July begins on June 30 for PTI
On Pardon The Interruption, what seems to be an annual vacation during the month of July for hosts Tony Kornheiser and Mike Wilbon appears to have begun this week, starting today June 30. While there is no official word that the two regular hosts usually take most of the month of July off, I’d be surprised to see them together again for another four or five weeks. I hope that Bob Ryan can continue to fill in and that they don’t have to resort to using Patrick McEnroe like they did last year.
Comic book review: Astonishing X-Men Vols. 1-3
I read the Classic X-Men comic book when it was first published in the late 1980s and early 90s, which reprinted of issues 94 and up of Uncanny X-Men. After reading about 50 issues of it, taking me to around Uncanny X-Men 150, I started to find the stories losing their focus on what was the strength of the book: the characters. Most of the new characters that got introduced after X-Men #94/Giant Size X-Men #1 couldn’t compare to that lineup. It seemed as if each attempt to reinvent the X-Men tried but failed to recreate the impact that X-Men #94/Giant Size X-Men #1 had on the comic book world.
But nearly 20 years after I stopped reading X-Men, I decided to give the current X-Men comics a try. Too many different X-Men titles to choose from these days makes things somewhat confusing, but Astonishing X-Men stood out to me as having many of the characters of the Classic X-Men comics I enjoyed all those years ago.
I have read issues 1-18 of Astonishing X-Men, collected in three paperbacks: Volume 1: Gifted, Volume 2: Dangerous, and Volume 3: Torn. After not having read X-Men in so long, there were a few things I quickly discovered about recent storylines that may have helped to know before reading. But even still not knowing all of those details has not detracted from my enjoyment of these books. Professor X is in hiding somewhere, Colossus is supposedly dead, Jean Grey is really dead this time, and Emma Frost is now a member of the X-Men. Other than that, Cyclops, Wolverine, The Beast, and Kitty Pride have aged only slightly in the 20 years since I last knew these characters.
Writer Joss Whedon, of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer tv show, does a good job of bringing these characters to life while still retaining a sense of the past. And while parts of the story walk a fine line between rehashing the same old stuff from years gone by, such as the return of the Hellfire Club and the Danger Room being a threat, there are enough new and interesting twists and ideas for me to want to continue reading this series. Artist John Cassaday’s minimal backgrounds give the art a focus on the characters, which suits this book perfectly.
Astonishing X-Men is the perfect place to start reading X-Men if you have read the classic X-Men stories but haven’t read X-Men in years. But if you haven’t read X-Men at all, the place to start is with any of the various reprints of Giant Size X-Men #1 and Uncanny X-Men #94+.
Rating: 7.5 out of 10.
Book review: This Is Your Brain on Music
Even though I realize that words don’t come close to expressing any kind of meaning of music, that doesn’t prevent me from trying or from reading other people’s words about music. I have the belief that having more knowledge about music will increase my enjoyment of music.
So it was while browsing the music section of a local bookstore that sparked me to read This Is You Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession by Daniel Levitin. Even though I enjoyed the book, I don’t come away from it having many things to say about it. To briefly summarize the book, I would best describe it as the psychology of music, or how the human brain interprets and relates to music.
I found the first chapter about music theory to be nothing more than review for me, and I can say that I am not really interested in knowing what exact parts of the brain respond to and are responsible for processing music. Though this last topic is a rather small part of the book, it seemed to be dispersed throughout.
I did enjoy the author’s thoughts on rhythm, the role of music in human evolution, and various examples of perceptual illusions. Daniel Levitin writes in a way that is clear and easily understandable, which is actually not all that easy to do when writing about abstract notions such as music and psychology. And I appreciated the wide range of genres that the author used in order to illustrate his ideas through musical examples. This is not a book about classical music, or jazz, or rock. It is a book about music.
If you enjoy thinking about how and why music has such a profound effect on humans, you will most likely find this book interesting.
Rating: 7 out of 10.
Music review: Uncle Meat by Frank Zappa
Forget that Uncle Meat is the soundtrack to a movie that Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention started to make but never actually released until nearly 20 years later. Throw out the approximately 40 minutes of spoken dialog from the movie that is contained on the album. And don’t fret about Uncle Meat being a two CD set when the original two LP release could have easily fit on one CD if not for the aforementioned movie dialog.
Despite the above mentioned shortcomings, Uncle Meat is classic Zappa and contains some of his finest compositions in their definitive versions. Specifically, “Dog Breath,” “Mr. Green Genes,” and “King Kong” are three of Zappa’s best songs and/or themes that he would use throughout his career both in concerts and future records. While the lyrics to “Dog Breath” are not anything insightful, the melody itself is good enough for Zappa to rearrange it for a symphony orchestra. “Mr. Green Genes” would appear in a jazzed up instrumental version as the “Son of Mr. Green Genes” on Hot Rats. “King Kong” is an instrumental piece to begin with, and is composed of numerous variations based on the main theme. An interesting note about “King Kong” is that the main theme has been used as Lisa Simpson’s saxophone solo in the intro to several episodes of The Simpsons.
There are a number of other notable instrumental tracks on Uncle Meat, such as the “Uncle Meat Variations,” “A Pound for a Brown on the Bus,” and “Project X.” Uncle Meat also contains examples of Zappa’s Edgard Varese influenced “musique concrete,” such as “Zolar Czakl” among others. Other notable non-instrumental tracks include “Cruisin’ for Burgers” (about the teenage joy of owning a fake ID), “Electric Aunt Jemima” (the name of one of Zappa’s amplifiers – he was really into naming inanimate objects), and “The Air” (Uncle Meat’s dose of doo-wop). In addition, Uncle Meat contains some other live tracks that don’t really fit into any type of category, such as the Mothers of Invention belting out the tune “Louie Louie” at the Royal Albert Hall in London and “God Bless America” being played on the kazoo live at the Whiskey a Go Go.
The eclectic mix of songs on Uncle Meat make for a great example of the full range of Zappa’s genius. Just skip the 40 minutes of film excerpts and you have one of Zappa’s best albums.
Rating: 9 out of 10.
Book review: Star Wars: Legacy of the Force, Book 9: Invincible
Star Wars Legacy of the Force Book 9: Invincible concludes the Legacy of the Force series in a rather predictable way. While Invincible is a better book than the previous two entries in this series, that isn’t saying much. My biggest disappointment stems from the fact that the Legacy of the Force series seemed at first to be taking the Star Wars Expanded Universe in new directions. But by the conclusion of Invincible, the story of Jacen Solo ends up mirroring the story of his grandfather (Darth Vader) a little too closely, giving the entire series a “been there, done that” feeling to it.
I feel as though after reading the nine books in this series that I should say a little more to summarize my feelings about these books, but the truth is that the last four books did not inspire me enough to do so.
Rating: 5.5 out of 10.
Book review: Star Wars: Legacy of the Force, Book 8: Revelation
My expectation for Star Wars: Legacy of the Force, Book 8: Revelation was that it would be significantly better than Book 7: Fury. Revelation is the penultimate book of the Legacy of the Force series and I assumed that events would draw closer to an ending. And I have enjoyed all of the other Star Wars books that Karin Traviss has written, those both included in this series and otherwise.
The first 100 pages or so of Revelation met my expectations, but after that the book devolved into many of the same problems that plagued Book 7. This includes a sense that the story being told in the three most recent books is being dragged out simply for the purpose of filling an arbitrary 9 book series (three trilogies by three authors). With the other books in this series written by Karis Traviss, the plot line involving Boba Fett at first seemed questionable as to the part Fett plays within the larger story, but when Fett appeared in the series it was enjoyable. In Revelation, Boba Fett seems to be in the story just to have Boba Fett in the story. And the “revelation” of the story is not revelatory to the reader, but simply to the characters. While Revelation was better than Fury, it was still a disappointment.
Rating: 5 out of 10.
Book review: Star Wars: Legacy of the Force, Book 7: Fury
Star Wars: Legacy of the Force, Book 7: Fury by Aaron Allston is a disappointment. I have been enjoying the Legacy of the Force series very much. It has been a return to focused storytelling that concentrates on the main characters in the Star Wars universe. Significant and unexpected events have occurred throughout this series which have only added to the enjoyment of it. The most significant event in this series is Jacen Solo’s turn to the dark side. Throughout the first six books in this series, Jacen’s actions and motivations have been very believable. But where Fury fails is in the fact that I as a reader can no longer believe Jacen’s actions and motivations. I realize that this may be intentional, but he went from being a thinking man’s Sith to acting like the pouty teenager that his grandfather Anakin Skywalker was. While reading this book I simply wanted to get through it hoping that the upcoming book 8 in this series would be better than this.
Rating: 4 out of 10.
Jay Bruce
In case you hadn’t noticed, the Cincinnati Reds called up top prospect Jay Bruce from the minor leagues last Tuesday. In the 7 days he’s been in the big leagues, Bruce has only gone 15 for 25 with three homers, seven RBIs, and six walks. That gives him a batting average/on-base percentage/slugging percentage of .577/.667/1.038. That’s a slugging percentage of 1.038, not an OPS. That gives him an OPS of 1.705. All that adds up to one of the best debut weeks that I have ever seen in Major League Baseball.
I do realize that the history of baseball is littered with tons of guys who start their major league careers on a hot streak only to see their flame burn out rather quickly. But Bruce has already been named the minor league player of the year last year and his hot start in the majors just shows me that he is the real deal. Will he continue to have an OPS of 1.705? Obviously not. But of all the current crop of great young talent in the major leagues right now, Jay Bruce looks to be the cream of that crop.
