Randy

Don't forget that he said that he was looking forward to being Villa's captain. Fabian is hilarious.

It is definitely worth reading. Like I said, there are alot of characters introduced, and they are grouped together in different time periods, so when Pynchon goes back to them it can be difficult recollecting who they are and their significance in the story. The overarching story is about the transformations of the character, V. But the majority of the book is devoted to tangential characters. It is worth reading for the gradual revelation of who the character is and what V has been through. It is also interesting for the vast amount of intriguing "characters" that pop in and out of the novel. I just finished reading Orfeo by Richard Powers. The main character is an avant-garde classical music composer. He went to school for music, only after transferring over from studying chemistry. This is an important part of his background; fast-forward 40+ years. He looks into the concept of transferring the markers of DNA sequence: ACGT to musical notes. He then comes up with the idea to reverse the process: to write a piece of music, and then write an organism's DNA sequence based on the composition. He ends up being investigated by the FBI for these experiments in his home. It was an interesting book, although the one difficulty with it is their a ton of musical terms used. If you are not very familiar with musical theory, you will need a dictionary.

Alternately, while I know who Earl Sweatshirt is, I've never listened to anything by him previously.

I read V within the past year. There are so many different characters, I barely remember his place in the story.

This line from The Village Voice review of the FIFA movie United Passions cracked me up: "As drama, it’s not merely ham-fisted, but pork-shouldered, bacon-wristed, and sausage-elbowed."

Last night, I went to Bunbury in Cincinnati. Tame Impala played in a torrential downpour and it made for a memorable experience. Royal Blood also put on a great set, but they always do with the energy that they bring.

I know that it is cliche to say that an album contains a common thread and it is not just a collection of songs, Carrie & Lowell truly is that. Sufjan Stevens tells the story that leads up to the passing of his mother and how he deals with it. His response is mostly destructive: alcohol, drugs, and promiscuity. He loves her, but there were clearly issues they had in their relationship. That might be why he never allowed himself a healthy grieving process. Obviously the subject matter is a personal one, and the songs are very quiet. It is mostly a sad album, but there are some beautiful songs on it. The saddest one is "Fourth of July", in which he tells of the moment of her passing and an imagined conversation in the hospital room. The final song is especially depressing. Sufjan goes on a personal journey working through his grief. As he realizes that the response to his mother's passing was destructive and he is finally in a good place, he is ready to accept her back into his life, but it is too late.

My pick, which is next, will contrast yours in loudness and tempo. But it is similarly about loss.

I haven't gotten to it yet, and now the sequel is out: Finders Keepers.

I heard this on the radio, and I thought "that sounds like a Sparks record". Then, I looked them up, and it is Sparks with members of Franz Ferdinand.

I finished reading "Le Grand Meulnes" by Alain-Fournier. The book was published in 1913, and it is the author's only book because he was killed in action in 1914. It is an adventure novel based around adolescent schoolboys in 1890s France. The story starts when a new kid, Meulnes, comes to the small town school that everybody wants to be their friend. Through some misadventure, he winds up at a nobleman' s estate, where he meets a beautiful girl. When he gets back to the school, he makes it his mission to go back to the estate to see the girl again, but he can't remember how he got there. The narrator joins Meulnes to piece together details to help him get back to the "lost domain". It is a very readable book that falls into that sweet spot, in between complex and too basic language.

There is a lot to like about this album. One of the first things that stuck out to me about it is how the music builds; not only within the songs, but through the album. It starts off pretty atmospheric and minimalist (whether it is driven by the drums or the keyboard) in parts, and builds upon the sounds to become more complex. I like early tracks on the album, but for me, it really picks up starting with "Bunker Buster"; and the stand-out song "Continental Shelf" follows that. One of the things I like about it is that it has these tonal shifts: from a dark, industrial-sounding guitar to a more plucky sound. Alot of the music has what I think of as an 80s sound, where it is a repetive song structure that builds to a crescendo through the song and creates an exciting wall of sound. "Death" is one of the best examples of this. This has been my favorite album pick so far. It's something that I hadn't heard once, but really appeals to my taste.

I read "Devil All The Time" a few years ago. I remember thinking that the main characters were like the most evil version of Mickey and Mallory. I think that one of the reasons that I picked it up was that it is set in Southern Ohio. It is one disturbing look at my backyard.

I see that they are playing here, in Cincinnati, in July. I may go see them.

I have been aware of Viet Cong (mostly because of their name) but have never actually listened to anything of theirs before. After the 1st listening of the album, I really like it. There were a couple of songs that reminded me of Joy Division. I want to listen to it a couple of more times before I say what I liked about it.

Mr Mercedes is on my to-read list; I'll probably get to it in a couple of months. I am currently reading Radiance of Tomorrow by Ishmael Beah. He is a former child soldier in the Ivory Coast, whose first book was a memoir of his experience. This book is his first work of fiction. It takes places in a country village 7 years after the civil war is over and people have begun to return to the village from refugee camps after the war had burned through their home and chased them away. The people have gotten back to getting re-aclimated to their old ways of living when a foreign mining company sets up shop in town. They offer much-needed jobs, but there is also a cost to the environment and to their physical well being. I am almost finished with the book; just about 40 pages left to read. Pretty much everything that has happened in the book has been sad, if there is going to be an uplifting event in the novel, it hasn't occurred yet. The only positive event was the re-union of families and friends upon their gradual return, but even that has been ruined by the mining companies' policies forcing the people to voluntarily displacing themselves from the village. Although the events that affect the characters are depressing, many of characters do progress as human beings despite the shit they are forced to deal with. One interesting thing about the book is the choice of language. The language that the villagers speak with is influenced by their oral tradition of storytelling. Their shared history influences the way that the people relate to their environment and to people around them. Instead of saying that day turned into night, the author writes: "By the time they finished, the sun had successfully hidden itself from the eyes of the sky and put out its fire." This difference in language helps form a uniqueness about the story.

I don't think it's the end of the world that different actors will voice the characters. More than 1 actor has voiced Bugs Bunny.

After listening to the album a couple times, the song that I enjoyed the most was the opener. There was an upbeat nature to it and there was a recognizable rhythmic element. The other 2 songs that I liked were tracks 6 and 5 because they also had a rhythm that I could relate to. Most of the rest of the album was too unpredictable for me.

Well, that is not the type of music that I ever listen to, but I will try to find something in it that I like.

I enjoyed it. Are they re-inventing the wheel? No, but I was entertained by it. There are parts that remind me of 1990s California punk.

It's not TV. It's HBO.Yes, I went there.

Has anybody read The Dinosaur Feather by S.J. Gazan? It's one of the smoother reads I've experienced in a while. It's a thriller based on the ornithogical argument on whether modern birds evolved from dinosaurs or an earlier reptile ancestor. I know that doesn't sound exciting, but the writing style gives it an excellent flow. It is shaping up to be my favorite book that I have read so far this year.

I wouldn't necessarily say that Betty is against the war now. She's against somebody that she cares about being killed. War is serious (and now personal for her) and this isn't the right time to be making a game of it. I don't think that suggests that her conservative-leaning politics have changed yet.

I went to see The Bright Light Social Hour last night. It was a really fun show. It was good crowd too; people were dancing and having a good time. They played a good mix of the more bluesy stuff from their first CD and the more electro stuff from their new CD.