David G. Cookson's Blog, page 20
March 5, 2018
Davezine 14: the Bad Roommates Issue,
This is how I end it.
A word to the bad ones, including ones I haven’t mentioned….
I truly hope that with time and age we have all become better people. I know I have not always been kind to people, and that with this I am truly not being kind. But while maybe I am not being kind, I am also not lying. And if you’ve noticed, I’ve left your real names out of it.
I hope that you have changed. I know I have. And in the age we live in, it was not hard to see where you are now and what you are doing. I’m glad to see we all wound up on our collective feet.
Just know that whatever pain you inflicted on me, while it was all very real and all very important at the time, now it is comedy. And it’s largely at my expense. As I’ve tried to point out on many occasions throughout this mini-memoir of mine, you couldn’t have screwed me over without my assistance. I let you do it, so in many ways, it is my fault, too.
I may have been angry while writing this, but I am not angry anymore. And once this goes to press, such as it is, I am really letting it go.
Peace.
A word to the bad ones, including ones I haven’t mentioned….
I truly hope that with time and age we have all become better people. I know I have not always been kind to people, and that with this I am truly not being kind. But while maybe I am not being kind, I am also not lying. And if you’ve noticed, I’ve left your real names out of it.
I hope that you have changed. I know I have. And in the age we live in, it was not hard to see where you are now and what you are doing. I’m glad to see we all wound up on our collective feet.
Just know that whatever pain you inflicted on me, while it was all very real and all very important at the time, now it is comedy. And it’s largely at my expense. As I’ve tried to point out on many occasions throughout this mini-memoir of mine, you couldn’t have screwed me over without my assistance. I let you do it, so in many ways, it is my fault, too.
I may have been angry while writing this, but I am not angry anymore. And once this goes to press, such as it is, I am really letting it go.
Peace.
March 3, 2018
Ace Ventura in 'Murland
Sometimes as I'm writing this thing about the bad roommates I've had in the pretty distant past I wonder if there are those who would look at me and my reaction to things and judge me harshly for it. I can't worry about it. I'm just using this as catharsis, hoping for a laugh here and there. A lot of this happened because I let it.
Anyway, here's a little story from the summer before I moved with roommate number 1, who has now taken up about 3000 words of the new Davezine.
That July after school ended, I went on the trip where Matt was going to sell me on ‘Murland. But for seven days, instead of actually doing that, I got dragged around with him and his 15 year old girlfriend. I watched them, watched him, sat around and stared at the vast unbelievable sprawl of strip malls and signage in suburban ‘Murland that we just didn’t have back in Massachusetts, at least not in those days. I watched them together, and I sat around as she was working at the snowball stand, bored out of my mind. I wondered if I was ever going to see the city, which was the only thing I wanted to do.
I made the best of it, as is my nature, but I was disappointed. I only ever got to see Baltimore on the 5th day of this 7 day trip--not much upon which to form an opinion. But it turned out to be enough.
The last day of the trip, Stacy said, “Dave, do you wanna see a movie?”
The three of us drove to the theater to see “Ace Ventura.” They bought my ticket, asked how long the movie was, then handed it to me and said “We’ll pick you up in two hours.”
My jaw dropped in horror as I suddenly realized what was happening: I was being dumped off at the movies, like a ten year old kid by his alcoholic parents...
Anyway, here's a little story from the summer before I moved with roommate number 1, who has now taken up about 3000 words of the new Davezine.
That July after school ended, I went on the trip where Matt was going to sell me on ‘Murland. But for seven days, instead of actually doing that, I got dragged around with him and his 15 year old girlfriend. I watched them, watched him, sat around and stared at the vast unbelievable sprawl of strip malls and signage in suburban ‘Murland that we just didn’t have back in Massachusetts, at least not in those days. I watched them together, and I sat around as she was working at the snowball stand, bored out of my mind. I wondered if I was ever going to see the city, which was the only thing I wanted to do.
I made the best of it, as is my nature, but I was disappointed. I only ever got to see Baltimore on the 5th day of this 7 day trip--not much upon which to form an opinion. But it turned out to be enough.
The last day of the trip, Stacy said, “Dave, do you wanna see a movie?”
The three of us drove to the theater to see “Ace Ventura.” They bought my ticket, asked how long the movie was, then handed it to me and said “We’ll pick you up in two hours.”
My jaw dropped in horror as I suddenly realized what was happening: I was being dumped off at the movies, like a ten year old kid by his alcoholic parents...
March 1, 2018
From the upcoming Bad Roommates issue of Davezine...
Matt from 'Murland.
“ Matt’, oh why do I have to live with you?” 1-6-95
"But Matt, in spite of assuring me he would be coming back to his beloved ‘Murland with a cool grand, giving us a pool of 3000 dollars to put down on an apartment together as we set out to start our lives in or at least near a big city, let me know just a little too late that he would only be coming down with a lousy, piddly 200 bucks…
"So strong was my desire to follow through with the plan, I just let it roll over me. In fact, I just let him roll over me. I didn’t care. I would foot the bill and we’d work it out later, after he got a job and after we moved in to our new place. Helping him was helping us, I thought.
"We drove down to ‘Murland in the middle of the night, sometime in August of 1994, arriving at his father’s house the next morning....
“ Matt’, oh why do I have to live with you?” 1-6-95
"But Matt, in spite of assuring me he would be coming back to his beloved ‘Murland with a cool grand, giving us a pool of 3000 dollars to put down on an apartment together as we set out to start our lives in or at least near a big city, let me know just a little too late that he would only be coming down with a lousy, piddly 200 bucks…
"So strong was my desire to follow through with the plan, I just let it roll over me. In fact, I just let him roll over me. I didn’t care. I would foot the bill and we’d work it out later, after he got a job and after we moved in to our new place. Helping him was helping us, I thought.
"We drove down to ‘Murland in the middle of the night, sometime in August of 1994, arriving at his father’s house the next morning....
February 27, 2018
Davezine Bad Roommates Issue
"Talked to my parents today...everybody knows I'm gone, so there's no messages, no nothing. I guess I'm really gone." --me, 8/29/1994
I think I'm going to do it. I am doing it. I'm doing it now.
I'm writing the Bad Roommate issue of Davezine....
In trying to capture the growing pains and put some context into my memoir/zine about the many roommates I had in the last 25 years, I've gone to a treasure trove of notebooks I've managed to hang onto. It's good stuff. I might share a little as I do a deep dive into this project.
Stay tuned....
I think I'm going to do it. I am doing it. I'm doing it now.
I'm writing the Bad Roommate issue of Davezine....
In trying to capture the growing pains and put some context into my memoir/zine about the many roommates I had in the last 25 years, I've gone to a treasure trove of notebooks I've managed to hang onto. It's good stuff. I might share a little as I do a deep dive into this project.
Stay tuned....
February 21, 2018
My Struggle
One time, in my musical persona, I performed a song about going to the library. I played it live once. One time. Only once...because it went over poorly. Nobody liked it. I expect the same reaction from this blog post. Fair warning: I'm doing it anyway.
This might be a weird thing to talk about. I don’t know if anyone could possibly care or understand what I’m about to say, but…well, it never stopped me before.
So…
The Enoch Pratt Free Library here in Baltimore, where I get 99.9 percent of the books that I read, is undergoing some renovations. In fact, it was closed for about a week and just re-opened today. Because of the ongoing renovations, the entire collection of books, music, videos, audio, what-have-you on the first floor has been moved to upper floors of the facility, a situation I am told will be the norm for the next year while they finish the renovation.
Confused the living hell out of me. I climbed the stairs and read signs pointing down hallways where library security gathered, directing people into the temporary homes for the massive collection, not including the items in Red Dot storage, way down in the basement (I went on a tour many, many years ago and saw this personally. It’s impressive.)
And brought me face to face with my book selecting technique, quietly challenging the way that I pick the books I read and review.
“Do you still have the New Fiction shelf?”
“No,” I was told. “It’s all mixed together.”
Mixed together? Mixed together???
My whole book selecting strategy has been honed from years of visiting the library. I look at the new shelf, pluck 4 or 5, mostly based on a somewhat imperfect and arbitrary standard…I like funny books but I’ll take something serious...I don’t like translations but once in a while I’ll read one…I don’t like books that have weird narrative techniques or multiple narrators unless it’s an author I trust. I generally don’t like insanely long books unless it’s Paul Murray or a classic or something…
I used to only read non-fiction…in fact, I hated fiction! Can you believe that? I just didn’t see the point of reading someone else’s work! “That’s just something somebody made up.” I thought it was a better use of my time to read about history or politics and learn something. Yes, it was crazy irony, considering that the only thing I’ve ever really wanted to be in life was a writer. OF FICTION.
Anyway, this lack of New Fiction shelf was killing me. Usually if I don’t find something on the New Fiction shelf I go to my backups, older books by authors I like…
A process that usually only takes me 10 minutes was suddenly making me sweat and taking me a half hour. (It didn’t help that it was 75 degrees today.) Suddenly I was looking at every shelf, lost… “What do I like again?” I looked at my phone, connected to Goodreads…my “to-read” list….much of it not helpful as at least half of that list is non-fiction (Many holdovers from the time in my life I eschewed fiction.) The other half was stuff that wasn’t on the shelf yet.
Eventually I figured it out…found 4 books that I think I had glanced at when they were on the New Fiction shelf, maybe. Then I realized I had a book on hold, from a few months ago (“Mindhunter”!!! The book upon which the Netflix series is based.)
Definitely didn’t want to bitch. (“They let you read all these books for free!”) I left armed with plenty of reading material for my travels. I’ll be okay.
Enoch Pratt is a beautiful building that is being restored, and that’s a good thing. Whenever I think of things in this city that make me happy, this is always one of them. And every once in a while, you have to ask yourself: what do you like? And how are you gonna find it???
This might be a weird thing to talk about. I don’t know if anyone could possibly care or understand what I’m about to say, but…well, it never stopped me before.
So…
The Enoch Pratt Free Library here in Baltimore, where I get 99.9 percent of the books that I read, is undergoing some renovations. In fact, it was closed for about a week and just re-opened today. Because of the ongoing renovations, the entire collection of books, music, videos, audio, what-have-you on the first floor has been moved to upper floors of the facility, a situation I am told will be the norm for the next year while they finish the renovation.
Confused the living hell out of me. I climbed the stairs and read signs pointing down hallways where library security gathered, directing people into the temporary homes for the massive collection, not including the items in Red Dot storage, way down in the basement (I went on a tour many, many years ago and saw this personally. It’s impressive.)
And brought me face to face with my book selecting technique, quietly challenging the way that I pick the books I read and review.
“Do you still have the New Fiction shelf?”
“No,” I was told. “It’s all mixed together.”
Mixed together? Mixed together???
My whole book selecting strategy has been honed from years of visiting the library. I look at the new shelf, pluck 4 or 5, mostly based on a somewhat imperfect and arbitrary standard…I like funny books but I’ll take something serious...I don’t like translations but once in a while I’ll read one…I don’t like books that have weird narrative techniques or multiple narrators unless it’s an author I trust. I generally don’t like insanely long books unless it’s Paul Murray or a classic or something…
I used to only read non-fiction…in fact, I hated fiction! Can you believe that? I just didn’t see the point of reading someone else’s work! “That’s just something somebody made up.” I thought it was a better use of my time to read about history or politics and learn something. Yes, it was crazy irony, considering that the only thing I’ve ever really wanted to be in life was a writer. OF FICTION.
Anyway, this lack of New Fiction shelf was killing me. Usually if I don’t find something on the New Fiction shelf I go to my backups, older books by authors I like…
A process that usually only takes me 10 minutes was suddenly making me sweat and taking me a half hour. (It didn’t help that it was 75 degrees today.) Suddenly I was looking at every shelf, lost… “What do I like again?” I looked at my phone, connected to Goodreads…my “to-read” list….much of it not helpful as at least half of that list is non-fiction (Many holdovers from the time in my life I eschewed fiction.) The other half was stuff that wasn’t on the shelf yet.
Eventually I figured it out…found 4 books that I think I had glanced at when they were on the New Fiction shelf, maybe. Then I realized I had a book on hold, from a few months ago (“Mindhunter”!!! The book upon which the Netflix series is based.)
Definitely didn’t want to bitch. (“They let you read all these books for free!”) I left armed with plenty of reading material for my travels. I’ll be okay.
Enoch Pratt is a beautiful building that is being restored, and that’s a good thing. Whenever I think of things in this city that make me happy, this is always one of them. And every once in a while, you have to ask yourself: what do you like? And how are you gonna find it???
February 20, 2018
The Locals
The Locals by Jonathan DeeMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Set in the period after 9-11 then leading up to the housing crash later that decade, The Locals is something of a small masterpiece.
The setting is the fictional town of Howland, Massachusetts, in the very real Berkshire County in which I was born and raised (he mentions all the places near to home, including Pittsfield, where I lived) The locals of this community are typical of a lot of Massachusetts towns: insular, distrustful of outsiders even while depending upon them for their precious tourist revenue. Mark Firth is a local contractor who has lost much of his money in a Ponzi scheme. In trying to fix this, he finds himself trying to meet a lawyer in New York City on…9-11.
Mark’s whole family still lives in the region, and the novel follows many of them in their individual and overlapping stories. Into this mix moves Phil Hadi, a wealthy financial advisor trying to get away from the mess of post 9-11 New York, but much like a lot of people who come into the region, he sets about making the area he lives more on par to what he is used to, hiring Mark to do some security modifications to his property. He winds up becoming 1st Selectman (Howland’s equivalent as Mayor) and quietly uses his money to fix many local problems, in an apparently benign attempt to keep Howland just the way it is. But not everyone is convinced that his motives are in fact benign…
Oh, how this book nails it so many times. While I have been away from this region for quite a long time, I recognize the attitudes and culture that Dee has characterized, even as I mildly resent him (from Upstate New York, no less!) as an outsider himself. The conflict he sets up between the locals and the outsider in their midst is totally relatable. And the layers of the story that he pulls off are quite a writerly feat that puts me somewhat in awe. I found myself alternating between turning the pages quickly and trying to figure out where this fictional town would lie on the map (my best guess: South County just a few miles down from Egremont, along Route 7.)
The Locals is excellent. I fear I’m barely skimming the surface here, but hopefully I’ve made my point.
View all my reviews
February 13, 2018
The Legend of Zippy Chippy
The Legend of Zippy Chippy: Life Lessons from Horse Racing's Most Lovable Loser by William ThomasMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Born under most auspicious circumstances (descended from War Admiral, Native Dancer, Man ‘O War, to name a few luminaries) Zippy Chippy never quite panned out...In fact, he never won. Zippy Chippy lost 100 races, with only a few second and third place finishes in a career spanning over 11 years.
But to thousands of fans, it didn’t matter. Zippy Chippy was a champion.
The Legend of Zippy Chippy traces that horse and his people, notably his trainer, Felix, who loved him like a son. And the author finds that there is much to be learned from someone like Zippy, who people could relate to, because of the way he handled constant defeat.
Zippy Chippy was a cranky horse, likely to bite the people he loved and steal the hats of anyone else. But he was special because he was like the rest of us, who also can be cranky and maybe steal a hat once in a while and (let’s face it) are more familiar with defeat than victory. He had all the desire in the world, but he just found so many ways to lose.
But throughout it all, he kept his head up and won the hearts of fans, who often bet on him even though they knew it was no more than a symbolic bet for the underdog (albeit, a poorly priced one—if he ever had come in he would have likely only paid a few dollars since the odds on him were inflated and had little to do with his actual ability to win).
This is a fun book that explores a mildly dark side of horseracing. It is similar to another book I liked about horseracing: Elizabeth Mitchell’s Three Strides Before the Wire, about the great and tragic champion, Charismatic…only this is the exact opposite, in that the hero is a loser. A record setting, wonderful loser.
Really good, easy to read, told with humor, this is a book I will happily return to my friend who loaned it to me. It’s only been a year…
View all my reviews
February 6, 2018
Preview of Davezine 14: the Contents
This Issue!
No True American Actually likes Soccer
Brief diatribe on the state of the world via the games we refuse to accept do not belong to us.
The Rise and Fall of the Parochialist.
A feature bit. Back in 2007, in a quixotic rebellion, I fought the man. Now, I am the man.
Delegitimizing the Nap.
I spend a lot of time napping. These are my thoughts.
Book Reviews: Jack Chick mini comics.
The late Jack Chick produced thousands of these things in his long life. I review two of them here.
The Insults and Stupidity that Just might Save the World.
From the unreleased Beer Club 3: if aliens came down to earth, could we beat them back with the power of our own stupidity?
Davezine Number 14 should be out around March 31st.
No True American Actually likes Soccer
Brief diatribe on the state of the world via the games we refuse to accept do not belong to us.
The Rise and Fall of the Parochialist.
A feature bit. Back in 2007, in a quixotic rebellion, I fought the man. Now, I am the man.
Delegitimizing the Nap.
I spend a lot of time napping. These are my thoughts.
Book Reviews: Jack Chick mini comics.
The late Jack Chick produced thousands of these things in his long life. I review two of them here.
The Insults and Stupidity that Just might Save the World.
From the unreleased Beer Club 3: if aliens came down to earth, could we beat them back with the power of our own stupidity?
Davezine Number 14 should be out around March 31st.
January 31, 2018
Update on the new Zine
Been promising an update on the new Davezine, (number 14).
So far, I have a mock-up, with a cover, a feature, and 3 small stand-alone excerpts from a project I was working on last summer. I've decided to go small with this one...maybe 20 to 24 pages as opposed to 40 or so that I had been doing before. In my research of zines that are out now, I've discovered that whatever I've been doing, it has been too much. And people don't really read longer works. I always wanted to provide more value, more bang for the buck, but at this point, I just don't think I need to think that way. And besides, less pages means I can put it out more cheaply.
The zine may be a place for smaller works, for personal stories to go along with my yearly novels. I am really happy with "The Rise and Fall of the Parochialist" as a feature. It is like a flashback to ten years ago. And I think people might like the random excerpts. I promise, they work outside the larger stories from where they come.
So...I'll see how this goes. I hope people are interested. I know I have a few old school fans who are looking forward to it. I hope this doesn't disappoint. I don't think it will, but then again, what do I know?
Davezine 14 will be out around March 31, 2018.
My last book was Pain Center: the Novel, and you can get it here: http://davecookson.tripod.com/PainCen...
So far, I have a mock-up, with a cover, a feature, and 3 small stand-alone excerpts from a project I was working on last summer. I've decided to go small with this one...maybe 20 to 24 pages as opposed to 40 or so that I had been doing before. In my research of zines that are out now, I've discovered that whatever I've been doing, it has been too much. And people don't really read longer works. I always wanted to provide more value, more bang for the buck, but at this point, I just don't think I need to think that way. And besides, less pages means I can put it out more cheaply.
The zine may be a place for smaller works, for personal stories to go along with my yearly novels. I am really happy with "The Rise and Fall of the Parochialist" as a feature. It is like a flashback to ten years ago. And I think people might like the random excerpts. I promise, they work outside the larger stories from where they come.
So...I'll see how this goes. I hope people are interested. I know I have a few old school fans who are looking forward to it. I hope this doesn't disappoint. I don't think it will, but then again, what do I know?
Davezine 14 will be out around March 31, 2018.
My last book was Pain Center: the Novel, and you can get it here: http://davecookson.tripod.com/PainCen...
January 30, 2018
Vengeance is Mine...All Others Pay Cash
Vengeance Is Mine, All Others Pay Cash by Eka KurniawanMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
(Translated by Annie Tucker)
Ajo Kawir is a lower class teenage boy living in Japan, who is obsessed with girls and staring at girls, until one day he witnesses a violent rape, the mental shock of which renders him impotent.
But still, he falls in love with a girl, Iteung, who is a bodyguard for one of the local mafia. He learns to fight and then learns inner calm, but he turns away from his life, leaving his love behind because he cannot do the one thing with her that he wants to do.
In time, he gives up on the thought of becoming well and instead uses his penis as a kind of oracle that he uses to answer questions. But can love win out in the end?
This book is written in short scenes, and is billed as kind of a comic film noir story. I can see that. While Ajo’s condition is not necessarily played for laughs, it does wind up having funny bits about it. It was ultimately enjoyable in a quick single day burst of reading. I would highly recommend reading this in a manic pace to match the pace of a Kung Fu movie. 4 stars.
An Explanation of my rating:
Breezy little book, clocking in at 209 pages, took me a little while because I had to stop and prioritize a different book and…well, this one fell by the wayside. I was determined to finish and give it at least a 3 star rating but when I read the last 76 pages I realized that this story deserved no less than 4.
View all my reviews
