Thursday "Poe"-try

    Once upon a stove-top dreary...

Chicken in the Bed

   FWIW, my older sister did this once, when she was very young.  A neighbor gave her a chicken and said she could keep it if she kept it in her bed overnight.

    She believed him and gave it a try.  Even got it up the stairs and to her bedroom, so the story goes.  But the smells and sounds were her undoing.

Forest Fire Statistics

    Scary, I tell ya.  Postiively scary.

Deep Purple - Stormbringer

Album  :  Stormbringer

Artist  :  Deep Purple

Genre  :  Rock

Year  :  1974

- Tracks -  (favorites in pink)

01. Stormbringer
02. Love Don't Mean A Thing
03. Holy Man
04. Hold On

05. Lady Double Dealer
06. You Can't Do It Right (With The One You Love)
07. High Ball Shooter
08. The Gypsy
09. Soldier of Fortune

    It was 1974.  The Beatles had broken up,  Jimi, Janis, and Jim Morrison were dead, and a dark and monstrous force called Disco was  about to jump onto the music scene.  Rock & Roll had lost its  creative momentum, and was searching for its identity.

    This was especially true of Deep Purple, who had shed its Prog Rock mantle, but wasn't quite sure what to be next.  In a couple years, they would redefine themselves, and quite successfully so, as a kick-ass Hard Rock band, but for now they were in limbo.

    Et voila, Stormbringer, one of DP's least-remembered albums.  Ian Gillan and Roger Glover had quit the band, the lead singer was a new guy named David Coverdale, and Ritchie Blackmore had one foot out the door.  There are arrangements for horns and if you listen closely, you can hear Disco and Pop trying to edge their way in.

    For all that though, Stormbringer is still is good album.  Without a doubt, its title track is the showpiece, but there are enough guitar licks, drum riffs, and synthesizer showing-off to make this a worthwhile album.  The members of the band simply have too much talent and musicianship to let the marketing suits ruin the album.

    I picked the Stormbringer LP up in Seattle for $1.99.  It was in decent shape, although there were enough scratches to warrant using the de-scratching program to automatically take them out.  And while it isn't my favorite DP album (those would be Shades of Deep Purple and The Book of Taliesyn), it still is a treat and a delight to listen to.  Amazon offers the album both as a CD ($13.99) and MP3-files ($8.99).  Purple peeps should give it a try.

Sunday Night Awww

    Or "Sunday Night Star Wars".  Your pick.

Book Excerpt for the Day

    Bak eyed her long and hard.  “You seem an intelligent woman, mistress, and all the world knows you toil each day by your husband’s side.  You can’t have been blind to his wrongdoing.”

    “He has many admirable qualities, Lieutenant.  He’s kind and generous and loving.  His heart is filled with laughter.”  She caressed her husband’s cheek with the back of her fingers and a smile touched her face, a tenderness that vanished in an instant.  “I take him for what he is and close my eyes to his faults.  That’s what makes a marriage, and ours is a good one.”

    (from A Face Turned Backward by Lauren Haney)

    8*/10.  The full review is here.

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Portmanteau

    Portmanteau is one of the kewlest word ever!

First Album

    Why yes, I do remember the very first album I bought with my own money.  And I still have it.

Math Wednesday

    Or Religious Idiocy Wednesday.  Whichever floats your boat.

Book Excerpt for the Day

    “Teresa, what do you want to be (when you grow up)?”

    Teresa looked up from her planes.  “A pilot.”

    “You mean a stewardess.”

    “I don’t want to be no stewardess.”

    “I don’t want to be a stewardess,” said the teacher.

    “Me neither,” said Teresa.

    “I’ll be a stewardess,” said a boy named Billy, whom the teachers were already concerned about.

    (from The Stingray Shuffle by Tim Dorsey)

    8½*/10.  The complete review is here.

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Dogs in Movies

   Because, as they say, "Dogs make the best people."

Kafka Sunday

Science Saturday

    To be fair, from a cosmological point of view, we humans are latecomers, and have only recently started grunting and talking.  Still...

Geology Friday

   Plate Tectonics made simple.

Book Excerpt for the Day

    I liked him, but since his particular field of interest was Remote Suggestion – the skill of projecting thoughts into people’s heads from a distance – I didn’t know whether I actually liked him or he was suggesting I like him, which was both creepy and unethical.  In fact, the whole Remote Suggestion or “seeding” idea had been banned once it was discovered to be the key ingredient in promoting talentless boy bands, which had until then been something of a mystery.

    (from The Song of the Quarkbeast, by Jasper Fforde)

     9½*/10.  The full review is here.

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Music Wednesday

    Well, it is time for American Idol.  And she was their guest star a couple weeks ago.

Word for the Day : Vellichor

Word for the day : "Vellichor" : n. the strange wistfulness of used bookstores, which are somehow infused with the passage of time—filled with thousands of old books you’ll never have time to read, each of which is itself locked in its own era, bound and dated and papered over like an old room the author abandoned years ago, a hidden annex littered with thoughts left just as they were on the day they were captured. (Source : The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows)

And here's the link for TDoOS :

http://www.dictionaryofobscuresorrows.com/

Ad Plug

My Advice

   Yeah, pretty much true.

Book Excerpt for the Day

    “We need to stop the bleeding,” Alex said, speaking in Russian without thinking.

    “There is little bleeding left to stop, my friend,” the man said, laughing a little.  “I am in God’s hands.”

    The flares hit the ground and died; one, two, three.

    “You know,” the Russian said – he didn’t seem to notice the sudden darkness – “for the first time in two years I am not hungry.  Also I am not cold.  This dying is not altogether a bad thing.”

    (from Time After Time by Allen Appel)

     8½*/10.  The full review is here.

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Red vs. White (or even Pink)

    Actually, I don't.  I'm strictly a Red guy.  You may occasionally tempt me with a Pink (Rosé or Zinfndel), but never, never a White.

My Oxford Comma

    For the record, I am a fanatical believer in the use of the Oxford Comma.

Every Jot and Tittle

Book Excerpt for the Day

    “Looks like you cleaned up this joint,” he said as we passed through the great room.

    “It’s about time,” I said.

    We walked into the kitchen and he sat in his usual spot at the table by the window.  He watched me with curious eyes as I got garlic and fast-acting yeast out of the refrigerator.

    “So what are we having?  Can I smoke in here?”

    “No.”

    “You do.”

    “It’s my house.”

    (from Black Notice by Patricia Cornwell)

  7*/10.  The complete review is here.

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April Fool's Aftermath

    But of course.

Dali Sunday

    Without a doubt, my favorite artist ever.

Saturday Night RIF Quote

Facial Hair

    Dude!  It's about your facial hair.  I'm almost scared to think of what you'd look like with a full bread.

Book Excerpt for the Day

    “Bridget wants to get married.”

    “To whom?”

    “To me,” Binky said gloomily.

    “Congratulations.”

    “Archy, I don’t know what to do and I need your advice.  I am smitten but do you think a man can be satisfied with one woman?”

    “At a time?” I said.  “Surely.”

    (from McNally’s Puzzle by Lawrence Sanders)

    8*/10.  The complete review is here.

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April 1st

 
  Hey folks, it's April 1st, and you know what that means.

    Yes, it's NATIONAL EDIBLE BOOK DAY!!  Really.  This isn't an April Fool's trick.  Look it up in Wikipedia.