January CD Release

I Didn't Make a Youtube Video of it But... Josie-Bob: Balls and Boobs

January's CD seemed to come up pretty fast after the release of the Best of the Rest 2007 but it doesn't suffer from neglect by any means.

Tracklist:

1. Time to Pretend - MGMT
The best beat on the compilation.

2. Go Go Gadget Heart - Birdie Busch
Track title says it all.

3. Heavy - The Blacks
They just got that sound that is good.

4. Fluorescent Adolescent (Arctic Monkeys cover) - Kate Nash
Kate Nash has been doing a lot of covers lately but this is the best one as of it.

5. Jimmy (M.I.A. cover) - Of Montreal
Of Montreal schools M.I.A. in this cover. It's just an awesome song.

6. Tonight - Lykke Li
For some reason it just resonates.

7. Hide and Seek - Imogen Heap
Possibly one of the most poetic intro lyrics: "Where were we? What the hell is going on? The dust has only just begun to form crop circles in the carpet."

8. Go to Hell - Scary Mansion
Seriously, go to Hell. This song has an eerie awesomeness to it.

9. Normal Guy - Jon Lajoie
Not a very serious rap song but it's just funny to listen to.

10. Elegant Walk - The Blacks
Best song of The Blacks featured on this compilation.

11. Down to Rest - O' Death
Emo.

12. Wraith Pinned to the Mist & Other Games - Of Montreal
Outback Steakhouse?

13. Rumors - Josh Ritter
Josh Ritter is good and this song proves it.

14. Wasted - Angus and Julia Stone
This song may appear on the soundtrack to Closer... maybe. It's included on the compilation just to test out this theory.

15. Party Down the Hall - Stone Coyotes
Sheryl Crow has a new band?

16. Despite What You've Been Told - Two Gallants
Emo2.

17. Waiting On Her - The Blacks
They just have that sound.

Bonus Tracks
Normal Guy 2 - Jon Lajoie
Stuff Your Ballot Box - Two Man Gentlemen Band

January 2008

I Have Taste In Music Ballot

results:

Time to Pretend - MGMT = 2 votes

Go Go Gadget Heart - Birdie Busch = 3 votes

Jimmy (MIA cover) - Of Montreal = 4 votes

Tonight - Lykke Li = 2 votes

Hide and Seek - Imogen Heap = 1 votes

Go to Hell - Scary Mansion = 2 votes

Normal Guy - Jon Lajoie = 2 votes

Elegant Walk - The Blacks = 2 votes

Down to Rest - O'Death = 2 votes

Rumors - Josh Ritter = 2 votes

Literary Libations Presents No Country For Old Men

For the first edition of Literary Libation's 2nd Wednesday series, No Country For Old Men will kick off the year with boots and spurs. As ChipperDemon loves to fondle, caress and salivate over popular forms of medium it is purely titillated to announce the commencement of the new contribution to a Wednesday series.

No Country For Old Men is perhaps Cormac McCarthy's most accessible creations, just after Oprah's Book Club Stamped, The Road. For these few days prior to the discussion of No Country For Old Men here are a few suggested questions to consider provided by Random House Inc.:

1. The title of the novel comes from William Butler Yeats’s poem “Sailing to Byzantium”: “That is no country for old men, the young / In one another’s arms, birds in the trees, / —Those dying generations—at their song.” The poem also contains the lines: “An aged man is but a paltry thing, / A tattered coat upon a stick, / Unless soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing / For every tatter in its mortal dress.” Why has McCarthy chosen a line from Yeats’ poem for his title? In what ways is No Country for Old Men about aging? Does Sheriff Bell experience any kind of spiritual rejuvenation as he ages?

2. Early in the novel, after Bell surveys the carnage in the desert, he tells Lamar: “I just have this feelin we’re looking at something we really aint never even seen before” [p. 46]. In what way is the violence Sheriff Bell encounters different than what has come before? Is Anton Chigurh a new kind of killer? Is he a “true and living prophet of destruction,” [p. 4] as Bell thinks? In what ways does he challenge Bell’s worldview and values?

3. After Llewelyn finds the money and comes home, he decides to go back to the scene of the crime. He tells his wife: “I’m fixin to go do somethin dumbern hell but I’m goin anways” [p. 24]. Why does he go back, even though he knows it is a foolish and dangerous thing to do? What are the consequences of this decision?

4. When asked about the rise in crime in his county, Bell says that “It starts when you begin to overlook bad manners. Any time you quit hearin Sir and Mam the end is pretty much in sight” [p. 304]. Is he right about this? Why would deteriorating manners signal a larger social chaos?

5. How can Anton Chigurh’s behavior be explained? What motivates him to kill so methodically and heartlessly? How does he regard the people he kills?

6. What motivates Sheriff Bell? Why does he feel so protective of Llewellyn and his wife? In what ways does Sheriff Bell’s past, particularly his war experience, affect his actions in the present?

7. Sheriff Bell says, “The stories gets passed on and the truth gets passed over. . . . Which I reckon some would take as meanin the truth cant compete. But I don’t believe that. I think that when the lies are all told and forgot the truth will be there yet. . . . You cant corrupt it any more than you can salt salt” [p. 123]. What incorruptible truths emerge from the story that McCarthy tells in No Country for Old Men?

8. Near the end of the novel, Bell says: “I think we are all of us ill prepared for what is to come and I dont care what shape it takes” [p. 295]. What kind of future is Bell imagining? Why does he think we are not ready for it? How can No Country for Old Men be understood as an apocalyptic novel?

Enjoy Reading and be sure to post thoughts!


(This post is subject to change)