I love cover songs. When one artist is covering a song with a well-known version by another artist, I can't help but think of the earlier version while listening to the new one. The contrast between the old and new versions in my head creates musical tension unlike any original performance. Case in point: Here is 70-year-old Shirley Bassey's awesome cover of Pink's "Get The … [Read more...] about Get The Party Started
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Well, Amazon Order Tracking says that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is on the way. The shipping origin is right here in Illinois, so when Amazon shipped it yesterday, it only took three hours to reach Chicago, but Amazon put in a request to hold the package until tomorrow. I actually thought about driving over to the UPS depot that serves my area to try to pick it up … [Read more...] about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Whose Freedom of Religion?
Members of the religious right sometimes complain that Christians like themselves are losing their religious freedom. In my experience, those complaining loudest are all too often deploring the loss of "rights" such as the right to have government-paid teachers force children to recite prayers, or the right to force everyone else in the country to use the same definition of … [Read more...] about Whose Freedom of Religion?
The End of the Harry Potter Series
[Be sure to read the comments: I wrote the first few of these here, but a lot of people have contributed some truly funny endings.] The end of the Harry Potter series, as written by Mario Puzo (The Godfather) : Replacing the fallen Dumbledore as head of Hogwarts, Professor Minerva McGonagall proves to have balls of steel. In a well-coordinated series of carefully-timed … [Read more...] about The End of the Harry Potter Series
John From Cincinnati – Review
John From Cincinnati is all about angry stupid people. But not uninteresting angry stupid people. The show was created by David Milch, co creater of NYPD Blue and Deadwood. Set in the California surfing town of Imperial Beach, the show is in some sense a family drama, revolving around the spectacularly dysfunctional Yost family and their equally disturbed and tortured … [Read more...] about John From Cincinnati – Review