Monday, June 29, 2015
Sunday, June 28, 2015
The Ants are my Friends; They're Blowing in the Wind...
Indeed, I've been inflicted with this all my life.
Saturday, June 27, 2015
Dogs in Bed
Well, we have three little dogs instead of one big one. But otherwise, the graph is quite valid.
Friday, June 26, 2015
Book Excerpt for the Day
“American?
You are the enemy!” Said with a
smile.
“We have taken your democracy and given it to the polloi.”
“You Americans are like our former gods.
You come down from your mountaintop, make chaos, make fornications, many
problems, then you return to your mountain.”
Her brows were knit tightly here.
“That’s us all right.” I found it endearing the way she said “moun-tane.”
(from Little God
Blues by Jeffrey M. Anderson)
7*/10. The full review is here.
.
Thursday, June 25, 2015
Wednesday, June 24, 2015
Monday, June 22, 2015
Sunday, June 21, 2015
Saturday, June 20, 2015
Friday, June 19, 2015
Racism and Guns
The GOP-wad Presidential candidates are tripping all over themselves trying to lamely explain why we shouldn't think of the tragic church shooting in South Carolina as evidence of racism or the need for gun control.
Frankly, it makes them look like the racist hatemongers that they are. This was an act of racism, and it is a clear reason why we need to make it tougher for everyone to get guns.
Thursday, June 18, 2015
Book Excerpt for the Day
“Anatoly, come back in,” Duvall said through
the window. “For God’s sake, you’re not
wearing pants.”
Kerensky turned around, following her voice. “This isn’t a ship,” he yelled up to the
window.
“No, it’s the Best Western Media Center Inn and Suites,” Duvall
said. “In Burbank.”
“Is that a planet?” Kerensky yelled.
“What system is it in?”
“Oh, for Christ’s sake,” Hester muttered. “You’re on Earth, you moron,” he yelled at Kerensky.
Kerensky looked around disbelievingly.
“Was there an apocalypse?” he yelled.
Hester looked at Duvall. “You
actually have sex with this imbecile?”
(from Redshirts
by John Scalzi)
8*/10. The full review is here.
.
Wednesday, June 17, 2015
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
Monday, June 15, 2015
Sunday, June 14, 2015
Vampire Romance
Funnily enough, I just started reading a Vampire Romance novel. Look for a review in a week or so.
Saturday, June 13, 2015
Book Excerpt for the Day
“It’s one of our ancestors’ greatest
triumphs against the Snowdonian Welsh.
The odds were astounding: five thousand against six. It was a hard, hand-to-hand battle over two
days with every inch won in blood and sinew, but thank Snodd we were
victorious. Despite everything, we were
impressed by the fighting spirit of the Welsh – those six certainly put up a
terrific fight.”
(from The Eye of
Zoltar, by Jasper Fforde)
8*/10. The full review is here.
.
Friday, June 12, 2015
Thursday, June 11, 2015
The problem with Classical Music
True dis. There have been times when I've wanted to find out who wrote some piece of classical music, and have had no idea how to Google that. I end up making random guesses on YouTube hoping to luck into the tune. One time it turned out to be Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.
Wednesday, June 10, 2015
Tuesday, June 09, 2015
Monday, June 08, 2015
Book Excerpt for the Day
“If they can work out the kinks, it could
revolutionize space travel.”
“’Work out the kinks’?” Jared said.
“I’m about to use this thing.
Kinks are bad.”
“The kink is that the drive is touchy about the mass of the object it’s
attached to,” Wilson said. “Too much
mass creates too much of a local warp on the time-space. Makes the Skip Drive do weird things.”
“Like what?” Jared asked.
“Like explode,” Wilson said.
“That’s not encouraging,” Jared said.
“Well, explode is not quite
the accurate word,” Wilson said. “The
physics for what really goes on are
much weirder, I assure you.”
“You can stop now,” Jared said.
(from The Ghost
Brigades by John Scalzi)
9½*/10. The full review is here.
.
Sunday, June 07, 2015
Saturday, June 06, 2015
Friday, June 05, 2015
Thursday, June 04, 2015
Wednesday, June 03, 2015
Book Excerpt for the Day
“I am looking for the great superhero, John
Doe the Undefeated. Do you know where he
is?”
The woman nodded. “I may.”
Professor Smith couldn’t contain his excitement. “Is it true he came back from the dead, and
rained his vengeance upon those who had tried to kill him?”
“Umm, no. All he did was scare
his wife away, who left the village screaming like a headless chicken.”
“Do headless chickens really scream?”
(from The Zombie’s
Life Is In Danger, by Shantnu Tiwari)
2½*/10. The full review is here.
.
Tuesday, June 02, 2015
Monday, June 01, 2015
Sunday, May 31, 2015
Quantum Physics - Entanglement
Saturday, May 30, 2015
Friday, May 29, 2015
Book Excerpt for the Day
(H)e
reached for the key in his trouser pocket and found his shirt-tail on fire.
Ipe! Josh jumped around like a
Watusi, whacking at his right hip like a move in a Bob Fosse dance, while the
damn woman in the van looked at him with the first honest smile he’d ever seen
her wear.
How could he catch fire? Holy
Batman, his whole shirt was on fire!
What had he touched, what had he brushed against, how-
Yanking the shirt off to reveal the tattered and filthy sleeveless
undershirt beneath, staring around in wild surprise, Josh saw, against the far
wall, forty million dollars in counterfeit twenties in brown paper bags burning
like a Magritte tuba.
(from Smoke by Donald E. Westlake)
7½*/10.
The complete review is here.
.
Thursday, May 28, 2015
Wednesday, May 27, 2015
Tuesday, May 26, 2015
Monday, May 25, 2015
The Brothers Four - A New World's Record
Album : A New World's Record
Artist : The Brothers Four
Genre : Folk
Year : 1967
- Tracks - (favorites in pink)
01.) Walkin' Backwards Down The Road
02.) Umbrellas In The Rain
03.) Shenandoah
04.) Have You Got A Light Boy?
05.) It Was A Very Good Year
06.) Meantime
07.) Here Today And Gone Tomorrow
08.) No Sad Songs For Me
09.) Changes
10.) The First Time Ever
11.) All I Need Is You
A New World's Record was album #17 from The Brothers Four. It came out in 1967, towards the end of their recording career, and no singles were released from this album. The heyday of The Brothers Four was in the early 60's, with their three big hits being Greensleeves, The Green Leaves of Summer, and Yellow Bird. They still tour, release CD's, and have a website.
This album will never grow to be my favorite album by TBR. For the most part, it consists of slow, mostly-sappy love ballads. Folk albums will always have those, but they need to be balanced with peppy and witty songs. Here, the only track that fits that bill is Have You Got A Light, Boy, which is by far my favorite song from the album. Not surprisingly, no one had posted it to YouTube, so I made and posted my own video of it.
But I don't want to bash this album too much. The harmonies are still great, and if you're in the mood for Easy Listening music by an accomplished folk quartet, this will serve you just fine. And if you're unfamiliar with them, YouTube does have a nice selection of Brothers Four videos, including a stunningly beautiful 4-song calypso medley.
I picked up this LP for $1 out of the bargain bin at Half Price Books. The cover is in poor shape; the LP can fall out of two opposite sides of it. So it was a pleasant surprise to find the disc itself in very good condition. This is another one that was clean enough to remove the scratches manually.
Wikipedia lists 19 albums by The Brothers Four, fully admitting it is a "selected discography". If you go to the TBF website, they list 45 albums, but only offer 18 of these for sale, and A New World's Record is not one of them. So if you want to add it to your MP3 collection, digitalization is the only option.
Saturday, May 23, 2015
Book Excerpt for the Day
Hopper
ran at me, swinging a pipe. He hit me
with his full strength, which did absolutely nothing.
I
picked him up by his arm and suspended him before my snarling face. I truly considered biting him in half. But then I remembered earlier at the party
when he was screaming for the Sex Pistols at the top of his lungs while the
camp ignored him.
You
couldn’t really hate a man who had so much passion for something while everyone
around him was numb with indifference.
(from The Whisper
King by Wil Radcliffe)
8½*/10. The complete review is here.
.
Friday, May 22, 2015
Incubator
This happens occasionally with my wife. I'll come to bed, and find her in the same position as Arlo's in.
Thursday, May 21, 2015
Wednesday, May 20, 2015
Tuesday, May 19, 2015
Kenny Rogers - Eyes That See In The Dark
Album : Eyes That See In The Dark
Artist : Kenny Rogers
Genre : Pop
Year : 1983
- Tracks - (favorites in pink)
01.) This Woman02.) You And I
03.) Buried Treasure
04.) Islands In The Stream
05.) Living With You
06.) Evening Star
07.) Hold Me
08.) Midsummer Nights
09.) I Will Always Love you
10.) Eyes That See In The Dark
This is another LP from the height of Kenny Rogers' career. Produced by Barry Gibb, with guest appearance by the Bee Gees, the Gatlin Brothers, and of course, Dolly Parton dropping by to sing the mega-hit duet, Islands In The Stream, which I found to be interesting in the fact that they trade off singing the lead and harmony.
For some inexplicable reason, Eyes That See In The Dark, like the KR album Gideon (reviewed here), is not available as MP3 downloads from both Amazon and iTunes. At least it is somewhat more-remembered than Gideon: 31 people have left ratings/and reviews for it at Amazon.
This LP actually comes from my personal collection. It is Liz's personal favorite Kenny Rogers album, and it is likely she who purchased it. I eschewed the scratch-removing software again, because I am somewhat of an audiophile. It is slightly embarrassing then, to admit that the bargain-bin Gideon LP was in better shape than this one. Both had about a half-dozen significant scratches, but my LP had a lot more minor ones.
I'm impressed how smoothly the Bee Gees and Kenny Rogers blend together. I like this album almost as much as Gideon. My only quibble is that it contains too many sappy ballads for my taste, especially Side 2. But then again, what would you expect from something produced by one of the Bee Gees?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)