Today in "Things Everyone Knows"

(Source: gorr)

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Me just about now. Comprehensive exams are the woooooorst.

Me just about now.

Comprehensive exams are the woooooorst.

Italian Vogue meets QVC.

365musicproject:

Artist #7 of my top 10 local Twin Cities musicians to watch in 2012 is the amazing Adam Svec. One of the things I love about Adams is the creative diversity he brings to his music—diversity that is more reaching than most local musicians but something he can completely pull off because of his stunning voice. 

Very excited to see what 2012 holds for him. It should be a good one. 

Song of the day is “Christopher”. So great! 

Find him on:
Facebook | MySpace | Bandcamp 

This is my classmate!!!!!!

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Bright Shiny Morning by James Frey 4 out of 5 Bright Shiny Morning alternates between telling the history of Los Angeles and interweaving stories of present-day Los Angeles. Frey gives a voice to a wide range of characters, from the extremely wealthy inhabitants of Beverly Hills to the poor workers who clean their bathrooms. LA is a city I would never choose to live in, and BSM has plenty of examples why - the city is shown as a hot, sprawling parking lot that serves as a playground to the fake and superfake. However, LA has not always been such an undesirable city. The history chapters chronicle LA’s humble beginnings, and the events that led to its exponential expansion. If you like history, and you’re up for reading some depressing stories about categorical losers, this book is a must-read! 

Bright Shiny Morning by James Frey

4 out of 5

Bright Shiny Morning alternates between telling the history of Los Angeles and interweaving stories of present-day Los Angeles. Frey gives a voice to a wide range of characters, from the extremely wealthy inhabitants of Beverly Hills to the poor workers who clean their bathrooms. LA is a city I would never choose to live in, and BSM has plenty of examples why - the city is shown as a hot, sprawling parking lot that serves as a playground to the fake and superfake. However, LA has not always been such an undesirable city. The history chapters chronicle LA’s humble beginnings, and the events that led to its exponential expansion. If you like history, and you’re up for reading some depressing stories about categorical losers, this book is a must-read! 

After loving this song for months, I just stumbled across the music video. So awesome.

Bizness by tUnE-yArDs

Harry Potter series

4 out of 5

2011 marked the year that I finally picked up a Harry Potter book. After years of having no idea what anyone was ever talking about, I have now entered the phenomenon. The only reason why I am giving these books a score of 4 (not that anybody really cares) is because the first two books were way too easy to read. I know, I know - they get more challenging as the series progresses. However, the easy reading level made books 1 & 2 less enjoyable than books 3 & 4. And now I know what Butter Beer is.

(Source: amazon.com)

The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen 5 out of 5 I asked for The Corrections in 2001 as a Christmas present. However, it sat on my shelf as a “Someday I’ll Read…” book until March of this year. The dysfunctional Lambert family is at the center of this novel, which is funny in much the same way that American Beauty was funny. You read the things that the Lambert children say to their parents, and you first think “Oh God, how awful.” Then you realize you’ve said the exact same thing to your parents. The children (Chip, Denise, and Gary) are each so involved with themselves and their problems that the last thing they want to do is get together for a family Thanksgiving - especially since their father, Alfred, was diagnosed with Parksinson’s. Enid, the eccentric mother, will stop at nothing to make sure that the children are all home for the holidays. Jonathan Franzen nailed the small-town, Midwestern family dynamic in this book. He also succeeded at capturing the disparity between the technology-and-money-driven millennials and their slow-paced, reluctant-to-change elders. But Franzen’s ability to create characters that are so relatable (even when they’re doing stupid or dislikable things) is what makes the book so compelling. This book is so, so, so, so good. And I highly suggest reading The Corrections before jumping into Franzen’s more recent book, Freedom (which I will review soon!).  

The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen

5 out of 5

I asked for The Corrections in 2001 as a Christmas present. However, it sat on my shelf as a “Someday I’ll Read…” book until March of this year. The dysfunctional Lambert family is at the center of this novel, which is funny in much the same way that American Beauty was funny. You read the things that the Lambert children say to their parents, and you first think “Oh God, how awful.” Then you realize you’ve said the exact same thing to your parents. The children (Chip, Denise, and Gary) are each so involved with themselves and their problems that the last thing they want to do is get together for a family Thanksgiving - especially since their father, Alfred, was diagnosed with Parksinson’s. Enid, the eccentric mother, will stop at nothing to make sure that the children are all home for the holidays. Jonathan Franzen nailed the small-town, Midwestern family dynamic in this book. He also succeeded at capturing the disparity between the technology-and-money-driven millennials and their slow-paced, reluctant-to-change elders. But Franzen’s ability to create characters that are so relatable (even when they’re doing stupid or dislikable things) is what makes the book so compelling. This book is so, so, so, so good. And I highly suggest reading The Corrections before jumping into Franzen’s more recent book, Freedom (which I will review soon!).  

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest by Steig Larsson 3.5 out of 5 TGWKTHN was a fun read. Despite it being the weakest of the trilogy, Lisbeth Salander is such an odd character that I felt compelled to see her story to the very end. Larsson didn’t allow the pace of the story to interfere with character development, which is really what kept my face buried in this series. The storyline for this book is complicated, and adapting it into film is no easy endeavor. The Swedish version of the movie struggled with this aspect, ignoring entire subplots and ultimately cutting out half of the book. I am interested to see how the American version of the films measure up, and how Rooney Mara’s depiction of Lisbeth compares to Noomi Rapace (who was excellent, in my opinion). 

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest by Steig Larsson

3.5 out of 5

TGWKTHN was a fun read. Despite it being the weakest of the trilogy, Lisbeth Salander is such an odd character that I felt compelled to see her story to the very end. Larsson didn’t allow the pace of the story to interfere with character development, which is really what kept my face buried in this series. The storyline for this book is complicated, and adapting it into film is no easy endeavor. The Swedish version of the movie struggled with this aspect, ignoring entire subplots and ultimately cutting out half of the book. I am interested to see how the American version of the films measure up, and how Rooney Mara’s depiction of Lisbeth compares to Noomi Rapace (who was excellent, in my opinion). 

2666 by Roberto Bolaño 3 out of 5 2666 by Roberto Bolaño is a brick of a book, coming in at just under 900 pages. This often dream-like book is a collection of 5 stories, each in some way impacted by the serial murders taking place in the Mexico-USA border town of Santa Teresa (a fictional town that clearly represents Ciudad Juárez). The first 3 sections of the book dance around the subject of the murders, but it is the 4th section (“The Part About the Crimes”) that brings the gruesome crimes to light. In this challenging section (and I mean CHALLENGING, as this part alone took me about a month to read), the disappearances and murders of scores of women in and around Santa Teresa are chronicled, as is the lackluster and unsuccessful police work that follows. Essentially, “The Part About the Crimes” is a 400-page newspaper article that depresses, irritates, bores, but ultimately disturbs. The fifth and final section of the book seems random, and then, just like a dream, 2666 ends. To say that I enjoyed Roberto Bolaño’s work would be a lie. However, I appreciate the fact that 2666 exposed me to the very real violence affecting women every day in Ciudad Juárez. If you are up for a challenge, I highly recommend 2666.       

2666 by Roberto Bolaño

3 out of 5

2666 by Roberto Bolaño is a brick of a book, coming in at just under 900 pages. This often dream-like book is a collection of 5 stories, each in some way impacted by the serial murders taking place in the Mexico-USA border town of Santa Teresa (a fictional town that clearly represents Ciudad Juárez). The first 3 sections of the book dance around the subject of the murders, but it is the 4th section (“The Part About the Crimes”) that brings the gruesome crimes to light. In this challenging section (and I mean CHALLENGING, as this part alone took me about a month to read), the disappearances and murders of scores of women in and around Santa Teresa are chronicled, as is the lackluster and unsuccessful police work that follows. Essentially, “The Part About the Crimes” is a 400-page newspaper article that depresses, irritates, bores, but ultimately disturbs. The fifth and final section of the book seems random, and then, just like a dream, 2666 ends. To say that I enjoyed Roberto Bolaño’s work would be a lie. However, I appreciate the fact that 2666 exposed me to the very real violence affecting women every day in Ciudad Juárez. If you are up for a challenge, I highly recommend 2666.