The Bourne Supremacy

Title : The Bourne Supremacy (109 minutes)

Genre : Action (PG-13)

Rating : **** (out of 5*)

This Weekend I Watched...
In "Bourne-2", Jason gets framed; and the GF from Bourne-1 gets offed in the first five minutes. From there on, it's non-stop action; as the CIA and its crack squad of assassins try to stop one agent who can't remember his past, can't remember to use a passport other than the one that says "Jason Bourne", and can't remember to disguise himself when he passes through customs and under surveilance cameras.

What's To Like...
Same as the Bourne-1 : the action is first-rate; the locations are picturesque (I want to go to Russia!); and the chase scenes are breath-taking. It is rumored that the primo car chase here was done in Moscow, cuz that's the only city that would allow its major streets to be
blocked off for the movie-shoot.

The action is more believable this time around. No more flying-carpet-down-the-stairwell foolishness.

What's Not To Like...
Lots of people griped about the hurky-jurky camera work. In watching it on TV, this wasn't a problem. But I can see where it would be irritating to watch it on the big screen.

I'm not quite sure why anyone would frame Jason Bourne. Wouldn't that be like framing James Bond? Or maybe Carlos The Jackal. You can do it, sure. But why? About all you accomplish is to get a p*ssed-off killing machine not on your tail.

The Bourne Redundancy...
I have come to the conclusion that there are several "movie" occupations that are out-and-out death warrants. One (seen here) is to be the still-living GF of the hero from the previous movie.

Another is to be the detective-hero's male partner. Especially if you're old and near retirement, or young and think you know it all. You can be sure that the bad guys are gonna take you out to send a message to the hero. Hey, villains! You wanna send a message? Take out the hero!

The third is anyone on a team of action heroes who surreptitiously betrays the team. Even if he gets away with the treachery; God, or some demon-spawned monster will make him pay for his bad karma.

Speaking of monsters, the fourth "goner" is any black guy on a team of heroes that's fighting aliens, predators, man-eating sharks, and/or gummi bears. If yo' is black, yo' is gonna be somebody's snack.

Last but not least is anyone who is fat or ugly. Good looks equates to good fortune. Bullets seek out blubber. Calamities seek out cellulite.

Just once, I'd like to see a movie where someone in any of these "loser categories" actually survives while the hero/damsel/good-looking white boy suffers an untimely and early demise. (*)

But I digress. The Bourne Supremacy offers absolutely nothing new from The Bourne Identity, other than female counter-hero revealing Jason Bourne's real name (David Webb) in the final three seconds of the movie. But repetitiveness is not necessarily a bad thing, if the initial movie was quite fine. So we'll give this four-stars, same as Bourne-1, and be happy that the middle episode wasn't the usual weak link of the trilogy.

(*) : Okay, there was one instance where the handsome male lead died off rather quickly. The captain of the ship in Aliens-One. I think his name was Dallas, or something like that. You knew Sigourney Weaver was gonna be the last survivor. But I kinda thought Captain Dallas would be the second-last.

Finntroll - Ur Jordens Djup

Artist : Finntroll (2007)

Album Title : Ur Jordens Djup (From The Depths Of The Earth)

Genre : Polka-Metal (yes!!)

Rating : ***** **½ (out of 10*)

This Week I'm Listening To...
A few weeks ago, while reviewing the Folkearth album, I tongue-in-cheekly made reference to "Polka Metal", blithely assuming there was no such genre. A kind reader left a comment, saying that, indeed, Polka Metal does exist, and recommending listening to Finntroll.

Finntroll is a Finnish band, who nevertheless sings in Swedish. Cuz Swedish is "more trollish", they say. They have 6 albums out. Ur Jordens Djup is their most-recent offering.

What's To Like...
The reader is correct (many thanks for the tip!): this is Polka-Metal. More precisely, it is "humppa-metal"; humppa being best described as a specific form of "Finnish Polka".

The Metal is fairly standard power-metal stuff. The vocals are all "grunting", which means that the fact that the lyrics aren't in English doesn't matter. I wouldn't understand them, no matter what language the grunts were in.

There is some very nice blending of polka (and folk) with the metal. The opening track, Gryning ("Dawn") is 3½ minutes of some well-arramged dark, brooding, instrumental stuff.

The tracks that are the most "polka-ish" are delightful. One gets the feeling Finntroll really enjoys playing polka-metal songs.

What's Not To Like...
This is my first Finntroll CD. Those who are familiar with all of Finntroll's albums give this one the lowest rating. The criticism seems to be that this one isn't as polka-ish as previous efforts; that it's a lot darker; and that, while the tracks are consistently good, there aren't any really great ones.

There is a "hidden track" at the end of the CD. The last song fades into soft "marshy" sounds, then into silence. But if you wait another 10 minutes, a fun-filled bar-room-sounding track comes on. Okay, the first time, it was a cool discovery. After that, however, it just means you have 10 minutes of dead time (cuz technically it's part of the last track) , which is rather annoying. Fortunately, a little bit of snipping via Sound Forge eliminated the 10 minute dead-space.

Ask Not For Whom The Finn Trolls...
It trolls for thee.

Finntroll is coming to Tempe on 07 October. To The Clubhouse, where I once almost saw Wolfmother. This is a metal concert, so there are no seats. You just stand around, moshing, or pogo-ing; or whatever you do at a standing-only metal concert. I'm making plans to go see them. The concert is nicely sandwiched between Within Temptation (two Sundays from now), and Nightwish (07 November). So if all goes as planned, I'll actually see my first three Metal concerts over the next three months.

I've talked Liz into going to see WT, but I doubt I'll be able to convince her to attend Finntroll. Whether or not I can get her to go to Nightwish remains to be seen.

But I digress. Ur Jordens Djup is a good, enjoyable, polka-metal album. The guitar-work is good, the fusion of genres is great, and if the music is dark, well, isn't metal supposed to be dark? We shall see how it compares to their earlier stuff, but if we assume they'll be showcasing UJD at their upcoming concert, it will be a great show.

Another Craig Cartoon

The Village Hypocrite

Well, color me amazed - another anti-gay hate-spouting Republican bigot gets nabbed, this time by the Minnesota vice squad.

There is a pattern here. We've seen it in Foley, in Ted Haggard, in Jimmy Swaggert, and now in Senator "Toe-Tappin' Craig. Apparently, when you're posturing yourself as a "family values" guy; but have ...umm... skeletons in the closet; far from keeping your mouth shut, your head down and avoiding the subject; you instead spew out venomous hate against that very skeleton.

So is it guilt? Do these phonies think they'll exorcise their demons if they denounce their secret often enough? Or is it Republican arrogance - spout off any old right-wing line of bullsh*t, and assume that everyone's a Dubya-IQ ditto-head and will just blindly believe the drivel?

Within Temptation !! In Phoenix !!

On Sunday, 23 September. At the Marquee Theater. With "The Dear And The Departed" and "Attitude". (Who?)

Oh my, oh my! This is another "can't miss" concert. There are three of these now. Within Temptation in September; Finntroll in October; and Nightwish in November. I need to talk Liz into going to all of these, so she can take pics with her cell phone. The venues don't allow digital cameras, and I don't know how to take cell-phone pics.

Tickets (General Admission only) are $13.75 each, with another $5 per ticket thrown in for "convenience fees" and "facility fees". Still, that means two people can go for less than $40. There are no seats; everyone just mills around the arena.

Mesa Crop Circle - Day 5

Day 5. Liz saw nothing inspiring about the french-fried log cabin last night. She force-fed me my pills. The aliens' summer house is gone.

I will take my medicine; I will not hallucinate.
I will take my medicine; I will not hallucinate.
I will take my medicine; I will not hallucinate.
Can't sleep; the clowns will eat me.
I will take my medicine; I will not hallucinate.

Mesa Crop Circle - Day 4

Day 4. Et Voila! Aliens did make this crop circle! They're from Alpha Centauri (I've been there), and they dug up my cul-de-sac in order to lay the foundation for this, their summer home. I'm happy to say that my mashed potatoes sculpture last night matched this perfectly.

Liz says I'd better start taking my medicine again. Also, we're having french fries tonight, and if I make a log cabin out of them, she's leaving me.

Mesa Crop Circle - Day 3

Day 3. I knew it! Somebody else recognizes the cosmological importance of this crop circle! Here's a local peasant, out in the cul-de-sac, painstakingly wiping away the telltale residue that the alien ship left behind when it landed/took off.

You can see these "trails" more clearly in the Day 2 pic. Apparently the mother ship landed right on the cul-de-sac, then took off in a slightly different direction.

Liz, who pooh-poohs the idea of flying saucers, says this is just Weird Verl being weird. I want to see the look on her face when the extra-terrestials build something on their crop circle. In fact, I think I'll sculpt my vision of the alien's project in my mashed potatoes at supper tonight.

Mesa Crop Circle - Day 2

Day 2, and the aliens have not come back to expand the circle. I'm convinced this is of cosmic significance. Liz, always the spiritual skeptic, says I'm having another one of my delusional fits.

Mesa Crop Circle - Day 1

Day 1. Yessirree, we got us our own jen-yew-wine crop circle. Well okay, there aren't any crops involved. But it is a circle, and it did appear magically today right in front of our house on our cul-de-sac.

Liz says it's just another half-a$$ed pothole repair job by our municipal laborers. I say it's too round for that, and too small to be the beginnings of a manhole cover. It has to be E.T. Stay tuned.

The Bourne Identity

Title : The Bourne Identity ("Bourne-1", 2 hours)

Genre : Action (MPAA Rating : PG-13)

Rating : **** (out of 5*)

This Weekend I Watched...
I've been told I will be going to see Bourne-3 in the near future. I've also been told I will watch Bourne 1-&-2 before we go, so that I don't spend the whole time asking stupid questions (which I am wont to do) about what's going on with Mr. Amnesia and the nasty folks who keep trying to kill him.

What's To Like...
Matt Damon is a very good fit as Jason Bourne. And he's a hunk, so you can talk your wife or GF into watching this one.

There's lots and lots of action. The fight scenes are cool. The (obligatory) chase scene is great! In a Mini Cooper, no less. How cool is that!? Bourne actually has to outdrive the pursuing fleet of cop cars and motorcycles. He can't just shove the car into 8th gear and leave them in his 150-mph dust.

The plot holds its own, even though we can figure out his entire past about 30 minutes into the film. And the European locations used as the backdrops (especially Paris) make me want to save my money and go back there another time.

What's Not To Like...
People who have read the (Robert Ludlum) book, seem to hate how far the movie strays from the novel. Some also seem to think an earlier incarnation of Bourne-1, starring Richard Chamberlain and Jaclyn Smith, was better. I'm sorry, but those two are not Academy Award winning thespians. That movie has to suck, even if I've never seen (nor heard of) it.

For me, there were some serious believability lapses thoughout the flick.

Jason Bourne's bullet-riddled body is found floating in the ocean by some fishermen. Instead of turning him over to the cops, or at least dumping him as quickly as possible on the nearest shore, they tend to his wounds, and even take up a collection of $$$ as a going-away present. Yeah, right.

To boot, it is discovered (while he's still unconscious) that he has a small cylinder implanted in his hip, which when you look at it close up, discloses his Swiss bank account number. What super-duper hitman is going to have that sort of information embedded in his body?

Then there's the stereotypical African despot, who may or may not get killed halfway thru the movie. He's clearly shown as having survived (he's talking to his aide while lying on the floor, having soiled his underwear), yet the police act like he's dead and he never shows up again in the flick.

All that however, can be forgiven as various plot devices. The real head-scratcher is...

Bourne is at the top of a stairwell. He's taken out all but one of a CIA hit-squad. The remaining mayhem-maker is coming up the stairs. This is seemingly an easy situation. You either escape out a window, climb to the roof (or both), or else just plug the guy as he's coming up the steps, right?

Wrong. Jason pushes the body of a dead hitman through the railing and down into the stairwell, then rolls off into a stairwell free-fall as well. As he's plummeting downward, he has the wherewithal to shoot the bad guy, then still have time to position himself right above the falling body, which miraculously breaks his fall at the bottom. Holy Implausibility, Batman!

Bourne To Be Wild...
I have a tough time understanding the "it doesn't follow the book" criticism. I read Crichton's Jurassic Park before seeing that movie, and there's some significant straying there as well.

That doesn't mean I didn't enjoy both versions of JP . Ludlum's plots (I am told) are usually very complex, and Bourne-1 is no exception. It would be very difficult (and very time-consuming) for a movie to try to include all that complexity. This movie is 2 hours long as it is. I don't think I want to sit through a 4-hour flick that faithfully captures every nuance of the book.

But I digress. The cinematic Bourne Identity may not be a gripping thriller like the novel is, but it's non-stop action with a good plot. I like the "assassin with a conscience" portrayal, which is a lot more interesting than any James Bond character. Only the numerous lapses in believability bring this rating down to only four stars.

Big & Rich - Between Raising Hell & Amazing Grace

Artist : Big & Rich

Album Title : Between Raising Hell & Amazing Grace

Genre : Country/Pop (and a lot more)

Rating : ***** *½ (out of 10*)

This Week I'm Listening To...
Big & Rich burst onto the Country/Pop scene in 2004 with Horse Of A Different Color. Now they're back with their 3rd (or 4th if you include an EP release a couple years ago) album.

Type-casting B&R is difficult. Here's some of the genres listed for them at Rate Your Music : Country; Country-Pop; Contemporary Country; Folk (huh?); Outlaw Country; Country-Rock; Progressive Country (isn't that an oxymoron?); Country-Rap; Death-Country (wazzat?); and Metal-Country (I don't think so).

You can add to that list Country-Gospel; Country-Humorous (think Roger Miller, not Ray Stevens); and last but not least, Country-Wedding.

What's To Like...
Good vocals and good harmony. "Rich" of B&R is John Rich, who used to sing in the group Lonestar.

Variety. You know how the songs on a Country album all sound the same? Not here. Every song is of a different genre.

The opening track (Lost In The Moment) is destined to be played at every cowgirl's wedding for the next 10 years.

And the third track (Faster Than Angels Fly), my favorite, is a thoughtful ballad akin to Springsteen's "Incident on 57th Street" and Dire Straits' "Romeo & Juliet".

What's Not To Like...
Think "Lite". As in Country-Lite; Rap-Lite; Gospel-Lite Rock-Lite; etc. There's a lot of breadth-of-genres here, but not a lot of depth.

Think "Mellow". These guys postured themselves on HOADC as a party band. Don't put this one on to liven up your next get-together. Pull out some of your old Hank Williams Jr. stuff instead. Indeed, the cover of AC/DC's "You Shook Me All Night Long" is just ...um... wrong. That's Liz's opinion, and she gets the final say on all AC/DC covers.

Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Chaw...
In the end, Big & Rich are singers. If you dropped Simon & Garfunkel into a vat of Country-&-Western, they'd come out sounding like this. There is some good guitar work here, but it's never allowed to go for more than about three bars before it gets pushed into the background again.

And singers, even the best ones, are only as good as the songs someone writes for them. You may love classic Paul Simon from 30-40 years ago, but the stuff he's putting out today (see his 2006 release "Surprise") is just boring. Somewhere along the line, he lost the ability to write/sing songs that up and grab you.

A lot of the songs here are quite good, even if they're not particularly lively. But there are some banal lyrics as well. Here's a line from the "When The Devil Gets The Best Of Me" track : "Sometimes women are like cocaine; Got to have 'em more & more every day". Or how 'bout "You never stop loving somebody; You just start loving somebody else" from the same-titled track? Yucko!

It will be interesting to see what kind of longevity Big & Rich will have. According to their fans, they've gone downhill since the debut album. That's not a good sign. A medicore cross-genre band isn't gonna get played by any radio station. Just ask Don McLean.

It's a matter of priorities...

James Patterson - The Lake House

Title : The Lake House (380 pages, 2003)

Author : James Patterson

Genre : Thriller

Rating : D-

This Month I Read...
This is the sequel to Patterson's 1998 book, When The Wind Blows, and is not to be confused with the film "The Lakehouse" (one word) with Sandra Bullock, which has absolutely no relationship to this book.

As in WTWB, six genetically-engineered "bird kids" get help from a (female) Colorado veterinarian and a (male) decommissioned FBI agent against an evil doctor intent on on turning them into lab rats.

What's To Like...
It's your typical James Patterson novel. Fast-reading, fast-moving, and the average length of a chapter is 3-4 pages. So if you're in the habit of reading before going to bed (like I am), you won't have to read very far when it's time to turn out the lights.

What's Not To Like...
Unfortunately, plenty. Like most readers, I thoroughly enjoy Patterson's "Alex Cross" detective series. But either he's burnt out on serial-killer thrillers, or else he thinks anyone can write a Cri-Fi novel.

Alas, he's no Michael Crichton. He takes no time to try to convince you of the scientific validity of the "genetic engineering" theme in these two books, so you never really feel like it could be real.

At least WTWB is moderately interesting. Alas, there's nothing new added by Patterson in the sequel. Same plot, same chase scenes, same type of bad guys (evil but bumbling), same ending. Except now, everything is more-sloppily done.

Dr. Nefarious has a lucrative "entire internal organ transplant" business going. He's rejuvenated 40 of the world's leaders, and is therefore both insanely rich and insanely powerful. Why he would want to jeopardize all this for 6 bird-kids is an unexplained mystery.

To boot, he's cloned himself. Four times, even. And apparently does a heap of Balco Barry steroids, cuz he's also incredibly strong. And he can tell your IQ just by looking at you when you're sleeping. But he's not too intelligent. After he (and his gang of clones, thugs and hired assassins) are out-smarted and out-fought several times by the bird-kids, including having one of his clone-selves eradicated, what does he do? Attempts to kill the chief bird-kid, all by himself, armed only with a scalpel. Go on now, guess who wins.

Nothing gets resolved at the end. The bird-kids kill one Evil-Doctor-Clone and one Rejuvenated-World-Leader; then the original Dr. Nefarious is killed at the very end. But you're never told what happens to the organ-tranplant rejuvenating business after that. Custody of the bird-kids is transferred from their natural parents (who want to retain custody) to the Vet and FBI-ex-agent, even though it's obvious from both books that this doesn't make them one bit safer. And the remaining three Evil Clones are left to do... well, whatever three now-leaderless clones do. Look for a fourth for a pinochle game, maybe?

And on, and on. A 7th-grader could do a better job of crafting a plot and tying up loose ends than Patterson does here.

When Border's Has A Book On Sale, It Means...
I found this book on sale at Borders Bookstore. Not on their regular bargain tables. Nope, TLH had its own table and was 30% off. That makes it a good deal, right?

Wrong. It's clear that based on Patterosn's reputation, they bought tons of copies of this book, and the books weren't selling. Jimmy-Boy was pulling a fast one. My best guess is that he fooled the publishing company; the publishers then fooled the bookstores; and the bookstores then fooled the readers. I feel like Curly in The Three Stooges. Moe slaps Larry; Larry slaps Curly; and Curly discovers he has no one to slap.

But I digress. This is a stinker of a novel. When The Wind Blows is so-so, so if you want to see how Patterson fares at writing Cri-Fi, read it, and skip this sequel. And learn a lesson as to why Borders Bookstore gives books like this their own special sale.

Nightwish - Dark Passion Play (Promo)

The "Promo" version of Nightwish's latest album, Dark Passion Play, is out. This is an interesting marketing gimmick. You get the entire CD (65 minutes' worth), except that every 2-4 minutes, you also get an annoying voiceover, telling you the name of the album and the name of the track. Nightwish (or their record company) is apparently trying to generate interest in the band/CD/tour, And if that's their little game in releasing this, then it's working like a charm.

For those of us counting the days until Nightwish comes to Arizona (89 days), as well as the number of days until the "real version" of DPP is issued (43 days), this Promo CD is an unexpected treat.

I won't do a full review until the "normal" album comes out. I will say that the new female lead singer (Anette Olzon) will make you forget about Tarja; the album is definitely Nightwish's most "proggish" album yet (really, Al, even by your definition of "Prog"), and that Nightwish is raising the bar as far as what "Symphonic Metal" is all about.

I was concerned about this album, since obviously Nightwish will be featuring it when they do their concert here in the valley. I shouldn't've worried. It is fantastic!

Steve Benson

Steve Benson is IMNSHO the absolutely best political cartoonist plying his trade today. He's got a dry sense of humor, tremendous artistic skills, and loves to ruffle feathers. You may not always agree with his views, but it's almost impossible not to chuckle at his cartoons.

Congratulations, Balco Barry!

The inevitable finally happened - Barry hit #756. Then added #757 the next night for good measure. It's time to devote a posting to Balco Barry, then hopefully, as with Paris Hilton, never mention his name here again.
.
Kiss My Asterisk...
Let's deal with the easiest issue first - should Baseball put an asterisk beside Barry's career Home Run total? The answer - absolutely not! I remember when they did this to Roger Maris for daring to hit 61 home runs in a season, thus eclipsing The Bambino. What a pointless gesture. It's simple math - Balco Barry 757 (and counting), Hammerin' Hank 755. Commissioner Bud, if you have a problem with this, you shoulda done something about it long before #756 got smacked.
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Let's Play The Race Card...
Don't even go there. Yeah, the media has been trumpeting this for the last week now - blacks are more sympathetic to Barry than whites. BFD. If Barry was a Hungarian albino, you can bet that albinos and Hungarians would be more sympathetic to him.

So don't even try to imply that white folks who think Bonds is a cheating, lying scumbag are racists. We don't like Mark McGwire, and he's white. We don't like Rafael Palmeiro, and he's Hispanic. They're all cheating liars, and doing the game of baseball a disservice by trying to hide it.

Indeed, the only one we seem to have "pardoned" is Sammy Sosa. A black. But he's come off the juice, shrunk in half, and is quietly toiling away for my Texas Rangers. And doing quite a good job, too.
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Hall of Fame or Hall of Shame...
Here's where moral outrage can be made to count for something. We don't let Pete Rose into the HoF. We gave McGwire a whopping 25% of the votes (75% is needed) on last year's ballot. It'll be a few years yet, but here's hoping that Bonds gets less first-year votes than McGwire did. Send a message to all baseball players out there.
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Is he cheating...
If you're still asking this, you probably think professional wrestling is a legitimate sport and that OJ didn't do it.
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Maybe he didn't know they were steroids...
Yeah right. He injects himself and smears "the cream" on his butt, and fights like hell to keep anyone from uncovering that. He knew.
.

So he's the Bad Guy...
Yes, but he's got company. The biggest lying, cheating scumbag in this whole affair is Baseball itself. MLB knew these guys were juiced and, far from doing anything about it, actively encouraged it. Oh, they would have preferred that the massive steroids use be confined to Sosa and McGwire, who at least pretended to be role models.

But that's the trouble with condoning cheating - if you let 'nice guys' do it, there's not much you can say when an arrogant, jealous, lifelong pr*ck decides to get in on the acclaim.

The only reason MLB is doing anything now is cuz if they don't, they know Congress will. Folks, Congress may not be willing to get us out of Iraq, protect our constitutional rights, or stop spending money we ain't got. But give them this much - they got serious with Baseball.
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What's Barry's biggest accomplishment in 2007?
Well, he's gonna cost Bruce Bochy his job at the end of the season. And he's much of the reason that the Giants suck this year. He doesn't hustle, he's not a leader, and the only thing he sees in the word "Team" is "Me".

Yeah, I know he's old and his knees are rubble. Then for goodness sake, retire your butt, or go to the American League and be a designated hitter. But good luck in finding an AL team that wouldn't consider you a clubhouse cancer.
.

Barry's Legacy...
Here's my biggest beef. What lessons are little kids going to learn by watching Balco Barry? Let's see now...


If you want to hit home runs like Barry, you gotta get juiced.
The attitude to have as a ballplayer is to be an arrogant jerk.
Forget about "manufacturing a run"; just keep swinging for the fences.
If anyone questions you and (heaven forbid) writes something bad about you, threaten to sue them.
When all else fails, have ESPN champion your cause and you. Which was more phony - Hulk Hogan pinning an opponent; or Barry crying in "Bonds on Bonds"?
Choose your lackeys carefully. Make sure they're willing to rot in jail on a Contempt of Court charge rather than reveal your cheating.


So congratulations, Barry. You did a lot (of steroids) to accomplish this goal. God only knows how many kids are going to follow your example. Not that you care.

Folkearth - Drakkars In The Mist

Artist : Folkearth

Album Title : Drakkars In The Mist (2007)

Genre : Folk-Metal; Viking Metal

Rating : ***** * (out of 10*)

This Week I'm Listening To...
Folkearth is technically not a group. Every so often, a whole bunch of Folk/Viking-Metal artists get together and put out a collaborative effort. This is their third album. The first two were A Nordic Poem (2004) and By The Sword Of My Father (2006).

This time, 30 artists from 11 countries contributed. I don't believe that Folk and Metal are easily combined, so it's interesting to see how these guys and gals went about blending two seemingly disparate genres.

For the record - "Drakkars" are Viking boats. We Anglo-Saxons would call them "Long Boats" or "Long Ships".

What's To Like...
You certainly get your money's worth - almost 70 minutes of music. And you get a variety of takes on what Folk-Metal should be. Some of it is 99% Metal, and some of it is 99% Folk (mostly Celtic). So no matter which of the genres you are partial to, you're going to find some tracks here that are "just right".

The female vocalists do a very nice job. We're talking "Warrior Queens" here, not weak-kneed "Damsels in Distress". The "Folk" half of the music holds its own; and the "Metal" half is above-average.

The studio's performance is improving. The engineering on the first album just sucked. It got better on album #2, and is even more professional here.

FWIW, I enjoyed this CD more when played at a moderate volume. I know Metal is supposed to be cranked up, but the musical talent of these Folk-Earthies is more evident when one's eardrums aren't bleeding.

What's Not To Like...
The male vocalists could use a voice lesson or two. The studio work still isn't where it could be. One person (favorably) commented that the whole album "sounded like a mist had settled over it". Maybe. Or maybe that's just shoddy recording.

Unsurprisingly, it's an uneven album. These may be 30 of the top folk-metal artists around, but if there are only, say, 35 people in the world who play folk-metal, then the "Top 30" will still have some mediocre members.

A Grunting We Will Go...
Some of the male vocalists on DITM grunt; some sing; and some chant in a sing-song fashion. "Metal Grunting" has always bothered me. Yes, I'm cool to the "Beauty and the Beast" motif, but good gracious, does that mean every flipping song lyric on every flipping metal album has to be grunted? And don't get me started on the annoying screeching by groups like Cradle of Filth.

I've always suspected that grunting the vocals is just a cheap way to cover up the lack of a good singer. DITM, which treats you to some grunting, singing, and chanting, only reinforces that suspicion.

But I digress. Folkearth, Drakkars In The Mist, and Viking Folk-Metal are all interesting concepts. I don't know that the fusion of Folk and Metal has yet been perfected, but I do look forward to Folkearth continuing to "blaze the trail". Who knows, maybe someday we'll be introduced to "Polka-Metal".

Finally, one last thing to ponder - there are 17 tracks on DITM, and the last three are listed as "Bonus Tracks". Excuse me, but just what constitutes a "Bonus Track" on a collaborative album like this? Methinks some marketing suit somewhere said, "Yeah call the last couple tracks 'Bonus Tracks'. The metal-heads will think they're getting something extra." C'mon guys, we ain't that stoopid.

Pan's Labyrinth

Title : Pan's Labyrinth (2007)

Genre : Adult Fantasy (Rated R)

Rating : ***** (out of 5*)

This Weekend I Watched...
I only watch about three movies a year, so I try to make them good ones. By "watching" I mean either going to the theater; or if at home, turning off the PC, putting down the crossword puzzle magazine, and actually concentrating on the film.

I'm pretty much on schedule in 2007 - I've watched two movies so far. One was fantastic; one was a dud. This is the fantastic one.

Set in the Spanish Civil War (more or less), the movie focuses on a 12-year-old girl (Ofelia) who retreats into a fantasy world (seemingly) to escape the horrors of the war and the desperate situation she and her pregnant mother find themselves in.

There are two worlds and therefore two plots. In the "real" world, Ofelia has to deal with a sadistic stepfather commandante, a pregnant mother whose health is rapdily deteriorating, and a Civil War where the Fascists (led by her stepfather) are holed up at a rural mill, trying to hold off the Communist guerillas.

In the fantasy "world", Ofelia is the princess, the chosen one, who has to perform three herculean tasks to prove her worthiness before being able to claim her throne.

What's To Like...
Awesome cinematography. A clever interweaving of the two storylines. Some perfect Castillian Spanish for you to practice your second language on. (I found I remember the Spanish cuss words reall well) And this movie will hold your attention from the beginning to the end.

What's Not To Like...
Nothing from me, since I give it five stars. The complaints from those who didn't like it fell into a couple categories.

Too gory! Yes, it is a brutal film, no doubt about that. And the cover advertising calls this film "on the same altar of high fantasy as the Lord Of The Rings Trilogy", which frankly is a misleading comparison. This is better characterized as an "adult fairy tale". There's no sex and no nudity. So reason it out - the "R" rating comes from the violence.

There are (English) subtitles! I can't watch the movie if I have to read! This complaint seems to come from folks who have trouble walking and chewing gum at the same time. I've watched a lot of foreign films, often in languages I don't know a word of. This is NBD for normal people. Of course, it's equally possible that the folks who gripe about the subtitles are actually "English-only" cretins who think a movie in Spanish is undermining the American way-of-life.

It's not an uplifting film! War isn't uplifting. Get used to it.

It's not historically accurate and/or It's too biased in favor of the Communists! There is some merit to these two complaints. The story is set in 1944 (we know this because the news of D-Day comes during the story), but the truth is the Spanish Civil War was finished in 1939. And the "real world" plot line does present the guerillas as the good guys. Although in the film, they can be just as brutal to their enemies as the Fascists are.

"War Is Hell" not "War Is Heck"...
For me, the main point of this movie is that War is a brutal thing. It's horrifying enough for adults, but no child should ever have to deal with killing, torture, and utter hatred.

That's what's wrong with the American public and the War in Iraq. The TV networks present us a sanitized, censored version of what's going on over there. We don't see the blood; we don't see the gore; we don't see the mutilated bodies; and we don't see the hate. Dubnutz is hoping that we therefore see the war as a noble thing, although his "noble reason" seems to change from one lie to the next. It's time more Americans dialed in to Al Jazeera and other foreign outlets (the Europeans do a much better job of showing the "real war") and get a dose of reality.

But I digress. Pan's Labyrinth is a stellar movie. Just don't watch it with the kiddies, and do expect to feel the same horror that Ofelia does. I won't spoil the ending for you, but will leave this for you to think about when you've finished watching PL - according to the film, is the fantasy world in fact real, or was it all a figment of Ofelia's imagination?

Where Have All The Leaders Gone?

Title : Where Have All The Leaders Gone? (2007, 270 pages)

Author : Lee Iacocca

Genre : Celebrity Author

Rating : B

This Month I Read...

A few months back, I received an e-mail titled "The Nine C's of Leadership". It basically slammed the daylights out of Dubnutz, and was purportedly written by none other than Lee Iacocca.

I was intrigued that one of our industrial giants might actually have the chutzpah to tell it like it is, but also little leery because of all the right-wing bullsh*t lies circulated by the repugnican chicken-hawks. So I went out on the Internet and found that this indeed was written by Iacocca, and was from his new book, "Where Have All The Leaders Gone?"

I'm not a big fan of celebrity-penned books (do we really want to hear Paris Hilton's philosophy of Life?), but went down to Borders and bought WHATLG anyway.

Oh, and I forwarded the 9-C's e-mail to all my ditto-head friends (you have a lot of these when you live in Arizona and work for a chemical manufacturing company), and waited for their rebuttals. But apparently Rush hasn't told them was to think about it yet, since I only got one response, and that in effect said that Lee should be more grateful since we bailed him out when he was the CEO of Chrysler. Talk about a tepid counter-point.

What's To Like...
The Nine C's of Leadership segment is eloquently written. In fact, the first third of WHATLG is all about politics, and the Chimperor and his lackeys fare very poorly. Talk about some wonderful chapters!

Lee Iacocca wrote the whole book in a "chit-chat" style, making it very easy to read. And he covers every topic you can think of - the environment, the auto industry, rising gas prices, outsourcing, medical research, running for office, etc. So if it's in the headlines today, chances are Lee has, and gives, an opinion.

What's Not To Like...
While Lee's take on politics is great, when he gets to discussing the auto industry (which is obviously near and dear to his heart), I was "able to put the book down".

He covers a slew of topics, but a lot of them are done with a cursory approach. Can you really solve the issue of "How To Deal With Rising Gas Prices" in a mere five pages?

There's also s lot of name-dropping in here. Wanna know what advice Lee gave the Pope? Do you really think the Pope was impressed?

If You Can Find A Better Book, Buy It...
Bottom line - it's a good book. You may or may not get tired of Lee's "chit-chat" style. And while you might have to plod through a couple of topics that you frankly don't care about, most of them are of high-interest.

There was one issue that really stuck with me - medical research. Lee's first wife died of diabetes, and he is determined to find a cure. To that end, he started a diabetes research foundation. What he discovered about MedRes is that no one is really interested in finding a cure. What's important is to get government grants year after year. So if/when your foundation actually happens upon a breakthrough (as was the case with Iacocca's group), the rest of the researchers in that field will not be happy. In fact, they'll be downright hostile.

What's the worst thing that can happen to, say, the American Cancer Society? You got it - finding a cure for cancer. Such an event would not only end their reason for existence, but also end their goverment $$$. I had this pointed out many years ago. About once a year, ACS will make an "exciting" announcement. New wonder drug - (insert random chemical compound here) - shows promise in curing some types of cancer in mice!! More tests are needed to see if it works on humans!!!

And then, that's about all you ever hear about it. Coincidentally, they make this announcement right about the time they have to apply for more grant-money from the government. Twelve months later, they make a new "exciting" announcement, touting a new wonder-chemical. Nothing is said about last year's exciting discovery.

Now that I've let you in on this, watch for the next "exciting announcement" from the ACS, and then sit back and be amazed how this scam plays out every year.

But I digress. Where Have All The Leaders Gone? is a good read. Give it as a Christmas present to all your ditto-head friends.

Sunday Cuteness

Vladimir Horowitz - Clara Wieck & Kreisleriana

Artist : Vladimir Horowitz

Album : Schumann - Kreisleriana & Clara Wieck (year?)

Genre : Classical Piano

Rating : ***** ½ (out of 10*)

This Week I'm Listening To...
I crossed paths with this album when a friend asked me to convert it to CD. The only place I've found it so far already in CD-format is as part of a 10-CD bundle called the "Original Jacket Collection". The picture above is the LP cover.

What's To Like...
Vladimir Horowitz is a legend. I wonder sometimes how much of his music is in the process of being lost, simply because it remains only available on vinyl.

The two pieces here - "Variations on a Theme by Clara Wieck" and "Kreisleriana" are both by Robert Schumann, a Romantic composer from the early 1800's. The former was written in 1833; the latter in 1838. Schumann was quite the "rebel", breaking away from classical composing to write some very dreamy and moody stuff.

Kreisleriana is especially well-composed and well-played. And it's 75% of the LP. The eight movements seem to run the gamut from super-slow (dreamy) to super-fast (energetic). And Horowitz is up to the task.

Clara Wieck is slower (and shorter), but is still a melody which will stay in your head long after the music has stopped.

What's Not To Like...
The only instrument here is a piano. No orchestra. If this isn't your thing, then this album is gonna drag.

Personally, I'm still developing a taste for classical piano. If I have to listen to just a pianist sans orchestra, then I need to be impressed with fast and fancy tickling of the ivories. That doesn't happen all that often here. Take the Clara Wieck piece. Although it has a catchy motif, most of it just putzes along. And at the end you get a chord, followed by a couple seconds of dramatic silence; then the same chord, but softer; followed by another couple seconds of dramatic silence; then the same chord again. Booorrrriinnggggg.

Finally, there's the issue of volume. Both Schumann's and Horowitz's style have been described in part as "double fortissimos followed by sudden delicate pianissimos". Translated into English, that means parts are going to have you fearing that your eardrums have burst, followed immediately by the next passage being so low in volume, you think those burst eardrums have rendered you deaf. This may be okay in a concert hall, but it's annoying as heck on a car stereo.

Talent Works, Genius Creates (R.S.)
I've listened to a couple of Horowitz LP's; none have yet impressed me. That may well be due to the pieces I've heard, rather than Horowitz himself.

This LP is still a pleasure ot listen to. Catchy music and flawless execution. But too much of it is slow-tempo, and I keep wishing for an orchestra to burst in and pick up the pace.

Darth Gonzo

Sorry. Haven't been giving Dubnutz and his lackeys enough attention lately.

Steve Berry : The Third Secret

Title : The Third Secret (2005, 376 pages)

Author : Steve Berry

Genre : Cri-Fi

Rating : B

This Month, I Read...
If you liked Dan Brown's "Angels and Demons", you'll like The Third Secret. There's Vatican intrigue and nasty skullduggery as Cardinals wallow in politics to increase their odds of being the next Pope.

What's To Like...
Berry has throroughly researched several Marian Apparitions and Catholic Prophecies; and weaves them skillfully into the plot. He concentrates on three of them : The Malachy "Prophecies of the Popes"; the Three Secrets of Fatima, and the Ten Secrets of Medugorje. The Fatima secrets are by far the most famous, and the "uber-secret" Third Secret of Fatima provides the title to this book.

Amazingly, Berry manages to combine these three prophetic events into one coherent message, without compromising their historical background. All three are in fact non-fiction events, and can be found at Wikipedia.

I also like the "even treatment" Berry gives God and the Church. Most authors choose one side or the other. Either their book finds nothing good to say at all about Christianity, or else its a thinly-veiled call for you to get right with God. Berry's posture falls halfway between "Heaven and Hell", so to speak.

What's Not To Like...
Well, if you're a loyal Catholic, you're not going to like this any more than you liked the Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons.

Also, you go through almost the entire book waiting for The Third Secret to be revealed, and when it finally does... well... it's quite the anticlimax. In fairness, it has to be said that the Vatican's official version of The Third Secret is just as much of a letdown, fueling speculation that they gave us a red herring.

Finally, the protagonist is just too "pure evil" to be believable. I have no doubt that getting elected Pope is all about politics and nothing about seeking God's guidance, but the depths of the misdeeds here come off as too contrived.

Mail Hairy, Gruel of Face...
The Third Secret is not gonna bump Jurassic Park and The Da Vinci Code from the pinnacle of Cri-Fi. But it's a good read, about interesting subjects, and the Mary-sightings and Papal Prophecies are well-researched.

So we'll give it a solid "B", and refer you over to Wikipedia for some good readings on the "real" Fatima, Medugorje, and Malachy topics. The Vatican's stance on these sorts of things is surprisingly tepid.

It should be noted that the Malachy Papal Prophecies, which in theory give visions of the (at the time) next 112 Popes have now reached #111. Which makes you wonder if there's an implied "end of the world" or "end of an era" coming just around the corner. Berry weaves this nicely into the book, but the historical prophecies are almost more captivating.

Gandalf - Sacred River

Artist : Gandalf (Heinz Strobl)

Album : Sacred River (2006)

Genre : New Age

Rating : ***** **½ (out of 10*)

This Week I'm Listening To...
There are four "Gandalfs" in the music world. 1.) An American Psychedelic band from 1967, who put out 1 very good album with a dynamite album cover. 2.) A Finnish metal band formed in 1993. 3.) A Swedish band from 1977, of whom I know nothing. 4.) An Austrian New Age musician who's been putting out albums for the past 25 years, and who is the subject of this review.

Sacred River is Gandalf's 2006 release. Think "David Arkenstone", only mellower. Here's Gandalf's comments about this CD :

"Inspired by Siddhartha, who learns from the wise old ferryman to listen carefully to the voices of the river until he hears the eternal song of oneness and harmony, Gandalf invites you to imagine yourself in a boat on the Sacred River, letting the music be your ferryman, taking you gently across the water."

That actually is a pretty good description of this album.

What's To Like...
This is some very nice and surprisingly complex "mood music". Perfect background music for contemplating your navel, reading a novel, etc. The tracks really do sound like a gentle voyage down a quiet river. The arrangements are a superb combination of keyboards, guitars, and synthesizers; with a sprinkling of bells and 'wetness' (for lack of a better term) blended in.

What's Not To Like...
There's not a lot of variety to the tracks. You might enjoy "getting into" this CD the first time only. Thereafter, it's probably just something you'll put on in the background. And it's definitely not something to play when trying to liven up a dead party.

Om Mani Padme Hum (Hrih)...
It's always hard to rate New Age music. If I dock stars from Lindsey Buckingham for all the tracks sounding samey, shouldn't I do the same thing for Gandalf?

Probably not. "Mood music" isn't supposed to grab your attention. So kudos to this album for its beautiful tracks and for living up to Gandalf's own introduction. However, it's tough to award more than 7½ stars to something that doesn't really latch on to your consciousness.

For its New Age genre, this is a fantastic CD - better than David Arkenstone, IMNSHO. Just have no illusions as to what you are getting - it may be a masterpiece, but it's still background music.

Department of Redundancy Department

from a 20 July MSNBC.com article, titled "Lavish 2nd century Roman bath unearthed"... "Excavations at the Villa delle Vignacce park lasted a total of 10 weeks, and it is planned to continue, he said. Future decisions, including whether the site will be opened to the public, are still to be made." Gee, when else would 'future decisions' be made?

Dali-esque Liberty

No, this isn't really a Dali painting. It's a Photoshop creation from those wonderful folks over at http://www.worth1000.com/ This particular image came from a Statue of Liberty-themed competition.

If you're not familiar with the worth1000 website, give it a visit, and be amazed at what can be done to an image. This site is what motivated me to take an Art class at Mesa Community College two years ago - my first art class since 8th Grade.

As for Dali, he remains my favorite artist hands-down. I am always surprised by the number of people - even college degreed colleagues - who have never viewed any of his works. I probably have a half-dozen Dali books in my collection. If I get energetic, I'll scan some and post 'em.

Lindsey Buckingham - Under The Skin

Artist : Lindsey Buckingham

Title : Under The Skin (2006)

Genre : (Acoustic) Rock

Rating : *** (out of 10*)

It's been 14 years since Lindsey's last studio album - the wonderful (9*) "Out Of The Cradle". UTS is reportedly a project that started and stopped several times, with some of the scheduled tunes being diverted to Fleetwood Mac albums. If so, that's a waste, since I don't think anyone has bought a FM album that was put out in the 21st Century.

This is almost entirely Lindsey playing acoustic guitar. But it's hard to call it an acoustic album, since the vocals are overdubbed to death, and the guitar strumming is often subjected to echo effects.

What's To Like...
Pleasant tunes, and very nice acoustic guitar work. You could possibly find yourself singing along with the choruses on a couple tracks.

What's Not To Like...
Where are the guitar solos?! There are, lessee now... NONE !!

The songs all sound the same, and none of them stand out. The same overdubbed vocals get boring real quick. If this is the culmination of 14 years of creativity, perhaps it's time for Lindsey to hang up the six-string, and wait for some sort of overhyped "Fleetwood Mac Reunion Tour".

Would You Like Some Pretzels With That Coffee?...
All in all, you can probably go down to your local coffeehouse and hear someone just as inspiring. It is said that LB sounds a lot better singing these songs in concert, when the stale studio effects are missing.

Save your money, put on Out Of The Cradle, and hope that Lindsey finds some energy before his next offering, which at this rate, will be out in early 2021.

UFO - The Monkey Puzzle (2006)

Artist : UFO

Album : The Monkey Puzzle (2006)

Genre : Rock

Rating : ***** **** (out of 10*)

UFO, a UK band, has been putting out albums since 1971, and yet this is my introduction to them. That tells you something about the pre-programmed drivel you hear on radio nowadays. The whole album is good, honest rock & roll; the way Van Halen would sound if they had any talent.

What's To Like...
ALL the musicians - the lead guitar, the bass guitar, the drummer, the harmonica player, et. al. - turn in stellar efforts. A nice mix of blues-influenced hard rockers (2/3 of the tracks), blended nicely with 2 or 3 melodic ballads. Very little, if any, "filler".

What's Not To Like...
Hmmm. Not much, since I'm giving this nine stars. I'm told, and will accept, that Phil Mogg's voice ain't what it used to be. All 11 songs are made for radio-play; apparently UFO in the early days was a prog-rock band. And those who have followed this band for 30 albums and 36 years say "this just isn't vintage UFO".

Vintage Schmintage...
Hey, I haven't heard "vintage UFO", so as far as I'm concerned, this is the best rock album I've heard in the past year. Beats the heck out of Nickelback rubbish. If their past efforts are better, then I'm looking forward to hearing more UFO albums.

"Cri-Fi"

I think I'll invent a new literary genre for an upcoming book review. It is based on the premise that there is a lot more in common between, say, Michael Crichton and Dan Brown novels, than, say, Crichton and Tom Clancy novels. We'll call this genre "Cri-Fi" in honor of Crichton who, although he probably didn't invent it, certainly made it a best-selling motif. We'll define Cri-Fi as being a Thriller at heart, but with equal attention paid to a Technical Twist. The Tech Twist might be rooted in Science (such as Jurassic Park), Religion (such as The Da Vinci Code), History (Elvis didn't really die, you know), Prophecy (The Anti-Christ is here among us), etc. What distinguishes Cri-Fi from Sci-Fi is the amount of detailed research done by the author on the Tech Twist. A successful Cri-Fi novel will bring out the so-called "Technical Experts" who will go to great lengths to tell you why the Technical Twist couldn't/didn't really happen. Witness the great pains which were taken to tell you why dinosaur DNA couldn't be extracted from mosquitos in amber. Or the Church Apologetics who wrote at length why Brown's Da Vinci Code "alternative theology" just isn't true. Hey fellas, these are novels! If you feel compelled to disprove fiction, you're actually complimenting the authors for developing a very plausible Tech Twist. Finally, the Tech Twist portion of the Cri-Fi story, will usually take precedence over the Thriller component. Let's face it, we were far more interested in solving the Da Vinci Code, then in finding out who killed the dude in the Louvre. Oh yeah, it goes without saying that I'm a fan of Cri-Fi.

The Bird Has Flown (Hopefully)

Our baby sparrow has flow the coop ...er... planter. Sometime between late Thursday and Friday morning, he up and left. At least three different sparrows spent most of Thursday feeding him regurgitated nourishment.

There are of course two possibilities. First, that he learned to fly. Second, that a neighborhood cat had a late-night snack. On the bright side, there were no feathers in the planter, nor any signs of a struggle, such as the dirt in the planter being scratched up and/or thrown out of the pot.

Another Stray

Liz has brought home yet another stray.

Okay, it's not a stray, and she didn't exactly 'bring it home'. Actually, it fell onto our back porch all by itself.

The birds keep building nests in those round holes drilled into the house-walls right under the roof (what is the purpose of these holes anyway?). Alas, it's a lousy place for a nest - the baby birds can fall out long before mama bird decides to kick them out to make them learn to fly.

This little guy fell out before his eyes were even open. Generally, they die within 24 hours. but Liz has been feeding him and giving him water. So far, he's lasted 4 days. His eyes are now open and as you can see, his feathers are coming in. I figure he's still got only about a 1-in-100 shot of making it, but hey, he's already beating the odds.

Liz put him in one of our planters on the back porch. He's got to hope the neighborhood cats don't notice him. Of our three dogs, Jynx and Huxley are curious about him; and Honeybee wants to eat him.

1633 - Eric Flint & David Weber

Title : 1633

Authors : Eric FLint & David Weber

Genre : Alternate History

Pages : 665 (paperback)

Rating : B+

The sequel to 1632, which was reviewed earlier. David Weber was apparently brought in to add a "big name" to the series. Which is kind of a waste, since I've never heard of him.

In 1633, our intrepid band of modern-day hillbillies have stopped slaughtering 17th century armies, and now are trying their hands at diplomacy & politics. There's not as much action as in 1632, but it's an interesting read neverthless.

What's To Like...
Again, the meticulous historical researching shows through. The historical figures of Oliver Cromwell, King Charles of England, Thomas Wentworth, Don Oquendo, and (Swedish) Princess Kristina are all introduced. Cardinal Richelieu is fleshed out, and if he can't be loved as the Ultimate Evil, he can at least be admired for his deadly charm and intelligence.

The French, British, Spaniards and Danes become the bad guys. The hillbillies, Swedes, Dutch and German peasants are the good guys. And unlike in 1632, some of the good guys actually die. albeit in a most heroic fashion.

The bad guys even manage some military victories, something sadly lacking in 1632. I have the impression that Weber's hand is to thank for the "evening-out" of characters, events, luck, victories, etc.

What's Not To Like...
Mike Stearns is still the consummate Ubermann. If he was the paragon of military perfection in 1632, here he makes 17th Century politics seem like childsplay. He may have to admit that Admiral Simpson now has some redeeming qualities (thank you, David Weber!), but Admiral Simpson has to admit that Stearns is perfect in everything he does.

More unsettling is the large number of "loose ends" here. Ollie Cromwell is introduced but is still imprisoned in the Tower of London at the end of the book. Amsterdam is under siege. The Danes are threatening to conquer Germany. Richelieu is conniving like crazy. One gets the feeling that Flint is going to pull a "Robert Jordan" - that is, resort to the "never-ending sequel".

In conclusion...
It's still a very good Alternate History story. There are tedious parts (mostly when Flint gets to preaching his personal political philosophies), but David Weber supplies a much-needed counterbalance to Flint's sometimes too-shallow plot- and character-development. We can only hope that the loose ends don't go on for another 12 books or so.