Poetry for Dummies

Finished reading this book yesterday afternoon. I give it 2.5 stars outta 5. Sadly, I didn't pay attention to the poetry class I had in college. This book was OK. I did learn some stuff, like poetry needs to be read out loud, and it has a good glossary in one of it appendixes. But the sections on poetry gatherings and writing it weren't of interest to me. Plus, it was published around 2000, so some of it's wildly out of date; and page 194 says "(see Figure 12-1)" — there is no Figure 12-1.

Weird thing was that after placing Poetry for Dummies in my bookcase, I picked up Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir's Miss Iceland, which involves poets. Cue the Twilight Zone music!

News, Podcasts, & Politics

Recently I unsubscribed to a bunch email newsletters I was getting, like AlterNet, Intercept, Jacobin, and New Yorker. I dunno, recently I have little interest in news and politics. I still visit The Guardian once a day and watch France 24's news digest after dinner each night. I can't tell if my partial unplugging is because Trump is no longer president, or if I'm in somewhat denial of the Western World slowing dying with democracy eroding and the impending Climate Change catastrophe. Also, I haven't been listening to The Majority Report podcast too much lately, though I've gone through periods where I don't even download episodes. Oh well, gives me more time to work on all the audiobooks that have been piling up in my Audible account.

Rock 'n' Roll

When I was out biking yesterday, I listened to Love And Rocket's "Rock and Roll Babylon", so I thought I would create a Rock 'n' Roll playlist. Turned out pretty well, I say:

ABBA: "Rock 'n' Roll Band
AC/DC: "It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)"
Beatles: "Rock & Roll Music"
Blanks77: "Girl Can't Rock and Roll"
David Bowie: "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide"
Byrds: " So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star"
Dead Milkmen: "Rock 'n' Roll Queen"
ELO: "Rock & Roll Is King"
Go-Betweens: "Rock and Roll Friend"
Government Issue: "Rock & Roll Bullshit"
Bill Haley & His Comets: "(We're Gonna) Rock Around the Clock"
Hoodoo Gurus: "Rock 'n' Roll pt. 2"
Huey Lewis & The News: "The Heart of Rock & Roll"
J Church: "Rock-N-Roll Museum"
Joan Jett: "I Love Rock 'N Roll"
King Missile: "Rock 'N Roll Will Never Die"
Love And Rockets: "Rock and Roll Babylon"
Mekons: "Memphis, Egypt"
Wally Pleasant: "Rock Song"
Power Station: "She Can Rock It"
Queen: "We Will Rock You"
Ramones: "Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio?"
Replacements: "Rock 'N' Roll Ghost"
Supersuckers: "Rock-N-Roll Records (Ain't Selling This Year)"
30footFALL: "Still Rock 'n Roll to Me"
Wyonna Riders: "The Great Rock'n'roll Swindle"

LATER by Stephen King

Wow, what a ride! I give it 4.5 outta 5 stars (I give five 5 stars about as often as there's a harvest moon). The one line I disagreed with was that literary agents don't have friends; I dunno, they're salespeople, and in my experience, those in sales make friends easily. Another reason for 4.5 stars is that it felt like the story took place in the late 20th century, even though King stated it was around 2010.

Regardless, great novel! I started Saturday afternoon and finished Monday night. That's quick for me. Doubt I'll reread it like Joyland, but Later will probably make a home in my subconsciousness for a long time.

book recommendations

I reserved three novels at my library yesterday when reading the New York Times Book Review. That's good. Sometimes I go weeks without any books that sound worth picking up. I put holds on:

-- My Friend Natalia by Laura Lindstedt

-- Red Widow by Alma Katsu

-- American Delirium by Betina González

Hopefully at least one of them I won't be able to put down.

ENTER THE AARDVARK: Jessica Anthony

Finished this yesterday afternoon. Quick read at just north of 150 pages. Really funny! Gave it 4 out of 5 stars at LibraryThing. Reminded me of the TV show Veep. And, of course, I especially enjoyed it because it took aim at Republicans.

Cure: 1983

Most days during my day job, I'll put my iTunes on shuffle, but I got into this weird habit lately of listening to full albums on Fridays. Yesterday, I was jamming out to New Order's Power Corruption and Lies and Low-Life and Yaz's Upstairs at Eric's, so I created a playlist of The Cure's three singles in 1983, though I think "Let's Go to Bed" came out in 1982. Check it out: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0BRX35lV1J3zJWjKKiMxwd?si=e6c78dda3dff4853

The Church: "Ripple"

Since I created a Church playlist recently, I thought I would pick up the single for "Ripple" because it's about a minute and a half shorter than the album version. I ordered it last weekend and it came in the mail yesterday (Thursday). Besides the Edited Remix, it only has one other track, the Album Version. Made me smirk how it came in a regular jewel case; thought it would have arrived in a cardboard sleeve. Ah, the 90s. . . .

THE SPACE BETWEEN WORLDS: Micaiah Johnson

Well, glad that's over with. Did not enjoy this sci-fi novel. I gave it 2 out of 5 stars over at LibraryThing. Whole time reading it, I was thinking of either ways I would have written it differently, or of better sci-fi worlds like The Expanse and Blade Runner. The latter is dystopian like The Space Between Worlds, but it captured my imagination more. Plus, in Johnson's novel, I found the protagonist to be such an asshole that I didn't care what happened to her, and the love story was unbelievable. The middle third of the novel had some interesting plotting  — before that, I was gonna give it 1.5 stars.

With that book out of the way, I got one more library hold to read, then I can dig into Stephen King's Later. Can't wait!

Jury Duty

I lucked out. Didn't have to report for jury duty today. I was a little worried about it because I haven't gotten the vaccine yet, and I would have had to wear masks all day on public transit and in the court room. I dodged the COVID variant one more day. . . .

Quip #6

Regarding dogs: Big bites come in pipsqueak packages.

Fully / Lady Luck

Recently I had Lady Luck's "Disbelief" stuck in my head (it was from a 1990s comp), so I thought I would pick up the split album it's on, A New Beginning.

The first six songs were by another NYC-area band, Fully. I'm keeping on my iPod "Egg Creams" with its unique guitar work and the pretentiously titled "Magnam Opus", though the latter I cut down from 8:15 to 3:40, and I put it on my Instrumental playlist, which I listen to when reading.

Regarding Lady Luck, I'm keeping "Disbelief"  — obviously — and "Higher Vision", though I may remove the latter. I dunno feels like it's missing a little something; plus, it's probably promoting pot, which I'm not a fan of.

Three and half tracks out of twelve ain't a good track record, but I don't regret purchasing it. Gotta spend those Biden bucks on something!

Quip #5

Welcome mat
Locked doors

Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix

I read this novel in one day. I gave it 2.5 out of 5 stars. Characters were interesting, ending was a little weak, and his prose was pretty good. I dunno, felt more like a novelization of a screenplay than an actual book. Plus, the joke wore thin with all the illustrations of satirizing IKEA. Maybe I'm old school and like my horror to be dark and straightforward.

FOSSIL MEN: Kermit Pattison

I got Kermit Pattison's Fossil Men: The Quest for the Oldest Skeleton and the Origins of Humankind from my local library after reading about in The New York Times. It's really good. I gave it 3.5 stars out of 5 on my LibraryThing account. Some of the science was over my head, I thought about 100 pages could have been cut, and the ending was a little weak, but I'll give the book as a gift to friends and family who are into science. Fascinating that millions of years ago, only 2% of our ancestors had cavities (apparently the advent of cereal agriculture is what did our teeth in, and sugary drinks in the past 150 years or so didn't help).

Amazing how much academic backstabbing there is in the world of paleoanthropology. The star of this book, Tim White, is a real jerk-hole. His animosity to laypersons, in my opinion, has hurt his discoveries. Before reading this book, I never heard of our Ardi ancestor, however, I was aware of Lucy, probably because the finders of that fossil are good at public relations.

Finish Things

Nice to see I'm not the only one who tries to finish every book they pick up. From the most recent New York Times' Book Review:

"I tend to finish things, holding out hope. Sometimes what seems like a slog can bring you to a place you wouldn’t expect, like stumbling on a clearing. Mostly that doesn’t happen, but when it does, you have to imagine that it went that way for the writer too, hacking their way toward something they were glimpsing through the trees."

— Jo Ann Beard

Church singles

Sometimes I really wished I had moved to Australia in my twenties. Steve Kilbey performed The Church's singles from their golden period (1980-1992). I got inspired and created a playlist, though I dropped "Already Yesterday" and "Destination", and added "Different Man":

She Never Said
The Unguarded Moment
Too Fast for You
Tear It All Away
Almost With You
When You Were Mine
Different Man
It’s No Reason
Electric Lash
Constant in Opal
Tantalized
Columbus
Under the Milky Way
Reptile
Metropolis
You’re Still Beautiful
Ripple
Feel

THE SCAPEGOAT by Sara Davis

I picked up this novel last night at Barnes & Noble after reading a review in The Washington Post. Got so much in my TBR pile, I probably won't get around to it for a while.

Moto G Power

Wanted to document this. My Samsung smartphone, which I bought in June '19, was starting to die (had a little, white dot near the top of the screen), so I wanted to buy a new phone before it crashed, since I have to use it for work, working from home. I picked up Motorola's Moto G Power (XT2041DL). My first smartphone over 10 years ago was a Motorola. Thought I would come full circle and go back to it. I bought it mainly because the battery is supposed to last for days. We'll see. . . .

The Stars My Destination

Since I read some of The Expanse books and have watched every episode of the TV show, I reserved The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester from my local library because I heard it's an influence on the series. The novel looks like this:

I was disappointed because it's the size of college textbook, the cover is lame, and the forward is by Neil Gaiman, who I'm not a fan of, though his Doctor Who episode, "The Doctor's Wife", is awesome (I wouldn't be surprised if showrunner Steven Moffat did a lot of rewriting on it). So I bought a third printing of the novel from around 1960:

What a cover! Can't believe is was only $7.40. Looking forward to it. You can't judge a book by its cover, but it doesn't hurt. . . .

PARANOID SING-ALONG by Yanti Arifin

Back in the 90s, there was a decent comp, Ear of the Dragon: 19 Asian-American Bands, and one of the standout tracks was "Losing My Cool" by Yanti Arifin. I finally got around to picking up her only album, Paranoid Sing-Along. I ordered it on Thursday and it arrived yesterday (Sat.) from Maryland. Pretty cool, especially since I ordered birthday items for my sister on Feb. 14th, the Mütter Museum shipped it on the 17th, but it still hasn't arrived.

Anyway, I listened to Paranoid Sing-Along this morning while cooking Dr. Praeger’s veggie sausages. The album's pretty good. I'll probably keep less than half of the 13 tracks on my iPod. The ballads didn't really grab me, but the rockers are keepers. It sounds like music created in the mid-90s. That's a compliment!

WandaVision

Finished watching it last night. Wow, what a ride! After episode eight, I was skeptical they were going to be able to wrap everything up in one final chapter, but, boy, was I wrong.

UTOPIA AVENUE: David Mitchell

Finished reading it last night. I give it 2.5 out of 5 stars. Probably would have liked it more if I was a fan of late '60s rock and/or roll. Interesting characters, though too many cameos from real rock stars to make it believable. However, I did like the appearance of some characters from his other novels, like Cloud Atlas and Bone Clocks. The Guardian's review nailed it.

LATER: Stephen King

I picked up his latest last night. Really looking forward to it. His last novel for the Hard Case Crime, Joyland, is one of the finest things he's ever written, IMO.

Black Bear

I rented this film from Amazon over the weekend and watched it last night (Sun.) — couldn't pass the rental price of $1. Only heard of Black Bear because occasional guest Matthew Weiss talked it up on the Majority Report podcast, since he edited it. I didn't enjoy it. The acting was awesome, especially Sarah Gadon (though I may be bias cuz she's Canadian and in a few David Cronenberg films). I didn't think the script was that hot. Very arthouse with indirect storytelling. I gave it 2 out of 5 stars on Amazon.

Quip #4

Today's socialist is tomorrow's liberal.

NOFX: Single Album

Picked up NOFX's latest, Single Album, after listening to it during dinner last night on Bandcamp. Pretty good, much stronger than their previous, First Ditch Effort, which I kept less than half of its songs on my iPod. Single Album is more alternative than punk with half the tracks being slo-tempo. In that respect, it reminds me of their 1996 album, Heavy Petting Zoo, though Single Album has stronger songs and better sequencing. I'll probably keep 8 of the 10 tracks ("Linewleum" should have been put on a comp [not album worthy], and "Doors and Fours" sounded better on their 7" of the Month Club [sounds better stripped down without slide guitars and extra instruments]). $8 well spent!

Twitter

Yesterday morning I moved my Twitter folder to the bottom of my bookmarks. With it out of sight, hopefully I won't be going on there so much anymore. I was mainly using it as an RSS feed for news, but lately none of the stories have captured my interest. Can't tell if it's me or if social media managers are posting gratuitous content.

Dune

I picked up the audiobook for Frank Herbert's Dune back in July. Started listening to it today. Haven't formed an opinion yet. Hopefully I can get into it this time. I tried reading in grade school and high school, but just couldn't wrap my head around it.

PULL OF THE STARS by Emma Donoghue

Finished listening to this audiobook during dinner tonight. I give it 2 out of 5 stars. My impression going in was that the book was about the 1918 flu, but it's more about delivering babies in the beginning of the 20th century. Plus, the characters seemed two dimensional, and Donoghue's voice/tone didn't grab me.

WandaVision

I recently cancelled Disney+ after the end of The Mandalorian's second season, but they sucked me back in with all the good things I've been reading about WandaVision. Well worth the $70 (plus the upcoming Loki looks good too). After watching an episode a night, I'm now all caught up with WandaVision; episode 7 aired yesterday. Kinda wished I didn't hop on Twitter yesterday morning because one of the trending topics spoiled the ending. Another reason why social media sucks. . . .

Old Order

As I was trying to read War last weekend, New Order's "Shellshock" popped in my mind, so I read on Wikipedia that their "Thieves Like Us", an instrumental, was also in the film Pretty in Pink, but not on the soundtrack. Then I listened on YouTube to the 17-minute version of their "Elegia", and after reading about their discography on AllMusic, I picked up Power Corruption and Lies and Low-Life. Can't believe I didn't buy them as a teenager or in my twenties! I was always a passive fan of them growing up. Haven't listened to Low-Life yet, but I've listened to Power Corruption and Lies twice. Sounds like The Cure's Disintegration owes a debt to it. What I like about Power Corruption and Lies is it's not really a pop album with standout singles on it but a work of art where you need to listen to it in one sitting.

WAR: HOW CONFLICT SHAPED US by Margaret MacMillan

100 pages in and I'm giving up on this book. It's all over the place. I get the vibe she has all this research and just did a stream of consciousness with no real focus. Plus, the average page only has two paragraphs, which doesn't make for enjoyable reading.

L.A.

I had a playlist on my iTunes of Los Angeles songs but on Friday (today it's Monday) I was looking for it and couldn't find it archived on a CD or a screenshot of the playlist. Must have deleted it. So I recreated it. Kind of a blessing in disguise because I picked  Cilantro's “Hollywood Boulevards” in the past year. Though this time I didn't include Public Enemy's "Burn Hollywood Burn"or Brian Setzer Orchestra's "Hollywood Nocturne" because they're nice to listen occasionally but not regularly. I also left off  Mötley Crüe's "Girls, Girls, Girls", "T.N.T. (Terror n Tinseltown)", and "Dr. Feelgood" because there are already two songs by them and having five tunes would be too much Crüe. I'm still debating whether to leave off Hole's "Celebrity Skin" so the playlist is an even 30 songs, but it's such a great song!

Adolescents: “L.A. Girl”
Angry Samoans: “Carson Girls”
Art Brut: “Moving to L.A.”
Blink 182: “Los Angeles”
Church: “Bel-Air”
Cilantro: “Hollywood Boulevards”
Circle Jerks: “Beverly Hills”
Doors: “L.A. Woman”
Everclear: “Santa Monica”
Fixx: “No Hollywood Ending”
Flogging Molly: “Selfish Man in L.A.”
Go-Go’s: “Stuck in My Car”
Goo Goo Dolls: “On the Lie”
Guns N’ Roses: “Welcome to the Jungle”
Hex: “Hollywood in Winter”
Hole: “Celebrity Skin”
J Church: “Nostalgic for Nothing”
J Church: “Beverly Hills”
J Church: “L.A.”
J Church: “City of L.A.”
Mötley Crüe: “Down at the Whiskey”
Mötley Crüe: “Saints of Los Angeles”
999: “Signed Dangerous in Hollywood”
NOFX: “Green Corn”
NOFX: “El Lay”
Red Hot Chili Peppers: “Out in L.A.”
Strung Out: “Cemetery”
Supertramp: “Gone Hollywood”
Surfer Trot: “Santa Barbara”
Wang Chung: “To Live and Die in L.A.”
Frank & Moon Zappa: “Valley Girl”

This Must Be Maggie's Place

I have a $25 gift card for Barnes & Noble, so I went there yesterday morning to pick up Maggie O'Farrell's This Must Be the Place. I enjoyed Hamnet so much, hopefully this prior novel of hers is just as good. Of course, I have so many books in my TBR pile, who knows when I'll read it.

Junior-High Horror

Because I've been blogging about horror the past few days, thought I would post this. Book I bought around the age of 12 from the Scholastic Book Club at my grade school. Out of all the books I've lost, sold, or gave away, this one has stayed in my possession. I may only have one bookcase, but there will always be room for this paperback.

PAPERBACKS FROM HELL average

Because I reviewed Gwen, In Green the other day, I thought I would list all of the books I bought after reading Gary Hendrix's Paperbacks from Hell and my rating for each one:

• The Tribe by Bari Wood: 3 (started Dec. '19)
• The Other by Thomas Tryon: 1.5
• Satan’s Love Child by Brian McNaughton: 3
• Hell Hound by Ken Greenhall: 2
• Searing by John Coyne: 3
• Heads by David Osborn: 0 (didn’t finish)
• The Scourge by Nick Sharman: 2.5
• Brotherkind by J.N. Williamson: 2
• Nocturnal by Ken Eulo: 2
• Gwen, in Green by Hugh Zachary: 2.5

Average rating = 2.15 out of 5 stars

PRETEND IT'S A CITY

I started binging this limited series Saturday and finished it last night (Wed.). Fran Lebowitz is fascinating. On the surface she shouldn't be so entertaining, with comments like "I don't care about there being no water 2050 because I'll be dead by then." But her delivery is so charming, it's hard to hate her. Plus her intelligence and insights are something to be admired.

new blog

 I'm now blogging over at https://johnnyostentatious.com/blog

GWEN, IN GREEN by Hugh Zachary

Finished this paperback from 1974 last night. I give it 2.5 stars out of 5. Half-decent prose, but the sex felt like it was shoehorned into the plot. Plus, it read like a first draft that Zachary wrote without an outline.

Gwen, In Green was the 10th horror novel I bought after seeing it in Paperbacks in Hell. Probably one of the better ones I read. At least I finished it. . . .

Quip #3

The year 2021

Tattooed on my scrotum

(with apologies to Kiwi jr)

THE LIONS OF FIFTH AVENUE Fiona Davis

Finished reading this novel last night. I give it two out of five stars. The plotting was predictable and some of the dialogue was absurd. However, I did like learning about some historical figures from around 1915, like Frank Tannenbaum.

Brendan Kelly, Pick-Up Artist

I'm still working on The Road to the Skeleton Coast podcast. Over the weekend, I listened to episode 14, from the beginning of July. The Lawrence Arms' Brendan Kelly confessed that in his 20s (I'm assuming he was still in college), he was so broke, he'd go to gay bars, have guys buy him drinks, and hook up with women because of less competition. Fuckin' genius!

DRESDEN FILES

Finished watching it tonight. As good as I remembered it. A 2nd season would have been nice. Thanks, Sci-Fi Channel!

BORNE by Jeff VanderMeer

Finished reading it. I give it two out of five stars.

Kiwi jr: COOLER RETURNS

Nothing sadder than when a good band goes bad. I really dug their first album, Football Money, and was looking forward to Cooler Returns, but it's bit of a sophomore slump. I'm only keeping two songs on my iPod because most of the songs sound the same with the singer sticking to the same melody on each song. "Maid Marian's Toast" is decent with its unique guitar work (a slide guitar, perhaps?), and the last track, "Waiting in Line", is awesome with the lead vocalist hitting some high notes . . . excellent way to end things because that tune sticks in your head for hours — great pop song!

57.5

That's how many books I read last year. .5 you ask? I started one at the end of '19 and finished it in January.

Jack Frost

Listened to Jack Frost on Sunday night, then the bonus tracks (#'s 14 - 17) on Monday morning. It was a side project from The Church's Steve Kilbey and The Go-Betweens' Grant McLennan. It's still pretty uneven, but there are some gems in there like:

• "Every Hour God Sends"
• "Birdowner"
• "Providence" (Steve Kilbey's acoustic version is great too)
• "Thought That I Was Over You" (love this verse: Can't you hear the phone ringing / Can't you see the train has come / Can't you hear the Seraphim a-singing / Devil beatin' on his drum)
• "Didn't Know Where I Was"
• "Everything Takes Forever"
• "Bad for You"

Borne, I lied

I'm going back to attempting to finish every book I read, unless it's truly horrible, after reading this interview in The Guardian where the author said, "I’m ashamed of how many I have read and didn’t throw across the room at page 2 because I still too often feel it shameful to not finish a book, even a bad one."

Word playlist

Made a playlist with tunes that have "Word" in the song title. Several songs in my music library I didn't include, like:

• Arcadia's "Say the Word (instrumental)" — already have the A side of that single
• Beatles' "Words of Love"  — already included their "The Word", which is superior, IMO
• Bee Gees' "Words" — they're OK to listen to every once in a while, but not on a personalized playlist
• Barry Manilow's "Say the Words"  — see the Bee Gees
• Trans Am's "First Words" — didn't want to include instrumentals

BORNE by Jeff VanderMeer

Been thinking about this for a while, and yesterday I took a Slack poll at my day job, where I asked who finishes every book and who trashes a book if it's boring. I was the only one who voted that they try to finish every book they pick up, so I'm going to go back and drop books if they're lame. I did that back in the day but stopped because A) it felt like giving up, and B) I was speed-reading and giving up the book within 10% of its total page count. Part of the reason I'm dropping boring books is that I've found if I hate it, I'm then speed-reading from page 100 onwards, and months later I don't remember anything about it (Yun Ko-eun's The Disaster Tourist is an example of this).

Jeff VanderMeer's Borne is the first novel I'm returning to the library. I've given up on other books in the past several years, like Jasper Fforde's Early Riser and Sarah Waters' The Paying Guests, but Borne is the first one I'm giving up pretty early on. After reading 100 pages, I'll return it to the library on Monday. I saw Annihilation recently, a movie based on one of his books, and Borne is pretty much the same: the weird ideas distract from the overall story . . . weird is good but at a minimum.

The Reading Irish!

Started listening to Emma Donoghue's The Pull of the Stars today, and I realized how many great writers that Ireland produces: David Mitchell, Maggie O'Farrell, and now Donoghue, though it sounds like she hasn't lived there for years.

DEATH ON A PALE HORSE by Piers Anthony

Sad to say, the first time I heard of Piers Anthony was when Brendan Kelly mentioned him on the Road to the Skeleton Coast podcast. Anyway, I finished listening to this audiobook last night. I give it 2.5 stars out of 5. Some interesting ideas in there, but I got bored with it halfway through, which makes sense because in the afterword he said his draft was 80,000 words  — the padding he did in the rewrites was to the detriment of the story. Also, his afterword illustrated what an eccentric jerk he is. Didn't appreciate how he badmouthed publishers and especially editors. Like Mates From States sang, "Everyone Needs an Editor".

Bye-bye, Berkeley bike helmet

Just wanted to document my old bike helmet, which I bought in Berkeley, CA in 2014 or 2015. I needed a new one, so my sister gave me one for Xmas. I'm going to miss my old helmet (pictured below), but they say you should change your helmet every three to five years; I don't want to get hit by a car and not have the helmet protect my skull.

Being Human

Last week I finally got rid of my cable. Now I have only Internet. Comcast sent me their Flex console. I was fooling around with it over the weekend and watched Being Human on Amazon. First time I caught this UK series since it came out on DVD about 10 years ago. Still entertaining. If time allows, I'll rewatch the first three seasons.

HAMNET by Maggie O'Farrell

Finished reading this novel tonight. Wow, well deserving of the hype. I give it 4.5 stars out of 5.

Quip #2

Astronomy is poetry.

Twiztid: Generation Nightmare

I was watching the video for Twiztid's "Breakdown" last weekend, so I thought I would buy one of their recent albums. I picked up last year's Generation Nightmare, the first album I listened to since 2009's W.I.C.K.E.D. I'm a passive fan of the Dark Carnival. Only kept 8 of the 20 songs, though I may remove "skit 17" from my iPod.

Belated Lawrence Arms

On November 19th, I ordered some some stuff from The Lawrence Arms. MerchNOW shipped it out on December 21st. I just got it today. Glad I hadn't ordered it as an Xmas gift for someone.

Lawrence Arms: Road to the Skeleton Coast

I've been slowly but surely been listening the Road to the Skeleton Coast podcast, where The Lawrence Arms' Brendan Kelly goes into nerd-numbing detail over his album history. I'm currently on episode 13 from June 26th. The Lawrence Arms' Chris McCaughan is a guest and he talks about their latest album, which is the title of the podcast. He keeps talking about solving problems. That might explain why I'm not a fan of the album (only kept two songs on my iPod, "Quiet Storm" and "How It Rot"). If you're struggling with the songwriting, then the end result is always going to be flawed, no matter how much Epitaph money you have in the coffers.

Dresden Files

I think about this show every once in a while. Only ran for one season in 2007, but I loved it when I caught it on DVD in the late aughts. Just bought the DVD off Amazon today. Looking forward to it!

Delayed Agatha Christie

Once or twice a week, I'll visit The Guardian, New York Times, USA Today, and Washington Post. Usually, after reading a review, I'll reserve a book at the library or put it on my wish lists at Audible and Barnes & Noble. But last night I was thinking about The Mystery of Mrs. Christie by Carol Memmott, a review I read over a week ago. Weird how the mind works. . . . 

SURVIVOR SONG by Paul Tremblay

Finished reading Paul Tremblay's Survivor Song last night. I give it 2 out of 5 stars. It's basically a zombie story, and I think they're clichés. And I don't like novels with few scenes—this one felt like a three-act play. Plus, one of the characters, Natalie, was incredibly unlikable; though, Tremblay did do a good job with the language of her British doctor friend, and his characterization of conspiracy theorists was spot on. Plus, I didn't know if a pregnant woman is dead for more than four minutes, her baby won't make it. Last time I'll read a book due a glowing New York Times book review and Stephen King tweeting positively the book . . . when will I learn he's a great writer but his taste in books is sometimes suspect.

http://www.librarything.com/work/24039248/book/194566596

Winter

Since I was babbling about the Death playlist yesterday, thought I would mention another playlist that's cool to shuffle. I started to create Spotify playlist, but J Church's "Winter Comes Again" and Laughing Clowns' "Winter's Way" aren't up there, so I deleted it. Nonetheless, pretty cool playlist: 49 minutes.

Death

Been listening to On a Pale Horse by Piers Anthony, so Camper Van Beethoven's "Oh Death" has been on my mind recently. Thought created a Death playlist on my iPod. I would have done it on Spotify, but every time I go there, they don't have at least a handful of songs from my music collection. Too bad. This playlist sounds good on shuffle.

Quip #1

Opinions are like in-laws. Almost everyone's got one.

NOVACENE: THE COMING AGE OF HYPERINTELLIGENCE by James Lovelock

I finished reading this book yesterday. I give it 2.5 stars out of 5. First half is rehashing of past works, and second half is a little underdeveloped.

http://www.librarything.com/work/23210444/book/194378458

Rabbit & the DOOPster

On June 16, 2018, I took Lawrence Arms' "Rabbit and the Rooster" and rewrote the lyrics in reference to the Philadelphia Union and their recent Atlanta game:

Oh my stars and red cards
What a great time we will have
Athletic activity all the bloody way
Fuck that forgetful ref
We’ll never see him again
Get out of our way
Cuz today is our day

Rip it up, rip it up
Kick, kick, kick
I didn’t sleep nine hours last night for my health
I’m trying, I’m trying to perfect my first touch
To cut down on mental lapses and mistakes
I’ve got a few good years left in me, boy
Then it’s time to retire and grow a spare tire
And with lead legs I shall fall flat down, out of breath
No, I will not dive tonight
I will not dive tonight

Oh my stars and yellow cards
What a great time we will have
Athletic activity all the bloody way
Fuck that Romanian ref
We’ll never see him again
Get out of our way
Cuz today is our day

I’m not into tackling and worrying if studs are up
I’d rather kinda crash into the box
And split those two defenders, then take that goalie one-on-one
C’mon, let’s go
Do the long throw

Oh my stars and red cards
What a great time we will have
Athletic activity all the bloody way
Fuck that overweight ref
We’ll never see him again
Get out of our way
Cuz today is our day

There are visitors in the corner
And our friends in the River End
We’ll never leave them behind
We don’t have all night
To get above that red line
Tomorrow I may get cut
But today our day
Today is our day

Doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-DOOP
Doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-DOOP
Whoah. . . .

Toronto, day 5

It's Friday now. Let's see if I can remember what I did on Monday, my last day in Toronto.

For breakfast, I'm pretty sure I went to Tim Horton's and got a croissant again with a bottle of OJ.

I probably just hung out at the hotel in the morning.

For lunch, I was going to go to that one place where I got that quasi-veggie sandwich the other day, but I opted the burger joint across the street. Mmm, hamburger. . . .

Afterwards I headed to Chinatown. I took the 510 light rail to the end of the line, then walked back towards Chinatown, about a mile and a half trek. It was a nice walk -- had to cut through the University of Toronto. I did some window-shopping.

In Chinatown (obviously), probably comparable to the Gate in Philly's Chinatown.

I grabbed an early dinner at a Northern Chinese restaurant. I ordered shrimp stir fry. It was interesting, to say the least. About two dozen shrimp, a little ginger, and about a dozen pieces of cucumber (they only served the outer edge, didn't include the seeds; seemed to cut one cucumber into five pieces) . . . all in a buttery sauce.

I then hit a souvenir shop and bought some stuff for my nephews for their birthdays and Christmas, and something for my mum on Xmas. Interestingly, it's the shop I went into first a few days ago. I checked out other joints, but this one had everything I was looking for.

Then, I dropped everything off at the hotel, did my back stretches, and headed down to the TIFF theatre again. I saw Honeyland. It was amazing! Didn't think a documentary could be that good.