The Hipster Spies With His Little Eye Something That Begins With--Witty, Charming, Fun For All
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Mostly, when you see the phrase "fun for all" it really means "fun for nobody", but that does not apply here.
The Foglios' illustrations and writing are vivid & joyous, and their sense of humor displays minds born with the belief that "the world is mad, so why not enjoy it?"

Clever riffs on the old Universal Horror classics mix with wild sight gags & a great fondness for the spectacular in their work.

There's a plot, too. That's always nice.

The Hipster gives it a Big Thumbs UP!
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It is no surprise that The Impostors didn't do much at the boxoffice. In a time when gross-out comedies are the rule, this stylish, charming effort is definitely the exception. What modern audiences may not realize is that comedy covers a rather broad area. Way back in the 1930s, W. C. Fields was doing now classic movies which were rude, crude and very funny, depending on what you finds amusing. In those days - and for the next fifty years - many different types of comedies were made. Perhaps today the media tends to want to believe the public's tastes are universally the same. I know that Hollywood's marketing strategies seem to come from one common pool of thought, which is why it often cannot market anything not fitting a certain mold.
The Impostors is a fond tribute to a gentler form of humor. Writer, director and star Stanley Tucci has proven with this and 1996's Big Night that he is one of our brightest independent film makers. His biggest attribute is his ability to make us laugh at certain stereotypes without ever being cruel. His is a loving touch.
The time seems to be the 1940s. Tucci and Oliver Platt play Maurice and Arthur, who are best friends and very out of work New York actors. Maurice is tall and thin and seems to be the heart of the pair, while short, chubby Maurice is its brain. Trying to con a baker out of some pastries, they wind up getting tickets to a production of Hamlet instead. During the performance the star, whom they can't stand anyway, winds up getting too drunk to finish the play. Later, in a bar, they are caught by the actor doing a rowdy impression of him. He becomes irate, and in the ensuing chase, the two somehow wind up as stowaways on a luxury liner. Naturally, the star winds up being one of the boat's passengers.
The ship is peopled with delightful eccentrics, including a broke socialite and her depressed daughter, a deposed queen, a gay tennis star, a psychotic Arabian sheik and a couple of fortune hunters. For the most part, the crew is equally mad, and Maurice and Arthur find themselves trapped in this madhouse at sea.
The film is full of sight gags and one-liners, most of which work. Lili Taylor, who later this year will appear as Eleanor in the remake of The Haunting and as Janis Joplin in the movie of the same name, is delightful as the sympathetic social director. Steve Buscemi nearly steals his scenes as a heartbroken crooner ironically named Happy Frank.
I really enjoyed this little jewel, and a most viewers with a sense of the absurd should, too. I even liked the movie's tag line. "Why be yourself when you can be somebody else"? I am really looking forward to Mr. Tucci's next effort.
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Though I thoroughly enjoyed it, this book is not for everyone. A slightly warped sense of humor, a strong stomach, and an affection for the strange would be prerequisites, I would say, for an appreciation of Katherine Dunn's perverse and bizarre little tale of a carny family named the Binewskis. And the moment I stumbled up this little gem I knew I had to read it.

The "geek" in the title, by the way, has nothing to do with the way we understand that term today, as in "he's a computer geek," or "she's a Star Wars geek." No, this use refers to the turn of the century meaning, of a carnival freak who would bite the heads off of live chickens as a warm up for the main freak or sideshow to follow. So now you know what you're in for.

The novel is about the Binewski family, Lil and Al, the "normal" parents; the oldest, Arty the Aquaboy, born with flippers instead of arms; daughter Oly, the albino hunchback; daughters Iphy and Elly the Siamese twins; and the youngest, son Chick, outwardly normal but with a hidden and dangerous talent. These "normal" parents bred their own human oddities through the deliberate ingestion of amphetamines, prescription drugs, insecticides, arsenic, and radioisotopes, among other things. The story is told through the eyes of Oly, the little hunchback.

"When your mama was the geek, my dreamlets," Papa would say, "she made the nipping off of noggins such a crystal mystery that the hens themselves yearned toward her, waltzing around her, hypnotized with longing. 'Spreak your lips, sweet Lil,' they'd cluck, 'and show us your choppers!" [3]

Like any family, the Binewskis have their internal issues: Arty, the oldest, is resentful of his siblings if they draw more attention than him, and he someday expects to inherit and run the show, "Binewski's Fabulon," himself. He is not fond of Chick. Iphy and Elly oftentimes fight, having as they do quite different personalities. Chick, the youngest, was nearly abandoned at birth at a quik-mart due to his apparent lack of "uniqueness." Oly, the narrator, is perhaps the most even-tempered of the clan. She is the peacemaker.

And then there is the mysterious Miss Lick, who carries on a horrifying mission, and crosses paths with Oly.

The novel is structured as a series of vignettes, both in present time and in flashbacks, though there are plot threads that drive the narrative along. Dunn said when she finished writing the book, "It was sad and terrible. I mourned for a long time. I loved those people and their world." I'd say her sentiments come through clearly in her writing. Despite the demented subject matter, the characters come through as full fledged human beings.

A strange and wonderful read.

Informative WIRED article about the book, with comments from the author, Dunn.
http://www.wired.com/2014/03/geek-love/
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Set in an unnamed kingdom where the characters from Wonderland and Looking-Glass Land coexist with the mad mariners of "The Hunting of the Snark," Roger Langridge's new comedy/adventure series is an inspired Popeye-meets-Lewis Carroll mashup.

It's a classic quest story: Princess (soon to be Queen) Scarlett, the 8-year-old heroine, has to rescue her missing father, the Red King, from the three wicked royal advisors who've quietly ousted him in a palace coup. Her destination: Snark Island, a monster habitat and de facto political prison hidden from the rest of the world. Her unlikely allies: the Walrus and the Carpenter, a pair of hand-to-mouth con men dragged kicking and screaming into the potentially lethal adventure of a lifetime. Their adversary: the Gryphon, an implacable thug hired to hunt down Scarlett and her baby brother, Prince Rusty, at any cost.

This is a fun read for all ages, especially for those who've already immersed themselves in the satirical, philosophical, and surrealistic world of Lewis Carroll's books, and who can't get enough of the literary Easter eggs in Langridge's panels. (His attractive, lively pen lines are a pleasure to look at on their own.) It's even sweeter for those who catch the "Thimble Theatre" references to Wimpy, Swee'pea, and Olive Oyl -- the last named in a salute that has to be seen to be believed.
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Georges life is highly organized, right down to his meticulous financial arrangements for his retirement. Everything is thrown into disarray when he loses his job as an accountant, and his search for gainful employment leads to humiliation and self-doubt. Will he find his true calling as a telephone psychic?

I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know George, a persnickety, materialistic, highly rational middle-aged man. Some readers might find the initial set-up a little slow, but stick with it, because rewards will follow. The disastrous job interviews are wonderfully absurd and they really make you feel for poor George as he becomes increasingly desperate. One of my favorite comic episodes in the whole book is the avant-garde interview for the telephone psychic job. The subsequent fish-out-of-water scenes where down-to-earth George gets to know his free-thinking colleagues and gets to grips with his unusual job are a delight.

The humor and the pathos of his personal transformation keep you turning the pages, as he travels along a bumpy road to understanding himself and his place in the world. The cast of supporting characters are an amusing bunch, aiding and abetting him on his journey. I particularly like the development of his awkward relationships with his parents and his son, and the role Mimi plays in his discovery of love.

A witty and warm tale.
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funny,witty, characters are so on the mark everyone should watch.
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Hipsters, flipsters, and finger poppin' daddies, cop this, and always dig all that's cool.
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This was the first time I ever liked an audiobook SO much that I sought out the buy the printed book, and I wanted it specifically to read the songs.  It's a very light-hearted book, and can be read quickly if you gloss over all the "thee, thou, dost" language, but that is part of what, for me, makes it so charming.  You mostly follow Robin and his merry men on their adventures, and there is not much character development or dynamics, but this book abounds with wit, woodland metaphors, and (sometimes) clever pranks.
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I found Shepard Hoodwin's latest book "Enlightenment for Nitwits"  a  fun easy read. A Combination of Woody Allen meets Mad Magazine.  Full of wit and witticisms for your inner nitwit!

Host of Comedy Concepts Blog Talk Radio
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THE BOMB THAT FOLLOWED ME HOME is one of the most refreshingly funny and biting bits of satire to appear this year.  Cleverly conceived and written by Cevin Soling, illustrated with hugely imaginative graphics by Steve Killie and designed by Mark Ohe, this little book is far more than an entertaining tale of a boy who is followed home by a round long-fused bomb, a situation that raises questions of social matters such as contemporary views of 'weapons of mass destruction', security forces to alert in the event of such an incident, family relationships, and neighborhood malfunctions.

This is an example of how wise minds can piece together fragments of world affairs  and controversies and from them create characters who are not only believable in the context of the brief tale, but also symbols of more serious matters: comedy does indeed arise from drama and tragedy.  But putting all that aside, THE BOMB THAT FOLLOWED ME HOME can simply be read and enjoyed as a sophisticated, well crafted tale purely for entertainment.  Look inside and notice images of conflicted individuals in each of our lives and take pleasure in observing how this smart team of artists is addressing human foibles.  This is a book of pure delight!  Grady Harp, January 2009
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Mr. Erickson's enjoyable romp through American culture and politics is especially appropriate this election year. The book satirically lays bare the dysfunctional soul of our American Spirit through following a Zelig-like protagonist through his raggedy life from the 60s forward. Saddled with a terribly confining name by his divorced hipster parents, he moves off his mother's Sausalito houseboat into the world of education, business, marriage and politics leading with his chin and making enemies everywhere. Fortunately, his estranged father seems to be a guardian of sorts who makes unexpected appearances wearing an increasingly oddly connected series of disguises. This is a very quick read with excellent pacing throughout and humor on every page. I read it in two sittings. I recommend this to anyone, like me, a child of the sixties and student of both the human mind and politics. Has given me an entirely new reaction to hearing the song, Yellow Submarine.
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If you like an unique, quirky detective, meet Moe, short for Moses. Moe Prager isn't your typical NYC cop - he's not Irish or Italian.  Moe is Jewish - used to be an NYPD cop until he was injured on duty.  He slipped on a carbon paper in the office in the 1970's when this crime takes place and has a bum knee.  He tells us he joined the force on a dare.

What's particularly enchanting about Moe is that he's smart and funny.  He tells when he sees one potential pot-smoking student witness that he prays he's not studying to be pre-med.  Or when a mohawked teen contemptuously drops an F*bomb sneering that they'll all be dead in ten years, Moe shares this thought: This was all too profound for me.  I decided to get to the point before anyone mentioned Camus or Nietzsche.

If you like that good-natured sardonic humor, you should enjoy this series.  This first book in the series Moe is asked to find a missing college student who vanishes at a party.  Is foul-play involved or did the student have a reason to disappear?  The student's father is well-connected and offers Moe a sweet deal if he'll take the case on. Upon investigation, the student doesn't seem to fit the clean-cut, fresh-faced popular student government type the billboard posters of him proclaim.

It's the late 1970's in New York City which brings its own drama and difficulties to the story.  It's not as tolerant as the 2010 decade, that's for sure.  Those readers who remember the 1970's will delight in how the author recreates it in this book.  New York  City in the 1970's is a fun backdrop for the story.

This mystery novel doesn't have that first book awkwardness because it's not the author's first book. There are some dark themes in the book, but the detective's levity keeps the book from being too dark.  I will definitely read another in the series, and recommend it to our library mystery book group as a monthly selection to read and discuss. 4.5 stars.
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I don't know how Neon Lit fared with the rest of the project, but this graphic novel version of City of  Glass by Paul Auster is terrific.  In a sense it brings the story full circle, because in the original novel  Auster used the conventions of the private eye story to explore the issues implicit in film noir :  identity, fate, good and evil, randomness, etc.  Since many of the great hard boiled dicks first appeared  in pulp fiction, it seems only natural to have this most modern (or post-modern) riff on the genre end  up back in comic book form, however glorified.
Actually, Auster himself indulges in so many games with language, shifting identities and allusions to  other works that the comic book format is especially well suited to his playfulness.  And, like William  Goldman's Princess Bride, that sense of fun serves to lighten what can often be most ponderous in  post-modern literature, the way in which its practitioners act as if their metafictional techniques are  revolutionary and profound.  This work is such a throwback that it unabashedly wears its antecedents  on its sleeve; never mind the obvious nod to mysteries of the 30's and 40's, it even goes so far as to  discuss Cervantes and his metafictional innovations in Don Quijote.
I tend to doubt that Paul Auster's brand of existential musings will appeal to all tastes and I'm sure  some will simply find the idea of reading a comic book to be beyond the pale.  But if you're an Auster  fan, a private eye or noir enthusiast, or just haven't outgrown comics generally, it's well worth tracking  down a copy.  I realize it says more about me than I should be comfortable revealing, but I actually  think the best part of the book is the section on the criminally insane Professor Stillman's religious  theses--they're frighteningly close to my own views and make for quite compelling speculation, adding  to what is already a fun and unusual reading experience.
GRADE : A
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This book is being blurbed as a funsy-sciencey book about a dorky science girl. That's generally true, but it seems to me that there's a lot more, (and more interesting), stuff going on than just that. Olga is more prickly, the adults are more slyly needled, and throwaway lines are edgier than I expected. All of that is fine by me because I think kid readers are a lot quicker on the uptake than some purely poop/fart books give them credit for.

Here, we open with Olga going on at length about how annoying humans are compared to animals. It becomes clear that Olga doesn't have any friends and has minimal social skills. She isn't all adorable charm and spunk. She's sort of grumpy and judgmental. When you consider that the mystery creature's only comment on things is "meh" you can see what I mean about an odd and quirky vibe. If the book had stayed on this grumpy key I might have tired of it. But, once the olgamus shows up Olga has to go out into the world, and with that both she and the book open up.

Olga's research leads her to the library and then a neighborhood store, (for Olgamus food). Both the librarian and the shopkeeper are unusual adults for a kids book. The tattooed librarian is sort of a whack job and the pink-shirted cowboy-booted free spirit shopkeeper is pretty unique and quirky himself; there are a number of sly little observations about both that might be lost on younger readers but add a little zip to the story.

Throughout we get a lot of sight gags and funny little bits drawn around the margins. (Things like a list of the weird products in the shop, or drawings of real weird creatures, and so on.) We also get a mean girl revelation. Olga doesn't like the sisters who live next door, who feel like mean self-obsessed cliches. But they take on a larger role as the book progresses, and offer up a few good surprises by the end. Indeed, by the end of the book everyone seems to have moved up a bit on the charm and appeal scale, and Olga seems to have grown more than any of them. We end up with a much more appealing, interesting and flexible Olga than we started with.

So, it's funny, it's sciencey, it is as advertised. But there's also some larger message being teased out in the background, which adds a level of interest and appeal beyond just a cute-goofy animal tale. That made this overall an especially interesting and satisfying find.

(Please note that I received a free advance will-self-destruct-in-x-days Adobe Digital copy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)
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The Book Report: Young, orphaned Erast Fandorin has landed a comparatively cushy job for one whose comfortable future in czarist Russia was snatched away by the machinations of capitalists, beggaring and causing the suicide of his father: Erast is a fourteenth-class state functionary, serving a police official as amanuensis and errand-boy. It leads him into some odd alleyways, serving his about-to-retire master; his wit, his proficiency with language, his unquenchable curiosity lead his boss to allow, amused and indulgent of his junior's silly fascination with nothing criminal, Erast to investigate some odd goings-on among Moscow's Bright Young Things, including the suicide of a youth whose estate, over a million rubles, is left to elderly English philanthropist Baroness Adair.

That one fact, that odd itchy ill-fitting wool sock of a fact, unravels an international conspiracy touching every government in the world, though it is unclear that this conspiracy has any evil intent, at least to me. Erast, extremely young and naive at the outset of the book, ends it extremely young, concussed, and in no possible sense naive and inexperienced any more. How that comes about is a page-turning pleasure to read.

My Review: For once, I am glad I read the second book in the series before the first. I felt much more like I was investing my time wisely after reading Turkish Gambit than I might have had I read this book first. It's good, don't mistake me, but it's not as good as "Gambit" and it's not as clear and succinct, either.

But good golly Miss Molly, it's a ripping good read full of explosions, betrayals, and general all-around wickedness and sneakiness. It's got young love, it's got hopeless infatuation, it's got comradeship and affection, and even a *very* memorable wedding scene. I am completely entranced with its picture of czarist Russia; I am excited to discover the roots of some of Erast's oddities; and I hanker to see these books turned into movies or TV shows, like Montalbano has been. I really feel I can SEE the action as I'm reading, and that's usually so much less of an issue for me; but this series is supremely visual.

Read, and enjoy, and don't fear the commitment of time a new series requires, because like Rutledge, like Montalbano, there are a lot of 'em and they get better as time goes by.
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Meet Fergal. He is a loner and a bit of an eccentric.  His parents often worry about him. They like to think he is clever, but sometimes even being clever doesn't explain everything.

A recent visit to the grocery store with his mother has Fergal excited about something new.  While at the store, he discovered the wonders of the "bargain bin."  It is where items with bumps and dents and nearly expired dates go to be rescued by some value-minded shopper.  What Fergal finds in the bargain bin is a shiny can missing its label.  The mystery of the unidentified can inspires Fergal to begin a collection.  Fergal becomes obsessed with label-free cans.  In no time at all his collection grows to over 40 cans.  His parents think it is a bit strange but hopefully harmless.

When the collection takes over the bookshelf in Fergal's room, his mother insists that for each new can he finds he must open one of the old ones.  She considers it a waste to just collect the things and not use the contents.  This leads to Fergal's gruesome discovery.

One might think that Fergal is the only person to think of collecting unlabeled cans, but he bumps into a fellow can-collector at the store one day.  Her name is Charlotte.  She has also opened several of her cans and found something equally as gruesome as Fergal.  Together they set out to solve the mystery.

Alex Shearer's CANNED offers misfit characters, humor, and just the right amount of "gross" stuff to satisfy typical middle grade and teen readers.  Even though the story is set in England and uses British jargon, most readers will relate to Fergal and Charlotte as they quietly carry on their investigation under the noses of clueless adults.  This wacky, off-beat adventure is well worth checking out.

Reviewed by:  Sally Kruger, aka "Readingjunky"
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The Circus of Dr. Lao is a wry little gem exploring the hypocrisy, smallmindedness and general lack of thought exhibited by most humans. The pithy passages scintillate with a mixture of hilarious small-town colloquialisms and bits of arcane legend.
Drawing on a variety of genres (journalism, advertising jingles,
bestiaries, pastiche, movie script, catalogues)this little book constatly surprises as it uses the conceits of allegory and the
vocabulary of local color to weave a tapestry of truth about human nature and herd behavior.