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Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre
Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre
Max Brooks | 2020 | Mystery, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Thriller
9
8.0 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
‏I was provided with a complimentary copy of this book so I could give an honest review.

If you read World War Z, you know Max Brooks does an exceptional job at writing the fictional documentary format, making it feel like non-fiction. He does it again in Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre.

Devolution's release is accidently well-timed. The catalyst is the eruption of Mt Ranier. Roads are closed and destroyed by lahars, boiling mudslides. The government is working to help those affected. Outside the eruption zone is Greenloop, a small environmental utopia which consists of smart, completely "green" houses but still contains all of the modern amenities, Since their intention is to go completely green and reduce their carbon footprint, their food deliveries are for a week at a time. What happens when they are cut off and do not have the necessary food or supplies to get through the crisis? The discussion about consumers not stocking up and supermarkets offering farm-fresh items hit home during the Covid-19 crisis.

Oh, and there are also sasquatch they need to deal with. The premise might sound far fetched, but Brooks does a fabulous job of making it seem not only possible but probable. The people seem so real; I cheered out loud at one point.


This 200-word review was published on Philomathinphila.com on 6/18/20.
  
Music for 18 Musicians by Steve Reich
Music for 18 Musicians by Steve Reich
1998 | Classical
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"I heard this through a journalist, Michael Azerrad, he's a good guy. We started direct messaging on Facebook or I met him, I don't know what happened, and he said, ""You should listen to this"" and then I got it. He said that you're either going to love it or it'll feel like you're getting punished by having water dripped on your head! And I said, ""Perfect, I'll do that!"" It's incredible; once again, I watched it on YouTube, him performing in Japan, like, ""Fuck, really?! You can do this live?!"" Also, I just like the atonal thing of it and what they get from composing. It's very neutral. I actually used it, it's a total influence, you can totally hear it, on 'Birthday Video', it's on Weeds. I layered a lot of guitars and to my surprise, a lot of these noises start coming through, these sympathetic notes, and I was like, ""Wow-whee! This is cool!"" Totally taken from him, I hear it plain as day. I also got his box set, it's great. He's always got some kind of concept to it. He wrote one for what it would be like on a train ride to the Holocaust [Different Trains], to reach finality. He's got all these studies, drums, all sorts of percussion, but ...18 Musicians, I love it, I listen to it in my bunk in the bus!"

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Kick Inside Soundtrack by Kate Bush
Kick Inside Soundtrack by Kate Bush
1990 | Rock
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"Well, it’s got ‘Wuthering Heights’ on it, that’s the big song… But it’s one of those albums that made me realise that there is more than one way to skin a cat, you know, because I always used to feel slightly inadequate about my voice. I always wanted to sound like Steven Tyler or Bon Scott or someone like that... but actually I sound more like Kate Bush! I didn’t really acknowledge that before and then when I was listening to that stuff I thought that she makes a lot of the same choices I would make, melodically and stuff – and possibly presentation-wise! I discovered this around 2003. We’d already made our album by the way – we didn’t copy hers [laughs]. But it made me feel better about everything really. It’s hard to go and record stuff or go out and perform when you’re having a confidence crisis. But listening to that made me feel a million times better. There are beautiful songs on this. She’s a beautiful songwriter. I actually heard a rumour that at 18 she had that record ready to go but the record label wouldn’t let her because they thought it would destroy her, because it was so powerful it would engulf her and she would drown in her own success… [laughs] but I don’t know how true it is. So I’ve bought everything that she’s ever released now and I’m still researching it, but that’s where you start isn’t it?"

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Kim Gordon recommended Bay Head by Gunn-Truscinski Duo in Music (curated)

 
Bay Head by Gunn-Truscinski Duo
Bay Head by Gunn-Truscinski Duo
2017 | Psychedelic, Rock
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"Even though this album is instrumental it kind of feels like there are lyrics telling a story. But I couldn't really tell you what the story was. It isn't the same as certain atmospheric music. I can kind of understand their telepathic instinct with playing with Bill - there's a certain communication there. With Gunn-Truscinski Duo, their songs are worked out but then they do improv within that, I guess. - Kim Gordon I've known those guys for so long that I've gotten to see them grow and change as a duo. I think I set up one of their earliest shows. I've known John (Truscinski) since we were 18-years-old, so we've been playing music together since we were kids. So I've got to see the band develop like that and on this new one, I just feel like they're really stretching out in these really interesting ways and approaching the compositions differently than the first two records do. It's just exciting to hear them keep working. I don't want to speak for them but I'm pretty sure it's all written in advance, but with little moments, especially live, that they can stretch out and play with. They have really good chemistry. As usual with music like this, the record is partial ideas of what they can do live. Seeing them live, they've been playing together for a really long time and they can push at different points and it's really cool to see."

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Runaway Boys: A Retrospective '81-'92 by Stray Cats
Runaway Boys: A Retrospective '81-'92 by Stray Cats
1997 | Rock
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

Stray Cat Strut by Stray Cats

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Track

"Then we became rockabillys and got really into the Stray Cats, This was about 1982. It was my brother and his mates who started brushing their hair up, and me and Sice joined in. It felt like years at the time, but it was probably for 12 to 18 months we became rockabillys. We had our hair piled up, baggy trousers and crepe shoes. I still love the Stray Cats. They had this cartoon image - their hair was much bigger. I had such a crush on Brian Setzer, he's a great singer. But the guitar playing is phenomenal. The B-side is called 'Drink That Bottle Down' - I think it's live in Newcastle - and you've got the double bass player Lee Rocker shouting these blues. It really is a racket, but the guitar playing is unbelievable. The variety and dexterity and fluidity - the ferocity of his guitar playing is wonderful. I was into them for a couple of albums, but by the third album we kind of gave up. My brother got deeper into it - he started getting into psychobilly and all that, The Sharks, Tall Boys, The Meteors, The Milkshakes - all that Klub Foot stuff. And there was a psychedelic wave - The Purple Things and The Vibes - and it all got really strange. I was out of it by then. I think 'Relax' came out and I was back in the modern world."

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The Maze Runner (2014)
The Maze Runner (2014)
2014 | Action, Mystery, Sci-Fi
There's absolutely no excuse to not have utilized the actual maze more (we get like three action scenes in it?) but I'd be lying if I said I didn't have a ball with this otherwise thoroughly fun and often thrilling popcorn entertainment. Dylan O'Brien is tremendous in it, even when it wears the dystopian YA format a little too prominently. For a while I couldn't tell if the simplicity helped or hurt this in the end - I mean on the one hand this has precious nothing to say about the implications of its brutal story/world, but then again on the other it 110% forgoes the usual heavy-handed yet jejune moralizing that normally sugar-coat these films. I'm sure you could have found a decent medium between the two but Wes Ball's direction is sturdy, and I kind of like the idea of all these random 18/20-somethings nonchalantly trapped in this ludicrous scenario who just see this giant, mechanical deathtrap maze as a way of life lol. So I had more than enough fun with it. Try to picture a 2014 blockbuster "Lord of the Flies" without the obvious symbolism meets a market-tested 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘝𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘨𝘦 where a bunch of extras get PG-13-ed to death by huge mechanical alien spiders. Plus no one even takes their shirt off I mean that's *gotta* be a first for one of these.