In retrospect, it should have been easy. My friend and I would walk in to the theater, pay our eight bucks or so, buy some pop-corn and laugh to our heart’s content.
That’s not how life works out sometimes.
Flashback two days ago. On a lark, “Margaret” and I decided to see Julie and Julia. To be more accurate, she decided to go, and I tagged along. We clambered into my Honda Accord- I dropped by her house about an hour or so before- and within a moment’s notice we …

Rachel Taylor Brown
Susan Storm’s Ugly Sister and Other Saints and Superheroes
Cutthroat Pop
8/10
Rachel Taylor Brown is a standout, to say the least. Since her debut album in 2001, Brown has cut a swath in the music world with her haunting voice and a blend of dark, avant-garde songwriting and whimsy. With the release of her sixth album Susan Storm’s Ugly Sister and Other Saints and Superheroes, she’s back at it again, exploring the strange world of comic books and Christian martyrs as only she can. The result is …

Ed. Julia Wertz
I Saw You
Three Rivers Press
7/10
Ever wanted to know what it’s like to be one of the thousands of Craigslist posters who pine for lost opportunities in Missed Connections? Julia Wertz does. The New York-based cartoonist has had more than a few “d’oh”’ moments over the years- inspired by her own missed connections, Wertz has gathered up a modest list of them and brought them to life- with the help of a few friends, of course. The result, I Saw You, is a tender, heartwarming tribute …

22 year old. College student. New Jerseyite. Significant other.
Adora is all these things.
She is also a nude model.
“I have been modeling since February 2009,” Adora- better known as Adora the Great to family, friends and fans- admits in an email interview.
Although the self-described burlesque pick up artist’s career has just started, the cherry-haired, leggy beauty has managed to create a reputation as one of the most-in demand pin-ups in internet porn, gracing some of the most popular sites on the Web to date. As …

John Wayne Gacy’s paintings. Ed Gein’s Ghoul Car. Serial killer memorabilia is nothing new- nor are the legion of men and women who ply them, dating back to carnival shows in the 1940s and 1950s. But in the age of eBay and Pay Pal, access- to say nothing of the thousands upon millions raked from the enterprise- has made them more visible, even if the general public disapproves of them and the entrepreneurs who sell them.
Meet James Gilks. The part owner and proprietor of the Serial Killer …

Disclaimer: For the second installment of “Deck” we initially contacted Will Braun of Geez Magazine–the young guy we referenced in the post script to “Capes and Jeans”. But he wasn’t able to speak with us. We did contact his business partner Aiden Enns though. Enjoy.
At first glance, Aiden Enns does not seem like a disciple of cool. 44, bald, and sporting a gray goatee–according to a 2006 profile on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s website, (he’s 48 now) he seems every bit as un-with it as …

Since taking the world- or at least Portland, Oregon- by storm with her debut album Do Not Stare eight years ago, Rachel Taylor Brown has inspired plenty of kudos from fans and confusion among critics struggling to define her nonconformist sound. Nearly eight years later, the self-described introvert and comic book geek is back at it again with Susan Storm’s Ugly Sister and Other Saints and Superheroes, a sprawling album depicting the dark, inner lives (and sometimes deaths) of heroes both imaginary and real. I caught up with Brown …

Mohsin Hamid
The Reluctant Fundamentalist
Harcourt, Inc.
8/10
Some of you who have read the interview with Rachel Taylor Brown may have picked up on a reference to one or two major books. The Reluctant Fundamentalist is one of them. Written by a Pakistani émigré living in London, the novel is widely considered to be one of the first post-9/11 novels written from a Muslim point of view. It is also one of the more painfully honest works written since the Twin Towers collapsed (Towelhead by Alicia Erian, is another). …

Adam Marsland
Go West
Karma Dog Records
8/10
Concept albums are a difficult tack. Double albums are even tougher. Either the tone’s off, or the lyrics are off, or the instruments are. Adam Marsland knows a thing or two about that. In the space of a few months, he has managed to assemble a collection of songs- the first he’s gathered since 2004. The result Go West is an earnest examination of a twenty-something’s journey through the heart of the country- and life- and it is anything but simple.
The …

This issue marks part one of “Deck,” a five part series on the hipster lifestyle. In this installment, we explore the subculture’s impact on that perennial favorite of young people, the alternative comic through the eyes of a comic book artist and resident who has seized on the frustration of hipster gentrification to create something subversive: a work of humor.
When Michael Schliefke rode his bike through his neighborhood in East Austin several years ago, little did he know that the incident would serve as fodder for a multivolume comic, …

Mark Fredson is an anomaly. Since he and friends Eric Whitman, Ben Eyestone and Johnny Whitman banded together to form rock group The Lonely H, their retro sound and devotion to the mechanics of the classic rock genre has set them apart from the glut of indie bands in the Seattle scene, marking them as the only known band in the area to be performing classic rock. Despite being in a class by themselves, Fredson- to say nothing of his band mates- are by no means lonely. They recently cut …

The Pocket Wine Encyclopedia
Eds. Danielle Daggett, Fiona Doig, Alan Edwards, Kate Etherington, Mary Halbmeyer
Barnes and Noble
8/10
It’s no secret that everybody likes to get happy. For some of us, that mean a nice stem glass and a bottle of red (or white, depending on whatever is preferable) and sitting on a couch in the living room, patio or even a laptop. But not all wines are the same. According to the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants, there are over 600 red wines and 800 white ones, …

The Believers
Lucky You
Chinese Baby
8/10
Alt-country isn’t exactly mainstream. There are probably a handful of those who’ve done it well- most of them either dead or squeezing out the last minutes of careers on HBO-and in walks The Believers. In less time than it takes Leann Rimes to hit a high C, the two injected the genre with a heavy dose of grunge and rock. The result Lucky You, is a high octane companion of bluegrass, country and attitude that is bound to send Alison Krauss and Union Station …

Time and Distance
Gravity
Not Alone Records
8/10
West Virginia isn’t exactly known for producing musicians. That is about to change. With the release of their third album Gravity, Time and Distance expands upon the foundation of frenetic guitars and teenage grit that has won them stage time alongside such acts like Boys Like Girls and slots on the Vans Warped tour. The result is a richly woven album full of angst, regrets, and wit that skirts the clichés of rock and delivers honest truths, straight up. Judging from the gossip …

The Lonely H
Concrete Class
The Control Group
8/10
In computer science lingo, a “concrete class” is a class that is neither derivative nor meant to be used as a foundation for other classes. Thus, The Lonely H’s newly minted, third album, titled ironically enough, Concrete Class, is in, well, a class by itself. With a mix of guitar, piano, violin and 100% soul, the record invites comparisons to rock bands of 70’s lore. Yet this is anything but derivative. And for that, we owe …

Andy Shauf
Darker Days
P is For Panda
6/10
Andy Shauf is a mystery man. There are few traces of the singer-songwriter on the Net, and the folk musician isn’t exactly known for giving interviews. Yet the Canadian has garnered his own, small following with his blend of folk and hard rock. Now he’s poured all that introspection into a new album Darker Days, a mix of acoustic and electric guitar, and a few samples for fair measure. However the record ultimately proves to be derivative and underwhelming. …