Mea Culpa
Yes, yes I know, such minimal posting this week. Watch while I attempt to make up for that by using the old sportswriter's trick: a collection of random and disjointed thoughts and observations presented under the guise of a cohesive whole.
Enjoy.
I have no idea what the complete list of my top five or ten Desert Island CDs would be, but Bob Mould's Black Sheets of Rain would most definitely be on it. Song for song, one of the best albums I know.
So, in The Boondock Saints there's a minor character, an Irish barkeep who randomly shouts obscenities("Fuck! Ass!") for no apparent reason. Does he have Tourettes? Deep-rooted control issues? We never learn. But, if you can manage a decent brogue, he's always a worthwhile character to mimic by randomly shouting some obscenities of your own. Makes the Bunny giggle like a schoolgirl.
A couple of weeks ago I joined the 21st century and purchased a new computer, a nifty Dell that was on sale, complete with flat-screen monitor.
As a result I have discovered that Rome: Total War is as addictive as crack.
Around the same time I finally noticed that my credit card allows customers to expend their 'thank you points' online for various and sundry items. Imagine my delight to find that various and sundry items includes Borders gift cards.
I promptly spent that gift card on the Everyman's Library edition of George Orwell's Essays. Two things to note here. First, Orwell's essays are far better than his novels. 1984 and Animal Farm are certainly worthwhile novels, full of ideas and concepts that have entered common usage, but it's a lot more enjoyable to talk about those ideas than it is to read Orwell's presentation of them. (I'm excluding Homage to Catalonia as it's a memoir rather than a work of fiction.) And second, I adore Everyman's Library.
The following question was recently posed to me: what does the title of the Duran Duran album Seven and the Ragged Tiger? Who are 'the Seven?' Who is the Ragged Tiger? Are they working in conjunction, or in opposition? What is their ultimate goal? And doesn't it sound like the title of a kung-fu movie?
David Halberstam will be speaking at Salem State College about Lore and Legends: The Boston Red Sox on April 4th. If you're a baseball fan you should already have read Halberstam's books on baseball (Summer of '49, October 1965, Teammates) ; Firehouse is also a damn good (and moving) read.
While I'm on the topic of books (alternate opening: since I'm always on the topic of books) here's a review of the two alternative history books edited by Robert Cowley, What If? and What If? 2. I own and recommend both volumes; each is full of speculative essays by note historians and authors like Victor David Hanson, Caleb Carr, Thomas Fleming, John Lukacs and Richard B. Frank.
Enjoy.
I have no idea what the complete list of my top five or ten Desert Island CDs would be, but Bob Mould's Black Sheets of Rain would most definitely be on it. Song for song, one of the best albums I know.
So, in The Boondock Saints there's a minor character, an Irish barkeep who randomly shouts obscenities("Fuck! Ass!") for no apparent reason. Does he have Tourettes? Deep-rooted control issues? We never learn. But, if you can manage a decent brogue, he's always a worthwhile character to mimic by randomly shouting some obscenities of your own. Makes the Bunny giggle like a schoolgirl.
A couple of weeks ago I joined the 21st century and purchased a new computer, a nifty Dell that was on sale, complete with flat-screen monitor.
As a result I have discovered that Rome: Total War is as addictive as crack.
Around the same time I finally noticed that my credit card allows customers to expend their 'thank you points' online for various and sundry items. Imagine my delight to find that various and sundry items includes Borders gift cards.
I promptly spent that gift card on the Everyman's Library edition of George Orwell's Essays. Two things to note here. First, Orwell's essays are far better than his novels. 1984 and Animal Farm are certainly worthwhile novels, full of ideas and concepts that have entered common usage, but it's a lot more enjoyable to talk about those ideas than it is to read Orwell's presentation of them. (I'm excluding Homage to Catalonia as it's a memoir rather than a work of fiction.) And second, I adore Everyman's Library.
The following question was recently posed to me: what does the title of the Duran Duran album Seven and the Ragged Tiger? Who are 'the Seven?' Who is the Ragged Tiger? Are they working in conjunction, or in opposition? What is their ultimate goal? And doesn't it sound like the title of a kung-fu movie?
David Halberstam will be speaking at Salem State College about Lore and Legends: The Boston Red Sox on April 4th. If you're a baseball fan you should already have read Halberstam's books on baseball (Summer of '49, October 1965, Teammates) ; Firehouse is also a damn good (and moving) read.
While I'm on the topic of books (alternate opening: since I'm always on the topic of books) here's a review of the two alternative history books edited by Robert Cowley, What If? and What If? 2. I own and recommend both volumes; each is full of speculative essays by note historians and authors like Victor David Hanson, Caleb Carr, Thomas Fleming, John Lukacs and Richard B. Frank.
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