BAD NEWS BEARS FOR BOOK REVIEWS

-The LA Times stand alone book review booklet thingy is no more (Fishbowl LA)

-Per Los Angeles magazine the Central Library is one of the 64 Greatest Things About LA. (LAMAG.com)

-Did you know Skylight Books has book groups? I did not. (map)

-New York Times Book Section. You're going to need this.

WHAT'S GOING ON IN DAHOUD?

So you’ve jumped on the Global Warming bandwagon and bought yourself a Prius. Good for you! Well, having taken six years of Latin in High School, you can trust me when I say that the word “Prius” loosely translates to “blowhard.” Actually, the word “Prius” in Latin translates to “first,” as in the first person to point out that they are driving a hybrid and single-handedly saving mankind by getting 45 miles per gallon as opposed to 35 miles per gallon (Pico reader John pointed out that the 1987 Honda Civic CRX HF got an EPA rating of 57 miles per gallon a full 20 years before the hybrid craze). However, telling everyone that they drive a hybrid just isn’t enough for Prius owners, as they are compelled by their inner-Gore to make their car a mobile picket sign. Prius owners have been known to take such bold and controversial stands with their bumper stickers as “trees are good,” “abortions are legal,” “animals are nice, and therefore eating them is mean,” and “tolerance is preferred to intolerance.” The only thing more infuriating than watching these assholes fly past me on the 405 with their neon yellow “Access Ok” stickers plastered beside their “PETA” bumper stickers, is being forced to go through the added disgrace of reading their personalized license plates for an hour and forty-five minutes on my commute home. Some of the choice Prius plates I have seen this week have been:

"OILBGON”

The driver of this Prius is under the impression that her purchase has relieved her of the burden of relying on fossil fuels. Apparently her car runs on the same contraption that Kevin Costner had in Waterworld whereby she can urinate in her gas tank and emit purified drinking water.

"LIVEGRN”

Yah, live green man. Meanwhile, this Prius owner’s backseat was filled with plastic shopping bags. Until this guy shops with hemp bags that he harvested and wove himself, and his children use loin-skin diapers made from raccoon pelts, he can keep his preaching plate to himself.

“PRDIIB”

This Prius owner had an American flag license plate frame, reminding us that one can think green and be proud to be an American. Bold.

“COXZIST”

Why didn’t we think of this before? Israelis and Palestinians put down your arms because the guy in the Prius said that we should all coexist and respect each others differences. Yeah, the guy in the Prius with the Dave Matthews t-shirt eating granola, he said we should just live in harmony. So, that should solve that problem. It’s so simple, yet so brilliant. Moron.

To further illustrate my point, West Hollywood has recently adopted the Prius as their parking enforcement vehicle of choice. God, I hate parking enforcement. Every year Forbes releases a list of the most respected professions, and “Parking Enforcement” continually ranks one notch below “Professional Child Rapist”. If I get one more chicken-shit ticket from these guys for not turning my wheel far enough into the curb, (even though I’m parked on a street with a 1% grade) I might just snap. Also, spare me the argument that “they are just doing their job,” because then the guards at Dachau were just doing their job too. So, there you have it…buying a Prius is like supporting child raping and Nazism. I hope you are happy with your purchase.

DON'T THEY KNOW IT'S CHRISTMAS TIME AT ALL?

As Bing Crosby once said, “it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas,” which is why we here at Pico have decided to review the musical miscarriage that was Band Aid. In 1984 the “supergroup” Band Aid was formed in an effort to alleviate hunger in Africa by pinching a lyrical loaf into the willing ears of college students the world over. The band, comprised of Paul McCartney, David Bowie, Sting, Bono, Phil Collins, George Michael, Boy George, Duran Duran, Paul Weller, Bananarama, Big Country and other clueless musicians, produced a little ditty known as “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” According to the map below, I submit that the answer to their question is “no;” they don’t know it’s Christmas time...at all.

Aside from largely being a Muslim and Tribal continent, I imagine that the reason they (the Africans) don’t know it’s Christmas time at all is because they don’t have irrigation sufficient to sustain the growth of crops that feed the people who create the businesses which spur the economy that allows the citizens to have enough expendable cash to purchase overproduced British records about Africans not knowing its Christmas time at all. Maybe if they had running water, governments that lasted longer than Hollywood pilots, no war lords, genocide, De Beers, AIDS or Ebola, then they could focus their efforts on roasting chestnuts on the open fire, decking the halls, and throwing back a few eggnog lattés at the company Christmas party. At the very least, the lyrics to this song prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Bono has always been a no talent ass-clown, and that Paul McCartney should have lived at the Dakota instead of John Lennon. Case in point (with commentary):

It's Christmas time
There's no need to be afraid
(Why one would be afraid of Christmas, I don’t know)
At Christmas time
We let in light and we banish shade
(“Light good and shade bad” says the pasty Englishman to the African)
And in our world of plenty
(Just to clarify, “our world” means “not Africa”)

We can spread a smile of joy
Throw your arms around the world
At Christmas time
But say a prayer
Pray for the other ones

At Christmas time it's hard
(I pulled a hammy carrying a load of presents to my car during my paid vacation.)
But when you're having fun
There's a world outside your window
(The window attached to your 10,000 square foot London flat.)
And it's a world of dread and fear
(Oooh, dread and fear; sounds ominous and trite.)

Where the only water flowing
Is the bitter sting of tears
(Get it? They don’t have flowing water, but their tears from crying about not having flowing water is ironically their only source of flowing water. In the actual song Sting sings this lyric. Notice how he worked the word “sting” into that lyric? Sting: eradicating hunger one cross-promotion at a time.)

And the Christmas bells that ring
There are the clanging chimes of doom
(See how they did that? Christmas bells are like clanging chimes of doom to Africans.)
Well tonight thank God it's them instead of you
(You can say that again Bono. This marks the only time Bono and I have agreed on something.)

Feed the world
Let them know it's Christmas time
(Want some fruit cake? I got plenty. No really, its no bother. My aunt made an extra couple loaves with nuts and I'm allergic. What? You don't like fruit cake? I thought you were starving. You're starving, not desperate? Forget it, I hope Santa shits in your stocking this year!)
Feed the world
Do they know it's Christmas time at all?
(Probably not.)

And there won't be snow in Africa
This Christmas time
(There is no snow in Africa during Christmas? How are they supposed to know when it’s Christmas time?)
The greatest gift they'll get this year is life
(That’s Bono again reminding you that life is a gift, much like an iPod shuffle.)
Where nothing ever grows
No rain nor rivers flow
(Have you tried irrigation?)
Do they know it's Christmas time at all?
(Nope.)

Feed the world
Let them know it's Christmas time
Feed the world
Let them know it's Christmas time again

(Here's to you) raise a glass for everyone
(Ahhh, fresh clean water in my glass)
(Here's to them) underneath that burning sun
(It’s hot in Africa, especially without cold, clean water…cold, clean water like the water in Sting’s glass that he’s raising to the thirsty Africans.)
Do they know it's Christmas time at all?
(Not a clue.)

Still don’t believe me that Band Aid was craptastic? Ask Morrissey.

“I'm not afraid to say that I think Band Aid was diabolical. Or to say that I think Bob Geldof is a nauseating character. Many people find that very unsettling, but I'll say it as loud as anyone wants me to. In the first instance the record itself was absolutely tuneless. One can have great concern for the people of Ethiopia, but it's another thing to inflict daily torture on the people of England. It was an awful record considering the mass of talent involved. And it wasn't done shyly it was the most self-righteous platform ever in the history of popular music.”