Questionable

As, I'm on break from my extremely long conference in the A, I thought I would bang out a post right quick. Even though becomingme's posts make me blush, I figured I could muster up enough strength to get this quick one out.

So I was thinking about the two major lifestyle changes that I've made since the beginning of the year: 1) No more red meat; 2) reading a book a week; and I realized that my lifestyle really hasn't changed that much. So I don't get to eat a delicious double quarter pounder with cheese every now and then, or an equally delicious pepperoni pizza from papa johns. Big deal. The only thing I'm really missing is those covered hash browns from the waffle house.

The reading thing is a little more nuanced. I do miss playing my Playstation Portable on planes, but I feel a lot more encouraged about the formal knowledge that i'm amassing. As an armchair social theorist, I get a lot of ammo for the things that bounce around in my brain. As long as the content is varied, I should do okay. I'll let you guys know in a couple of months.

Interesting Fact: Today was the first day and I lied about having a blog. What a day.

See...

...I'm watching "Family Guy" and they just made a parody of the tremendously horrible local car dealership commercials. "Family Guy" has made a habit of giving credence to some of my inner thoughts. You see, obviously, how developed my inner thoughts are...

Why...

...are all local car dealer commercials - regardless of the market - so universally bad in their quality?

Where Did This Come From

Primarily because Paris Bennett just wrecked American Idol with a Billie Holiday interpretation of Take Five, I felt a strong inclination to download Sounds of Blackness - Optimistic (her granny was the lead singer) from ITunes. Another way to hear the Sounds of Blackness, is to check out Common's - Carhorn (madlib remix).

Its easily the best song i've heard this year (the last time i heard this song had to be a decade ago). I seriously feel like I can conquer all my enemies (including non-literate people).

Paris Bennett - Audition (watch Paula go into a thang at the end)

I was telling my co-con, that I might possibly have the most diverse cd changer in America right now (although The Carter II should be in there instead of Juelz). 3 of these albums are okay, 2 are good, and one is great. If I only had 10 bucks, i would probably go with the bjork.

1. Copeland - In Motion
2. Juelz Santana - What the Games Been Missing
   
3. Anthony Hamilton - Ain't Nobody Worrying
4. S.A. Smash - Smashy Trashy
5. Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights
6. Bjork - Vespertine
   

Quotables On The Road To 52

"This is almost as good as being an Oprah book."

- William Blum, historian, on the spike in sales of his book, Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower, after Osama bin Laden said in his recently released audio message that Americans ought to read it for its perspectives on international interference

And just like that, I'm one book closer to completing my list of 52.


In this past week's Sunday Business Section of the New York Times, there is an article concerning the media consumption habits of those born between 1980 and 2000, known as milennials. The article discusses millennials diversion from the typical TV screen (iPod video, downloads, etc.), their use of mobile devices, their multi-touch point media experience, their constant daily media dialogue, email/text/instant messaging, and blogs (of course). It also briefly considers the sociological and developmental impact that these technologies and communication vehicles have on individuals and society as a whole. Some excerpts:

"'We think that the single largest differentiator in this generation from previous generations is the social network that is people's lives, the part of it that technology enables,' said Jack McKenzie, a senior vice president at Frank N. Magid Associates, a market research and consulting firm specializing in the news media and entertainment industries.
'What's hard to measure, and what we're trying to measure,' Mr. McKenzie continued, 'is the impact of groupthink, of group mentality, and the tendency of what we might call the democratization of social interaction and how that changes this generation's relationship with almost everything they come in contact with.'"
"For the millennials, he said, 'reliance and trust in nontraditional sources - meaning everyday people, their friends, their networks, the network they've created around them - has a much greater influence on their behaviors than traditional advertising.'"

"'You've got a group of kids who are unbelievably, incredibly loyal to each other,' says Dr. Levine [from the UNC School of Medicine]. 'They are very bound to ethics and values. But in a funny sort of way, it prevents some of them from developing as individuals.' Along with finding technological dexterity in this group, and a highly developed ability to work in team settings, Dr. Levine said he had encountered concerns that some young people lacked the ability to think and plan for the long term, that they withered without immediate feedback and that the machinery of groupthink had bred a generation flush with loyal comrades but potentially weak on leaders.

Riiiiight up my alley...Likewise, if there is a book that explores this subject matter in greater depth, we'll be even another step closer to 52.

52 Books, Week 3: The Corrections

Coming back to Michigan from Florida was really really disheartning. Especially when there is a 50 degree temperature difference in the two states. Possibly even more heartbreaking is the fact that I caught a cute little cold, from my even cuter niece. Ahhh, the cost of being with family. And speaking of family...

"All happy families resemble one another, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way" - Tolstoy

Franzen gained significant notoriety [after gentle spelling correction] for this book, when Oprah selected it as a book club awardee, and then didn't allow him to come on the show when he made some negative comments regarding her previous picks. But don't let that mess you up, it still reads really well (although it does get bogged down in the middle).

I read a previous Franzen book, "How To Be Alone" which was an interesting collection of pretty dispartate essays about a lot of the themes that ended up in his novel.

The family that composes the story in The Corrections, is really really fucked up. But more than just a general story about a small town family, its also a commentary on 21st century society. Academic culture, sexual curiousness, captialism, America's drug culture, etc. etc. They all get taken a swing at with varying levels of success, but at its root, its still just a good book.

Updating The Vault

The blog came out of the gate for 2006 on an insane pace. It lost a little steam this week with the co-con travelling as always and my crazy work hours. I had a bunch en-queue just waiting to see the light of the internet so rather than hold them up, I will give them free.

3 Sunday Posts Today for your reading pleasure (hopefully)...see below

Here, I'm updating previous posts with a couple of random musings:

• Regarding my Steelers vs. Colts post from a week ago, I was going to add and change a few things but of course leave it to my favorite writer, Bill Simmons, to basically encapsulate everything I was thinking (maybe he was reading me, maybe not) but with humor. One of those articles where I said "that's what I was saying" about 25 times. The Sports Guy article. Oh...and you should definitely read Parts I & II of Isiah Thomas threatening harm upon Billy Sims if they were in each other's presence. Pure comedy. Come on, Isiah, what are you on? This has given my roommate and I the terrific idea of going to a Knicks game with a sign that says, "We vote Bill Simmons as the Knicks GM." I'm soooo excited about the prospects.
• In I Just Know What I Know - Part II, I wrote about Emigrant Direct providing the highest online savings rate. Well, that title (to my knowledge) now goes to HSBC at 4.25%. Something to look into - I am.
• Airport List 1.2 has been updated. There were a few new airports added and there was a very very very surprising move at the top but it had to be done.
• Read this article by Chuck Klosterman (who will make my reading list before the end of the year, fa sho) about white players being compared to white players and blacks to blacks. Remember all white skill position players (e.g. wide receivers) are "heady" and "deceptively quick."
• T.I. - What You Know...can't explain it but it's become one of my one-song playlists. I'm always a fan of real airy sounding beats (OutKast - Southerplayalisticadillacmuzik; Kanye West - Celebration) and just hope that the artist somehow adds to it. T.I. does that here and he is off the mad lampin feel.
• I saw Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe. I didn't like it one bit.

The Enterprise: 52 Books

I had the pleasure of having drinks and dinner with the Principal, Head Football Coach, Mr. Everything, and Rector of my high school alma mater. If this seems weird to you, keep in mind I went to an all-boy Catholic high school where, if you so choose, the relationship is one for life. Plus, as the best high school sports program of all-time (sorry, had to), my high school would beat my college alma mater in every sport - I need to be able to claim something athletically superior at work.

The current Principal took over the year after I graduated but had been an English teacher my first two years. Unfortunately, as I certainly know now, I did not have a class with him. Among other things, we discussed this 52 books enterprise where I discovered that Dr. McMahon has read over 100 books in a calendar year (a few times). The number has been "reduced" to about 60 books per year recently with one book particularly at fault. The completion of that book, The Shadow of The Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, apparently halted Dr. McMahon from reading for the next 5 weeks. This is a man who will finish a book and complete half of the next in the same night (crazy). Given his reading interests and the nature of this book, I feel like his reaction alone to the reading warrants entry onto my list of 52.

We also discussed his favorite teaching book, The Invisible Man (Ralph Ellison's), and the fact he has re-read it every year since he was 14 (gangsta). He has also re-read 1984 - 0ne of my top 3 favorite books - a number of times as well. His re-read experience seems to have been so rewarding that I feel I should also re-read one of these as well, something I was already considering. I am unsure yet whether to make this one of my weekly reads or for it to be a bonus book, the latter being a stretch as I won't be finished with my Week 3 reading until mid Week 4 and I already have an additional book that I'm reading in the background here and there (given the way its composed, it makes sense to break it up). But I'm still reading and I'm still energized and my conversation with Dr. McMahon only helped the process.

52 Books, Week 2, Vol. 2: 102 Minutes

Yes, we are at the end of Week 3 but considering the Generalists blog activity, my 11-12 hour work days (new position), and my desire to spread this post out from the The Generalist's (feel new again), just like that, I've explained away the delay (say the last four words quickly).

As you hopefully know, The Generalist and I, independent of each other, randomly chose the same book for our Week 2 excursion. I commend The Generalist for an accurate, acute summation of the book and will just briefly add here. As he wrote, 102 minutes is literally a minute-by-minute account of the September 11th Twin Towers tragedy. The book reads like a real life episode of "24," but with no commercials. All 102 minutes are accounted for, with multiple plot lines continually running between the two buildings, different floors, people inside and those outside. Incredibly engaging, even if it is one of those dreaded stories where you already know the outcome. In addition to repeatedly asking "What Would I Do?" another reason why it was particularly captivating was while flipping through the book, I happened to catch a glance at the page in the back of the book that listed the 126 people in this account that did not survive. From that point on, I would read about a particular person's situation within the disaster and their subsequent decisions and found myself continually checking that list to know whether they made it.

Again, not the appropriate book if you are looking for a pick-me-up (obviously). (Obviously).

Tip

If I have on a jacket, and am wearing headphones then I probably don't work in the store. Just a tip.

MLK

"[Martin Luther King, Jr.] wanted everyone to be created equal."

- Jamal Crawford, Shooting Guard, New York Knicks, on a taped segment that aired during today's Knicks game concerning some of the players' thoughts on Dr. King.

I know, I know, I should be using this space for something worthwhile rather than comedic on MLK day but BELIEVE ME, I'm taking the high road (for my standards) on this as opposed to some of the other ridiculous, around-my-boys, type comments I've made.

It's interesting that in a league that is about 80-85% black, the NBA plays a full slate of games on MLK day. In honor, I suppose...I guess.

Just as balance, here is an article that my homegirl just passed along to me:

The Pressure to Cover

Steelers vs. Colts

It's crazy that in a weekend involving my beloved Redskins losing a playoff game that I blog about the Steelers-Colts Divisional round playoff - but it really deserves it. I don't think I've ever had my sports emotions moved as much - in a game where I was not a fan of either of the participants - as I did today.

Some thoughts:

• Ben Roethlisberger is an excellent NFL Quarterback. He gets credit but at the same time doesn't. That aside, he and Ben Watson (from the Pats) made two of the greatest tackles I've ever seen. Roethlisberger's stopped the biggest single moment turnaround in my lifetime (the Immaculate Reception happened a generation before). My question though is why didn't Nick Harper just keep running toward the sideline - I say, blame his wife. Watson, a tight end, ran down one of the fastest players in the league. Champ Bailey "only" had to run 100 yards. Watson ran about 150 at an angle and STILL KEPT SPRINTING even when the referee impeded his progress. The fact that he thought he might catch CHAMP freakin' BAILEY and then, that he kept after him when the ref got in his way (at about yard 80) was so crazy to me. Seriously, this was the complete antithesis to the Shaq fake-hustle plays.
• I love watching Marvin Harrison & Reggie Wayne run routes. (The alternative is watching Taylor Jacobs, of the Redskins, run a comeback pattern. Laughable. Why can't they rehire Henry Ellard to teach these dudes how to run the out pattern without slowing? (That's for my dad.)) Given Wayne is a free agent, I would gladly welcome him to the Redskins. Edge is leaving the Colts, he might as well too. (Unrelated, Steve Smith is a freaking MONSTER. Unstoppable, no matter what folks do. Ken Lucas is the best corner in football too...but I digress.)
• Jerome Bettis owes Mike Vanderjagt something...something he's never given anyone else. He just gave Bettis 5 years more of life because no way he was retiring with that as his last play. Vanderjagt's kick is now tied with Kris Brown's of Houston for worse kick I've ever seen (in the pros). Brown was at least missing for the rights to Reggie Bush and it was outdoors and really no one cared. Now that I think about it...Mike wins (and its not becaues he missed - 46 aint a chip shot by any means - but it wasn't close.)
• Troy Polamalu intercepted the ball. Case closed. Just answer the question that if he was touched down while on the ground would it have been a catch? Yes. Undoubtedly. Second worse call I can remember (in football) next to the coin toss debacle involving none other than the Steelers. (By the way, Polamalu's closing speed is something incredible. Parenthetic, parenthetic, parenthetic.)

Now let's get to everyone's favorite, Peyton Manning:

• I think that Peyton Manning plays so many games without any pressure that when he actually gets it, he discombobulates. He can't do it in the face of pressure. Now obviously, no quarterback is going to win being constantly pressured but clearly some handle it better than others. Peyton doesn't handle it. This is why he isn't the best quarterback when it matters. For two seasons, Kurt Warner was the best at it (unexplainable), and Tom Brady is now. His sidestep to avoid pressure and make a throw is incredible. And its one reason why with considerably less talent on offense, Brady has three rings. You know who Peyton looks like in the face of pressure, his brother, Eli. Maybe its a Manning thing.
• If Mike Vick had waved off his punt team on his own 35 with still a quarter to play, firstly, his coach would have called a timeout due to the on-field chaos and still punted. The media would have - as the co-con said - had his "head on a platter." He straight up showed up his coach on a game-decision. Now, I consider this much different than say, being on their 34 (grey area) and not kicking a field goal. QB's of Manning's ilk can and sometimes do that (he more than most). But given the field position, that's totally a coach's call. My roommate and I grilled this moment for about 15 minutes wondering how this was acceptable. How? That's how I felt in the moment. I still 75% feel that way but I know that given that I'm so anti-Peyton now (get to that in a minute) that I could just be biased. Maybe I would say "that's gangsta" if I saw anyone else do that, but I don't know because it's also the context. If I saw any other QB sucking as much as he had to that point, I feel like I'm still incredulous in the moment - but I'll be open-minded and maybe one day will say, "that was gangsta."
• Given the above though: If Tom Moore runs the offense and calls the Colts plays, and Ron Meeks calls the defensive plays, and Peyton Manning obviously makes the critical game decisions... what exactly does Tony Dungy do? He never says anything on the sideline so what does he do? Just name Peyton player-head coach (seriously).
• Now anyone who knows my interest in football, knows that I love teams who just play pitch and catch. To that point, no team in the past few years (other than the Rams) has done that more than the Colts. I used to lovvvvve watching them play and would casually support. I was rooting for them to score 1,000 points in that playoff game against Denver. But then came the playoff game with the Patty-Pats when the Pats straight up hit the Colts in the mouth and destroyed them in the game. The whole game was not only characterized by frustration for the Colts but by Peyton pointing and yelling at everyone else during the game - mostly his own team. The game made famous the great "Manning Face" (courtesy of Bill Simmons.) Yes, his receivers were getting smashed at the line but it approached showing them up and no one but you floated those ints to Ty Law, Peyton. After the game, Mr. Happy Feet proceeded to deflect most of the blame of the team's performance on everyone else. "We didn't get the job done" did not dominate the post-game discussion, instead, "my receivers did this," "they held our receivers," "the line had problems protecting." Whatever. All that may have been true but you sucked too. I didn't pay enough attention to what he said after last year's Pats game so I can't say if it was a replay BUT TODAY, Peyton after mumbling and saying absolutely nothing coherent for 40 seconds had this to say, "I'm looking for a safe word here. I'm trying to be a good teammate but let's just say we had some problems with protection." Word??? Firstly, its nice to call out lineman at the end of the year who don't get a microphone and have only had you sacked 17 times this year. Secondly, since Peyton wants to take the responsibility of calling out the protection at the line, how about he take some blame for the sacks and not calling out Joey Porter twice who is coming free. Thirdly, given their 3 wideout offense, if they rush 5-6, the QB is responsible for gettin the ball out...there are only 5 offensive lineman. Fourthly, if you are the team leader and got happy feet and started the game off horribly inaccurate, how about mentioning that too. I'm sorry to have soured on a guy I used to enjoy watching play but combine playoffs choke jobs with piling meaningless statistics in blowout games in the regular season to set records (I do that on Madden, however) with not taking the brunt of the blame as the team leader (and Head Coach, apparently), and you can have Peyton Manning even if he wins the next 10 Super Bowls.

I completely wrote this as a stream of consciousness and I did not go back and edit so this won't be my best written blog but hey, its about football. I'm sure I forgot some things too but I'm not doing this for money right?

Steelers - Panthers in the Super Bowl. Panthers as Super Bowl XL Champions. (John Fox is a helluva coach.)

24 is so freakin' sick. I felt like I lost a friend in the first 10 minutes of tonight's show...

52 Books, Week 2: 102 Minutes

The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them. - Mark Twain

102 Minutes is a minute-by-minute first hand account (literally) of the bombing of the Twin Towers on September 11th. Taken from interviews, cell-phone calls, and 911 recordings, a running chronology is methodically described, and the book really provides an extremely harrowing (and extremely scary) account of what happens in a crisis. The book really doesn't try to describe a context for the terrorists actions, but strictly relies on personal narratives to take you inside two massive structures that happen to be on fire:

In New York, the two towers stood for 102 minutes--less than two hours--before they collapsed. That gives no hint of the morning's velocity. One plane crash. Sixteen minutes later, another plane crash. Twenty-five minutes later, word of a third plane approaching--untrue, but certainly not outside the freshly staked borders of the plausible. Then, about thirty minutes after that, the first building falls. Twenty-nine minute later, it was over. It was as if a car going ninety miles per hour were making a ninety degree turn every few minutes. Each moment brought fresh demans, fresh hell.

The lack of coordination and lack of planning (between the police, fire department, and the port authority) are considered the villians in this account, and its interesting that the book didn't lay more blame at the feet of the perpetrators of the attack.

I remember going into the World Trade Center during my short time in New York, and one of the things that struck me during this particular reading, is trying to think about what I would do in this exact situtation. Its easy to say that you would evacuate immediately, etc. etc, but this book at least begs the question. Amazingly, I was scheduled to interview at an investment bank in New York on September 11th (and was supposed to stay at the Marriott World Trade Center hotel), but for some reason or another the session got postponed.

The book was definitely sad. Lots of heroes and bad situations, so if you're looking for a pick me up, I probably wouldn't recommend this one.

Un-Fare Cabs

Maybe its the New Year, maybe its random selection...but cab drivers have been trippin' recently. Consider the following:

1. My boys and I were out in the Big City of Dreams and took a cab back to the crib where we proceeded to ask the cab driver if he could wait, at most, 5 minutes for us to go upstairs and come back for a return trip downtown. Now, consider that the crib is in a "cab-remote" part of the city where a cab driver should truly be happy to have a fare from this destination. I would reason that 90% of the time, a cab driver would travel for at least 10 minutes before finding his or her next fare from this location. We thought that our asking him to wait at 1 am would actually be a good thing for him and definitely would have resulted in an even better tip. His response to our request: [Mumbling] "Uh, I have to run errands..." What??? Errands??? On a Saturday night/Sunday morning at 1 AM!?!?!? You have errands? Where and to do what? There aren't too many 1 am errands that carry positive connotations.

2. Continuing the above...We quickly changed - though not nearly as fast as if the previous cab driver had honored our request - and proceeded to go back outside to that very spot and hoped to luck out on a cab dropping someone off. After about 10 minutes, Bang! Bang!, here comes salvation and transportation to the night capper. But wait, there is discussion:
Cab Driver: "Where y'all need to go?"
Us: "Downtown."
Cab Driver: "No, can't do that, too tired."

Ummmmm, is there a big cab joke at this point calling out Aristocrates and his 3 boys? Tired? You are a cab driver and you are going to be driving regardless, why not just drive with us, paying you a fare? Tired? What other forces are at work here? Your shift is from 5-to-5, its 1...you have 4 hours left!

Needless to say, I was done. I went to sleep.

3. Two days later, I was talking with my homegirl who was in the Big City of Dreams but missed her flight back to her current place of residence. Naturally, I asked how did she miss the flight, upon which she responded:
"My cab driver didn't know how to get to the Airport."
"Where were you flying out of...Teterboro?" "
"No, La Guardia...he said it was his first day."

How is it possible to be employed as a cab driver - even on your first day - in any major metropolitan area and not know how to get to one of the major airports? Simply incredible to the kid...

My homegirl missed the last flight out that night and had to spend the night at a layover airport only to have to come right back to the Big City of Dreams the next day. In the words of Willie Nelson, "Crazy."

What I'm listening to while writing this:
Souls of Mischief - Cab Fare, (obviously)

"'Cab Driver?' 'Cab Driver?' There are two folks sittin' in the front seat of the cab and only one is showing me love, 'Cab Driver,' and I dont think his name is 'Cab Driver.' Why can't 'Cab Driver' show me love?" - Co-Con, circa this time last year

Professional Gambler

So after a moderately successful vegas trip, I've decided to try and become a professional gambler. On a scale of 1-10; I'm probably about a 7 which is way too high for any non-gambling rational person who knows me. But what the hell. Maybe I'll write a book after when i get finished (good look co-con).

The logistics still take some figuring out (how to re-enter the workforce after a prolonged absence, will i get bored doing the same thing over and over again, will i fall victim to the unseemly aspects of vegas life, etc. etc.). The weaker option is just going to vegas like 4 times a year, and trying to do it part time. We'll see.

By the way, I just banged out book number 2, which I'll write about a little later in the week.

Motivation Number: 1/10/2006 59% [thanks again to vegas for showing your boy love]

Even More Ado About Nothing

1. I remember another item that should have been included in "More Musilation." I find it absolutely astonishing that before mid-December 2005, Dungeon Family ft. Society of Soul - Rollin', was not in my mp3 database. That's crazy to me. As one of my favorite tracks, I can't believe that I was not internally compelled to play this after all of this time which would have illuminated the fact that it was not in my library. So...it's been played about 698,373,819 times since. At least that is a sign that Project: Step Your Music Game Back Up is adequately progressing.

2. I'd like to recognize The Perfectionist for coppin' a 61' (!!!) Panasonic Widescreen LCD Projection HDTV. Now why would I acknowledge or even praise someone for spending almost $3Gs on some technology...well, because the purchase is almost humorous to me (variety of reasons) and I can only wait until The Generalist (with his new winnings - I have a feeling you'll hear more about this soon) uses this as a new "motivation." Ah yes, The Kings of Media...I'm just "The Prince" (said with a Lil' Wayne twang).

52 Books, Week 1, Vol. 2: Busting Vegas

Well, even though it seems to be a nice suggestion by The Generalist, I doubt you will get a post of all of the books I am considering because I don't really have a complete grasp of that list myself. Just be lucky that I even got off to a good start on this whole 52-books-in-52-weeks enterprise. Now I will admit that I started this book a few days before the start of 2006. However, I feel like I adequately made up for that bit of a headstart by also finishing not one (as I had originally planned) but two books that I had repeatedly tried to complete. (I thought about "reviewing" those books here but I think I will feature them as bonus posts later - yeah right.) So, in terms of total pages read, I think I am at the point I would have been had I simply started it in 2006.

I chose this as my first book for a couple of reasons:
1. I went to Las Venturas for New Year's (ummmm yesssss sirrrrrrr) and it seemed appropriate.
2. I wanted a lengthy but quick read to get me in the physical habit of reading.
3. I wanted something of extracurricular interest that would, as #2, make it easier to get in the physical habit of reading.

This book touches on key-card sequencing, "hubris, sex, love, violence, fear, and statistics." Furthermore, you learn things like prostitution is officially sanctioned in Clark County whereas prostitution is technically illegal in Las Vegas itself. HOWEVER, paying a girl to come to your room and take off her clothes is not considered prostitution. This "loophole became a doorway because once a girl was naked in your room, what happened next was fairly elementary." Only a book of and about Vegas could teach such things. In other words, this is a fair read on an airplane especially to and from Las Venturas. Otherwise, it is a choppily written though sometimes overly descriptive "fiction" story deemed destined for a movie script.

As for Week 2, its crazy and pure coincidence that the co-con and I randomly chose the exact same book. And that my friends is why we share a blog.

Reading Books (January)

What's on tap for the first month of the year. Ask about me.

Week 1: Cannery Row (Done)
Week 2: 102 Minutes (Done)
Week 3: The Corrections
Week 4: Guns, Germs, and Steel
Week 5: Candide

Non-Fiction List
Fiction List

Why I'm doing this...

52 Books, Week 1: Cannery Row

Brought in 2006 right in Sin City (thanks homies), and there's a lot I feel like I have to catch up on. My resolution to eat no read meat (nor pork), has started off well, and I haven't gone into a pepperoni pizza fit yet. Unfortunately, I must admit, when I went to Ruby Tuesday's and got a turkey burger there was more than a strong inkling to get some delicious bacon on top.

As you may know from desperately reading this blog, I'm reading a book a week this year. After finishing James Weldon Johnson's Autiobiography of an Ex-Colored Man in the last days of the pre-season, I was ready to go into the big leagues. I thought I'd start with something that would be relatively easy and capture my attention since I started 2 days late. 3 days later, the first of 52 was slain before me.

Cannery Row is usually described as one of John Steinbeck's best books. Hmmm, not so much to the kid. Composed of disparate parts, and no real coherent theme (other than existentialist loneliness, and there are a lot of folks who do existentialist loneliness better than Steinbeck) it seemed to be lacking that something special. My disappointment was probably due to the fact that I couldn't really relate to the characters, and thus didn't find the plot gripping in any significant way. They were poor and happy, I get that. I really liked Grapes of Wrath, and I really really liked Of Mice and Men. Oh well, there's always next week.

More Musilation

These are all quick hitter thoughts that should have been posted almost two weeks ago:

• Darrell Armstrong instantly became one of my favorite athletes of all-time, when as a DALLAS Maverick at a home game, he got on the PA at the arena during a happy holiday shindig to the crowd, immediately after the Redskins whipped the Cowboys ass and said (like the Jimmy Johnson clip): "How bout them Redskins!" I should buy his jersey.
• I felt like Tom Brady's acceptance speech for SI's Sportsman of the Year was what is good in sports (cliché, I know).
• The Chargers beating the Colts, as I thought and so wanted them too, coupled with the above bullet, probably makes at least two valued readers of this blog and my co-con angry. Proves you can be cool and still have differences :).
• You should watch the The Secret Childhood of Michael Jackson (how much of it is secret now?) on VH1 just to watch the clip of Michael Jackson and Emmanuel Lewis dancing in a Jackson hotel room. They are nasty with the choreography and coordination and its hilarious (if you ignore what you might think of that interaction today). On another note, Jacko's complex childhood was like the perfect recipe to create the figure that he is today - incredible.
• In an article about Ron Artest (Ron-Ron...wow.): In case you didn’t catch it, he took a rather nasty shot at Magic Johnson during a radio interview the other day. After hearing that Johnson, an icon of the game, said that Artest shouldn’t have been given another shot at the NBA after the brawl he started last year in Detroit, Artest shot back: "It's like saying, 'Magic, should your wife give you another chance?'" Artest told WIBC radio. "He's saying Ron Artest should have no more second chances. What's worse — me saying I want to be traded or you cheating on your wife?"
• I had a comment about a Heidi Fleiss article but I can't find it and I can't remember what I had to say. If I figure it out, I'll edit this post. I think it was Vegas related and since I'm already back from there, it is probably irrelevant. Probably...