by Jack Vance (1998)

I love me my Jack Vance, and Ports of Call might be one of his most unstructured and light sic fi adventures. There is limited story arch: Myron Tany finds himself fulfilling a dream of space adventure aboard his flamboyant and self centered Great Aunt’s space yacht. Soon however, he is ousted by a handsome rogue and finds a job aboard the cargo ship, Glicca. From there, he and his ship mates port at many different planets with various cultural customs and landscape curiosities.

A crazy lot of characters are met, including both amorous and deadly women, gamblers and swindlers of all sorts, and more than one evil minded rascal. It’s most like a very satisfying space adventure television series – or more correctly the kind of inventive and comedic space adventure television series that I wish existed (Firefly is the only thing that comes close – and should be watched by those who missed it’s brief run).

It’s a rambling piece of fiction, a collection of whims, philosophies and interesting worlds that ends quite abruptly. Luckily, years later, Vance took up the story again with a sequel called Lurulu, which, of course, I am reading next. I’ll let you know how it goes.

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Posted on June 6, 2010

by Next (1998)

I love that the late ninties dance hit Too Close by Next is an ode to getting a boner while grinding a girl. It brings me back to my Jr. High years where my class had the dubious distinction to be the first to cause a scene with the lude dance craze. Like the girls singing in this undeniably catchy tune, “Step back, your dancing kind of close, feel a little poke come through, on you” we weren’t ever more than slightly giggly, grossed out and pitiful of the constant occurrence. I was about to write that the R&B trio had no other hits, but wikipedia informed me of the inferior “Wifey” which has nothing to do with the Judy Blume novel.

Click here for the rest of Too Close

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Posted on May 9, 2010

by David Peace (1999)

David Peace‘s Nineteen Seventy Four is both a typical and atypical serial killer drama. Typical in that it focuses on a overly creative killer who leaves behind a trail of the kind of imagery pop-pulp authors can not seem to write enough of these days; typical in that I could almost exactly envision the BBC series it would spawn (actually, as I’ll mention later, 1974 – along with the other books in the quartet – has already been made into a series which will be in theaters soon); and typical in its gritty toughness.

Yet it’s atypical in just how gritty and tough it gets. This book, filled with violent beatings and equally violent love, is one that gets your hands and mind dirty. It’s also atypical in its staccato voice, which makes the giant, convoluted web of conspiracy, corruption and madness a little side-of-the-head-whoppingly hard to follow.

There were definitely times where I had to re-read pages, lost in the pacing, the references to British pop culture of the seventies, and the slang. Not to mention a list of character names that confuse, not in a Dostoevskian way with their complexity, but in their commonality (Johns, Roberts, and Eddies abound).

The first part of a quartet (I have the other three coming in the mail), Peace’s heralded crime drama was inspired by the horrific crimes of Peter Sutcliffe, aka The Yorkshire Ripper, though the child killer here is only one part of a whole cast of genuinely horrible people that litter the city. Heroes are not to be found in this world, which makes this a recommendation with a particular admonishment: this novel is not for the faint-hearted and it is not for those that want to feel good.

The theatrical release of the adaptation (starring among others, Sean Bean) comes to IFC Feb 5 but the entire series is available on DVD for region 2 players.

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Posted on January 31, 2010

by Ginuwine (1996)

In the entire genre of juvenile, sexual innuendo-packed, raw R&bBgrinding music, there is simply none better than Ginuwine‘s mid-nineties cleverly uninventive (lyrically) ode to really, really wanting to have sex: Pony. If what I have just written is untrue, I beg you to show me the song that bests it. And, word of advice, if you have yet to get married, you will want to remember to put this on the dance play list when you do.

By the way, the images below/after the jump are what comes up on a google search for this song.

Click here for the rest of Pony

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Posted on January 24, 2010

by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds (1994)

Calling Let Love In a masterpiece is almost too little praise for such a brooding, effective, and wholly unique album. If you’ve heard Red Right Hand, probably the most popular track on the record, you know what you’re in for: a rumbling, jangling and creepy ride with murderous swagger and joyfully dark imagery. It embodies the fire and brimstone that Cave is known for without ignoring the heart aching ballads.

In an accomplished oeuvre that includes stints with The Birthday Party, Grinderman, and of course the Bad Seeds, Let Love In is among his very best which. Several of the songs (like the aforementioned Red Right Hand, Do You Love Me – so awesome it’s broken into two parts – and Loverman) qualify as epic, so this is not one you listen to idly in the back ground. Oh, and Metallica’s Loverman cover, with its slick production and lack of shadowy urgency, only highlights how far from Cave’s caliber of raw awesomeness they have fallen .

Click here for the rest of Let Love In

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Posted on December 13, 2009