I like July. There are three cool things about July. The Fourth, my sister's birthday, and of course, my birthday.
I'll be 38 this year. Just in case you were keeping track. I won't tell you how old my sister's gonna be. I don't care what you're tracking.
Other than that though, there is nothing cool about July. Especially not up here in the devil's tanning salon. We keep the windows blocked, the A/C blasting, and the fridge stocked with Otter Pops. As is the way of things.
Anyway, since there will be no going outside, there are all kinds of time for static entertainment, and this heatwave just happens to coincide with my new Wednesday format.
Wednesday's Week in Review:
A review blog of last week's things (mostly TV, Movies, Music, Books) but other things too, I haven't decided nor will I strike up the limitations while I'm experimenting.
Anyway, lets gather round a see what I've embibed:
Week in TV:
This week, possibly most of the month, has been dedicated to shoveling three seasons of Falling Skies, a TNT show (Alien invasion, human rebellion, Think Red Dawn with monsters instead of commies, and Noah Wiley in the Patrick Swayze role). We kinda sorta always wanted to watch it, but couldn't find it streamable. The discs were available, but we hadn't pulled the trigger, cause, well, things. But the fourth season started last week and we figured it might be fun to see if we could catch up and start it like real people do. It's good. We like it. It's no Firefly, so put your credit card back in your wallet, but when it does become streamable, its worth the time.
Week in Music:
My step-son burned me Katy Perry's 'New' album. I say 'New' because that's how he described it, but we're talking like, October of 2013, so even though I'm not as fully up to date in the Pop world as I used to be, I'm still half a decade ahead of the rest of you almost thirty eighters. And since she'd been releasing singles from this album for ten months, I'd already heard a good chunk of it.
I must say, as a general rule, I don't find popstars to be as dissapointing as the rest of my musicologist friends. Frankly, I know what goes into writing and producing a pop song, and I can promise you, there is a craft to it. And Katy Perry is just as much a Pop music craftsman(person?) as Steve Vai is a guitar player. She has a killer voice with ridiculous tonal range. She has an alien instinct for a catchy melody, and if you listen close, she's got a knack for inserting mid-verse rhyming schemes that are Cole Porter-esque. She also is fearless when it comes to stressing odd syllables in her lyric line, which some might think is sloppy, but allows her to say what she wants to say outside of the moon-june pattern. I do that a lot myself.
If I were to say anything negative it would be that this album is missing some of the thematic complexity of her earlier stuff, her producers are a bit lazy (been-there-done-that) and the recent single "Dark Horse" is not only seriously in need of an actual chorus, but also kind of a lame attempt at reproducing Lorde's EDM sound.
However, could I do better? Probably not.
Week in Movies:
I watched The Lego movie at dad's house over the weekend. But that was it. Well done, funny stuff.
Week in Books:
This week, I grabbed Plato's Republic off of my shelves, because I was in a hurry looking for something to read during Calvin's tennis lessons, and I noticed that the spine of the paperback was 'like-new' I can't abide a paperback in my collection that isn't well worn. Makes me look like a dilettante. Anyway, I don't remember why it was there, if I bought it or if it was a gift, but I thought I should probably dive in seeing as how it's one of those books smart people have to read in college.
I got through the introduction and a quarter of the way through Book I and then put it down. Plato's main character, Socrates, is a bore. If you would like a better philosophy of leadership, go back a few thousand years to Lao Tzu's 'Tao Te Ching' and if you would like to read real life examples of leadership in action, read Kearne's 'Team of Rivals'
I'm not saying there aren't kernals if insight in Plato's Republic, but the characters are no fun to spend time with, and if you don't want to spend time someone, best not to invite them to cuddle with you on the couch under the A/C vent in the beginning of July.
Again, this is a new format, so thank-you for reading. Please feel free to comment, or voice a hostile opinion.
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