| Author | Message | ||
     Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 6650 Registered: 05-2005 |
It's been a very long time since I've self-promoted here, so please indulge me and read my review of the new Harvest Ministers record http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/music/ the-harvest-ministers-you-can-see-everyt hing-from-here-1.1780220 | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 1749 Registered: 08-2006 |
This is terrific, Padraig. As far as I'm concerned, self-promote away around these parts. I love to see what you're working on. | ||
| Austin Member Username: Bruegelpie Post Number: 121 Registered: 09-2004 |
Padraig, Great to hear about this "best of." I will check it out! Austin | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 6664 Registered: 05-2005 |
Thanks lads! | ||
| cosmo vitelli Member Username: Cosmo Post Number: 906 Registered: 05-2005 |
Simply Thrilled - The Postcard Records Story just got this and what a lovely book it is, the cover is a delight too | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 3363 Registered: 03-2005 |
I received this in the mail this week. With a couple of other books to finish first I haven't started reading it in earnest yet but the prologue about Victorian cartoonist Louis Wain is superb. I will undoubtedly be reading it this weekend. | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 1025 Registered: 10-2006 |
Gainsbourg - Gilles Verlant (translated) What Serge wanted to do to Whitney,the publishers did to this book: a slapdash, slipshod massacre with a mistake on every page, and a huge disservice to Verlant's original and Knobloch's worthy translation, which I imagine captures something of the French journalist's hard-boiled style. The racy versions of SG's lyrics are welcome, though it might have been nice to have the French texts alongside. Lots of interesting stuff on his early years and a good read if you ignore all the errors. But, really, all it needed was one read-through by a competent English speaker to make it so much better. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 6673 Registered: 05-2005 |
Brian McGilloway - Borderlands. A crime novel set in the Donegal/Derry, Ireland/Northern Ireland border area where, as it says, some people pay for a TV license in one jurisdiction and the electricity to power it in the other. | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 1751 Registered: 08-2006 |
Great essay by Charles Taylor in the LA Review of Books on the (seemingly) unstoppable Wussy: http://lareviewofbooks.org/essay/support -local-wussy/ Really a kick-ass piece of music criticism and I think he nails a lot of why I think the band is so special. As a side note, I get to see them next Friday here in Chicago. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 6745 Registered: 05-2005 |
How was the Wussy show Rob? More self-promotion: http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/asi a-pacific/smoke-and-mirrors-as-big-tobac co-fights-australian-plain-packaging-law -1.1837263 | ||
| Simon Withers Member Username: Sfwithers Post Number: 203 Registered: 08-2005 |
John Connolly - The Wolf in Winter. Very good. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 6748 Registered: 05-2005 |
He's a nice guy too Simon. I did a couple of radio shows with him in Dublin and interviewed him in Sydney. | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 1752 Registered: 08-2006 |
Great article, Padraig. Murdoch and his holdings are a scourge on the truth. Time and time again they skate by proffering the kind of fiction that would lose The New York Times half its subscribers and probably result in a Congressional investigation. I'll give The Wall Street Journal some props on the journalism front but otherwise Murdoch's empire is monument to mendacity. And because you asked, the Wussy show was superb. It was the first show of a pretty extensive (for them) tour and they were in high spirits. Played a lot off the new record which was A-OK with me. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 6749 Registered: 05-2005 |
Thanks Rob. The Austrlalian Medical Association and many others tweeted the article. Good to hear that nothing went wrong when Wussy played a show on Friday 13th (I'm kidding, of course, I don't believe in that crap). I hope I get to see them live some day. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 6795 Registered: 05-2005 |
My Irish Times story on asylum seekers - http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/asi a-pacific/australia-ignoring-criticism-o f-stance-on-asylum-seekers-1.1865052 | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 6805 Registered: 05-2005 |
The story of a notorious Irish woman of the 19th century. http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/herita ge/an-irishman-s-diary-on-the-glamorous- and-dangerous-lola-montez-1.1867228 | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 6812 Registered: 05-2005 |
An interesting, and quite sad, story about Harper Lee. http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2014 /07/21/harper_lee_how_legal_troubles_hav e_mired_the_legacy_of_the_to_kill_a_mock ingbird.html?wpisrc=newsletter_jcr:conte nt&mc_cid=146fd1c853&mc_eid=5ed636978a | ||
| C Gull Member Username: C_gull Post Number: 240 Registered: 05-2005 |
Morrissey's autobiog. Got it for Christmas and was rather dreading reading it. However I enjoyed it - especially the first half. Certainly gives some insight into his (Unlovable) character. Was surprised how obsessed he is with chart positions, but you realise how massively popular he is globally with some of the concert stories. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 6870 Registered: 05-2005 |
Absolutely fascinating article about the guy with the world's largest record collection. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/10/magazi ne/the-brazilian-bus-magnate-whos-buying -up-all-the-worlds-vinyl-records.html?em c=edit_th_20140810&nl=todaysheadlines&nl id=33795071&_r=0 | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 6871 Registered: 05-2005 |
Brilliant article on the golden age of football. http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014 /aug/10/were-seventies-footballs-golden- age-of-innocence-book | ||
| C Gull Member Username: C_gull Post Number: 246 Registered: 05-2005 |
Good read Padraig. This Pathe video is a fascinating glimpse of what it was like in the 70s - the good and the bad. (And Chelsea lost). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GGrJgDO 4SE | ||
| Jerry Clark Member Username: Jerry Post Number: 1142 Registered: 08-2004 |
That was a good article Padraig. Neo-conservatism took it's chance after Heysel & Hillsboro. Out of disaster comes a brighter and ultimately more exclusive and expensive sport for all. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 6925 Registered: 05-2005 |
Adrian McKinty's In The Morning I'll Be Gone. Great, as always. | ||
| C Gull Member Username: C_gull Post Number: 255 Registered: 05-2005 |
Stephen Hanley's inside story of The Fall - The Big Midweek. fascinating, funny and incredibly moving. Best music book I've read. If you want to understand a bit more about how this band and Mark Smith work then this is highly recommended. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 3406 Registered: 03-2005 |
That sounds really interesting, C Gull. I will get a copy for sure. In the meantime, a friend has lent me his copy of Neil Oliver's BBC-published book on Scotland. I suspect it will be full of chirpy nonsense and I can probably get a better suggestion for a primer on Scotland from Hugh Nimmo, but I'm hoping to come out of it with at least a bit more knowledge than when I started. For a couple of years I've promised myself I'll find a place to use "Darien scheme" in a song lyric. Has someone ever used it for a band name? | ||
| Hugh Nimmo Member Username: Hugh_nimmo Post Number: 769 Registered: 03-2007 |
Not that I know of but it has been covered in song at least once. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBGgyL2Kn KQ | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 6929 Registered: 05-2005 |
Adrian McKinty won the Ned Kelly crime fiction award last night for In The Morning... Well deserved. Though Irish, he qualifies through living in Melbourne. | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 1077 Registered: 10-2006 |
Michael Reynolds' terrific 5-volume rollercoaster biography of Hemingway - never a dull moment. Reynolds wrote one of the best books ever about how a writer shapes experience into art, "Hemingway's First War", and he does the same here on a far wider canvas. And also wonderful to know that sonorously lyrical poet Wallace Stevens went head to head with Ernest on a rainswept Key West pier, with the - much younger - novelist winning by a knock down. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 6968 Registered: 05-2005 |
Reset by Peter Bagge. I've loved his comics for more than a quarter century. I've just read this, which collects four individual comics in an anthology, in one sitting. It probably would have worked better as four episodes, but it is still very good. It's also the work which most fits with the libertarian world view I know Bagge holds. None of this will be of much interest to anyone who doesn't care much for the comic book art form though. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 6984 Registered: 05-2005 |
A great story on the New York Times website about the noted sceptic, James Randi, http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/09/magazi ne/the-unbelievable-skepticism-of-the-am azing-randi.html?emc=edit_th_20141109&nl =todaysheadlines&nlid=33795071&_r=0 | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 3425 Registered: 03-2005 |
It's now my turn to be reading "The Big Mid Week" by Steve Hanley, the Fall's long-serving bassist. I'm still in the early phase, shortly after his younger brother Paul joined while still under-age. It's amazing how casually the crucial trio of Craig Scanlon, Steve Hanley and Paul Hanley ended up in the band. They and Steve Hanley's childhood friend Marc Riley were from the same estate some distance from MES' and Kay Carroll's Prestwich locale. I have to enjoy Hanley's description of Craig Scanlon: "Craig's Mr. Obscure. If more than ten people like something, he doesn't. When he went to the cinema to see 'Eraserhead', he walked out as soon as it was half-full, complaining it was way too mainstream for the likes of him. He's already lost interest in William Burroughs, who I've never heard of." A man after my own heart. The Fall had already cut their first album and some singles and done two John Peel shows by the time the band's quite new (and very first) roadies Scanlon, Steve Hanley and Marc Riley were invited to join, there having just been one of the Fall's routine musician rebellions. Hanley and Riley only half knew their instruments and learned on the job. It's also amusing to read how the author was in awe of the drum work of the Fall's original (and sometime later) drummer Karl Burns. As far as I'm concerned, Burns' excessive drumming is the one fault to their first album "Live at the Witch Trials." It's fun to read about their early trips to the U.S.--they got to go there quite early in their career. I was at university in LA when they made their first visit but of course I hadn't heard of the Fall yet. The only band I'd seen since coming to town was the Jam. | ||
| C Gull Member Username: C_gull Post Number: 266 Registered: 05-2005 |
It's a great read Randy. An incredible mix of matter of factness and bizarreness. The stories about 'Karl Burns' also get stranger and funnier, especially the fireworks related ones. Enjoy. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 7048 Registered: 05-2005 |
My analysis of the year in Australian politics. Special prize for those who spot the Triffids reference. http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/aus tralian-pm-tony-abbott-faces-tough-summe r-1.2048902?page=1 | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 948 Registered: 04-2005 |
Nice piece about living legend Davy Henderson and his (internet-search-engine-unfriendly) band The Sexual Objects http://thequietus.com/articles/16996-the -sexual-objects-marshmallow-interview Like his take on U2 ! | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 1097 Registered: 10-2006 |
And, strangely enough, I did indeed buy Vintage Violence in Fopp. Didn't change my life; great album though. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 7079 Registered: 05-2005 |
A fascinating article on the international space station and the planned mission to Mars. http://www.theatlantic.com/features/arch ive/2014/12/5200-days-in-space/383510/ | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 7080 Registered: 05-2005 |
Stuart, did you get it for Ł3? | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 1098 Registered: 10-2006 |
That would be stretching my dodgy memory a tad too far, Padraig. I do remember though it was one of those spontaneous, "Oh, haven't got that; good price; come to daddy," sort of buys. Hope to do some similar shopping in Milan this weekend! | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 7094 Registered: 05-2005 |
Stuart Neville - The Final Silence | ||
| C Gull Member Username: C_gull Post Number: 273 Registered: 05-2005 |
Donna Tart'sThe Goldfinch. Very enjoyable so far. Also David Mitchell's (the comedian not the author) collection of Observer columns - this is ok but I don't really need to read a load of grumpy opinions,i can just listen to myself for that! | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 1099 Registered: 10-2006 |
Pierre Lemaitre - Alex Ingenious, beautifully constructed thriller with an engaging group of detectives and a haunting heroine. A five-hour train ride just whizzed by. | ||
| Hugh Nimmo Member Username: Hugh_nimmo Post Number: 792 Registered: 03-2007 |
Stuart, I was about to order a copy from Amazon on your recommendation when I read a review which stated that 'Alex' is the second book in the Verhoeven series. I subsequently placed an order for the first book ( Irene ) instead. Going by what I have read, I believe Alex is probably the better of the two books ( it was the first to be translated into English ) but, since it is a series, I would rather start at the beginning. | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 1100 Registered: 10-2006 |
I'm reading Irene right now, Hugh! Don't know how it will shape up yet, but you're absolutely right to start there, since the second book is full of references to the first, and some info I'd prefer not to have known: I presume they started with Alex because it was such a big hit in France, but it does bugger up continuity. Camille Verhoeven is an excellent character and he is backed up with a good cast: the scrounging, tight-fisted cop Armand is hilarious. Alex is as good as very good Mankell or Sjowall and Wahloo back in the day. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 7102 Registered: 05-2005 |
Stuart, Hugh, see, that's what I love about this board. You learn about stuff you would otherwise never hear of. | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 1103 Registered: 10-2006 |
Pierre Lemaitre - Irene A very crafty book indeed, a (pretty brutal) homage to classic detective literature in the guise of an engrossing thriller, and featuring the same little trick more recently employed by one of the senior figures on the BritLit scene (not to give too much away). Made me break my rule, under the influence of its even better sequel Alex, of not reading stories based around serial killers. Also encourages the reader to look out for William McIllvaney’s Laidlaw and John D Macdonald’s End of the night. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 3460 Registered: 03-2005 |
Peter Milton Walsh is definitely not a member of the Twitter generation. | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 955 Registered: 04-2005 |
Seconded Randy ! | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 958 Registered: 04-2005 |
C Gull, What did you make of Donna Tartt's "The Goldfinch" in the end ? Speaking as a great fan of both "The Secret History" and "The Little Friend" (not universally admired I know) I was extremely disappointed by the novel. Great beginning, but it just rambled on and on and...reading a few reviews I am not the only one with such misgivings it seems. Can't believe that it won the Pulitzer ! | ||
| Simon Withers Member Username: Sfwithers Post Number: 247 Registered: 08-2005 |
Re-reading The Big Sleep. And drinking tea from The Penguin Big Sleep mug. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 7160 Registered: 05-2005 |
Randy, read this. It concerns your theory, expressed here at least a couple of times, that random shuffles on iPods aren't truly random. http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-31302 312 | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 3466 Registered: 03-2005 |
Grrrr. Yes, our brains do like to organize things into patterns. But at least as to iPods I am quite sure that Apple devised different algorithms for its shuffle mode. I have two iPods. The newer one is used in the car and has a bigger capacity (160gig). Right now it has about 13,700 songs on it. It has a mild and agreeable bias in favor of playing tracks that have not been played before. I actually check this when I synch it to the computer every weekend; it plays about 20% first-play songs. I like this because I'm constantly adding on new material and I don't want to hear the same damn thing when I've got almost 14,000 songs on it. My old iPod dates from 2006. It has 60 gig capacity. It was retired from use when I got my new one in 2012 but was used for overseas trips and then brought back into regular use when I moved to my current place with a separate structure that I will use as my music studio and am already using for exercising. It currently has about 13,950 songs on it. Over the past almost 2 years I've done a lot of changing of what is on it to bring it closer to what is on the newer iPod. Between 2,500 and 3,000 of the tracks on it have been installed in the past 18 months. The rest of the songs have been on it for a long time and have a fairly high average play total. This iPod has an unmistakable bias in favor of playing songs that have been played before, apparently on the (I think invalid) theory that songs with a lot of plays are favorites. Again, I regularly examine the "recently played" list after syncing to its computer which uses an older version of iTunes. I have to force it to play new tracks by skipping a LOT of tracks if I want to bring it anywhere near that 20% figure that the newer iPod routinely gives me. If I do not do that I am lucky if it will give me 10% of the songs from the newer additions even though the newer additions represent about 20% of the total. I have figured out that the only way to make this iPod shuffle in a way that is truly agreeable to me is to force it to play newer-added numbers until they get some play totals so that they gain some weight in the algorithm's ordering. Yes I know, who cares? But it drives me crazy when I keep adding a bunch of new stuff I'm excited about and it won't play it. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 7161 Registered: 05-2005 |
I think the article at least backs up your theory that different algorithms are in play when comparing one generation iPod to another. | ||
| Stuart Wilson Member Username: Stuart Post Number: 1116 Registered: 10-2006 |
Rick Atkinson - An army at dawn All I can say is that I'm glad I know how it all turns out - otherwise, after just 100 pages of cock-ups, stupidity and misunderstandings, I'd be seriously bloody worried...and with North Africa going the way it is, perhaps a new Torch will be on the cards... | ||
| C Gull Member Username: C_gull Post Number: 279 Registered: 05-2005 |
Andrew, agree with you on The Goldfinch. I had n't read any of her previous work but had heard some good things about this. At first I could n't put it down but having finished it I can only use the word 'sprawling' to describe it. Feels like some really tough editing could have produced a 300 page classic about growing up with loss, instead it seems to wonder badly off track and nearly verges into Dan Brown territory at times. Overall I guess I enjoyed it but not quite sure what it was about in the end. Next up The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 7180 Registered: 05-2005 |
A New York Times review of Robert Christgau's autobiography. Doesn't make me want to buy it. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/25/books/ review-robert-christgau-reflects-on-his- career-as-a-rock-critic.html?emc=edit_th _20150225&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=337950 71&_r=0 | ||
| Simon Withers Member Username: Sfwithers Post Number: 248 Registered: 08-2005 |
Farewell, My Lovely, Raymond Chandler. Great writing, but the casual racism of the narrator is hard to read these days... |