Monday, September 24, 2012

Tuesday Scenester Picks: Mount Eerie at LAC and Horror Remix at Bottleneck / Chip Reads Naomi Wolf's Vagina: A Biography



In a strange twist, the hippest show of the week may well NOT be at the Replay but rather at...the Lawrence Arts Center, as their 940 Concert Series returns for a special Tuesday edition with a performance by "fuzz-folk" favorites Mount Eerie.

Pitchfork bestows an impressive 8.3 on this year's Clear Moon (full review here):

"It reminded me of standing outside of my house as a child, on a cold night." 

And Pitchfork gives an 8.1 on Ocean Roar, also from this year (full review here):

"The midnight-black Ocean Roar... is an experiment in imagined homelessness: It has a facing-the-beast quality of a punishing spiritual quest...".

How better to spend a Tuesday evening than a "punishing spiritual quest!"   Luckily, the 940 series offers booze (or at least they did at past events), so at least you won't have to make your quest while totally sober.




---

You'll want to cap off your evening with Horror Remix at the Bottleneck, which serves up three films devoted to Bigfoot and werewolves!

Chip: "Finally!  I get so bored of vampires and zombies, but Bigfoot and werewolves are always terrifying, probably because, unlike the other monsters, they are real."

Visit the Horror Remix site here for full details on the evening's film choices.




---

A lot of you have probably been thinking to yourself:  when the hell is Chip going to review Naomi Wolf's hilariously-named new work called Vagina: A Biography?  Well, your day has come.

Chip:  "I'm so deep into Wolf's Vagina right now.  It's very tight[ly structured].  I feel like I'm beginning to rub up against the G-spot of her thesis at this point.  Final verdict:  you'll want to bury your nose in this Vagina again and again."

Okay, we get it.  But most critics have been considerably less kind.  Let's turn to this New York Times savaging:

"...in her eighth book, [Wolf[ presents a “vagina” inevitably, sadly defanged from its real raging, sweet power. And with her graceless writing, Wolf opens herself to ridicule on virtually ­every page:

Nice "vagina dentata" reference, NY-Times!

Another excerpt:

"If you really want to know what it takes to make a woman orgasm, to watch her soul explode and her identity ignite, then take a look at Harold Brodkey’s 1973 short story “Innocence.” I know it’s by a dead, white, bisexual, Jewish man, but try to pity his fivefold handicap, for it is the best female orgasm ever described by any writer — male or female."

All right, readers, we think it's safe to assume you're headed to the library right now to track down that Brodkey!  But if you're still reading, just click here since the NY-Times quotes the passage for you.  



No comments: