I 8A - The Michigan Daily - Monday, October 15, 2003 ARTS Courtesy of Miramax Bruce Lee's suit In "Game of Death." One refer. ence down, a million to go. Courtesy of HarperCollins Doing his impersonation of Schwarzenegger in "Predator." Author Pollack brings gonzo fiction to Az By Todd Weser Daily Arts Editor By Johanna Hanink Daily Books Editor It's not every day that a major and respected book publishing house fronts the money for a rock album featuring such tracks as "Memories of Times Square (The Dildo Song)" and "I Wipe My Ass on Your Novel." But for whatever business or insanity-driven reason, this is exactly what _.m___._..._ HarperCollins Neal Pollack did with Neal Pollack's novel- At Shaman Drum accompanying Tonight at 7 p.m. album The Neal Pollack Invasion: Never Mind the Pol- lacks, which was released on Sept. 30. Pollack, best known for "The Neal Pollack Anthology of American Litera- ture," has fully assumed the rock'n'roll lifestyle for his current van-based album-cum-book tour. His rock-parody album accompanies and springs from his third book and first novel, "Never Mind the Pollacks," a faux-interview collection chronicle of the life of a famous rock critic, unsurprisingly named, of course, Neal Pollack. Pollack has taken his tour on the road and will be stopping in Ann Arbor night for an unusual combination of public appearances: first, a Shaman Drum book signing at 7 p.m., followed by a 9:30 performance at the Blind Pig. This latest rock-critic premise - still characteristically mock-ego driven - developedwhen Pollack began reading books on rock criticism and found that "there's a vast universe of cliches to parody - very ,pretentious cliches, for; that matter." For anyone familiar with Pollack's earlier work, it's easy to see how Pollack - the self-described "guy who attempts to parody literary preten- sion" - would think that this world of rock snootiness "just seemed like a nat- ural fit" for his own satiric brand of humor writing. Pollack, who in his spare time is developing a "political-thriller about baseball" and-has further back-burner ideas for New York history and "angry young man" books, sees making fun of egos - the niche in literary society that he has deftly filled - as a "poten- tial life's work." But Pollack's trappings of ego could not be further from his real-life m.o. He maintains a web-blog at www.nealpollack.com and continues to answer almost all of his e-mails. When the "Anthology" came out, the literary quarterly McSweeney's assumed the financial burden of print- ing the book but left the publicizing entirely jup to Pollack, who used this situation as an opportunity take his book and himself on the road and connect with the people. There is a strong element to this grass-roots approach that characterizes the current tour - despite his Harper- Collins backing. In words that could have easily come from the mouth of Michael Moore, Pollack declared "I'm not going to let a corporate publisher dictate how I run my career." He has taken his burgeoning fame as an oppor- tunity to encourage both aspiring writ- ers and rockers and is committed to developing a literary culture in which more established artists help kick-start younger artists' careers. Now, Pollack is no longer connect- ed to McSweeney's; he reasons that he has had an "aesthetic split with [Dave] Eggers," who has "moved in a more gentile direction." The two authors maintain what Pollack calls a "friendly camaraderie" rather than an artistic relationship. "I'm still inter- ested in shaking things up," said Pol- lack - but we'll be the judges of this success when the "Invasion" invades Ann Arbor this evening. I 4 4 SHORT TAKES GOOD Boy AT QUALITY 16 AND SHOWCASE MGM Did you ever wonder why your dog walks around in circles before lyi down? A gdn~ ubble, theog from outer space, 1 s ine fences" to ward off bad dreams. Sure, that's just as believable as dogs from outer space - the plot of the movie "Good Boy." After movies like "Milo and Otis" and "Cats and Dogs," who still thinks it's a good idea to make a movie star- ring talkingdogs? Aparently John loffnan does. Ie mates his directo- rial debut with "Good Boy," which is based on the book "Dogs From Outer Space" by Zeke Anderson. Owen (Liam Aiken, "Stepmom"), the neighborhood dog walker, finally gets a pooch of his own. His dog Hubble (voiced by Matthew Broder- ick), however, is no ordinary dog. He has been sent down from the "Home- star" (a.k.a. Planet Sirius) to check up on all earth dogs. Man's best friend, originally put on earth Tohominate and colonize humans has been slacking off. Hubble and the neighborhood dogs, with the help of Owen, must prepare to prove that dogs are far superior to humans - and why not? As Wilson the dog points out, "You don't see us picking up their poop." One would think with actors on board like Matthew Broderick, Cheech Marin and Carl Reiner, the film might be decent. Or with Owen's parents played by Molly Shannon and Kevin Nealon (two ek-"Saturday Night Live" members), the film may be funny.,But "Good Boy" is neither decent nor funny. Full of overiused sugary themes and 5th-grade humor, the talking dogs don't cut it." As far as intergalactic talking dogs go - their shit isn't worth picking up. * -Jennie Adler 4 , _ , $ Si ne university Uor iUcnigani . Department of Recreational Sports REC Intramural Sports Program sPoRTS www.recsports.umich.edu REC SPORTS INTRAMURALS 4 INTRAMURALS 734-763-3562 Entries due: Wed, 10/15 5:00 PM IM Building Entry Fee: N:$35.00 per team Manager's Meeting: MANDATORY Thur, 10/16 6:00 PM IM Building Entries aso Tournament Dates: taken online 10/17, 10/18, & 10/19 Mitchell Fields Pre-Season Football- 5 Entries due: Wed, 10/29 5:00 PM IM Building Entry Fee: $175.00 per team Manager's Meeting: MANDATORY Thur, 10/30 6:30 PM IM Building Tournament uates: 11/2-fA1A1" 4 Dates: 11 /2- 11/13 Yost Ice Arena Ice Hockey Entries taken: Mon, 10/20 ONLY 11:00 AM - 5:30 PM IM Building Entry Fee: $85.00 per team Manager's Meeting: MANDATORY Wed, 10/22 6:00 PM or 9:00 PM IM Building Play begins: Thurs, 10/23 Mitchell Fields Entries taken: Mon, 10/20 ONLY 11:00AM - 5:30PM IM Building Entry Fee: $55.00 per team Manager's Meeting: MANDATORY Wed, 10/22 7:15 PM IM Building Play begins: Thurs, 10/23 . 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