The Bookhouse Boys discussion

"So, yeah, we didn't really read anything (except Dave, who is a MACHINE), but did that stop us from having opinions? Hahahahahahahahah...no. This week we still managed to talk about robot vacuum cleaners, Daily Life in the Middle Ages (or "Thomas Hobbes Was Full of Shit"); Vangels; the vagaries of the Ebook marketplace; customer psychology; The Nao of Brown (or "Psychotic Breaks can be Adorable"); Hellboy, B.P.R.D. and Duncan Fegredo's magic pencil; Poison the Cure (not a superband, calm down); history as a drug; The Solace of Leaving Early," soon to star Gerard Butler and Katherine Heigel; did Matt just call us "monsters"?; Renee sticks the landing (and a lot of veins); Die Hard turned up to 11; scary Nutcrackers (oxymoron alert); malfunctioning parental units and theater etiquette; Black Knight; the stalker of the week; the Norfolk Four; social media produces the laziest vigilantes; a rubbernecking nation; Matt's new country aka "best segue ever" and absolutely nothing about shit covered hookworms!"

OUTRO: "Christmas Time Is Here Again" - The Flirtations

Merry Christmas/Hannukkah/Kwanza/Non-Denominational Holiday!

http://bookhouseboyspodcast.podomatic...

No hookworms? Aww man!

I love how we make you do so much descriptive work on these mini-eps. My goal is to get them twice as long in 2013. ;)

Thanks, boys for another intimate look into your lives!

Much deserved love to The Nao of Brown. I voted this as my original graphic novel of the year over on the ol' EOC forums, as well as voting Glyn as creator of the year.

When you consider the amount of quality in a lovely bound package, it's quite the bargain.

Matt's balls, that's a lot of stuff.

Appetizers:

Paradox/Piranha Press
The Short Story Form
NFL Playoffs
"Freddie Wertham Goes to Hell"
Upcoming Reads

Entrees of the Day:

White Fang by Jack London
Get Jiro by Bourdain, Rose and Foss
Dance of the Happy Shades by Alice Munro
The Rocks Don't Lie: A Geologist Investigates Noah's Flood by David R. Montgomery
Catch As Catch Can by Joseph Heller

Dessert: Big Budget Movies (Jurassic Park, The Avengers, Spider-Man, Captain America, Superman)

Langdon Foss' website: http://www.lllama.com/

Sterling Cathala's website: http://oxenmediastudios.com/creations...

OUTRO: "Kernel" by Seam

http://bookhouseboyspodcast.podomatic...

I thought I'd try just posting a transcript instead of the fucking link...I'm a bonehead.

Might as well post the Olive Garden clip I was talking about: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8VcT-...

Matt wrote: "Might as well post the Olive Garden clip I was talking about: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8VcT-..."

Hmm. Parody works better when it resembles its subject.

It's def broad humor, but I think they got the gist of the complaints and criticisms (food that's as processed and Americanized as anything you'd find at Applebee's being passed off as authentic Italian).

Throw in a bunch of uncreative racial stereotypes and viola! You've got a MADTV sketch. ;)

(The line "But when we get a coupon, we go to Olive Garden" made me lolz tho...)

Dave wrote: "It's def broad humor, but I think they got the gist of the complaints and criticisms (food that's as processed and Americanized as anything you'd find at Applebee's being passed off as authentic It..."

The coupon line and all of the entrees were definitely the funny bits, for me.

On a couple of other food notes:
1. KFC's strong suit seems to be making disgusting sh*t for some alien overlord version of Fear Factor. Their intentional products like the pre-chewed bowl of stuff covered in gravy and then the Book of Daniel "Double Down" are nasty enough, but check this out: http://mashable.com/2013/01/08/kfc-ch...

2. Also, I was riding the bus through downtown this morning and kitty corner to Pioneer Courthouse Square I saw a business with NOW OPEN signs plastered all over it. It was a POTBELLY! http://www.potbelly.com/Shops/ShopLoc...

I found this image from a clandestine source to prove Matt's theory.

When I first heard of KFC's bowl thing, I laughed. I thought, "nobody is going to want that! It's just everything they sell thrown together in a bowl." The first person I mentioned it to said it was their new favorite menu item...and I realized that KFC understood their customers much better than I could ever hope (or want) to.

I would rather find a severed finger in my food than realize I had bitten into that.

Potbelly! You're my hero, Matt, no pun intended. I might be able to walk there and back for lunch from work.

I love Westworld.

Felt like sharing Patton Oswalt's bit on KFC Famous Bowls 'cause it's a classic.

And, as a follow-up, his WFMU appearance where he first hears about the Double Down Sandwich.

Also, keeping it in the PDX, we have a Jack London Bar Room that hosts some cool literary events: http://www.portlandmercury.com/portla...

Matt wrote: "Also, keeping it in the PDX, we have a Jack London Bar Room that hosts some cool literary events: http://www.portlandmercury.com/portla..."

I predict a new Matt avatar in the near future.

Also a new phrase. Where did fiery jaguar paw come from, anyway?

Jason wrote: "Also a new phrase. Where did fiery jaguar paw come from, anyway?"

Inquiring minds want to know, Matt!

Aka, I am ignorant, also.

I'm an absolute NUT for pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures. I added that name after watching the National Geographic special "Dawn of the Maya":
“Dawn of the Maya” tracks the Central American civilization back 1000 years into its “pre-classic” era (to c. 600 B.C). Those early Maya were anything but primitive. At El Mirador in present-day Guatemala, a city built “on an epic scale,” says narrator Gavin MacFadyen, archaeologist Richard Hansen searches for the remains of a ruler known as Great Fiery Jaguar Paw, who ruled in the second century B.C. “This was a king on the order of Rameses or Cheops,” says Hansen. And 60 miles away in San Bartolo, archaeologist William Saturno recalls discovering a remarkably sophisticated 2000-year-old mural that depicts the Maya creation story. Says iconographer Karl Taube: “This is basically a Sistine Chapel.”

In 2009, I went to El Mirador where the Great Fiery Jaguar Paw temple is, but it was being excavated at the time (the whole site is an active dig).http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kbbPo...

Here's my pic of one of the pyramids there:

That's cool, Matt. Can you recommend any good non-fiction books (or quasi-fiction) on the subject?

That's a beautiful shot, Matt. Interesting stuff!

I need to expand my library. I hear 'The Maya' by Michael Coe is a great introduction for the curious.

Simply incredible.

I'll be keeping an out for The Maya, Matt!

Also, and I find this eerily serendipitous, Vince from EOC along with Faust did a thorough reading and interpretation of William Burroughs' The Lost Art of Ah Pook Is Here: Images from the Graphic Novel, a telling of the Mayan god of the same name published from Fantagraphics publishing.

Out Of Our Heads

Did you climb it?

Robert wrote: "Simply incredible.

I'll be keeping an out for The Maya, Matt!

Also, and I find this eerily serendipitous, Vince from EOC along with Faust did a thorough reading and interpretation of William Burr..."

I have downloaded it. Will be listening to it this week. I'm excited.

Dave wrote: "Did you climb it?"


Yes.

What's up.

Dave, Matt and Jason make some noise about Victoria Jackson, Tales From the Crypt movies, V/H/S, surprise parties, The Cruise of the Dazzler by Jack London, Bram Stoker's The Watter's Mau', offering our services, The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole, Gothic literature, Richmond Macabre II: More Nightmares, Gone to Amerikay by Derek McCulloch and Colleen Doran, Dave Stewart, James Sturm, Xenozoic Flesk Publishing edition by Mark Schultz, B.P.R.D: Garden of Souls, Grimm Fairy Tales in film & television, Cabin in the Woods, Batwoman: Hydrology by W. Haden Blackman and J.H. Williams III, artists turned writers, Muriel Spark's Reality and Dreams, and Randy the Robot speaks!

OUTRO: "Automaton" by The Pernice Brothers

http://bookhouseboyspodcast.podomatic...

James Callahan's website: http://www.barfcomics.com/

Coming up next: The Long Home, by William Gay.

Jason wrote: "What's up.

Dave, Matt and Jason make some noise about Victoria Jackson, Tales From the Crypt movies, V/H/S, surprise parties, The Cruise of the Dazzler by Jack London, Bram Stoker's The Watter's M..."

Matt hit on a LOT things in my wheelhouse. Or I should say, put voice to a lot of the thoughts that kept popping up as you guys spoke.
Hansel & Gretel : VanHelsing, check!
Clonus : MST3k ("shrinkwrapped batch!" But I didn't know about the lawsuit.), check!
Cabin In The Woods : Many guys being eaten "YAAAGH", check!

And every song you guys play from now on will always sound like Matt singing, evidently, because that's what I'm thinking until I see the shownotes.

Forgive me, I've entered a season of Mattcrush. I might be gushing on him for a little while, going forward. Apologies in advance.

Alan wrote: "Forgive me, I've entered a season of Mattcrush. I might be gushing on him for a little while, going forward. Apologies in advance. "

FINALLY somebody "gets" me! :)
May all 4 seasons of the year be Mattcrush.

XOXOXO

Matt wrote: "Alan wrote: "Forgive me, I've entered a season of Mattcrush. I might be gushing on him for a little while, going forward. Apologies in advance. "

FINALLY somebody "gets" me! :)
May all 4 seasons o..."

Whoever you kissed goodnight during the podcast gets you too, I'm guessing. :-D

Alan wrote: "Whoever you kissed goodnight during the podcast gets you too, I'm guessing. :-D "

That's Athena. Yeah, she does. My wife does, too. I'm pretty lucky.

Matt, you should post a picture of Athena, too.

Matt is the heart of the podcast. Dave, as we know, is the spleen.

...I'm one of the those shriveled little toes.

Jason wrote:

Matt is the heart of the podcast. Dave, as we know, is the spleen.

...I'm one of the those shriveled little toes."

You see how you do me?



Jason wrote: "Matt, you should post a picture of Athena, too.
"
The Child Brides of Portland.
On the next Oprah.

Alan wrote: "You see how you do me?"

I swear to God, man, I forget about that every time...

Jason wrote: "Alan wrote: "You see how you do me?"

I swear to God, man, I forget about that every time..."

http://youtu.be/oK3yTGtxOPY?t=52s

This review of The Castle of Otranto is for Dave and Jason, 'cause I know they love the this-is-old-times-and-I-understand-that-but-I-hate-it-'cause-now-it's-modern-times paradox.
Ugh this book. If I hadn't had to read this for university, I would not have managed it past the first page!
I've seen a lot of 4 and 5 star reviews of this book. Why I don't understand. This is considered one of the best Gothic fiction novels, but all it did was bore me.
Then piss me off. 'It is not ours to make election for ourselves; heaven, our fathers, and our husbands, must decide for us.' I just wanted to grab Hippolita and shake her while screaming GET.A.GRIP. Im so glad women aren't like this anymore. Spineless and blindly following orders of the men around them. Theodore was the only one who stood up to anyone, then again he was a man not a woman.
The writing style. God the writing style. It was just so hard to follow what was happening and who was speaking. This was made even harder by the fact that I kept loosing concentration and having to re-read parts because just wanted the damn book to end!
Hopefully some of the other books on the course will be better because I was really looking forward to Gothic Fictions this year.

Twilight is Gothic fiction, right?

Since y'all asked: the Kindle edition of Richmond Macabre II.

. . ."loosing" concentration. . .

Dave wrote: "Since y'all asked: the Kindle edition of Richmond Macabre II."

Cool, Dave! I'll be sure to purchase (and read) a copy! Thanks for the update! I'm hoping it contains some good Gothics Fictions. ;)

Dave wrote: "Since y'all asked: the Kindle edition of Richmond Macabre II."

Very cool, thanks for the heads-up! I'll pick up a digital copy :)

The Kindle is nice and all, but where my Nook version at?

When I get paid, I am buying a Kindle copy. You can buy the Cristal when you visit.

Jason wrote: "The Kindle is nice and all, but where my Nook version at?"

Looks like there isn't a Nook version just yet. But you can go here and request one from the publisher! (The link is just above the "More About this Book" section.)

Dooooooo ittttttt

Matt wrote: "When I get paid, I am buying a Kindle copy. You can buy the Cristal when you visit."

I should also have mentioned that the Kindle version is $6, as opposed to $16 for the paperback. No clue whether it will have the commensurate typos, but that's not a bad deal at all.

Dave wrote: "Dooooooo ittttttt"

Diiiiiiid it.

I also noticed last night that my (new) phone has an "Amazon Kindle" app. I wonder what that is.

Jason wrote: "I also noticed last night that my (new) phone has an "Amazon Kindle" app. I wonder what that is."

Is it an android or iPhone? Regardless, the Kindle App is just a cross-platform reader of Kindle books.

Jason wrote: "Dave wrote: "Dooooooo ittttttt"

Diiiiiiid it.

I also noticed last night that my (new) phone has an "Amazon Kindle" app. I wonder what that is."

I like the Kindle app on the iPad. If I liked looking at screens 18 hours a day instead of 16, I would use it more. It's nice to have in a bind (no Kindle/dead-battery Kindle).

Jeppe wrote: "Is it an android or iPhone? Regardless, the Kindle App is just a cross-platform rea..."

It's an android phone. So...I have a tiny Kindle, essentially? That would be neat, I guess, although I'm not sure I want to try to read books on it. It's a big screen for a phone, but it still ain't very big.

Nobody told us to quit, so...

This week, Dave, Matt and Jason move from sports for couch potatoes, strange analogies, kooky '80s videos, unwelcome updates, Australian spy comedies, Dave's new job, politics on Twitter, "Rashomon," and Esperanto to more literary topics such as Tolstoy's Family Happiness, Daytripper by Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon, Cobb: A Biography by Al Stump, The Laughing Gorilla: A True Story of Police Corruption and Murder by Robert Graysmith, The Fountain Overflows by Rebecca West, and the works of Lynda Barry.

OUTRO: "Happy Hour" by The Housemartins

You can read "Rashomon" here: https://sites.google.com/site/renemal...

Our Twitter feed: http://twitter.com/#!/bboyspodcast

You'll find a lot of our older shows at this location: http://www.archive.org/bookmarks/corw...

This month's book: Black Boy, by Richard Wright

http://bookhouseboyspodcast.podomatic...

Wow, first one here?

Regardless, another great episode, gents. I truly appreciate the fact that you put yourself out there every week-or-so just so complete strangers, at least estranged individuals, can get a glimpse into the zeitgeist you're creating.

I guess what I'm saying is, I'm a fan.

Thanks, mang!

I don't know whether I trimmed it out or not, but in the beginning we briefly mentioned this clip:
http://foundfootagefest.com/videos/ho...
In case you weren't sufficiently creeped out today.
I think it came up because I mentioned Rent-a-Friend: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joDonP...

BONUS: http://foundfootagefest.com/videos/in...

Yo Hafferman, who you callin estranged?!

Matt wrote: "I don't know whether I trimmed it out or not, but in the beginning we briefly mentioned this clip:
http://foundfootagefest.com/videos/ho..."
Even if you did mention it, you could not have done justice to... that. Appalling.

*We are in agreement on enjoying bowling while sucking at it.
*I really enjoy Ba/Moon's work, but yeah, ten issues of Daytripper should not be mainlined that way.
*Cobb was one compelling old bastard. And almost certainly the greatest ever.
Did you know: Pitching paragon Cy Young was not among the first five HoF inductees, which did include pitchers Christy Mathewson and Walter Johnson. Young squeaked through the following year on 76.1% of ballots (75% required for election), despite having 94 more career wins than Johnson -- and hundreds more than pretty much everyone else.

This has been Mel Allen with your Baseball Minute.