Category: Literature & Books

Atlas Shrugged and Angelina

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Note: Spoiler Alert belowjolie

According to this latest press release, they are going to make a movie of Ayn Rand’s novel Atlas Shrugged and Angelina is going to play Dagney. Great book and she’d be a good Dagney

I wonder who will play the millionaire playboy Francisco D’Anconia the badass capitalist Hank Reardon, or the man behind the plot John Galt who is a brilliant physicist and philosopher and creator of “Galt’s Gulch” where the brilliant minds of the world go.

Its important to note that Dagney hooked up with all 3 of these guys, so whoever gets to play them is going to get some action. The word is that Brad Pitt wants to play Reardon even though Galt eventually ends up with her.

I'll Be Rockin' This Saturday

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A lot of people have already commented on yesterday’s Bob Dlyan post and while i love listening to Dylan, my mind is really focused on the concert i’m going to tomorrow. I’ll be attending Virgin Fest in Baltimore.

Check out this lineup: Red Hot Chilli Peppers, The Killers, Gnarls Barkley, Scissor Sisters, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, The Raconteurs, The Who, The New Pornographers, Wolfmother, Thievery Corporation, and The Flaming Lips.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V76Vq1HMXIk&eurl=]

One of the bands i’m most excited about is The Scissor Sisters. If you haven’t heard of this band – let me enlighten you (from wikipedia)

The core of the band formed in 2000 when Shears (singer) and Babydaddy (keyboard/song-writer) met while attending college in Kentucky. After moving to NYC, the duo met Ana Matronic at a cabaret on Halloween, when she was dressed as an Andy Warhol factory reject, and Shears was dressed as a “back-alley abortion”. The group soon began playing gigs and were signed to independent record label “A Touch of Class”, and recorded a single, “Electrobix”, which had as its B-side a disco/glam cover “Comfortably Numb”.

Their cover of “Comfortably Numb” became noticed in the UK when it was picked up by underground DJs in electroclubs. The song later got the attention of British label Polydor, who signed them to a contract.

The group’s first single for the label, “Laura“, had a limited release in Laura single for Sister Sister's 2003 (reaching #54 on UK charts), and received little attention. Their first hit was in 2004 with the re-release of “Comfortably Numb” (reaching #10 in the UK). This success was followed by fan favourite “Take Your Mama” (#17 in the UK), a re-release of “Laura” (#12 in the UK), the ballad “Mary” (#14 in the UK), and the gay/hedonist anthem “Filthy/Gorgeous” (#5 in the UK).

All the singles came from the self-titled debut album Scissor Sisters, which reached #1 on the UK albums chart and became the best selling album of 2004, beating Keane‘s Hopes And Fears by just 582 copies. As of 2006, it is the 10th biggest-selling album of the 21st century, and the 51st biggest-selling of all time in the UK. Several media outlets have noted that Scissor Sisters stick out like a sore thumb’ on the list of artists who have sold over 2 million copies of an album in the UK in the 21st century — the others being James Blunt, Robbie Williams, Keane, Dido, Coldplay and Norah Jones — all artists considered ‘mainstream’ or ‘middle of the road’, as opposed to the Scissor Sisters’ brash and controversial image.

I will say that i think the songs rock. Here are some of my favorite songs from their first album. Click on them to play, right+click to download the mp3: Mary, Filthy/Gorgeous, Laura, Comfortably Numb
They also have a new album coming out and you can listen to their entire new album on MySpace here.

Writing about this band reminds of a passage i recently read in Chuck Klosterman’s new book (Chuck Klosterman IV) when he breaks down all rock music in one paragraph. He says,

Rock music did not exist until the release of Meet the Beatles in January 1964. From that time until 1970, the Beatles were simultaneously the most artistically gifted and commercially successfulBook cover of CK4 rock artists on the planet. Then they broke up. And at that point, rock split into two opposing ideologies; there were now two kinds of music. The prime directive of the first kind of rock was to be meaningful and important; the prime directive of the second was to entertain people and move product. The first category comprises elements (Springsteen, punk rock, early U2, Chris Carrabba, etc.) that followed a template built by Dylan in the 1960’s. The second category comprises things (Elton John, Disco, everything the Stones did post-Some Girls, Michael Jackson et. al.) that followed the path KISS chose when they formed in 1973. Their era includes 2 exceptions, which are Led Zepplin and Prince; everything else fits into either category A or B. And that is the entire history of rock music.

Elton John has actually written a few tracks on Scissor Sister’s new album Tah-dah so they have to be considered a category B band. Thus, if you look at my Bob Dylan post and this one, i think i’ve been comprehensive and pretty much covered both A and B. Now i can focus the rest of the weekend on just rocking out at Virgin Fest.

Reading a Book One Day at a Time – Via Email

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logo_small.gifThere’s a new service called DailyLit which sends you an email every day with 5 minutes of a book. For now they only have books that are in the public domain such as Shakespeare and Oscar Wilde. So, if you want to crank through a classic – a little each day – this could be the best way to go.

I just signed up for Hamlet. I’ve never read it nor seen the Mel Gibson classic and i think i could probably only do 5 min a day. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Trade Your Books

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A new social networks launched this week focused the sending and receiving of books.

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BookMooch is a new social site for exchanging used books. The service is essentially a cross between eBay and a social network. You can browse books and members and build a network of friends.

I got excited about this because i love the CD swapping site Lala which i use every so often. It’s a great way to get new CD’s that you’d never want to buy (I wrote about it here). If you haven’t checked it out – you should. Similar to Lala, BookMooch requires you create 2 lists – one that’s an inventory of the books you’re willing to trade, and another “wishlist” of the books you want to get from others. Unlike Lala, this site isn’t that slick, doesn’t provide very much information about the books or the community, nor does it populate your profile very well. It would also be nice to have a better way to aggregate reviews and comments about a book. I need a little more IMDB-ness here. And, in general this site seems half-baked. They could use a few more month of graphic design and polish.

They do have a point system which is a great way to regulate swapping. You earn points in 3 ways: 1) for adding books to your inventory, 2) giving your books away and 3) leaving feedback for the sender after you receive a book. You use up points when you receive books, and you can also give your points away to charity. What’s more, there’s a BookMooch toolbar to use when you’re browsing Amazon – it lets you see when a book is available on BookMooch and add books to your wishlist. To avoid the freeloaders out there, you have to give away at least one book for every five you receive.

If you want to get going on either site, feel free to add me as a friend. My username is “pescatello”

Get Your Ari Gold Fix

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This post is really only so i can repost the video below, which is gold baby, Gold!

Along with the rest of the world, i get pure satisfaction from watching HBO’s Entourage. It like a TV-show pixie stick – pure sugar. Some call it the Sex In The City for men, as it’s 4 guys walking around talking and doing what men want to do. However, Sex In The City did not have an Ari Gold. He makes the show. Thankfully, HBO has done more this season to round out his character
Here’s a video in case you missed any of his lines on the show:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bf02gokKMFk]

And here’s a little bio i put together of the real Ari Gold in LA which of course includes Mark Walhburg – who Vincent Chase’s is based on. One interesting thing to note is that Jeremy Piven actually used to be Ari’s client.

  • Real Name: Ari Emmanuel
  • Agency: Endeavor
  • Legendary Story
    • There was a trainee taking a piss in the bathroom. The trainee had a full bladder and did a little walk-back from the urinal to get a little distance. Ari walks in and sees the kid and fires him on teh spot. One minute you’re taking a satisfying pee in a good job, the next minute you’re on the street. Rough.
  • Clients – these are just the people i’ve heard of.  Apparently he has many more clients but these are ones you might know.
    • Jason Alexander “George Costanza”, Peter Berg (Collateral, Friday Night Lights, The Rundown), Larry Charles, Sacha Cohen “Ali G”, Bob Costas, Mike Binder (Actor, Writer – I liked Mind of the Married Man), Larry David, Michael Douglas, Conan O’Brien, Shaquille O’Neal, Ozzy Osbourne (and Jack and Sharon and Kelly), Paris Hilton, Bonnie Hunt (Actor, Writer), Adam McKay, David Russell, Chris Kattan, Vince McMahon, Michael Moore, Garry Shandling, Joel Silver (Producer), Aaron Sorkin, Ben Stein, Martin Scorsese, Mark Wahlberg – of course

    The Power of a Concept

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    I recently went through the trilogy of Chuck Klosterman’s books. I fargorock.JPGstarted first with his first book Fargo Rock City: A Heavy Metal Odyssey in Rural North Dakota which is a great discussion of the importance and awesomeness of 80’s Rock. If you’re a fan of the genre this is a great read and it introduces you to Klosterman’s memoir writing style and his lifestyle as a man who boozes almost as much as sits around shooting the shit with friends..

    sexdrugscocoacocoapuffs.jpgThe second and most well-know book is Sex Drugs and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto. This is basically a collection of essays about items in popular culture such as MTV’s The Real World, Saved by The Bell, movies asking the question “What Is Reality?” and other concepts such as The Fonz’s virginity, Lloyd Dobbler’s affect on women, and how newspapers articles actually get written. It’s extremely enjoyable and contains concepts that are thought-provoking and often really funny.

    The third book, Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a Truekillingyourselftolive.jpg Story, is my favorite. It’s a book about Chuck traveling through America visiting places where famous musicians have died (suicide or not). These trips in themselves are not that interesting, so it’s a good thing they don’t make up the majority of the book. The book also includes the three major women in Chuck’s life: one he works with (Quincy), one a gal who he grew up with (college), and the third is a hottie in another city. The content in the books is 1/3 about the women, 1/3 about the dead rock stars, and 1/3 about the trip and his interpretation of pieces in America. Throughout the book Chuck discusses our perception of women and how we deal with them. He argues that we often find ourselves massaging situations in our heads until they are exactly how we want them to be. Often it is the concept of a woman or a dead rock star is much more powerful than the actual reality. This is an idea I can definitely relate to and this book does a fantastic job expressing it.

    One metaphor for both the book and Chuck’s life that I thought was worth repeating was in the middle of the book when he’s talking about his work girlfriend (Quincy) and how she likes to listen to the rain when sleeping

    The sound of the rain is putting me to sleep, but I want to stay awake and listen to it thwack against the glass. I love a rainy night; perhaps not to the extent of Eddie Rabbitt, but still. There was a time when Quincy couldn’t sleep unless she heard rain: Every night in her apartment, she would put on pajamas and slip one of those hokey “thunderstorm” CD’s into her stereo, and the fake rain would fall for hour and hours on repeat. Even when it was actually raining she would play that ridiculous thunderstorm disc. “This is crazy,” I would say. “This is like bringing a walkman into a rock concert. Let’s just listen to the rain for real.” My arguments always failed. “It’s not the same,” she would say, “The rain doesn’t sound like rain. It’s not rainy enough.” It was never rainy enough.

    Amen. In my life when dealing with women, jobs, future, etc. I’m surrounded with plenty of movies, songs, magazine blurbs about how it’s supposed to be. When I actually hit the streets and take it on myself, I can’t help but relate to Quincy completely. Amen sister. You’re right. In this world, sometimes it just isn’t ever rainy enough.

    Chuck comes to the same conclusion with rock stars, our memory of them and with his own life and he tells some provoking stories to make this the best of all his books so far. Then again, all three of Chuck’s books are good reads and if you’re heading out on vacation or a trip, you can’t go wrong picking any one of them up.

    Love, John Cusak, & Woody Allen

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    All according to Chuck Klosterman.

    Coldplay and John Cusak are screwing us….

    Coldplay songs deliver an amorphous, irrefutable interpretation of how being in love is supposed to feel, and people find themselvesjohncusack.jpg wanted that feeling for real. They want men to adore them like Lloyd Dobbler, and men want women to think like Aimee Mann, and everyone expects all their arguments to sound like Sam Malone and Diane Chambers. They think everything will work out perfectly in the end, and they don’t stop believing, because Journey’s Steve Perry insists we should never do that. In the 19th century, teenagers merely aspired to have a marriage that would be better than that of their parents; personally i would never be satisfied unless my marriage was a good as Cliff and Clair Huxtable’s (or at least as enigmatic as Jack and Meg White)….

    depressing. But there’s more, little did we know….

    ….If we have learned anything from mass media, it’s that only people who can make us happy are those who don’t strike us as particularly desirable. Whether it’s Jerry Maguire or Sixteen Candles or Who’s the Boss or Some Kind of Wonderful or Speed Racer, we are constantly reminded that the unattainable icons of perfection we lust after can never fulfill us like the platonic allies who have been there all along.

    Crap – i’ve been barking up the wrong tree for a long time. Maybe there’s some hope. Apparently Woody Allen is a savior, or not….

    Woody Allen has made nebbish guys cool; he makes people assumewoody-allen01.jpg there is something profound about having a relationship based on witty conversation and intellectual discourse. There isn’t. It’s just another gimmick, and it’s no different than wanting to be with someone because they’re thin or rich or the former lead singer of Whiskeytown. And, it actually might be worse, because an intellectual relationship isn’t real at all. My witty banter and cerebral discourse is always completely contrived.

    Amen, so is mine. But wait. Shit. This is disturbing.

    This is all from the first chapter of Chuck Klosterman’s enjoyable read – Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs. It reads very similar to a Sports Guy column but discusses popular culture instead of sports.

    Monkey-Mind Story Telling

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    8640.jpgJust finished the book “Another Bullshit Night in Suck City” which is a great memoir about a guy who works in a homeless shelter where his dad takes refuge. Their paths cross, the author confesses to doing some pretty crazy things and barely keeps himself from living on the streets as well. The book, written by the poet Nick Flynn, is beautifully written and totally captivating.

    One little excerpt that i’m thinking of today:

    If one were a a Buddhist, one might say we spend much of our lives in “monkey-mind,” swinging from story to story, our thoughts never quiet. Perhaps it is our fear, that in the silence between stories, in the moment of falling, the fear that we will never find the one story which will save us, and so we lunge for another, and we feel safe again, if only for as long as w are telling it.

    Nick Flynn (345)

    Genetic Enhancement is Coming

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    There's an interesting article about how the US (but not other countries) allows you choose your child's gender. This is done through "preimplantation genetic diagnosis," in which clinics take sperm and eggs, make embryos in lab dishes, and screen them for genetic flaws. Embryos without flaws are implanted in the mother's womb. THe US now allows you to select the sex, but it's easy to imagine when more customizations would be possible.

    There will be a time where you can enhance your unborn child's attributes. It will be possible and it scares the hell out of me. I believe that takes a major toll on society and how people view and interact with each other. It's bad enough now when there's an economic gap between the haves and have-nots. Imagine what it will be like when there's an athletic and intelligence gap too.

    Other resources that talk about this:

    Jim Croce Rocks

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    CroceI’ve always loved Jim’s music. It’s a great mix of sappy, cheesy love songs (Operator, Have To Say I Love You In A Song) and great folk rock (Bad, Bad Leroy Brown, Mess Around With Jim). But, given that we have all these VH1 specials and full-featured movies about great music legends (Ray, Walk the Line), I can’t understand why there isn’t more press, specials, or movies about Jim Croce. I mean his career is phenomenal. Let’s just look at what went down…

    • Didn’t even care about music till he got to college, graduated in 1965
    • Met his wife when she was a sophomore in high school and he was a junior in college (scandalous!)
    • After college he recorded an album with his wife and they tried to make it happen, but that didn’t really work out. Moved out of the city without even enough money to pay the toll
    • With his wife, he moved to the country and lived on a farm (Lyndell, PA) and regularly jammed with other rock stars while making money working construction jobs
    • When he heard his wife was pregnant, he decided to give it one more shot and released his first album in 1970, You Don’t Mess Around With Jim. The album went on to be ranked #1 on the pop charts. It had 3 songs crack the top 40 (Time in a Bottle, Operator, Don’t Mess Around With Jim)
    • His second album, Life and Times, came out almost 6 months after his first and kicked ass on the charts too. It had 2 songs crack the top 40 (One Less Set of Footsteps, , Bad Bad Leroy Brown)
    • Just 2 years after he released his first album, he released his 3rd album I Got a Name. The album went to #2 on the charts and had 3 songs in the top 40 (I Got a Name, Working at the Car Wash Blues, I’ll Have To Say I Love In A Song)
    • Unfortunately, after releasing his 3rd album he died in a plane crash on September 20, 1973

    I find his music to be very sincere and frank – a folkish and simplistic manner that you can’t really find in music today. There’s an interesting bio written in 1973 of how he had a bunch of construction and jackhammer jobs before his first album. Also, there a good story of how the process a having a baby made him get serious and finally put his music out there. Here’s to you Jim…