This is an incredible rags-to-riches-to-rags story about the one and only guy — Michael Larsen — who ever gamed my favorite 80s gameshow, Press Your Luck, winning over $100k in the process.
God, I loved watching that show. I always wondered why it went off the air…
Halfcracker’s absence means I’ll be guest-blogging (read: typing in all the research Ray-kwon already did) for this week’s FIVE5. So, if it sucks, blame Old-Man-Ray for cutting out early this week to go hang with his chica in Wisconsin, Minnessota or whatever Fargo-esque midwestern fly-over state she’s in.
Anyway, here’s what’s comin’ at you this week:
1. UNTIL I FIND YOU
What: John Irving will be reading from his new novel — Until I Find You — as part of the Meet the Writers series, so you might be able to score a signed copy by this prolific writer, author of classics such as Cider House Rules, A Prayer for Owen Meany, and The World According to Garp. If the book sucks, there’ll probably be a lot of cute girls that you can impress with your new-found literary knowledge.
When: Thursday, August 18th, 7PM
Where: Union Sqare Barnes and Noble
How Much: FREE
2. ENON
What: For those of us that didn’t get tickets to the (count ‘em) FIVE sold out Sujan Stevens shows at the Bowery, you can check out Brooklyn-based ENON.
When: Friday, August 19th. Opening bands at 8.30, ENON at 11.30.
Where: Mercury Lounge
How Much: $10
3. SUMMER SAMURAI
What: The Film Forum kicks-off the dog-days of summer with their four-week-long Summer Samurai series, playing all kinds of classic-yet-schlocky martial arts films including the Akira Kurosawa classic, Seven Samurai. Think spaghetti westerns meet ramen noodles.
When: August 19 – September 15
Where: Film Forum
How Much: Dunno — whatever a movie costs these days
4. BEST WEEK EVER
What: The Upright Citizens Brigagde has a great Monday event: VH1′s Best Week Ever. Panelists like Paul Scheer and Rob Huebel joke their way through the week’s big stories in pop culture — absolutely hilarious. And remember, the UCB is BYOB.
When: Monday, August 22, 8PM
Where: UCB Theater
How Much: $8
4. DAZED & CONFUSED
What: Need I say more?
When: Wednesday, August 24th, dusk (around 8:30pm)
Where: Pier 54 (Hudson River and 14th street)
How Much: FREE
Despite my previous disparging comments about Austinist editor Ben Brown, I’ve now come full-circle to believe that’s Ben’s weekly recap of the Real World: Austin is just about some of the funniest reading currently available on the internet(s).
I stopped watching the show after the second episode, and now I soley rely on the caustic wit and and piercing insights into early-20s American youth culture (read: booze, sex, booze and more sex) that Ben serves up the following morning after each episode. Really good stuff.
CU is now beginning a weekly guide to The City, FIVE5. We plan to keep it real and represent all the cultural institutions of art, music, film, and events. The list of FIVE5 is all you need for your weekly planning:
1. STYLE SESSIONS
What: Style Sessions begins a nine-day art exhibit with renowned artist, William Quigley, who helped organize and produce a series of 75 original art works on skateboard decks. The opening reception is sponsored by Boarding for Breast Cancer (B4BC), with a silent auction to benefit breast cancer awareness.
On May 28th, Style Sessions hosts a free-ride skateboard and photo competition where riders are judged in a surf style format. Best Rider receives a free trip to the Tokyo Style Sessions in the fall of 2005. Best Photographer receives $1,000 in printing and digital imaging services along with publication in several magazines including Concrete Wave (I won’t mention the connection to the new movie release, Lords of Dogtown out of embarrassment).
When: May 26 – June 3
Where: Milk Gallery (450 w. 15th street/10th ave)
How Much: FREE
2. CRITICAL MASS
What: You’ve heard the controversy; bikers blocking traffic with numerous arrests every month. But Critical Mass is a monthly celebration of bikes and other nonpolluting means of transportation, exercising bikers’ right to the road. This one should be a hoot with the onset of holiday traffic and fact that this is Bike Month NYC.
When: This Friday, May 27th @ 7PM
Where: Union Square Park North.
How Much: FREE (bail $ not included)
3. OTHER PASSENGERS, THE PRIDS
What: A couple of Justin’s favs, Other Passengers and
The Pridsare playing along with The Art of Shooting and Pela as part of the Rock and Roll Brunch. Rock out with your, uh, sock out while drinking Bloody Marys.When: Sunday, May 29th @ 2PM.
Where: In Williamsburg at the East River Bar
How Much: $5 (ironic, huh?)
4. CHUCK PALAHNIUK
What: One of CU‘s favorite writers will be reading from his new novel, Haunted.
When: Tuesday, May 31st @ 7PM
Where: Barnes & Noble, 33 E. 17th St., nr. Broadway.
How Much: FREE
5. MAX ERNST
What: CU loves surrealists, especially those with uni-brows. But the lesser famous Max Ernst is the real man’s surrealist and produces beautiful works in a less kitschier style.
When: Now through July 10th.
Where: At the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
How Much: FREE
Author Chuck Palahniuk, best known for the novels Fight Club and Choke recently released Haunted. Haunted includes the short story ‘Guts’ (below) which caused a stir the other summer because of its graphic nature. If you haven’t heard or read about it, ‘Guts’ was rumored to have cause people to ‘throw up or faint’ when read by Palahniuk during his book promotion tours around the U.S.
By Chuck Palahniuk
(from the collection Haunted)
Inhale.
Take in as much air as you can.
This story should last about as long as you can hold your breath, and then just a little bit longer. So listen as fast as you can.
A friend of mine, when he was thirteen years old he heard about “pegging.” This is when a guy gets banged up the butt with a dildo. Stimulate the prostate gland hard enough, and the rumor is you can have explosive hands-free orgasms. At that age, this friend’s a little sex maniac. He’s always jonesing for a better way to get his rocks off. He goes out to buy a carrot and some petroleum jelly. To conduct a little private research. Then he pictures how it’s going to look at the supermarket checkstand, the lonely carrot and petroleum jelly rolling down the conveyer belt toward the grocery store cashier. All the shoppers waiting in line, watching. Everyone seeing the big evening he has planned.
So, my friend, he buys milk and eggs and sugar and a carrot, all the ingredients for a carrot cake. And Vaseline.
Like he’s going home to stick a carrot cake up his butt.
After a recent uprising for my lack of posts from the fellow CU brethren and after a fantastic few weeks of quality news reporting and TV shows , it is more than time for an update to my recent readings.
American Gods , (Neil Gaiman – 2003)
Teaser: This is a story about gods, men, belief, and change. In brief, it is about a hero’s journey, the rite of passage, and the invisible living among us. Shadow, just released from prison, finds his wife dead, realizes his future is undetermined, and befriends a mysterious stranger who guides him on a journey through a very real America and this loosely connected network of burned-out, down-on-their-luck deities who are the remnants of every god, godling or whatever that any person has ever believed in – an extremely intersting twist on the modern ‘Melting Pot‘
Thoughts: holy crap, what an amazing read! This book has an amazing balance of humor, history, artistry, and just good story-telling. For anyone that can keep their minds open, this is one hell of a journey (the last 100 pages is some of the most vivid writing I have picked up in a long time)
- Sailing Alone around the Room (Billy Collins – 2001)
First off, I have to give much love to Mindy for this fantastic recommendation!
Teaser: This book is both a compilation of some of his older works and about 20 new pieces. In a very simple style of writing, the subjects have an incredibly wide array of subjects ranging from the beauty of a Japanese Haiku, to the thoughts of a mooing cow on a Irish field, to shoveling snow with the Buddha. Though his subjects may be wide, what striked me most about Collins was his ability to, in short bursts, to open this perfect perfect window into his thoughts, imagination, musings, and meditations.
Thoughts: being fairly fresh to really reading poetry, I have to tell you that this was a perfect beginning. One of my favorites in the book is about the perils of actually being a writer and wanting to strip yourself down all the way to your skeleton to find the truth of purity and thought. He has a great balance of sarcasm, reflection, irony, and most importantly – imagery. All I can suggest is to get this book and find a quiet place in the park to spread out – you will not put this one down until you have read each one twice.
- Still Life with Woodpecker (Tom Robbins – 1990)
Teaser: This one is a basic story of free will and social responsibility. Robbins uses classic characters (a beautiful princess, a loyal handmaiden, a barren attic, frogs, and Spaghetti-O’s) and sets up a modern love story with one of the best characters I have read in a long time – an outlaw with a conscience and an affection for dynamite. A phenomenally twisted story that moves you from the absurdity of society, to introversion, to this insanely surreal alternate world inside a pack of Camel cigarettes.
Thoughts: Undoubtedly, one of the best I have read – not only does he create some of the best characters, but quirky humor of this one is indescribable. If you even take one shred from this post, it is to buy this book and not go to bed until you are finished (and then read it again!)
As always, all are up for grabs for anyone interested to borrow –
For all my fellow CU brethren and all other curious eyes who know the excitement of being able to crawl into a comfy chair with a good book but don’t know what the next one should be, I would like to start an on-going post of some of my favorites and my recents.
So, after 24 is over and you are ready to turn off the TV and find that the best reality show is between your ears, I will start with a few of my favorites:
- Life of Pi (Yann Martel – 2003) –
Teaser: A survival story of a son of a zookeeper who boards a cargo ship with his family and their zoo animals in order to relocate and the boat sinks He is stranded on a lifeboat with a hyena, an orangutan, a wounded zebra, and a tiger and must survive 200-something days at sea in a boat the size of an East Village studio.
Thoughts: An amazingly written story that seems completely believable at times and beautifully unbelievable at others, but it is one of those that is so good, when you hit the last 10 pages you will want to start all over again.
- The Alchemist (Paulo Coehlo – 1993) -
Teaser: A story of Shepherd boy who goes on a search to the Pyramids to find a treasure. He has no idea what the treasure is which takes him on a journey with only a beginning and an end yet to be realized
Thoughts: A very quick and easy read and probably one of the very few books that changed my life and the way I look at a lot of things. A very simplistic read but the roots in spirituality and personal conquest really plant a seed and make you look at your path differently. Loved it!
- Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini – 2004) –
Teaser: the story of two very different Afghani friends and their lives as the country of Afghanistan is transformed from a incredibly vibrant town to the war-torn state it is in now. The book is based on the cultural differences of the two friends, their passion for the game of kite fighting, and how the smallest decisions can change your life forever.
Thoughts: Just finished this one – it is a great combination of a history of the country and, at the same time, it amazingly creates these two characters that are hard to forget. I love the ‘Mystic River’ tragedy of it in the setting of a country I know very little about. In the end, it is just a damn well written book and a must read.
All are up for grabs for anyone interested to borrow –
