Books I almost read...but didn't finish 'cuz I can't sit still (!!!)
Flynn, Gillian - DARK PLACES
Lindqvist, John Ajvide - LET ME IN
Perlman, Elliot - SEVEN TYPES OF AMBIGUITY
Books I almost enjoyed, but stopped reading b/c of qualms I had with the authors disregard of fundamental rules of communication/writing ---
Evans, Justin - A GOOD AND HAPPY CHILD
If I wasn't so damn opinionated, I might have finished reading:
Ballard, J.G. - CRASH
King, Stephen - THE STAND
Picoult, Jodi - MY SISTER'S KEEPER
Sparks, Nicholas - A WALK TO REMEMBER
I'm still hoping to someday finish SEVEN TYPES....I keep meaning to get around to reading CRASH. Still haven't. I own it. But I never touch it.
BOOKS I'VE READ AND CAN VOUCH FOR:
Berendt, John - MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL
Crichton, Michael - JURASSIC PARK
Lee, Harper - TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD
+ many by Stephen King back when I was a newcomer to reading. I don't count those b/c A) SK is easy reading and everybody who isn't in a coma knows who he is. B) I was a newcomer and a lot younger, so much of the text and subtexts were lost on me. I used to think INSOMNIA's presentation of the abortion debate was well balanced and compassionate. Now I see it a bit differently. I read THE DEAD ZONE but was disappointed. I picked it up a few or so years ago and was almost swept up by the depiction of romantic relationship between the main character & his girlfriend. I actually saw the movie shortly after this, again, and was disgusted by the C-list acting quality. One of David Cronenberg's shakier film presentations. Just goes to show how much you grow from 14 to 22. At least in my case anyway...
I also **almost** finished Anne Rice's THE WITCHING HOUR. I got impatient and started reading something else.
Whitley Strieber's THE WOLFEN is also an interesting book. At least I thought so while reading it in 11th grade. I'm not certain I would enjoy it now. I also enjoyed one of his other books UNHOLEY FIRE. I almost finished THE NIGHT CHURCH, but tried switching over to a hardcover edition I bought off eBay from a paperback I stumbled across at a book store that's no longer in operation and made the huge mistake of not keeping a bookmark in the paperback, so I couldn't figure out where I left off and didn't feel like re-reading anything of it. Truthfully, it's not THAT great of a book. Very much a basic horror novel. Could have been better had it been written by someone else...who, I cannot say...I DON'T READ THAT MUCH(!!!)
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
Monday, January 19, 2015
Evidence of Love - or: Has Cassadee Pope found Jesus?
Listening to HOLD ON TIGHT by Hey Monday. It's fun. Rock & Roll was designed to be fun. Richard Dreyfuss illustrates this perfectly to Alicia Witt's character in MR. HOLLAND'S OPUS before coaxing her into not screwing up while playing the flute. People often get caught up in the technicality of "creativity" - how much can one twist and contort the shape of passion and life as we as humans know it before it becomes an emotional and/or spiritual freak?
The music on it can be described as peppy, guitars are light and low impact, very processed sounding, like some music engineer took a bottle of soda and poured it over the tape to make it sparkle and blot out the jagged edges of the guitar playing. Or, maybe the jagged edges were never there b/c the guitarist(s) are top notch guitar players? Doubtful, but whatever. Cassadee Pope has a little girly voice that is often compared to that of Paramore's Haley Williams. Paramore's 2007 breakout RIOT! is a better album, tho. It's more complex, I guess? It's more thoughtful. It's got the boom and grandeur of a praise and worship song. Except I don't listen to P&W songs b/c I don't know what to listen to and, wrong as it is, I don't thank God enough - I don't feel thankful. I know God wants me to. I know I should be repaying him with the passion of a 15 year old me being re-born into a new life of hope, but I just don't feel it. So, p&w just doesn't resonate w/ me. Paramore's music does, tho and, having lived the classic modern day self absorbed teenager life with other high schoolers, I can see a certain nostalgia in Hey Monday's one and only full length (so far).
But then didn't I just say rock and roll is SUPPOSED to be fun? No. I said it was DESIGNED to be fun. If rock music hasn't adapted to reflect the somber state of this sorry ass excuse for a free country, I'd be on another ship. You can't make music of any emotional value that's just 100% HAPPY. The absence of pain is not real. There's pain. There's loss, there's sadness, there's all of it. Even 16 year olds go through that, which is why half the songs on HOLD ON TIGHT say stuff like "I miss you" and "why did you do that" etc. Heck, "Josie" is about a passed-out-every-dam-night drunk-as-a-skunk party chick whose trying to get a grip on or come to terms with her puke-infused lifestyle. Words of encouragement are there ("Josie - don't you worry/It's just a phase you're going through"), but everyone knows words of encouragement don't change anything. Insecurities and doubts linger like the dirt from generations past.
Yep. It's not a happy album. It's a FUN album. Paramore's RIOT! is a fun album. It just so happens that many people think thinking is a downer. I guess it is, I just don't care b/c I'm like 1/10 Irish? Conan O' Brien and Dolly Parton were on the CO'B late show and talking about how Irish folk tend to enjoy sadness. I used to suspect I suffer from what I heard described in MARAT / SADE (1967) as "melancholia", but then I got less self centered, as I got a little more and a little more older-ish-y, and now I'm just lightly depressed, which is OK. I don't value anything on this planet, at least not materialistically. Music I value, floating from great song to really good album to another one and, ya know, "this album is so awesome!" and then feeling let down when I hear it again later that day and/or the next. There's images that resonate w/ me, but if it all burned to the ground, what difference would it really make?
Not sure if I'm melancholy these days or just stuck in a moment I don't know how to get out of. I feel happy sometimes, but it's usually brief and kinda low-voltage. I'm not even sure what happiness is technically. But as my pastor noted -- the pursuit of happiness is the bedrock of our constitution, and thusly everyone feels entitled to pursue it, but: the more you pursue it, the less you find it. I can't speak from experience, but, from a sketchy sense of theology, if you're married w/o God in your life, you may have been fortunate/blessed to have found your soul mate and be living a life of rich love, but for most of us, God, being the very embodiment of Love, brings everything worthwhile together, including people and their feelings for one another.
[sigh] -- I guess I'm just uneasy giving this album 5 stars -- I was about to give it 5 @ Amazon.com's customer review forum, then narrowed it down to 4 and my review got to be so off topic with all these points of reference and blogginistic comments. I don't know what the lyrics are about specifically b/c I haven't analyzed them. But it seems that Hey Monday's music has that "girlmeetsboy"/"boymeetsgirl" sensibility while lacking any substantial theology. I guess I just get reminded of the secularity of modern day high schools and their students for the most part b/c of the Disney movie channel YA feel of the album and my experiences @ that age, combined with the occasional updates I see on the web [Until 6 or 7 years ago - yes, yes; I know... - I had no idea modern day YA novels are chock full of sex; the legal age is still 18, not 8, right?].--- Personal apologies to Ms. Pope for any burnmarks that probably never happened for lack of personal insecurity --IT TAKES GUTS to speak out publically, even more so when what you're saying is not some idea or song that's been pre-screened for approval. New Radicals ("You Get What You Give", the quasi-theme song of 1998/1999) got booed at by a few people opening for The Goo Goo Dolls here in my town of residence during their tour in support of 1998's DIZZY UP THE GIRL. [This town is a safe haven for nitwits due to the lack of variety on ALL of the five or six radio stations that routinely air music in and around this town.]. Also, for her sake, I hope Ms. Pope has better things to do read my schiz-tastic blogposts. Which reminds me, why are YOU reading this? NO, PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME!
Note: This post has been edited 1/20/15 to avoid tedium & repetition and to add cohesion [yes, I know it still comes off as a giant rambling spazz; but believe it or not, there was a time when it was a lot worse...]
The music on it can be described as peppy, guitars are light and low impact, very processed sounding, like some music engineer took a bottle of soda and poured it over the tape to make it sparkle and blot out the jagged edges of the guitar playing. Or, maybe the jagged edges were never there b/c the guitarist(s) are top notch guitar players? Doubtful, but whatever. Cassadee Pope has a little girly voice that is often compared to that of Paramore's Haley Williams. Paramore's 2007 breakout RIOT! is a better album, tho. It's more complex, I guess? It's more thoughtful. It's got the boom and grandeur of a praise and worship song. Except I don't listen to P&W songs b/c I don't know what to listen to and, wrong as it is, I don't thank God enough - I don't feel thankful. I know God wants me to. I know I should be repaying him with the passion of a 15 year old me being re-born into a new life of hope, but I just don't feel it. So, p&w just doesn't resonate w/ me. Paramore's music does, tho and, having lived the classic modern day self absorbed teenager life with other high schoolers, I can see a certain nostalgia in Hey Monday's one and only full length (so far).
But then didn't I just say rock and roll is SUPPOSED to be fun? No. I said it was DESIGNED to be fun. If rock music hasn't adapted to reflect the somber state of this sorry ass excuse for a free country, I'd be on another ship. You can't make music of any emotional value that's just 100% HAPPY. The absence of pain is not real. There's pain. There's loss, there's sadness, there's all of it. Even 16 year olds go through that, which is why half the songs on HOLD ON TIGHT say stuff like "I miss you" and "why did you do that" etc. Heck, "Josie" is about a passed-out-every-dam-night drunk-as-a-skunk party chick whose trying to get a grip on or come to terms with her puke-infused lifestyle. Words of encouragement are there ("Josie - don't you worry/It's just a phase you're going through"), but everyone knows words of encouragement don't change anything. Insecurities and doubts linger like the dirt from generations past.
Yep. It's not a happy album. It's a FUN album. Paramore's RIOT! is a fun album. It just so happens that many people think thinking is a downer. I guess it is, I just don't care b/c I'm like 1/10 Irish? Conan O' Brien and Dolly Parton were on the CO'B late show and talking about how Irish folk tend to enjoy sadness. I used to suspect I suffer from what I heard described in MARAT / SADE (1967) as "melancholia", but then I got less self centered, as I got a little more and a little more older-ish-y, and now I'm just lightly depressed, which is OK. I don't value anything on this planet, at least not materialistically. Music I value, floating from great song to really good album to another one and, ya know, "this album is so awesome!" and then feeling let down when I hear it again later that day and/or the next. There's images that resonate w/ me, but if it all burned to the ground, what difference would it really make?
Not sure if I'm melancholy these days or just stuck in a moment I don't know how to get out of. I feel happy sometimes, but it's usually brief and kinda low-voltage. I'm not even sure what happiness is technically. But as my pastor noted -- the pursuit of happiness is the bedrock of our constitution, and thusly everyone feels entitled to pursue it, but: the more you pursue it, the less you find it. I can't speak from experience, but, from a sketchy sense of theology, if you're married w/o God in your life, you may have been fortunate/blessed to have found your soul mate and be living a life of rich love, but for most of us, God, being the very embodiment of Love, brings everything worthwhile together, including people and their feelings for one another.
[sigh] -- I guess I'm just uneasy giving this album 5 stars -- I was about to give it 5 @ Amazon.com's customer review forum, then narrowed it down to 4 and my review got to be so off topic with all these points of reference and blogginistic comments. I don't know what the lyrics are about specifically b/c I haven't analyzed them. But it seems that Hey Monday's music has that "girlmeetsboy"/"boymeetsgirl" sensibility while lacking any substantial theology. I guess I just get reminded of the secularity of modern day high schools and their students for the most part b/c of the Disney movie channel YA feel of the album and my experiences @ that age, combined with the occasional updates I see on the web [Until 6 or 7 years ago - yes, yes; I know... - I had no idea modern day YA novels are chock full of sex; the legal age is still 18, not 8, right?].--- Personal apologies to Ms. Pope for any burnmarks that probably never happened for lack of personal insecurity --IT TAKES GUTS to speak out publically, even more so when what you're saying is not some idea or song that's been pre-screened for approval. New Radicals ("You Get What You Give", the quasi-theme song of 1998/1999) got booed at by a few people opening for The Goo Goo Dolls here in my town of residence during their tour in support of 1998's DIZZY UP THE GIRL. [This town is a safe haven for nitwits due to the lack of variety on ALL of the five or six radio stations that routinely air music in and around this town.]. Also, for her sake, I hope Ms. Pope has better things to do read my schiz-tastic blogposts. Which reminds me, why are YOU reading this? NO, PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME!
Note: This post has been edited 1/20/15 to avoid tedium & repetition and to add cohesion [yes, I know it still comes off as a giant rambling spazz; but believe it or not, there was a time when it was a lot worse...]
Saturday, January 17, 2015
Doesn't Anything Stay Together Anymore?
THE REAL GHOSTBUSTERS Milton Bradley board game -- I never was into board games. If I'd had this in my home, who knows how I'd feel about Monopoly today? Indifference is indeed how I feel toward 99.9% of board games. This one here? It's the other 00.1%. Just the description is cool. It comes with a SKULL! I think it's like a die of some kind (no pun intended I swear!). Or, ya know, something akin to the horsehead statue thingy in Chess. Idk...but anyway...There's so much that is involved with the game, pieces etc. And kids - as well as their parents((rrrrg!!)) - are often careless with small parts/pieces, or anything delicate for that matter. Breaking things is what young'uns do best.
So...yeah. Amazon's prices for RGB toys is not the best, mainly b/c so few people list their RGB toys on Amazon. eBay is always assumed the best place to get that stuff. It is. Except I didn't pay my eBay seller account fees and now they won't let me back, even to buy stuff. I created another eBay account, they found me and shot me down. So I created another one, and, being the wreckless shopper that I am, constantly wanting stuff, and subsequently feeling guilty for being such a materialistic shitehead, and then going through the motions of some dude having a midlife crisis (seriously, TODAY, I'm only 31...wth??), culminating in an order cancellation request, which usually goes over OK, depending on the desperation level of the seller at any given hand, but sometimes not so great....Anyway; since eBay was gonna find me anyway, I neglected being careful in choosing which items to bid/buy and so now I have like 12 Non-paying bidder strikes with all my eBay accounts combined. I eventually quit 'cause it just wasn't worth the trouble. I mean, anything I can't find on Amazon is obviously not a need. I realize this now more than ever, being a disciple of Jesus Of Nazareth, The Christ (aka Christian...).
But as I was saying; I might be misremembering, but this item, complete and un-head-bashed-in, is not cheap, even on eBay. I found this game on eBay several times, never was I confident that I could win it. Sure, maybe I could win a filthy molded half the pieces missing box not included auction of this title, but a complete and VG+ condition copy just wasn't going to happen. And this was before I started donating anything to God or trying to save up for emergencies. Of course, I always tried to have at least two packages arriving in any given week. An empty mail box is a sad thing. Not as sad as a full mailbox with nothing of any value tho. Well, maybe...
Anyway; brand new this game is $150 on Amazon. If you think that's absolutely unreasonable, then quit losing the pieces of your board games and quit letting your kids and your neighbors and your neighbors kids get away with it! It's the scarcity with which such purity exists that causes these items to be so damn expensive. Yeah, of course I'm not paying that. If I never own it ever in my lifetime, I will survive sevenfold. But if I had triple my current income, without inflation tripling I would, without a doubt, after getting my walls and floors waterproofed and the electricity in this house up to modernity, go str8 to buying this. Why? 'cuz I wanna.
Monday, January 12, 2015
I want my MTV
my favorite music videos --
Don't Come Around Here No More - Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
Land Of Confusion - Genesis
Bad (Long? version) - Michael Jackson
True Faith - New Order
Jackie's Strength - Tori Amos
Please Forgive Me - David Gray
Jaded - Aerosmith
My Culture - 1 Giant Leap
In This World - Moby
There's several others I saw on MTV2's 120 Minutes circa 2002 that made my heart twinge, but I don't remember the names of the songs or the artists.
This dumbass in Alternative Press claims that a good music video gives poor ppl the equivalent of a free concert. Uh...yeah....Ok...I guess...
Don't Come Around Here No More - Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
Land Of Confusion - Genesis
Bad (Long? version) - Michael Jackson
True Faith - New Order
Jackie's Strength - Tori Amos
Please Forgive Me - David Gray
Jaded - Aerosmith
My Culture - 1 Giant Leap
In This World - Moby
There's several others I saw on MTV2's 120 Minutes circa 2002 that made my heart twinge, but I don't remember the names of the songs or the artists.
This dumbass in Alternative Press claims that a good music video gives poor ppl the equivalent of a free concert. Uh...yeah....Ok...I guess...
once...
I ordered TORI AMOS - FADE TO RED: VIDEO COLLECTION. Filled with good music, most notably "Jackie's Strength", which is a nice pretty song, but is enhanced by the music video. The rest are OK...
Also ordered the tour edition of Avril Lavigne's breakout CD LET GO, which contains several b-sides including the haunting "Get Over It" and some live recordings. Also got an mp3 player. I was going with a 4-star rated Sylvania brand one, but decided to get one with an FM tuner, so went with Coby. I doubt the warranty is any good, it's only 90 days anyway, so whatever. We'll see how it holds up over time. I'm not planning to use it regularly, just when the thunderstorms prevent me from safely using the TV and Blu ray player.
Listening to OUT OF THE VEIN by Third Eye Blind. I don't know why, but the copy of BLUE (their 2nd CD) that I originally bought from Hastings (aka goHastings(dotcom)) back when it was a fairly new CD is so freakin' hard to find. Rdio doesn't have it. Amazon has a listing for what is supposedly that one, the one that seems more common based on local store inventory is one that has an instrumental version of "Slow Motion" as the closing track of the CD. I always thought "Darwin" was a much more fitting choice as a closing track. It ends the CD on a high note, where "Slow Motion" is kind of a dumb song anyway...
I had almost $35 in Amazon gift card funds, so it was a grueling process trying to figure out what of all that is out there to buy. I think I'm finally done. If not, whatever. I can probably get at least almost half of FADE TO RED back from Hastings and LET GO is just a cool novelty item, and it's good to have an official way to listen to all the CD + the oh-so-good b-sides. I think I'll be keeping that one unless someone wants to pay $15 + S&H for it. I might list it for the heck of it and see what if anything happens with it.
I don't know when the mp3 player will ship , b/c I pre-ordered GHOSTBUSTERS: THE ULTIMATE VISUAL HISTORY, which doesn't come out until September 22 with it. Amazon might go ahead and ship them separately, but maybe not. I guess I can go w/o an mp3 player this summer. Next summer, it'll surely be here.
I had read like 4 chapters of THE STORY, which is basically cliffnotes of THE BIBLE, the week prior to the one that just ended at midnight Sunday 1/11/15. This past week, I had only read one chapter. I finally picked it up a few hours after church let out. My pastor keeps talking about idolatry. It's hard for me to distinguish whether or not I'm committing idolatry. Is enjoying anything that isn't God-based idolatry? If so, has anyone been to Heaven?
Also ordered the tour edition of Avril Lavigne's breakout CD LET GO, which contains several b-sides including the haunting "Get Over It" and some live recordings. Also got an mp3 player. I was going with a 4-star rated Sylvania brand one, but decided to get one with an FM tuner, so went with Coby. I doubt the warranty is any good, it's only 90 days anyway, so whatever. We'll see how it holds up over time. I'm not planning to use it regularly, just when the thunderstorms prevent me from safely using the TV and Blu ray player.
Listening to OUT OF THE VEIN by Third Eye Blind. I don't know why, but the copy of BLUE (their 2nd CD) that I originally bought from Hastings (aka goHastings(dotcom)) back when it was a fairly new CD is so freakin' hard to find. Rdio doesn't have it. Amazon has a listing for what is supposedly that one, the one that seems more common based on local store inventory is one that has an instrumental version of "Slow Motion" as the closing track of the CD. I always thought "Darwin" was a much more fitting choice as a closing track. It ends the CD on a high note, where "Slow Motion" is kind of a dumb song anyway...
I had almost $35 in Amazon gift card funds, so it was a grueling process trying to figure out what of all that is out there to buy. I think I'm finally done. If not, whatever. I can probably get at least almost half of FADE TO RED back from Hastings and LET GO is just a cool novelty item, and it's good to have an official way to listen to all the CD + the oh-so-good b-sides. I think I'll be keeping that one unless someone wants to pay $15 + S&H for it. I might list it for the heck of it and see what if anything happens with it.
I don't know when the mp3 player will ship , b/c I pre-ordered GHOSTBUSTERS: THE ULTIMATE VISUAL HISTORY, which doesn't come out until September 22 with it. Amazon might go ahead and ship them separately, but maybe not. I guess I can go w/o an mp3 player this summer. Next summer, it'll surely be here.
I had read like 4 chapters of THE STORY, which is basically cliffnotes of THE BIBLE, the week prior to the one that just ended at midnight Sunday 1/11/15. This past week, I had only read one chapter. I finally picked it up a few hours after church let out. My pastor keeps talking about idolatry. It's hard for me to distinguish whether or not I'm committing idolatry. Is enjoying anything that isn't God-based idolatry? If so, has anyone been to Heaven?
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