T-shirt #169 - Space Ghost Coast-to-Coast Brown

T-shirt #169 - Space Ghost Coast-to-Coast Brown

Today's T-shirt is another filler, which I am using just to post a shirt and will then veer off into other topics. In all, I have THREE Space Ghost shirts. By far, this is the most comfy. I already went on lovingly, about Space Ghost in T-shirt #69. My full Space Ghost love letter is yet to come when I render my post for my third and final (as of this writing) Space Ghost T-shirt.

A round-up of stuff today.
First up, it's mail call time.

Look at what arrived the mail the other day. Kickstarter dreams do come true.

I owe Warren Ellis (whom I have blogged about many times, but notably in T-shirt #75 and T-shirt #22 ) for turning me on to the music of Meredith Yayanos and her Kickstarter project, which has now reached its fruition, the completion of the musical piece entitled A Blessed Unrest from a duet (with Dan Cantrell) calling itself The Parlour Trick (and that there is the link, yup).


THE PARLOUR TRICK

This is the text from The Parlour Trick site about the project: "The Parlour Trick’s first full-length release, A Blessed Unrest, is named after a well-loved quote by Martha Graham. Creatively and thematically, this album is very much a “Madwoman in the Attic” affair. Some of the compositions are dense and meticulously arranged. Others are more sparse, ambient soundscapes. Instrumentation includes piano, violin, harpsichord, theremin, voice, celeste, percussion, bowed glockenspiel, accordion, bells, musical saw, an ancient wheezing pump organ, a nonagenarian typewriter, and cutups from wax cylinders (both freshly recorded or repurposed). Ninety-five percent of the material was recorded in a century-old Craftsman house, including ambient recordings of creaks, groaning floorboards, mysterious knocks and rustles. Both ultra-modern binaural recording techniques and antique devices were used to piece it all together."

I also LOVE how Meredith Yayanos describes her own predilections: "Violinist, thereminist and vocalist Yayanos created The Parlour Trick music project in 2006 after being inspired by some of the creepier and more dysfunctional aspects of Victoriana. Her work is informed by a lifelong study of classical, folk, and experimental music.... In her compositions and arrangements for The Parlour Trick, Yayanos experiments with fusing modern classical, varied folk traditions, and aggro-ambient palettes. The loose narrative of The Parlour Trick’s first album A Blessed Unrest was inspired by Yayanos’ fascination with 19th century concepts of the afterlife, mourning rituals, and can be considered a kind of creative response to outmoded perceptions of female hysteria. Many of the pieces composed or co-composed by Yayanos are conscious riffs off (t)rappings of Spiritualism and lingering concepts of the “monstrous feminine”. Yayanos began collaborating on material with A Blessed Unrest duo partner Dan Cantrell in early 2009."

Check out one of the tracks on the The Parlour Trick site or the cool video (on Vimeo) of the same track as danced by Rachel Brice.

If the subject matter, the "Madwoman in the Attic" thing, the Victoriana thing, if that sounds good, then you will like the music. Trust me.

You can buy the album from the site. The Kickstarter is over, but the album is available for download.

VIDEO of "Half Sick of Shadows" danced by Rachel Brice

FUN WITH ERNEST CLINE

I love the inter-connectedness of social media. I turned on a friend to Ernest Cline's wonderful book Ready Player One, and he in turn, shared with me this wonderful interview with the author.

I wrote about Ready Player One in T-shirt #107 and oh so briefly mentioned in T-shirt #61.

ERNEST CLINE INTERVIEW

Ernest Cline interview Ready Player One

Ernie Cline gave away a DeLorean like the one in Back to the Future! Though it's not a replica.
It's the ECTO88: "What if Doctor Emmett Brown and Dr. Buckaroo Banzai collaborated
with Knight Industries to create a unique inter-dimensional
time vehicle for the Ghostbusters?" ( ERNEST CLINE)

Ernest Cline - Win a DeLorean - Comic-con 2012

Apparently, it's done. He gave it away.

DELOREAN GIVE AWAY

Also check out his website: ERNEST CLINE.

STOP THE KILLING IN SYRIA

I know I do not need to tell any of you that things are terrible in Syria. I steer clear of politics for the most part on this blog. If anything, this blog is more about escapism, escape from these kinds of horrors in the world. However, with the recent use of chemical weapons on the people of Syria, many of them children, it's time that the international community no longer sits in the side lines.

Citizens can do a lot with their support. Here's one thing.

LINK TO PETITION TO STOP THE KILLING IN SYRIA

CITY OF BONES BOOK REVIEW

I just finished reading The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones by Cassandra Clare, and I was unimpressed. I chose the book and its audio edition to read (listen to) prior to the release of the film, which is now considered a flop at the box office. I can see why. The book is not the single worst thing I have ever read, but it's really not very good. Because of the strength of the audio narration and the story, I stayed just interested enough to keep listening to the fourteen-plus hours of audio book. But then, I like listening to books that are not very good because it is instructive for what I do not want to do with my own writing.

City of Bones joins the glut of supernatural YA novels that over-burdens the market since the success of books like Twilight and The Hunger Games. Not that this book is appreciably better than either of those, but that's just the point, it's not better. The premise is mildly interesting, but it is not well-explored. In the book's world, there are specially trained "Shadow Hunters," who kill demons and protect "mundies" in the "mundane world" from their evil. These Shadow Hunters come from some mythical and magical land called Idris, which can only be visited through magic portals. A young girl, Clary Fray, a presumed Mundy, though she isn't, gets caught up in this Shadow World in the quest for The Mortal Cup, which is sought by the villain Valentine, who turns out to be her father--quite obviously. There are some mildly interesting twists and turns in the story, but the author tips her hand to all of them before the characters catch on, so that when they do, the impact falls flat.

In fact, lack of proper set up and delivery is the book's greatest problem. The author keeps her characters in the dark too long about stuff that has become painfully obvious to the readers, and then she tries to make a dramatic reveal in which the characters catch on, which only makes them seem exceedingly stupid and the story over-long and hackneyed.

If you are in the market for an uneventful, cliched romp through half-baked ideas about demons, angels, vampires, werewolves, magic lands, and rune-spell-casting try this one, but I recommend the audio edition. Listen to it on a long road trip, while gardening, or even while sleeping. Otherwise, skip it.

PHOTO GALLERY OF OPENING MY MAIL
I close today with a series of photos of me excitedly opening my package from Meredith Yayanos and The Parlour Trick. Enjoy.

Opening the package of the CD and post cards

Contents of the package

Opening the tri-fold CD case

More CD case

Back of the CD

- chris tower - 1309.06 - 9:17