Sound Check

Your Coffee Enemy

Sometimes Chickens are Really your Enemy

The It's Effin' Science team compares the damage from shooting a handgun at a bulletproof vest to the damage that comes from launching a chicken at it.

Ten Years Ago

I was teaching at a comprehensive High School that day and the news was filtering in.  

Things were still a little wonky in terms of our understanding.  

We all knew something horrible had happened, though.

After the principal made an announcement over the PA 

telling students they could go home if they wanted to (or something like that) 

a Freshman girl sitting in her desk in the front row 

looked up at me and asked, 

"Mr. Elkin, is this the Rapture?"

To this day, I wonder if the answer to her question was "Yes."

Go Read This Book

Your Chicken Enemy

Can Poetry Matter (Poets You Should Know)

Stephen Dobyns

I've been thinking about writing poetry again (prodded by Mercury Girl) and I can't settle into it. 

False starts and misfires

Too thick or too runny

Clonking or clanking.

Then I found this poem by Stephen Dobyns (I wrote about him before here) and I shared my pain.

Then There Is This...

Directed by David Lewandowski
Music is Jean Jacques Perrey's "Little Ships"

.

Cheap Thrills - KADE: RISING SUN #3

Random Pulls from the Bargain Bin

This Column originally ran on COMICS BULLETIN

In these economic times, finding inexpensive entertainment is difficult. Thank goodness for the local comic shop and a slew of comics nobody cares about anymore! Each week Daniel Elkin randomly grabs a comic from the bargain bin (for 50 cents) to see what kind of bang he can get for his two-bits. These are those tales.

August 31, 2011 – paid 50 cents for:
KADE: RISING SUN #3
Published by: Arcana Comics
Written by: Sean O’Reilly and Jay Busbee
Art by: Christian Duce

THE SAVAGES SPEAK THE LANGUAGE OF BRUTALITY. I SCREAM IT.

July 2009. It was only two years ago, but doesn’t it seem so much longer than that? It was only two years ago that there was that televised memorial for Michael Jackson, there was that really long total solar eclipse, Karl Malden died, and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince opened in theaters (so did Bruno, but the less we say about that the better). In July 2009, the Sci Fi Channel became Syfy, Madonna was performing on her Sticky and Sweet Tour, and Tool was back doing shows after a two year hiatus.

July 2009 also saw the release of Arcana’s Kade: Rising Sun #3. This was the third installment of a four part mini-series featuring the immortal demon hunter Kade. I found it in the bargain bin.

Why it was in the bargain bin, though, completely eludes me, because this is a pretty good comic.

Kade: Rising Sun #3 opens onto action peppered with musings on how a warrior understands battle.

According to Kade, “Battle is not part of man’s soul; it is a man’s soul.” While this may be an oversimplification of a very complex concept, it is pithy enough to cause me to pause, it is concise enough to send me into a momentary reverie on the nature of man. Is this true? Are we, as men, fundamentally predisposed to violence? Is our veneer of civilization a hindrance to our self-actualization?

These are core questions that I unavoidably had to confront from reading the very first page of this comic (and, unfortunately, remain answerless). That’s a good sign, right?

The question remains, though, will the comic be able to keep up this pace? Or will it burn out after igniting so brightly?

Your Sea Chicken Enemy

The 80's were everyone's CHICKEN ENEMY!

Lou Reed covers Blind Lemon Jefferson

SEE THAT MY GRAVE IS KEPT CLEAN

Your Chicken Enemy (Willie Nelson Sings Coldplay)

Coldplay's haunting classic 'The Scientist' is performed by country music legend Willie Nelson for the soundtrack of the short film entitled, "Back to the Start." The film, by film-maker Johnny Kelly, depicts the life of a farmer as he slowly turns his family farm into an industrial animal factory before seeing the errors of his ways and opting for a more sustainable future.

SEE THIS MOVIE! You're Gonna Miss Me

Sometimes the most universal truths can be found in the smallest slices of life.  That’s what makes independent documentaries so powerful, engaging, and entertaining.  Not only do they show you little worlds to which you’ve never had access, but they oftentimes also tell the larger story of what it means to be human.


Armed with this intellectual conceit, a bag of Funyuns, and a couple of Miller beers, I curl up in front of the TV and delve deep into the bowels of Netflix Documentaries to find out a little bit more about all of us.

Today I found 2005’s You’re Gonna Miss Me by director Keven McAlester.

You’re Gonna Miss Me is a documentary about Roky Erickson, “the great lost vocalist of rock and roll.” Roky was the lead singer and charismatic front man for the pioneering psychedelic rock band The 13th Floor Elevators. He was an absolute force to be reckoned with in the mid to late 60’s until his life turned completely upside-down due to his mental instability.

The film begins with a moment from the court proceedings in which Roky’s youngest brother, Sumner, is trying to wrest guardianship of Roky away from his mother, Evelyn. During the proceedings, there is an intimation that the last 35 years of Roky’s life has been filled with tragedy.

The film then cuts to the 1966 performance of the 13th Floor Elevators on the Dick Clark show. Roky is bent over his guitar and he is singing their hit song, You’re Gonna Miss Me. Roky’s voice is a one/two punch of visceral howling and moaning and the performance is absolutely captivating. You get the sense right away that this young man with his guitar is someone you need to sit up and take notice of. Here was a young man who was going to shake up the music industry.

As the performance fades out, the film then cuts to July, 1999. An overweight, unshaven, dirty looking man with fingernails desperately in need of trimming is going through the Publisher’s Clearing House mailer with glee and intensity. Then he is captivated by an old, faceless Mr. Potato-Head. It only takes a moment for you to realize that this broken man is the same person as the vibrant rock god performing in the earlier black and white clip.

The juxtaposition is shocking and you are left asking how this happened? In thirty-five years, what brought this man down?

Red Foley and Ernest Tubb are Your Chicken Enemy

Cheap Thrills - X-FORCE #20

Author's Note: This column originally appeared on Comics Bulletin

In these economic times, finding inexpensive entertainment is difficult. Thank goodness for the local comic shop and a slew of comics nobody cares about anymore! Each week Daniel Elkin randomly grabs a comic from the bargain bin (for 50 cents) to see what kind of bang he can get for his two-bits. These are those tales.

August 24, 2011 – paid 50 cents for:
X-FORCE #20
Published by: Marvel Comics
Created by: Fabian Nicieza and Greg Capullo

WORRY ABOUT THIS YOU LIPSTICK, PRETTY-BOY!

Janet Reno became the first female Attorney General of the United States in March of 1993. North Korea withdrew from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in March of 1993. The Intel Corporation shipped the first P5 Pentium chips in March of 1993.

Also in March of 1993, Patti LaBelle got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Depeche Mode became the first alternative British band to hit number one on America’s Billboard 200, and Whitney Houston made us all bleed from our ears for 14 weeks by screaming I Will Always Love You making it the longest running number one single of all time.

Nintendo released Kirby’s Adventure for the NES, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3 hit the theaters, Brandon Lee is killed during the filming of The Crow, Beavis and Butt-Head premiers on MTV, and Doogie Howser, MD is finally canceled, all in March of 1993.

Also in March of 1993, Marvel Comics unleashes X-Force #20, which will now be the focus of this column. For this, I apologize in advance.