Quip #4

Today's socialist is tomorrow's liberal.

NOFX: Single Album

Picked up NOFX's latest, Single Album, after listening to it during dinner last night on Bandcamp. Pretty good, much stronger than their previous, First Ditch Effort, which I kept less than half of its songs on my iPod. Single Album is more alternative than punk with half the tracks being slo-tempo. In that respect, it reminds me of their 1996 album, Heavy Petting Zoo, though Single Album has stronger songs and better sequencing. I'll probably keep 8 of the 10 tracks ("Linewleum" should have been put on a comp [not album worthy], and "Doors and Fours" sounded better on their 7" of the Month Club [sounds better stripped down without slide guitars and extra instruments]). $8 well spent!

Twitter

Yesterday morning I moved my Twitter folder to the bottom of my bookmarks. With it out of sight, hopefully I won't be going on there so much anymore. I was mainly using it as an RSS feed for news, but lately none of the stories have captured my interest. Can't tell if it's me or if social media managers are posting gratuitous content.

Dune

I picked up the audiobook for Frank Herbert's Dune back in July. Started listening to it today. Haven't formed an opinion yet. Hopefully I can get into it this time. I tried reading in grade school and high school, but just couldn't wrap my head around it.

PULL OF THE STARS by Emma Donoghue

Finished listening to this audiobook during dinner tonight. I give it 2 out of 5 stars. My impression going in was that the book was about the 1918 flu, but it's more about delivering babies in the beginning of the 20th century. Plus, the characters seemed two dimensional, and Donoghue's voice/tone didn't grab me.

WandaVision

I recently cancelled Disney+ after the end of The Mandalorian's second season, but they sucked me back in with all the good things I've been reading about WandaVision. Well worth the $70 (plus the upcoming Loki looks good too). After watching an episode a night, I'm now all caught up with WandaVision; episode 7 aired yesterday. Kinda wished I didn't hop on Twitter yesterday morning because one of the trending topics spoiled the ending. Another reason why social media sucks. . . .

Old Order

As I was trying to read War last weekend, New Order's "Shellshock" popped in my mind, so I read on Wikipedia that their "Thieves Like Us", an instrumental, was also in the film Pretty in Pink, but not on the soundtrack. Then I listened on YouTube to the 17-minute version of their "Elegia", and after reading about their discography on AllMusic, I picked up Power Corruption and Lies and Low-Life. Can't believe I didn't buy them as a teenager or in my twenties! I was always a passive fan of them growing up. Haven't listened to Low-Life yet, but I've listened to Power Corruption and Lies twice. Sounds like The Cure's Disintegration owes a debt to it. What I like about Power Corruption and Lies is it's not really a pop album with standout singles on it but a work of art where you need to listen to it in one sitting.

WAR: HOW CONFLICT SHAPED US by Margaret MacMillan

100 pages in and I'm giving up on this book. It's all over the place. I get the vibe she has all this research and just did a stream of consciousness with no real focus. Plus, the average page only has two paragraphs, which doesn't make for enjoyable reading.

L.A.

I had a playlist on my iTunes of Los Angeles songs but on Friday (today it's Monday) I was looking for it and couldn't find it archived on a CD or a screenshot of the playlist. Must have deleted it. So I recreated it. Kind of a blessing in disguise because I picked  Cilantro's “Hollywood Boulevards” in the past year. Though this time I didn't include Public Enemy's "Burn Hollywood Burn"or Brian Setzer Orchestra's "Hollywood Nocturne" because they're nice to listen occasionally but not regularly. I also left off  Mötley Crüe's "Girls, Girls, Girls", "T.N.T. (Terror n Tinseltown)", and "Dr. Feelgood" because there are already two songs by them and having five tunes would be too much Crüe. I'm still debating whether to leave off Hole's "Celebrity Skin" so the playlist is an even 30 songs, but it's such a great song!

Adolescents: “L.A. Girl”
Angry Samoans: “Carson Girls”
Art Brut: “Moving to L.A.”
Blink 182: “Los Angeles”
Church: “Bel-Air”
Cilantro: “Hollywood Boulevards”
Circle Jerks: “Beverly Hills”
Doors: “L.A. Woman”
Everclear: “Santa Monica”
Fixx: “No Hollywood Ending”
Flogging Molly: “Selfish Man in L.A.”
Go-Go’s: “Stuck in My Car”
Goo Goo Dolls: “On the Lie”
Guns N’ Roses: “Welcome to the Jungle”
Hex: “Hollywood in Winter”
Hole: “Celebrity Skin”
J Church: “Nostalgic for Nothing”
J Church: “Beverly Hills”
J Church: “L.A.”
J Church: “City of L.A.”
Mötley Crüe: “Down at the Whiskey”
Mötley Crüe: “Saints of Los Angeles”
999: “Signed Dangerous in Hollywood”
NOFX: “Green Corn”
NOFX: “El Lay”
Red Hot Chili Peppers: “Out in L.A.”
Strung Out: “Cemetery”
Supertramp: “Gone Hollywood”
Surfer Trot: “Santa Barbara”
Wang Chung: “To Live and Die in L.A.”
Frank & Moon Zappa: “Valley Girl”

This Must Be Maggie's Place

I have a $25 gift card for Barnes & Noble, so I went there yesterday morning to pick up Maggie O'Farrell's This Must Be the Place. I enjoyed Hamnet so much, hopefully this prior novel of hers is just as good. Of course, I have so many books in my TBR pile, who knows when I'll read it.

Junior-High Horror

Because I've been blogging about horror the past few days, thought I would post this. Book I bought around the age of 12 from the Scholastic Book Club at my grade school. Out of all the books I've lost, sold, or gave away, this one has stayed in my possession. I may only have one bookcase, but there will always be room for this paperback.

PAPERBACKS FROM HELL average

Because I reviewed Gwen, In Green the other day, I thought I would list all of the books I bought after reading Gary Hendrix's Paperbacks from Hell and my rating for each one:

• The Tribe by Bari Wood: 3 (started Dec. '19)
• The Other by Thomas Tryon: 1.5
• Satan’s Love Child by Brian McNaughton: 3
• Hell Hound by Ken Greenhall: 2
• Searing by John Coyne: 3
• Heads by David Osborn: 0 (didn’t finish)
• The Scourge by Nick Sharman: 2.5
• Brotherkind by J.N. Williamson: 2
• Nocturnal by Ken Eulo: 2
• Gwen, in Green by Hugh Zachary: 2.5

Average rating = 2.15 out of 5 stars

PRETEND IT'S A CITY

I started binging this limited series Saturday and finished it last night (Wed.). Fran Lebowitz is fascinating. On the surface she shouldn't be so entertaining, with comments like "I don't care about there being no water 2050 because I'll be dead by then." But her delivery is so charming, it's hard to hate her. Plus her intelligence and insights are something to be admired.

new blog

 I'm now blogging over at https://johnnyostentatious.com/blog

GWEN, IN GREEN by Hugh Zachary

Finished this paperback from 1974 last night. I give it 2.5 stars out of 5. Half-decent prose, but the sex felt like it was shoehorned into the plot. Plus, it read like a first draft that Zachary wrote without an outline.

Gwen, In Green was the 10th horror novel I bought after seeing it in Paperbacks in Hell. Probably one of the better ones I read. At least I finished it. . . .

Quip #3

The year 2021

Tattooed on my scrotum

(with apologies to Kiwi jr)

THE LIONS OF FIFTH AVENUE Fiona Davis

Finished reading this novel last night. I give it two out of five stars. The plotting was predictable and some of the dialogue was absurd. However, I did like learning about some historical figures from around 1915, like Frank Tannenbaum.

Brendan Kelly, Pick-Up Artist

I'm still working on The Road to the Skeleton Coast podcast. Over the weekend, I listened to episode 14, from the beginning of July. The Lawrence Arms' Brendan Kelly confessed that in his 20s (I'm assuming he was still in college), he was so broke, he'd go to gay bars, have guys buy him drinks, and hook up with women because of less competition. Fuckin' genius!

DRESDEN FILES

Finished watching it tonight. As good as I remembered it. A 2nd season would have been nice. Thanks, Sci-Fi Channel!