Category: Complete And Total Genius

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What I’m Reading Right Now

I somehow made it to 50 without ever reading any of Raymond Carver’s short stories, but I’m fixing that now with this collection. Great stuff! Little depressing slices of life that any bastard can relate to. Perfect bedtime reading …

By the time of his early death in 1988, Raymond Carver had established himself as one of the great practitioners of the American short story, a writer who had not only found his own voice but imprinted it in the imaginations of thousands of readers. Where I’m Calling From, his last collection, encompasses classic stories from Cathedral, What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, and earlier Carver volumes, along with seven new works previously unpublished in book form. Together, these 37 stories give us a superb overview of Carver’s life work and show us why he was so widely imitated but never equaled.

I picked this one up in hardback at Barnes & Noble for a few bucks. Chabon I’m quite familiar with, having read The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, The Yiddish Policemen’s Union, Wonder Boys, and Werewolves in Their Youth. I honestly believe Chabon is one of our greatest living writers. Anyhoo …

In 1989, fresh from the publication of his first novel, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, Michael Chabon traveled to his mother’s home in Oakland, California, to visit his terminally ill grandfather. Tongue loosened by powerful painkillers, memory stirred by the imminence of death, Chabon’s grandfather shared recollections and told stories the younger man had never heard before, uncovering bits and pieces of a history long buried and forgotten. That dreamlike week of revelations forms the basis for the novel Moonglow, the latest feat of legerdemain from Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Chabon.

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I Will Find A Way

Everybody knows this one. But did you know there was a 1974 Capitol Records version of “Shake Some Action?” (I’m guessing Renfield does.)

A lot of folks on YouTube prefer this other one, but I don’t know. See what you bastards think …

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I Said Goddamn

$250.00! Cheap!

This deluxe two-volume slipcased set explores seven-time Academy Award–winner Rick Baker’s 40-year journey as a special makeup effects artist

From the gory zombies of Michael Jackson’s Thriller and the staggeringly lifelike Bigfoot in Harry and the Hendersons to the creative builds in Men in Black and the groundbreaking effects in An American Werewolf in London, Rick Baker’s special effects, makeup, and prosthetics count among some of Hollywood’s most enduring achievements.

This deluxe, two-volume slipcased set is replete with more than 1,000 four-color images and original sketches. It covers the makeup artist’s 40-plus year career in which he’s earned seven Academy Awards, one Emmy, and three British Academy Film Awards, among numerous others.

Imprint: Cameron Books
Publication Date: October 22, 2019
Price: $250.00
Trim Size: 10 1⁄2 x 13 1⁄4
ISBN: 978-1-944903-43-5
EAN: 9781944903435
Page Count: 736
Illustrations: More than 1,000 color illustrations
Format: Two-volume set, hardcover with slipcase

EDIT: Rick Baker’s Instagram is here. Definitely worth a look.

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Vivian Maier

Kind of heartbreaking in a way.

Vivian Dorothy Maier (February 1, 1926 – April 21, 2009) was an American street photographer. Maier worked for about forty years as a nanny, mostly in Chicago’s North Shore, pursuing photography during her spare time. She took more than 150,000 photographs during her career, primarily of the people and architecture of New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles, although she also traveled and photographed worldwide.

During her lifetime, Maier’s photographs were unknown and unpublished, and she never printed many of her negatives. A Chicago collector, John Maloof, acquired some of Maier’s photos in 2007, while two other Chicago-based collectors, Ron Slattery and Randy Prow, also found some of Maier’s prints and negatives in her boxes and suitcases around the same time. Maier’s photographs were first published on the Internet in July 2008, by Slattery, but the work received little response.

In October 2009, Maloof linked his blog to a selection of Maier’s photographs on the image-sharing website Flickr, and the results went viral, with thousands of people expressing interest. Critical acclaim and interest in Maier’s work quickly followed, and since then, Maier’s photographs have been exhibited in North America, Europe, and Asia, while her life and work have been the subject of books and documentary films.

Official site here. (I have no idea why the link is crossed out – it works.)

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Pure Evil

Dimitri Shostakovich wrote this (2nd movement, Symphony #10) as a musical portrait of Stalin, who had harrassed him directly and indirectly throughout his career.  This is pure malevolence, published after Stalin was safely dead.  While Uncle Joe was alive, DS was mostly confined to putting out government approved, “socalist realist” garbage, while keeping much of his “real” work private.  Occasionally he could put one over on the Soviets and follow the letter of their requirements while mocking them.  One cool thing is that in the finale of this same symphony, he has a theme based on his initials, DSCH, vie for dominance against the Stalin theme from this movement.  DSCH wins.  Artistic revenge at its finest.  “He who laughs last, laughs longest.”

The conductor seems a little too into his hair, and I’m not sure why he appears to be grinning during this grim business.    But you’ve gotta give him credit, his musicians are playing the hell out of this.  He made his reputation whipping these young Venezuelans into a respectable unit.  He’s since gone on to greener pastures in LA.