The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao--Junot Diaz

This is a bit of a recap for Friends Recommends. I wrote a post about this book HERE back in February, based on the strong recommends it received. I hadn't read it but still made a post...what a book! Anyway, I bought it in preparation for my trip to San Francisco some weeks ago along with Michael Chabon's Mysteries of Pittsburgh (a good book, but maybe not worthy of a full-on recommend at this time) and Stephen Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower (which I often site as my favorite book, although like a top-5 song list I'm not sure how completely accurate that is). Regardless I have read Perks at least 7 times in my life, and love it enough to buy it for the second time since I lent it to someone who never gave it back. Perhaps a future recommend for that is forthcoming.

For those who need to know, is the Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao worth the hype it has received in these parts? Recommended by HSV, Mike Gittings, and indirectly by Jenny Kinniff I would say that yes, with 100% certainty it should be read by everyone who checks this blog. It was an outstanding book...although for me it started a bit slow, but that might have been the mood I was in where starting to read it. Regardless, I put this on par with Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, The Windup Bird Chronicle, and Skinny Legs and All as the best books that have ever been recommended for me to read. Top-notch, A+, prime-cut, top-shelf kind of reading.

I don't really want to go too much into the book itself. If you haven't read it yet my recommend to you is to do so. Be warned that it is heartbreaking. There isn't a whole lot of good that happens to poor Oscar Wao, or anyone in his family for that matter but this is a great book. One small thing that took away from my reading is that my Spanish is horrible, even though I studied it for 5 years in middle/high school. Some of the character dialogue in the books goes untranslated (usually just a one or two-word phrase) but taken in context you can usually figure out what it means. It really didn't present much of a problem, but if I were to read it again I would probably look up all these little phrases to make sure I knew what was going on.

To be specific Heather's recommendation was to listen to the author read this book on tape. She has some strong feelings for this guys voice, and she certainly thinks it is worth a damn. In a recent conversation she actually told me to post THIS CLIP which isn't from Oscar Wao, but it gives you an idea of the kind of voice we are dealing with. She says the speaking starts at minute 1:50 and assures our readers that it is worth the listen. What do you have to lose? Upon listening to it, I could see her argument. It has some nice flair. Better than the voice in my head when I read, that's for sure.

All I can say at this point is read The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. It is worth it. I'll let you borrow it if you want. Mike Ward, I have an Eric and Jessica copy of Skinny Legs and All on my floor. You should read this too...I just need to get it to you. That's all. Todd tomorrow.

*This post was not proof read or edited. Deal with it!

House of Leaves--Mark Danielewski

This one is on my list of books to read. HSV has told me many many times that it is a must read book, but I balk at the length, and density, and seemingly confusing plotline. Regardless, it is on my list of books to read, right near the top!

House of Leaves was a bestselling novel after its release in 2000, but only in the past couple of months have I really heard a whole lot about it. It seems like a couple people I know read it around the same time, and all had good things to say about it. I will include a brief plot synopsis taken from this detailed wikipedia entry in a minute. But more interesting that the plot (which seems to take on 3 or 4 co-existing stories) is the layout of the book. I have never before seen a book presented in such a unique and interesting way. When I looked at it in Heather's presence, she tried to stop me from flipping ahead and looking at these things, but I snuck a few peaks. To enhance the story the text is laid out in all different ways to make the reader feel what is happening more. Some paragraphs are written in little boxes and typed backwards, some pages contain only one word. I remember at one point a character in the book is crawling through a tunnel and the text on each page is written in a small tunnel shape (with the rest of the page blank) to create the image of you crawling through this tunnel. The font for each of the four characters' narrative is also different (maybe as an aid to keep them all straight). There are also footnotes, and footnotes to footnotes all over the book. The only color other than black is blue, and it is only (and always) used for the word "house". Also, the front cover is slightly smaller than the rest of the book, so the pages sort of seep out over the edges of the cover.

This doesn't even begin to cover all of the innovative design elements of the book, but I haven't read it yet so I don't know all of them. Even if the story is terrible, which I hear it isn't, it would be fun to read just for all of this extra stuff. It must be good for the publisher to print all this blank space for art's sake. Here is a brief plot rundown, followed by some screenshots from inside the book (and don't mind the links, that is wikipedia's doing):

House of Leaves begins with a first-person narrative by Johnny Truant, a Los Angeles tattoo parlor employee. Truant is searching for a new apartment when his friend Lude tells him about the apartment of the recently deceased Zampanò, a blind, elderly man who lived in Lude's building.

In Zampanò's apartment, Truant discovers a manuscript written by Zampanò that turns out to be an academic study of a documentary film called The Navidson Record.

The rest of the novel alternates between Zampanò's report on the fictional film, Johnny's autobiographical interjections, a small transcript of part of the film from Navidson's brother, Tom, a small transcript of interviews to many people regarding The Navidson Record by Navidson's partner, Karen, and occasional brief notes by unidentified editors, all woven together by a mass of footnotes. There is also a fourth narrator, Johnny's mother, whose voice is presented through a self-contained set of letters titled The Whalestoe Letters. Each narrator's text is printed in a distinct font, making it easier for the reader to follow the occasionally challenging format of the novel.

Ralph Eugene Meatyard--Scary Masks

Ralph Eugene Meatyard was an optician turned photographer, not becoming the latter until buying a camera to document the life of his first child. By most accounts he was on the path to higher artistic achievement at the time of his early death in 1972 (he was only 47 years old). At the time of his death he had photographed and laid out a book titled The Family Album of Lucybelle Crater to be soon published. When it was released after his death it included this insightful preface by James Rhem. I highly recommend taking the 5 minutes to read it if you look at these photographs, enjoy them, and wonder what the huh is going on.

Heather made special note of Meatyard's photographs of people in scary masks, of which I will share a few. I'm not sure if all of these are from The Family Album of Lucybelle, but at least a couple of them are. My initial surface-level impression of these pieces is that he photographed his family and friends in normal daily situations, but with the added element of these super-freaky masks. Of the masks Meatyard himself said this:

Billboards in any art are the first things that one sees--the masks might be interpreted as billboards. Once you get past the billboard then you can see into the past (forest, etc.), the present, and the future. I feel that because of the "strange" that more attention is paid to backgrounds and that has been the essence of my photography forever.

Enjoy!

Regina Spektor--Samson

Moving along in the HSV list...some real good (usually sad) songs here. That Coldplay song from Garden State is a personal favorite, but if I remember correctly HSV hates Garden State so we'll avoid that one. Also good to see some Mogwai make an appearance. Brother Eric, after seeing Mogwai at Baltimore's Ottobar said they were both the loudest and softest band he's ever seen. I believe this.

I chose Regina Spektor for a reason. There is something about her music (although I've only heard a few songs) that I really like, but I feel bad about liking. Something just feels wrong about it. Aaron Gause and TJ and myself feel the same way about Coldplay. It feels like a guilty pleasure, but I can't put my finger on why. It isn't a guilty pleasure like Guns 'n Roses, or Alphaville's Forever Young (which I am ashamed to say I am guilty of liking both) because I really don't realize why I feel strange for liking Regina Spektor and Coldplay. So, there is no reason to fight it...I should just keep on with it.

My personal liking of Regina Spektor is a result of one incredibly catchy song that I will post at the end. It isn't the Heather pick of Samson, partially because I had never heard it before her list was posted. But I must admit Samson goes along with me liking the lady, and once again I don't know why, and once again I feel a little funny about it. So without further ado I present Samson, which fits snugly in the category of beautiful sad if any song ever has:



And my personal Regina Spektor pick to counteract the happy-sadness of Samson. This song can't help but make you feel good, and I bet you'll want to be singing a-ha-ha-ha, ha-ha-ha, ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-haaaaaaa at the end of it. Just try not to. I have divulged my secret love of Fidelity to a number of people, and every time without fail they admit to secretly loving it as well (Eric Trudel even admits to once seeing her live...bold!). Not sure what it is...

Cedar Point Amusement Park

Heather took an outside-the-box approach to Friends Recommend, most notably with her Skip the Bar and Be a Better Person categories. As mentioned in one of the first posts, this is acceptable and encouraged...no need to limit your recommendations to just music, art, movies, and books. The first post from her list comes from the Skip the Bar section, and I can't think of a better place to recommend (I can't think of a better place in the whole world!).

Cedar Point Amusement Park is located in Sandusky, Ohio which sits on Lake Erie. I have visited twice in my life, the first time with Cory Palmer (see Friends Recommend week 2) and the second time with Heather. I will keep going back as long as I can keep convincing people to go with me. It is a bit of a hike from Baltimore (about 6 hours) but well worth the trip. I recommend driving up in the afternoon, staying overnight (the hotels are pretty cheap), and waking up to spend a whole day in the park. You could probably do two days...I've never even addressed the water parks.

What is so great about this place? It's received the Golden Ticket by Amusement Today for Best Amusement Park 11 years in a row, with 3 roller coasters in the Top 10 in the world, and 5 in the top 20. If you like roller coasters this place is a must-visit. The Millenium Force is my favorite ride ever, and it is extra amazing in the night-time. The Top Thrill Dragster is a hydraulically-launched coaster (huh?) with a drop of over 400 feet at a speed of 120mph. It is nuts and the ride lasts about 10 seconds total. Still worth it. Those two rides alone would be worth the journey to Cedar Point, but Wikipedia has 17 roller coasters listed for Cedar Point so there is plenty more than just these two to keep you entertained. You also get all of your standard amusement park rides to go with them. More info (way more than you could ever want) over at Wikipedia here. And some hot pictures of the place below:

Millenium Force

Top Thrill Dragster

Heather Van De Mark

At her request, I am cutting out a lengthy introduction. I think most of you know her. She's my laaaa-dy, and she has a wonderful list to share with you all. Instead of a lengthy introduction, explaining all about her, and how she is about to jump into the freezing ocean for charity, and I am about to stand on the shore watching, I will just give her a plug. A full explanation is at the blog, but Heather just started a telephone pictionary blog, with some of her favorites from our recently played games. It is pretty great. The link is telephonepictionary.wordpress.com. Enjoy! And here she goes (all the commentary is her own):

Books:

Andre Breton--Nadja - I wouldn't expect many people to be able to find this, or like it.
Mark Danielewski--The House of Leaves
Steve Erickson--Zeroville - great book for film people
Alan Weisman--The World Without Us
Junot Diaz--The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wilde (book on tape version) - you have to hear him read it in his own work, amazing voice.

Beautiful (usually sad) Songs:

Cursive--Sierra
Regina Spektor--Samson
Coldplay--Don't Panic
Bright Eyes--Waste of Paint
Mogwai--Autorock

Songs That Make Me Dance:

The Stone Roses--Fools Gold
Gwen Stefani
Garbage--Sex Is Not the Enemy
Men, Women, and Children--Dance In My Blood!!!

Spoken Word/Poetry/Podcasts:

Taylor Mali
Savage Love
Raymond McDaniel
Alice Fulton
Baudelaire

Art:

Annie Leibovitz--photographer
David LaChappelle--photographer
Jim Dine
Brassai--"Lovers In a Small Cafe..."
Henry Callahan--"Chicago" when women were called broads
Ralph E. Meatyard--People In Creepy Masks

Great Movies You Might Have Missed:

City Of God
Annie Hall
Manhatten
Brokeback Mountain
Capote
Hard Candy
Persepolis
The Fountain
The Kids Stay In the Picture
Nightwatch
Conversations With Other Women

Be A Better Person:

Have intellectual conversations
Donate blood
Recycle
Drive less
Play games
Be curious

Skip the Bar:

Cedar Point Amusement Park!
Coed Softball
Tennis
Bikes rides on Gwynn Falls Trail or through Druid Hill Park
Duckpin bowling
Poker nights
Foot races
Going to the ocean
Crosswords
Rome, Italy and all the piazzas

Adam was listening to Peng! by Stereolab at the time of this post, and is still not blown away like he has been told he would be, but it might be growing on him.