Hard Core Logo

Although not usually something discussed in reference to novels, the pace of Hard Core Logo is immensely quick. Generally each page reanges from a few lines to a few paragraphs. Many of the pages are set up as poems or punk rock lyrics. Michael Turner writes the novel this way to encapsulate the feeling of the punk rock world he writes about. Punk rock songs are notoriously quick paced and over quickly, like Turner's novel. The lives of punk rock bands generally follow this same formula, popping up on the scene, blasting out their quick-paced music, and come to a quick end. Also, by writing his novel this way, Turner attracts the attention of punk rockers and their fans.
One of the main reason I enjoy this novel is because Turner doesn't glorify the music industry at all. Despite being 'the populist' band, a few years after breaking up the bandmembers show no evidence of being a successful band. I have a friend who is a musician, and he seems to live by the adage "there is no life after music." The beginning of this novel totally echoes this belief. Without the band, Joe Dick, Billy, Pipefitter, and John fall into a rut and seem to stay the same as the world changes around them. It isn't until the band comes back together that the guys go through their own changes.

Corner Gas

To me, Corner Gas is completely a Canadian television show. Episodes like American Resolution and Final Countdown use Canadian topics as the center piece for their plots. American Resolution revolves around what Canadians (characters from Corner Gas) see as their own identity, and how we separate ourselves from our American neighbours. This kind of episode screams “I am Canadian” and makes it clear that Corner Gas is a Canadian television show. However, not all episodes deal with such intrinsically Canadian plots. Episodes like Rock Stars and Shirt Disturbers have plots that the majority of North Americans can relate to, yet I still think that these episodes are as Canadian as the others. Yes, there are a lot of differences between Canadians and Americans, but we do share common experiences and issues. Corner Gas simply takes these experiences and issues and shows them through Canadian eyes. The show relies heavily on typical dry Canadian humour and constantly showcases iconic Canadians in cameos, such as Kiefer Sutherland and Gordon Pinsent and these are the sort of things that keep the show Canadian.

Life in JPod

While reading JPod, I found it pretty easy to relate to the characters. The characters aren't the traditional characters found in most novels, but that's not to say they aren't realistic. in fact, the workers in JPod seemed to have genuine human traits rather than the typical ramped up and artificial traits found in a lot of literature. Coupland manages to capture the identities of several young adults in 2006. Although I've never worked in a video game production company, I did work at the opposite end of the process, video games sales in a toy store, and found the two are similar. The majority of discussions that occur in JPod and the r-zone sales counter have nothing to do with work itself. Whereas the JPodders talk about the creation of Ronald McDonald and Belgian keyboards, r-zoners talk about how utterly awesome The Dark Knight was and how the jelly balls in Orbitz were probably deadly leading to them being taken off the shelves. What I'm trying to get at, is that Coupland managed to both capture and target the mostly overlooked 'geek' niche. Like many twenty-somethings, Coupland's characters define themselves from the products they either use or avoid making them very realistic and easy to relate to.