Gatemouth Gone

You might have skipped past the notice a few days ago, the one announcing that Clarence Gatemouth Brown had died in Orange, Texas, at age 81. According to this article in Billboard, Brown had traveled to Texas from his home in Slidell, Louisiana (which is also home to blogger friend Daniel Morris) to get out of the way of Hurricane Katrina. There's no direct indication that the trip contributed to Brown's death -- he had been ill for some time, battling lung cancer and heart disease -- one can't help wondering if the news of the destruction of his hometown made Brown yet another of Katrina's victims.

Clarence Brown was an accomplished and versatile musician, with a long career that began in 1940, at age sixteen. He started out as a drummer, but quickly developed a reputation as "slashing Texas blues guitarist" (to quote the liner notes from one of his albums) in Houston. He played a number of instruments, including drums and the violin, and although he's probably most often thought of as a bluesman, his musical style spanned a wide range of genres, including big band and Zydeco. He won a Grammy in 1982.

I must admit that I hadn't thought about Brown in years, and even after hearing of his death, it took me a few days to pull out the lone album by him in my collection. "Alright Again!" was recorded in 1981, and it's an odd collection of blues set to full big band arrangements...Glen Miller meets John Lee Hooker, if you will. But, that was a style he was apparently comfortable with. Again from the liner notes...immediately after he landed his first recording contract, he was "fronting a 23-piece orchestra. Gate claims to have been the first guitarist in America to lead such a large ensemble."

I've ripped a 30-second sample of one of his songs ("Give Me Time to Explain," written by another blues legend, Percy Mayfield) and uploaded it here, if you'd like to get a taste of Gatemouth's style, or, to be more accurate, one of his styles. The full LP is going onto into my copy of iTunes, of course.

Technorati tag: Clarence Gatemouth Brown

But...does it come with an iPod nano?

MLB and I saw two movies last weekend, one of which was the critically-panned "Transporter 2." We found it to be a fun bit of fluff, with stunts and car scenes so over-the-top as to seem somehow right, like the hidden-wire magic of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." If you can wrap your mind around the concept that it's not only animated characters or people wearing funky costumes who can routinely defy the laws of physics, then you can sit back and enjoy "Transporter 2."

But enough about the movie; let's talk cars. After all, that's what the movie's hero is all about: making unbelievable cars do unbelievable things. Audi was prominently featured as the primary product placement provider, with the $118,000 12-cylinder A8 being the transporter's personal choice of vehicle. I've no doubt that it's a marvel of modern technology, but it was, frankly, a bit boring to behold.

But that definitely was not the case with the car that was featured -- and ultimately destroyed (heartbreaking!) -- in one of the climactic-if-clichéd chase scenes. If ever there was a car capable of chasing down a corporate jet prior to take-off, it's the Ferrari 612 Scaglietti (I think). This 12-cylinder, 540hp gem tops out around 200 mph, and you can have one for about $260,000. The Scaglietti sports a relatively low-key design compared to, say, a Lamborghini, but it's still a thing of beauty:

What caught my attention during the movie, though, was the shifter, an organically-designed piece of metal afixed to the steering column and operated via the driver's fingertips. It reminded me of something Campagnolo might design for its top-of-the-line bicycle component gruppo. I confess to ignorance as to the performance advantages of this shifter, other than its convenient placement and quick operation; perhaps I'd be better schooled if I had $260,000 laying around for "tuition." But, it's Italian and it looks cool (I know; that's redundant) and that's enough.

Oh, I almost forgot. In answer to the question posed in the post title...yes, it does. Or soon will.

Technorati tag: Transporter 2

"It's a Totzilla...and I baked my butt off!"

This is the 150th anniversary of the Utah State Fair and the slogan for this year's event is "All Your Wildest Dreams Will Come True." And in an ad campaign that's sheer genius, they've recruited none other than Napoleon and Pedro as spokesmen. They appear in three TV and five radio ads and the result is, well, freakin' awesome.

The 30-second videos are in RealPlayer format; you can download them here, here and here. Make sure you don't have a mouth full of delicious bass or something while you watch them or you'll have a monitor cleaning job on your hands.

Watching these videos, there's no doubt in my mind that someone needs to get a sequel to the big screen, and muy pronto!

Update: I just listened to the radio ads (they're linked on the Fair's home page) and they're even funnier than the videos...especially #5. "The Utah State Fair is really sweet...the cows will soon turn into meat."

Tip o'the hat to AdFreak, who's finding all the sweet stuff nowadays.

Technorati tags: Utah State Fair | Napoleon Dynamite | Totzilla

Lileks Don't Got the Blues

Well. James Lileks doesn't like the blues. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and say that he's not listening to the right guy.

Technorati tag: Delbert McClinton

Book Review: "The Hummingbird's Daughter"

It's been a couple of weeks since I finished "The Hummingbird's Daughter," by Luis Alberto Urrea. I've intentionally delayed a review of the book, hoping to find some inspiration to describe this inordinately beautiful novel set in Mexico near the turn of the 20th century.

When Miriam Parker, Time Warner Book Group's Manager of Online Marketing, recommended the book to me, she described it as "like nothing I've ever read before." I'd have to say that while that's not a particularly helpful description, it succinctly sums up my reaction, as well. This is a book that defies categorization: it's a historical novel; it's a religious fantasy; it's a bawdy comedy; it's a primer on Mexican folklore and the cuarandera's (healer's) art.

Above all, it's a gripping account of nothing less than the beginning of a sea-change in Mexican history, as we see how the life of a peasant girl sets in motion ripples that affect the course of an entire nation.

Urrea paints a picture of what can be described only as feudalism in Mexico. The gap between the rich and the poor is so wide as to stagger the senses. The brutality of conflict between the original inhabitants of Mexico and the Spanish-bred "ruling party" is likewise staggering. But even in the midst of the gritty reality, beauty and poetry is found, more often and more amusingly than you might expect.

I won't get into the storyline itself...I don't want to spoil the plot, and it's too complicated for a short review anyway. It's enough to say that this book satisfies on several levels and I recommend it highly. My only quibble is with the ending, which leaves some important questions unanswered...sort of like life in general.

One minor footnote: don't read this book on an empty stomach, particularly if you're an afficionado of Mexican food. The author's descriptions of the dining pleasures of the characters are literally mouth-watering!

[For another blogger's take on the book, read Cowtown Pattie's excellent review over at Texas Trifles, but beware of spoilers. I waited until after I finished the book to read her take, and she nails it, in my opinion.]

Technorati tags: The Hummingbird's Daughter | Luis Alberto Urrea

Book Review: "What the Dog Did"

A few weeks ago, I awoke at around 1:00 a.m. to the odd sensation of the bed shaking, and the equally odd sound of ineffectively-stifled chortling emanating from the general direction of where MLB normally reclines. In my dazed state, I thought she was perhaps experiencing convulsions, and, in a sense, she was...convulsions of laughter, brought on by an inability to put down Emily Yoffe's book entitled "What the Dog Did: Tales from a formerly reluctant dog owner." As annoyed as I was at losing sleep over such a frivolous cause (really, the least she could have done is have a mild convulsion to make it all worthwhile), I was also intrigued by the prospect of a book that could evoke that reaction.

Well, as they say, turn about is fair play. So while MLB was studying for an exam last weekend, I was reading the book and interrupting her studies with my own laughter.

This book is for dog lovers, or people who think they might want to be dog lovers. For the latter, reading it will convince you...one way or the other. For the former, you'll want to finish it quickly so you can find another dog lover to whom to pass it along.

Yoffe, who is a journalist and regular contributor to Slate and NPR's "Day to Day," has a writing style that mixes Anne Lamott with Dave Barry, and she chronicles in hysterically funny fashion her pilgrimage from cat owner to hopeless dog lover. How hopeless? She takes in foster dogs, most of whom are beagles! (If you're a dog lover yourself, you've just learned much about the depth of the madness into which Ms. Yoffe has descended.)

Did I mention she's very funny? Here's the conclusion she draws after a discussion about the developing use of the exquisitely tuned canine sense of smell to detect cancerous tumors in humans: "We probably aren't far from the day when medically trained dogs form a group practice, then refuse to accept their owners' insurance."

If you have a dog with behavioral problems, this book will encourage you...not by giving you any hope that things will improve (they won't) but by assuring you that, indeed, you are not alone. Not by a long shot. (Beagle owners know this already.) If, on the other hand, you are in that so-ridiculously-small-as-to-suggest-you're-lying minority with well-behaved, well-adjusted, Lassie-good-dog dogs, you'll come away with an even more annoying sense of superiority having read about the myriad basket cases...and the dogs they own.

After reading this book, MLB and I have decided that we fall into that latter category; Abbye is heart-achingly perfect, compared to the dogs in Ms. Yoffe's life. But, she still manages to make every last one of them appear to be exactly what we've always known them to be: man's best friend.

Seriously, if you like dogs, read this book. Just try to do it in another room if your spouse is sleeping.

Technorati tag: Emily Yoffee

Playing the Blues

OK, I've put it off as long as I safely can, until a time late enough so that only a few people will be tuned in but early enough that I still have enough motor skill to get through it, albeit not gracefully.

Here's my guitar picking...don't say you weren't forewarned. And, to add insult to injury, the MP3 is about 750kb.

Sheesh...the things I'll do for money! ;-)

Quiz #4 drops like a lead balloon

Hometown gal blogger Julie Craig (lovely wife of blogger Wallace) gets the prize for identifying the song in Music Quiz #4 as "Love March" by the Butterfield Blues Band. It's from the album "Keep On Moving."

Julie has wisely selected the coveted Fire Ant Gazette ceramic tile coaster, and will be the envy of independent oil and gas operators everywhere, who will have to console themselves with $62 oil and $8 gas, a poor substitute indeed for a Valuable Prize.

Music Quiz #4

Well, I've given up trying to assess the relative difficulty of these quizzes. I thought #3 would be easy, and it took several hours for the right answer to surface. I thought the album cover would stump you indefinitely, only to be blindsided by a band geek (hey, it takes one to know one). So I throw this one out with no expectations whatsoever.

It's a little different in format...you get 10 whole seconds of a song from an album which was released in 1969, and I need the name of the song (album title is optional) and the artist. Here's the MP3, for your listening pleasure.

I'm going to open this quiz up to anyone, pledger or not, and the prize will be...hmmm...let's do another $10 iTunes Music Store gift cert OR a Gazette ceramic coaster, your choice. How's that for flexible?

"We didn't know they'd left."

Earlier in the day (seems like ages ago!) I posted an excerpt from "The Hummingbird's Daughter." Here's another passage, one that made me laugh aloud the first time I read it. If you think Y2K engendered consternation among our contemporaries, you should contemplate how the implications of Y1.9K were absorbed by its affected generation:

She came...she listened...she conquered!

Cowtown Pattie, blogging from Foat Wuth via Texas Trifles rose to the challenge, correctly identifying Music Quiz #3 as "Tres Hombres" by the undisputed champeens of Texas rock, ZZ Top.

For her perceptive ear, Pattie wins another Valuable Prize in the form of a Fire Ant Gazette ceramic coaster. Be still, her beating heart!

[I also have to recognize sweet Denise, who came oh-so-close. She's also from Texas, you know. All Texas gals know ZZ Top.]

I can't believe...

...that you guys are giving up on Music Quiz #3! I was sure it was a slam-dunk.

Have I just pounded you senseless with this onslaught of senseless pounding?

I'm having a hard time getting excited about posting #4 without properly disposing of its predecessor.

What I'm not watching but wish I was

Jen (no, not that Jen; this Jen) is giving periodic reports about the status of the electronic visual entertainment delivery system in her house. I'm too scattered to have the TV going whilst blogging; in fact, I usually can't even have music going. That may be fodder for another post.

But, if I could watch a movie right about now, it would be this one. The best way to watch it, however, is with closed captioning turned on, especially if your Texas-trained ear can't keep up with that groovy UK slang. Which, of course, mine can't.

And, in the interest of doing thorough reporting on these important issues, Jen (no, not that Jen; this Jen) is watching DVR'd epsiodes of her favorite TV programs.

Album Cover Contest Winner!

I was beginning to despair, but I'm pleased to announce a winner of our Album Cover Contest #1...the Kingmaker himself, Jimmy Patterson, who does his own blogthing over at Sticky Doorknobs.

He correctly, yet inexplicably, guessed that the album in question is "Imaginary Voyage" by Jean-Luc Ponty, one of the pioneers in amplified violin music.

For his perceptiveness, Jimmy scores a $10 iTunes Music Store gift certificate, and the adulation of all of Jean-Luc's rowdy friends.

Music Quiz #3

Well, since the silence around the album cover quiz is deafening (maybe everyone's eating dinner...yeah, that's the ticket!), I might as well throw out another music quiz to get the juices flowing again.

This one is as easy as laughing at Martha Stewart; I'm almost ashamed to lay it down in front of you. But, that's the kind of soft-hearted guy I am. And it takes us back to our rocker roots. Like the first quiz, it's a collection of 1 second samples from each track of a well-known album. Give 'er a listen here. The first pledger to identify the album and artist will win yet another Fire Ant Gazette ceramic coaster, which, apparently, are so common that a dead cat can't be swung without hitting one. No offense to cat lovers, of course.

Oh, and if you've won a previous Gazette music contest, you're not eligible to win this one. Hey, I don't make the rules. Well, I do, but in a part of my brain that I'm not allowed to influence.

I'll be shocked and amazed if someone doesn't get this one within ten minutes of its posting.

Jumping the Liger

What's that? You say that "Napoleon Dynamite" merchandise has jumped the shark? Then why do I look so fetching in my newly acquired garment?

You're speechless. I thought so. Now, please excuse me; I've got a wild horse to break.

Album Cover Contest #1

I didn't plan this particular contest but it seems like a good thing to try, especially considering how easy the other contests have been up to this point.

Veteran Gazette readers will recognize this contest, as it consists of simply identifying an obscure album from a bit of the cover art, which I've freshly scanned. The kicker is, however, that this is all you're gonna get.

Also -- and note this carefully -- this and only this contest is open to all visitors, whether they've pledged or not. Why? Don't ask such hard questions.

The prize is pretty cool, I think: a $10 gift certificate to the iTunes Music Store. Don't have or use iTunes? Sorry, you might want to save your hard thinking for something else; there's no substitute.

Without further ado...identify this 70s vintage album:

We've got a winner for Music Quiz #2!

Jen (no, not that Jen; this Jen) knocks one out of the park with her authoritative pronouncement that Music Quiz #2 is taken from nothing less than Beethoven's 6th Symphony (one of the most beautiful pieces ever composed, in my humble and untrained opinion).

I'm sure it will surprise no one that Jen is an accomplished musician.

For her efforts, Jen will be the reluctant recipient of another Fire Ant Gazette ceramic coaster, which I'm sure will assume a place of honor right next to the most valued of wedding gifts which have already been earmarked for the next rummage sale, like Aunt Sadie's hula girl with the clock in the belly. Since I live a thousand miles away, I'll probably never drop in unannounced, asking to see the prize.

Blogathon Music Quiz #2

Being the perceptive guy I perceive myself to be, I realize that not all of you dissipated your youth wearing out 8-tracks of Hendrix and Zep and GFR. No, some of you dissipated your youth by dwelling endlessly on the nether left-hand regions of the FM dial, or by gingerly mounting upon your belt-drive turntable those vinyl platters extracted from the elegantly stark white covers published by the Orpheus division of The Musical Heritage Society. And why not? At least you could get more than twelve minutes of music before having to flip the album.

[Sidenote: What's the difference between a violin and a viola? The viola takes longer to burn. A wave of the rosin block to pal Shannon over at The Briefing for reminding me of that excellent line from the greatly-missed Victor Borge.]

So, it's in your honor that the Gazette offers its Blogathon Music Quiz #2. This time, the MP3 is a ten second swatch of melody from a well known...ooh, you almost got me there. You tell me...the name of the piece and the composer. The first pledger to correctly identify both in the comments to this post wins another of those muy fabuloso Fire Ant Gazette tile coasters.

Book Excerpt

I'm in the midst of a most amazing book, "The Hummingbird's Daughter" by Luis Alberto Urrea. It's set in Mexico in the late 19th century and documents (in novelized fashion) the lives of the residents of a huge ranchero. Well, it's so much more than that, but that will do for now.

The story is fascinating and the prose exceptional. I thought this would be a good time to share some excerpts from the book, to whet your appetite (the choice of metaphor will quickly become obvious). The first excerpt describes the reaction of the peones that they will soon be moving to another portion of the ranch, far to the north...the uncivilized Sonoran north. Faced with this unsettling prospect, they begin to examine the previously taken-for-granted details of their lives in Sinaloa:

Blogathon Music Quiz #1

Say, kids...guess what time it is? That's right, it's time for the first Gazette Blogathon music quiz!

This one is so ridiculously simple that I'm embarrassed to even present it to you. But, I figured we should ease into things, seeing as how it's Saturday morning and our brains don't appreciate being taxed.

As a reminder, only those who have pledged to the Gazette's campaign on behalf of Midland Fair Havens are eligible. But, the good news is that you can still pledge!

All you have to do is listen to this MP3, featuring a second of music from each track on an album, and identify the album and the artist. The first pledger to leave a comment here with the correct answers wins a Fire Ant Gazette ceramic tile coaster.

Ad Earworm

The weather this morning was perfect for a bike ride, so I headed out to blithely focus on nothing but the cool weather, some potential post topics and... floxie-noxie-pillification.

Ahem.

As I was saying, I was looking forward to the luxury of 60 minutes to simply think about topics like the unfortunate new TV series set in Iraq, the lame column slamming the president for being in shape and...floxie-noxie-pillification.

#$%@! Floxie-noxie-pillification.

OK. Out with it. Have you seen that insurance company commercial that touts the simplicity of the company's website, and uses a ridiculously complicated made-up word in a fictitious spelling bee to make the point? That word -- which I can't spell because it contains a variety of double Cs and AUs and PHs -- is pronounced "floxie-noxie-pillification," and I can't get it out of my head! I'd really appreciate it if you'd take it off my mind; feel free to pass it along to someone else when you tire of it.

The irony is that while I can remember the stupid word, I cannot recall which insurance company is making the pitch. Perhaps there's a lesson there for advertising firms: it is possible to be too clever for your client's good.

Regardless, I simply want to leave you with this: floxie-noxie-pillification.

Update: Charles over at Dustbury.com devotes a post to my lack of spelling and pronunciation skillz. To which I reply, "oh yeah?" And, further, "floxie-noxie-pillification."

Technorati tags: Earworms | Floxie-Noxie-Pillifiation

Friday on the 'pod

Thanks to Scott over at The Fat Guy, I'm a little lighter in the wallet but much richer in music. Scott reminded me (even as he was reminded by someone else) of the genius that is Delbert McClinton, yet another reason why Texas music and musicians are unmatched in variety and skill.

As a result, I have "One of the Fortunate Few" looping on the iPod while I try to concentrate on some mind-numbing work (creating PDF forms).

If you think blues music can't be fun, you haven't spent much time hanging out with Delbert. (Ooh...I like that line: If you can't lie no better than that, you might as well tell the truth!") And if you think you can listen to Delbert without twitching to the beat, then you need a medical checkup...stat.

Technorati tags: Delbert McClinton | Texas Blues

Preview: "The Hummingbird's Daughter"

You may recall that last month I and a number of other Texas bloggers were contacted by the Time Warner Book Group (TWBG) offering free recently-released books with the implied request that we post reviews of them after reading. I took them up on their offer, reading and reviewing "Potter Springs," a novel that I would not otherwise have read. It turned out to be surprisingly enjoyable, and I emailed Miriam Parker, the Manager of Online Marketing at TWBG to thank her for the opportunity to read it.

Miriam responded with an offer of additional books, and provided a wide range of choices in a variety of genres. I was somewhat taken back by the offer -- some of the books are currently best-sellers whose titles and authors you'd immediately recognize -- but I didn't want to take for free books that I or my wife might otherwise buy anyway. That just didn't feel right. So I asked Miriam for her recommendations of any new "sleeper" books that she thought I might enjoy. She replied with three selections, and she made one of them sound so intriguing that I agreed to read and review it. My new ángel de libros immediately Fed Ex'd it to me and I'm just getting started with it.

The book is entitled "The Hummingbird's Daughter," by Luis Alberto Urrea. I'm only 25 pages into it and I can understand Miriam's fascination with it. It's a novel set in the Mexico of the late 1800s and already I can see that it will be full of memorable characters, mystical phenomena and sly humor. (It's also challenging my limited Spanish vocabulary, especially in the area of colorful cursing!)

I'm looking forward to spending more time with the book, and sharing a review with you. And I want to thank Miriam Parker for expanding my literary horizons beyond CSS, PHP, HTML and web design!

Technorati tags: TWBG | "The Hummingbird's Daughter" | Luis Alberto Urrea

Midlander wins national film award

I returned to Midland this afternoon after a pleasant weekend at a family reunion in Cloudcroft, NM and found this story buried deep within today's edition of the local newspaper:

OK, how cool is that? Jon is a longtime Midlander and owner of ViaMedia, an advertising and video production company. Much of his is work focused on projects with Christian themes. His winning entry in the Tribeca Film Festival, while not overtly Christian, deals with the fundamental struggle between good and evil that played itself out in the Columbine High School shootings. The Rachel referred to in the film's title is Rachel Scott, who testified to her belief in God even as she lay wounded and immediately before she was executed by one of the teen-aged killers.

You can view the seven-minute film on Amazon.com's website. Even viewed via the tiny window on a monitor, the production values and creativity of Jon's work shines through. I think Midland should be very proud of his accomplishment and I hope he gets well-deserved additional publicity from it.

Update: Jeff McDonald has provided a link to an earlier local news story about this film.

Technorati tags: Tribeca Film Festival | Jon Lindgren | Rachel's Challenge

Foat Wuth Blogger Makes Good

I wanted to give her swelled head time to go down a bit, but it's worth noting that the ever-so-spunky Cowtown Pattie over at Texas Trifles has garnered an award in an online short story contest. You can read her entry via the preceding link.

From my perspective, it's hard to go wrong by including a gold dog in your story.

You done good, little lady!

WOTW: Overhyped

Update: Cowtown Pattie over at Texas Trifles now has her review posted. She has a different -- and better articulated -- take than me on the movie, so you'll want to read hers if you're seeking "fair and balanced" coverage.

MLB and I did something out of the ordinary (for us, anyway) last night as we paid full price to attend an evening showing of War of the Worlds. She'd spent the last three evenings standing in the kitchen preparing the bushel of peaches we'd brought back from Fredericksburg, and she was ready for a change. I heartily approved.

WOTW was a good choice for an escapist escapade (as the first ominous scenes appeared on the screen, we simultaneously whispered to each other, "I love a good disaster movie!"). It's a breathtaking achievement on a technical level, incorporating special effects and real people in such a seamless manner as to cause a continual mental loop of "how did they do that?" We did not find the human story to be as dark as some of the reviews we'd read, but it also wasn't as compelling as we'd hoped it would be.

It's not a fun movie, in the spirit of, say, Independence Day. The inevitable defeat of the invading force (everyone knows the story by now) brings nothing like a sense of victory or achievement, just a sense that the human race inexplicably dodged a bullet, not because of any intrinsic merit (despite the solemn closing intonations of Morgan Freeman's voice), but simply because of dumb luck. Or illogical screenwriting.

Awesome technical effects aside, the classic plot of this movie was not improved in its updating. I don't want to drop any spoilers here, but suffice it to say that just because a storyline is decades old doesn't mean it needs to be "modernized" or otherwise tweaked to appeal to a modern "enlightened" audience.

Of course, having said that, I am still puzzled by the retention of the tripedal characteristics of the aliens, both physiological and mechanical. I realize that it's primarily a device to underscore the alienness of the invaders, but robotic research (PDF document) suggests that tripedal mechanisms are less stable and efficient than quadrapeds. So, am I being inconsistent with my critique? Absolutely!

Overall, WOTW was good, but not great. It will stand out this year primarily due to the lack of worthy competitors, but it's not a movie for the ages.

Oh, and if you have young children, take the PG-13 rating seriously. There are some really intense scenes which I think could generate nightmares for younger kids, not to mention more profanity than was absolutely necessary.

Technorati tag: War of the Worlds

Book Review: "Potter Springs"

In the interest of full disclosure, let me state upfront that my copy of "Potter Springs" was provided free of charge by the publisher, who apparently contacted a number of bloggers (primarily in Texas) and made the same offer. There was no accompanying request for a review; no strings attached. The publisher is obviously hoping for a positive blog buzz over the book and is willing to take a few risks with this experiment.

There's nothing in the jacket description for "Potter Springs" that would normally tempt me to read it:

"Poignantly rendered" is code for chick lit, especially when combined with the adjective "star-crossed." It shouldn't surprise you to know that I'd never before read a romance novel, nor have I acquired a taste for the genre after reading this one. But, you might be surprised to learn that I had a hard time putting this book down, and in fact started and finished it over the Fourth of July holiday weekend.

I agreed to read the book primarily because of its Texas setting, but that ended up having little to do with the appeal of the story. The author, Britta Coleman, is a Texan currently living in Fort Worth, and so she pretty much nails the contrast between Houston and the fictional Panhandle town of Potter Springs, but, really, the story could have been set in any location without losing its impact.

This is a story about the consequences of married couples who can't -- or won't -- talk to each other about the "elephant in the room." In this case, it's the loss of a baby through miscarriage...but in real life, the syndrome plays out around any number of subjects, large and small: money, sex, household chores, problems with kids or parents -- you name it. Why we find it so difficult to talk to our spouses about such things is a mystery, but it's not an exaggeration.

Potter Springs is Coleman's first novel and it seems to struggle at times to figure out what it wants to be. On one level, it's a farce (in the literary sense, of course) wherein miscommunication, misinterpretation and improbable situations create tension between the main characters. On another level, it's one of those romance novels I mentioned above, where you know everything is going to be fine in the end, but only after the "star-crossed lovers" have to drag themselves through the muck of life to realize what they're missing.

This book also has clear Christian undertones. Part of that is because one of the main characters is a Baptist minister, but I suspect it's also an intentional decision based on the author's values. That's not to say that anything is sugarcoated, and it's definitely not "preachy." In fact, this may be one of the more realistic depictions of how life is for most Christians: messy, stressful, complicated, prone to foul-ups, most of which are due to our own stupidity and pride. In short, just like life for everyone else, with the significant exception that there's always Someone there to pick us up and pick up after us.

The book provides an unflinching look at the additional complications that come with being a pastor (and a pastor's wife). The stress of unrealistic expectations can be crushing.

I have a few nits to pick with the book. As a guy, I have a tendency to overanalyze, and when I read a plotline that has a character driving eleven hours from the Panhandle to Houston (which is about right), but later includes a reference to being "over 300 miles away," well, that inconsistency bugs me. (I'll give the author the benefit of the doubt and suggest that perhaps an editor in New York changed the mileage, because no one would believe that Texas is that big.) I also thought the characters sometimes were caricatures, painted with too much black or white. And, in the end, every last one of them was redeemed, his or her character flaws either explained or flipped or fixed.

But, the book had the important effect of making me think beyond the characters or even the plot. Some authors are artists who paint with words; their work is enjoyable primarily for the aesthetics of how they string those words together. Tom Wolfe comes to mind. Others are workmen for whom the plot is everything; they'll use the bare minimum of words to get that plot fixed. That's how I view Stephen King. Then there are those who don't fit neatly into either category; they have an idea that needs to get out, off the page and into the reader's brain, and the words and the plot exist to serve that idea. That's how I see Britta Coleman's rendering of Potter Springs. And that's a good thing.

I'll be interested in reading the thoughts of other bloggers who accepted the publisher's offer of a review copy of this book.

Technorati tags: Potter Springs | Britta Coleman

Rock the Desert 2005

I just noticed that the 6th annual Rock the Desert Christian music festival is scheduled in Midland County for August 5-6, at the same venue off Highway 1788 as last year. The line-up of musicians is incredible, including Third Day, Mercy Me, Toby Mac, Salvadore, Pillar, Jeremy Camp, Tree 63, Sanctus Real and others.

Last year, I volunteered as a member of the TV camera crew and thus had a better-than-front-row seat as well as a backstage pass. I assume that I'm not needed this year, as I wasn't asked to work, but it's just as well. August 6 happens to be the date for Blogathon 2005, to which I've already committed my time and resources.

Still, some of my favorite groups are on stage Friday night, so I have a decision to make: do I head out and catch the music, or make an early night of it and get as much sleep as I can before the 24-hour Blogathon? As usual, my heart and my head aren't in agreement.

Technorati tag: Rock the Desert

The North Dakota Conservatory of Online Music

Julie's got a podcast. We knew she was a gifted writer. We knew she was a gifted artist. Now we know she's a gifted musician.

We think we hate Julie.

Just kidding.

Probably.

But, if we find out she's a gifted ballroom dancer, then, definitely...we hate her.

Book Review: "Tekoa"

I just finished an odd little book entitled "Tekoa," authored by a cowboy poet and storyteller named Joe Herrington.

We found Tekoa last February in a bookstore in Santa Fe and were intrigued by the novel's setting (near Marfa, Texas), its protagonists (two Texas A&M seniors taking a spring break trip to the desert prior to their graduation) and the plot description which alluded to the mysteries of the Marfa Lights, alternate universes and imaginative adventures.

The book turned out to be something along the lines of The Hardy Boys Meet The Time Machine. If it was a movie, it would earn a easy "PG" rating, and the author's writing style is as simple and straightforward as you might expect from a west Texas cowboy (albeit one who works as a Media Designer for Walt Disney Imagineering). There's never any doubt that the good guys are going to triumph, regardless of the sticky situations they fall into. In fact, if the two heros were really prototypical A&M students, people would be telling MIT jokes instead of Aggie jokes, because they seemed to know everything and know how to do everything, despite their youth.

The attraction of the book comes in the author's obvious love for and knowledge about the desert and its denizens, human and otherwise. I can't recall the last book I read that included the cooking and eating of prickly pear "tuna." There's even a glossary at the end of the book to explain many of the terms used in the novel.

As a long-time west Texan and science fiction fan, I enjoyed the combination of the genres, even though I had hoped for more, well, grittiness. This is a novel that would be equally at home in a church or junior high school library. The author is a Christian and while he doesn't explicitly weave Christianity into the plot, the overarching "good vs. evil" theme is often described in spiritual terms. And, of course, Tekoa is a region (and town) in Israel which was mentioned a number of times in the Bible.

If you think of yourself as an urbane cosmopolitan and you prefer Manolo Blahniks to Luccheses, you might want to pass on Tekoa. But, if you have any interest in this beautiful region of the country and don't mind dialing back your imagination a bit, you'll find this to be a pleasant summer diversion. You might even learn something.

Technorati tags: Tekoa | Joe Herrington | Marfa Lights

A Disaffected Moviegoer's Top 10

I feel a certain obligation to link to Jim's post of his Top 10 Movies, if for no other reason than I challenged him to do it.

Of the movies he listed, only two would likely make my list (if I were to make one, that is...I'm actually working on a meme with a more noble theme): the LOTR trilogy (I agree with Jim; it counts as one) and "The Empire Strikes Back." But, as I observed in a comment to his post, his descriptions of why he chose each movie are what make the list interesting...more so than the films themselves.

Thus, the other reason for linking to his post is more useful: it's a good read, especially if you share Jim's perception that Hollywood ran dry of inspiration a few years ago.

Time Warner Book Group: Viral Marketing via Blogs

Update (6/22): You can't swing a dead cat without hitting a Texas blogger who's been contacted by Time Warner to get a free copy of the book referred to below. I've heard from three others so far: Denise at Blue Sky in Texas, Rob at Snippets and Cowtown Pattie over at Texas Trifles. While this turn of events takes some of the self-congratulatory glow out of the "honor," it's still a compliment to the blogging community...recognition that blog buzz might really count for something. We'll see if the reality matches the expectation.

I received an email today from the manager of Online Marketing for the Time Warner Book Group asking if I was interested in reading and reviewing a new novel set in Texas. She had apparently found my short post about "The Kite Runner," and decided that I met all the qualifications to be a book reviewer: 1) I can read...or, at least, write, and 2) I command a vast audience now numbering in the high single digits (I found some new readers among distant relatives at the funeral today).

Seriously, though, I think this is an savvy marketing technique for TWBG, albeit a bit risky...and they deserve additional kudos for taking that risk. While I might question their judgment in including me on their list, they obviously recognize the potential of the blogosphere to provide meaningful buzz about products.

I'll provide more information once I have the book in hand (it's "in the mail"), but if you're a blogger who's also been contacted by TWBG, I'd be interested in hearing about it.

Mr. & Mrs. Smith

If you're a connie-sewer of that dismal art known as "serious film," you can skip this post and go back to perusing early 20th century Prussian silent movies. But if you're a fan of action movies starring drop-dead gorgeous people who don't take themselves too seriously, "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" is just what the doctor ordered.

MLB and I caught a late afternoon matinee and had a great time with it, as did the rest of the audience in the almost full theater. It's funny and fast-paced, and to those who will claim that the plot simply requires too much suspension of belief to be enjoyable, I have just one word: "Hero."

And here's something of a surprise: it's a great movie for married couples to see together. It delivers a strong message about the importance of honesty and open communication in a marriage, even if it's delivered in a less-than-serious fashion. The scenes of the Smiths' marriage counseling sessions that opened and closed the movie were wonderful.

The press has done a number on Brad and Angelina -- are they or aren't they, ad nauseum -- but regardless of what you think about their lifestyles or personal eccentricities, they're both undeniably easy on the eyes and very comfortable with each other on-screen. At times, it seemed like Jolie was simply reprising her Lara Croft role without the British accent and braid, but Brad continues to run a close second to Tom Hanks as the most likable on-screen actor in the business.

A nice plus was the musical score, which featured a pleasing combination of world music of indeterminate ethnicity, classic R&B and pop.

Unlike with ROTS, where I was squirming in my seat before the conclusion, "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" was good to the very end. I recommend it.

Technorati tag: Mr. and Mrs. Smith

Hack the King

Daniel over at From Behind the Wall of Sleep thinks he may have hacked the Burger King "Revenge of the Sith" scratch-off game. He's 7 for 7 with his system, which sounds pretty convincing to me.

I'm glad to see he's putting his awesome cryptological skills to good use! ;-)

Well, sure, when you put it like that...

In an implicit acknowledgement that the whole was less than the sum of its parts, James Lileks seeks refuge in Sith details.

It's not a bad strategy, of course. With few exceptions, the fascination of the Star Wars hexology (as my pal Mr. Freen calls it) has always hinged upon George Lucas' skill in crafting the throwaway scenes...those digital bits and pieces that keep you coming back in an attempt to perceive head-on what you sensed only peripherally the last time. As for Lucas, that's also not a bad legacy. How many directors can cast and maintain a grand vision without neglecting the individually insignificant details? In the sci-fi genre, I can think of only a few movies that come close; Blade Runner and Alien come immediately to mind.

As I stated earlier -- and Mr. Lileks confirms much more eloquently -- ROTS was an excellent 90 minute movie.

Technorati tags: ROTS | Blade Runner | Alien

He really is a good actor...

Russell Crowe deserves all the accolades he receives for his acting skills. After all, he's somehow able to convince us through his on-screen portrayals that he's a decent human being, someone worthy of emulation and respect.

But acting is, in the end, about bringing into existence that which doesn't exist. Such is the case with Crowe, who has garnered a commanding lead in the race for the Lifetime Achievement in Everyday Jerkiciousness.

Book Meme Redux

The pulchritudinous and erudite TulipGirl has tagged your humble scribe for a book meme, one that is similar to this one and yet different. Here 'tis:

1. Total books owned, ever: 1,843 (Go ahead...just try to prove me wrong!)


2. Last book I bought: "Hold the Enlightenment" by Tim Cahill - Cahill is perhaps the premier "adventure travel" writer, intentionally putting himself in strange and dangerous situations just so he can come back and write about them (assuming he survives). This book was published in 2003, but I just got around to buying and reading it. It's not his most entertaining work, but it is one of his most personal as he reveals hitherto unknown details about his life. He's in his sixth decade now, so the introspection is probably natural.


3. Last book I read: "'Scuse Me While I Whip This Out" by Kinky Friedman - The self-described Texas Jewboy -- who's getting some not-insignificant mileage out of his campaign to be the next governor of The Friendship State -- is a prolific author, but this is the first of his books I've read. It's a collection of stream-of-consciousness essays, mostly humorous, generally interesting but ultimately forgettable. I might still vote for him. With a campaign slogan of "Why the Hell Not?" I figure he's at least a match for The Governator. (Note: I really wanted to be able to say that the exquisite "The Kite Runner" was my last read, but that would be untrue. I picked up Kinky's tome as a light dessert following that wonderful entreé.)


4. 5 books that mean a lot to me:
   • The Bible - It's the Big Kahuna of, well, everything. I'm in my 15th consecutive year of reading it cover-to-cover, and I find new things every single time.
   • "Atoms and Evil" by Robert Bloch - This 1962 collection of short stories made me an incurable lifelong sci-fi junkie. They just don't write stories like this anymore.
   • "Designing with Web Standards" by Jeffrey Zeldman - This book has shaped and influenced my approach to every website I've built or worked on since I read it. If you're at all interested in web design, it's required reading.
   • "Pogo" by Walt Kelly - This was very likely the first book I bought with my own money as a child. I found it in a long-vanished bookstore (which may have just been a collection of haphazardly stocked shelves in someone's living room, now that I think about it) in my hometown of Fort Stockton, Texas. Walt Kelly's comic strips had allusions to things that I had no understanding about, but I found them hilarious just the same. His was a kinder, gentler and far funnier kind of political humor, and when we speak of the "good old days," we're surely referring to the times when Pogo still appeared in the daily funny paper. I still have the remnants of that 50-year old paperback, by the way. It has managed to survive several traumas, not the least of which was when MLB fell asleep in the bathtub while reading it.
   • "Introducing Poisonous Snakes" by V. J. Stanek - This is another book from my childhood, a thin hardback published in 1962 that probably contributed to my ambition to become a marine biologist (a plan which was working well until organic chemistry convinced me that I was better suited for a less, um, scientific career). This book is filled with low resolution black-and-white photos of deadly snakes from around the globe, and my imagination was sparked by exotic names like the Gaboon Viper, the Cascavela (Brazilian rattlesnake) and the Boomslang. (Interesting footnote: I just realized that this book was a gift to me and my brother by some old family friends. I'm not sure my brother ever realized that he was technically a co-owner. Wonder how that happened?)
   
   
5. Tag five people: I'm going to pass on this right now. If you'd like to participate, feel free to leave a comment to that effect and I'll give you a link, but it's late and I'm reluctant to do any unilateral tagging right now. Don't worry, Scott; you're not even on the radar screen.

Revenge of the Whatever

I might as well add my input to the billions of bits that have been posted thus far about "Revenge of the Sith." It was an excellent 90-minute movie. Unfortunately, actual running time is 140 minutes. The territory between those two borders is densely populated by the most boring dialog and wooden acting to plod across the big screen in years.

When "Sith" is good, it's extremely good. Alien landscapes have never been so intriguing nor machines of battle so intricate. The mano a mano duels were expertly staged and quite grown-up; this is, indeed, a PG-13 movie.

I had read that the depised Jar Jar Binks makes an appearance, but if he does, I missed it. (Could it have been during one of the interminable Anakin-Padmé conversational snoozers?)

But, in the end, I left thinking, "whatever happened to the fun that characterized the first three movies in the series?" So what if this was the best of the last three? It still felt like an effort to sit through it, to simply see on screen what we either knew or suspected all along.

I know there's a certain segment of the population which cannot wait until all six movies are available in one giant "Director's Cut" DVD collection, where they can be viewed in proper sequence. But I fear that the experience will prove disappointing. Here is the main problem with taking thirty years to put out six movies in an out-of-sequence fashion: the special effects technology has improved so dramatically that the final episodes (when viewed in their proper sequence) will not hold up well from that important perspective. But, fortunately, they'll have better dialog, better acting and much more fun to offset those weaknesses.

Technorati tag: Revenge of the Sith

Book Review: "The Kite Runner"

I've just finished a remarkable book, "The Kite Runner," by Khaled Hosseini. Even though I've entitled this post "Book Review," I'm not going to attempt to describe the book; I think the editorial and reader reviews at the Amazon.com link above do a far better job than I could. Suffice it to say that I started the book on Saturday and completed it this evening, and considering that it takes me an average of a month to finish a novel, to say that this was a compelling story would be a huge understatement.

Read it. You'll be glad you did. You might even thank me...a thousand times over.

As I thank fellow blogger Jimmy Patterson for loaning me his copy in exchange for my copy of Anne Lamott's latest book. I think I got the better part of that deal!

Technorati tags: The Kite Runner | Khaled Hosseini

"Unleashed" Surprisingly Good

We decided not to fight the "Sith" crowds and instead caught a matinee showing of "Unleashed" this afternoon. It was a good call;