Sunday, July 31, 2022
My #20 All-Time Favorite Album: L.A. Woman by the Doors
Saturday, July 30, 2022
Just Finished Reading The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill
I just finished reading The Girl Who Drank the Moon, a 2016 children's novel by Kelly Barnhill. There's a lot of magic here, and as is typical of such stories, all kinds of rules and consequences involved in its use that the author created, and which don't have any relevance to other stories about magic. For some readers I think this differing take on magic with each new book appeals to them...for me it kind of detracts from the flow of the story. The setting is a fantasy land near a volcano where the population mostly lives in country towns. One of these is isolated by the woods from the others and is full of sorrow with its people convinced that an evil witch would curse them if they don't regularly offer up the youngest baby, leaving it in the woods for her. But unknown to them, there is an elderly woman, Xan, living out there...and she does possess great magic: but she saves the abandoned babies, taking them in and placing them in the other towns within loving families. There is a witch in this tale, but it's not who everyone thinks. The story focuses on one of the children, a girl, whom Xan accidentally feeds moonlight...this gives her magical powers as well. It goes on from there, with subplots dealing with the girl's grief-stricken mother, a benevolent and poetic bog monster, a pipsqueak dragon, and a young man and woman destined to become a couple. This stew of characters and circumstances mixes together well, leading to a satisfying resolution at the end. The novel won its author critical acclaim and the Newbery Medal for children's literature. The themes of forgiveness and social manipulation through deliberate misinformation are strongly presented here. I liked The Girl Who Drank the Moon and think readers of any age would as well...
Friday, July 29, 2022
Quote of the Week...from Ralph Waldo Emerson
Thursday, July 28, 2022
Let's Talk about Math
Wednesday, July 27, 2022
Weekly Short Stories: 1985 Science Fiction, Part 6
Tuesday, July 26, 2022
Just Finished Reading Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb
Monday, July 25, 2022
Podcaster Rob Dial Discusses Overthinking
On his personal development-themed Mindset Mentor podcast, host and creator Rob Dial touches on a wide range of topics over the course of each four-program week. One of his shows last week focused on the problem of overthinking and a technique that Dial has development to combat it. I agree with him that a problem many people have...more for some of us than for others...is to overanalyze and prepare for things instead of just going out and doing them, as well as allowing distracting thoughts to dilute what we're trying to accomplish. An example for me is whenever I'm starting to immerse myself in a swimming pool whose temperature is on the unpleasantly cool side. No point in halfway measures...I make a split decision and get all the way in. Afterwards I can assess the situation and act accordingly, but I'm not wasting my time trying to outthink the pool! Lots of folk overthink just about every kind of activity imaginable...Dial asserts that this kind of preparatory extremism may have boded well for people's survival hundreds of thousands of years ago against wild beasts and other dangerous natural occurrences, but in today's environment overthinking can be a burden dragging us down. His one tip is to get in a state of quite medication somewhere, removing distractions and closing his eyes while keeping at his side a blank sheet of paper and pen. Inevitably all those stray thoughts start pouring on into conscious awareness and he writes them down as best he can while keeping his eyes closed. After ten minutes or however long circumstances allow, he stops his meditation and looks at what he has written, prioritizing the thoughts he has jotted down (if they are legible enough, that is) and making an action plan for them, one thought at a time. Rob Dial says that this has worked for him and by doing this he has been able to reduce his overthinking and enhance his ability to concentrate on whatever happens to be before him at the moment. I once tried this kind of thing a few years ago while sitting in the car after work in the night darkness and couldn't make out a lot of what I had written...maybe cheating a little by opening my eyes for a peep or two with a hint of light might help, you think? But don't think too much...
Sunday, July 24, 2022
My #21 All-Time Favorite Album: Out of Time by R.E.M.
The Athens, Georgia based alternative rock band R.E.M. may well be my all-time favorite American rock band, based not only on their better efforts but also on the breadth of their quality work over three decades. In the early nineties they temporarily emulated the Beatles' late sixties withdrawal from giving concerts when they produced their two greatest albums: OUT OF TIME, from 1991 is one of these and is #21 on my all-time favorite album list. The release of the single Losing My Religion preceded that of the album...the song on their video seems to signify someone's loss of religious faith, but according to lyricist/lead singer Michael Stipe, the expression in the title simply refers to a state of extreme frustration and the rest of the song's lyrics support his claim. It wasn't my favorite song from the album by far, but the opening line has resonated with me over the years: "Oh, life is bigger, it's bigger than you and you are not me". My sister Anita sent me the album in the mid-nineties, when I first heard it in its entirety. Her favorite track was Belong, and it's one of mine as well. But my supreme favorites are the wistful, sad Half a World Away and the mainly instrumental Endgame...lots of great orchestration here with beautiful strings accompaniment. There are a couple of really "down" songs on the album that I've taken to as well: Low and Country Feedback. Kate Pierson, singer of another Athens alternative band, the B-52s, sang on Shiny Happy People and Me in Honey. The former is another singles release whose title was translated literally to a buoyant, bouncy video, but Stipe's real meaning was to satirize Chinese government propaganda that portrayed its people always having a rip-roaring good time under their perfect system. Out of Time opens with a lament for the state of radio (I concur) with a sizeable contribution from rapper KRS-One...not normally a fan of rap/hip hop, I often like it when combined with rock in a song. The remaining tracks from Out of Time, Near Wild Heaven and Texarkana, while likeable and listenable, just didn't click with me...as didn't the closing song Me in Honey. But Out of Time is a brilliant work, and Stipe, lead guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills and drummer Bill Berry have a lot to be proud of with it. By the way, the theme of the world collapsing was addressed in a couple of tracks...it eventually led to the band's final album Collapse into Now from 2010...
Next week I'll reveal and discuss my #20 all-time favorite album...
Saturday, July 23, 2022
Wishing All an Enjoyable Late July Weekend
I hope you have a good weekend, whether or not you're working and wherever you happen to be living. Here in Gainesville, Melissa and I enjoy the convenience of having a reasonably short drive to "our" beach, which is a short stretch on the Atlantic coast connecting Ormond Beach to northern Daytona Beach. Having relatives staying with us to watch our rapidly growing puppy Daisy while we're gone, we're making an overnight venture out there to relax and enjoy the surf, pool and other surroundings. Hopefully, Daytona won't have a theme going on like "Truckers" or "Bikers" week. Nothing wrong with that, per se, or those participating in those events...but I like things a little bit more in the "peace and quiet" zone...
Friday, July 22, 2022
Quote of the Week...from Albert Einstein
Thursday, July 21, 2022
About the Divided World of Professional Golf
Wednesday, July 20, 2022
Weekly Short Stories: 1985 Science Fiction, Part 5
Tuesday, July 19, 2022
Is LifeSouth Finished Holding Half-Marathons in Gainesville?
Monday, July 18, 2022
Rob Dial Discusses the Greatest Fear People Have
Podcaster Rob Dial, who calls himself a personal development coach, on one of his shows last week discussed what he discovers is one of the biggest fears people have: spending time alone with themselves without outside stimulation. When he began the program and asked the listening audience what they thought the number one fear was, I was certain he would say "public speaking" since that is the one thing that...while not necessarily terrifying me, does cause a strong negative reaction. But no, according to Dial's source, it's just sitting by yourself and doing nothing. He came up with a survey result where 30% of the women respondents and 60% of the men answered that they would prefer to be administered a moderately strong electric shock than to be subjected to only 15 minutes of quiet time. To me these results are nothing less than bizarre, yet upon further reflection it does make a kind of perverse sense. Many if not most of us walk around nowadays with a ready-made mental stimulation device, the smartphone, that is ready to instantly fill in any gaps in our busy days and eliminate the need to quietly sit and get in touch with our own feelings. Dial pointed out that this aversion to doing nothing is probably the main reason so many have trouble with meditation, which gets the reputation for insisting that those doing it eliminate their thoughts when, in truth, the point of it all is to let different thoughts arise in the atmosphere of stillness and non-distraction and deal with them without covering them up...that's probably what causes the biggest fear of being alone and still. From my experiences it's clear that folks are generally stimulation addicts, which to me skews the kind of relationship they seek in favor of gossip and drama, two areas that I usually find loathsome. The same people also have a distinct sensitivity to situations they find boring and often vehemently complain whenever they experience boredom: Must! Have! Stimulation! As for me, I am totally cool being quiet and still...and boring...and not just for 15 minutes: doesn't scare me one bit...
Sunday, July 17, 2022
My #22 All-Time Favorite Album: Far by Regina Spektor
FAR, by Regina Spektor, my #22 all-time favorite album, is the Soviet Union-born alternative/indie musical artist's fifth studio album, coming out in 2009. Eventually I would get around to hearing it, but I first had some catching up to do after hearing her song Us, from an earlier album, around this time. Eventually I would possess all eight of her albums...including Home, before and after which was just released last month. On most of them there are a small number of spectacular tracks with the rest, while enjoyable, not as much to my liking. Far, on the other hands, is loaded with very good, memorable songs...13 in all, and I very much like most of them. Regina Spektor is a classically trained pianist and singer who emigrated with her family from the U.S.S.R. as a child in the late 1980s and since early adulthood has steadily built up her career as an alternative/indie recording artist and performer, composing all her material, which is full of beautiful melodies and arrangements combined with often quirky, funny and very incisive lyrics. After reading up on it I was surprised that Regina had four different producers on it besides herself...including Jeff Lynne of Electric Light Orchestra fame. Here's a ranking of the songs from Far according to my own liking:
Saturday, July 16, 2022
A Year After Surgery
Friday, July 15, 2022
Quote of the Week...from Xander Schauffele
I put little goals in place every day, and I think if you can kind of keep to the small things it's easier to capture the big picture at the end. ---Xander Schauffele
Xander Schauffele is a PGA golfer who is on a bit of a roll: not only did he win a gold medal for the USA in the Tokyo Olympics last year, but he has just won his second straight tournament, following up his Travelers victory with the Scottish Open title this past weekend. In both tournaments he employed a careful, methodical style, rising to the top of the leader board and remaining there throughout the final two rounds. In interviews he is unassuming and cordial, no prima donna here. Xander's above quote captures the essence of a lot of what I've been learning about self-improvement in whatever area of my life that I'm tackling. Do small things better, a little at a time and change those bad habits into good ones. In the course of just one year a marked improvement will be evident and in the long run, greatness can be attainable. But first the little things. Thanks, Xander, I'll be rooting for you...
Thursday, July 14, 2022
Constellation of the Month: Hercules
Wednesday, July 13, 2022
Weekly Short Stories: 1985 Science Fiction, Part 4
Tuesday, July 12, 2022
Just Finished Reading Survivor Song by Paul Tremblay
Survivor Song, published in the late spring of 2020, is a horror novel about the outbreak of an especially virulent strain of rabies in New England and the reactions of the government and surrounding community. The author, Paul Tremblay, wrote the entire story before the Covid-19 outbreak, yet it reads in sections like a primer on the real scourge that swept across the world. This is true especially with regard to the book's depiction of right-wing conspiracy/militia nuts. The protagonists include Natalie, a woman in the last stage of pregnancy, whose husband is attacked and killed in their rural Massachusetts home by an infected man: the intruder succeeds in biting and infecting her. Natalie contacts her old college friend Ramola, now a physician, and the two embark on a harrowing journey to find a hospital or clinic to treat her dire condition. This is hampered by the region-wide quarantine with armed forces patrolling the roads and restricting traffic. Also, the area they must traverse is full of wild, infected animals and a few humans who transform into zombie-like, biting monsters when they are infected. That's the background...what I liked about this novel, which I read through a recommendation by Stephen King on Twitter, is the relationship between Natalie and Ramola and the personal life stories of each woman: very compelling and heartbreaking. Three years ago, I read A Head Full of Ghosts by the same author...click on the title to read my review. Tremblay is an excellent writer in this genre, and I might as well check out his other works...
Monday, July 11, 2022
Podcaster Discusses Changing Mindsets
On a recent Mindset Mentor podcast, free to listen to on a number of different apps, life coach Rob Dial discussed how to go about changing our mindset (if that's what we want). He divided the issue into two groups: people who are generally satisfied with their current life but want to make some changes, and those who are fed up across-the-board with how their life is going and how they have been living it. For the first he advocates we purchase a small memo notebook we can carry everywhere with us and use it to write down every time we come up short in our own perceived behavior. With this he promotes the nightly habit of reviewing our notes and devising alternative, better actions the next time the opportunity arises. This is completely in line with what Dial has been teaching from James Clear's book Atomic Habits, which I regard as pretty brilliant. For those in the second group who are thoroughly disgusted with their lives he recommends radical action in the form of doing everything opposite to how they have been. So, for example he says if they normally go up an elevator then they should instead walk up the stairs. I see his reasoning in this, but even people who think their lives are miserable and going nowhere are most likely doing some, if not most things right, and automatically going into opposite mode for its own sake sounds a bit asinine and possibly dangerous to me...oh well, I've already acknowledged that I don't always agree with Rob Dial. But his first suggestion about the notepad sounds spot-on, I think I'll try it...
Sunday, July 10, 2022
My #23 All-Time Favorite Album: Quadrophenia by The Who
Saturday, July 9, 2022
Current Music I'm Listening (and Planning) To
The other day I purchased Regina Spektor's new CD, titled Home, before and after...it's the seventh studio release from this highly talented and creative piano virtuoso, my favorite musical artist of this century. I waited a whopping seven years from her previous album but was amply rewarded with this one. Every track is good, and some are so emotionally engaging that I admit to a little crying while listening to them. As is the custom in my life since 1964, I rank the music I hear for each year as I walk through it. So far in 2022 I haven't hinted about my favorites from this year because, well, I hadn't heard any. Not until now: as of this moment all ten tracks on Regina's new album represent my Top Ten, with Spacetime Fairytale, Loveology, Coin and Raindrops topping the list in that order. Although I admit to scorning the sorry state of radio nowadays and their lamentable music, there are some acts I like that have either released new albums or are about to. These include Metric (Formentera), Arcade Fire (We), Kasabian (The Alchemist's Euphoria), Spoon (Lucifer on the Sofa) and The Smile (A light for attracting attention), the last group a collaboration of Radiohead members Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood. From these I'm certain to find some more songs to dilute, if only a little, Regina Spektor's dominance over my 2022 personal favorites list. I'm currently doing a weekly all-time personal favorite album feature on this blog, presenting a new one in countdown form (I'm at #23) each Sunday. It's too late to include Home, before and after on it, but it definitely could end up as a top favorite, too...
Friday, July 8, 2022
Quote of the Week...from Beck
Thursday, July 7, 2022
Some Musings on a Hot July Day
On yet another predictably miserably hot and muggy July day here in northern Florida I am in the morning at home, typing this on my desktop. Melissa showed me a blank daily journal book she had just bought for herself...it features sections to fill in, among them things to be grateful for each day...great idea. I thought that, although I did start this blog of mine back in 2007, more than fifteen years ago, it would have been cool to have continuously been engaging in personal journaling...with the extremely personal stuff wisely filtered out...going back decades earlier and into my childhood years. I do remember back in 1973 starting a journal of sorts, summarizing with each passing month the more significant happenings back then in my life...but I didn't stick with it and, of course, we didn't have digital blogs or Facebook 49 years ago. As a matter of fact, I recall at that time that my high school math department possessed a piano-sized very rudimentary computer in a set-off room where only the nerdiest of nerdy math addict students would hang out. One kid I remember, Billy, who was practically blind without his ultrathick glasses, would actually stay there after school by hiding up in the ceiling until the building was closed and then come back down at night to play with the computer, which resembled nothing we have in our day. Now you see, this is something you might think I would have written back in that time if blogging and the Internet had existed then, but you would have been wrong: I would have discussed the computer while leaving out Billy's role with it, for his sake. Sometimes I think it would be fun to engage in what I call a "life memory project" and reconstruct my past out of my memories of it...but it would naturally be distorted in favor of the so-called lessons I now believe I have learned and have incorporated into my personal narrative...
Wednesday, July 6, 2022
Weekly Short Stories: 1985 Science Fiction, Part 3
Tuesday, July 5, 2022
Podcaster Suggests Ways to Be More Disciplined
On one of his Mindset Mentor podcasts last week, personal development coach Rob Dial brought up the topic of discipline...specifically self-discipline...and discussed some methods he has used over the years to help himself stick to the tasks he knows he needs to accomplish. He starts off by describing discipline as taking action even when you don't feel like it...to that I respond, "No kidding!" Then Dial goes down a list of seven points to follow: (1) focus on the opportunity, not the obligation...even though you're obliged to do the task, visualize more the positive effects doing it will produce down the line. (2) Do the small things well. In other words, master the fundamentals. (3) Design your environment to make the right action easier, eliminating distractions and temptations around you. (4) Make your body move...Dial suggests an easy five-minute movement routine of your own design. (5) Count down and go. Dial acknowledges that another self-improvement figure, Mel Robbins, promoted this notion with her book The Five-Minute Rule, but that he had been practicing it longer, basically rehearsing difficult activities at least as far as their beginnings and then counting down 3-2-1 and plunging into them. (6) Explore how to make taking the necessary action easier on yourself. And finally, (7) get an accountability partner. Suggestions #1-6 all sound painfully obvious when I write them down here, but #7 isn't quite so clear-cut. An accountability partner is someone chosen to, well, hold oneself accountable in certain specified areas of his or her life. I've never felt the need for one, thank you, and moreover, think some folks use the idea in a manipulative, hurtful way. If you decide to have an accountability partner, that person should not be involved in the immediate social/professional circle you are in, in order to avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest...I saw this crucial principle badly violated last year with two good people losing their jobs as a result, largely due to badmouthing behind their backs. Plus, as Rob Dial pointed out in his given example, the accountability topic should be limited to specific issues. The relationship should not degenerate to where the two sides...or maybe just one...cries on the other's shoulders about the difficulties he or she may be experiencing with certain people over whom that partner has authority: that is deceitful and unethical behavior on the part of both participants. So, I say yes to nearly all of Rob Dial's presentation about discipline, but regarding accountability partners I have some really deep trust issues...
Monday, July 4, 2022
About Independence Day and Running
I'd like to wish all my readers a happy Independence Day...America's, that is...and may God continue to bless our great country and its people. If you are a regular news junkie, regardless of your preferred sources, you're bound to get the impression that half of the United States is the mortal enemy of the other half, and that we are on the verge of terrible civil conflict, if not war itself. I sincerely hope that isn't the case, but as Forrest Gump's mom often said, "Stupid is as stupid does" and it's been my experience over the years that there is no shortage of stupidity around me...maybe I need to go find a cave to hide in. But before that happens, I notice that, apart from all the mass shootings going on, it still seems rather peaceful...if I can with a straight face describe the actions of my fellow motorists "peaceful". But that's another topic for another time...today I am relaxing at home on my day off and avoiding running in a local three-mile race that is held annually on this holiday. I don't know, it just seems that my motivation for involvement in running on any social level has dissipated and left it as a purely personal, individual activity. The thought of shelling out more than thirty bucks to drive down to Westside Park and get bunched in with all these people, very few of whom I have any sense of connection or community toward, and then running in the middle of a stampede while trying to avoid getting knocked off my feet for some reason no longer appeals to me. I'm still holding out hope of some longer distance races starting in October, but for now my maximum level of social involvement in the sport has me going to my local gym a couple of times a week to run on one of their treadmills...this I began doing last Friday and intend to make a regular activity. And if some strange, unexpected urge compels me to run with others before autumn, there is always the weekly, free 5K race held every Saturday morning at Gainesville's pretty Depot Park...
Sunday, July 3, 2022
My #24 All-Time Favorite Album: Ghost in the Machine by The Police
2 Darkness--I gradually caught on to this closing track of the album...the strong instrumental accompaniment reminds me of the trademark "wall of sound" that legendary (and, regrettably, homicidal) record producer Phil Spector used with the Beatles and George Harrison. Drummer Stewart Copeland wrote it: awesome!
3 Spirits in the Material World--When I first heard this song on the radio early in '82, it freaked me out. I realized that the Police had taken a very serious lyrical turn in their music. The beat to this song is nothing less than bizarre...it's the perfect opening track...
4 Secret Journey--Captures my imagination when I want to just get away from it all and have an adventure. It was a late singles release from the album...
5 Hungry for You (J'aurais Toujours Faim de Toi)--the words here are almost all in French. It's a relentless, driving love song that reminded me a bit of their great long-titled track When the World Is Running Down You Make the Best of What's Still Around from their previous album...
6 Too Much Information--Speaking of prescience, this song bemoans the omnipresence of information, true and fake. It could have been written today and folks would say, "Yeah, and tell me something I don't already know"...
7 Omegaman--Maybe Andy Summers' most significant composition, he speaks of seeking a more perfect life as his tired surroundings fade away...
8 Every Little Thing She Does is Magic--On its merits this song should rank on this list much higher, but as with other albums I've been reviewing there are some tracks that are played so much on the radio that I get sick of them. It's a great love song, though...
9 Demolition Man--Sting's the Demolition Man and he is determined to wreck everything he comes in contact with...it's all rather funny. I liked it, but like with some other Police songs, it drags on way too long...
10 One World (Not Three)--A catchy, pleasant little upbeat song with an annoyingly condescending message: yeah, I know we're all on the same planet and should be more united and caring for each other, duh...
11 Rehumanize Yourself--Another Stewart Copeland song (along with Sting), it describes various people doing things he disapproves of and that they all should "rehumanize themselves": like #10 it's kind of preachy for my tastes...
Check out Ghost in the Machine on YouTube when you get a chance. Next week I reveal and discuss my #23 all-time favorite album...
Saturday, July 2, 2022
Just Finished Rereading The Dark Tower by Stephen King
For the second time I've been reading through Stephen King's seven-volume fantasy series The Dark Tower, published over a period from 1982 to 2004. I just finished the final book, also titled The Dark Tower, and am not exactly sure about how to write about it...much as is the case with any longstanding series. Since the characters in previous books are usually in a state of dire danger, then even bringing up one of their names is liable to unduly tip off any interested reader, so I by necessity will be sparce in my description of this concluding book. The series premise has Roland Deschain, a hardened noble gunslinger from Mid-World (an alternate reality from ours), on a quest with his diverse "ka-tet" (fellowship) to find the Dark Tower, which holds all of reality together in light through beams, and which is in danger of being taken over by the evil and probably insane Crimson King. Since the book is titled "Dark Tower" and Roland is the main character, I don't think it will be giving much away to say that he reaches his destination. But beyond that, I think I'll just let you, the prospective reader of this series, find everything else out for yourself. I will mention, though, that it is a symptom of these long, drawn-out series to have, in my opinion, too many characters and subplots...this one is no exception. But I don't recall reading one in which the author had the nerve to place himself within the story. Stephen King's 1999 accident in which he was seriously injured by a van that veered off a rural Maine road while he was out walking, in our real world as well as the story's, prompted him to speed up writing this series, putting out the final three volumes within a span of two years. That in itself is quite an accomplishment. Yet I had a problem with the easy way that characters could even defy death by slipping into different realities, and the very ending of the series has never satisfied me either...although someone with ties to Eastern religions and philosophies might identify with it. Reading the Dark Tower series is a big undertaking, but overall, I think the reader who ventures out with Roland on his adventures will be rewarded. By the way, there is a later book in the series, titled The Wind Through the Keyhole, that came out in 2012 and features a flashback story from Roland's youth...it doesn't figure in the flow of the original series, though...
Friday, July 1, 2022
Quote of the Week...from Albert Camus
Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend. ---Albert Camus