My Year in Reading

Here is a little picture of the books I read this year and how I rated them on Goodreads:



For more specifics you can click here and see a more detailed list.

I ended the year by reading three absolutely amazing novels that are completely different from one another; Possession, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World and A Storm of Swords. Possession was extremely literary but also accessible and human. I have the film on my DVR currently but Aaron Eckhart and Gwynneth Paltrow seem like pretty terrible casting choices for Roland and Maud so I'm not expecting it to live up to the book. I am excited to see Lena "Cersei Lannister" Headey as Blanche Glover though. And speaking of George R. R. Martin properties A Storm of Swords has been my favorite of the series so far. Even though by being on Tumblr I had some major plot points spoiled there were still so many other things that came at me from nowhere. It was exciting, I started to like characters I had hated and think twice about characters that I loved and it makes me really happy that such a popular novel does things like that.

I ended the year with my first Murakami and loved it. It's the kind of novel that would have made me feel so cool to read in High School or college but I feel now I can just really enjoy it on its own merits as a thoughtful and ambiguous experience. I feel like I didn't really read enough books that left a lot unexplained and this kind of made up for it. It managed to be exciting, existential, sad, wacky, and very real all at the same time. I listened to the version of Danny Boy from Straight to Hell, Like a Rolling Stone, Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again, and Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands on repeat through the last few chapters and it enhanced the experience.

I had challenged myself to read 50 books this year and managed to surpass that once I decided to branch out into YA territory and realized it was faster for me to read 3 books concurrently than reading one-at-a-time. I wasn't sure if I'd make it because I started the year with the long and dense 2666 and even though it seemed like a bad idea at the time it was a great way to start the year off.

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Doppelgängland

Mick Jones and Stephen Mangan.



When I was watching the first episode of Free Agents and when I was watching an episode of Would I Lie To You?, my new panel show obsession (whatever, David Mitchell is awesome, ok?), that Stephen Mangan was on I would get weirded out regularly because it was like Mick Jones took a time machine at the height of The Clash's fame, when they weren't so stringent about hair length, traveled to the future and decided to do some comic acting and panel show appearances..

For an example of how they're not alike I was going to say that Mangan didn't seem like the type to (sometimes) front a band but apparently he was in a band. BUT that band was apparently a progressive rock band. So yeah, being in The Clash and being in a prog rock band assures that they fulfill the criteria of looking alike but being different. Although I think Mick Jones would be a lovely Would I Lie to You? guest. Imagine all the true stories he could tell.

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Friday Random 10: Shuffle vs. Genius

I haven't done this in like 100 million years and I figure that while I'm on a posting roll I might as well keep on going. I don't know why, but I suddenly feel the urge to resurrect my blog and I know I've made promises like this before but I really am going to start blogging here more often. I really want to and I'm going to make it stick this time. (If you couldn't tell I'm trying to convince myself more than anyone else). This is the first time I'm going to post a random ten on my new computer so it's going to look a little different since I have much easier screen capping abilities and I won't have to use the ridiculous and counter intuitive method I've used in t he past to post the song lists. Also, I don't really have all my music on my iTunes yet so keep that in mind. Anyway, here are the lists:

Starting Song: Rancid - Maxwell Murder





























Track by track comparisons after the jump.

Miss World vs. Ring Of Fire: I really do love both of these songs but I love Miss World (and most of Live Through This) more than just about anything. I do think Social D does an amazing version of covering a classic song but yea, like I said, I just love Miss World a little bit more. Round one goes to shuffle.

Sick on You vs. White Riot: This is such an easy one. It's definitely White Riot. Sick on You is ok. It's from a MOJO comp of like punk predecessors and I like the kind of cute halfhearted Ain't We Got Fun reprise at the end but if it hadn't come up as part of this feature I probably would have skipped it. Genius gets this round.

Junkie Slip vs. Beat on the Brat: I do like Junkie Slip. I want to start out saying that. I love Sandinista! I'm glad it's as long and ridiculous and weird as it is. Junkie Slip is, of course, not one of my favorite Sandinista! songs but it's also not one of my least favorite. I don't want my preference of Beat on the Brat to imply that I don't like either Junkie Slip or Sandinista! So with that out of the way Genius pulls ahead.

Greased Lightning vs. New Dark Ages: There are only a few Bad Religion songs that I like and New Dark Ages, a song I got as part of an iTunes bundle for using Ticketmaster, isn't one of them. I guess there was a point in my life, High School, where I thought I should really like Bad Religion but that was just posturing. I don't actually like them that much. Infected, Atomic Garden and 21st Century Digital Boy are pretty good songs but other than that I'm not really a fan. Less Than Jake's cover of Greased Lightning is also something that I liked a lot more towards the end of High School than I do now but it's still pretty fun and I wouldn't skip it if it came up on a non-blog related shuffle so Shuffle ties it up again in this round.

Every Little Bit Hurts vs. Armatage Shanks: Even though I hate having Clash songs lose at Shuffle vs. Genius, if Genius had picked a better song by Green Day it may have won. Armatage Shanks is just pretty forgettable. Also I really do like Every Little Bit Hurts, even though it does get a decent amount of flak from Clash fans. Sure it's a little whiny and maybe a little silly too, but whatever, I like it and too bad.

Main Title vs. Fall Back Down: This one is kind of hard because Fall Back Down is probably one of my least favorite Rancid songs and while I love the Once More With Feeling Soundtrack, the Main Title Music is just an upbeat instrumental version of the regular Buffy the Vampire Slayer theme song. I'm going to go with Fall Back Down just because it is a little more exciting and I feel like I'd be more likely to listen to it on a regular basis. So, even though shuffle pulled ahead last round Genius tied it back up again.

The Sound of the Sinners vs. Pretty Vacant: Sound of Sinners, definitely! Not just because it's rapture appropriate but it is just amazing and one of my favorite Sandinista! songs. Joe Strummer acting the part of manic preacher singing about the floods of God juxtaposed against tablets of Valium is fantastic. It's passionate and urgent and wry all at the same time. Pretty Vacant is definitely top three Sex Pistols songs but I just love Sound of Sinners more. Point for shuffle.

Most Likely You'll Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine vs. Marie Marie: I do like Ronson's version of the Bob Dylan song, even though I'm sure some think it's blasphemous. I kind of agree with his musical philosophy of putting horns on everything even though that maybe indicates that I have bad taste. I don't care. BUT I like the Buddy Holly cover better. It's a faster, harsher but still really simple version of the original and it's fun to dance to. Genius ties it up again.

This Song Has No Effect On You vs. Career Opportunities (demo): TIEBREAKER. Which is kind of unfair because I'm obviously picking the Clash over the local band. Maybe I wouldn't have 10 years ago but I am now. It's kind of a shame because I feel like This Song Has No Effect On You is one of the ASOB songs that has kind of held up for me over the years but there's no way, whatsoever that it's better than just about any clash song. Although I am annoyed that so much Clash came up, most of it was on shuffle, weirdly enough, so I can't hold it against genius in this case.

Genius won at the last minute, 5-4 and pulls further ahead of Shuffle with a score of 4-2. I'm kind of annoyed that there wasn't much diversity in either list (I'm currently getting a more interesting mix of songs while listening to iTunes). Shuffle behaved a bit like Genius, which is maybe why it lost. Shuffle shouldn't have tried to beat Genius at its own game.

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Long Tennis Post 1: A New Era and the Streak

Until I do two things: 1. Decide what to name my future tennis blog and 2. Decide whether I want to use Blogger or Tumblr, I'm going to post this and any other tennis posts here. This will be the first post on that hypothetical tennis blog since it’s the first thing that I've written with that express purpose.

Inspired by Sunday’s eventsI want to begin my tennis blogging by summarizing my take on the current atmosphere in men’s tennis. For the past few years that I've been paying attention (as well as several years prior), tennis was dominated by Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer and now it isn't. Sunday Novak Djokovic earned his second win of the year against Nadal on clay (which, coincidentally, is his second win against Nadal on clay ever) and his fourth win in a row against him this year which brings his record against Nadal from 7-16 to 11-16. The moment Djokovic won yesterday’s final in Rome I realized, with complete certainty, that men’s tennis is in the midst of a new era. Of course, the moment one recognizes the existence of a new era is not necessarily the moment the era started.

Even though at the beginning of the year Djokovic was just as undefeated as he is now, it didn't mean as much. Nadal not winning hard court tournaments against Djokovic isn't exactly surprising, Djokovic had already won a major so his winning the Australian Open wasn’t that surprising either, and neither Federer nor Andy Murray were playing their best tennis. Also, even though Djokovic beat Nadal in Madrid on clay, which was surprising, Madrid is at a higher altitude allowing for faster play. It was definitely a majorly important accomplishment for Djokovic but I don't think it was as important a win as Rome.

That's not to say that he wasn't playing impressively or even excellently, he definitely was, but Sunday when he beat Nadal a second time on clay, in a tournament that Nadal has won 5 times in the past 7 years, I became utterly convinced that tennis is in the middle of a new era. Although, I think that in the future the exact point this new era began will be recognized as either Djokovic's win over Federer at the US Open semi-finals in 2010 or when Robin Söderling ended Federer’s epic Grand Slam semi-final streak at last year’s French Open, depending on how dominating a force Djokovic is in the future.

Right now he’s invincible. In the past Djokovic, while always a threat, had the occasional tendency to choke, exit tournaments early, and double fault often. It's like Failvak Chokeavic (a nickname endearingly used on tennis forums by frustrated fans) has been eliminated completely. It’s as if Djokovic, to use a reference to True Blood, went to Miss Jeanette and stabbed a flawed version of himself in some hallucinatory ceremony and all that's left is an unbeatable player who makes few, if any mistakes and double faults rarely. Or, to use a Buffy the Vampire Slayer reference, it's as if Toth used his separation ray on Djokovic and the half with the concentrated strengths is keeping the weak half chained in Giles' book cage, always far enough away so that none of its weakness rubs off. Less interestingly, in reality it probably has more to do with better conditioning, mental toughness and maybe even a gluten free diet.

The one thing I'm not sure of is whether Djokovic would have won in Rome had Nadal been playing his absolute best tennis. I'm going to answer that with a probably. I do think that if Nadal was as good as he can be the score would have been closer, and it was close, but I think there would have been tiebreaks involved. Also I think that some part of Nadal’s loss was mental. I think that the whole reason Murray lost the semi-final to Djokovic was mental, and I think there has been a mental component in many of Djokovic’s wins since, let's say, Indian Wells. There were only a few times, however, when that mental advantage made even a sliver of a difference because of the level of tennis Djokovic has been playing.

I think there are only three ways Djokovic’s winning streak will end; either by injury, which would be terrible, and, sad, and unfitting, or defeat by either a 100% on-form Nadal who has gotten over any streak-related intimidation, or someone like Thomaz Bellucci, who has less to lose and doesn't feel much pressure. If this streak had happened at this time last year I would have added a long match on a hot day to the list of steak ending scenarios but I don't think that's a possibility anymore.

Elaborating on the 'someone with no pressure and nothing to lose' theory; unlike Nadal, or Murray, there was no expectation for Bellucci to beat Djokovic in Madrid. If he hadn't injured himself he might have won that match. It'll be interesting to see Djokovic's draw going into the French. Someone like Bellucci or Jürgen Melzer, who have so much ability but virtually no pressure could potentially pull off the elusive win over Djokovic.

Finally, I want to clarify that by saying that Djokovic's win in Rome is, basically, the final nail in the coffin of the Fedal era, I don't mean that whatever new era we're in is going to be a strictly Rafole era. Djokovic's streak has lasted 5 months which is ridiculous and awesome and lots of other superlatives but it is nothing compared to the length of the Fedal era.

It's exciting that the state of men’s tennis is in flux. The era is defining itself as tournaments go by and players distinguish themselves. Anything can happen. Federer could return to form, Murray could finally win a slam, Söderling could win the French after losing the last two finals, Juan Martin Del Potro could overcome his injuries, win a few more slams, and reclaim a spot in the top five, Milos Raonic could continue to live up to his potential and consistently be a major threat. It's all happening now. Bring on the French.

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Dinner Time Outrage

So, I was watching Real Housewives of Orange County during dinner because it is Sunday and there wasn't anything else on. It was the episode when one of the thin blonde women who isn't Vicki (I know this isn't that helpful but I really can't tell any of the others apart yet) got celebrity chef Susan Feniger to cook for her upcoming dinner party.

Her husband felt that Latin food wasn't good enough for his pool party. He had planned to serve steakhouse type food. If you're going to, presumably, spend a ton of money on a chef it's probably a good idea to actually know what kind of food she specializes in and then to not ask her to cook something completely different. Like maybe Google her or something. This is the actual first line of her Wikipedia page (emphasis, other than her name, mine): Susan Feniger is an award-winning American chef, restaurateur, cookbook author, and radio and TV personality considered to be a leading authority on Latin cuisine in the United States."

But no, they obviously just wanted someone with a 'name' and figured that if they paid her enough money she'd cook whatever food they wanted. Then, with no sense of irony, the husband asked her to make deep fried Oreos for dessert. Latin food for the main course, no way! Carnival food for dessert, awesome! There's obviously some implied, or even outright, racism there. Also I wonder if he would have had the same crappy, condescending reaction if Rick Bayless, a man, proposed to serve Mexican food at his pool party. If I had to guess I'd probably say no.

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