Evelyn Evelyn

I had a blast yesterday at the Evelyn Evelyn show in LA at Largo at the Coronet. The show was simply amazing. It opened with Sxip Shirey, who plays songs using found instruments and instruments he alters himself. Some of his instruments include a marble in a bowl, an antique hotel bell, the Sxipenspiel (a present from Amanda Palmer and Neil Gaiman), and three penny whistles taped together. The sounds he makes with these instruments and how he manipulates them is like nothing I've ever heard before.

Evelyn Evelyn are the absolutely unique singer and songwriter duo that are also conjoined twins. Their new album just came out and I couldn't be happier with it. They sing in a variety of styles, including country, ragtime, 80's pop, as well as their own unique style. The story of their tragic, yet inspiring life occupy three tracks of their new album. The twins were reluctant to even enter the stage, only encouraged by the audience's most enthusiastic of applause. They carefully cleaned every instrument they were handed with a cloth from their purse and cringed in fear and disgust as the stage boy placed instruments on them. They seem painfully shy, which is hardly surprising considering the events they have experienced. Some say they bear a striking resemblance to Amanda Palmer and Jason Webley, but I don't really see it. ;) Their performance was awesome. They succeeded in playing the accordion, the piano, the ukulele, and the guitar with each twin being designated the left or right hand parts. Here are some great videos of other performances:

Jason Webley and Amanda Palmer also performed separately. I loved Jason's song, Dance While the Sky Crashes Down. When he sings, he is incredibly passionate and brings his whole body into it. He sings kind of like a young Tom Waits. His passion and enthusiasm for music is absolutely infectious. Amanda Palmer also took the stage, singing a Fuck the Police/Do You Swear to Tell the Truth the Whole Truth So Help Your Black Ass* mashup (which was hilarious!), Oasis, Coin Operated Boy, Astronaut, and a beautiful cover of a Radiohead song. She also sang Electric Blanket with Jason Webley and Sxip Shirey. The show ended with a drinking song, where we all got dizzy (much cheaper than alcohol) and joined in singing.

This was such a fun show with super talented and creative artists! If you live in the LA area, I would highly recommend going to the show. Tonight is the last day of the show, so this is your last chance for now.

* This song is available for FREE here to celebrate her separation from Roadrunner Records.

The Espressologist

Jane Turner is an Espressologist. She studies the type of people that order certain drinks and matches them with a person that would best compliment them. She’s been secretly working on this project for a while, matching a couple here or there when she sees a strong match. She doesn’t take school seriously and often skips school in order to get more hours of work at Wired Joe’s. She matches a boy from her class, Cam, with her best friend, Em, to help Em get over a bad break up with her long term boyfriend. One day, she is promoted to assistant manager when her best friend turns down the position. Her Espressology is found out by her moody manager and she is suddenly the feature for the month. Will she be able to keep her manager happy and make matches on command to keep sales up? Why does the match she made with Em and Cam bother her so much?

This book was a bit of cute fluff. It was like watching a middle grade chick flick: not spectacular, but not horrible. The plot was a little like a rip-off of Jane Austen’s Emma, but not done as well as Clueless. I liked the story and the ending. The romance aspect between Cam and Jane was well developed and enjoyable to read. There were some things that bothered me. Jane’s problems with school were only addressed in the first half of the book. I would have liked it to be a little more realistic and she had to face the fact that she neglected school and got bad grades or had to repeat the classes or just leave this part out altogether. I also felt that the Espressology led her to be incredibly shallow and judge people by their looks and what they drank only without seeing how the people really were. This aspect was also not addressed. The characters beyond Em, Jane, and Cam were just typical, flat stock characters that don’t develop, like the mean girl, the brainless jock, and the unreasonable boss.

If you’re looking for a cute, fast read without much depth, I would recommend this to you. It suited my mood when I read it as the first book I read on my summer vacation.

My rating: 3/5 fishmuffins

Liar

Micah Wilkins is seventeen years old and a compulsive liar. She outright admits it at the start of the novel. She attends a unique high school where talent and intelligence are nurtured in a relaxed environment. Micah is not very popular, ever since she led everyone to believe she was a boy when she first arrived. Her goal is to just be invisible. Then, one of her classmates, Zach, is killed. She had been seeing him outside of school, unbeknownst to her classmates and his girlfriend. Micah finds herself at the center of attention despite her best efforts to remain invisible. She is also a suspect in the murder as well. Did Micah have anything to do with murder? Can we really believe anything she says?

Micah is the epitome of the unreliable narrator. By admitting she’s a liar at the outset of the novel, she calls into question everything she says, even that very first statement. This concept reminds me of a discussion of Shakespeare that I had in a class about Renaissance theatre. If someone says, “Everything I say is a lie,” it’s a paradox. If, with that statement, they are lying, it means the statement isn’t true. But it also isn’t true if they are telling the truth. I just think it’s fascinating. Anyway, getting back to the book, I can’t say I really like Micah, but her narrative held my interest throughout and I did care for her. I’m not going to spoil anything, but there are so many different ways this book can be read that it’s kind of ridiculous. I really commend Justine Larbalestier for writing such a book. It’s definitely not a book that everyone will like, but one that everyone will talk about.

I really like the format of the novel. The past and present occur side by side instead of in the typical linear fashion. It allows Micah to control what the reader knows and what they don’t. In between the “Before” and “After” chapters, there are history chapters (of Micah, her family, her school, etc.) and chapters that admit lies that she’s told within the narrative. It only took me about two days to read the novel. This style of novel also reminds me of another class I took this semester. A novel that exists in the mind of one character where time is distorted fits right in to postmodernism. It’s an incredibly sophisticated novel and shows how great writing can be in any genre.

I sort of enjoyed the novel. It’s very thought provoking and well written, but I was kind of numb by the end. I felt that I didn’t really know what to think about it. I think it might have been because I had been expecting an easy read after reading tons of books for school. Or I was just floored by how many interpretation I could come up with and couldn’t really settle on one. I will definitely read other works by Justine Larbalestier. I would recommend this book to someone looking for a thought provoking read.

My rating: 3.5/5 fishmuffins

Survival of the Dead

Survival of the Dead occurs immediately following Diary of the Dead. It follows Sarge Rocket (the same military man who stole from the group in Diary) as he and his three friends as they try to survive the zombie apocalypse. In a chance meeting with a young boy named DJ, they are led to Plum Island off the coast of Delaware where two rivaling Irish families have different ways of dealing with the undead menace. The O'Flynn’s simply kill the zombies. The Muldoon's want to keep the dead with them and believe that there might be a cure for their affliction or they can eventually coexist in peace. These are opinions these families are willing to kill over. Will they resolve their difference before the zombies will overrun them?

The film overall was pretty good. There were some moments of fantastic cheesiness that seem straight out of Looney Toons. It gave a lightness to a typically dark and dreary genre. All the conventions of the zombie movie are there: the person who stupidly thinks that their zombie relative recognizes them and gets bitten, the person who's health deteriorates throughout the movie because of infection, the hero tough guy, the snarky techie guy, etc. A new aspect of this film is the setting of the island and the crazy fighting families. The setting of the film is absolutely beautiful, which provides counterpoint for the blood, gore, and violence of the zombie apocalypse.

One of the things in the film that I liked was the evolution of the able bodied zombie. Some people don't like this concept, but it's even seen in the original Night of the Living Dead when a zombie picks up a rock to smash in the window of Barbara's car. The feuding families were interesting. Shamus Muldoon was a great villain, complete with creepy religious reasons keeping his dead, zombified relatives chained up around the island. Religious fanaticism is generally left by the wayside during times like this, but Shamus was just crazy enough to hold on to these ideals. Plus, he killed or attempted to kill everyone on the island that wasn't a part of his family. In a monster movie, he's the example of what a real human monster is. I really loved to hate him. As always, political subtext can be seen in the film. Especially with the families that fight, even beyond the grave, when the reason for the fight is long forgotten.

There were a few things that I felt were lacking. I had a problem with the reasoning behind the Muldoon's. He wanted to teach them to eat other things and keep them alive until a cure is found. But, if a dead person is "cured," they're still going to be dead. Killing them is the only logical choice I can see. And, even if zombies could be taught to eat animals, they would still go after humans as well. One thing that really bothered me about the movie was how many bullets the characters wasted on humans instead of zombies. I wanted to scream, "You share a common enemy! Stop shooting at each other!" The characters were generally fairly flat and stereotypical, who didn't really change throughout the course of film.

This film was generally entertaining and kept my attention throughout. There were some flaws, but I still enjoyed the film. I would definitely see it again. I hope this film so well so we can see more from George a. Romero.

My rating: 8/10 fishmuffins

Tomorrow: the Q & A with George A. Romero and the party!

Zombies Awareness Month!

Well, as most of you know, it's Zombie Awareness Month at the Zombie Research Society!! I think awareness of this debilitating and dangerous disease is important and needs to be addressed by our leaders. To show your support of this important movement, wear a grey ribbon and to to the Zombie Research Society website for daily giveaways! Today, the prizes are signed copies of Patient Zero (which is an awesome zombie read) and Zombie CSU by Jonathan Maberry. Go here with your worst way to die during the zombie apocalypse to enter!

Over this last weekend, there was a giveaway of 25 pairs of tickets to go to a special screening of George A. Romero's new zombie film, Survival of the Dead. This giveaway was on Bloody Disgusting.com, which is a great way to find new independent films, free screenings, and updates on horror films in production. I entered not really expecting to win and worried about finals week (which is next week. Eep!). On Monday, I was notified that I won the grand prize: two tickets to the movie at the Arclight in Hollywood and passes to the VIP party afterwards for free food and drinks and mingling with the actors, producers, and, of course, George A. Romero, teh director and creator of the zombie genre as we know it. I debated not going for about 2 seconds and decided to take my boyfriend so we could spend some time together. I was so excited! Plus I deserved to relax and have some fun before my head exploded from stress.

So we got to the screening early, only to see a crowd of moaning, shuffling zombies! They were volunteers who also got to see the movie for free. Their makeup was amazing! My favorites were the zombie nuns with rulers. They were super nice and it was hilarious to see them approach random people. Alas, no pictures because I'm lame and forgot my camera again. :(

Tomorrow: my review of Survival of the Dead!

* picture from Zombie Research Society

Los Angeles Festival of Books

On Sunday, I went to the annual Festival of Books held at UCLA. My family and I make it an annual excursion and always buy copious amounts of books. This year was one of the best years, in my opinion. We arrived before anything opened so we could get a good parking spot. It's usually really sunny and really hot. Every year I get sunburnt, but this year I remembered to bring a hat and wear sunscreen. Plus, there was a nice breeze all day, so it wasn't as insufferably hot as years past.

I only saw one panel, but it was a great one. It was called Fiction, Bloody Fiction, and featured Seth Grahame-Smith (author of Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter), Christopher Farnsworth (author of the upcoming novel Blood Oath which looks awesome!), and Micheal Shea (author of The Extra), moderated by Tod Goldberg. These four authors are so funny all together. Seth Grahame-Smith was the undisputed star, provoking the most questions and the longest signing lines. His new novel, Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter, looks amazing! I've heard so many good things about it from history and horror buffs alike. His next novel will be getting away from the mash-up genre, but there's no specifics on what it is yet. Christopher Farnsworth's debut novelalso looks very good. It doesn't come out until May, so he didn't stay for the signing. I was hoping his book would be on sale at the festival, but no luck. Blood Oath is about a vampire secret agent working for the president. It's going to be a series and he has been contracted to write 10 books! Michael Shea was probably the most well read and seasoned of the panel. He has written a great many books. The Extra, is a dystopian novel about humans being pitted against giant spider robots for money and the amusement of millions of viewers.

After the panel, I got my copies of How to Survive a Horror Movie and The Extra signed. My sister ran over to a different area to get my copy of American Psycho signed, since Bret Easton Ellis was there. His panel was at the same time as the one I went to, but it turned out ok since my sister got in line for me early. I didn't get to meet him myself since the line was super long, but I still have my signed book. I bought a grand total of 8 books. (yay!) It's been a while since I have bought any books, so I went a little crazy. I got a signed copy of The Kindly Ones by Neil Gaiman. The proceeds went to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, which fights against censorship and for first amendment rights of comic book professionals. Then I bought Feed by Mira Grant, Hourglass by Claudia Gray, Zombie Tales 3 and 4, The Extra by Michael Shea,Rosemary and Rue by Seanan Mcguire, and Blindsighted by Karin Slaughter.

One of my favorite parts of the festival was the literary characters walking around. It's a great way to engage children in reading when they can meet the people they read about in books. This is the hungry, hungry caterpillar. Isn't it the cutest? I had loads of fun, but I don't have any pictures because I forgot my camera. :(

The Curse Workers: White Cat

Cassel Sharpe comes from a family of curse workers. These people can manipulate people or things, such as luck, emotion, death, transformation, among others. Only a fraction of a percent of people in America has these abilities. Using their powers is illegal, so most of these workers are either con artists or in the mafia. This includes all of Cassel's immediately family, except for him. He has no powers, the odd one out in his family. He is still involved in crime, including killing his best friend (and mafia princess) Lila three years ago. While his mother is in jail, he tries to lead a relatively normal life and create an identity for himself separate from his family. Until he has a dream that a white cat ate his tongue and he chases it down, only to wake up on the roof of his dorm with no way of getting down. He is temporarily kicked out of school only to be plunged into the craziness that is his family once more. He knows that his brothers are keeping things from him. How can he figure out anything when he doesn't even know if his own memories are real?

I have never read a book by Holly Black because her books just never appealed to me for some reason. Now I'm kicking myself because White Cat is so good that it is easily one of my favorite young adult books. Cassel Sharpe is a great protagonist. He's smart, clever, and cynical, but at his core, he's a good person. Although the reader knows at the outset that he has committed a horrible crime, Holly Black manages to make him a sympathetic and relatable character. I really feel for him and the hard situation with his family. It's a horrible thing when you don't belong anywhere and you can't even trust the people closest to you. Cassel is a very different main character than is typical than most young adult novels.

The alternate universe in this book is utterly unique and detailed. I've never read another book quite like it. I really liked that the reader is just thrown into a world almost like the one we live, but slightly different, without any initial explanations. Then things begin to unfold and make sense as you go along. This device is very similar to many adult science fiction books. If you're looking for a paranormal romance story, you won't find it here. This world is flawed and gritty. It's a place where the endings aren't happy and the people are definitely not perfect. The stark realism makes this story hit me harder than most young adult novels out there. The story is suspenseful, breathtaking, and infuriating at points. Some plot twists were predictable, but others seemed to slap me across the face out of being so very unexpected. I really enjoyed trying to sort out the truth alongside Cassel.

I highly recommend White Cat to just about everyone and I am going to be one of the first to buy the next in the series. Before that, I need to go out and read the rest of her books as soon as possible.

My rating: 5/5 fishmuffins