The Phunking Awesome, the not so, and stuff in between

I bought The Black Eyed Peas' latest release, MONKEY BUSINESS, a couple of days ago and have been listening to it non-stop. It's a Hip-hop, rap, funkadelic, house, RnB, pop, rock, folk melange of hi-energy rawkin beats. (if you scroll down the Amazon page you can sample the songs). This CD fared much better with me than the latest Coldplay release, or Rob Thomas' CD.

I also grabbed Julie Leto's Dirty Little Secrets and Joel Hynes' Down To The Dirt. I came across the Leto excerpt somewhere online (this is my first time reading her), and browsed through Joel's book (being compared to the gritty black humor of Trainspotting) in store. The samplings really worked for me, so let's hope the rest of these books pan out.

But first, I have to finish Eugenia Riley's Bushwhacked Bride, then get cracking on the library copies of Susanna Kearsley's The Shadowy Horses, Zora Neale Hurston Reader's I Love Myself When I'm Laughing and the hardcover graphic novel- The Incredible Hulk Vol 1: Return of the Monster. (hell no wonder I can't keep my side bar updated.)

I bought bushwhacked Bride because the concept/writing reminded me of Sandra Hill's Timetravelling Viking books (which I love); while I have laughed out loud a number of times while reading this book, it's a bit uneven, and the humor doesn't overcome that. In particular, there's a hit n run quality to the sexual tension between the main protagonists, a great build up (when it's there) but the payoff is a bit on the skimpy side and doesn't quite satisfy. Some stuff, although funny, feels a bit like filler. The book is worth reading for Ma Reklaw alone, tho. The woman cracks me up every time she shows up on the page.

The Graphic Novel is great. Made me pull out the DVD to watch the movie again. I just don't understand why peeps hated that movie so much. I thought it was one of the better done adaptations--filtered the comicbook sensibilities 'visually' while bring a more dramatic treatment to the work.

As for the Hurston-Reader book, it's a cross between an anthology of her writings and an autobiography. She's quite the character. Very dry humour and interesting insights. I've picked up a couple of her books previously, but a few seconds of scanning the micro printing on the page had me putting the books back on the shelf tout de suite. The recent trend of charging full price for an expensive trade that hold less story because of low page count, LARGE-blind as a bat-PRINT and W I D E-parting of the Red Sea-margins, pisses me off. But at least I'll read them. I won't ruin my eyes by reading cramped micro font.