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From: Gurj Bassi
Sent: Mar 31, 2008 7:16 AM (!!!)
Subject: luv is a muxtape
Hi!
I’m geeking out over muxtape.com
Here’s my first playlist.
Send me your link if you make one :]
Enjoy!
While my contributor bio for this site clearly states “not-so-secret nerd”, up till now I’ve managed to keep my Popserious posts relatively nerd-free. However, having been given free rein (of sorts) to start posting about comics and things, let’s call this the start of the downward slide… I’ll ease you into it, never fear.
If you read Faran’s Lit Snit post the other day, you may have seen my impassioned defence of The Princess Bride (book) in the comments section: “I am a big screaming fangirl, forcing copies onto all my friends, kind of person when it comes to the book”. It’s true, I am and I do. There are certain books that I get like this about, that I am so gleefully passionate about that I just want everyone to read – with the main offenders being The Princess Bride, His Dark Materials Trilogy, The Moviegoer, and the Scott Pilgrim series, starting with volume 1, Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life. And here’s where I go all screaming fangirl again.
Scott Pilgrim rules. He has an awesome life. As the title suggests, there’s “precious little” to it: he hangs out, he plays bass in his band Sex Bob-omb, he dates high schooler Knives Chau, he hangs out some more. He’s between jobs. So far, so typical slacker type story. Then mysterious Amazon.ca delivery girl Ramona Flowers [“Doesn’t she have the most ridiculous name?” “I know, it’s so Ramona Quimby, Age 8. And yet… Flowers.”] rollerblades into his life, with her ever-changing hairstyles and seven evil ex-boyfriends, and everything changes: slacker becomes Super Mario with kung-fu moves.
There’s little to fault here. The tone, the dialogue, the humour (some genuine LOL moments), the manga-style artwork (I’m not a manga reader; don’t let the style put you off), the music references – it feels like these could be your friends, people you know.
Created by Canadian mastermind, Bryan Lee O’Malley, the film rights have been optioned by Universal: Edgar Wright (Spaced, Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz. Totally awesome) will direct, and Michael Cera (Arrested Development, Superbad, Juno) has been confirmed to play Scott. Now, I love Michael Cera. He’s definitely on my Inappropriate and/or Underage Crushes List™ (he falls into the latter category). I’m just not quite sold on him as Scott Pilgrim yet. But if George Michael can become a bit more chilled out, badass and confident, I am willing and more than happy to be proved wrong.
After borrowing volumes 1 [SP’s Precious Little Life] and 2 [Scott Pilgrim Versus The World] from my local library, reading them both in one sitting (frequently laughing out loud), I ran straight out and bought my own copies, plus volume 3 [Scott Pilgrim & The Infinite Sadness]. Then bought copies for people I thought would like it/should read it. Then waited impatiently for volume 4 [Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together] (even more impatiently when half the comic stores in London sold out the day it was released. Some kind soul took pity on the lack of stock in the Smoke and sent me a copy for Christmas in the end).
I more than encourage you to track these books down – library, store (aim for the smaller comic book retailers, eh? Support your local indie store! NY has some great comic shops), borrow a friend’s – just read it. As the tag on the back of bo
ok one says: “You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. This is Scott Pilgrim. This is your life.”
Images copyright Bryan Lee O’Malley & Oni Press.
Sunday Brunch.
That’s all.
Le Pain Quotidien
Located all around the world and all over NYC.
EAT THIS: Coffee. Breads. And spreads.
I noticed a rather strange letter sitting at the front desk of my office today. While the name and street adress look similiar to where I work. i realized somehow the post office mistook our 42/43rd st address and name of company with that of the Moma, located on 53rd street adress. I got a kick out of it as it seemed to odd to mis deliver a letter by 10 blocks.
Then to further astonish me, I saw who sent the letter. Apparently inmate 09815-065 from an unnamed federal correctional institution. My interest reached an all out frenzy. I took the letter back to my office and have stared at it for some time now. I don’t really want to open it out of respect for the privacy of the person who sent it. But what if he’s some crazy child rapist or a murder? What types of things would he write to the Moma? I broke out in a full sweat thinking about how ghoulishly interesting it could all be. Of course, It could also be rather boring questions, comments, positions, etc.
It’s making me crazy. I’ve gone ahead put a “please forward” on the envelope, but am finding it difficult to part with my new cherished item. I mean, I won’t open it, I’m pretty sure, I’m just going to look at it and dream up crazy ideas of what may be inside.
Oh well, my better side gets to me. I’m dropping it in the mail on my way out.
OMG. World, meet the “Batter Blaster“.
“The contents are pressurized and the can has a nozzle similar to a whipped cream can, which can unleash artistic aspirations in the way of animal, geometric and letter-shaped pancakes.”
Hi guys, since both me and Jen have been beaten into submission by work this week, I will be skipping the crowded planet series. In its place, one of our readers, Michelle, kindly sent me something interesting (hold on to your pantaloons) to write about.
Here’s part of her email:
“I wanted to see if this would be of interest to you. We have just shot a fashion dinner party art film in fashion icon, Zandra Rhodes’ penthouse in London. It was hosted by Natt Weller, (son of the Modfather Paul Weller) and featured characters including Marios Schwab, Zandra herself, musician Bishi and famous surreal artist Andrew Logan amongst others. The film was shot by amazing new photographer Ben Charles Edwards who is known for capturing the bizarre world of Jodie Harsh and creating surreal out of this world images.”
I frikkin love Ben’s website. You should have to pay admission to go in there.
*His work will be featured at the Museum for Contemporary Art in Moscow.
…now i’m going to go have some very strange dreams.
My dad was drafted to Vietnam in the ’60s.
He didn’t want to go, but he was poor and had no way out of it.
It was when the Army was still (quietly) segregated, and since he came from the Bronx ghetto, he was put in a unit with a bunch of boys from a depressed rural area of the Deep South. They had never seen a bagel before and never met a Jew, but they became his brothers.
Over the next two years, my dad secretly took photos of every aspect of his Vietnam “adventure” - the combat, the cities, the friendships, the dead. I don’t think he saw any Napalm, but there were bombs and guns and also some cute spider monkeys that lived in his tent.
We don’t speak too much about my dad’s experiences, but I have no doubt they were formative for him, and slightly confusing. He’s turned them into an art show in Massachusetts - if you’re in the Boston area, you should absolutely go. My dad is goofy and silly and weird, but he’s also a really great photographer. Here’s his first piece of press for the show! I am so proud!
PS - Here’s photos of my dad, with our favorite war protester Jordan Silver, in NYC last year.
Last night I hung out with two of my favorite authors - Salman Rushdie and Suketu Mehta - as we celebrated our lovely friend Suphala’s birthday. Salman told us that in the original Wizard of Oz book Dorothy actually had silver shoes - not red.(Suphala was wearing awesome silver shoes which is what sparked this discussion)
Anyway, I realized that Suketu’s book Maximum City was one of the few books that I’ve read in the last few years. And I’m kinda mad at myself for not reading more.
I used to read voraciously as a kid- devouring two books at a time, and I had a whole wall in my room dedicated to my books. I had every Enid Blyton ever published - from the Famous Five to Mallory Towers (which inspired me to go to boarding school). My world was influenced by what I read - from Hercule Poirot’s world of suspense to experiencing American teenage angst through Judy Blume. On camping trips in Oman I was known to have my nose buried deep in a book.
Fast forward to today where I read a book every few months, if I can. I just read the Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar (and that’s only because Sharp Independent Films sent it to me to read for a film project) and I skimmed through G.B. Shaw’s short play Heartbreak House last month- out of choice at least.
What are some of your favorite must-reads for 2008? I really need to restock my bookshelf in NYC - or at least start one - And I could definitely use some suggestions.
