Half Turkey

A Book for All Seasons: Half a Life

2012-02-06T00:40:00.001-08:00

http://www.amazon.com/Half-Life-Memoir-Darin-Strauss/dp/0812982533/

Winter entry for “Amazon Editors’ Picks 2010”

The author hit and killed a classmate when he was a senior in high school, and this book is a memoir of his dealing with it. Took him almost 20 years and 200 pages to come to the conclusion I came to on the first page: accidents happen, and those who survive it are allowed to enjoy their lives afterwards. Must be an otherwise cushy life if you can let that incident impact you in such a way for so long. I also had some issues with his writing style, as there was the occasional paragraph that I could not figure out how to interpret after several scans.

In terms of word-count this is about the length of a novella, and there were some interesting sections such as his dealings with the girl’s parents (who filed a lawsuit after exonerating him in person); what’s tragic is that her dad wasn’t the novelist, as there’s probably a more compelling story there.

A Book for All Seasons: The Castle of Wolfenbach

2012-02-02T00:30:00.001-08:00

http://www.amazon.com/Castle-Wolfenbach-German-Gothic-Classics/dp/0977784169

Winter entry for “Northanger Abbey”

This is a melodramatic gothic tale told by an Englishwoman with Protestant values. In Northanger Abbey, Jane Austen cites it as an example of the type of book fueling young ladies’ imaginations with fantastic imagery. The novel makes a slow transition from Horror to True Crime to Romance, with unrealistically ornate dialogue characteristic of the era. The author also uses the book as a platform to contrast the ethos of various European societies of the time, particularly that of the English vs. the French.

This edition (linked above) has a fabulous introduction by an academic, which provides a biography of the author and a fair assessment of the value of her work. I thought the book had merit of its own, and reading it will truly enrich my eventual reading of Northanger Abbey. The publisher of this edition has an extensive collection of Gothic Classics; certainly a category to consider revisiting in the future.

A Book for All Seasons: Over the Edge of the World

2012-01-29T21:20:00.001-08:00

Full title: Over the Edge of the World: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe

http://www.amazon.com/Over-Edge-World-Terrifying-Circumnavigation/dp/006093638X

Winter entry for “Reformation: The Interesting Bits”

An epic sea adventure, and all for a bunch of cloves (must’ve been fun when that market crashed…). An armada of Europeans cross the Atlantic expecting something supernatural waiting for them if they could get past the Americas, but what they find instead makes an equally fascinating read. Knowing how it ends removes some of the suspense, but it was still a thrill to watch the armada whittle down from various causes to a single ship with a skeleton crew drifting back into Spain. Reading the book, I got bugged by a sense of how horribly overrated Magellan is, until the kicker at the end of the book that several follow-up missions couldn’t get as far as his did, even with all of the new information they had.

This is possibly the most enjoyable history book I have ever read. Highly recommended.

A Book for All Seasons: The Year of Magical Thinking

2012-01-18T01:00:00.001-08:00

http://www.amazon.com/Year-Magical-Thinking-Joan-Didion/dp/1400078431

Winter entry for “Grief”

In this memoir, the author relates her mental processes over the twelve month period after losing her husband. The “magic” is largely random connections of memories; maybe her Manhattan lifestyle kept her occupied 24-7 before the death, because I experience this “magic” regularly, as I imagine do most folks whose lives are replete with idle moments. And the fact that her reminiscence comprises primarily past stays at bourgeois residences and international holidays further alienates this common folk.

I was ready to personally escort her to the guillotine when the second half of the book turned more inward and became more rewarding, with guilt and blame pointing outward and inward. Yet, you have to consider her having a network of family and friends to bring her gourmet Chinese food makes her experience quite different from the multitudes of widows who make this transition truly alone. All that said, in the end, she’s a bona fide writer; the book is beautifully written, and I enjoyed it very much for that alone.

Project 250: Prepping 2000

2012-01-06T00:11:00.001-08:00

http://rateyourmusic.com/charts/top/album/2000

There’s probably 20 albums on the top 50 I’d be perfectly happy trying, yet watch how safe I play it!

Familiarity rating (listed after each album below):
5 - Currently own the album
4 - Familiar with the album
3 - Very familiar with the artist
2 - Somewhat familiar with the artist
1 - Have not heard the artist

Albums eliminated from consideration due to availability:

36 – Weakling – Dead as Dreams – Black Metal – 1
39 – Coil – Musick to Play in the Dark 2 – Electronic – 3

Albums eliminated from consideration due to familiarity:
2 – Godspeed You! Black Emperor – Lift Your Skinny Fists… – Post-Rock – 5
6 – Immolation – Close to a World Below – Death Metal – 5
14 – Queens of the Stone Age – Rated R – Stoner Rock – 5

Leading contenders:
3 – Modest Mouse – The Moon & Antarctica – Indie Rock – 1
I’m hesitant to go with such a popular act, but I’m on an Indie Rock roll..

4 – Electric Wizard – Dopethrone – Doom Metal – 3
As much as I enjoyed their previous release, I’ve gotta go with their most famous one.

5 – At the Drive-In – Relationship of Command – Post-Hardcore – 1
Let the record state that I’m not afraid to bite on bands with shitty names…

18 – Yo La Tengo! – And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out – Dream Pop – 3
I’m afraid that they’re gonna shed the shoegaze by now, but I’m willing to find out.

22 – 16 Horsepower – Secret South – Gothic Country – 3
…and there’s the third encore!

Another 5 I could be talked into:
1 – Radiohead – Kid A – Experimental Rock – 3
It’s hard to turn down the top-rated album of the 00’s.

7 – Deltron 3030 – Deltron 3030 – Experimental Hip Hop – 1
I’ve never really enjoyed Hip Hop that got overly brainy.

11 – Porcupine Tree – Lightbulb Sun – Progressive Rock – 3
I keep turning these guys down. I guess it really is one-and-done for them.

12 – The Avalanches – Since I Left You – Plunderphonics – 1
If someone promised me that it was at least half as good as Entroducing, then maybe…

27 – A Silver Mt. Zion – He Has Left Us Alone but Shafts of Light… – Post-Rock – 1
It’s hard to resist the audacious band/album title, and it *is* a GY!BE side-project…

Feel free to talk me into or out of anything from the RYM Top 50.

Project 250: Reviewing 1997

2012-01-05T23:56:00.001-08:00

Built to Spill – Perfect From Now On Love

Objectively, this is a very special album and perhaps the “best” of the decade from the albums I’ve selected for this project. The sound is a mix of classic rock, prog, and modern psychedelic indie rock – think Neil Young X Flaming Lips with a dash of Genesis – and the eight jams are catchy while dense enough to reward repeat listening; only “Out of Sight” was a bit of a dud for me. I’ve heard the band’s name for years and never would have associated it with this sound (although apparently most of their other work is more pop-oriented).

But something keeps it from ringing my bell completely. I think the production is what really holds it back. The quiet moments are crystal clear; the addition of cello and mellotron is done with exquisite taste. When things start layering on, there seems to be a lot of mid-range noise/hiss without much muscle underneath, due in part to the reedy vocals. There are times that the composition builds to a key moment (e.g., the chorus of “I Would Hurt A Fly”, that starts with the clever line “there’s a mean bone in my body” which doesn’t get the menace it deserves), and it fails to go to 11. Still, I have listened to this a ton, and it’s really great rock, both honest and creative.

Favorite tracks: “I Would Hurt A Fly”, “Made-Up Dreams”, “Stop The Show”

Electric Wizard – Come My Fanatics… Like

As advertised, this is exactly the type of stoner metal I was looking for. By 1997, any trace of THC was long out of my system, so there are no “coulda woulda shoulda” regrets here, but rest assured it will make the playlist for my legalization celebration party. This shit is thick and dark, oozing like a luminescent oil-black lava lamp. Sure, an act like the Melvins is more intellectually stimulating, but there’s something to be said about taking this Sabbath-based space rock to its loudest and deepest extreme; to be able to pull off a 9-minute freak-out instrumental (“Ivixor B/Phase Inducer”) that doesn’t bore – even after a dozen listens – is by itself quite the accomplishment.

Favorite tracks: “Return Trip”, “Son of Nothing”, “Doom-Mantia”,

Radiohead – OK Computer Lukewarm

I like to think of myself as a nonconformist, and there’s plenty of supporting evidence that I’m not a full-blown anti-conformist (e.g., realizing that the 2007 Honda Civic was a common-sense purchase). So, while I was predisposed to absolutely hate this top-rated album, I gave it a fair chance, pretending – as I always do – that I was the only person who ever listened to this.

Clearly the vocals stand out, and while they can be horribly unintelligible (“Airbag”) and/or unbearably whiny (“Electioneering”), the tone is very beautiful at times, and you have to be soulless to not be moved somewhat by the ballads. Comparatively, the compositions, while less annoying, don’t achieve anywhere near the same highs. The prog elements in the early tracks are trite and awkward (contrast “Exit Music’s”’s use of mellotron with Built To Spill’s), while the back half of the album is full of tracks that go nowhere. And even my clear favorite track here – “Let Down” – does little more than scratch the same itch as the like of Coldplay’s “Speed of Sound”.

In summary, I allowed myself to like the album in parts, but I don’t objectively see anything remarkable here that warrants all the praise of superlatives. So, reader, please be kind in return and let me use that word I’ve avoided elsewhere: overrated.

Favorite tracks: “Let Down”, “The Tourist”, “Airbag”

Mogwai – Young Team Lukewarm

There are fragments of power and emotion as you would expect with anything tagged “post-rock”, but too much of the album is made up of pointless interludes and long underdeveloped stretches, in particular the much-praised 16-minute snoozefest “Mogwai Fear Satan”.

“Like Herod” is perhaps the only truly notable piece here, serving as a proto-post-metal link between Slint and Celestial-era Isis. But – note those last two bands I mentioned – I think the general lack of vocals might be Mogwai’s fatal flaw for me. Instrumental post-rock has been a downer in my futile quest to find something as good as GY!BE, and Pelican, the heaviest among them, has been the biggest dud of all. So at least now I know who to partially blame for the existence of Pelican.

Favorite tracks: “Tracy”, “Like Herod”, “Yes! I Am A Long Way From Home”

Yo La Tengo – I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One Love

One of the disappointments of Project 250 was the lack of shoegaze that made the top 50 charts in the early 90’s, and I figured that by 1997 I had missed my shot. What a great surprise then to find this album, which is like a revue of 90’s genres on the way out (e.g., shoegaze, dream pop, noise rock). At times they sound like the worst of JMC, Lush, and MBV (!), and at other times like the best of Galaxie 500. Occasionally they let up on the noise, replacing it with a full warm sound with lots of great percussion, creating the sensation of warm midwest nights. No matter what direction they take, the solid instrumentation and brilliant guitar work is always there.

Even a track like the infamous “Spec Bebop” (11 raga-like minutes of a repeating beat topped with ever-shifting guitar loops), while you don’t want it coming up in random shuffle, works perfectly in the context of this album which stylistically zooms all over the place. It took a while to warm up to it, but this is now on the shortlist of Project 250 albums that will certainly make it to my all-time top 100.

Favorite tracks: “The Lie and How We Told It”, “Deeper Into Movies”, “Damage”

A Book for All Seasons: 2012

2011-12-23T02:10:00.001-08:00

This is my annual reading project, now in its fourth year. I pick a number of categories, then aim to read one book in each category in each season of the upcoming year. I will add a link to this post to the front page of my blog and update it throughout the year after I finish each book.

As with last year, I am going with eight categories.

	Winter	Spring	Summer	Autumn
WCF
Nova Scotia
Amazon Editors’ Picks 2010	Half a Life
Grief	The Year of Magical Thinking
Reformation: The Interesting Bits	Over the Edge of the World
Bram Stoker Award winners for Anthology
Andre Dubus
Northanger Abbey	The Castle of Wolfenbach

WCF– Windows Communication Foundation. Learning it because this year I’m gonna have to be using it. I’ve been spoiled by using .NET years now almost strictly within a single process (just a smidgen of COM+ integration), and I suspect this will be a return to obtuse APIs. But it’s gotta be better than DCOM, right?

Nova Scotia – I maintain this irrational fantasy that one day I’ll move/retire to Nova Scotia. Irrational because I know I won’t be able to tolerate the cold over so long a period, and because I have no path to changing nationalities. So I’ll read about it.

Amazon Editors’ Picks 2010 – There are three books from 2010 that I really want to read that I read about elsewhere; I found them all on this list, and so the category was born. (Looking over the 2011 list… I’m doubtful that this category will return.)

Grief – A category chosen as a container for two specific titles I have been wanting to read.

Reformation: The Interesting Bits – Wanting to play Here I Stand more, and with the topic coming up in my daughter’s history curriculum, I though it would be good to read more about this period. Unfortunately, much of it seems dreadfully dull; for example, as cool as it sounded, “Diet of Worms” turned out to be a huge disappointment. Stray away from the religious debates, and there’s tons of really interesting things going on.

Bram Stoker Award winners for Anthology – A slight tweak from last year’s category, sticking with short fiction but targeting anthologies (different authors, sometimes directed within a thematic constraint) instead of collections (same author).

Andre Dubus – Note: Not the III, but his father. This will be primarily short fiction (with some rereads), but I aim to read some of his later work, including essays.

Northanger Abbey – Continuing the Jane Austen theme, I hope to tackle each of her novels one-a-year. The category will include books that provide background information, inspired, were inspired by, or otherwise were an explicit homage to the Austen novel. Unlike last year, I do plan on actually reading the Austen itself this time!

A Book for All Seasons: I Did It Again! (Final Status)

2011-12-23T01:40:00.001-08:00

Last year I thought hitting 24 books was a big accomplishment for myself. This year I achieved my goal of 32 in the final hour! No, I will not be increasing my goal by another 50% for next year; 32 seems like a good number for me now. I also had a WSJ subscription for the year, so the amount of actual reading I did you can probably double again.

At the bottom of this post is a copy of the final dashboard. What follows next is a list of my favorite books in each category, plus my favorite book of the year award.

Web Development – Well, I got a good introduction to a lot of web technologies I hope I never have to use. I’ll give best-in-show to the book – Learning Web Design – that covered the one technology that I see being the one I would be most likely to use some day: CSS.

Anna Pigeon series – The first in the series was definitely my least favorite; among the others, it seems to be a tradeoff between how much I enjoyed the scenery with how annoying the lead character was. I’ll go with minimal annoyance and vote for Firestorm

The War in Iraq – Clear winner here: Black Hearts, which spent the most time on the higher levels of organization, and the least time on the details of individual American casualties.

Four Sports – Probably the most consistent category, even as my interest in sports continues to wane. The blue ribbon goes to Fever Pitch, which was more about sports fandom than the actual sport itself.

Better Writing – Grammatically Correct is the only one of the 32 books for which I plan to purchase my own copy. Okay, it’s a reference book, so that’s not really a fair competition, but it is noteworthy that it’s getting the nod over Strunk and White.

Bram Stoker Award winners for Collection – A slightly disappointing category given that my Book of the Year for 2010 – 20th Century Ghosts – was a recent winner in this category. Taste of Tenderloin is arguably the worst of the four using objective criteria, but my love of San Francisco made it my personal favorite.

Favorites from my Youth – … are not favorites of my adulthood. Of the four, Uncle’s Tom Cabin – my official answer to the “favorite book” question for decades – held up the best, if not altogether worthy of the “classic” label.

Jane Austen Universe – The winning entry of an online contest I held, this category was easily my favorite. The books individually were mostly average, but collectively connected beautifully, each contributing to the “read Jane without reading Jane” effect I was gunning for. The Jane-as-detective mystery Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor was so delightful that I briefly entertained putting the reading project on hiatus and just continuing with that series.

Book of the Year: Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor. In fact, the Janefest will continue into 2012; stay tuned...

	Winter	Spring	Summer	Autumn
Web Development	Learning Web Design	Don’t Make Me Think!	Learning PHP, MySQL, and Javascript	HTML5: Up and Running
Anna Pigeon series	Track of the Cat	A Superior Death	Ill Wind	Firestorm
The War in Iraq	The Good Soldiers	Black Hearts	House to House	They Fought for Each Other
Four Sports	Top of the Order	The Book of Basketball	Fever Pitch	Friday Night Lights
Better Writing	Grammatically Correct	Eats, Shoots & Leaves	The Truth About the New Rules of Business Writing	The Elements of Style
Bram Stoker Award winners for Collection	Alone with the Horrors	Prayers to Broken Stones	Taste of Tenderloin	Full Dark, No Stars
Favorites from my Youth	Uncle Tom’s Cabin	Lizard Music	The Amityville Horror	Weaveworld
Jane Austen Universe	The Friendly Jane Austen	Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor	The Jane Austen Book Club	Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict

A Book for All Seasons: HTML5: Up and Running

2011-12-22T23:54:00.001-08:00

http://www.amazon.com/HTML5-Up-Running-Mark-Pilgrim/dp/0596806027

Autumn entry for “Web Development”

A great book for a first look at new attempts at standardization. For each topic, there’s a little intro, a minimal example, then lots of links (especially to industry committees’ documents) for further investigation. In just 200 pages, I got a really good grasp on what HTML5 is all about.

As for the technology itself, it seems that it will be a long time until browsers catch up to take advantage of all these new features, so I guess this just means that over time folks will be able to gradually reduce the number of custom solutions they have to provide.

The browser wars brought innovation, but I really feel sorry for Internet developers; what a waste to spend so much effort on browser compatibility instead of the app’s capability itself. If I ever do do major web development, it would probably be for corporate Intranet, where they “allow” developers to assume that the users will be using a particular browser. That has its own challenges; their management won’t give them the resources to have their apps work on multiple browsers, while the users complain about blunted capabilities (should they code to the standards), or gripe about not following standards (when the power users insist on using “non-standard” browsers within the corporate environment).

A Book for All Seasons: Full Dark, No Stars

2011-12-21T11:08:00.001-08:00

http://www.amazon.com/Full-Dark-Stars-Stephen-King/dp/143919260X/

Autumn entry for “Bram Stoker Award winners for Collection”

It’s a shame that we can’t get even 10% of the 573 Amazon reviewers of this title to read the other titles in this category. I thought this collection of four novellas was just okay. Compared to King stories I read in the distant past, it was light on the supernatural and heavy on the human brutality – think Misery.

The first story is a stark narrative about post-murder guilt set in the pre-Dust Bowl era. It was easily my favorite, and I could see it translated to film in the Coen Brothers’ noir style. The second is a fairly typical rape-and-revenge tale. The third is a predictable deal-with-the-devil story that never delivers the anticipate twist. The fourth relates the experiences of a woman who finds out after a long marriage her husband led a different life.

I think another reason I liked the first story best is that it deals most effectively with moral ambiguity. The other three stories feature “protaganists” doing acts of arguable evil (both the second and fourth walk the reader through a rationalization of illegal vengeance after the catalyst of violence against women), but it seems kind of cheap and tailored to an audience that would be sympathetic to these actions. I think if there was more unique to the surface of the stories, then I would be more tolerant of the limitations in the narrator’s perspective.

A Book for All Seasons: Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict

2011-12-10T20:36:00.001-08:00

http://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Austen-Addict-Laurie-Rigler/dp/0452289726/

Autumn entry for “Jane Austen Universe”

The mind of a modern-day Jane Austen reader is somehow transported into a body of another woman who lives in early 19th century England. She must quickly learn to fit in or else be sent to an asylum. She wears the other women’s life and takes adventure where she can find it, while searching for a way to get back to her old life.

The time travel / magic elements were weak, and the first half of the book was marred by the protagonist’s ongoing thought process about her predicament and resulting identity, especially once she started to experience flashbacks from her host body’s memory. The book got stronger when it focused more on demythologizing our romanticized views of the era, especially the role of women in that society and how it relates to the modern day. Don’t get me wrong – this is way more chick lit than feminist manifesto – but it was a unique take on the subject and a perfect wrap-up for the category.

A Book for All Seasons: Firestorm

2011-12-01T22:56:00.001-08:00

http://www.amazon.com/Nevada-Barr-Ill-Wind/dp/0425197255/

August entry for “Anna Pigeon series”

Recap: The gimmick to this mystery series is that the “detective” is a park ranger trained in law enforcement, and each book is situated at a different national park. This time round, she’s “on loan” from one park to another to assist with a forest fire, so the regular problem of the unexplained transition didn’t exist.

As with all her books so far, the nature vistas and action scenes were the highlights for me. The central character was less annoying (largely due to not having access to wine or a telephone), and the cast of suspects were more believable. The murder and investigation composition were more classical in their structure, but the resolution was a bit of a letdown, especially given the tedious wait for rescue in the snowy wilderness which made up most of the book.

I enjoyed the series well enough so far, but Anna Pigeon isn’t someone I want to hang out with, let alone be fed her internal dialogue (especially as she’s starting up a middle-age romance). I’m not going to re-up it for next year, but I could see adding it again in the future, although I’d probably be better off getting some non-fiction books for the virtual tours of the natural parks.

A Book for All Seasons: They Fought for Each Other

2011-11-29T10:07:00.001-08:00

Full title: They Fought for Each Other: The Triumph and Tragedy of the Hardest Hit Unit in Iraq

http://www.amazon.com/They-Fought-Each-Other-Triumph/dp/B004A14W8G/

Autumn entry for “The War in Iraq”

Given how intensely personal this book is, I don’t want to say much bad about this lest I be considered a member of Westboro Baptist. At this point, I’ve had enough of modern platoon-level books that near exclusively focus on death and coping, partly because I’m no longer in my glass-half-full phase with respect to my perspective of human nature.

The one thing this book does convey well is the frustration of the infantry in Iraq in not being able to fight in the way portrayed in past wars; not that they want to be cowboys, but they feel defenseless and unmotivated, constrained by rules that are putting them in peril (e.g., no entering the mosque). The title is more about cynicism and resignation than it is brotherly love.

Project 250: Prepping 1999

2011-11-28T00:08:00.001-08:00

http://rateyourmusic.com/charts/top/album/1999

Albums eliminated from consideration due to availability:

27 – Coil – Musick to Play in the Dark – Electronic – 3
38 – The Dismemberment Plan – Emergency & I – Indie Rock – 1
41 – Botch – We Are the Romans – Mathcore – 1
42 – Tenhi – Kauan – Dark Folk – 1
50 – Empyrium - Where at Night the Wood Grouse Plays – Dark Folk – 1

Albums eliminated from consideration due to familiarity:
3 – Opeth – Still Life – Progressive Metal – 5
13 – Neurosis – Times of Grace – Sludge Metal – 5
31 – Agalloch – Pale Folklore – Folk Metal – 5 (but see below)

Leading contenders:
6 – Bonnie "Prince" Billy – I See a Darkness – Americana – 1
Was hoping for the Gothic Country tag, but this seems harrowing enough to consider…

10 – Built to Spill – Keep It Like a Secret – Indie Rock – 2
I anticipate seeing what they do with a less “epic” approach (compared to 1997’s LP).

32 – Summoning – Stronghold – Atmospheric Black Metal – 1
Unfortunately, the second genre tag is Symphonic BM, which is usually a red flag.

43 – Taake – Nattestid ser porten vid... – Black Metal – 1
There ain’t no Black Metal like Norwegian Black Metal…

46 – The Olivia Tremor Control – Black Foliage… – Neo-Psychedelia – 1
This is my second shot at the band, and this time I plan to bite.

Another 5 I could be talked into:
1 – Sigur Rós – Ágætis byrjun – Post-Rock – 1
I’m starting to cool on the genre, although this is one of those “I really should”s.

2 – The Flaming Lips – The Soft Bulletin – Neo Psychedelia – 2
The fretwork was the best part of their last album… and now that’s gone.

4 – The Magnetic Fields – 69 Love Songs – Indie Pop – 1
Was considering it strongly… until I found out that album title was literal!

25 – Windir – Arntor – Melodic Black Metal – 1
It shows how desperate I am for more 90’s BM that I’m considering the “Melodic” sort.

31 – Agalloch – Pale Folklore – Folk Metal – 5
I bought the album after P250 started to fill out my Agalloch collection, but I’ve only half-listened to a couple of tracks so far. I think I’m happy with the first 5 above, but, FYI, this is the most likely of the next 5 to get promoted.

Feel free to talk me into or out of anything from the RYM Top 50.

Project 250: Reviewing 1996

2011-11-27T17:02:00.001-08:00

16 Horsepower – Sackcloth 'n' Ashes Love*

A supple rhythm section backs up a multi-instrumentalist (banjo, steel guitar, squeezebox, etc.) who howls lyrics equally schizophrenic and Pentecostal, evoking scenes of Appalachia and Old West you would not want to appear in in person. Yup, Gothic Country is now 2-for-2 in Project 250; this is the shit that does it for me.

* OK, the rating’s a bit generous, as a few tracks towards the end needed to be lopped off to get it to LP size.

Favorite tracks: “Ruthie Lingle”, “Black Soul Choir”, “Horse Head”

Belle and Sebastian – If You're Feeling Sinister Lukewarm

This was my first exposure to the act, and their sound of Morrissey-meets-João Gilberto is a cool modern updating of The Smiths; still intact are the wit, sensitivity, and active vocal melodies (this may be the perfect “meow” album; y’know, where you sing along but replace each word with “meow”?) but the emotional approach was replaced with lounge-style standoffishness. Flirted with a Like, but there was a dearth of good material on side B, and I finally decided that the slight lisp was a defect no matter how good the lyrics.

Favorite tracks: “Seeing Other People”, “Like Dylan in the Movies”, “Me and the Major”

Weezer – Pinkerton Love

Fully sober, this mercifully brief album of adolescent pop-punk (think Dookie) might be my third or fourth favorite of the ‘96 batch. But with one (strong) beer in me, I’m jumpin’ around the room, singing along like a frat boy on Friday. Obviously this album has carried many a young man born 1972-1980 through broken-off, destructive, and non-existent relationships, but the energetic guitar wrangling is ageless.

Side note: Apparently the rest of the band’s catalog is less introspective, but no way can I agree with the RYM consensus categorization of this as “dark” when juxtaposed with the other 1996 albums here!

Favorite tracks: “Tired of Sex”, “Getchoo”, “El Scorcho”

Katatonia – Brave Murder Day Like

Wow, did this album start on a high. The first two tracks feature Agalloch-style power chords with Opeth’s Mikael Åkerfeldt on vocals: Please, sir, can I have more?! After wrapping up side A with a brief and moving ballad with harp-like guitar work, the band shifts into more (stereo)typical 90’s Swedish Death Metal (oh look – “Produced by Dan Swano”), particularly evoking early Opeth.

I am familiar with most of guitarist Blackheim’s solo act Diabolical Masquerade’s work; according to Wikipedia, he used that gig as an outlet for more creative experimentation and aggression. Yup, Katatonia is certainly a lot more bland, but is as effective as any band of its ilk in creating the perfect atmosphere for walking alone on rainy autumn evenings; lucky for everyone then that the 1996 batch landed in November.

Favorite tracks: “Brave”, “Murder”, “Rainroom”

Swans – Soundtracks for the Blind Like

This is far, far darker than any of the Swans albums already in my collection. It’s a hodgepodge assortment of loops, sound experiments, and live tracks, anchored by long, slow-building epics that help maintain some semblance of consistency. Whereas their previous album was deeply rooted in the 90’s lush industrial rock sound with some gothic tones, most of Soundtracks springs from dark ambient and post-rock; only “Blood Section” provides an all-too-brief ray of illuminating hope back into the lumbering morass. Even the Jarboe pieces are aggressive and harsh, not the haunting lullabies from earlier releases.

However, remember that we are in the CD era, so a “double album” means nearly 2.5 hours of this oppression. Like a food challenge, I doubt few have successfully made it all the way through in one sitting. But, really, there are a handful of instrumental soundscapes here that are as frightening as anything else in my entire music collection – cartoonish but effective slices of horror of the Silent Hill variety – and it only takes a few minutes at a time to get a properly psychological whopping out of this.

Favorite tracks: “Helpless Child”, “Blood Section”, “Minus Something”

A Book for All Seasons: Learning PHP, MySQL, and JavaScript

2011-11-14T01:05:00.001-08:00

http://www.amazon.com/Learning-MySQL-JavaScript-Step---Step/dp/0596157134

Summer entry for “Web Development”

Okay, so it took me a while to get through this book – the last writeup for this category was seven months ago! – but I really invested significantly in programming with the examples. The samples were meaningful and clear, the code mostly error-free, and I was really impressed at the EasyPHP and MySQL packages; it’s the first web development framework that I was able to get onto my home PC and start using right away.

That said, it would be an unfortunate day if I ever had to program with these technologies (especially with that NetBeans IDE), although I prefer it over what I’ve seen from Microsoft in the past for simple web development. I really get spoiled being able to program in higher-level languages at work; however, I understand that if I ever do get cast back into the job market, my age in this profession will lead me to take what I can get.

Project 250: Prepping 1998

2011-11-10T01:45:00.001-08:00

http://rateyourmusic.com/charts/top/album/1998

Hmm… not very inspired by the selections this time (other than #1, which was one of my must-gets going into Project 250). Either the big releases are buried by bad ratings, or this was quite the void in modern music history…

Albums eliminated from consideration due to availability:

25 – Gorguts – Obscura – Technical Death Metal – 2

Albums eliminated from consideration due to familiarity:
6 – Boards of Canada – Music Has the Right to Children – IDM – 5
18 – Opeth – My Arms, Your Hearse – Progressive Metal – 5
22 – Béla Bartók – The 6 String Quartets – Modern Classical – 5
23 – AIR – Moon Safari – Downtempo – 5

Leading contenders:
1 – Neutral Milk Hotel – In the Aeroplane Over the Sea – Indie Rock – 1
Only OK Computer has gotten more hype.

8 – Refused – The Shape of Punk to Come – Post-Hardcode – 1
When in doubt, go aggressive.

24 – John Zorn – The Circle Maker – Jazz – 2
I’m familiar with his Naked City era work; how did he get from there to Jewish Jazz?

41 – Dirty Three – Ocean Songs – Post-Rock – 1
I should stay away from this genre pre-2000, but the descriptions are intriguing.

42 – Boredoms – Super æ – Experimental Rock – 1
I’d hold off until their more highly regarded 1999 album, if there were better choices.

Another 5 I could be talked into:
2 – Massive Attack – Mezzanine – Trip Hop – 1
Although, if I wanted to capture the 90’s aura, this would be tops.

3 – OutKast – Aquemini – Southern Hip Hop – 1
Tempting, but looking to stretch more.

4 – Elliott Smith – XO – Singer/Songwriter – 1
Can’t do it, the Portland link notwithstanding.

13 – Steve Reich – Music for 18 Musicians – Minimalism – 2
I’ve already the one shot I’ve given him is enough, although this is the more famous one.

38 – Tortoise – TNT – Post-Rock – 1
In some ways, I feel this would be the safest bet in the top 50.

Feel free to talk me into or out of anything from the RYM Top 50.

Project 250: Reviewing 1995

2011-11-10T01:05:00.001-08:00

Down – NOLA Like

Down is a “supergroup” comprising reps from different southern metal bands, but vocalist Phil Anselmo dominates the sound with his aggressive style and self-deprecating, defeatist lyrics. I think he fits better with the electric guitar leads and sharper rhythm section of Pantera than the bluesy approach here, but it still works.

It gets tagged as Stoner Metal, but merely singing about weed doesn’t make it so; only the epic closer “Bury Me In Smoke” fully evokes that Sabbath-like Doom sound. The rest is a mix groovy (if not challenging) southern licks mixed with aggressive riffage. Things flag a bit after the first four tracks, and don’t really recover until the very end, but the highlights here are amazing and hold up against the best of Pantera. Gotta love albums like this that remind me that, despite my pan-genre explorations, I’m still primarily a metalhead at heart.

Favorite tracks: “Lifer”, “Pillars of Eternity”, “Bury Me In Smoke”

The Flaming Lips – Clouds Taste Metallic Like

When I sat down in the theater to see Whale Rider, I knew within the first few notes of the soundtrack that this would be a movie I’d have to consciously lose myself to. Mission accomplished: I ended up bawling like a baby. So it was with Clouds Taste Metallic, my first taste of The Flaming Lips, but as much as I tried, parts were far too cute for me to swallow. I did like the noisier parts; hearing that the guitarist left after the album, and the band moved away from the rock aspects, means I’ll likely skip 1999’s The Soft Bulletin (ranked #2 on RYM).

Objectively, the compositions are fantastic; none run to long and they develop in unpredictable ways. The instrumentation is overly quirky, and sonically, while I love the 90’s production qualities, I would have preferred them not taking it to 11 on every single track. While I wasn’t sold over completely, I can see why the fan received such fanatic acclaim.

Favorite tracks: “Placebo Headwound”, “Lightning Strikes the Postman”, “The Abandoned Hospital Ship”

Tindersticks – Tindersticks (II) Like

Mature, wistful songwriting with lush instrumentation (e.g., strings) featuring a lead singer who sounds at times like a homeless man muttering to himself on the library steps. The whole effect is cinematic, akin to an art flick which bores you to sit through but haunts you for years afterwards. The absurdist “My Sister” is one of the most magical and moving (in its quiet way) pieces I’ve heard. There’s enough deadwood here to tempt me to keep it at Lukewarm, but the highlights just won’t let go of me.

Favorite tracks: “Seaweed”, “Cherry Blossoms”, “My Sister”

Emmylou Harris – Wrecking Ball Lukewarm

Daniel Lanois makes amazing soundscapes (especially for nighttime listening), but I think he often dominates the supposed “star” of the album. Peter Gabriel and (to a lesser extent) U2 worked because the artists were writing artsy songs, and the vocalists had complementary tones that fit the instrumental ambience. The Dylan albums were (far) less successful because the songwriting and vocals didn’t share those properties.

Wrecking Ball is odd because the atmosphere and guitar work might be Lanois’ best ever, but I feel a complete disconnect between what he’s doing and what Emmylou Harris is singing in her affected way. The album is mostly covers, and I commend them for exposing me to so much really great material, but in most cases the originals – or Emmylou’s own acoustic live performances – are much stronger. So much gloss is poured on that any semblance of “country” or “folk” is obliterated.

Bonus points: The wife really enjoys it…

Favorite tracks: “Goodbye”, “Sweet Old World”, “Wrecking Ball”

GZA/Genius – Liquid Swords Like

Well fuck me. I know the difference between GZA and Ghostface, but for some reason I thought the latter was the MC on this. I blame cut and paste…

As with Wrecking Ball, I felt the production totally overwhelmed the frontman. However, I’m totally down with a RZA joint, even if he does resort to that “BA-doom boom CHICK” a bit too much. RZA’s tracks are dark and severe here, like a lurking/striking ninja; “Swordsman” in particular has an industrial trip-hop sound that had me scanning the credits for Mick Harris’s name.

As for GZA, neither his lyrics nor his delivery is strong enough to carry the other. At least this album made me appreciate him more (i.e., I’ve listened to “Clan in Da Front” umpteen times since), although he’s still at best my fourth favorite Wu Tang MC, so…

Favorite tracks: “Gold”, “Swordsman”, “Liquid Swords”

A Book for All Seasons: The Elements of Style

2011-11-06T00:48:00.001-07:00

http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Style-50th-Anniversary/dp/0205632645

Autumn entry for “Better Writing”

In my review of Grammatically Correct, I mentioned that Strunk & White was more terse largely to being prescriptive (as well as selective). Grammatically, being descriptive, as well as more comprehensive in its coverage, seems like the more complete guide to me. I think I also enjoyed her humorous, whimsical style over Strunk & White’s more abrasive disdain (although I’ll admit S&W didn’t get close to the tone of Eats, Shoots & Leaves). But the book was good for a few chuckles, and I’m all for applying the 80-20 rule when it comes to desktop references. Therefore, I won’t force my wife to throw out her battered old copy of S&W when I buy Grammatically.

A Book for All Seasons: Weaveworld

2011-11-02T00:00:00.001-07:00

http://www.amazon.com/Weaveworld-Clive-Barker/dp/0743417356/

Autumn entry for “Favorites from my Youth”

If you asked me a month ago what my favorite all-time book was, I’d probably say Weaveworld, based on my one and only reading of it ~23 years ago. But then again, Marillion was my favorite band at the time, so I guess I was just a different person in a different place (with a different chemical mix in my bloodstream making me more susceptible to psychedelic imagery).

This time ‘round, I loved the over-the-top horror elements, but not so much the melodramatic narrative or the fantasy "Wonderland". Oh well, even the author claims in the foreword of this edition that the book is no longer part of him (nor vice versa). So it goes, but here's to creating new "best" reading experiences...

Project 250 Delay

2011-10-18T15:28:00.001-07:00

I’ve got a nasty Google redirect virus on my home PC that I’m working with online support in resolving; looks like there’s a lot of that going around lately.

Anyways, one of the many symptoms of this virus is that it’s blocking my PC from recognizing my iPod, so I cannot sync up with iTunes and thus get the 1996 batch onto my iPod. That, combined with my podcasts being dried up (and now backed up), is that my 1995 batch is getting a record number of listens!

Hope to be back up in the near future…

A Book for All Seasons: Friday Night Lights

2011-10-17T10:43:00.001-07:00

Full title: Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream

http://www.amazon.com/Friday-Night-Lights-Town-Dream/dp/B000P2XNL6/

Autumn entry for “Four Sports”

At my high school in upstate New York, jocks were not held in particular esteem, and from my days in the marching band, I don’t remember much townsfolk attending the games, and whatever cheering there was was modest, not manic. It wasn’t like much else was going in our town – I just think some folks just like football – so I don’t quite buy the angle that FNL takes of the folks desperately clinging to the oil industry finding some nugget of hope and thrill in the desert climate. The other main focus of the book was on the kids themselves, especially their overnight transition from high-school heroes to working-class zeroes. Yeah, all sorts of people miss their glory days, nothing new there.

So, as the book was primarily a sociological study, with minimal insight into football, I didn’t gain much from it, and the writing was a bit sensationalistic. But the author did luckily stumble into a compelling narrative (most notably the tale of Ivory Christian, the linebacker who switches passions with absoluteness, with an all-too-familiar ending), and the book as a result was a fun read that tells a lot about West Texas if nothing else.

Project 250: Prepping 1997

2011-10-06T17:19:00.001-07:00

http://rateyourmusic.com/charts/top/album/1997

Wow, there are probably 20 selections in the top 50 I’d be happy with. Great choices this year. And, very surprisingly, the highest ranked hip-hop album is @ #47!

Albums eliminated from consideration due to familiarity:
2 – Godspeed You! Black Emperor – F♯A♯∞ – Post-Rock – 5
9 – Emperor – Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk – Symphonic Black Metal – 5
24 – Bob Dylan – Time Out of Mind – Singer/Songwriter – 5

Leading contenders:
1 – Radiohead – OK Computer – Alternative Rock – 2
Again, the 2 is from “Creep” only. The #1 all-time album on RYM, and thus the #1 selection lock entering Project 250 (not that I expect to like it, but for the cultural reference…)

5 – Built to Spill – Perfect From Now On – Indie Rock – 1
Gets the nod over #6 & #7 just for being higher ranked; it *was* tempting to go with the Indie Rock trifecta.

~~10 – Spiritualized – Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space – Space Rock – 1~~
~~Take me away, boys…~~
Forgot to check availability of this batch. This one was too expensive, so I went for Yo La Tengo instead.

20 – Mogwai – Young Team – Post-Rock – 1
Okay, I *think* this is the kind of Post-Rock I’m looking for. Let’s hope I’m right this time…

26 – Electric Wizard – Come My Fanatics… – Doom Metal – 1
Ah, there’s that *real* stoner metal I’ve been looking for!

Another 5 I could be talked into:
3 – Elliot Smith – Either/Or – Singer/Songwriter – 1
I desire to know of the legend, but fear the music itself (the ties to Portland do *not* help!).

6 – Yo La Tengo – I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One – Indie Rock – 1
See comment for Built to Spill.

7 – Modest Mouse – The Lonesome Crowded West – Indie Rock – 1
See comment for Built to Spill.

13 – Devin Townsend – Ocean Machine-Biomech – Progressive Metal – 2
Less organic than what I’ve been going for in the 90’s.

14 – Portishead – Portishead – Trip Hop – 1
Doesn’t make sense now after passing over 1994’s #2-ranked Dummy.

Feel free to talk me into or out of anything from the RYM Top 50.

Project 250: Reviewing 1994

2011-10-06T15:00:00.001-07:00

Manic Street Preachers – The Holy Bible Like

An intriguing power-emo-punk-glam-prog-pop hybrid that doesn’t quite work, largely due to two members of the band bringing half of those elements via the lyrics, and the other two the rest via the music, with the end result akin to clothing a size or two too small or large.

Glass half-empty: stuffy political phrases (holocaust, prostitution, anorexia, fascism, etc.), with syllables awkwardly worked into a la-la lilt, as if the two halves of the songwriting team were daring each other to see how far then can go. Glass half-full: 90’s punch with a throwback sound (a few years later, and the music labels might have forced them into a strictly nu metal approach), with glorious vocals fully committed to those ridiculous lyrics, evoking the 70’s era of Kansas, Peter Hammill, and – a friend dares to add – Freddie Mercury.

Favorite tracks: “Mausoleum”, “Die in the Summertime”, “Yes”

Nas – Illmatic Like

Illmatic’s high ranking is evidence of RYM’s love of the internal rhyme. Nas seems too clever at times (not to mention deep: “I never sleep / cuz sleep is the cousin of death”) to sell me on the “clo’es, bankro’s, and ho’s” angle, especially in the presence of unsubtle, animalistic, aggressive lines like “The type of nigga who be pissin’ in your elevator”. And when they lean on a chorus like “Life’s a bitch and then you die / that’s why we get high / cuz you never know when you’re gonna go”, all I can think is “Good luck with that!” (I know, don’t confuse the author with the narrator, but still…)

Musically, the combo of gritty lyrics over old-school soul samples gives this an irresistible 70’s urban vibe. Love listening to this while walking outside near buildings, as I get transported to NYC ‘hoods. The bounce and wordplay remind me of A Tribe Called Quest, but Nas lacks the charisma and wit of either MC from that group, not to mention many predecessors to which he’s compared (e.g., Rakim). The songs are consistently good, with a stress on “consistent”, lacking the brilliance and variety of an act like Public Enemy. So, all-in-all, I can probably buy it being the acme of a new era of rap, but I remain unconvinced that the genre deserves the esteem it gets on RYM.

Favorite tracks: “Halftime”, “Life’s a Bitch”, “N.Y. State of Mind”

Pavement – Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain Like

Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain lacks the inspired insanity of their debut (a Love in my 1992 batch); however, the “evolution” into a more traditional rock canon proves that Pavement simply had an abundance of charm as their secret ingredient. “Stop Breathin’” is spectacularly more complete thematically and compositionally than anything they did previously, but the twanger “Range Life” is the best example of the band taking something conventional and spinning it into magic.

Favorite tracks: “Stop Breathin”, “Silence Kid”, “Gold Sounds”

Guided By Voices – Bee Thousand Love

Perhaps softening the blow of Pavement’s straying from the “eclectic collection of ditties” formula is having Guided By Voices pick up the mantle. GBV crams 20 songs into 36 minutes, but some of the songs are mere sketches, while others transition into new songs before they are “properly” finished. There are still traces of post-punk, but there is a stronger emphasis on pop hooks (of course, put in contrast with angular guitars, it being the 90’s and all). The pop/psychedelia blend combined with the very low fidelity recording gives it a throwback sound to the Beatles or (early) Bee Gees less the perfectionism, which only helps to highlight their ability to write catchy lines.

Bee Thousand will likely prove to be the ultimate grower of Project 250, moving from a deep Loathe to perhaps my favorite new release of the project; “I’d be shocked and removed if it didn't”.

Favorite tracks: “Queen of Cans & Jars”, “Smothered in Hugs”, “Buzzards & Dreadful Crows”

Blur – Parklife Lukewarm

After the likes of Pink Flag, Slanted & Enchanted, and Bee Thousand, perhaps you think that I’ll fawn over just about any album that delivers an eclectic variety of 16+ songs; if so, you forgot or overlooked my Minutemen review. In any case, Parklife seems to have a lot to like, with the spirit of the Kinks updated with 90’s studio wizardry, but everything is just too finely crafted, with too many places bogged down by a mid-paced 80’s AOR sound. Even the consensus highlight - the anthemic “This Is A Low” – features chord changes better done since by Porcupine Tree, making this one of the least essential Project 250 entries.

Perhaps if they shaved a minute off of the dozen longest tracks, it would have been a 42-minute bullet-fire pop masterpiece. But at least I know now that the Blur/Oasis comparison is a misleading one, with the latter focusing more on big arena guitar rock. So I got at least one benefit out of this one: Cultural Reference Established.

Favorite tracks: “Parklife”, “Tracy Jacks”, “This is a Low”

Project 250: Prepping 1996

2011-09-26T10:29:00.001-07:00

http://rateyourmusic.com/charts/top/album/1996

Since I started Project 250, six intense metal albums have fallen off the RYM top 50 for 1996, and all largely replaced by hip hop albums. Well, suck. Good thing there is plenty else good to choose from this year – I’d be perfectly happy with my 5 backups below – but #51-#100 is quite the juicy collection.

Albums eliminated from consideration due to familiarity:
1 – DJ Shadow – Endtroducing... – Instrumental Hip Hop – 5
3 – Tool – Ænima – Alternative Metal – 5
5 – Neurosis – Through Silver in Blood – Sludge Metal – 5
14 – Burzum – Filosofem – Atmospheric Black Metal – 5
21 – Cryptopsy – None So Vile – Brutal Death Metal – 5
27 – Opeth – Morningrise – Progressive Metal – 5
30 – Immolation – Here In After – Death Metal – 5

Leading contenders:
2 – Belle and Sebastian – If You're Feeling Sinister – Indie Pop – 1
The high ranking is trumping my tinglin’ Spidey sense.

6 – Weezer – Pinkerton – Alternative Rock – 2

The 2 comes courtesy of “Franks and Beans”. They seem fun…

10 – Swans – Soundtracks for the Blind – Experimental Rock – 3
The follow-up to the awesome The Great Annihilator; can’t talk me out of this one.

12 – 16 Horsepower – Sackcloth 'n' Ashes – Gothic Country – 1
I’ve been so disappointed with Alt Country, that I thought I’d go with something a bit darker and hopefully more rustic as a final shot.

31 – Katatonia – Brave Murder Day – Death Doom Metal – 1
I like Anders Nyström’s one-man act Diabolical Masquerade, so I should check out his much heralded primary band.

Another 5 I could be talked into:
7 – Edge of Sanity – Crimson – Progressive Death Metal – 3
I’m happy with the one album I have of theirs, and I’m doubtful that they have a Love for me in them.

29 – Tortoise – Millions Now Living Will Never Die – Post-Rock – 1
Never sure what you’re gonna get with that genre tag.

32 – Orbital– In Sides – Techno – 1
Seems weird to be going thru the mid-90’s without choosing a electronic album.

34 – The Olivia Tremor Control – Music From the Unrealized Film Script, Dusk at Cubist Castle – Neo Psychedelia – 1
Now how do I say ‘No’ to that!?

47 – Porcupine Tree – Signify – Progressive Rock – 3
Same comment I made in 1995: Love Steven Wilson’s voice, but I’m not sure I need a second album of theirs.

Feel free to talk me into or out of anything from the RYM Top 50.

Project 251: Reviewing 1993

2011-09-26T10:09:00.001-07:00

Red House Painters – Red House Painters Lukewarm

Okay, that double LP was flirting with Loathe when it hit me that these were really a pair single LPs stuck together like Siamese twins. The first LP has such a sweet, standalone arc, especially with the epic penultimate “title” track and the perfect closer. Through the magic of iTunes, where there was one there is now two…

Red House Painters – Funhouse Love

A near-midnight 65 MPH summer drive with the windows down unlocked the secrets for me. Musically, it’s gorgeous and enchanting, but in a “cleaner” way than I’m used to getting from 4AD. The opener “Grace Cathedral Park” is just stunning in how much more beautiful it gets as the song goes on. “Mistress” is as magical as the best Church, although having just a single shoegaze track delivered so perfectly is a huge tease. The centerpiece “Funhouse” is a major mindfuck (“a thousand circus mirrors / cannot move a frown”); the transition from acoustic slowcore to Godflesh-like doomcrunch gets me every time, but maybe it’s all the singing about clowns that disturbs me.

Lyrically, I am amazed with how much he has grown since the debut. The themes of pain – sometimes past, sometimes predicted, with the narrator on both sides of the physical or psychic blows – and the fight to work past it haunt long after the album ends. The slow pace of the album combined with the heavy vibe will doom it to infrequent listens, but it’s the first new album of Project 250 that’s a lock for a permanent spot on my top 100. (Of course, the connection to San Francisco doesn’t hurt either.)

if only you could take me out
instead of back in-
to a relationship i don't understand
if only you could take me out
instead of back in-
to myself that's dying within

Favorite tracks: “Grace Cathedral Park”, “Katy Song”, “Mistress”

Red House Painters – Rollercoaster Like

The themes of growing up and maintaining/breaking connections with your past – particularly family – have come a long way from RHP’s debut’s opener “24” (“there's the sun / going down / creating that florescent glow / reminding me i'll never be able to relive this day / except in memory” – now that’s how you do it!). Musically, I just don’t hear as much interesting here as with Funhouse, except for the rolling guitar sighs of “Rollercoaster”, and the singing drones of “Strawberry Hill” (which remind me of Jesu’s work somewhat). But none can deny the epic qualities of “Mother”; of all the messed-up songs with that song title, this one gets the blue ribbon.

Favorite tracks: “Rollercoaster”, “Mistress (Piano Version)”, “Mother”

Smashing Pumpkins – Siamese Dream Like

Gish was the first CD I had disappear; I remember there were 3 great songs and a bunch of aimless ballads. I don’t know whose copy of Melon Collie I was listening to in Wisconsin – I don’t think it was my own – but I do recall “Jellybelly” being the only track to ring my bell. I don’t know why I took the plunge here given my two vague, dissatisfied memories, but I’m glad I did.

The one thing that impressed me the most was the drumming. I never knew that Jimmy Chamberlin was considered a top drummer, but I could hear it righy away (I verified later; ‘Net don’t lie). Just amazing energy, and creative but not pushy fills. The guitar & bass work – reportedly done primarily (exclusively?) by Corgan – is stellar and *loud*. The vocals can annoy at times, but there are truly unique and visceral qualities to his tone that make me think that the result was suffer if you replaced him. I guess I’m a bit surprised that they weren’t able to achieve or maintain rock superstar status; they seem to have all the pieces.

Now, if you culled several of the weaker tracks (“Spaceboy”, “Silverfuck”, and “Sweet Sweet” for sure, then “Disarm”), you would have a classic 40-45 minute that perfectly blends metal, alt rock, and shoegaze. Sadly, even I have inviolate rules regarding the magic of iTunes.

Favorite tracks: “Cherub Rock”, “Rocket”, “Mayonnaise”

Pearl Jam – Vs. Lukewarm

Well, kudos to me for taking a chance with this unknown^* album over the comfort of Ten. Vs. swaps the soaring, moody arena rock feel of their debut for an angrier one, swapping most internal themes for external ones. The rock god vibe still shines through in places here (e.g., “Animal” sounds very U2-ish), but I can see this one being a necessary step in their evolution to a grittier sound, but the lyrics lack the visceral connection that Ten had (e.g., “Once upon a time I could control myself” becomes “‘a dissident is here’”). An interesting listen, but I’d swap all of the rootsy rockers for any one of “Black”, “Once”, “Alive”, or even the psychedelic chorus of “Evenflow”.

Favorite tracks: “Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town”, “Rearviewmirror”, “W.M.A.”

^*Well, I thought I only knew was “Daughter” – the musical equivalent of Bohnanza in my comical loathing of it – but I recognized “Elderly Woman”, “Animal”, “Dissident”, and “Rearviewmirror” right away. I don’t know what radio station I was listening to in 1993 (I was in Albany and spent many hours a week listening to metal on WVCR ), but my memory managed to suppress most of Vs., but not Ten.

Morbid Angel – Covenant Lukewarm

More so than with Blessed Are The Sick, I can hear the influence on modern technical/doom metal acts like Immolation and Nile. But none of the songs have a fraction of the personality found in “Fall from Grace”. The sound is sick and brootal, and all the ingredients of great death metal are there (unique evil vocals; creative, unhinged guitar; insanely competent drumming), but the songwriting is just some of the dullest I’ve heard in the genre. But at this point, I half-suspect it might not be so much Morbid Angel as it is my rapidly fading interest in death metal altogether.

Favorite tracks: “World of Shit”, “Sworn to the Black”, “God of Emptiness”

Melvins – Houdini Like

Apparently their mainstream “breakthrough” – with production help from Kurt Cobain – but I don’t hear much significantly different than what’s in 1991’s Bullhead. A lot of Stoner Metal acts sound like they’re trying to find a balance between both genres, but Melvins manage to resoundly emphasize both, what with simultaneously being so groovy and immensely heavy. The songwriting is still experimental and patchy – the one truly catchy song here turned out to be a Kiss cover – and the only real standout is the insane riffing and drumwork on “Honey Bucket”, a song that by itself could and should replace Rob Zombie’s existence. But Oh! how sick some of those grooves are; if my death metal love is dying, at least there is evidence here that brootality still lives on within.

p.s. Any chance the album had at a Love ended with that 10-minute final track of percussion noodling. Keep that shit on the basement tapes, guys. Unfortunately, I expect more of the same with the transition from the LP to the CD era.

Favorite tracks: “Honey Bucket”, “Night Goat”, “Joan of Arc”

A Book for All Seasons: The Truth About the New Rules of Business Writing

2011-09-07T14:42:00.001-07:00

http://www.amazon.com/Truth-About-Rules-Business-Writing/dp/0137153155/

Summer entry for “Better Writing”

52 bite-sized articles about business writing. I liked the first 15 or so which focused on how communication today needs to be streamlined – whether you like it or not – but the rest of the book was a shotgun spray of “rules” of the type you can find all over the ‘Net (e.g., Yahoo); superficial, prescriptive advice, heavy on bulleted lists and light on examples. Three pages on resume writing tips just ain’t gonna be useful to the people who need it most. Worth picking up at the library to scan through the first couple of sections, unless you’ve already been completely assimilated into the Twitterification of interpersonal communication.

Project 250: Prepping 1995

2011-09-01T00:20:00.001-07:00

http://rateyourmusic.com/charts/top/album/1995

Feelin’ okay about the leading contenders list; otherwise, pretty slim pickings.

Albums eliminated from consideration due to familiarity:
3 – Death – Symbolic – Technical Death Metal – 5
8 – Dissection – Storm of the Light's Bane – Melodic Black Metal – 5
18 – Swans – The Great Annihilator – Post-Punk – 5
32 – Oasis – (What's the Story) Morning Glory? – Britpop – 5
37 – Autechre – Tri Repetae – IDM – 5

Leading contenders:
2 – GZA / Genius – Liquid Swords – East Coast Hip Hop – 2
Probably the only one of the Wu Tang crew – RZA aside – I could probably stand for an entire album.

~~7 – Smashing Pumpkins – Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness – Alternative Rock – 4~~
~~Don’t recall whether I owned it or borrowed it; I do remember I really only liked one song at the time.~~
Whoops, forgot that I had mixed up Tindersticks II with I in my 1993 order, so that gets an automatic slot here.

22 – Emmylou Harris – Wrecking Ball – Alt-Country – 1
In which I violate my two most recent edicts: no alt-country (Jayhawks), and nothing as a favor to my wife (Edward Scissorhands).

35 – Down – NOLA – Stoner Metal – 1
I’m a fan of Pantera, but I’ve never heard Phil Anselmo’s side project.

48 – The Flaming Lips – Clouds Taste Metallic – Noise Pop – 1
Odd coincidence: I’ve never even heard of this infamous band before, but right after I listen to the related band Mercury Rev, the podcast The Sporkful starts talking at length about this band out of nowhere!

Another 5 I could be talked into:
1 – Radiohead – The Bends – Alternative Rock – 2
And that ‘2’ is only due to “Creep”. I know, can you believe it? Anyways, they’ll get their shot soon.

4 – Pulp – Different Class – Britpop – 1
Gonna have to plan something special for the wife so I can replace Emmylou with this…

29 – Tricky – Maxinquaye – Trip Hop – 1
A rare entry for this genre in the top 50 charts.

41 – Moonspell – Woflheart – Gothic Metal – 1
This, or Gathering, or Paradise Lost… maybe I oughta, as it’ll be Autumn by the time this batch is active.

43 – Porcupine Tree – The Sky Moves Sideways – Progressive Rock – 3
Love Steven Wilson’s voice, but I’m not sure I need a second album of theirs.

Feel free to talk me into or out of anything from the RYM Top 50.

A Book for All Seasons: Fever Pitch

2011-08-31T23:36:00.001-07:00

http://www.amazon.com/Fever-Pitch-Nick-Hornby/dp/1573226882/

Summer entry for “Four Sports”

Nick Hornby is the author of High Fidelity and About A Boy; Fever Pitch is his quasi-memoir about his lifelong fanaticism for the English football team Arsenal. There is no attempt to provide details about the game – instead, he assumes some knowledge on the part of the reader, what with the steady namedropping of various clubs and players – but that’s the right way because it keeps the focus of the game on the football fan. The book consists of many short essays that cover different facets of fandom, each essay cleverly tying to either something episodic in his own life (e.g., first girlfriend) or that of the football world (e.g., famous riots).

The first half of the book was by far more satisfying, covering both his coming-of-age and his emerging self-awareness of the nature of sports fandom. I imagine the adulthood of a famous writer is more eventful than what is provided here, because he might of well been any old factory worker at this point given the details provided, and the arc of his man-as-fan role plateaus. But the book was brilliant in places, and an intelligent dissection of what it means to follow any sport.

Project 250: Reviewing 1992

2011-08-31T22:57:00.001-07:00

In the preface to the 1991 batch, I complained about the incomprehensibility of the vocals. With this batch, every single one of them had very clear vocals, even if I didn’t always like what they were saying. Great turnaround!

The Jayhawks – Hollywood Town Hall Lukewarm

These light country rock songs are catchy enough and technically well-played, but I don’t hear any passion in the instrumental or vocal performances, and the abstract lyrics laid over that heartland sound seem confused if not outright dishonest. Doesn’t look good for the “alt-country” genre (Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, I’m talking to you…)

Favorite tracks: “Take Me With You (When You Go)”, “Crowded in the Wings”, “Settled Down Like Rain”

W.A.S.P. – The Crimson Idol Like

I have always considered Blackie Lawless as the Meatloaf of metal; with this album, he “evolved” the band into a solo act and released a bombastic concept album, which doesn’t help that perception. The story is simply a teenager who becomes a rock star, but then kills himself because his parents didn’t love him; the Townsend influence is obvious, even if you didn’t know that they covered “The Real Me” on the previous album.

The Crimson Idol is thematically trite, lyrically adolescent (“Doktor Rockter”? Really?) , compositionally unsophisticated, and sonically ridiculous (those endless plastic tom fills!). But goddam if it doesn’t work, largely because he has that most amazing voice and the many months in the studio resulted in a perfectly crafted album that absolutely oozes passion (contrast with The Jayhawks…).

Side note: I still buy CDs almost exclusively, as I would rather put up with the storage in order to have the hardcopy in my hands. However, this has been the one album to convince me to stay with that strategy due to the huge drop in sound quality after MP3 compression (at least with the compression rate I use).

Favorite tracks: “Arena of Pleasure”, “I Am One”, “Chainsaw Charlie (Murders in the New Morgue)”

Red House Painters – Down Colorful Hill Like

Debut album that I’d almost classify as Juvenilia, especially with the assorted throwaway tracks that make up the second half. Think Morrissey crossed with Jonathan Richman, with the wit drained out and embalmed with that 4AD sound. That singer just won’t shut up, but at least his voice is gorgeous and that guitar playing is absolutely delish. But I am willing to give the band a second chance in 1993, with the hope that his themes will mature beyond the dread of turning 24 with no future planned (note that I was 24 at the time of the release but just getting my life back on track).

Favorite tracks: “Medicine Bottle”, “Down Colorful Hill”, “24”

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Henry’s Dream Lukewarm

One of those albums – and, I will forever assume, acts – that I admire more than enjoy. Objectively, everything there seems right: groovy, muscular, driving rhythms; songs individually distinctive, yet carrying a unified and unique sound; witty lyrics with gritty yet otherworldly imagery. But, other than the powerful ballad “Straight to You” – a song about devotion to a loved one even when faced with the Apocalypse – I feel little here, other than confusion; I’d rather stick with the likes of The Residents and Swans, who largely stick to their respective sides of the absurdist-nihilist continuum of dark ponderings of religious themes.

Favorite tracks: “Straight to You”, “Loom of the Land”, “Christina the Astonishing”

Pavement – Slanted and Enchanted Love

I can hear the influences of Velvet Underground, Dinosaur Jr., and Sonic Youth. Apparently the quirkier punkish tracks are largely derivative of the Fall; my one experience with the Fall was not good, but that style works here because they are mixed in with other smartly crafted songs with legit hooks. Nothing is particularly well-played or well-sung, but there is a charm (with a tinge of insanity) that really works and the variety in the songwriting makes this a very appealing listen. Of all of the pleasant surprises of Project 250, my full embracing of Indie Rock might be the biggest of ‘em.

Favorite tracks: “Zürich Is Stained”, “Perfume-V”, “Conduit for Sale!”, “Loretta's Scars”

A Book for All Seasons: The Amityville Horror

2011-08-25T23:04:00.001-07:00

http://www.amazon.com/Amityville-Horror-Jay-Anson/dp/1416507698

Summer entry for “Favorites from my Youth”

Bear in mind that when I last read this, I was still a theist, so it’s very likely that I was susceptible to believing – or at least suspending the disbelief for a time – the premise that the account here was truthful. In any case, it was likely my first exposure to horror fiction, which remains one of my two favorite genres (well, horror short fiction, but close enough).

The quality of the writing is likely by far the worst of all of the horror fiction I have read since, with a style that utterly fails whether interpreted as fiction or documentary (and, really, is there any genre that can survive so many exclamation points?!) . But for imagery, it has few peers; with everything but the kitchen sink thrown (figuratively) at the reader, some of them have to stick (figuratively), right? My memory seems to remember the Red Room being more prominent – it’s likely my mind has confused this with the possession elements of The Shining – but who doesn’t remember Jodie the pig?

It was a fun revisit, kind of like returning to your favorite amusement park from your childhood; you can’t quite recapture the magic, but it brings back all kinds of memories and deepens your appreciation of your current favorite rollercoasters.

A Book for All Seasons: Ill Wind

2011-08-25T22:47:00.001-07:00

http://www.amazon.com/Nevada-Barr-Ill-Wind/dp/0425197255/

Summer entry for “Anna Pigeon series”

Recap: The gimmick to this mystery series is that the “detective” is a park ranger trained in law enforcement, and each book is situated at a different national park. Once again, the jump from one park to the next (this time from Michigan shoreline to Mesa Verde) is barely addressed.

Compared to the past two books, the nature aspects were much duller (as the focus here was more cultural, being on the Anasazi dwellings), the local coverage felt more superficial, the characters less memorable, and the mystery more mundane. But for some reason I enjoyed it more than the other two, or rather I cringed less; amazing how much effect one can have by doing simple things like reducing how much the lead character talks out loud to herself.

Now, for Winter, I have a choice to make. There are 16 books in this series, and I got it after reading a review of the sensationalistic book #16. But now I found out that the author took a sharp turn, and books #15 & #16 are nothing like the rest of the series. I’m not sure I want to commit to another 3 years of this series, so for Winter I’m now left deciding between book #4 and book #16.

Project 250: Prepping 1994

2011-07-27T09:57:00.001-07:00

http://rateyourmusic.com/charts/top/album/1994

Albums eliminated from consideration due to availability:

17 – Low – I Could Live In Hope – Slowcore – 1
25 – Tiamat – Wildhoney – Gothic Metal – 1

Albums eliminated from consideration due to familiarity:
(Wow! Just look at the black metal classics here. What a year!)
3 – Nirvana – MTV Unplugged in New York – Acoustic Rock – 5
6 – Kyuss – Welcome to Sky Valley – Stoner Rock – 5
7 – Nine Inch Nails – The Downward Spiral – Industrial Rock – 5
16 – Ulver – Bergtatt - Et Eeventyr i 5 Capitler – Atmospheric Black Metal – 5
18 – Emperor – In the Nightside Eclipse – Symphonic Black Metal – 5
19 – Burzum – Hvis lyset tar oss – Atmospheric Black Metal – 5
41 – Darkthrone – Transilvanian Hunger– Black Metal – 5
46 – Global Communication – 76:14 – Ambient – 5
50 – Mayhem – De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas – Black Metal – 5

Leading contenders:
1 – Nas– Illmatic – East Coast Hip Hop – 1
The rare much-hyped rap release that I know absolutely nothing about.

~~2 – Portishead – Dummy – Trip Hop – 2~~
~~I usually don’t enjoy female vocalists, but this is an iconic release for a genre that flourished in that era.~~
Demoted – Gave Pavement the spot. Thanks, readers!

12 – Guided By Voices – Bee Thousand – Lo-Fi – 1
One of those bands I’ve heard a ton about, but never actually heard. The production is supposed to be superb (really? for something tagged “Lo-Fi”?), so that’s a big plus for me.

33 – Blur – Parklife – Britpop – 1
If only so that I can take a knowledgeable stand in the Blur-Oasis debate.

~~40 – Shellac – At Action Park – Noise Rock~~
~~Don’t have a clue, but I don’t want to spend any year in the 90’s without at least one LOUD record.~~
Demoted – gave Manic Street Preachers the spot. Thanks, readers!

Another 5 I could be talked into:

4 – Pavement – Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain – Indie Rock – 1
Diggin’ the 1992 release, but I have a nagging suspicion that they’ll evolve in ways I don’t care for.

10 – Weezer – Weezer [Blue Album] – Alternative Rock – 1
Will likely hold off another two years for Pinkerton.

24 – Manic Street Preachers – The Holy Bible – Alternative Rock – 1
More loud stuff… I’m starting to think this might replace Portishead, or even Nas.

36 – Pulp – His 'n' Hers – Britpop – 1
They’ll get their chance in 1995.

38 – Bark Psychosis – Hex – Post-Rock – 1
After the Talk Talk experience, I’m less enthused to chase after everything labeled “Post-Rock”.

Feel free to talk me into or out of anything from the RYM Top 50.

Project 250: Reviewing 1991

2011-07-25T12:40:00.001-07:00

1991 was probably the best year of my life, living on Broadway in Saratoga Springs for the year and experiencing, um, “milestones”. Can’t say that anything in these albums relates to that era for me. And what’s with all of the mumble-mouths in this batch? Clearer (or better) vocals would’ve made this good batch great, but I couldn’t make out any lyrics. Anyways, there was only one great first impression here (Melvins, of course), but the final three were arguably the strongpoints with some amazingly great highlights.

Melvins – Bullhead Like

Thick. Sick. Nasty. Stoned. Grind. Dirty. Insane. Heavy. Deep. Groovy. Drone. Fucked. Sludge.

(And that’s just the 2’30” drum solo that ends the album.)

It wasn’t the vocals that kept this from Love – I’ll give Buzzo a pass for at least being unique, and for his guitar mastery – but rather that the songs seemed little more than experimental frameworks for droning riffs. Kudos for abandoning the VCV formula, but I was hoping for a bit more structure. But the off-kilter stoner grind found in the likes of “Anaconda” is exactly what I was hoping to get more of in this era.

Favorite tracks: “It’s Shoved”, “Anaconda”, “Cow”

Talk Talk – Laughing Stock Lukewarm

This is the band’s last studio album in a journey that took them from art/dance pop to a fusion of jazz, classical, and world music. I liked the last two stops on this journey, but this one felt like a step too far, with the music and lyrics getting overly abstract and thin. I can see how some listeners establish a deep spiritual connection with this, but I personally didn’t find enough substance to grasp onto. Five of the six tracks I would say that I enjoyed, but each on of those were dull in places or underdeveloped a singular motif. I got one really good listen to it walking outside on a sunny day, so I’ll save it the Loathe rating assuming that it’s one of those conditional gems.

Favorite tracks: “Taphead”, “Ascension Day”, “Runeii”

Mercury Rev – Yerself Is Steam Like

This psychedelic sampler helped me get over the fact that Monster Magnet’s Spine of God didn’t make the RYM cut. The full gamut is here: the Syd Barrett lunacy-on-a-leash vibe of “Chasing a Bee”; the driving fuzz stomp of “Syringe Mouth”; the Perry Farrell singalong over a buzzsaw of “Coney Island Cyclone”; the mix of haunting hypnosis with straight-faced absurdism in“Blue and Black”; the lazy, summery, sailing-down-a-river-in-an-intertube (with an anaconda lurking) qualities of “Frittering”; the exhilarating rushing through kaleidoscopic cylinders in “Sweet Oddysee…”; the epic freakout mantra that is “Very Sleepy Rivers”. I consider this a must for any fan of trippy music.

Favorite tracks: “Frittering”, “Sweet Oddysee of a Cancer Cell t' th' Center of Yer Heart”, “Blue and Black”

The Wedding Present – Seamonsters Love

Okay, I finally decided to bump them up to Love, especially since it’s been a long climb from Loathe. The vocalist – imagine Frank Oz sucking on a lozenge – was the barrier at each level of that climb, and I still don’t fully accept Steve Albini’s over-the-top drum mix here. But the fact is that every single one of the power-pop songs here is fantastic, and I cannot say that for even most of my very favorite albums.

There are amazing highlights throughout, most of which feature blasts of noise: the ever-changing crescendo of “Dalliance”; the buzzsaw guitars at the end of “Dare” and “Suck”; the transition from folksy angst to pop-punk power chords in “Heather” (and great lyrics here about an ex sharing those special places they used to go with her next lover); the perfect anthemic closer that is “Octopussy”. This would have been the perfect soundtrack for my own romantic turmoil during 1991; 20 years later, it’s just a damn good vessel for sacrificing the last of my hearing.

Favorite tracks: “Heather”, “Lovenest”, “Dalliance”

Slint – Spiderland Like

The bookends are as good as anything I’ve heard in Project 250; much of what comes in between is too much fuse, not enough boom, particularly “Washer”, which has been made inessential by Opeth’s Damnation. Also odd is how relentlessly 4/4 side B is, after the effective, proggish use of time signatures in the first side.

But those two tracks that start and finish the album are just killer, sounding nothing like anything else in my collection, while managing to create stirring narratives about a crewless sea captain, and a rollercoaster ride with a fortune teller. This shit is totally what I’m on the lookout for in Project 250.

Favorite tracks: “Good Morning, Captain”, “Breadcrumb Trail”, “Nosferatu Man”

A Book for All Seasons: House to House

2011-07-25T12:01:00.001-07:00

Full title: House to House: An Epic Memoir of War

http://www.amazon.com/House-Epic-Memoir-War/dp/1416596607

Summer entry for “The War in Iraq”

In previous entries for this category, I wished to have the battle action put into the larger context of the war, but not here; the primary author is telling his story as an NCO leading his infantry squad through an Iraqi city clearing threats from houses one-by-one, and it doesn’t pretend to be more than one man’s somewhat stupid/sappy story. The combat scenes are intense and compelling, even if the testosterone and filth (all types) seems to be exaggerated in places. A great “along for the ride” story which is at its best in the action sequences, especially the initial breach of the fortress-ized city of Fallujah.

A Book for All Seasons: Taste of Tenderloin

2011-07-22T14:47:00.001-07:00

http://www.amazon.com/Taste-Tenderloin-Gene-ONeill/dp/0981639003

Summer entry for “Bram Stoker Award winners for Collection”

I bought the book without knowing that “Tenderloin” stood for Tenderloin District, San Francisco, a neighborhood in my favorite city that I am very familiar with (I got lost looking for my hotel during my first stay, and was surprised by the rapid degradation between blocks). This collection of stories focuses on the lowlife and downtrodden while the tourists and businessmen are largely invisible, a 180 from what one would casually observe in reality. The tone was noirish with little sophistication and overly reliant on stereotypes, and the horror elements were cheesy and all too familiar in places. But I devoured the book due to the setting and the author’s apparent affection for it.

A Book for All Seasons: The Jane Austen Book Club

2011-07-07T13:31:00.001-07:00

http://www.amazon.com/Jane-Austen-Book-Club-movie/dp/B001A5UVJO

Summer entry for “Jane Austen Universe”

The premise of the book is that six adults form a book club to read Jane Austen’s six novels; these same adults have real life problems and character quirks that supposedly parallel those of Austen characters. I watched the movie halfway through reading the book – as I couldn’t get much of a sense for any of the characters – and I thought the screenplay (and actors) really brought things to life and helped me enjoy the second half of the novel much more. In the end, though, I thought the author failed to fully form the links between the present and past, and, when just evaluating the book on its surface, it was just a string of unusual (i.e., unbelievable) moments in these characters’ lives that formed them. So I was disappointed with the end result, even though the structure of the book made it on paper a perfect match for my reading category.

A Book for All Seasons: Prayers to Broken Stones

2011-06-28T22:30:00.001-07:00

http://www.amazon.com/Prayers-Broken-Stones-Dan-Simmons/dp/0553762524/

Spring entry for “Bram Stoker Award winners for Collection”

I’m not a Sci-Fi guy, so I hadn’t heard of Dan Simmons before this. Whereas Ramsey Campbell – the author of my winter entry in this category – was regularly pumping out short horror with minor variations in approach, this book is clearly the sketchpad of a writer experimenting with different styles, producing different hybrids of horror, sci-fi, fantasy, and plain ol’ sappy writing. In fact, two of the stories later evolved into full novels.

My favorite stories were "Remembering Siri”, which features a storyline similar to Avatar but with a twist of malice on the part of the innocents, and “"Iverson's Pits", a Poe/Lovecraft blend about Civil War veterans harboring a serious grudge.

All in all, a good collection of stories from what I suspect is a great writer whose best stuff is found elsewhere.

Project 250: Prepping 1993

2011-06-28T12:52:00.001-07:00

http://rateyourmusic.com/charts/top/album/1993

Shame I can’t pick from the second 50, especially with so many unavailable candidates.

Albums eliminated from consideration due to availability:

15 – Kingston Wall – II – Progressive Rock – 1
21 – Stereolab – Transient Random-Noise Bursts With Announcements – Experimental Rock – 1
28 – diSEMBOWELMENT – Transcendence Into the Peripheral – Death Doom Metal – 1
41 – Orbital – Orbital (The Brown Album) – Techno – 2
48 – The God Machine – Scenes From the Second Storey [sic] – Alternative Rock – 1

Albums eliminated from consideration due to familiarity:
1 – Wu-Tang Clan – Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) – East Coast Hip Hop – 5
2 – A Tribe Called Quest – Midnight Marauders – East Coast Hip Hop – 5
3 – Slowdive – Souvlaki – Dream Pop – 5
5 – Nirvana – In Utero – Grunge – 5
18 – My Dying Bride – Turn Loose the Swans – Death Doom Metal – 5
22 – Dissection – The Somberlain – Melodic Black Metal – 5
24 – Carcass – Heartwork – Melodic Death Metal – 5
34 – Darkthrone – Under a Funeral Moon – Black Metal – 5
36 – Neurosis – Enemy of the Sun – Sludge Metal – 5

Leading contenders:
4 – Smashing Pumpkins – Siamese Dream – Alternative Rock – 3
Gish was the first CD I lost. Never felt the need to replace it.

~~7 – Tindersticks – Tindersticks – Chamber Pop – 1~~
~~I’ve no clue whatsover on this one.~~
Argh, I accidentally ordered Tindersticks II (a 1995 candidate) instead! I’m not committed to two of their albums, so I added Morbid Angel to this 1993 batch.

10 – Red House Painters – Red House Painters [Rollercoaster] – Slowcore – 1
They are in my 1992 batch, so we’ll see how that works out before committing to this.

32 – Pearl Jam – Vs. – Grunge – 3
Surprising pick. I don’t really like the band that much, and I *hate* “Daughter”. But there has been a dearth of Grunge on the charts.

44 – Melvins – Houdini – Sludge Metal
Enjoying the 1991 release so far, and this one has “Honey Pot” on it, which is the only Melvins song I knew prior to Project 250.

Another 5 I could be talked into:
12 – Snoop Dogg – Doggystyle – West Coast Hip Hop – 2
It’ll take a hard sell to get this promoted.

14 – Morbid Angel – Covenant – Death Metal – 3
As I said in 1989, I’m not really that into the one album of theirs that I do own.

17 – Morphine – Cure for Pain – G-Funk – 2
As I said in 1992, they are worth the consideration given how unusual they are.

43 – Uncle Topelo – Anodyne – Alt-Country – 1
I hadn’t even heard of this band. The genre’s always worthy of a pick.

49 – Gorguts – The Erosion of Sanity – Technical Death Metal – 2
I remember them from metal radio as being the most over-the-top band; don’t think it’s for me anymore.

Feel free to talk me into or out of anything from the RYM Top 50.

Project 250: Reviewing 1990

2011-06-28T10:43:00.000-07:00

Danny Elfman – Edward Scissorhands Lukewarm

As enchantment-enhancer to Burton & Depp’s magical film? Impeccable. For listening to in isolation multiple times? Insufferable. I guess I’m not a soundtrack guy, so this will be the last of those.

Also, I selected it because I thought my wife – a big Depp fan years ago – would enjoy it; after the first listen, she said “that was nice to listen to once”. So all future Project 250 picks will be for me exclusively.

Danzig – II: Lucifuge Lukewarm

Well, at least I no longer feel regret for his debut being one of the first CDs I sold back. Like the Ramones, Danzig is one of those acts that will totally make your night if a song comes up at a party where you’re wasted, but hearing an entire album at daylight is just enervating. The “I’m so evil” posturing over tepid blues rock is almost laughable when it doesn’t completely work, which is most of the time.

To validate this disappointment, I went back and listened to The Cult, who employ a similar vocal gimmick, but with much more energy and sonic openness. Now that’s glorious. It’s hard to believe that Danzig decelerated so rapidly since The Misfits.

Favorite tracks: “Long Way Back From Hell”, “Tired of Being Alive”, “Snakes of Christ”

Sonic Youth – Goo Love

I’ve still got problems with the songwriting, lyrics, and Thurston’s turns at the mike. But I love how all four play their instruments, especially the divine noises they wrangle out of their guitars. Daydream Nation – part of my 1988 batch – had better, sludgy highlights, but Goo is more solid throughout (except for the super-annoying “Mary Christ”).

You cannot truly appreciate “Kool Thing” – or how tragically near Chuck D’s cameo came to ruining it – until you hear it on a good stereo. And it says something about this band that they can create one of the most haunting tracks of all time based on Karen Carpenter’s battle with anorexia.

Favorite tracks: “Tunic (Song for Karen)” , “Mote”, “Disappearer”

Slayer – Seasons in the Abyss Lukewarm

To their credit, Slayer didn’t keep following the same formula; slowing it down in places and adding some crunchy riffs allowed for more variety, which is a good thing. But I didn’t enjoy this particular mix. Whereas Reign in Blood was a thrilling blend of speed and death, Seasons is too much in the thrash vein for my tastes. For example, the carefully crafted “*A*ABBC/*D*DEEC” rhyming stanzas used in the verses of “Skeletons of Society” may past muster in a writing course, but are no match for the exhilaration found in the breakneck lines of Reign, such as “Necrophobic / Can’t control the paranoia / Scared to die”.

And while they are admittedly faster and louder than their thrash brethren, I found the limitations of the genre kept it from being little more than headache-inducing noise; even Lombardo’s drumming, so impressive in the opener “War Ensemble”, requires concentration to pinpoint it starting with the second track.

Favorite tracks: “Skeletons of Society”, “Spirit in Black”, “Seasons in the Abyss”

Fugazi – Repeater Like

I’m ashamed to say that, prior to Project 250, I hadn’t heard of Ian MacKaye outside of the Pailhead gig. I missed out on Minor Threat because I use the album charts on RYM, and that band only had EPs and a highly regarded compilation.

With that out of the way, I’ll say that I really loved so many things about this band: the funky rhythm section; the heavy and melodic guitar sound; the amazing dual vocalists – so distinct and complementary!; the mix of punk chant (“you are not what you own!”) and almost-emo (“Frustrating / Frustrating”) in the lyrics. Above all that, it’s the intense emotional delivery throughout that’s absolutely thrilling. Sadly, I had to dock ‘em for a few blemishes in the songwriting; too many 3-star tracks here to get the Love.

But the message within is needed now more than ever; I even like to add a bonus word when singing along with the anti-consumerism anthem “Merchandise”:

What could a businessman ever want more / than to have us sucking in his Apple store.

Favorite tracks: “Blueprint”, “Turnover”, “Merchandise”

Project 250: Prepping 1992

2011-06-11T23:14:00.001-07:00

http://rateyourmusic.com/charts/top/album/1992

My favorite year of music ever, by a considerable margin. So many genres at or near their peaks, with production quality top-notch and before electronic noodling became prevalent. Please don’t judge my passion for the year on the RYM top 50; you'll have to dip into the second 50, and 100s, and 200s, and even 300s, to find most of my favorites. I could rant endlessly about the listings here, but the only thing I’ll mention is my great disappointment at finding The Screaming Trees (an album I wanted for Project 250) all the way down at #94.

Albums eliminated from consideration due to availability:

8 – Aphex Twin – Selected Ambient Works 85-92 – Ambient Techno – 3
29 – Current 93 – Thunder Perfect Mind – Neofolk – 2 ($$)

Albums eliminated from consideration due to familiarity:
11 – Kyuss – Blues for the Red Sun – Stoner Rock – 5
25 – Tori Amos – Little Earthquakes – Singer/Songwriter – 4
26 – Darkthrone – A Blaze in the Northern Sky – Black Metal – 5
38 – The Jesus Lizard – Liar – Noise Rock – 5
41 – Ministry – ΚΕΦΑΛΗΞΘ (Psalm 69) – Industrial Metal – 5
43 – Neurosis – Souls at Zero – Sludge Metal – 5
47 – Skinny Puppy – Last Rights – Industrial – 5

Leading contenders:
2 – Pavement – Slated & Enchanted – Indie Rock – 1
I’ve always loved the dual interpretation of “Blessed are those with low expectations, for they shall not be disappointed”

10 – W.A.S.P. – The Crimson Idol – Heavy Metal – 3
Hoping it’s as ambitious (and successful) as The Headless Children was.

12 – Red House Painters – Down Colorful Hill – Slowcore – 1
Another one of those bands I’ve heard a ton about, but have never heard.

24 – Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Henry’s Dream – Post-Punk – 1
Expecting a Lukewarm here, but I’ve skipped over him thrice, and he shows up again at least the same number of times, so now’s a good time to give him that one audition.

36 – The Jayhawks – Hollywood Town Hall – Alt-Country – 1
Okay, I cheated and listened to an Amazon preview of this & Pete Rock to determine which got the bump.

Another 5 I could be talked into:
3 – Rage Against the Machine – Rage Against the Machine – Alternative Metal – 2
Listened to metal radio during these years, so I’m all too familiar with all of the “hits” from this one.

9 – Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth – Mecca and the Soul Brother – East Coast Hip Hop – 1
One for reaching the end of the Yo MTV Raps! era…

18 – Dr. Dre – The Chronic – G-Funk – 2
Always hated him for killing the East Coast sound, but I’ve been warming up to West Coast recently.

39 – Morphine – Good – Jazz-Rock – 1
This one is so unusual, and hence worthy of a pick, perhaps giving Nick Cave the hook.

44 – Sonic Youth – Dirty – Shoegaze – 3
Last appearance for the crew, but I’ll probably instead get some of their older stuff that I skipped over the first time.

Feel free to talk me into or out of anything from the RYM Top 50.

Project 250: Reviewing 1989

2011-06-11T22:08:00.001-07:00

Galaxie 500 – On Fire Lukewarm

Sorry, but any album with so much out-of-tune “na-na-na”-ing in it is disqualified from a higher rating. In my review of their previous album, I was hoping that their sound would advance, but this is really more of the same, and the rhythm section, while perhaps improved in competence, definitely regressed in inventiveness. Also, there is the lack of a truly masterful centerpiece, something which really bolstered their debut. Still, as simplistic and amatuerish as the songwriting and guitar tone is, the psychedelic build-up of the guitar jams is still dizzying at times, especially when they add the likes of the acid wah-wah in “Snowstorm”.

Favorite tracks: “Snowstorm” , “Tell Me”, “Isn’t It A Pity”

The Blue Nile – Hats Like

I don’t know when I hated the person who recommended this to me more: when I first listened it to it in daylight and cursed tainting my collection with something in the realm of Mister Mister (Loathe); when I next chilled out to it one night and feared it was creeping up on me (Lukewarm); or that time walking around me quasi-urban neighborhood in the evening and I realized its full power and finally had to admit he was right (Love). In my final judgment, I’m docking it down to Like because it really only works in that one setting – city nights, city lights – not unlike Jerry’s girlfriend whom he attempts to keep confined in that one booth at the deli.

Favorite tracks: “Let’s Go Out Tonight” , “Over the Hillside”, “Headlights on the Parade”

Pixies – Doolittle Like

An eclectic collection of quick & catchy ditties muscularly performed that suffers a bit from being largely emotionless. It’s the top rated 80s album on rateyourmusic.com; not surprising, as pure listenability is a sufficient asset in an era where so much music is available – legally or otherwise – to the individual.

Favorite tracks: “I Bleed” , “Debaser”, “Wave of Mutilation”, “Silver”

Steve Reich – Different Trains / Electric Counterpoint Like

Different Trains: The composer had to travel across the US as a child in the late 30’s due to parental separation. He relates his experience with that of the Jews in Europe who had to ride in cattle cars. The piece takes vocal samples from interviews, creates melodies from the voices and weaves a string quartet from it, then lays on sound effects like old train whistles and air raid sirens. The piece is very moving, although I feel the omnipresence of the vocal samples make it seem gimmicky and can be annoying.

Electric Counterpoint: Pleasant noodling of many, many layers of Pat Metheny on guitar and bass. The result is halfway between the more elaborate polyrhythms from the likes of Fripp and Belew, and the pastoral, dreamy soundscapes of Anthony Philips, predictably being less effective than either. A good listen nevertheless.

New Order – Technique Love

This was the perfect album to wrap up the decade with; the sound combines jangle with dance pop, while riffs from some of your favorite 80’s tunes are recycled. This album reinforces the opinion I formed while listening to Power, Corruption & Lies: New Order gets it, has it, and delivers it. Technique manages to be more consistent while maintaining a wider variety of sounds; the production is absolutely killer; and the vocals and lyrics, once a weakness, as now become a strength of the group. On that note:

It takes years to find the nerve
To be apart from what you've done
To find the truth inside yourself
And not depend on anyone

Word.

Favorite tracks: “All the way”, “Vanishing point”, “Dream attack”

A Book for All Seasons: Eats, Shoots & Leaves

2011-06-08T23:35:00.001-07:00

Full Title: Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation

http://www.amazon.com/Eats-Shoots-Leaves-Tolerance-Punctuation/dp/1592402038

Spring entry for “Better Writing”

Little more than a whimsical essay that doesn’t say much but uses a lot of words to do so. The historical anecdotes and examples are egghead-ish, and the snarky sniping at grammatical errors by the common folk is off-putting. Gramatically Correct, the spring entry for this category, was not only far more instructive but also managed to be wittier through its use of more modern and accessible examples. But I never was one for British wit… [use of closing ellipsis intentional].

Project 250: Reviewing 1988

2011-06-03T11:27:00.001-07:00

Galaxie 500 – Today Like

Today is amateurish (the guitar sound is reminiscent of my high school bandmate’s sound, especially in “Instrumental”), repetitive (except for the centerpiece, a reinterpretation of The Modern Lovers’ “Don’t Let Our You Go to Waste” as raga), and often out-of-tune; yet it’s easy to forgive the glass-half-full status given that the Harvard grad students were cutting a debut with minimal funds. There’s a sweetness – perhaps one that comes inherently when you bring back 60’s psychedelic pop – and most importantly a willingness to let a good idea ride, creating a trance effect while the frontman noodles around on his layered guitar tracks. All of my favorite tracks come from side 1, largely because the drummer is doing a lot more interesting, subtle things (e.g., snare-skipping on “Flowers”, muted toms on “Pictures”) . I have high hopes that there will be significant advancements – production, vocals, use of percussion and keyboards to fill out the sounds and add variety – on their next album, which will be part of my 1989 batch.

Favorite tracks: “Don't Let Our Youth Go to Waste” , “Flowers”, “Pictures”

Voivod – Dimension Hatröss Lukewarm

You remember that otherwise perfect girl with the showstopper defect (e.g., big nose, slightly crossed eyes)? Every time you first saw her approaching, your brain would fool yourself into thinking that your memory over-exaggerated that feature, but then the closer look would reveal that, no, it really is that bad. Over and over, the same thing would happen. So it is with the epic opening two minutes of “Experiment” leading up to the entrance of the vocals.

This may be the one hyped-up band that has proved to be the biggest disappointment in Project 250. The sci-fi concept behind the album is okay if unspectacular, but past the first two tracks the songs become largely unmemorable. The musicianship is extremely impressive throughout, and I can hear the influence on countless 90’s bands in that progressive metal sound. But listening to one of those bands – such as Nothingface, presumably named after Voivod’s album of the same name – reconfirmed that, yes, the later acts did figure out how to do it better.

Favorite tracks: “Experiment” , “Tribal Convictions”, “Brain Scan”

Talk Talk – Spirit of Eden Like

Their previous release (reviewed in my 1986 batch) had a mix of pop ambition and explorations of space and texture; despite the former being the far more successful, they fully invested in the latter for Spirit, resulting in what some claim to be the creation of a new genre. In today’s world with its Discover Your Strengths mantra, it’s all the more impressive that they took the path less traveled, and not just because they hit it out of the park (although I still rank the highlights behind the best moments of The Colour of Spring). Amazingly beautiful music and a truly unique entry in my collection.

Favorite tracks: “The Rainbow” , “I Believe in You”, “Wealth”

Sonic Youth – Daydream Nation Like

With a bit of sleep deprivation and some 7+% ale, the vortexes, caverns and cathedrals mentally formed by taking in the layers of dissonance are outstanding (perhaps leaving you wishing for something other than the ale). When they start singing… not so much. There is a disconnect between the music and the lyrics (especially in Thurston’s songs; modern-day sludge would never entertain singing about a lizard), the vocal melodies are largely non-existent, and there are too many unmemorable tracks built around dumb rock riffs (e.g., “Silver Rocket”) padding it out to double-album length. But the best stuff on here is so good that, even though now it’s as low as Lukewarm in daylight, this is the one album that has the most potential to become a Love one day, and perhaps even move onto my top 100.

Favorite tracks: “The Sprawl” , “Trilogy: Hyperstation”, “Teen Age Riot”

My Bloody Valentine – Isn’t Anything Love

Genius half-realized, but given that Loveless is on my all-time top five, that makes Isn’t Anything easily my favorite new album of Project 250. Any terrestrial qualities of Loveless are masked by its ethereal production; if anything, Isn’t reveals the muscular musicianship and strong songwriting behind the curtain, instilling the belief that MBV is more than just wildly inventive guitar sounds and making Shields & Co’s work all the more impressive. Now, back to my creepy obsession with Bilinda’s respiratory intakes in “Lose My Breath”…

Favorite tracks: “Lose My Breath” , “All I Need”, “(When You Wake) You're Still in a Dream”

A Book for All Seasons: Black Hearts

2011-05-31T20:31:00.001-07:00

Full title: Black Hearts: One Platoon's Descent into Madness in Iraq's Triangle of Death

http://www.amazon.com/Black-Hearts-Platoons-Descent-Triangle/dp/0307450767

Spring entry for “The War in Iraq”

For the previous book in this category, I wished to have the perspective of the individuals placed in a larger context. I definitely got that with Black Hearts, as the specific focus of the book was how the actions of the organization (zooming out from platoon to company to battalion) contributed to the horrible act of violence done by four soldiers. The sniping up and down the chain of command as related to the reporter was shockingly unprofessional – one almost suspects he got everyone drunk prior to the interviews – and getting through that part of the book was akin to reading divorce proceedings. Otherwise, the book was fascinating, with great focus on the Iraqi military, citizens, and insurgents in addition to a wide cast of US military personnel.

Project 250: Prepping 1991

2011-05-26T23:46:00.001-07:00

http://rateyourmusic.com/charts/top/album/1991

Slim pickings – I’m trying to avoid Thrash as much as possible – but admittedly I own a lot of the stuff, top 50 and beyond. I’m not kidding about this being my favorite era; of the albums eliminated due to familiarity, there are 4 Loves and a lot of high Likes there. Would've been a five-pack to rule Project 250!

Albums eliminated from consideration due to availability:

12 – Swans – White Light From the Mouth of Infinity – Post-Punk – 2
27 – Fields of the Nephilim – Earth Inferno – Gothic Rock – 1
46 – Coil – Love’s Secret Domain – Industrial – 2

Albums eliminated from consideration due to familiarity:
1 – My Bloody Valentine – Loveless – Shoegaze – 5
2 – Nirvana – Nevermind – Grunge – 5
3 – A Tribe Called Quest – The Low End Theory – East Coast Hip Hop – 5
11 – Dismember – Like an Ever Flowing Stream – Death Metal – 5
19 – Entombed – Clandestine – Death Metal – 5
20 – Sepultura – Arise – Thrash Metal – 5
23 – The Jesus Lizard – Goat – Noise Rock – 5
24 – Morbid Angel – Blessed Are the Sick – Death Metal – 5
26 – U2 – Achtung Baby – Alternative Rock – 4
32 – Soundgarden – Badmotorfinger – Grunge – 5
39 – Primal Scream – Screamadelica – Alternative Dance – 5

Leading contenders:
4 – Slint – Spiderland – Math Rock – 1
One of those albums I hear about all. the. time. Gotta go for it.

28 – Mercury Rev – Yerself Is Steam – Neo Psychedelia – 1
In honor of Monster Magnet being cheated out of the top 50…

38 – The Legendary Pink Dots – The Maria Dimension – Psychedelic Rock – 1
In honor of Monster Magnet being cheated out of the top 50

42 – Melvins – Bullhead – Sludge Metal – 2
Really hope the vocals grow on me, cuz I loooooove everything else

45 – The Wedding Present – Seamonsters – Indie Rock – 1
I saw Steve Albini’s name on this, so why not?

Another 5 I could be talked into:
5 – Talk Talk – Laughing Stock – Post-Rock – 3
Don’t worry, I likely won’t pass on the last of their Big Three, as many of the above are at risk of becoming unavailable by the time I submit the order.

8 – Death – Human – Death Metal – 3
Not a favorite of mine, but Chuck S. always makes ya think….

13 – Ice Cube – Death Certificate – West Coast Hip Hop – 2
Gotta mix in some old-skool WC with the East Coast boom bap that dominates my collection.

29 – Massive Attack – Blue Lines – Trip Hop – 1
Wow, they were around this early?! Curious to hear what an influence they were on the scene.

47 – Slowdive – Just for a Day – Shoegaze – 3
Not a big fan of 1993’s Souvlaki; plus, I know that they’re younger than me, and I was hoping to hold off on the ageist rants for a while longer…

Feel free to talk me into or out of anything from the RYM Top 50.

A Book for All Seasons: A Superior Death

2011-05-26T22:45:00.001-07:00

http://www.amazon.com/Superior-Death-Anna-Pigeon-Novel/dp/042519471X/

Spring entry for “Anna Pigeon series”

Recap: The gimmick to this mystery series is that the “detective” is a park ranger trained in law enforcement, and each book is situated at a different national park. Addition: The relocation from Texas desert to Michigan shoreline is barely addressed.

As with the previous book, the protagonist is too Guided By Estrogen for my liking, the characters too cartoonish to get invested in the book, the core “mystery” interesting but too long to get to (and not the type that drops clues to be “solved” by either the reader or the dick (jane?)) , and the whole thing is almost saved by vivid descriptions of the environment written with a full love of nature. So maybe next year I swap out this category for some Thoreau…

Project 250 blip

2011-05-26T22:30:00.001-07:00

So the laser on my CD changer died after 20 years (which appears to be a common expiration date for this model!). I refuse to render final judgment on an album until I give it one final listen on the stereo. I have only one 1988 album left, and all of my 1989 playlist has gotten sufficient iPod listens the past couple of weeks to qualify for the stereo queue. I have a new player on the way, and the reviews for 1988 and 1989 will come out while I’m getting started on 1990, so everything is well underway and I’ll catch up. This is why I’ll be posting the 1991 prep later prior to having 1988 reviewed.

A Book for All Seasons: Lizard Music

2011-05-06T00:25:00.001-07:00

http://www.amazon.com/Lizard-Music-Daniel-Pinkwater/dp/1590173872

Spring entry for “Favorites from my Youth”

I have read several Pinkwater books to my daughter the past couple of years, most of which I hadn’t read previously. All, including Lizard Music, feature young pragamatic protagonists befriending colorful, eccentric, urban, and often ethnically diverse adults who coach them through a metaphorical coming-of-age adventure. In some ways, I liked this book better than the others because it has the most surreal launching pad (literally lizard musicians), avoids excessive tangents, while having the most poignant and adult message, that of a boy embracing his vanishing childhood and developing inward security amid adult sexual themes (as experienced by his immediate family members).

It’s telling that my two favorite kids books as a youth – this and Voyage of the Dawn Treader – feature unfolding psychedelic journeys.

A Book for All Seasons: Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor

2011-04-30T23:41:00.001-07:00

http://www.amazon.com/Jane-Unpleasantness-Scargrave-Manor-Mystery/dp/0553385615/

Spring entry for “Jane Austen Universe”

The premise of this series is that long-lost journals have been discovered of Jane Austen’s, wherein she describes mysteries she has been involved in and helped solve. The result is a mix of “biographical fiction” w/ imagined inspirations for her novels, period flavor (including Napoleonic intrigue), lovely Olde England settings, and Austen-style wit, all wrapped in a solid mystery with a good mix of characters. Above all else, I found the protagonist to be charming and endearing. A wonderful book that perfectly captures what I was trying to achieve with this category.

Project 250: Prepping 1990

2011-04-25T02:28:00.001-07:00

http://rateyourmusic.com/charts/top/album/1990

Nowhere, Hammerheart, Heaven or Las Vegas: We have now arrived at my favorite musical era by far, the early-mid 1990s. Getting through the 80’s was a bit rough, but not as rough as I feared, and here comes my reward… (on second thought, looking at that top 50…)

Albums eliminated from consideration due to availability:
16 – Fields of the Nephilim – Elizium – Gothic Rock – 1

Albums eliminated from consideration due to familiarity:
4 – Angelo Badalamenti – Soundtrack from "Twin Peaks" – Television Music – 4
7 – Cocteau Twins – Heaven or Las Vegas – Dream Pop – 5
13 – Bathory – Hammerheart – Viking Metal – 5
15 – A Tribe Called Quest – People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm – Jazz Rap – 5
18 – Ride – Nowhere – Shoegaze – 5
36 – Obituary – Cause of Death – Death Metal – 5
47 – Skinny Puppy – Too Dark Park – Industrial – 5
49 – Lustmord – Heresy – Dark Ambient – 5

Leading contenders:
9 – Fugazi – Repeater – Post-Hardcore – 1
Only thing I know about this band is that I should know more about them.

11 – Danny Elfman – Edward Scissorhands – Film Soundtrack – 2
I’m generally not a soundtrack guy, but this will be brownie points with the wife.

~~22 – Trouble – Trouble – Traditional Doom Metal – 1~~
~~After Candlemass (1987), I’m now hesitant with this genre, but this seems like it might be more “stoner”.~~
Became unavailable. Promoted Slayer (the ultimate safe pick).

27 – Danzig – II: Lucifuge – Hard Rock – 2
Gotta have at least one “safe pick”.

~~28 – Pet Shop Boys – Behavior – Synth Pop – 2~~
~~They’ve been bridesmaids for many years… looks like I’ll finally bite.~~
Became unavailable. Promoted Sonic Youth based on 1988 experience.

Another 5 I could be talked into:
1 – Megadeth – Rust in Peace – Thrash Metal – 2
Always hated Peace Sells, but that #1 ranking is sure tempting.

3 – Judas Priest – Painkiller – Heavy Metal – 2
No lie – I almost kept the 10th slot empty.

5 – Slayer – Seasons in the Abyss – Thrash Metal – 3
I’m unconvinced that I need anything more than Reign in Blood in my collection.

10 – Sonic Youth – Goo – Noise Rock – 1
Will get promoted if Daydream Nation pays off in 1988.

35 – Dwight Yoakam – If There Was a Way – Country – 2
Yup, slim pickin’s this year (at least in the top 50).

Feel free to talk me into or out of anything from the RYM Top 50.

Project 250: Reviewing 1987

2011-04-24T23:57:00.000-07:00

Dinosaur Jr. – You're Living All Over Me Like

Straddling 80’s indie-rock and 90’s grunge with a dose of mopey pop hooks, the album would die if it depended on songwriting alone, but the intensity of the fretwork takes it over the top.

The easy highlight here for me is “Tarpit”; the most ballad-like of all the songs, it’s easily the loudest, with MBV-like buzzsaw guitars and a shoegaze shuffle on the drums carrying the verses, and the track culminating in a dogpile of noise evocative of a prehistoric beast struggling to break out of Le Brea. That last minute ranks up there with the best of Godflesh/Jesu in my book.

Favorite tracks: “Tarpit” , “Kracked”, “Sludgefeast”

Candlemass – Nightfall Lukewarm

Tempted to upgrade the rating what with the sound being so absolutely cavernous. However, the riffs, while massive, are obvious; the lyrics epic yet sophomoric; the vocals impressive yet annoying; the solos competent yet standard; the instrumentals evocative yet unnecessary. Compared to the other albums that got a Like this time ‘round, this will surely be the most forgettable among them, hence the demotion, even if it means bringing on the wrath of Messiah Marcolin upon me.

Favorite tracks: “At the Gallows End”, “The Well of Souls”, “Samarithan”

Eric B. & Rakim – Paid in Full Like

Generous rating here. There are a few songs here that are really good, but ultimately too many instrumental stretches to keep my interest; I bumped it up because I like how the cuts were dark and dancy in some places, while featuring the snare-skipping hip-hop beat in others. Much is made about Rakim being an influential rapper – you can hear Q-Tip in lines such as “I hold the microphone like a grudge / B’ll hold the record so the needle won’t budge” – but the lyrics are all in the “I’m a superior MC” variety, and the sound rides between chill and hard without achieving the visceral result of either side. But it’s tough to give harmless rap a lower mark than this.

Favorite tracks: “I Ain’t No Joke” , “I Know You Got Soul”, “Paid in Full”

Spacemen 3 – The Perfect Prescription Like

This album does not go to 11. A throwback to the psychedelic sounds of the ‘60’s, while also a flash-forward to the chill-out house vibe of the 90’s (think Primal Scream), Spacemen 3 provide a cool chill throughout but constantly tease the promise that they will explode into something more. Even the most intense songs – such as “Things'll Never Be the Same” with it’s rolling acid guitar licks – dare to maintain an unmoving level of tension throughout the track without breaking through.

Sure, it’s plenty trippy, but c’mon folks, really, there’s no better music to get high to? I will attest that it is a great album to fall asleep to, which I did a handful of times in trying to wrap up my 1987 write-up, and I say that purely as praise. A beautiful flower that fails to fully bloom.

Favorite tracks: “Take Me To The Other Side”, “Ecstasy Symphony”/ “Transparent Radiation”, “Come Down Easy”

Swans – Children of God Like

If any album deserved the title Songs of Faith and Devotion, it’s this one, what with its themes of religious possession (Abraham’s near-sacrifice of Isaac told in schizophrenic first-person in “Beautiful Child”) and obsession (the bitter pledge of chastity in “Sex, God, Sex”), gorgeously remastered in the 2-CD release paired with World of Skin (which I haven’t listened to yet). Gira enthralls with his deep register, and Jarboe is typically enchanting with her gothic ditties. I dunno, they get critical acclaim, but it still seems like this band is vastly underexposed; there’s a real sense of Art about their work that’s all too rare.

My only reference point is their 1995 release The Great Annihilator, which has both a higher rate of consistency and a wider palette, so I had to deny Children of God the Love rating, even though the best stuff in this double LP could by themselves form a single album that would challenge any other release in Project 250.

Favorite tracks: “Blood & Honey” , “Our Love Lies”, “You're Not Real, Girl”

A Book for All Seasons: Don’t Make Me Think!

2011-04-21T23:27:00.001-07:00

http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Make-Me-Think-Usability/dp/0321344758/

Spring entry for “Web Development”

Well, I guess now I know why all the best professional websites have the same look-and-feel. The book was basically a rundown on what web parts go where, what annoying things to avoid, and a reassuring that informal usability testing is perfectly fine (as if I had access to any other kind where I work!).

I was hoping this was going to be more generic coverage on user interfaces and not specifically about websites. At least it was short and entertaining, and it didn’t make me think too hard… Hey!

A Book for All Seasons: The Book of Basketball

2011-04-07T17:44:00.001-07:00

Full title – The Book of Basketball: The NBA According to The Sports Guy

http://www.amazon.com/Book-Basketball-NBA-According-Sports/dp/0345520106/

Spring entry for “Four Sports”

Tediously entertaining, just like his column. Unlike his column, I actually read every single word of the 700-page book (including the plethora of footnotes). I share his passion for the individuality found in NBA play, but not so much for gambling, porn, name-dropping, obscenity, or pop culture. But it’s not like I’m gonna find another book to cover Robert Horry in as many words, so I’ll take it. But to develop real passion for the NBA game, I’d recommend starting with NBA Playbook.

A Book for All Seasons: Alone with the Horrors

2011-04-05T17:23:00.000-07:00

The Great Short Fiction of Ramsey Campbell 1961-1991

http://www.amazon.com/Alone-Horrors-Fiction-Campbell-1961-1991/dp/B000ENBP84/

Winter entry for “Bram Stoker Award winners for Collection”

Ramsey Campbell started out writing stories in the Lovecraft world. Mercifully, he quickly transitioned to his own style, which turns out to be an endless string of similar ghost stories with some not-quite-innocent being pursued by something strange, ignoring all the clues made all too obvious to the reader. About halfway through the book, he really hits his groove; the horrors are a bit more original, not all endings wrap up the same way, and he occasionally explores more surreal landscapes (especially the one that takes place in a beach house).

My favorite stretch comprises the final few stories, which get beyond the simpler psychological angle (as covered in The Medusa in the Shield, which includes a Campbell story) and into the more fantastical aether (as covered in A Fabulous, Formless Darkness).

Overall, a really great book for tackling one story a night, especially just before going to sleep…

Project 250: Prepping 1989

2011-03-27T00:27:00.001-07:00

http://rateyourmusic.com/charts/top/album/1989

Ministry @ 69 won’t be the first time that one of my top 10 albums fails to crack the top 50 RYM yearly charts; some failed to crack the top 100!

Albums eliminated from consideration due to familiarity:
2 – The Cure – Disintegration – Gothic Rock – 5
3 – The Stone Rose – The Stone Roses – Madchester – 5
5 – Beastie Boys – Paul’s Boutique – East Coast Hip Hop – 4
12 – Overkill – The Years of Decay – Thrash Metal – 5
16 – Sodom – Agent Orange – Thrash Metal – 5
19 – Annihilator – Alice In Hell – Thrash Metal – 4
20 – Godflesh – Streetcleaner – Industrial Metal – 5
25 – King Diamond – Conspiracy – Heavy Metal – 5
30 – Stevie Ray Vaughn – In Step – Blues Rock – 4
43 – W.A.S.P. – The Headless Children – Heavy Metal – 5
49 – Lou Reed – New York – Rock – 5

Leading contenders:
1 – Pixies – Doolittle – Alternative Rock – 1
Very slim pickin’s this time, so I guess I’ll have to go for one of the most highly touted albums on RYM.

~~11 – No Means No – Wrong – Hardcore Punk – 1~~
~~Not overly excited about this pick either.~~
No longer available; Replacing with Steve Reich from below

14 – Galaxie 500 – On Fire – Slowcore – 1
Now this sounds promising, but I’ll always take a shot at something tagged Dream Pop.

33 – New Order – Technique – Synth Pop – 4
Wasn’t planning on getting more of the remastered stuff, but not sure what else to do for 1989.

~~37 – Julee Cruise – Floating Into The Night – Dream Pop – 1~~
~~Again, only because the genre rarely fails to please.~~
No longer available. Replacing with The Blue Nile, as recommended by a reader.

Another 5 I could be talked into:
4 – Morbid Angel – Altars of Madness – Death Metal – 2
I have the subsequent album, and was never that into it.

6 – Sepultura – Beneath the Remains – Thrash Metal – 3
I have the next two subsequent albums, and was never that into them.

7 – Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock & Jack DeJohnette – Changeless – Post-Bop – 1
If I had any guts, I’d promote this. It’s been a long time since I picked a jazz release…

13– Steve Reich – Different Trains / Electric Counterpoint – Minimalism – 31
Collaborations with Kronos Quartet & Pat Metheny; I really should promote this and probably will.

32 – Terrorizer – World Downfall - Grindcore – 1
A death/grind cult classic, but I think I’m just about done with the genre, at least the dense stuff.

Feel free to talk me into or out of anything from the RYM Top 50.

Project 250: Reviewing 1986

2011-03-27T00:05:00.001-07:00

The Chameleons – Strange Times Loathe

The vocal & lyrics never were the strength of this band, but they really seem to have regressed since the debut; I would have enjoyed this more with the vocal tracks completely removed, but they are so front-and-center that they are impossible to ignore. The moody two-guitar jangle should be enough to earn this a Lukewarm, but the whole production has an oppressive, muted sound which makes it tedious and difficult to enjoy. Shame.

Favorite tracks: “Soul in Isolation”

Talk Talk – The Colour of Spring Like

Wow, what a flashback “Life’s What You Make It” was! I hadn’t thought about the song since it first came out; I don’t know if I heard it once or 100 times back in the AOR days.

Only 3 of the 8 tracks here are true keepers, but each song has elements of greatness. The band are masters at using space, rhythm, and texture to create rich, organic soundscapes, and I absolutely love the vocals, but unfortunately the songwriting isn’t at the same level. Still, I got enough out of this to give the band another chance as they shift into the next stage of their career as post-rock pioneers.

Favorite tracks: “I Don’t Believe in You”, “Life’s What You Make It”, “Living in Another World”

Fates Warning – Awaken the Guardian Love

I bought the LP when it was first released – one of those that I grabbed purely based on the label and the cover – and it has been a favorite since. The remastered version sounds gorgeous, and side 1 is now officially my favorite album side of all time, being the only one in with all tracks getting five-star ratings. Their sound is akin to Maiden; riffwise less gallop and more crunch, but similar soaring vocals with fantastical themes (and while I love John Arch’s vocals, what I wouldn’t give to hear Bruce Dickinson sing this!).

I rarely listened to side 2 when I owned the LP and I tried really hard to get into it this time. There are more prog elements, and the vocal lines tend to meander, all of which took the band in a direction I never liked (I bailed on them after their subsequent release No Exit). Lots of good riffs though, such as the killer 20-second Slayeresque thrashfest after the first chorus in “Prelude to Ruin”.

Favorite tracks: “Valley of the Dolls”, “The Sorceress”, “Guardian”

The Triffids – Born Sandy Devotional Lukewarm
The Triffids – In the Pines Like

Band from Down Under records what they feel is their breakthrough album (Sandy) after years of little success; while waiting for its release, they hole themselves up in a sheep-shearing shack in Western Australia to lay down some low-key ditties on an eight-track (Pines). I don’t know whether to take this as a sign of high or low confidence.

I found Sandy to be too heavy-handed in its arrangements, vocals, and lyrics; the band was swinging for home runs but didn’t have the material to support their aspirations. There are some great noirish moments, especially the Lynchian “Tarrilup Bridge”, and the liner notes giving away the Nebraska influence makes me want to like it more than I do. Pines has simpler, shorter songs – some under two minutes – with more overt country and folk elements; the band stays within their limitations, and successfully churn out singles and doubles with maybe one miss due to allowing their drummer to pen and front one song.

Final note: I would love to hear Dylan’s Modern Times-era band cover Sandy’s “Life of Crime” and Pines’ “Better Off This Way”. Perfect fit, that.

Favorite tracks (BSD): “Wide Open Road”, “Life of Crime”, “Tarrilup Bridge”
Favorite tracks (ItP): “In the Pines”, “One Soul Less on Your Fiery List”, “Keep Your Eyes on the Hole”

A Book for All Seasons: The Good Soldiers

2011-03-05T21:49:00.001-08:00

http://www.amazon.com/Good-Soldiers-David-Finkel/dp/0374165734

Winter entry for “The War in Iraq”

This book narrates the yearlong deployment of a U.S. battalion to Iraq. The jacket claims that this book “grapples” with the question “…Was [the surge] really a success?”, but the answer to that question is only from the point-of-view of the soldiers themselves, who predictably and understandably get jaded after watching their fellow soldiers die and become dismembered.

I think the book is well written as long as you accept its angle, but as an outsider I accept that death is part of war; I found the descriptions of the injuries gratuitous and that of the reaction to them overwrought, and I wish that the book was narrated with a more dispassionate, less reactive tone that put the actions of the battalion in a greater context than just the impact on the soldiers’ psyches.

Project 250: Prepping 1988

2011-03-03T23:20:00.001-08:00

http://rateyourmusic.com/charts/top/album/1988

The less said about Skinny Puppy, Ministry, and Cocteau Twins all missing the top 50, the better.

Albums eliminated from consideration due to familiarity:
4 – Public Enemy – It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back – East Coast Hip Hop – 5
5 – Iron Maiden – Seventh Son of a Seventh Son – Heavy Metal – 5
6 – Metallica – ...And Justice for All – Thrash Metal – 5
7 – Queensrÿche – Operation: Mindcrime – Progressive Metal – 4
18 – Béla Bartók – 6 String Quartets – Modern Classical – 5
21 – Bathory – Blood Fire Death – Black Metal – 5
30 – Testament – The New Order – Thrash Metal – 4
32 – Gustav Mahler – Symphonie No. 5 – Symphony – 5
37 – King Diamond – “Them” – Heavy Metal – 5
48 – Morrissey – Viva Hate – Jangle Pop – 4
49 – Traveling Wilburys – Traveling Wilburys, Vol. 1 – 4

Leading contenders:
1 – Sonic Youth – Daydream Nation – Noise Rock – 2
Alright, time to finally take the plunge. Wish me luck…

3 – Talk Talk – Spirit of Eden – Post-Rock – 2
The 1986 release is just okay so far… This is when they transitioned to a new sound. As a fan of the genre, I’m really curious how it all started.

~~14 – Eric B. & Rakim– Follow the Leader – East Coast Hip Hop – 2~~
~~There are other hip hop bands to choose from, but I thought I’d stick with these two to see if/how they evolved.~~
Early returns from 1987 have convinced me to give this slot up to MBV.

29 – Voivod – Dimension Hatröss – Progressive Metal – 1
A band that I’ve known about for forever but have never checked out.

31 – Galaxie 500 – Today – Slowcore – 1
Only because I know dream pop is going to get screwed in the 90’s, so I’ve gotta go for it whenever it shows up.

Another 5 I could be talked into:
2 – Pixies – Surfer Rosa – Alternative Rock – 1
Here only because it’s so famous. I’ll avoid alt rock as much as possible otherwise.

12 – Ultramagnetic MC's – Critical Beatdown – East Coast Hip Hop – 1
An example of an unknown hip hop act I’m skipping over (see Eric B. & Rakim above).

15 – Frank Zappa – You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 1 – Experimental Rock – 4
Once lived with a Zappa fan, and I remember this live series being my favorite of the bunch.

23 – My Bloody Valentine – Isn’t Anything – Shoegaze – 3
As their famous follow-up is on my all-time top 5, I might just convince myself that this one is a must.

36 – Lucinda Williams – Lucinda Williams – Alt-Country – 1
Purely for spousal brownie points.

Feel free to talk me into or out of anything from the RYM Top 50.

Project 250: Reviewing 1985

2011-03-03T22:46:00.001-08:00

The Sisters of Mercy – First and Last and Always Lukewarm

So there’s a remastered version of this somewhere out there, but Amazon didn’t have it in CD form. Too bad, because I suspect that a decent sound could have easily put this well into Like, overlooking the conventional 80’s sound, the VCV crutch (although they do write one hell of a C!), and perhaps I might have even been able to hear what the vocalist was saying in that fake baritone of his. As it is, it just sounds like a pop/rock album for the outcasts who found Bauhaus too edgy.

Favorite tracks: “Marian (Version)”, “Black Planet”, “Some Kind of Stranger”

The Cult – Love Like

Now here’s a case where an album that is fraught with shortcomings – overreaching vocals, beer-commercial riffs, second verses literally the same as the first, misguided imagery – totally works thanks to the loud and clear bottom-heavy production. Even choruses featuring lyrics as uninspired as “here comes the rain / here comes the rain / here she comes again / here comes the rain” and “there’s a revolution / there’s a revolution, yeah / there’s a revolution / there’s a revolution” don’t stop me from jumping around the room when they kick in (although the 7% APV lager helps).

Favorite tracks: “She Sells Sanctuary”, “The Phoenix”, “Nirvana”

The Fall – This Nation’s Saving Grace Lukewarm

I can appreciate the experimental groove that lands this halfway between Krautrock and the likes of P.I.L. and even the emerging Wax Trax sound. But the lack of muscle, musicality, and ultimately interesting ideas made it all unfortunately more than a bit boring. That said, it does have potential to grow on me; the last listen was a mad scramble out of Loathe.

Favorite tracks: “L.A.”, “Paint Work”, “Gut of the Quantifier”

Pentagram – Pentagram Love

As the album was tagged as Doom, I was expecting something more along the lines of Anathema or My Dying Bride, but I’m not going to complain about a bowlful of reheated Black Sabbath, especially when they were wise enough to throw away all of the sour bits. The music is simplistic and the lyrics laughable; when you hold this up against other dark metal of the time (Mercyful Fate, Slayer, Celtic Frost), the “evil” parts are pretty juvenile. But, man, those endless riffs! And by mixing in some blues a la Deep Purple, it added a stoner vibe that keeps the whole package from being heavier than it need be.

Favorite tracks: “All Your Sins”, “You’re Lost I’m Free”, “The Ghoul”

The Jesus and Mary Chain– Psychocandy Love

Coating 50’s-style saccharine ballads and rockabilly (that would be the “candy”) with sheets of white noise (“psycho”) was a heck of a gimmick, and the album stands on its own even ignoring its role as a predecessor of shoegaze (one of my favorite scenes). The songwriting is a bit repetitive and dubious if you force yourself to ignore the textures, and they didn’t help their case by cleaning up their sound in their sequel Darklands (an album I’ve somehow managed to not trade away for over two decades), revealing the sad little wizard behind the curtain. But the illusion maintained here is truly magical.

Favorite tracks: “Just Like Honey”, “In a Hole”, “Sowing Seeds”

A Book for All Seasons: Uncle Tom’s Cabin

2011-02-24T16:48:00.000-08:00

http://www.amazon.com/Uncle-Cabin-Oxford-Worlds-Classics/dp/0199538034/

Winter entry for “Favorites from my Youth”

This was “my favorite book” from long, long ago, so long ago that I hadn’t remembered a thing about it. It was originally published in serial form, and ignoring the fact that it seemingly underwent major editorial policy changes at least once, it really does seem like two books in one, both equally heavy-handed. The first is an anti-slavery missive, where the quest for freedom is sold primarily as insurance against slaves landing in the hands of a demon master after their “good” master dies. The second, more successful one is a celebration of Christianity; here, slavery is merely a setting, just another mortal torment akin to life-threatening disease (which afflicts one white character) that one must endure before entering Heaven.

The fact that I was a practicing New Testament-embracing Christian at the time was probably why the book appealed to me so much at the time; however, the tenets of endurance and integrity are still so core to my belief system that I happily overlooked the author inflicting two overt Christ figures on the reader. The narrative is subpar for a “classic”, and I’m sure much else would disintegrate when deconstructed, but I really enjoyed the philosophical and religious aspects of the novel.

A Book for All Seasons: Learning Web Design

2011-02-18T00:06:00.001-08:00

http://www.amazon.com/Learning-Web-Design-Beginners-StyleSheets/dp/0596527527

Winter entry for “Web Development”

I haven’t looked at web development instruction text since the days of <center> and <blink>. The web graphics and web publishing sections were nothing new to me, and the xmlification of HTML was obvious but interesting.

The one section that was truly new to me was CSS (something I had heard about for a long time now) and I’m glad I finally learned it! I’ve been involved in other designs that segregated the presentation layer, so the concept was familiar and the implementation intuitive. More importantly, now I know exactly why I have to keep manually underlining the hyperlinks for my blog posts in my WYSIWYG editor; of course, I’m too lazy now to remove all those <u> directives from my individual posts.

I thought this was a great book that covered lots of material effectively with plenty of exercises.

A Book for All Seasons: Track of the Cat

2011-02-16T22:23:00.001-08:00

http://www.amazon.com/Track-Cat-Anna-Pigeon-Novel/dp/0425190838/

Winter entry for “Anna Pigeon series”

The gimmick to this mystery series is that the “detective” is a park ranger trained in law enforcement, and each book is situated at a different national park. We’ll see how she can pull that one off…

Anyways, the book started out kinda chickish, but got more brootal towards the end, and the series is known for being a bit brootal, so it’s all good. Hopefully the author will get better at creating non-stereotypical characters, and I think given the setting she has room to grow in painting the scenes, but it’s a good start, as long as she doesn’t get all environmental and shit.

A Book for All Seasons: Category change

2011-02-14T12:53:00.001-08:00

I decided to shelve the Personal MBA Reading List for now for three reasons. First, some of the lamest reads I’ve had in the past two years came from that list. Second, with the increased number of books, I felt that I would rather treat myself to some lighter reading. Third, I’ve been doing more business reading this year via periodicals and magazines, and frankly I think I’m getting more than my fill, certainly more than needed by a lifetime software grunt.

The category I added is a mystery series written by Nevada Barr. I added a blurb to the 2011 dashboard, and the first review should show up later this week.

Project 250: Prepping 1987

2011-02-12T02:44:00.001-08:00

http://rateyourmusic.com/charts/top/album/1987

There is a lot of great stuff stuck in positions #51 - #200 on that chart, including my favorite Skinny Puppy album @ #118. Really, Depeche Mode at #14 and Hüsker Dü at #51?! Note that metal is starting to dominate the RYM charts. Finally, I think this is probably the last year that I bought original releases on cassette.

Albums eliminated from consideration due to familiarity:
5 – King Diamond – Abigail – Heavy Metal – 5
6 – David Sylvian – Secrets of the Beehive – Art Pop – 5
8 – Guns N’ Roses – Appetite for Destruction – Hard Rock – 4
11 – U2 – The Joshua Tree – Pop/Rock – 5
13 – The Smiths – Strangeways, Here We Come – Jangle Pop – 4
14 – Depeche Mode – Music for the Masses – Synth Pop – 4
16 – Antrhax – Among the Living – Thrash Metal – 4
18 – Marillion – Clutching at Straws – Neo-Prog – 4
21 – Helloween – Keeper of the Seven Keys Part I – Power Metal – 4
23 – Testament – The Legacy – Thrash Metal – 4
27 – The Jesus and Mary Chain – Darklands – Noise Pop – 5
31 – Big Black – Songs About Fucking – Noise Rock – 5

Leading contenders:
3 – Dinosaur Jr. – You're Living All Over Me – Indie Rock – 1
Ever since getting into Witch’s debut, I’ve been wanting to check out this band.

~~4 – Dead Can Dance – Within the Realm of a Dying Sun– Darkwave – 1~~
~~It’s got a 2-week wait period on Amazon, so it may get demoted. Wouldn’t kill me either.~~
Yup, decided to promote Candlemass due to the wait.

7 – Eric B. & Rakim– Paid in Full– East Coast Hip Hop – 2
Oh yeah, it’s on!

15 – Spacemen 3 – The Perfect Prescription– Neo Psychedelia– 1
As blind a pick as it gets, but some psychedelic space rock should do the trick.

20 – The Swans – Children of God – Post-Punk – 3
I know their later material; now’s the time to check out their classic older stuff.

Another 5 I could be talked into:
1 – Sonic Youth – Sister – Noise Rock – 1
Nope, still not gonna bite. Daydream Nation next year has a shot.

2– Prince – Sign o’ the Times – Pop/Rock – 3
I never did hear this classic release. Would be good for variety’s sake given my other 80’s selections.

12 – Candlemass – Nightfall – Traditional Doom Metal – 1
Would have gone for them in 1986 had it been available, but too much other good stuff this time.

29 – Pet Shop Boys – Actually – Synth Pop – 2
I really should be getting more synth pop from this decade. Just fun stuff…

38 – The Dukes of Stratosphear – Psonic Psunspot – Psychedelic Pop – 1
Less appealing now that I know it’s an XTC side project.

Feel free to talk me into or out of anything from the RYM Top 50.

Project 250: Reviewing 1984

2011-02-11T13:05:00.001-08:00

Well, this is the halfway point of Project 250 reviews. I was supposed to be done with the project a month ago, but I seem to be back on track now that I’m settled into my new house. One of my readers expressed vexation at my overly positive reviews; I thought I had as many as four Loathe candidates this time, but as I do with people, I tend to eventually focus on the half-full part of the glass.

The Smiths – The Smiths Lukewarm

The debut has some of The Smiths signature features such as good jangle over a driven rhythm section and a healthy mix of wit & melancholy in the vocals, but the dearth of hooks and melody is a fatality. Most of the tracks would join “Golden Lights” in my list of least inspired Smiths song, and half of the remaining decent songs were redone on later releases. In short, hardly essential for all but the most fanatic fan of the band.

Favorite tracks: “You've Got Everything Now”, “Hand in Glove”, “Reel Around the Fountain”

The Replacements – Let It Be Lukewarm

With the likes of Tom Petty’s “Rebels” being the rage during this era, I can appreciate outcasts embracing indie bands such as The Replacements; however, there really is a timer to lyrics such as “your age is the hardest age” in “Sixteen Blue”, and much of the sound is rewarmed material from the previous decade, especially 70’s glam metal (Kiss, The Damned, Aerosmith, etc.). The two country-tinged rock ballads deserved AOR play as much as anything at the time, but I assume they didn’t get it.

The most indie element here (well, I’m not sure studios at the time would have allowed “Androgynous” to pass through, but Prince was mainstream at the same time, right?) is the final track “Answering Machine”, a standard teen angst power anthem minus the rhythm section, which the studios would have rightfully insisted on including. “Raw and sloppy” can seem like a weakness at times, but for rock as conventional as this, it’s probably an asset.

Favorite tracks: “Unsatisfied”, “Black Diamong”, “Sixteen Blue”

Robyn Hitchcock – I Often Dream Of Trains Like

I often dream of trains when I'm awake
They ride along beside a frozen lake
And there in the buffet car
I wait for eternity
Or Basingstoke
Or Reading

As much as I bust on other albums for lacking in the vocals and lyrics, I have to prop this one up. He creates beautiful harmonies by layering multiple tracks of his own vocals, and the words perfectly balance wit and whimsy:

This could be the train I've waited for all my life
Coming 'round the bend
This could be the chain that fettered me all my life
Coming to an end

I’m not sure what to make of the trite autumnal instrumental pieces, or the wacky a capella ditties. I almost think they serve to frame the dreamy ballads and rockers that are the real treasures here, informing the listeners that they should be aware of both gravitas and the tongue-in-cheek. That ambiguity of perspective is probably the sole thing that separates this from late 60’s psychedelica.

On a final note, I would have loved to hear Oasis cover “This Could Be the Day”.

Favorite tracks: “This Could Be the Day”, “Autumn Is Your Last Chance”, “Flavour of Night”

Minutemen – Double Nickels on the Dime Lukewarm

This double LP combines post-punk with jazzy funk into an overly homogenous blend, chunked into 43 largely indistinguishable tracks. The musicality is awesome (especially the bass lines that drive the melody, yet in a less obtrusive way then similar rock-funk bands that came a decade later); unfortunately, the lack of hooks and variety reduces the impact of the instrumental muscle, and the horribly tuneless vocal delivery of dorm room intellect lyrics makes it all a bit hard to choke down.

An album with so much two-star material would usually get tagged with my rare Loathe rating, but there is a great 12-song, 25-minute virtual LP that can be salvaged from this. I may not be so generous in the CD era when 60+ minute-long releases become the norm.

Favorite tracks: “Retreat”, “Glory of Man”, “#1 Hit Song”, “Corona”, “The World According to Nouns”

Meat Puppets – Meat Puppets II Love

Like most folks, I got this album due to Nirvana covering a trio of songs from it on their Unplugged live set. And while Nirvana arguably delivers the definitive versions (especially “Lake of Fire”), there’s plenty of other great stuff here. Blending punk with country & western may seem gimmicky, but the eerie southwest vibe that ties together the hoedown instrumentals, Dylan-on-crack folk ballads (“Split Myself in Two”), and proto-grunge psychedelica (especially “We’re Here”) makes it all come off as some mystical journey. Think of it as musical Peyote, and light up.

Favorite tracks: “Split Myself in Two”, “Plateau”, “Lost”

A Book for All Seasons: Grammatically Correct

2011-01-29T17:04:00.001-08:00

http://www.amazon.com/Grammatically-Correct-Essential-Spelling-Punctuation/dp/1582976163/

Winter entry for “Better Writing”

Using terminology I learned in an early chapter, this book is descriptive (covers all options, including modern usages which go against established academic ways), whereas Strunk & White’s Elements of Style is prescriptive (describing the one true way). Which makes the book much longer but probably more entertaining. The book covers spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, and style/tone, with the middle two sections being easily the most successful. It is packed with interesting examples from published material, and many humorous sentences created for the book which illustrate comical misapplications.

I was really impressed by the organization, presentation, and writing, and I am seriously considering getting a copy of this to keep around the house as a reference. Y’know, just in case I ever forget that using the passive perfect present participle is a faux pas.

Project 250: Prepping 1986

2011-01-24T09:45:00.001-08:00

http://rateyourmusic.com/charts/top/album/1986

Albums eliminated from consideration due to familiarity:
1 – The Smiths – The Queen Is Dead – Jangle Pop – 5
2 – Metallica – Master of Puppets – Thrash Metal – 4
3 – Slayer – Reign In Blood – Thrash Metal – 5
12 – Paul Simon – Graceland – Pop/Rock – 4
13 – Depeche Mode – Black Celebration – Synth Pop – 4
18 – Coil – Horse Rotorvator – Industrial – 5
22 – Iron Maiden – Somewhere In Time – Heavy Metal – 5
41 – David Sylvian – Gone To Earth – Art Pop – 5

Contenders eliminated from consideration due to availability:
10 – Candlemass – Epicus Doomicus Metallicus – Traditional Doom Metal – 1
47 – SPK – Zamia Lehmanni: Songs of Byzantine Flowers – Ritual Ambient – 1
50 – This Mortal Coil – Filigree & Shadow – Dream Pop – 1

Leading contenders:
14 – Talk Talk – The Colour of Spring – Art Pop – 1
I feel the need for something to cleanse the palate…

20 – The Chameleons – Strange Times – Post-Punk – 2
I enjoyed their 1983 debut, so they get the nod here.

28 – Fates Warning – Awaken the Guardian – Progressive Metal – 4
One of the great album sides of all time.

29 – The Triffids – Born Sandy Devotional – Jangle Pop – 1
40 – The Triffids – In the Pines – Gothic Country – 1
Sounds like two very different albums from the same band, one I have never heard of.

Another 5 I could be talked into:
6 – Sonic Youth – EVOL – Noise Rock – 1
I’m afraid of this band. They could end up anywhere from stellar to horrible…

33 – Dwight Yoakam – Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc. – Bakersfield Sound – 2
I haven’t had any Country since the early 60’s.

34 – Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Your Funeral ... My Trial – Post-Punk – 2
I think I’ve fulfilled my quota for 80’s Gothic Rock.

48 – Steve Reich – Sextet / Six Marimbas – Minimalism – 1
’Twould be something cute and different.

49 – Pet Shop Boys – Please – Dance Pop – 2
Sometimes I feel like I should be adding more light stuff to the mix…

Feel free to talk me into or out of anything from the RYM Top 50.

Project 250: Reviewing 1983

2011-01-23T23:56:00.001-08:00

I generously gave out all Like ratings this time, but all five of ‘em are flirting with the Lukewarm/Like boundary. An early preview of my 1984 batch was probably what pushed me, well, Over the Edge.

Wipers – Over the Edge Like

The title track is a perfect slab of proto-grunge – Hole seemed to think so – and there is plenty here to enjoy if only as a historical document of early grunge influences. I like the lean instrumentation (they cut down to 8 tracks for this, their third album), but even the remastered version I have is full of horrible hiss. It’s such an awful mix, and I don’t think there’s enough to the writing intellectually or emotionally to support it. Had it been supported by a wall of 90’s Seattle guitar noise, then we’d have been in business.

Final note (especially to my bud Chuck): I got the box set which contains remastered versions of their first three albums, and I’ve been enjoying much more the first CD (Is This Real? + bonus tracks); I haven’t really explored their second album Youth of America much yet.

Favorite tracks: “Over the Edge”, “Messenger”, “Now Is The Time”

New Order – Power, Corruption & Lies Like

Power, Corruption & Lies was my favorite release of theirs back in college, and, not having heard it in 20 years, I gotta say it’s held up very well. Sure, it falls apart under scrutiny, especially considering the shortcomings in the awkward lyrics and air-thin vocal delivery. I think what really makes it work is the mix of smart electronics (keyboards & filtered drums) with a smooth organic sound led by Peter Hook’s melodic bass work.

The best analogy I can think of for New Order is of a cook who is able to blend simple, quirky ingredients into magical recipes; different dishes may vary greatly, but there’s some unified theme that binds the menu. In some ways, I think better lyrics with a more capable singer would actually strip away a lot of the band’s charm; you could probably wedge that into the analogy too.

The remastered copy I have sounds gorgeous, and the bonus disc contains a bunch of singles including their most famous single, “Blue Monday”; I might have the itch to purchase the rest of the Factory Years rereleases.

Favorite tracks: “The Village”, “Leave Me Alone”, “Age of Consent”

The Chameleons – Walk Among Us Like

“In his autumn before the winter comes man’s last mad surge of youth”
“What on earth are you talking about?!”

It took a long time to come around to this one; for the first dozen listens, I had it pegged squarely within the Big Country – Psychedelic Furs continuum, probably due to the drums being tinny in places, deep and overly earnest 80’s-style vocals in the absence of melody, and the monotonous mid-tempo beat selection. After a while, I learned to focus on the layers of noise laid down by the two guitarists, at which point the gothic and pre-shoegaze elements shone through. I think this would have been stronger had it been produced in the 90’s, addressing the shortcomings with airy vocals and more abstract/psychedelic lyrics, along with advanced studio wizardry to layer on even more sounds.

All that aside, I would have even given this a Love had it not been for the drag of tracks 7 – 11. They did remove 4 of the 12 tracks from the original US release, but half of the remaining tracks were among the 5 I consider lesser! Even when considering only the stronger tracks on here, I am still not willing to fit them into the same category or at the same level as the likes of Joy Division and The Cure, but I will not smirk at the claims of them being “the best band you’ve never heard of”.

Something’s bangin’ on my door…

Favorite tracks: “Don’t Fall”, “Second Skin”, “Up the Down Escalator”

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark – Dazzle Ships Like

Apparently OMD went through two phases: they started out as a poor man’s Eno, making art pop/rock with a heavy electronic element; then they made a lateral shift towards commercial pop, from which we know “If You Leave”. My college roomie had some OMD; all I remember about it was that it didn’t stick, so I suspect he owned albums from the latter phase (the titles Junk Culture [w/ “Tesla Girls”] and The Pacific Age are familiar). All of which is my saying that this was a pleasant surprise yet still falling short.

Here they alternate between eerie instrumental concept pieces (the most effective of which may be “Time Zones”, in which several voices in different languages create a disorienting Babel effect, until the English version fades in and you realize that they were all simply recorded time announcements) and quirky pop confections, tied together by a vague Cold War theme. Pretty much every track has an element which seems either dated or even a misstep for the time, and the tuneful songs are fun but ultimately too conventional. But overall it holds up very well – I imagine Radiohead is going to be similar to this – and I always convince to bump it up to a Like when the magnificently melancholy closer “Of All The Things We’ve Made” ends.

Favorite tracks: “Of All The Things We’ve Made”, “The Romance of the Telescope”, “Dazzle Ships”

U2 – War Like

Inventiveness, energy, melody, passion. It’s hard to see what’s missing here, other than a more-than-just-solid Side B. Subjectively, there wasn’t much mystery left in this one even though it’s been about two decades since I’ve last listened to the LP. Objectively, seems to me that U2 got everything they deserved. Good for them.

Favorite tracks: “New Year’s Day”, “Seconds”, “Like a Song…”

A Book for All Seasons: The Friendly Jane Austen

2011-01-17T23:33:00.001-08:00

http://www.amazon.com/Friendly-Jane-Austen-Well-Mannered-Introduction/dp/0141001925/

Winter entry for “Jane Austen Universe”

This cool little book was a perfect introduction to this category. The book breezily covers key aspects of Jane’s background, highlights of her output, and an overview of the “universe” itself (sequels, adaptations, fan clubs, etc.). It definitely gave me the itch to read all of her novels, so what I am considering is focusing this year on the Jane phenomenon itself, then have successive years cover each of her six adult novels as a separate category. Should be fun!

Project 250: Prepping 1985

2011-01-08T23:06:00.001-08:00

http://rateyourmusic.com/charts/top/album/1985

Albums eliminated from consideration due to familiarity:
2 – Iron Maiden – Live After Death – Heavy Metal – 4
4 – Kate Bush – Hounds of Love – Art Pop – 5
8 – Hüsker Dü – New Day Rising – Post-Hardcore – 5
11 – Marillion – Misplaced Childhood – Neo-Prog – 5
19 – New Order – Low-Life – Synth Pop – 4
20 – Celtic Frost – To Mega Therion – Thrash Metal – 5

Leading contenders:
4 – The Jesus and Mary Chain – Psychocandy – Noise Pop – 3
Was never that crazy about Darklands, but I think the predecessor may be sufficiently different.

6 – The Fall – This Nation’s Saving Grace – Post-Punk – 1
Finally!

22 – The Sisters of Mercy – First and Last and Always – Gothic Rock – 1
I smell Trainwreck!

26 – Pentagram – Pentagram – Doom Rock – 1
Is this the early stoner metal I’ve been searching for?

38 – The Cult – Love – Post-Punk – 2
Now *this* smells like teen spirit!

Another 5 I could be talked into:
5 – The Replacements – Tim – Alternative Rock – 1
I’ll listen to Let It Be once before finalizing the 1985 order.

10 – The Waterboys – This is the Sea – Folk Rock – 1
Haven’t tried anything folky since, what, mid-70’s?

12 – Einstürzende Neubauten – ½ Mensch– Industrial – 2
Looking over the past few years of Project 250, it’s been a bit short on angst.

13 – The Cure – The Head on the Door – Post-Punk – 3
Safe pick #1. Simply filling out the collection.

36 – The Smiths – Meat is Murder – Jangle Pop – 3
Safe pick #2. Same as above.

Feel free to talk me into or out of anything from the RYM Top 50.

Project 250: Reviewing 1982

2011-01-08T22:08:00.001-08:00

The Dream Syndicate – The Days of Wine and Roses Like

When you smile, I don’t know what to do
’Cause I could lose everything in a minute or two

The melodic twin-guitar lilt of “Tell Me When It's Over” and the wandering “Halloween” – a poor-man’s “Marquee Moon” – will grab your attention initially. If the reheated Reed/Dylan/Young material (well-stocked with delicious feedback) that fills the rest of the album starts to wear on you, be sure to stick around for the ending title track, which, depending on your life situation, could prove to be one of the great cathartic rock experiences, even if you interpret the lyrics as ironic as possible.

Favorite tracks: “The Days of Wine and Roses”, “Halloween”, “Then She Remembers”

Bad Brains – Bad Brains Loathe

About two-thirds of the album is really fast hardcore punk, sprinkled with not-quite-enough jazz licks and some serious metal chops. The other third is some fairly ordinary Jah-style reggae. Sadly, there is no attempt to fuse the two, with the only commonality between them being the same shitty vocalist and seriously lame lyrics. I could talk myself into a Lukewarm if I stick to a handful of the more distinctive tracks of the former style, but then I ask myself, What Would Jah Do?

Favorite tracks: “Banned in D.C.”, “Don’t Need It” / “Attitude”

The Misfits – Walk Among Us Love

Is it socially acceptable to think that The Ramones are kinda lame? Sure, they sounded great at that frat party in college when you were mixing intoxicants (okay, one of them was beer), but they now seem so limp. After being exposed to some of the great punk of the era, I can now even understand why Sex Pistols get dissed so much (I still love ‘em, even though calling them “punk” is a stretch).

Anyhow, had they played The Misfits instead at that party, life might have turned out a whole lot different afterwards. At the very least, I never would have traded in that Danzig CD, and that frathouse high would have been that much better.

Favorite tracks: “Vampira”, “Skulls”, “20 Eyes”

The Cure – Pornography Lukewarm

Definitely my least favorite Cure album. I’m all for murky, psychedelic production – Loveless is on my top ten – but here it is simply masking their most obvious chord progressions, making the overly abstract lyrics ineffective. Their heavier arrangements work better when they employ a combination of lighter touch with more literal lyrics, as found in later releases such as Disintegration. For the gothic sound, I much prefer the cleaner, harrowing lines of Faith; this seems to parallel my recent preference for the instrumentation in Unknown Pleasures over Closer.

Favorite tracks: “The Hanging Garden”, “The Figurehead”, “One Hundred Years”

Mission of Burma – Vs. Love

This chaotic masterpiece from an amazing three-piece ensemble had to grow from an initial rating of near-Loathe, as it failed to jump right out like albums from anteceding post-punk bands such as Wire and Gang of Four. One problem may be the vocals, which work well in the less accessible pieces but less so in the tuneful songs (e.g., “Train”), the latter being the type to add more weight to the formation of first impressions. But the instruments balance melody and violence perfectly throughout.

Although omitted from the list of favorite tracks below, “That’s How I Escaped My Certain Fate” deserves special mention for being the greatest power-pop-punk song these ears have heard, and it shares the title of “Best Last 0:02 of an Album” with Edge of Sanity’s “Song of Sirens”. I think I’ll end my review of 1982 the same way that WHOW!

Favorite tracks: “Fun World”, “Secrets”, “Weatherbox”

A Book for All Seasons: Top of the Order

2010-12-25T22:06:00.001-08:00

Full title – Top of the Order: 25 Writers Pick Their Favorite Baseball Player of All Time

http://www.amazon.com/Top-Order-Writers-Favorite-Baseball/dp/0306818558/

Winter entry for “Four Sports”

Note that the full title specifies “writers”, not “sportswriters”. Once you accept that the book is more Slate than SI, it’s a really fun read, with players being chosen as favorites for all sorts of crazy reasons. My main beef with baseball has always been with how dispassionate the players seem on the field, but it’s hard to read this book and not regret having wasted the opportunity to savor the careers of the like of Rickey Henderson and Pedro Martinez.

A Book for All Seasons: 2011

2010-12-21T02:32:00.001-08:00

This is my annual reading project, now in its third year. I pick a number of categories, then aim to read one book in each category in each season of the upcoming calendar year. I will add a link to this post to the front page of my blog and update it throughout the year after I finish each book.

Given my success at finishing six categories last year, this year I will ramp it up to eight!. I am a little concerned that there is too much non-fiction, but the extra categories I selected this year are more fun than the usual dry non-fiction I read.

	Winter	Spring	Summer	Autumn
Web Development	Learning Web Design	Don’t Make Me Think!	Learning PHP, MySQL, and Javascript	HTML5: Up and Running
Anna Pigeon series	Track of the Cat	A Superior Death	Ill Wind	Firestorm
The War in Iraq	The Good Soldiers	Black Hearts	House to House	They Fought for Each Other
Four Sports	Top of the Order	The Book of Basketball	Fever Pitch	Friday Night Lights
Better Writing	Grammatically Correct	Eats, Shoots & Leaves	The Truth About the New Rules of Business Writing	The Elements of Style
Bram Stoker Award winners for Collection	Alone with the Horrors	Prayers to Broken Stones	Taste of Tenderloin	Full Dark, No Stars
Favorites from my Youth	Uncle Tom’s Cabin	Lizard Music	The Amityville Horror	Weaveworld
Jane Austen Universe	The Friendly Jane Austen	Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor	The Jane Austen Book Club	Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict

Web Development – While I would prefer to learn something like WPF for my game programming, I feel like I need to invest more in technologies that would be pertinent were I to be put back on the job market.

Anna Pigeon Series – Adding some lighter reading to the mix this year.

The war in Iraq– There were a couple of recent titles in the New York Times Book Review that really appealed to me, so I decided to reserve my entire military history category for current-day warfare.

Four sports– Simple concept: read a book about a sport, selecting a different sport each time. One book has been on my list for a long time, while two others came from the excellent Hang Up and Listen podcast. I have a candidate for the fourth, but I am open to your ideas.

Better writing – One of my favorite podcasts is Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing. I will leave this as a broad category to cover anything from the classic references to things more modern and whimsical.

Bram Stoker Award winners for Collection – I have mentioned before that my favorite genre is horror short fiction, so I thought I would target the award winners. Dang, even the ones from a few years ago are hard to find unless you’re willing to pay $100-$200 a pop (which I’m not), so if I keep this category for next year, I’ll likely have to include novels as well.

Favorites from my youth – No, this doesn’t include Richard Scarry’s Adventure Book or Encyclopedia Brown; I’ll likely go with two from Junior High, one from High School, and one from college.

Jane Austen universe– I held a contest at Boardgamegeek asking for categories, and this entry stuck right out (oddly enough, it was the only entry not to receive a vote from anyone else!). The idea of reading about Jane Austen without actually reading Jane Austen really appealed to me. In researching the category, I found overviews, reimaginings, biographies (including one by a Pulitzer Prize winning author I read this year), chick lit, time travel, romance…

Project 250: Prepping 1984

2010-12-17T13:45:00.001-08:00

http://rateyourmusic.com/charts/top/album/1984

Albums eliminated from consideration due to familiarity:
1 – Metallica – Ride the Lightning – Thrash Metal – 4
3 – Prince – Purple Rain – Pop/Rock – 4
4 – Iron Maiden – Powerslave – Heavy Metal – 4
9 – Mercyful Fate – Don’t Break the Oath – Heavy Metal – 5
10 – Hüsker Dü – Zen Arcade – Hardcore Punk – 5
12 – Cocteau Twins – Treasure – Dream Pop – 5
31 – Stevie Ray Vaughn – Couldn’t Stand the Weather – Blues Rock – 4
33 – David Sylvian – Brilliant Trees – Art Pop – 5
37 – Dio – The Last in Line – Art Pop – 4
50 – Marillion – Fugazi – Neo-Prog – 4

Leading contenders:
5 – The Replacements – Let It Be – Alternative Rock – 1
Not a fan of later releases tagged with that genre, but this is supposedly a classic.

7 – Minutemen – Double Nickels on the Dime – Post-Punk – 1
A make-up pick for dropping them from 1983 for The Wipers.

25 – Robyn Hitchcock – I Often Dream of Trains – Singer/Songwriter – 1
Always a fan of releases tagged as Psychedelic, and I love that album title…

~~30 – Trouble – Psalm 9 – Traditional Doom Metal – 9~~
~~Old-school doom! Gotta go for it…~~
Out of stock! Gonna promote The Meat Puppets.

~~34 – This Mortal Coil – It’ll End in Tears – Dream Pop – 1~~
~~Now that I’m into the 80’s, I’m obliged to pick up at least one gloomy release per year…~~
Too hard to get. Gonna promote The Smiths

Another 5 I could be talked into:
13 – The Smiths – The Smiths – Jangle Pop – 3
Huge fan of their stuff I do own, but I am missing their earliest material.

18 – The Meat Puppets – Meat Puppets II – Cowpunk – 2
Main attraction here are those awesome songs covered by Nirvana on their Unplugged album (“Plateau”, “Lake of Fire”). There’s no way the originals can be as good… right?

20 – Lloyd Cole and the Commotions – Rattlesnakes – Jangle Pop – 1
Blind pickin’ here…

24 – Steve Roach – Structures from Silence – Ambient – 1
Sadly, Tinnitus has greatly affected my ability to enjoy spacious music like this.

36 – Jag Panzer – Ample Destruction – Heavy Metal – 1
This, on the other hand, is almost certainly guaranteed to be Tinnitus-proof!

Feel free to talk me into or out of anything from the RYM Top 50.

Project 250: Reviewing 1981

2010-12-13T23:54:00.001-08:00

Motörhead – No Sleep 'til Hammersmith Lukewarm

If these really are among the best 11 tracks of the band’s early output, and the best that such songs can sound – and I believe that both points are likely true – then there’s no hope for Motörhead. The live album starts out incredibly strong but the songwriting quickly gets worse while the aural onslaught doesn’t let up, leaving you with a headful of monotonous noise; after much experimentation, I can say with confidence that this pattern holds with and without beer.

Favorite tracks: “Metropolis”, “We Are the Road Crew”, “Stay Clean”

The Cure – Faith Like

The natural comparison is to Disintegration (a top 100 album of mine since its release), especially with the arguable centerpiece of each album sharing the same metaphor; in Faith, The Cure achieve a sparser sound due to having fewer band members, and thus are not obligated to fill the mix with multiple layers of keyboards. Of the moments that do feature keyboards, I prefer the likes of the whisper in the opening to “All Cats Are Grey” over the blaring fanfare of “The Funeral Party”. But my favorite moments are the ones featuring Roberts Smith’s haunting guitar work, those subtle tingly jangles laid thinly over the ever-present bubbly rhythm section.

Despite the awesome stark textures, a couple of tracks keep this from being a Love, including the ending title track, which continues the trend – one which infects all five of these 1981 albums – of a strong correlation between the dullest tracks and the longest ones.

And for the record, I’m not the only one who hears the Twin Peaks theme in “Funeral Party”, but I’ve yet to find another comparison of “The Drowning Man” to Diablo’s Tristram theme (which admittedly is tenuous at best).

Favorite tracks: “The Drowning Man”, “Other Voices”, “All Cats Are Grey”

Kraftwerk – Computerwelt Like

30 years later, Computerwelt is as prescient, influential and relevant as the VIC-20. Seeds of industrial, dance, electronica, and various hybrids are scattered here and there; I can almost hear Will.I.Am. rapping over the beat of “It’s More Fun to Compute” (but that might just be my wish to see Fergie strut to it). Some of the longer songs are a chore to slog through, while the best parts throughout are the breakdowns that layer minimalist rhythms on top of one another. While I prefer more intense mixes of the same ingredients delivered later by the likes of Nitzer Ebb, the reserved delivery of the vocals creates a different flavor of intensity and makes the end result more hip than that of Kraftwerk’s successors.

Favorite tracks: “Pocket Calculator”, “Home Computer”, “It’s More Fun to Compute”

Black Flag – Damaged Like

I’m writing this entry partway through the album’s trajectory from Loathe to Love, and that continuous uprise may be solely due to my finding the right equalizer settings that keep it from sounding like total ass. The first side warms the gig up with simplistic slogans (“we are tired of your abuse / try to stop us, it’s no use”) and jock satire (“Six Pack”, “T.V. Party”), albeit all done well. Starting in full with “Depression”, Side B dives into more literal psychological madness (“Damaged II”, “Room 13”, “Padded Cell”), with the guitar being violent wrangled within the murky mix. The fretwork is the headliner here, and with each listen the album leaves me wondering whether a cleaner, more muscular production would improve the end result or not.

Favorite tracks: “Damaged II”, “Thirsty and Miserable”, “Room 13”

This Heat – Deceit Love

This sounds like the output of listening to lots of great experimental 70s music – Eno, Peter Hammill, Can, The Residents – then going on a PCP binge, falling asleep, and recording your nightmares. But it’s not all stuck in the past; the organic noodling that opens “Sleep” is still found in modern experimental, the abrupt breakdown in“A New Kind of Water” is a dime-a-dozen in the post-rock era, and “Makeshift Swahili” features a riff worthy of old-school Godflesh. Please, kind folks of the intrawebs, help me find more music like this!

Favorite tracks: “Radio Prague” / “Makeshift Swahili”, “Paper Hats”, “S.P.Q.R.”

A Book for All Seasons: I Did It! (Final Status)

2010-12-13T10:32:00.001-08:00

I know to some folks 24 books a year isn’t a lot, but it’s way, way more than what I had been reading for decades, and bear in mind that I have serious problems with maintaining focus while reading, so I count this as a major accomplishment. On top of this, I have read many comics & graphic novels this year, read aloud many books to my daughter, and have been sporadically reading the Sunday New York Times. We just subscribed to the Wall Street Journal so I can do even more business reading.

At the bottom of this post is a copy of the final dashboard. What follows next is a list of my favorite books in each category, plus my favorite book of the year award.

Professional Development – I could have done much better in this category, but I went with a lot of light readers so I could hit my annual goal; next year I will make the technical category narrower to help avoid cheating. I got at least one very practical tip out of More Effective C#, which is one more than I probably got out of the other three combined, so I guess it wins by default.

World War II Battles – Unsurprisingly, I enjoyed the two PTO books the most. It may not be the better written of the two, but I really liked the personal approach in We Were Pirates; vicarious wartime tail FTW.

Personal MBA – Crucial Conversations wins this one running away. I think I need to buy my own copy of the book, as you really need to have the process in front of you to practice it effectively, and there are multiple great methods here.

Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey-Martin series – While Post Captain had my favorite battle (with the Flying Colors tie-in), I’ve gotta go with H.M.S. Surprise, which had the best vistas and less romantic shenanigans than the earlier titles.

Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winners – Easily the most rewarding category of the year; I’m gonna have to include this again some year. I selected the category to get The Road onto my list, but Andersonville will stick with me longer, likely due to its real horrors.

AVClub’s Top Short Story Collections of the 2000’s – No disappointments here, but the only batch that was all-hit, no-miss was 20th Century Ghosts.

Book of the Year: 20th Century Ghosts. No surprise here as horror short fiction has always been my favorite genre. In fact, one of my 2011 categories will be one that 20th Century Ghosts would qualify for. But you’ll be reading about that soon enough…

	Winter	Spring	Summer	Autumn
Professional development	Peopleware	More Effective C#	97 Things Every Programmer Should Know	97 Things Every SW Architect Should Know
WWII Battles	When Titans Clashed	Guadalcanal 1942	Alamo in the Ardennes	We Were Pirates
Personal MBA reading list	It’s Not About the Money	Crucial Conversations	Total Leadership	The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing
Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey-Maturin series	Master and Commander	Post Captain	H.M.S. Surprise	The Mauritius Command
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winners	Andersonville	Angle of Repose	The Stone Diaries	The Road
AVClub’s Top Short Story Collections of the 2000’s	Magic for Beginners	Pastoralia	20th Century Ghosts	Shakespeare’s Kitchen

A Book for All Seasons: The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing

2010-12-13T10:00:00.001-08:00

http://www.amazon.com/22-Immutable-Laws-Marketing-Violate/dp/0887306667

August entry for “Personal MBA Reading List”

This is some quick, light reading on marketing patterns. The funniest part of the book was that it was in published in 1993, and there is a lot of focus on computer technologies; so much has changed in this space since then (which only goes to support their law about being unable to predict the future), while the status for consumable goods and even cars has changed so little relatively.

Each “law” is discussed briefly and supported with a few positive examples and minimal theory. There is little to no mention of counterexamples; when there is, it is waved away as being under the control of another law. So I guess I’m not convinced that any of these laws are anything close to inviolable, but at least it was the most entertaining of the Personal MBA books I’ve read. If only I had a Diet Crystal Pepsi to drink while reading it…

A Book for All Seasons: The Mauritius Command

2010-12-09T10:22:00.001-08:00

http://www.amazon.com/Mauritius-Command-Aubrey-Maturin-Novels/dp/0393037045/

Autumn entry for “Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey-Maturin series”

In this fourth book of the series, the romantic shenanigans are kept to a minimum, as Jack is given temporary command of a small fleet on a campaign to reclaim some islands in the Indian Ocean. Jack’s additional responsibilities, combined with Steven’s onshore intelligence actions, leads to a drastic reduction in their interactions, which are sorely missed. The best part of the book was Jack’s struggles with mid-level management as he had to consider individual captains’ strengths and weaknesses when creating the tactical plans. Otherwise, the battle action was duller than in the earlier books and I still missed having more context about the overall war. Still a good read for those interested in the naval campaigns in the Napoleonic era.

A Book for All Seasons: 97 Things Every Software Architect Should Know

2010-12-08T00:47:00.000-08:00

http://www.amazon.com/Things-Every-Software-Architect-Should/dp/059652269X

August entry for “Professional development”

Compared with the similar title aimed for programmers that I read last quarter, the editing on this one was much better; the tone was more consistent, the weirdness was reined in, and while the content was still haphazardly arranged, at least it wasn’t alphabetic (so at least I can pretend that there was some academic reason behind its organization). It shared the problem of failing to name the “things” as actionable items – for every “Don't put your resume ahead of the requirements”, there was a “The Importance of Consommé – but I think my biggest problem was the book was the overemphasis on soft skills and responsibilities that in my mind do not necessarily fall into the architect role but rather project manager, product manager, scrum master, et cetera. It’s like reading a book titled 97 Things Every Surgeon Should Know and having half the book addressing bedside manner, dealing with hospital administration politics, and improving your golf swing. The more technical items were typically very high-level dictums delivered with the same faux authority you’ll find in self-promotional blogs addressing the same content.

Project 250: Prepping 1983

2010-11-30T01:28:00.001-08:00

http://rateyourmusic.com/charts/top/album/1983

Most of the unfamiliar stuff wasn’t so appealing, and a lot of the titles under the “eliminated due to familiarity” are old favorites that I’d love to have on CD. More than any year so far, I’m really forcing myself to be exposed to new music here…

Albums eliminated from consideration due to familiarity:
4 – Mercyful Fate – Melissa – Heavy Metal – 4
7 – Iron Maiden – Piece of Mind – Heavy Metal – 5
8 – Stevie Ray Vaughan – Texas Flood – Blues Rock – 4
12 – Metallica – Kill ‘Em All – Thrash Metal – 4
22 – Marillion – Script for a Jester’s Tear – Neo-Prog – 5
30 – Talking Heads – Speaking in Tongues – New Wave – 4
38 – Police – Synchronicity – Pop/Rock - 4

Albums eliminated from consideration due to availability:
32 – The Go-Betweens – Before Hollywood – Jangle Pop – 1

Leading contenders:
3 – The Chameleons – Script of the Bridge – Post-Punk – 1
Burning out on the “post-punk” label, but feel compelled to grab something from the top 10…

13 – New Order – Power, Corruption & Lies – Synth Pop – 4
This was my favorite New Order release back in the day.

23 – U2 – War – Alternative Rock – 4
I had all of their LPs thru Rattle and Hum back in the day, and this was one of my favorites.

~~35 – Minutemen – What Makes a Man Start Fires? – Post-Hardcore – 1~~
~~Don’t have a clue, but wanted to make sure I included at least one aggressive album.~~
One of my buds has been nagging me every year the Wipers come up, so I’m gonna go ahead and get their box set.

43 - Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark – Dazzle Ships – 1
My roomie was into OMD, but I don’t remember this one coming out. Seems more ambitious than their later stuff.

Another 5 I could be talked into:
2 – R.E.M. – Murmur – Jangle Pop – 3
Really hate their later stuff, but their earlier lo-fi albums might appeal to me.

9 – The Fall – Perverted by Language – Post-Punk – 1
I must keep passing on them because I know they went on for so long… :-/

33 – Slayer – Show No Mercy – Thrash Metal – 3
Not expecting much, but mo’ metal equals mo’ better.

40 – Misfits – Earth A.D. / Wolfs Blood – Hardcore Punk – 2
Love what I’ve heard from them so far… but I don’t see a release on Amazon with this actual name ?!

50 – Sad Lovers and Giants – Feeding the Flames – Post-Punk – 1
Ha, what a band name, it just screams “failure”…

Feel free to talk me into or out of anything from the RYM Top 50.

Project 250: Reviewing 1980

2010-11-30T01:13:00.001-08:00

Killing Joke – Killing Joke Like
I have known about Killing Joke for a long time due to other bands doing covers of their material (Fear Factory, Metallica, Godflesh), but this was my first shot at the original stuff. Unsurprisingly, much of it is dated – the guitar stubbornly refuses to be more muscular, and it’s hard to imagine that the instrumental “Bloodsport” was a good idea even 30 years ago – but there is an essence there that is clearly the seed for all of the great industrial metal that emerged at the tail end of the decade. The best parts are timeless and fantastic.

Favorite tracks: “Requiem”, “Wardance”, “The Wait”

The Pretenders – The Pretenders Lukewarm

I respect what the Pretenders are doing here, but I don’t particularly enjoy it despite the energetic pace. They have a knack for stretching out their most boring songs past the 5-minute mark, and then pulling their punches on their most inspired segments (e.g., the breakdown in “Tattooed Love Boys”, which returns to banality within 10 seconds). “Up the Neck” survives the grating 80’s guitar sound through great lyrics and singing, while “Brass in Pocket” features the albums strongest melody by far. “The Phone Call” – the shortest song at 2:27 – was the only home run for me.

Favorite tracks: “The Phone Call”, “Brass In Pocket”, “Up the Neck”

Talking Heads – Remain in Light Like

It’s funny how I had all of the Talking Heads’ studio LPs for all those years except for the most famous two, that being this one and the debut. Side 1 contains their most ambitious and likely most successful soundscapes, culminating in the classic “Once in a Lifetime” which amazingly outdoes the three jaw-dropping pieces before it. Sometimes I think it’s all a bit over-the-top, with so many insane layers almost drowning out some really magnificent albeit subtle fragments in the instrumentation (such as the wood block and cowbells in “Crosseyed and Painless”, or the manic tribal drums leading off “The Great Curve”). At times it even overpowers Adrian Belew, who provides his typically awesome guitar textures which work best over more space.

Side 2 turned it down a notch (okay, several notches by the last two tracks), giving plenty of breathing room for the likes of Jon Hassell’s guest appearance, but the grave tones were a bit oppressive, likely due to Eno who does the same to Bowie’s Low. Overall, I think I prefer the sparser, more whimsical sounds of Speaking in Tongues, or even the more primitive tone of Fear of Music, but that first side is really glorious.

Favorite tracks: “Crosseyed and Painless”, “Once in a Lifetime”, “The Great Curve”

Joy Division – Closer Love

Closer has been a favorite of mine for decades (if not for “Decades”, har har). Despite not having had listened to it in the past several years, there were no new mysteries to uncover – save for a new appreciation for the driving rhythms of “Colony” – which was the opposite of my experience with Unknown Pleasures. Side 1 maintains the formula set by the previous release, but then the band completely changes their sound, primarily by layering on melancholy keyboards; this adds a gothic atmosphere to their established bleakness, which, with some stellar songwriting, results in probably my favorite album side ever.

Favorite tracks: “Eternal”, “Twenty Four Hours”, “Heart and Soul”

Japan – Gentlemen Take Polaroids Like

Back before I could afford to be an avid supporter of copyright protection, I ripped much of my roomie’s New Wave collection onto Maxells. I remember swiping entire collections of Depeche Mode and OMD, but only a couple tracks of each Japan release. More than twenty years later, my assessment remains the same: three absolutely stellar tracks, and the rest largely uninspired songwriting tainted by quirky but dated arrangements. It’s a shame because I love the lush instrumentation that gives it a cosmopolitan sheen akin to riding through a foreign city at night, and David Sylvian’s voice is no less rich than in his later solo career which I enjoy so much. But you have no excuse to not buy the below three tracks on iTunes!

On a sadder note, it appears Mick Karn is undergoing cancer treatment this year. His fretless bass & woodwind on this album are stellar as always.

Favorite tracks: “Gentlemen Take Polaroids”, “Swing”, “Methods of Dance”

Here Come the 80s!

2010-11-29T13:19:00.001-08:00

Now that we’re settled into the new place and my reading is back on track, I have picked up Project 250 again. I should be posting my 1980 recap tonight, 1981 and 1982 are ready to do (I’ve actually been previewing them a bunch the past few months, so I may go through them a bit faster), and I’ll have the 1983 preview up by the end of the week.

A Book for All Seasons: We Were Pirates

2010-11-19T01:14:00.001-08:00

http://www.amazon.com/We-Were-Pirates-Torpedomans-Pacific/dp/1591147786/

Autumn entry for “WWII Battles”

The biography of a submariner who served 12 consecutive patrols (hint: that’s a lot) on the USS Tambour during PTO. The title refers to the lawless nature of this part of the Navy; the fact that he kept an illicit war journal reflects the disregard he had for authority. Even at 200 pages, the book felt padded out in places (especially the air & sea battle at Midway, in which his submarine played a relatively small role). However, overall it was a fascinating first-eye view of the war – from the eerie cruise into ravaged Pearl Harbor to the violent “peace riots” on V-J Day – especially if you have a hankering for some vicarious wartime tail.

And how cool was it that my read of it spanned Veterans Day?!

A Book for All Seasons: The Road

2010-11-08T13:10:00.001-08:00

http://www.amazon.com/Road-Movie-Tie--Vintage-International/dp/0307476316/

Autumn entry for “Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winners”

At the same time, trite and iconic: the former due to the plot not doing much other than propelling the obvious metaphor forward; the latter due to it being so well written – the dialog was reminiscent of Andersonville in ways – and unrelentingly bleak. Obviously I loved it (as hinted in my 2010 intro, I selected this category after researching an excuse to read this particular title), but I’m still not sure why this gets grouped in Fiction instead of Horror (and I note that the Bram Stoker Awards bypassed the book as well…).

A Book for All Seasons: Shakespeare’s Kitchen

2010-11-08T12:52:00.001-08:00

http://www.amazon.com/Shakespeares-Kitchen-Stories-Lore-Segal/dp/1595583467

Autumn entry for “AVClub’s Top Short Story Collections of the 2000’s”

Compared with the novel I read last month, The Stone Diaries, it’s a stretch to call this one a collection of short stories. The characters and narrative have a consistent flow throughout the book (other than the shift of focus midway from the characterization of boorish academics to a trite affair), and there are no “moral nuggets” that tie up each ~~chapter~~ "story”. Carol Shields’ book, on the other hand, had more dramatic shifts in cast and even writing style. My main beef is with The Onion for selecting this for their list.

That said, it was an easy enough read with some really nice scenes in Europe when the lead character was travelling abroad. I liked the theme of “how does one make, maintain, and lose close friends”, which carried well throughout the book, even incorporating the circumstances and consequences of the affair. And, if you have lived in a small, stuffy university town as I have, at least you’ll get the thrill of vicariously throwing figurative rotten eggs at the ivory tower.

A Book for All Seasons: H.M.S. Surprise

2010-10-15T01:23:00.001-07:00

http://www.amazon.com/Surprise-Vol-Aubrey-Maturin-Novels/dp/0393307611/

Summer entry for “Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey-Maturin series”

In this third book of the series, Captain Jack and Moody Steven are sent on a mission to India, but the trip doesn’t end up as planned. And, of course, there are the usual romantic shenanigans.

Compared to the first two books, I thought the vistas (the trip around Africa and back, and especially the Indian cities) were well described. This was a real highlight of the book. Otherwise, it was pretty much more of the same. Again, given that the book takes place over an 18-month stretch, it would be nice to have more context provided regarding what’s going on in the war, including more details on the roles played by India and China. But it was a decent read, really picking up in the second half of the book. I’m still unsure whether I am going to continue this next year…

A Book for All Seasons: Alamo in the Ardennes

2010-09-27T23:32:00.001-07:00

http://www.amazon.com/Alamo-Ardennes-American-Soldiers-Bastogne/dp/0451225589

Summer entry for “WWII Battles”

In my Winter entry for this category, I lamented that books covering the strategic level offer intrigue and those covering the tactical level provide action, while books with an operational focus deliver endless orders of battle. Alamo in the Ardennes (“The Untold Story of the American Soldiers Who Made the Defense of Bastogne Possible”, a subtitle that’s tautologically false with the publication of this very book) narrates the ordeal of those units that were thrown in the way to slow down Germany on its way to the siege of Bastogne. I loved the unique focus of the book, but not so much the way the story was told.

The author attempts to bring texture and thrills to the book by patching together anecdotes from survivors. However, as the scope of the book is operational, the cast is too large that it makes the details largely meaningless and ultimately boring. For the most part, he does a good job of tying the travails on the field to the hold-at-all-costs imperative, but less focus on the people and more on the environment – maps, terrain, weather – would have made it easier to tie everything together into a narrative that flowed throughout the entire book. Overall though, I enjoyed the story of these unsung heroes.

A Book for All Seasons: The Stone Diaries

2010-09-21T21:55:00.001-07:00

http://www.amazon.com/Stone-Diaries-Penguin-Classics-Deluxe/dp/0143105507/

Summer entry for “Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winners”

Another one of those cases where reading the 3-star reviews on Amazon after-the-fact justified my own reaction, as the majority there had an experience similar to mine: Beautiful prose, but the author was overly present in this mock autobiography (e.g., scores of “stone” metaphors), and the characters, plot, and vistas were all tediously bland. The most interesting aspect to me was the writing meta-exercise which involved shifting points-of-view (including a drifting first person), and obvious insertions of fiction; I guess there’s something in there about how the reality of our being is “sculpted” by others’ perceptions and rememberings, but frankly I don’t think the book as written deserves to be “mined” for deeper meaning.

A Book for All Seasons: 97 Things Every Programmer Should Know

2010-09-21T01:52:00.000-07:00

http://www.amazon.com/Things-Every-Programmer-Should-Know/dp/0596809484/

Summer entry for “Professional development”

Grabbed this piece of fluff from the library in the spirit of making up ground on my reading progress. I was aware of the “… Software Architect …” version that sprouted from a Wiki project, but I’m guessing this follow-up (or follower-on) in the series was hastily put together to capitalize on the branding. Based on the blurb on the online wiki, it seems they used the same haphazard approach: open up for contributions, then select 97 from that.

The topics being listed alphabetically was a poor choice, as related topics are scattered throughout. The writing is usually dry and trite, representative of the tech blog collective (which is one of the very few things in life that causes me to mention Sturgeon’s Law; okay, maybe not quite “crap”, but certainly “unnecessary”). The experienced programmer will find little new (making the dull style a fatality), and the material is far too superficial (e.g., a dearth of code examples) and alienating (too many old-school reps) to appeal to – let alone instruct – the new programmer, who would be better served with a book such as The Pragmatic Programmer, at least if they care about flow, consistency, depth, and completeness.

I dunno; maybe I would be less put off if the book were more appropriately titled 97 Arbitrary Essays About Programming – Written by your Dad.

What I’ve Been Up To

2010-09-02T13:39:00.001-07:00

You’ve probably noticed that Project 250 has been lagging; what was planned to be a two-year project is now tracking for five years. There’s been some things going on in the important sectors of my life that have impacted my hobbies, and I’ve made A Book for All Seasons a priority over Project 250 so I could achieve my reading goal to the best of my ability (especially after the preparation for and attendance of a weeklong gaming retreat once again inserted a six-week interruption into my hobby schedule).

Homeschooling: After witnessing how effective Montessori was with the various students in Ruoda’s class, we decided to homeschool Ruoda in lieu of public school. So the summer was dominated by methodology research, curriculum review and purchasing, and the preparation of lesson plans and supplementary materials. We started first grade this week and it' has been a blast so far.
New home purchase: Some of you know that we moved out of our old place (house 1) this spring due to a dispute with a neighbor, and have been staying temporarily in a vacation unit (house 2) owned by my in-laws. Two days ago we agreed to a counter-counteroffer for a new place nearby (house 3). So my autumn will be dominated by gussying up house 3, moving stuff from houses 1 & 2 to house 3, making house 2 respectable again, and finally, in what could be the epitome of futility, refurbishing house 1 in preparation for market entry.

I’m looking forward to things settling down by year’s end, so I can get back to Project 250 and go all 80’s-style on your collective ass.

A Book for All Seasons: Total Leadership

2010-08-28T20:38:00.001-07:00

http://www.amazon.com/Total-Leadership-Better-Leader-Richer/dp/1422103285/

Summer entry for “Personal MBA Reading List”

Thin, trite ideas massively padded out with rah-rah motivational statements. If “taking care of your health will improve your relationships” and “crap at home will impact your productivity at work” are surprises to you, then by all means check out the book. Even when it had a legitimate point (for one, “delegate to become more effective”), the recommendation stopped at the maxim. In contrast, the Career Tools / Manager Tools podcasts would take the same points and give exact recommendations that will make you more effective in that area (e.g., when delegating, have the recipient agree to take ownership before you give them the details).

On a positive note, I like how it focused on using communication to extract expectations and wishes out of stakeholders to drive your self-improvement journey. Taking a non-egocentric approach to establish your goals is a good supplement to something like GTD which makes you more effective in achieving said goals.

A Book for All Seasons: 20th Century Ghosts

2010-08-28T20:24:00.001-07:00

http://www.amazon.com/20th-Century-Ghosts-Joe-Hill/dp/0061147974/

Summer entry for “AVClub’s Top Short Story Collections of the 2000’s”

Horror short fiction has been my favorite genre for over 20 years now, and, outside of anthologies, this may be the best horror shorts collection I have read. Joe Hill is Steven King's son, but writes nothing like him in my opinion. In the wording of the classic anthology The Dark Descent (to this day, my top recommendation to short horror newbies), King is more Color of Evil (moral allegorical), Hill is more Fabulous Formless Darkness (fantastic ambiguity), with both overlapping into Medusa in the Shield (psychological metaphor). I can’t say that any one story stuck out (if I had to choose, maybe the one about how young Van Helsing got into the vampire slaying biz), but I remember reading one story per night, and after each one, turning to my wife and saying “good for Joe Hill”. Most highly recommended.

A Book for All Seasons: Pastoralia

2010-07-27T00:09:00.001-07:00

http://www.amazon.com/Pastoralia-George-Saunders/dp/1573228729

Spring entry for “AVClub’s Top Short Story Collections of the 2000’s”

Eh. I enjoyed the surreal fantasies of the previous entry in this category, I’m a huge fan of horror short fiction, and I can dig over-the-top satirical commentaries on modern life, but I don’t think the result of peanut butter, red onions, and peppermint thrown together into a blender would taste very good either. If you really care about what I think, follow the Amazon link and read the two-star reviews, which pretty much nail my opinion. Unlike most readers, my favorite story was the opener, a meditation on work-life effectiveness staged in a theme park where humans portray cavemen but, in order to keep them in character, are required to remain onsite 24x7.

A Book for All Seasons: More Effective C#

2010-07-26T23:52:00.001-07:00

http://www.amazon.com/More-Effective-Specific-Ways-Improve/dp/0321485890

Spring entry for “Professional development”

Last year I wrote about the prequel:

It's best to first read (1) a more straightforward book on C#, and (2) a book on the .NET Framework API. I would add to that the Framework Design Guidelines if you need to worry about writing code that other people will use. Once you're past that, Effective C# is an interesting read about the C# internals by one of my favorite technical writers.

I’ve pretty much the same opinion on the sequel. The material on effective use of IEnumerable to optimize performance was invaluable; much of the rest was esoteric (relative to the first book), but interesting. I’m not a fan of the evolution of C#; while my graduate work was in functional programming languages, seeing these concepts creep into business application code gives me the heebie-jeebies. But for folks who are looking to explore the breadth – and master the depth – of C#, there are plenty of fascinating nuggets here (such as the item on use of virtual functions in constructors).

A Book for All Seasons: Guadalcanal 1942

2010-06-27T15:33:00.001-07:00

http://www.amazon.com/Guadalcanal-1942-Marines-Strike-Campaign/dp/1855322536/

Spring entry for “WWII Battles”

When I was in elementary school, the fourth grade held a reading contest wherein points were earned by submitting reports for read books. Neither the length of the books nor proof of retained knowledge were factors. Being the cold-blooded competitor I was, I went directly for series of small books that let me quickly rack up points. Although I still likely would have won on pure page count, the opportunity to game the system and crush the competition was too alluring; some things never change.

I guess it’s a sign of personal growth that including an Osprey book (this one was ~90 pages, with a lot of pictures and diagrams) in my reading campaign brought feelings of guilt and embarrassment, but with the wargaming retreat taking 6+ weeks out of my life, it was the only way I was going to make up ground. That said, I really enjoyed this book. The focus was operational (which in this case was needed to convey how extensive and brutal the involvement of 1st and 2nd Marine Divisions were), yet provided enough strategic political background (especially in the dispute between branches) and tactical detail & drama to keep it engaging. I will likely include an Osprey Campaign book once a year, and they will be good tools if I ever aim to entice Ruoda into wargaming.

A Book for All Seasons: Post Captain

2010-06-15T22:52:00.001-07:00

http://www.amazon.com/Post-Captain-Aubrey-Maturin-Novels/dp/0393037029

Spring entry for “Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey-Maturin series”

Ha, no man who reads these novels should dis me for liking Thomas Hardy. Much of the book is of the “A loves B loves C loves D but messes around with B anyways which pisses off A” variety; definitely Austen territory. Other than that, which I can take or leave, compared to the first book I liked that it had less nautical terminology porn and more political intrigue (both between countries and within the British admiralty). But the best part was that the book ended in the British capture of the Spanish Treasure ships, one of the Flying Colors scenarios I played at my wargaming retreat last month. That was cool because I knew the situation down to the position of every ship.

A Book for All Seasons: Crucial Conversations

2010-04-30T00:22:00.001-07:00

http://www.amazon.com/Crucial-Conversations-Tools-Talking-Stakes/dp/0071401946/

Spring entry for “Personal MBA Reading List”

Like all such books, twice as long as it needed to be, with plenty of corn and misguided “humor”. The worst part about the book was the assortment of ridiculous attempts at mnemonic acronyms (not helped by the failure to include a summary of them in an appendix and not being included in the index!). While some of the information is well embedded in corporate culture (especially the chapter on decision making), I thought the conflict resolution material was top-notch, with practical use in work, family, and life. Of all the professional development books I have read, this is the one I would most universally recommend.

A Book for All Seasons: Angle of Repose

2010-04-19T00:20:00.001-07:00

http://www.amazon.com/Angle-Repose-Wallace-Stegner/dp/B001OZ5NKC/

Spring entry for “Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winners”

A bitter, crippled, modern (as of 1970) man digs into the history of his grandmother. The book serves primarily to both debunk and celebrate the myth of the ol’ West being a clean break from the East. It’s also a moving rumination on what makes marriage work, but I’m not sure that the two halves of the book fully mesh. The various vistas are pretty amazing, and the characters engaging, but, plotwise, the book was pretty monotonous (which was kinda the point, but still…) Yet another great read from the Pulitzer list.

Brief Project 250 Hiatus

2010-04-06T14:11:00.001-07:00

Last year, in the span between GameStorm and my weeklong wargaming retreat in May, both Project 250 and A Book for All Seasons projects stalled, the latter fatally. This year, I decided that the former would be the easier to pick up again, so what time isn’t being spent prepping wargames is so far being able to keep pace with my reading milestones.

Another contributing factor is that my iPod was lost (stolen?) at GameStorm right under my nose, and the bulk of my listening is thru the iPod (although I guarantee at least one listen per album on the stereo, preferably late at night). I guess I’ll be getting another iPod classic from Amazon in coming weeks…

A final contributing factor as that my wife and I reactivated the NetFlix account, as she has interest in serial TV shows (joining me for the final season of Angel gave here the fever). She gave up on Lost early in Season 3, and we’re currently in Season 3 of 24, enjoying it very much.