by Alan Garner (1973)

A young troubled man in love in the 1970’s, the violent siege of a church during the English civil war, and a berserker and his fellow deserter soldiers during Roman times; the elements of Alan Garner‘s slim but substantial novel Red Shift are interesting even if I had a hard time getting a concrete grasp on them.

It’s a little like reading poetry… You’re thrust into conversations that can be vague and complex, using language and history forgotten and the narrative jumps from one story to another without warning. Rather than always “getting” everything that was on a page, I’d (sometimes after re-reading) get a resonating feeling of what was taking place instead.

It’s not a simple, easy read but it is rewarding. Symbolism is rarely this effective and the bitter, violent themes are haunting.

Jim got this for me after hearing about it on Gawker, so I had no idea what to expect–but even if I had read a summary, it wouldn’t have prepared me for the interesting use of language and ideas here.

I wasn’t sure how I felt about it until I’d finished, and even now it grows more interesting as I look back on it… it’s exciting to be surprised, challenged and rewarded by a book.

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Posted on January 19, 2012

by The Publishers of Phaidon Press (2001)

While I sometimes bemoan the waste of my days of dual incomes and thoughtless spending (where’d it all go??) it’s nice to still reap the benefits.

In particular I have a great collection of beautiful art books and Phaidon’s The House Book is one of my favorites.

It’s a comprehensive but friendly to limited attention spans with large beautiful photographs and brief synopsis of architects and architectural styles.

Heavy hitting household names like Frank Lloyd Wright and Frank Gehry are here as well as less well known masters like Daniel Grataloup and Osamu Ishiyama.

There’s plenty of fodder for dream house building in your mind though it might also make you feel dismayed that our country is such a wasteland of cookue cutter blandness.

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Posted on January 18, 2012

by Debra Law (1981)

Debra Laws’ Very Special sounds like young girls’ smiles when they first fall in love . It’s a very nice thing.

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Posted on January 18, 2012

dedicated to 80’s horror on film and on the almighty nes

I’m sure there’s an scathing essay to be written about how what I am about to say could be a symbol of the decline of civilization, but an animated gif of Johnny Depp being sucked into a bed followed by a fountain of blood is a very nostalgic image of my childhood.

What can I say, I was a horror buff pretty much right from the beginning. I couldn’t wait to watch movies I spied in the blood splattered section in the video store. (I also vividly remember seeing a curtained off area with rated X movies, and thought to myself “How scary can a movie be to be X rated??”)

I feel like horror geek kids don’t quite exist in the same way anymore. Remember the kid in Salem’s Lot who’s obsessed with monsters? He and all like him have grown up, and instead of nerdy rooms packed with Fangorias, we have tumblrs like F— Yeah 8 Bit Horror to view, share and remember our favorite gorey moments in cinema.

The site focuses on the golden age of horror, the 1980’s. There’s lot of stuff from the Nightmare on Elm Street series (which is fine with me, since making Elm St. movies was what I wanted to do when I grew up for years). There are also a few I haven’t seen (Trick or Treat looks like a must see).

A great example of a good tumblr.

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Posted on January 15, 2012

138 N 8th St, Brooklyn

Betto didn’t arrive to the crowded Williamsburg restaurant scene with a lot of hoopla but it’s made a huge impression on myself and friends.

The food is pretty much spectacular and not outrageously priced.

For starters, the flatbread with roasted garlic was really something else. Magic happens when garlic is roasted (reminding me it’s something i should do at home more often) and mixed with warm, fluffy flatbread and a touch of lemon? Well, it was hard to share this one.

The crostinis are also a must order. I opted for a thick gooey chicken liver but the options are vast.

Salad wise, brussel sprouts were great, sun chokes were good but a bit dull in comparison with other dishes.

Main dishes are incouraged to be shared but we found they worked better as individual l dishes (trading bites of course!).

I loved my spicy chicken that was bursting with flavor but my friends spaghetti dishes were deliciously comforting and the calamari was tender and well spiced.

We finished with a nice cheese plate and a decadent chocolate dessert that could only be described as thick chocolate paste. Delicious but one to share with many.

The only complaint was that it was unreasonably chilly but otherwise the atmosphere is inviting and the food perfect. Can’t wait to return.

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Posted on January 13, 2012