Thistles For Breakfast

Friday "Not So" Random 10ish: The "I just got back from my trip" edition.

2007-11-09T19:23:00.000-05:00

So, the whole randomness thing has intrigued me this week. While I was driving the 14 hours down to Alabama, and the time there, and the 3 day "trip" home, I spent a lot of time listening to my MP3 player on random. Sometimes, it sort of felt funny, that, in strange ways, the random songs seemed appropriate to the time. So, I am going to take you on a trip of my trip, using appropriate songs as a guide. All these songs are songs that I have on my computer.

1. Stone by Adam Again (Perfecta)

"I'm dying to get some sleep baby, seems crazy, to me maybe... I'd like to turn to stone."

Well, my original plan was to Sunday during the day after work, pack up, nap a little while watching football, then hit the road at 9PM. That would have put me into Alabama on Monday afternoon, chance for a nap at the hotel, then over to Dave & Dawn's. Of course, that plan failed. I struggled to sleep Sunday, for multiple reasons (including a nephew who wanted to hang with Uncle Bob.) Struggling for sleep is a very frustrating experience, one I have too often. Yet, I finally slept and ended up leaving early in the AM on Monday.

2. Free Fallin' By Tom Petty
"Gonna free fall out into nothin'. Gonna leave this world for a while..."

The beginning of a long trip is always fun. I was armed with my Wawa Diet Ice Tea and ready to begin. Free Fallin' is definitely a great road song, hell, even Tom Cruise liked it."

3. Smug by Steve Taylor

"Practice that smug. Post it like a man. One part Master Limbaugh. Two parts Madame Streisand...:

When music wasn't keeping me focused on the trip down, I would scan the radio waves for some Talk Radio. Being moderate politically, I enjoy listening to both sides, so, whatever I found, was interesting. It was also full of vitriol, harsh judgmental attitudes, and misconstruing the beliefs of people that don't agree with. I was amused by the Southern local versions, one in particular who was upset about a segment on Fox news about "wedgie proof underwear." He was worried that the "protection" of kids from bullying was causing a country of wussies who can't stand up for themselves, and said that why we have so many people who are "light in the loafers, and limp in the wrists." His words people!

4. Cell Phone's Dead by Beck (The Information)

Now fix the beat Now break the rest Make a kick drum sound Like an S.O.S. Get a tow-truck Cause it's after dark And the dance floor's full But everybody's double-parked!

As you get closer to Huntsville theirs this 60 mile segment of Highway 73, that is long, dark, and draining. It's the middle of nowhere, and you get no cell Phone Coverage. By this point in the trip, I was tired and frustrated. I wanted to call my brother, let him know I was near, but couldn't. I was running out of gas, and hadn't seen a gas station for a while, and was worried about what would happen if I just ran out of gas. Eventfully, I filled up, got a caffeinated drink, and found my way to Hunstville, and eventually, Dave and Dawn's House.

5. Grace Is The Smell of Rain by Daniel Amos (Motorcycle)

These low of lows, dregs of the earth,
malcontents when the last are first
come to trouble the water

So, I arrived at Dave and Dawn's Camelot. Kissed Eli and Lucy, and tried to stay awake as I caught up with my family. Yet, it was tough, and eventually I headed out to find a hotel. I had an idea where I wanted to stay, but didn't pre-book, because I wasn't sure of the layout of the city. Eventually, the two hotels I had planned on were both full. Again, tired and frustrated, I walked to my truck, and was splashed in the face with a huge drop of rain. This was the only rain I saw in Hunstville, and it was very brief, but, it actually invigorated me, and gave me enough energy to hunt down a room, and crash. I didn't have any trouble sleeping that night.

6. Can't Take My Eyes Off of You by Daniel Amos (Songs From the Heart)

"You're Just too Good to Be True, Can't Take My Eyes Off of You."

It's a DA two-fer. The first thing you will notice about Eli is his eyes. I feel like me and Eli bonded in the way only an uncle and a 4 month old nephew can. To ensure our bond he made sure to mark me with his industrial drool. He is an engaging and wonderful child, who I could just look at all day.

7. That's Just How She Cries by Buddy and Julie Miller

"she is talking but she speaks in code like a broken heart replies cause that's just how she cries"

A Beautiful song, for a beautiful girl. Lucy was both wary and fascinated with me. We had many conversations, mostly consisting of "What's That?" And, "Mommy, Daddy, Eli, Melmo." By the second day I was there, she trusted me enough, to share some of her (partially eaten) food, and place crumbs as my had. As long as I knew my place, she was eager to impress me. Her development in just the past few months has been amazing. She is truly her own, little person.

8. The Fine Art of Friendship by King's X

"...the fine art of friendship, meaning of love, understanding, growing old..."

I am glad to not only have Dave and Dawn as family, but as friends. I have also discovered that Dawn and I would kick butt on Friends Week on Wheel of Fortune.

9. Am I Winning Somethin' by Michael Knott (Strip Cycle)

"The IRS levied my account You know they only got four bucks out Am I winnin' somethin'"

Well, I played Dawn in Scrabble, and Dave and Dawn in Monopole. Well, I had fun, at least...

10. Speedway by Counting Crows (This Desert Life)

"I’m thinkin’ about leaving tomorrow I’m thinkin’ about being on my own Think I been wasting my time"

Sadly, it's time to leave. So, Dawn likes this song, and it was tough leaving, so I thought I would include this.

11. Lookout Mountain by Drive-By Truckers (The Dirty South)

*Note: While a great song, I didn't include lyrics, because, well, the song is about suicide, and it didn't really apply.

Over the next few days, I was taking some side trips around the area. On Wednesday, I stopped at a few book stores, went to the Tennessee River, and then headed to Lookout Mountain . I didn't get to go up to the top and view the 7 States you can see from the top, but I looked around the visitor center, and some of the historic markers.

12. Elevation by U2 (All That You Can't Leave Behind)

"High, higher than the sun You shoot me from a gun I need you to elevate me here"

On Thursday, I drove the Cherohala Skyway, which takes you a mile high into the air, through the mountains of Tennessee and North Caroline. The views were amazing and the ride fun. The eastern, North Carolina side was a 9% decline, that allowed you to just put the truck in neutral and coast down long sections. It was an excellent experience.

Here's a picture I snapped with my cell phone of Huckleberry Knob. I just liked the name of it. Plus, it was exactly 1 mile in elevation.

13. 72 (This Highway's Mean) By Drive By Truckers (Southern Rock Opera)

"Don't know why they even bother putting this highway on the map Everybody that's ever been on it knows exactly where they're at..."

Well, it wasn't Route 72, but I took Route 129 from Robbinsville, North Carolina to Knoxville, TN. Well, let me tell you, it was easily the trickiest, curviest road I have ever experienced. Hairpin turn, after relentless hairpin turn. Made famous by bikers, the stretch is called The Tail of the Dragon, and you can find videos on You Tube of bikers driving it. By the end of the 30 mile stretch I felt like I was at the end of a boxing match. And it was a draw.

14. Another Song About the Rain by Cracker (Cracker)

"Another song about the rain Coming down it burns through me"

Today, I headed out from the Red Roof Inn in Wytheville, Virgina, on Route 81, homeward bound. About a 8 hour drive awaited me, much of it in the rain. It was a easy ride, with little traffic. I arrived home, and took my dog out for a walk. It's nice to be home.

Honorable Mention

"I Wish I Was A Girl" by Counting Crows (This Desert Life)

While I was at a Pilot Travel Stop, I assisted a middle aged African American man who was looking for condiments for his hot dog. This man seemed like a normal person, except for the fact he was wearing a skirt. He didn't seem like a cross dresser in any way, but, he had on a long denim skirt. It was an odd moment. The weirdest thing, was I felt like I have seen him before... and his skirt.

With a Banjo On My Knee

2007-11-05T04:02:00.001-05:00

Well, I'm heading out on Vacation. Will be out until Friday.

I am excited to be seeing my brother, Sister in Law, and little Lucy and Eli soon.

I'm also taking Fatal Revenant with me as reading material. Nothing better than an Epic Fanatsy to take on a road trip.

Friday Random 10 (10/2/07): The Saturday Version

2007-11-03T20:12:00.000-04:00

OK, made this on Friday, but never posted it. Not many bells and whistles but some good songs.

1. Your the Only One by King's X (Black Like Sunday)

2. Egg Man by Beastie Boys (Paul's Boutique)

3. The Humid Press of Day by Camper Van Beethoven (Key Lime Pie)

4. Hallelujah by Cracker (Gentleman's Blues)

5. Grave by Bill Mallonee (Fetal Position)

6. All Things in Time by Toad the Wet Sprocket (Coil)

7. You Don't Know How it Feels by Tom Petty (Wildflowers)

8. Raining in Baltimore by Counting Crows (Autumn and Everything After)

9. You Satisfy by The Lost Dogs (Scenic Routes)

10. What Love Is by Taylor Sorenson (The Overflow)

Happy Halloween

2007-10-31T17:36:00.000-04:00

Today was truly a day of horrors!

I had a Doctor's Appointment.... Boo!

I had to meet with my boss, and other work related people... *shivers*

Finally, I stayed at work for the Halloween Party in the unit (even though I wasn't technically working.)

I did dress up my good friend for Halloween!

Do not Anger Darth Jimmy!

Hope everyone else had a scary time!

Book Review: Axis By Robert Charles Wilson

2007-10-30T09:41:00.000-04:00

Book Review: Axis by Robert Charles Wilson
Genre: Science Fiction
Bob's Thoughts "The sequel to Spin is another beautiful high concept Science fiction tale."
Grade: B+
New Release
100 Books 100 Posts (#10)

Since I fear doing justice with a synopsis of this book, check out one of these:
Science Fiction Book Review
Robert Charles Wilson Home Page

Axis is the sequel to the 2006 Hugo award winning science fiction novel Spin. What I remember about Spin, is it being a BIG novel. Not in page counts or size, but in feel. It was full of big ideas. Big questions of morality, and science and ethics. Packing such themes in his story, you would expect the characters to become cardboard one dimensional passengers. Yet, despite the bigness of the story, Wilson tempered that bigness with wonderful look at the relationship between three friends, who aren't just along for the ride but are helping to influence events. That is where Spin really succeeded. The people guiding you through the tale, despite their flaws, were people you could understand.

With Axis, Wilson tries the same formula. Yet, while the ideas are still big, their is a briskness to the tale. The main characters aren't huge minds, big players on the scene, but normal people, stuck in a strange event. Here Wilson expands the story, taking it beyond what we understood in the first book, yet, without a "been there done that" feel.

While Axis may not meet the level of the brilliant first book Spin. It definitely keeps giving readers what they are looking for. Compelling characters, and complex, yet comprehensible science fiction events.

Book Review: Deus Irae by Phillip K. Dick and Roger Zelazney

2007-10-28T19:17:00.000-04:00

Deus Irae by Phillip K. Dick and Roger Zelazney
Genre: Post Apocalyptic Science Fiction
Bob's Thoughts "A Strange book full of interesting ideas and distracting subplots."
Grade: C
Available in Local Bookstores or Libraries.
100 Books 100 Posts (#9)

This book is like one of them superbands. You know the ones, where key members of different bands form a band together. Sometimes, this works out swimmingly, and other times there are moments of greatest bogged done in a whole lot of mess. Unfortunately, for these two greats of science fiction this book is more firmly in the latter category.

Dick's prose dominates this novel, and in the characters you can see a lot of similarities between Tibor, the protagonist here, and Hoppy, the protagonist in Dick's post Nuclear "Dr. Bloodmoney." Both are surly limbless men who rely heavily on technological "contraptions" to live day to day.

I think the book has a solid foundation. The idea of a new religion springing out of the fallen post apocalyptic society that basis it's self on the idea that god is not benevolent. The idea of a "Deus Irae" or "God of Wrath" being humanized as the designer of the Weapons of Mass Destruction that caused the destruction of the world was intriguing, yet, the have developed subplots of mutants and strange machines seemed like ridiculous ideas, just thrown in to flavor the overall pot, but offering little to give the book substance.

Overall, I found the book fascinating of an "idea" level, but lacking on the execution side.

Book Review: The Genocides by Thomas M. Disch

2007-10-23T21:15:00.000-04:00

The Genocides by Thomas M. Disch
Genre: Post Apocalyptic Science Fiction
Bob's Thoughts: "A grim tale of humanity after being decimated by giant trees. Better than it sounds."
Grade: B-
Currently Out of Print
100 Books 100 Posts (#8)

There are hundreds of books dealing about the end of the world as we know it, and there are a multitudes of causes. Alien Lizards, killer plagues, nuclear war, environmental collapse, war, pestilence, God, etc. etc etc. Well, Thomas M. Disch add a new one, really big trees. Yes, of course, plants have been done before. Yet, while Wyndham's classic Triffids were man eating mobile plants, Disch's force of the apocalypse are stationary, albeit alien tree's.

These trees, which spout up much quicker than terrestrial trees, eventually make their way to nearly 600 feet high. Along the way, they destroy all the terrestrial plant life, take up all the usable land, and suck the water dry from the earth. That is bad enough, causing food shortages, leading to the starvation of most of humanity. The few that Survive, live off the tree's themselves.

Yet, while the tree's and their nefarious masters serve as the background evil to the tale, the true tale of the story is the brutal survivors. Dish takes us into a community that does what it needs to survive, keeping their standards intact. This includes the slaughter of outsiders. Disch paints a grim picture of the remaining humanity, full of revenge, insanity, and lust. The book is uneven at times, and full of characters that are disturbing, whether good or bad.

All in all, it's a fascinating tale of moral ambiguity and rationalization in a decimated world, that is worth a look. It is also a different sort of Post Apocalyptic tale, which should please many fans of the genre looking for a different yet not surreal version of the end.

Book Review: The Kraken Wakes by John Wyndham

2007-10-20T17:28:00.001-04:00

Book Review: The Kraken Wakes by John Wyndham
Genre: Post Apocalyptic, Science Fiction, Alien Invasion
Bob's Thoughts: "A Classic Old School Science Fiction Tale, with a twist."
Grade: A
Out of Print, Check Abebooks
100 Books 100 Posts (#7)

John Wyndham may just be the master of the Post Apocalyptic novel. His novel, The Day of the Triffids, is considered by myself, and many others to be one of the top Post Apocalyptic novels of all times. Ever since reading that, I have wanted to get my hands on his other Apocalyptic tale, which isn't easy since it is out of print. I finally scores a copy, and devoured it quickly.

The Kraken Wakes is a different type of alien invasion book. There aren't any lizard men approaching in Faster than Light Space Cruisers, shooting men with laser beams, and stealing out bodies for food. In fact, the invasion itself is murky at best, and the aliens themselves are never understood, which makes the tale even creepier, and more effective.

Wyndham tells the tale in three stages from the perceptive of Cold World era Britain. Wyndham uses cold war paranoia in a sardonic way, to add humor and perspective to the novel. It starts off with weird red spheres fallen from the sky into the deepest part of the oceans, which is blamed on the Russians. As more "spheres" fall, missions are sent out to examine what they may be. Many of these missions end up being destroyed mysteriously, of course, blamed on the Russians and their super secret mini-subs.

Wyndham doles out the action sporadically. We would have a few tragedies, which would get people up in arms, then a lull, which would settle people back down. The few scientist who postulate the possibility of unworldly origins to the terrors in the deep are scoffed at and blacklisted. That of course, is until weird sea tanks begin coming to land, and snatching people.

The Kraken Wakes was definitely ahead of it's time in the many issues it explored. The basic tale is about two vastly different, yet seemingly intelligent species vying for control of the planet, and the differing techniques they use. While the book doesn't give you a good glimpse of the invaders, it uses the invaders to give us a decent look at ourselves.

Friday Random 10 (10/19/07) "The Airwaves Were Full of the Obvious"

2007-10-19T20:31:00.000-04:00

1. Hercules by Midnight Oil (The Best of Midnight Oil)

"You know that we can't see in the dark. We try and we try and we try..."

2. Bad Day by R.E.M. (In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988 - 2003)

"Those ants in pants glances."

3. Get Real Paid by Beck (Midnight Vultures)

"I want to know if I'm worth your time..."

4. Sometime by King's X (Ear Candy)

"Sometime, I want to believe"

5. Pain Lies on the Riverside by Live (Awake: The Best of Live)

"And the guilt that hangs around your neck has got me locked up in a cage..."

6. We Know too Much by Michael Been (Strong Hand of Love: A Tribute To Mark Heard)

"I looked at my own silhouette. It looked back with a bad attitude."

7. Light My Fuse by Mike Knott (Strip Cycle)

"Tried to own the world and got into owing the world a lot."

8. Bartholomew Higgins by Poor Old Lu (Star Studded Super Step)

"if you want to see what I am saying focus then, on our decisions..."

9. Runaway Train by Vigilantes of Love (Welcome to Struggleville)

"...only two tracks take you out of here baby, now one will make you crazy one will make you sane..."

10. Life In The Factory by Drive-By Truckers (Southern Rock Opera)

"Let me tell ya'll a story so far fetched it must be true..."

Book Review: Mysterium by Robert Charles Wilson

2007-10-16T00:18:00.000-04:00

Book Review: Mysterium by Robert Charles Wilson
Genre: Science Fiction, Alternate History
Bob's Thoughts "Sometimes a book attempts to accomplish too much. Sometimes it's still a good read."
Grade: B-
Limited Availability, Check Local Library.
100 Books 100 Posts: #6

There's a lot of high concepts in this book. So many, it's a wonder not a single one of those concepts were fully explored in a 300 page book. Yet, while those issues are strained at best, what is left is an enjoyable tale of a displace community.

So, if you have read books like SM Stirling's Nantucket Series or Flint's 1632 series, you will recognize elements of the plot. Due to some tests at a secret government lab on a strange object, the town of Two Rivers, Michigan is somehow transplanted from our reality to an alternate history where a Gnosticism is the predominant religion. The universe they are transplanted in is highly authoritarian with religious Proctor's controlling everything in society. They are also much less developed, in both population and technology.

A group of people in the town must contend with the oppressive nature of the new society while trying to discover how they were sent to this world. Not shockingly, the phenomenon confuses the people of the new universe. Some see it as a gift needed to help fight the evil Spaniards. Other see it as a dangerous and unpredictable element that needs to be destroyed.

Mysterium would make an excellent part of a book. All the issues are only briefly flirted with. We don't really get a full glimpse of the town, the new universe, the physics involved in the transformation, the religious aspects nor many of the characters. You do get some fun action and some likeable, if underdeveloped characters. What you don't get is any sense of fulfillment, of understanding, in the story. In fact, by the end, you are left more confused than you started.

Bitterwood Giveaway!

2007-10-15T19:04:00.001-04:00

Scifi Chick has and interesting interview with James Maxey posted on her blog. She also is having a contest giveaway for an autographed copy of Bitterwood.

Bitterwood has been one of my favorite reads of the year, so I recommend taking a shot at a free copy of the book.

You can check out my review of Bitterwood, for more info.

Book Review: The Snow by Adam Roberts

2007-10-15T18:25:00.001-04:00

The Snow by Adam Roberts
Genre: Post Apocalyptic
Bob’s Thoughts: “A Unique Post Apocalyptic Tale with characters you just want to punch in the face.”
Grade: B-
Limited Availability
100 Books 100 Posts: #5

One day it started snowing. People were happy. Then it didn’t stop. People were no longer happy.

Sort of like JG Ballard’s work, the author starts with a simple premise, what if it didn’t stop snowing. What if it snowed so much that is covered the tops of buildings. How would people survive. What type of life would the survivor’s have. Using this premise, the first part of the book is excellent.

The tale starts out as a first person narrative of a Survivor, an Indian women named Tira. Yet, as the book expands it takes on a new life. Some of it works, some of it doesn’t. Roberts uses a lot of tricks in this book, that I enjoyed. Much of the story is told in edited documents released by the government. I actually liked it, and once you could get past the [Name Deleted], I thought is was a nice little change in the way stories were told.

I also like how Robert’s used the first person narrative. Most first person accounts come off as fake to me. Robert’s does well to make you understand that this story being told, is being told from a skewed perception. Just because our narrator says something is so, doesn’t make it gospel. She let’s you know that this is her account, with her misunderstandings and prejudices.

My main criticism of the tale is it gets hijacked about half way through for a while by one of the most unlikable, annoying characters I have ever read. Most of this is the ramblings of a self important, coke head writer that, I guess, is important to the story, but much of what he has to say isn’t. Despite her deficiencies (and she had many) Tira came off as an angelica princess, compared to this loser. His diatribes were hard to read, and his character had no redeeming qualities.

Eventually, the author pulls it all together well. The book is quite uneven at times, for my tastes, but all in all, Roberts has many interesting ideas that are explored here.

This is the first book I have read by this author, but, it was interesting enough that I will probably try another.

Friday Random 10 (10/12/07) "Lend Me Your Ear"

2007-10-12T08:06:00.000-04:00

1. Occam's Razor by Adam Again (Homeboys)

"I will paint you in a corner in a room where the light is on..."

2. Dogman by King's X (Live All Over the Place)

"...remembering the times I pray to help me deal with me, to be the dogman."

3. Devil Inside by INXS (Kick)

"Makes you wonder how the other half die..."

4. Internalize by Galactic Cowboys (Let It Go)

"Sorrow needs a place to go..."

5. Tale O' Twister by Chagall Guevara (Pump Up The Volume Soundtrack)

"...she had the lips of Nixon, lips like Tricia Nixon..."

6. Glory Road by Daniel Amos (Songs From the Heart)

"Hey, let's go crazy and thicken the plot..."

7. Life on Other Planets by Bill Mallonee (Fetal Position)

"...all grown up, but I hardly saw it coming..."

8. American Girl by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (Anthology)

"God it's so painful when something that's so close is still so far out of reach..."

9. Useless Stuff by Cracker (The Golden Age)

"Now everybody wants to be our friend, so we act real Zen and hang around with movie stars..."

10. Silver and Gold by U2 (Rattle and Hum)

"Mister, I ain't got nothing but it's more than you got..."

Click on the links, because, every band has a myspace.

Book Review: Through Darkest America by Neil Barrett, Jr.

2007-10-11T17:42:00.000-04:00

Through Darkest America by Neal Barrett, Jr.
Genre: Post Apocalyptic
Bob's Thoughts "A familiar story with an unfamiliar twist."
Grade: A-
Out of Print. Available through Abebooks.
100 Books 100 Posts #4

On the surface, Through Darkest America is a typical Post Apocalyptic tale of a world a few generations past a nuclear war, where society has regressed back to small towns, and farming communities. Yet, every once is a while an author with throw a twist into a story, that just by it's inclusion, twists and taints an entire story, forcing you to evaluate an entire story through the tinted glasses of the twist. Neil Barrett, Jr. does it here with winning results.

In Through Darkest America, the twist is that nuclear war has struck down the vast majority of animal life. The religion of the land morphed into the idea that "animal" flesh was unclean, and that the war was God's way of cleansing the land. Now, they get their meat from "stock" altered, feral human-like animals. Shocking as this may be, Barrett makes it more shocking by making it almost a side issue of the story. No one is outraged by it, protesting for the rights of the stock. There is no "voice of morality" telling us this is wrong. It is just accepted by everyone as a fact of life. Yet, for us, the observer, it colors the whole story with its understated presence.

That's what takes this story from the simple, to the complex, the moral struggles aren't the characters, but your own, to attempt to understand the status quo of the book, and that is the payoff.

Book Review: Some Will Not Die by Algis Budrys

2007-10-09T14:05:00.001-04:00

Some Will Not Die by Algis Budrys
Genre: Post Apocalyptic Fiction
Bob's Thoughts "A Must read for hardcore Post Apocalyptic Fans like myself, for everyone else, well, expect a flawed, uneven read."
Grade: B+ for PA fans, C for everyone else.
Out of Print (Check Abebooks for used copies.)
100 Books 100 Posts #3

"Some Will Not Die" is an extended and revised version of Algis Budrys first novel "False Night, a familiar story about the aftermath of a plague that kills off 90% of the countries population.

I am going to have a hard time reviewing this book. For me, I loved every moment of it. It is the classic, old school post apocalyptic tale that I love so much. The story in a nutshell goes like, there's a lone man in a decimated, he meets a women, they start a family, they meet another family, starting a group of friends, they meet other groups of friends starting a community, they join up with other communities and start a city, which join up with other cities to start a country, henceforth, society has begun again.

Of course, this is an oversimplification of the story. There are wars, politics, backstabbing, which builds up to a society formed on the carcus of the old, and yet just as corrupt. Told as interconnected short stories, Buldrys gives us a look not only at the immediate aftermath, but the society that forms a few generations past. All in all it is a grim look at humankind.

I was very happy to find the Kelly Frea version of this book. Kelly Freas is one of my favorite genre illustrators. I love the artwork in this book. I miss the days of illustrations in science fiction and fantasy books, and the modern covers that are understated. I always think science fiction and fantasy covers should be gawdy and unapologetically hokey. I includes some scans of the artwork, inside, and scans of the front cover. The quality isn't great, but, I think you get the picture.

Click on the Thumbnails for larger images.

Friday Random 10 (10/5/07) I Feel Like A Winner When I Make A Mix Tape

2007-10-04T19:34:00.001-04:00

1. Thick Skin by Daniel Amos (Mr. Buechner's Dream)

"How about a little wind In your perfect hair?"

2. Good Luck Charm by Vigilantes of Love (Audible Sigh)

"...you make your smile a different way to cry..."

3. Mrs. Dubose by Drive-By Truckers (Pizza Deliverance)

"She can't read between the lies anymore..."

4. Mr. Wrong (Live) by Cracker (Garage D'or)

"Well I was gonna bring you flowers, but I didn't. It's the thought that counts and I think I'm a bit too broke."

5. New Round by Beck (The Information)

"Lessons of the day on a blackboard night seem to be erased..."

6. I Can't Say Goodbye by The Lost Dogs (Scenic Routes)

"It seems like where you're goin' is half a world away..."

7. Math by Ookla the Mok (Poor Man's Copyright)

"How many roads must a man walk down before his journey is complete? Given: That he wants to walk twenty-seven miles and each road that he walks is 4000 feet. Please round your answer to the nearest tenth and show all your work on a separate sheet. The answer my friend is 17.4. The answer is 17.4 roads."

8. Miller's Angles by Counting Crows (Recovering the Satellites)

"They come out of the blue sky but you never know where they're gonna go..."

9. Flute Loop by Beastie Boys (Ill Communication)

"I Get Funky Like Diaper Rash..."

10. Bright Side of the Road by Van Morrison (Best of Van Morrison)

"Into this life were born, baby sometimes we don't know why..."

Book Review: Watch on the Rhine by John Ringo and Tom Kratman

2007-10-04T19:02:00.000-04:00

Watch on the Rhine (Die Wacht am Rhein) by Tom Kratman and John Ringo
Genre: Military Science Fiction
Bob's Thoughts "A Spin off of Ringo's Posleen War Series meant to shock. Lot's of bloody, alien slaughtering action with moral and political overtones."
Grade: C
Available at your local bookseller
100 Books 100 Posts: #2 (2/98)

Get an overview, and sample chapters at John Ring's Website.

Watch on the Rhine is listed as the 7th book of the Posleen War Saga, or Legacy of Aldenata. I read Ringo's first four books of this series about an invasion of genetically altered aliens whose job it is basically eat up humanity, and the "help" we receive from manipulative members of a Galactic Federation who give us all this cool technology, as long as we are willing to die for them. The first four books were entertaining. This is the first of the co-authored books expanding the series I have read. While not up to the standards of the original, the books are decent enough, if you like shoot em' up military science fiction, complete with cunning yet outnumbered humans, and some upgraded hardware.

The twist in this novel, is that the humans that are cunningly attempting to save humanity are Nazis. You see, one of the little gifts we received from our manipulative alien allies is the ability to "rejuvenate" old soldiers. So, henceforth, Germany, with it's back to the wall, decided to take the controversial step of rejuvenation some of it's greatest military minds, living members of the Waffen SS, the elite Nazi military branch. While meant to shock us, the authors quickly remind us that most of those who were responsible for some of the greatest atrocities in human history, were dead.

So, what we are left with in the end, are a few flawed men, who were Nazi's and one despicable Nazi. One character (a rejuvenated Nazi) explains that there were 3 types of Germans, those who truly didn't know, and were innocent, those who actively involved in the slaughter and who were damned, and those who knew, weren't actively involved, but did nothing to stop it, who were even more damned then the second group.

If the authors intended to shock you, well, I don't think it worked very well. I can accept that there were some members of the Waffen SS who weren't totally evil. Yet, I have trouble thinking of them in any sympathetic light.

There has been lots of talk about how the author's extremely conservative political ideals taint their work. Personally, it never bothered me in Ringo's first four books, because it didn't bleed into the words. Here, Kratman's characters become cartoon liberals, including one environmentalist, political advisor who believed that the war was the perfect way to solve the human's overpopulation of this planet. The character was so patently stereotypically liberal, he seemed like a joke. If this book was a satire, then, it would have added a humorous element, but the cartoon caricatures didn't mesh well with the serious tones of the book.

All in all, I didn't hate the book. It's an OK, spinoff of the world. I even find the idea intriguing, but I think the execution of it needed some work.

Book Review: The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

2007-10-02T02:04:00.000-04:00

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
Genre: Fantasy
Bob's Thoughts: "An accessible Fantasy that embraces the clichés."
Grade: A-
Available at Your Local Booksellers or Library.
100 Books, 100 Posts: #1 (99 to Go!)

Read an Overview of the Book at Patrick Rothfuss' Website.

Fantasy is full of clichés. It's hard to find totally original fantasy books today. That's OK. Clichés are fine with me.

The thing is, I am very picky with the fantasy I read, so, when I hear people say, It's been done before, well, I tend to take their word. Yet, with Patrick Rotfuss's debut novel, "The Name of the Wind" none had to clue me in, because, well, Rothfuss doesn't try to hide it. In fact, he embraces the clichés.

Barebones, the story is about an orphaned boy, who grows up to be a legend. Hmmmm....

His family is slaughtered by an evil so great people tend to think of it only as a legend... Hmmmmm...

Eventually, he gains entrance into a school, that specializes in teaching a form of magic... Hmmmmm...

He gets into a series of adventures, that through mostly luck, but some skill as well, develops a reputation, and a few enemies... Hmmmmm...

So, yeah, barebones, this story shares a lot of similarities with many fantasy novels. Many readers compare this book to Harry Potter. This is both a fitting compliment, and a problem. The comparison fits, because, life the Harry Potter series, from Book 3 on, this is adult Fantasy, written in a manner both safe and accessible to younger audiences. It maintains an edginess, without being full of sex, profanity, and gratuitous violence (not that I don't enjoy the big 3, in its proper place). Yet, it is an adult book. While I think Potter fans would be pleased with this book, don't go in expecting it to be Potteresque. Enjoy it for its own world, its own creation.

All together, Rothfuss creates a beautiful new world, full of rich, interesting characters, and vile villains. It's is dark, when it needs to be dark, but full of brightness and humor. . Instead of running from the clichés, even so far as to have the main character/narrator make jokes of them as he tells the story, comparing what he did, with what those of stories have done.

The Name of the Wind is the first in a trilogy, titled The Kingkiller Chronicles, so don't expect closure at the end of the book. The story itself is satisfying, yet, leaves you hungry at the same time.

100 Books, 100 Posts

2007-10-02T02:00:00.000-04:00

So, I have seen around various blogs something called, 52 Books, 52 Weeks. It is basically a blog meme, that promotes reading by having the bloggers track their reading, and trying to read a book a week, 52 books in a year.

So, it gave me an idea.

I know I read at least a book a week, usually more. This isn't me bragging. Things in my life give me the opportunity to read a lot, including a job that lets me read during the slow times. If it wasn't for the local library, and used book stores, I'd probably go spend half my spending money on books.

So, starting now, I am going to try and track my books, here, with the goal of reading 100 books (From October 2007, to October 2008), and posting about them here. That's the biggy. Actually sitting down to do the posting.

Basically, I will be posting the book, a rating, and a review. Maybe not a huge review, but something that tells you about what I though of the book, plus links to overviews.

So, what would 100 Books entail.

A Day: .27 Books.
A Week: 1.92 Books
A Month: 8.33 Books

Now, knowing my reading habits, well, it will be a bit of a challenge. Some books I can read in a day, while others take me a week. So, to give me a head start, I will be including a book a just finished the other day, even though it was technically September. So, basically, I am starting off by cheating. It was a big book though.

Anyone who wants to join in, go ahead. I will link you up here. And, don't feel obliged to go with 100. Know your reading habits, and set you goals. Then keep us updated.

Also, in book related news. I have been working on my top 100 Post Apocalyptic Books List. Being that that is my favorite sub-genre of books, I thought it would be time to put it together. Right now, because I have condensed series into one entry, I have about 92 spots filled. I currently have 3 books in my To Be Read Pile, that, depending on how I like them, may find a way onto the list. Once I get enough books to post the list, I will make a detailed feature out of it. If anyone has any Post Apocalyptic books suggestions (especially off the beaten path, or indie books) let me know.

Books:
1. The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicles) by Patrick Rothfuss.
2. Watch on the Rhine (Die Wacht am Rhein) by Tom Kratman and John Ringo

Friday Random 10 (9/28/07) "I Could Silently Scream"

2007-09-28T18:23:00.000-04:00

1. "We Were Born to Be Loved" by King's X (Faith, Hope, Love)

"Happy endings are not just for TV"

I think this is a pretty cool video by some kids covering this song. Pretty impressive.

2. "The Southern Thing" by Drive-By Truckers (Southern Rock Opera)

"Hate's the only thing that my truck would want to drag"

3. "Songs of the New Golden West" by Camper Van Beethoven (New Roman Time)

4. "Elevator Music" by Beck (The Information)

"You drive your vehicle like you just didn't care"

5. "Smashing Young Man" by Collective Soul (Collective Soul)

"You preach synthetic-like"

6. "I Need to Know" by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (Anthology)

"Who would've thought that you'd fall for his line"

7. "Perishable Goods" by Vigilantes of Love (To the Roof of the Sky)

"a car that's empty always overflows"

8. "Donna Nietche and Her Super Race of Kick Boxing Über Parrots" by Daniel Amos (Songs of the Heart)

"Anything that I can think of You'll find in here"

9. "Eyes Wide Open" by Over the Rhine ('Til We Have Faces)

"Impersonating the smallest shadow of my original self again"

10. "Can't You Feel the Chains" by Chagall Guevara (Chagall Guevara)

"will your bags remind you of home and who you've left in hell?"

Now Reading...

2007-09-24T18:21:00.000-04:00

I've recently finished a bunch of new books, new as in, fresh off the shelves. I am surprised how much of my recent readings have been fantasies. I don't consider myself a huge fantasy fan, but have read a decent amount over the past few years. Lately, it seems the "must reads" have been more "fantasy/horror/sci-fi" type books. I will probably give longer reviews of some of the books I have read, but here are some quickies.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling: I though this was a good ending to the series. For me, definitely a more engaging book then Order of the Phoenix or The Half Blood Prince. The series if not without it's flaws, but I enjoyed it. What more can you ask for.

The Sunrise Lands by SM Stirling: The Book is the first in a series that ties up the "Dies the Fire: books with the Islander Books. I was skeptical at first. I like Post Apocalyptic Books, but usually, one you get into the second generation, it starts to lose it somewhat. Yet, I loved this book, probably more than the anybook in the loose series. Expanding past the Williamette Valley to give us more of a glimpse of the Country in whole breathed new life into the tale for me.

Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch: The Lies of Locke Lamora was probably my favorite "surprise" read of last year. The next book (in what seems like another Uber series) was not as great as the first, but, it was good. I enjoy the characters, and their eloborate schemes. I am anxiously awaiting the next in the series.

Dead Sea by Brian Keene: Yes, I am a zombie fan. Brian Keene is one of the premiere horror writers out there today. Dead Sea had more of a "Romero" feel to it. The Zombie animals are always a nice touch. I am not really a huge fan of gore, more of the survivalistic elements of the zombie subgenre. I think Brian does a good job of balancing the gore in his books. It's there, but it's not unbearable.

Eye of the Beholder by David Ellis: I was very disappointed in this novel. Ellis was one of my favorite "Legal/Crime" thriller writers, but this book was just disjointed. Way to many subplots that distracted from the overall flow of the story, plus a lot of poor editing mistakes (one characters age changes multiple times in the same paragraph)Yet, the ending was surprising, and the characters interesting, for the most part.

Hades by Russell Andrews: A fun crime thriller. I like Andrews work, but his last novel, Midas, was annoying full of political agendas and trick plotting. Here in Midas, I found the story much more intriguing. Still a bit far fetched ultra-comspiracy laden, but, the character of Justin Westwood really becomes much more interesting then in previous outings.

Right now I am reading "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss. I am only about 200 pages in of the nearly 900 page novel, but I am enjoying it immensely. By the time I finish that, I imagine we'll be getting close to the release of Fatal Revenant, the next book in the Thomas Covenant series, so it seems I will be stuck in the Fantasy world a bit more.

Friday Random 10 (9/21/07) "Put That Gadget in the Random Mode"

2007-09-22T19:42:00.000-04:00

So, I haven't done this in a long time (Or at least haven't posted it here."

I actually really dig this list.

1. The River by Live (songs from Black Mountain)
2. Ain't that Strange by Cracker (Forever)
3. Come Down by Toad the Wet Sprocket (Coil)
4. High 5 (Rock the Catskills) by Beck (Odelay)
5. Mothers of the Disappeared by U2 (Joshua Tree)
6. Orphans of God by Buddy and Julie Miller (Strong Hand of Love)
7. Stone by Adam Again (Perfecta"
8. Sometimes by Midnight Oil (Scream in Blue Live)
9. Two Gunslingers by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers (Anthology)
10. What I Know About Love by King's X (King's X)

Favorites
#2, #4, #7

Book Review: Bitterwood By James Maxey

2007-09-02T19:48:00.000-04:00

Bitterwood by James Maxey
Genre: Post Apocalyptic Fantasy
Bob's Thoughts: "Dragon Fan or Not, You Must Read This Book!"
Grade: A
Available at Your Local Booksellers.

OK, all my comrades in the fantasy geekdom hold your ears for a moment....

I've never been much of a dragon fan. Typically, if I see a book is dragon-themed, I usually move right on by. I really don't know why, it's not the creatures themselves, I think, maybe just the way other characters respond to them. I've never been into the dragon as a metaphor, the good dragon vs. bad dragon dichotomy, or even dragons as the archetype of medieval fantasy. Honestly, if I look into it, I really think, for me, it's a response to the trauma of my nightmares after reading about Eustace cannibalizing another dragon in Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Of course, I was like 6 years old when I read that. I may have wet the bed that night.

So, I found myself looking for a good fantasy book to read. Outside of Harry Potter, I have mostly been reading Thrillers lately. But, I know there are some good fantasies coming out soon, particularly the new Locke Lamora and Thomas Covenant novels, and I really wanted to get into a fantasy state of mind. So, when I heard some people recommend this book Bitterwood, as a Post Apocalyptic Fantasy with Dragons, I put aside my childhood nightmares, and purchased the book.

On the surface, Bitterwood is a typical fantasy revenge thriller. Bitterwood, the main character, is on a mission to kill all the dragons in the world. The dragons rule the earth, and keep humans as slaves or pets. Plus, they killed his family, what kind of fantasy character would he be if he didn't vow to wipe them off the face of the earth. So, for years he carried out his revenge, until, the rumors say, he died with a band of rebels in the Southern Rebellion. Then, years later, during a competition to determine the next heir to the throne, the King's son is slaughtered, his dead body found riddled with Bitterwood's signature dragon feathered arrows.

That of course, pisses the King off. So, he decides the best way to deal with Bitterwood, and those who harbor him, is to wipe humanity off the map. While many dragons find his genocidal policy abhorrent, few are willing to stand up to the King.

Now, let me stop right there with the Plot description, because, honestly, you will find the much better descriptions elsewhere on the web. Also, a simple overview of the plot does a disservice to this book. Maxey piles layers and layers on top what seems like a typical fantasy story. He builds one of the most intriguing Post Apocalyptic worlds I have seen in a while, yet, doesn't dump it all on your head in one big scoop, but doses it out expertly, changing the story both subtly and drastically. By the time you reach the satisfying ending, you aren't reading the book that you thought you were, not anywhere close to any blurbed reviewer's description.

One thing that I found intriguing in this book is the dragon's portrayal. Not being a huge dragon fan, I had no biases or expectations on how dragons should act, yet, if I had to guess, it wouldn't have been like this. What struck me early was the Anthropomorphism. These dragons displayed some shockingly human traits and emotions that I wasn't sure how to react. Was this just bad writing? I highly doubted it, being the book was so well written. The dragon characters, no matter how human like, were well developed personas. If fact, their complexity, and political savvy rivaled many of the human characters that show up in the Big Fat Fantasies like Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire. Yet, as the world became more and more revealed, the dragons become more and more understandable, and by the end, these dragons were exactly what they should be in this tale. Don't make the mistake of comparing these dragons to what dragons should be. Their character is what is important, not being able to fit them into comfortable stereotypes.

Fans of Stephen King's The Dark Tower, and David Gemmell's Jerusalem man series should cheer this offering by James Maxey. He fills a much needed void in the world of Action Sci/Fi Fantasy. Every year, it seems, one book comes out unexpectedly out of nowhere and reminds me why I love to read. One book sucks me into a new world, which I don't want to leave. Last year, that was Scott Lynch's The Lies of Locke Lamora, the year before EE Knights Vampire Earth Series. This year it's Bitterwood. I'm glad I took the chance and read it.

Book Review: Valentine's Resolve

2007-08-13T02:03:00.000-04:00

Valentine's Resolve by E. E. Knight
Genre: Post Apocalyptic Action Series
Bob's Thoughts:"The Perfect Next Chapter in the story of David Valentine"
Grade: A-
Available at your local bookseller.

Series frustrate me. Typically, when you get to the fifth or sixth installment of a series, you want to bang your head against the wall. Either, you're basically, going on the same trip, yet this time you're heading north instead of south, or your fighting an even "eviler" bad guy, the way you fought the less evil bad guy. Then there is the attempt to breathe new life into the series, basically, by throwing out everything fans loved about the series, and just writing a new book, which happens to take place in the same world, with a few cameo appearances from lesser known characters.

So, when I plunked down my 20 some odd dollars, and bought Valentine's Resolve, I was worried. Not only was this the sixth book in the series, but after the events, and excellent ending to Valentine's Exile, I was worried about the series and our main character. I mean, his best friend was missing, he's been kicked in the ass repeatedly by those who he was fighting for, and he now had a whole new added responsibility of having to care for a very strange child. This could be a recipe for disaster.

So, when I tore through the pages and got to the end, all I could think of was, "Thank God for Mr. Knight." Ok, maybe I am stretching it, but, Valentine's Resolve was, for me at least, the perfect next chapter in Valentine's saga. Instead of prettying out hero up, and glossing over all the ways our hero has been screwed with, Knight piles the bad times on. From the opening moments of the book, we see Val in a downward spiral, falling apart in many levels, fighting a campaign steeped in moral ambiguities, and when that is finished, we are left barely more than an empty shell. So, when someone was needed for what could very well be a suicide missions, well, Val's the man.

Once again having a mission, Val heads off, in search of earth's most important allies. Along the way, he meets people on the other side that remind him of what he is fighting for. A hero pilot, even if he is an enemy pilot, shows him there is courage on both sides, and also a devaluing of life. A sultry singer/hooker who may is an example of the untapped potential of devalued humanity. All this leads him to another resistance group, being leads by a man, whose own moral ambiguity shows that both sides of the good/evil of this series, has serious issues.

While Knight excels in the action sequences and dark moments of conflict, what I enjoy is the black comedy and frustrations of the political side to the series. Val trip to the isolated remnants of the American Government is a comic highpoint in the book, and compliments instead of distracts from the overall story.

With a lot of terrifying moments and a thrilling ending, Valentine's Resolve is a great action book. Yet, even more so, Valentine's Resolve shows is that the human spirit can not be restored through faith in institutions, but through the value of personal interactions. In this way, one person can make a difference.

Book Review: A Meeting at Covallis

2006-09-17T18:04:00.000-04:00

A Meeting at Corvallis by S. M. Stirling
Published: 2006
Genre: Post Apocalyptic Fiction
Bob's Thoughts: The Trilogy that started with Dies the Fire concludes with it's best entry, in this fast paced and detailed novel of political intrigue and military manueverings in a Changed world.
Grade: A
Available at Your Local Bookstore.

They called it "The Change" and for good reason. Now, nine years (and two books) after the white flash and blinding pain that brought in a new age where electricity doesn't electrify and explosives don't go boom, we see a new world so different from the one we currently occupy that we wouldn't recognize it if we tried. At one point in A Meeting at Corvallis, a character postulates about the possibility that the change did not just change the physics of the natural world, but also changed the people in some fundamental way. Perhaps, but the mysteries of the why take a backseat to the here and now in this book.

The here and now is a grim look at the changed world concentrating on the free lands of the Willamette Valley against the Dictatorial Portland Protective Association, under the brutal control of the Lord Protector, Norman Arminger. The free societies consist mainly of Mike Navel's Bearkillers, Juniper MacKenzie's Dun MacKenzie, a Wicca collective, and Mount Angel, a pre-change Monastery, which is an oasis for the escapee's of the Protectorate. Along with theses three main groups are the Dunedain Rangers, and group of Tolkenesque Rangers who speak elfish and treat the change as if it was the fifth age of Middle Earth. These Groups meet at the former Oregon State University, at the city of Corvallis to try to persuade the group to form a treaty to stand against any aggression by any party.

OK, I know, it sounds a bit complex, and maybe a bit bizarre, but if you made it through the first two of this Post-Apocalyptic trilogy, you should have some idea of what I am talking about here. The Meeting at Corvallis indicated in the title, is just the prelim to what truly becomes the war between the Protector, and the combined forces that oppose him. This book starts with the political intrigue and maneuvering and moves into an all out Military tale with some of Stirling's strongest battle scenes since The General series.

For fans of the series, and writer, which I am, this is easily the strongest of the three books. With the characters developed and the conflict set up, it was time for action. Yet, Stirling takes it a bit further, giving us the best look at the "hated enemy" he has in either of the previous books. While the political and military details were detailed and intricate as you would expect, the sub plots dealing with the Tiphaine, Lady Arminger's bodyguard, give us a great insight into the complicated world of the PPA, and the complications of War. Here, Stirling really surprised me, giving greater depth, and providing a large chunk of the point of view to what seemed like a minor character in the earlier editions. Like with the Draka series, the first hand glimpse at the "evil" enemy doesn't really muddy the waters as much as make you step back and look at the conflict from new angles. Although, your gut reactions may not change much, the knee jerks become less jerky.

A Meeting at Corvallis was an exciting and excellent ending for a strong trilogy. The Change worked at an excellent devise, yet, by the third book, The Change becomes back story, and almost an annoyance to many of the characters. Unlike most Post-Apocalyptic books, the series quickly changes from looking to the past to living in the present. Many of the characters who were adults before the Change, may seem to be play-acting in their new psuedo-medieval roles, but those who came to age post-change, this is the real world. This change in philosophy does well to end this trilogy while setting up the next series well.

Nuts and bolts times. If you liked the first two books, you will love A Meeting at Corvallis. If you were one of those who groaned over all the 'Blessed Be's' and called The Protector's War the Wicca Left Behind, then you are entering safe territory. The beautiful old religion (or as one of the Father's in Mount Angel called it, the very young old religion) is still a significant aspect of the story, but doesn't dominate the pages to the degree it did in the first two books. Overall, this was easily one of my favorite reads of the year.

Friday Random 10 #13: Weirdness Ensues

2005-11-11T22:06:00.000-05:00

Being that this has been the driving force of this journal for the past couple weeks, it's fiiting that this may be my most random random 10... So, let's spin the wheel... Big money, no whammies......STOP!!!

1. Monkey Grinder by Chagall Guevara (Click on song title for downloadable MP3)

"I can still feel those hairy little fingers pluck a nickle from my sweaty little palm... He scratched me!"

2. Wonderama Postlude by Randy Stonehill

3. Reason to Quit by Cracker (Live at the Back Porch) (Click on song title for downloadable MP3)

"Reasons to quit they have no rhyme or reason when you're high and the reasons to quit don't out number all the reasons why we keep smokin' and we keep drinkin'..."

4. Fall Down by Toad the Wet Sprocket (Dulcinea)

"When the good times never stay and the cheap thrills always seem to fade away.
When will we fall down?"

5. Knight Rider Theme Song (Click on song title for downloadable MP3)

6. God, Pt. 2 by U2 (Rattle and Hum)

"Don't believe in Goldman/His type like a curse/Instant karma's going to get him/If I don't get him first"

7. Money's Not An Issue by The Vandals (Hitler Bad, Vandals Good)

"I'm feeling like a hundredaire and baby I just don't care where we go or what we spend so grab your friends-cuz money's not a issue tonight..."

8. So Long by Adam Again (Live at Cornerstone 1997)

"I went too far/I went too far/I wanted to tell a joke/I wanted to tell a joke/Ha ha/I'm so funny/That joke that I told/Ha ha..."

9. Cigarrettes by King's X (Dogman)

"...is it june or late september? Is it 1993? Could you help me to remember, is this how I'm supposed to be?"

10. The Organ Bar by Daniel Amos (Songs of the Heart: The Story of Bud and Irma Akendorf)

"He says his dearest friend he calls "The Ghost" worked in a luggage factory. He was fired when they claimed his work was Oblique and unsatisfactory..."

"I'm successfully concealed behind my pork pie hat, fake beard, and dark sunglasses. Convinced them I've authored several supernatural thrillers and doing research for my latest book. And as the sun goes down, a shadow is cast across Bob's drawn and troubled face. He rubs his eyes, and I leave, but my shadow doesn't follow, it's fond of Bob's hot joe..."

This FRT's FAQ...

So, where the heck are the lyrics for #2 Bob?

Duh, it's an instrumental... and don't ask me for the lyrics to number #5.

Speaking of #5, The Knight Rider Theme Song?

Yeah, what of it. I downloaded a bunch of classic TV show theme songs for one of my guys at work... deal with it.

So, you got like a favorite song or something?

Tough choice. 1, 4, 6, 9, 10 are all my upper tier choices for this one. Lyrically, I would probably choose 10, for the whole package, well... don't make me choose. After the top tier, we have 7, which is a decent song, and 8, which is the weakest song on Dig, but still great.

What about a favorite album? I mean, come on, give me something...

Well, Chagall Guevara, Dogman, and Dulcinea are the cream of this crom, although not in that order.

Are you ever going to put other content on this journal?

Beware what you wish for.

Friday Random 10 #12: Better Late than Ever

2005-11-05T19:55:00.000-05:00

To prove I am the essence of randomness, I am posting these on Saturday...

1. I Want to Hold Your Hand by The Beatles (Anthology)

“…And when I touch you, I feel happy inside. It's such a feeling that, my love, I can't hide…”

2. Surrender by U2 (War)

“…If I wanna live I gotta die to myself someday….”

3. My Path Belated by Camper Van Beethoven (Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart)

“And if you, o mother o mother of mine, have fallen in love with a man who imports cola, that would be fine…”

4. Beds are Burning by Midnight Oil (Diesel and Dust)

“Four wheels scare the cockatoos from Kintore East to Yuendemu. The western desert lives and breathes in forty five degrees.”

5. Stalls When It’s Not Warm by Lisa Cerbone (Mercy)

“Long ago, you would have gotten caught up in who was right and who was wrong, but right now you just can't wait to get home so you can be with your dog…”

6. Fingertips by Daniel Amos (Mr. Buechner’s Dream: And So It Goes…)

“Someone laughs and reaches down, cracks the plates and spins the world around on their fingertips…”

7. Wallflower by Buddy & Julie Miller (Buddy & Julie Miller)

“I have seen you standing in the smoky haze and I know that you're gonna be mine one of these days…”

8. Summerland by King’s X (Best of King’s X)

“not much time, there's much to do, look ahead and walk on through, no one's taking sides this time it's you…”

9. Sick of Goodbyes by Cracker (Kerosene Hat)

“When night comes crawling in on a horse. Soaking up my dreams through the pores. I'm so sick , I'm so sick of goodbyes, goodbyes…”

10. Galaxy by Vigilantes of Love (Summershine)

“She said I'll show you a room but I don't have the key but then I love traveling light
and if you let go your burdens and hold onto me, well, we're both gonna be alright…”

Friday Random 10 #11: What Would Riker Do?

2005-10-28T08:32:00.000-04:00

Hit the Button, Get The Songs...

1. Falling in Love by Lisa Loeb (Firecracker)

“…he walked in crooked with the clear blue eyes. ‘There's a nice pool in my motel - you want to go for a swim?’ That night he moved in…”

2. Warakurna by Midnight Oil (Diesel and Dust)

“…beat the grog, and save your soul…”

3. Another Horsedreamer's Blues by Counting Crows (Recovering the Satellites)

“…Margery's wingspan's all feathers and coke cans, and TV dinners and letters she won't send…”

4. Broken Drum by Beck (Guero)

“…And one by one we'll shoot our guns, we'll have fun. Don't ever doubt it…”

5. Buffalo Hills by Daniel Amos (Motorcycle)

“…our dim dreams circle the moon, like fog around gaslight. When all is said and done, we pray that innocence has won on the Buffalo Hills…”

6. It Is What It Is (What It Is) by Adam Again (Live at Cornerstone 1997)

“…foolish apparition, a donkey in a zebra's coat. All I know is what I'll say this one thing…”

7. It’s Not Your Fault by Ashley Cleveland (Strong Hand of Love: A Tribute to Mark Heard)

“…I let the molehill simmer like Vesuvius, and hole up in Pompeii until all hell breaks loose…”

8. Number One (The Final Jeopardy Third Riker Scatology Mix) by Ooklah La Mok (Watchman Recording Studios: The Compilation)

“…I asked the ship's computer, I checked the technical guide but there are no bathrooms on the Enterprise…”

9. Unsheathed by Live (Secret Samadhi)

“…free love is just another party for the hippies to ruin…”

10. Amnesia by Toad the Wet Sprocket (Coil)

“Take me where I’m wanted or make me someone else…”

Favorite Song of the Week: #6 This is a live recording of the 1997 Adam Again Cornerstone concerts, and also the one and only time I saw Adam Again play before Gene's death. The next day I saw the the Lost Dog's perform, which was the last time I saw Gene perform in any way. Both concerts were excellent.

Favorite Word of the Week: Grog:
If you want to know what it really means hit the link, but I have always liked to give my own definitions to the various Ausssie words that Midnight Oil uses. Whatever, it's another great song...

Free MP3 of the Week: #8 Download if you really want a song in your collection about the first officer of the Enterprise searching for a bathroom...

Survivor: Guatemala Thoughts: Week 6 "Unsportmanshipvillesquent Behavior"

2005-10-25T03:15:00.000-04:00

Well, let me say, that last week I sort of let it slip that I liked Brian. In previous editions of my thought I announced that I liked Brianne and Margaret. So, once again, Bob’s kiss of death is in full affect ladies and gentleman. I would suggest that you keep your children, and small pets away from me. I think my endorsements have killed more dreams than an alarm clock..

Yet, I have some great news for the hordes of fans of Root beer and hotdogs out there that thought that Judd’s dissing of their favorite products by trading them for a Bud Light was the ultimate in villainy. Oh, yes, I have some excellent news for all you Francophiles.
Editor’s Note: For some odd reason Bob believed this to mean “one who admires Frankfurters", I didn’t have the heart to explain to him it actually meant “one who admires France, sometimes it’s better to let Bob live within his own delusions.

Shut up editor, I can read. Oh, back to my excellent news.

I still like Judd.

Now, now, I know what you’re thinking. Heaven’s to Betsy Bob. Tell us you jest. You say this because you know your curse will doom him.

Nope, like him. You know that mangy, old smelly dog that lives in your neighborhood. He’s chained up behind Mr. Parson’s old beat up Chevy Nova, which has been sitting on blocks since 1987. The dog is mean, he’s bitten three paperboys, one tax collector (God bless him) and your little brother. This is the dog that all the kids like to throw rocks at, but are too scared to get close enough to actually hit him. Your mom has called animal control on him four times, but those wimps won’t do anything about it. Well, I like him too, probably in the same way I like Judd.

And for those of you who think he’s (Judd, not the dog) just another illiterate moron cast to fill the stupid white guy quota (which I think now sits at 7), heck, he was the first to figure out Ancient Ruins, even if he couldn’t figure out how to untie a knot.

But, I made a decision. I am not going to let this week’s thoughts be hijacked by the whole Judd and Margaret situation. If you really want my true thoughts on that whole situation, ask me and I’ll tell you.

Now let’s move on.

Winner of the Week: So, if I strip away the Judd and Margaret thing, and then knock out Stephenie calling people, places, things or concepts retarded, I am left with about 15 minutes of actually Survivor to discuss. So, who do I choose as winner? Probst for another stunning version of the same shirt? The brilliant producers for coming up with another shocking retwist, the double tribal council which was sprung on us during the commercials for the show all week long. Or what about those challenge designers who once again brought back the big ball of death? Screw it, let’s just give it to Amy. She sprained her ankle again. Yeah, Amy!!!

Editor’s Note: For those who don’t own Bob’s Dictionary of Made Up Words, a retwist is defined as a shocking new twist which is, in reality, neither shocking nor new.

Shut up editor. It’s a real word, unless you’re a tool of the Webster elite.

Weasel of the Week: Remember, no Judd or Margaret talk (although both would qualify this week), so that leaves few options. So, let’s go with Gary Hogeboom, for voting off Brian. Well, not really, it wasn’t the dumbest thing he could have done, but the guy is just a horrible Survivor. I mean, what is his point. He’s an ex-professional athlete who is mediocre at the challenges. He is Christian youth mentor who is telling the stupidest, most obvious lie in Survivor History. And, even though he is only one tribal council away from the typical merge spot, he still believes that it is a smart move to keep Bobby Jon around for his strength at challenges. I mean, could someone out there, someone with a better understanding of Survivor strategy, please explain to me why voting off the weak is still a strategy. Now, I think that Brian made some dumb moves himself. Why did he never think of going to Brandon, who basically had been left out in the cold and try to get him to join up with him, Amy and Gary. He should have realized that Gary may need to be hand fed strategy, if the guy can’t even realize that the whole quarterback gig was up long ago.

Well, maybe I just like picking on the guy, but Gary seems to be a dope. Yep, a dope.

So, now I have to say goodbye to some fallen Survivor’s, Margaret. Avoiding the whole Judd conflict, I just want to say that I wish she had shown some of the spunk she had in early episodes. When she was on top of the totem pole, she was happy and fun, she gets slapped down a couple and she’s moody and self isolating. I know the vote was hard on her, and I know Blake going probably didn’t help, but I would have liked to see a little life out of her (that didn’t involve trying to set Judd off.) It seemed dark, and her hopes limited, but stranger things have happened. Don’t just wait for your opening, try to constructively create one.

Brian, our athletic man. Now, he was always athletic, and he had the most tribal spirit. Could he possible been one of those male cheerleaders? Well, bring it on dude! I liked Brian, he was cocky and that cockiness probably blinded him to the fact that just because you tell someone a course of action, doesn’t necessarily mean they were going to follow it. Too bad you didn’t get immunity from your buddy Rafe. I would like to see how Probst would have handled that? Revote or just knock off all the votes for Brian and Bobby Jon leaves, with one vote. Would have been interesting.

OK, one of the funniest scenes this week was Bobby Jon answering Brandon’s question about whether he regretted voting off Blake. He sort of sounded like President Bush trying to explain why his most trusted advisor may have committed perjury to the grand jury. In some ways I am proud of Bobby for actually playing the game this time instead of just acting as if he was above strategy. Yet, it was a weirdly awkward moment. Can you imagine how Bobby Jon explain to his wife where he had been all night and if he understood how worried that made her that he didn‘t call.:

Well some… it was just a part… a part of that… that, that stage of the night, I had to do what I had to... do… I know that you want me to call, and you know… know I want to call… but calling that late just rubs people the wrong way… ya know… and well… ya know…

Bobby Jon truly has a poet's heart.

OK, for those of you who want to know what happened in the other 20 minutes of the show (in no particular order).

Stephenie found something retarded and/or gay.

Some bugs bit her, also retarded and/or gay.

Rafe (gay, but not retarded) gave Gary immunity, I think.

The tribes got to play with a big ball (possible gay. not so sure about retarded).

Bobby Jon and Jamie man grunted at each other. Perhaps it’s a southern thing, or maybe the mating call of a the North American Snot Wocket. (Note: I tied up the editor, so you’ll have to figure out what a North American Snot Wocket is on your own.)

Rafe grabbed some bags, and spelled some words (with Judd’s help.)

Judd traded some food for a beer, a root beer for a beer, and his Babe Ruth card for an old stick of baseball card bubble gum.

At tribal council, Margaret chided Judd for Jamie’s bad unsportmanshipvillesquent behavior. Judd said Damn. Margeret called him a bully. Judd said Damn, shut the heck up. Margaret giggled and smirked, then through a passionate open mouth kiss gave Judd a case of A - D - D. At the mention of two D’s in a row, Blake made an appearance and made a lewd and uncalled for comment.

I think somewhere, somehow a beer may have disappeared.

Brian’s tribe sings his praises, then votes him off. Sandra, hiding in the buses, sees the whole thing and tell’s Rupert who roars his displeasure. (I think at that point, I had fallen asleep, after the emotional draining of the first tribal council, so that Sandra stuff could have just been a dream)

Oh, and next week, I promise to take these thoughts a bit more seriously. Love you all…

Friday Random 10 #10: Insert Title Here

2005-10-21T08:03:00.000-04:00

Time for the Friday Random 10, the 10th edition. To celebrate, join in, but hitting your own personal random button, and join in on the randtabulous fun...

Oh, and for more fun, click on a few songs for the MP3's. YEAH!!!!

1. Daniel’s Eyes by Riki Michele (One Moment Please)

“You know who I am, and still you take good care of me…”

2. Grew Up Fast by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (She’s The One Soundtrack)

“We grew up last, when lies were just a fact of life. We grew up mad, ‘cause we never had a home. We faced the past and then forgave the revolution…”

3. Alarma by Daniel Amos (Our Personal Favorite World Famous Hits)

“Sugar cane in cellophane is playing at the radio station. Laughs out in the gallery believing that it's all elation…”

4. This Disco (Used To Be a Cute Cathedral) by Steve Taylor (On the Fritz) (MP3 is a live version from the Limelight Album from 1985)

“Mickey does the two-step, One, Two, Swing, all the little church mice doing their thing…”

5. Milk and Peas by Michael Knott (Strip Cycle)

‘Daddy sold a painting though he doesn't know how to draw. His friends are cool Sometimes they run when they see him comin'. He's always tryin' to sell them somethin' new…”

6. Sweet Potato by Cracker (Kerosene Hat)

“They say overrated, educated, I suppose a little jaded. When I get off this I think I'm gonna have to be sedated…”

7. Carl Perkin’s Cadillac by The Drive By Truckers (The Dirty South)

“Making money you can't spend ain't what being dead's about…”

8. Drowning Man by U2 (War)

“These winds and tides, this change of time, won’t drag you away…”

9. Come Out Fighting by The Vandals (Hitler Bad, Vandals Good)

“Sorry to say, to your dismay, your life is not the only one that you affect…”

10. Still Know Your Number By Heart by Chagall Guevara (Violet Blue Single)

Once again, too many good lines not to include, so here ya go…

“I'm not innocent, I never said I was, but my lawyer doesn't have a tongue like Jesse Jackson does…”

“Well I don't know if it's love or if I'm smart, but I still know your number by heart…”

“And I've seen how drugs and alcohol can get your dander up, but for your assurance I'd pee in any cup…”

“Some poet said that love's blind, too, but I could see its plan. 'Cause that little job I pulled last year, some day made me your man.”

“But I know in three to five I'll need you even more. I pray my file comes knocking at your door…”

Good old Steve...

Survivor: Guatemala Thoughts: Week 5 “The Misadventures of a Frat Boy...."

2005-10-20T19:43:00.000-04:00

Note: This is thoughts for last weeks episode, this weeks should be up this weekend.

OK, yeah, I know. It’s like a half hour before this weeks episode, and I’m posting my thoughts now. Well, yep, I’ve been busy, distracted, lazy, apathetic, and so many other states of being that you can choose which one that you think applies the most, based on you perspective of me. So have fun.

Being it’s so late, I’m just going to make some quick observations. Sort of like, Bob’s Thought, the cliff notes.

Well, maybe I need to take my thoughts back on the whole switch scenario. While,I still stand by my thoughts that switches more often than not, potentially create more predictability, well, maybe that’s only if I make the assumption that Survivor’s will act logically. Now, I understand that Blake was annoying, and probably needed to go soon, but, annoying isn’t the best reason to vote someone off at this stage of the game. And yes, while tribal loyalties aren’t as important as some make them out to be, if you do have an advantage, use it. Voting off Blake was a bit premature, on the parts of Danni, and Bobbi Jon, unless the formulated some sort of deal or alliance with Amy, Brian and Gary. Just doing it because he’s a horn dog, frat boy isn’t the smartest thing in the world.

Well, quickly Winner of the Week will go to Brian. Brian actually became to most interesting Survivor left in the game this week. He is amusing, and cunning. His little, Bate Blake game was very, very amusing. He managed to turn a pretty bad situation, into a positive. For Weasel of the Week, I finally have to break down and give it to Stephenie. I have had a decent whine tolerance level when it comes to her, but it is the same thing over and over and it’s time for her to stop whining and do something. Yes, her tribe has been unlucky and ill prepared, and often outmatched. But she needs to stop viewing herself as above her tribe.

I am so happy to say goodbye to Blake. Yeah, maybe it wasn’t the smartest strategy, but they sure did do the viewers a service. Outside of surviving a horrid Triffid attack, basically, the guy was a dope. Now, maybe I should cut him some slack, but I think most people who see their tribe mates praying and talking about God, should realize that there stories about Ms. Double D’s and the Adventures of Fratboy may not go over well. Time and place, dude. Time and Place.

I found Judd and Cindy’s confrontation sort of interesting. I think Judd handled it all wrong. He seems to not have that tactful ability to keep his thought to himself. Yet, I sort of understand his point. It’s easy to complain about someone else performance, and talk about how you could have done it better (although I don’t believe that what SHE actually said, but I believe others may have made those comments) yet it does nothing. Maybe it’s time you stepped up and did something. Now, I understand his feeling that way. I don’t think he should have said it that way, and in that situation. I like Judd, but he needs to work on his social skills.

That’s all I really have time for, but, I think this week’s episode will be the most important episode of the season.

Friday Random 10 #9

2005-10-14T08:03:00.000-04:00

Once again, it's time to flip the old randomizing button on your music box and see just what pops out. Today, I offer thes 10 prime choices.

1. Daddy’s Gonna Pay For Your Crash Car by U2 (Zooropa)

“…You know everyone in the world, But you feel alone…”

2. Jackie Wilson Said (I'm In Heaven When You Smile) by Van Morrison (Best Of Van Morrison Vol.1, The Remastered )

“…Toodle langa langa Toodle langa fang…”

3. Relapse by Adam Again (Perfecta)

“…these puzzles try to fool the foola and drive the genius mad…”

4. Nicotine and Gravy by Beck (Midnight Vultures)

“….I’ll feed you fruit that don’t exist, I’ll leave graffiti where you’ve never been kissed…”

5. Marsh Mellow Field by King’s X (Please Come Home, Mr. Bulbous…)

“….valedictorian. Living the words for so long. I love you forever. I curse the bad weather…:

6. Our Time Has Come by L.S.U. (Shaded Pain)

“…I hear the angels calling look out boy…”

7. This Is the Day by The Cranberries (Stars: The Best Of 1992-2002)

“I have Provoked the grace into my mind…”

8. Nothing Lasts by Matthew Sweet (Girlfriend)

“…wouldn’t even change things if you took back what you’ve done…”

9. Some Love by The Prayer Chain (Whirlpool)

“…I kiss the feet of mercy…”

10. Desire by Toad the Wet Sprocket (Coil)

“…I want to feel. I want to touch, want to stop wanting it so much…”

Comments on these songs later...

Mini-Vacation!!!

2005-10-08T09:51:00.000-04:00

Off to the beautiful town of Richmond, Virgina to see my brother Dave and his lovely wife Dawn. I will be back Monday to spill thedirt on my trip (in the friggin' rain.)

Survivor: Guatemala Thoughts: Week 4 “A Maletosterone thing…”

2005-10-07T18:46:00.000-04:00

So, last week when we left, once again Lydia escapes the curse of being the unathletic girl on Stephenie’s tribe. Little Ms. Lebron James (not) Brianna took the heat for, well, standing around for a while trying to figure out exactly what a pick was, while Lydia was grabbing the ball and running with better moves than Hogeboom ever showed in his, umm… landscaping career. Unfortunately, running with the ball wasn’t exactly legal.

So, we begin the show with some traditional Survivor filler, complaining about the heat, and close ups on the multiple bug bites covering the bared flesh of our favorite Survivors. Then of course, we come to another sometimes tradition at Survivor: THE TWIST.

Firstly, the way they did the twist this time, was interesting, but not all that special. The “vote for a tribe mate” thing was interesting, although the questions were sort of bland. Who smelled the worst? Oh, how telling… The only interesting vote was who deserved the picnic. Gary, Amy, Judd and Margeret were the choices. Does this give us a glimpse of the future in the show? Hmmmmm…..

Then we have the switch. Now, I used to be a huge fan of the switch. It added a little unpredictability to the show. It told the players that they never, ever should feel safe. Complacency could be a death sentence. Yet, that was all in theory, in reality the exact opposite happens. Switches, in reality, increases the predictability of the show. It puts people in jeopardy that they didn’t earn, often because they weren’t complacent. People who stand out on the other tribe, may actually be voted off because of that due to a switch.

The other problem with twists, is that it actually puts tribes in a position where losing a challenge is preferable to winning. Yes, there are those who will talk about how they are totally morally opposed to losing, that even if it’s in their best interest, they have to try. I never understood this. If the goal is to win the game, and the best way to do it is to strategically lose a challenge, by not throwing the challenge, aren’t you then not trying to win the game. Whatever the moral implications, two tribes trying to lose, just really isn’t all that interesting. Right now, we are at that point, were the controlling factions of both tribes would be better served to lose challenges. Maybe Stephenie’s curse will actually pay off for her.

More on that later, let’s get to the good stuff….

Winner of the Week: So, the winner and the weasel are tough this week. Really, no one acted all that jerky, or all that heroically. So, instead, I am going to look at the two people who figured prominently in the show this week, that of course would be Judd and Margaret. For my winner, and I image I will catch some grief for this, is Judd. OK, so, I guess you can argue that he betrayed his tribe, if you actually believe that tribal lines are bond enough to require loyalty. Judd never seemed to have any sort of bond with the women of his tribe. In my opinion this made him a free agent. He obviously had issues with Margaret, before the switch and those issues don’t just magically disappear when a switch comes. So, he made his move, and a smart one at that, at least for the short term. He now has a three way alliance with Stephenie and Jamie and barring some twist or freaky accident, will make the merge. Of course, if his formal tribe mates end up with numbers come merge time, and he can’t utilize his bond with some of his former tribe mates, he won’t last long after the merge.

Weasel of the Week: Let me first say, I like Margaret. I think she’s competent and competitive. I think some of her interpersonal skills are lacking, but it’s nothing we haven’t seen Survivor’s overcome before. Now, she’s this weeks Weasel because I believe she made two strategic mistakes. Firstly, she played for a tie. Now, maybe she believed she didn’t have any other choice, but we didn’t see her make any attepmt really to switch up the numbers, like Steph and Jamie did. When she saw Steph and Jamie talking to Judd, she should have pointed it out right away to Rafe and Lydia, try to put some doubts in their head. Tried something. Secondly, she tried to ensure Judd’s vote by force. She had to know that her and Judd were not the best of buddies, yet, her basic pitch was after they vote us girls off, you’ll be next. Why not try to make him a deal. Offer his some security with your side of the tribe. Give him a little incentive. Judd basically believed he had a choice between a three way alliance with Steph and Jamie or the mysterious “tribal bond” with Margaret and her girls.

Now, we come to our latest in the line of women voted off this edition of Survivor. Brooke, well, I really don’t have much to say about her. She was there, she seemed like a decent competitor, but heck, even Steph had trouble remembering her name. Well, so maybe I should make some stuff up about her. We can have one of those “remember when” conversations, yet with a bit more fun… :Like, remember when Brooke wrestled the crocodile, then ripped open it’s throat with her bare teeth. Oh, and remember when Brooke got into Gary’s face and screamed “You were a friggin’ cowboy… just admit it you annoying jerk.” Ah, remember when Bob made up some stupid crap about Brooke because he couldn’t remember anything else really all that significant… those were the days. So, goodbye Brooke, you’ll be missed… I think.

Now, more on the whole winning by losing. Maybe Steph and her cohorts have spent too much time trying to figure out who was the weakest player to vote off, that maybe they forgot that there are other reasons to vote people off, besides not being able to throw a club. Now, what was the point of voting off Brooke. Why bother with keeping the tribe strong when you have more to gain by losing then winning. Personally, I feel it would have been smarter to vote off Margaret or even Cindy. They were both much more dangerous players, and come merge time, it would be better to be rid of them.

OK, I sorta get why Mr. Hogeboom wants to keep his secret safe, but it’s just becoming ridiculous. So, I have included my own Survivor Insider Clip for your reading pleasure.

Danni: Hey, aren’t you a former football player?
Gary: No, ummm… (looks nervously around) I’m just a landscaper… Who did you think I was?
Danni: You’re Gary Hogeboom, form Central Michigan.
Gary: Well, I went to Central Michigan, but I’m not him…
Brandon: Hey, wait. I think she’s right. I used to deliver newspapers to you. Gary Hogeboom. You used to live on Franklin Street, right?
Gary: Well, I did live on Franklin street but I’m not him…
Amy: You know what. I pulled that Hogeboom guy over once. You’re him…
Gary: Well, you did pull me over one time but I’m not Gary Hogeboom….
Bobby Jon: Hey, come on man. I’m friends with your son Jake Hogeboom… I know you’re him…
Gary: Yeah, Jake Hogeboom’s my son, but I’m just a normal landscaper…

Oh, poor Gary…

Note:Last week I misspelled Guatemala, as Guatamala. While I would have corrected it upon my realization, I also realized that many people, like me, don't know how to properly spell words, and that gave me an edge on search engine hits. Yeah, poor spelling!!!!

Friday Random 10 #8: Floods, Fascists and Fraternity

2005-10-07T07:30:00.000-04:00

So, it's pretty simple. On most modern day musical doohickeys, there seems to be a randomizing function, which causes the music to play in a seemingly uneven fashion. Whether this is caused by some sort of demon of chaos, or some complex integral programming technique, I don;t know. Yet, each week I offer my sacrifice to the gods or devils of randomness and offer up these 10 songs...

1. Army Guy by Poor Old Lu (Sin LP)

“…Charlie Brown, Charlie Brown, Charlie Brown….” (Seriously, these are the only lyrics I can figure out, but this song is available on the Poor Old Lu website, as an MP3, so if you give it a listen, maybe you can tell me what the lyrics are.)

2. (Don’t You Go To) Goleta by Camper Van Beethoven (I & II)

“I've been there and I've seen the styles they wear
Their haircuts down to their clean white shoes
Don't you know baby, that it's all a facade, ya know
Intelligence is not something you should avoid”

3. Dirty Hands by The Galactic Cowboys (Let It Go)

“I knew a man with dirty hands, he blamed it all on me. He tried to sue my point of view, 'Cause he wants it all for free.”

4. A Higher Place by Tom Petty (Wildflowers)

“I remember walking with her in town. Her hair was in the wind. I gave her my best kiss, she gave it back again.”

5. Miller’s Angels by The Counting Crows (Recovering the Satellites)

“Miller's angels in black and white welcome everyone in. Children dreaming of wrong and right wrapped in grace and in sin.”

6. Baby, Baby by The Swirling Eddies (Sacred Cows) (yes, this is The Swirling Eddies cover of the “classic” Amy Grant song.)

“Baby, baby, no muscle man could sever. My love for you is true and it will never stop for a minute…”

7. Proving Ground by Vigilantes of Love (To the Roof of the Sky)

“…well I remember the summer, shimmer in the laughter, we were lying to each other about what we were after…”

8. Jack-ass by Beck (Odelay)

“When I wake up someone will sweep up my lazy bones and we will rise in the cool of the evening. I remember the way that you smiled when the gravity shackles were wild and something is vacant when I think it's all beginning.”

9. Wise Acres by Daniel Amos (MotorCycle)
“Says Mayor Smart Alex "There's a meeting in the hall" (hear ye, hear ye, hear ye!) for the Very Wise Guys and the Very Wise Girls conditioned to live in their Wise Acre world.”

10 Brothers In Arms by Dire Straits (Money For Nothing)

“There's so many different worlds, so many different suns and we have just one world but we live in different ones…”

Websites that offer free MP3's for the masses. 1, 2, 3, and 5. May I suggest hiting up The Galactic Cowboy's website for a rocking cover of Petra's classic "Not of this World." Or how about heading over to Camper Van Beethoven's website, where if you join their community page (just by entering your email address, and it's free) where right jow you can get free Mp3's of the entire Telephone Free LandslideVictory Album, with such hits as "Where the Hell is Bill?" and "Take the Skinheads Bowling." Just click on the o's. There is also some Cracker songs available.

Survivor: Guatamala Thoughts "The Most Annoyingest Noise I Heard In My Entire Life"

2005-10-01T16:20:00.000-04:00

Episode #3: "The Most Annoyingest Noise I Heard In My Entire Life"

Last week I made a pledge. Being a long time Friday morning alliance member, I always love to pick up the do’s and don’ts of becoming a quality Survivor character. Now, screw winning people, that’s for Porn Stars and Tax cheats, I want to be interesting. So, last week I figured out that to make your self more interesting, before each challenge, make a rash prediction that you will be the hero of the challenge. It just makes good TV. Last week, it worked wonders for Judd. So, of course , Ms. Lydia decided, why the heck not me? I can be the hero too!! Well, I guess when you’re a 250 lb. Doorman, and the challenge is Tug O’ War, the gods had been smiling at you. Now, if you’re a 4’2’ fishmonger and your placed in a basketball style Malyasian game, well, not so much.

Yet, I learned another life lesson (if your life is Survivor). Never, ever declare yourself a fighter, unwilling to quit.. For this action leads to injury. Instead, when I finally get my Survivor shot, I will declare myself the weak willed man in the world, with a pain tolerance of an infant. I will declare anything from a mosquito bite, to a hangnail enough to cause me to run home to my mommy. I will make Osten look like Jack Bauer (24 reference #1). Now, I know this would make me the scourge of the message boards across the world, but heck, at least they would be talking about me, and not my turned ankle. Of course, not that I would really be a quitter, but I know that the Survivor God's out there love poetic irony and only inflict true pain on those who pledge to be able to "push through" it. Amy, who seems like an interesting character, waxed philosophical about needles in her eyes, and crocodile’s biting our butts, yet the pressing issue with her is whether her ankle will hold up. I don’t want to be overshadowed by my body parts like Amy.

Winner of the Week: Geez, how do you choose? Really, I am very close to declare that screaming howler Monkey this weeks winner. He had more interesting things to say and with more substance behind them than most of the cast. I guess we have a nice series of min-winners this week. I have to say, that I really enjoyed the Immunity challenge, and especially watching Stephenie and Danni square off. Yeah, I know typically male, but honestly, it had nothing to do with the fantasy pillow fight dream I had later that night. I swear. Those two girls gave it their all, and it may become the most interesting physical rivalry on show. Amy needs to get some mention for her performance. I guess she “women’d up” through the pain. Even more surprising to me was Rafe, who seemed to really give it his all, with success. After last weeks, Rafe challenge suckfest, it was good to see.

Weasel of the Week:
The chemical formula for water is H2O.
Tom Hanks won Oscars for his performances in both Philadelphia and Forrest Gump.
Jeff Probst was the former host of Rock and Roll Jeopardy.

So, let’s play a little Sesame Street style game and figure out what those three statements have in common. Well, yet, they are all factually correct but beyond that, not much. Well, there is one other things. They are all examples of statements that Jamie could make, and still annoy the living batcrap out of me. The man didn’t say anything that wasn’t true in his criticisms of Brianna, and other statements, but maybe he stole all the testosterone from Brian and Rafe, jacked it into his system and turned him into a roibot whose sole responsibility is to annoy the hell out of me. “Uhhhh… Briana… Last Day on Survivor…. Day 8... Like My Women Crazy and Pretty… Feed Me…. Uhhhhh” He’s sort of like a big, boring version of Tarzan. All his confessionals should be shot in grainy Black and White.

I feel a little bad for Brianna a bit. Last week, I mentioned that she was kinda cute, so of course, she was voted off. So, now I must say Goodbye to her… Oh, well. I guess, I need to do what us men have done so well for years, make excuses for pretty girls. So, I struggled tom figure out something when I realized that Brianna thought that a “pick” meant to stand there, not doing anything, in order to distract her defender, lulling her into a sense of security, and finally boring her to death. So, we can’t blame her, really for doing what she thought she was supposed to. At least she did some work, and never ate a termite, so shouldn’t that have been enough to make her Stephenie’s friend. Oh, and her dog almost bit her ?sister? during her family moment. That was awesome.

Brandon sort of reminds me of my old boss. You see, I have a for years heard this argument that in order for America to excel, to work together well, we all needed to speak the same language. Yet, I always wondered, which language is that? Now, my boss and I never made a smooth team, because we didn’t speak the same language, you see, I spoke my typical modern, South Eastern Pennsylvanian English variant, my boss, he spoke Meaningless Sloganism. You see, he had this way of saying things that seemed wise, but actually had no substance. One of his favorites was, “Bob, we got to work smarter, not harder.” Now, if I pressed him on HOW to work smarter, he’d go all blank, get frustrated, and then ask me if I was up to the job, because I could be replaced. Ah, good times. Now, despite my hate/hate relationship with that former boss of mine, I felt tempted to call him up and use his services as a translator for Mr. Brandon of the hat. Last week, it was “Man up” which I learned wasn’t what a short order cook at a cannibal diner yells out when the order is ready. This week his justification for risking his “butt” to the crocodiles was “The Brave may not live long, but the cautious don’t live at all.” I have to say, as a cautious person, many of us get the chance to live, raise families, love, cherish and honor a special someone, all without being horribly disfigured by some stupid, asinine act that someone performed in the name of bravery.

Some quick hits.

Margaret, just because you may be right, doesn’t mean that you should speak up. Let the boys play their man games, put up their tarp, then grunt like baboons at their success. The boys like you just fine when your mending their boo-boos and sooth their psyches, but don’t you dare try to mother them.

Brian. Stop acting like a cross between the annoying SNL cheerleader played by Will Farrell and a self appointed master of the game. Your little, “let’s win” cheer, made me chuckle, mostly because it annoyed Jamie, but it was annoying. And declaring any vote result “all you” is a bit too cocky.

Lydia. Just because you Survived, keep your head on your shoulders. Don’t be the next Caryn. It seems to me that you are starting to get a little bit cocky.

Cindy, who are you? Beyond the Dr. Dolittle, howler monkey psychiatrist, maybe try to get some face time. Maybe declare yourself, the queen of eating disgusting food, than screw it up big time. Or what about a torrid Survivor Love affair, that always seems to work for a little attention. Just do something. Zookeepers are cool.

Oh, and Producers. While, blind folded challenges are always a pleasure to watch, there needs to be more crashing and banging. Judd hitting his partner repeatedly in the head was fun, I wanted more. More, I say. Maybe next time, have Jeff show up a few hours before the challenge at the tribe with a couple of bottles of wine, and a six pack of Heineken.

Well, that’s all for this week. For more Survivor: Blog Style check out the wonderful Ms. Jackie and her thoughts on this week's episode.

Friday Random 10 #7: Random Acts of Blindness

2005-09-30T14:44:00.000-04:00

Let's see what the deus ex machina that I call Random has in store for us today. For it is friday and we must honor her with this sacrifice. Today, I believe she did a heck of a job and I offer many kudos to her...

1. Bullet to Blue Sky (Live) by U2 (Rattle and Humm)

“…cross the field you see the sky ripped open, see the rain through a gaping wound pounding on the women and children who run into the arms of America.”

2. A Long December by The Counting Crows (Recovering the Satellites)

“…I guess the winter makes you laugh a little slower, makes you talk a little lower about the things you could not show her…”

3. Wake Up Time by Tom Petty (Wildflowers)

“You follow your feelings, you follow your dreams. You follow the leader into the trees…”

4. Ramshackle by Beck (Odelay)

“Praises get spent. Your trick face is bent, pigsties and prizes, 'cause there's no kind of wealth…”

5. Porpoise Mouth by Camper Van Beethoven (Camper Vantiquities)

“…I whistle symphonies of your face and laugh for your hair is so fine…”

6. Breathe Deep by The Lost Dogs (Scenic Routes)

“…Gays and lesbians, demagogues and thespians, the disabled, preachers, doctors and teachers, meat eaters, wife beaters, judges and juries…”

"...breathe deep the breath of God..."

7. Tales O’ Twister by Chagall Guevara (Pump Up the Volume Soundtrack)

“…I stole a sideways glance at her continental shelf and I know she was the devil himself…”

“…she said, "You could be the envy of everyone you envy…"

“…After sleeping with the devil you'd love to close the book but you gotta wonder how the baby's gonna look…” (Great, great line…)

Hey, it’s Steve. This whole song is full of great lines.

8. Where The River Flows by Collective Soul (Collective Soul)

“...don’t feed me sorrow, pain is the poison I digest…”

9. Strobe by Adam Again (Perfecta)

“…say here’s two nickles, can you give me a quarter?”

10. Freight Train To Nowhere by Vigilantes of Love (Strong Hand of Love)

“…If she could put her hand on the brake of the land, find the treason in the diesel and the smoke, she would jar the teeth of the dull and the meek and feed them the truth until they choke.”

Well, as for today's title, there are two reasons why I named it that. Firstly, I didn't have the mental capacity to think up anything clever which actually would be applicable to the song choices, and secondly, I reread Wyndham's The Day of the Triffids last night. So you could say I had blindness on my mind.

Maybe, just Maybe, the greatest song to hear live in the history of music: #1. There's a reason there is so many live versions of this song avaivable.

Bands I've seen live: 1, 6, 8, 9, 10. 50% ain't to bad, I guess.

Looking for more Friday Randomizations? Check out Howard.

And those who don't care about my playlist, but just want to increase there own, check out these free MP3's from Ooklah the Mok, many of which are quite good.

Book Review: The Protector's War by S. M. Stirling

2005-09-26T20:55:00.000-04:00

Quick Review: The Protector's War by S. M. Stirling
Published 2005 by ROC
Genre: Post Apocalyptic/Action Adventure/Science Fiction/Fantasy
Bob's Thoughts: A fully detailed and realized post apocalyptic world with plenty of characters to root for and lots of action. It does suffer from a minor case of "second book syndrome" but moves the story along nicely.
Available at your local booksellers.
Bob's Grade: B

You can find my review of the first book in the series "Dies the Fire" here.

Full Review:

The sequel to the Stirling’s post apocalyptic novel Dies the Fire starts off in an odd place, England. It’s been eight years since some unknown force for some unknown reason decided to flip the switch on our lovely planet's ability to use most of its 20th Century technology (electricity, guns, etc.). In Dies the Fire we follow the people that the Change has affected in a pretty limited area, mostly Oregon and parts of Idaho, so to open half way across the world to see the Change in effect in England was a bit of a surprise. There, the change has had similar effects, causing mass chaos and death before a few enterprising soldiers helped the Royal Family escape, and later brought them back to reestablish order. And now, one of the key soldiers who helped pull the nation out of chaos is being rewarded by being imprisoned for dare suggesting that little things like Parliament be restored.

The more things change.

Thus starts The Protector’s War. Nigel Loring, said soldier, is rescued and begins an exciting and adventure filled journey, past cannibals and pirates to a more familiar setting, Post Change’s Williamette Valley. Meanwhile, in the Williamette, there hasn’t been much of a change in the tensions between the harsh Overloard The Protector, and his rival heads of states, The Bear Killer’s Mike Havel, and everyone’s favorite Wiccan Clan Chieftain Juniper McKenzie. Yet, things haven’t been totally static, families and communities have grown, and the lands overseen by our more malevolent leaders are thriving, through hard work and cooperation.

Yet, the tensions are still there and everyone knows a War is coming. Despite the title, the War isn’t exactly imminent, but it’s not exactly far in the future either. In the Bear Killer Camp, Lord Bear aka Mike Havel is becoming increasingly frustrated both on the home front and with the state of affairs. Despite increasing signs of aggression, many of Havel’s allies are hesitant, while at home, it is becoming increasingly obvious to his wife, that young Rudi MacKenzie, Juniper’s 9 year old son, is also the son of the Bear Killer chief.

The Mackenzies themselves are feeling the pressure of approaching war, while dealing with the Harvest. The Clan Chieftain is struggling with her ingrained distain for violence and warfare, despite it’s necessity, and her knowledge that a proactive strike is needed. Yet, there are people suffering within the Protector’s territory, and she uses this excuse as an opportunity to send a message, or more precisely, a bit of as slap in The Lord Protector's face.

What follows is a series of skirmishes between what is simply the forces of good, and the forces of evil. There is little in the ways of ambiguity here in Stirling’s exciting and fast paced second novel in the series. The Protector is evil, plain and simple, and it doesn’t take long for most people to realize that. Not even our English friend Nigel Loring, who coincidentally (although many character’s in this book point out there are no such things as coincidences) ends up with a group inspecting the Protectorate for chemical weapons that were left behind after the change.

One of the ironies of the book is that, despite the title, The Protector and the upcoming war are minor characters in this book. In reality, like Dies the Fire, but on a different scale, this is about communities. The leaders of the opposing clans must find a way to bring order and stability within their community while preparing for a war with a potential stronger opponent. Basically, Mike and Juniper know that in order for them to have a chance in this war, they most get their own houses in order, and create something worth fighting for. Havel deals with the issues of family, while bringing the battle to a band of roving bandits being supported secretly by The Protector.

What impressed me most about this book was the way Stirling handled potential political issues within the framework of his story. Unlike some author’s he never tries to exploit scenarios to make a political statement. It would be easy to turn this into a thinly disguised ficdtionalization of current events, but he never stoops to that level. Even the religious scenes of the Wicca religion, which dominate this book, are drawn with love, yet with enough of a skeptical voice to prevent this from becoming the Wiccan version of Left Behind.

The Protector’s War suffers a bit from the second book syndrome. This is definitely a set up book, a bridge between two major events, the Change and the potential Williamette War between the aligned states and The Protector. The story lines at times seem a bit scattershot, but in the end they are all pulled together nicely. Including the British subplot, and giving us a small glimpse of the world beyond Orgegon, was a pleasant surprise, and a stroke of genius by the writer. In the end, this was a well written, fully detailed novel, full of developed character and a story that leave you wanting more. While not as complete or compelling as Dies the Fire, it is a good second step in the development of the story.

Check out S. M. Stirling's website.

Friday Random 10 #6: The Quick and Dirty Edition

2005-09-23T16:08:00.000-04:00

Not a lot of time today, so I'll just get right to the music and add stuff later: Happy Friday all.

1. Rain King by Counting Crows

“…Lay me down in a field of flame and heather, render up my body into the burning heart of God In the belly of a black-winged bird…”

2. The Lust, the Flesh, the Eyes by The 77

“…Makes me think I'll live forever, never knowing that they probably won't remember what they said tomorrow. Tomorrow I could be dead.”

3. Inner City Blues (Makes Me Wanna Holler) by Adam Again

“Hang ups, let downs. Bad breaks, set backs. Natural fact is I can't pay my taxes…”

4. Tina by Camper Van Beethoven

“…I know cant wait 2 see my name in lights no ones going stop me you'll see…”

5. 'Till There Was You by The Beatles

“..Then there was music and wonderful roses. They tell me in in sweet fragrant meadows
of dawn and dew…”

6. Babylon by Steve Taylor

“She bewitched with a Siren's cry. She beckoned, "Come and learn" Is there no return?”

7. If You Wear That Velvet Dress by U2

“Tonight the moon has drawn its curtains. It's a private show. No one else gonna to know.”

8. I Always Do by Phil Keagy

“I hit the floor, suggest we move our feet. Good mood is painted on our fleeting best.”

9. Ordinary by The Galactic Cowboys

“…if love is free and substitution, pain is bearable and momentary…”

10. Hung Up and Over Due by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers

“She said she's going to move to California one day. Said she's going out on safari to stay…”

Favorite Song: 3. This is of course a cover of a Marvin Gaye song, and a perfect song for Gene's voice.

Song in which the Lyrics don't appear: 4. The lyrics that I have listed are the "official" lyrics to the sone, even though they at no time appear in the song. The song is basicly just one of CVB's punky/middle easterny/swingy musicals with one repeated line. Fans have actually argued about what that line really is, but it basically sounds like "Tina single-L Robitaile, uh, whacha, whacha, whacha."

Song By A Great Band That Does Nothing For Me: 7. Beautiful lyrics, but beyond that nothing... but of course it's from Pop, so what do you expect.

The Other Cover: 8. Keaggy singing Mark Heard. Strong Hand of Love is such a great album, and I never was a huge Mark Heard Fan before he died.

Survivor: Guatamala Thoughts "I Want to Be the Hero"

2005-09-22T22:00:00.000-04:00

Episode 2:

So, when we last left our beloved Nakum/Bobby Jon tribe, they had just voted our Jim for being old, injured, old, and an ungrateful twit for the professional healthcare lavished upon him by our own Survivor Florence Nightingale, Margaret. The show opens up with the disheartening journey back to camp where we hear the clichéd whining about how emotionally devastating it was to have to go to tribal council. Now, I always fine these little prototypical Survivor moments a bit overblown. You just endured an 11 mile hike, which led your alpha males to share their predigested meals with the ancient Guatemalan ruins. You spent a few days with little or no food and water, you body adjusting to a harsh new environment. You just got your tale handed to you by Stephenie’s troopers, and your emotionally drained because you had to vote off some old guy with a torn bicep. One of these days I’d like to see some person say how jazzed he was to go to tribal and vote off the useless piece of crap Survivor that was destined to leave anyway.

Over at Yaxha we lean that the tribes have picked up the personalities of their marquee members. While Nakum is serious and forelorned (and quite possible blowing a six snot rocket salute to Jim the fallen) Yaxha is almost girlishly optimistic. Except for maybe Jamie who could probably sing happy birthday, dressed in a clown suit for a 2 year olds birthday and cause mass hysterical crying. His is quick though the diversity of this all white, mostly younger tribe. I mean, they have a fishmonger, a magicians assictant and a gay guy. Hell, they even made headway into the landscaper demographic. Yet, luckily, the also have the ultimate Survivor archetype, the average looking girl Morgan, who thinks she can utilize the “don’t do crap, but look good doing it” strategy that worked so well for Kim in Palau. That should work well for her.

Also at Yazha, we met Brianna briefly. Later we get to see her fall into some water and look hot doing it. Futility never looked so good… but I digress…

Winner of the Week: If, by some odd bit of fate, I ever get selected to play Survivor, before every challenge I am going to declare myself the hero to be, like our healthy friend Judd. Heck, if I end up being the hero, it gives them excellent material, and if I don’t, hell, I become the tragic, lovable comedy of ultimate failure despite tremendous heart. Judd, who probably had an inner chorus of angels singing when he saw that immunity challenge was a old fashion tug of war, called his shot and followed through. So far, Judd has stood out most to me from among the superfluous “new” Survivors. He is comical yet not hammy, and got stuck like a Rhino in the mud in the first episode. Plus, in reality, his reaction to the whole Blake being pampered by Margaret made more sense. It can be frustrating for the guys to see pretty boy Blake rest up for the challenges, and look like a hero. Using it as a source of inspiration is much better than Brandon’s nonsensical “man up” recommendation. Maybe the dude is milking it, but what the hell does “man up” mean. Judd’s performance during the challenge was more than just a show of a big man’s brute strength, the doorman actually outthought these other bozo’s.

Weasel of the Week: I have to admit, there is probably plenty of better candidates for this weeks weasel, but, nobody annoyed me more than good ole’ Hogeboom. Now, I sort of get not wanting people to know you’re a former NFL quarterback, but, if anyone had ever seen him play, they would have known Hogeboom was no threat. But, the man is just dopey. Maybe he got sacked one to many times, but there are a few screw loose up their. His performance in the tug of war challenge was the ideal of idiocy. Running over and tackling Judd did nothing but cement the mans lead. Did you really think you would pick the man up and drag him back. All you did was pin him in place, and quite frankly, tackling the man probably didn’t help you alibi. Yet, just as odd was his strategy thoughts. “You Can’t get emotional in this game.” Actually, you can and it’s a underused tool. An alliance made of strategy is only as strong as it’s strategic benefits. An ally forged through an emotional attachment is a much better ally. Don’t let emotions rule you, but don’t deny their place either.

So that leads us to tribal council where the tribe has the tough decision between Lydia and Morgan. I still struggle to understand why was such a tough one. OK, maybe Morgan has a marginally better upside when it comes to challenges, but marginal is all. One day Survivor’s will realize that lazy in camp often leads to lazy in strategy, and players like Morgan will try to take the easiest road, whether that includes you or not. So, goodby Ms. Morgan, maybe next time, cook something, clean something, hell, do a Katie and make some inspirational armlets for your tribe. Do something. The tribe made the right decision by sticking with the more motivated and resourceful Lydia.

So, the spider web challenge. The girls totally creamed the guys. It really wasn’t event close. Yet, when it came time to resend people, it was the guys who went. I found that interesting. Yet, all that aside, this seems like a impressive group of women. Physically, Danni has been impressive, and even some of the nonentity girls have shown up big in the challenges. The challenges have been pretty well done, although I was sort of surprised the Spiderweb bags didn’t contain puzzle pieces or something. After the horrible Vanuatu challenges, it’s good to see the producers not playing down the physical aspects of the challenges.

I think we may be seeing the end of Brian soon. He’s setting himself up as the anti-Stephenie instigator. Not that that is not a sound strategy, but even his attempts to originally orchestrate the Lydia vote seemed to be quickly dismissed. Yet, in his voting he seems to take credit for the last minute shuffle to save Lydia. Something is off in the editing here, and I think we me be seeing the set-up for a Stephenie/Brian power struggle with Lydia as a swing vote. While I like Stephenie, I feel her tribe would be smart ton get rid of her premerge. I think that her put downs of Bobby Jon may be an attempt to mask their relationship, and allowing them to hook up at the merge would be dangerous.

Well, I made it without a computer malfunction, so I am going to stop while I am ahead. See ya next week….

Book Meme well, sort of...

2005-09-19T17:15:00.000-04:00

Someone sent this to me. I am not going to send it out to a bunch of people, but I thought I would post mine. If you feel like doing it too, feel free.

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
5. Don’t search around and look for the “coolest” book you can find. Do what’s actually next to you.

Here's mine:

"Paul is somewhat discriminating, that's all."

I guess you can post what book, but I think it's sort of cool by itself. At least form now. I'll probably post the book name later.

2005 Emmy Predictions

2005-09-18T18:12:00.000-04:00

Emmy Predictions

Everybody, no need to watch the bloated annoying, celebrity ego stroke of the Emmy Awards this Sunday. Here are my predictions and thoughts and shouldn’t that be good enough…

Drama Series: Deadwood, HBO; Lost, ABC; Six Feet Under, HBO; 24, Fox; The West Wing, NBC.

Will Probably Win: Lost
Should Win: Lost
Deserving Outside Shot: 24
Got the Shaft: Medium and The Wire

The toughest category. Lost made TV exciting again and for that it should win, if the voters can get past their disdain for the supernatural. The West Wing is it’s biggest competition because The Academy is stubborn and they voted for it 4 of the past 5 years, despite declining quality. 24 had it’s best season to date, and if it is ever going to win, it should be now. Unfortunately, Lost was just too good.

Medium and The Wire were two deserving shows that got shafted by overrated HBO shows Six Feet Under and the dreadful Deadwood.

Comedy Series: Arrested Development, Fox; Desperate Housewives, ABC; Everybody Loves Raymond, CBS; Scrubs, NBC; Will & Grace, NBC

Probably Will Win: Desperate Housewives
Should Win: Arrested Development
Deserving Outside Shot: Scrubs
Shafted: Entourage

Firstly, is Desperate Housewives a comedy? Can it be funny? Sure, but Boston Legal made me laugh more that any show on TV and it’s not a comedy. Well, I guess not. Yet, I wouldn’t be shocked if Everyone Loves Raymond pulled off a surprise win with it’s last season. Well, at least not too shocked.
.
Miniseries: Elvis, CBS; Empire Falls, HBO; The 4400, USA; The Lost Prince (Masterpiece Theatre), PBS

Probably Will Win: Empire Falls
Should Win: The 4400

Empire Falls was soooooo boring… It will win. The 4400’s second season was so much better, but it’s first mini-season deserves some respect in this weak category this year.
.
Made-for-TV Movie: Lackawanna Blues, HBO; The Life and Death of Peter Sellers, HBO; The Office Special, BBC America; Warm Springs, HBO; The Wool Cap, TNT.

The only of these that I have seen was The Office Special, but it was hilarious. I doubt it will win, but if it does, there will be dancing in heaven.

Variety, Music or Comedy Series: Da Ali G Show, HBO; The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, Comedy Central; Late Night With Conan O'Brien, NBC; Late Show With David Letterman, CBS; Real Time With Bill Maher, HBO

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart will take this one. Deservedly so. Can/should/will.
.

Actor, Drama Series: James Spader, Boston Legal, ABC; Ian McShane, Deadwood, HBO; Hugh Laurie, House, Fox; Hank Azaria, Huff, Showtime; Kiefer Sutherland, 24, Fox.

Probably Will Win: Hugh Laurie
Should Win: Kiefer Sutherland
Deserving Outside Shot: James Spader

Jack Bauer is the man. I can’t help it. Although, if they give Emmy’s out for saying the “f” word like 3,000 times, Ian McShane will win. James Spader could repeat, he definitely is a character worth watching. Yet, all the buzz is about Hugh Laurie, so I guess being a miserable prick, versus being an affable prick gives him the egde over Spader.

Actress, Drama Series: Jennifer Garner, Alias, ABC; Mariska Hargitay, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, NBC; Patricia Arquette, Medium, NBC; Glenn Close, The Shield, FX; Frances Conroy, Six Feet Under, HBO.

Probably Will Win: Mariska Hargitay
Should Win: Patricia Arquette
Deserving Outside Shot: Glenn Close

I would be happy if anyone other than Frances Conroy won, and even she was prettry good. Patricia Arquette is a very unlikely choice for me, but I though she was amazing, and highly overlooked in Medium and has had some of the hardest scenes to work with. Mariska Hargitay is the odds on favorite, and would be a deserving winner.

Supporting Actor, Drama Series: William Shatner, Boston Legal, ABC; Oliver Platt, Huff, Showtime; Naveen Andrews, Lost, ABC; Terry O'Quinn, Lost, ABC; Alan Alda, The West Wing, NBC.

Probably Will Win: William Shatner
Should Win: Terry O’Quinn
Deserving Outside Shot: Naveen Andrews

Now, it is possible that Alan Alda could win this, because Hollywood loves the West Wing. I think Shatner will win, because the Lost boys will split votes, but no one had a tougher character than O’Quinn’s ambiguous Locke. O’Quinn has had significant roles in many quality shows and if would be great if he finally got some recognition.

Supporting Actress, Drama Series: Sandra Oh, Grey's Anatomy, ABC; Blythe Danner, Huff, Showtime; Tyne Daly, Judging Amy, CBS; CCH Pounder, The Shield, FX; Stockard Channing, The West Wing, NBC.

Probably Will Win: Tyne Daly
Should Win CCH Pounder

This is just a big guess for me, but for some reason, Hollywood loves Tyne Daly, so until it wakes up a realizes there are better actresses out there, I keep on saying she win. Pounder had the best role and executed it flawlessly. She should win.

Actor, Comedy Series: Jason Bateman, Arrested Development, Fox; Ray Romano, Everybody Loves Raymond, CBS; Tony Shalhoub, Monk, USA; Zach Braff, Scrubs, NBC; Eric McCormack, Will & Grace, NBC.

Probably Will Win: Tony Shalhoub
Should Win: Jason Bateman
Derseving Outside Shot: Zach Braff

Unless Everybody Loves Raymond fever hit’s the Acadamey, Shalhoub should win. Jason Bateman, as the straight man in TV’s most out there comedy should get some recognition.

Actress, Comedy Series: Marcia Cross, Desperate Housewives, ABC; Teri Hatcher, Desperate Housewives, ABC; Felicity Huffman, Desperate Housewives, ABC; Patricia Heaton, Everybody Loves Raymond, CBS; Jane Kaczmarek, Malcolm In The Middle, Fox.

Probably Will Win: One of those Desperate Housewives
Should Win: Jane Kaczmarek

I guess, Teri Hatcher. I guess. Patricia Heaton could reap a Raymond vote, but I’d love to see Kaczmarek win this thing.

Supporting Actor, Comedy Series: Jeffrey Tambor, Arrested Development, Fox; Jeremy Piven, Entourage, HBO; Peter Boyle, Everybody Loves Raymond, CBS; Brad Garrett, Everybody Loves Raymond, CBS; Sean Hayes, Will & Grace, NBC.

Probably Will Win: Brad Garrett
Should Win: Jeffrey Tambor
Deserving Outside Shot: Jeremy Piven

I love Arrested Development and would love to see Tambor win, but I think this is one category where a Raymond win is pretty much a lock.

Supporting Actress, Comedy Series: Jessica Walter, Arrested Development, Fox; Doris Roberts, Everybody Loves Raymond, CBS; Holland Taylor, Two And A Half Men, CBS; Conchata Ferrell, Two And A Half Men, CBS; Megan Mullally, Will & Grace, NBC.

Probably Will Win: Doris Roberts
Should Win: Jessica Walter

If anyone besides one of these two wins, I will shave my head, and denounce my love of all things Television.

Reality-Competition Program: "The Amazing Race," CBS; "American Idol," Fox; "The Apprentice," NBC; "Project Runway," Bravo; "Survivor," CBS.

Probably Will Win: The Amazing Race
Should Win: The Amazing Race

Last year, when The Amazing Race won this Award, Donald had a hissy fit. For more about that check out my thoughts on that in my old Inside Pulse column. Hopefully this year, people won’t feel any sympathy for this egotistical jerk. The Apprentice is an experiment in ego stroking, The Amazing Race is an actual experiment in the limits of the human animal. Confession time, I actually liked Project Runway, and of course, I love Survivor, but the race is supreme.

Friday Random 10 #5 Pause, Prayer and Progress

2005-09-16T08:21:00.000-04:00

It's time for that Friday Random 10 where you risk it all on one spin of the old music randomizer in hopes that you get a nice selection of moving tunes to dance to...

1. I Could Be Wrong by Vigilantes of Love (Summershine)
“…and when you're saying goodbye bye bye why are your lips so moist…”
2. Unfunny by Adam Again (Perfecta)
“…is the dagger in your cloak, or hiding in that joke you making…”
3. F. People by Ooklah the Mook
“Show a little compasion for Michael Jackson…”
4. Can I Take My Gun to Heaven by Cracker (Cracker)
…if I had a women who was faithful, or even kind some of the time, I’d drag her on up to the gates of heaven, or follow her right down to the gates of hell…”
5. A Certain Love by The Lost Dogs (Real Men Cry)
“I took a drink of a long dark night, then drunk on doubt I cursed the light…”
6. Progress by Midnight Oil (Scream in Blue Live)
“…Manhattanization is coming, open your eyes if you dare…”
7. Down to the River to Pray by Alison Kraus (O’ Brother, Where Art Thou?)
“…and who should wear the robe and crown?”
8. Lulu Land by Camper Van Beethoven (Camper Van Beethoven)
“How can you lose when you live in the past? Nothing can happen that happens to fast…”
9. The Hollow by The Prayer Chain (Shawl)
“…because, there are no flowers, no lace, no crystal dreams and many chains…”
10. Pregnant Pause by Daniel Amos (Mr. Buechner’s Dream … And So It Goes)
“…here is a pregnant pause… while we wonder if the devil is laughing…”

Best Word: Manhattanization. Today's goal is to try to naturally slip that one into a conversation at work. I'd also have to say that Progress is my favorite song on the list, especially the live version.

Best Southern Fried Poetry: #4. Cracker has a way of twisting country concepts into odd little directions.

More later....

Survivor: Guatamala Thoughts "We Didn't Expect The Guys to Go Down So Quickly"

2005-09-15T22:03:00.000-04:00

Thus begins another season of Survivor.

In the past, I have always feared the Premiere episode, especially the fall premiere. I have the great fear that my desperate state caused by Survivor deprivation will make me watch the show with such a longing that I will miss the subtleties and intricacies of the opener. That I will miss key scenes, harbingers of things to come, tells in players games and such.

Yet, now, I think, who the hell cares about that, just sit back an enjoy. Spending to much time looking for clues. Trying to find the chinks in players armors or evidence of weaknesses in the franchise only has, at least for me, diminished the love I have for the show. So, I just sat back and enjoyed the show.

And enjoyed it I did.

Survivor tends to use two approaches to their opening episodes: The big, fat bloated premiere and the simple, “Let’s get down to business” approach. Some of the big fat bloated openers have worked well (Pearl Islands) some have been a bit of a bomb (Vanuatu). Today’s premiere seemed more of the subdues version, and I feel it worked well.

Yet, it wasn’t without it’s twist. There were some pretty big ones. Firstly, the Survivor Tools, of Stephenie and Bobby Jon. I found this to be an interesting sort of twist. Here we have two of the bigger Survivor stars of recent years, placed into a tribe of newbies. Like with all Survivor twist it was met with mixed responses.

I personally liked it. It brings into a new dynamic into the game. You take 16 people, place them in a group where no one knows anyone. You strip away all the comforts of home, take away all their safety nets, then place them into this new cutthroat environment, where no one truly can be trusted. Then, to make matters more interesting, you throw in someone that they “know.” Yeah, I know these people don’t really know Bobby Jon and Stephenie, but on some levels, in our culture, we feel we know our celebrities, and to many of these people, these two are celebrates. Thus we had this reaction by some of the tribe members, excitement, when others were wary. Now, on an intellectual level, we know that wariness is probably the smartest approach, yet, these people are already at a psychological point where they are making the best judgments. That’s why I feel that this may be an interesting experiment in Survivor.

The second twist was the 11 mile trek as a reward challenge. While a big hike isn’t such a big twist, we saw similar, yet less grueling hike in the beginning of Outback, it did add a new element to the show. The teams has to earn the better campground, and earn fire. This reward was enough to make a big difference in the game down the road.

So, I know, let’s get down to what we really want to know about, the players and the game. And what a better way to start then the old Bob’s Thoughts standby: The Winners and Weasels.

Winner of the Week: While winning resources is key to Survivor, the greatest resource of course, is your tribe mates. All I know is I would give up all the flints, water buckets and hatchets in the world for one person like Margaret on my tribe. Nakum scored big. With all the big bad boys falling all over each other, tripping in words and ways, Margaret held this group together both emotionally and physically. She is a leader in the true sense of the word, both self sacrificial and inspirational. Hell, let’s just give her the million and get on with it.

Weasel of the Week: The Big, Bad Boys of Nakum. Bobby Jon is a horse, a hard worker and well, not as dumb as some people seem to think. Yet, he still thinks he needs carry everybody on his back, at the detriment to himself. The Nakum men seem to want to follow his lead. Yet, they need to know how much they can handle and try to out macho each other. The women, they take what they can handle, and come out shinning and looking hot after 11 miles, the guys, well, the vomiting was nice, I guess. Blake, I will give a mini-pass on this, because he suffered a true injury beyond over exhaustion, of course, he may have been playing it up a bit.

So the first question you always ask on the first episode, will it be the trouble maker or the old guy.(or gal). Well, the answer is… goodbye Jim. I can just imagine the man, trekking through the woods, looking at pretty buy Blake, or rolly polly jokester Rudd pacing himself with a mantra of “Please be an ass. Please be an ass.” ‘Cause being the 60 year old man in a group of fit as a fiddle model wantabes ain’t a good position on Survivor, unless you got pretty little Nelah or Elizabeth to watch you back. And sadly, Jim was no ones sugar daddy. I was ready to feel bas for the man, with his torn bicep and soft manner, but then he voted for Margaret, so the old man got what was coming to him.

I sort of took a quick disliking to Rafe. Rafe is supposed to be one of those self appointed Survivor strategist types who will give you the little lessons learned on a quick little confessional. Let me just tell you, most of those obvious little lessons are completely off the mark. So I present today’s “Rafe‘s Crappy Survivor Strategy Tip of the Episode” Don’t be the leader, because they are always voted off first. This of course is one of the worse Survivor misconceptions. Yes, don’t be a pushy, know it all, in your face jerk, but displaying a little leadership is not a bad thing. Most people know that to Survivor, you need a competent tribe. Display the right kind of leadership. Tom did it, and look where it got him.

So, how would you handle the Bobby Jon and Stephenie thing. I think the obvious thing is that unless you know for sure that Stephenie has you back to the end of the game, you need to lose her as quick as possible. It will be very dangerous if both her and Bobby Jon make the merge together. With Bobby Jon, it’s more or a use him then lose him approach, but watch you back. He may not seem to be the smartest bulb in the chandelier, but experience counts in this game, and he will definitely want to go far in this game. Players need to always remember that these two are very, very dangerous.

Now, my favorite scene had to be Judd’s Premature Evacuation. Here we have a NYC doorman rolling around like a hippo in the mud on the shores of a lake in Guatemala. And people ask me why I love Survivor.

Maybe it’s just me but I see a true boys vs. girls thing possible shaping up in this game. Of course, it’s always better when this dynamic comes about naturally. Danni should be an interesting player in this scenario. She’s a women working in a man’s job, who was excited over the addition of Bobby Jon, because “men are stronger than women.” If Nakum plays out like I see it, I wouldn’t be shocked if we see her in the guys alliance.

Well, that’s all for this week…

Note: I will try to give people something every week, but since ABC made the unfortunate decision to air Alias the same time as Survivor, don't expect these to be done in a timely fashion. Look for my thoughts on Friday's or Saturdays, here on this site.

Bob Declares the 2005 TV Season Officially Open

2005-09-15T17:27:00.000-04:00

OK, like it’s my choice in the matter.

If you know anything about me, you know that I watch way to much TV. If obsessive TV watching rots your brain, then I probably have like 14 brain cells left. Yet, I won’t just watch anything. For the most part, sitcoms annoy me to all hell, and soaps, whether day time or the primetime ones like the O.C and such leave me feeling shallow and empty. Yes, and surprisingly to some, the majority of reality shows are not my cup of tea.

That being said, the mother of all reality/competition shows Survivor starts tonight and that is enough to have me declare the Fall Season open.

OK, so it’s not the first premiere of the year. Fox has premiered the intriguing Prison Break already, but let’s face it, it’s Fox, and they follow no set rules on premiering a show. The WB has premiered The new show Supernatural, whose pilot was pretty good, and of course, The Gilmore Girls for you ladies.

But, Survivor is here… and that’s good enough for me.

Funny thing is, it’s been almost 9 months since I have written a significant piece of TV critique or analysis or whatever. I semi-retired from writing my Survivor and The Amazing Race thoughts for many reasons, but mostly because the writing had become stagnant and actually started detracting from my enjoyment of the show. I actually watched Survivor: Palau solely as a fan and it renewed my love for the show. This season I plan to write again about the show, but with a lot less structure, and basically, when the spirit impels me.

This summer also sort of renewed me towards TV a bit.. There really wasn’t much significant TV watching on the networks. I truly don’t think I watched a single episode of anything on CBS, NBC, FOX or ABC this summer. I spent a lot of time watching 3 full seasons of the USA original series La Femme Nikita which I ordered on Netflix. I actually was surprised by how much I liked this series.

Yet, two shows this summer really stand out for me. Firstly, The 4400. The first season was an intriguing, five episode mini-series. The second season, a full 13 episode treatment moved it from an interesting series, to one of the best things on TV. The second series I really have enjoyed has been Bochco’s Over There. Strip away the politics, and gritty reality of war, and what stands out about this show are it’s characters. Also, we get a good cheesy quote from Eric Pallindino’s character, like “What you believe doesn’t matter, so put that sh*t away, It’s Killing Time.”

Yet, the summer is over, and along with Survivor, a bunch of shows are premiering over the next week or so, tomorrow is The Threshold, which looks interesting. Them we have Lost, Alias, Invasion and a few others.

I know I am looking forward to it.

Oh, and the Emmy’s are Sunday. I’ll probably have my picks and predictions posted soon.

Back From Vacation

2005-09-05T08:40:00.000-04:00

Well, sort of...

I never really "left" as in, went somewhere other than I call my normal place of habitation. I was going to, then I was not, then I was, then...

But, what was going to be a relaxing, do nothing sort of week, turned into a series of mini-adventures, too much $3.29 gas, and a bunch ofunexpected fun.

Of course, I neglected this little slice of heaven, but I should catch up. Soon...

For now, I'll just leave you with this little graphic I found amusing...

Friday Random 10 #4 Death, Divorce and Direction

2005-09-01T21:57:00.000-04:00

Well, been a little under the weather,and with everything that has been happening this week, I need a little something to get me cheered up. So, I hit that good old random button of the music player of my choice and hope for some good old fashion, pick me up music...

Fat Chance... How about songs about loving from afar, loosing friends to violence, disasterous relationships, and well, facing North.

1. Goldilox by King’s X (Out of the Silent Planet)
"I stand behind you and I watch you from a mile away wishing you could be the one,but not here this way..."
2. Desire by Toad The Wet Sprocket (Coil)
"I want to be cruel, I want to be cold. I want a chance to sell my soul..."
3. Homeboys by Adam Again (Homeboys)
"...hang your head, and hide your eyes. Watch a 1,000 cars go by..."
4. Svengali by Steve Taylor (I Predict 1990)
"... he had the thin blue lips and a fingerless glove. He was a hunter for a prey to put his prints on..."
5. Walk of Life by Dire Staits (Money For Nothing)
"He do the song about the knife..."
6. All Along the Watchtower by U2 (Rattle and Hum)
" All I got is a red guitar. The rest is up to you..."
7. Teen Angst (What The World Needs Now) by Cracker (Cracker)
"what the world needs now is some true words of wisdom, like la,la,la,la,la,la,la..."
8. Tether to Tassel by LSU (Shaded Pain)
"You've pulled a sword from your purse to run me through..."
9. Bitter Price To Pay by Vigilantes of Love (Welcome to Struggleville)
"...I put a bullet through my tv, at the point blank range and your's is a bitter price to pay..."
10. Stand by REM (Green)
"...Your head is there to move you around..."

Friday’s Random 10 #3 God, Girls and Ghosts

2005-08-26T08:35:00.000-04:00

Something's possessed the old music box, forcing it to spit out songs randomly about love gone wrong, love a bit too right, the love of God, and being haunted by everything from the ghost of a small boy, to your past sins. Damn spirits...

1. So Cruel by U2 (Actung Baby) “The men who love you, you hate the most. They pass right through you like a ghost…”
2. Blue Sky by The Queue (Fallout)
3. Move Me by King’s X (Please Come Home, Mr. Bulbous) “With nothing to hate, I am lonely and unholy…”
4. You Make My Heart Beat Too Fast by Buddy and Julie Miller (Buddy and Julie Miller) “You make me want your affection. We need to make a connection…”
5. I Radio Heaven by Over The Rhine (films for radio) “this song is grinning, go on and undress it…”
6.. Chance for the Chancers by Poor Old Lu (A Picture of the Eight Wonder}“before the night is thru, this is all going to make sense…”
7. Passing This Train by Lisa Cerbone (Mercy) “We've got haunted hearts, and every time I walk through yours, I just get lost in the dark.“
8. Super Girl by Michael Knott (Strip Cycle) “She Tries Everything Before It‘s In. She Want‘s You to Just Begin to Curl…”
9. Deep by Adam Again (Dig) “Girl Ghost in the stairway, she loves it when I rub my eyes…”
10. Down Goes the Day by Chris Taylor “’I’m moving on,’ said the lady to her man
time uses up the vision and the headline…”

1. Songs Without Labels: The Queue is a local Philly band. Some may remember its quirky front man, Jeff Thomas, as the man who headed The Frogs/Mightyhead. For more interesting independent music, check out Ookla the Mok, a catchy "Frogs" like Band who had an album produced by the aforementioned Jeff Thomas. Also, for any Twitchen Vibes fans, Charlie has a bunch of demos and such located here: King Bonk.

2. Percentage of the Performers I have seen live: 85%. I haven't seen The Queue, or Buddy Miller, but I have seen Julie Miller.

3. Favorite Ghostly Lyrics: There is something quite haunting about Passing the Train especially for such a quirky and catchy album, it sort of sneaks up on you.

Find out what Ghosts possessed Smedley's music box.

Summer Paperback Review

2005-08-23T19:20:00.000-04:00

So, I’ve been falling behind on some of my book reviews. I’ve done a pretty good job posting reviews for the Hardcovers, and Trades I’ve read, but the paperbacks, not so much. So I decided to do a uber-post of mini reviews of some of the paperbacks I’ve read over the summer. Looking back over the past month, it’s been a pretty horrific month, mainly meaning I’ve read a bunch of horror novels. You know, the sort of blood and gore tomes used by Satan to send our children down the path of evil and ultimately contributing to the breakdown of society. Gotta love it. So, without further whatever, here we go:

City of the Dead by Brian Keene

This is the sequel to The Rising, one of the better zombie novels of the past few years. The Rising was an average book, with lots of borrowing from classic post apocalyptic tales. Especially McCammon’s Swan Song. Keene’s zombies are unique, in the fact that dead rise because they are being possessed by cross dimensional demon’s that were accidentally released in a failed science experiment. These zombies are relatively intelligent and able to work together. City of the Dead is an upgrade from the first book. The characters are more fleshed out, and less whiney. They’ve had the time to adjust to the new world, and are starting to figure things out. Keene takes the opportunity to look at human evil and human triumph in this tale, and expand the spiritual concepts the first book only hinted at.

Grade: B

Terminal by Brian Keene

Keene takes a shot at another clichéd story type here. That is the desperate but good man finds out he’s dying so he decides to rob a bank to leave something behind for his wife and kid. Pretty typical, but well executed with an interesting paranormal twist. Yet, what really stands out in this book is Keene’s portrayal of a dying man living within a dying Pennsylvania manufacturing town. He adequately captures the feeling of desperation and of dying dreams. At times the story utilizes some very overused literary tricks, but in the end you feel the pain of the main character, no matter how stupid he is.

Grade B

The Darkening by Chandler McGrew

With a name this corny, it has to be good! Right? Nah, not really. The book is an interesting psuedo-religious twist of the rapture theme (mass disappearances) with elements of secret society paranoia. The book starts out developing the two main characters that unknowingly are destined to save the world. There are some interesting religious themes developed here, but this is far from a christian book. While the characters are interesting and well thought out, the action scened get bogged down and confusing and the thrills and spills become a bit mundane. It’s worthwhile reading, and at times an interesting story, buit don’t expect great literature here.

Grade: C+

Symphony by Charles Grant

Another on my list of Post Apocalyptic tales, Symphony is the first book of a four part series dealing with the four horsemen of the apocalypse. While the characters are interesting, the story is filled with subplots and tangents that just go nowhere. The writer has a penchant for placing characters in interesting situation, then leaving you to assume you know what happened. Yet, at many times, you guessing, which is not good. Grant takes an interesting course with humanizing the horseman, this time War, but this was done much better in Gaimen and Pratchett’s Good Omens. Here, it basically humorless. The book’s ending is ambiguous at best, and while this may be OK for some series, here it just makes you want to avoid picking up the next installment.

Grade: C-

Time Storm by Gordon R. Dickson

I found this 70’s science fiction tale among the crowded stacks of of my favorite used book store. It’s theme of mass disappearance of humans due to a disruptions of time interesting, so I grabbed it thinking it would be nice light reading. Well, it’s far from light. Here Dickson takes us on a 70’s head trip of physics and philosophy. Ther first half of the book is a strong Post Apocalytic tale of a man, a teenage girl and a leopard traveling through a broken, disjointed land where Time Storms have switched large chucks or land with land of the past and the future, and where traveling Mistwalls threaten to displace the travelers themselves. The second part of the book is hard science fiction where the main character battles the very physical forces of nature which are causing these problems. In the end this book is a tale of love, and finding what’s inside a person by stepping out of their own body, and their comfort zones and looking at things in a way one would never conceived. Beware of some weird 70’s new-age corniness, but enjoy.

Grade: B+

Nature’s End by Whitley Strieber and James Kunetka

The writing team that brought you the classic Post Nuclear psuedo-autobiography Warday, team up again to tackle another potential disaster, this time it’s pollution gone wild. In this ecological disater tale, Strieber and Kunetka use some of the devices they used during Warday, particularly Government Reports, Newspaper Articles and witness interviews to give the feeling your reading a true story. Yet, unlike Warday, this not a “fake documentary” but a good, action filled story with so very well drawn characters. I’m not sure of the science behind the whole situation that the writers use, or whether this cautionary tale is even remotely likely, biut as a story, it works. Here they uses some classic science fiction themes reminiscent of Phillip K. Dick, and they do it well.

Grade B+

One Rainy Night by Richard Laymon

Blah… I don’t know why I keep reading Laymon. He has intriguing ideas, but then it basically turns into teenagers groping each other, an obsession with breasts, and people getting stabbed, shot, impaled, eaten and raped. If you like that kind of stuff, without anything deeper, go ahead. This is basically horror for horror’s sake, soulless and shallow.

Grade: D

One More Sunday by John D. MacDonald

Even if I found the Travis McGee series a bit trying at times, I always believed that the late John MacDonald was one of America’s finest mystery writers. Some of his stand alone books, especially Condominium and The Executioners (the novel Cape Fear was based on) were top notch action packed tales. In One More Sunday, MacDonald takes on a new target, the Mega-Church. While uncovering the sexual escapades, hypocrisy and financial misdeeds of his characters, he also paints a portrait of many good meaning and faithful people who truly have the best intentions, but get carried away in there execution. Religious figures can be easy targets, but MacDonald looks beyond the bad to show you both sides.

Grade: B

The Family Trade by Charles Stross

This is the first book In the Merchant Princes Series, and while the topic has been done before, a women from our world transplanted into a new world, Stross puts an interesting new spin on it. While many have compared this to Zelzaney’s Amber Chronicles, this is more in line with Donaldson’s Mordant’s Need series, except for our heroine here is not a neurotic women with no sense of self, but a competent and strong women who knows how to handle things on her own and doesn’t need some big strapping man to give her a sense of worth. Stross, typically a Science Fiction writer, invents one of the more interesting fantasy conundrums in recent history. He installs a sense of reality based ethics into a fantasy world, and maybe not intentionally, creates a interests counterpoint to many of the financial shenanigans we see in our modern world.

Grade: A-

I’m not sure if this covers everything I’ve read this summer, but it’s most of it. Right now, my To Be Read list includes Diary by Chuck Palahniuk, Magic Time by Marc Zicree and Barbara Hambly, Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clark, and the second Frankenstein book by Dean Koontz. I was recommended The Time Travelor’s Wife by a few people, including Kim here, and I was able to snag that at Newtown Record and Books. Also, the sequel to S. M. Stirling’s Dies the Fire series The Protector War comes out on Sept. 6th, I’ll probably be reposting my review to Dies the Fire, in honor of that book, which appeared on another journal.

Book Review: Serenity Falls by James A. Moore

2005-08-22T15:50:00.000-04:00

Originally posted as a single novel, Serenity Falls was recently released in a three volume mass paperback set. For fans of horror, especially those who enjoyed Stephen King back when he was writing books like It, Cujo and Salem’s Lot, this is definitely something you’d want to scoop up. Unlike some trilogies, especially ones that were originally conceived as a single novel, all three books of the series have a different feel to them.

The basic premise deals with the small rural New York town of Serenity Falls. While Serenity Falls may seem like your prototypical small town, it has a history of violence and death that far exceeds most small towns.

Book #1: Writ in Blood
Bob's Grade: B

Book one intermingles three tales together to set the framework for the rest of the series. Part gothic horror, part paranormal thriller Writ in Blood tells the tale of Simon McGruder, local eccentric, who decides that a complete history of the town is needed. As he starts to dig into the towns past we learn about Serenity Falls horrible past. The first tale told starts during the colonial period when the town first was founded as a supply station for England and it’s new world colonies. Albert Miles, a local man, is sent away to England on the mayor’s orders. While he was gone he wife is left alone to fend for herself. An uncommonly beautiful women, stories began to swirl, first of visits by local gentlemen, later the stories expand to that of evil and witchcraft. Eventually, Sarah Miles is put on trial for witchcraft and tortured raped and eventually killed by the town’s mayor. When he husband returns, he is obviously enraged. While the stories of witchcraft were unfounded in his wife, Albert Miles himself has a working knowledge of the dark arts. In his rage, he places a curse upon the town, written in rage and blood, that the town will never rest in peace, in life or death and that eventually, every soul will scream.

We then see how the curse has played out through the history of Serenity Falls. We see tragedies on small and large levels. We see husbands driven crazy, killing their whole family, women abducted and killed, never to be seen again, and one intriguing tale of a carnival and a few missing children. As with all tales in this book, it’s ends in death and tragedy on a grand scale.

Intertwined with the history of Serenity Falls, we follow the tales anti-hero, the other than human demon hunter Jonathon Crowley, who we first saw in Moore other book, Under the Overtree, as he is being stalked by a demon that is leading him to Serenity Falls. Crowley is your basic sarcastic, yet harsh hero. Even serving as humanities protector, he seems to have contempt for humanity and it’s vices. At times, it serves him well in this book, at other times, it’s just annoying. It seems he is more interested in passing judgment of people than doing his job. Yet, when his job comes up, and he needs to physically take on one of the many ghosts, demons and such in the book, the story just takes off. One intriguing aspect of Crowley’s character is that he is bound by certain rules that he must adhere too when dealing with both humanity and those beyond humanity. It adds an intriguing ethical subplot to the story.

All in all, Writ in Blood is a solid horror tale, full of intriguing characters. At times, the book reminds you of parts of It, especially the when King handles the history of Derry. In some levels, this first book is just an extended prologue to the tale that is to come, but it teases your interest just enough to pick up that next book.

Book 2: The Pack
Bob's Grade: B+

While probably having the worst name of the series, the second book is strongest of the series and it’s where the story truly takes off. This time the focus of the book is not on the curse haunting the town, or even out anti-hero Jonathon Crowley, who doesn’t even appear until until the second half of the book. This time the focus is on the townspeople, and even more so, the children.

The evil entity that has been slowly drawing Crowley to Serenity Falls, now focuses his energy on the town and playing games with it’s residents. Among the games he plays is possessing certain townsfolk, causing them to act outside of there character. The children themselves are tormented by ghosts and bad dreams, and one child becomes the conduit for the souls of Serenity Falls dead between this world and the world they have been trapped in since their deaths.

Yet, beyond the horror and mayhem, the true beauty of this novel is the developing the characters that were only briefly touched on in the first book. Sheriff Jack Michael’s, is more than just a loyal lawman, but a figure as tragic as the town itself. Mike Blake, the banker turn town drunk, pulls himself out of self imposed stupor since his wife died to begin once again gaining the respect of himself and his neighbors, only to have his world turned upside down in the form a beautiful, yet oddly familiar women. Deputy Victor Barnes, who we only saw as the helpful biker in the first book, becomes a main character, as a newly hired deputy who gives us an outsiders perspective on the town.

Then there is the kids. A group of misfired kids, like Farm boy Dave Pageant, feisty best friends Charlene and Jessie, and tormented Stan Long, may just be the towns only chance against the forces building up in the town. It doesn’t help that there is a pack of wild, seemingly changed dogs roaming the woods, terrorizing and slaughtering the residents of this cursed town.

Moore cleverly intermingles many horror archetypes, monsters and vampires, horny kids at make out point being terrorized, demonic possession, ghosts, and of course, the horrors of childhood bullies, yet, he understands the clichéd aspects and builds and manipulates the reader. Yet, while he has some of Stephen King’s flair for characters, he also has some of his flaws. Many scenes are overwritten and it can get hard to keep the multiple characters straight and try to remember their connection to the past. . He also uses the “hit you in the face” foreshadowing (…and that was the last time she ever saw her sister alive…) that is a literary trick, and one that becomes painfully obvious. Yet, in the end, The Pack works because the characters do. At times the story gets bogged down and confusing, but in the end, Moore it pulls off.

Book 3: Dark Carnival
Bob's Grade: B-

The third book picks up the story of the town of Serenity Falls, and builds on the characters we have met, yet, this book is mostly Jonathon Crowley’s tale. Crowley, the other than human demon hunter, takes center stage in the last segment. While many of the townspeople have suffered loss, many others have just been living life as normal. But that’s about to change, because the Carnival is coming.

Crowley still is unsure of what he it dealing with as the story starts, but he knows that the entity that has been plaguing him for a while is nothing more than a dangerous distraction from the real problems. He begins to realize that the secret to the mystery lies with the children. After dealing with the tormented Stan Long, he finds the entity had found a new host in the bodies of some of the towns children. Crowley finds this disturbing, yet also sees the possibilities that lay in this. As he lays his traps, he must also deal with his conflicting feelings for the mysterious women that Mike Blake has fallen for, one that he himself has had a past with.

While Crowley is brilliant and cunning in his deductions., the final battles he must have with the entity tormenting him and the town and the curse that is putting the bodies and souls of the town in jeopardy, turns brutally physical. Crowley, in the end, is looking for a fight and he finds one. As the carnival enters town, run by the souls of the outsiders slaughtered by the townspeople, Crowley has to put out one fire after another, before that final showdown.

Of all the books, this is probably the weakest, yet it is probably necessary do to the development of the story. The characters are in play, the battle has been set, and now, it just comes down to execution. I am someone who enjoys the buildup more that the actual action, so at points I found myself skimming through the brutal and garish action. While some aspects are predictable, Moore shows no fear of killing off main characters, and having things not go exactly how you would expect, Crowley is a worthy antihero, but he can become exasperating for the reader. His judgmental side attacks characters that we grow to like, and seems dismissive toward humans. Plus, he’s a bit too resourceful. Like Batman, he always has exactly what he needs to battle with the evil forces.

Yet, complaints aside, the series comes together well in this last book. While this is the final battle, the end leaves just enough ambiguity to leave the reader wanting more. I know if there is another book featuring Crowley, I’ll be reading it.

Visit James A. Moore's Website

Friday's Random 10 #2

2005-08-18T18:47:00.000-04:00

Once again, it's time to warm up the old music box and switch on the random lever and see which devil- songs pop out. Basically, it's the Friday Random 10. Let's see what evil machinations we have for today

1. Amber Waves Goodbye by The Lost Dogs (The Best of the Lost Dogs)
2. Within Without (Rough Mix) by Over The Rhine (Besides)
3. Militia Song by Camper Van Beethoven (New Roman Times)
4. Can’t You Feel The Chains by Chagall Guevara
5. Resume by Vigilantes of Love (Welcome to Struggleville)
6. When The Water Falls by Collective Soul
7. Cabin Down Below by Tom Petty (Wild Flowers)
8. Devil’s Haircut by Beck (Odelay)
9. Burnie by Midnight Oil (Scream in Blue Live)
10. Never Gonna Change by Drive By Truckers (The Dirty South)

Well, I guess I need to discuss:

Favorite Song: Resume, one of VOL's oldies but goodies. And one that is always called for at concerts causing Bill to groan and give a dirty death stare to his audience.

Best All Around Album which never got enough recogintion: Chagall Guevara's self titled and only title. Steve and the boys blamed their lack of success on a weird name, I say that quality scares people.

Favorite Song Inspired by the Unibomber: Militia Song. CVB's reunion theme album New Roman Times was my choice for best album of 2004, and songs like this one were why!! It also has my favorite lyric of the set:
I'm the only bomber that you'll ever need
Keep the commie Californians from repressing me

I can't pick a least favorite song, because there really all very good this week. Drive By Truckers is one of my newest musical interests, and Collective Soul's self titled offering was probably my favorite of their albums. And no one sings quite like Karin Berquist.

Check Out some other FRT's especially Howard's and Kim's.

Book Review: Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

2005-08-18T08:03:00.000-04:00

Quick Review:

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
Published 2003
Genre: Science Fiction\Post Apocalyptic Fiction
Bob's Thoughts: A unique and off beat tale of the last human left on earth, and how he got there.
Available at Your Local Booksellers
Bob's Grade: A-

Full Review:

Sometimes a books surprises you.

I don’t mean this in a twist, surprise ending Roger Ackroydian way or even in a judgemental, be it positive or negative, sort of way. Sometimes you just come to expect certain things from a book, or books in general, and every once and a while you are thrown for a loop. Sometimes genres are bended, and characters act or just are not what you expect or even imagine. Sometimes, a book is just different and smacks your preconceived notions in the face.

Oryx and Crake is one of these books. First off, when picked up this book, I really didn’t expect to like it, for a lot of reasons. The reason I bough it is that it was on a Post Apocalyptic book list I have been working my way through, slowly but surely, with plenty breaks in between. Yet, I was trepidations. I have read her book, A Handmaid’s Tale, and didn’t really enjoy it. She is a very literary writer, which often means witty, verbose, well written and boring. I am not scared to admit that I tend to avoid that which is labeled literature, unless coerced, instead finding myself immersed in the pulp and popular fiction of the day. I also, with a few exceptions, tend to avoid books by women authors. When I read a women’s name on the title, I expect a book oriented towards women. Yes, this is probably not something I should admit, but even within the genre’s I enjoy, women authors tend to lose my interest.

Now, admitting I am a misogynistic literary snob, let’s move on to the book. Oryx and Crake is a tale of the last man on earth, Snowman. Snowman hasn’t always been called Snowman, before he was Jimmy, but in a new world, I guess people need a new name. Snowman basically sits around in his tree all day, drinking his last drops of pilfered liquor, attempting to keep the sheet he wears as his only clothes clean, and watching over a group of genetically altered childlike survivors, who are more or perhaps less than human, depending on you perspective. While in his tree, and later on his trip to an old compound for supplies, Snowman relives and reminisces on his life when he was Jimmy.

The world of his youth was a glimpse on the possible road we may be heading down. Raised in a protected community among scientists, like his father, Jimmy’s world is full of genetically engineered animals recombinants , like Pigoons and Wolvogs, animals combined to add to the betterment of human existence. Jimmy is immune to the real world, refered to as pleeblands. In that world, society has broken down and poverty and dystopia reigns. We follow Jimmy’s life, as he grows older, and becomes friends with the man that is to become known as Crake, a genius who may or may not be mad.

There are so many reasons Oryx and Crake just shouldn’t work. The story seems almost uneven, jumping around through the time line of events, almost willy nilly. Beyond the character of Jimmy/Snowman, the other players are underdeveloped and underused, and often quite unbelievable. The story at points goes off on seemingly unnecessary paths, that slow the story down and the ending is, at best, ambiguous. Yet, all these issues some together in just the right way to make the story work. At times, the story becomes confusing, and you’re not quite sure why the author is giving you a glimpse of this or that, but by the end, the come together like a impressionist painting, and you wouldn’t want to lose a single bit.

As a post apocalyptic tale, this book fits neatly into the genre more so along the lines of classic tales like A Brave New World and 1984, yet other sections recalls parts of Earth Abides, and Vonnegut’s, Galapagos. A time it is an absurdist comedy, at other times, a dark harbinger of science and it’s ultimate potential if it loses control, and a reminder that it most probably will. Atwood handles the issues well, yet with enough intriguing diversions, and cartoonish handlings to not leave you overly paranoid of using the latest wonder drug.

Netflix Alert!! Don't Be Left Behind!!

2005-08-17T22:27:00.000-04:00

Before there was Left Behind there was the greatest Tribulation Series ever!!

OK, to be honest, these movies were quite cheesy, and probably not Biblically Accurate in the least bit, no matter what your religious inclination is. Which makes it eerily similiar to the whole Left Behind thing.

I just thought, if you have netflix, you should know these movies are available. They are perfect for a corny christian movie night, and if you do drink, it only enhances the fun.

Here's the collection:
A Thief In the Night

A Distant Thunder

Image of the Beast

The Prodigal Planet: Best of the Series

Just a Bit Beyond Friday's Random 10

2005-08-13T08:20:00.000-04:00

Of course, my good friend Howard encouraged me to do this. Hopefully I didn't violate any unwritten code of bloggers by posting this a bit late...

So the concept, is basically rack up your MP# Player/Media Player, set it to random and see what it gives you. Until recently, my selection has been too limited to even attempt, but I have enough music saved to make the attempt without it being all from the same artists. My first attempt was pretty successful, even though there were a few, let's say subtle artist repeats. See if you can catch them (Hint: One individual appears on 3 selections, yet 3 different bands)

1. Sad Face -- The Choir (Live at Cornerstone 2000)

2. Manic Depression -- King's X (Dogman)

3. Boy With the Coins -- Camper Van Chadbourne (CVB & Eugene Chadbourn Collaboration/Self Titled)

4. Disco (Love Grapes) -- Swirling Eddies (Zoom Daddy)

5. Perfect Blue Buildings -- Counting Crows (August and Everything After)

6. Po Lazarus -- James Carter and The Prisoners (O Brother, Where Art Thou Soundtrack)

7. Dixie Babylon -- Cracker (The Golden Age)

8. Sailors -- Vigilantes of Love (Summershine)

9. You Satisfy -- Lost Dogs (The Best of The Lost Dogs)

10. And So It Goes -- Daniel Amos (Mr. Buechner's Dream)

Favorite Song -- Dicso (Love Grapes): Tough Choice here, but the whole Zoom Daddy Album is one of my personal favorites.
Least Favorite Song -- Sad Face: Never Been A Huge Choir Fan, butr this one is slow and somber and slow and slow
Weirdest Song -- Boys With Coins: Camper can be Weird, yet the collaboration needs a new word to describe it's oddity.
Favorite Album: August and Everything After: Another Close One, Zoom Daddy was probably the closest, yet most of the albums on this list were not what I consider the best by that particular artist, although Dogman was definatly a great album.

Check Out Howard's List

Book Review: The Motive by John Lescroart

2005-08-11T17:45:00.000-04:00

Quick Review

The Motive by John Lescroart
Published 2005
Genre: Mystery/Legal Thriller
Bob's Thoughts: Lescroart returns to the courtroom with another solid legal tale.
Available at your local booksellers.
Bob's Grade: B

Full Review
The first John Lescroart book I read was The 13th juror. I have always been a huge legal fiction fan, and when I saw another law of a crafty defense lawyer defending a seemingly innocent client form from an unwarranted murder charge, I got excited. Here’s another series written by a lawyer about a crusading defense attorney. I expected a series of dramatic trial stories, of the good Dismas Hardy fighting against the corrupt system, aided by his good police buddy Abe. Basically, I expected the same old legal series.

Yet, I shouldn’t had assumed anything. My first bad assumption was that Mr. Lescroart was a lawyer. This isn’t true. My second assumption was he was going to write a series where the legal system was the driving force behind the stories. Also, not true. This is much more than a tale of a lawyer. This series is character study of two friend, their families and one crazy city called San Francisco. Lescroart has taking his characters across the expected sub genre lines, at times a family tale, at time a police procedural, at times a story of corruption and intrigue, at times an action thriller, this series is never scared to take the unexpected turn or change the story up in some integral way. So, when I picked up The Motive, I had finally told myself that I shouldn’t expect another The 13th Juror.

Yet, of course, I guess I had forgotten my lesson once again. With the motive, Lescroart had gone back to what drew me to him in the first place, a good old fashion Murder Trial. Not that this was your typical tale of legal maneuvering. Lescroart starts it off proving that he knows how to do his research. A fire is ravaging a home in a picturesque San Francisco neighborhood , and the firefighters are performing their trade well. During the fight of the fire, two bodies, burned beyond recognition are discovered. They may have been just unfortunate victims of the fire, except for the bullet holes in their heads and the fact that they were drenched in gasoline.

This of course sets off the series of events that drive this book.. At first, it just looks like a murder suicide, but the victim has some high powered friends, and one of them, the current mayor calls upon Hardy’s friend, and now high ranking brass Abe Glitsky to take a interest in this case. Abe’s involvement doesn’t sit to well with the investigating detective, and things turn even more sour when Abe quickly disproves the detectives murder/suicide theory. This leads, the detective on a quest to out do his rival, and he quickly focuses his attentions on the victim’s daughter in law, a women who spurned his sexual advances. To make matters even worst, the suspect just happens to be an ex-girlfriend of one Dismas Hardy.

Such a small world.

The book then takes the predictable, yet highly entertaining turn towards the impending murder trial, with Glitsky taking heat for his unofficial involvement in the case and accusations of collusion being tossed at Abe, Hardy and the mayor. Hardy, now having to defend his ex-lover, and worrying about a secret he just can’t allow to surface seems to become more and more emotionally drained. Both he and Glitsky are desperately searching for the answers.

The Motive, while at times, a predictable legal yarn, is charged with emotion and intrigue. The plot itself almost takes a back seat to the emotional roller coaster it’s main characters are on. For fans of the series, you will once again be sucked into the lives and trials of characters that you have grown to enjoy. For others, this book offers a fun legal tale.

Check Out John Lescroart's site.

Book Review: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

2005-07-28T20:23:00.000-04:00

Quick Review:

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
Published: 2005
Genre: Fantasy
Bob's Thoughts: A bit of a housekeeping book, where the author attempts to tie up loose and while preparing us for the end, but still a highly entertaining read.
Available at your local booksellers.
Bob's Grade: B+

I love writing book reviews. I hate writing reviews for books that are a part of a long running series. The task become multifaceted and complicated. You are unable to judge the book solely on its own merits, but also on how it fits within the entire arc of the series. It is quite possible on it’s own for a book to be excellent, but within the confines of the series to be a disappointment, or commit some action that lessen the series. Conversely, a book could be down right dull while being an important and necessary piece that moves the series to a important place.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince is quite an important book in the planned seven part series. As the penultimate book it has an important task, it must clean up many of the loose ends, and set up the final great battle. In a way it is a housekeeping book. Often times, these books are the hardest, toughest to read, but writer J. K. Rowling handles this well. In this book, Rowling takes the focus off the tasks she need to do by distracting us with the blossoming of the three main characters and the developments and changes in their relationships. In a series that has turned quite dark, the light hearted moments of young love, keep the book moving and gives it a sense of fun.

Yet, at points the story does get bogged down by the many minor characters she his introduced over the past 5 books, who seem to pop up in places causing you to have to search you memory for just who they were. While some of these references where important, others where extraneous, and were slight bumps on an otherwise smooth ride.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince is more a story of the past. Harry is invited to private tutoring sessions by Dumbledorf. During these private sessions Dumbledore takes Harry on a trip of memories to learn about the past of Lord Voldemort. As Harry is believed to be the “chosen one” prophesized to do battle with ultimate dark Lord, Dumbledore believes it is quite important for Harry to prepare himself by getting to know his enemy. Dumbledore implores Harry to solve the mysteries of certain memories. This was another weak point in the novel. It seemed so important to Dumbledore for Harry to solve a particular mystery, yet when he finally does, it seemed that Dumbledore had already had it figured out, perhaps for a while. The whole search for the hidden memory come off as much more of plot device to hold off revealing things than an actual vital part of the plot.

Yet, complaints aside, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince is a fun book. It is much more of a teenaged book than some of the others in the series. She seems to have finally found that balanced. Her early books were mostly kids books, written with adult appeal. The later where adult books suitable in content and pace for children. Within the series, this may have been the most important book, setting up book seven, yet it is also a highly entertaining.

Have you seen Latoyia Figueroa?

2005-07-27T18:03:00.000-04:00

Latoyia Figueroa has been missing for well over a week and today is the first time I ever heard her name. She is a pregnant mother from West Philadelphia, and for some reason the story has been barely a blip on the national radar.

If you have any information at all, contact the Philadelphia Southwest detective division at 215-686-3183.

Many Philadelpia area bloggers have taken the bull by the horns here and tried to push this story into the national spotlight. CNN.com has finally picked up the story. I also just saw a promo from Tucker Carlson's MSNBC show, which should be covering the story also. For more on the story, read The All Spin Zone

So, What's Happening?

2005-07-26T17:08:00.000-04:00

Well, I've been lazy. It's been a crazy week, and I've neglected my duties here at Thistles. So, here is a What's Happening sort of all encompasing post.

Yesterday was my Sister-in-Law's Birthday. Happy Birthday Gina!!!!

First, Harry-mania hast struck the world. Again. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince took the book world by storm. Not too shocking. I have a friend who works at a bookstore, and from what i here, it was insane. As with the book itself. yes, I, 31 year old male Bob, have read it. I bought it on Monday, had it finished by Wednesday, and did my duty to save bookstore clerks everywhere by lending it out right away. I will be writing a full review soon, along with a mini-paperback review of the other 4 books I've finished in the past 2 weeks.

If you haven't read the story about Catherine Baker Knolls unfortunate actions at a Fallen soldiers funeral, well, I'm not going to spell it out for you, so check here (yep, lazy) I have always had the utmost respect for the women, even during my more right leaning younger days. She has been a dedicated public servant who has served my state well for many years. MANY years. Yep, basically the women is getting a bit old, and maybe has lost some of the couth of a more polishe polititcian. What she said was insensative, but I don't believe it was intentionally insensative. She has always been a more bureaucratic public servant and maybe this current ceromonial position doesn't suit her as well. That being said, I don't think she should resign, as some right wing groups have called for. She should take her lumps and make her apologies, then get about doing her job with the integrity she has shown before this incident.

The President has made his choice. While I will be keeping an eye on the proceedings as they move forward, you had to love the dancing of young Jack Roberts. The kid has moves. I think I see a Fox Reality show in his future. Hopefully we'll see more dancing Jack in the future. He's the perfect device for ole' W. People will be so distracted by little Jacks dancing they won't even pay attention to what George has to say.

It's been a pretty good couple of weeks for NASA. After taking a big PR hit with the shuttle cancelation, today they had a nice successful event free lift off. That and the comet striking rockett success makes me hope that we haven't given up on space exploration. I know we have a lot of issues here on earth, but with such a vast universe, who knows what potentials await.

I woke up this morning to yet another LA car chase. Usually, I have no interest. The idiot usually heads straight for the highway and drives fast. Yet, speed won't help you allude the police when they know exactly where you're going. This one though was more fascinating. The idiot was racing through urban areas at fast speed, swerving into oncoming traffic and nearly slamming into a bus. During the chase, one CHP cruiser lost control and slammed into a building, going right through it. Luckily, the officer was OK, and no one was hurt seriously. Also, thanks to DVR, I could rewind the scene and watch it in slow motion. Here's a nice image of it:

Well, look for a few reviews this week and some other updates. And, drop me a line.

Book Review: Velocity by Dean Koontz

2005-07-18T19:40:00.000-04:00

Quick Review

Velocity by Dean Koontz
Published 2005
Bob's Thoughts: A quickly paced action tale that forces on man, and the readers, to question what the value of life truely is.
Available at Your Local Booksellers
Bob's Grade: B

Full Review:

I will always have a special place in my heart for Dean Koontz. He was the very first adult writer that I discovered on my own. I grew up in a lower middle class family, without much disposable income, like buying books. I was a voracious reader but had to find most of my reading materials at my local library, my school library or in my sister’s collection of cheesy romance novels. At the age of fifteen I got my first “real” job and with that first paycheck I bought a selection of adult novels, including Dean Koontz’s The Bad Place. After reading that he quickly became my favorite authors.

Eventually, my selections of authors increased but my love of Koontz’s novels didn’t diminish. I quickly added Watchers, Servants of the Twilight and Strangers as some of my favorite contemporary novels. Over the years Koontz has adapted his style and changed things up, some with good results and some mediocre at best, yet the basic heart of his novels have remained intact. Recently, Koontz has upped his output, two Hardcover a year as opposed to one, yet the creative quality has exceeded many of his older offerings.

Velocity is old school Koontz. Sharp, and witty, and fast paced. In many ways this book, as well as his previous novel, Life Expectancy, read like a Richard Laymon novel yet without the juvenile obsession with breast and sex, and with more developed characters and a ending with true payoff.

The set up is intriguing, a bartender named Billy Wiles receives a note one day asking him to make a choice. If he tells the cops about the note and gets them to act an elderly person involved in charity will die, if he doesn’t a lovely blond teacher will die. Initially believing the note a joke in poor taste, Billy is eventually forced to face that this is no joke and a maniacal killer has targeted him for a deadly game.

While the surface aspects of the novel is a rip roaring roller coaster ride, Koontz’s digs deep into the psychological scars of his main character, who has become socially crippled while dealing with the stress of caring for him comatose fiancé. What Koontz does here as he did with the novel One Door Away From Heaven, is examines the decaying value of life. With Billy contemplating suicide, and his fiancé’s doctor suggesting he pull the plug on his lover, Billy must now make choices about whose life is more valuable as he plays the killers sick game.

While Koontz does a good job fleshing out these issues, and developing the character of Billy, something about Billy is just unlikable. As a main character goes, Billy comes off as more whiney than emotionally destroyed about the events of his life and the trials he has undergone. While he fights for the life of his wife, he has given up on his own. Koontz has had a knack for developing characters who life has kicked in the ass, yet they found a way to not just persevere, but thrive. Yet, Billy is not one of them. Yet, this aspect may be necessity for the tale, because Billy must determine the value of his life in order to find the strength to defeat the killer. Yet, it makes the book seem hollow when compared to others like Off Thomas.

Check Out Dean Koontz's Website.

If The Aliens Were Scientologist…

2005-07-14T19:15:00.000-04:00

In the past week I have gone out to see two movies at the threatre. This is the first time in a while that I have gone to two movies in a week, on my own volition and at my own expense. I used to be a rabid theatre attendee, yet now with Digital Cable, Netflix and the World Wide Web, plus a more limited budget, I find my entertainment cheaper and closer to home.

So, it takes a real “event” movie to get me to shell out the money to actually sit among my peers watching a movie on a huge screen, yet I think these two movies met the label. Not only were they the “must see in the theatre” types, but they fit into one of my favorite genre’s in both movies and books, post apocalypse.

The first movie, Land of the Dead, brought a return of George A. Romero to the genre that has made him a legend. Romero does zombies like no one else. While I am a fan of zombies and such, in the hands of Romero, the gore is intense but not pointless and the story isn’t just about chills and thrills but a commentary of society. In Land of the Dead, Romero takes a new turn that he only touched upon in his last “dead” movie, Day of the Dead. In Day, Romero created zombies as not just issuers of mayhem, but potential sympathetic antiheros. Romero develops that concept even more in Land of the dead. Here, the true evil is not the zombies, but the greed of the powerful.

Easily Romero’s best produced movie, thanks to finally a workable budget. He breathes a new life into the dead, while the few human hero’s in the tale search, not for riches, but for peace. My only true complaint in the movie, is that his human villains were much less developed than his zombie villains. Dennis Hopper plays the quintessential evil rich man, yet his portrayal could have appeared in any number of movies, without the supernatural aspects of Land of the Dead. Hopper basically is just a rich, greedy bastard who will do anything for money. Romero doesn’t explain what good paper money will do you in a society overrun by the walking dead. I truly doubt the gold standard existed, and society has become more about bartering and scrounging. It seemed a cheap cop out of a villain.

Yet, past that this movie took us places yet unseen in the genre. Romero busted apart the clichés that we have seen. We have some decent living dead movies recently, namely the Dawn of the Dead remake and 28 Days Later. Yet, Romero’s vision remains the freshest.

The second movie I saw was the bang them up, sci-fi thriller War of the Worlds. While it was an epic, world in jeopardy CGI fest in the vein of Independence Day, it is done on a more intimate and emotional scale. For fans of big budget blockbusters, it should fit your fancy, for those who love the original, it also should make you happy.

From the opening scene, Spielberg, the true star of this movie, let’s you know that while this is a remake, it’s not a reworking. He stays true to the elements of the original, while transporting it to our day. I for one was concerned that he would bastardize the ending, but he stayed true.

Yet, between that opening scene and the ending, we have a lot of fun. Things blow up, people are disengaged, and huge “tripods” reek much havoc. This is not a tale for children. Tom Cruise is a suitable hero. While I am not a huge Cruise fan, and he can be a bit of an ass, he takes on this roll with the right amount of grit, while still keeping his pretty boy charm.

The first hour of the movie should delight everyone. It is just full of action and special effects. The movie than slows down and brings the human tale home. Fans of hard sci-fi an post apocalyptic tales should enjoy the slower segments, while others should use the slow times to use the bathroom or juts patiently wait for the payoff ending.

The ending works well, like it should. Although it always leaves me asking questions. If this superior race had been waiting, watching and planning, don’t you think they would be ready for what was their ultimate demise. The other question I was forced to ask myself was:

If the aliens were scientologist, would they have won?

Book Review: Rage by Jonathan Kellerman

2005-07-10T19:37:00.000-04:00

Quick Review:

Rage by Jonathan Kellerman
Published 2005
Genre: Psychological Crime Thriller
Bob's Thoughts: A fast paced thriller which highlights what Kellerman does best.
Avaliability: At Your Local Bookseller
Bob's Grade: B+

Full Review:

You’d think with over 20 books, the vast majority dealing with the same character that the author and character both would start to get stale. Honestly, for a while there he did. Probably around the turn of the millenium I sort of lost interest in Kellerman’s novels. Maybe it was a change in my lifestlye or some outside factor, by Kellerman’s Alex Delaware novels just lost me. For the most part, the main charcter seemed to become whiney, pining over his deteriorating relationship with long time girldfriend Robin. His investigations seemed to get lazy, consisting of google searches and calling up various friends who, of course, were experts in just what Delaware needed.

Then came The Murder Book, and Kellerman had me back. The saving grace and heart of all his novels has been his complicated detective Milo Sturgis and his relationship with Alex Delaware. Now, this is a rant I go off on every time a review an Alex Delaware novel, but Kellerman is truly a gifted writer when he is writing in the third person. His first person tales, while interesting, sometimes gets bogged down in the charcter, without truly developing him. When the world is filtered through Dr.Delaware’s eyes, it takes on a tinted tone. Remove that tint, and you see Kellerman’s world at it’s best. The Murder book proved to me that Kellerman can, and should right a third person novel with Sturgis as the driving character.

Yet, despite those concerns and wishes, Rage is one of Kelleman’s best novels in a while. The story hooks you in right away. Before you realize it, you’ve torn through the first 100 pages and you need to find out what happens. The story focuses on, in typical Kellerman fashion, a brutal crime. This time it’s the murder of a small girl by two teenage boys, with seemingly no motive. One of the boys, Rand, is slow witted and impressionable. Kellerman is called into the case as a consultant, but eventually a deal is struck and the boys are sent away to juvenile prison. While one of the boys is brutally murdered, Rand serves his sentence. Eventually upon release he attempts to contact Alex Delaware, but he himself is killed before the meeting takes place. This, of course, sets off the always inquisitive mind of Dr. Delaware.

The investigation is so full of twists and turns that at time it leaves your head spinning. Milo and Alez meet such an wide assortment of badies, potential badies and potential victims that your no sure of anything at first. Yet, eventually the answers are fleshed out. One of my favorite aspects of this novel was the thought processes and just plain bull sessions that took place between Alez and Milo. Instead of Kellerman just having Alex flesh it out, the two bounce ideas and theories of each other, sometimes at lightning pace. While this goes to help move the story along, it also gives us more of a glimpse into the two characters friendship.

This is also an incredibly slimmed down novel. While some of the typical Alex Delaware subplots are there, they live in the peripheral and never distract from the main focus of the book. Best yet, the ending is crisp and quick, answering questions but leaving openings. Gone is the wham bam actioner ending, which ends the storyline with a quick bust or a fatal bullet. Enter a more ambiguous ending the leaves the readers asking many of the same intellectual and psychological questions that plagued the main characters.

Check out Jonathan Kellerman's website.

Book Review: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay

2005-07-10T17:58:00.000-04:00

Quick Review:

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalierand Clay by Michael Chabon
Published: 2000
Genre: Historical Epic with hints of Fantasy and Humor
Available at you local bookstore.
Bob's Grade: A

Full Review
I am going to take a little different approach to reviewing this novel. The Amazing Adventures of Kavelier and Clay is a Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Michael Chabon about two Jewish men during World War II who tap into the comic book craze by inventing a Nazi killing super hero called the Escapist. There are many subplots within this book, dealing with a vast array of issues, but in the end it’s mainly a book about family and the extremes a person will go to try to protect them. Chabon pins this simple concept in to an incredible and often complicated tale full of action and humor.

Now, as a person who is mostly a popcorn reader, who tends to stay away from acclaimed literature, I was hesitant to pick up any Pulitzer Prize winner. Now, as a reviewer, I ask who am I to judge a novel that has receive the ultimate of literary achievement. My greatest praise fore this book is it was highly readable, not pretentious and had some of the more intriguing characters I have met within the walls of a novel for a while. If you are intimidated by the size, or by the acclaim of this book, don’t be. It is as accessible as any other well written novel for the masses.

So, my approach to reviewing this novel was a little different. I decided to check out the Amazon reviewers and see what the masses had to say. For the most part the reviews were glowing, yet, about 100 of the 500 or so reviewers rated it one or two starts out of five. I was intrigued by there reasoning, so I tried to find common reasoning behind the negative reviews. So here were what most of them boiled down to.

Group One: The Whackjobs. A few reviewers where upset that with the novel’s attempt to make us feel for the main characters plight to save his Jewish Family who were living in Nazi controlled Prague. These reviewers found this to be another attempt by ??? at propaganda and exploiting the holocaust. These reviewers reminded us that there where much larger cases of genocide in history. To me that’s like telling one family not to mourn the death of their child, because another family had two children die.

Group Two: The Conservatives. I don’t mean this as a value judgment, but some people cannot handle, for whatever reasons, the inclusion of a homosexual as a main character. Some people are too put off by this inclusion to be able enjoy the many other aspects and subplots of this novel.

Group Three: The Observant. Some people complained that this book was “all about comic books.” While you should have been able to pick that up by reading the back blurb, I can understand what your saying. I loved the comic book business aspects, even as a non-comic book reader. Beypmd that this book had comic bookesque sequences of the fantastic, similar to books like Winston Groom’s Forrest Gump. Yet, this book, was a fantasy cloaked in reality, and these bits of the fantastic may have put off many who strive for reality or lack imagination.

Group Four: The Anti-articas. Within the nearly 700 hundred pages of this novel, filled with Gollems, escape artists, and a vast array of fantastic comic characters what most people seemed to most hate was a 70 page section where the main character enlists in the army and becomes a radio engineer stationed in a remote base in Antartica. While, I can’t find any proof that such a base ever existed (who cares if it did) there have been plenty of rumors of Nazi interest in Antartica. While this wasn’t the best sequence within the novel, it worked well to symbolize the utter desire for isolation the character desires. This is a frequent literary device Chabon uses, settings symbolizes emotion. New York stood for freedom, The Empire States building symbolized success, Pre-war Eastern Europe stood for oppression and the suburbs stood for settling and futility. These themes pepper this tale which is why, for me, sending a character who wants to isolate himself from the world to Antartica worked.

Group Five: The “I couldn’t finish it.” Finally, there are just some people who this book just wasn’t right for. That’s fine. While I loved it, nothing is for everyone.

Check Out Michael Chabon's Website.

Perfect Together.

2005-07-06T18:25:00.000-04:00

I love great combinations. I love when two of my favorite things are combined to make something even better. Peanut Butter and Chocolate. Butterscotch and Krimpets. And now, Police/Legal TV Shows and Supreme Court Politics.

Fred Thomas, aka, District Attorney Arthur Branch has been tapped by President Bush to manage the upcoming Supreme Court Nominee through what promises to be a heated battle to be confirmed by the Senate.

I for one am excited about the upcoming battle. President Bush is in for a fight from all sides, no matter who he nominates.

In related yet complete fictional stories that exist solely in my mind, the opposition is following Bush's lead. NOW has enlisted the help of Susan Dey, formerly Grace Van Owen on LA Law. The Hispanic Justice League has enlisted Edward James Olmos who played the first Hispanic TV Character to be named to the Supreme Court in The West Wing. In a truely powerhouse move The Hair Club for man have hired Michael Chiklis (The Commish, The Shield) and Daniel Benzali (you know, the bald guy from Murder One) to head their fight. What they are fighting I have quite yet figured out.

How I Spent My Patriotic Vacation

2005-07-05T11:06:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, of course was the 4th of July. I hope everyone had a safe and fun time.

I spent my day with family, and various friends who visited. One of my guys from work, Jimmy Johnson, visited. Jimmy is a 31 year old resident of Woods Services who suffered a traumatic brain injury as a child. He is one of the most positive and energetic people I have ever know, despite his limitations. Over the past few months we have been writing out Jimmy’s many ideas into a Journal, including various songs, and other fun tidbits. When he came over yesterday he wanted me to type out all his ideas and we decided to create a “blog” version of them. Check them out at Jimmy’s Idea Book. Pay special attention to his Camp Stinky Theme song, which we have been writing together for a while. Feel free to add your own verse, leave a comment, or drop Jimmy an email.

Also, check out his new Superhero we designed yesterday, PACO ROBOTO.

Also, if your feeling that Live 8, 4th of July let down, and are in the Langhorne area on Wednesday, stop by Woods Services for the annual Independence Day Parade. Now, basically this consist of a few Patriotic floats, a couple of horses and the clients marching (and wheeling) through the main Woods Services thoroughfare. This event was postponed due to rain and now will be held this Wednesday (July 6th) at 6:00PM.

More Baby Pictures (Sick of them yet)

2005-07-02T20:03:00.000-04:00

Little Baby Matthew is so cute!!

With the new Mommy and Daddy!!

Little Matthew with Grandma

With Daddy

With Mommy

Happy Birthday

2005-07-02T19:41:00.000-04:00

Well, it's my good friend Howard's birthday today.

So, I must wish him a beautiful birthday and such.

Visit his blog wish him well and read the plethora of topics and information he has on such a wide range of topics.

Book Review: Wolf and Iron by Gordon R. Dickson

2005-07-01T18:03:00.000-04:00

Quick Review

Wolf and Iron by Gordon R. Dickson
Published: 1990
Genre: While listed as Science Fiction, this is mostly due to the authors past works. In reality, this is as much science fiction as a Little House on the Prairie book.
Bob's Thought: A beautifully written epic tale of a relationship between a man and a wolf as they travel through a collapsed America.
Availablity Out of Print: Buy a used copy at Abebooks.com
Bob's Grade: A-

Full Review:
Book Review: Wolf and Iron by Gordon R. Dickson

In the past few weeks I was able to score a few of the harder to find, out of print Post Apocalyptic books I was looking for, based on lists formed at sites like Post Apocalyptic Media. One of the books I had been searching for a while was Wolf and Iron by Gordon R. Dickson. Dickson, who has written mostly hard Sci-Fi/Fantasy is known for his expansive research and emphasis on Social Sciences over hard science. This is a perspective that fits well into this genre.

The story starts out with one man, Jeebee, a sociologist who was part of a study group that predicted the breakdown of society and the economic system that was plaguing the world, traveling alone through a decimated America that has been thrust once again into the Iron Age. Just having escaped the town he had called home for a while, yet treated him as an outsider, Jeebee is now on a long voyage to find his brother who ran a cattle ranch in Montana. Along the way he befriends a wolf who had been raised in captivity. The wolf becomes his travel partner through this long journey.

This is the plot, plain and simple. Man and wolf bond while traveling through a decimated country. This simplicity is the beauty of this novel. There is no sub plots or alternate storylines. There is only one character perspective through out the novel. As you would expect with a book that only characters during the majority of the book is a man and a world, the dialogue is minimal, and at times nonexistent. Instead the story is told in long often times rambling and repetitive prose, that while may seem annoying to some, truly gives you not just a peak into the mind of Jeebee, but let’s you understand him on a level not often seen in modern fiction.

Central to the story is the relationship between Jeebee and Wolf. Here the author doesn’t hold back. Jeebee, who by trade in inclined to determine the reasoning behind behavior, sets out not just on a voyage across the nation, but on a journey to discover the nature of Wolf. Eventually, each idiosyncrasy of his companion is fleshed out, and his behavior becomes, not predictable, but understandable. Jeebee and Wolf, and eventually the two become not man and wolf, but a pack with Jeebee as the Alpha male.

As an avid reader, you long for those few occasions where you totally become immersed into a tale, seemingly blending with the story. This tale was one of them. For the most part the tale is credible, although at times the plausible coincidences of Jeebee’s knowledge, which seemed more akin to that of a construction worker than social scientist, stretches believability. The repetitive nature of Jeebee’s thought processes, can also get annoying, and the authors need to explain the step by step processes in Jeebee’s actions often bog down the story. There is one section where the author spends nearly 70 pages detailing Jeebee’s dealing with injuries from a bear attack, and when the story finally picks up, he hurts himself again. These moments, you eventually realize have there payoff, but the payoff is worth it.

This book is hard to describe, while listed as Science Fiction, it is probably better thought of as a post modern adult version of Little House on the Prairie. Even that doesn’t do it justice, at the minimum it is a Survivor’s tale. At the most, an epic adventure and partnership between two unlikely friends.

Baby Pictures

2005-06-29T19:39:00.000-04:00

I got a few in an email for Gina (the mommy). I have a ton more coming in, but here's two.

(World's Most Adorable Baby)

These are from the day after he was born. Still in the hospital.

Now, luckily he doesn't look anything like Uncle Bob.

Hey Eagles: Now Even The Ruskies Have One

2005-06-29T16:55:00.000-04:00

Russian President Vladimir Putin now belongs to an exclusive club that does not include any player that spent their entire NFL career playing for the Philadelphia Eagles. He now has a Super Bowl Ring.

In a meeting in in St Petersburg with some American business men, Patriot's owner Robert Kraft decided to show off his newest bling to Putin. Then, like the Eagles in the Superbowl, Kraft was robbed. While it's not quite certain if the ring was given to him as a gift, or it was all a misunderstanding, Putin pocketed the ring after Kraft let him admire it for a bit.

Hopefully he'll pawn it to help his struggling economy.

Reportedly, the ring is worth somewhere around $15,000.

Ten Things That Annoyed Me Today

2005-06-28T19:30:00.000-04:00

Let’s just say today was crazy. It was payday, and I like the influx of money, but I don’t like all the running around and errands I have to perform. So here are the top 10 things that annoyed me today.

10. The humidity, combined with the fact that the air-conditioner in my truck decided to make like a school kid and take a summer vacation.

9. The dude in the Cadillac who almost side swiped a Jeep merging onto 95 during rush hour traffic and then decided to give said Jeep and its passengers a one finger salute. Real classy!!

8. Realizing that the Phillies have reached their technical 10,000th all-time loss if you factor in the time when they were the Worcester Ruby Legs. Without that factor, the Phillies will still reach that plateau sometime next season.

7. My mother. I love her, but…. (I’ll leave it at that.)

6. Eating lunch at Uno’s, where the $5.99 lunch special rocks, but having top overhear about 10 conversations about “shark Attacks.” While I sympathize with the victims, I’m sick of hearing about them, and am getting annoyed with cute young blond surfer girl who has become a celebrity Shark bite victim. Isn’t there something else the news stations can cover?

5. Stupid people making the news for saying stupid things. This includes Ward Churchill calling for conscientious objectors in Iraq to frag their officers, and anything that Tom Cruise has said over the past, well, let’s say 10 years. It’s time for us to start promoting smart people for saying smart things.

4. The fact that the Presidential Address seems like the best thing on TV tonight. Unless you’re a big fan NBC’s reality shows, which are even worst then Fox’s. (CBS’s reality shows rule… in the fall.)

3. The combination of a malfunctioning traffic light on the corner of New Falls and Levittown Parkway and malfunctioning drivers who haven’t yet figured out the difference between a blinking red light and a blinking yellow light.

2. The clerks at Barnes and Noble who seem to enjoy having this exact conversation with me every time I buy a book there.

Clerk: Welcome to Barnes and Noble. Do you have your membership card?
Bob: Nope.
Clerk: Do you know about the membership program?
Bob: Yep
Clerk: You know, I see you in here all the time. You should really get the membership card.
(Bob’s Translation: You look like a sucker. You buy books. You should really give us $25 for the honor of paying just a little less on books.)
Bob: I’m cool.

1. That idiot who I almost hit because he decided to stop suddenly in quick moving traffic to let some dude pull out of a gas station, when there were no cars behind me which would have given the dude plenty of opportunity to pull out without a near collision.

What Made It All OK

Getting to hold little Matthew Antonio Reiss for a bit. He could care less about idiot drivers, obnoxious celebrities or Shark Attack stars.

Give Books

2005-06-27T07:49:00.000-04:00

You may notice a new banner in my featured sites section. It's for a program called Give Books. Lawrence Schoan, a science fiction writer/linguist, has committed to collecting 10,000 books to be sent to our military men and women overseas. If you wish to contribute Fed Ex will ship your book donations to Give Books, for distribution free of charge. This is an easy way to help bring a little entertainment to our troops.

For more info, please check out the Give Books website.

Book Review: Aftermath by LeVar Burton

2005-06-26T16:34:00.000-04:00

Quick Review:

Aftermath by Levar Burton
Published in 1997
Genre: Science Fiction
Bob's Thought: A fast paced science fiction actioner dealing with a changed America after the breadown of society and a racially motivated war. Entertaining, yet at times forced and clichéd.
Grade: B-
Availability: Currently Out of Print: Find a Used Copy at : Abebooks.com.

Full Review:

Let’s deal with the obvious issue first, yes, this is a book by LeVar Burton. Yes, the same LeVar Burton that played Kunta Kinte in roots, Geordi LaForge in Star Trek: TNG and hosted Reading Rainbow on PBS. Yes, like most Star Trek alums this book is classified as Sci-Fi, yet there are no Klingons, nor warp driven space cruisers and while people are going places quite boldly at times, they are not places in which no man has gone before.

There were two reasons I wanted to read this book. Firstly, one of my favorite genre’s of books in Post Apocalyptic novels, and while this book doesn’t fit neatly into this category, it offers some of the same themes. In reality this book has more of a dystrophic theme to it. Societal breakdown, not to to a cataclysmic event, like plague or nuclear war, but in a more gradual breakdown of civility due to economic, environmental and socio-political influences. Oh, and there was an earthquake.

The second reason I wanted to read the book was that came packed with a bit of controversy. Many reviews have basically called this a racist novel. That all African American character were heroic and all the white characters evil. Many reviewers have accused Mr. Burton of vilifying whites while excusing riotous and murderous behavior of African Americans within the book.

The novel takes place in the near future. After the assassination of Lawrence Everette, the first African American elected president, riots brake out in many major cities. Adding to this situation, a huge earthquake along the New Madrid fault leaves the Mid West devastated and millions homeless. In response to the riots and increasing unrest the Army is dispatched in an attempt to restore order. Many African America soldiers refused to fire upon the rioters and desert. Eventually, an African American General attempts to seize control of the army. After his attempt fails a full fledge race war breaks out.

All this is info dumped to the reader in the first four pages of the novel.

Within this setting a brilliant scientist has discovered a way to tap into the human brain, and use it to cure various diseases, specifically Parkinson’s and all forms of cancer. A certain unscrupulous scientist sees this as a bad thing, which will drastically cut into his bottom line. He attempts to steal this device, and kidnap the scientist who invented it. During the attempt, the scientist. Rene Reynolds, manages to slip a vital piece to a homeless man named Leon Crane, a disgraced former physicist who lost his family. Rene, now being held hostage by the evil Dr. Sinclair, is able to tap into another byproduct of her new device, an increased psychic ability. She sends out a telepathic call for help that is picked up by Leon, as well as three other characters, who now attempt to cross a dangerous country to rescue a women they never met, and quite possibly the world.

Now, onto the controversy. Some reviewers claim that all the white characters are evil and all the minorities characters are heros. This is an extreme stretch at best. Of the named characters in the book, there is only truly one evil character who happened to be white. There were also two positive white male characters that assist the main characters on the way. While the nameless evil characters are also for the most part white, these are all men who work for the evil Dr. Sinclair. Dr. Sinclair is more portrayed as evil rich guy, than evil white guy.

The second complaint is that Burton explains away the bad behavior of the rioters in this novel. This is also a stretch, for the most part, the narration of this novel is values neutral. The few times when value judgments are made, they are through the filter of a characters perspective. Burton describes riots and war time acts by the rebels (the Black Army) including an incident where a ship containing American soldiers are firebombed. It’s pretty simplistic to except a writer to talk about riots and acts of war, then require him to tell you these things are bad. I think it’s pretty easy to figure out on your own.

Objections have also been made to the “skinners” in the novel. Due to a depletion of the ozone layer, incidents of skin cancer in whites have greatly increased. The evil Dr. Sinclair discovered a method of grafting skin from African Americans onto whites to increase tolerance to the sun. This discovery lead to black market skinners who would enslave and slaughter African Americans for their skins. This plot point, is simply that, a story device. It didn’t seem, to me at least, that this was an attempt to show what whites are truly like, as some suggested, but display the dark side of human nature who will exploit anything for a profit, and do anything to survive. You see a similarly dark theme in Niven and Pournelle’s Lucifer’s Hammer with the cannibal armies, many of whom where African American.

All in all, it is obvious what Burton is trying to do. He is creating a piece of fiction with positive African American characters. He is attempting to show that the world is better if people work together. The final scenes contain a multiethnic group, a white girl, an African American male, an elder Native American and a Philipino attempting to rescue Dr. Reynolds. This book is rife with racial overtones, but for the most part handled well. If I had any complaint about his racial themes, it is mostly a stylistic one. Burton felt the need to tell you each characters race in simple terms as soon as you met them. There are other ways to let the reader know a character is white, black, Asian or Native American without simply telling us straight out.

The book itself was entertaining and a quick read. In a back cover blurb Whoopi Goldberg compared to the Stand, and called epic. This is a bit of a stretch. I have trouble considering any book that is less than 300 pages epic. Books like The Stand or Swan Song and other post apocalyptic epics create a world which then defines the story, this story didn’t need to the world that Burton created to exist. The plot could have taken place within a modern, non dystrophic setting and still ring true. At points, Burton’s characters are a bit clichéd especially the old Native American Medicine man Jacob Fire Cloud. The action scenes seemed a bit as the plot races towards it conclusion. Yet, in the end, the book left me with a positive feeling. While I won’t call this an instant classic, it was an enjoyable read and raised a lot of intriguing issues. For someone who is not a writer by trade, Burton does a decent job with this tale.

I See Bucks County (On The Big Screen Again)

2005-06-24T22:14:00.000-04:00

According to various reports M. Night Shyamalan is once again returning to my county of residence to shoot his latest movie "Lady In The Water."

Instead of the more upscale and rural area's used in the movie Signs, Shyamalan is headed towards the more working class areas of Lower Bucks County. Some early reports say he has struck a deal with Bristol Township to shoot at the old 3M factory on Green Lane. I am quite familiar with this building, being that I had to walk right past it on my way to Harry S. Truman High School on those unfortunate days that I missed the bus to school.

One interesting story. Sign's which was shot in Newtown, and other locations in Buck's County began shooting on or around the events of 9/11 2001. As you all remember, all our newspapers, everyday, ran articles on the impact and events surrounding that day. These stories had a monopoly on the front page of most newspapers. Except for The Bucks County Courier Times, who covered the story, but also ran a front page "Mel Watch" section talking about the various sightings, and opportunities to possibly see Mel Gibson. Maybe not everyday, but enough for me to notice.

At least there was no Joaquim Watches. Although there were a few stories about the crowds disappointment when they discovered it was Joaquim Phoenix and not Mel Gibson that they were seeing.

Life, Liberty, but Property... Not So Much.

2005-06-24T08:07:00.000-04:00

Here’s a dirty little secret: in college, I studied the dirty art of politics. For a while it was my passion. Specifically, my favorite aspect of government was always Constitutional Law. One of my stupid little games I always like to play is to guess how the court is going to decide on issues and which justices would go which way. It’s really not all that hard.

Yet this case through me for a loop.

In, for me at least, a surprising 5-4 decision the Supremes decided it was just fine and dandy for local municipalities to seize private land for public use, and act commonly referred to as Eminent Domain, for private economic development.

Simply put, city hall can force you to sell your property to them for a "fair price" in order to make room for a Supermarket, office building or even just more expensive homes. While eminent domain in the past has specifically been used for projects with a specific public purpose, like building roads, now the only "public purpose" is increasing their tax revenues.

In my words, this doesn't pass the smell test. In fact, it just plain stinks.

While I haven't yet read the whole decision basically the Justices said that local officials, not judges know best what economic projects would best benefit the community. What I say to that is "who cares?" The Supremes are not ruling on whether or not any specific project is economically viable, but whether the act is a violation of the right to property. The right that our own American Revolution was fought for. The Supreme Court does not need to consider whether the municipality was right in the belief that they would make more money with a another structure there, but whether it was that municipalities right to snatch someone's personal property from them. Local officials also may know better if certain types of inflammatory speech may negatively affect their community more so than federal judges. So are we going to allow Mayor Jones at City Hall to decide which type of speech should be free? I don't think so.

According to Justice John Paul Stephens "The city has carefully formulated an economic development that it believes will provide appreciable benefits to the community, including -- but by no means limited to -- new jobs and increased tax revenue."

Again I would say that this point is moot, that the individual right to property out weighs the public purpose. The Supremes seem to give more weight recently to concepts over concrete. Basically, in order for municipalities to seize land, for me at least, there should be a concrete purpose, like building a new road or damn, and even then all other less intrusive avenues should be considered. Yet, here the Supremes seem to limit personal freedoms for a conceptual public purpose, that business will contribute better to the community than private residences.

And this is not even taking the social issues or potential for abuse into consideration. In her dissent Justice Sandra Day O'Connor states "Any property may now be taken for the benefit of another private party, but the fallout from this decision will not be random. The beneficiaries are likely to be those citizens with disproportionate influence and power in the political process, including large corporations and development firms."

What does it mean if a township decides that the low cost housing structures are not bringing in enough revenue and decide it serves a public purpose to replace them with luxury condominiums.

Surprisingly, the often reactionary trio of Scalia, Thomas, and Rehnquist joined with O'Connor in her dissent. The more socially progessive judges were in favor of the ruling.

Shout Outs

2005-06-23T17:06:00.000-04:00

What's the point of having an online web journal if you don't pimp the sites of your friends.

My buddy Howard is definitely a much more dedicated blogger than me. Do check out his wonderful world at The Smedley Log. A point of interest is his nearly poetic Father's day dedication to the firework shows at the Vet with his father. I was lucky enough to accompany him on one of these occasions years ago and his post brings back wonderful memories. It also reminds me on one of my lesser moments when I got stuck at work and had to stand him up for one of those events.

If anyone has spent some time at AOL's Reality Show Message Boards (now available free if you have AIM) you've probably met Jackie. The greatest of all message board hosts until AOL decided they no longer needed hard working, dedicated volunteer hosts who made the boards feel like a meeting of friends. Yet, luckily Jackies Voice has not been silenced (I'm not sure if that is even possible.)

Jackie has a trio of Web journals, most notably her wonderful and off beat photo journal Adventures of the two faced Baseball. If you ever wondered about the most expressive baseball around and his travels through New Jersey, check it out. If that's not enough Jackie for you, check out her TV journal and her fun Blog and Watch treatments of various shows. Finally, learn more about Jackie and her quirkiness at Jackie's Quirky Musings. Today she offers a photographic look at a quirky bird. That's not something you get from most blogs.

Second Hand Buyings

2005-06-22T14:18:00.000-04:00

I read a lot. A lot. Yet, lately book prices have been steadily climbing. Each book runs you on average price on par with what it costs to see a movie at you local mega-cinema complex. Now, for someone who may plow through a book once a month or so, that seems relatively reasonable. Yet, for someone who can go through three books in a good week, it gets pricey.

So, what's the modern reader on a budget supposed to do.

Well, there's always the local lending free library. If you don't mind borrowing, this is a decent option. Now, a bonus about the local library is many have on line catalogs, so if you're looking for a specific book before you make that trip, find out which library if any has that book available.

Yet, surprisingly, the library is fast becoming less reader friendly. Unless you're looking for the latest King, Grisham, or Joan Collins novel, or something of the New York Times Top 10 list, you may have trouble finding it. The Library is a great place to do some research, but for those who have fast depleted your reading selections and are looking for an out of print or hard to find book, you need other options.

The next alternative is the internet. While sites like Amazon, and Barnes and Nobles both have used book selections and you can often find books on eBay and Half.com the site I recommend is
The Advanced Book Exchange. I like this site for multiple reasons. The pricing and shipping charges are reasonable, the paying options are much better (you don't have to use Pay Pal or a credit card) and you are truly buying from independent retailers. Plus, you may just find that a store who has the book you are looking is within your traveling area and you can save even more by avoiding shipping charges.

Then of course, is my favorite. For those of you who like to get right in the stacks and try to find that out of print book or lost treasure, or just want to save a few books, I recommend the local used book store/bookswappers. Bookswappers are a godsend for us bookoholics. They allow you to trade in your old books for store credit. This serves two purposes for me. Now, I can fit all my paperbacks onto two shelves on my bookcase. This is amazing. Secondly, it saves you a ton of money.

Now, for those in the Philadelphia area, I will recommend two stores that I frequent. First is The Newtown Book and Record Exchange. While they don't have a website, click on the link to see a nice picture of them from the unofficial Signs website. Located on the Main drag in Newtown, this store offers much to the buyer. First off, the staff is amazing. Always friendly, and always helpful. The store is a bit cramped and if your looking for something specific, it can be a challenge, but their pricing policy of half off the cover price and full exchange credit toward your purchase can't be beat. I have exchanged many books there are often leave without any lightening of the wallet.

Next, there is the Flight of Fantasy Books and Gifts. Located at the end of Rhawn Street in Philly, this store offers an excellent selection. Searching for a specific book is much easier here, but beware of Mr. Clive, a calico cat who seems to guard the Sci-fi/Fantasy section every time I'm there. The pricing policy is a bit confusing, and you'll definitely spend real money on every transaction (yesterday, I spent $8.05 for 4 books) but it's worth it because of their increased selection. Plus, they sell Hardback and Trade Paperbacks.

Now, if anyone knows of any good used bookstores in the Philly or Bucks County area, or even in your own area, feel free to post them in the comments section. I for one, am always looking for a good used book store.

It's A Boy!!!

2005-06-21T19:02:00.000-04:00

Matthew Antonio Reiss was born Monday, June 20th at 9:54PM. He was 8lbs. 4 ounces, 21 inches long and came with a full head of black hair, just like his uncle Bob!!

Mommy Gina and Baby are doing great. The Grandma's are ecstatic, being that it is the first Grandchild for both of them. Matt, the father and my little brother seemed more exhausted than Gina, even though we know she did all the work.

Hopefully I'll have pictures soon!!

What's In A Name?

2005-06-21T18:40:00.000-04:00

Well, you're probably wondering why the hell I would call my blog Thistles For Breakfast. Well, it comes from the Poem titled "The Ass" by C. S. Lewis. The basic idea is while most people would scoff at the idea of eating thistles for breakfast, if that's what an ass likes, who are we to complain.

I'm not advocating a hedonistic lifestyle, but I am saying we shouldn't be ashamed of what we enjoy as long as it's legal, doesn't hurt others and relatively moral, within your standards. So, if you like sitting up till all hours of the night eating Ben & Jerry's and watching The Soap Network, God bless you.

Welcome Back Blogger

2005-06-21T18:04:00.000-04:00

So, once again I am back in the blogging/journal/"whatever is in this week term" world again. For a while I was half heartedly running separate journals dealing with various subjects. My most popular journals of course were my "reality show thoughts" journals on Survivor and The Amazing Race. When I stopped writing them last year I received some boos from people who were either reading them or my columns at InsidePulse TV. Well, to be honest the became to seem like a chore for me, as well as sort of creatively stifling. While I enjoyed the structure, the structure began to rule the writing and I needed to step away.

My other blogs were one with some of my short or "instant" stories and another which was basically about books.

Well, all of it was a bit much and I decided the online world would survive without my voice for a while. Plus, with the slow, paper weight I called a computer, things were just too much.

Well, after calls to revive my thoughts columns and noticing a more laize fair attitude to blogging I decided to take a stress free leap back into it. My only rule is, no rules, no structure, no theme. When Survivor and The Amazing Race come back in September, I will probably write my thoughts, but not in any structural way. I will also talk about other shows I watch, movies books, politics maybe even throw in a story I wrote or a slice of life.

Basically anything.

But, it should definitely be fun, so stop by, and leave a comment about how much of an idiot I am.