Uncategorized

Here’s my February music playlist:

I read 6 books in February:

• Good-Bye to All That by Robert Graves
• Everything Is Tuberculosis by John Green
• You Better Be Lightning by Andrea Gibson
• What Feasts at Night by T. Kingfisher
• Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany
• Absolute Batman Vol 2: Abomination by Scott Snyder et al.

I read 32 short stories in January. These were my favorites:

• “A Brief Public Announcement” by Eli Brown (Lightspeed)
• “Jennifer’s Daughter” by Sara S. Messenger (Nightmare)
• “The Aquarium for Lost Souls” by Natasha King (Strange Horizons)
• “Medusa’s Ship, or The Thing About Bodies” by Natalia Theodoridou (Beneath Ceaseless Skies)
• “The Matriarchs” by Malena Salazar Maciá (Fantasy)
• “Your Hold Is Ready” by Laura Duerr (Cast of Wonders)
• “Doppel Doppel Gang Gang” by Phoenix Alexander (Baffling Magazine)
• “Death Echoes Overlapping” by Megan Chee (Lightspeed)
• “Doctors HATE Her!! Local Woman Is NOT Cursed” by Bree Wernicke (Bourbon Penn)
• “The Spew” by Jeffrey Ford (Reactor)
• “The Things We Bury in Each Other” by Timothy Ngome (FIYAH)

Well, last week’s entry was only what I’d call a very modest success. Here are all ten songs, those guessed and un-guessed:

Let’s try this again. The rules are simple: below are 10 random lyrics. Guess the song and artist in the comments if you know them. Don’t cheat by looking them up.

1. “Well, I don’t want no Abba Zabba, don’t want no Almond Joy”
   “Chocolate Jesus” by Tom Waits, guessed by Glen
2. “You gotta be like Bush and take preemptive strikes”
   “Dreamer” by K’naan
3. “He laughed at accidental sirens that broke the evening gloom”
   “Panic in Detroit” by David Bowie
4. “Hail to your vast hegemony”
   “My Beautiful Enemy” by Dar Williams
5. “If the sky was synthesized you’d probably know”
   “Brian Eno” by MGMT
6. “Whistle past the graveyard, even the dead deserve a song”
   “Back to You” by Twin Forks
7. “Our love got fractured in the echo and sway”
   “(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes” by Elvis Costello, guessed by Glen
8. “I notice what matters”
   “Got Nuffin” by Spoon
9. “There’ll be no strings to bind your hands”
   “Angel of the Morning” by the Pretenders, guessed by Bill
10. “This baby’s bored and here’s your warning sign”
    “Summer of ’93” by the Good Graces

Good luck!

I watched just four movies last week:

• Contemporary reviews of The Outfit largely seem to agree that the movie doesn’t do anything especially new, but they seem divided on whether or not that’s a bad thing. Roger Ebert, for one, acknowledged “the same things are always happening in action movies,” but he argued that “the people in this movie are uncommonly interesting.” I think there are good performances here, particularly from Duvall, and some nicely observed detail. I’m just not entirely convinced it’s enough to elevate what’s otherwise a very pedestrian story, much less uncommonly so.
• Blue Moon is a lot, but largely because you get the sense that Lorenz Hart himself was a lot. Ethan Hawke plays him, in a terrific performance, as a man almost terrified of ever shutting up, of not having some opinion on which to hold court, of being left behind and devoured by his own worst impulses and fears. It’s a moment in time of a sad life cut short by the man’s own excesses, observed with great humor and kindness.
• Mr. Vampire II has its ramshackle charms, but holy hell did I like it a lot less than the first movie in the series. Not really a sequel, despite several actors reappearing as different characters in the modern day, it’s more properly three very loosely connected movies. Two of them are basically well-staged but very repetitive and over-extended fight scenes, while the other is a kid-friendly but underbaked E.T. knockoff, of the sort the 1980s were lousy with. Like the first film, this leans heavily into the silly humor—it’s just never nearly as funny.
• Eternity is sweet and funny but a little unfocused. Its vision of a bureaucratic afterlife is quirky but not exactly novel, and the movie might have been more successful if it had focused just one character’s journey. Still, it sets up an interesting conflict, and has both very endearing performances and its heart in the right place.

I also rewatched a couple of movies. First was David Cronenberg’s Shivers, which I would probably classify as creepily interesting more than good, similar to a lot of very early Cronenberg. Second was The Tomb of Ligeia, which was an enjoyable rewatch, but which felt slow and more than a little padded, a mishmash of Poe tropes more than a satisfying story of its own.

It’s been the better part of a decade since I’ve posted one of these, but let’s see if this gets any response. The rules are simple:

Below are 10 random lyrics. Guess the song and artist in the comments if you know them. Don’t cheat by looking them up.

1. Heavenly wine and roses seem to whisper to me when you smile
   “Sweet Jane” by Cowboy Junkies (guessed by Chris McLaren)
2. I’m not a present for your friends to open
   “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” by Elton John (guessed by Glen)
3. Then I’ll try my best to make everything succeed
   “What Is Life” by George Harrison
4. I said, “Okay, but let’s discuss this at the hospital”
   “Free” by Florence + the Machine (guessed by Jordan)
5. I’m the last chick standing up against the wall
   “That’s Not My Name” by the Ting Tings
6. I love the light, I love the changing season
   “The Man You Are in Me” by Janis Ian
7. And the driver says, “You don’t know where this bus is going to?”
   “Stay on the Ride” by Patty Griffin
8. And all we could do is sing, drink and dance
   “222” by Those Darlins
9. Oh, I can’t take another heartache
   “Cruel to Be Kind” by Nick Lowe
10. You tear men down like Roger Moore
    “You Know I’m No Good” by Amy Winehouse

Whatever happens, I’ll post the answers and the playlist next week. Good luck!