Memorial Day - 2007

Support the Troops. Bring 'em home now.

Silence of the Hams

Title : Silence Of The Hams

Author : Jill Churchill

Rating : D+

We have a book-exchange where I work, and with a witty title like Silence Of The Hams, I just had to take this book home and read it.

Alas, it was quite the disappointment. Mean Mr. Robert Stonecipher is found dead beneath a fallen rack of hams at the local deli. When his secretary also meets an untimely end soon thereafter, its time for soccer-mom Jane Jeffry and her best Shelley Nowack to take it upon themselves to investigate the deaths.

Think "Murder She Wrote", except make Angela Lansbury a divorced Mom, raising two kids. The story plods along with our pair of sleuthettes chit-chatting with all the suspects and frankly getting nowhere fast. Jane's BF just happens to be the detective working on the case, who keeps giving her (and us) unwitting updates on his lack of progress. How convenient.

Finally, 255 pages into the 278-page book, Jane decides to root through a bag of trash, picked up by her son, who conveniently works at the deli, who conveniently picked up the trash from around the deli several days after the "ham-incident", and who conveniently decided to bring said bag of trash home rather than throw it in a dumpster. Conveniently, there's the case-breaking clue in that trash.

I dunno. Maybe this was targetting an audience of Junior High girls. It has all the plot-tension of a phone directory. But no $$$ were expended, so my only investment was a couple hours of my time. And at least the book was fast-reading.

Jill Churchill's title motif apparently is witty take-offs of familiar book and movie titles. Besides SOTH, there are Grime and Punishment, A Farewell To Yarns, A Quiche Befor Dying, The Class Menagerie, A Knife To Remember, and Fom Here To Paternity.

I you enjoy Nancy Drew books, then this is your kind of story. Otherwise, it's skippable.

We Remember...

RIP, Jerry Falwell

The right-wing bigot and politician Jerry Falwell passed away on the Ides of May. Apparently, all the hatred coursing through his veins finally clogged up his heart.

Among Jerry's political revelations : Communists were behind the Civil Rights movement; Abortionists caused 9-11 (with help from the pagans, the feminists, and the gays); Liberals are behind Global Warming; and Teletubby Tinky-Winky is behind the Gays. Or maybe the gays are behind Tinky-Winky.

- Political Epitaph -

There are lots of websites out there with lots of Falwell hate quotes. We'll list just one, from way back in 1958 :

"The true Negro does not want integration. He realizes his potential is far better among his own race. Who then is propagating this terrible thing? First of all, we see the hand of Moscow in the background..."

- Spiritual Contributions -

He once expelled three students from his Bible College after catching them worshipping at a Pentecostal church instead of at the prescribed Baptist Church. Feel the love, Jerry!

Ivan's War by Catherine Merridale

Ivan's War - Life & Death in the Red Army (1939-1945)

Author : Catherine Merridale

Rating : C

I like reading historical non-fiction. If I can't read actual history, I'll gladly settle for "Alternate History", but that's a subject for another time.

I especially like reading about relatively unknown historical topics. After all, can there really be a "new angle" to, say, the Battle of Gettyburg, or D-Day? So a book about day-to-day life in the Red Army during WW2 is something that will naturally appeal to me.

Catherine Merridale spared no effort in researching this book. She spent many weeks in Russia, interviewing old WW2 veterans and poring over recently-declassified documents.

Unfortunately, one gets the feeling the Red Army vets never really opened up to her. So she was stuck with a mountain of documents to go through instead, knowing all the time that Stalin and his minions had probably sanitized the entire lot many decades ago.

In the end, you get 400 pages of interesting, but highly selective and highly repetitive accounts. Worse, the book lacks any direction. Yes, it's laid out in roughly chronological order. But this is a book about the lives of the soldiers, not the campaigns. It would've been better to arrange the book by theme ("humor", "day-to-day living", "supplies", "the growth of patriotism" (or lack thereof), politics, etc.

Instead, the book plods along retracing ad nauseum the same trite themes : it was cold, life was brutal, lots of soldiers perished, the Germans were brutes, etc. In 1941. In 1942. In 1943. In 1944. In 1945. You get the idea.

This could've been a great book, but perhaps the fault lies with the Russian veterans for not providing anything of substance in Merridale's interviews. In any event, if you love to read history, it's won't disappoint you. But if you aren't a avid history-phile, perhaps it's better to read The Longest Day.

TPFE - 04/22/07 (a)

We went to see The Pink Floyd Experience last Sunday at the Chandler Arts Center. No, it wasn't actually Pink Floyd. Just a group of musicians playing classic PF hits, and giving you a "vintage" PF light show.

TPFE - 04/22/07 (b)

You got all the hits, except maybe Learning To Fly and Echoes. They even did one very early PF tune in memory of Syd Barrett, who passed away recently. That was a kewl piece of homage.

TPFE - 04/22/07 (c)

They had the surreal background pictures a la the "Dark Side of the Moon" tour. No crashing airplane though. They played the whole DSOTM album from start to finish right after intermission. Awesome!

TPFE - 04/22/07 (d)

The light-bulb man made a brief appearance. I missed the PF tour that included this effect.

TPFE - 04/22/07 (e)

And of course, the floating pig had to make an appearance.

TPFE - 04/22/07 (f)

They struggled a bit to re-create the "One Of These Days" tune. But the rest was pretty true-to-original. And the (male) lead singer did a fantastic job of doing the high, black female vocals from DSOTM.

TPFE - 04/22/07 (g)

All-in-all, a worthwhile concert. Especially since the real PF no longer tours. BTW, I didn't take these photos. They've been 'borrowed' from...

TPFE - 04/22/07 (h)

...from their website at :

www.thepinkfloydexperience.net

Hey, these guys are good! Check out their tour schedule and catch them the next time they come to your town.

New Blog - 2007 Phoenix Pride Parade

The 2007 Phoenix Pride Parade is done, and it was a blast! I've posted the 100 best photos at a new blog :

www.2007azpride.blogspot.com

Enjoy!

Easter 2007 (a)

Time to get some Easter pics posted, before Memorial Day rolls around. There were 14 people and four dogs enjoying the Holiday. Here are Preacher (Jason's dog) and Jynx (one of ours).

Easter 2007 (b)

We also celebrated Doug's birthday. He turned.... oh yeah.... I promised not to tell how old he is.

Easter 2007 (c)

Yessirree bob! I would never reveal sensitive information such as someone's age.

Easter 2007 (d)

There was swimming for the young'uns, who swore that the water wasn't all that c-c-c-c-cold. Us old'uns had more sense than to believe them.

Easter 2007 (e)

And even Jynx was coaxed to go in. Well, onto the raft via the lure of the tennis ball. Preacher also got in and swam. Actually, I pushed him in and he almost drowned because he doesn't know about steps going into the pool. So I had to quickly pull him out, and therefore there are no photos of the traumatic event.

Easter 2007 (f)

After swimming, there was the birthday celebration.

Easter 2007 (g)

Help was needed to blow all those candles out!

Easter 2007 (h)

Is this a kewl gift bag, or what?!

Easter 2007 (i)

There was lotsa picture-taking.

Easter 2007 (j)

Then it was time to hide the Easter eggs for the kids.

Easter 2007 (k)

And finding them all was quite the challenge.

Easter 2007 (l)

Finally, it was time for noshing...

Easter 2007 (m)

... socializing...

Easter 2007 (n)

... and last but not least, just plain old relaxing. Happy Easter to everyone who came over to celebrate!

2007 Phoenix Pride Parade

Yesterday was the 11th Annual Phoenix Pride Parade. It was the second year in a row that we made it. As usual, the interaction was great. Here's Liz with one of the entrants. No, that isn't me.

A separate blog with more pics of the parade to follow, as soon as I pare down the 200+ photos to a reasonable level.

So long, Kurt Vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut (11/11/22 - 04/11/07}

I first got acquainted with Kurt Vonnegut when I read "Breakfast of Champions" in High School. I didn't know anything about him or his works. But I did know that BoC was a short book, easy reading, and some of the pages had drawings on them, a few of which were even suggestive. In other words, it was a perfect way to fulfill a book report requirement. Indeed, I can only think of one better novel for a slacker's book report - "Flowers For Algernon".

I remember being mostly confused by BoC, but it served its purpose. Several decades would pass before I came to appreciate his writing, his politics, and his personal convictions.

Rest In Peace, Kurt. The world will be a bit emptier without you.

WoT Odds : Rand al'Thor

- Character -

The main cheese of the Wheel of Time, so we might as well get our prediction for him done. He's also known as The Dragon Reborn, Shadowkiller, Coramoor, Car'a'carn, and a host of other honorifics.

- Chances of Surviving Tarmon Gai'don -

Define "surviving".

- Why He Won't Survive -

Min prophecied it.

- Why He'll Survive -

The Aelfinn prophecied it.

- If I Was Writing WoT, Rand Would... -

What does the Dragon Reborn do, once there is no longer a need for the Dragon Reborn? He's conquered a slew of kingdoms, yet doesn't show a bit of desire to actually do any ruling. He's going insane, and he's dangerously powerful. There's only one place for him, and it's the... WWF! Oops, sorry, World Wildlife Federation, I gues its the WWE now. Professional Wrestling hasn't had a star that could draw fans since Hulk Hogan got old. bald, and stopped taking steroids. Rand is a godsend. Want him to be a "good guy" this month, a "bad guy" next month, and a "psycho guy" the month after that? Rand's the man. And think of the pyrotechnics he can do. Yeah, the stub of a left-hand can be a problem, but we'll put some sort of bionic replacement on there. Maybe a mechnical claw. I can't wait to see him in a "No Holds Barred" match. ;-)

WoT Odds : Nynaeve al'Meara

- Character -

Originally, a village wisdom (healer) in Two Rivers, and a childhood friend of Rand, Perrin, and Mat. Now an Aes Sedai (in Egwene's camp), wife of Lan Mandragoran, and currently traveling with Rand.

- Chances of surviving Tarmon Gai'don (*) -

95%

(*) Sounds a lot like 'Armageddon', doesn't it?

- Why She'll Survive -

Well, Min has foretold that Rand has to die in order to then live, so who do you think is going to heal The Dragon Reborn other than the most powerful healer in the land?

- Why She Won't Survive -

There's that touchy situation of being married to a man (king, actually), who's also bonded to Moiraine, and it is pretty obvious that Moiraine is going to be making a comeback in Book 12. Sounds like someone "has to go" in this triangle.

- If I Was Writing WoT, Nynaeve Would... -

... ditch Lan and start up a Healing Pyramid Scheme in the good old "Amway" business plan. Hire on other Healers (train them if necessary), and tell them to charge for their services. The "hirer" gets 10% of the profits. The "hiree" can in turn get enlist/train other Healers, but has to give 10% of her overall income to her "Hirer". Eventually, Nynaeve gets filthy rich, buys the throne of Malkier, and graciously offers to let Lan come back as her "consort". :-)

Wheel of Time : Knife of Dreams

Knife Of Dreams (Book 11 of "The Wheel of Time")

Rating : B+

I've been a fan of Robert Jordan's WoT series since I wandered into the local Walden's Bookstore years ago and found them handing out *FREE* copies of the first half of Book One. Smart marketing there.
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Now, 11 books and nearly 10,000 pages later (which Jason tells me works out to and estimated 2½ million words), I'm still hooked on it.
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KoD is, as always, a superb narrative of the various characters in Robert Jordan's world. If there is a criticism, it is the usual one - you can tear out the first half of the book and not miss any plot-advancement. Elayne's been trying to win the Lion Throne of Andor for a couple books now; she still is. Mat's been trying to figure out women (specifically, Tuon) for two books; he still is. Perrin has been planning how to rescue his wife Faile for three books at least; he still is. About the only "progress" to the story in the first half of KoD is following Egwene as she sets about to undermine Elaida in the White Tower, all while being spanked thrice daily in an attempt to rehabilitate her.
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But if the first half drags with regards to the overall plot, the second half more than makes up for it. All of the above sub-plots are resolved (except for Egwene/Elaida); and Rand withstands yet another attack of 10-gazillion trollocs (how DO they always seem to know where he is?), only to lose his left hand in an encounter with Semirhage. To boot, there is reason to believe Moiraine will make an encore appearance in the next Book.
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Speaking of which, we are promised by Robert Jordan that the next book (tentatively titled "A Memory of Light") will finish the saga, even if it takes 1500 pages. Alas, RJ has some very serious health problems at present (see the Wikipedia entry on him for details), which makes the slated release date (early 2009) for aMoL quite problematic. It has long been my fear that RJ might "pull a Tolkien" and shuffle off this mortal coil before finishing WoT.
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So we'll give KoD a "B+" rating, taking off points mostly for the plot-dragging over its first half. It's still an excellent book.
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In light of Robert Jordan's health problems, and the fact that aMoL won't be released until 2009 at the earliest, it seems appropriate to start taking odds whether the various WoT characters will or won't be still alive come the end of Book 12. I'll periodically post these individuals/odds, along with how *I* would resolve each character's fate, if I were Robert Jordan. However, do not expect my answers to be overly reverent. ;-)

Within Temptation - The Heart Of Everything

Within Temptation : The Heart Of Everything

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

Another very fine effort from the Dutch Symphonic Metal band, Within Temptation. What you think of it will depend a lot on what you think of their last two CD's - Mother Earth and The Silent Force.

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THoE harkens back to early WT stuff. It's more "hard rock" and less symphonic - and even less Metallic - than TSF and ME. So is this a "regression" or a "return to our core values"? The answer is in the ear of the beholder.

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WT has finally signed with an American distributor, so we may at last be able to find their CD's and videos in the record stores. And it is rumored that they will be doing a US tour with Lacuna Coil later this year. If so, I'm sooo there, even if I have to fly over to Los Angeles.

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The only drawback to this album is the song-order. The first three tracks are quite "rock-ish" and take some getting used to. You don't get much symphonic metal until Track 4 (Our Solemn Hour), but from there through Track 10 (The Truth Beneath The Rose), it's classic WT. The final track, Forgiven, is a mellow ballad that feels a bit out of place on a WT album.

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One gets the feeling that this CD's raison d'être is to break into the American Metal market. If so, it's a good effort. Move over, Evanescence. Its time the US gets treated to some superb European Metal.

4 Years

Happy Anniversary, Dubnutz. You jerk.

Mashed Metaphors & Smooshed Similes

From MSNBC.com on March 14th. Norman Ornstein, political expert at American Enterprise Institute, on the congressional investigation into the recent firings of seven US attorneys...

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"Some of it is like peeling back layers of an onion. It may lead in other directions".

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Uh, Norman. Don't give up your day job to become a writer.

Phoenix (Gay) Pride Parade - 2007

The Phoenix Gay Pride Parade will be held on Saturday, 14 April, 2007. Parade starts @ 11:00 AM, and goes up 3rd St. For more details, visit the Arizona Pride website at :

www.azpride.org

We went last year for the first time. It was a blast, despite Liz getting all the beads and invitations to gay bars. You're virtually guaranteed a curbside seat, which means it's a great photo-op. Also, it is a good lesson in cultural diversity. The crowd was 90% gay, so we got to see how it feels to be in the minority for a change.

Taylor Dayne and En Vogue are scheduled to play at the festival, which runs Sat. & Sun. and commences right after the Saturday morning parade. I don't know the show times for TD and EV.

Last year, we only made it to the parade. Perhaps this year, we'll expand our cultural awareness even more by going to the festival.

Hello 90°F

Contrary to popular belief, Phoenix does indeed have four seasons. This year, Spring was from 11:15 AM to 4:45 PM last Tuesday.

T5CE - #1 : Pink Floyd (09/17/72)

Top 5 Concerts Ever : #1

Pink Floyd - Big Surf - 17 September 1972

Anyone who has ever seen a Pink Floyd concert will surely include them somewhere in their top 5 concerts. For me, this was the best concert ever, although its probably a tie with the Springsteen concert listed below.

This was the first of three times that I've seen PF. See the Elton John listing below for comments about Big Surf.

The circumstances were similar to Bruce. PF's most-recent album was Meddle, which recieved extensive local air-play by KDKB. But nationwide, the Boys of Floyd were still relatively unknown. That would change in another year or so, when Dark Side Of The Moon came out.

So once again, we have a crowd of 5,000-10,000 or so. 99% of which are psychedelicized and partaking of the sacred weed. Camped out on the beach of Big Surf, coming on, grooving in cosmic unity, and listening to Pink Floyd. Who did mostly stuff from Meddle of course, but IIRC, they also played some tracks from the upcoming DSoTM.

HIGHLIGHT : Their closing number was 'Echoes' from Meddle. And just as they got to the really spacy part of the song, wouldn't you know it - a storm blows in. Talk about cosmic timing.

I still can see David Gilmour's waist-length hair blowing at a 45 degree angle as the front hit. And 10,000 hippies sighed a collective "Ooooooo" in contented amazement, and swore this was a sign from God that Pink Floyd was the best band ever. The storm kept coming, the song kept getting spacier, and just when you thought it couldn't get any better....

....the first drops of rain hit. And Pink Floyd packed up their guitars and announced that the concert was over.

And 10,000 hippies howled their protest for PF ruining their best psychedelic trip ever.

And, in a scene hauntingly similar to the "Danny O'Keefe incident detailed below, PF came back on-stage to explain things. And it went something like this...

"Look, mates. Its raining! We play electric guitars up here. If we stand out in the rain, we're gonna get electrocuted. 'Echoes' was the last song of the evening, so you haven't missed much of the concert anyway."

I suppose that's perfectly logical to a crowd not under the influence of chemicals, but we of course felt that it was quite okay for Pink Floyd to sacrifice their lives, as long as they finished the bloody song!

Alas, PF was adamant in their desire to go on living, and thus ended the concert. Still, that perfect synchronization of weather effects with the song Echoes can never be repeated.

LOWLIGHT : Well, not the incompleted finale. But there was this couple, obviously wasted, who kept wandering through the crowd, screaming, "Reds! 'Ludes! Anybody got some Reds? Anyone got any kind of downers?" At the top of their lungs. IIRC (and I wasn't in a particularly good state to remember correctly), someone finally gave them something halfway thru the concert just to shut them up. Still, the incident somwhow fit nicely into the cosmic harmony of the concert.

T5CE : Bruce Springsteen (27 July 1974)

Top 5 Concerts Ever : #2

Bruce Springsteen - Celebrity Theater - 07/27/74

Thanks to Google and the Internet, the exact date for this concert can be tracked down.

The concert took place more than a year before Bossamania hit the USA with the release of the album Born To Run. Springsteen had released two awesome albums so far - Greetings From Asbury Park and The Wild, The Innocent, & The East Street Shuffle. But he was largely unknown. Except in four cities - Philadelphia, Cleveland, (I forget the third), and Phoenix.

Phoenix was gaga over him, thanks largely to KDKB giving heavy play-time to those two albums. Originally, only one concert was scheduled for 27 July, but it sold out quickly, and a second one was added - on the same night. When's the last time you heard of a rock group doing two shows on the same night?

For those of you unfamiliar with Celebrity Theater, it is a small venue - maybe a couple thousand seats max. The stage is in the middle, and slowly rotates, which means every seat in the house is a great seat, although everyone at some time is looking at the back of the band.

The audience was stoked, stoned, and ready to rock. Bruce had his classic "East Street Band" line-up, including Clarence Clemons (sp?) on sax. And what a show it was! Solid, steaming rock-&-roll for two hours. I was at the early show, and to this day, I don't see how BS&tESB managed to have enuf energy for a second concert.

HIGHLIGHT : The opening number that night was the 60's rock/Motown classic - "And The (S)he Kissed Me". Its never appeared on any Springsteen album, but it left the whole audience with their jaws on the floor, and the band had us eating out of the palms of their hands for the rest of the night.

LOWLIGHT : The opening act was a folk singer named Danny O'Keefe, who did a 45 minute set of his songs, solo, and on acoustic guitar. I'm sure Mr. O'Keefe is a fine act, but the crowd was ready to party, not sink into reflective meditation on some thought-provoking lyrics.

We booed each song, and screamed for Bruce! About halfway thru the set, O'Keefe put down his guitar, took the mike, and said something like this :

"Look. I am being paid by Bruce Springsteen to do a 45 minute set of music. I am contractually-bound to do so, and indeed I will do so, whether you are booing me or not. All the screaming in the world won't bring Bruce out here one second earlier. Now you can boo if you like, but I am going to play my scheduled set anyway".

Of course, we booed that too. Now, 23 years later, I have to issue an apology to Danny O'Keefe for our inhospitable actions that night. Maybe I'll pick up a used Danny O'Keefe LP at Rockaway Records (now called 'The Rock Zone') as penance.