26 members recommend for December

26 is now an official Amazon affiliate. That means if you order a recommended book or CD by following the links to Amazon, 10% of what you pay will end up in 26’s coffers, helping us to put on more events and recommend more books. A virtuous circle, if you like.

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‘Full Moon Empty Sportsbag’
This self-published magazine “documents the rough and ready alternative London literary scene” (it says here). Available for free in any number of achingly hip Shoreditch bars, mere mortals like you and me can subscribe for £26 a year. They’re always on the lookout for articles. Find out more at www.fullmoonemptysportsbag.com. RH

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‘The Pharmacist’s Mate’ by Amy Fusselman (Penguin, from £2.75 on Amazon)
Quite unlike any other McSweeney’s book you may have read, ‘The Pharmacist’s Mate’ is one of those reads you can come back to again and again. It’s a memoir about a woman trying to become pregnant as she mourns the death of her father, and reading his journal (which he wrote when he was a pharmacist’s mate, hence the title). Clocking in at around 80 pages, and written in simple, direct language, you’ll be impressed with the power of what Fusselman has achieved so economically. JH


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The ANNAs
In December 2004, the Newspaper Marketing Agency launched the Awards for National Newspaper Advertising – the ANNAs. You can see each month’s winning press ad online, with comments from the judges, together with other shortlisted ads. In short, it’s a good archive of top print advertising. The overall winner will be announced early in the new year. The prize is a not inconsequential 25 grand. www.the-annas.co.uk TR

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‘Exploitation Poster Art’ by Tony Nourmand and Graham Marsh (Aurum, £18.99 list or £13.99 on Amazon)
Steamy, sensationalist and often unintentionally hilarious movie posters from the 1950s and 1960s. A record of the social paranoia of the age, and worth it for some of the film titles alone – ‘Reefer Madness’, ‘Supervixens’, ‘High School Hellcats’, and ‘Cock of the Air’, for example. But some of the straplines are even more extravagant in their language: “Live Fast, Die Young – the sin-soaked story of today’s ‘beat’ generation”, “Call her savage, but she was one of those Wild Women of Borneo, a real Hot Pepper, and everyone knows ladies love Brutes”. Quite so. JD



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Yale’s Aural Records
An enchanting mix of literary, musical and design history, the ‘Yale Alumni Magazine’ features some of the treasures of the college’s recordings archive. The graphic language of the disk labels gives a hint of the richness of the recordings themselves, from Tolstoy reading ‘For Every Day’ to James Joyce lulling and lilting his way through ‘Ulysses’. See the slideshow: www.yalealumnimagazine.com TR

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‘The Sounds Of Monsterism Island’ (Forever Heavenly, £10.99 from Amazon)
For writers, designers can seem a strange, unfathomable breed. What goes on in their heads as they walk along Brick Lane with their Abraham Lincoln facial hair and Japanese fishing caps, trailing bands of pale acolytes? Well, right now, it’s quite possibly ‘The sounds Of Monsterism Island’, a compilation of out-there psychedelica, early electronica and wigged out folk. It’s the brainchild of Pete Fowler, designer of artwork for The Magic Numbers and monster toys. If enough writers listen to it, maybe we can foster a new spirit of writer/designer understanding in 2006. FT



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‘The Joys Of Engrish’ by Steve Caires (Michael Joseph, £10 list or £7 on Amazon)
Some 150 years after the classic book of translated malapropisms ‘English As She Is Spoke’, comes ‘The Joys Of Engrish’. This is a compedium of packaging, signs, ads and menus from the Far East, mostly Japan, written in something approximating English. Take a break with a Pocari Sweat soft drink or a Collon chocolate bar. Drop in to the Vulva bar or Piss Away café. Or why not moisturise with some Horny face cream? But then perhaps you should visit someone called Terreko who is offering “very fucking English lessons”. Visit www.engrish.com for plenty more. JD



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‘It’s A Wonderful Life’
OK, you’re so busy you don’t have time to watch old classics on telly this Christmas – but help is at hand. Simply visit www.angryalien.com to see a whole range of films, including all-time Christmas favourite ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’, performed in 30 seconds by bunnies. Classics available include ‘The Shining’, ‘Jaws’, ‘Pulp Fiction’ and a stunning performance of the ‘Exorcist’ – though for demonstrating the art of précis at its best, the bunny version of ‘Titanic’ wins hands down. Enjoy. LH

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www.newseum.org
For copyright reasons, the BBC’s web site was recently forced to remove its revealing daily section featuring the front pages of all the UK national newspapers. But never fear – www.newseum.org can now furnish you with front pages from 492 newspapers in 47 different countries, with the UK represented by the ‘Guardian’ and the ‘Daily Telegraph’. JD

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‘Unknown White Male’
On 2 July 2003, Doug Bruce, a British man living in New York, left his apartment on the Lower East Side. He turned up, 11 hours later, on the subway heading to Coney Island. He had no idea who he was. The documentary film ‘Unknown White Male’ tells the remarkable story of a man who lost every memory of his friends, his family and every experience he had ever known, for no apparent reason. Amazing. unknownwhitemale.co.uk TR

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‘Word’ magazine
‘Word’ is a monthly music magazine that often has entertaining articles on the origins of pop culture phrases. In the July 05 issue they covered examples of showbiz hijacking language, from ‘Must we throw this filth at our pop kids?’ to ‘And on that bombshell!’ and ‘Get mediaeval on your ass’. And in November 05 they had 50 years of catchphrases, running from ‘Evening all’ (1955) to ‘And now for something completely different’ (1969) to today’s ubiquitous ‘Am I bovvered?’. Good for testing your memory and explaining obscure phrases to non-English speakers. www.wordmagazine.co.uk. FT

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‘The Truth’ – 26 member George Milton’s first full length feature film
‘The Truth’ (produced by 2 Many Executives) is released by Guerilla Films nationwide on Friday 13th January 2006 through the Cineworld Cinemas chain. It will be showing in London (Shaftesbury Avenue), Edinburgh, Glasgow, Sheffield and Birmingham. George and two of the actors will be hosting previews and Q&A sessions in most of the above cities. 26 members are warmly invited. Please check local press for details, or go to www.thetruthmovie.com.

‘The Truth’ is a blackly comic murder-mystery for the ‘Me Generation’. Seven young strangers go to a spiritual retreat for a journey of personal growth, taking in jealousy, hatred, sexual perversion and a little murder on the way.

‘The Truth’ is a brilliant study in the distortions of group dynamics, and how the words we use to communicate can actually impede understanding and make even less sense of ourselves. It’s a horribly funny movie in which I recognised bits of myself I didn’t really want to acknowledge, but also had me weeping with laughter at how the feelings we struggle to articulate can become so loaded with motivation, projection and expectation. The characters in The Truth build flesh-crawling alliances driven by lust, greed, suspicion, fear, inadequacy and the desperate need to be accepted or manipulate. Their dialogue is exquisitely crafted, imaginatively juxtaposed, and the way they exploit and seduce each other had me cringing behind the proverbial sofa. TL

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Moleskine notebooks. Available from most bigger bookshops (like Waterstones) or from www.moleskine.co.uk
These pedigree pocket-sized notebooks are perfect for capturing moments of inspiration – wherever they may hit. Already a favourite with many 26ers, if you haven’t discovered Moleskines, treat yourself to one for Christmas. £8 isn’t much for a home for the thoughts you can’t afford to forget. And there’s even a little pocket in the back to tuck away clippings. HA

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The World’s Wife by Carol Ann Duffy (Picador)
Mrs Darwin, Queen Kong and Elvis’s twin sister are just a few of the 30 women Duffy gives voice to in this inventive collection of poems.

Here’s Mrs Darwin as a taster:

7 April 1852.

Went to the Zoo.
I said to Him –
Something about that Chimpanzee over there reminds me of
you.

Duffy goes behind the scenes of history, myth and celebrity and explores the relationships and daily domestics that bring Great Men down to earth with a bump. It’s witty, fresh, exuberant, and pure pleasure to read.



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The recent batch of prose adverts – just words (lots of them)
You may have seen the Waitrose story campaign, where the first letters of the paragraphs spell Waitrose. The Orange double-paged spread (300-odd words’ worth) may have caught your eye – ‘Good things can happen when your phone’s off/Good things can happen when your phone’s on’. Even Vodaphone’s in on the act with their ‘Make the most of now’ campaign (www.vodaphonemayfly.co.uk). Is this a trend? A rebalancing of visual and verbal identity? If you haven’t seen this stuff, keep an eye out. If you have, look for more. Maybe we’re on to something here. HA

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This month’s plugs by Jim Davies, Roger Horberry, Lu Hersey, John Simmons, Tim Rich, Tom Lynham, Heather Aitchison, Fiona Thompson and James Hogwood. These are not necessarily the views of 26, but we hope they’re not far off the mark. Any contributions gratefully received.

posted by jim @ 10:09 AM