The Chopper: The Real Story

This is a brand new book that just came out from Gestalten. Marie bought it for me for christmas. It's fucking awesome. I want to go right back to page 1 and read it all over again.

Oversize book. Nice paper stock. Very well produced. Good finishing details. Great layout. It's a functional and aesthetic accomplishment. Just excellent art direction all round.

The book charts the history of the chopper from bob-jobs and proto-choppers, through the legit 60's chopper craze, the fall of choppers, the rise of the shitty big tire custom crap, the fall of that crap, and the reinvigoration of the classic chopper scene today. Paul D'Orleans captures the full cycle (pun intended). And it's a glorious cycle indeed.

Paul is well-spoken and articulate, but definitely down to earth, too. He keeps the book flowing very well. But I have one gripe: the editor sucked. I caught at LEAST 8 typos in the book. Obviously it doesn't ruin the book, but they're unnecessary. Didn't someone read the damn thing from cover to cover before it got printed? Anyway...

This is a beautiful and informative book packed with great photos and information. If you ride a motorcycle you should own this book.

How to Tell if Your Cat is Plotting to Kill You

I wanted to buy this for Marie last year for x-mas but it appeared to be out of print. I could only find it on the Canadian Amazon, but shipping was the same price as the book or something along those lines... Anyway, I was in the airport at Minneapolis last month and I saw it as I was browsing through their bookstore. I picked it up and it was Marie's gift from my travels. I'm sure you think that's super exciting.

The Oatmeal is funny as FUCK. And if you own a cat this book will have you crying in laughter. It's so goddamn spot on.

If you have a cat you will like this. Plain and simple.

Morbid Tales

Finally, the long awaited follow up to Mark Rudolph's awesome book about Mercyful Fate: Satan is Alive. Here we have a tribute to the incredible life and works of Tom G. Warrior and Celtic Frost.

I loved the first book. And now Mark's curated a new installment. A BETTER installment. The premise of the first one was to interpret lyrics in comic book form. really cool idea. But Morbid Tales is looser. It's more about interpreting Tom's life in comic form. Anything goes. It's fucking bad ass.

Mark teamed up with Corpseflower Records to put this one out, and he's upped the ante by compiling a 12" vinyl tribute to Celtic Frost, too. That's not out yet, but it's on its way. All the songs are recorded and it's just a matter of getting it mastered and then pressed. It's got the likes of Evoken, Acid Witch, Municipal Waste, Phil Anselmo with Childbite, Scott Kelly and more. Mark even asked Temple of Void to be on the record and we jumped at it! We recorded "Os Abysmi Vel Daath" and can't wait to hear that on wax alongside the other great covers.

But I digress. This post is about the book at hand. The format is the same. Similar paper stock, size, binding, etc. All top class. A lot of the contributors are carryovers from the first book, plus some new ones. I like the stories and comments by 'famous' metalheads that punctuate the comic. It flows really well. It's relatable. It's imaginative. It's a good read. I don't have any gripes with this, man. Seriously. I actually think it tops Satan is Alive, which is a hard thing to do. But I think the artists' imaginations really took flight in this book in a way they couldn't have with the first one because they were interpreting songs. This time they got to go wild and put their own spins on things.

The opening story with Crowley, Venom, and Conan on his throne...fucking brilliant. Worth the price of the book alone. Rudolph's contributions are my personal favorites. Shagrat's is my second favorite. Detroit really represents well with cool drawings by Mike Erdody, Shawn Knight, Slasher Dave, Kelly Larson, and Jason Outcast.

Needless to say I really dug this book and look forward to the third installment, whenever that may come...

Essential purchase.

Of Dice and Men

Chillin' in the hotel in Orange County. Beautiful weather outside. I bet it's 20 degrees in Detroit right now. I'm in a t-shirt. Just sayin'...

I started this book a little while ago and read the final two thirds on the plane ride over from Minneapolis. I had a baby shitting its pants next to me and then getting breastfed. It wasn't ideal so I immersed myself in clerics, orcs, balrogs, and polyhedral dice for the majority of the flight.

Of Dice and Men is, as the subtitle describes, "the story of dungeons & dragons and the people who play it." The author attempts to write a book that is high level enough to appeal to the uninitiated, yet peppered with enough nerdisms to give any dork a nerdgasm. I straddled the fence. I was interested in the anthropological and historical aspects of D&D, but I also have always wanted to play it.

As a youth I stared in fascination at the miniatures set up at my local Games Workshop stores. I was super into Lego as a child, read find-your-fate fantasy novels, and got into heavy metal early on, but I never made the full leap to D&D. I owned Hero Quest and Space Crusade, but I was a one man gamer. I had no idea how to play either game so I just made it up in my head (much like D&D). But I was alone. I never had that mentor or older nerd to initiate me into gaming proper. So I just hung around the periphery of the gaming scene.

Anyway, this book is about the genesis of D&D, its rise to fame, infamy, its fall, and its rise again. The tome looks at the politics involved, the relationships formed and dissolved, and the cultural legacy. It's an impressive story to say the least. Inspirational.

If you have a casual (or serious) interest in D&D then you'll enjoy this book. Hell, even if you literally don't know anything about it, this is still a good read. But I'm not gonna oversell it. It's not the greatest thing since twenty sided dice. But it's good. Check it out. Find your fate...

 

I am Jackie Chan: My Life in Action

I picked this book up for $2 at a local record store. Unexpected but very welcome find.

As a huge Jackie Chan fan since the 80's I was excited to delve into his history. Find out where he came from and how he got to be the most amazing martial artist the silver screen has ever known. The bio delivers the goods. I'd say a good fifty percent of the book is all pre-movie stuff. It's all about Jackie growing up in a Chinese Opera School. He meets the likes of Samo Hung and Yuen Biao, and develops life-long friendships and partnerships with them.

You learn about Jackie's parents, his upbringing, his first loves, his friends, and then his whole life as the biggest celebrity in Asia. The failures and successes, the Triads, Jackie's unwavering spirit and determination, and his generosity. It's all there. As well as his many injuries and hospital visits.

I love books that have super short chapters. This one is written with an average of 3 or 4 pages per chapter. It makes for a quick read. You fly through it from stunt to stunt.

I've got the Project A DVD sitting on the shelf. This has definitely motivated me to move that right up to the top of my queue. It's been a loooooong time since I've seen that. I went through a "let's see what Jackie Chan films are on Netflix" phase a couple years ago. I watched a bunch that I hadn't seen since I was 9 or 10. Some should stay hidden, and some are just straight up classics. I NEED to see Police Story again. Pronto. Pickle and I watched that movie over and over and over again as youths. Best action movie of all time. Bar none.

Conan of Cimmeria: Volume 6

I picked up this original paperback from a great local bookstore on Woodward. For all the Conan I've read, it's always been in comic form and never the original short stories. So I finally started reading the stories as told by Robert E. Howard in all their black and white glory. They're great. No shock there.

Great diction. Good pace. Immersive. Very enjoyable read. I look forward to buying that big-ass anthology...

Flow in the Office

Kaizen: Japanese for "incremental continuos improvement" or more specifically "good change."

I started learning about Kaizen at work a good six years ago or so. I've been very interested in the Japanese process ever since. I try to apply the process to my work life and home life in the hopes of bettering both. However, since it was born from Toyota's Total Productive Maintenance concept in regards to manufacturing cars, it's always been very manufacturing-oriented. If your job is mostly computer-oriented and you follow a digital task flow, then you have to take the abstract theories and figure out how to apply them to your specific office needs. I don't work on the shop floor, I don't produce widgets, and I don't work in a warehouse environment. So how do I apply a lean process flow to my team at work?

Well, that's why I bought this book. I've always wanted an office-centric take on Kaizen because all of my Kaizen initiatives (not matter how big or small) are always adapted by myself or my team. It's organic. I wanted to see if a book solely about office Kaizen would unlock some secret mysteries I hadn't thought of!

Nope.

The book was a good primer on Kaizen but I pretty much knew everything they covered. I'd definitely suggest it to Kaizen office n00bs, but it's not going to be revelatory to anyone with a solid lean manufacturing background. I took notes on my phone on a couple topics that caught my attention and I plan on bringing them up to some coworkers. So it wasn't devoid of value to me.

It's an easy read. It's a quick read. Recommended as an introductory to office Kaizen.

Into Thin Air

I think I got this at a garage sale in Ferndale a couple years ago. I dig documentaries and I loved Into the Wild, so I figured this would be a good bet.

As luck would have it, I was right. I loved every minute of this story. Read it in three days. Very compelling stuff.

Jon Krakauer is a journalist who was sent to summit Everest in '96 and write about it for a magazine he worked for. An avid climber since he was a young man, he'd always wanted the opportunity to climb Everest. And at up to 65k for a guided ascent, it sure as hell wasn't cheap. So here was a chance to do it and get paid at the same time. Killer! Literally.

The '96 season lead to numerous deaths on Everest, and Jon was there right in the thick of it. Lucky to be alive himself, he documented his story in this nail-biting and foreboding book. It makes for a thrilling and sad read. He pissed off some of the friends and loved ones with his original article, and no doubt he may have pissed off more with this book. But it is what it is. One man's recollection of the events on the face of the tallest mountain in the world. 29,000 ft above sea level. Shit's crazy, man.

If you like any sort of human endurance stories, tales about surmounting the impossible, tales of heroism and things of that nature...this is your jam. Check it out.

Misery Obscura

I love this book. I bought it as soon as it dropped but it deserved a re-reading. 160 odd pages of photos and stories by Eerie Von. It's great shit, man. It really is.

The thing that really impressed me the first time around was the quality of the book. The design is really freakin nice. A lot of time and effort went into this book. Great production value and finishing techniques.

Anyway, I read it again. I stared at the cool old pics of James and Kirk, of the Misfits and Samhain back in the day. Killer Danzig shots in the studio and behind the scenes. It's all there. But the best part is really just reading Eerie retell his tales of yore. About making Danzig laugh. Lyle Preslar. The whole 9 yards, man.

If you're fiend this is mandatory. I ended up buying an original print off of Eerie for Pickle one x-mas.

And if you're not a fiend...what the fuck's wrong with you?

People Who Eat Darkness

Who isn’t fascinated with Japan? The place is fucking insane. I’d love to go one day and soak in the soba noodles, bask in the glory of neon lights, sex toy vending machines, and bosozoku. I want to feel girls’ boobs on the subway on my way to the tearoom filled with cats. One day…

Anyway, I can’t remember how I came across People Who Eat Darkness. GQ maybe? Or a recommendation on Amazon? Regardless, I just read through 450 pages pretty freakin fast. I  inhaled the book in a matter of days. It was gripping stuff. It’s a true story about a young, hot, English woman who goes missing in Japan. 

The author was an expat reporter who covered the case from day one. He cobbles together years of personal interviews and experience to bring this story to life. It’s a pretty well-rounded book covered many aspects of the girl, her family, and her assailant. I don’t want to go into much detail cuz that’d spoil things. It’s a mystery, a hunt, a court case, an ethical nightmare, and a variety of twists and turns. 

The Japanese are so bizarre. So über nationalistic, so introverted, so polite, yet so unique, extroverted, and fucking bananas at the same time. They’re uptight and they’re over the top. It makes perfect sense. It’s the same logic in Detroit. The city sucks so bad that it compels people to try that much harder to be awesome and kick ass. The shittiness fuels the awesomeness. Great adversity builds character and innovation. Japan is the same. It’s so repressed, so stoic, so culturally codified that the only logical reaction is to take every form of rebellion to the extreme. It’s the land of tentacle porn. 

I’m getting off topic. I don’t read a lot of true crime cuz I genuinely don’t like dwelling on something heinous that actually happened to someone. I’d prefer if it was fictional. But I took a chance on this. And I don’t regret it. It ruled. 

Learn about salarymen and hostesses. Learn about the Japanese judicial system. And see how the actions of one man can have a radical, irreversible impact on the lives of many. For the worse. 

If you read one true crime murder mystery this year…this is the one.

Meat is for Pussies

JJ, you gotta love him. You don't always have to believe him, but you gotta dig his stories. You've probably read Evolution of a Cro-magnon, JJ's bio. If not, go do it! Order that shit now!

Meat is for Pussies is exactly what it says it is; a book on getting fit, kicking ass, and taking names.

JJ lays out his argument for eliminating animal products from your life. He's 54 and is constantly doing Ironmans and triathlons, etc. The dude is in great shape and he's been vegan for most of his life.

This book is engrossing. It reads just like his bio. It's blunt. And it's pretty lowbrow, let's be straight. It's an honest book that dispels common myths about eating meat, protein, and whatnot. He interviews and cites a plethora of different vegans throughout the book. They come from all walks of life. They all have their own stories and achievements to tell.

He lays out fitness plans, there's a cookbook aspect to it, and there's a scientific aspect. He has some pretty generic quotes from the likes of Thoreau and Einstein peppered through the book. Nothing very deep or unique as far as that goes.

But the important thing is that it works. The book makes you question your choices. You can't deny what he's saying and it motivates you. It's the good kick in the ass that you need. It's funny, but it also makes you stop and order 9 grain bread with Earth Balance spread instead of white bread with butter.

It's going to stick with me for a while. I'm already changing my habits. I strongly suggest you read this book. At the very least you'll find it a quick, funny, entertaining read. But hopefully it affects you on a deeper level and you stop and think before you buy some processed food shit or cook a chicken.

Meat is for pussies.

the Walking Dead: Volume 21 All Out War Part 2

I was really looking forward to this one. It looked like they'd got themselves in a pretty fucked up position by going to war with Negan. I wanted to see how it all panned out.

Another good book in the string of good books. I think The Walking Dead would definitely be more powerful if you read an issue per week. But since I read the TPB's I have to wait and there's too much time between each one. You have to play catch-up each installment.

One day I'll read them all again from volume 1 through whatever. There certainly doesn't seem to be any sort of end in sight for the series, though. We'll see what happens. I like doing that with Preacher, for instance.

It's a bit of a surprise ending. Another cliffhanger. It's a unique situation. Let's see what Rick does in the next issue...

Conan: Volume 15 the Nightmare of the Shallows

The story of Conan and his lover, Belit, continues in Volume 15 of the Dark Horse books.

Couple different artists in this tome. Dug the first one more. I prefer when Conan's treated with more realism, rather than with an abstracted comic-book style approach.

This one is closer to a return to form. Writing was good, but I'm just not into reading about Belit this much. Part of the attraction to me is that you never know what's going to happen. What kind of crazy ass predicament will the young warrior find himself in. What woman will he bed? And will he decapitate? I prefer to think of Conan as someone who doesn't really fall in love. I'm not into humanizing him. I want him to scale 200 ft walls with his bare hands, climb through a window, and bang a king's daughter or something. Then do it all over again in a different town, with a different daughter, facing a plethora of magical beasts along the way.

Anyway, this was pretty good. I really need to buy that Robert E. Howard Conan anthology.

Next TPB I want to see more decapitations.

Burning Rubber

I got into F1 this year. And I've been hooked. It's brilliant once you start to understand the rules and the details behind it. And there are a lot of rules and a lot of details. It's crazy shit.

I've been a fan of racing movies for a long time, but it wasn't til now that I made the leap from watching movies about LeMans and F1 to actually watching the races and following the teams. One of my co-workers told me to stop by his desk one morning. I did so, and he handed me this book. I immediately put it on deck and started reading it as soon as I could.

Burning Rubber is a great read. It charts motor racing's origin, pre-FI, and then takes the reader on a journey from the inception of the championship up until the 2009 season. It's comprehensive. Exciting. It's all the best bits from 1950 onwards, all rolled into one. Charles Jennings is witty. The book is obviously factual, but Charles doesn't mince about. He'll throw in his commentary, his opinions, and take his digs at people. I felt like his chapter on Senna was a bit nasty, though. Almost like he wanted to be contrarian to everyone who holds Senna on a pedestal. Expose some nasty bits or something. Anyway, it's one man's opinion. And it's a very entertaining opinion at that.

This is a fascinating read for anyone who considers themselves a petrolhead. Even if you've never watched an F1 race in your life...if you love cars and love going fast...read this book.

Buddhism: Plain & Simple

I went to Bookstock with Marie a few months ago. It was a huge used book sale event at a mall in Westland or something. Marie found a decent selection of stuff to buy. I didn't come away with much other than a book on Buddhism, one on Gucci, and one on some true-life motorcycle gang/murder thing. I just picked up non-fiction, as that's how I roll most of the time. Anyway, this was the book on Buddhism I copped for a couple bucks.

The title is a bit misleading. It's not terribly simple. Hagen starts off well and it's pretty down to earth. But as the book progresses he talks about a lot of theories that are genuinely hard to describe, and he doesn't really help matters. It's very metaphysical. He strips away all notions of religion and ceremony and focuses on the essence of the teachings, which is cool. But still, it's not quite a breakthrough in simplicity if you ask me. But that's no easy task.

It's not an overview on Buddha and all the bells and whistles that go along with the philosophy. This isn't "the history of Buddhism." It's purely on the essence of its teachings. It's good, but it's not light reading. I can't say it's hard. But it is heavy. It's clearly hard for me to describe!

I'm just rambling. It's a worthwhile read. I can tell you that. I found myself stopping and contemplating quite a bit. It sticks with you.

Actually, as soon as I started reading it I knew I wanted Marie to pick it up, too. Even just to read the first couple chapters.

I've read about a half dozen books on Buddhism and this won't be the last. There's just so many ways of looking at things, it's fascinating. Dig it.

Bauhaus, Modernism & the Illustrated Book

Marie bought me this book for X-Mas. I always get awesome books from my wife. She has some great finds.

The title of this book couldn't be simpler. You know exactly what it's about. Alan Bartram walks the reader through a myriad examples of how modernist design principles have been applied to the printed book. He focuses on English and mainland European designers. As an Englishman he can't help but reflect upon how Swiss theory has impacted British design. He gets into some US designers, too, but doesn't really touch upon Modernism's impact on Asia, Africa or South America. That's fine. You can't be all things to everyone all the time.

This tome is definitely scholarly. But Bartram writes with a certain English wit to temper the highbrow theory behind the content. There's a certain duality that British authors (and British people in general) can strike that consists of both heady academic discourse and down-to-earth familiar dialogue. If you lean too far to one side you can come off boring as fuck and difficult to read. If you lean too far on the other side then your credibility gets questioned because you're far too informal. I find most British designers know how to straddle that bridge very well. Bartram has a very subtle sense of humor about his work. But it may get lost if you're not paying close attention.

Having said all that, I certainly didn't fly through this book. It's not a gripping, page-turner. "ooh, I can't wait to find out what example of modern book design he shows next! I just can't sleep without knowing!" But it's a good coffee table book to read. It's good for future reference. It's good to have.

The main thing I took away from it was the brilliance of the Swiss grid. I really need to employ that system at work if I can. So that was my big take-away. Work on the grid.

This is by a Nazi-like Modern typographer and it's for people of like minds. If the cover doesn't move you then you're not the target audience. I find it fucking awesome and very provocative.

100 Things Every Designer Should Know About People

My co-worker let me borrow this book and I really freakin dug it. It's essentially a book on psychology and how you can apply it to your designs. More often than not it's discussing UI/UX principles.

It focuses on web / digital deliverables. Testing. Focus groups. UI/UX. Data analysis. Metrics. blah blah blah.

Each entry is only between 1 to 3 pages long. It's easy to chunk up. You can pick it up for a bit, put it down, and come back to it a week later and it doesn't make any difference.

Psychology is very important to every designer, but it's especially important when you're dealing with HMI design. Whether you do print or mobile or whatever, this book is worth a read. Fo' sho.

As you'd expect, the author puts forth theories that she's culled from various people's research and spits it back to you in a simplified and easy to digest manor. Sources are cited and main points are reiterated. It's good shit.

the Exorcist

Picked this up at a garage sale last summer, I believe. Just read it for the first time. It's fucking brilliant.

Rosemary's Baby and the Exorcist are two of my favorite horror films. Two of my favorite films, period. And their respective novels are top class.

There was a lot more cut from the Exorcist than Rosemary's Baby. There are quite a few additional subplots in the original novel that never make it to the screen. That's fine. The film is amazing as-is. But when you read the novel you certainly get introduced to a much deeper world than the portion that's portrayed on the silver screen. It's definitely worth a read.

This is a quick, easy read. It's very compelling.

Read it.

Hell's Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga

My boy Jason loaned me Hunter S. Thompson's book on the Hells Angels. I swapped him with my copy of Sonny Barger's bio. Both sides of the coin.

This is a pretty fucking sweet book, man. I really don't know much about Hunter S. Thompson. Most people's introduction is Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. There's a doc on Netflix about him. I'll have to peep it.

This book is probably the defining example of gonzo journalism. Thompson is embedded with the Angels for a year. Rolls with them, parties with them, gets high with them, and eventually gets stomped by them. And he recalls it all here. It's pretty far out.

I dig Thompson's style. It's very down to Earth. He's clearly a good writer, a learned individual. But his diction and syntax is very approachable. The only thing better than reading this book would have been if Thompson had an 8mm camera with him the whole time to capture some of this crazy shit. At the time he just had his notebook, though.

Anyway, I've read quite a few books on bikers and/or for bikers. This ranks right up there, man. It's a trip. It starts a touch slow but really takes off. Thompson gives his own insight, his own opinion, but gives you social context, too. It's great from a journalistic point of view. He's clearly among the Angels, but nowhere close to being an Angel. 

The book gets exciting when he's documenting the Angels' weekend trips. It's craziness. Real class. 

If you've ever seen a 60's biker flick then you  know what you're getting yourself into. This is the literary equivalent. But real life is far crazier than the movies. That's for sure. If you ride a motorcycle; read this book.

Jackie Stewart: World Champion

I went to a rad little used book store a little while back. I had picked up a book on Frazetta and also walked out with this bad boy under my arm.

For those of you not in the know, Jackie Stewart is a world famous Scottish Formula 1 champion. One of the all time greatest drivers in history. This book chronicles his 1969 World Championship winning F1 season, as well as some of the time leading up to it. It was written right afterwards. I think I snagged a first edition. Anyway...

Anyone into motorsport would do no wrong by reading this. First hand account of one of the most exciting times in racing history, told by one of the legends.

Jackie doesn't get too technical. He writes from a novices point of view most of the time and does well to explain some of the technical aspects he goes into. But it's certainly not going to be over the casual reader's head. Stewart teamed up with a fellow Scotsman to co-author the book with, Eric Dymock. He peppers the book with his observations and helps tie everything together.

It's very visual. If you liked the movie, Grand Prix (which is fucking amazing!), then you'd dig this.

Definitely recommended for anyone who watches Top Gear and thinks they're an armchair Stig.