Ben Tanzer's Blog, page 204

We are so The Velvet Podcast.

It's true we are quite The Velvet Podcast today, and yes, its true, we are hoping to land a coveted podcastee role on the show, but does that mean you shouldn't be listening as well, all the time, with the possibility that doing so just may change your life? It does not, so go, go now, and if you just happen to run into TBWCYL, Inc. favorite and Velvet Podcast host Caleb J. Ross along the way please do mention that we sent you. Thanks.

There is You Can Make Him Like You cover action. And new Artistically Declined logo. Rejoice.

There is You Can Make Him Like You cover action. And it is the bomb. Artistically Declined also has a new logo. And it is the bomb. The book will be available soon. Very soon. And the logo is already available for your consumption. Rejoice.

This Book Will Change Your Life - Cardboard Gods by Josh Wilker.

When Jason Pettus at CCLaP expressed interest in publishing 99 Problems he said he was particularly struck by how many writers were also runners. As we read Cardboard Gods by Josh Wilker what we were initially struck by was how many writers seemed to have offbeat, if not outright strained childhoods, filled with all sorts of funky family dynamics, struggles with self-confidence and the inability to find their way, both as a writer and in life. But then we thought, maybe that's everybody in some form or another, and what we're really encountering here is the writer's ability to translate that pain and strife into words and image and narrative that transcend mere description and turn them into something powerful, engaging and even beautiful. Which then got us thinking that if any of this is remotely true, the real challenge may be how the writer accomplishes this in a way that sounds vibrant and different and brings new perspective and language to the discussion, continuing an ongoing dialogue in fresh and exciting new ways. Which brings us back to Cardboard Gods and Josh Wilker's moving exploration of his childhood, pop culture, the last third of the last century, and the start of the new one, rooting for the Boston Red Sox and the birth of the writer through his youthful obsession with all things baseball card, the players, both obscure and star, their stats and back stories, and the endless hopes, needs, and anxieties we can project onto an object of desire. Why do all writers seem to know pain, because we all do, everyone, but writers labor to describe it, because they, we, have no other choice.

We would add here, that as part of TBWCYL, Inc.'s 2010 Top Ten Book List, we wrote about the morass of books that have landed here at headquarters during the past several months, and our inability to read them at the rate we prefer to due to the endless end of the year responsibilities that come with running a massive, yet faux, media empire. That said, we have taken some vacation time, a new year of work travel is rapidly approaching, and we are pleased to announce that Cardboard Gods represents the first book to be scratched off of the list. Next up, Sophomoric Philosophy by Victor David Giron. Nice.

And now we take a moment for some New Year's wishes from TBWCYL, Inc. celebrity spokesman Steve Martin speaking on behalf of our entire staff.

If we at TBWCYL, Inc. had one wish that we could wish this holiday season, it would be that all the children to join hands and sing together in the spirit of harmony and peace. If we had two wishes we could make this holiday season, the first would be for all the children of the world to join hands and sing in the spirit of harmony and peace. And the second would be for 30 million dollars a month to be given to us, tax-free in a Swiss bank account. You know, if we had three wishes we could make this holiday season, the first, of course, would be for all the children of the world to get together and sing, the second would be for the 30 million dollars every month to us, and the third would be for even more encompassing power over every living being in the entire universe. And if we had four wishes that we could make this holiday season, the first would be the crap about the kids definitely, the second would be for the 30 million, the third would be for all the power, and the fourth would be to set aside one month each year to have an extended staff-wide 31-day orgasm, to be brought out slowly by Rosanna Arquette and that model Paulina-somebody, we can't think of her name. Of course our lovely wives, and husbands, can come too and they are all behind us one hundred percent here, we guarantee it. Wait a minute, maybe the sex thing should be the first wish, so if we made that the first wish, because it could all go boom tomorrow, then what do you got, y'know? No, no, the kids, the kids singing would be great, that would be nice. But wait a minute, who are we kidding? They're not going to be able to get all those kids together. We mean, the logistics of the thing is impossible, more trouble than it's worth! So -- we reorganize! Here we go. First, the sex thing. We go with that. Second, the money. No, we got with the power second, then the money. And then the kids. Oh wait, oh jeez, we forgot about revenge against my enemies! Okay, we need revenge against all of our enemies, they should die like pigs in hell! That would be our fourth wish. And, of course, our fifth wish would be for all the children of the world to join hands and sing together in the spirit of harmony and peace. Thank you everybody.

(Borrowed (and slightly tweaked) from Steve Martin's monologue on the 1991 Saturday Night Live Christmas Special).

Yo, check it out, Pac Man Fever in Polish at the MINIMALBOOKS. Whoot.

Yes, its true, we were going to talk Top Ten movies today, we were, really, but then Piotr Siwecki at MINIMALBOOKS let us know that they have translated "Pac Man Fever" from Repetition Patterns into Polish for the new issue of MINIMALBOOKS and we were so geeked that we let the marketing people in our film department know that the movies will have to wait. Meanwhile, this is the second story from the Repetition Patterns that Piotr and his crew have translated, the first being "The Gift" which appeared in the first issue of MINIMALBOOKS. To say we are most appreciative of the support and interest is understatement, and to say we think this is quite cool is also an understatement, but to say it has changed our life is not an understatement at all, it has, does, will, and we are digging it.

The TBWCYL, Inc. 2010 Top Ten Music List.

How about some Top Ten Music? Nice.

(1) Girl Talk - All Day. And all night, we will repetitively, and compulsively, play anything Girl Talk does. Anything.

(2) Kany West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Hip hop goes confessional, well, more confessional. Long live Kanye.

(3) Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings - I Learned the Hard Way. Ebullience.



(4) Jamey Johnson - The Guitar Song. Sprawling, yet pared-down, throwback greatness.

(5) Arcade Fire - The Suburbs. Typically engrossing, with all due apologies to Shya Scanlon of course.

(6) LCD Soundsystem - This is Happening. Happy noise.

(7) Robyn - Body Talk Pt. 1. Maximum fun.

(8) The Gaslight Anthem - American Slang. Sort of Springsteen, sort of 80's, very catchy.

(9) Bruce Springsteen - The Promise. Joy in the dark.

(10) Bob Rok - Poverty in Color. A love letter to Pilsen.

Also deserving of some love (and in no particular order): The Hold Steady/Heaven is Whenever; Ryan Bingham & The Dead Horse/Junky Star; John Mellencamp/No Better Than this.

Biggest let down: MIA/MAYA. Though to be fair Meds and Feds is slamming.

Biggest, and oddest, pleasurable surprise: Joanna Newsom/Have One on Me.

More 2010 Top Ten Love.

TBWCYL, Inc. 2010 Top Ten Books List

TBWCYL, Inc. 2010 Top Ten Television List

And for your retro viewing pleasure.

TBWCYL, Inc. 2009 Top Ten Music List

TBWCYL, Inc. 2008 Top Ten Music List

TBWCYL, Inc. 2007 Top Ten Music List

The TBWCYL, Inc. 2010 Top Ten Television List.

How about some Top Ten Television? Nice.

(1) Friday Night Lights. Family. Race. Adultery. Education. Choice. Poverty. And football. Nothing else like it. Nothing.

(2) Mad Men. Can you say a fine return to the humor, but no loss of the angsty sixties awesomeness? We thought you could.

(3) Modern Family. Just say no to sophomore slumps.



(4) Damages. This past season's Madoff riff and Martin Short's stunt casting was quite fine indeed.

(5) Raising Hope. So much goodness, not the least of which are the sweet roles for the otherwise endlessly underutilized Martha Plimpton and Garret Dillahunt.

(6) Louis. Seinfeld with a twitch.

(7) Justified. Coolness.

(8) Glee. So many misfires, see the Christmas episode, and yet with apologies to Dave Housley, so much joy and so much pain handled so movingly. And in song. Yes.

(9) Rescue Me. The unreal sobriety by christening scene alone was worth the price of admission, but its ongoing focus on September 11th and its reverberations demands that we pay attention.

(10) Amazing Race. The fact the cab drivers can cost a team a million dollars just by getting lost somehow never gets old or any less tense.

More 2010 Top Ten Love.

TBWCYL, Inc. 2010 Top Ten Books

And for your retro viewing pleasure.

TBWCYL, Inc. 2009 Top Ten Television

TBWCYL, Inc. 2008 Top Ten Television

The TBWCYL, Inc. 2010 Top Ten Lists are coming. Here. Now. Books.

We will be Top Ten lists for the rest of the week, because really when you think about it, its time, like now, has to be, and today will be books. To be clear, well, straight up, we do not limit ourselves to books published in the year we are covering, just anything we read, we also readily embrace the fact that we are not objective, we virulently, even violently tilt towards indie releases, and to be honest, and we do believe in that, honesty that is, we are often influenced by the fact that the authors we dig may be acquaintances, or people we would like to be acquainted with, and/or based in Chicago the home of TBWCYL, Inc. headquarters. With that in mind, here you go, though please note, that despite all we just said, we are opening with a non-indie, non-Chicago author, and no, we can't totally explain that, but to say, this first one really knocked us out, big time.

(1) The Road/Cormac McCarthy

(2) Hush Up and Listen Stinky Poo Butt/Ken Sparling

(3) Stories II/Scott McClanahan

(4) Beautiful Piece/Joseph G. Peterson

(5) Grease Stains, Kismet, and Maternal Wisdom/Mel Bosworth

(6) Slut Lullabies/Gina Frangello

(7) Working on a Dream - The Progressive Political Vision of Bruce Springsteen/David Masciotra

(8) Sweet Charlotte's Seventh Mistake/Cori Crooks

(9) Chasing Pigeons Make Me Feel More Powerful/Kendra Grant Malone

(10) Tales of Woe/John Reed

Some additional 2010 literary love sure to change your life (albeit in no particular order): One Damn Thing After Another/Tim Hall; When We Make Our Dinosaur/J.A. Tyler; We Know What We Are/Mary Hamilton; Old Men, Gods, And Monsters/Peter Schwartz; Twenty Stories/Kristin Fouquet; El Vocho: Love at the Twilight of Oil/Steve Lafler; Boss: Richard J. Daley of Chicago/Mike Royko, Charactered Pieces/Caleb J. Ross; Ryan Seacrest is Famous/Dave Housley; Red Ivy Afternoon/Mark Brand; Lambs of Men/Charles Dodd White; Some Identity Problems/Corey Mesler; The Sagging: Spirits & Skin/Jason Fisk.

Also, the two books we never quite got our hands on, but plan to, because not doing so is a terrible oversight and pains us to no end: Daddy's/Lindsay Hunter and Baby & Other Stories/Paula Bomer.

And, how about a 2011 sneak preview of sorts? A number of books have come in over the last few months just as our ability to make time for reading has slowed dramatically, so books we are geeked for as the new year is upon us (and again in no particular order): Cardboard Gods/Josh Wilker; Sophomoric Philosophy/Victor David Giron; Fight For Your Long Day/Alex Kudera; Cloud and Other Stories/Jason Jordan; Songs of Vagabonds, Misfits, and Sinners/Ken Wohlrob; Chasing the Runner's High/Ray Charbonneau; Mont-Saint-Michele and Chartres/Spencer Dew.

Finally, for your retro viewing pleasure:

TBWCYL, Inc.'s 2009 Top Ten Books List

TBWCL, Inc.'s 2008 Top Ten Books List

TBWCYL, Inc.'s 2007 Top Ten Books List

You, Me, Them, Everybody. The podcast. Bam.

Big thanks to Brandon Wetherbee and his crack staff at the endlessly sublime You, Me, Them Everybody podcast series for hosting TBWCYL, Inc. spokesperson Ben Tanzer the other night at the Hungry Brain for a lively conversation that most definitely changed our lives and just may change yours as well.

This Podcast Will Change Your Life, Episode Thirty-Four - Don't Be Such A Cheap Son of A Bitch.

We are so Episode Thirty-Four of This Podcast Will Change Your Life and we are so Kathleen Rooney, autobiography, Carl Kasell, and the Fifth Anniversary of Rose Metal Press too. And its madness, madness we tell you.