Stalking the catalogue: Cadillac dreams

"It started with Graceland."
- Phil Gifford

Every great adventure should start with a quote a little something like the one above.  Our catalogue synopsis doesn't even begin to do this book justice - in fact, it does more of a disservice than anything else.

This is going to suck as a 'stalking the catalogue' post because it's going to ramble. (Yeah, like every other post I write).

I loved it. Yeah, I know, I almost always say that about books but this one really struck a chord. Possibly because Phil and wife and friends visited the parts of Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi and Tennessee that I'd wanted to see but didn't have the time when I was there. What also comes through is their genuine love of music and people. Four friends decide to take a trip to the US and check out the places that were home to music styles and musicians that meant so much to them growing up. It could have been hokey. In fact some part of me was quite scared it would be. What else am I supposed to expect of someone who WANTED to visit Dollywood ON PURPOSE, for crying out loud? But it wasn't - it was fun, lighthearted, serious, a social commentary, engaging, very informative and, at all times, highly entertaining.

In my mind, the mark of a great book is something that moves you - to laughter, to tears, to anger, to disgust - to anything. I want to take Gifford's trip, now. I want to visit the Alamo, I want to see more bars on Beale St (instead of just poking my head into B. B. King's bar), I want to redo the Rock and Soul Museum, I want to hear bluegrass music played in Mississippi or Tennessee (although preferably Kentucky). Even more, I want to have the same varied range of conversations that they had. Maybe that, too is the mark of a good book. An added bonus was that I learnt so much about Gifford the man. For years I'd always just thought of him as Loosehead Len - thanks to dad I grew up listening to his sports broadcasts/reading his newspaper articles. My dad really respected his opinion. But I never knew that he had been the kinda journalist who interviewed musicians. And not tinpot musos (although maybe those too) but freakin' artists like B. B. King, Jerry Lee Lewis, and so many more my head spins just thinking about it. I was mightily impressed. Not just because he spoke to them but because he KNEW their music, FELT their music, UNDERSTOOD their music. It wasn't just words. He got it, and because he writes so well, I got it, too.

A smidgeon of it, but I got it.

Title: Cadillac dreams : Baby booming across the Southern States
Author: Phil Gifford
Published: Wilson Scott Pub., c2006

This Month I'm Loving...

The warmer weather and the smell of spring flowers in the air.

Spring is one of my favourite times of the year and what better way to enjoy it than by discovering a wealth of new and wonderful things for me to indulge in.  As usual in my normal obsessive way, I've become addicted to a new TV show and some new music. All of which I have added to my already massive list of things I'm addicted to.

Suits

I *adore* this show. It has become my new obsession over the past few weeks and I have been marathoning it like madly.  It's a bit like White Collar meets Boston Legal with a slightly more cut throat edge to it.

It also has Harvey Specter.  A man with a gravelling voice. He also has moles (and my TW cohorts know what this means) and wears designer suits and has the whole bad boy vibe going for him.  You just knew that I was going to be fan just for him alone. The fact that it's a great show with some great 50's and 60's jazz, blues and soul music just makes it all the better

Oh Land 

A Danish singer/songwriter who lives in the US, Oh Land is a recent and accidental discovery for me, courtesy once again of the YouTube sidebar - which is my bestest friend as far as finding music and a whole lot of other interesting things.

Best describe as a boppy and catchy Bjork, my current two favourites of hers are Sun of a Gun and White Nights

Night visions / Imagine Dragons

Just as YouTube's sidebar is my bestest friend, Amazon's lists of music and artists to watch out for is probably my second best friend in terms of finding great music to listen to.

Just listening to this album it is easy to see why they won Rock Song of the Year at this year's Teen Choice awards. My personal favourite is Working Man which I've been playing constantly.

Secondhand rapture / MS MR

I've been waiting for this album ever since I heard the song Bones on the season 3 trailer for Game of Thrones at the end of last year.

A versatile duo, each song of this album is different and shows just how talented they are.

Along with Bones, an epic, lyrical song that was just so suited for the Game of Thrones trailer, my other favourite is Salty Sweet, a modern jazz/pop song.

The maze runner / James Dashner

 Like many I can hardly wait for the release of this film but until then this and the other books in the series will have to do.

I actually read this, the first book, when it first came out.  Now though I have finally gotten around to getting the other books in the series and am reading it again.

Futuristic dystopia, this is exactly my kind of book.

It's exciting stuff and if f you haven't read it and the rest in the series I highly recommend that you do - at least before the demand for it sky rockets.
 

And for those of us who are waiting for the film's release in Feb here is a picture of the main star Dylan O'Brien, better known as Stiles in Teen Wolf (and yes that's another show that I'm highly addicted to and that you just have to watch).

Guilty pleasures

Matt Tebbutt's guilty pleasures : your favourite indulgences in 130 easy recipes

I wasn't that interested in this book until I flicked through and saw a recipe for Marmite potatoes. MARMITE POTATOES! Oh my gosh, even typing the words makes me hungry. After that I had to know what other genius ideas this guy had come up with. Each chapter has a different 'guilty pleasure' theme including:

Peanut butter

Cream cheese

Cola and lemonade

Marmite

White bread

 Booze

Personally I find the idea of guilty pleasures kind of pathetic. Unless your guilty pleasure is secretly filming women in bathrooms I think you're okay. Particularly if your guilty pleasure is liking the new Katy Perry song or eating bread. You should never feel guilty about bread.

I can't wait to make and devour those Marmite potatoes and try out some of the other delicious recipes too. 

I can't believe this is happening

Or Documentaries that'll open your mind without stretching your brain.

Not quite sure when watching documentaries became socially acceptable, rather than something only bereted and be-scarfed New York tri-hards and your dad did. Maybe it was when Big Brother and Survivor became acceptable forms of entertainment. After all, they're not scripted or directed at all. Right?

Ahahahahaha, I am witty.

Anyway, there are some really great-sounding films or series out there that are - at least supposed to be - completely factual. Here are some highlights.

Imposter
I couldn't believe this was real when I heard about it. A 13-year-old boy is kidnapped from his home in America, and disappears for three and a half years. Then he pops up again, and his family welcomes him back with open arms. Even though he is pretty obviously not from America, or in fact, their child. What would motivate someone to pretend to be someone else's child, and - to my mind, more importantly - why on Earth would the family go along with it? Mind you, The Simpsons got there first with Principal Skinner.

Project Nim
In the 1970s, they conducted experiments to see if they could teach a chimp to talk and behave like a human. This film is the result. The packet says: "What we learn about his true nature - and indeed our own - is comic, revealing and profoundly unsettling."

First Position
Think Fame or Spellbound for ballet dancers. How far will kids go to win a prestigious dancing award? Once you've watched this, have some fun and watch the mockumentary version, Razzle Dazzle.

Civilization
We're all doomed. DOOMED! Apparently. Niall Ferguson takes us through the rise - and he says, the fall - of western civilisation, explaining how we in the west came to dominate the world, and why it can't possibly last.

Happy
What makes you happy? This documentary interviews people in India, the States and all around the world, finding out whether money really does buy happiness - or is it something else? The film has already won multiple prizes.

Louis Theroux: The Odd, the Bad and the Godly
Louis Theroux is always worth a watch - the Englishman who loves nothing better than to expose the foibles of his counterparts across the Atlantic. Here he investigates the prescription of medicine to hyperactive children, extreme religion and also visits settlements in Jerusalem and the West Bank to interview the settlers risking their lives for the expansion of their country.

Conspiracy
Explores some of the biggest conspiracy theories in the world (read: the United States of America), from Area 51 and the aliens to whether the CIA and the Nazis ever collaborated. Says it lays out the facts so viewers can make up their own minds. Who doesn't love a good conspiracy theory?

7 Signs of the Apocalypse
And now for a bit more scaremongering...What if the Book of Revelation is right, and we're in for the last days? Could the signs be happening right now, under our noses? Woooooo...This documentary examines the evidence. (P.S. Then go for a walk and an ice cream. You're fine.)

And if you're wanting a little more help selecting just the right documentary for you, here are some tips from Filmofilia.

Stalking the catalogue: Twitterature

Watchmen by Alan Moore - @Rorschizzle
"A comedian died tonight. He was all about the lulz. No one laughed."
- Twitterature: The world's greatest books in twenty tweets or less by Alexander Aciman

Imagine if you could capture books in 140 characters or less. Imagine Wuthering Heights and all of its angst in 140 characters. Some books, let's face it, may improve if done this way (yes, Twilight, I'm looking at YOU). It'd be almost like a crash course, if you will. Twitterature, in short, provides this in a really funny way.

This is not going to be everybody's cup of tea.  I have a habit lately of stating the obvious, but I feel I need to say that right at the outset.  I, however, enjoyed it. I'd like to point out, though, that if you're not familiar with a lot of the stories then some of the humour is going to fall flat on its face.

There were a couple of stories that I didn't know so I'm going to brush up on them because, hey, I hate feeling like I don't know something.  A warning: it does contain swear words. And I'd like to make it known that I disagree with the part of the blurb that reads "...as great as the classics are, who has the time to read those big, long books anymore?" Umm ME! I do! I heart them! And I can do both - read them in full, and then read them in 140 characters or less. 'Cause I'm awesome like that.

A lighthearted and irreverent look at some well known tales that will cause you to snort with laughter on the bus, and the train (I know this because I did it), and just in general. Really.

Title: Twitterature : the world's greatest books in twenty tweets or less
Author: Alexander Aciman and Emmett Rensin
Published: Penguin Books, 2009