• Reader’s Notebook, 7/17/19

    My last two books both came from the same list, GQ’s The 31 Best Beach Reads, According to Your Favorite Writers. Both were solid recommendations. The Municipalists – Seth Fried Drew Magary suggested this novel, which he described as “…a sci-fi novel that reads like flawlessly researched nonfiction.” That’s a pretty good take. The book is set in the not-so-distant…

  • KC Trip Notes

    A belated and brief wrap up of my weekend in Kansas City. Thanks to Southwest’s always morphing flight schedule, I believe for the first time ever on one of these trips I flew over late in the afternoon, landing at 4:00. That certainly shortened the weekend up a bit. But, to be honest, often when I came over in the…

  • Friday Playlist

    Some new songs from groups that still seem like representatives of new music, but have actually been putting out songs for a long time. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4LIDj5xxO9XE3BThOSKMEF?si=cx95n4VeTqKLdUsNQmqcqQ “Born and Razed” – The Raconteurs. Not a huge fan of the new album – it’s ok, should be better – but this is easily the stand-out track. “Can’t Stop You” – Pete Yorn. I…

  • Always the Student

    I am a world famous procrastinator. I’ve been putting shit off my entire life. Sometimes, even when I’m all fired up about something, I’ll put off an important step in enjoying that thing because, well, that’s just what I do. I remind you of that because today, after something like 11 months of thinking about it, I finally took my…

  • Sports Takes

    Some sports takes from the long, holiday weekend. USWNT Oh hell yes, the ladies got it done! In a tournament that proved that the women’s game is as strong as it has ever been, and getting stronger each year, the US had the toughest possible path to the title and still managed to win with a fair amount of comfort.…

  • Weekend Long Read

    Remember the Malaysian Airlines flight that mysteriously disappeared five years ago, never to be found? Like the airliner itself, the story kind of disappeared, replaced by about 1000 other things that the news networks could grind to a pulp and fill their schedules with. Veteran reporter William Langewiesche dove into the disappearance and the result was this fascinating article. He…

  • July 4 Playlist

    I seem to recall making some July 4th centered playlists back in the day. I just searched through the blog archives and couldn’t find one, though. I think that’s probably because I scrubbed the site of a lot of old playlists and videos during one of my transitions to a new platform. Regardless, I think it’s been awhile. So here…

  • Reader’s Notebook, 7/2/19

    My reading pace has slowed a bit in recent weeks. The two books below go back to our trip to San Diego, so it looks like I finished just three books in June. Time to get back on my usual pace, I guess… Paper Tiger: An Obsessed Golfer’s Quest to Play with the Pros – Tom Coyne A Course Called…

  • Reaching for the Stars, Vol. 27

    I figure most of my readers are taking it easy on this holiday week. So I will slow the pace here a bit, get caught up on some things, and otherwise take advantage of the lazy week. Chart Week: June 29, 1985 Song: “19” – Paul Hardcastle Chart Position: #27, 5th week on the chart. Peaked at #15 for two…

  • Friday Vid

    Just a video this week. “Stay With Me” – Hatchie. I still hate the move for new music to drop on Fridays instead of Tuesdays. It seems like I can never get through all the new albums I want to listen to on Friday, the weekend keeps me from spending much time with new albums, and then on Monday I’m…