Blogroll

Notes and riffs

Work and family commitments have kept me from substantive posting. Here’s a few odds and ends worth looking at:

Thrasher has a good post on one of his Neil Young blogs regarding Young’s song “Ohio” and today’s 35th anniversary of the shootings at Kent State that gave rise to the song. (Via Blogcritics). Thrasher’s blog […]

Blogcritics

Since I’ve moved this blog away from politics toward books, music and other things that give nuance to life, I’ve decided to broaden it in other ways. I have joined the crew at Blogcritics. As the site says, it is comprised of “[a] sinister cabal of superior bloggers on music, books, film, popular culture, technology, […]

A few of the best albums you never heard

The Flock (1969) — Fusion, horn rock and so-called progressive rock were the thing when this album was released. Yet The Flock produced a sound unlike any heard elsewhere. Coming out of Chicago, their hook was putting violinist Jerry Goodman up front. Yet Goodman was a masterful player and Side 1 of this LP is […]

Nebula Awards

Over the course of my sf reading, I have not followed the Nebula Awards as closely as the Hugo Award. This year’s winners were announced last night with Lois McMaster Bujold’s Paladin of Souls winning for best novel. It also won the 2004 Hugo Award for best novel. Looks like another book to add to […]

Book Review: Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

About a third of the way through this book, I was still thinking: I just don’t get it. What I didn’t get is the praise for the book and the fact it won this year’s Pulitzer Prize. I must still admit that I sometimes think I just don’t get “literature.” But the last half of […]