Review of "The Quiet Game"

Hello,

The following is my review of Greg Iles first book in the Penn Cage series, "The Quiet Game". I know my review is simplistic and that I use of course too much. I did that intentionally to point out the ridiculousness of many of the plot points.

The Quiet Game by Greg Iles

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I started reading this book on Christmas Eve, 2010.

Page 64: I'm reading the Penn Cage books a bit out of order. I read the second book of the Cage series first. The title of that book is "Turning Angel". A very tense, gripping tale that I read very quickly. Since I read the second book first I know a lot about the central case of the first book. That central case being who killed Delano Payton and why? I'm also familiar with some of the characters.

After reading the first 64 pages of "The Quiet Game", I'm not quite as enthralled with it as I was "Turning Angel". However it's still a pretty good book.

Quoting directly from the book, the central case of this book is "Delano Payton was a black factory worker who got blown up in his car outside the Triton Battery Plant in 1968. It was a race murder, like a dozen others in Mississippi, only it was never solved. I'm not sure anybody really tried to solve it. Payton was a decorated combat veteran of the Korean War. And I'll bet you a thousand dollars we're sitting within five miles of his murderers right now." Those are the words of Penn Cage.

My running question for this book review. Who killed Delano Payton? The first suspect is Ray Presley, someone who seems to be working both sides of the law.

Page 100: This book is okay, but the more I think about it the less I'm impressed with it. I'm starting to find out why Cage fell in love with Caitlyn Masters. She certainly has a lot going for her, both physically and mentally.

However the plot is kind of lame. It's one of those story lines where someone is being blackmailed. The person being blackmailed, Tom Cage, could have gone to the police 25 years ago and resolved it. No, he paid the blackmailer and things have been getting worse ever since. So if Tom Cage, a very smart man and well respected doctor, had resolved the issue there would be no story.

When that is your foundation, your story is in for some trouble. Then there's some issues about how Penn and his father can end the blackmailing without involving the police. One foolhardy plan is that Penn will buy the gun, a very key part of Presley's blackmail plot. It's the main thing being hung over the head of his Dad. I hope this book gets better.

We don't find out much more about the Delano Payton case and frankly at this point I don't even care. Obviously I'm very disappointed so far.

Page 131: The book is getting a little bit better, but there are so many subplots now it's crazy.

Here's 7 subplots that were brought up or we found out more about in these mere 31 pages.

1) Penn and Caitlyn kiss for the first time, with her being the aggressor.
2) We meet Leo Marston, the man who tried to ruin Penn's father. I know this sounds simplistic, but he's a very bad man. He's also one of the most powerful men in town of course. Penn has a huge grudge against him. Marston is also known for his for his voracious sexual appetite.
3) Leo Marston's wife, Maude, accuses Penn of ruining her daughter. She's referred to with 3 different names: Olivia Marston, Livy Marston or Liv Sutter.. That's because of course Penn and Olivia were dating in high school. Olivia Marston is now married to a lawyer and living in Atlanta. Penn is confused how he ruined Olivia's life.
4) A German company, BASF, wants to build a chemical plant in Natchez that would bring a lot of jobs and money to the town and Marston. So most people don't want Cage to reopen the Payton case and upset the apple cart. Natchez is in the midst of difficult economic times.
5) We also meet Ike "The Spike" Ransom, he's a former high school football star. He's currently a cop with hidden motives. Ransom offers Cage his help and to be a bodyguard. Of course Ransom knows about the Payton murder and of course Penn's arch enemy, Marston, had something to do with the murder.
6) We also find out more about how crazy Ray Presley is.
7) Also Cage dreams of a woman swimming, he has trouble recognizing her. But he eventually does, it's Olivia Marston. She's his former great high school love. Also Penn's wife Sarah, who died of cancer, continues to haunt his thoughts.

Is that enough subplots for you? I hope some of these subplots get resolved soon, they are cluttering up the book.

Page 194: There are still too many subplots, in fact now we have one more. Cage is taking Caitlyn and his daughter to Houston, Cage is going to witness an execution. The convicted man is Arthur Hanratty, one of the last people Cage prosecuted as a Houston DA.

Now there's a high school girl that is fixated on him. She's his waitress when he comes in to where she works. She also had asked for and received an autograph from him. A couple of high school girls played a big part in "Turning Angel". Iles seems to have a thing for high school girls, hopefully nothing sexual happens. If it does, that would be a bit too pervy. I expect her role to expand, hopefully it's just platonic. Boy I had no idea what turns her character would take.

Ransom comes to the rescue of Cage, probably the first of many times. Cage pays Presley $75,000 for the gun that could be used for blackmail and then disposes of it. Cage also pays $2,000 to a former black police chief who has the police file for the Payton murder.

This is a bit simplistic story. There are too many coincidences and things that happen very favorably for Cage. It's all too convenient. I keep on hoping this book gets a lot better. If not Iles writing quality took a huge leap from this book to "Turning Angel". I can't believe I'm seriously thinking about not finishing this book after how good "Turning Angel" was.

Page 286:

This book continues to be a roller coaster ride, that's not necessarily good. Penn, Caitlyn and Annie go to Houston for the execution. At the airport who do they run into? Well Olivia Marston (married name: Liv Sutter) of course. What are the chances of that? Caitlyn later suggested that it might not be a coincidence. What does Liv want? Obviously she has some stake in the battle between her father and Cage? She's on her own side, but besides that is she more loyal to Dad or Penn? What is her true agenda? If I were Cage I'd be very wary of her.

Here's another coincidence, Olivia is separated. She points out that both of them are available now. Although Cage is starting a relationship with Caitlyn Masters. Once everyone gets back to Natchez Olivia literally throws herself at Cage. Doesn't anyone play hard to get anymore? We find out that she has offered himself to him previously as well after their breakup. I have a feeling that this isn't going to turn out well for Cage. From reading book 2, I know that Cage hooks up with Masters.

On one hand I'm tempted to put this book down and read something else. On the other hand I'm very curious about how this story will end. I'm intrigued to see how, if he's able to, to resolve all the various subplots and the main story line. He's going to have to be a magician to pull it off.

My running question, who killed Delano Payton? I still don't know but know that several people had a hand in in. The current director of the FBI, former FBI agents, the most powerful man in town and a racist idiot.

Page 352: Penn resists Liv and as they are driving back to his house, guess what? It's on fire and of course it completely burns down. Somebody kidnaps Penn's daughter, takes her and drops her off about a mile away, and leaves a warning note with her. The note says to stay off the Delano Payton case.

I don't know how to put this nicely and it's not as bad as it sounds. This is one of the dumbest books I've ever read. I feel at this point that I've met nearly everyone in Natchez, Mississippi. Penn knows nearly every woman in town and most of the women desire him. Here's an example of what is driving me crazy. On page 336, Penn is having sex with Livy. Then on page 338, Cage is on a stakeout. Of course who shows up it's our good old friend Caitlyn Masters. Then on page 339, while they are on the stakeout, guess who jogs by. Jenny, the waitress, that seems to be fixated on him. It seems in Jenny's case it may be yet another one of those crazy coincidences. However I don't think so.

This book seems like every idea Iles had, both good and bad, and every character he thought of wound up in this book.

On this stakeout, Leo and Livy go to his law offices and haul out six boxes of his private files. Oh yeah, I forgot we are about to have a trial. Cage intentionally libeled Marston so that Marston would sue him. Then Cage could have access to many of his papers in hopes of finding incriminating documents about his role in the death of Delano Payton. (If Leo Marston is so intelligent, why would he still have all these papers?) Anyway Masters and Cage follow the Marstons back to their house to try and catch them in the act of destroying these papers. Which of course the Marstons do. Then a few more pages of silliness and unbelivability.

His family also has 4 bodyguards, one of which plays a significant role in the much better "Turning Angel". That would be Daniel Kelly. Oh yeah Cage meets Ransom at a warehouse. Two people show up to try and kill him. I'm getting ready for a tortotorus, spellbinding, intoxicating, head scratching, mind numbing final 210 pages. I'm sure several more women will indicate they want carnal knowledge of Penn Cage.

Who killed Delano Payton? What? Who is that? Of yeah, he was buried in all the characters and sub plots.

Page 436: I almost finished reading this book yesterday, but I wanted to let the story sink into my brain. I then might come to some conclusions about it. I probably will finish this literary equivalent of crack cocaine today. We are starting to find out some more about some of the way too many sub plots. The waitress Jenny doesn't have a crush on Penn, she mistakenly thinks he's her father. Livy is her Mom. To make your stomach churn, Livy and Jenny's father is the same man: Leo Marston. At least that's what Penn deduces from the evidence. You can't take anything for face value in this book.

We find out the real reason Delano Payton was killed back in 1968 was to send a message to the black community to "stay in line". A business wants to come to town and they want subserviant employees. (I shudder writing the two previous sentences.) In other words that may have reflected reality, but it's sort of a lame plot point. This is a book that has had too many lame plot points. Of course Marston owned that property where the factory would have been built.

Also Penn and Leo got into a fist fight, only for Penn to be saved by his security guy Daniel. Penn goes back to see Agent Stone in his cabin that is far away from society. Of course someone is trying to kill him and Stone in this rustic location. That is where this section of reading ends.

It looks like Ray Presley killed Delano Payton, but at this point does any reader care?

I read the final 128 pages and my eyes only rolled 3 or 4 more times. On one hand this story is very simplistic but on the other hand it's loaded with subplots.

Last we knew Agent Stone and Penn Cage were being shot at in Stone's home. Guess if they escape or not? Of course they do. Cage escapes death at least 3 or 4 times in this book these alleged ex-FBI, trained assassins apparantally forget how to shoot when Cage is around. (Like Dan Brown's Robert Langdon character they are impervious to such silly human things as death.) So Cage escapes gets back to the Baton Rouge airport where these bad guys with really bad aim try to get him again. Thanks to Daniel Kelly's help he escapes. In both "The Quiet Game" and "Turning Angel", Cage hires Kelly to be his security about halfway through this book. In book 3 I hope he hires Kelly at the start of the book.

Then Cage meets Ransom and we find out he was blackmailed into killing Delano Payton by Presley. Then of course the extremely busy Presley shows up on cue and kills Ransom. But guess who survives again, yes the immortal Penn Cage.

A few more eye rolls and then Cage is meeting lacivious Livy at the cemetery. We find out that Presley raped Livy multiple times and impregenated her. He's actually the father of the waitress Jenny. Her father isn't Penn or Leo.

After the cemetery (a few more eye rolls) Livy and Penn goes to the Marston home. As Livy slowly learns the truth about her father, she becomes so infuriated she agrees to help Penn get proof against him. But of course good old Leo catches them and guess who shows up again. Like a bad penny the amazing Ray Presley turns up again. There's a bunch of crap that goes on, ultimately Leo Marston kills his pet cockroach Presley. Speaking of cockroaches, of course Penn lives to fight another day.

Just a few hours later it's time for the slander trial of Cage vs. Marston. It's a big show down. Cage serves as his own lawyer, boy I wonder if he's going to win? (I hope you have saved up a few eye rolls, because you are going to need them now.) Of course Livy is one of the lawyers defending her father and of course she's a lawyer.

Cage has a very limited case until at the very last minute Agent Stone shows up. He confirms the whole Ray Presley/Del Payton conspiracy and Leo Marston's role in it. Then just as the judge is about to send the jury to talk about it, Super Waitress to the rescue. Jenny had tapes of Marston talking to someone confirming his role in the Del Payton case.

Marston withdraws the case, but of course he gets arrested. Cage is proven right again and everybody is happy. Livy goes back to Atlanta, Leo goes on trial and of course Cage ends up with Caitlyn.

Overall I'd give this book a B-, I give "Turning Angel" an A+. Iles has a way with words and Penn Cage is a good protagonist. However in this book the subplots, crazy coincedences, how both the good guys and the really good guys can survive almost anything is a bit overwhelming and distracting. I know this book is a work of question, but this book really asks you to swallow a lot of things that don't make sense.

Cage must have used a better editor on "Turning Angel" because that book was a lot more entertaining. The characters were more believable. Book 3 "The Devil's Punchbowl" is next for me and I'm praying that that will be almost as good as "Turning Angel".



View all my reviews

I started reading Book 3 in the series last night, "The Devil's Punchbowl". I'm not holding out much hope for it.

themusicaddict

Brett Favre please retire

Hello,

I was going through my normal morning workout. As I usually do I was listening to my iPod and watching ESPN Sports Center. Typically on Sports Center, they talk about most stories 30 seconds or less. However they had this seemingly 5 minute feature about Brett Favre. They reviewed each game he played, had analyst Herm Edwards give his opinion and showed some clips of a Favre press conference. They also had poor Ed Werder stand out in front of the Minnesota Vikings headquarters talking about Favre.

I know he's a legend and he will be a first ballot inductee into the Hall of Fame and very deservedly so. However he also shows the bad things that can happen to an athlete that hangs on one year too long. He should have retired at the end of last season. In a few years few people will remember his last season. They won't remember how disappointing of a season it was. This last season was really very sad.

Brett please take the news that your body is telling you: RETIRE! ESPN please fall out of love with Favre. You're just feeding his narcissism.

I also changed my mind about the NFL suspending Favre. I think they should have suspended him starting next season. That way we won't have to hear all winter, spring and fall about whether he's going to retire or not. I know this blog gives him the attention that he so desperately craves. I don't want to feed into that, Brett its time to hang up the cleats.

themusicaddict

Chromeo, NFL's ridiculous Favre punishment

Hello,

My brother sent me an e-mail yesterday asking me what I thought about the band Chromeo. He says he likes them, but his wife hates them. I didn't have a good answer to that question. I was at work and for some reason napster.com doesn't play there for me. I went to my iTunes library and I have 4 of their songs. I listened to those songs a couple of times each. Those four songs are "Night by Night", "Momma's Boy", "Don't Turn The Lights On" and "Bonafied Lovin'".

That last song is probably my favorite of all their songs now:



I also realized I had heard "Momma's Boy" before and it's a pretty good song as well:



Initially I fell into the not liking them very much camp. It seemed their music was a weird mix of rock and disco. But as I've listened to them over the last couple of days, they've grown on me. They do have a lot of good songs, but a lot of their songs sound alike. (Yes I know the same thing for ZZ Top and they still became a huge band.) I would have to give them a B grade. They won't be cracking my Top 50 soon (which I will finish some day). But someday they might make it there. They need to expand their sound a bit.

This is yet a funny and sort of surreal video at the same time. This song is called "Don't Turn The Lights On".



"Night By Night": "She says I'm not romantic, I say she's too dramatic. I tell here why we're at it we can work it night by night." This song is very funky and also has great lyrics. This song is very addictive, I've had it on loop for several listens now.



One more Chromeo song, this is "Needy Girl":



The NFL strikes again and shows their brilliance. They really taught Brett Favre a lesson. Today the whole Favre sexting Jenn Sterger punishment was announced. The NFL didn't suspend Favre. I think they realized how ridiculous that would have looked. It's doubtful that Favre plays in the Vikings final game. Then hopefully he won't come back next season. So that's a bit sensible, but then what did they do? They fined him $50,000.

I know to you and me that might sound like a stiff punishment. However the last I heard was that Brett Favre was making $14 million dollars this year. That means he was only fined 1/280th of his yearly salary this season. In previous seasons and all his commercials he's probably made at least a $100 million more. But my favorite thing about the story the NFL didn't have enough to fine him for his alleged abusive behavior to Jenn Sterger. They fined him $50,000 for "failure to cooperate". I hope that money is going to a charity and not into the coffers of the greedy NFL.

themusicaddict

The Favre Fiasco, Song's Rocking My iPod

Hello,

According to espn.com, "The NFL will announce a decision in the Brett Favre/Jenn Sterger case within the next 48 hours, a person familiar with the case told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter. Favre, currently with the Vikings, is not expected to be suspended, but he will be disciplined, according to the source."

This probe has now been going on for weeks, Favre hopefully only has one more game in his career. (Then seriously Brett just go away.) Now with the season almost over, the NFL is going to announce the punishment now. The good timing of the year award goes to Roger Goodell. I understand that he doesn't want to embarrass the legend, but this is pathetic

It's almost like a hypothetical case where a bunch of football players at a big time college sell some items and make some money. In this hypothetical situation the NCAA suspends these players up to 5 games for next season, even though a lot of these players probably won't be back next season. However said players can still play in their bowl game. What's that, that's not a hypothetical situation? That happened at Ohio State? Apparently the G Gordon Lee "murderer's row" that he was talking about was boosters and other hangers on. I thought he was referring to teams in The Big Ten.

Where's the logic in those punishments. Both the NFL and NCAA are making a stand, the fact that the stand is a farce doesn't seem to cross their minds.

Now on to something that doesn't raise my blood pressure, music. My 9 year old daughter received an iPod that she absolutely loves. I set it up for her on my computer. We selected a bunch of songs. That includes all the Justin Bieber songs I have. We also added appropriate songs by Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry. My oldest son and her share my love of music. I'd love my kids to love music and reading as much as I do. Music has helped me through many of the tougher times in my life. Also very things are better than a great concert or a great musical. Reading is great because you can take a book with you anywhere. If I ever go to a place where I think I might have to wait, I bring a book with me. That makes the wait a lot more tolerable and that time was used for something useful. I've learned a lot more reading than I ever did through school.

Songs rocking my iPod and selected videos:

1) "Nasty"- Janet Jackson This is one of my all-time favorite videos. "Miss Jackson if you're nasty".



2) "Red Barchetta"- Rush One of the most under appreciated Rush songs.



3) "Low"- Kelly Clarkson. A truly kick ass song. A great post relationship song.



4) "It's On The Rocks"- The Donnas I've seen the Donnas twice in concert, that drummer is a whirlwind of energy. A great band if you are looking for some genuine rock and roll.



5) "One"- U2 A great song with some of the best lyrics ever written in rock music.



The amazing lyrics:

Is it getting better?
Or do you feel the same?
Will it make it easier on you now?
You got someone to blame
You say

One love
One life
When it's one need
In the night
One love
We get to share it
Leaves you baby if you
Don't care for it

Did I disappoint you?
Or leave a bad taste in your mouth?
You act like you never had love
And you want me to go without
Well it's

Too late
Tonight
To drag the past out into the light
We're one, but we're not the same
We get to
Carry each other
Carry each other
One

Have you come here for forgiveness?
Have you come to raise the dead?
Have you come here to play Jesus?
To the lepers in your head

Did I ask too much?
More than a lot.
You gave me nothing,
Now it's all I got
We're one
But we're not the same
Well we
Hurt each other
Then we do it again
You say
Love is a temple
Love a higher law
Love is a temple
Love the higher law
You ask me to enter
But then you make me crawl
And I can't be holding on
To what you got
When all you got is hurt

One love
One blood
One life
You got to do what you should
One life
With each other
Sisters
Brothers
One life
But we're not the same
We get to
Carry each other
Carry each other

One

One

6) "Santeria"- Sublime
7) "Strange Currencies"- R.E.M.



8) "Sex and Candy"- Marcy Playground. A song that's not on my daughter's iPod.
9) "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You"- The mighty Led Zeppelin



10) "Black Dog"- Another song by the mighty Led Zeppelin.
11) "Our Lips Are Sealed"- The Go Go's Oh how do I wish the music was as good now as it was back in the 80's. Kill The End, bring back Gen X 101.9 Salt Lake City!



12) "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)- They Might Be Giants. A great old song revived by the quirky They Might Be Giants.



13) "State Lines"- Matt Hires I have so much music on my computer that I'm running out of room on my hard drive. I use to download every song that I could to my computer. Now I have to be much more selective. This is one of those many songs I downloaded free from amazon.com. This is a great song that I doubt I would have heard any other way if not for getting it free.



14) "Summer Nights"- Van Halen, or some would say Van Hager.
15) "Hell"- Squirrel Nut Zippers



16) "Lights"- Journey The version with Arnel Pineda singing.
17) "Tom Sawyer", another classic from Rush. Who says that Rush doesn't have a sense-of-humor?
Geddy's voice is going downhill a bit though, isn't it. He could be a little more dynamic as well.



I feel like it's time to have a little Rush moment.





Then of course the Bob and Doug MacKensie classic with Geddy Lee singing.



18) "Sole Survivor"- Asia
19) "Two of Hearts"- Stacey Q. Again I miss the music of the 80's:



20) "You Might Think"- The Cars



21) "From The Inside"- Linkin Park
22) "Nothing From Nothing"- Billy Preston, a great 70's song.



23) "Evacuate The Dancefloor"- Cascada One of the most danceable songs ever. My kids love Club Penguin.



24) "Oceans and Streams"- Black Keys If you like The White Stripes, you'll love these guys. Here's a taste.



25) "Don't Go Away Mad (Just Go Away)" (Live) - Motley Crue


26) "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark"- Robert Cray

themusicaddict

Sports Day Monday, December 27th, 2010

Hello,

The NFL only has one week left of the regular season, for fans of the Cowboys and other downtrodden teams that's good news. In fact, at this point I want the Cowboys to lose. They have nothing left to play for this season. A win will be detrimental to their NFL Draft hopes next season. Dallas has one more game, they play at Philadelphia Sunday. I expect them to lose that game and finish the season 5-11.

That would mean that Jason Garrett finishes the season at 4-4 as head coach. Is he deserving of the head coach position? I don't know the answer to that question. The thing that scares me is that I don't think Jerry Jones knows the answer to that question either. What I do know is I'm grateful that Jones fired Phillips when he did. Jerry now please take time, as long as you need, to pick a real NFL coach. Norv Turner and John Fox are probably going to get fired, these are not people you should consider. They were fired for a reason! There are rumors floating around that Nick Saban is being considered as your Dallas' next head coach. I'm not sure about that, coaches going from college to the NFL rarely work out. The obvious exception to that and the man that proves the rule is Jimmy Johnson.

Of course any new coaches usual first order of business is to prepare for the NFL Draft and to determine what veterans should be brought back next year. Of course, in Dallas the head coach is in the back seat in terms of making decisions, Jerry Jones must always have his opinion heard. That's irregardless of how bad his ideas are. (Hiring Wade Phillips, trading for Roy Williams and paying Jason Garrett $3,000,000 to be a not very good assistant coach. That last decision is still up in the air.) Having one of your top players get hurt is rarely a good thing. However Tony Romo getting hurt was one of the best things to happen to the Cowboys this season. It shows Dallas' brass, with or without Romo they are a mediocre team. That means there's no reason to bring Romo back. We also find out that Jon Kitna is a solid back up, for a year or two more at least. Not that Kitna getting hurt was good, but it gave Stephen McGee a chance to show what he can or can't do as a NFL quarterback. That may or may not answer the following question: Should they begin to prepare him as the long term quarterback or do they need to find one in the draft?

Who does Dallas need to get rid of before next season? Without any doubt, Marion "The Librarian" Barber has to go away. He's still tough, but he thinks he can still fake out people with his moves. He can't and what usually ends up happening is as he's trying to fake out people he gets tackled for losses. Roy Williams had an okay season, but has become expendable. Miles Austin has that huge contract and Dez Bryant is the future, it's time to cut Williams.

In the draft I'd like to see the Cowboys focus on an offensive lineman or two, a long-term quarterback option and some defenders with a bit more grit.

My favorite game this past weekend was the Giants getting blitzed by Green Bay. When I saw that score I laughed and laughed. I simply hate the Giants for two reasons. The first reason is that jerk of a head coach, Tom Coughlin. Every time I see his face I want to leave the room running. Not only is he a jerk, he's not a good head coach. He's only held on to the Giants job for so long because of their miraculous Super Bowl season. He really needs to go away.

Reason 2 is Eli Manning. In an early season poll, Sports Illustrated asked NFL players who were the most overrated players in the NFL. Two of the highest receiving votes were Tony Romo and Eli Manning, this season has shown how accurate that poll was. Long time readers of this blog will know by now how I feel about Romo. But Eli Manning is also highly overrated, again helped by that miraculous Super Bowl season. The other thing that adds to Eli being overrated is many people think he will be as good as his brother. Please Eli will never be in the same league as Peyton, other than of course both are in the National Football League.

Manning threw for four interceptions yesterday, the 301 yards he passed for must included the interception return yardage as well. He's thrown for 24 interceptions this season, with a 85.4% quarterback rating. That's barely an average quarterback rating, yet he gets press like he's this great quarterback. But he isn't, if Dallas had a chance to pick him up I'd be on this blog begging Dallas to please not sign him. In fairness to Eli, many of his other stats are decent. But other than the miracle year, he's just not a winner. Look at his postseason history if you don't believe me.

themusicaddict

A blog of thanks and gratitude

Hello,

First of all I'd just like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas or whatever other tradition you may be celebrating this time of year.

Have a Happy Hanukkah: "also known as the Festival of Lights is an eight-day Jewish holiday commemorating the rededication of the Holy Temple (the Second Temple) in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt of the 2nd century BCE. Hanukkah is observed for eight nights and days, starting on the 25th day of Kislev according to the Hebrew calendar, which may occur at any time from late November to late December in the Gregorian calendar." (Thanks to Wikipedia.org.)

Kwannza: "Kwanzaa is a week long celebration held in the United States honoring universal African-American heritage and culture, observed from December 26 to January 1 each year. It features activities such as lighting a candle holder with seven candles and culminates in a feast and gift giving. It was created by Maulana Karenga and was first celebrated in 1966 - 1967." (Thanks to Wikipedia.org.)

and even for you "Seinfeld" fans Happy Festivus: "Festivus is a secular holiday celebrated on December 23 as "another way" to celebrate the holiday season without participating in its pressures and commercialism. It was created by writer Dan O'Keefe and introduced into popular culture by his son Daniel, a screenwriter for the TV show Seinfeld, as part of a comical storyline on the show. The holiday's celebration, as shown on Seinfeld, includes an unadorned aluminum "Festivus pole," practices such as the "Airing of Grievances" and "Feats of Strength," and the labeling of easily explainable events as "Festivus miracles".

Celebrants of the holiday sometimes refer to it as "Festivus for the rest of us," a saying taken from the O'Keefe family traditions and popularized in the Seinfeld episode to describe Festivus' non-commercial aspect. (Thanks as always to wikipedia.org.)

I woke up this morning to a quiet house, as I live with my parents. My kids live with their mother. It's just not Christmas without kids and their excitement in opening gifts. I'll be getting them later today, so I'll still have that experienced. I called them this morning and they've already received their first Christmas gifts. When they come to my parent's house they get another Christmas! Of course I'm going to try and balance that with what we truly are celebrating this time of year.

Today's blog is going to be a mix of some of the things I'm very grateful for, mixed with some of my favorite Christmas songs.

I'll start off with what I think is the saddest Christmas song there is. That's "I'll Be Home For Christmas". This is a great song, but the ending kills me every time. It's a Christmas song with a twist ending. It's the "The Sixth Sense" of Christmas songs. The following is the Carpenters version of the song:



Things I'm thankful for: first of all my parents. Without them I wouldn't be here obviously. Thanks to them for allowing me to live at their house as I go through this rebirth and emerge from a turbulent year. It's been a turbulent year, but it's a been a good year. My therapist pointed out how my life is better now than it was a year ago. The only thing I would change is that I wish I could have my kids more.

Thanks to J, L and Hank for the always generous Christmas (and birthday) gifts. I'm going to miss you guys when you go to Belgium. Hank, I hope you are enjoying all your Christmas presents from your Meads cousins!

Thanks to CC, for his influence on me in bringing me to the church I'm a member of. Although I still have my faults, I'm a much better person because of my activity in the LDS Church. I shiver to think where I would be without it's positive influence. Also thanks to my Mom for letting me join the church.

Here's Whitney Houston's "O Holy Night". What an amazing song and an amazing singer.



Thanks to my kids for all the joy and the challenges they bring into my life. I look forward to their excitement and joy later today as they open gifts with their childlike glee. Thanks to my oldest boy, he shares a love of reading and music with me. Thanks to my second boy who is just a huge sponge that soaks every thing in. I think he has remembered every TV show and historical event he has ever learned. Thanks to my daughter for her enthusiasm for things, even for her overwhelming love of all things Justin Bieber. Thanks to my youngest boy, for not being afraid to tell me that he loves me. Also for all the great hugs and all the massages he gives me. Finally thanks to the ex for having the strength to bring these 4 wonderful kids into the world.

Thanks to Verizon Wireless for firing me. That was a major turning point in my life and one of the best things that has ever happened to me. It got me out of a horrendous job, this time 1 year ago I was working an 8 hour shift at Verizon. I won't even go into how bad that was. Because I got fired from there I obviously started looking for another job. The timing was nearly perfect. I applied for a position with Ambassador College Bookstores and in a very pleasant surprise I got that job. I've been happily employed there for 8.50 months. Thanks Ambassador for the very generous Christmas bonus as well.

Here's Christina Aguilera's amazing "O Holy Night":



Thanks to all my friends from Dicks Market and how much joy and good times we've had. Thanks for my two very tolerant bosses, PW and SL, for putting up with me. It's sad for me to see a place I worked for to be sold to/taken over by a greedier more asinine Scrooge. They said Bah Humbug to their Layton, Utah employees by telling them just about two weeks before Christmas that many of them would be out of a job at the first of the year. That's typical of their corporate irresponsibility.

Thanks again though to my Dicks Market friends. I won't even try to mention all of you, there are so many of you that have had such a large impact on my life. I know I don't see many of you anymore, but you are still having am impact on my life. In fact it was two of my Dicks Market buddies that served as my references for my current job. Thanks again SBN and BMB! Thanks to TSB for helping me there each month!

Thanks Jesus for all you've done for all of us, after all you are truly the reason for the season. This is Anne Murray's "Away in a Manger":



I can never find a great version of "I Saw Three Ships", here's a good version:



Whitney Houston's amazing "The Little Drummer Boy", or as they call it here "Do You Hear What I Hear?"



themusicaddict

Review of Tana French's "The Likeness"

Hello,

I resumed reading this book November 30th. After being away from this book for a couple of months I'm now going to finish it.

December 23rd, 2010. After finishing reading Greg Iles "Turning Angel", this book is a bit of a downer. I read "Turning Angel" in a few days. I've been working on "The Likeness" for a few months now. I'm not dying to know how "The Likeness" ends. However I would like to know, I intended on finishing last night. It just didn't have enough to overcome my tiredness. I read 35 more pages last night and will probably finish it on Christmas Eve. I'm anxious to get reading Greg Iles "The Quiet Game".

Tana French seems to have a lot of die hard fans, however I'm not one of them. This will probably be the first and last of her books I'll read, that is if I finish this one. The idea behind this book, I thought was really cool, however the execution isn't so hot. Maybe it will have a fantastic ending and I will change my mind. Although I doubt that, but I will give the book a chance.

Well the ending was very well written, very poignant. But I'm put off, we went through 466 pages and this person that was killed and it was an accident. There wasn't much of a payoff. I don't think I'm going to read a Tana French novel again. She came highly recommended but I just don't get it.

Now hopefully I can sink my teeth into a much more satisfying read.

themusicaddict

Review of Greg Iles' "Turning Angel"

Sorry this review is about "Turning Angel" and not "The Quiet Game".

I started reading this book on December 17th, 2010.

Page 272: This is such a great book, the first book I've ever read by Iles. The three basic characters are 17 year old Kate Townsend, her lover Dr. Drew Elliot and his friend and lawyer, Penn Cage. The book starts off with Townsend's body floating down a river, obviously she's dead. Iles' prologue handles this extremely well. She's naked from the waist down. After her body is found, Elliot has a confession to make to Cage. He has been sleeping with Townsend and insists he's in love with her. Cage is both disgusted by his friend's bad choices but also loyal to a friend.

There are other characters like Cage's daughter, Annie and her babysitter, Mia. It seems there may be some inappropriate opportunities for Cage with Mia. Annie innocently asks her Dad if he possibly would marry Mia. He says "no" and explains why. Cage already has a girlfriend, Caitlyn, although her motives don't seem to be 100% pure. I don't think Cage will give into temptation, although he may want to. We have a district attorney, Shad Johnson, who wants to use this case to spring board him to being mayor of Natchez, Mississippi. There's also foreign exchange student and drug dealer Marko Bakic. In addition we have Cyrus, local drug dealer and possible Kate Townsend lover/rapist/murderer. Last but not least is the faceless Asian gang. We know very little about them, other than they are really bad people.

I'm at page 272, not even half done, and I'm wondering how all these various pieces fit. (Thank goodness in the end they do.) For this book my running question was did Drew kill Kate? At this point I'm going to say no, but I'm not 100% convinced of his innocence either. There are some characters set up to provide other potential killers of Kate. Some of those might have killed her, but some are just there to create question marks. I look forward to finishing this book.

Page 318: The body count is rising and all the bad guys seem to be in the wind. Penn Cage continues to track down the possible killers. There are now so many potential killers of Kate Townsend, that I'm feeling pretty confident that Drew didn't kill her. Although the 40 + Elliot shouldn't have been sleeping with the high school student, I believe that he thought he was in love with her. With as many twists and turns that are in this book, who knows what exactly is going on? Of course how much fun would it be if one could figure out what's going on?

If this same story was in a movie, I'd probably have turned off. The film makers would have probably focused on the sex and violence and just leave enough plot points so the story would be coherent. However one of the great things about books is all the story involved. In a well written novel, like this one, you can just dive in and enjoy. That's exactly what I'm doing. I can hardly wait to see what happens over the next 326 pages.

Page 446: I continue having a hard time putting this book down, I do have other things to do though. I'm not sure how Iles does it but the tension continues to rise. Drew Elliot, the prisoned possible killer, has almost become an afterthought in this book with so many other things going on.

We finally meet Penn's girlfriend, Caitlyn, and I'm not impressed. She seems to be the spoiled rich girl type. In fact, she seems like she might be on her way out. She seems to be wondering if there is more going on with him and Mia. However Penn continues to be a good boy and keeps Mia away. Although they are spending more time together and outside of their babysitting relationship. Caitlyn tells Penn that Mia is attracted to him.

Is Drew innocent of murder? If pressed to say either way, I would say no. However I would not be surprised if he did kill Kate. One thing for sure Drew is guilty of bad judgment.

We also meet Marko Bakic, one of many people that might have killed Kate Townsend. There is also a memorial at the local high school and we go to the funeral of Townsend and Cross. We also meet Cross's father and he has some information helpful to Penn.

Page 503, good job Penn on keeping it in your pants. Mia practically threw herself at him. He was tempted but his good sense overwhelmed his desire. Mia was able to sneak a kiss though. Cage didn't encourage her or stop her. Also his alleged girlfriend Caitlyn, made a rebound. Cage was able to fulfill his lust with the more society approved choice, Caitlyn. I'm not convinced of how sincere she is about their relationship. Does she really love him or is she just pumping him for information? No pun intended.

Also the dreaded Asian gangs have shown up in Natchez. They almost were able to kidnap Cage and Mia, but a helpful policeman saved the day. The Asian gangs continue to be faceless. Is this intentional on Iles part? If so, why? They are the only characters that aren't fleshed out. Also Penn's Mom and Dad headed to the relative safety of Jackson with Annie.

Page 590: One of the criticisms of the book is that these alleged smart men keep on hooking up with teenagers. First we had the accused murderer Drew hooking up with Kate. Then Mia throws herself at Penn, he thankfully resisted. Now we find out the high school's AD hooked up with a 16 year old. Yes, I agree that seems a bit ridiculous. This book is definitely not perfect.

We've finally met the last of the big three bad guys, Cyrus White. He kidnapped Cage, held him captive for about a week and kept him compliant with pure heroin. Cage turned into MacGyver and escaped his captors. (The book even acknowledges this by including a MacGyver reference.) He escapes, but he's having serious withdrawal issues.

Ellen Elliot also confesses to Penn that she killed Kate Townsend. Initially I believed her but then holes started appearing in her story. Although Ellen definitely has a motive. Townsend not only was having an affair with her husband, but she was also pregnant with his baby. It does appear she was one of the last people to see Kate alive and may have had something to do with her death. However it seems like she's not the only one. More and more the clues say that Drew didn't kill Kate. But who did?

I finished the book and I won't say anymore, I've given away enough. This is just a very satisfying read and I would highly recommend it to anyone who loves great fiction. Everyone seemed to have got their just rewards, except for the innocent. It will be sad for me to lose characters that I've really grown attached to like Mia. But then again there are some really bad people I hope never to see in this series again.

I finished this book on December 23rd, 2010. I read these books out of order, this is actually the second Penn Cage novel. Now I plan on reading the first Penn Cage novel, "The Quiet Game".

themusicaddict

Miscellaneous Blog, Merry Christmas

Hello,

Today's Christmas song of the day: "Carol of the Bells":

This may be hokey to some, but I think this is kind of cool:



Here's "Carol of the Bells" without all the extras:



This is another song by Trans-Siberian Orchestra, aka TSO to their fans, the following is a Christmas song that rocks. Enjoy:



101.9 The End in Salt Lake City is okay, however I already miss 101.9 Gen X radio. I laugh that again I heard The Counting Crows "Mr. Jones" today. That song must be played 10 to 15 times a day. For the benefit of 101.9, regardless of it's format is great or The End, here's a list of 10 other Counting Crows they can play besides "Mr. Jones".

Easily the best Counting Crows by a lot is "A Long December". Not only their best song but a Top 500 song. Also we are in the month of December, can that song be played please? Here's the Top Ten best Counting Crows songs in no particular order:

"A Long December"



"Rain King"



"Omaha"
"Round Here"



"Raining In Baltimore"
"Angel of the Silences"
"Perfect Blue Buildings"
"Einstein On A Beach"
"Big Yellow Taxi"
"Hanginaround"
"Anna Begins" and a bonus song,

"A Murder Of One"

To no one's surprise BSU beat Utah last night, although the score was closer than I expected 26-3. I had predicted that BSU wouldn't lose more than by 3 touchdowns, but that was only because of the unpredictability of college football. Utah's defense looked very solid. Unfortunately it looked like their receivers went to the BYU school of how to drop a great pass. Terrance Cain is going to get all the blame, but he doesn't deserve it. I don't care how good your quarterback it, it doesn't matter much if your receivers can't catch a ball.

I have to admit I had a bit of a chuckle this morning while watching Sports Center. Tonight's Poinsettia Bowl will still go on in spite of flooding. This stadium is next to the San Diego river "which overflows every time it rains hard". (Thanks to espn.com.) There wasn't more planning put into building this stadium? A majority of the parking lot is flooded and at last report there was about 10 inches of rain on the field. Strange.

Playing songs randomly on my iPod the last few days has brought some great songs to mind. Here's the highlights: 1) Jim Morrison's "The Movie":



2) "Outre Risque Locomotive" by Neneh Cherry. This video only has 196 views on youtube.com.



3) Dexy's Midnight Runner's "Come On Eileen"



4) Bowling For Soup's "1985". Not that anyone cares but that's the year I thankfully graduated high school. I relate to this song just a bit.



5) Tracy Chapman's "If Not Now":



Another great Tracy Chapman song, "For My Lover":



6) Peter Gabriel's "Solsbury Hill":



Another great Peter Gabriel song, "Sledgehammer", instantly recognizable from the opening note.



7) Starship's "We Built This City":



8) It's time for a cheesy 80's video, Ozzy's "Shot In The Dark":



9) The Dixie Chicks "Sin Wagon": That's right she said mattress dancing!



10) Elvis' "A Little Less Conversation" (JXL mix), this song really rocks.



If you didn't know before why I loved 101.9 Gen X radio, I think you understand now.

themusicaddict

Gen X 101.9 is done in SLC, The End is back

Hello,

An alert reader commented today that 101.9 had reverted to it's previous format. That's too bad, although I knew that it was highly likely that the Gen X format wouldn't last for a long time. I checked it out as I was driving around. The End isn't terrible, they play some good songs. One of my biggest complaints about the Gen X format is that they over played the Counting Crows "Mr. Jones". Guess what I heard on the new format as I was driving around. Yes that's right, "Mr. Jones". I heard that song so much on Gen X 101.9 I had to take it off my iPod.

So far The End isn't having a lot of dj chatter and are still playing a lot of songs. Don't worry they will go away from that soon. Also they are playing these annoying announcements that say they are back and apologizing for leaving. It seems like they play them between every song, but surely they wouldn't play those that much. Would they?

It looks like I'm back to listening to CDs in my car and iTunes or napster.com everywhere else.

themusicaddict

There Will Be Blood 2 or I Hate the BCS

Hello,

In the mid-80's film "Top Gun", Tom Cruise's character said he felt "The need for speed". I was reminded of that today when I was thinking of the BCS. Their slogan should be The Need for Greed. Why am I comparing "There Will Be Blood" to the BCS? Because both are two of the worst things of the last several years. Although we knew going in that "There Will Be Blood" was fiction.

My alma mater Utah is playing in one of those BCS debacles tonight. The University of Utah will be playing Boise State in the Las Vegas Bowl. (I refuse to include the sponsor's name. There's more than enough greed in college football already.) No, tonight's game isn't a BCS bowl, but a team that should be in a BCS Bowl has been relegated to the Las Vegas Bowl. That team being Boise State. The long and short of it is that BSU is going to destroy the Utes tonight. If Utah keeps the final score within three touchdowns, that would be a great game for Utah.

Could Utah win this game, of course they could. Many times it comes down to motivation in bowl games. Both teams have something to play for, but nothing with national significance. If BSU wins they again will finish in the Top 10. If Utah wins they'll have won 10 straight bowl games. If your wondering, yes they're the current team that has won the most consecutive bowl games. Not bad for a so-called mid-major program. Before you start saying "but who did they play?" line, they played in 2 BCS bowls in their 9 game bowl winning streak. They won both games, including dominating Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. Yes national commentators they won that game, Alabama didn't lose it.

That being said, my prediction is BSU winning 48-14.

How could we make tonight's game more competitive, all we have to do is to swap two teams. Move BSU to play Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl, this would be a rematch of probably the greatest college football game ever played. Next move UConn to the Las Vegas Bowl. The 8-4 UConn Huskies vs. the 10-2 Utes would me a much more equal game. Utah would obviously be the favorite. But of course that isn't going to happen. Why, because of BCS greed. The Big East is allegedly one of the top football conferences.

This is how good the Big East was this year:

TEAM CONF OVR
West Virginia 5-2 9-3
Connecticut 5-2 8-4
Pittsburgh 5-2 7-5
Syracuse 4-3 7-5
South Florida 3-4 7-5
Louisville 3-4 6-6
Cincinnati 2-5 4-8
Rutgers 1-6 4-8

Sarcasm alert! Look at all those great records, what a power conference!! I love that UConn doesn't even have the best record in their own conference, but they still get the BCS bid. They get the BCS bid due to tie breakers. You've got to love the BCS! :( Of course this is what happens when the motivation is making money rather than having great football games.

It's time to get a playoff!

So far those Mountain West Conference teams are 1-0 in bowl games. In the New Mexico Bowl BYU put a 28 point beat down on UTEP. BYU and UTEP will have a rematch tomorrow, only on the basketball court. 9-2 UTEP and Randy Culpepper will visit 11-1 BYU and Jimmer Fredette in what should be a much better game than the New Mexico Bowl game.

Other MWC bowl games coming up: Tomorrow night the Poinsettia Bowl should be a great game when SDSU plays Navy. As what a bowl game should be, two seemingly evenly matched teams will be playing. I won't predict a winner, but I'm predicting a high scoring game.

Then on December 27th Air Force will play Georgia Tech in the Independence Bowl. This game will be played in Shreveport, La. Another bowl game where the teams appear to be evenly matched. It should be obvious that the BCS had nothing to do in picking the participants.

Then the last bowl involving a MWC team should be a classic battle. 11-1 Wisconsin will play 12-0 TCU on January 1st in the Fiesta Bowl. This should also be a great game. It's really hard to predict, it could be a high scoring game or a low scoring game. This game could go so many ways. My only prediction about this game is that it will be a memorable game.

I'd like to see the MWC go 3-2 in bowl games this season.

themusicaddict

Michael Jackson's Career Didn't End After "Bad"

Hello,

Michael Jackson's last big CD was "Bad", there's no denying that. However he still had several excellent songs after that. He also released "Dangerous", which has many great songs. In fact one of my favorite Jackson songs is on that CD, "Black or White". "Dangerous" also features such great songs as "In The Closet", "Who Is It", "Keep The Faith" and "Heal The World".

1995's "HIStory" also has several classic Michael Jackson songs on it. On Side 1 of course is most of his classic solo songs. However on side 2 there are also many great Jackson songs. Those songs include: "They Don't Care About Us". This is a great, great song. WARNING: there are some very disturbing images in the following video.



"Stranger In Moscow":



"You Are Not Alone":



Even a seemingly throwaway song like "D.S." is an amazing song.



Jackson must have saved all the throwaway songs for "Invincible". 2001's "Invincible" is a CD I don't know much about. I looked at the track listing and honestly I don't know if I've heard any of the songs. I listened to the snippets available on amazon.com and this CD isn't very good. This CD is embarrassing in that it's so bad. Thankfully his just released CD "Michael" is much better. I'm going to check out "Invincible" on napster.com. Maybe hearing the full songs will be more satisfactory than listening to the snippets on amazon.com. After hearing the snippets of the songs, I think the CD should be called "Invisible".

Today's Christmas song:

This is my girlfriend, Katherine McPhee, singing "It's Not Christmas Without You". What's that Katherine McPhee is married? Not to me? Um okay, enjoy the song ANYWAY!



themusicaddict

Dennis Lehane's "Moonlight Mile" review

Hello,

Moonlight Mile by Dennis Lehane

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I started reading this book on December 12th, 2010 and will probably be done with it in a week. Lehane has written a Top 500 novel with "Mystic River" and his "Shutter Island" was a very good book as well.

Page 73: I've read this much of the book in my first sitting. Lehane is one of those authors that immediately pulls you into the book and you want to keep on reading until the book is finished.

This is sort of a sequel to "Gone Baby Gone", which wasn't one of Lehane's better novels. In that book 4 year old Amanda McCready was kidnapped and Patrick Kenzie found the little girl. He broke up a kidnapping ring, although in this case most of the people that were kidnapped were better off. You'll have to read "Gone Baby Gone" to find out why. However a crime had still occurred so poor little Amanda was returned to her mother, in spite of the fact that she's not fit to parent. Now 12 years later Amanda has gone missing. Against his better wishes Kenzie is pulled back into finding her. There's going to be hell to pay for people getting in the way of Kenzie and his friend Bubba.

I finished reading this book on December 16th. It has the same sugar rush story telling that Dan Brown's books do, however there's a lot more substance in Lehane's writing. We find out what happens to some of the characters from "Gone Baby Gone" 12 years on. Lehane has Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro are featured in a few of his books. Also in this book we have some very bad Russian gangsters. The gangsters include the brutal but hilarious Yefim. He reminds me very much of the Joe Pesci character in "Good Fellas". We also have a slick double cross and some very bad people are killed along the way.


View all my reviews

themusicaddict

Jason Garrett, 4-2

Hello,

I haven't written about the Dallas Cowboys for awhile. Jerry Jones finally fired Wade Phillips after a horrendous start. He replaced him with offensive coordinator Jason Garrett as interim head coach. Since then Jason Garrett has gone 4-2, 4 times as many wins as Phillips was responsible for. As with many other fans I'm wondering what could have been if Garrett could have been the head coach since the start of the season. He has brought a discipline and toughness to the Cowboys. Two things they were sorely lacking in with Phillips as head coach.

With Jerry being Jerry, I have a feeling that Garrett will be back next season. I'm not completely sold on him, but I think he has earned a shot to be the head coach. Jerry says he's considering other people. He may be but I think he's going to go with Garrett. With some of the curious decisions that Jones has made, at this point I think he's a lot more concerned about looking like a football genius rather than winning.

However now the issue to be resolved is that porous defense, giving up 4 touchdowns to Rex Grossman. They almost gave up the win as well, but Rex returned to his normal Rexness. I just don't get how he's in the NFL anymore. He's probably the worst quarterback to ever start a Super Bowl. The other thing Dallas needs to fix before next season is to learn how to win at home again. Dallas finished 2-6 at home and will finish with a better road record. How often does that happen?

Dallas plays two more meaningless games, then it's the off season. Things that Dallas needs to do in the off season. 1) Determine within a couple of weeks at most whether Garrett is the man. If so let him finalize his staff for next season. 2) Think about what players to let go and what type of players they need to bring in for next season. Obviously the offensive line needs to be improved dramatically and it's time for Marion Barber to move on to another team. 3) Prepare for the NFL draft, I think the #1 priority would be getting some quality offensive linemen. The second priority is to get the quarterback of the future on the team. We need to start phasing Tony Romo out. If Dallas wants to return to the promised land, they need a high quality quarterback. Romo is not the man for that. I wouldn't mind seeing Jon Kitna coming back next season. I think he has been a better quarterback than Romo, but he obviously isn't a long term solution either. 4) Have a solid training camp, letting Garrett fully install his complete system. 5) Reduce the hype about the Cowboys as much as possible. Maybe Jerry and the Cowboys can have a little humility. Even better would be if they could be overlooked some, maybe even a bit disrespected. Put a chip on their shoulder and have them fight through some adversity.

I love Christmas, here's a Christmas song to put you in that proper Christmas mood:



themusicaddict

It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

Hello,

One week from today is Christmas. I hope you are enjoying this time of year. I wasn't until a couple of days ago and then I started preparing to buy Christmas presents for my family. Something strange started to happen, I began to enjoy myself. I've already got several people's gifts and I'm hoping to wrap up that process tonight. I went and did some Christmas shopping yesterday and before I left I started to tingle with anticipation. It's nice to be able to have some money to buy Christmas presents for the people I love.

Also to enhance the Christmas spirit I watched the movie "Christmas Angel" starring Bruce Davison and Kari Hawker.



Now is the above movie perfect, no. It's a bit corny and the background music plays so much it becomes annoying. Other than that it's a great movie. My kids wanted to watch something else, but once it was done, they were glad they watched it. I love the message of it about the real reason we celebrate Christmas. We are celebrating the birth of Christ, not the year end profits of Wal-Mart. Not that there's anything wrong with exchanging gifts like "the wise men found Jesus and Mary at Bethlehem in a house. They worshipped Jesus, and offered gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh". (Thanks to lifeofchrist.com)

I'm not trying to be too preachy here, just a little preachy. Let's please focus on the real reason of Christmas, it's the first 6 letters of that word. My Christmas pet peeve is people that shorten Christmas to Xmas. Aargh!

While "The Christmas Angel" is a great Christmas movie, the best Christmas movie is "It's A Wonderful Life". It gets me every time when Jimmy Stewart puts his fingers into his pockets and pulls out zuzu's pedals.



Let's enjoy this week before Christmas and embrace all the great things about Christmas.

themusicaddict

Three minutes!

Hello,

As much as I can I like to watch TV either On Demand or through a DVR. I can avoid all those annoying commercials. While watching "The Good Wife" on DVR the other day, I realized how long the commercials are. Commercials usually run 3 to 3.5 minutes straight. Driving home I started thinking about all the things that can be done in three minutes.

1) Have sex.
2) Go to the bathroom, both 1 and 2.
3) An elite runner can run over 3/4ths of a mile.
4) Madonna and Justin Timberlake can almost save the world:



5) I can list all the good songs by Nickelback several times.
6) Watch highlights of any sporting event.
7) Read a chapter of scripture.
8) Order a Christmas gift at amazon.com.
9) I can get a sense of a person and whether I want to be friends with them.
10) Get a snack.
11) Think about many of the things I'm thankful for, there are many things.
12) Put a book on hold at the library.
13) Pray


I guess my point is why do they have such a long run of commercials at one time? If I'm watching a TV show live, and a long set of commercial starts all I do is flip to a sporting event. That's something you can do with a sporting event. Also when a string of commercials run that long, how many of them do you remember? If I see a set of 7 straight commercials, I'd be surprised if I could tell someone 2 or 3 of the advertisers just a few minutes later. That 3 minutes is a good time to get up, get a snack, go to the bathroom or anything else on the list above.

It surprises me that big business hasn't caught on to this, but on the other hand intelligence in corporate America is hard to find.

themusicaddict

"The Good Wife", what a great show

Hello,

In what was probably the last "The Good Wife" during Christmas season, last night's "9 Hours" was amazing. The few episodes I've seen have been high quality, but this was the best episode that I've seen. It starts off with a dream by Alicia of her and Will enjoying intimacy. She wakes up and it takes her a few seconds to realize it was just a dream. It seems she was a little disappointed and also felt guilty about that. She wakes up right before the first of many people come into her bedroom to use their bathroom. Later she tells Will she'd like to have a "moment", the series is trying to lead you to think exactly what she means. However don't drink the kool aid yet, it could just be a misdirection ploy by the show's writers.

The episode's central drama surrounds a man that may be innocent but he's about to be executed. So Alicia Florrik and associates only have 9 hours to get a stay of his execution. She's ably helped by the very attractive Kalinda Sharma (Archie Panjabi- yes that's really her name). I love the looks Zack Florrick gives her every time he sees her. He acts like this beautiful woman is coming to my house? Then of course Zack needs to use the bathroom, when his Mom and Kalinda are in her bedroom.

Anyway we see reconciliation of the father on death row and his daughter as he's heading to the place where he's about to die. I'm not sure if it's just me, but it seems like the show wants you to think that the accused is actually innocent. That would make it doubly important for the stay of execution. Of course that just added to the tension that helped make this such a great episode.

Anyway at the end of the show, through deft legal maneuvering and some outside help, Lockhart Gardner and Bond are able to get a stay of execution. Also they are probably going to be able to get their client a retrial.

Obviously Grace Florrick's friend is trying to get her to become religious. Calling a church camp a social thing. Uh huh! She then explains to her how to pray. I recognize missionary zeal when I see it. Grace coming to religion has been a theme over the last few episodes. I love how Alicia and the grandmother seem to be a little perplexed about their daughter praying. Does the fact that we are about to celebrate Christ's birthday have anything to do with her new found religious interest? Also her name, Grace, seems to be a hint as well. The character's name doesn't seem to be accidental. It will be interesting to see how that turns out.

This is a very thoughtful and respectful show, I hope they don't start to mock religion. Prayer is very soothing to many people and many people gain a lot from their religious beliefs. I know I do.

I love how clever this show is and how many layers there are, you can read so much into the show see above paragraph. My blog doesn't do justice to how great this episode was. But I do have one question, why didn't someone just unclog the toilet? Was that an attempt at a running gag? Was the point that now Alicia has to work, the toilet isn't her responsibility any more? (I'm trying to not make any gender assumptions here, I'm just trying to figure out the point.) It must be important as the clogged toilet was mentioned at least 4 or 5 times, I have a couple of those instances above. If someone has some insight, I'd like to hear it.

One thing that's blocking me from being more knowledgeable about this show is that I've only seen a few episodes. Someday I'd like to watch all of Season 1, that would fill in a lot of blanks.

themusicaddict

Songs Rockin' My iPod

Hello,

I try to exercise anywhere from 4 to 6 times a week. When I exercise I watch ESPN, what else is there on that early in the morning? I also listen to my iPod. These are the songs rocking my iPod of late. Sometimes these songs come up randomly as I'm listening to iTunes on my laptop as well.

The last song I heard this morning on my iPod is this amazing song. It's well deserving of the nearly 22,000,000 hits it has received at youtube.com. 1) Shontelle's "Impossible:



2) "Everybody, Everybody"- Black Box
3) "Break Out"- Swing Out Sister This is just as good of a song as "Impossible" but it only has 110,000 hits at youtube.com. I love the horns in this song. Gen X 101.9, this would be a good song to add to your playlist.



4) "Bullet In Your Head"- Rage Against The Machine
5) "Cars"- Gary Human, Most definitely an under rated and nearly forgotten 80's classic. Another great song for 101.9 to add to their play list. This song has close to 3.4 million youtube.com hits. Why does this song, about the same length of time out has about 30 times more views than "Break Out"?



6) "Fergalicious"- Fergie Hey Fergie we need more of your solo fergalicious music, especially when they are as good as this song. This is just one of the many amazing songs on this CD. This song has over 17,500,000 youtube hits.



7) "Ice Ice Baby"- Vanilla Ice Is it incredibly uncool to still like this song, its great to exercise to.
8) "Talkin' 'Bout A Revolution"- Tracy Chapman This amazing song comes from her debut CD. It has almost 4,500,000 youtube hits. "Fast Car" is the big hit from that CD, but there were many great songs on it. Definitely needs to be added to your collection and the 101.9 play list. I love this live version.



Whatever happened to Tracy Chapman, En Vogue, Neneh Cherry...?

9) "Calm Like A Bomb"- Rage Against The Machine Another band with an amazing debut CD, great for catharsis.
10) "Sin Wagon"- The Dixie Chicks Natalie Maines, what an amazing voice. Only 68,000 views?



11) "Batman Theme"- Danny Elfman 187,000 youtube hits.



12) "After The Fall"- Journey
13) "Crucify"- Tori Amos
14) "Hot Hot Hot"- Buster Poindexter 895,000 youtube hits.



15) "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'"- The amazing Michael Jackson. Almost 5.7 million youtube hits.



16) "Money Changes Everything"- Cyndi Lauper This is an old school video. 500,000 hits.



17) "The World Is Full of Crushing Bores"- Morrissey Only 30,000 youtube hits. How can a song this great have so few hits?



18) "Unchained"- Van Halen
19) "Rockstar"- Nickelback I know I'm not a big fan of Nickelback. However I think this song is pretty cool. I won't torture you with a video for this song, especially a live video.
20) "Empty Sky"- Bruce Springsteen One of the many amazing songs from Springsteen's 9/11 record, "The Rising". Only 69,000 youtube hits.



themusicaddict

Michael Jackson's "Michael" Should You Buy?

Hello,

Tomorrow is the release date for the new Michael Jackson CD, it's simply called "Michael". Like with Crystal Bowersox, I'm a big a Michael Jackson fan. I know he had his issues, but don't we all? The CD lasts over 42 minutes, and has some songs that will be considered greatest hits in a few years.

You can listen to the CD now at michaeljackson.com. Here's the exact link: http://www.michaeljackson.com/us/music/michael

1) "Hold My Hand" (3:33): This song features Akon, I'm not sure why though. This is the kind of song you hate until you meet someone who takes your breath away. Then when you are with them, you want this song to come on the radio. The first time I heard this song I didn't like it, after hearing it a few times, I'm really liking it. I'm just not sure Auto Tune Akon is on the song. 50 Cent actually adds something to the song he's on, "Monster".

2) "Hollywood Tonight" (4:31): This song starts out like an Enigma song. Then it brings the funk. A good girl is going "Hollywood Tonight". I'm not sure if this is suppose to be a song of defiance, but it comes off as more sad than anything else.

3) "Keep Your Head Up" (4:51): A ballad about person going through a hard time and Jackson singing how to deal with it. A good song but it tends to go on a bit long. Jackson was an amazing artist but sometimes he stretched his songs out too long.

4) "(I Like) The Way You Love Me" (4:34): We hear Michael Jackson instructing someone how he wants the song to sound which moves into the song. I'm glad they aren't doing that on every song, but on one song, it's sort of cool.

5) "Monster" (5:05): This song features 50 Cent. I like this song, I just wish it could have been a bit more funky. As with Jay Z on "Umbrella", 50 Cent's rap works with this song. That's a rare occurrence. I think the worst example of that is Eminem's rap attempt on "I Love The Way You Lie".

6) "Best of Joy" (3:03) : This is a beautiful love ballad, it has a very Stevie Wonder vibe to it. He sings this song with such beauty and feeling.

7) "Breaking News" (4:14): This song starts off with talking heads explaining the latest Michael Jackson scandal that leads into a funky beat. A sound like breaking glass and then goes on a funk explosion. This is one of my favorite songs on the whole CD. I would say this song is worthy of classic Michael Jackson status. This is a companion song to "Tabloid Junkie", which is from the "HIStory Greatest Hits" CD.

8) "(I Can't Make It) Another Day" (3:55). This song features Lenny Kravitz. This song starts out as a mid-tempo jam and then kicks up another notch for the chorus. Kravitz is on this song, we can hear him in the background. He's the one in the background singing repeatedly, "I Can't Make It Another Day". I'm sorry but his part isn't crucial either.

9) "Behind The Mask" (5:02): The song starts off with concert noise. This is another great song, thankfully unencumbered by a guest artist. I don't know if this is a compliment or a complaint, but all these songs remind me of previous Michael Jackson songs. Maybe not the music

10) "Much Too Soon" (2:48): A nice CD closing ballad. It won't be the classic that "She's Out Of My Life" is, but it's a nice song to close this CD on.

Is this the new "Thriller", "Bad" or "Off The Wall", no this isn't. Is this a perfectly good CD that won't tarnish Jackson's legacy? Yes it is. Is it worth your hard earned money? The bigger of a Michael Jackson fan you are, the closer to yes the answer is. I think Michael Jackson was a musical genius and I'm a big fan. (He's coming up soon on my Top 50 artists of all-time.) Am I going to buy this CD? Yes, this will sound great on my car's awesome stereo.

I'm giving this CD a B grade, but I anticipate that grade will go up over the years. There's a lot of creativity on this CD. Did having all the guests really help, I would say no. They were mostly brought on to help the sales of this CD.

I'm currently working on my year end lists. If you have any nominations please send them to me.

themusicaddict

Crystal Bowersox CD review. Should You Buy!

Hello,

Crystal Bowersox's debut CD "Farmer's Daughter" will be released tomorrow, but you can listen to it here now:

http://music.aol.com/new-releases-full-cds/#/3

ew.com has a very negative review of the CD here: http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20448021,00.html If you want a good laugh just read the comments following the review, those commenter's don't agree a bit with the ew.com reviewer. I'm now listening to the CD for a second time. I'm not as down on as it the ew.com writer, but don't quite like it as much as the commenters.

I'll be completely honest, I wanted this to be the best CD of the year. Bowersox was a breath of fresh air to what has become a stale "American Idol". From the early episodes, it was clear that she was the one to beat on the show. The fact that she didn't win is irrelevant. It's also much better than the Lee DeWyze debut CD. That doesn't surprise anybody though does it?

If you stumble across this blog when I'm not finished, I'll be working on this blog throughout the day.

Here's the review, song by song:

1) "Ridin' With The Radio": This rockin' country song starts the CD off with a hectic pace. A good, but not great song.

2) "For What It's Worth": This is the highlight of the CD. Bowersox's powerful take on the classic Buffalo Springfield track. She adds passion and modern touches to the beloved 60's anthem. If you love Crystal Bowersox, as I do, you'll love this and the next song.

3) "Farmer's Daughter": This is the lead single on the CD. A very, very angry song to an abusive mother. This song isn't for the meek of heart. Although this is an angry song, it's also a very good song.

4) "Holy Toledo": Like "Farmer's Daughter", this song is a pre-AI track. You can tell this is a Bowersox song, there's no one else in the world like her. She's very authentic and likable. This is a mid-tempo song.

5) "Lonely Won't Come Around": Some of her songs can be dark, but this isn't a dark song. It's happy and optimistic. This is the type of song you should listen to when you are in a bad mood. It will uplift your spirits. One of the better songs on the CD.

6) "Hold On": This is a very sad song. She songs this song with a lot of passion and power. Of course that's a Bowersox trademark. Another very good song.

7) "On The Run": Another upbeat track. Another song that highlights the greatness of her voice. I love her voice! I wish we had more natural, non packaged artists like her. There have been singers like Tift Merritt and Kathleen Edwards. However they don't seem to last very long and don't make much of a dent.

8) "Kiss Ya": Another happy, optimistic song. She's going to love who she's going to love. She "don't give a shit who's around". This has sort of a country funk sound to it.

9) "Speak Now": No this isn't the Taylor Swift song. This is a slower ballad like song.

10) "Mine All Mine": No this isn't the Van Halen song :) On a CD full of happy and sad love songs, this is a bittersweet love song. This song would be right at home on country music radio from a few years ago. It would be out of place on modern country music radio.

11) "Mason": This song is okay, but feels a bit superfluous. This song is a bit different in that it's a duet.

12) "Arlene": Like the above track this song feels superfluous. These last two songs could have been left off the CD.

Crystal Bowersox is very unique in the world of contemporary music. She doesn't sound like anyone currently on the radio. Maybe she would if this was the 70's, in no way is that meant as a negative. She has a very Janis Joplin feel to her.

I didn't hear an ounce of auto tune on this CD, which is extremely rare in today's music world. Producers currently can't just let a song breathe, they need to micromanage it to death. See Kesha.

Would I recommend that you buy this CD? I would say yes with qualifications. If you love Crystal Bowersox and the kind of music she represents, hell yes you should buy. If you like authentic, heart on your sleeve music, yes you should buy. If you want a rock CD, this isn't for you. If you want prepackaged, disposable pop then this CD isn't for you either.

Overall I'd give this CD a B- grade. It's definitely not a must buy CD. However am I going to buy it, yes.

The great thing about the internet is that you don't have to agree with me and honestly that would be boring. Go to the above link and find out how you feel about this CD. Then go to the ew.com link for a few laughs.

themusicaddict

"A Game of Thrones" book review

A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


I started reading this book November 18th, 2010.



Page 92: This book is very hard to get into, there are too many characters and the story jumps from family to family. I'm trying to keep up with who each person is and who is doing what to who. The appendix is 20 pages long for heck's sake. I wish this book was more streamlined. I'm going to continue to read this book for a bit longer at least and see if all the characters click in for me. Right now I'm not hopeful though.

I just couldn't get into this book, there were just too many characters. Then the fact that it's a series, I just knew I wasn't going to read all the books in the series. Right now I'm just not ready for that kind of long term commitment.



View all my reviews