Alternative History - The Power of What If
November 18, 2008 by admin
Filed under Books & Literature
Examining what might have been might have been is quite possibly the best way to understand what is. To start out this book series I want to start by introducing a few of my favorite Alternative history series. At the end will be a list of alternative history authors that i hope grows in time.
The Power of Music
Yesterday on NPR’s Talk of the Nation I heard and interesting story on the effects of music you love on your heart. This isn’t the first time I heard of head-heart connections, but it was the first time I have ever heard it qualified with music. The study in the story basically found if you listen to music you love, you get the same kind of physical reactions you get from exercise. They reasoned this is why you always feel better after having heard one of your favorite songs.
To be fair said any sort of pleasurable activity could bring about these sorts of physical head-heart reactions and that they really weren’t sure why yet. There was some suggestions that it might be an endorphin release. On the flip side of this was if you listen to music you dislike it had measurable adverse reactions. The other oddity was if you like the music you can get desensitized and lose the effect, but if you disliked the music the adverse grew. This would explain why everyone in retail is so bitch by Christmas, just think how many times a day they hear the same damned Christmas songs, starting in about mid October.
To avoid the desensitizing effect of your favorite music they suggest going two weeks between listenings. I can easily buy that, there were plenty of songs on the radio in the eighties and nineties that I quickly grew tired of. However when I hear them by chance or choice today I find myself in one of my happy youthful places, it is even better when I get to sing along, something Katy has forbidden me to do publicly and sometimes even privately. I can’t wait until she goes back to work.
What was odd while writing this I happened to see Google Trends and was surprised to see how many musical and lyrical searches were hot at the moment. I was instantly interested in Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes” which was being searched for under “in your eyes lyrics“. Rock of Ages was being searched out. While not in reference to Def Leopard’s Rock of Ages I still felt something emotional pull about for the music and actually made me say “Gunter glieben glauten globen”. What I couldn’t fathom was why anyone would search for the “Brady Bunch lyrics“. This is a song you should know by heart even if you hate the retched thing. More lyrical searches included “pretty young thing lyrics“. It isn’t a song I am familiar with but I do like pretty young things so I will have to have a more detailed search later. Still other lyric searches brought out “Hold Me Now lyrics”, this Thompson Twin’s song was popular when I had ny first big crush on a girl and just thinking about actually proves a head-heart-head connection. Thinking of her when we were nine and what we tried then doesn’t do much for me now, except prove my wife’s point I have been a pervert all my life, however thinking about her when we were eight certainly did more than stir parts of heart. The last Google Trends search that peaked my interest here was “tell me some good lyrics”.
In the spirit of that last request tell me some of your favorite lyrics.
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Pop Culture Crack
October 27, 2008 by admin
Filed under Pop Culture
If the web has been a major part of your life for the last eight years you have no doubt heard about, seen or played Bejeweled or its successor Bejeweled 2. I admit for a while I was an addict of this little puzzle game. it is hard not to be for any problem solver. On the other hand it is as addictive as crack.
Bejeweled Creator Spills Secrets of Addictive Games
Eight years ago, Jason Kapalka and a couple of friends devised a puzzle game they called Bejeweled. It was simple: A grid covered with lo-res gems, which players swapped around to match up the colors. Yeah, it sounds stupid, but once you start playing, it’s like crack.
Since its debut, Bejeweled addicts have frittered away around $300 million—and more than 6 billion hours—on the game and its sequel, the provocatively titled Bejeweled 2. And PopCap, the company behind the blockbusters, has become a big player—it now has more than 200 employees in offices around the world.
But Kapalka and his team still preach the gospel of simplicity. They spent four years and $1 million to try to make sure that PopCap’s latest release, Bejeweled Twist, would be at least as intuitive and habit-forming as the original. We asked Kapalka for his take on some of the most addictive puzzlers ever made and why we can’t quit playing them.
It seemed for a long while that everywhere you went people were playing this. I know enough B listers from my time on the coast who became just as addicted to it as I was and by the power of everything cool they tell me it was introduced to the A list crowd. Just thinking about the addiction it must have wrought in the crowd with the least amount of self control is staggering. I can imagine the Paramount Studios chapter of the Bejeweled Anonymous meetings.
CNN Entertainment News 10-13-2008
October 13, 2008 by poptart
Filed under Pop Culture
CNN.com - Entertainment
No. 1 hip-hop star: I’m ‘anxious’ about prison
Monday, October 13, 2008 11:00 AM
Earlier this year, T.I. was sentenced to jail time and community service over his arrest on weapons charges last year. The hip-hop artist, who has the No. 1 song and album in the country, says he’s ready to do his time — and come out a better person.
Was ‘Lightness of Being’ author an informant?
Monday, October 13, 2008 11:35 AM
‘Brady Bunch’ star tells of addiction
Monday, October 13, 2008 2:19 PM
What TV stars would make in real life
Monday, October 13, 2008 9:48 AM
The guys from HBO’s comedy series “Entourage” have it pretty good. Lounging by the pool every day, buying (and selling) movies, last-minute trips to Vegas, driving luxury cars, private jets with Kanye West to Cannes, France … no big deal.
Fans paying big bucks for ‘Dallas’ reunion
Monday, October 13, 2008 9:29 AM
Jimmy Smits lands special guest role
Monday, October 13, 2008 9:51 AM
Tim Robbins gets star on Walk of Fame
Monday, October 13, 2008 9:09 AM
Read full story for latest details.
‘Beverly Hills Chihuahua’ No. 1 again
Sunday, October 12, 2008 3:11 PM
Post 12 of 100 of Brad’s Tiny World Scribefire Challenge.
Dead Musicians and Old Choral Works
It might seem a bit odd to put dead rock musicians on the same list as old choral pieces but that is exactly what I am doing today. At Zeenium they are pushing a list of The 10 Most Tragic Deaths in Rock and Roll History. I agree that these are ten tragic deaths but I am not sure I would have put Bob Marley and Patsy Cline on the list for the simple fact that rock music wasn’t their genre and their influence on the style was minimal. They are certainly important musicians don’t get me wrong, but I just don’t think they belong in the rock category. There are any number of people you could have put there that would have fit the bill.
Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens both had great influence on the style and the way the genre was thought by a diverse group of people. Not as iconic a Janis Joplin Momma Cass Elliot certainly had potential to be a great in the folk rock revival that was to hit a few in the later 1970’s. For that matter so Jim Croce and Harry Chapin both had careers cut too short. Back to the rock scene though We can include Keith Moon of The Who, incidentally he died in the same flat that Momma Cass did, just four years after her. We also have Brian Jones a founding member of the Rolling Stones whose sound was just as important to the band as the Keith Richards sound. Also noted stars such as John Bonham, Bon Scott, and Stevie Ray Vaughn are absent. If we wanted to add a more modern musician left off the list who had potential written all over them we could include Shannon Hoon.
As for why I include the choral works in this list post I do it for one reason, to tell you the more things change the more they stay the same. Twenty Great Choral Works Before 1750 has quite a few youtube videos of modern performances of the choral works, and is interesting if you are eclectic enough to appreciate that sort of music. Back to the point though, this is work that doesn’t get enough attention for what it is or what it could be, a lot of the time these pieces were considered cutting edge or often over the edge in the time they were produced just as many of the musicians on the other list are and were in their day. These pieces are also considered horrid screeching noise by a lot of people who think the same thing of most songs done by any of the other mentioned musicians in this post.
Everyone Googles Sometimes
October 6, 2008 by poptart
Filed under Google Trends
Yes it would appear that everyone Google sometime and they are looking for the most import parts of popular culture. If they Google it enough it might even end up with more than its fifteen minutes of fame. The 1963 hit Surfin Bird by The Trashmen is certainly a song that has had more than its share of fame and is currently topping the Google Top 100. From The Trashmen we move on to Iceland and their economy which is the the trash just as much as ours. Maybe Bjork should hold a benefit concert for the government. I would pay good money assuming I actually had any to see The Sugarcubes.
Moving on from one musical form to a musical family, we find the Cyrus family in the news. Trace tops the ticker for google, but Miley Cyrus aka Destiny Cyrus is never far behind. I have not yet heard anything by Trace Cyrus of Metro Station but I am going to guess that it is overproduced crap with so much spin and polish that it will sell just on name affiliation alone. Speaking of names I just have figured out the naming scheme yet for Billy Ray Cyrus. He appears to suffer the same sort of complex as Sarah Palin, but just not as bad. Maybe the Appalachian form of WTF isn’t as bad as the Alaskan strain. You decide is Track, Bristol, Willow, Piper, and Trig better or worse that Trace, Brandi, Christopher Cody, Destiny Hope (aka Miley), Braison Hope, and Noah Lindsey. What the hell kind of name for a girl is Noah. Read more
Paul Newman Dies at 83
Confirmed Paul Newman Dead at 83
Legendary actor Paul Newman dies at age 83
13 minutes ago
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — A spokeswoman for screen legend Paul Newman says the actor has died at age 83.
Spokeswoman Marni Tomljanovic says Newman died Friday of cancer. No other details were immediately available.
Obituary: Paul Newman (1925 – 2008) « Fataculture
A confirmed Awards Daily report says that one of Hollywood’s true icons in every sense of the word who had been fighting a losing battle to cancer for a while now, Paul Newman, has finally lost the fight at the age of 83. This is the most devastating news ever, even though it has been a long time coming, it is still a huge blow for his family, friends, his enormous amount of fans and film lovers who idolise him and his unsurpassed contribution to the world of film, from his all time greats that I regard highly, “Cool Hand Luke,” “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” “Rachel, Rachel,” “Hud,” “The Verdict,” “The Hustler” and even “The Sting,” and the official end of an era when Hollywood was at its peak.
i know we are all in shock and saddened, but the above blogger needs to stop, take a breath and insert period pauses.
Paul Newman dies at 83 - updated
Italian websites www.corriere.it and www.repubblica.it - respectively from noted newspapers Corriere della Sera and La Repubblica - are currently reporting the death of actor Paul Newman.
Paul Newman, 1925-2008 - Mad About Movies - The Oregonian - OregonLive.com
Fast Eddie Felson. Hud Bannon. Cool Hand Luke. Butch Cassidy. The guy in the race car. The guy on the salad dressing bottle. The blue-eyed dreamboat. The committed public citizen. The husband of a half-century. The father of six.
According to press releases from his his charitable organizations, Newman’s Own Foundation and the Hole in the Wall Gang Camps, Paul Newman died Friday at age 83 at his long-time home in Westport, Connecticut, and with his passing, more has been lost than just a good and fine man.
This was a good tribute and written by someone who remembers their English class lessons.
Spokeswoman Marni Tomljanovic said Newman died yesterday.
Newman finished chemotherapy treatment for cancer in August and it was widely reported in the US that he had only weeks to live.
In June this year, a neighbour and business partner said the actor told him about the disease the previous year.
In May, Newman pulled out of directing John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men for unspecified health reasons.
The actor’s representative Toni Howard had previously dismissed the cancer claims as simply “not true”.
Newman retired from acting in 2006 after a 50-year career that included Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid (1969), The Sting (1971), The Hustler (1961), Hud (1963) and Cool Hand Luke (1967).
Newman was nominated for 10 Oscars, winning best actor for his role in The Color Of Money in 1986.
This is a moment of personal sadness too, but something many of us who follow Hollywood have seen coming for a long time. it looks to be a crappy Saturday weatherwise in many parts of the country, so I suggest taking the afternoon or this evening to sit back and relax with any number of great Paul Newman films. I have Butch and Sundance lined up for my afternoon.
Starlet Birthdays
It is not enough to be young and pretty in Hollywood. You have to be noticed so on my return from Fictional Exile or alternately known as Novel Writers Hell I am setting out to bring you the names and faces of the young and pretty on their birthdays. Birthdays and photos are from IMDB.com
Jennifer Veal (17)
Drizzle
August 23, 2008 by poptart
Filed under Sex, Video Clip
Darwin’s Bear
August 13, 2008 by poptart
Filed under Books & Literature
I don’t often get to recommend books on The Other Blog simply because I don’t get a chance to read nearly as much as I would like. This is true for many reasons, mostly because I spend so much time writing my own fiction and in free time I often only have time for quick reads of old favorites. Insomnia though has brought me two great reads from Greg Bear.
As a master of Science fiction, I am loathe to say I hadn’t read much of his work before and what I had read were only anthology inclusions picked up for some other author. That will change. I picked up Darwin’s Radio at the library simply out of curiosity and left with it like so many other books, having the intention to read them but not finding the time before or after I already owed fines.
Darwin’s Radio is the story of love and fear interwoven with biology, anthropology and modern politics. I have had a lot of time lately to think what family means to me, and this book was picked up at the right time in my life to have a full impact. There are notions that will put both Darwinians, Creationists, pro-choice and pro-lifers on edge in ways you wouldn’t necessarily count on ever happening. True crises help people figure out where there priorities are and in places in the novel I was wondering when the radical black lesbian vegetarians were going to stand side by side with good ol’ boys of the NRA and Klan to fight the guv’ment as one. (He didn’t go quite that far)
Like all good science fiction Darwin’s Radio left me hanging with lots of questions about what if. There was more story to be told. I was sufficiently pleased to go back to the library and see there was a sequel, Darwin’s Children. This answered many of the longing questions I had been left with about the characters I so quickly became attached to. However it too was a powerful novel that leaves you thinking in the end.
If you enjoy intellectual fiction of any type picking up Darwin’s Radio and Darwin’s Children would not be a mistake. If you have already read this and are looking for other recommendations you can’t go wrong with Steven Baxter’s Evolution of Robert J Sawyer’s Neanderthal Parallax Series: Hominids, Humans, Hybrids.
