A Modest Construct

¶ Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them

Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them by Al Franken: Publisher: Plume; Year: 2004; Pages: 448

It occurred to me recent that I’ve read and reviewed Al Franken’s 2005 The Truth (With Jokes) three times since the start of this meme (1, 2, 3), but never its predecessor, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them, which is arguably an even better book.

Conservative pundit Bill O’Reilly hates Media Matters, a website/organization which mostly just documents lies and distortions of conservatives. It’s important to note that there are really no polemics or extended rants of the Ann Coulter variety—the site is, by and large, either transcripts or video clips of the TV appearance/radio show/etc. in question, usually followed by evidence to the contrary. Given O’Reilly’s penchant for dissembling on-air, it is little wonder that he hates them so much.

¶ Brain Droppings

Brain Droppings by George Carlin: Publisher: Hyperion; Year: 1998/2006; Pages: 272

When last we saw a George Carlin book here in A Modest Construct, I was pretty harsh, but I take nothing back: When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops wasn’t a very good book. It was unfortunately indicative of the George Carlin we saw in the few years before his death; gone were the elaborate jokes about language, the puns, the extended structures, the tone that manages to be both irascible and playful at the same time (try it: it’s not easy).

¶ Friday Random Ten CLXXXII

The “swing and a miss” edition

Missy Higgins – [On A Clear Night #09] Peachy
Mogwai – [Come on Die Young #02] Cody
Opeth – [My Arms, Your Hearse #02] April Ethereal
Joaquin Rodrigo – [Concierto de Aranjuez (Romero) #10] Invocation et danse: 2. Allegro moderato: Polo
Nightingale – [I #02] Still In The Dark
Foo Fighters – [There Is Nothing Left To Lose #09] Headwires
Swarm Of The Lotus – [When White Becomes Black #09] Episode Infinity
Jason Falkner – [Presents Author Unknown #05] She Goes To Bed
Michael Jackson – [Bad #04] Liberian Girl
Gustav Mahler – [The Complete Symphonies CD9 #01] Symphony No.7 in E Minor – 1a. Langsam (Adagio)

§3604 · February 20, 2009 · 4 comments · Tags: Friday Random Ten, memes, music

¶ Friday Random Ten CLXXXI

The “Eastwood Charts” edition

Nine Inch Nails – [The Downward Spiral #04] March of the Pigs
Nine Inch Nails – [With Teeth [5.1] #12] Beside You In Time
Virgos Merlot – [Signs of a Vacant Soul #12] Disregarding
Beirut – [The Flying Club Cup #02] Nantes
Sergio – [Swords #02] The Spendthrift
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds – [Nocturama #03] Right Out Of Your Hand
John Vanderslice – [Pixel Revolt #09] Dear Sarah Shu
Mogwai – [Happy Songs for Happy People #02] Moses? I Amn’t
Mew – [And The Glass Handed Kites #05] Apocalypso
Grails – [Doomsdayer's Holiday #01] Doomsdayer’s Holiday

§3598 · February 13, 2009 · (No comments) · Tags: Friday Random Ten, memes, music

¶ The Boy Detective Fails

The Boy Detective Fails by Joe Meno: Publisher: Akashic Books; Year: 2006; Pages: 320

I’ve been meaning to read The Boy Detective Fails for quite some time, ever since I read a review of it in some magazine at a dentist’s office. Such fare would not usually rank high in credibility, except that I was already familiar with Joe Meno for his debut novel, Hairstyles of the Damned. I think perhaps one of my fiance’s teachers knew the author, or something to that effect.

What’s important to know about The Boy Detective Fails, very much apart from its particulars, is that its heart is an existential question about the nature of death and of mystery as a constituent of Life-with-a-capital-L. As my brother noted, it’s a very sad book in a way that only an upper-middle-class white man from Chicago can write. It’s all about an existential angst derived from the evaporation of middle class a priori bliss: Things Fall Apart meets Stuff White People Like.