My rating: 4 of 5 stars
A friend gave this to me to help me get over my Hunger Games withdrawal. After trying to read at least 3 other books, this is the one that worked. The Introduction just reeled me in with its slick, easy, conversation-like style and I read it in two sittings: going from LGA-CVG and then a couple of hours last night. It's like sitting at a bar and talking to a super-cool guy about your shared music obsessions. One of those conversations that while you're in the middle of it you hope it doesn't stop for a while.
While I can't say I agree with (a lot!) of his favorite or well-remembered songs (when was the last time you heard someone mention Scritti Politti or Ray Parker Jr.?) I will say that I wholeheartedly agree and identify with the place that music holds in his life. I very clearly remember the first time I heard certain bands and there are songs that can stop me in my tracks and move me to another year in another city. I adore the way he shares with us the lessons he learned from these songs, these artists. I identify with how much these songs relate to certain people, certain years and the state we were in when we obsessively play them over and over. I was a huge Smiths fan but always knew Morrissey was just in a funk, I was a Madonna and Prince fan but never hoped they'd last as long as they did. I never really cared about Duran Duran when they were around (gasp!). I didn't relate at the time to boys who wanted to wear make up and be prettier than me. But I distinctly remember the first time I watched MTV and then what a prevalent part of my life it became. There are so many artists that I didn't like then that I have come to appreciate with time and Duran Duran is one of them. I worked in a music store when 'Decades' came out and that was actually when my appreciation began. They are one of the bands that sound seems to get richer the longer it stays on the air. What was kind of fluffy silliness in the year it was released now, for me, seems to embody an historical period that made its claim on that lightness and in retrospect seems so sweet and naive and quaint. I love Duran Duran now and this book definitely spoke to me. Now if only we can get John Cusack to star in the movie...
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Friday, August 12, 2011
Out of My Book Funk!
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Things That Made Me Smile This Week
- I don't know what it says about me that Google is introducing me to artists but one of its endlessly cool homepages featured art by Takashi Murakami and it was just the funnest thing ever. This picture is my wallpaper on my computer and I wish I could wallpaper my life with it. And just live inside its happiness. Not every flower is perfect, some have different eyes even, but they're all so damn smiley and cute:
- The ladies at Hello Giggles have been inspiring me to mix up my pinks and reds in the nail care department (see the "Get Yo Nails Did!" posts each week) so I went looking for something blue. Something that would look cute with jeans or jean shorts or these great periwinkle blue cargo shorts I have. What I found is Sally Hansen's Blizzard Blue. I think it looks Metallic Smurfy but what ever. It's summery and it looks super-cute with jeans. It's also the color of the mat in my bathroom but I'm not sure whether that's good or bad.
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| these are not my nails :) |
- There was a winner on The Voice. So much about this show was so much better than American Idol. The build-up was cool and hyped. The blind auditions made it so much more interesting that these people were actually chosen for their voice and not how they would look on a CD case (or mp3 download?). The judges are actually people who have had great success in the industry (I think Idol finally picked up on that with Steven Tyler and JLo but too little, too late) and are funny (and mostly coherent). And the people on here could actually sing their asses off. The top 8 or whatever could mostly have outstanding careers. I also have to say that it's rare that a show like The Voice gives you a peek into how heartbreaking an industry music is but the fact that so many of these people had deals fall through and CDs that never got released made me root for them even more. I would really like to know how these contestants were chosen (I have a contender living in my very house, The Voice people!). I think everyone knew who was going to win from the very start and for the benefit of the peeps reading this I know haven't watched yet, I won't spoil. But that person won and that made me smile (and a little teary).
Saturday, June 25, 2011
A Visit from the Goon Squad
Lest all you think I do is eat and run and listen to music, below is my book review from Goodreads (love, love, love this website!)
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
If Nick Hornby and Orwell sat down and hashed out a book it might look something like this. OK, maybe just the last chapter. This book was literally all over the place. Each chapter was a different person, different point in time, different angle on a different story. All of it felt a little washed over with a grey-ish haze. Everyone's view was just a little off. No one was very happy, about anything, even the tween girl's chapter. I read it in a matter of days because it was entertaining in the way that looking in the window of someone's house and getting a momentary glimpse into their lives is entertaining. Even in the most heart-wrenching story of the suicidal college friend, it seemed glossed over. That perhaps we only got a washed-down version. I did enjoy how, for certain people she scanned way into the future and we got to know what happened to them (for better or worse). The last chapter was so outside the realm of the rest of the book that it seemed a part of another book entirely. Without the detail something like what she's describing requires I thought it fell a little short and I was disappointed because I think she was definitely onto something. Handsets and pointers and the new rebellion being clean kids? No doubt this is where we're heading but it wasn't enough for me to buy it completely.
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