Nick “Penis” Pavich, our cherished Grey Worm and the publisher of The Toast, is celebrating a birthday today. We won’t tell you his age, but he’s older than Demi Lovato and younger than Willie Nelson. Happy Birthday, Nick!
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Jezebel has ranked the top 20 movie musicals. Some of the choices made are…interesting. What’s your top 3?
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The Go Fug Yourself ladies talk to Anne Helen Petersen about blog mechanics, their evolution in tone, and what they do with their kids while they write.
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No, 2013 Was Not The Year Of “The Black Movie”
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A reader emailed me to say she just finished Yoko Ogawa’s Revenge: Eleven Dark Tales, and loved it, and wanted to know if anyone had any great suggestions for “favorite non-Murakami almost-magical realism” to share. Do you?
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Zola Books has some fantastic free e-books right now, including…Middlemarch. No pressure. How much fun was our first discussion, though? It’s still going on, hop in anywhere, and Rebecca Mead wants to say how much she’s enjoying The Toast commentariat’s conversation style.
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Slate is hiring some paid interns.
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If you live in NYC and like a good oyster happy hour, here are fifty of them.
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Gorgeous gallery of Victorian street life in London.
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I just got sent a PDF of No Regrets, the n+1 book (the perks of extraordinary fame), and I’m looking forward to it. This helped! Also, how do you feel about I Love Dick? I bought it because Haley Mlotek and Eileen Myles said to, but I haven’t gotten around to it yet.
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Tags: feminism, link roundup, nick pavich, the internet
Happy Spawning Day, Nick!
Happy birthday to Penis!
Happy birthpenisday!
penisy penispenispenis!
And many penises!
Happy birthday to penis! Happy birthday to penis! Happy biiiiiiiirthday dear peeeenis, happy birthday to penis!
You look like a penis,
and you smell like one, too!
Nick and I are birthday twins! awesome!
Happy womb-day to you!
“favorite non-Murakami almost-magical realism”…I was all set to say “Christopher Moore” and then realized that stupidest angels and horny lizard creatures and grim reapers are probably magical more than “almost”. But all his books take place in real places, though! And I mean, Island of the Sequined Love Nun has a great title and no explicitly magical themes.
Steven Millhauser’s short stories usually sit in that almost-magical realism sweet spot. He had a short story collection “We Others: New and Selected Stories” come out in 2011 that should be easy to find, and two of his stories are free to read at The New Yorker right now (“Miracle Polish” and “Getting Closer“) if you want an immediate fix.
But “Lamb” is SO GREAT. soooooo greeeeeeat.
SO SO GREAT
…oh man, IS Christopher Moore magical realism? His tone is so straightforward annnd then it just so happens that the story is about a semi-sentient underwater goo-city or Jesus’s BFF and their years training as ninjas and stuff.
Also! Can anyone think of other authors similar in tone to Christopher Moore? I can never find anything that panders so blatantly to my just say things, neurotic weirdo loud shout-y things sensibilities in fiction. Besides like, Tom Robbins.
I AM VERY INTERESTED IN THE RESPONSES TO THIS QUESTION because I have been wondering the same for a long time. The only thing I’ve ever read that came close to that same sort of absurdist weirdo joy is Kurt Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle.
Terry Prachett? Maybe?
Middle-Later Pratchett is pretty much realism in magic, yes.
There’s so much Pratchett that I haven’t read that I wanted to hedge. So yes! Pratchett!
OH RIGHT, half of Good Omens was really sublime in its absurdist humor. (Sorry, Neil.) Is there good Pratchett to start with that doesn’t require diving into that really intimidating series that has gone on forever?
I think you can hop into Discworld pretty much anywhere and it’ll make roughly the same amount of sense–at least, that’s what I was told. I need to read more of it.
His series for younger readers that takes place in the same world, about Tiffany Aching, is actually a really good starting point – you get a lot about the world in the story but you don’t have to read the other books for it to make sense. “The Wee Free Men,” “A Hat Full of Sky,” “Wintersmith” and “I Shall Wear Midnight.”
My personal recommendation would be Guards, Guards! because it introduces the Night Watch, and is excellent. Then read all the rest of the books about the Night Watch. Then, I dunno. Small Gods, probably. Then all the ones about Death, and the Lancre Witches. And the two about Moist von Lipwig. The ones that center around the wizards are my least-favorite.
This is a perfect ranking, no amendments needed, except I would explicitly call out that Thief of Time, which is kind of a Death book, is very worth reading.
YES, I really tried with Good Omens but I couldn’t do it 🙁 Which is sad because I do love Neil, but this was not his best attempt. I do really like Anansi Boys and nominate it as comedy-fantasy-absurdism-familial drama
I know! Neil is so great! At lots of things! But his sections of Good Omens were kind of like a brick keeping it all down. sigh. Anansi Boys is fantastic and definitely almost-magical realism. It’s not until you’re like, 3/4 of the way into the book and the surreal shit starts happening that you’re like, oh, this is taking A Turn, isn’t it.
For anyone who likes audiobooks, Lenny Henry’s reading of Anansi Boys is amazing. One of the best audiobook productions I’ve heard.
Small Gods is a really good one to start with — it stands alone perfectly, and it’s really one of the best in the whole series (my second favorite, after the sublime Night Watch). It deals with Big Ideas while still bringing the funny in a way that only Discworld at its finest can.
A lot of people say not to start with the first two (The Color of Magic and The Light Fantastic), but if you do want the absurdist humor, they certainly have that. The later books are definitely more serious — but still VERY, VERY funny. And it IS fun to go through the series in order — but I think it’s up to forty books now, so yeah, that would be intimidating to just jump into. The Watch/City books are my favorites, and they start with Guards, Guards.
Well, it’s the holiday season, so I’d go with Hogfather- sure, it’s smack in the middle of things, but it has Susan (who is one of my favorites). The Tiffany novels are actually my most favorite, though, so I’ll also second starting with those.
UGH guys I have a thing about Terry Pratchett right now, and it’s that his mental illness is getting the better of him and his editor apparently doesn’t love him enough. His books have gone off the rails, mostly because he seems to have forgotten who his characters are? Like, literally, not in a “I don’t like this direction” kind of way. They’re entirely different people, and he’s stopped making the excellent satirical references and the sly inside jokes, and I just think his wonderful mind is deteriorating too fast and no one in the chain of publishing will admit it. So PLEASE read Pratchett, because he is wonderful, but . . . don’t start with his latest, and if you ever get to it, remember he has Alzheimer’s now and be kind.
Oh no, Terry Pratchett 🙁
I know. It is the saddest thing.
Yeah, I just saw that there was a new Moist book released last month that I somehow missed. I’ll buy it and read it gladly — I owe him that much for all the years of joy that he’s given me — but yes, it makes me apprehensive. I thought Unseen Academicals was still enjoyable — not his best, but the wizard books always have had some dull spots. But Snuff was actually difficult to get through. I think the biggest problem is that he writes through voice recognition software now — I can’t imagine how difficult that would make the process. I am so glad that he is still telling stories, and I’ll keep reading them for as long as he wants to tell them, but for new readers, definitely start with the older stuff. Just a couple books back, really — Making Money and before.
That was EXACTLY my reaction to Unseen Academicals and Snuff. UA was fine, not quite as witty or inside-referencey maybe, but totally fine, good fun, nod to the football culture in the UK, probably about on par with Soul Music. But Snuff . . . WHAT HAPPENED TO VIMES? I know he loves Sybil and small Sam and all, but he went from his usual hard-boiled self to somehow being a henpecked husband? And Sybil was henpecking! The Lady Sybil does not henpeck!
I couldn’t finish it. I tried to pretend it was just about new characters that I didn’t know, but I couldn’t make it stick. I shall miss ye, Sam Vimes, as I knew ye.
Also what was going on with Wilikins?? I know he has like a, rough and tumble background, but what is going on with him and Vimes being all buddy buddy? Wilikins has a stiff bulter-y exterior! Otherwise his backstory has nothing to contrast with!
Yes, the Wilikins stuff was the weirdest for me. His whole deal was that he was the absolute perfect, correct butler, the “gentleman’s gentleman” who also happened to be a crazy badass in a fight.
From Jingo:
“Allow me to apologize in advance for the shocking condition of the cutlery, sir.”
“A few days ago you were biting people’s noses off!”
“Ah, you must not believe Private Bourke, sir,” said the butler, as Vimes stepped in. “It was only one nose.”
“And now you’ve hurried back to polish the silver?”
“It does not do to let standards slip, sir.”
TOM HOLT. I have only read “Only Human” but he has written a ton of books. Insanely weird and fun cosmological hijinks. I picked up a book of his when it was compared to Pratchett but I think it’s more like Christopher Moore.
Matt Ruff! Not every book is light, but they are all awesome.
FOOL ON THE HILL is probably closest, but SET THIS HOUSE ON FIRE is my favorite. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Ruff
I just read Sjon’s The Blue Fox, so I’m going to say that. It’s really great.
Talking fruit bat? Robert the fruit bat does talk. If I’m remembering right.
Srsly though, I got my hands on a fancy first edition of Sacré Bleu , with the art in color, and the text in blue ink, and it’s like all signed and everything, and I may save that book before family pictures in an emergency. And the sequel to Fool comes out soon too! I’m kind of excited.
Island of the Sequined Love Nun is totally excellent. On the other hand, I’ve just started reading Fool, and I really can’t bring myself to keep reading- it’s just not working for me at all. Has anybody read it? Is it worth wading through?
I don’t know if this counts as magical realism at all but from reading the description of Revenge, I’d also recommend ‘The House of the Sleeping Beauties’ by Yasunari Kawabata. Not just that one story, that collection of stories. Kind of creepy and surreal and beautifully written–is that about right?
I *love* Yasunari Kawabata and havent met anyone else who has read him and now Im over excited!
TWO PERSON ONLINE BOOK CLUB!!!!
IM IN!
Happy birthday, Grey Worm!
You know I wish just once a list of greatest musicals would include a little Bollywood. Just one would be fine.
What’s some good bollywood for a beginner?
Try “Bride and Prejudice.” It does exactly what it says on the tin – Bollywood version of Pride and Prejudice. It’s in English, and will have actors your probably recognize, but sticks to the typical Bollywood conventions otherwise.
For the actual Hindi-language stuff, I’d start with something like “Om Shanti Om,” if you want something more cheerful, or “Devdas” if you want more typical melodrama.
Just FYI, Om Shanti Om features a bunch of Bollywood injokes and allusions to other famous Bollywood movies, so you might get more out of it if you watch some others first, though it’s by no means a pre-requisite.
I also agree about Om Shanti Om. I know I missed a lot of references, but in the big Om Shanti Om number, when Kajol turns around, I have to admit I actually squealed a bit!
I’m a bit old school in my Bollywood tastes— if you count old school as being 80s-90s. I’m attracted to the melodrama and the beauty of the films. If you can surrender to it, you’ll have a good time. If you fight it, you may be in for 3 hours of torture.
For good old-fashioned family drama, I’d go with these two classics: Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge and Khabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham. For more love story and slightly less family, I’d try Kuch Kuch Hota Hai or maybe Dil To Pagal Hai. For a recent and fun updating of these kinds of stories, try Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani.
For sparkliness and Madhuri Dixit (an amazing performer) and a great score, Devdas (the 2002 version). For a magical fairy tale, Paheli.
(you may notice a pattern with these movies. I spent quite a while being a Shah Rukh Khan fan).
Finally, Deepa Mehta’s trilogy, Earth, Fire, and Water are each great movies but not traditionally Bollywood like (Fire is about a lesbian relationship). I recently re-watched Water, and it is really, really beautiful (and sad!).
Oh, god, Water. I watched that in a film class in college (technically titled ‘contemporary global cinema’ but should really have been called ‘3 hours of emotional devastation each week’) and it broke my heart. It really is so beautiful and so sad.
Thanks! And I’ll definitely check out Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge – just read a bit about it and it sounds great.
Bollywood for Beginners would be an excellent topic for a Toast article.
Like kefuoe, I also love Madhuri Dixit, and in addition to Devdas (which is kind of ridiculous, but very, very pretty), I’d recommend Aaja Nachle as a fun Bollywood movie. As a bonus, it also has Kunal Kapoor being very surly and attractive.
I also really love Dil Se, but it can be kind of weird and moody as Bollywood flicks go. It has some of my favorite music though, including the classic “dancing on a moving train” song “Chaiyya Chaiyya”
One of my childhood favorites is Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, because Aishwarya Rai is amazingly, luminously beautiful.
Oh, and my newest Bollywood crush is Vidya Balan, and I really enjoyed her in Parineeta.
I really debated including Dil Se. The music is fabulous, but moody is just the right word for it. I made a friend watch it and she got mad at me when the ending came.
Ha, I was mad when I finished watching that movie too! But I love it anyway, I think partly because it made me mad and was kind of a tonal shift from other Bollywood movies I’d seen. I’ll forgive a lot for Chaiyya Chaiyya and Aye Ajnabi though.
In a non-Japanese way – Isabel Allende? (the House of the Spirits sequence quite magical-realismy, the others aren’t) Laura Esquivel?
I was going to recommend House of the Spirits! Such a great book.
Yeah, this was my first recommendation, too!
Happy birthday, Nick!
happy birthday nick!
Magical realism: I feel like I say this in every other thread, but Angela Carter. My way in was through her fairy tales, which are pretty damn magically realistic – specifically, her short story The Bloody Chamber is astonishing, and the collection of the same name worthwhile.
For novels, probably just start with Wise Children and work backwards. It is magical realism in that it is about circus twins and their retirement and their family, on the day they go to a wedding.
I really wish she were still alive and writing, because I’ve never been able to cope with the closeness of the Canadian great ladies, but Carter is distant enough to be affecting without being so real as to cause despair. I just wish I knew what her writing would be like, now. Okay, that was a love note, not a recc.
ANGELACARTERANGELACARTER
When I am a grown up writer I want to be Angela Carter.
Also, whasterface what did that time traveller wife book – audrey niffenegger – has vrought out a fairytale that she illustrated herself and it’s beautiful and semi-magical-ealism so worth trying.
Oh goodness yes Angela Carter! Nights at the Circus is one book that will reliably make me miss train stops every time I read it while travelling.
Angela Carter!!! The Magic Toyshop is one of the few books that I could read and reread FOREVER.
I love how when you get Middlemarch from Zola, it offers to sign up up for emails from George Eliot. If only, Zola Books. If only.
Magical realism: Anything by Banana Yoshimoto, but esp. Kitchen. Also, Peter Høeg, at least The Quiet Girl and The Elephant Keeper’s Children, which I could talk about forever and ever, amen.
Peter Høeg!!!!!!! I can talk about him forever with you!!!
Høeg fangirls unite! Srsly tho, I will be in SLC on the 19th in case you’re around and would like a Høeg break from holiday crazy
I will be returning from (wait for it) MY LITTLE BROTHER’S WEDDING in Chapel Hill that day, or I would love to!
What I *should* have said was, I will be in SLC from the 19th through the 26th, so offer still stands. Hooray for your brother!
On another note, any clue why I am signed in to comment on every other post on the site, but not on this one?
disregard that, obviously, as it seemed to work itself out
What I *should* have said was that I will be in SLC from the 19th to the 26th, so offer still stands! Hooray for your brother!
KITCHEN.
I love that book. so much.
Happy birthday, Nick! And as a present, I won’t even mention your penis, except just that once. You’re welcome!
You are much more restrained than we are.
Read “House of Mist” and “The Shrouded Woman” by Maria Luisa Bombal if you enjoy your magical realism but also want to make yourself incredibly angry about the position of women in early 20th century Chile. They’re considered some of the earliest examples of the genre (and almost certainly the first by a woman) but they aren’t well-known to non-Latin-American readers. They’re way worth it in my opinion. And I hope no one will be insulted if I suggest Jose Saramago’s “Blindness”. I know it’s extremely well-known but I have to do it on the off-chance.
For the sort of dreamy, magical realism feeling without quite being magical realism, I strongly recommend Banana Yoshimoto, particularly Kitchen.
yes. See above comment re: KITCHEN.
With the caveat that I haven’t read these books in many years (though I loved them when I read them) so I don’t know how well they’ve held up, I’ll recommend “Mistress of Spices” and “Sister of My Heart” by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. I can’t recall if the latter was especially magical-realism-heavy, but the former definitely falls in that category.
Oooooh. I loved Mistress of Spices, but never ran across Sister of My Heart. Apparently, she has a YA series too… Oh, the plans I am making.
So we can all agree that Hedwig and the Angry Inch is the best musical movie, right?
No.
*Gossip Girl voice* Sounds like Bittersweet is just plain ol’ bitter!
Kidding aside, a penny for your thoughts? That’s literally all I can afford, sorry.
I thought the idea and the characters in Hedwig were terrific, but the story (and the movie) kind of went off the rails at the end.
Plus I am a giant classic musical movie nerd, so very little that’s made in the last couple of decades will (for me) equal stuff like Singin’ in the Rain, Top Hat and An American in Paris.
There’s no Jesus Christ Superstar on the Jez list, so it’s irrelevant.
Also, WTF West Side Story is #1? It’s not that good.
They also said “The Muppets” but put in The Rainbow Connection from “The Muppet Movie,” so clearly someone over there is confused.
(also west side story is amaaaaazing)
It’s like, “Here is a list of the Top 20 Movie Musicals by someone who has only seen 20 movie musicals.”
I mean, if we’re sharing here: Singin’ in the Rain is number one. Does Nightmare Before Christmas count? If so, I think that’d take second for me. And I also love, love, LOVE The Muppet Christmas Carol. Why haven’t I watched that yet? I gotta watch that.
Nightmare Before Christmas ABSOLUTELY fucking counts.
I think it’s got to be limited to live action movie musicals.
Muppet Christmas Carol is THE BEST. I also need to watch it! Thanks for the reminder.
I just looked again and I think you may be right (I’m counting it as Honorary Best Non-Live Action). Man, their choices are the worst! Not really bad movies or anything, but a few of their top picks are pretty weak.
It\’s actually the best holiday movie of all time.
This is gospel truth.
LIGHT THE LAMP, NOT THE RAT!
HEAT WAVE! This is our island in the sun…
Hoity-toity Mr. Godlike Smartypants!
ABSOLUTELY.
when Michael Caine starts sing-weeping I just fall apart
Sometimes I just mumble “And even worse for mouses” to myself when I need cheering up. Then I think about that REALLY SAD and KIND OF SCARY moment with the Ghost of Christmas Future and curl up in a ball and stay that way.
Ohhh I always have to fast-forward through “When Love Is Gone” because she makes me so sad!
Um, so I watched it for the VERY FIRST TIME last year (I’m 29 so there isn’t really an excuse) and I cried. I welled up with big fat happy tears and cried them out.
Muppet Christmas Carol is one of my yearly must-watch Christmas movies, and second in my heart only to Emmet Otter’s Jugband Christmas
This is obviously the case, as only an uninformed noob would put Hedwig above Singin’ in the Rain.
GOD BLESS YOU FOR THIS GIF.
My favourite/only Easter tradition is watching this movie with my dad, the two of us wondering aloud the exact quantity and combination of drugs it took to make that magic happen.
Also also also Yvonne Elliman doing “I Don’t Know How to Love Him” *dying* JUDAS BEING AMAZING IN HIS JUMPSUIT AND PETER’S BEARD I love this movie sooooooo much.
Shirtless Herod! Pilate spitting everywhere! Simon Zealot! The creepy leper scene!!
It will forever be my favorite movie musical. It’s probably the only musical where I love the movie cast more than the original Broadway/West End cast, not least of all because they use a lot of the same actors. PLUS not only do they use EVERY song from the original, they also add two new awesome songs.
Jez can’t do anything right.
But I appreciate the balance of having West Side Story first and Camp last. Because the best scene in Camp is the inappropriate West Side Story scene.
Those Victorian Street Life photos are engrossing! I kept looking at all the kids’ footwear (or lack thereof) and those weirdly high rounded hats all the guys wore.
The FugGirls interview – and that whole series to come – delighted me.
Although it isn’t magical realism, I also really liked Yoko Ogawa’s “The Housekeeper and the Professor”. I found it really touching.
Maybe it was just because I studied math?
I really liked it too!
I think if you love math like the professor loves math it particularly speaks to you, but I also think you can identify with the way he loves math, even if for you it’s some other subject, and still really be touched by the book.
…but I studied math too, so who knows?
Natsume Soseki’s “Ten Nights of Dreams” fits the bill, I think. REVENGE reminded me a lot of it, with its weird, creepy, beautiful stories and imagery. I also love Ogawa’s “The Professor and the Housekeeper”, though it’s a much sweeter story.
No. Evita the movie musical does not get an honorable mention. Evita the movie musical was a basket of DROOLING YAWNS. There’s no substitute for 1970s Mandy Patinkin and Patti Lupone screaming at each other for three hours about poverty and class. I understand wanting to reward a musical for existing, buuuuut NOPE SORRY.
RIGHT?? The movie was awwwwwfuuullll. At least they didn’t give Sweeney Todd an honorable mention.
I totally love that movie while agreeing with all critiques of it, and am going to do a post so we can talk about literally every song like I did for Annie when I was at The Hairpin.
“There’s no substitute for 1970s Mandy Patinkin and Patti Lupone.” There. Fixed. No qualifiers needed.
Nothing fills me with joy more than watching the Tony Awards performance of “A New Argentina”. Patti is on FIRE and so smoking hot.
I really enjoyed I Love Dick, but it was not my favourite choice for reading on the subway. Lots of clear and righteous anger and frustration, captures a certain kind of personal emotional intensity really well. It does disappear up its own ass a couple times IIRC and I found the narrator’s entire relationship with her husband pretty mystifying.
No Top Hat?! Invalid list.
At some point today, can we talk about this year’s Bad Sex in Fiction award? Please?
Holy crap, I’m wavering between the winner and the first runner-up. How to choose which is more horrible, statisticians or blisters?
(Blisters, right? Has to be blisters…)
Happy birthday, Nick! I hope someone gives you an anthology of bad Prince jokes in celebration.
These are not 100% pure magical realism but Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day by Ben Loory (this book is weird as all get out/kinda creepy!) and The White Boy Shuffle by Paul Beatty. I am in love with WBS and think it should be required reading in the United States… it is SO smart and SO good and so funny and sad all at once and the ending lines will slay you in the best way; how it’s not a more famous book I have no idea. There are elements of magical realism in it but it’s also just a really fantastic book about race in the US and growing up not fitting into the perception/identity that others assign you. TOASTIES, PLEASE READ THIS BOOK! Then talk to me about it. (I really need to talk about it with someone, because writing my undergrad thesis on it was apparently not enough to get it out of my system.)
I’ve been trying to figure out that Victorian street doctor’s goth platform shoes for a hot minute now.
they look uneven, making me think they are therapeutic lifts for uneven leg lengths? That looks like a pretty huge discrepancy and I am making myself a little ill thinking about what would have caused it (polio? birth defect? a bad break that wasn’t set properly? serious malnutrition?)
Magical realism: Kevin Brockmeier (Brief history of the dead, View from the seventh layer, Things that fall from the sky), Zsuzsi Gartner (All the anxious girls on earth).
*frantically adds all the things to my to-read list*
I read A Brief History of the Dead recently and loved it, so on that basis alone, all the rest of these are going on my list.
NICOLE PLEASE BRING BROADWAY FRIDAYS TO THE TOAST PLEEEEEEEASE IT’S ALMOST CHRISTMAS.
Another magic realism* suggestion: Karin Tidbeck’s wierd but amazing short story collection Jagannath. I believe many of the stories are influenced by Swedish mythology. The first story is about a man who falls in love with an airship and a woman in love with a steam engine.
*I think; I’m not very good at identifying subgenres…