A remembrance for a poet

So I was watching the finals of the Nordic Combined today and….ok, I really had no reason to actually watch the finals of the Nordic Combined. This is what happens when you work from home part of the time and it is after market close. You end up watching whatever Olympic coverage happens to be on at the moment. Anyway, while watching the thrilling cross country portion of the Nordic Combined I got to see the brilliance of deciding to place the games in Sochi in action. Now I can’t consider myself a cross country aficionado but I don’t believe that courses should consist of about a twenty foot wide path of snow that is surrounded by pure dirt. Seriously, the only part of the cross country course that had snow on it was the course itself. I’ve never seen anything as bizarre in my life and I was watching a sport that believes that ski jumping and cross country skiing are related skills.

In sad news that will get lost amidst the other headlines Maggie Estep died today at only fifty years old. Most people will have never heard of Maggie Estep. To be honest hers is a name I haven’t thought of for well over a decade. But, she was part of the spoken word poetry scene back in that brief moment of time when spoken word was a thing. They even had a special spoken word poetry addition of MTV Unplugged which is completely insane in that a) MTV once dedicated an hour of prime time to a poetry recital and b) somehow a poetry recital could be considered unplugged.

Maggie was a part of that broadcast and I just want to point out how cool that moment in time was. I can’t sit here and talk about how influential her poetry was because outside of a few other brief performances this was what I knew of her. But the fact that she could make it on to MTV (along with the guy from King Missle of all things) to just recite poetry and even appear on Beavis and Butthead was a sign to me that there is more than one way to express yourself. I’ve always been one to write and typically write for myself. I couldn’t get on stage and sing or play guitar but I have some small skill in sitting down and writing but that is a very solitary task. It is tough to connect with people and even tougher to get feedback. I mainly write for myself but occasionally it is nice to have an audience.

The spoken word scene also proved to me that you don’t have to write in the traditional way. I know it is almost inconceivable now but when I was a teenager my dreams of seeing my words in print or available anywhere would involve either getting a book deal or a magazine assignment or if I was going to be incredibly daring, just publishing my own zine. I knew people who made their own zines. I had no idea how they did it. Incredibly though a decade ago I just set up a blog and started writing and ended up with readers all over the world. I’m bummed that the blog took a multi-year sabbatical and lost its steady readership but it will come back. I’m just happy to have an outlet.

So tonight in between Olympic coverage and rightful eulogies to Sid Caesar remember Maggie and her brief moment in the pop culture spotlight. She was able to stand on a stage and read her poems to a national audience. How amazing is that.

Wednesday Night Music Club: Still continuing with albums that were released in the last year or so. Here is one from Josh Ritter’s release from last year. For an album that came out of the aftermath of his divorce this is a rather upbeat song. Plus, it is Josh and his songs are the closest thing to poetry that you can find out there.

2011 Reading List: Fiction for all

Since it is a start of a new year (and an effective restart of the blog) I thought that I would go with an easy topic for the next couple of days: an examination of the books that I read over the course of 2011. I finished 38 books last year, which is about average for me. Yes, I’ve kept track of every book that I have read since 1998. In many instances I can tell you how many days it took me to read the book. Don’t ask me why this is the case. Kim asks me all the time and I have yet to come up with a good answer.

Anyway, I will start with the fiction and do the non-fiction and odds and ends tomorrow.

“The Power and the Glory” by Graham Greene: This was my challenge reading for the year, which just shows that I have really lapsed in terms of what constitutes a challenge for me anymore. Not like the good old days where in January I would decide to read Faust in its entirety despite the fact that once you read the definition of the term “Faustian Bargain” you can pretty much ignore the entire book. Anyway, I have always meant to read more of Graham Greene’s work and this is just an amazing story about Central America and the struggle of a failed priest trying to do one last good act. Really, really fascinating read about a time that we are not too far removed from.

“An Object of Beauty” by Steve Martin: I’ll state up front that I am a huge fan of Steve Martin’s writings and one of the first books that I ever gave Kim was his novel “The Pleasure of my Company.” But while I enjoyed this book you can tell that this was more of a novel written by someone who is really intrigued with a certain subject, in this case the New York art world, than by someone with a story to tell. You will learn more about auction houses and galleries and the denizens of the world than you could ever wish to know. A nice book but not a required read.

“Perforated Heart” by Eric Bogosian: Eric Bogosian falls into the category of one of those writers that I have always admired but had never actually read. Mainly because I tend to see movies of his work (Talk Radio being the biggest example) and just always hear praise about him. So I gave this novel a try because it focused on the 70’s punk rock scene in New York, which I have a passing interest in for some reason. Mainly because everyone considers it to be incredibly important artistically and musically but it all happened before I was aware of art and music outside of Sesame Street so I don’t know of CBGB’s outside of the t-shirts that you can buy at Urban Outfitters. Not sure if this book helped me to get a sense of the time, either. 70’s punk remains to me the story of a really good party attended by someone else a few years ago. Maybe you just had to be there.

“The Well of Lost Plots” by Jasper Fforde: Some books are written for certain audiences. Jasper Fforde writes for literature geeks. I have seen no author who is so inventive and dedicated to making as many literary references as possible via his Thursday Next series, which involves a world where characters in books are surprisingly real. If you can find references to Austen and the Charge of the Light Brigade entertaining than pick up his books. It is like someone decided to specifically invent crack for English majors.

“Midnight Mile” by Dennis Lehane: As you can probably already tell my taste in fiction runs to the more obscure but here is a book that everyone would enjoy. Lehane is an outstanding writer of tense thrillers and this book is in the realm as his earlier work with “Mystic River” and “Shutter Island” (along with his belief that book titles should only contain two words.) His books are page turners that do not fall into the Dan Brown trap of seeming to be formed out of a rejected Scooby Doo script. Definite one to check out.

“The Wee Free Men” and “Snuff” by Terry Pratchett: If I would hazard a guess I would estimate that I own / have read almost thirty books by Terry Pratchett over the past fifteen years. He is my fantasy writer of choice as his Discworld novels are brilliant satires of society and the nature of fantasy itself. What saddens me though is that he is reaching the end of his career as he has early onset Alzheimer’s and is now forced to dictate his books. You have to admire someone who sees the end of the road ahead of him and still plows on as he knows that he still has stories to tell the world.

“A Game of Thrones” by George R. R. Martin: I must admit I had not been very aware of this series until the HBO series and as a book it would typically scare me off for the same reason that I avoid most fantasy novels. At a certain age you decide that you can’t read a thousand pages about dragons and ancient rivalries without going completely numb. But my god is this a good book. He keeps you reading and the use of numerous viewpoint characters keeps you constantly engaged in all of the different threads that run through the book. I am going to continue to make my way through the series though I certainly will take pauses between the books. With something so dense you need to take breaks.

“A Visit from the Goon Squad" by Jennifer Egan: I am not sure if I can call this the best book that I read all year (though it would certainly be in the top three) but it without a doubt has the best chapter that I have read in a very long time. It is a single chapter written as PowerPoint slides. It is a chapter about autism and the idea of pauses within music and what that implies and the different ways in which information is communicated and it is just fascinating to read. At first you think that it is just a gimmick but after reading it I could think of no other way to present such a story in so compelling of a manner. I’d read this book for that chapter alone.

“How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe” by Charles Yu: I read a lot of books because I hear good things about them online. Kim challenges me on why I use this method to choose books as I typically end up reading books that I am supposed to read rather than what I would actually like to read at any point in time. Sometimes my method works and I find a great book. Other times like this one I just don’t get it. It is the story of a time machine repairman with a cute dog who ends up somehow killing his future self and forming an infinite loop. Outside of the bits with the dog I still don’t know what it was about.

“Hunger Games”, “Catching Fire” and “Mockingjay” by Suzanne Collins: Now these are books that I can understand! 24 teenagers put into an arena to battle to the death for the entertainment of the super wealthy. I have to say of all of the young adult novels that have gained mainstream attention in the post Harry Potter world these are easily the best. I highly recommend reading Hunger Games before the movie comes out because it really is a book that you will not be able to put down. You will find yourself rooting for Katniss and Peeta and wondering just how would you do in such a situation. The other two books aren’t quite as good though that is due mainly to the nature of the story. There would have to be a bit of a letdown after the first one. Huge recommendation on this one to be on board before the movie comes out and possibly ruins it for everyone.

“The Visible Man” by Chuck Klosterman: There is an old question that I have heard that you can use whenever you are at a lull in a conversation. You can have one superpower: flight or invisibility, which do you choose and you must answer immediately. It is a test of extroversion versus introversion and I have to admit that my first choice is invisibility and I then regret it. This is a novel about what it would be like to truly be invisible and then be able to watch peole as they truly are. It asks the question of who are we really: the person that we show the world or the person that we are when we are home alone. What is your true self? As with most of Chuck’s writing it is more of an examination of an idea than a good novel (you tend to find yourself searching for a plot at times) but man is it a good idea. The story will stick with you for a while.

“The Post-Mortal” by Drew Magary: For those who are unaware, Drew is one of the writers on Deadspin, a blog that I have been reading forever that was founded by a fellow Illini so I am a little biased on this one. The novel is built around a brilliant premise: What would happen if someone created a cure for aging. You take an injection and then you never age. Now you can still die by being shot or by smoking until you get lung cancer but you would never die of old age. You would just stay the same age as you were when you took the injection. Would you take it? What if everyone else did and you ended up being the only old person on the planet? What would the world be like if everyone was a twentysomething with no maturity in sight? Have to admit this book was a lot better than I initially expected.

“The Sense of an Ending” by Julian Barnes: I wrote about this book a few weeks ago so I’ll be brief. Plus it won the Booker Prize so it really doesn’t need my endorsement. It is about memory and how we view things as we age and that amazing way you think when you are in your late teens and find yourself fascinated with intellectual pursuits. Ok, maybe not everyone gets that but there is part of me that wonders how I would have done if I had been in a school like one of the Ivies or Oxford or Cambridge and got to live one of those experiences that I have only read about. I probably would be an even bigger arrogant prick than I already am. Guess I should be happy that I went to a school that features a cornfield as one of its campus landmarks.

“Plan B” by Johnathan Tropper: I was surprised that I hadn’t read this book already. Tropper is pretty much an American version of Nick Hornby with a focus on stories revolving around New York. This was his first novel and it shows flashes of brilliance. A story of turning thirty and what that entails. Ah, the good old days…

Wednesday Night Music Club: Some days I would love to be able to stand on a stage with just a guitar, move away from the microphone and sing to an entirely silent crowd. Pretty amazing to see Josh Ritter pull it off with one of my favorite songs ever. “My wings are made of hay and cornhusks”

Why do I have a feeling that tomorrow will be exactly like today?

Lots of random thoughts tonight…

1) The groundhog either a) did not see his shadow today so spring will be arriving early or b) the groundhog was buried under an avalanche of snow and will not be able to see this spring whether it arrives early or not. According to the Pitch, option B may have actually occurred in KC where they attempted to install a groundhog at the Liberty Memorial without taking into account the fact that a blizzard was on its way. Poor little guy.

2) I have to admit that I am kind of bummed that I have missed out on the storm of the century. Everyone I know in Chicago is sending out pictures of four foot snow drifts and all I had out in Delaware was some freezing rain overnight. No snow days for us. Now it is true that I am glad that I do not have to dig out from the storm but I bet that it must have been amazing to watch. You just don’t get a good blizzard every year. Except if you go to Dairy Queen.

3) I was all behind the overthrow of the Egyptian government until I found out that the pro-Mubarek protesters beat up Andersen Cooper, which makes me think that maybe Mubarek isn’t that bad of a guy after all. Next time maybe Andersen will wear a collared shirt before he reports from some troubled region.

4) Oh, and I saw someone else post this comment today and I just have to steal it. Why doesn’t Egypt build pyramids anymore? It is all that they are known for yet they haven’t built one for what, 4,000 years now? The least they could do is provide us with another pyramid every 500 years or so don’t you think?

5) For the record My Beloved Lindsay did not steal that necklace. I gave it to her as a gift and I will testify to that in a court of law, presuming of course that the judge has little understanding of perjury laws. So basically I would testify in California to that.

6) Best headline on television today “Men on camels beating protestors with bats.” You don’t see that one every day.

Wednesday Night Music Club: Not sure if I ever posted this before. Probably my favorite Josh Ritter song.

Needs more Doc Seversin

I guess I should comment on the whole late night talk show situation as it is one of the few interesting things going on in the pop cultural landscape at the moment. I’ll start off by saying that I really don’t watch the talk shows and I certainly don’t watch them live. Being on the East Coast an 11:30 start time is just too damn late for me. That is really sad but it is just the case. The only show I tend to watch is The Daily Show and even that I watch the rerun of the next day.

Basically NBC screwed up things so royally that one would almost believe that they did it intentionally in a New Coke sort of way. There is really no other way to explain it. In a nutshell, around five years ago when Conan O’Brien was up for a contract renewal he had it written in that he would become the host of the Tonight Show in five years without really anyone informing Jay Leno of this. Surprisingly, Jay Leno spent the next five years upping his game and getting to the point where he was actually momentarily funny. When the date came NBC decided to not buy Conan out of his contract, force Leno off the show but give him his own prime time, five nights a week show. This may go down as one of the worst ideas in television history.

It really isn’t Leno’s fault. I’m not a fan but he was drawing big numbers in the Tonight Show slot and can do the formula in his sleep. The problem is there is no need for a prime time talk show. We have all been trained to have those shows on after the news. By having two on with the news sandwiched in between all you are doing is cannibalizing your own viewers. Your stealing guests and eyeballs and taking original programming on the air and replace it with monologue jokes that will essentially be repeated ninety minutes later. NBC thought that it would save money by doing this but all they were doing was setting up a ratings nightmare.

This brings us to where we are now. They are cancelling Leno’s prime time show and replacing it with about three dozen Law and Order franchises. With Leno under contract NBC was going to give him a 30 minute show before Conan and the Tonight Show. Conan rightfully called bullshit (and is right in claiming that it would ruin the Tonight Show brand) and decided to quit and take his ball elsewhere. Leno will end up back as host of the Tonight Show while Letterman is happy that no one is no longer paying attention to the fact that he slept with half his staff. Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon both have shows for reasons that are inexplicable. Craig Ferguson just happens to be really funny so he escapes unscathed.

I side with Conan on this. He is basically being screwed in the entire deal and did not have a chance to make the show his own. From the very beginning he had this huge Leno shadow hanging over him and now it was going to be made even worse. I hope he gets his chance on another network to have his show, his way.

5th Best Album of the Decade: Josh Ritter “The Animal Years” (2006): I first found out about Josh as he performed as the opening act for The Frames. I don’t know if I had even heard of him before then and if I did it was just as one of about three dozen musicians named Josh. But after one set I was sold that this guy was going to be huge. Everyone compares him to Dylan and Springsteen and for once I don’t consider that to be hyperbole. All you have to do is listen to his lyrics and you know why people make those statements.