CHRONIC CITY


I reviewed Jonathan Lethem's latest novel in the Journal. The image above is from the British cover, which is so much better than the American version.

DOCK ELLIS

While listening to Barbara Manning's song about Dock Ellis I found this great animated version of the story of his LSD no hitter. A true sports hero.

INHERENT VICE

I reviewed Thomas Pynchon's new stoner detective novel here, and below he himself narrates the trailer for the book.

DREAMS WITH SHARP TEETH

I reviewed the recent documentary about Harlan Ellison here.

QUIMBY THE MOUSE by Chris Ware

Quimby The Mouse from This American Life on Vimeo.

(Thanks to Charlotte)

TOM WAITS

My review of Barney Hoskyns' new biography of ol' rusty throat can be found here.

BRUCE STERLING

My review of his latest novel, The Caryatids, is in this week's North Coast Journal.

His blog, Beyond the Beyond, is worth a look too, especially his recent post Eighteen Challenges in Contemporary Literature.

POP CULTURE OVERDOSE

Who knew that Keith Richards was the Yogi Berra of rock n roll?

The artifacts on auction from Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch are just as creepy as you'd expect.

Jazz guitarist Pat Metheny's Metal Machine Music.

Also, in late breaking news, Arlen Spector joins the Wu-Tang Clan.

WHAT A FEW PALS HAVE BEEN UP TO


Missing Link Records opens in Arcata and adds a needed flavor to the local music scene. Matt and Adam are cool folks with good taste. I support their quixotic venture, and you should too.

(store mascot above by Lush Newton)

Pinky shows that nature always prevails. He's been documenting the street art of Portland of late.

SATURDAY MORNING WATCHMEN



A funny parody by Harry Partridge, son of Andy from XTC.

I liked it much more than the movie, and it took a fraction of the time to watch.

SHORT CUTS

Barack Obama is sick of your motherfucking shit. (via Steve)

Did Bruce Springsteen rip off a tune from Kiss?

Etgar Keret (whose book The Girl on the Fridge you must read) meets an old friend in an Israeli bomb shelter.

BIGFOOT'S BLOG

My friend Steve, proprietor of Bigfoot Books in Willow Creek, has just started a blog.

There you can read an exposé on Bigfoot that was too hot for the North Coast Journal to print, plus his photo collection of Bigfoot roadsigns, statues and vernacular art.

Way back in the late 90s we, along with Reverend Lord, were the founders of The Church of Bigfoot, Scientist, an organization for which I designed the religious icon seen below....


We wrote a broadside "Message from Bigfoot" flyer, posted in the dark of night throughout Arcata, that pissed off a few humorless hippies, a few of whom actually felt physically threatened by Bigfoot. Many were torn down in anger after a day or two.

Bigfoot Lives!

LIST-O-MANIA

You want lists, we got your lists....

My own picks for best books of the year in the North Coast Journal.

My friend Jesse's best records and art shows of the year from his great blog, Trophy Shot.

And my friend Mark's best records of the year, from the Journal as well.

If you need more best of the year lists, go here.

THE END


Not necessarily the end of this blog (though with my paucity of recent posts it might seem so), but a slide show I found of end titles from various movies.

The one above is from the Marx Brothers' Night at the Opera.

BREAKDOWNS

My review of the new expanded edition of Art Spiegelman's first comix collection is here.


Also, Spiegelman was recently interviewed by Michael Silverblatt for his show Bookworm.

And here's Alan Moore on Arcade, the underappreciated comix anthology edited by Spiegelman and Bill Griffith for an all too brief time in the mid-seventies.