Irregular Orbit

Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas

M.Ace — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 19:01:09 +0000

Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas: A Savage Journey To The Heart Of The American Dream by Hunter S. Thompson (1971) - It’s been a couple of decades since I last read this one, but it still rocks, rattles and resonates. A brutal, sloppy tongued kiss-off to the 1960s counterculture.

Humor, Horror And The Supernatural

M.Ace — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 17:57:20 +0000

Humor, Horror And The Supernatural: 22 Stories by Saki by H.H. Munro aka Saki (1951) - Tightly compact stories of puckish wit with a touch of the macabre. Bedtime stories for the Addams household.

Hiding The Elephant

M.Ace — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 17:56:53 +0000

Hiding The Elephant: How Magicians Invented The Impossible And Learned To Disappear by Jim Steinmeyer (2003) - Tracing the evolution of one branch of effects, Steinmeyer takes us on an elegantly digressive tour of magic’s golden age — from the latter 19th century to the 1930s. Nicely written with a personal voice.

In Frets We Trust

M.Ace — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 19:04:44 +0000

On this day, thirty years ago, I got my first guitar. It was an extremely cheap and cheesy Les Paul copy made somewhere in Asia, without a brand name even, and purchased from Sears. It was a cheap try-out guitar, that first step on the road to perdition. A couple of months later, I upgraded to a used Gibson SG. Was guitar playing my biggest mistake ever? Possibly, but its been good to have guitars as my steadfast buddies all these years.

2001: A Space Odyssey

M.Ace — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 20:10:06 +0000

2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke (1968) - Clarke’s novelization of his screenplay (co-written with Kubrick) clears up the ambiguities and bafflements of the movie, for good and ill. There are some minor plot changes, such as Saturn being the destination, rather than Jupiter — but essentially the same story. I can’t help thinking of Olaf Stapledon’s earlier and heavier Starmaker.

Hard Times

M.Ace — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 18:25:54 +0000

Hard Times by Charles Dickens (1854) - Dickens fires a hard shot across the bow of the booming industrial revolution, touching on issues that plague us to this day. His shortest novel, they say, and works just fine at that.

J.S. Bach: Cello Suites Nos. 1-6

M.Ace — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 18:25:18 +0000

J.S. Bach: Cello Suites Nos. 1-6 by Pablo Casals (Naxos/2000) - Vivid 1920s and 30s recordings of Bach’s cello suites by the artist who brought them into the modern performance repertoire. Intense performances and rather nice sound quality.

Guitarbench.com

M.Ace — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 18:24:38 +0000

I’ve just added a destination to the Weblogbog in the left sidebar: Guitarbench.com. It’s a new acoustic guitar oriented blog — lots of exotic tropical wood fetishing, zero metallic shred heading.

Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said

M.Ace — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 19:07:40 +0000

Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said by Philip K. Dick (1974) - Another of PKD’s near future police state novels, turning out to have a surprising amount of heart. Gosh, I just read this in the 1990s, but on re-reading it, found I didn’t remember hardly any of it. Well, that’s just plain handy.

The Secret Life Of Houdini

M.Ace — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 19:07:09 +0000

The Secret Life Of Houdini by William Kalush and Larry Sloman (2006) - A new biography of Harry Houdini, based on tons of new research material. I’m not sold on the writing style, a little too ‘professional contract writer’ for me, but Houdini’s remarkable life wins out. A very driven man, to an almost disturbing extent. There are some very interesting allegations here, if their evidence is reliable (I’ll never be able to read Sherlock Holmes the same way again). Phony psychics — infuriating now, infuriating then. Additional materials appear online, with much more appearing in a limited 2 volume hardcover version.