brooklyn. colm tóibín. (320)

i picked up brooklyn because i had seen advertisements for the movie based on it all over goodreads. and given the title and my hipster tendencies, i decided to check it out.  it had to be about williamsburg, right?!?  lol. wrong.

brooklyn tells the story of a young irish girl, eilis that immigrated to america in the early 1950's.  unable to find work in ireland, eilis' sister arranged for her to move to brooklyn and live in a home for irish girls that had immigrated. eilis moved out on her own and dealt with the issues of adjusting to a new country and being on her own.

i really wanted to love this novel, given the setting and that it is historic fiction, but i didn't get completely lost in the story.  i admired eilis for her independence, especially considering it was the 1950s.  she moved to a country on her own, supported herself with a job in retail.  at her job, she did not discriminate against african-americans when the store she worked for being to sell stockings for them.  when she began dating, she dated outside of her ethnic group, dating an italian.  she also did not suppress her sexuality and had premarital sex.  as a feminist, i would name eilis as one of my book sheros, but i wasn't on board for her love story.

her love story goes that she fell in love with an italian boy named tony.  everything was going well when her sister suddenly died due to a heart condition.  upon her returning to ireland to visit her family, she and tony secretly married.  upon her return to ireland, since she had been to america, her status was different.  instead of being a social outcast, everyone was interested in her.  eilis then began to be courted by a man that had previously ignored her, jim.  eilis was then caught in a dilemma, she could stay in ireland, live a comfortable life with jim, and take care of her mother.  or she could return to tony.  in the end, she was confront by a woman she used to work for that was going to expose what she had done and so she returned to brooklyn and tony.

i have to admit i thought she should have stayed in ireland, but to each their own.  i guess she ultimately chose the life with the most freedom.  there is a parallel there.  anyway, though enjoyable the story didn't grip me.  i mean i am not sure why they turned it into a movie.  however, i will see it because nick hornby adapted the screenplay and i love

him!

a story lately told: coming of age in ireland, london, and new york. anjelica huston (211)

last weekend, after a trip to la, i decided to stay with my auntie trace and uncle karl.  while awaiting for them to pick me up from the amtrak, i decided to check out the used book section at the beale library.  i didn't find anything to buy but did come across anjelica huston's memoir, a story lately told:  coming of age in ireland, london, and new york.  i love her because of her work with wes anderson, and of course the witches, so decided to check it out.

i wasn't sure what to expect, i mean, she is etheline tenebaum!  the lost mother of darjeeling limited and morticia adams!! this memoir had to be extraordinary!! but sadly it wasn't.

this memoir lacked heart. it is almost as though huston wrote it simply to make money versus sharing her life.  could she be doing that bad? i mean i did just look up her imdb, she has been voicing tinkerbell movies, maybe she is hurting?  it also seemed like she didn't want to be outdone by her sister, allegra, who she thanked in the acknowledgements for inspiring her.  if it was personal growth, she needs to try digging deeper.

the one thing that i took from this memoir  is that huston likes to namedrop.  if feel bad (due mostly to this memoir) but didnt realize that huston's father was a famous director, like the african queen famous.  and due to this huston's childhood was very glamorous filled with hollywood's elite always randomly dropping by their home.  i would say 50% of the time discussed about ireland was just names of celebrities.  so many people were named, all minor characters, that i lost track and could not keep everyone straight. (though i must admit that i was impressed by the namedropping of john steinbeck.) the remaining 50% of the ireland era was spent discussing the description of their mansion and their horses.  it lacked funny little anecdotes one has as a child.  the only one i can remember is huston being embarassed while performing macbeth but that turned out to be peter o'toole's memory and not her own.

the london era was filled with the same namedropping.  marianne faithfull was mentioned.  also the fact that the director of romeo and juliet was interested in casting huston as juliet but her father wanted her in his film. i hate to be mean but can not imagine her as juliet that film as it was made is perfection.  also i felt like huston's #teenageproblems about doing the film were an excuse for her poor performance.

the london era was also when huston lost her mother in a car accident.  it was a tragedy that huston discussed without any feeling.  maybe it was too difficult for her to discuss honestly, but if she wanted to pay tribute to her mother, she missed her chance. it was a very distant discussion of a very tragic event in her life.

the new york era covered her absuive relationship with bob richardson, who is terry richardson's dad!  while googling for photos of a young anjelica huston (she was gorgeous), saw one of terry and huston which seemed odd but now after reading this it's even odder.  richardson, a successful photographer and like twentysomething years her senior was crazy and controlling for lack of a better description.  she was young and sadly put up with it until she realized how horrible her life was on trip to mexico and finally left him.  again, the lack of emotion of heart was even seen in the discussion of this relationship.  

i must admit i did find myself romantizing the gritty new york scene huston was apart of, ie living at the chelsea hotel (yes even with its creepy stories).  also all of her modeling in europe sounded so glamourous as well, though she seemed a little thin-skinned initially, crying at a nyc go-see.

as i mentioned before this memoir was not that interested and read more like a who's who of hollywood.  i was looking forward to reading funny little anecdotes about her growing up and coming of age, but every story just seemed like the means for her to brag about something.  

though i should add, by reading between the lines, one can find the inspiration for her amazing performances in wes anderson films.  for as glamourous her parents were they were absent from most of her life.  they were also more concerned with their own love affairs then the raising of her children.  perhaps it is this lack of parenting growing up that huston drew as inspiration for the messed up mothers she played in anderson films.  to take it one step further, she is also channeling her mother with her depictions of ex-wives of insensitive yet creative men in anderson's films.  though this epiphany is not enough to justify reading the memoir, just watch a wes anderson film instead to see huston at her finest.

oh and i will add, i also learned through photos that huston dated jack nicholson (hich i didn't know), now that is memoir i want to read!

the cricket in times square. george selden.

the cricket in times square has been on my to-read list ever since i saw it a stack of books when subbing.  a cricket in new york, i was intrigued!  i found it at goodwill but it sat on my bookshelf until my most recent trip to new york.

as you can see in my photo, the cricket in times square inspired me to take photos of books at the setting of the story.  as you can see, i took a photo of the cricket in times square in times square.  you can see the other pics on my fb or on instagram @booksandlandmarks.

the plan was to have the cricket in times square as my #literarythrowback on the thursday of my trip and to also read it while in nyc.  unfortunately the later did not happen, but i decided to buckle down and read it my first weekend back from nyc.

what a delightful little book.  it is the story of a cricket, chester, that accidentally traveled to new york city by way of picnic basket.  mario, whose family owned a newspaper stand in the subway, found chester due to his chirping and decided to keep him as a pet, despite his mother's disapproval.  chester's new home is the newspaper stand the family runs.  living in the station, chester was befriended by a mouse, tucker, and a cat, harry.  chester was surprised to discover that they were friends since cats from the country normally eat mice. 

mario read that crickets are good luck, though at first, chester does not appear to be.  first while napping, chester dreamt that he was eating a leaf only to discover that he was eating money.  he ate two dollars, mario's mother was outraged and wanted to get rid of chester.  however, tucker helped chester out by giving him the money he had saved up.  tucker was wealthy because he picked up coins that people dropped in the station.  everything was going well, until chester, harry, and tucker had a party in the newspaper stand.  chester played music with his legs (it's the legs that crickets play right?  not their wings) and tucker danced around which unfortunately caused him to start the fire.  luckily, a train conductor put it out the fire before the stand burned down though some newspapers and magazines were destroyed.     

mama, upset by the fire, wanted mario to get rid of chester.  however, chester played a beautiful opera, which coincidentally was mama's favorite.  mama then forgave chester.  chester than began to practice and learn new songs from the radio.  one day, mario's family decided to show their friend/customer, mr. smedley, a musical teacher, chester's talent.  mr. smedley then wrote to the new york times about the talented cricket. and as they say in the biz, a star was born.  chester soon had a huge following, the subway station was packed during his performances.  his popularity also helped the family sell newspapers and magazines. everything was great at first but then like any celebrity, chester got over it quickly. chester then decided to run away back to connecticut, tired of his life of fame.  harry and tucker help him over to penn station to get home.  chester did not say farewell to mario but took his bell which let mario know he had left.  it was sad but mario also know that chester was tired of the fame.

this work was adorable and a very cute read.  though i must add it was a tad racist (not that it bothered me.) since crickets are revered in chinese culture, mario went to chinatown to find a cage for chester.  there he met sai fong, the owner of a store.  sai fong's dialogue, though accurate, was written in a chinese dialect, aka without r's being pronounced.  i mean i found it quite comical and fairly true, but i can imagine others being offend about it.  i didn't google anything but i can imagine.  though i will say that sai fong absolutely adored mario and chester, and i loved how he held a mini feast for the two of them, so it wasn't that offense.  though maybe their love of crickets was too stereotypical.  other than that, a delightful read. and if i had read it before my new york trip, i would have retraced chester, tucker, and harry's ride to penn station from times square.  lol

native speaker. chang-rae lee. (177)

i picked up native son because gary shteyngart praised it i. his memoir, little failure.  chang-rae lee was shteyngart mentor and helped shteyngart get his book deal.  i also decided to check it out because lee's latest book, on such a full sea, has been receiving a lot of press and good reviews.  i figured i should read his first novel before reading his latest.

i must admit, i was a little bit weary at first.  there is no denying that lee is a great writer.  i read the book with such ease, yet the book covered very complex issues about culture, language, love, family.  the ease with which i read is a testament to lee's skillfulness as a writer.  it was deep without being too heavy.  this novel was well-written, but given it's emphasis on language and communication, it had to be.

what made weary was henry's occupation in the book; henry was a spy.  i understand henry's occupation was a device to help is examine his korean upbringing.  his culture provided him with the tools to be an ideal spy, but a spy story was not something i was expecting or could see myself invested in.  i did enjoy reading about henry's experience with dr. luzan because we were allowed an intimate view of henry.  however, i was not up for all of the double talk that came with his interactions with his co-workers and having to be suspicious of everyone.  furthermore, i was not interested in henry's assignment being politician, john kwang.  i am not one for politics, everyone involved is always corrupt, right?  in the end, i did become invested in this story line, i mean, there was a bombing, those korean clubs were you can rent women to be your companion (which i have been told of but never experienced), an affair and a drunk driving accident.  utilizing kwang as a mirror by which henry was able to reevaulate his father was interesting and allowed for henry and the reader a better understanding of henry's father and the korean culture.  it also allowed us to examine how immigrants struggle to maintain their culture while trying to manage in a new country.

what made this novel for me was the story of henry's marriage.  i think native speaker would have been a better novel if this story line was the main focus.  i think lee could have utilized lelia's upbringing and "americaness" more as a foil to henry's father, resulting in the downplay of kwang and that storyline.

the novel opened with a list of labels and descriptions created by lelia, about and for henry.  it was malicious but allowed for henry to reflect on how cold and distant a person he had became in his marriage.  from henry, we learn how they met and fell in love.  we also discovered the great tragedy they suffered which caused the distance between them.   their son mitt died in a freak accident, he suffocated being at the bottom of a dog pile of boys at his birthday party.  henry being the silent type does not seem to the suffer the same as lelia.  communication of their feelings is what lelia needed for comfort but due to his culture, henry was unable to provide her with that.  i must admit that i was sadden by the story he shared after mitt's death in which lelia created a little house out of sticks and rocks which he destroyed.  henry destroying the house seemed like a show he put on for lelia to prove he was suffering, as opposed to being able to have an open conversation with his wife.  thankfully, they were able to work through their communication problems and get back together.

before i go on i must say that i, like lelia, was disappointed by henry never knowing the woman that raised him.  i understand that both were acting in accordance with the standards set by korean culture but i can not imagine being raised by someone and not even knowing his/her name.  henry was not to blame in this situation because he went by the rules established in his home and by korean society.  also the woman did not want to be known.  this was demonstrated by the woman's resistance to lelia's attempts to get to know that her that she did not want to be none.  i, just like lelia (i am assuming this was cause for her reaction to the situation), imagined myself in her situation, to be alone in a strange country, not knowing the language or anyone, and having to raise someone's else child.  i don't know if i could survive it, but then again i do not have the same sense of duty that she did.

native speaker is an excellent account of the experience of second generation immigrants in america.  though i am fourth generation on my mother's side, lee's work allowed me a look into a different aspect of the american experience.   i was able to see the alienation of being second generation, not wanting to live according to the culture of your parents in attempt to become "american" yet not being full accepted by american society.  as edward james olmos' character "abraham" in "selena" (so maybe it was actually selena's dad) summed up this paradox best with his line "we have to be more mexican than the mexicans and more american than the americans, all that the same time!  it's exhausting!"  i am sure lee would agree with his sentiment since we saw henry struggle with this problem.  for example, henry explained how he was placed in a class to help him learn english as a child yet as an adult he is embarrassed when he mispronounced korean words.  being an immigrant to america is a challenge due to this but being second generation is even more challenging because you of the duality that comes with it, you have to be able to both your ethnic identity and american.  i guess in that sense using the hyphenation as idenfication ie korean-american, really is the best label because individuals truly are both.

another issue that is brought up within this book is multiculturalism.  race relations was a major issue for kwang's political agenda.  in the novel, korean stores are the center of the race issue, korean owners and black customers not getting along, peruvian and latino employees wanting better working conditions, jewish customers feeling entitled.  with so much diversity, how can a city like new york every be an all encompassing community especially since each ethnic group has their own set of demands for the city.  furthermore, each group blamed the other for the issues that existed.  the hate crimes in the novel (though lee never employed this term) demonstrated that perhaps the best solution was for each ethnic group to remain their own separate community.  in the end, it is demonstrated that celebrating cultural diversity is a means to a better future.  henry started to help lelia with her work as a speech therapist, she taught english as second language classes.  in these classes, henry recognized the beauty of diversity by observing the students.  he saw that by celebrating our difference instead of ignoring them, there could be peace and better race relations.

 native speaker is important novel in terms of sharing the experience of second generation immigrants, i just wish that a spy story was utilized to share it.  a good book and i look forward to reading on such a full sea.

super sad true love story. gary shteyngart. (173)

gary shteyngart's super sad true love story was supposed to be my anti-valentine's day read.  title alone is perfection.  also adore the cover, kate spade should make it a book clutch. back to my reading, i sadly did not finish it on time, even though i had the time  valentine's day weekend thanks to shia labeouf's #iamsorry exhibit.  the plan was also to read it before reading shteyngart's memoir little failure, but since i had return that book to the library first, this was placed on the back burner.

however, reading the memoir, i picked up on some things that i won't have if i hadn't.  as i mentioned in my little failure post, i learned that lenny's parents are essentially shteyngart's parents and that the korean girls from shteyngart's high school was the inspiration for eunice. but as i read more, i discovered that shteyngart's mentor/father figure john was the inspiration for lenny's mentor/father figure joshie, since both are obsessed with youth.  also lenny's mother was named after his grandmother. 

the setting is the distant future, a future i would be alive for and a future i could definitely imagine happening.  shteyngart's future is hilarious and clever but to take two adjectives from the title, super sad.  in the future we are ruled by an äppärät, an iphoneesque device that one wears around their neck.  äppärät just like an iphone is the future's means of staying connected to the world.  in the future, the world communicates via globalteens which i assuming is based on facebook.  facebook start off as a college kids site but now as turned into the most important form of online communication.  given the teens in its name, i imagine globalteens had a similar start. it can also shares and receives the scores and rankings of the individuals around you for the follow criteria:  credit, fuckability, hotness, personality, anal/oral/vaginal preference, sustainability.  as you can see the future is also driven by sex, a fuckability score demonstrates that fact.  more proof, girls wear onionskin jeans which are sheer jeans that show everything, bras that show your nipples and underwear called totallysurrender that are removed with the touch of one button, and there is clothing brand called juicypussy and a store called assluxury.  its all so clever but when you think about it honestly, its the exact direction the world is headed.  based on this sex-driven society, youth is super important in the future.  lenny works for a company that helps high net worth individuals live forever.  his boss, john, that i mentioned before, is a 70 something but looks like he is in early 40's (maybe younger i don't remember exactly) and his also obsessed with youth culture, aka hip on all the lingo (which i will explain later).  everyone stays youthful and healthy by being los angeles on crack.  everyone eats organic, fat-free, antibiotic-free food in order to stay young.   in shteyngart's future, los angeles would be mecca (the setting for this story is new york) or maybe los angeles is the future, but regardless, los angeles would thrive because sex, youth, and health are important.  oh and shopping is super important too, and of course the media, the main jobs everyone wants are in retail and media.  seriously, shteyngart's future is simply an mutant variation of current los angeles.  (btw i absolutely love los angeles, is this not an insult, but an observation.)

and in the future, america is no longer the powerhouse it once was.  (are we still a powerhouse?)  china is the big country in charge.  even korea is more stabled then america, we learn this from eunice's (i will introduce her later) parents who realized it would have safer for them to keep their daughters in korea than coming to america.  since retail and media are such important aspects of american society, america is ruled by big conglomerates like "alliedwastecvscitigroupcredit" (hilarious but so true).  however, america is facing the same problems , it is/was experiencing with occupy wall street.  the lower classes are fed up with the class divide but this time they set up their protest in central park.  in all honesty, this part was bit over my head (aka i was bored) just like politics is in real life for me.  so i didn't pay too much attention to this storyline.   i did find it interesting how the us was invading venezuela and venezuela was in our current news due to the protest about their economy.  and i am sorry, i know it makes me sound like a ignorant american (or like eunice park), but i always feel like even if you know about politics, you don't know exactly what is going on within the political realm.  

but back to the story.  super sad true love story is the story of two unlikely lovers, lenny abramov, the 39 year old son of russian immigrants, an old, and eunice park, the 23 (i think) year old daughter of korean immigrants.  it seems awkward to note their ethnic background but it is an element that adds to their unlikely love.  they love is unlikely because lenny is "old", gross (he looks like a rhesus monkey), fat, and unhip while eunice is the exact opposite, young, hot, thin and hip.  i hate to be so shallow but i couldn't get pass how awkward lenny was and didn't believe in their love for one bit.  (i also rarely believe in love in general.)   they met in rome at a party, for lenny it was true love, for eunice it was a gross random hook up with an old dude.  it seemed as though they would never met again, but when eunice comes back to the states, she doesn't want to stay with her family, so she stays with lenny.  with the world in turmoil,  and of course their love starts to blossom.  the love that i am skeptical of (and rightfully so), i mean the title kind of sets you up for their failure.

and though i was skeptical of their love, i did enjoy the book.  the book was divided between lenny's perspective via his journal and eunice's via her globalteens entires.  the book is also supposed to be a book within a book since lenny's journal and eunice's entries are later published and become a bestseller.  i hate to admit it but i found lenny's portion a bit boring but absolutely loved reading eunice's part.  it's funny because shteyngart realized this as well because he has lenny write how "the stateside critics have unanimously agreed, the gems of the text are eunice park's globalteens entries.  they 'present a welcome relief from lenny's relentness navel-gazing.'"  i couldn't have said it better myself.  eunice's entries were the gems and i could have read a book of just her entries  as i had mentioned before youth have their own lingo, made up primarily of acronyms, which is the way we are headed with our current use of lol, wtf, omg, etc.   since shteyngart's future is so sex driven, the lingo is as well, for example, "JBF" or "just butt fucking" is used alot by eunice.  but eunice's entries are hilarious and entertaining, like reading a friend's email or texts.  to start eunice's username on globalteens "euni-tard abroad", how great is that?  also the dialogue between eunice and her friend is pretty rauchy but i guess if you go on a random person's fb, you would see similar talk now.  and even though it's raunchy, it's still funny.  they seriously write the craziest stuff to each other:  

from eunice:

what up twat?  missing you 'tard?  wanna dump a little sugar on me? JBF 

i can never reveal who i really am to him because we would just vomit.

sup, my bus bee-oitch?

from her friend:

wak-waka, ass-sucka!  whut-a-happenin?

oh, shit. i gotta subtract.  why does alcohol make you go so much? is that a sciene thing?

panda, i'm off to juicy for a vag rejuv . . . 

from eunice's entries, we learn that she is troubled young woman trying to figure out life.  eunice is so messed up that lena dunham could add her to the cast of girls and do away with all those #whitegirlproblems critiques.  she has a trouble past, her father is abusive, beating her mother, her sister and eunice.  she is caught between this desire to protect and provide for her family while also wanting to live her own life.  at the beginning of the novel is a self-centered mess, but she becomes involved with the movement in central park, and begins to think beyond just herself.  though she is no perfect person, she still has her faults.  also her love for lenny still didn't make sense, even as she grew as a person.  

in the end, lenny and eunice do not stay together forever, but then again not all love lasts forever.  their relationship is an example of the kind of love that may not be true or forever but still allows an individual to grow and become a better person.  that relationship that helps one conquer a fear (as lenny overcame his fear of death) or help one see life a new way (as lenny showed eunice that there is more to life than media and retail).  and in reality we have more of these types of relationships than we do have of the true love forever kind, since there is only one of those.  due to this, the title is then perfect for their story, it was super sad and true because not all love stories end happily ever after.  

i really enjoyed this book.  shteyngart was so clever when it came to creating a future.  i recommend reading this novel for the setting alone and of course' eunice's gems.

p.s. i have to add that this library book smelled!  it stunk!!!  not like that sweet book smell but sour like someone puked in it.  i was able to read past it, but i just thought it was funny that in the book, people are grossed out by the books that lenny reads.  one guy on an airport complains that his book smells.  and when eunice moves into lenny's she is grossed out by his books, she even tries to spray them to make them smell better.  so the gross smell of this book only enhanced the story!

truth in advertising. john kenney. (93)

i can't remember how i found out about "truth in advertising", i want to say it was featured in a barnes and noble email or maybe a goodreads one. but i do remember that nick hornby was referenced in one of the reviews. (its actually a publishers weekly quote, i found it on the back cover: "a comic tour de force; fans of nick hornby and jonathan tropper will have a new author to watch for.") since i love, nick hornby, i had to check it out. figured it would be the "high fidelity" of advertising. and it kinda was.

*this entry will contain some spoilers. if you plan on reading the book, read it first than read this blog.

"the truth in advertising" is the story of finbar dolan, the name is odd but i like it, though he goes by fin (love the nickname too, reminds me of "adventure time" . . . and i just realized . . . "glee", hmm maybe not so cute, after all).  fin works in advertising (duh?) and is going through a mid-life crisis.  though mid-life crisis seems like a misnomer, he is only 40, but if you think about it, if the average man lives til 80, than 40 is mid-life.  it's weird because when i think mid-life crisis, i think kevin spacey "american beauty", but i didn't think of fin as that old.  it could be that i was in high school when i first saw "american beauty" and far from 40 and now that i'm a closer to it, think of it as young.  i imagined fin as someone younger, like a not-as-hot-bradley-cooper (though i just googled and cooper is only 38). 

anyway, back to fin's mid-life crisis.  it's not so much a mid-life crisis, but a "what i'm a doing with my life" funk, which i feel is not a product of age, but a side effect of being born after 1970.  i feel like my friends and i are constantly in this funk, not so much because of how old we are, but because we are part of that "everyone gets a gold star" generation.  (this is what klosterman discussed in "the visible man" if you read that entry.)  as kids we were never really awarded for hard work but were constantly given positive reinforcement, as a result our work ethic isn't the greatest.  plus we have always been taught that work should make us happy but the fact of the matter work should just pays the bills.  as a result we end up on this search for work that makes us happy but this search is frivolous because work is never fun no matter how much you think you love your job.  so though fin is in advertising, he is questioning, "is advertising really for me?"

so normally if your work life isn't stellar, it's okay because you can fault your home life.  however, fin's home life is non-existent.  he was engaged but he got cold feet.  about eight months prior to when we meet him in the novel, he had just called off his wedding.  it's kinda sad but really not that horrible because better cold feet than a nasty divorce.  there is also a beautiful story about him calling off his wedding and a gravy boat.  it was sad and lovely and could be a great short story on its own.

so this is fin when we meet him.  i would like to say that things get better for him, but since this is a novel, it gets worse before it all sorts out in the end.

lets start with the advertising, because the title includes the word advertising. fin is a copywriter and his big account is diapers, think huggies but not cos kenney prolly couldn't get the rights to use their name so came up with "snugglies" to use.  so the big news is that snugglies designed the first flushable, biodegradable diaper and decided to launch this new product with . . . a SUPERBOWL COMMERICAL!!!!  this is exciting for fin, cos it is the superbowl.  however, he has a family emergency that makes this even more of a challenge. but before that, a word on superbowl commercials.

superbowl commercials used to be great but now they kinda suck.    they used to be clever and funny and now they are just lame.  in the novel, they came up with two pitches.  the pitch i liked most was based on "an inconvenient truth".  the commercial would show babies being born all over the world but with al gore heads, to show how green they were.  i thought that was clever.  the other commerical, the one they went with, i thought was a horrible idea and would have never worked in real life.  it was based on the apple 1984 ad.  i mean why even try to mess with that?  that ad is classic and any kind of spoof or parody would be bad and should never be attempted.  i know this was novel but still no one in their right mind fictional or non-fictional would ever give this commerical the green light.  (do you green light commericals, like show?)

back to fin's family emergency, sadly his father dies.  well not really that sad because fin hadn't spoken to his father for about 28 years.  without giving too much away, the father was abusive and there was an incident with his mother.  but the bottom line is that fin does not view his father as his father.  to add to this, fin and his siblings are not that close.  this actually broke my heart, i have my ups and downs with  my family but i can't imagine being in contact with none of my family members.  it must be really lonely.

so fin's father's dying request was to have his ashes spread in pearl harbor, near the spot where he was when the war ended.  fin's siblings nor fin himself,  want to do it because they all hate him.  and i hate to sound heartless, but i get it.  i found it odd how all of fin's friends kept telling him that he needed to do it because it was dad.  but the fact is, it wasn't his dad.  i think it's hard for people who grew up with both parents to grasp how it is to have an absent parent.  that person is a stranger.  the only connection you have to that person is your DNA and maybe some facial features.  that man is not your dad.  he didn't look under your bed for monsters, or taught you how to ride a bike or took you to your first baseball game.  he is not a dad that was there to help you when scraped your knee or had your heart broken.  he is not that dad from the google ad that always makes me cry, a dad who sends his daughter encouraging emails when times get tough. he is simply a man who helped create you but didn't really want much to do with you after, kinda like god in the old testament.  he is essentailly a stranger?  would you do it for stranger?  probably not.  or you would but not out of love but respect for a person's dying wish.  but you get my point.  (please note i'm not bitter about living in a single parent home, i think i'm better for it.  but i just feel it's unfair to assume that i owe my dad something when he was never really there for me.)

to not spoil one of the main themes of the book, i will not tell you what fin ends up doing.  you have to read to find out.  i'm also not going to tell you how the superbowl ad went.  you have to read that for yourself.

when i first started reading, i thought fin would become one of my book crushes. he is witty and has a great sense of humor. he also did this cute thing when he first moved to new york. he read "here is new york" and "traced the steps". he then "reread 'catcher in the rye' and did the same." this was kinda perfect cos the last time i went to new york i read books with famous new yorkers (i found a list online). i read "franny and zooey", "stuart little", and "from the mixed up files of mrs. basil e. frankweiler." i also read "extremely loud & incredibly close" because it was set in new york. so totally fell in love with him for that. (i plan on retracing "catcher" on my next nyc trip.). however i didn't fall complete. sure he was hip, he referenced a bunch of cool things but he was weird at times. like i hated his sarcasm. i was annoyed reading it so i could only imagine having to deal with it in real life. and i'm sure it was some defensive mechanism but still would be a dealbreaker for me. also his whole internal dialogues of convos with talk show host was not attractive either. though i loved how he framed life like a commercial and how he scanned through life. like on his first date he goes through a whole life with her. it's a lot to type out here but if you read it, i'm allison to page 145. he also flashbacks about his dad and sister, he sees them doing all of these mundane things but realizing the beauty and simplicity of each thing. it reminded me of charlie from "the perks of being a wallflower".

though those last two things just really mean that i enjoyed kenney's writing. how he captured life in an instant  he was clever and had excellent pop culture references.  i mean he called gwyneth paltrow, mrs. coldplay, kinda cool.  he also quoted f. scott fitzgerald. there were some other references that made me smile but didn't mark them so can't share them but i am sure kenney and i could be friends in real life.

also if you are in advertising you should read this. you will prolly get a kick out of the rundown of fin's agency.

oh last but not least, in the story there is a character keita, who i adore. he is the son of this super rich japanese shipping company owner and in charge of fin's agency. he was sweet and kind and for some odd reason i pictured him in my head as PSY. lol

i just want my pants back. david j. rosen. (88)

"i just want my pants back" has been on my to re-read list ever since MTV turned it into a series. granted the the series first aired in 2011, it took me a while to re-read it. i first read it when my friend saba lent me her copy cos she thought i would enjoy it. i then stole her copy because i really enjoyed it. the delay in the re-read was that i was hoping to find the copy i stole. i didn't so i checked it out.

and yes the MTV series was kind of a my so called hipster life. so before we go any further i want to clarify something. just like i told that 6th grader that judged me based on my frames and blazer i wore to sub: i am not a hipster. i just recently had a whole talk with my friend tiffany on my non-hipsterness. and though i will admit i do have hipster tendencies (my friend jerry and my theory on our partial hipster-ness will appear later), i may be hip but i'm not a hipster.

and let the records show that my friends and i were wearing fake moustaches back in 2007. i bought a pair of fake ones at party city as a joke cos my friend cody could not grow one and then we wore them out to beauty bar. also that same year we started carrying around a toy pony before all this unicorn and bronies shit got started. and yes i trek out to hipster mecca aka coachella every year but i've been doing that since 2003. when it was only one weekend and you could buy one day tickets and rich parents from la didn't use it as teenage daycare. and i know it's so hipster cliche to claim to have done something before it was cool but i really did!

and i'll admit, i shop at urban outfitters (but only their sales racks), drink pbr, (but i'm cheap and my alcohol palate is nothing close to sophisticated), listen to indie rock, and do some things ironically; it's not because i want to be part of the hipster subculture. it just how i am. and yes i get there is this large subculture that i am apart of but hipster imples effort and my hipness is effortless.

but back to the show and the book. i did not see the whole season but the episode that inspired me to re-read was seriously a page out of my life. i forgot all that happens in it but it ends up with the lead dude (do they have same name as the book?) ends up marching with a marching band! this actually happened to me one night in hipsterville, ca aka echo park. in 2008, tiffany, cody and i were out celebrating obama's win and while drinking next to a liquor store ran into a marching band member. i harassed him for his hat and took some pictures but this was only a taste of what was to come! cos when we got to short stop there was a full on band on the dance floor. sadly not performing or with instruments but still exciting. oddly i never found out who the band was or ever saw them again. it was magical and that episode reminded me of it. in that episode there was also a penis piñata but my guy friends (straight ones) one-uped that with their penis bong (they paper-mâchéd a penis, complete with balls, around a beer bong, they also made a big ass piñata like literally an ass after watching that "family guy" episode.)

so to start off, the lead character who lost his pants, started off as the man of my dreams. total book crush! jason was a english major from cornell (that abused cliffnotes) who used to deejay in college and loved country, folk and indie rock. he was from the mid-west, which i always find endearing. he wore thick frame, was sarcastic, funny, and referenced karen o. and jeff koons. but here's the kicker a pork eating jew! (he ordered a bacon cheeseburger.) i do dream of marrying a jew but for cultural not religious reasons and as jason said judaism for his family was "more woody allen, less abraham and esther". and let me clarify, i'm not prejudice, any religion would do, it's just that judaism has the best holidays and they celebrate all of them!

but then jason went on a downward spiral and lost his dreaminess. i was okay with his whatever job or what douglas coupland referred to as "mcjob". but when he lost his job and then proceed to do nothing, it was quite sad. and before you get all judgy on me because yes i did spend two years on unemployment and yes the lectures jason's friends gave him did remind me of the lectures my friends gave me! there was a difference. i like all the other welfare moms and anyone else getting government handouts found life more comfortable on unemployment than with a 9 to 5. even you with the worker bee gene would become depended on a life of leisure thanks to uncle sam versus slaving away for a check. plus jason spent all his time getting high and drunk. i was out getting cultured and stimulating the economy with my government issued checks. also unemployment is not bad it's just when you become a mess due to it, i mean jason wasn't showering. when i was funemployed a handful of my friends were too and we'd go to museums and have other random and free adventures around down. but back to jason, yes i was once a slob like him, i mean no one truly has life figured out but it's like do something other than get drunk and high all the time. to quote cher from "clueless": "it is one thing to spark up a doobie and get laced at parties, but it is quite another to be fried all day." and drop e in the proper settings, raves, music festivals, light installations exhibits, not just a friday night at the bar. what a waste! and again i am not contradicting myself. i may do drugs occassionally but when it's appropriate.

oh and another issue i had with jason or the book but lack of condom use. there was no mention of him using condoms in this book. i mean we are the safe sex generation, we have been told countless times to use protection. and yet this book lacked it. i am disgusted if it was because the character didn't use them. i'm even more disgusted if the author didn't include it because it would have ruined the flow of the story. sorry but i'd rather have the heat of the moment interrupted with condom talk or putting one on versus waking up with some nasty std.

also he nicknamed his penis. gross.

but i do have to give him props for taking care of his neighbor patty. that was sweet. that gave me faith that he would get his shit together that maybe in a couple of years he'll be the man he needs to be.

so the book is a look at jason's life and honestly depicts how it is to be a twentysomething, the going out, the hooking up, the lack of real employment, and the friends at different stages of life. and how at times it sucks but it can also be a lot of fun. and i have to admit i saw a lot of myself in him, even the crying at commercials when life gets alittle overwhelming. this book did speak a lot of truths not only for twentysomethings but also new yorkers (i never lived in new york but from what tv tells me).

for example, the take-out place knowing your order because you call so often. this happens to jason and his favorite place, hunan. this never happened to me bit it reminded me of the "sex and the city" episode when miranda feels like the chinese take out girl is judging her.

i was reminded of another show, "how i met your mother" (also set in new york), the episode when robin, ted, and barney go out a club while lily and marshall try to do more grown up things and have a wine tasting and play board games with their married friends. there is the exact same critique in "i just want my pants back", jason commented on how his engaged friends stacey and eric have grown up parties with wine sipping not swigging and pictionary and talk of investing and buying apartments which all turns to charlie brown grown up talk to him. it was so like the HIMYM bit that i checked to see if the author wrote for him. he didn't, it's just a part of growing up. and it's so true my college friends that coupled, have started doing their own thing together and excluded the single ones, which is really just me. though i will add the gays are so much better about including everyone. my gay friends that couple never go into nesting mode like the straights.

and last but not least, patty had a little talk with jason about age, which describes my current state to a t. patty is jason's older neighbor but forgets her age when she hangs out with jason, she feels younger going out and hanging out. one night, she reflected back on her life and thought of all the silly things she has done and realized that she still does do silly things. and granted i am only turning 30, i got what she said. she told him:  

i'm still silly about so many things. maybe it's because i never settled down or had kids, but i think my brain is in arrested development or something like that.

i worry about the same thing, i do have 

peter pan syndrome, i have never been forced to grow up. and it's not bad, i have fun in life but i need something to start me on adulthood. and it needs to happen soon cos i'm 6 months away from 30! but i am so caught up in the now, i can't plan for the future.

i know such deep thoughts for a "hipster" book.

ironically, as much as the series was called a hipster series and therefore the book was probably labelled hipster. the characters did not identify themselves as hipsters. jason and tina are out at some dive bar and jason observed,

"it was full of twentysomething downtowners in assorted stylish smocks. it was a little like looking into a mirror, but someone we believed we were far more genuine than the others. you couldn't trust the others. they looked like us and they talked us, but at night, they went home and slept in pods. we slept in beds."

this the same theory my friend jerry and i have. we realized that we look like hipsters when we go out. plus we are asian so we have that asian hipster look. but though we look like them we are not a part of them. we are more genuine! as jerry phrases it, "we are partners in our hip-non-hipster-ness". i know it all seems like a farce like the ones we are judging us back. but we really are hip and it's genuine and we are not hipsters! i swear. (going to end here before i start sounding crazy.)