Slog - Comments on ...And Boy, Are My Arms Tired

Comment by Will in Seattle

Will in Seattle — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 14:20:14 -0800

In the old days you could send them home Book Rate and save a bundle, although I still stuffed the ABA books into a suitcase first, shipping the rest by the slower mail services.

Comment by elenchos

elenchos — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 14:25:18 -0800

He marks a seminal moment at the Oscars when Elliott Smith and Dion were in direct competition�apparently, Dion was so sweet to Smith that he spent the rest of his life [in a living hell] defending her [out of a misplaced sense of obligation] in interviews.

My God. Celine Dion killed Elliott Smith. She killed him with... kindness.

Comment by Sirkowski

Sirkowski — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 16:21:21 -0800

What's the history of C�line with the Quebec separatist movement?

Comment by Will in Seattle

Will in Seattle — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 16:37:40 -0800

@3 - none really. The PQ and BQ are really a joke. Canadians have been posturing on that for a few hundred years now, and Celine mostly stays out of it, since she has major sales on both sides of the language divide.

Comment by the man who couldn't blog

the man who couldn't blog — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 17:12:29 -0800

Galleycat plagiarism!

Comment by Paul Constant

Paul Constant — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 17:28:23 -0800

@5: I saw that post after I put mine up. I knew it was going to be unoriginal--it's a pretty old, tired joke--but it wasn't plagiarized.

Comment by Fnarf

Fnarf — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 17:37:45 -0800

As usual, Will doesn't know what he's talking about, even when he's talking about Canada. All he sees is the boring party politics.

It's not really true to say "Quebec separatist", but it is true that Dion uses the symbolism of Quebec nationalism. And is one of those symbols herself. These are encoded in ways that Anglophone Canada can't hear (as Will demonstrates), and that America hasn't a clue about (America is for the most part unaware of Quebec's existence). But Quebeckers know it when they see it, and when they heard her speak in Quebec joual slang at the Grammys. When she was awarded an "Anglophone" award for her first English album, she nearly touched off a government crisis with the strength of her rejection.

One of the fascinating parts of the book was the (too brief) glimpse into the alternative universe of Quebecois pop -- the vedette world, the ketaine world. Despite Quebec's relatively small proportion of Canada's population, they have a bustling music and culture scene, which is almost wholly unknown even to anglophone Quebeckers. Celine Dion is right smack in the middle of that. It's not about separatism, it's about identity.

Comment by elenchos

elenchos — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 17:43:25 -0800

On the other hand, Will often nearly drives to stab myself through the heart with a kitchen knife. So he does have things in common with Celine Dion.

Comment by Fnarf

Fnarf — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 17:43:59 -0800

@6 -- PRETTY old? A master of understatement you are. That's the oldest Borscht Belt joke going, to the point where it's on at least its third round of ironic reference.

Comment by j-lon

j-lon — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 01:44:29 -0800

I've known Carl Wilson for many years now from the music listserve, Postcard2. So maybe I'm a bit biased.

All I know is that Carl is a brilliantly smart dude, a great writer, and imho, one of the best music critics in North America, bar none.

I enjoyed his book very much. Since reading it, I've given away around 5 copies to other people as gifts. That's how much I liked it.

If only all the books in the 33 1/3 series were this good and thought provoking.

I agree that the discussion of the Quebec pop scene was interesting and definitely something I knew nothing about.

I also enjoyed Wilson's discussion of Schmaltz, particularly when he describes punk rock as "Anger Schmaltz." Perfect.

Why didn't I think of that?

Comment by julie

julie — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 15:29:25 -0800

@ 10:
Agreed. I don't know the author, but this is a brilliant book.