brainsplotch

(The fourth in my series of Tragically Hip album overviews, in which I investigate the discography of this criminally undervalued Canadian band). Fully Completely was the Tragically Hip's artistic and--at least in Canada--commercial breakthrough. Recorded in England with producer Chris Tsangarides (best known for his work behind the boards for heavy metal bands), Fully Completely  was the slickest recording of the Hip's career to that point. Some, myself included, argue that the album is overly-produced and too slick, but the point of the album was to break the band commercially, and perhaps a conscious effort to break away from spontaneous, live feel of the first few albums and make an obvious "studio" album. Whatever the Hip or Tsangarides were thinking, and I can't pretend to read their minds, the strategy worked brilliantly in Canada, where the album hit #1 on the charts and spawned six singles. Unfortunately, the United States and the rest of the world rem...

This post is about The Natural, a book that--after seeing the movie--it "only" took me 36 years to get around to reading. Do I need to write a synopsis of the plot? Should I assume everyone knows about it by now? If not, here you go: young talented baseball pitcher Roy Hobbs is on a train to Chicago for a tryout with the Cubs. Once he arrives in Chicago, he is seriously injured in a tragic event (no spoilers). Fifteen years later, having bounced around and somewhat rebuilt his life and reclaimed his baseball talent, Roy is called up by the fictional New York Knights. Stuff happens: some great, some bad. (Once again, no spoilers). I had always heard that The Natural (the book) was quite different from movie version, and this is definitely true.   The book is darker—much darker than the movie. Roy Hobbs is, well, kind of a jerk. Not always a jerk, but frequently a jerk. He is far from the heroic version played by Robert Redford in the movie. Hobbs is certainly a bit clue...

  I thought I'd take some time off from political ranting to talk about one of the benefits of this pandemic, which is my older son exposing me to and teaching me the pleasure of anime.   I have already written a little bit about One Piece in here, now I'll talk a bit about Great Teacher Onizuka. It's a show that ran from 1999-2000 and focuses on 22-year-old Eikichi Onizuka. Onizuka is a bleach-blond former gang member who is trying to get on the straight-and-narrow by becoming a middle school teacher at an elite private school. The trouble is Onizuka is preternaturally incapable of being anywhere near the straight-and-narrow. Much of the bizarre humor of the show derives from Onizuka being a 22-year-old horn dog virgin (yes, virgin!) with, shall we say, "unorthodox" methods of dealing with his students.   The humor of the show is often cringe worthy, since Onizuka is attracted to the female students he is supposed to be teaching. (In my recent manga/anime educat...

The world continues to be a crazy place. Here are some musings I have had recently:   If you think that the whole ridiculous politicization of masks is bad, just wait until the day we (I hope) have a vaccine for COVID-19. There will be plenty of people who will not want to get it, and they will largely be the same people who refuse to wear a mask. And think of how crazy the battle has been over opening schools in the fall. How will we deal with vaccinating kids for the virus? Will children not be allowed in public schools unless they are vaccinated. (I limit this to public schools because presumably private schools will be able to do as they wish). Considering how terrible our health insurance is in the United States, what happens with coverage of a vaccine? I hope that children will be able obtain a vaccine either free of charge or for a limited cost.   I feel particularly bad for my older son, who was hoping to attend college in Germany beginning in the 2020-21 sch...

I don't like the Fourth of July under normal circumstances, but this year it was particularly depressing. But hey, at least I didn't have to go to any annoying fireworks display, dealing with mobs of irritating people. I just had to listen to people in my neighborhood blowing stuff up until midnight--though it sounds like I had it better than others in my area, who had amateur fireworks making noise until 1:30 AM. It was a strange Independence Day overall. The only "normal" part of it was grilling burgers and hot dogs. In any event, that is about as close to the typical form of celebration I ever choose to do on the Fourth of July.   If I ever go to a fireworks display, it is out of a sense of obligation. I enjoy the visual display of professional fireworks (though they are pretty much all the same) but the worst part of them is getting there, dealing with mobs of annoying people, and then trying to get the hell out when it's over. At least I didn't have to...

One thing I have been thinking recently: Is Trump really stupid, or is he just very smart in pretending to be stupid. I'd say he is street savvy and not book smart (at all). I doubt he's read a book in his life, and his father bought him his degree from Penn. I could further go off on this piece of shit occupying the White House, but I think you all know how I feel about him and honestly right now I don't feel like wasting any more time writing about this racist, bloated sack of shit.   Covid-19 cases are back up. Did we re-open too soon? Are the people who are "over it" (or were never "with it" to begin with) to blame? Of course, the vacuum in leadership in Washington contributed to this and continues to contribute to this disaster. And as this pandemic has sadly shown, we are largely a nation of spoiled arrogant fools.   And now that Covid-19 is seriously kicking our asses again, we have re-entered a phase in which I am paranoid about everything. I am ...

Bars in Florida opening to soon and people getting sick. Americans are selfish and stupid, reflected in the selfish and stupid president.   Things I miss: stopping by Replay Exchange or Flat, Black & Circular after work. Replay is closed and, though FBC is open, I just don't feel ready to hang out at a record store right now. In fact, there is no place I feel like "hanging out" right now.   ---   I have taken several days between the first part of this post and now. Friends and family are all that are keeping me from losing my mind.   Where to even start. The COVID-19 cases continue unabated in this country, and have I mentioned that our "president" is an utter disgrace? We aren't simply the laughing stock of the world, we are flat-out  pitied by the world. I never thought I'd live to see the day when the United States was pitied by the global community.   Alright, enough ranting for now.   What else is in the news? How about Aunt Jemima...