stephstuph.blogspot.com
Words Incorporated: Best of 2014: The Music Edition
http://stephstuph.blogspot.com/2014/12/best-of-2014-music-edition.html
Wednesday, December 31, 2014. Best of 2014: The Music Edition. So, organized randomly, is the list of my favorite tracks of—and released in—2014:. 2 Beneath the Brine, by The Family Crest. As one of the commenters said, "Sometimes you just need a big song for a big year." And this giant wall-of-sound song kind of captures the sheer drama that was 2014. 3 Fever, by the Black Keys. Somehow I hear Peggy Lee in this song, even if the only thing they really have in common is the title. It's actually hard to b...
stephstuph.blogspot.com
Words Incorporated: Best of 2014: The Television Edition
http://stephstuph.blogspot.com/2014/12/best-of-2014-television-edition.html
Friday, December 19, 2014. Best of 2014: The Television Edition. Television has gotten good. It's so good that when I watch older shows, I'm shocked at how bad they are in comparison. It's so good that I feel totally justified in watching TV over reading a book: they pack an equal intellectual punch. (I mean, they can. I mean, three of my top five have the word "black" in the title. Reflections, perhaps, of our rather trying times? 2 Orange is the New Black. 5 Brooklyn Nine Nine. What do you recommend?
stephstuph.blogspot.com
Words Incorporated: Cephalopod Coffeehouse: Above the East China Sea
http://stephstuph.blogspot.com/2015/01/cephalopod-coffeehouse-above-east-china.html
Friday, January 30, 2015. Cephalopod Coffeehouse: Above the East China Sea. I read five books this month, and I'll start with the best one, which I gave 5 stars to on Goodreads: Sarah Bird's Above the East China Sea. I went in with high expectations, having read and loved her novel The Flamenco Academy. A few years earlier. The narrative viewpoint of A bove the East China Sea. I also read two Michel Faber novels, Under the Skin. And The Book of Strange New Things. Shares elements with Under the Skin.
stephstuph.blogspot.com
Words Incorporated: The Paradox of Forgiveness
http://stephstuph.blogspot.com/2015/01/the-paradox-of-forgiveness.html
Thursday, January 8, 2015. The Paradox of Forgiveness. I listen to a lot of podcasts, and one episode that came out of a few days ago has really got my brain churning. Just as I get much more out of books by writing reviews when I'm finished, I think I'll get more out of podcasts if I review them as well. This review is long, so the most important bits I put in red type. Cut to those if you want the highlight reel. The episode I'm reviewing today is from a podcast called Philosophy Bites. From the paper:...
stephstuph.blogspot.com
Words Incorporated: Cephalopod Coffeehouse Review: Being Mortal
http://stephstuph.blogspot.com/2015/02/cephalopod-coffeehouse-review-being.html
Friday, February 27, 2015. Cephalopod Coffeehouse Review: Being Mortal. The best book I read in February, by far, was Atul Gawande's Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End. This nonfiction book (which has now been adapted into a Frontline production for PBS. Gawande recommends to doctors that they go through a specific set of questions to help people figure out what's important to them and how to get their needs met. What is your understanding of where you are and of your illness? February 28...
stephstuph.blogspot.com
Words Incorporated: The Glory of Battle
http://stephstuph.blogspot.com/2015/02/the-glory-of-battle.html
Sunday, February 22, 2015. The Glory of Battle. The Atlantic has an amazing piece. In its current issue, one which I recommend everyone take the time to read. It's a long piece about the ideology of ISIS, one that is deeply researched and revelatory. I consider myself pretty well-informed about the Middle East and Political Islam, but I was unaware of the big ideological differences between ISIS and Al-Qaida, and how those differences might (should) effect US strategy in the region. Add to the many other...
stephstuph.blogspot.com
Words Incorporated: Best of 2014: The Books Edition
http://stephstuph.blogspot.com/2014/12/best-of-2014-books-edition.html
Friday, December 26, 2014. Best of 2014: The Books Edition. By David Mitchell: Reading this novel was like watching a good season of Doctor Who, with magical timey-wimey vampire things instead of Daleks. We follow the life of Holly Sykes, whom we meet as a lovelorn teenager in 1980s England, and we follow into a post-apocalyptic near-future. Mitchell's previous novel, Cloud Atlas,. Had lots of narrators with their own distinctive voice, and he does that again here, though The Bone Clocks. Because there a...
tomcochrunlightbreezes.blogspot.com
Tom Cochrun /Light Breezes: September 2014
https://tomcochrunlightbreezes.blogspot.com/2014_09_01_archive.html
Tom Cochrun /Light Breezes. Words and pictures exposed to light. A space of notions, impressions and breezes. Text and photography by Tom. SUNRISE AT DEATH VALLEY-Photo by Tom Cochrun. Monday, September 29, 2014. PERPETUAL LIGHT-SELFIE HELP-HE'S BACK. If there was a Mount Rushmore of rock and roll, Brian Wilson would be up there. More than two hours of high energy performance and what you get is hit, after hit, after hit. Wilson's rapport with the audience was warm and genuine. It appeared as though ...