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Children’s Book Review: The Incredible Book Eating Boy & A Child of Books by Oliver Jeffers

November 12, 2016 by krisis

[Patreon-Nov16-Post-Bug][/Patreon-Nov16-Post-Bug]At this point I think we can fairly say that EV devours books.

As a kid who only knows the TV as something she gets to enjoy once a week, her version of on-demand entertainment is demanding E or I to sit on the couch with her for two hours or more each day reading books. We have to have several dozen books in the rotation at any given time lest she latch on to one too strongly and drive us completely out of our minds.

EV loves reading so much that she now appreciates reading books about reading. Two of her favorites of late are The Incredible Book Eating Boy (yes, really, no hyphen) and A Child of Books, both by Oliver Jeffers.

One is a favorite snack, while the other is just empty calories.

The Incredible Book Eating Boy & A Child of Books by Oliver Jeffers

The Incredible Book Eating Boy: CK Says: – Read it

Read Time: 5-8 minutes
Gender Diversity: Male protagonist, all speaking characters male, female background characters
Ethnic Diversity: all white
Challenging Vocab (to read or to define): atlases, monumental, ejecting, digest, embarrassing
Themes To Discuss: importance of reading, moderation, overeating, intellect, working hard vs. easy solutions, libraries (& library fines)

A Child of Books: CK Says: – Skip it

Read Time: <5 minutes
Gender Diversity: Female protagonist leading a male protagonist
Ethnic Diversity: colorless (and could reasonably be non-white based on features)
Challenging Vocab (to read or to define): imagination, make-believe, invention
Themes To Discuss: power of imagination

Oliver Jeffers cares about the power of stories. Not just their ability to occupy and transport us, but their ability to sustain us and help us weave the reality with which we surround ourselves. In his books, words and even letters have magical, tangible powers.

The Incredible Book Eating Boy is a literal take on how books can nurture us. In it, young Henry (who bears a passing resemblance to Doug of NickToons fame) is reading a book while licking a popsicle and gets his hands crossed, leading him to munch on a tome. It’s not half-bad, and he discovers that in addition to filling his stomach with sustenance they also instantly fill his brain with knowledge.

Books aren’t too much more expensive than groceries, so Henry’s dad doesn’t mind his new habit at first. Henry delights in every genre of book, but he likes red ones the best. It’s only when his ambition to become the smartest person in the world leads him to get overfull of books and his speech turns to nonsense that they get concerned. Plus, they’re faced with a tremendous library bill! Henry has to wean himself back onto broccoli, but he’ll always enjoy a much of a hardcover from time to time – as evidenced by the die-cut bite-marks on the back of the book!

The Incredible Book Eating Boy is my favorite kind of whimsical book for kids. It’s silly without being about breaking rules or lying – the fantasy of its silliness is perfectly clear. Despite being relatively sparse on words, it tells a rich, involving story via its illustrations. There’s enough there to significantly embellish the story, if you have a little one that allows you to go off-script. [Read more…] about Children’s Book Review: The Incredible Book Eating Boy & A Child of Books by Oliver Jeffers

From The Beginning: WildStorm Universe – Stormwatch #9, 25, & 10

November 12, 2016 by krisis

We’re finally here! It’s the issue of Stormwatch that inspired this month of blogging even though I had never read it before.

With “Images of Tomorrow,” Stormwatch #25 leapt one year into the future to show the dark timeline that awaited the team …but I’m already getting ahead of myself. First, we have to read issue #9, with H. K. Proger on script and Ryan Benjamin penciling.

The issue makes the unusual move of giving us a second story in a row with a point-of-view character outside of our main cast. This time it is Sunburst, one of the members of Stormwatch Prime rescued from Gamorra in #6-7.

stormwatch_v1_025_cover The story is a “race to defuse the bomb” tale that gives us some backstory on Sunburst as well as context for his relationships with his teammates Nautika and Flashpoint. However, that was just a red herring (both for Sunburst and for us as readers), as at the end we learn the point of the story was for Defile to finally crack Sunburst’s psyche after he proved unbreakable during his captivity.

This would seem like a minor fill-in issue on its own, but paired with the portents of #25 it takes on considerably more foreboding.

Steven T. Seagle randomly steps in on scripting duties on #25, but he’s abetted by Scott Clark on his Stormwatch swan song after penciling six of the first eight issues. Between Seagle’s script, Clark’s slightly perverted character designs, and the darkness of the tale, the book is fantastic.

Every page carries a chilling new reveal that you’d typically expect from a “What If?” tale, except this one professes that it’s really going to happen! If I had sat down to read it at the time I would have never dropped this book.

Silver Surfer scripter Ron Marz takes the title over with #10 for a run through #24. While I was a little peeved to lose Brandon Choi on his best title, Marz quickly made me forget my annoyance. You can feel his expertise lock in immediately with the dreadful pall that hangs over Battalion’s narration, and the nuanced descriptions of his teammates doubling as introductions we’re getting for the first time.

Marz is re-teamed with his Stormwatch Special collaborator Dwayne Turner, who does a much better job drawing a solid, dour version team of the team this time around. Maybe that’s because Marz gives him so much more room to breath than in the rushed pace of the Special. Each member gets their own spread to show off their abilities as he explains their histories.

It was a brilliant move to turn this Avengers-style procedural drama about policing the globe into a towering tragedy via glimpsing the horror of a future that cannot be prevented it. It elevates Battalion – already a great character – to the position of being WildStorm’s own tragic Hamlet. And, we the reader are left dreading every page turn for what it might reveal about Battalion and Diva’s fate.

Want the play-by-play? Keep reading for a summary of these two teams going head to head. Here’s the schedule for the rest of this month’s WildStorm re-read. Tomorrow we get to one of my favorite runs of this entire era – Gen 13’s original mini-series! Will it hold up to re-read 20 years after my last time paging through? I can’t wait to find out.

Need the issues? You’ll need to purchase single issues – try eBay (#9-10 & 25) or Amazon (#9, 25, 10). Since further Stormwatch series hit these same issue numbers, be sure to match your purchase to the images in this post. [Read more…] about From The Beginning: WildStorm Universe – Stormwatch #9, 25, & 10

35-for-35: 1993 – Rid of Me by PJ Harvey

November 12, 2016 by krisis

[Patreon-Nov16-Post-Bug][/Patreon-Nov16-Post-Bug]This is where the choices are going to get really painful for me. I have a dozen favorite songs from 1993, at least.

Ace of Base’s “The Sign” and how it marked the end of my pop music fandom for the better part of a decade. Janet’s genre-bending “If” full of sex and squalling guitars. “River of Dreams” and the one time I could connect with my father over a piece of current music. Sheryl Crow’s Tuesday Night Music Club, a front to back listenable record that is so obviously the work of a collective of songwriters rather than a singular voice.

Juliana Hatfield, Liz Phair… I can keep going.

But, if we are going to talk about songs that really changed my whole damn life, we need to be talking about Polly Jean Harvey’s breakthrough album, Rid of Me.

All of it.

I didn’t come around to Harvey until a few years after Rid of Me, when I saw Tracy Bonham cover her “50ft Queenie.” Being a voracious consumer of female-vocal rock, it didn’t take much to convince me to head down to Borders to pick up the album that contained the original.

I was not prepared for what I heard. Rid of Me is a powerful and at-times terrifying album. This had all the rawness of Hole but the measured perfection of Tori Amos. It had guttural strength that stood up to anything on In Utero and spectral power that made it seem like a spiritual sister to Bjork’s Debut. While many fans and critics prefer her To Bring You My Love, the raw power of Steve Albini-produced Rid of Me remains her seminal work in this household.

I can’t pick just one song to highlight, so let’s just talk about half the record.

“Missed” never fails to stun me. It’s a lost track from Jesus Christ Superstar, Mary’s lament to a lost Jesus kept away in a tomb after Mary Magdelene insisting “Everything’s Alright.” It’s beautiful – takes my breath away on every play even after listening to it for 20 years.

The biblical theme continues on Bob Dylan’s famous “Highway ’61 Revisited,” the title track of his 1965 record.

Oh, God said to Abraham, “Kill me a son”
Abe said, “Man, you must be puttin’ me on”

Who on their second album decides to take a mid-record break to cover Dylan’s strutting country-rock paean to the famous road as a squalling, foreboding rock song? The Dylan original and faithful covers sound trite next to this muscular, paranoid version. The surging power chords, the surprisingly nuanced drumming, the jangling single note riff.

I’ve always felt this ought to be the credits tune to an adaptation of The Stand, with its depiction of God sparing Abraham’s son at the start to a roving gambler trying to start the next world war just to see if god would stop him in the final stanza. [Read more…] about 35-for-35: 1993 – Rid of Me by PJ Harvey

From The Beginning: WildStorm Universe – WildCATs #10-13 (Lee & Claremont Reunited!)

November 11, 2016 by krisis

[Patreon-Nov16-Post-Bug][/Patreon-Nov16-Post-Bug]What happens when you take Jim Lee’s high-gloss WildCATs and mash them up with storied X-Men author Chris Claremont?

That’s what we learn in WildCATs #10-13, where Claremont takes over scripting duties from Brandon Choi for Lee’s swan song on his own title.

wildcats-v01-010 Claremont seems to agree with my assessment of the title – that Zealot is the interesting part, and everyone else should be jettisoned. He spends barely a combined two pages writing Marlowe, Spartan, Maul, and Warblade and the book is better for it.

Instead, he recruits a new primary team composed of Zealot’s smarter little sister Savant, generic gun-guy Soldier who is redundant to Grifter (since he’s stuck in Kindred for the first half of this story), Superman analog Majestic, and his own Huntsman.

It makes sense that Lee would recruit Claremont for a story that opens the door to so much of the history of Kherubim without ever saying it out loud. Lee seems to be in a rush to get all of these elements out onto the table before he departs the book, and it shows in his art. It’s still Jim Lee, but there are few of the magnificent, splashy panels he’s most known for. It’s his most utilitarian work on the series to date.

Even Claremont can’t seem to make sense of Lee and Choi’s WildCATs, their allies, or their villains. Tapestry is a visual stunner, but her power to weave souls isn’t too different than Misery’s psychic push from Killer Instinct. Her motivations are even less clear – does she want Marlowe, the mysterious Alabastar Wu, or Zealot?

Who knows. What becomes rapidly apparent is just how much Lee and Choi’s stories really have adhered to the Claremontian model. Is this truly so different than WildCATs #1-4? Is Voodoo’s ruse any different that Misery’s in Killer Instinct? Is Voodoo’s distribution of power any different than the Void/Marlowe team-up from the last story? Is it partially resolved by women repeatedly wielding the totality of their psychic powers?

This confusing yarn is an enjoyable read because the real Chris Claremont knows how to leverage these wordy tools like no other. Also, his stoic Huntsman is more charismatic than the entire male cast of the book save for Grifter – who mercifully returns to the action for the final issue.

The real delight here are the back-up features, which hint at a world beyond the WildCATs team we’ve been reading so far. Solider’s story is generic, but opens a new window on Zealot’s immortal history. Majestic’s interlude makes him out to be a Superman who decided to abandon humanity. And, Zealot’s first encounter with Tapestry shows she hasn’t always had a will made of steel – and some of that might even be Tapestry’s doing!

Want the full details? Read on to watch me try to make sense of my first Claremontian recap – may the goddess save our souls.. Here’s the schedule for the rest of this month’s WildStorm re-read. Tomorrow we head back to Stormwatch for this month’s main inspiration, the fast-forward from Stormwatch #9 to #25 and then back to #10!

Need the issues? This is another rare WildStorm title with a TPB collection, called WildC.A.T.s: A Gathering of Eagles (ISBN 978-1887279451)! Here it is on Amazon and eBay. Note that I’m unsure if it includes the backup features. For single issues, try eBay (#10-13) or Amazon (#10, 11, 12, 13 or #10, 11, 12, 13 (try both sets)). Since future WildCATs series hit these same issue numbers, be sure to match your purchase to the cover images in this post. [Read more…] about From The Beginning: WildStorm Universe – WildCATs #10-13 (Lee & Claremont Reunited!)

35-for-35: 1992 – “Tear In Your Hand” by Tori Amos

November 11, 2016 by krisis

[Patreon-Nov16-Post-Bug][/Patreon-Nov16-Post-Bug] tori-amos-little-earthquakes-alt-cover-photo I stopped seeing Tori Amos live because of “Tear In Your Hand.”

It is one of my favorite songs of all time.

It is one of my favorite songs of all time, and after seeing Tori Amos five times she had played it at every show. When the next tour rolled around, I couldn’t bear the thought of seeing her and breaking the streak.

(Of course, that was probably her best tour since 1998. And she did play “Tear In Your Hand” in Philly. Oh, well.)

I cannot entirely explain my fascination with “Tear In Your Hand.” It’s not the most memorable song on Little Earthquakes, by far. Yet, it has a hypnotic quality to its constantly circling chords that draws you in and than keeps you spiraling.

Tori redraws the same piano figure again and again – a B suspended fourth to major to suspended second that then puts the fourth in bass for the same figure and returns back to the top – as she rambles through a stream-of-consciousness that starts when all the world just stops and rambles through reading Sandman comic books, liking the same ice cream as a serial killer, and how that other girl might just be another side of herself.

I think the entire song exists in that stopped-world moment. He says he doesn’t want to stay together anymore, and as she takes a deep breath he touches a hand to her cheek to wipe away the first tear and when he does her life just flashes before her eyes in an instant, like a forever dream sent from Morpheus himself.

tori-amos-denim-chair-1991 Meanwhile, the arrangement is a beautiful puzzle of pieces tugging at your ear drums. The sighing backing vocals are pulled right from “Crazy For You,” while a chugging woody bass sound hints at indie rockers like R.E.M., and the increasingly intricate tangle of guitars begins to obscure the initial piano line – plus, the headbanging bridge, one of the hardest rocking moment on Little Earthquakes.

She knows him better now than she used to, and she knows it never could have been – even if that other woman is just the pieces of herself she hadn’t yet revealed. And so it’s time to say goodbye.

I don’t think it’s a marvelous song, especially without Steve Caton’s beautiful guitar arrangement. Yet, there’s something undeniable about its unspooling narrative that became synonymous with seeing Tori Amos live, and I’m half afraid she’ll skip and half afraid she’ll do it and that fragile magic will be gone.

Here’s a 2005 live version from VH1 – perhaps its only major TV broadcast: [Read more…] about 35-for-35: 1992 – “Tear In Your Hand” by Tori Amos