron, Liam, Andrew and specially to Jimmy Callaway for being crazy good at editing. He really made the piece better.

If you want the complete list of Spinetingler Award winners, please go here. There are all the nominees listed too, so there is a LOT of cool reading to be had.

And what's next for me? When's the next time you'll hear about me on the internets? There are a few stories circulating (three, to be accurate) and I have another one simmering, but I have put the breaks on the shorts for the last two months and gave them only one day a week. Reason for that is that I'm putting the last touches to the first draft of a novel. It's a long shot, it will need a lot more work, but you will hear from me sooner. I had a short novella that's about 40-50% ready. I'm hoping to have a solid 15K words and shop it by this summer. I'm considering offering it to magazines for serialization first, because it's something I always wanted to do, but it's going to depend on the final product, I guess. Sure thing, I'll have longer stuff out by the end of the year.

That's about all the writing news there is for now. I'll have a few stories out in the next months, but the big thing, once i'll put the THE END on this novel draft (I'm hoping by the end of next week), the novella is the thing to watch for. Now go read by latest story while it's free! I'm dying to read your thoughts.