Arrested Development

The Arrested Development count is currently at 1. Keep that in mind, you'll be hearing a lot more about this one from various recommenders. Today is not a very blog friendly day for me, so I apologize to all of those looking for a wordy and typically unfocused post.

I haven't seen all of Arrested Development. I have watched some really great episodes that I would put right up there with some of the best television, but I still need to see the whole series. It's on the list of things to do. So for this one I relied on my family Arrested Development expert, brother Eric, to suggest one of his favorite clips from the show for your viewing pleasure. Curve ball, it's on Hulu not Youtube!

Slaughterhouse-Five--Kurt Vonnegut

Of all of Vonnegut's novels I would have to guess that Slaughterhouse-Five is his most well-known and frequently-read. And with good reason, because it is a fantastic book and one of my all time favorites. Really cool high schools have it in their curriculum for required reading and really lame high schools have banned it. And so it goes...

I am not much of a literary critic, or a literary critic at all come to think of it, so a review of the book would be better read elsewhere. A plot summery, too. All of that stuff is over at wikipedia, but if you are interested enough to read about the plot you should just read the whole book. It is quick and super amazing. I think a lot of people go through a Vonnegut stage when they first discover his writing. I did, and read 6 or 7 of his books in a row because I loved his writing style. Prior to reading his books it was uncommon for me to laugh aloud (lol!) when reading a book. So below I have decided to rank my favorite Vonnegut books in the simple fashion of one being my favorite, and taking it from there:

1) Bluebeard (1987)--slightly lesser known, but so great. Among my top five favorite books ever. Stay tuned next week for brother Eric to recommend this one as well.
2) Slaughterhouse-Five (1969)--straight from the mouth of Cory Palmer, you should read this.
3) Cat's Cradle (1963)--first one I read. On the sci-fi side of things, but got me interested to read more.
4) Hocus Pocus (1990)
5) Deadeye Dick (1982)
6) Breakfast of Champions (1973)--this one came highly recommended from a bunch of people, so my hopes were high. Compared to his other works I wasn't that impressed. I think I should see the movie.

All of these books are worth reading, but Bluebeard and Slaughterhouse-Five are really must read books if you like funny and great things. Sidenote--I have never read it so I can't comment, but our first recommender TJ Huff had Welcome to the Monkeyhouse (short stories) on his list, so that is also probably worth a damn.

Special treat! In Vonnegut's own book Psalm Sunday (1981) the author ranks his works up to that point in time. I have put them in order from highest to lowest ranking. A recommends straight from the author:

Cat's Cradle--A plus
Slaughterhouse-Five--A plus
The Sirens of Titan--A
Mother Night--A
God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater--A
Jailbird--A
Player Piano--B
Welcome to the Monkeyhouse--B minus
Breakfast of Champions--C
Psalm Sunday--C
Slapstick--D

And a quote (of apology) from within Slaughterhouse-Five to Vonnegut's publisher Sam Lawrence:

And I say to Sam now: 'Sam-here's the book.' It's so short and jumbled and jangled, Sam, because there is nothing intelligent to say about a massacre. Everybody is supposed to be dead, to never say anything or want anything ever again. Everything is supposed to be very quiet after a massacre, and it always is, except for the birds. And what do the birds say? All there is to say about a massacre, things like 'Poo-tee-weet?

The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place--Explosions In the Sky

If you are into instrumental rock bands like Mogwai and Godspeed You! Black Emperor you don't need to read the rest of this, you just need to go get ahold of some Explosions In the Sky albums. I like a lot of bands in the instrumental rock vein (often called "post-rock," which I've always thought a stupid name for a genre of music) but Explosions In the Sky is actually my favorite. Prevas turned me on to Explosions a bunch of years ago after he saw them play at some rug store somewhere near Baltimore. He told me to buy an album and I bought "Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Live Forever" (2001) which is an excellent introduction, but warned me that the live show is the best way to experience the band. A few years went by and I continued to listen to the album (and love it) intermittently and then Explosions came to a crappy bar in Michigan when I was there for grad school. I got Cory to go with me, and Prevas was right. This band is amazing live. Don't get me wrong, you should definitely get their albums and I consider the one that Cory recommends to be their best, but if you ever get a chance to see them live you need to do it. It was enough to get this band on an all-time recommends list for CP.

You may have heard Explosions without knowing it. The instrumental element of the band really lends itself to accompany film, and their music by itself is often described as cinematic. They wrote and performed the score for the movie Friday Night Lights with Billy Bob Thorton, and "The Only Moment We Were Alone" from "The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place" is playing in a trailor for the new film "Australia." You can see a pretty comprehensive list of their music being used in film and television in their wikipedia entry. Their songs tend to be long, usually around the 10 minute mark, and often use minimalist composition techniques to allow the music to move and grow slowly. It is great music for a late night drive in the middle of nowhere. Below are two clips, the first being a live performance of "First Breath After Coma" from the album this entry is recommending, and the second the aforementioned trailer for Australia which features the music of Explosions In the Sky (up until the planes start dropping bombs, then it isn't them anymore).

The Office (Original British Version)

And we're up and running again after a very extended holiday weekend. We're getting right down to business (I'm trying to embrace brevity) with a few more Cory Palmer picks before we proceed to our first flesh-and-blood recommends.

Everyone has probably seen one of the versions of the Office. The American version is all over television here in, well, America. It is a never-miss for me on Thursday nights (actually I usually miss it, but I always catch it after the fact before next weeks episode...it is free on NBC.com. That counts). I feel like less people have seen it's British predecessor (with brevity comes slightly bigger words as well). I saw the entire British series, which is two full seasons, before I had ever really heard of the American Office. The first season of the American Office is basically a remake of the first season of the British Office, and then they went their own way with it. All of the characters are in both versions, but with different names and drastically different personalities. This wikipedia entry has some additional info including the character equalities, the biggest being the boss David Brent played by Ricky Gervais in the British Office, and Michael Scott played by Steve Carell in the American Office. Also, the humor in the British version is a little more, well, British.

When I heard about the American Office I immediately said that it could ever equal the quality of it's British counterpart without even seeing an episode, because I loved the British version so much. It is a fairly regular argument among some friends about which is the superior version, but it's really apple and oranges. Basically, if you currently enjoy the American Office and haven't seen the British version you probably should because it is equally as funny. Same goes the other way around. Like I said, I love both and don't think I could choose between the two. Cory favors the British version, so here are two of my favorite clips from the series.

Bjork--Vespertine vs. Medulla

Vespertine (2001) and Medulla (2004) are two successive releases from Iclandic singer Bjork. Now, upon receiving vicious criticism from loyal readers I am trying to shorten the length of these posts (I tend to ramble on?), and this is my first attempt. Let's get down to business.

I hated Bjork before I heard Vespertine. I thought she was a weirdo and I could never understand her music (after hearing parts of albums Post and Homogenic). Hearing Vespertine changed all of it for me. The soundscapes she creates on the album are amazing...sampling everyday things like door slams, popcorn sounds, ice cracking, someone walking on snow, and cards shuffling to create really interesting beats. The overall sound of Vespertine is heavily sampled giving it an electronic feel, but it is more organic because of the constant use of everyday sounds.

Medulla on the other hand is almost completely a vocal album. Sampling (of vocals) is still a major part of the project, but almost every sound on the album originates from the human voice (with very few exceptions). She enlists the help of heavyweight voice noisemakers Mike Patton (of Faith No More, Mr. Bungle, Fantomas) and Rahzel (the Roots, and possibly the greatest beatboxer of all time) on a couple of tracks.

For me Vespertine is the masterpiece of Bjork's career. It is a complete musical statement and the album itself has a sound. Every song on it has it's own vibe, but they all contribute to the complete album sound. It is also forward thinking and innovative while still remaining true to the album concept. Medulla on the other hand is very much an experimental album. It is amazing that Bjork was able to put together such an interesting album with only the use of vocals, but for me it always sounds a little like something is missing. I still LOVE the album, but it doesn't quite work overall to me as well as Vespertine does. For the record I prefer Vespertine but Cory noted in his post that he prefers Medulla. You be the judge for yourself! Below are three interesting quotes by Bjork about the album sound and vibe of Vespertine, followed by a video for each--Hidden Place from Vespertine (first) and Where Is the Line? from Medulla (second).

"It sounds like a winter record. If you wake up in the middle of the night, and you go out in the garden, everything's going on out there that you wouldn't know about. That's the mood I'm trying to get. Snow owls represent that very well."

"I was collecting together all the noises that I know that are like hibernating and that sound like the inside of your head. I guess 'Vespertine' for me was going really, really, really internal and trying to make music with huffs and whispering and music boxes."

"Vespertine is little insects rising from the ashes."

Cory Palmer

This seems like the right day to put up a Cory recommends list, because as I type this I am sitting in the Detroit Metro Airport waiting for him to come pick me up in his big red minivan. Cory was one my seven roomates in what was dubbed the "basshouse" in Michigan, cleverly given it's title because five of the seven people living there were bassists. Deep, I know. I Iook forward to spending the weekend with him drinking some much missed Michigan beers. He also promised me that he wears pajamas now, so there won't be too many awkward Cory-in-his-boxers moments that many of us have grown to love. Anyway, Cory is an extremely talented orchestral bassist currently living in New York attending the Manhatten School of Music and is plugging away on the orchestral audition circuit. He will be a student until he wins an audition, and Manhatten is college number 3. Good luck, guy!

Cory has a real nice, huge (I actually had to edit some of it for size out of consideration for our less focused (sister-in-law) readers) recommend post. And for the record this is the last list I have in the vaults, so for this to continue some friends need to start recommending! Don't be timid. No one is judging your picks, just happily accepting your recommendations. I promise. Email them to hopkinak@gmail.com And without further ado, Cory recommends:

Music:

Bjork--Medulla, Vespertine
Bob Dylan--The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
Explosions in the Sky--The Earth is Not a Cold Dead Place
The Roots--Things Fall Apart
K-OS--Atlantis
Sage Francis--Personal Journals
Killswitch Engage--Alive or Just Breathing
Krakatoa--Channel Static Blackout
Cleveland Orchestra conducted by George Szell
The Julliard Quartet--Bartok String Quartets
Pablo Casals--Bach Cello Suites
Rostropovich--Shostakovich Cello Concerto

Books:

Vladimir Nabakov--Lolita
Irvine Welsh--Trainspotting
Vonnegut--Slaughterhouse Five
Douglas Hofstadter--Metamagical Themas
Ayn Rand--Atlas Shrugged
Fyodor Dostoevsky--Crime and Punishment

Film:

Amelie
Donnie Darko
Almost Famous
Man On Fire
Equilibrium
Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels

Art:

Dali
M.C. Escher

Miscellaneous:

Television:
Arrested Development
Entourage
The Office (British version)
Heroes (1st Season)