Palahniuk Archives
Yesterday morning I bought the new Feist album, A Reminder, via iTunes and gave it a spin during my morning commute. It still might grow on me, but my first impression is that it's too lo-fi and not as hooky as her debut record, but I digress...
One song that really jumped out at me though, is track 10, "Brandy Alexander." Check the lyrics:
Though I'd like to be the girl for him
And cross the sea and land for him
On milky skin my tongue is sand until
The ever distant band begins to play
He's my Brandy Alexander
Always gets me into trouble
But that's another matter
Brandy Alexander
He's my Brandy Alexander
Always gets me into trouble
But that's another matter
Brandy Alexander
Though you know what I love most of him
I'm walking on needles and pins
My addiction to the worst of him
The low moon helps me sing
I'm his Brandy Alexander
Always get him into trouble
I hide that I'm flattered
Brandy Alexander
I'm his Brandy Alexander
Always get him into trouble
I hide that I'm flattered
Brandy Alexander
Goes down easy
It goes down easy [7x]
Brandy Alexander [4x]
The reason that this song jumped out at me is Brandy Alexander is the name of the protagonist in Chuck Palahniuk's excellent third novel*, Invisible Monsters. Here's a plot summary via Amazon:
Welcome to the world of perverse self-mutilation, insane coincidences and extreme makeovers speckled with violent acts and prescription drugs. After surviving a gunshot wound that destroyed half her face, Shannon meets the vivacious Brandy Alexander, whose glamorous nature seduces her into traveling cross-country in a delightful and ironic crime spree. In typical Palahniuk fashion, the story leaps about in an erratic and initially bewildering manner, but ultimately makes sense.
Always gets me into trouble? Check.
My addiction to the worst of him? Check.
I hide that I'm flattered? Check.
From the book:
"The nurse leads me past in my cardboard slippers, my tight bandages and deep funk, and Brandy Alexander looks up at the last possible instant and winks. God should be able to wink that good. Like somebody taking your picture. Give me joy. Give me fun. Give me love."
Interesting.
You can read and online graphic novel of Invisible Monsters over at Chucky P dot net.
* It was actually the second novel he wrote, but it didn't get published until after Fight Club and Survivor.
Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey
Rant takes the form of a (fictional) oral history of Buster "Rant" Casey, in which an assortment of friends, enemies, admirers, detractors, and relations have their say on this evil character, who may or may not be the most efficient serial killer of our time.
Buster Casey was every small kid born in a small town, searching for real thrills in a world of video games and action/adventure movies. The high school rebel who always wins (and a childhood murderer?), Rant Casey escapes from his hometown of Middleton for the big city and becomes the leader of an urban demolition derby called Party Crashing, where on designated nights, the participants recognize each other by dressing their cars with tin-can tails, "Just Married" toothpaste graffiti, and other refuse, then look for designated markings in order to stalk and crash into each other. It's in this violent, late-night hunting game that Casey meets three friends. And after his spectacular death, these friends gather the testimony needed to build an oral history of his short life. Their collected anecdotes explore the charges that his saliva infected hundreds and caused a silent, urban plague of rabies....
Expect hilarity and horror, and blazing insight into the desperate and surreal contemporary human condition as only Chuck Palahniuk can deliver it. He's the postmillennial Jonathan Swift, the visionary to watch to learn what's —uh-oh—coming next.
Sounds AWESOME.
Completely unrelated: If you're in D.C. tonight, come by The 4 P's to see the screening of Lord Don't Slow Me Down.