Blogroll

Them thar are fighting nasty words!

So you’re among people streaming out of the bars at closing time on Labor Day weekend and, being a considerate and insightful person, decide it’s a prime opportunity to yell obscenities at the cops driving by. Perhaps not the wisest idea in the world but you might simply be exercising your First Amendment rights. At […]

Best of 2008 – Books

For the second year in a row, I regret my tradition of limiting my list of books of the year to those actually published during the year. As a result, I’ve modified a once or twice used category to lead off this year’s list. Otherwise, my list wouldn’t include the best book I read this […]

Midweek Music Moment: Grand Funk, Grand Funk Railroad

Want to know the value of album cover art? Take a look at the cover of the Grand Funk album released on December 29, 1969. The blistering red. The afro-haired drummer. The (then) cool looking bass player. The intensity of the lead guitarist. It makes clear that the music they’re generating is causing the album […]

Book Review: Finding Iris Chang by Paula Kamen

Iris Chang seemed to have it all: bestselling and critically acclaimed author at age 29, successful and sought after public speaker, attractive and motivated woman, married for more than 10 years and with a young child, and considered by many as among America’s best young historians. Yet in November 2004, Chang committed suicide at age […]

Best of 2008 — Music

To tell you the truth, for a significant part of 2008 I wondered if there was going to be a best of music post this year. And it wasn’t for lack of listening. I explored a wide range of new releases: Jack Johnson’s Sleep Through the Static, Counting Crows’ Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings, Mudcrutch, […]