Rad Mouth

Review: Kid Artists: True Tales of Childhood from Creative Legends by David Stabler

2016-08-26T20:05:00.000-04:00

Title: Kid Artists: True Tales of Childhood from Creative Legends

Author: David Stabler

Illustrator: Doogie Horner

Genre: Children's Lit., Art, Nonfiction

Page Count: 208

Publisher: Quirk Books

Release Date: August 9th 2016

My Rating:★★★★☆

You know who the greats are but do you know how they got started? This was an enjoyable children's book even for me as an adult. Each chapter dives into the childhood of an artist, and it's not just the artists represented on the cover. "Kid Artists" is art history with guided illustration. You'll learn the culture of some, about language barriers and differences for a few, and how many artists are under dogs who take a risk and run away with ideas.

Highlights and Thoughts:

Some soup for the soul - From tomato soup made of ketchup, salt, pepper and water, to Campbell's Soup; a luxury and comfort in a can for Andy Warhol.

Some other artists to list that aren't depicted on the front of this book are Yoko Ono, Jackson Pollock, Vincent Van Gogh, and Dr. Seuss.

This book would be great for any child aspiring to become an artist.

I received this book through a giveaway listed by Quirk Books on Goodreads.com, in return this is my honest opinion and review of the reading.

RAD MOUTH

Review: Happiness and Other Small Things of Absolute Importance by Haim Shapira, PhD

2016-08-17T10:49:00.001-04:00

Title: Happiness and Other Small Things of Absolute Importance

Author: Haim Shapira, PhD

Genre: Philosophy, Psychology, Self-Help

Cover Artist: Francesca Corsini

Page Count: 192

Publisher: Watkins Publishing

Release Date: August 16th 2016

My Rating: ★★★★☆

When thinking about the genre of this book I hesitated to put self-help, because it's a lot more than that. This book offers the reader tools through enlightening stories, quotes, questions, and knowledge. There's no steps or rules to gaining happiness , in fact the author Haim Shapira, offers profound truths for the reader to contemplate. The material is presented as if he were speaking directly to you, a "TED talk" so to speak in book format. Given the authors background in academic teaching it's hard to not envision this book being presented in a lecture hall to the masses. This is the college course I wish I had taken.

Highlights and Thoughts:

The font in this book is a little smaller than I would prefer when reading.

He uses controversial writers, philosophers, poets, biblical verse, and psychologists quotes and teachings, to provoke question. Questions that make the mind ponder what happiness means to the reader as an individual. Some of the people you can expect to be quoted and reflected on are William Blake, Albert Einstein, Antoine de Saint-Exupery, Oscar Wilde, Plato, and Mark Twain (to name just a few of my favorites who made it into this read).

I like how when Haim Shapira discusses a topic he comes at it from all angles.

There's no right or wrong to finding happiness, unless you're a sociopath but this book doesn't talk about that.

I received this book through a giveaway on Goodreads.com, in return this is my honest opinion and review of the reading.

RAD MOUTH

Review: Bossypants by Tina Fey

2016-08-15T08:39:00.000-04:00

Title: Bossypants

Author: Tina Fey

Genre: Biography, Humor, Essay

Page Count: 272

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

Release Date: January 29th 2013

My Rating: ★★★★☆

You don't have to be a big follower of Tina Fey to get into this book. She was very witty and easy to read. I respect her more having shared some of her most intimate thoughts on things such as breastfeeding and just in general her shadowing with her stories. Geared towards a female audience this book is insightful, funny, and rather inspirational.

Highlights and Thoughts:

Tina Fey is a hard working, driven, individual.

I've never been able to get into 30 Rock, I think Tina Fey is a great writer but I find more satisfaction in reading her work ( or about it as in Bossypants) than watching it.

She can play a mean Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live.

I would personally love to see her write a contemporary fiction or novel.

RAD MOUTH

Review: Burning Cool: Why Doing, Creating and Participating is the New Cool by Elaine Joli

2016-08-07T16:00:00.000-04:00

Title: Burning Cool: Why Doing, Creating, and Participating is the New Cool

Author: Elaine Joli

Genre: Non-Classifiable

Page Count: 215

Publisher: Self

Release Date: March 16th 2016

My Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

The message conveyed in "Burning Cool" is excellent. Taking people back to the whole, "it takes a village" mantra. If people work together; influencing, inspiring, and creating - benefiting as a whole, this world would be a much better place. Make something! Do something! Be someone! People need to stop being cookie cutter cut-outs glued to the technology and remember what imagination is all about, what life is all about. This book has some great examples of every day people trying to change this world and make it a more enjoyable place for not just themselves but everyone.

Highlights and Thoughts:

I love the idea of profit+purpose, I think that's a very humble way to run a business.

This is a great read for any aspiring artist or entrepreneur.

Very positive, with affirmations and real life examples.

I received this book through a giveaway listed by the author, Elaine Joli, on Goodreads.com (Thank you for the book and bracelet made out of recycled flip flops!). In return this is my honest review of the reading.

RAD MOUTH

Review: Art in Detroit Public Places (Third Edition) by Dennis Alan Nawrocki, Photographs by David Clements

2016-08-07T00:29:00.001-04:00

Title: Art in Detroit Public Places

Author: Dennis Alan Nawrocki

Photographer: David Clements

Genre: Art, History, Guidebook

Page Count: 234

Publisher: Wayne State University Press

Release Date: August 1st 2008

My Rating: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

This is great if being used as a tour guide; gives a thorough history of the piece and artist. I loved learning new things about art or things I've already seen, and just never understood. One of the problems I had though with reading this, was the black and white photographs. The cover is misleading in that sense, it being in color and the pages to follow in black and white. Maybe that was to preserve the whole feel of the artwork and to get people to go and experience the pieces first hand. But I don't think everyone who reads this book will have the luxury of visiting Detroit. So when you're describing a beautiful piece of art and the magnificent yellows, blues, and reds in the description in the book, I want to be able to see those colors.

Highlights and Thoughts:

I like how the art is presented (other than the pictures being in black and white); providing maps and locations for each district and respectfully noting precisely where the art is located.

The history of each piece of art is well described; materials, artist, creation date.

Would be a great book to have on hand with you if you love art and plan on touring the city of Detroit.

Wouldn't mind seeing an edition that focuses on the murals and street art of the city next.

RAD MOUTH

Review: To Thee is this World Given by Khel Milam

2016-08-06T21:54:00.000-04:00

Title: To Thee is this World Given

Author: Khel Milam

Genre: Novella, Post-Apocalyptic

Page Count: 109

Cover Artist: www.designforwriters.com

Publisher: Eponym

Release Date: June 15th 2015

My Rating: ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

A girl and a boy encounter one another on the road during a post apocalyptic time. But rather than this book focusing on the zombies and living dead, it's more on the nature of the people still alive, in this case the boy and girl, and their survival technique. The author heightens the fact that the boy and girl are strangers by never giving them names. Rather instead he gives these two characters complete different stances on how to continue on in a world left for ruins.

Highlights and Thoughts:

This book picked up some after the first chapter but never really took off for me.

There was too many He's and She's; by that I mean I wish the characters would have had names.

I liked the introductory quotes with Dickens and Siddhartha they were fitting.

There are some clever prose, while the characters are in conversation. This was the reason I read through to the end.

The girl has a family, she basically plays mother to two dogs and a cat. They are all very loyal to the girl, the dogs especially, as they depend on her for their survival.

The boy summed up is full of fear, he's a safety in numbers kind of person. Instead of embracing what has happened he resents it to where it tares a hole in him. He's also a little rough around the edges, which he displays with all his cursing.

The girl summed up is logical, rational, unique, and knows who she is. By how she presents herself, she knew all along who she was before people started dying only not to be dead.

The message I got from reading this book, people are dead when they're standing still and alive when they keep moving.

I received this book from a giveaway listed by the author, Khel Milam (thank you for the book), on Goodreads.com. In return this is my honest opinion of the reading.

RAD MOUTH

Review: Doomed (Damned #2) by Chuck Palahniuk

2016-08-06T17:55:00.001-04:00

Title: Doomed

Author: Chuck Palahniuk

Genre: Novel, Contemporary

Page Count: 336

Publisher: Doubleday

Release Date: October 8th 2013

My Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Doomed is the sequel to Damned. With reading the first book I had an idea of what to expect with this one, but there was no way in HELL to predict it's entirety. Basically you're reading a modernized version of the rapture. Madison Spencer was stuck on Earth after not making it back to Hell on Halloween. I was already in love with this main character from reading the first book. A witty, literate (she makes that very clear), sassy young dead girl, who in this second book takes you on a journey by "blog." That's how the "chapters" are presented, posts, with time stamps and "gentle tweeter[s]." I think this way of presenting the story was effective, but the repetitive "gentle tweeter," didn't appeal to me as I don't "tweet." This was an easy, quick read. There were also points in the book that were just as disturbing as "Damned." Which is really what draws me to Chuck Palahniuk's writing to begin with, his satire, his limitless obscenity, and crude disgusting scenarios/characters. As a person who does believe in God and religion (to an extent) I still enjoyed this book. Makes you look at theology a little different too.

Highlights and Thoughts:

This story starts out as a warning to the living; for example, "Bad Memories are better than none." "When you die, trust me, the most difficult person to leave behind is yourself." (Pg. 9)

The sexual references will make you smile/huff through your nose or completely appall you.

Madison makes reference to having "Postmortem Depression" and that couldn't be more spot on with her character.

This book weaves characters from the first book in and out very well.

K-Holes let you communicate with the dead in case you wondered. That was a new interesting character introduced, the ghost bounty hunter, whose trick was overdosing on ketamine so his soul could speak to Madison.

Based off of events from book #1 Madison has accidentally created her own following and religion, or at least what she believes to be accidental. ""Boorism," an entire international religious movement founded on potty humor and rude behavior." (P64)

Madlantis was a hard concept, or continent I should say, to grasp.

Madison claims that one way to get through death is to basically remember all the horrible things and bad times and that life wasn't always good.

There is a Doomsday. You'll turn every page while reading the grande finale. Than wonder how it could finish where it does. I hated the ending.

RAD MOUTH

Review: Damned (Damned #1) by Chuck Palahniuk

2016-08-05T19:05:00.001-04:00

Title: Damned (Damned #1)

Author: Chuck Palahniuk

Genre: Novel, Contemporary

Page Count: 256

Publisher: Doubleday Canada

Release Date: October 18th 2011

My Rating: ★★★★☆

This was the novel that got me into a Chuck Palahniuk book coma so to speak. "Damned" was pusblished in 2011 and the sequel, "Doomed" was published in 2013. Rewriting the rules, by having a witty young dead 13 year old girl narrate from Hell. This particular novel is filled with surprises and twists. If you have a hard time imagining the concept of Hell, this little girl named Madison Spencer will help clarify it for you as she searches for answers herself. There was many times I cringed or had to stop to literally reread and make sure I had read correctly. There was also a couple of chapters that were a little slower then the rest, but over all I highly recommend this book (unless you're super religious, close-minded, or judgmental). "I am the Lizard King!"

Highlights and Thoughts:

I love the way telemarketing and Hell were inter-weaved.

Candy as currency is rather genius, especially since Halloween is noted as the "one day the dead can come back and walk among the living."

The "geography" in Hell is nailed in description, you could almost draw a map.

You'll love the main character, as she uses big words and then notes how she does in fact have a vocabulary despite her age and being dead. She's also comparative in a life and death sense, trying to be informative.

Wasn't completely captured by the ending, but still left me wanting to read the second book!

RAD MOUTH

Review: Party of One: A Memoir in 21 Songs by Dave Holmes

2016-08-04T05:43:00.001-04:00

Title: Party of One: A Memoir in 21 Songs

Author: Dave Holmes

Genre: Memoir

Page Count: 290

Publisher: Crown Archetype

Release Date: June 28th 2016

My Rating: ★★★☆☆

Music enthused from beginning to end, Dave Holmes recaps his life thus far, high lighting on events/songs that helped define him. This book was insightful, in that I don't think heterosexuals will ever or could ever fully understand the challenges with being gay and coming out. Dave Holmes touches on this and in a humble way that makes you admire him. He also gives you a brief glimpse into the network industry and MTV. I respect the honesty in this book. A guy who knows he's different at a young age and searches for his "home" left and right, before realizing he was home all along and just had to embrace it.

Highlights and Thoughts:

I've never heard of the show "Dude, This Sucks" and I do not regret this.

The fecal catastrophe Dave paints in one of his chapters, ugh, and it comes as no shock to me that the girls effected were cleaned up by money.

I also found this book humorous, rating women/men on a scale of cheese, introducing me to the word "hornliness," the mild celebrity being treated like a guy with his fly down, etc. There's no doubt that Dave Holmes is funny.

I recieved this book through a giveaway listed by Crown Publishing Group on Goodreads.com, in return this is my honest opinion and review of the reading.

RAD MOUTH

Review: Bigfoot Trails: Pacific Northwest by S.A Jeffers

2016-08-04T04:40:00.000-04:00

Title: Bigfoot Trails Pacific Northwest

Author: S.A Jeffers

Illustrator: Catherine Straus

Genre: Children's Lit./Picture Story Book

Page Count: 24

Publisher: Jeffers Publishing

Release Date: June 9th 2016

My Rating: ★★★★☆

This was a really cute children's book, it took me back to my "Where's Waldo" days as you search for Bigfoot in the pages. The only thing I didn't like about this book was the paperback cover, I also wish it would have been a little longer. I didn't want the Pacific Northwest adventure to end!

Highlights and Thoughts:

This is a very simplistic read.
Children will love the interaction with this book.
I hope it gets turned into a series; "Bigfoot in the City" or "Bigfoot in the Bahamas." next. That way the Easter egg hunt feeling of searching for Bigfoot doesn't get lost reading the same pages over.

I received this book through a giveaway listed by the author, S.A. Jeffers on Goodreads.com, in return this is my honest opinion and review of the reading.

RAD MOUTH

A Place Where the Sidewalks Smile at You: The Heidelberg Project

2016-07-29T18:20:00.001-04:00

Art is a story, in this case it's a creative neighborhood with an array of canvassed houses surrounded by smiling sidewalks and a polka dot covered street. This outdoor art exhibit was created by Tyree Guyton. The Heidelberg Project is located in Detroit, Michigan. The installations have had a positive impact on the community, from the resilient artist to the art. This magical place is the definition of a "diamond in the rough," the spot in question on the map, between "OZ" and "Wonderland." I personally have enjoyed multiple visits to The Heidelberg Project over the years, there has always been something new that grips me.

Unfortunately throughout the course of 2013-2014 several of the houses were subject to arson and either were entirely destroyed or hardly salvageable. However, that hasn't stopped Tyree Guyton from reinventing with the house remains. He is a true artist who has the ability to keep moving forward, embracing the loss of his work and adding it to the technique of redesign.

So what can be expected at a visit to The Heidelberg Project? Aside from the oddly decorated houses, you'll see lots of recycled materials; hundreds of shoes with no feet, lots of painted faces with no bodies, polka dots, random home appliances, taxis, Gods, burnt baby dolls, clocks, the possibilities of what you'll find at a place like this is endless.

Here are a few of the photos I've taken over the years (2007,2009,2012,2013) dedicated to the man behind it all, please keep creating so we can keep enjoying and escaping to this playground! You truly are a voice of hope!

Clock House

This house always provoked the philosopher in me. A porch full of numbers and hands presenting questions about time. Where the clocks all tick to a different tock. If there ever was a worm hole in the hood, this was it. What time is it really? What is time? If we knew how much time we had would we waste less of it? Clocks still decorate the streets and trees, but this house was lost to arson in 2013.

There's two very significant depictions on this old television, the year 1967 which has to do with the Detroit Race Riot that changed this street and city forever and "The Polka Dot," with it's symbolism of connection and unity a common theme on Heidelberg St.

Connect call anyone?

Party Animal House

The Party Animal House always reminded me of a foster home where every stuffed animal hung out to dry represented a child lost in the state, abandoned; the weathered plush of a bear or dog or bird, left behind. This was the corner house at Mt. Elliott and Elba and easily was my favorite. Unfortunately it was another that was burned down, back in 2014.

Souls on Fire

This sculpture is a sad yet very real display of drugs and death. As far as the name goes, I'm not sure what it's called, possibly Memorial, but it was designed by students of the University of Michigan. The red piping is shaped like a trellis of veins over two plastic mannequins with bricks on their chests. There are two needles depicted in front being stabbed into the beginning of the open circuit, and the final needle on the ground empty but paid for with cash and life.

Drugs, including heroin and painkillers, are leaving a fatal mark on not only Detroit, but Michigan as a state. These drugs can tare apart families, they alter the user by way of addiction, they destroy lives if they don't take them. You put a price tag on a person when you offer or deal them poison. You sell yourself out when you swallow the pill or insert the needle. If you want to find heaven and self medicate, pick up a paintbrush, a pencil, charcoal, recyclable materials, create something from your struggle. That's the message I got from this artwork.

More faces to smile back at or play hop scotch across.

House of Soul

Where the boys threw vinyls at her window.

The House of Soul was covered in records all the way around. This house was among those lost to arson in 2013. There was something eerily romantic about this vinyl decorated vacancy.

OJ House

The OJ House was the first house to be damaged by arson at The Heidelberg Project in 2013. The OJ here stands for Obstruction of Justice. This porch was a hoarded collection of old televisions and toys, with the letters OJ written all over.

Noah's Arc

A throne for the wild.

Although I did take all of the above photographs none of the artwork is mine and I take no credit. My opinion and words are my own. Other people's views and experiences visiting might be different from mine. The Heidelberg Project is a playing field for emotion and political statement, free to the public and worth the trip for those who are open minded. I'm just sharing some of what this wonderful place in Detroit has to offer in hopes that others will go explore.

For more on the Heidelberg Project check out these links:

RAD MOUTH

Review: Rant by Chuck Palahnuik

2016-07-24T14:37:00.000-04:00

Title: Rant

Author: Chuck Palahniuk

Genre: Novel, Satire

Page Count: 319

Publisher: Doubleday

Cover Artists: Rodriggo Corral, Jacob Magraw-Mickelson

Release Date: May 1,2007

My Rating:★★★☆☆

There's a story inside a story inside a story in "Rant." There's also a great deal of ranting too. I think this book was meant to be read between the lines, a societies catch 22. Rabies represents the rebels, day timers are the redcoats. "Party crashing" is the entertainment created to stay sane. You're presented the detailed life of Rant Casey through everyone's eyes but his own, and of course not while he's alive but after he's dead (or is he dead?). "The future you had tomorrow, won't be the same future you had yesterday." - The whole time travel hiccup in this book threw me for a loop, wasn't expecting that paradox to be thrown in; it left an after taste, leaving me to question the role of a few characters. With the use of a car salesman pitching a lot of the story, it's almost like you don't know what to believe or not to believe, which is kind of the point. People will buy anything if you present it to them right.

Highlights and Thoughts:

This book is an oral biography of a "killer" some would call feral.

The main character himself, sounded like a new age "Lost Boy" just trying to have fun.

Rant doesn't compare well to other books written by Chuck Palahniuk, sure same satire and crude sense but the way the reading material is presented (as others testimonials) it's a very different style.

I didn't hate or love this book.

RAD MOUTH

Review: The Girl Before by Rena Olsen

2016-07-23T12:35:00.000-04:00

Genre: Fiction, Psychological

Page Count: 320

Publisher: G.P. PUTNAM’S SONS

Cover Artist: Amanda Dewey

Release date: August 9 2016

My Rating: ★★★★☆

This is a harrowing story demonstrating how impressionable a child is, the sad realism of human trafficking, and an uncommon portrayal of love and power. The main character, Diana, in some aspects is the hero. In other aspects she’s just as bad as the villain. Rather than chapters, this book bounces back and forth between the past and present being unfolded in a "Then" and "Now" format. “Then” (the cause) takes you back to her delusional little house on the prairie and of instances she recalls with her “sisters” and “children.” “Now” (the effect) is her being questioned by police and the slow unraveling of what’s happened, and what’s to come. Diana, will have you hating her for being so blind, but loving her for her strength.

Highlights and Thoughts:

A quarter of Diana’s life was a lie.

Love as Diana knew it, was a mix of real desire, aggression, and bruises. Though I honestly think Glen did love her, he too had been raised in a world where women were property and it was evident.

The psyche can be one hell of a monster, if you think and believe in something enough you can convince yourself of anything.

There’s a strong need for the main character to mother and nurture, when her “children” are “taken” away her world shatters. Maybe this need developed as a coping mechanism from early childhood; the strict routine and consequences and the belief that her own parents no longer wanted her.

I find it commendable, how once Diana starts realizing her role in the whole operation she wants to be prosecuted and held accountable for her part, regardless of having also been a victim.

Although this book is about trafficking, the reading is not explicit. The trauma is the focus, the rest is rather implied in a fill in the gap kind of way.

There were moments when this book made me cringe or I had to walk away before returning to read it, the empathetic in me broke for Diana's character. That being said, this book isn't going to be up every readers alley.

I think this would be a great read for any female who has had a history with domestic violence or sexual abuse.

I received this book, an uncorrected proof for limited distribution through a giveaway listed by G.P. PUTNAM'S SONS (an imprint of Penguin Random House), on Goodreads.com. In return this is my honest opinion and review of the reading.

RAD MOUTH