Friday Vid
“Blank Space” – Taylor Swift I know, I know. This one will take some explanation. Taylor Swift hits the sweet spot in the category of “pop culture things I hate.” She was a teenage phenom, something I generally abhor.[1] Worse, she came from the country music realm, an area I have zero interest in. A country music teen phenom? Forgetaboutit.…
Big 12 Hoops Thoughts
Pretty much the moment Kentucky began treating KU like a high school JV team, I was sure that not only would KU’s Big 12 conference title streak end this year, but that Texas would be the team to do it. Texas isn’t as big or deep or talented as Kentucky. But the Longhorns are probably the biggest team in the…
December Reading List
Decembers tend to be big book months for me. December 2014 was no exception. I finished seven books and got most of the way through an eighth.[1] Thus my final total for the year was 57 books. I’m pleased with that effort. The Rise & Fall Of Great Powers – Tom Rachman I loved Rachman’s The Imperfectionists, which was a…
⦿ Friday Links
Finishing the clean up of the long list of links I’ve gotten behind on. This first one got linked to right around the anniversary of John Lennon’s death. It is journalist Jimmy Breslin’s article from the night Lennon died. First, read the article. Then read the details of how quickly Breslin put it together. It’s a pretty amazing piece of…
NFL Playoffs Picks
Funny how fast the NFL season goes when you spend the first two months of Sundays on the soccer fields, casually following scores and paying more attention to fantasy stats. But here we are, Wild Card weekend. Thus, my patented, half-assed picks for who will make it to Glendale in a month. AFC Wild Card Round Pittsburgh over Baltimore. A…
Friday Vid
“Tiny Prayers” – Restorations A band that I read about in the fall but then lost in the normal end-of-the-year shuffle. Fortunately, they landed high on one of my favorite music writer’s Best Of 2014 list, so I’m diving into them now. Terrific, crunchy, power-punk building on influences from all over the past 20 years. I have to make a…
Stats
The biggest navel-gazing post of the year!1 The cast of usual December (and late November) characters dominated the last month of the year. And then, no surprises in my top artists of 2014 if you gave any attention to my favorite songs of the year list. December 2014 Frank Sinatra – 77 Bing Crosby – 56 Dean Martin – 55…
Fin de Año
Last day of the year. As is my routine, this morning I paged back through the site’s archives for the last 12 months and jotted down some highlights. In January we kicked off the Worst Winter Ever[1] with nearly 20” of snow in three days, followed by the first Polar Vortex. Of a possible 35 hours of school the first…
⦿ Tuesday Links
I’m a horrible blogger. Christmas and its associated activities got me well behind in sharing links. So not only do I have a general glut, but I also have a few that should have been shared before Christmas. I’m going to knock out those holiday-related ones today and attempt to get the rest of the queue cleaned out on Friday.…
Top Albums of 2014
Sharing my favorite songs of the year with you was not enough. Thus, I must offer a few thoughts on the year in music in general, then share my favorite albums of the year. I like to think of it as a rough guide for people with some iTunes or Amazon credit to burn who would like to add an…