"Lean Mean Thirteen : A Stephanie Plum Novel" by Janet Evanovich : The late R R & R Review

I actually finished this a couple of days ago. My friend Linda recommends the series highly. Stephanie Plum is a bounty hunter who always seems to find herself in trouble. This is a comedy and it's a lot of fun, a good, fast, light read. Best part for me is there is a character named "Ranger" :>) Stephanie's friend Lula is a hoot. The plot involves Stephanie's ex-husband's disappearance and his involvement with a shady law firm... but the plot is not that important. There are amusing side stories involving Stephanie's bounties, including a whacked-out taxidermist. Stephanie is also juggling two men by the way. Lots of fun. Ranger Brad say check it out if you want a fun, light read...

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"Woman Of The Year" (1942) : The R R & R Review

This is wonderful. This is what they're talking about when it's said "They don't make 'em like that anymore". This is Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn's first film together of many. The rapport is obvious ; she is beautiful and there are lots of nice closeups of her. They are two reporters who get married ; she is self-absorbed but comes around in the end. The final sequence where she sneaks in to cook breakfast but obviously knows nothing about cooking is comic genius. Also, the scene where he tries to explain baseball to her. Really, what else do you need to know... this is a treasure...

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"Time Bomb" by Jonathan Kellerman : The R R & R Review

I was disappointed with this one. The premise sounded good : psychologist Alex Delaware is called in by his detective buddy Milo when a sniper opens fire on a crowded school playground, to assist with the traumatized children ; later is asked by the sniper's father to do a "psychological autopsy" of her. In the middle of that, uncovers a bizarre, elaborate Nazi conspiracy. In the meantime, strikes up a romance with the principal. Sounds like it would be exciting, but much of this is a talk fest, on top of that, a lot of the dialogue and stereotypes are downright silly. The principal Dr Linda Overstreet drones on for pages about something that happened in her past to Alex, and it ends up not having anything to do with anything in the story. This is all too bad ; it could have been an interesting story if handled right. By the way, have you ever heard an adult bad guy call his foe a "turd"... well, it happens here(groan). It is kind of redeemed at the end by one of those twists at the end that I like... all in all, though, I would not recommend this highly...

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Shopping Adventures With My Neighbor

Neither my neighbor or I have transportation, so a couple of times recently she has asked if I wanted to come along when she had a ride from another neighbor to get groceries. I have and it has been a big help... but she is a trip to shop with. First time we went to Sams and she kept to my side giving "suggestions" on what I should get. Really made me nervous as I could tell she was not that worried about blowing her wad as I was mine. Still, I'm glad I went, spent quite a bit(she easily had me beat, even had to put things back) but stocked up pretty well. I like to buy a little over several trips, she obviously wants to try to get everything in one trip!

The other time was last night at Target. She was sick and said she didn't want to be there long, so I said sure. Well, "not long" turned out be about 3 hours! I should have known... luckily this time she wanted to split up... and she spent about 3 times what I did! Never a dull moment shopping with her, but I'm grateful she lets me tag along...

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Totally Useless Music Records

If you have ever wondered what artist has the longest album title, this is your lucky day...

Fiona Apple had the record from 2001-2007, was even in the Guinness Book of World Records, with her second album, this 90 word mouthful :

When the Pawn Hits the Conflicts He Thinks Like a King What He Knows Throws the Blows When He Goes to the Fight and He'll Win the Whole Thing 'Fore He Enters the Ring There's No Body to Batter When Your Mind Is Your Might So When You Go Solo, You Hold Your Own Hand and Remember That Depth Is the Greatest of Heights and If You Know Where You Stand, Then You Know Where to Land and If You Fall It Won't Matter, Cuz You'll Know That You're Right

In Oct 2007, some band named Soulwax took over with the 103 word :

Most of the remixes we've made for other people over the years except for the one for Einstürzende Neubauten because we lost it and a few we didn't think sounded good enough or just didn't fit in length-wise, but including some that are hard to find because either people forgot about them or simply because they haven't been released yet, a few we really love, one we think is just ok, some we did for free, some we did for money, some for ourselves without permission and some for friends as swaps but never on time and always at our studio in Ghent.

One hit wonder Chumbawamba took the title in 2008 with the 156 word :

The boy bands have won, and all the copyists and the tribute bands and the TV talent show producers have won, if we allow our culture to be shaped by mimicry, whether from lack of ideas or from exaggerated respect. You should never try to freeze culture. What you can do is recycle that culture. Take your older brother’s hand-me-down jacket and re-style it, re-fashion it to the point where it becomes your own. But don’t just regurgitate creative history, or hold art and music and literature as fixed, untouchable and kept under glass. The people who try to ‘guard’ any particular form of music are, like the copyists and manufactured bands, doing it the worst disservice, because the only thing that you can do to music that will damage it is not change it, not make it your own. Because then it dies, then it’s over, then it’s done, and the boy bands have won

Aren't you glad to know this? Maybe I can win the record for longest blog now... hee hee hee

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My Adventure On Greyhound : From Texas to Arizona and even Vegas

I will never forget when I had vacation time and decided to get adventurous and take the Greyhound to visit my aunt and uncle in Arizona. It was an experience like never before. For the bus trip I brought along a silly book by David Feldman called Imponderables and a tape collection I had made(way back in the days of cassettes!) compiling all the songs I had of Donna Summer from A-Z. Boy, did I have free time or what... I got the idea for that from a station presenting the Beatles from A-Z. Anyway, it was a blast going through the little towns along the way, with all the scenery, El Paso, New Mexico, though it was late night when we passed through there and missed most of it. I had serious "bus lag" when I got to Arizona and slept for a while! Arizona is really beautiful, I love all the mountains and desert. The Grand Canyon is awesome, but didn't see it on that trip, I saw it when I was way young. When my aunt had to go to work, my uncle took me up to Vegas to visit my cousin and sight see. I didn't see much of the Strip but I have done my fair share of gambling in Louisiana and Oklahoma. It was a fun trip, I'm glad I stepped out of the comfort zone and made it!

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Radio Disc Jockeys

This is something I think about sometimes. Mainly I wonder why in this computerized age, they haven't been more phased out. I listened mainly to Jack FM for years, partly for the wild variety of music (anything from 80's pop, classic rock, 90's grunge, even things like Atomic Dog every now and then!), but mostly because there are no DJs or annoying DJ chatter. I finally had to kick them to the curb for the most part, as they butcher a lot of classic rock songs (Free Bird, Won't Get Fooled Again, etc...) and I cannot tolerate that. I now listen to LoneStar 92.5 ; the DJs are not very intrusive, they only speak after a set of songs and not for long. As I think about it, DJs are even less necessary these days, as I guess the main function used to be to identify song titles and artists... but now you can find all that on the station's web site. Maybe a lot of people still want a little human touch these days when a lot of times it's hard to make a call without getting some kind of recording. There will also always be a need for traffic and weather information. I imagine though eventually human DJs will be more and more phased out...

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