Reader’s Notebook, 1/23/20
I started 2020 off with two excellent reads. Midnight in Chernobyl – Adam Higginbotham This is, quite simply, one of the best works of non-fiction I’ve ever read. It is a highly detailed, yet brisk, accounting of the 1986 meltdown at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the then Soviet Union. Higginbotham provides quick summaries of just about everything that…
Stupidity
I sure picked a good night not to watch the KU game. Between having the nephew around, C having volleyball practice, and the early start time, I decided to record the KU-K-State game, follow the score, and watch it later if needed. For most of the night that seemed like a good decision. After a slow start, the Jayhawks waxed…
Weekend Notes
It’s probably a good thing today is a holiday and most of my Kansas City friends are probably just now going to bed after celebrating the Chiefs’ AFC title overnight. I say that because I didn’t see much of either game yesterday, so I don’t have a ton to say. I saw a decent chunk of the first half of…
Friday Playlist
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5RTUCbIvPfEeb6BwAWoXw7?si=sqRYJzZgSn6IiHhDKKNMBQ “Cheap Regrets” – The Districts Looking through my Liked Songs playlist in Spotify and my iTunes library, I don’t know that I’ve ever listened to this band. Apparently this song is a departure from their usual sound. I really dig its blend of modern dance, classic disco, and indie rock. “It Helped” – Yakima When I think of Scottish…
Reaching for the Stars, Vol. 35
Chart Week: January 15, 1983 Song: “Your Love Is Driving Me Crazy” – Sammy Hagar Chart Position: #27, 6th week on the chart. Peaked at #13 for two weeks in February/March. One of the disappointments of the iHeart Radio Classic American Top 40 channel is that only so many of the old countdowns have been digitized and, thus, countdowns are…
CFP Championship Game Notes
I thoroughly enjoyed the CFP national championship game Monday night. Well, I enjoyed everything about it except a certain politician’s appearance before the game (I switched away just as L was yelling at me to get him off the screen) and how the game was an example of the biggest problem with college football today: four hours to play a…
Weekend Sports Notes
What a weekend of sports! Hoops and football gave us plenty to discuss. KU Hoops I guess Baylor had to win in Lawrence eventually, right? For a decade Scott Drew has been bringing ranked teams into Lawrence. Some years they kept it close until very late. A few years they probably should have won. But KU always made the plays…
Friday Playlist
Happy Friday. It is warm and rainy in Indiana, feeling more like April than January. I’m sure we’ll pay for this down the road. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7mKAnShaqysQaeMiApmmMx?si=p8lnoV5AQHew9tD8ur8D7g “Texas Sun” – Khruangbin and Leon Bridges. What a lovely, interesting song, combining Khruangbin’s world music influences with Bridges’ old school soul sound. They have a four song EP set for release next month. “Alien…
What I’m Watching: Holiday Season 2019
Time to share what I watched over the stretch from mid-November through New Year’s Eve. Although some holiday programming is included here, I’ve only included things that were new or unique to this year. Pursuit of Happyness The first movie that S watched that I got pulled into during this stretch. I enjoyed this but, good God, it was sooooo…
Reader’s Notebook, 1/8/20
Time for a final 2019 wrap up, this time the books I read last year. To start quick summaries of the final four books I read in December. Killing Floor – Lee Child I’ve seen the Jack Reacher books in airport bookstores, at grocery stores, and in other locations over the years that made me dismiss them as just another…