52 Books - April update: 46/52

A previous post of mine said that I will be reading 52 books in this year's 52 weeks. I fully intend to achieve that goal. Here is my progress:

As of my most recent post, belatedly recapping March's readings, I had tallied 37 books on my "read" (past tense) list. I'm now recapping April's progress, again belatedly (but somewhat less exaggeratedly so), and I've conservatively counted 46 as my total so far this year. Needless to say, I am well on pace to achieve 52 books this year; indeed, I'm strongly considering reupping my goal to 100. I'll consider that change later; for now, I'll share what I read last month.

---

Here's what I've managed to ingest since my last update::

38/52: Low Moon, by Jason
Jason is quickly becoming my favorite graphic novelist (Paul Hornschemeier being the main competitor). His panels are stark but utterly engaging, and the stories make me alternately chuckle, ponder, and tear up. You just have to experience his stories. There's no other way to get a sense for how accomplished he is, as an artist/writer/story-teller/engager. Some of his books I have enjoyed much more than others, but I've thoroughly enjoyed them all, so there's almost no point to the exercise. This one is great, plain and simple.

39/52: Spaceland, by Rudy Rucker
I recall reading some of Rucker's writings for an interdisciplinary math/literature course in college. I remember that he was weird. Intelligent. And weird. This novel supports those memories. I took this book out from the Emmanuel library months ago when I was toying with designing a First Year Seminar course about mathematics and fiction; I love Flatland but had never read Sphereland nor Spaceland, so I decided to read this. That course never panned out, so I forgot about this book until ... well, I spotted it on my desk and started reading. I was hooked. It's plot is notably 90s and dot-commy, strangely enough, mixed with a metaphysical and veritably physical consideration of the 4th dimension. While reading, it felt a lot like Douglas Coupland had decided to become a philosopher/mathematician. I thoroughly enjoyed all this, mind you. But this might only appeal to a certain crowd. If you already read and liked Flatland, considering adding this to your queue, at least.

40/52: What I Did, by Jason
I already described Jason's greatness above, so I won't attempt to reiterate here. More powerful stories, beautifully told and artistically-rendered. I will read anything this guy creates, to sum up.

41a/52: Howl & other poems, by Allen Ginsberg
April was National Poetry Month, so I sought out several collections and famous poems that I had been meaning to read / wanted to read / ought to have read / etc. This collection fit all of those desires/needs. I probably read "Howl" back in college, but I decided I really needed to revisit it and make it stick in my head. This is arguably the most famous American poem of (at least the latter half of) the 20th century, so what better way to celebrate Poetry Month? It was (indeed, is) beautiful and powerful. Some phrases struck me and made me want to use them in daily conversation but, now, not even a month or so later, the particular words Ginsberg used are already slipping quickly from my memory. But I do recall the atmosphere, the tone of this whole collection. It just makes me want to reread it again, every month.

41b/52: Scattered Poems, by Jack Kerouac
More poetry to celebrate April! (I actually read a few more collections this month, but these short chapbooks couldn't quite count as a "full read", I thought. Instead, I selected these two to represent my readings of this month. I have a few more that are still being read, so I'll count those in the May post.) I've read a lot of Kerouac, and I've even read a fair amount of his poetry, but these were all new. I think I was more acquainted with his "American haiku", having flipped through a collection of those poems. These poems were, well ... obviously Kerouac. He has a notable and identifiable way with words and phrases and images. I particularly liked the poem about "how to meditate" (that might even be the title). You can read this collection in this here pdf.

42/52: Barrel Fever and Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls, by David Sedaris
I listened to these two as audiobooks from the Boston Library. I like David Sedaris's stories, but I like him reading his stories even more. It's not that the entertainment disappears on the printed page; rather, Sedaris does well to bring the stories to life through his voice. I liked Let's Explore Diabetes With Owls a lot. Not quite as much as Me Talk Pretty One Day. But I'd say those are my two favorite collections of his. Barrel Fever earned a big fat MEH from me, though. I was excited that Amy Sedaris did some voices on that audiobook, and she did kinda steal the show during those stories, but overall it was just a far weaker collection of tales. Sobeit. I'm still looking forward to hearing more of David in the future.

43/52: Relish: My Life in the Kitchen, by Lucy Knisley
This was absolutely awesome! Wonderful drawings, wonderful writing, wonderful stories, wonderful recipes. This book made me fucking hungry. Constantly. I gathered several cooking ideas and inspirations from it and am looking forward to using them. More broadly, this book told Knisley's story of a life built around food. Her parents were both involved in the food industry and she, naturally, has an interesting attachment to food. But she's far from a snob, and mocks her history, at times, telling a story about getting McDonald's fries in Rome despite her dad's admonitions, for instance. This is the kind of book I want to keep around in my kitchen and by my coffee table. It's a delightfully fun read and is chock-full of wisdom and recommendations.

44/52: The Psychopath Inside, by James Fallon
I found this one in the "new non-fiction" section at the library, which I've been exploring recently to learn more about current science. I was intrigued by the idea that a neuroscientist would turn his studies towards his own brain and life and, indeed, a lot of this book did exactly that. I was a little put off by the apparent egotism of the author and, occasionally, the lack of scientific rigor and anecdotal "evidence" to support his theories. But this was admittedly a singular case study and so, of course, I shouldn't expect perfect analysis. Ultimately, this amounts to a uniquely appealing memoir, combining scientific know-how, extensive family history, self-awareness, interviews, and research evidence to develop an understanding of psychopathy and what it truly means and how it hardly ever (if at all) conforms to society's understanding of the term. I'd recommend at least starting to read this, or skimming through it; if you get intrigued, keep going with it, otherwise no big deal.

45/52: Mother. Wife. Sister. Human. Warrior. Falcon. Yardstick. Turban. Cabbage., by Rob Delaney
I know Rob Delaney from his Twitter account. But I admit that I didn't really know his Twitter account beforehand. I just knew it existed and it was popular and I'd seen some of his tweets and laughed at them. Then I heard him promoting this book on a recent episode of the Comedy Bang Bang podcast so I queued it up on audiobook via, yup, the library. I ended up listening to this over many sessions, while walking to/from campus, riding in the car with my parents, sitting around at home, etc. Many of Delaney's stories were funny. All of them were oddly interesting. And, in sum, I found that Delaney is just a weirdly entertaining guy. He's not really a comedian. He's not really a writer. He's just a guy who's lived through some strange experiences and can tell you about them. Go into this book expecting no less and no more and you will be richly rewarded.

46/52: Junky, by William Burroughs
I was already on a beat generation fix, what with First Thought, Best Thought and then Ginsberg and Kerouac, so I went all out and picked out this newly-restored edition of this novel from the library. This story is stark and spare. It is honest. Brutally so and unapologetically so and it shows no pretense for even needing to apologize for being so. It is perfect, in those regards. The appendices that showed letters/writing by Burroughs and Ginsberg to/about their publishers pushing for this novel's release really added to my understanding of this novel's importance, actually, and I'm glad they were included. Had I just read this book in a metaphorical vacuum, I wouldn't have gained nearly as much. It's absolutely worth remembering, before/while/after reading, that this book's events are set in the 1950s and were meant to be shared then, as well.

Other readings that count:
I Think I Am In Friend-Love With You, by Yumi Sakugawa:
A short graphic story about a little monster with a friend. Light fluff. Pretty enjoyable but ultimately forgettable.

The Three Paradoxes, by Paul Hornschemeier:
Really enjoyed this. Horsnchemeier is wonderful, and his treatment of Zeno's paradoxes here is highly commendable. I have a special attachment to this book.

Lucky, by Gabrielle Bell:
More from another favorite graphic novelist of mine. This one explores her time in NYC. Really enjoyed this, and recommended if you're already into her work or want to know more.

I Killed Adolf Hitler, by Jason:
More Jason. Greatness. This is a short story about time travel and its implications. Highly recommended!

The Herald of the Autochthonic Spirit, by Gregory Corso:
Part of my poetry month celebrations. I'm reading more Corso now, mostly due to how much I enjoyed this collection. His writing is exuberant and engaging.

The Company, by Robert Creeley:
Picked this out from the library's poetry collection while I was already scanning through it. Enjoyed it mostly, but nothing stood out as memorable.

Up next:
Much like my last post, I'll say that I'm already well into way so there's kinda no point in sharing what I'd started reading. Still, I'll mention here some books that I'm working through and hopefully will finish in the next two weeks. (I've already finished several books in the interim of this post's scope and the current day, so these are actually ongoing reads...)

Feynman, by Jim Ottaviani and Leland Myrick:
A graphic novel about the life of Richard Feynman. What's not to love?

The End Of Your Life Book Club, by Will Schwalbe:
Recommended by my mom. A book apparently about mothers and sons and reading. Sounds appropriate!

In the Shadow of Man, by Jane Goodall:
I recently read a graphic novel about some female scientists who studied primates (see next post for more) and was inspired to seek more source material. This is part of that goal.

Kiva Han Countdown: 13, 12 days

I've been stopping by for Hangover Cures the last couple of days. They just hit the fucking spot like no other food item can. They're kinda preventing me from branching out on the menu, but who cares. I did notice one thing today that, surprisingly, never jumped out to my eyes before. The menu says that the Hangover Cure is an "egg, hash browns, slas & chesse" burrito. That's right, CHESSE. I usually notice typos. Obsessively. But this one has escaped me until now. Maybe I noticed once and forgot. Maybe they just changed the sign to mess with me. Maybe "chesse" is some new type of cheese. Who knows?

Kiva Han Countdown: 15, 14 days

Over the past few weeks, I've overheard several conversations about what's happening to Kiva Han's location and what their plans are. None of this comes from direct questioning of a primary source, so don't get all up in arms at me if some of this turns out to be false, but I've heard the same details often enough that I "know" it isn't hearsay or rumormongering.

Kiva Han will be replaced by a Bagel Factory location. The interior will be gutted and made to look more like a diner. The owner will be starting a food truck specializing in soup and will call it "Get Ladled".

That is all for today. That, and their mac & cheese is fucking delicious and you owe it to yourself to eat it before they close and I will not be your friend unless you do this (or you're lactose-intolerant or something).

Kiva Han Countdown: 21, 20, 19, 18, 17 days (catching up)

I've let my writing routine slack lately. Bah. But here's the scoop. There's barely more than two weeks left in KH's existence. Here's what I've been up to the last few days.

On Sunday, I came in after improv practice on campus for a late lunch/early dinner. I stopped at the public library on my way over, and then bumped into my friend on the way in here. It was so crowded there weren't even any tables to sit at! I totally forgot it was Sunday and missed brunch earlier that day, despite my vow last week to go to brunch more often, and it was absolutely packed around 5:30ish. I ended up sitting in one of the comfy, red-cushioned chairs upstairs by the fan. It was the only truly open seat around. My friend got a coffee to go. I sat there and had a cappuccino and muffin, and was forced to overhear a conversation between two older gentlemen who I presume were professors or teachers of some kind. One of them was lamenting to the other about an algebra student of his who "just couldn't get it". Adding 5x to 2 doesn't give you "7 something", as he pointed out. He said it was like "water pouring through a bucket with a hole in it". Ugh. I can't stand hearing stories like this. If someone "doesn't get it", that just means they're not seeing it the way you are explaining it, and you need another approach. Demonstrate it visually. I've got 5 baskets of apples, and 2 leftover. How many total apples? Well, it depends on how many are in each basket. There is always a way to teach someone, if you're patient and inventive enough. To give up and say that you're just pouring water through a hole … that's a shitty attitude, man.

I was frantically working on slides for an upcoming presentation on Monday, so I came by for dinner and sat there for a couple hours working, head down in my laptop. I suppose I'm usually like that here, but this time I was actually focused on something so intently that I hardly looked up from it. It's nice to know that one can do that here. It's easy to get distracted—people watching, the music playing, etc.—but if you have to, you can tune everything out and work.

I was here a long time on Tuesday, still working on that presentation. I got here in the late afternoon, ate some food, and worked worked worked. Some friends showed up later, and then I went off to campus for an IM squash match. I got my ass handed to me (I'm blaming it on my timing and strategy, which are still tuned to racquetball and haven't adjusted) and came back to find my friends still here. I got an iced coffee and stuck around right until closing time.

Yesterday, I was only inside KH briefly on my way to campus. I stayed at home all day alternately working/sleeping, and got an iced coffee on my way to give that presentation I'd been working on. It has been unseasonably warm the last few days, amiright? Spring seems to be coming a little early, which I'm generally fine with, but it doesn't seem like we got a true winter this year. It was never quite in full effect, occasionally throwing a t-shirt day in amongst some snow.

After that presentation yesterday, I went down to the Pitt campus and did a segment on WPTS radio for Draw Us Lines. It was pretty fun, although it'll take some getting used to the on-air logistics, remembering things you can't say (apparently "free" is the "other F word"), and getting comfortable hearing my own voice in headphones. On the way back from there, I was walking on Forbes and had to pass right by/through a march by "Occupy Oakland". They were walking right by KH corner as I was, and when the walk signal at the intersection came on, I diagonalized and was nearly run over by them. Not really, but I wasn't about to stand there and let 100 people walk by and miss my chance to cross the street, ya know? I honestly couldn't tell what they were chanting, or what their message was, but they seemed to be having a lot of fun. Rather than being angry at the source of their protest, they were just kinda smiling and enjoying being out in the middle of the road, yelling and walking. Kinda odd, right? And yeah, they just kept marching down the road, into traffic on Forbes, as I ducked into PHI bar and a couple of cops looked on from both sides of the street. Weird.

Kiva Han Countdown: 28 days

You know what I should do more? Eat brunch. In general, yes absolutely more brunch all the time yes, but at Kiva Han, in particular, since there are only so many Sundays left where they'll be serving brunch. Three more Sundays, in fact, and then the 19th, their final day of business, is a Sunday, too. That leaves scant few opportunities to enjoy their brunch options and atmosphere.

I stopped in around 1:30 today, just before brunch ended at 2:00. I actually forgot it was Sunday brunch time, really. I just happened to be starving and needing to be on campus later in the afternoon, so I walked down to Craig St. and went inside and saw the orange menu on the counter and remembered, "Aha, brunch!" I had a hangover cure (of course) with some fruit and toast on the side, and a cappuccino, with thick and frothy steamed milk. It was delicious. The hangover cure also had seasoned tofu. The barista was apologetic that they were out of bacon, and I said that tofu is even better. It was quite busy there, even in the 45 minutes I was there as brunch was ending, and I overheard the manager saying a few times that they "got slammed" that day and were out of a few other things. No worries, man, glad to see lots of business. In other news, I even noticed a couple sitting outside on this unseasonably warm January day and thought about sitting outside myself but decided I didn't want to risk a car taking a right onto Forbes and cutting the corner too closely and hitting that giant puddle of melted snow that has gathered there too quickly and making a huge splash. Yeah, it was a huge puddle.

At one point, one of the cooks brought out three plates of food and called three girls' names fairly loudly. A few minutes later, he reemerged with another order and re-called their names even louder. This might have iterated one more time, I don't remember exactly, but by the end, he was shouting, "KELLY! JASMINE! VERONICA!" (I just made those names up, by the way.) As the girls giggled and walked over to get their food, someone said that they'd been sitting there awhile, and it almost sounded like they were upset about this. Maybe I just misheard the tone, but the girls apologized and walked away with their food. It got me thinking about how many times I've done something similar—didn't hear my name, didn't realize how long it had been, flat out forget about a food order, etc.—and how many times I've done the oppoiste—keep checking the counter eagerly, getting up from a table in the other room and hanging my head in shame and hunger while walking back plate-less.

You might have noticed that I didn't write anything yesterday. I already broke my promise and skipped a day. In my defense, it was cold and blustery and such out yesterday during the day, I had other shit to do, was feeling lazy, and ended up staying in all day until late in the evening. So yeah, I missed one day. That's the last one. Less than one month left!

Concert review: Triggers, Big Hurry, Pet Clinic

Triggers, Big Hurry, Pet Clinic
Friday August 13, 2010 at Howler's
with Bear, Sean, Paul, Lisa

My friends Bear and Sean were in town visiting during this weekend and I was able to treat them to a great local music show :-) I had actually sent Bear a video for Big Hurry's "Silver Screens" a few months ago but never heard whether he liked it or not. When he came into town I mentioned a rock show I wanted to see and when I said the words "Big Hurry" he became very excited. Sean drove into town early on Friday morning after basically driving through the night, so we let him nap in the afternoon and finally got out of my place around 6 pm to head to the Andy Warhol museum.

We caught the G2 bus to downtown and had a lovely stroll through the Cultural District and across the bridge to the museum, marveling at the skyline and PNC Park along the way. I had not been to the Warhol in quite some time and was glad to see lots of new stuff. Specifically, they have a Marcel Duchamp exhibit on now that was pretty neat, pairing some of his artwork in juxtaposition with Andy's for the sake of comparison. I didn't realize they were somewhat contemporary and were acquaintances. Of course, the urinal was the most famous part of the exhibit, but I liked some of the crazy film pieces, too (especially standing in a room with upwards of 12 screens all showing different short films). I think Sean enjoyed seeing the items related to The Velvet Underground, particularly the sheet music for a few songs on display by one of the elevators. Bear particularly liked the silver balloon room and made grand plans for having such a room in his future domiciles/offices. Meanwhile, all three of us enjoyed the fact that they had a happy hour bar on the ground floor where we had a couple beers and a gin & tonic (for me) and a "Warhol cosmopolitan" (for Sean) which was just a cosmo with blue curacao instead of triple sec so it had a vibrant purplish hue. As it turns out, we spent a bit too much time down at the bar chatting and staring at the giant portrait photo of Andy with really spiky hair, and we had to rush through the last couple of floors so we could catch a bus back to Bloomfield.

We left the museum a little after 8 and walked back to the Cultural District to catch the 86 bus down Liberty/Penn. I got a little turned around and wasn't sure which side of the street to stand on to get the bus in the right direction, especially given that the stop suggested by Google maps was on a street under construction, so we asked some nice gentlemen at the stop and they confirmed we were in the right place. After a few minutes, though, they left, but they later got on the same bus that we did a couple stops down the line. That confused me. Anyway, by this point we were starving and running out of time since apparently the show was starting at 9:30 and not 10:00 as I expected, so I suggested grabbing some quick slices of pizza. I had never been to Graziano's on Penn Ave. despite having stared at its glowing storefront from both the downstairs and upstairs windows of the Brillobox, so I took this opportunity to try it out. The pizza itself was quite good for what it was (quick and greasy) and really hit the spot. I just had a couple slices of cheese, but Bear had one of the thick-crust slices and also said it was solid. I'd certainly go back to try it again, especially after seeing their incredible selection of beer (lots of craft six packs to go).

We finally walked a couple blocks down Liberty to Howler's and relaxed outside for a minute after seeing that the music hadn't yet started. We went inside to find Lisa and Paul already there with a table, and handed our $5 apiece to Kelly, Big Hurry's singer, who was working the door. We started out with the cleverly-named Walt Wit beer on draft but moved on to PBR cans after learning that they were on special for the evening, 16 oz. cans for only $2. None of us really wanted to miss any of the show, so every once in a while one of our group would go to the bar in the other room and order a 6-pack and bring it back. By the end of the night, we had an impressive stack of cans on the table and they somehow were all positioned into a big pyramid in front of Sean.

The show itself was pretty crowded, and I like how the stage at Howler's is elevated so we could see just about everything onstage even though we were seated and the area in front of us had people standing. The first band was Pet Clinic, a local quartet with a grungy guitar vibe and a singer with high, nasal vocals that makes it all sound like Nirvana, Dinosaur Jr. and your favorite 60s garage rock band (say, The Seeds) thrown into a blender. Check out their MySpace page and listen to "Mister Yuck", particularly the accelerated drums and crescendo guitar solo starting around the 1:00 mark, and tell me you disagree. They were great live, a perfect beginning to the show with lots of rocking, noisy energy. I think the moment that sold Sean was when the guitarist's strap broke in the middle of a song and he just dropped to his knees and kept playing as if nothing had happened. He finished the set by sitting in one of the tall stool/chair thingies that an audience member gave up for him. A solid set overall; I'd like to see them again sometime. Another thing I noticed was that the guitarist/singer looked really familiar. I was pretty sure he was the drummer for Landline, another local grungy band I've seen play a few times as an opening act, and it turns out I was right, according to the names on their MySpace pages. But after an aha moment just now and some Googling, I've figured out that this guy is also the brother of the bassist in Meeting of Important People (!) and together the two of them make up the band Br'er Fox and I saw them open for Tapes 'n Tapes at the Club Cafe exactly 3 years ago when I first moved to Pittsburgh!!! What a crazy world.

Big Hurry went next and played all their hits, which is to say they played their songs and nailed it. I could listen to "Save Your Breath" all day, and they threw that in towards the end of their set, opting to play most of the "newer" Silver Screens EP songs first, plus some other songs that will likely appear on their forthcoming album. I'm excited for that album to come out, and I'm sure they'll play at least one "release party" show around town, so I'll be sure to keep my eyes and ears open for that. Their set at Howler's was great as usual, high energy and proficient, awesome rhythm section between Dani and Lenny, super-catchy melodic high-end guitar solos from Andy, and forcefully emotive vocals from Kelly. This is the kind of band that is greater than the sum of its parts, which are already great in their own right.

Triggers closed out the night. It's a name I've heard around town before but I didn't know anything about them before this show. I'll let their self-written bio describe their sound for me:

"If ELVIS COSTELLO shagged THE CARS and XTC and made a musical mutant child, that child would be TRIGGERS. If you hate HONEST, RIFF LADEN, HOOK INFUSED songs that hypnotize you with their MELODIES then, by all means, return to the pretentious moaning of some band of sods and do not listen to TRIGGERS."

And that's actually pretty accurate. "Power-pop" is a perfect descriptor for their song style and live show, with lots of high energy playing and bouncing around and singing. The keyboardist sometimes played keyboard with one hand and drum with the other, sometimes using a tambourine, and sometimes drumming with both hands. The drummer was all over the place, too, his flowing hair bouncing up and down in time with the music. It was quite a live spectacle, and I may have enjoyed watching the band members create the music more than I enjoyed the music itself, which is a strange phenomenon, but oh well.

Overall, this was a great collection of local bands and I'm glad I got to share some of the 'Burgh music scene with my out-of-town friends.


Pet Clinic
couldn't find anything ?!

Big Hurry
Interview with Draw Us Lines
Video of drum tracking
"Paper Trails" album version played over live footage

Triggers
Two songs live at Mojo's (Jamestown, NY) on 10-13-2007
Acoustic version of "Yer Bones"
"Run Fast, Run Far" live at Rex Theatre on 03-14-2008
Fan video for "She had me at takeoff"
Album review in the City Paper