Nathan Pyle’s adorable web comic about aliens has been a favorite of mine since I discovered it a couple of years ago. It’s a little cynical, but stilNathan Pyle’s adorable web comic about aliens has been a favorite of mine since I discovered it a couple of years ago. It’s a little cynical, but still gentle enough to make me feel like our weird human habits are forgivable. I personally can’t resist a comic that does such a lovely job highlighting the small absurdities of daily-life behavior, especially when it comes to sports and pets. But more than that, there is a great emotional intelligence and insight under the surface of these simple comic strips. The aliens’ hyper-literal way of talking can make things like sharing music or needing a hug sound much more empathic than you’d expect; I found some pages surprisingly moving and endearing.
A great little book to keep on your coffee table for when you need a little smile....more
3.5 stars. A Danzing-worshipping ex-boyfriend introduced me to this comic.
Disclaimer: I am a rather rabid Henry Rollins fan. I love Black Flag and the3.5 stars. A Danzing-worshipping ex-boyfriend introduced me to this comic.
Disclaimer: I am a rather rabid Henry Rollins fan. I love Black Flag and the Misfits, and while I am not a big fan of Danzig personally (or of his post-Misfits career), anyone who knows anything about him (and of his lack of sense of humour about himself) can see how he is just a sheer joy to poke fun at. Rollins and him are real-life buddies, so it was really a matter of time before something like this comic happened.
I have to say that the first part, which is a collection of Neely’s original strip “Henry and Glenn forever”, is really completely delightful. It’s drawn in a style reminiscent of classic “Archie” comics, which is wonderfully at odds with the idea of two hugely muscled and tattooed punk legends living together in the weirdest relationship of all times. There are so many references to their bands, songs and real-life personality quirks that I wonder if I would have enjoyed it as much if I hadn’t been listening to their music for the last 15 years.
Sadly for this anthology, the rest of the collection which wasn’t drawn by Neely isn’t as strong as the first part. The other strips feel very hit and miss, as they either go way too far from the original idea and get boring, or are just ridiculously clichéd. The inconsistent artwork was also a bit jarring to me. I know what they were trying to do, but it falls very short of the enormous potential the idea had.
The anthology however, has the exclusive final panel, which is a very meta episode of the original Neely comic strip, where he goes to discuss the project with Danzing who throws a tantrum – as he apparently did in real life when the “Henry and Glenn Forever" comic was brought up in an interview.
To summarize, this is an awesome concept that unfortunately failed to live up to my high expectations; it is redeemed by a hilarious first part and last page, and it get a bonus half star because of how adorable Henry Rollins looks as a comic book character....more
This book was my reward for surviving the busiest month of my entire life, where I did some very adult things (like getting married) and some utterly This book was my reward for surviving the busiest month of my entire life, where I did some very adult things (like getting married) and some utterly non-adult things (Rock Fest motherfuckaz!). So when the month of Gabrielle-doesn’t-sleep-because-too-many-things-are-going-on was over, I went on Amazon and clicked on “Adulthood is a Myth” until it was delivered to my door (too tired to go to the bookstore). I grabbed my cat and my octopus blanket (yes, I have an octopus blanket, I love it, it’s awesome) and settled on the couch for a well-earned giggle-break.
Sarah Andersen and I are awkward bookworm soul-sisters, her drawings are quirky and adorable, they make me laugh and they make me feel like way less of a giant dork. Or at least like I am not the only dork around. Her comic strips about being an introvert, having a uterus who enjoys ruining your life, the strange phenomenon of conditioner getting used up faster than the shampoo, looking for/finding undesired tampons and feeling weird about stuff that happened so long ago literally no one else remembers are so relatable.
I’m in my early thirties now, and while I think Andersen is younger than me (and that the target audience for her work is also younger than me), I have to say that even after you hit the big 3-oh, adulting still feels unnatural and I have given up hope that I will ever master it. My bills and rent are paid, there’s usually fresh veggies in the fridge, I have a grown-up sort of job and the cat gets his shots, but… I still want to do nothing but sleep, eat, read books and go to punk shows. I am not interested in spawning, I love Pixar movies and I can’t make my hair do anything besides being a huge curly mess. I usually feel like everyone has their shit together except me, but it turns out that this is not true. Everyone thinks everyone else has their shit together, but with time, you realize that no one really does. I am winging it about 97% of the time and that’s fine because so is almost everyone else.
So thank you Sarah, for the laughs and the sighs and for reinforcing my deeply seated belief that adulthood is something that boring people made up to make others feel bad. I only wish there were more comic strips for me to enjoy now that I am home and in my pajamas!...more
I'm not sure this is a review so much as a need to address how this book has been interpreted. It made a lot of women laugh and feel inspired, but I uI'm not sure this is a review so much as a need to address how this book has been interpreted. It made a lot of women laugh and feel inspired, but I understand it also made a lot of women really angry... Now I should start with a disclaimer: I have been told I am a bad feminist for wearing skirts and makeup and for liking to cook for my husband. That strikes me as really funny and intellectually lazy, but that might just be me. I bet the people who passed this judgement will feel vindicated when they learn that I enjoyed "How to Be a Woman", since this book contains broad generalizations about both genders' behaviors and lacks objectivity about some of the topics addressed.
I laughed as I read and highlighted many hilarious and surprisingly deep passages in my copy. Like Moran, I like sex, I hate double-standards (her “would the guys put up with this shit?” method to detect sexism sounds simplistic, but it really IS that simple when you think about it), I think weddings are pure insanity and I get incredibly irritated at people who throw the word “feminism” around without understanding it. This book manages to be crass and clever at the same time, and there’s some really interesting food for thought in here. Of course, if you are a PhD in gender studies, you will learn nothing new here. You might also not be Moran’s target audience…
This book is not an academic gender study, it is not a self-help book: it's a 300-or-so-pages comedic opinion piece. This book is like sitting down with someone even more dirty-minded and foul-mouthed than me, having a few scotches and talking about their experience as a woman in a world that is not really built for women. This book is the written equivalent of that tipsy, giggly girls-night-in rant about masturbatory habits, waxing, having babies (or not), the absurdities of the wedding industry, etc.
Just like in those gin-fueled evenings, there are some moments of wonderful insight in this book. I finished some passages laughing out loud and overcome with an urge to get up on my couch and shout "Can I get an amen!" at my stupefied cat. There were stories I related to, anecdotes that made me think of my own experiences slightly differently and others that just made me cringe. And again, like a drunken ladies’ night in, there’s a lot of ridiculous things in this book: but I can’t believe I have to point out they shouldn’t be taken too seriously…
All that to say that depending on your personal view of feminism and experiences (and let's face it, your level of tolerance for gross and politically incorrect humor), you will either enjoy "How to Be a Woman" or you will hate Caitlin Moran's guts and find her super annoying. I kinda like her, and not only because she makes me sound positively prim by comparison, but because she is outspoken and opinionated, something I find to be sorely lacking in too many women of all age groups. It didn't agree with everything that she said, but I very much appreciate that she had the guts to say it, write it and get it published. I feel that a clever reader will be able to form is own opinion from Moran’s writing - and take some and leave some.
If you like Amy Schumer and Jim Jeffries’ humour, you’ll probably enjoy “How to Be a Woman”. If you are a dude and are interested in the weird and occasionally icky things that are part of women’s daily realities, you should check this out. Or if you simply want to learn some new and graphic British slang, this is the book for you! 3 and half stars, rounded to 4....more
Blue is my favorite color. I learned in this book that for a long time, it was the hardest to obtain, and therefore the most expensive pigment to makeBlue is my favorite color. I learned in this book that for a long time, it was the hardest to obtain, and therefore the most expensive pigment to make paint from. It was often used for sacred images, like the cloak of the Virgin Mary because that rich color was thought to have divine properties. Of course, Christopher Moore ran with that and created a world where Blue is a person, a magical creature who not only makes the precious pigment, but seduces and inspires artists - and has done so for thousands of years.
Lucien is the son of a Paris baker, and an enthusiastic but not especially talented painter. He is friends with Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and many other illustrious Impressionists. One day, he learns that his friend Vincent Van Gogh died under mysterious circumstances, and together with Henri, he decides to find out exactly what happened to Vincent. But just as they begin their investigation, Lucien gets distracted by an old flame making an unexpected return into his life. Never before has he felt so inspired to paint, never before has his work been so good...
Yes, it's a Moore book, so there is a certain measure of low-brow humor: there is also an incredible amount of research about many artists and their work, with reproductions peppered through the book for those who are not huge art geeks. He does a great job of helping the reader understand not just the artwork but the context in which they were created, and how that impacts the way we think about those paintings. Moore blends history and fantasy very well and develops both fictional and historical characters very finely.
Not a perfect book: it drags a bit in some places and it not quite as smart as other Christopher Moore novels, but it's a wonderful rollicking adventure in the Montmartre of the cancan dancers and absinthe drinkers. I rated it 4 stars because while it was so much fun to read, it didn't move me the way "Lamb" or "A Dirty Job" did; it is still top notch Moore that any fan of his work will enjoy....more
In late May, a young, curious humpback whale swam down the St-Lawrence River all the way to the Montreal Old Port. She was by herself, exploring and fIn late May, a young, curious humpback whale swam down the St-Lawrence River all the way to the Montreal Old Port. She was by herself, exploring and frolicking, jumping around in that majestic and graceful way those amazing animals do. Humpback aren't fresh water whales, she shouldn't have been so far down the river in the first place, but she showed no sign of distress. But at some point between Sunday, when she was last seen swimming, and Tuesday morning, she died. I am completely devastated that this adventurous and playful creature didn't manage to get back to her natural habitat safely.
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Humpback whales are my favorite animal. I’ve always been fascinated by all whales, but humpbacks have a majestic and monumental grace that inexplicably moves me to tears. Just watching a National Geographic documentary about them gives me a lump in my throat, and their haunting songs makes me shiver.
When I heard that Christopher Moore had a book featuring a lot of humpbacks and people trying to figure out why they sing, I immediately wanted to read it. Of all the Moore books I have read (and I have read almost all of them), this is the one that strikes me as the most Vonnegut-esque. It’s funny, philosophical, entertaining, instructive and to be frank, kind of a brain-fuck. But the good type of brain-fuck, where you finish the book and think: “WTF was that?! Let’s do it again!”.
Nate has been studying whales (i.e. poking them with sticks) for a long time. He’s seen it all and got a bit cynical because so far, the only thing he knows with absolute certainty is that whales are big and wet. Then one day, he sees a humpback whale with the words “Bite me” written on its fluke. His research team thinks he’s hallucinating, but Nate is determined to find that whale. He just might end up finding a lot more than he bargained for in the process… Nate is a great character, driven and passionate about what he does – and Canadian! His side-kicks are wonderful Moore creations: Clay the loyal boat guy, Amy the tiny Goth girl and Kona, the white Rastafarian. All unique, quirky, endearing and hilarious.
Moore obviously did a lot of research for this book. You will actually learn some science if you read this, which is not exactly what you’d expect from a comedic novel, but there you have it. He is obviously very passionate about his topic, he wants his readers to be just as passionate as he is, and he manages to pull that off without being preachy or pompous. Even when the story takes a zany turn into sci-fi, his world-building remains tight, concise and very creative. Moore spins one hell of a crazy yarn, but he picks up all the lose strands and ties them neatly together at the end.
I recommend this book to fans of Vonnegut, Pratchett and Adams, and to anyone who loves whales and a good laugh. If you have never picked up a Christopher Moore book before, this is a great place to start!...more
One of my favorite British comedy shows is Black Adder. The absurd, dry wit so characteristic of British humor, applied to a few important moments of One of my favorite British comedy shows is Black Adder. The absurd, dry wit so characteristic of British humor, applied to a few important moments of England’s history never ever fails to make me laugh. Reading Christopher Moore’s “Fool” felt exactly like watching the Black Adder tackle Shakespeare, and I loved every minute of it. He might not be British, but he definitely understand their humour, and with this book, he turned one of their great tragedies into a hilarious and touching tale.
“This is a bawdy tale. Herein you will find gratuitous shagging, murder, spanking, maiming, treason, and heretofore unexplored heights of vulgarity and profanity, as well as non-traditional grammar, split infinitives, and the odd wank.”
What else do you need to know? Well, this is basically “King Lear”, as told by the king’s fool, Pocket. And since Mr. Moore is holding the pen, Pocket is an irreverent horndog with a talent for plotting and an impressively graphic vocabulary when it comes to insulting people. Ghost, witches, deceitful daughters, treacherous bastard sons… All the important Shakespearean landmarks are there, and while the retelling may seem sacrilegious to uptight purists, it is written with so much respect for the original work that you simply cannot get offended. I like to think that the Bard would have laughed until he cracked a rib reading this.
This is up there with “Lamb” and “A Dirty Job” in my holy trinity of favorite Christopher Moore books, and I re-read it with great pleasure when I need a good giggle. I recommend it to everyone who enjoyed “The Monty Python and the Holy Grail"....more
Poor Charlie… Not only is he an awkward beta male who lost his wife, but he also has insubordinate employees, an unhelpful sister and sewer « Kitty! »
Poor Charlie… Not only is he an awkward beta male who lost his wife, but he also has insubordinate employees, an unhelpful sister and sewer harpies to deal with! To cap it all off, his infant daughter can kill people with an innocuous word and he thinks he’s Death…
This book made me laugh. It also made me cry way more than I expected a Chris Moore book ever could, which either means that he is a genius or that I am, in fact, a weep-bag. “A Dirty Job” is set in Moore’s San Francisco universe, the one with the Emperor, the vampires and the goth teenagers you might have encountered if you read “Bloodsucking Fiends” and “You Suck: A Love Story”. Moore is deeply deranged, in the best way a human being can be, and it’s wonderful. Don’t be fooled by the irreverence and blow job jokes: under that layer of crassness, there’s a compassionate story. Death is a part of life. A painful, and often terrifying part of life, but Moore somehow took that core subject and wrote a beautiful story about grief, the reasons we go on living and how we deal with the inevitable. It’s a surprisingly comforting novel, given all the weird sex jokes…
I loved all the characters in the book: even the dumbest ones were still somehow endearing, in that way that makes me wonder what the Hell is wrong with me. The dialogues are surprising and hilarious, the situations quirky but realistic… somehow (expect maybe the hellhounds); it often feels like Moore listens to the deranged conversations I have with my really weird friends. Or perhaps my brain is now so saturated with his words that I channel him when I have a drink? Honestly, it’s hard to tell.
If you have a gross sense of humor and enjoy funny but deeply touching stories about living, dying, surviving loss, spirituality, absurd word play, the possible oncoming take-over of the world by the forces of darkness and taxidermy, I strongly recommend you get a copy of this book....more
Nick Hornby’s writing makes me smile. His dry British wit, his honesty, his quirkiness, his nerdiness. It’s all so damn charming! I cannot file him asNick Hornby’s writing makes me smile. His dry British wit, his honesty, his quirkiness, his nerdiness. It’s all so damn charming! I cannot file him as junk food reading because he is much too earnest and positive: reading his book has an uplifting effect on me and that if definitely not a guilty pleasure.
This is the book that inspired the movie with Hugh Grant, which inspired the TV show with David Walton and Minnie Driver. I will shamelessly admit to liking all 3, but the original work is still the best! I think that the movie and TV show (while it lasted) worked as well as they did because Hornby created wonderful and endearing characters you want keep seeing over and over again.
The book takes place in 1993, which is important in terms of musical references (the title is a wink to Nirvana’s “About a girl”, which is only one of the many references to Nirvana peppered throughout the book) and current events that end up influencing the plot, but not crucial to the overall arc of this wonderful little story. Will is a mid-30’s slacker man-child, living off the royalties of a terrible Christmas song written by his father. He had musical aspirations of his own at some point, but he abandoned them in favor of simply enjoying the lifestyle his inheritance could afford him. In his quest for single women, he winds up at a single parents meeting – and can only justify his being there by posing as a single parent himself… This leads to an accidental friendship with Marcus, a hopelessly eccentric (read: lame) 12 year-old, raised by a depressive hippie mother. This friendship will ultimately change Will and Marcus’ lives and help them both grow up.
Hornby describes some tough situations in this book, and while his style is light, it never makes fun of or trivializes the issues tackled, such as depression, suicide, single-parenthood. I admire Hornby’s capacity to be honest and sensitive about these topics: he avoids melodrama while being very touching, which is not an easy feat.
The narration alternates between Will and Marcus’s POV and they play off each other so well. Will is cynical, selfish and immature. Marcus is naïve, candid and much too literal, but uncannily aware of what is going on around him. Children who are old for their age often can’t relate to other kids in their age groups. Marcus doesn’t want to bother his mother with his problems, as he sees her own issues are taking their toll on her and he doesn’t want to add to her worries. All of Will’s friends are married and have children while he just sits around being “cool”. Both of them are effectively isolated until they meet and find a weird place where they can talk to each other. Their friendship is unconventional but they obviously care about and understand each other the way no one else in their lives does. They have plenty to learn from each other and their evolution is often hilarious as Marcus tries to become a little more hip and as Will attempts to enter into a real relationship with Rachel. I also love Fiona, the wacky hippie mom who infamously sings “with her eyes closed”; Will and Marcus’ opposite perceptions of her never fail to make me giggle.
This is a lovely, surprisingly deep little book about friendship, coming of age, love and family. It’s a heartwarming story that will not change your life nor will it reinvent the wheel, but it’s a pleasure to read and I warmly recommend it to everyone....more
Updated with comments on the Hulu TV show at the end!
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November is one of my least favorite months of the year: in Canada, it’s cold, humid and gray Updated with comments on the Hulu TV show at the end!
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November is one of my least favorite months of the year: in Canada, it’s cold, humid and gray all the time, there are no stat holidays to give us a breather and everyone is losing their minds in the manic ramp up to the Holidays. That’s why I usually spend the month re-reading books that make me happy – I think of it as literary self-care and as an antidote to the crippling seasonal affective disorder that turns me into a raccoon every winter. “High Fidelity” has always given me a warm and fuzzy feeling that’s just perfect for my book-hygge binge.
Part of that is how much I relate to Rob. Well, used to relate, I guess: I was basically a Rob in my twenties. I am a music nerd, and to be honest, a bit of a music snob (I can’t control my facial expression at all when someone tells me they’ve never heard of Joe Strummer, and I once cried because a guy I liked told me he preferred the Perfect Circle cover of “Gimme Gimme Gimme” over the Black Flag original…). I am also naturally neurotic, and I used to over-analyse and dissect relationships, conversations and social interactions to death. But worse of all, I used to have this incredibly dumb pattern of falling for a guy’s potential instead of for who he was when we met, which, as you can imagine, never ended well. I broke the pattern eventually, but it wasn’t always a smooth sail. All that to say that I know Rob as if I had written him myself, and watching him try to figure out how everything could have gone so wrong between him and Laura makes me feel like there is hope for the most awkward of us if we are just willing to work on ourselves a bit.
Rob is a record store owner in his mid-thirties, but he’s one of those man-child who hasn’t matured much since his late teens. He spends his days at the shop with his employees, coming up with all kinds of Top 5 lists and being an absolute elitist jerk to people who aren’t as knowledgeable as he is about the Smiths. When his live-in girlfriend Laura leaves him, it plunges his comfortable but lazy life into complete disarray. He decides to try and figure out why he always seems to be getting dumped, and makes a list of his most memorable break ups with the intention to find the women and ask them why they rejected him. We follow him through a very belated coming of age, as he begins to see that he hasn’t exactly been a very good boyfriend to anyone in his life, and that the women may not necessarily be the problem…
I love Rob’s inner monologue, the caustic, self-deprecating but confused and lonely voice of a man who never took the time to understand the women he dated. I also love the way Hornby captures the way music can affect people very deeply: when Rob gets all out of sorts about the Peter Frampton cover, I remembered being moved by similarly ridiculous songs (view spoiler)[(“I Caught Fire” by the Used: you have my permission to laugh at me for ever) (hide spoiler)] because for one reason or another, they hit a very specific nerve at the weirdest time. The scene still made me laugh, but I think I might have also blushed because I have been through that.
Mr. Hornby’s book is not a literary game-changer, but it’s a refreshing look into the neurosis that accompany modern relationships, our perpetual dissatisfaction with others, our selfish need to be happy at the world’s expense. Rob is more fun to hang out with than Emma Bovary, but both of them have the same issue of wishing their lives was exactly like their fantasies and they act out when that doesn’t happen. Rob, unlike Emma, eventually gets his shit together and one of the things I love most about this book is that it believes in forgiveness and second chances. There is hope and optimism in these pages, and while that might feel naïve at times, it’s also lovely. We all fantasize on what life could be, but we must never lose sight of how life really is, because it’s often much nicer than any wild fantasy we can come up with, and “High Fidelity” is a sweet reminder of that.
I really enjoy the movie, even with the Americanization of everything. John Cusack and Jack Black (“Don’t tell anyone you don’t own Blonde On Blonde, that’s obscene!”, is precisely the sort of obnoxious thing I say) play off each other perfectly and the soundtrack kicks serious ass.
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The 2020 Hulu adaptation is absolutely amazing! There are many Easter eggs for fans of the movie, the music is obviously beyond fantastic, and Zoë Kravitz is a perfect Rob! I was afraid of what they would do with the character of Barry, but Da'Vine Joy Randolph truly makes the character of Cherise unique, loveable and scary all at once. Hulu sadly won't be making a second season - which seems to be what happens to really great shows lately, and I think it's a real shame because this was a complete delight. If you like the book and/or the movie, don't hesitate for a minute and watch the series!...more
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