Where pop culture meets geek culture and they make out a little.
Posts tagged kilian
Lev Grossman’s “The Magicians,” or More Inventiveness than I Have
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I have long been aware of who Lev Grossman was, author of the bestselling novel The Codex, and general “nerd” blogger for Time, he seems to have, essentially, the life I desire.
That said, I had not read any of his fiction until a promo copy of his newest novel The Magicians came my way (thank you, again, gods of the bookmines). I glanced at the back and my interest was piqued by the odd Harry Potter comparison made by George RR Martin. Opening the book to a random page, as is my custom when considering if I will take a book home or not, I came across both the words “prefect” and “4th year” in the same paragraph. The Potter comparison, then, was not overblown.
Well, I like books about magic, and schools, and magic schools. While I didn’t think there was much to be done with the subject, in a post Potter world, I still took it home. My book hoarding instincts often trump all other considerations.
I did begin to read it, though. Grossman has an unassuming style; almost conversational without being annoying or overly stupid. The main character, Quentin, an over achiever with no discernible confidence, sense of self worth, or familial relationships of note was fairly relatable…to me at least. Now I’ve never been recruited to go to a secret test session for a remote and highly selective magical college but I sure did understand the psyche of Quentin.
So, again, the Potter comparisons begin. Harry gets into Hogwarts, essentially, because of genetics. He is a wizard because he is a wizard. Well, Brakebills (the college in The Magicians) doesn’t work that way. You might have the potential, but unless you can pass the entrance exam, you don’t get in…or even remember that you took the exam in the first place. And there begins the differences that are dramatic between Potter and The Magicians. It would be easy to say that this novel is like Potter, but American, and since the characters are in college, there’s a lot more sex, alcohol, drugs, and nihilism. But that description short changes the true depth that Grossman understands the depression that can affect the highly gifted. Imagine, you dream your whole life that you can achieve something more than is “planned” out for you. You find out that, in fact, you can learn to use real magic…really could walk naked through the antarctic for days and survive, for instance…but then you realize that your life is still meaningless. How much worse would you feel, knowing you have such power but it doesn’t change the fact that your life means nothing? The understanding Grossman demonstrates of human consciousness coming to terms with the apparent arbitrary nature of the universe is both deep and disturbing. Probably more disturbing, in fact, in light of the fact that these characters really could fly to the moon if they so wished.
Besides taking a premise that was made popular by another (magic school) and turning it on its head, Grossman also pays homage to one of the foundations of fantasy literature: Narnia. In his book Narnia is replaced by a land known as Fillory. The Fillory books, favorite reading of Quentin even after he starts doing real magic, were written in the 1930′s by a man named Christopher Plover and starred a varying cast of children from the Chatwin family. The books, the reader discovers in time, are more than just childrens reading, though, and play an integral role in Quentin’s life after he leaves Brakebills.
The New York Times review of the book states that, “Perhaps a fantasy novel meant for adults can’t help being a strange mess of effects.” This demonstrates a serious lack of understanding on the reviewer’s part. Either he believes that fantasy must be cut and dry (i.e., good v evil, black v white) or that it can only be for children (and, again, fall into strict categories). The best fantasy, the best fiction, is fuzzy…like the world. If magic were a real force that humans could control (though have little real understanding of, as expressed in the book) then Grossman has given the reader the most true to life rendering of it possible. Of course it is messy because life, and humans, are messy.
In the end, I did not feel overly sympathetic toward Quentin, and I’m not sure I was supposed to. Yes, eventually, he winds up understanding that his story was nothing more than the by-product of another character’s attempt to right a terrible wrong. But even that, as is most often the case, was only the outcome of an even earlier evil… But, sometimes, we are just tools in someone else’s story. Were there moments when I felt sad for Quentin, certainly. Would I have made his choices at the end, maybe. Does that make me want to be him, not necessarily. But isn’t that what adulthood, and humanity, is all about? Whether or not one can perform feats of astonishing power, don’t we all hope to empathize with the pain of others, even if we choose to deal with that pain in a different way?
Sordid Confessions Continue, or The Vampire Diaries
5843 days
by kilian
in Television
I have made a habit of admitting on this website many things that I am ashamed of…or things that I think I should have some amount of shame attached. I am, by nature, one who is not prone to shame and/or embarrassment. That said, I admit the following with a serious amount of trepidation.
My favorite television show, so far, this season is The Vampire Diaries.
Yes, you read that right.
We’ve spent no small amount of energy here at the ol’ NR decrying the phenomena known as the “Twilight.” So I understand if, after confessing my enjoyment of Vampire Diaries, I am called a hypocrite.
I will start by saying that I have not read the books, nor do I have any intention to do so. I enjoy vampires as much as the next guy, but I don’t need them in every damn piece of entertainment I consume.
Every once in a while a teen show comes along that I get sucked into and I am powerless against its pull. The last time this occurred was with a little show known as Dawson’s Creek. Damnit if Tengu and I didn’t spend many a college weeknight mooning over a young and impressionable Joey Potter. What I’m saying is that, even though I generally despise entertainment geared toward teens, I am sometimes inextricably drawn to it.
There are, however, two distinct aspects of the show that makes Vampire Diaries different than your average teen high school drama (aside from the vampires).
1. The actors are actually good. Look, I’m not saying it’s Olivier doing Othello, but compared to other teen shows, the folks on Vampire Diaries (particularly the main female, Elena, played by Nina Dobrev are pretty solid and, at least three episodes in, function very well as an ensemble).
2. Ian Somerhalder, whom you might remember as Boone on Lost (or, if you’re like me, as Hamilton from the short lived Young Americans), is the villain. And god damn does he play one well! Even if the rest of the show was absolute crap, I’d watch it just for his portrayal of Damon.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the objections of my wife. The show does air on the CW, so it’s not like it portrays sex in such a…frank…manner as, say, True Blood. But the show does air at 8, and is geared toward the teens (and tweens). In three episodes, however, I’ve already seen multiple sex scenes, one girl take off her shirt, and a full ass shot of another. If you know an 11 year old who is watching the show, I’d get him/her to watch something else is all I’m saying.
This most recent episode really did a lot to open up the storyline. I don’t want to ruin it for you…you can watch full episodes here, in fact…so I’ll just say that, while the budding romance between a high school girl and a 150 year old vampire is the focus of the show, there is so much more developing.
So if you don’t have anything else going on Thursday nights, you might check out Vampire Diaries…and, if you do hate, try not to judge me too harshly.
3/5 - Might be worth a try...
My Wife Will Tell You…I Do, In Fact, Enjoy Butts
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There was a time that I could sing Baby Got Back in its entirety without missing a syllable. I haven’t kept up with my freestyle “skillz” in recent years but I’d say I can still get through about 85% of it without fail.
Baby Got Back, of course, is a song familiar to many. Probably not so familiar, however, are the rest of the songs that appear on Sir Mix a Lot’s 1992 release Mack Daddy.
For instance, the first single off that particular album was the first track, One Time’s Got No Case.
And that link will take you to the video, which I would have embedded but either I am stupid (entirely possible) or Spike won’t allow that video to be embedded (also possible, but less likely).
Now that’s a decent song. It’s not NWA or Public Enemy, but as far as early 90′s hip hop goes, it’s strong. Most of the album is solid, in fact, but there’s one jem on there that never got its due…I’m Your New God.
As far as I know a video was never made for the song, below is just the song playing to a picture of the album cover, but go ahead and listen to it in any event.
I bring up Sir Mix a Lot because I loved this album when it came out in 1992. At that time (I was 14) I listened exclusively to punk…or so I claimed.
I went a long time decrying any music that wasn’t punk, or political, as weak and not worth listening to. I was young and stupid and thought that everything I enjoyed (music and books, especially) had to be charged with ideals or “artistic”…whatever that means.
In any event, it took many years for me to admit it but, damnit, I like pop music.
OK, I like some pop music.
I mean, I don’t roll around blaring The Jonas Brothers.
I know I mentioned this one some time ago, but it’s so good it deserves a second go round…Shake It by Metro Station.
Around the same time that I was falling in love with big butts I also played drums in a short lived (I think we lasted a month) band called Boogie Shoes. We took our moniker from the KC and the Sunshine band song of the same name and the premise was that we covered disco songs but played them like a punk band. We never played a single show. I wanted to be in that band not for the punk, but for the disco…Let’s Get Down Tonight is still one of my all time favorite songs.
In case you are curious, here’s the song that inspired us.
Now imagine that song 3 times faster and out of tune. See why we never played a single show?
So, there you have it. For all my talk about bands no one has ever heard of I still enjoy some top 40ish stuff. I think, honestly, it comes down to the fact that, regardless of genre (and this is true of all creative outlets, I think) solid craftsmanship (for lack of a better word) shines. Do I think Metro Station is the next Beatles…of course not. On that one song, though, they really did capture something infectious and fun. I’m adult enough now to admit that I enjoy it…
But I can’t leave without sharing something with a bit of an edge…
Or something a bit odd…
Featuring…The Features!
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Back when Jonesy’s Jukebox still existed…greatest radio show ever, by the way…I often heard stuff that I felt retarded for not already being aware of/owning. So one day (this would have been mid to late 2004…I think) I heard a song called “Blow It Out.”
I bought the album it was on, titled Exhibit A, the next day (this was when the bookmines still carried music). It remains one of my “desert island” albums. Exhibit A was released on Universal and the band had, prior to that, released an EP (if memory serves it was either on a small label or independently released).
At some point they left Universal. I have only conjecture as to why that was…probably because Exhibit A wasn’t a breakout success, the label wanted to force the band into changing up their sound on a subsequent recording.
Whatever the reason, The Features next release was a self released EP, titled Contrast, that came out in 2006. Last year the band released a full length album, Some Kind of Salvation, but only did so digitally. Thankfully, Kings of Leon (I know, you’re thinking what?!) helped to get the album actually onto discs that can be purchased in stores and, as of July, said purchasing can be done…I mean, not at my bookmines cause we only have like three CD’s in the store, but I’m sure you can find it at a good music store…do those still exist?…OK, forget that, just buy it here.
Now, I’m not saying Some Kind of Salvation is better than Exhibit A…but I’m also not saying that it is worse. The band continues with it’s perfect blend of pop hooks and rock beats while also seamlessly incorporating horns on several tracks which is a perfect complement to the organ they regularly feature.
Matt Pelham, the singer and principle songwriter (I understand) has the unique ability to make even a song about the birth of his twins rock and groove. I was trying to find an adequate comparison but they blend so much stuff together that any description wouldn’t do the band justice. In any event, check out the following video and see if you don’t find your head nodding or your toe tapping.
Modest Mouse — The Whale Song
F is for Food…and also F**K
0913 days
by kilian
in Television
No doubt many of you are already familiar with Gordon Ramsay. In this country, he’s most well known for being the angry British dude on Hell’s Kitchen and Kitchen Nightmares. And hey, those shows are pretty good. I mean, I generally like cooking shows that don’t star Bobby Flay, and I generally like angry British people (remember, I watch a lot of Premeir League Football) so those are both made for me. Some months ago I stumbled across a show with Ramsay where he was in a kitchen and, instead of yelling, he was actually cooking…OK, he was yelling and cooking at the same time, but he was doing more of the former.
The really interesting thing about the show is that it does not hinge on just a single premise. There is a main focus, making a three course meal for 50 diners in the F Word Restaurant, but interspersed with that are a variety of other pieces that makes for one of the most disjointed, yet informative, food shows in existence.
The F Word Restaurant seats 50 diners. Gordon, and a team of four other non-chefs (known as brigades) must make a three course meal for the restaurant; appetizer, entre (with side dishes) and desert. The diners in the restaurant get to decide, after each course, whether or not they want they want to pay for said course. The scores are tallied as they go with the best possible score being 150 out of 150, or getting every diner to pay for each of the three courses. Each brigade consists of at least one semi-famous person (or in the case of Brigade McFly, four semi-famous persons) and they are all related/connected in some way. The highest scoring brigade gets to return at the end of the season. This portion of the show takes up about half of each episode and is really the heart of what’s going on. More than that, though, it’s pretty interesting to see him in the kitchen cooking with amateurs. I mean, yeah, you still get the potty mouth you expect. One of my favorite moments from the current season is when he collectively called the aformentioned McFly, McShit, only to later upgrade them to McMediocre.
This season, in the last episode, Ramsay will be serving veal in the F Word Restaurant. But not just any veal, oh no, but veal from two calves raised especially for the show (usually we get one segment per episode on said calves) in a cruelty free environment. The lucky calves will also be served with beer that Gordon is brewing himself.
Each episode also sees Ramsay out in search of unique and uncommon food. So far this season he’s hunted wild boar, caught wild catfish and salmon (and smoked said salmon inside a weird three wheeled European car), gone diving for sea urchin, and caught elvers (young eels), among other things.
Inside the F Word Restaurant, he also squares off with celebrities (a different one each week) against their signature dishes. In one episode, for instance, British MP David Blunkett makes a shepherds pie to stack up against one of Gordon’s. The two dishes are taken out, side by side, to five random guests in the restaurant and, after anonymous taste tests, a winner is proclaimed…not surprisingly, it’s usually Gordon.
And yet there’s more! Each episode also features Gordon out convincing someone that eating healthy can be easy. In the most recent episode, for instance, Gordon made burgers for a crew of firemen and, in one earlier episode, paid a visit to British boxer Ricky Hatton.
The really great thing about the show is that, unlike Hell’s Kitchen and Kitchen Nightmares, it’s not an hour of just one damn thing. The various parts of the show are interspersed so that it doesn’t ever feel stagnant and, in fact, in all the parts not centered on cooking in the F Word Restaurant, you see Ramsay’s love of food and cooking really come out as he interacts with such a large variety of people. It’s a truly fascinating show if you have any interest in food and, best of all, you can get every recipe from the show right here (well, they haven’t put up any from the current season yet, but there are three prior seasons).
Just in case you don’t believe me, here’s the first part of the brigade McFly episode from earlier this season.
I am NOT KILIAN, or A Rambling, Non-Sensical Review of I Am Not Sidney Poitier by Percival Everett
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I have mentioned Percival Everett on the ol’ NR before. Once in passing and, more recently, to demonstrate the difference between good fiction writing and not so good fiction writing. I write this current post as an attempt to “review” Percival Everett’s newest book, I Am Not Sidney Poitier.
A SF Chronicle review of the very same book asks the questions:
Is any American writer as undervalued as Everett? Does anyone in America write funnier books?
The answer to both questions is no.
In fact, I’ll go one further and say that Percival Everett is the greatest living American writer of prose fiction. I say this, of course, as one who has not read every prose work of fiction from every living American writer. I have not, in fact, even read all of Everett’s work…but I claim it all the same.
I’ll just state it up front and say that I give I Am Not Sidney Poitier the highest of possible accolades…five out of five unicorns!
5/5 - Punched in the face by AWESOME!
Or, I give it 5/5 for me. I have previously read two other Everett works, Erasure (which is mentioned in this newest work and of which you can read 169 pages at that link) and A History of the African-American People [Proposed] by Strom Thurmond as Told by Percival Everett and James Kincaid (which nearly all of can be read at that link).
Erasure is one man’s journal/protest novel/philosophical musings that was, hands down, the best thing I read in grad school. A History of the African-American People [Proposed] by Strom Thurmond is the story of what might have happened had Strom Thurmond decided to try and write such a book…though Thurmond is not, in fact, in the book in much of a direct way.
See the kind of genius I’m talking about?
This newest work, I Am Not Sidney Poitier, is the story of a young man named Not Sidney Poitier (yes, his first name is Not Sidney). He is independently rich (thanks to some shrewd investing by his late mother) but sort of adopted by Ted Turner. He bears a stunning resemblance to the actual Sidney Poitier and, through the course of the book, relives such memorable Poitier films as Lilies in the Field, The Defiant Ones, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, and In the Heat of the Night. Sadly for Not Sidney, his experiences differ quite greatly from Mr. Poitier’s film incarnations.
During the the Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner portion, after Not Sidney (a high school dropout) has literally bought his way into Morehouse he takes a class titled “Philosophy of Nonsense” taught by someone named Percival Everett. I’d say I’m generally wary of characters who share a name with the author (although, Everything is Illuminated is a great novel and does the same thing…and the main character in Erasure is Percival Everett with a different name…) but the character of Percival Everett is fucking ridiculously brilliant that I can’t imagine any actual human (particularly one who is a “Distinguished Professor” at one of the premier universities in this country) talks or acts the way the character of Everett does.
I was going to throw in a few quotes here from the character of Everett but his conversations go on so long, and excerpting them would only be an injustice. Really, though, you’ve never read a character like him.
I’ve probably already said too much about the book because, honestly, it is something best experienced with as little foreknowledge as possible. The last thing I will say, though, is that it isn’t for everyone. I understand that, in a review, one is attempting to make an honest appraisal of a work. And my honest opinion is that Percival Everett (the real one, not the character) is the best, and least appreciated, American novelist of our time. So, given that, it would be hard for me to give the book anything other than 5 unicorns.
I do understand, however, that this ain’t Oprah’s book club, or James Patterson, or Nicholas Sparks we’re talking about. Everett, like many of the true genius prose writers that have come before him, isn’t for the masses. It’s an interesting dichotomy to consider. James Joyce, for instance, is often considered the greatest English language novelist of all time. In my experience (many years in the making at the bookmines and through undergrad and grad school), very few people who read a lot have read Joyce…and even less have enjoyed him. That is how I imagine Everett will be remembered and, as such, while I personally give I Am Not Sidney Poitier 5 Unicorns, I also bestow upon it, for the masses, 2 Unicorns.
2/5 - For the already converted ONLY!
The Hold Steady — Stay Positive
Instantly Celestial…Richard Garfinkle’s Fiction of Imagination
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I first discovered Richard Garfinkle whilst browsing the Sci-fi/Fantasy/Horror section of Aardvark Books (back in the days of yore, when I still lived in San Francisco, circa 2004). The cover you see to the left piqued my interest. I routinely judge books by covers. It’s just what I do. In any event, I picked up the book, titled Celestial Matters, and read this on the front cover:
A novel of alternate science among the crystalline spheres.
I sure as hell didn’t know what that meant but boy was I intrigued. Looking at the back gave me this little jem:
A thousand years after Alexander the Great, the Greek empire has expanded over the world with the help of advanced technology. Its plans for Total Domination of the entire planet will be complete once the war with the Empire of the Middle Kingdom has been won.
See, the deal is that all of Aristotle’s ideas about physics were right, and thus, Greece was able to create advanced technology (guns, planes, hovercraft, even space ships) based on Aristotle’s work and, you know, conquer the world. Except for Asia, where the Taoist science of the Middle Kingdom (China) rules.
The two empires are locked is a seemingly endless war.
The book’s concept alone is amazing. I had to buy/start reading it right then. I’ll be honest, though, and say it isn’t the greatest thing I’ve ever read. It does read a bit slow because it is told in first person by a Greek and Garfinkle nails a certain attitude for that character that lends itself to slow story telling.
But I did enjoy it quite a bit and, once I was done, looked for other works by Garfinkle. What I found was one other book (which, just like Celestial Matters, was out of print) titled All of an Instant. I think I paid, after shipping, in the 3 dollar range for the trade paper version (the only version in existence, I imagine) and it might be the best three bucks I’ve ever spent.
Imagine there is a dimension wherein time can be traversed like an ocean so that one could navigate to any point in human history and enter back onto Earth. Now imagine that there exists in this dimension, known as the Instant, thousands of (for lack of a better term) people fighting for dominance of said dimension.
That’s the basic premise of the book and really doesn’t even scratch the surface in describing what it is about.
If you click on the link above (the one that goes to Amazon) you’ll see that the work has just about 15 reviews and, of those, only three are poor reviews. The one and two star reviews complain, mostly, about the density and complexity of ideas in the book. One mentions that the characters are poorly written, though I disagree. The three main characters (each of whom is wildly different from the other two) in this work were, for me, much easier to empathize with than nearly all the characters in Celestial Matters. But really, all three are all complaining that All of an Instant is a challenging book.
And you’re damn right it is!
If you just want summer beach reading, don’t pick up this book. If, however, you like to be challenged by a book. And when I say challenged, I mean in every possible way. This book challenges our (often assumed) notions about plot, character, setting, even the very ideas of time and causality.
You know what, though? I read this one much more quickly, much more fervently, than I did Celestial Matters. In that book, the premise was just the foundation of the work, whereas the plot really was the focus of the thing. Here, the premise is the plot, and the characters, and everything. And the three protagonists are amazingly well rendered considering how disparate they are from one another and from normal humans.
I wouldn’t tread lightly with this book. If, however, you accept that it is a work of fiction that will challenge you as a reader, then you will enjoy it.
Even though both these books are out of print, you can get them easily on the internetz. On the flipside, Garfinkle just released his third novel, Exaltations, which looks awesome but, sadly, is only available on lulu for the princely sum of 40 dollars, American.