NY Review of Books -- Yes it matters to You!

It is very well written, if slightly... too... exquisite? I am, naturellement, all in favour of exquisitry, but I wonder if it couldn't be tempered with something a little more... vulgar. He describes his grandfather sitting down to play boogiewoogie piano at one point, and his grandfather is wearing a perfectly pressed white suit. In a way, that is a good analogy for O'Brien's prose.

Nevertheless, this is mere quibbling. I am devouring this gorgeous book.

[1] "Crunk" is an offshoot of hiphop based in the South, favoring antiphonal group chants and raucous shouts over solo rapping, and with notably pornographic lyrics. Originally —and sometimes still—the vocals and sometimes the backing tracks were drastically slowed down. The style originated in Houston with a subculture of cough-syrup drinkers, syrup being famous for slackening perception of time.

[2] "Grime"—a contentious term at pres-ent—is a British analogue to hiphop (which evolved quite distinctly from hiphop, being an outgrowth of UK ga-rage) featuring rapid-fire, often social-realist rhymes over oddly baroque-sounding synthesizer continuos.

[3] A "remix" is a song whose properties have been altered on the mixing board —bass brought up, echo increased, vocal dropped back, Tunisian string orchestra track introduced, etc. "Mashup" and "bootleg" are synonyms, although their exact definitions vary. In general, though, the terms both refer to the practice of marrying the vocal track of one song with the instrumental backing of another, either or both of those items being subject to further alteration.

[4] The MP3 is a format for digitally storing and relaying music or other audio items. Although there is some loss of sound quality in the process, the MP3 is notable for its compression—a player no bigger than a deck of cards can hold up to 50,000 songs.

My summation is inaccurate?

How is this book of essays well done?

"All of Hornby's little essays are similarly artless and, often enough, equally vague."

Yes, he gets his point across ("you can easily find brand-new examples of the same stuff you've been listening to for the last thirty years, so there's no reason to feel snagged on a branch while the tide of history surges on") but in any way worth noting.

Clearly, Sante disagrees with what he interprets to be Hornby's 'message' but I think it is also clear that Sante believes Hornby has done a shoddy job of it.

To justify this post (somewhat), I'll throw my own thread off course (any way to change the subject line?):

Did you see that popmatters.com had two Hold Steady album reviews yesterday?

"All of Hornby's little essays are similarly artless and, often enough, equally vague. He succeeds so well at not sounding like a critic that he could easily be mistaken for the average inarticulate consumer, someone who wears his heart on his sleeve and doesn't care to probe much underneath. This is in fact his particular genius: he is l'homme moyen sensuel of pop culture. What he expresses and how he expresses it could almost pass for a replica of your neighbor's or your cousin's explanations of why they love "Take It Easy," by the Eagles—although they would be unlikely to command such fluidly plain prose, its plainness giving luster to every stammer and ellipsis:"

It's what Hornby is trying to do, not his ability to do it, that falls short.

"Hornby reassures himself and his readers not only that adulthood does not mean having to renounce catchy tunes with jangly guitars in favor of music requiring jackets and ties, but also that pop music can once and for all assume its true function, as a salve. Teenage evenings spent pumping a fist in the air in time to Black Sabbath's "Paranoid" may now seem ludicrous, but teenage nights spent sobbing to the accompaniment of Carole King's Tapestry remain rich in beauty and meaning."

There isn't some wonderful way to express this waiting as a potential good pop book out there. It's the attitude itself that's wanting.

Should I subscribe to the NY Review of Books?

They are offering me a Professional Discount Rate!!

(does Harper's make a practice of selling addresses of all their submitters? wtf! or is "professional discount rate" the name they give to the subscriber price?)

all professional steendrivers get discounted magazine subscriptions... didnt u get the membership letter?

big hoos aka the pro steendriver

these motherfuckers are offering you a discount and not a loyal subscriber? a recent email exchange between me and their subscription department:

me:

The person who gifted me the subscription has forwarded me a letter from you inviting him to renew "with our special holiday offer". However, with this offer the cost of the renewal is the same as it was last year for a new subscription and the same as it is for new subscriptions on the website: $105 for international subscribers. Is this correct?

them:

The cost your renewal will be $105.00. The answer is basically Marketing..

but in answer to your question, yes, you should subscribe.

yeah, this is the best magazine I know of. It's hardcore: I subscribed my mother but she couldn't hack it, it was too much work for her. But it's the only magazine I read cover to cover each issue.

I look forward to the summer break where they give you a couple of months to catch up, although I didn't manage that this year. 3/4 of the way through issue 11 now.

I always skip ahead to anything by Freeman Dyson or Steve Weinberg though.

Back inna mailbox w/subscrip request attached.

I subscribed then cancelled, when I realised I was reading all the articles online rather than in print anyway. Professional rate was pretty cheap though ($30/year maybe), so go for it.

Yeah I just put it in the box for $15.99/year.

I need to renew Harper's. All the doom & gloom covers are overwrought sky is falling stuff and I can go the rest of my life without reading another LATE ROMAN EMPIRE analogy, but I'll gladly pay $20/year for 12 installments of the Readings, Index & Findings sections. Anything else good is just a bonus.

i've subscribed off and on for years, letting my subscription lapse and then re-upping from an ad or one of those discount-thingies rather than shelling out for the official re-subscription. it's an excellent pub overall, some issues may be slim then there'll be one like the current number with half-a-dozen good pieces in it. great way to keep up w/books that you wouldn't have time to read. really smart political essays too.

I love Harpers so much. I just resubbed this week (partially for the new issues, mostly for their online archives). NY Review of Books sometimes wows me, but not enough to shell out for a sub. Also, all my professors at school get comp subs and my thesis adviser lets me borrow hers.

New York Review of Books has the best personals.

"RETIRED CHICAGO LAWYER, independent scholar. Curious, very fit, 6' male; sixties. Sings tenor; looks great. Passions include apples, arias, trees, arpeggios, homegrown tomatoes, justice, jazz. Trusting there is a tall and slender woman wanting to share it all."

A DEFINITE CATCH. University professor, fit, youthful 57 (looks 45), loves wine, good food and cooking, the buzz of the city, the solitude of mountains, science, jazz, movies, and James Joyce. Seeking slim, attractive, intellectually curious 35–early 50s-year-old lady, based Chicago or East Coast for companionship, travel to exotic lands, laughter, and cozy evenings. No Republicans please.

"intellectually curious"

taking next year off. brain melted.

haha

soon as i have money i wanna renew, i felt so much smarter while i was reading this regularly