Happy Memorial Day!

Hello,

First things first: Hug a veteran! Thank them for their service to our country. Without the veterans, we would all be speaking German or Russian. So hug a veteran, not just today but everyday. If you want to read some good books about veterans and what they go through, two pop to my mind. First is the excellent World War 2 history "Flags of Our Fathers". The author is James Bradley and the book is about his discovery that his father was one of the 6 famous flag raisers on Iwo Jima. (The co-author is Ron Powers.) This is the historic picture that was taken. Here's the link: http://www.iwojima.com/raising/lflage2.gif

The second book is the Vietnam history, Neil Sheehan's "A Bright Shining Lie". This follows the life of John Paul Vann and his experience's in Vietnam, including his prediction of the Tet Offensive. (By the way both were made into movies and the Clint Eastwood directed "Flags of Our Fathers" is a much better movie. Note here I am not saying best book but but best movie. Both books are equally fantastic. Also "A Bright Shining Lie" won a Pulitzer Prize.)

One more real quick movie note, this past Saturday I was able to go see "Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull." Before I went to see this movie, I had heard only negative things about this movie. That being said I thought this was a good movie and I enjoyed it. It is the weakest of the four Indiana Jones movies though. Shia Lebeuf steals the movie. If I am a third as vital as Harrison Ford at that age I would be very happy. He is easily one of my favorite actors of all-time. I would reccomend that you go see this movie. On two conditions though 1) Go into the movie not expecting much. 2) You probably should be a humongous Indiana Jones fan. By the way the movie earned $126 million in it's first four days of opening. (That's good because I was starting to worry about George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford and where they were going to come up with the money to eat.)

Okay on to the music. I will get my two "American Idol" comments out of the way. Here is a review of the 9th ranked contestants and how they have fared so far after "AI". Season One: Ejay Day Honestly I don't even know if this person is a boy or a girl. Obviously I have never heard of this person. Season Two: Corey Clark, the only reason I knew who this goofball is all the accusations he made about Paula Abdul. I think he released a CD, but the fact that I don't know means it is irrelevant. Season Three: Camile Velasco, I have never heard of her. Season Four: Nikko Smith, all I know about him is that he is the son of Hall-of-Famer Ozzie Smith. Season Five: Mandisa, I don't know anything about her "career". Season Six: Gina Glocksen, she was last season's rock chick. She has surfaced doing a show about this season of "AI". Season Seven: Ramiele Malubay, I know I am in the minority here but I really like her. That being said, I don't think she is going to be having a big career. However Ramiele I would love to be proved wrong on this.

Also I received a comment about my prediction that David Archuleta would "never become a big star". Now obviously I will admit I could be wrong on this and if I am that is okay. It is not anything personal, I just don't like the small niche he sings in. I don't like the way his dad is pimping him, it seems like this might be more about his dad than David. (I also don't like the way the "AI" judges and producers were pimping him as well.) I watched a video of him singing on Jr. Star Search singing Alicia Keys, "Fallin" when he was 12. He actually sang better then.
The commenter asked, "Just what was David Cook doing when he was age 17 that would indicate that he was bound for stardom?" My answer to that is I don't know. However I think that is the point, from what I know his parents weren't pushing him to succeed. He had to make his own breaks, he was living life, he probably had several struggles to overcome. So other than trying to make a career of music or at least thinking about it at that point, there was probably nothing indicating that he would be a star. Honestly winning "American Idol" doesn't guarantee that you will be a star. Where are Taylor Hicks and Ruben Studdard? I also think "AI" should raise the minimum age limit to at least 21. Poor Archie on the night of the finale, I thought he was going to break down under the pressure. Meanwhile the older and more mature David Cook seemed to just sail through it. (By the way I appreciate the comment, I would love to create a dialogue on this blog. That will make this blog much more interesting for you and I.)

One more thing and then I will let you go. amazon.com is selling a MP3 CD each day at an extremely discounted price. Today's discount CD for example is Jay Z's "The Black Album". That CD is $3.99 only, about $3.98 more than I would pay for it. Honestly I have not been impressed with their discounted selections so far, I thought I had read that the discounted CD was going to be $2.99 each day as well. I must have read that wrong. Also they have 5 new CD's every Friday for $5 each, I believe that lasts for the following week. Now on these $5 CD's they have a much better selection. Two of these CD's are easily worthy of your $5. Those two CD's being Bob Marley's Legend" and Metallica's "The Black Album". If you can only buy one, buy "Legend". That is probably one of the Top 50 CD's of all-time.
again don't forget to hug a veteran, themusicaddict