Dr. Rat

And I still can't get a decent knish in TC! Move inland already! --eric

My thing is that the way you understand the truly terrible is to tell (or hear) a good joke about it. I think there's something to the Henri Bergson line (laughter is cruelty), but I think it goes well beyond that. Frankly, I don't think forced/enforced solemnity does much to meet the occasion, either. --eric

How was it? I've always wanted to read this because he brough us Toole, and I figure anyone who did that ought to be pretty good himself. Or no? --eric

Jesus. Have to say that I think its important to laugh at stuff like this. Also I think its important to have sympathy for people even when they are so tragically selfish as to kill themselves. Tragic selfishness might well head the list of things that are human. It's alright to joke, but don't tell yourself that this is somehow less horrible because they person who killed herself had a flaw you find dispicable. Much wisdom in the "there but for the grace of God" attitude. --eric

Don't know the Gonzalez brothers personally, but both of them have always struck me as absolutely in earnest when it comes to music. Some folks who are good at music just aren't very good at the "always meeting new people and making a good impression" side of things. I run into this all the time, even with local musicians whom I see all the time--they just can't seem to get around the ambiguity of our relationship. Unless they're real jerks, I just give them the benefit of the doubt and move on as best I can (even if I can't understand a damn thing they say!). --eric

New Orleans is one of my favorite towns. It reminds me of my hometown (Philly) cause its old and dirty and disfunctional, but of course it's very very different, as well. I'd recommend catching something at the Maple Leaf, especially if you can find something interesting on an off night (it gets really crowded with college kids). There's a joint (or was) called dba just east of the end of Decatur which has great beer, a laid-back (if yuppified) atmosphere, and some interesting acts. But, I'd most strongly recommend Mike West if he's playing in town. One place to catch him is at Margaritaville--Buffett actually books some solid acts at his tourist traps. West is an Australian who has a very well-done back country hick schtick, with some very good songs written about people he's met along the road and in his neighborhood. Kinda like if Randy Newman pretended to be a refugee from the cast of Deliverance. And if kermit Ruffins' place is still open, it's a cool place to catch a show so long as you are used to black working-class neighborhoods. I saw a band with Davell crawford and (I think) George Porter there filling in for Kermit when he got hung up in Calgary or somehwere. --eric

I voted "other" for tata. Another fine one is Anga Diaz, a younger congero who carries on in the Tata tradition. Good place to hear Tata Guines in a relatively uncluttered setting is his recording with Los Amigos. He's got some good moments on the "Los Heroes" set on Nonesuch, as well as with Cachao. --eric

I subsribe to a bunch of science-related mags--Seed, MIT Technology Review, Scietific American. I like MIT the best, for what reason I don't know. We were getting Wired at the station for a while -- I liked it pretty well I always go for the Economist trial subscriptions when I can -- it's a bit pricey for my wallet, but incomparable international coverage. I've been a longtime subscriber to the Atlantic, which I like a lot. The late editor was beginning to wreak havoc on it, but now we seem to be in limbo. The guy who bought it and installed the editor who died in Iraq (name forgotten) may well have an agenda to turn the Atlantic into yet another conservative "selective analysis" magazine, which was where it seemed to be going in 02/03. I second the New York Review recommendation. I got my local library to subscribe by arguing we cannot claim to be a civilized place without it. It is a bit predictable and disingenuous sometimes, but there's always a letter writer to point it out for you. --eric

On Perez-Reverte, yes, I've read everything except the last one (started but gave up) and the Fencing Master, which I just ahven't gotten around to. Which I guess leaves three? I did enjoy the Palliser book as well. Have you read The Unburied, another of Palliser's books? --eric

I'm just back from the Jersey shore, and, predictably, I started the DaVinci Code while there. Just finished that. A junk food read, but not bad as that. He does action sequences and suspense pretty well, but isn't as good at the literary/intellectual mystery/conspiracy stuff as well as my favorites in this sub-genre: Eco, Pears, Davies, Stephenson, Ackroyd. Speaking of Ackroyd, read First Light, which is touching in its way, but somehow a bit too obvious in playing for our sympathies sometimes. Also read The D. Case, an interesting reworking of Dickens's Edwin Drood, incorporating his text with the minutes from a meeting of fictional detectives who "solve" the mystery Dickens didn't live to finish. And am reading Gore Vidal's big book of essays United States. I read this years ago as part of my work on the periodical essay and I'm really blown away by how anti-semetic he seems to me now. Can't believe I didn't notice/gave him a pass on this before. Speaking of Stephenson, any feedback from those who are reading his monstrous Boroque Cycle?--I'm thinking of giving Quicksilver another go trying not to be prejudiced against his use of anachronism. --eric

Randissimo mentioned it to me one day, and I forgot about it until I was googling one day and found just the answer I was looking for here. I hadn't much hope of finding an answer, so I was impressed. I had a bit of extra time cause it was winter and I had a sports injury, so you guys became the object of lot of misdirected soccer energy. Hope it wasn't too terrible! --eric

Unlike everybody else, I don't think this format is necessarily a bad thing. The kind of radio station that plays this isn't very interesting to people who like music, anyhow. I was amused by the compost reference, as "culture" means the act of growing something (as in agriculture) and culture at the oldies/hits level is really more or less ideological compost--a medium that people exist in, and otherwise grow (though probably not through the action of the compost, which is probably there more for drainage--these songs can inspire soppiness!-- than nutritive purposes). I am interetsed in whether Dan is right. I'm thinking this is the new Muzak. Music that everyone will complain about (discerning folk are supposed to complain about such things, and we all want to appear to be discerning), but most folks will actually find innocuous or rather pleasant, in a cultural composty sort of way. After all, these are the same folks who watch television. --eric

When I was younger and about 40 pounds lighter I went to see the Skatalites, and one of the gentlemen on stage was wearing a nice pair of shoes, nicely tailored tweed pants, a three-butoon, single-breasted thin-lapelled jacket, long skinny tie, white linen shirt and a porkpie hat. That for me became the height of fashion. It doesn't look good on stocky people, though. --eric

Catch-22. Very very funny, especially on second read after you've got the sequence of events down. (It's well worth a second read -- I used to teach it and was always happy to re-read it). --eric

Where should I start? I read a review of his latest novel, which looks very funny. Also visited his website, and from what little I've read, he seems to be on the same level as Dave Barry. Another hilarious author I've started digging into is Christopher Moore. Saw FLUKE at the store, but decided to start from the beginning, PRACTICAL DEMONKEEPING. That was great! Now I'm halfway through COYOTE BLUE, and laughing even harder! Looking forward to plowing thru the rest of his catalog! Double Whammy, I think, is the place to start. My significant other is also ripping through the Moore ouvre, but backward (or as she finds them). I have been instructed to read Lamb. --eric

Sure Wood's better than Peck. But I also think that Peck's best is far better than thr tired whitewash we get in negative reviews of "Hatchet Jobs." There's a joint review of Peck and Wood in TLS (below) that I think hits the mark fairly closely, though, unlike Wood, I really like the satiric/corrective tradition, a tradition that Peck is defintiely a part of, though he's rather a smalll one in it. Larry Kart writes: I'm not altogether sure that Peck's grand-standing ought to be taken as bad faith. Personally I don't think criticism is just a propositional undertaking (I propose that DeLillo's novels are largely a waste of time for reasons a,b, &c)--it's also performative. And, yes, that means playing some power games, but these games are always being played either on or underneath the surface. Peck's mistake is that he, I think, starts violating "decorum" for its own sake rather than to drive home a point or to get people off the dime. That's where he becomes tiresome. Egotism? Yes. Bad faith? I don't think so. In fact, my read is that Peck is a fairly earnest person at heart. I'm not at alll sure what is to be gained by actually engaging Peck personally, considering the corner he paints himself into, but I think it would be constructive to move certain of his concerns up on the agenda. Here's the TLS piece:

I'm not sure if this is what you are referring to, but Saison is a style of beer. So it probably had a brand name as well, such as... Sezoen is a beer, which I think riffs on the Saison style you mention, but isn't quite the same, but I don't know. I bought it at a distributer in Easton PA, had one and went back and bought the other case he had. After drinking my 48, I never saw the stuff again. --eric

"Someone"? Get out of your armchair & go to the library--there's plenty of litcrit, some of it very fine, some of it just academic business-as-usual. There's no shortage of intelligent commentary on these writers, if you bother to look. I didn't mean for you to infer "there is no good criticism on these guys" but rather "Peck's attacks have yet to inspire an interesting defense." Just for the record, I do occasionally get up from my well-weathered armchair and read some stuff. In fact, reading is what I probably do best--I'm ABD in English lit, and one of my concentrations was on high modernism/post-modernism. So I am aware that criticism (some of it interesting) of DeLillo & Joyce exists. --eric

Anyone know a beer called Sezoen. Belgian ale, I beleive. --eric

vacuum turntable There's a bunch if you google "vacuum turntable." --eric

unwarping for the warped

Subject: Warped phonograph records From: Warwick Peberdy (warwickp@aa.gov.au) Date: 01-27-1998 Next message: Hans-Christoph von Imhoff: "Wax moth" Previous message: Regis Bertholon: "CRBC" Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ] Has anyone had any experience with flattening vinyl record albums? On 13 Jan 98 Lynn Campbell Lynn Campbell <campbelll@ccc.govt.nz> asked about warped phonograph records. Reminded me of the last gramophone recording I brought about 8 or 9 years ago, which was "The Gypsy Kings" album when they were all the rage in Australia. I put it on the back seat of the car and when I got home, about 30 minutes later, it had formed around the curve of the seat and was unplayable. I put it under a sheet of glass in the sun for about 10 to 15 minutes which removed most of the warp. This method is described in "The Preservation and Restoration of Sound Recordings" by Jerry McWilliams (1979). It suggests: cleaning the record; placing it between two sheets of clean and perfectly flat plate glass; heating to about 135 degs. F; leave at this heat for 10 minutes; remove heat and place some heavy books on top of the glass for 24 hours. If the warp is not removed then not enough heat has been applied. Heat should not exceed 150 degs. F as damage may occur. Hope this is of some help, Warwick Peberdy Preservation Services Australian Archives, Victoria *** Conservation DistList Instance 11:64 Distributed: Tuesday, January 27, 1998 Message Id: cdl-11-64-005 *** Next message: Hans-Christoph von Imhoff: "Wax moth" Previous message: Regis Bertholon: "CRBC" Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ] This page last changed: October 10, 2002

I think this is a "toophpaste back in the tube" problem (to use the immortal words of HR Haldeman) at elast insofar as the "rest configuration of the vinyl" goes. Anything you do to make the vinyl flat again is probably going to make matters worse. I suppose its possible that you'll succeed in flattening it, but its also possible you'll get that toothpaste back in that tube without making a bigger mess. Spindle clamps, I've found, don't work on significant warps. The pneumatic system I describe above had a slightly concave platter, as I remember it, so a fair deal of temporary unbending was accomplished. --eric

Isn't there some really expensive pneumatic system that sucks the vinyl forcefully against the platter, thus flattening it for the time you play it, anyhow? I thought I saw something like this at an esoteric stereo shop in Philly once. Though maybe I was dreaming. I think I also remember a platter floating on a pool of mercury. It's starting to sound more and more like a weird dream . . . --eri

Which smartness he has demonstrated to us how? Leonard's piece is really little more than a hatchet job itself. Rather less amusing that Peck's because it falls into line with literary orthodoxy rather than defying it. Peck's schtick gets tiresome, but, frankly it's about time someone started asking why Joyce's later writings are supposed to be so good or why DeLillo's rather commonplace (and when not commonplace, wrong) insights into pop culture make him so damn "smart." Not to say Peck's right in his condemnations of either writer, just that it's good to see a naysayer push his points out of the margins and onto center stage. Someone may now feel inspired to actually say some intelligent things about DeLillo and Joyce (not Leonard or Carlin Romano, so far though). --eric