ironphoenix | Recent reading

A few capsule book reviews...

Charles de Lint--Waifs and Strays: This collection of short stories (a couple of which are long enough to shade into novellas) is worth a look, gathering some of his urban and mythic fantasy stories from different periods. These stories haven't been collected in a de Lint book before, but at least a couple of them have appeared in The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror collections (Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, eds.). If you haven't read any of his work, it's a good introduction. My main objection to de Lint's work is that it doesn't cover as wide a range as I might want, so I read him in small doses. The reason I keep coming back to his stuff is the compassion he generally has for his characters, who are generally richly rendered, not one- or two-dimensional stereotypes.

Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson--Transmetropolitan (vols 1 and 2 = issues 1-12): This is a comic book series about a journalist on a social mission. The protagonist has a bit of antihero about him, but is clearly a Good Guy. Unsurprisingly for the medium, he gets away with and survives an improbable number of insane activities and situations along the way, but the overall effect is still pretty human. Overall, a witty, cutting, but not heartless social criticism with echoes of Aldous Huxley's Brave new World.

Dan Simmons--Hyperion (Hyperion, The Fall of Hyperion, Endymion and The Rise of Endymion): This series, a relatively recent sci-fi classic, is an absolutely great two- or three-book series in need of extraction from a very good four-book series. The characterizations are fair, and quite diverse, but not as rich as they might be. The plot and the vision of the future, however, are top-notch. This series is a magnum opus of the imagination, and many of the ideas raised bear a good deal of thinking about. The handling of time-affecting technology and its effect on narrative flow is particularly intriguing. My main beef is that it needs more editing to get to a leaner, better-paced end result. The storyline sometimes gets lost in lush descriptions and discourses, which sometimes drop the tension of the plot more than they should. Overall, though, not a series I'm sorry to have read!

Bill Willingham--Fables (vols 1 and 2): Another comic book series, this time about characters from fables who have escaped the conquest of their world and now reside in ours. The characterizations are, well, interesting. These are not sugar-and-spice sanitized fairy tale characters; they are generally at least as bad as real people, in the style of the old meaning of fairy tales. Not that everyone is evil, but rather that everything is shades of grey instead of black and white. A significant part of the fun is seeing the characters in the new context of the modern world. Entertaining, and the plots aren't bad, but lacking the depth of meaning found in Transmetropolitan.

Wizard Entertainment--Toyfare (a collection, not sure which volume): Well, if amusement without *reverb on* Deep Thoughts *reverb off* is what you want, this is a good place to start. This is a very silly comic book which features action figure montages of satirical superhero storylines. I suspect that someone more familiar with the source material would find it even funnier than I did, but I wasn't diappointed by the experience. Something to consume in limited doses, perhaps, because the flavor of the humor might otherwise get a bit monotonous, but very well-done. Kind of the National Lampoon of the comic book world.

Full CDs not singles please.

Specific CDs
Neuroticfish - Les Chansons Neurotiques

Groups I want to check out
Seabound
:wumpscut: aka Wumpscut
Icon of Coil
Rammstein (although I should talk to floatingsoftly about which CDs are good)
Sister Machine Gun (good luck finding this group)

That is it for now... There were a few others but that was all I could remember from wandering through Wikipedia.

If you ever find a song that incorporates the prayer from the Boondock Saints with industrial music save it!!! I think the group may be In Nomine... but I'm not sure.

The nice guys at the CD store will think I've flipped my lid, given the contrast with what I'm usually looking for!

How does the "prayer" go? (I've only seen the movie once, remember.)

http://groups.msn.com/TheBoondockSaintsfansite/prayersampspeeches.msnw

Yeah... this is a bit out of your range.

Were there CDs I have that you wanted to buy if they have copies there?

I don't know. I'll have to pillage your collection and find out.

Like you haven't already. Have you found that Morcheeba stuff yet?

No I haven't and Morcheeba... yeah.. I want a copy of that CD. It's great. What else do they have?

I have Big Calm and Charango, and I do keep an eye out for other things from them. I think what I played at your place was the latter album.

Charango is the one I like (mostly)... I'd like to hear Big Calm sometime.

Rammstein (although I should talk to floatingsoftly about which CDs are good)

ALL OF THEM. You may want to start with (2nd album) Sehnsucht or (4th album) Mutter, though. (1st album) Herzeleid is very raw, very violent. (3rd album) Live Aus Berlin is a very good live album, but I'd recommend the video over the CD (Rammstein has the single best stage show I've ever seen). (5th and 6th albums) Reise, Reise and Rosenrot are both very solid releases, too.

I think the group may be In Nomine... but I'm not sure.

They are not the group that did the Boondock Saints prayer song, but the song you are talking about is definitely styled after E Nomine's music. I would suggest their (1st or 2nd albums) Das Testament (The Testament [or The Bible]) and Die Finsternis (The Darkness).

Also, if you enjoy :wumpscut:, you might also check these bands out, too (if you haven't already):

KMFDM
Die Form
Einsturzende Neubaten
Das Ich
VNV Nation
Skinny Puppy

I am hindered by a distinct lack of avaliable CDs... not to mention that some of this stuff (such as Sister Machine Gun) is considered imports.

I am also hindered by a preference for legal music...

You could always have your friendly neighborhood Sean email you a few tracks of each so you can get a taste of what they're like, and then delete the tracks when you decide whether or not you'd want to listen to those bands...

Actually, I take that offer back. My computer is currently dying on me, and I'm not sure when I'll be able to get a new one...but perhaps you could put that plan into action with someone else. :)

Tease.

::blink::

You are the second woman in as many days to call me that!

Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence... but watch out for that third time!

I may take you up on that offer in the future. Thanks.

I'll let you know if/when I score a new computer, and whether or not I was able to salvage my collection.

Should I get you stuff from his list on spec? (I'm guessing not.)

Also, do you have a total cost cap?

Not yet... and let me talk to Draco about cost. It might end up being a "per trip" cap rather than an over all cap. We'll talk.

Oh... and I'm also enjoying the Massive Attack CD I bought so I should check out the other ones you have.

I have Protection and Mad Professor's remix of it, No Protection. I like some other Massive Attack tracks, but I don't like most of the other albums as a whole.

I've got Collected... which is a best of I think. I am very fond of the songs Safe from Harm and Inertia Creeps.

We HAVE to do a music night sometime in July.

:looks up tracklist:

Interesting... one of my favorite songs, "Three," isn't on there. Colette has a really neat voice and sings it beautifully.

This CD is growing on me the more I listen to it.

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