M. Geddes Gengras TWISTER (2) (2022)

 

Antwerp by Roberto Bolaño
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

“Let my writings be like the verses by Leopardi that Daniel Biga recited on a Nordic bridge to gird himself with courage.”

How could we not get this man a liver, half a liver even?

read while French sisters played in the pool, while heads disappeared and emerged, somehow breathing through thick black hair

RIP Angelo Badalamenti

the angels will return & when you see the one that's meant to help you, you will weep with joy

   

The Night Watch AN EMBARRASSMENT OF RICHES (2019)

 

SOMEONE NEEDS TO INVENT A MIRROR THAT SHOWS NEOLIBERALS THAT THEY ARE NEOLIBERALS

Galcher Lustwerk 100% GALCHER (2022)

the white-boy dilettante-urge...feels like there must be a long German word for it. wannabe polymaths running around can't be bothered to read a g-d book smh! (self-indicting ofc) 

High Command ECLIPSE OF THE DUAL MOONS (2022)

 

Massachusetts is the Oregon of the East Coast, no further questions at this time.

Jeff Parker THE RELATIVES (2005)

living where the deer know the dog and me 

So Many Doors by Oakley Hall
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Oakley Hall with a worthy war-time melodrama, highlighting the men that were driving the machines that were changing the California landscape so fast, and the women fighting for some share of the future with the tools at their disposal. Was the anti-heroine at the center of this Pynchon-fave novel the inspiration for his "V"? We'll probably never know.

Drowse WANE INTO IT (2022)

Portlander w/ Midwife guest vox so you know it's chef's kiss. medicated Mount Eerie

Fieval Is Glauque FLAMING SWORDS (2022)

if you want to be a warrior for truth, learn to live in silence 

The Third Reich by Roberto Bolaño
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

*written in 1989 and found in his papers after his death in 2003* what an infuriatingly talented man. maybe his most compulsively readable work, a great introduction to Roberto Bolaño for first-timers.

Tomu DJ HALF MOON BAY (2022)

I'm gonna tell people I lost all my money in crypto for cheap sympathy and dumb bastard pity. they won't know I'm poor the good old fashioned way!

Long Time Coming and a Long Time Gone by Richard Fariña
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

love the Ireland and Cuba stories, and the Monterey essay. Man what a loss

ann annie BY MORNING (2022)

 

 Portland is filthy...with talent!

The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolaño
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Yo también soy realista visceral.

The Prairie Fire THE PRAIRIE FIRE (2019)

 take this job and shove it feels about as good as you imagined it would

Boy Harsher THE RUNNER (ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK) (2022)

 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

  Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

a detective novel investigating the occulted origins and international network of Nazi interests, with a thousand vectors spinning off it, almost like a bomber throwing off chaff, decoys, flares, tracers; on a holy mission to find and reveal the fascist underground that preceded and survived WWII, an enemy who can't be directly named but lies beneath our feet like some unitary fungus kingdom of decay, that's been alive for millennia and will continue to send forth fruiting bodies until we find its core

Burial STREETLANDS (2022)

 

my Russian Cirles hoodie got recognized on the street today by the way hip owner of a boutique used book shop who played classical off an old radio, and chess in gallery with a skinny lil sidekick, a life of leisure I'll never know, contentment and courage in corduroy

Elk Witch BEYOND THE MOUNTAIN (2022)

Medford is a pretty dope lil town and being in its best metal band must be a nice feeling, like a suit that fits just right. life doesn't have to be so hard.

Bernie 2024 third time's a charm my friends :-)

 

Emeralds SOLAR BRIDGE (2022)

vibes ain't been close to right since the pandemic, truly fucked times. reading GRAVITY'S RAINBOW, one of the heaviest books of all-time, and it feels like escapism.

rooftop Ben with binoculars in Bethlehem: that fucking Beast won't stop slouching, Sarge!

 

Viul & Benoit Pioulard KONEC (2022)

 

waiting in line for hours, only to see some dolphins jump in the distance, a life aquatic, a freedom we cannot know

Alvvays BLUE REV (2022)

 

the stags are after the does stay frosty my friends

 Acceptance by Jeff VanderMeer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

pro-tip: never let paranormal investigators into your lighthouse

Oren Ambarchi SHEBANG (2022)

 

I've always been a smirker I can't goddamn help it

Authority by Jeff VanderMeer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

unsettling how much I'd fit right in at the Southern Reach

The Microphones MICROPHONES IN 2020 (2020)

 

the Olympic Peninsula gets a lotta rain and all the glory but did you know that the yearly record rainfall in the contiguous United States was on Laurel Mountain, in Oregon? 50 inches in December 1996 alone. this sounds like that. in a firetower. having lost your love and a movie star. having a daughter to raise without her knowing you're already a ghost.

Cole Pulice SCRY (2022)

 

hella nice vibes here from Oakland

Tortoise MILLIONS NOW LIVING WILL NEVER DIE (1996)

 

The year is 1996. The lads at DARPA, In-Q-Tel, the Rand Corporation, and the Stanford Research Institute had to put their heads together. The kids are getting too damn cool. How would they sabotage this? Possibilties: N64, Mad Cow Disease, Olympics Nail bomb, Ted was arrested, Tiger debuted, Tupac died, JBR, fucking Space Jam came out, idk folks, I'm just spitballing, seems like we fucked up somewhere along the way!

Deepchord FUNCTIONAL DESIGNS (2022)

 

DETROIT WILL NEVER DIE HOT DAMN GOD DAMN

Shannen Moser THE SUN STILL SEEMS TO MOVE (2022)

 

Phillullabies

Alex G GOD SAVE THE ANIMALS (2022)

 You say that one day that we should have a baby, well

Right now, baby, I'm struggling, we'll see, yeah

You say one day that we should have a baby, well

God Help me, I love you, I agree, yeah

Marisa Anderson STILL, HERE (2022)

 

another Portland great to better your afternoon, to carry you through

The Mountain Goats BLEED OUT (2022)

WAGE WAR! 

GET RICH! 

DIE HANDSOME!

The Prone Gunman by Jean-Patrick Manchette
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

strategia della tensione ou stratégie de tension
anni di piombo ou années de plomb

Burum ENEIDIAU (2022)

 

ben versus Ursus americanus 1-0 for your boy

(subspecies altifrontalis but it didn't rhyme)

Burum CANIADAU (2012)

 

the elwha nearly took me

Florist FLORIST (2022)

 

like if Grouper had friends who wouldn't let her die

Burum LLEF (2016)

save the whales free the welsh

 

Slow Learner: Early Stories by Thomas Pynchon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The first four are extremely gifted collegiate short stories; the final short story, "The Secret Integration" (his 1st published fiction following the JFK assassination) reveals the scope of his genius and the depth of his heart. The man's got a soul like Lake Baikal.

Syndrome 81 PRISONS IMAGINAIRES (2022)

 

 vivre et mourir

 Death in the Andes by Mario Vargas Llosa
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

MVL's A24 horror movie script when

FRIENDZONE COLLECTION II (2022)

object permanence is kind of a bitch iwbh

 

Already Dead: A California Gothic by Denis Johnson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I'd strongly recommend all of DJ's shorter works, with the exception of Nobody Move, over this.

Bris UVAJAYTE SNY/CHOROVOYDE (2022)

just learned about justified instead of left aligned smdh I blame our pisspoor freshman year word-processing, etc. teacher what was that lady's name? I sat between Tristan and Kelsey Y and they were way nicer than they needed to be to me, helped me get through that rough rough year. they both turned out really well from what I've heard so bless them for carrying pipsqueak me on their backs to a brighter day

 

Eluvium TALK AMONGST THE TREES (2005)

 

someday, in the swirl of life, you will love them all and you'll be a communist, and you will thank God communism, like jazz, can never be defeated. they live in our marrow and wait to explode into factories of freedom and joy. they are deep halls of heroes whom no storm could touch, with antennae like lightning rods receiving God's white-hot truth, transforming it into soft blue static, so we can shock each other awake.

International Drive 深夜 ECCOJAM HANGOVER (2019)

 

an artist can makes anything art. a hack can't hang a rothko right.

Today, alas, it is already dusk, and we should have been practicing since dawn.

Momma HOUSEHOLD NAME (2022)

 man the kids are hitting their stride with the 90's redux. there was so much there that got passed through way too quickly, and left us puking in the alley behind the bar, with nü-metal and nothing to show for ourselves. even the one-hit wonders were packed with insane guitar lines, impassioned drumming, shit that just cannot be replicated by dudes sending .wav files out between vape drags. let them go wild, let them rebuild Jericho from the rubble we left behind

Miracle Legion SURPRISE SURPRISE SURPRISE (1987)

 YOUR SOULS SHOULD HAVE BEEN IMMENSE BY NOW

The Name of the World by Denis Johnson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

wish I could sing like Otis Redding and write like Denis Johnson

Zola Jesus ARKHON (2022)

(What like a bullet can undeceive!) -Herman Melville

Beatlebone by Kevin Barry
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

unless you're a Beatlemaniac, I'd strongly suggest starting with 'Night Boat to Tangiers' or 'City of Bohane' first. Barry is an insanely talented writer, but this material is so niche and interior as to be very dull for an outsider. Barry is also a terrific narrator of his own material if you're an audiobook listener.

Joan Shelley THE SPUR (2022)

We have some heroes still, and we lose some by the day. Prayers & thanks for Mike Davis.

Vineland by Thomas Pynchon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

a love letter to labor and a tribute to communal, rhizomal resistance

View all my reviews

Autistic Auteurist Completionist: Christopher Nolan

We're Gonna Need a Bigger Screen

1) Dunkirk (2017)

2) The Dark Knight (2008)

3) Inception (2010)

4) Interstellar (2014)

Every Artist is a Detective, and Every Detective is a Conman

5) The Prestige (2006)

6) Insomnia (2002)

I'm Mr. November, I Won't Fuck Us Over

7) Memento (2000)

8) Batman Begins (2005)

And Why Do We Fall, Bruce?

9) The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

10) Tenet (2020)

Hiemal AUBURN BLAZE (2021)

the best song colin meloy ever wrote, must have on your summer roadtrip playlists:

Pop. 1280 by Jim Thompson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

darkest timeline Sheriff Andy Taylor in darkest timeline Mayberry, ymmv

Hiemal CASCAPEDIA (2022)

often under the eaves 

we buried our hearts in linen

marked with a twig, to be found and returned

if not already eaten 

Train Dreams by Denis Johnson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

belongs in the canon of great PNW literature

GoGo Penguin FANFARES (2012)

 

dx'ed enneagram numero dos ofc

  Gandhi and the Unspeakable: His Final Experiment with Truth by James W. Douglass
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

they'd been trying to get him for decades, he always sent killers away friends. really too bad that the Beatles, et al., while popularizing/fetishizing Hindu culture, didn't care much for the tradition of Gandhi. the methods of the satyagrahi combined with a militant antiwar/labor movement could have leveled mountains. if only he didn't have his own Allen Dulles in Savarkar, who the British magnanimously let loose to oppose him at every turn.

The Dream Syndicate ULTRAVIOLET BATTLE HYMNS AND TRUE CONFESSIONS (2022)

 

battle for the hearts and minds has been going on all along, not to win them but to degrade them, to waste  them away, and we must fight with learning and loving and ruthless criticism of all that exists

Joyce Manor 40 OZ. TO FRESNO (2022)

 

 you don't hear much about MADD anymore i wonder if they gave up after texting and driving took off

Denis Johnson THE LAUGHING MONSTERS (2014)

 

The Laughing Monsters by Denis Johnson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Johnson re-writes Heart of Darkness for the 21st century, where Africa is still the land of opportunity for Euro-scumbags looking to strike it rich, and often exploiting and extorting the traumatized and vulnerable into collaborating. DJ pulls no punches, painting NATO as duplicitous, AFRICOM as self-serving, and the NGO-sphere as the vanguard+enabler of mineral/energy extraction companies.

He does this with that natural brevity, grace, humor and momentum that make him such a singular author.

Johnson makes a quick, enjoyable read of a tremendously difficult subject, and accurately portrays how neocolonialism persists and evolves, while positing the implicit argument that Africa would be better served if Westerners packed up their capitalism and "charity" and went home. Spoiler alert: they won't.

Bill Evans SOME OTHER TIME: THE LOST SESSION FROM THE BLACK FOREST (1968)

starting to believe wealthy benefactors are made-up!

Iron & Wine THE CREEK DRANK THE CRADLE (2002)

  

prayers pass nearby

send blessings back

                                

  Widespread Panic by James Ellroy
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Otash lived a wild life, if a quarter of his stories are true it's a miracle he made it to 70

Vaelastrasz SUNSTRIDER (2022)

some aethereal vibes courtesy of Geoff

Joe Rainey NIINETA (2022)

 

First Blood by David Morrell My rating: 3 of 5 stars

men would rather rampage through the hill country of Kentucky than go to therapy

Wolf Parade APOLOGIES TO THE QUEEN MARY (DELUXE EDITION) (2016)

 

the high water mark of 00's college rock. they're playing Portland July 8th and Eugene July 13th if anybody wants to go lemme know

Listening to the Candle: A Poem on Impulse by Peter Dale Scott
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

already re-reading. PDS is the Gene Kelly of deep history

Post-America DARK WINTER (2021)

i'll be down at the empanada joint if you need me

Craig Finn A LEGACY OF RENTALS (2022)

 

some days the best you can do is not smoke don't pick up those smokes

Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me by Richard Fariña
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Zorba the (despicable) Greek

Patricia Wolf LIFE ON SMOKING MOUNTAIN II (2021)

 

making your peace with God highly recommended 10/10

  The Ones You Do by Daniel Woodrell
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

that dog won't hunt

Patricia Wolf LIFE ON SMOKING MOUNTAIN (2021)

 

               ash

catholics 🤝 volcanology nerds

  Muscle for the Wing by Daniel Woodrell
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

has some Justified B-storyline flair, otherwise largely forgettable

Patricia Wolf SOTTO LE STELLE (2020)

 

started volunteering at the aquarium. cutest little non English-speaking family with two toddler girls was hanging out at the touch pools so I showed them a decorator crab about to chow down on a shrimp and got low and did the crab munch and pretty soon all five of us were doing it, it was like going viral on TikTok but IRL erebody doing the crabmunch

  Under the Bright Lights by Daniel Woodrell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

nice beignet fluff. less about crime/mystery than atmosphere. gets points for style and Stag

Patricia Wolf SEE-THROUGH (2022)

Wolf is a Portlander who makes music the way groundwater flows beneath the riverbed

Post-America DAYTIME MOON (2022)

 

Mario Vargas Llosa did the anti-imperialist world a good turn by resurrecting the story of this forgotten legend. One of the most influential figures in the shaming and eventual dismantling of the colonial system was this Irishman, knighted by the crown, and then hung as a traitor for attempting to smuggle arms to Irish nationalists prior to the Easter Uprising. Couldn't be much more heroic. Roger Casement got kicked in the ribs by life over and over and responded by only becoming braver and more resolutely human. Let a thousand Rogers bloom.