Cd Review: Brewing Up With Billy Bragg

So I am suffering from insomnia and saw that Elfarmy posted a cd review so I thought I would do one too.

Billy Bragg, for those of you who don't know, is an English musician who started off in the 80s playing Punk music and later in his career would diversify his sound. But Brewing Up is from solidly in his punk period.

It says here: A nice angry punk rant about media bias to kick the album off. Even though this song was written in the 80s it is still frighteningly relevant. I mean "It says here that the unions will never learn, it says here that the economy is on the upturn" Seriously, that is scary.

Love Gets Dangerous: Don't listen to this one much, it's a little dull but not terrible.

The Myth Of Trust: One of Bragg's best vocal performances. He sounds as if he is near tears during this song. There is pain in the lyrics of this song and his voice perfectly captures it.

From A Vauxhall Velox: Another one I don't listen to often, again a decent song just not one of the stand outs.

The Saturday Boy: Ah Saturday Boy. What heterosexual male cannot relate to this song. A fantastic song about teenage love with some really clever lyrics such as "In the end it took me a dictionary to find out the meaning of unrequited". Beautiful, beautiful song. Many times have I listened to this song and mourned my love life.

Island Of No Return: Ok, history lesson, in the 80s Great Britain and Argentina went to war over some islands in South America. It was a proper, major war between two strong powers. And Billy wrote this song about it and it is amazing. A perfect example of classic Bragg. One man, one guitar, politics, and ranting.

St Swithin's Day: Another great lost love song. "Thanks all the same but I can't bring myself to answer your letters, what was it all for?" Deeply, deeply moving.

Like Soldiers Do: An interesting song, also(in my opinion) about the Falklands War. The chorus(Our Fathers were all soldiers, shall we be soldiers too, fighting and falling like soldiers do) is well written and catchy. A good song.

This Guitar Says Sorry: Very, very strange song. I recently read the lyrics and found that there are only like 12 lines in the song. The refrain(The Love that we have is so important) really makes you think. Is it sarcastic or is it serious? We will never know.

Strange Things Happen: The last of the three that I rarely listen to, it's not that their so bad it's that everything else is so good.

A Lover Sings: Fantastic fantastic refrain. "Adam And Eve are finding out all about love" I mean seriously, that is clever. The song builds to the climax where Billy changes the lyrics to "Theresa and Steve are finding out all about love"

Bonus Disk Highlights

between the wars
Which side are you on
Talking Wag Club Blues
Won't Talk about it
World Turned Upside Down
Back to the old house

8/10

On Hermione

Several months ago(just before Halloween) I went on a hike with my brother and his friends. On this hike, as I often do when with my brother and his friends, I adopted what I like to call "the cool older brother act". This act was working like a charm and the kids obviously felt comfortable talking to me. One of the kids(who, ironically, reminded me strongly of myself when I was younger) asked me who my favorite character in Harry Potter was. Now, for those of you who do not know, I am a huge huge harry potter fan. I replied that I liked various characters including Ginny and Hermione.

Now this simple statement sparked a fierce debate among the kids as to whether or not Hermione is annoying. One said that he liked her because she was a bookworm like he is and another said she was a know-it-all.

Now flash forward to the present. I am going through my re-reading(or rather re-listening) to the Harry Potter books, like I do every few months. And I am currently listening to the 1st one for the first time in a long long while. And I realized something very important about Hermione. Her know-it-allness is just cover for her social awkwardness.

I am of the belief that almost everyone has a cover for their social awkwardness. Some people stay quiet, other people(like me) use humor. Hermione uses her intelligence.

Let's look at it from her perspective: She is born into a muggle family and, to the best of our knowledge, an only child. She is sent away to a boarding school and will be one of the only people to not really know anything She doesn't want to look foolish so she memorizes all the books. She then takes every opportunity to spout off the facts she memorized.

Something else that is never really addressed is her family life. There are three main characters in Harry Potter. Harry Ron and Hermione(my brother disagrees with me about this but he is wrong!). We see Ron's family a great deal and we talk about Harry's family. What about Hermione? In the entire series she sends one owl to her parents, she rarely spends Christmas vacation with them, and rarely spends the entire summer vacation with them. How do her parents feel about her being a witch? In the final book she puts a memory charm on her parents so that they can't remember who she is. This seems, to me at least, rather extreme.

Do her parents know about the war going on? Do they know about her friends? And if so then why do they need a memory charm put on them? If they do not know, then why not? Why did Hermione not tell them? Does she have any siblings? We can assume that there are no younger siblings, but what about older? Why does she never tell us?

How do her parents feel about her running off to be with her friends ever vacation? They only get to see her at those times and she wants to run off. How does that make them feel? Why does she do this? What is the reason? You only see the Grangers in one scene(that I recall) and that is in the 2nd book. They are standing off in the distance looking awkward. Does Hermione introduce her friends to them? No.

I think that, from these facts, it can be safely concluded that Hermione and her parents do not have the greatest relationship. I will go a step further. I think that Hermione finds it hard to mesh her magic life with her muggle life. She finds it hard to be around her parents as they have nothing in common. Imagine if the main thing in your life was something that none of your relatives could possibly understand. And what if Hermione does have siblings, we've seen what happens to muggle siblings of wizards(Petunia Dursley).

Maybe her need for control and the constant displays of intelligence are attempts to show that she belongs in the magical world and not the muggle. Maybe she is trying to prove to herself that she has worth. Maybe she has very low self esteem and compensates with what other people see as arrogance.

In the 6th book she gets very angry at Harry because he is better at something then she is. Maybe her parents always expected her to be the best in the class and she is afraid that they will be disappointed in her. Maybe it is the other way round. Maybe she wants her parents approval and thus strives to be the best at everything.

Whatever the reason there is something deeper in Hermione and I think that it is connected to her parents. If I were chosen tomorrow for an elite boarding school I would still correspond regularly with my sibling and parents. Thermionic doesn't and that surprises me.

I welcome you comments and your theories.

Rage, Rage, Rage, Rage

I have written before on this blog about Fred Phelps the head of the Westebrough baptist church(do I look like I care if that I spelled it wrong?) and his frequent picketing of funerals. He has done soldiers, murdered teenagers, and dead mothers so what was his first reaction to the tragic shooting in Arizona? He is going to go and picket one of the victim's funeral. But in case that doesn't get you angry enough wait till you here whose funeral it is going to be.

The Victim of Mr. Phelp's hate and intolerance is Ms. Christina Green who is nine years old. Yes, Mr Phelps is picketing the funeral of a 9 Year Old. There are literally no words, there are no words.

Mr Phelps, no, I won't even call him that Mister is a term of respect and he deserves none and has earned none, Phelps said on his website(godhatesfags) about her ""God hates Catholics, God calls your religion 'vain,' as it's empty of His truth; you worship idols!" because Ms. Green was a Catholic, you see.

I thought about how to respond to this story, I could rant, I could be bitingly sarcastic, I could swear and call Phelps names. But no, I will just describe Ms. Green's short life for you briefly.

She was born on September 11th, 2001. She had just been elected to her Elementary School Student Council and had dreams of serving in higher office. A neighbour had taken her to see their Representive this Saturday for that reason. She will never serve in higher office, she will never go on a date, she will never get married, she will never have a child, she will never have a grandchild, she will never go to high school, she will never go to college, she will never be a teenager, she will never read another book, she will never listen to another piece of music, she will never see another film, she had an entire life in front of her and it was all wiped out like that. And as if that wasn't tragedy enough some so called "Religious Leader" is going to picket her funeral.

To quote Mr. Joseph Welch, "You've done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?"

No God that I believe in or want to believe in is behind you Phelps. You are a father for God's Sake! And you are picketing a nine year old's funeral! "At long last have you left no sense of Decency"

My mother often says that the only hell is one that you make for yourself, and I don't know if I believe that, but Phelps is certainly supporting her case. He has made his hell and now he wants to make the world Hell for the rest of us. When you die, Phelps, you will leave behind nothing but hate and fear.

A nine year old girl.

Will Grayson the counter counter counter counter post

"The pride was yours! The presumption was yours!"
----J Michael Stracznski

Elfarmy has has the audacity to call me audacious for calling her audacious here http://elfarmywrites.blogspot.com/2010/12/will-grayson-will-grayson-counter.html

She wrote "You might remember that collaborating on a book is not a competition."

True but in this book where the two authors are so different in style and one is, in my opinion, much superior to the other then it can be viewed as a competition. I also think that David Levithan should be the super famous one and not, as he told me when I ambushed him in a hallway at ALA, "The half of Will Grayson who isn't on TV all the time."

She then wrote "I never said that all of his characters and all of his plots are really alike"

Um, actually you did, "The summary of a John Green book: Somewhat nerdy teen with a specific quirk and lovable friends confronts an issue that is easily related to by teen readers through humor and character-recognized metaphor.
Either you like that plot line, or you don't. I do, and therefore I don't mind that the books are the same." and "Yes, Pudge, Colin, Quentin, and Will all share traits. They all sound somewhat the same within their minds."

I did not mean to diss Tiny Cooper and I also did not mean anything by saying that he was created by John Green. I was attempting to be snarky and funny and obviously my point was lost. I apologize.

"You can't say a book or an author is bad just because the main character (or one of them) annoys you. That just means you didn't enjoy the book."

I wasn't necessarily criticizing John Green for Uppercase Will's personality. But actually I disagree with your point. If the main character is not likable and he was supposed to be then that is a sign of a bad author. I am not saying that Will was supposed to be likable, I was just making the point. And he was somewhat likable I just didn't like the way he treated Tiny.

"You keep blaming flaws within the book on John. David Levithan worked on this book as well, and you can't attribute only the good parts of it to him." I didn't/don't. I enjoyed the play stuff and John Green can be both laugh out loud funny and touchingly romantic but I believe that he is overrated.

She then wrote that saying that John Green has good taste in music was "complimenting the person, not the author."

I know, I was trying to find something nice to say, and I did enjoy the music references in the book.

Elfarmy concluded by writing "I will think about this and most likely see that you are correct once I've written those short stories for my deadline. Who has author credit now? I do. In YOUR face."

Ok, congrats on the deadline and whatnot but it is author cred, not credit.

Will Grayson the Counter Counter Post

"He is really not so ugly after all, provided, of course, that one shuts one's eyes, and does not look at him."
---Oscar Wilde

"I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach!"
---Charles Dickens


Elfarmy has had the audacity to disagree with me about Will Grayson Will Grayson (http://elfarmywrites.blogspot.com/2010/12/will-grayson-counter-post.html) and I must respond in kind.

To begin with she quoted me as saying

"Going into this book I had one problem with John Green, I felt that he had appointed himself the savior of YA Literature and saw it as his duty to push the envelope."

and responded with

"I'm not exactly sure what this means, nor do I know what this opinion is founded on, therefore I can't really refute it. However, I will say that there is a difference between believing you made YA better and believing you are the "savior" of it."


Here is what this is based on: John Green loves to push the envelope with sex,language, and what have you. And that would be fine if it wasn't so gratuitous. For example there is a line in Will Grayson Will Grayson in which Green's character refers to a house, a house for God's sake, as a two word combination beginning with an M. There was no reason for this language the character did not seem like the type of person who would say something like that. It was pushing the envelope for the fun of it. And it took the reader out of the story and it hurt the book.Was the use of that word really worth that much? No, but it made John Green feel good and important and edgy. So, props to him. The real way to push the envelope is to give readers a plot that makes them question things and is clever and new and edgy and progressive. If only someone had written a book like that. Oh, wait, someone has. It was called Boy Meets Boy and it was written by David Levithan.

Elfarmy then a dressed my point that his narrators are very similar in terms of voice and said

"It could be argued that he's pointing out that all people are essentially the same on the inside and it's only our situations and backgrounds that make us different (which is something he's frequently talked about in videos), but I doubt that philosophy was behind it. I think it just turned out that way, and some people will find it annoying, and others will not."


She is right, I find it annoying and many do not. I somehow highly doubt that he did it to prove that everyone is the same on the inside.

She then said

"My question is this: If they do read exactly the same, is that a bad thing?"

Not to be flippant but yes. I will explain why is a second. But let me quote Elfarmy again

."If you mean they read exactly the same in regards to style, well, don't all authors have a style? That's what makes you like an author, as opposed to a book by that author.
The summary of a John Green book: Somewhat nerdy teen with a specific quirk and lovable friends confronts an issue that is easily related to by teen readers through humor and character-recognized metaphor.
Either you like that plot line, or you don't. I do, and therefore I don't mind that the books are the same."

If the characters are very similar,the style is the same, and the plots are really alike then why bother reading the new books? Why don't you just reread the old ones? Why bother writing anything new? What's the point? If a writer is just writing the same thing over and over then how can you say that they are still a good writer? I used to love Caroline B Cooney but recently she is basically writing the same plot over and over and over again trying to get a hit and she isn't very good anymore. A good writer actually, again not to be flippant, but a good writer writes. They create new things, they don't just reinvent the wheel. The stretch and create characters who are different from each other and different from the author. So if the author were, say, a gay man, he might write a book about two straight brothers. And he might call it Are We There Yet.

Elfarmy went on to write

""Nothing happens in this book." I guess it depends on what you want to happen. It's a book about teenagers doing stuff. There aren't any vampires, or evil governments, or parents who are Greek gods. There's nothing to make them unique. They're just people. Some like to read such books, and some don't."

Interesting thing about that, I do like to read those books but normally something happens, there is a point. And looking back at WGWG here is what happened: lowercase Will struggled with his sexuality and went out with this weird character Green created and fought with this weird girl. And that was about it. Uppercase Will had problems with the weird character who Green created and wanted to go out with a girl and a school play. So all of that could have been interesting if it had been done better. And I have to say, Uppercase Will is kind of a jerk. I mean, the way he treats his supposed friend is pretty shameful. If he had been nicer and gotten more involved in the school play the book would have become way way way way way way better. But no, John Green did not do that for whatever reason. He apparently did not realise that the school play could make for a really really good main plot and the other stuff could make for an acceptable sub plot.

Elfarmy then wrote

"You can't give good author-cred to someone just because they mention musicians you like."

My response: Heck Yeah you can, and I just did. IN YOUR FACE!!!!!!

Also, on a side note, Earagon and Eldest are almost scene for scene rewrites of Star Wars. Think about it and you will see that I am right(I spent a lot of time thinking about this)

Dash and Lilly is really really sweet and funny. I love it to pieces.

Book Review Will Grayson WIll Grayson by John Green and David Levithan

Will Grayson Will Grayson is written by two of YA literature's biggest superstars, John Green(Author of Paper Towns and Looking For Alaska) and David Levithan(Author of Boy Meets Boy and Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist). The book is written in alternating chapters each narrated by a young man named Will Grayson.

John Green's Will Grayson is straight and having boy troubles. David Levithian's Will Grayson is gay and having girl troubles. Don't ask why either of those make sense.

About halfway through the book the two Will Grayson's meet up with each other.


Now, as I said, this book is written by two hugely popular authors. John Green is renowned in the literary world for his YA novels and how good they are. David Levithian is less well known as an author but is an Editor for scholastic(he edited the Hunger Games Trilogy which proves that at least he has good taste). So, with two authors of such high stature writing it, how could this book possibly go wrong?

The answer to that question is two words long: John Green. Going into this book I had one problem with John Green, I felt that he had appointed himself the savior of YA Literature and saw it as his duty to push the envelope. Coming out of this book I have another problem with him, all his characters are the same. Seriously, Will Grayson is almost exactly the same as the main character from Paper Towns. I am not saying that Mr. Green cannot write, but he is, in my humble opinion, far inferior to David Levithan.

David Levithan is one of my favorite writers and he has actually saved YA Literature(namely by editing the Hunger Games). He writes his half very well but the book, aside from being unbalanced, is basically pointless. There is no reason for the characters to meet(though it was handled well) as it doesn't really do much for the plot. Really, nothing happens in this book. And Don't even get me started on the ending.

In the interest of fairness I will say that John Green handles romance well and he put in some funny scenes involving the school play(a subplot which I thoroughly enjoyed). He also put in some cool band references as he has done in at least one of his previous works(Billy Bragg was referenced in Paper Towns). But, as I said, his main character is the same as his Paper Towns main character.

This Year David Levithan has another collaboration coming out called Dash and Lilly's Book Of Dares which is far far far superior.

Three and a Half stars out of Five

One final note, many months back I posted some lyrics on this blog that I had co-written(called If Lightning Strikes) and Elfarmy commented saying that it reminded her of a scene in this book. I read the scene and she was right. So props to her for noticing.

quote meets quote

I'm bored and I saw that Elfarmy posted a long list of quotes on her blog so I decided to rip her off. Oh Snap, as they say.


It's called thieves get rich and saints get shot.
It's called God don't answer prayers a lot.
----Stephen Soundheim

he thinks too much, such men are dangerous
----William Shakspeare

I love writing but I hate starting. The page is awfully white and it says. " You may have fooled some of the people some of the time but those days are over, giftless. I'm not your agent and I'm not your mommy, I'm a white piece of paper, you wanna dance with me?" and I really, really don't. I don't want any trouble. I'll go peaceable-like.
----Aaron Sorkin

Believe in it? Hell, I've seen it!
---Mark Twain after being asked if he believed in baptism at birth

Life is far too important a thing ever to talk seriously about it.
---Oscar Wilde

One should always be a little improbable.
---Oscar Wilde

A true friend stabs you in the front
---Oscar Wilde

I have nothing to declare except my Genius.
---Oscar Wilde when asked at NY customs if he had anything to decalre

One of the requisites of sanity is to disagree with the majority of the British public.
---Oscar Wilde

Whenever people agree with me I always feel I must be wrong.
---Oscar Wilde

I've known Bob Rumson for years, and I've been operating under the assumption that the reason Bob devotes so much time and energy to shouting at the rain was that he simply didn't get it. Well, I was wrong. Bob's problem isn't that he doesn't get it. Bob's problem is that he can't sell it!
---Aaron Sorkin

Ironically, I'm the one who's high as a paper kite right now. But legitimately. I had back surgery on Tuesday. L-5/S-1, if that means anything to you. Stop talking now? You bet.
---Aaron Sorkin

Well, your side hates my side because you think we think you're stupid, and my side hates your side because we think you're stupid.
---Aaron Sorkin on the culture wars

I'm not white, Darius, I'm English.
---Aaron Sorkin

Jack: You speak English?
Zhang Tao: I speak a few words.
Jack: How many words?
Zhang Tao: All of them.
Jack: Why do you pretend you can't speak English?
Zhang Tao: It's fun.
Jack: It's fun?! [pause] Yeah. Guess it would be.
---Aaron Sorkin

Danny: Matthew, don't take this the wrong way, but I love you.
Matt: Okay.
Danny: Did you take it the wrong way?
Matt: I took it to mean you're gay and you want me.
Danny: Good.
Matt: I love you too, brother.
---Aaron Sorkin