They Might Be Giants' Flood

Author: S. Alexander Reed
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1623568293
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 96

Book Description
For a few decades now, They Might Be Giants' album Flood has been a beacon (or at least a nightlight) for people who might rather read than rock out, who care more about science fiction than Slayer, who are more often called clever than cool. Neither the band's hip origins in the Lower East Side scene nor Flood's platinum certification can cover up the record's singular importance at the geek fringes of culture. Flood's significance to this audience helps us understand a certain way of being: it shows that geek identity doesn't depend on references to Hobbits or Spock ears, but can instead be a set of creative and interpretive practices marked by playful excess-a flood of ideas. The album also clarifies an historical moment. The brainy sort of kids who listened to They Might Be Giants saw their own cultural options grow explosively during the late 1980s and early 1990s amid the early tech boom and America's advancing leftist social tides. Whether or not it was the band's intention, Flood's jubilant proclamation of an identity unconcerned with coolness found an ideal audience at an ideal turning point. This book tells the story.

Bed, Bed, Bed

Author: They Might Be Giants (Musical group)
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0743250249
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 56

Book Description
A dazzling four-colour sing-along book plus an audio CD featuring five new tie-in, Grammy award winning, They Might Be Giants songs.

Your Favorite Band Is Killing Me

Author: Steven Hyden
Publisher: Little, Brown
ISBN: 0316259144
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 247

Book Description
Steven Hyden explores nineteen music rivalries and what they say about life in this "highly entertaining" book (Rolling Stone) perfect for every passionate music fan. Beatles vs. Stones. Biggie vs. Tupac. Kanye vs. Taylor. Who do you choose? And what does that say about you? Actually -- what do these endlessly argued-about pop music rivalries say about us? Music opinions bring out passionate debate in people, and Steven Hyden knows that firsthand. Each chapter in Your Favorite Band Is Killing Me focuses on a pop music rivalry, from the classic to the very recent, and draws connections to the larger forces surrounding the pairing. Through Hendrix vs. Clapton, Hyden explores burning out and fading away, while his take on Miley vs. Sinead gives readers a glimpse into the perennial battle between old and young. Funny and accessible, Hyden's writing combines cultural criticism, personal anecdotes, and music history -- and just may prompt you to give your least favorite band another chance.

Laurie Anderson's Big Science

Author: S. Alexander Reed
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190926015
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 193

Book Description
"Shimmering in maximal minimalism, joyful bleakness, and bodiless intimacy, Laurie Anderson's Big Science diagnosed crises of meaning, scale, and identity in 1982. Decades later, the challenging and strange questions it poses loom even larger: How do we remain human when our identities are digitally distributed? Does technology bring us closer together or further apart? Can we experience the stillness of "now" when time is always moving? How do experiences become memories? This book attends closely to Anderson's artistic voice, detailing its unique capacities for ambiguity and revelation. It traces the sonic histories etched in the record's grooves, from the Cold War to a burning future, from the Manhattan skyline to the empty desert, from the opera house to the pop charts. Ultimately in Big Science, one can hear an invitation to rise above the dualities of parts and wholes, images and essences, the lone individual and the megasystem. The first and most enduring superstar of performance art, Laurie Anderson is recognized here for pioneering philosophically rich techniques within the medium, but is also taken seriously as a musician and composer. Packed with scrupulous new research, reception history, careful description, and dizzying creativity, this book is an interdisciplinary love letter to a record whose sounds, politics, and expressions of gendered identity grow more relevant each day"--

The Ninth Generation

Author: John L. Owens
Publisher: CreateSpace
ISBN: 9781456471309
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 250

Book Description
In the preflood world of unspoiled beauty, a Sethite tree-village is gripped by a strange terror. Lameck, is forced into a desperate rescue journey that turns romantic, until he encounters supernatural opposition unleashed by the angelic adversary, Lucifer.

The Information

Author: James Gleick
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307379574
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 398

Book Description
From the bestselling author of the acclaimed Chaos and Genius comes a thoughtful and provocative exploration of the big ideas of the modern era: Information, communication, and information theory. Acclaimed science writer James Gleick presents an eye-opening vision of how our relationship to information has transformed the very nature of human consciousness. A fascinating intellectual journey through the history of communication and information, from the language of Africa’s talking drums to the invention of written alphabets; from the electronic transmission of code to the origins of information theory, into the new information age and the current deluge of news, tweets, images, and blogs. Along the way, Gleick profiles key innovators, including Charles Babbage, Ada Lovelace, Samuel Morse, and Claude Shannon, and reveals how our understanding of information is transforming not only how we look at the world, but how we live. A New York Times Notable Book A Los Angeles Times and Cleveland Plain Dealer Best Book of the Year Winner of the PEN/E. O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award

Rock Formations

Author: Dave Wilson
Publisher:
ISBN: 0974848352
Category : Rock groups
Languages : en
Pages : 290

Book Description
ROCK FORMATIONS is a non-fiction title covering the origins of music group and artist stage names. The entries (of which there are more than 1,000) are grouped into categories with similar themes, for example, those names which were inspired by movies, those inspired by places, etc. There is a comprehensive index, and hypertext links to all entries within the e-book.

The Book of Giants

Author:
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781933865676
Category : Folklore
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
Take a journey with the artist and writer Petar Meseldzija, who tells how he was allowed unparalleled access through the Invisible Curtain and into the land of giants. A year in the making, this book's sixteen paintings and nearly ninety drawings bring to life Petar's experiences on this journey and secrets uncovered, going back to ancient times. He shares stories of new discoveries that free giants from the murky abyss of myth and a forgotten past. Told in three stages, The Book of Giants includes the illustrated stories The Giants Are Coming, recounting a dynamic clash that lasted one hundred years; The Little Kingdom, where a giant befriends a nation of humans and becomes their adamant protector against ferocious invaders; The Northern Giants, who embrace the warrior spirit through countless battles; Giant Velles, the story of ignorance and how the strength of goodness perseveres; and The Great Forest, wherein the author discovers little creatures called the keppetz and relates his experiences spent with ogres while on his quest to meet the Golden One and to determine the purpose of his journey. Through the strength of his own power, he discovers his blessings, his limitations and finally his personal myth. Furthermore, you will discover why giants made a push into the underground, followed by their exodus and deliverance to a new land. You'll also learn why the myth of giants is still alive, why their time spent with humans remains elusive and why giants prefer to remain hidden in their world. Join Petar Meseldzija on his journey of discovery.

The Ark Before Noah

Author: Irving Finkel
Publisher: Anchor
ISBN: 0385537123
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 446

Book Description
The recent translation of a Babylonian tablet launches a groundbreaking investigation into one of the most famous stories in the world, challenging the way we look at ancient history. Since the Victorian period, it has been understood that the story of Noah, iconic in the Book of Genesis, and a central motif in Judaism, Christianity and Islam, derives from a much older story that existed centuries before in ancient Babylon. But the relationship between the Babylonian and biblical traditions was shrouded in mystery. Then, in 2009, Irving Finkel, a curator at the British Museum and a world authority on ancient Mesopotamia, found himself playing detective when a member of the public arrived at the museum with an intriguing cuneiform tablet from a family collection. Not only did the tablet reveal a new version of the Babylonian Flood Story; the ancient poet described the size and completely unexpected shape of the ark, and gave detailed boat building specifications. Decoding this ancient message wedge by cuneiform wedge, Dr. Finkel discovered where the Babylonians believed the ark came to rest and developed a new explanation of how the old story ultimately found its way into the Bible. In The Ark Before Noah, Dr. Finkel takes us on an adventurous voyage of discovery, opening the door to an enthralling world of ancient voices and new meanings.

Ween's Chocolate and Cheese

Author: Hank Shteamer
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 0826431178
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 174

Book Description
An in-depth study of a pivotal moment in Ween's development, as they became one of the world's most endearing, and enduring, cult bands.