Reader’s Notebook, 1/4/24
Bing Crosby: The Hollow Man – Donald Shepherd and Robert F. Slatzer Each December, as I listen to a shitload of Bing Crosby music, I think, “I should learn more about his life.” I picked up a little of the general, collective pop-cultural memories of him as a kid. But I was six when he died and that was all…
High School Hoops Chronicles, S1V7: Rivalry Week
After playing six games in the first 19 days of December, L and her Irish teammates are in the midst of a much more leisurely three-games-in–18-days stretch. Throw in three days off for Christmas and two for New Year’s and it has been a nice breather after that tough run. Their only games over the holidays were big ones: split…
Holiday Wrap Up
I dropped our Denver relatives off at the airport early this morning and returned to a quieter and emptier house than we’ve had in about ten days. The decorations are still up and the college kid is still with us, but the holiday season has ended. We had a busy and mostly fun week-plus of holiday celebrations. S’s brother from…
December Media
Holiday Stuff Most of the usuals are in here. One thing missing, though, was The Office Christmas episodes. This is the first time in a few years we haven’t subscribed to the streaming service that allows you to watch the episodes of your choice. Maybe they’ll be back somewhere real (i.e. not Peacock) next year. Or I’ll just record them…
Music Stats
You may have noticed I stopped posting my monthly listening stats a year ago. Or maybe you didn’t. I’m not sure why, I just decided it wasn’t necessary. I will not be skipping the annual updates, however. Here’s a look at what Last.fm says I listened to most in 2023, and since I began logging my music with them in…
Jayhawk Talk: Bowl Game Breakdown
I planned on taking most of this week off from blogging. But Tuesday’s bizarre shitshow of a football game that was the Guaranteed Rate Bowl[1] required me to share a few words about the mighty Kansas Jayhawks winning nine games for the first time since the 2007 season. I mean, I was up until 1:45 AM, and then struggled to…
Reaching For The Stars, Vol. 95
Chart Week: December 16, 2023 Song: “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” – Darlene Love Chart Position: #21. Current all-time high is #15 the week of January 7, 2023. I heard the wonderful tidbit this post is built around earlier this year on an AT40 from December 1984. It was one of Casey’s “Special Reports,” music trivia blurbs not related to…
Jayhawk Talk
As tends to happen in these pre-holiday weeks, time has gotten away from me a bit. I can’t believe it is Thursday and I still haven’t written about KU’s win in Bloomington last Saturday. Turns it was good to put it off as now I can write about football signing day, too. KU-IU Hoops This game was played at the…
High School Hoops Chronicles, S1V6
A quick, one-game summary to wrap up the first half of the season. Last night CHS took on HSE, ranked #2 in class 4A. HSE has a junior who is committed to IU and just passed the 1000 career points mark last week. They also have a sophomore who already has multiple D1 offers and was taking visits to big-time…
Favorite Songs of 2023
It seems like most Decembers recently I write something like “Well, it wasn’t a great year for music…” as I prepare to share a bunch of songs I both liked and listened to a lot. Something was different this year, though. According to Last.fm, I listened to about 15% less music in 2023 compared to 2022, and my least music…