Friday, March 16, 2012

My Allergies Are Winning

More Music

Home by Dierks Bentley. Some country guy.

Emotional Traffic by Tim McGraw. Another country guy.

A Different Kind of Truth by Van Halen. Go online to read complaints by long-time fans.

El Camino by The Black Keys. Rock guys from Ohio.

The Descendants: music from the motion picture. I read a recommendation.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Ringo Franklin Now

Digital Messages Are Embedded Onto The Reflective Surface.

2012 by Ringo Starr. Drummer sings songs.



Now That's What I Call Music! 41 by [Hey, I actually heard of a few of these people].



Knew You Were Waiting: the best of Aretha Franklin, 1980-1998 by Aretha Franklin. Singer sings '80s tripe.

Bunch of Movies

DVD

Martha Marcy May Marlene starring Elizabeth Olsen. A "gripping psychological thriller" according to the box.



The Confession starring Kiefer Sutherland and John Hurt. A "unique tale of redemption" according to the box.



The Big Year starring Steve Martin, Owen Wilson, Jack Black. A "smart, funny comedy" according to the box.

The movie trailer is awful. Here is something else.


Hell and Back Again featuring Sergeant Nathan Harris and his family. A "unprecedented exploration of the moving image" according to the box.



The Guard starring Brendan Gleeson and Don Cheadle. A "fish-out-of-water tale of murder" according to the box.



Courageous starring [no actor names listed]. A "deleted scenes" according to the box.



The Hammer starring Raymond J. Berry. A "This product is authorized for sale in the USA only" according to the box cover.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Have You Hugged Your Motorcycle Today?

NonFiction

Legendary Motorcycles by Luigi Corbetta. Coffee table book full of motorcycles, motorcycle riders, motorcycle adverts, and reinforcing tape so the book will not fall apart.

McGraw-Hill's ACT: 2012 edition. Pass the exam. Get into a highly regarded college. Graduate college. Move back home.

McGraw-Hill's SAT: 2012 edition. Look for a job. Drink fancy beer you cannot afford. Take GRE. Pass GRE. Get into a highly regarded graduate school.

Thursday, March 08, 2012

Large Print Disease

DVD

Contagion starring [many big name actors]. Big name actors pretend to die. Other big name actors pretend to heal the sick.



Large Print

Kill Shot by Vince "Killer Flu" Flynn. Thriller novel with an assassin character.

Home Front by Kristin "Death On Heels" Hannah. Mom serves in Iraq while Dad watches the kids. Mom is changed.

Roam by Alan "Not Lazarus" Lazar. Something about a dog on a wooden bench according to the cover.

Sunrise on Cedar Key by Terri DuLong-"ing for Death". Grace starts her personal and business lives over on Cedar Key Island.

The Summer Garden by Sherryl "Bury'em In The" Woods. Something to do with Ireland, the state of Virginia, and romance.

Wednesday, March 07, 2012

Miami Basketball House

NonFiction

Insiders' Guide to Miami by Dara Bramson.

Don't Put Me In, Coach: my incredible NCAA journey from the end of the bench to the end of the bench by Mark Titus. Titus is the winningest player in NCAA basketball history with a Big Ten titles, a Final Four appearance and 9 career points.

No Biking in the House Without a Helmet by Melissa Fay Greene. The Greene family had four biological children, "We so loved raising our four children by birth, we didn't want to stop. When the clock started to run down on the home team, we brought in ringers."

Tuesday, March 06, 2012

Garfield, Golob and Guns.

NonFiction

Garfield Fat Cat 3-Pack: Volume 8 by Jim Davis. Kids love these compendiums. Includes Garfield Blots Out the Sun, Garfield Goes Bananas, Garfield Large and In Charge.

Garfield Fat Cat 3-Pack: Volume 6 by Jim Davis. With Garfield Rounds Out, Garfield Chews the Fat, Garfield Goes to Waist.

Garfield Fat Cat 3-Pack: Volume 4 by Jim Davis. Has Garfield Makes It Big, Garfield Rolls On, Garfield Out to Lunch.

Shoot: Your Guide to Shooting and Competition by Julie Golob. Golob, nee Goloski, is a professional shooter and former member of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit. There is a book trailer but it is kinda boring. Here is a competition video instead.



77 Reasons Why Your Book Was Rejected: (and how to make sure it won't happen again!) by Mike Nappa. Recommended by Bill Crider. Reason #57: You Have A Sales History and it Sucks. Reason #29: you stink at grammar and spelling.

Midnight Rising: John Brown and the raid that sparked the Civil War by Tony Horwitz. Horwitz mines the Civil War again. Before I traveled to Australia for a semester of college I looked around at Australia books. I found a $1.00 copy of Horwitz's One For the Road about hitchhiking the circumference of Australia. I still have it at home.

Blue Nights by Joan Didion. Didion's daughter dies.

Family Circle Family Dinners by Linda Fear, Editor in Chief. Recipes for food.

One Pot and Stews: amazingly tasty...surprisingly simple! by No Name Conglomerate. I may have just weeded a one pot recipe book.

Gun Digest Book of the Tactical Rifle by Patrick Sweeney. Guns.

Four Fables

Fiction

The Killing Way by Tony Hays. Arthur is close to being elected supreme King of Britian but a murdered girl is blamed on Merlin. Mad Malgwyn, Arthur's the one armed scribe, is requested to clear Merlin. Malgwyn despises Arthur for rescuing him from a battlefield death.

Poison Flower by Thomas Perry. Does this guy write spy thrillers as well? Maybe that is another guy, Perry won an Edgar Award.

Weird Photo by Internet Serendipity. While searching for a photo of Perry with an Edgar this shot of Michael Chabon (by the Austin Statesman) appeared




The Thief by Clive Cussler and Justin Bell. More aquatic adventures.

Illusion by Frank Peretti. More suspense by Peretti. I assume this is a Christian themed novel like his previous ones.

Monday, March 05, 2012

Musical Interlude to Remain Relevant

Musical Interlude

"To keep a blog relevant you must keep it current."

I am doing library bills this morning and was listening to BBC's 6 Music (as I often do) and a song came on that reminded me of this tune:




Off a charity album, The Sun Came Out, available from the library.

Friday, March 02, 2012

Snow and Television

Snow

DSC01099

DSC01097

DVD

Boardwalk Empire starring Steve Buscemi and Dabney Coleman. 1920 Atlantic City run by local mob boss.



Downton Abbey: Season One starring Professor McGonagall, That One Gal Who Was Nude in Ragtime. Some sort of English show.



Downton Abbey Season Two same as before. More English family upsets.

Archer: the complete season one starring [comic geniuses]. Genius! Absolute genius!

Archer: the complete season two starring [more genius!].

Thursday, March 01, 2012

Investigations, Gypsies, Ghosts

NonFiction

While America Sleeps by Russ Feingold. Former Senator writes a book. I dare you to look at the 1960s photo with Feingold and his father at not smirk and Feingold Jr.'s awful haircut.

Vigilant Investor: a former SEC enforcer reveals how to fraud-proof your investments by Pat Huddleston. "According to the FBI, Americans are conned out of roughly $40 billion dollars - the equivalent of one Madoff-sized mega-scam - every single year through investment fraud."

The Operators:the wild and terrifying inside story of America's war in Afghanistan by Michael Hastings. Hastings wrote the article in Rolling Stone that helped get General McChrystal canned. I've read criticism of Hastings but do not know how accurate the criticism is. Read this and decide for yourself.

Gypsy Boy: my life in the secret world of the Romany Gypsies by Mike Walsh. A bestseller in the UK. Walsh is gay and that was part of his reason for leaving the gypsy community. Since he would likely have been killed.

Haunted Wisconsin, Third Edition by Michael Norman. Page 106 says, "The pounding in the walls was not the only frightening experience the young girl had in the home."

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Jodi Picoult? Again?

Fiction

Lone Wolf by Jodi Picoult. Picoult? Again?

Cinnamon Roll Murder by Joanne Fluke. Fluke? That was quick.

Death of a Kingfisher by M.C. Beaton. Beaton? Already?

Downfall by Terri Blackstock. Blackstock? So soon?

Yours, Mine, Ours by Mary Janice Davidson. Davidson? That was fast.

Victims by Jonathan Kellerman. Kellerman? Speedy, huh?

NonFiction

Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse Trapped on Treasure Island by Floyd Gottfredson. Gottfredson's original strips from the 1930's? It's only been 70 years. Why so fast?

Thursday, February 23, 2012

28 Discs of Sound and Sight

DVD

Knuckle starring [Irish Travellers]. Twelve years of fist fighting.




Weeds: Season Seven starring Mary-Louise Parker. I guess the promo explains everything.



Louie: the complete first season starring Louis C.K., [various guests]. I found a clip without profanity.




Breaking Dawn: Part One starring Breathing Mannequin, Karate Werewolf.




Audiobooks on CD

Once Upon a Secret: my affair with John F. Kennedy and its aftermath by Mimi Alford. 5 CDs at 6.5 hours. Nineteen-year-old intern had affair with JFK up until his death.

Enemies: a history of the FBI by Tim Weiner. 15 CDs at 18.5 hours. The first definitive history of the FBI's secret intelligence operations.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Monday, February 20, 2012

Boogie Down

Music on Circular Pieces of Plastic With A Small, Centered Hole

Ultra Dance 13 featuring remixes of Lady Gaga, Swedish Hose Mafia, Inna, [and other musicians you never heard of]. Singers sing frantic songs.

While listening to the music you can stare at the album's cover model in the accompanying booklet.



Born to Die by Lana Del Rey. Chanteuse sings atmospheric songs. I've read that Del Rey has been generating a lot of internet discussions over her abilities and previous musical efforts. I like a couple of the tunes.

WITH TIGERS!

Nora Roberts : Writing Machine

Fiction

Celebrity in Death by J.D. Robb. Standard Robb cover design. Why does the author bio not say Roberts is the author? There are paperback edition of Rob novels that say right on the cover "Nora Roberts writing as J.D. Robb".

The Technologists by Matthew Pearl. This guy's books do well. Boston, 1868...marshy... fiery cataclysm... sabotage... shocking... sensationalistic... ingenuity... irrepressible... small secret society... mastermind... studded... shimmer.

I always confuse Matthew Pearl with Daniel Pearl.

Sonoma Rose: an Elm Creek quilts novel by Jennifer Chiaverini. I think Chiaverini makes quilting events a major part of her book tours. Bill Crider should make Bigfoot conferences part of his book tours. Or Emu auctions. Or barbershop quartet conventions. Or noir-ish AARP meetings.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Poetic Large Print

Large Print

Taken by Robert Crais. I once beat a mime while eating a lime. At the time it was sublime, until someone dropped a dime. Now, I do time with a fellow named Slime.

Believing the Lie by Elizabeth George. The dock extended into fog as I walked my dog. Where did I leave that corpse?

Catch Me by Lisa Gardner. Some say the artist is lazy. Maybe drugged or a little bit hazy? Recycling cover art is sometimes crazy.

Copper Beach by Jayne Ann Krentz. Psychic talents in the balance. Big, bad dude who can be rude. Will love bloom? Or lead to doom?

10 Novels Including A New One By Stephen Gallagher

Fiction

Bedlam Detective by Stephen Gallagher. Becker is a turn-of-the-century employee of Bedlam Hospital whose job is to investigates wealthy clients to see if they are too insane to handle their affairs. Becker gets involved in a murder case.

Gallagher has done some neat books. I read an old one of his, Valley of Lights, that was quite fun.

I've Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella. Kinsella is English? I figured she was some Manhattan chick. Gallagher is also a Limey.

Restless in the Grave by Dana Stabenow. The latest Alaska tour courtesy of Stabenow and her detective, Kate Shugak.

The Wolf Gift by Anne Rice. Werewolves in Northern California. Maybe the guy just needs a haircut? Did you think of that?

Private Games by James Patterson and Mark Sullivan. Mr. Money Machine has a new co-writer.

Crimes by Moonlight edited by Charlaine Harris. A freebie from Bouchercon this past Fall.

I was invited to a librarian breakfast where Harris was the speaker. There were plenty of her fans there, and also fans of the television program. At one point she spoke about how, at times, there was something she did not like or agree with in the television program but she would then look at her last royalty check and feel better. I drank A LOT of coffee at that breakfast.

Catch Me by Lisa Gardner. I wish there were a way to show my extreme sarcasm when I think, "Oh, there is an original title."

Left for Dead by J.A. Jance. Didn't she just have a book? Well...maybe if last July is "just a while ago."

Mrs. God by Peter Straub. This horror novella has a weird history. Copyright is 1990 when it appeared in Houses Without Doors. A ghost story with a researcher staying at the family home that hosted literary greats.

Kill Shot by Vince Flynn. I bet someone gets killed.

Thursday, February 09, 2012

I Am Short on Time, Provide Your Own Wisecracks

Large Print

Angelina's Bachelors by Brian O'Reilly.

The Silver Lotus by Thomas Steinbeck.

Down the Darkest Road by Tami Hoag.

Double Dexter by Jeff Lindsay.

How It All Began by Penelope Lively.

The List by Martin Fletcher.

Nanjing Requiem by Ha Jin.

The Devil's Elixir by Raymond Khoury.

True Blue by Diana Palmer.