List #21 (Part 2): If I Had the Sort of Job Where I Could Spend Time Doing Things on the Internet, Here Are Some of the Things I Would Spend Time Doing

See Part 1 here!

Watching Smart, Funny, Incisive Web Videos

David Mitchell's Soapbox (http://www.youtube.com/user/davidmitchellsoapbox?feature=watch): It's always comforting to know there's someone a little grumpier and more ranty than you.

Ill Doctrine (http://www.illdoctrine.com/): I've already gushed over Jay Smooth a couple of times before. (See List #10 and List #19.) He's still great.

Side by Side by Susan Blackwell (http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLE42B5E0DACC3305C): The delightful Susan Blackwell interviews various Broadway stars. Sometimes she licks them. Once, she had Daniel Radcliffe clean a toilet.


Reading Web Comics

Bad Machinery (http://scarygoround.com/): Those British youths keep solving crimes. Go, youths, go! (See Rec. #138.)

Gunnerkrigg Court (http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archives): My advice is to start from the beginning and read it like a book. You could also actually buy it in book form. We're up to three full volumes and 40 chapters now.

Hark! A Vagrant (http://harkavagrant.com/): Everyone loves Kate Beaton! (Like me. I do. For evidence, see Rec. #95, List #2, List #3, List #8, Rec. #186, Gift Idea #2, and List #14.)

Hyperbole and a Half (http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/): Allie Brosh is very talented. Don't just take other people's word for it, though (Rec. #7), go see for yourself, if you haven't already. If you have already, go see again.

Friday Flashback: Rec. #178: The Half

I decided to start doing Friday Flashbacks in case you missed some earlier posts the first time around. You're busy; I understand. 

What: The Half collects more than 300 photographs of actors backstage in British theaters over the past few decades. Photographer Simon Annand has captured the actors during the sacrosanct thirty minutes before curtain-up known as "the half." Here you'll find fascinating and revealing shots of dreamboats (Laurence Fox, Ioan Gruffudd, David Tennant), look-at-them-thens (Colin Firth in 1985!), stage goddesses (Judi Dench, Helen Mirren, Maggie Smith), and thespian lions (Jeremy Irons, Ben Kingsley, Ian McKellen) . . . I could go on.

Representative quote (caption): "Dan Stevens, Hay Fever by Noel Coward, Theatre Royal Haymarket, 2006. Leaping downstairs towards the stage, past Judi Dench's dressing room."

You might not like it if: You're looking at the book in my general vicinity and you get annoyed as I keep gasping about the presence of several of my personal favorites: Sinead Cusack, Anne Marie Duff, Jennifer Ehle, Stephen Fry, Romola Garai, Michelle Gomez, Richard E. Grant, Tamsin Greig, Damian Lewis, Joanna Lumley, Jonny Lee Miller, Maxine Peake, Rufus Sewell, Toby Stephens, David Suchet, Catherine Tate, Ruth Wilson . . . I could go on.

How to get it: Well, I just got it at the bookshop of the National Theatre in London. Not sure what you're going to do.




[Originally posted 9/14/11.]

First Sign of Murder #4: Death in Kenya

"She dropped the roses, and with a choking sob of relief began to run, tripping and stumbling over the rough grass in the uncertain light. She was within a yard of that dimly seen figure when something checked her. A sound . . .

There was something wrong. Something crazily and impossibly wrong. She stopped suddenly, staring. Her eyes widened in her white face and her mouth opened in a soundless scream. For it was someone else. Someone suddenly and horribly familiar."

--- Death in Kenya (aka Later Than You Think), M.M. Kaye, 1958

Connections to previous Wreckage: Death in Zanzibar (Rec. #183), Death in Berlin (Rec. #244)

List #21 (Part 1): If I Had the Sort of Job Where I Could Spend Time Doing Things on the Internet, Here Are Some of the Things I Would Spend Time Doing

Looking at Pictures/Images/Charts

The Big Picture (http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/): Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, three picture editors at The Boston Globe add a new set of stunning photos to their blog.

Design Sponge's "Living In" series (http://www.designsponge.com/category/living-in): All the accoutrements of favorite pieces of pop culture, lovingly laid out in purchase-ready form for your acquisitive side.

Exactitudes (http://www.exactitudes.com/): See how people align themselves with different social groups through their clothes, and marvel at the stark beauty of individual conformity.

Information Is Beautiful Awards (http://www.informationisbeautifulawards.com/): These global awards are for "excellence in data visualization and information design." You know what that means --- lots of lovely, lovely charts. Mmmm.

1000 Frames of Hitchcock (http://www.hitchcockwiki.com/wiki/1000_Frames_of_Hitchcock): I'm quite a Hitchcock fan. I don't know whether I've mentioned that before.

Sociological Images (http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/): More charts! These sociological finds are sometimes startling, occasionally hilarious, not infrequently depressing, and always fascinating.



Indulging in Pop Culture Shenanigans . . .

. . . like methodically going through every single one of Price Peterson's photo recaps for shows I've never watched . .

. . . and trying to start a dialogue with Richard Lawson via Twitter. Among other things, I should apologize for straight-up stealing his "you do you, [insert name here]" phrasing and using it to such an unnecessary extent.



Commenting on My Friends' Blogs

Day Zero Countdown (http://dayzerocountdown.wordpress.com/): I would say things like, "Flash mob!" and "Flippah!"

Let's Eat Grandpa (http://letseatgrandpa.com/): I would say things like, "Maybe instead of doing that intensive physical trial you should just sleep in? Sleep is nice."

Metropotamia (http://metropotamia.org/): OK, commenting on Tumblr is weird. But I really liked that Stanley Tucci call-out and the PSA about a turtle.



Continue with Part 2 here!

Friday Flashback: Rec. #182: Party Down

I decided to start doing Friday Flashbacks in case you missed some earlier posts the first time around. You're busy; I understand.

What: Another TV series from Rob Thomas (Veronica Mars), two seasons, Los Angeles, struggling actors, cater waiters, crisp white shirts, Adam Scott, alcohol, pink bow ties, Ken Marino, Soup 'R Crackers, helpful gay pirate, Lizzy Caplan, texting, spitting, crushes, Jane Lynch, singles seminar for seniors, prescription drugs, Martin Starr, Baja condos, prop gun, illegal drugs, Jennifer Coolidge, high school reunion, corporate retreat, Ryan Hansen, sun eggs, Uda Bengt, backstage party, Megan Mullally, funeral, company picnic, NFL draft party, wedding, the Gute, other guest stars galore

Representative quote: "It's not lying, it's... acting. Look, I was an actor; it's easy. You just use the true bits and you fake the fake bits. Most actors aren't bright, so it has to be simple."

Bonus representative quote:
"Hey Roman, Google me in ten years, that's going to be me."
"The only way I'm Googling you in ten years is if you get very creative in the way that you kill yourself."

Also: Veronica Mars (Rec. #168), and don't forget to visit Adam Scott on Parks and Recreation (Rec. #119)

And: Seriously, folks, it's time to get on this boat if you haven't already. We've already delved headfirst into the nostalgia phase of Party Down's life cycle.

[Originally posted 9/20/11.]

Rec. #264: Selected Poetry of Edna St. Vincent Millay

What: Another installation of my continuing erratic series "Maybe try reading some poetry?" This time, it's Edna St. Vincent Millay, who combined the sonnet-craft of Milton with the dry sighs of Dorothy Parker and the home life of Tilda Swinton.

Here are some first lines to get you started:

"The room is full of you!" --- "Interim"

"My candle burns at both ends;/ It will not last the night;/ But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends—/ It gives a lovely light." --- "First Fig"

"To what purpose, April, do you return again?/ Beauty is not enough." --- "Spring"

"We talk of taxes, and I call you friend" --- "Sonnet 1"

Connections to previous Wreckage: More poetry! Monologue of a Dog (Rec. #19), The Best of It (Rec. #50), and Ripple Effect (Rec. #118). Also, you can see some of the aforementioned dry sighs of Dorothy Parker in What Fresh Hell Is This? (Rec. #237).

First Sign of Murder #3: The Estate of the Beckoning Lady

I think quotes from a book's key moments often give you a better idea about whether you'll like the book than any summary could. For First Sign of Murder (title subject to change), I'll be sharing --- you guessed it --- the lines from mystery novels that first alert readers to the fact that a murder has occurred.

"Presently he said: 'There's a man asleep down there.' Watching her slyly out of the corner of his eye, he saw that she was suitably startled.

'Really?' she said at last. 'How do you know?'

'Because I saw him when I looked under the bridge. I couldn't get near because Choc kept pushing me out. He is an enormous dog; soft, but enormous.'

'Yes,' she agreed absently. Her light-brown eyes were worried, and she stared down at the two men who were now both in the ditch by the bridge, peering at something.

Rupert continued to contemplate the infinity of the sky. The blue had turned into a million colors, he noticed, like hundreds and thousands." 

--- The Estate of the Beckoning Lady, Margery Allingham, 1955

Connections to previous Wreckage: Sweet Danger (Rec. #133), Black Plumes (Rec. #156)

Friday Flashback: Rec. #187: Here Lies Love

I decided to start doing Friday Flashbacks in case you missed some earlier posts the first time around. You're busy; I understand.

What: David Byrne and Fatboy Slim join forces to make a concept album about Imelda Marcos. Because why not.

Comparable to: A list of the contributing artists should give you a good idea — Tori Amos, Theresa Andersson, Nicole Atkins, David Byrne, Camille, Charmaine Clamor, Steve Earle, Fatboy Slim, Cyndi Lauper, Nellie McKay, Allison Moorer, Sharon Jones, Natalie Merchant, Róisín Murphy, Candie Payne, Kate Pierson, Alice Russell, St. Vincent, Santigold, Sia, Martha Wainwright, Florence Welch, Shara Worden

Representative lyric: "And if I bang my head on the wall for hours/ Then I won’t feel the confusion no more/ The New York doctor—bright yellow pills he gave me/ Remind yourself what you’re doing it for—"

You might not like it if: You choose to hold your breath until they mention shoes, which would cause you to pass out from lack of oxygen.



[Originally posted 9/29/11.]


Update: A full Here Lies Love musical is set to premiere at The Public Theater in New York in 2013.

First Sign of Murder #2: The Bernini Bust

This is a new (weekly?) feature I'm trying out.

I think quotes from a book's key moments often give you a better idea about whether you'll like the book than any summary could. For First Sign of Murder (title subject to change), I'll be sharing --- you guessed it --- the lines from mystery novels that first alert readers to the fact that a murder has occurred.

"Seconds later, he was climbing the stairs in the direction of a faint hubbub of noise. 

It came from Samuel Thanet's office, a carefully designed piece of upmarket administrative chic; whatever the museum architect's limitations on exterior appearance, he had worked overtime on getting the office space right. A slightly anonymous room to Argyll's mind, he preferring a more cosy and cluttered look, but expensively tasteful, nonetheless. White-washed walls; off-white sofa; beige-white woollen carpet; tubular modern armchairs covered in white leather; black wooden desk. The whorls and lines of two harshly illuminated modern paintings from the museum provided the only color to the whole room.

Apart from the blood, of course, of which there was an appallingly large amount. But that was obviously a very recent addition rather than part of the decorator's overall design concept."

--- The Bernini Bust, Iain Pears, 1992

Rec. #263: Soap

What: Things that are called "ground-breaking" are usually not very fun. Sad, but often true. But not here! Nope, not here. Here, it is 95% rollicking along, and 5% thinking, "Hmmm, this TV show seems like it was ahead of its time."

Soap is a late-1970s satire of daytime soap operas. The breakneck plotting means that within the first couple of seasons alone, you get alien abductions, demonic possessions, copious adultery, murders, kidnappings, prison breaks, amnesia, mob connections, insanity, Latin American revolutionaries, and a repressed ventriloquist.

Comparable to: Writer/creator Susan Harris also executive produced Benson and The Golden Girls. And there's a clear absurdist trajectory that starts at Soap and ends at Arrested Development.

Opening lines: "This is the story of two sisters, Jessica Tate and Mary Campbell. These are the Tates . . . and these are the Campbells. And this is Soap."

Representative quote:
"Our brother who fathered an illegitimate child with a Swedish maid and then disappeared into the wilds of Ecuador. Don't you find that a little peculiar?"
"Jessie, Randolph was peculiar. Any man who would go to Ecuador to sell wall-to-wall carpet is not all there."

You might not like it if: You're all, "What is Mona from Who's the Boss doing here? And a baby Billy Crystal? And . . . is that Robert Urich?" and these questions fill your brain until your head explodes.

How to get it: Be aware that it can be pretty difficult to do a general word search for this show. Be as specific as possible.

Plus: Take a peek at the infamous "Soap Memo."

Friday Flashback: Rec. #181: Told by an Idiot

I decided to start doing Friday Flashbacks in case you missed some earlier posts the first time around. You're busy; I understand.

What: In the satirical novel Told by an Idiot, author Rose Macaulay follows one family around the corner of the turn of the last century, from the last decades of the Victorian period to the end of World War I. Much like its primary heroine, Rome Garden, the book is jaded, amused, critical, perceptive, witty, and urbane.

Comparable to: It's like Virginia Woolf's Orlando in its cynical sweep, or like an Elizabeth von Arnim novel in its pointed and wry character descriptions.

Representative quote: "Stanley was like that --- enthusiastic, headlong, a deep plunger, a whole-hogger."

Bonus representative quote: "No teasing worried Una; she was as placid as a young cow."

[Note: Quotes were chosen at random. Roughly 80% of the novel is very, very quotable.]

You might not like it if: You're completely thrown off by the fact that the extreme specificity of the period detail is threaded with an absolute certainty that human nature is basically what it always has been (religious crises, fashionable radicalism, sex novels, and all).

How to get it: It's out of print, so check your library and used book sellers.

Connection to previous Wreckage: Macaulay presents a less sweeping, more personal societal satire in Crewe Train (Rec. #84).



[Originally posted 9/18/11.]

Rec. #262: Fosse

What: Lots of subcultures rely heavily on black clothing and might inspire you to do the same --- goths, emos, New Yorkers, . . . and Bob Fosse devotees. After this two-hour revue of the late choreographer's cooler-than-thou work, you'll be itching to swathe yourself in black from head to toe, complete with bowler.

Think you don't know Fosse? Sweet Charity, Pippin, Chicago, All That Jazz, Cabaret. That's Fosse.

Opening lyrics: "Life is just a bowl of cherries."

Some highlights: "Big Spender," "Steam Heat," "I Gotcha," "Rich Man's Frug," "Mein Herr"

How to get it: Fosse won the Tony for Best Musical in 1999. PBS aired a performance of the show as part of its Great Performances series in 2002, and that production is now available on DVD. Rent it or borrow it.

First Sign of Murder #1: Death of a Peer

This is a new (weekly?) feature I'm trying out. 

I think quotes from a book's key moments often give you a better idea about whether you'll like the book than any summary could. For First Sign of Murder (title subject to change), I'll be sharing --- you guessed it --- the lines from mystery novels that first alert readers to the fact that a murder has occurred.

"She lit her cigarette and leant over the window sill. She became aware of a new sound. It came up through her conscious thoughts, gaining definition and edge. It was a thin blade of sound, sharp and insistent. It grew louder. It was inside the building, an intermittent, horridly shrill noise that came closer. A hand closed round Roberta's heart. Someone was screaming."

--- Death of a Peer, Ngaio Marsh, 1940

Connections to previous Wreckage: Death and the Dancing Footman (Rec. #37), Night at the Vulcan (Rec. #102), Colour Scheme (Rec. #190)

Rec. #261: If on a Winter's Night a Traveler

What: Italo Calvino's novel If on a Winter's Night a Traveler is about someone ("you") trying to read a book called If on a Winter's Night a Traveler, by Italo Calvino. (With me so far?) The reading is interrupted by, among other things, missing pages, a foundering publishing house, literary guerrillas, and an international conspiracy.

Comparable to: It won't surprise you to learn that David Mitchell, the author of Cloud Atlas, was an instant fan the first time he read it. See also other twisty-structure-meta works of classic literature, such as One Thousand and One Nights, Pale Fire, and Tristram Shandy.

Opening lines: "You are about to begin reading Italo Calvino's If on a winter's night a traveler. Relax. Concentrate. Dispel every other thought. Let the world around you fade. Best to close the door; the TV is always on in the next room. Tell the others right away, 'No, I don't want to watch TV!' Raise your voice --- they won't hear you otherwise --- 'I'm reading! I don't want to be disturbed!'"

Representative quote: "Because in this way all I did was to accumulate past after past behind me, multiplying the pasts, and if one life was too dense and rarefied and embroiled for me to bear it always with me, imagine so many lives, each with its own past and the pasts of the other lives that continue to become entangled one with the others."

You might not like it if: It seems too much like compulsory reading for an undergraduate course in postmodern fiction. (Which, let's face it, is exactly what it is.)

How to get it: Buy or borrow it in print. Not Kindle-able (yet) --- although that would have the potential for an interesting experience.

Connections to previous Wreckage: David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas was Rec. #140. To see how this sort of thing can sometimes be made into a movie, watch Tristram Shandy (Rec. #112).

Friday Flashback: Rec. #173: The Unusuals, season 1 and only

I decided to start doing Friday Flashbacks in case you missed some earlier posts the first time around. You're busy; I understand.

What: ABC must be kicking itself that it canceled The Unusuals right before Jeremy Renner hit it big. The series also features an all-grown-up Amber Tamblyn, a post-Lost Harold Perrineau, and a very Adam Goldberg-like Adam Goldberg. Set in New York City's Second precinct, the darkly witty series follows some oddball cops and their oddball cases.

Comparable to: You should know I like oddballs. I also like the word "oddball." I think I use it a lot. You could probably find similar movies/television shows by searching for the word "oddball" on this here blog.

Representative quote: "Here's what you need to know about the Second: Alvarez talks about himself in the third person, Banks sleeps in a bulletproof vest, and yesterday Delahoy named his mustache."

You might not like it if: The show was canceled without tying up loose ends, and that might be kind of annoying for you.

How to get it: The ten episodes are available to watch instantly on Amazon and Netflix. [Not currently available for Netflix instant viewing, but free streaming if you have Amazon Prime.]

[Originally posted 8/21/11.]

Rec. #260: The Uncommon Reader

What: Alan Bennett devises a clever premise --- the Queen of England discovers the joys of reading via a library bookmobile parked at the palace kitchens --- and he executes the premise delightfully.

Comparable to: Bennett's first novella, The Clothes They Stood Up In, is a similarly stripped-down modern fable.

Opening lines: "At Windsor it was the evening of the state banquet and as the president of France took his place beside Her Majesty, the royal family formed up behind and the procession slowly moved off and through into Waterloo Chamber."

Representative quote: "Once I start a book I finish it. That was the way one was brought up. Books, bread and butter, mashed potato --- one finishes what's on one's plate."

You might not like it if: Given how quick a read this novella is, you'll be done with it before you could decide you didn't like it (which is unlikely, anyway).

How to get it: Buyable, borrowable, Kindle-able

Connections to previous Wreckage: Find more Alan Bennett in The History Boys (Rec. #115) and The Clothes They Stood Up In (Rec. #169).

Rec. #259: Tropical Brainstorm

What: Over her twenty-year career, singer-songwriter Kirsty MacColl worked with The Pogues, Billy Bragg, Robert Plant, and The Smiths. She did nouveau-'60s-girl-group-pop ("They Don't Know"), snarky holiday non-cheer ("Fairytale of New York"), and bitter British wistfulness ("A New England").

In Tropical Brainstorm, which landed on several "Best of 2001" lists, MacColl rides some powerful Cuban and Brazilian influences as she sings about escape, strategic footwear, stalking a one-time fan, internet bonking, and football as metaphor.

Representative lyrics: "He'll learn to hunt and I'll teach him to fish/ We'll boil up our rice in a satellite dish/ We'll plant cassava wherever we can/ Us Amazonians always get our man" (from "Us Amazonians")

Bonus representative lyrics: "If you hadn't passed out while I was talking to your friend/ It could have really ended badly 'cause you very nearly had me/ If he hadn't taken pity on my heart full of desire/ I might never have found out you're a serial liar" (from "England 2, Colombia 0")

How to get it: I'm going to suggest you buy the whole album, of course, but if you'd just like a taste first, most of these songs are 99-cent downloads on iTunes. 

Connection to previous Wreckage: The song "In These Shoes?" tends to pop up all over. As just one example, it's used in the opening credits of The Catherine Tate Show (Rec. #81).

Friday Flashback: Rec. #167 (abbrev.): Uncertain Voyage

I decided to start doing Friday Flashbacks in case you missed some earlier posts the first time around. You're busy; I understand. 

What: Dorothy Gilman, suspense novel, solo voyage to Europe, post-nervous breakdown, reluctant enlisted adventurer, Copenhagen, mysterious traveler, mysterious request, Paris, secret mission, secret code, enemy agents, self-discovery, Anglo-Majorcan Export Company

Representative quote: "She'd made a fool of herself --- she knew it even if he didn't --- and it was better to put it out of her thoughts lest she conclude again that reality was a world she dared not inhabit."



[Originally posted 8/2/11.]

List #20: (Some of) The Best of Edward Everett Horton

Edward Everett Horton spent most of the 1930s and '40s playing second fiddle in some of the best screwball comedies ever made.

He appeared in eleven films in 1934 alone, but here is a small sampling of his work:

1. Arsenic and Old Lace (1944): Horton is the head of an insane asylum, which is quite full up with Teddy Roosevelts at the moment, thank you very much.

2. The Gay Divorcee (1934), Top Hat (1935), and Shall We Dance (1937): Horton is a non-dancing element of these classic Fred & Ginger romps.

3. Design for Living (1933): Horton is thwarted in love by both Gary Cooper and Frederic March.

4. Holiday (both 1930 and the --- superior --- remake in 1938): In both versions, Horton plays Professor Nick Potter, longstanding friend of the leading man. In the second version, Cary Grant is that leading man.

5. Trouble in Paradise (1932): Like Design for Living, above, this was a Pre-Code film. Translation: sex is a realistic option for these characters.

Connections to previous Wreckage: Additional screwball from the '30s and '40s: The Palm Beach Story (Rec. #17), Midnight (Rec. #194), The Awful Truth (Rec. #219), and Libeled Lady (Rec. #229).

Fun Fact: It might also interest you to know the Horton was the narrator of the Fractured Fairy Tales segment on The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show.

Rec. #258: The Griffin & Sabine Trilogy

What: Nick Bantock's artsy trilogy is comprised of Griffin and Sabine, Sabine's Notebook, and The Golden Mean. They are epistolary novels, which is fun in and of itself. The best bit, though, is that the books have pockets and envelopes and handwriting and stamps and secrets and beautiful drawings. The tactile appeal of paper has never been so alluring.

Opening lines: "Griffin Moss --- It's good to get in touch with you at last. Could I have one of your fish postcards? I think you were right --- the wine glass has more impact than the cup."

Representative quote: "Sabine: It's all very well for you to take this telepathic link between us matter-of-factly. You've had years to adjust to it. And no doubt your society teaches patience and acceptance. Mine teaches obsessive logical enquiry."

You might not like it if: One customer on Amazon didn't like the first book because it was "too weird" and seemed to be about possession.

How to get it: The whole point is to have the letters and postcards in your hands (so no Kindle), and borrowing these particular books from the library seems like a potentially risky proposition. Luckily, each book is currently in print.