What I’ve Been Reading - January 2007

January 31, 2007

Books Bought/Received:
Three Days as the Crow Flies – Danny Simmons
Racing in the Street: The Bruce Springsteen Reader – June Skinner Sawyers (editor)
The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth – Chris Ware
Candide - Voltaire
What is the What – David Eggers

Books Read:
Notes from Underground (and Other Stories) - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - C. S. Lewis
The Tipping Point - Malcolm Gladwell
Oh Play that Thing - Roddy Doyle
Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth – Chris Ware
Candide – Voltaire

If I was one to believe in the “52 Books, 52 Weeks” meme that is currently cruising through the Interwebs, I’d be pretty happy with my start. Six books, one month. A pretty good rate, I’d say.

Of course, that takes into effect three things:
1. Three of the books were finished in less than three days.
2. One of the books was a graphic novel.
3. I still haven’t finished our Book Club book. You know – the one that I’m actually required to read.

Where did this sudden volume come from?

Well, it’s winter. And it’s cold. All we can do anymore is sit inside on the weekends and read. Football season is over, which is fine (not that I ever watched football, to tell you the truth) and basketball season is just barely kicking into high gear on free, no-cable television.

I consider it all a learning experience, really. I’ll admit – I’ve never been so prolific in my entire life. It’s kind of fun, actually. In fact, I’m knocking down The Essentials (now featured on the right at the bottom of the sidebar) at a much higher rate than first expected. In the meantime, a handful of lessons have presented themselves along the way.

Introductions are worth reading.
So here’s the deal. Dostoyevsky was part horrible man, part weird super-Christian. Voltaire fought every day of his life to see his works published, since most of them were banned and destroyed upon publication. I learned these things from reading (for once!) the introductions of their respective books: Notes from Underground and Candide. I usually skipped those introductions. Now I view them as a venerable well of knowledge.

Notes from Underground was written a few years after Dostoyevsky was sentenced to death. To death! Why? Because he spoke out. Because he was a dissident in Mother Russia and needed to be stopped.

He wasn’t killed. No – of course he wasn’t. He had three more monstrous, billion-page novels to write before he was ready to expire. But he was tortured, mentally, by the powers-that-be. From Andrew R. MacAndrew’s Afterword:

“On December 21, 1849, the prisoners were taken to a city square for public execution. The death sentence was read to them, they were given the cross to kiss, a sword was symbolically broken over their heads, and they were ordered to don special white shirts. They were to be shot three by three. The first three were bound to the execution posts. Dostoyevsky was the sixth in line – that is, he was to be executed in the second batch.

Suddenly the tsar’s messenger appeared on a foaming horse and announced that the tsar was graciously making them a present of their lives. There was a beating of drums. The retreat was sounded. The men already tied to the posts were untied and sent back to rejoin the others. Some prisoners fainted. Two went permanently insane. The effect on Dostoyevsky, too, was shattering. The epileptic fits to which he had been subject since his childhood became incomparably worse.”

Yikes. No thanks. No wonder he was such a jerk. And it shows – Notes from Underground follows a man who can’t relate to common practice – who isn’t comfortable around people, or in conversation, or with really anything. He’s a sad sad man, this character, one that delights in proving people wrong and berating the weak in an effort to feel a little bigger himself. He’s gross, really. It’s a fascinating read, especially after knowing what we know about Mr. D.

Now Voltaire, who spent most of his life both hiding and watching his manuscripts become banned goods shortly after publication, wasn’t quite as ugly. He just couldn’t catch a break, it seems, though not in the D.H. Lawrence vein (where lots of sexy-sexy-talkie made fundamentalists shiver) but more in his own counter-cultural vein. In other words, he was writing stuff that no one wanted out in the open. Stuff like criticism of world politics and the leaders that ruled over those politics.

Let’s just say he wasn’t the most popular man at dinner when the King called his literacy council together.

Candide was good, though I haven’t had much of a chance to soak it all in yet. It’s one of those books filled to the brim with symbolism and stuff, but it’s a symbolism that was better understood in the 1700s. So I should probably look that up.

The cover, however, was beautifully done, and was the sole reason I purchased the book (and the sole reason for its inclusion on The Essentials list). Created by Chris Ware, the cover of Candide quickly summarizes (in typical, humorous Chris Ware fashion) the first few chapters through comic brilliance. This brilliance includes a guide to the characters, a map, and a “fun and games” flap. It’s all done in Ware’s patented “minimalist, circle body” style – much like the McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern #13 cover that shows the history of comics. Which brings us to the next lesson.

Chris Ware is my favorite comic artist, ever.
Yeah. Along with Candide, I received Ware’s full length graphic novel, Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth (and, coincidentally, I also bought Dave Eggers’ What is the What in the same purchase – a trio worthy of the “greatest looking book purchase ever” moniker. The covers are magnificent).

It took me just a few days to read it. It was captivating. More to the point – it was incredibly sad and really quite depressing.

Ware tapped his own life story, somewhat, to tell a tale of loneliness and attempted forgiveness seen through the eyes of a 37 year old man-child – a mama’s boy that is emotionally stunted enough to be a hard worker, but an unskilled conversationalist. The man/boy – Jimmy Corrigan – decides to visit his father; a father he’s never met, mind you, and a father he’s never had contact with until a few days earlier.

What results is a beautiful romp through Jimmy Corrigan’s discovery. Ware’s style – lots of little boxes, lots of dream sequences and lots of raw emotion and awkward silences – captures the feeling of loneliness that both father and son exhibit toward each other. They both want to impress the other. But they don’t know how. And it feels like time is slipping away. It’s rather emotional, but it hits in weird spots. I daresay I nearly got a little choked up near the end. I felt that bad for the damned guy.

Finally, one last lesson:

Sometimes, too many books lead to an extended, unreadable monthly review.
It’s true. Take this one, for example. So, a quick summary (in classy, advertising-friendly, bullet point style) of everything else I read with a few comments thrown in for good measure:
• Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point was much more interesting that I initially gave it credit for. And, it had the added bonus of coming in handy a few days later at work, when I had to explain the Tipping Point concept (wherein a critical mass is reached and everything starts flowing in an opposite direction).
• Highly anticipated books never fail to arrive at least a month after you order them. My “greatest looking book purchase ever” showed up just a few days ago. It was purchased around Christmas. Boooo.
• Oh Play That Thing continued the story left off in Roddy Doyle’s A Star Called Henry. This time, Henry is in the United States, constantly shuttling from one “mobster-ized” environment to another. While he’s at it, he is actively pissing people off and nearly getting killed in the process. Really, though, he can’t help himself – he’s addicted to running: to shunning his family and sleeping around and playing up the mystery that he has brought with him since his troubles in Ireland. It is worth reading for Henry’s friendship with Louis Armstrong alone. It’s a good look at the speak-easy era of early 20th Century Chicago, just like A Star Called Henry was a good look at the Sinn Fein era of Ireland.
• It’s incredibly easy to put off reading a book club book. After all, it’s as close to homework as I get at my age, so it can be forgiven, right? We bought The Handmaid’s Tale. I need to read it by Monday. There’s nothing like reading under the gun.
• The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a great children’s book that I had never read until this month. It took me about two days. If you haven’t read it, you should. It won’t take you very long, and it’s wonderfully written.

And that’s it. Now leave me be. I’ve got four days to read a classic.

Tags: What I've Been Reading, Books, Literature |

Comment

Would you like fries with that?

January 31, 2007

I’m torn, really.

As someone in the advertising business – someone that seeks new and innovative ways of selling someone else’s candy bars – I respect a clever application.

On the other hand, as someone who believes in the integrity of a newspaper, I don’t want to see the copy cluttered with sales pitches. I don’t trust ads that could compromise the journalistic nature of the newspaper.

Like these ads for McDonalds. The newspaper copy has been altered, color-wise, to become part of the ad. The content is unchanged, aside from hue. It’s a pretty cool idea. So, with that, I applaud the design.

(click for larger image)

From advertising for peanuts:

These McDonald’s ads were embedded into the editorial of a Canadian newspaper by changing the color of the text. Perfect execution by Cossette Atlantic/Canada. Simple, but I’m sure hard to pull off. While this approach succeeds in cutting through the current clutter, and while its novelty might make the consumer “smile” (for now), I have to wonder what kind of backlash we will see when newspapers, magazines, movies, music, video games and all forms of media become just part of another ad. Oh wait, we might have already reached that point.

I, too, shake my head at what could be a scary future. Newspapers need more and more to boost sales. How much more compromise will be seen? How long until these newspapers are nothing more than vessels for advertisements – a publication run by corporations, not a paper run by journalistic integrity? How long until big companies simply drop the middle man and purchase the newspapers themselves – allowing a free pass to advertise in any way they please?

I’m getting ahead of myself, really. Let’s not put the tin-foil hats on in anticipation of enemy invasion just yet. But keep on the lookout – the blurring, as advertising for peanuts notes, may already be here.

Kudos to McDonalds, their creative team, and the newspaper group that pushed this through.

Just be careful. Just be careful.

Tags: Advertising/Marketing, Journalism |

2 Comments

New Orleans - the ultimate branding call

January 29, 2007

(This post is simulcast at the HenkinSchultz company blog: Post Haste)

It’s been over three years since I’ve visited New Orleans.

My wife and I went for our honeymoon. We had a blast. We fell in love with the city, reveling in its spirit and individuality. Nothing could bring New Orleans down. Nothing at all. It was untouchable – a solid force spewing out originality and style without fail, every hour, 365 days a year.

But something did bring it down.

For years, New Orleans was kept alive through tourism. It’s known as one of the universal party spots, much like Las Vegas, but with the added benefit of hundreds of years of interesting history and cultural power. You’d be hard pressed to find a city that can consider its connections as far ranging as Napoleon and Louis Armstrong.

That tourism, and the $5.5 billion that it brought in, was the lifeblood of New Orleans’ culture. It was a city always on display, always willing to show a little more and go a little further. Without tourism, New Orleans is just another southern city by the Sea.

Since Katrina, that tourism is down considerably. That’s pretty obvious, actually. People aren’t going as often. And really, who could blame them?

What can save New Orleans?

The perceived solution, it seems, is to advertise. Show New Orleans in a new light. Remind people of the city’s heyday, when beads flowed like water and fun sprung from every corner. Poke a little fun at the city and drive those fun loving tourists back into the French Quarter.

From the MSNBC article comes a few copy ideas:

One of the ads, to be used in outdoor and print campaigns, features an interior shot of the city’s Aquarium of the Americas with the caption, “This is the only part of New Orleans that is still underwater.”

Another series of images, including partiers on Bourbon Street and a chef kissing a fish, carry the message, “New Orleans is open — to just about anything.”

Funny. Clever. I like it. But can it work?

Personally, I’d love to go back. For all of the hardship still occurring in New Orleans, the tourism friendly parts of the city are up and running again, ready to receive tourism dollars. The shopkeepers and restaurateurs are ready to get the city’s budget back on track.

But I’m willing to guess that a large portion of the nation still sees New Orleans as they did on Aug. 29, 2005; torn apart and afloat - barely holding on, really, to the history that created it.

Many people still think New Orleans is barely alive. And I think it’s going to take more than some funny ads to make them think otherwise, obviously. But it’s a start. This is an endeavor that will take years – decades, I’d bet. Negative publicity, even if it’s without fault, is difficult to overcome.

All the television spots and newspaper ads in the world can’t bring New Orleans back to the forefront of convention booking and Spring Break tourism. There’s only one thing that will make people forget the tragedy and accept the fact that New Orleans is back:

Time.

Tags: Advertising/Marketing, Travel |

2 Comments

My new friend Mark

January 28, 2007

Okay. I’m not going to continue clogging BMOWP with 419 scammers. It’s a field already expertly tackled by 419 Eaters, though I do feel that, with my short career at the local Relay center, I’m already trained in the subtle nuances of Nigerian (and, of course, Ghanaian) scammers. After all - we saw quite a few of them come through.

But I’ve been getting e-mails from Mark Green Apke. He’s my new friend - a Nigerian scammer that wants to get me involved in a beneficiary account, or something. I’ve posted one of these e-mails (my very first scammer, actually) on BMOWP a few weeks ago. But this guy is persistent. And I’m going to play along.
Here is the first e-mail.

From: Mr Mark Green Akpe,
Manager International commercial Bank
Kaneshie-First light Branch,
Accra- Ghana.

Attention :Corey,

My name is Mark Green Akpe, I am the regional manager of the International Commercial Bank of Ghana First light kaneshie Branch Accra Ghana. I got your information during my search through the Internet. I am 44years of age and married with 3 lovely kids. It may interest you to hear that I am a man of PEACE and don’t want problem, I only hope we can assist each other.

I have packaged a financial transaction that will benefit both of us, as the regional manager of the International Commercial Bank; it is my duty to send in a financial report to my head office in the capital city Accra at the end of each year. On the course of the last year 2006 end of year report, I discovered that my branch in which I am the manager made Four million seven hundred fifty thousand dollars [$4,750.000.00] which my head office are not aware of and will never be aware of. I have since place this fund on what we call SUSPENSE ACCOUNT without any beneficiary.

As an officer of the bank I can not be directly connected to this money, so this informed my contacting you for us to work so that you can assist receive this money into your bank account for us to SHARE. While you will have 30% of the total fund.

Note there are practically no risk involved, it will be bank to bank transfer, all I need from you is to stand claim as the original depositor of this fund who made the deposit with our branch so that my Head office can order the transfer to your designated bank account. If you accept this offer to work with me, I will appreciate it very much. As soon as I receive your response I will details you on how we can achieve it successfully.

Best regards,

Mr. Mark Green Akpe

So this guy wants me to help him steal money from a bank. This is different. I’m used one of the following:
-Orphaned children need money! For shoes/soccer balls/medicine!
-We’ve found a large inheritance with no beneficiary! It can be yours for a small fee!
-I would like to buy 300 copies of Bill Clinton’s My Life! Run my credit card now!

So this is even more peculiar. Either this is a very new scheme, or this guy is very inexperienced. He’s narrowing his target to people that would willingly take stolen money - not tugging at heartstrings, but poking at vices.

I sent a response, looking for details.

Prove it.

CWV

To which I received the following - an e-mail, complete with an awesome facsimile of his “bank ID.”

Dear Corey,

Thanks for yor email response to me, i am most grateful that you took your time to pick an interest to assist me,before i give to you the full details of the transaction,i will like you to sleep over this proposal as i am very sure of the immediate consumation and successful conclusion of this business deal.

I will also assure you that this transaction is 100% risk free but requuires absolute confidentiality and trust.

How ever attached is my working ID card.
Thanks,
Mark Green Akpe

Of course, I didn’t respond for a while. Why should I? After all, I was “sleep over” the proposal. I needed to soak it all in. My very own scammer! And I could play along and screw with his mind! It’s as if I’m a member of 419 Eater!

Waiting for a reply, “Mark” sent me this:

Dear Corey,

I have sent to you an email yesterday and have not heard from you, please acknowledge my email and ascertain your stand in assisting me towards accomplishing the project.

Immediately I hear from you, I will inform you of all necessary details and procedure as I have outlined an already made plan for a successful conclusion.

I am still waiting.
Peace.

Mark

Oh no! It’s slipping away.

I need to know the hook. How will this hair brained scheme work? He’s already admitted to, in essence, stealing 4.5 million dollars. So how will he manage to get any money out of me?

For now, I’m playing dumb. My response:

Hmm. Sounds interesting.

I’m concerned about the legality of this. You’ve stolen this money, haven’t you? What if the police find you? Won’t I be locked up forever?

I think I should have an equal stake in this. Give me 50%.

But first, let me know how we do it.

CWV

So now, I wait for a response. And, so shall you. I know that these scammers work quickly - they try to convince the stupidest and most naive of us to act before we figure out what’s really going on. This is a new one, though - a bank officer admitting to fraud, asking me to be associated with fraud, instead of a dying beneficiary or orphaned children.

In the meantime, check out 419 Eater, and revel in the scamming of scammers.

Tags: Mark Green Apke |

3 Comments

Steinbeck on Random - 1.26.07

January 26, 2007

1. Atmosphere – “Jackpot/Swept Away”
Headshots:Se7en

No, I don’t have as many Atmosphere songs on Steinbeck as it appears. It just seems that whenever I shuffle it up for Random day, Atmosphere shows up, often with a song I’ve never heard before (or one that I don’t like).

I ended the December 11th Steinbeck on Random with Atmosphere, and I start the January 26th right where I left off – this time with a song off of the Headshots:Se7en album, which is an album of random mix tape songs or something. I dunno.

What I DO know is this: I hate when people spell “seven” with a numeral in place of the “v.” It’s dumb. It was clever when they used it for the first time in the Brad Pitt/Kevin Spacey film. It’s not anymore.

2. Tool – “Disposition”
Lateralus

I was at the peak of my Tool fandom when Lateralus came out, deeply entrenched in the brilliance of Ænima and all that it offered. I found Lateralus to be a disappointment – not because it was bad, but because it wasn’t Ænima. We’ve all gone through this, right? It happened with Radiohead’s Kid A – it was good, but it wasn’t OK Computer.

Of course, I never really cared for this song even when I did come to terms with the album. It’s too quiet – too “blah.” I want crazy drums and chunka-chunka and weird, introspective lyrics. Not naptime with Maynard.

3. Built to Spill – “Car”
There’s Nothing Wrong with Love

Well, duh. This is, like, one of the best songs ever. A Built to Spill classic, from the album that really positioned the band as an indie rock juggernaught.

Quick trivia: “Car” was the only “older” Built to Spill song included on their live album, Live. It’s that good.

4. Piebald – “Dirty Harry and the Thunderbolts”
If It Weren’t For Venetian Blinds, It Would Be Curtains For Us All

Oh Piebald. You and your quirky album titles and references to Naked Gun, Part 3 (which, I’ll have you know, was actually called Naked Gun 33 1/3. Big difference, Piebald.)

It never fails, when I hear Piebald, I say to myself, “This band is cute. They are funny and quirky and totally fun.” Then I stop taking them seriously and switch to another song. Just like I’d do with Architecture in Helsinki or P.E.E.

5. Piebald – “Rules for Mules”
If It Weren’t For Venetian Blinds, It Would Be Curtains For Us All

Uh. Didn’t we just hear this?

Okay, new iPod operating program. We need to talk.

Why have you started doing this? I have no problem with the Smart Shuffle feature, as your big brother iTunes calls it. Unfortunately, you seem to do this without any prompting. It happens at least once every time I shuffle your 7488 songs, and it’s always within the first 30 songs. You place two songs from the same album next to each other – a gentle poke at the effectiveness of the Shuffle feature.

It wouldn’t bother me, except it seems so random itself. Imagine thirty songs, all in a row on Shuffle. Twenty-eight of those songs will be completely random – from country to hip-hop to the indie darling of the week. But then, hidden in the midst of the randomness, is a pair you forgot to shuffle – two in a row from Billy Bragg’s B-sides collection, or two Beastie Boys songs from Hello Nasty.

I just want to know why you keep doing this.

6. The Decemberists – “My Mother Was a Chinese Trapeze Artist”
Five Songs

Songs from The Decemberists belong in two groups: songs I don’t really care about, and songs that tell an amazing, folkloric tale that is both captivating and beautiful.

This song fits into that second group. It’s the charm behind Colin Malloy’s pretentious, yet brilliant, wordplay. This is why I love the band.

7. Leadbelly – “Easy Rider”
Borgeois Blues

Whenever I listen to Leadbelly, I feel like I’m being transported back to the 1930s, when records were scratchy and digital re-mastering was still 55 years in the future. There’s an element of time travel involved in listening to these recordings. It’s strangely exhilarating.

I find this same feeling comes up whenever Woody Guthrie slots in. The somewhat poor quality gives it a human quality – one that makes the lyrics seem more real – more urgent and timely. These are the voices of the Depression, of World War II, of the quiet post-War era. And they’re being brought to us in the same way that they were recorded, as if they were created to be a time capsule in addition to their function as musical thought.

I’d take these recordings over any re-mastered, glossed up train wreck any day.

8. The Beatles – “I Am the Walrus”
1967-1970

Dear Fans,

John and I were talking the other day. We have come to the conclusion that most of you are taking us too seriously. I’m currently fascinated with the avant-garde movement, and John is becoming more political – yes, this is true. But the recent hubbub over our latest song, “I Am the Walrus,” is really too much.

I am not dead. We’re just on a lot of drugs. Please don’t read too much into it. Hell, we even let Ringo sing a song.

With love,
Paul

(With thanks to Bill Hicks for the Ringo joke.)

9. Sage Francis – “Eye of the Tiger”
Still Sick: Urine Trouble

Bare bones stuff from Sage Francis, who has lost a lot of stock in the past few months because, well, I’m tired of him showing up on my Shuffle. He’s fine. But, you know, whatever. I’m tired of him right now.

10. Air – “Cherry Blossom Girl”
Talkie Walkie

This, like most Air songs, is a tripped out, female vocalized song that seems comfortable in the background of a foreign language film. You know, at the part where the sultry French woman looks longingly over at the sophisticated Italian gentleman, blowing smoke rings through her nose. She then slowly pulls out a gun, shooting her supposed beau in the heart, thus ending any romance that could have been kindled.

Well. Maybe that’s too much. But it does sound like foreign film music.

Tags: Steinbeck on Random, Music |