Get Down, Make Books

3.15.11

3:56 pm

Couldn't decide what to listen to today, so I hit the "Shuffle Songs" button on my iPod.

Eventually, "Mutilation Is The Most Sincere Form Of Flattery" from Marilyn Manson's "Eat Me, Drink Me" album came on.

I recalled only listening to the album once and thinking it was a piece of shit, that the music was all right, if a little "more guitar solos!!! YYYYYEEEEEAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!" for my taste, but the lyrics had this jumbled, disconnected feel, like Manson was just reading scribbled free verse phrases of a crumpled handful of cocktail napkins he'd found in his pocket. Things didn't make any sense, let alone rhyme.

And he didn't so much sing the lyrics as croak them tunelessly.

Which he does, but, somehow this seemed more tuneless.

But, anyway, I felt that maybe I had given this album the raw deal and hadn't paid enough attention to it.

So I listened to the first four or five tracks.

And, no, I was right, as was the music-listening-public in general: the album sucks dog cock and should be avoided, by Manson fans and certainly by non-Manson fans, as it may change one's indifference towards him into rage.

His new ("much more than a") album is going to drop later this year.

My breath is neither baited nor held.

I finished "Full Dark, No Stars" last night and here is what I have to say about each of the four stories...

"1922"

King managed to nail the bleakness and desperation he was setting out to convey, but, at its heart, it's just a ghost story; a ghost story proceeded by a pretty brutal murder scene, but a ghost story nonetheless.

A typical, dark King story which ends in the ridiculous Lovecraftian tradition of "I must finish now for the creature I fear and loathe is sitting behind me waiting for an appropriate point at which to inter--"

"Big Driver"

King's version of a revenge tale mixed with aspects of a Dexter-esque, crime-scene-cover-up mentality.

Does that make sense?

Some added character elements made it more interesting than a typical revenge tail, but the mention of the recent Jodie Foster revenge movie, "The Brave One" and the 70's Wes Craven revenge movie, "The Last House On The Left", took something away.

Maybe King felt that not mentioning them would lead people to point out that borrowed elements from them.

Not sure.

A good one though, well executed.

"Fair Extension"

My favorite in this collection.

It takes place in Derry and references both Pennywise and the Dark Tower series (both tiny, but delightful), and has that wonderful black humor that King can do so well when he allows himself, along with a gripping, what-happens-next feel to it.

Only problem is that it ends prematurely.

This isn't a matter of I wanted to know what happens next, it was s matter of how does the thing end.

Kind of a bummer.

"A Good Marriage"

Although a bit long-winded at times, this was a good one. King did a great job of putting his main character in a place where there was no right answer and every choice was immeasurably difficult. A very solid ending to a better-than-good collection.

All in all, a good read, if not as amazing as the hype lead me to believe.

But, that is why it's called hype.

Next time, I'm going to try to avoid any press and see how that goes, although his next novel "11/22/63" is about a guy who time travels back to stop the Kennedy assassination.

Which was the plot of an episode of Quantum Leap.

And a stupid idea for a Stephen King novel.

But who knows, he made a kid talking to his finger creepy, so yeah.

Next up is the latest Phil Tucker book, "Blood From The Mountain", which, I've been told, involves orcs.

Then "Side Jobs" by Jim Butcher, then "Ghost Story" by Jim Butcher and then, unless his head explodes while writing it, the newest Phil Tucker book, the one with more story elements that...well, fucking anything I've ever read.

Should be fun.