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When I got off work today at 4 it was 106 degrees.

Five on Friday: Neko Case

Another favorite of mine, Neko Case, is my 5 on Friday.  Ms. Case also sings with the group The New Porngraphers.  She has been compared to the country legend Patsy Cline many times in reviews of her work.  Regardless she has a voice that is unique in today's marketplace. The second song on the set "Christmas Card From A Hooker..." just sends chills down my spine everytime I listen to it.

As always go over to Trav's site to see more selections.

More on Rizzoli and Isles

Started to watch the second episode that I had taped the other day and got about five minutes into it and turned it off.  I still haven't decided if I'm going to turn it back on again or not.  I know a tv show or movie is vary (almost never) as good as the book.  If you get lucky it captures the book's spirit and can move you in different ways than the printed word did.  But this show....

Dr. Maura Isles is the scientist, she's the Medical Examiner. It's established that she's smart in the books.  In the books she's somewhat cold, aloof, hard to get to know.  Her and Jane (the Rizzoli of the title and a police detective) are friends, but it's a strained, not hang out at the bar type of friendship.  I can forgive the show for making them closer, it works better on the screen I would imagine, having them be better friends so they can spend more time together.  For large parts of the books, their paths don't cross until the murder scenes.

But what I'm finding harder to forgive and harder to want to watch is their quick cliched characterization of Dr. Isles.  Since she's smart she has to be weird.  In the second episode she's wearing some sort of wet suit type covering that is supposed to keep her cool in the heat.  She's watching a ball game and ends up at bat, with the hood pulled up and looking like she belongs on the set of "The Big Bang Theory" not a police show.  Why does being smart have to mean being strange?  Nowhere in the books is this part of her character.

As far as the books go, I'm down to only three left to read.  And this series just gets better as it goes along.  It really is very good.  I'm enjoying it a lot.  Unfortunately I can't say the same for the tv show.

The ABCs of Music

As everyone knows I've been having problems with my Ipod and getting the music to it.  Well, I've hopefully solved that problem, or as much of it as I'm going to.  Anyways I had it hooked up in my car and have been driving around.  Now when I listen to my Ipod in the car I almost always listen to it on shuffle, so I can hear a wide range of different artists.  And it was doing that.  It started with AC/DC by Joan Jett.  I wasn't paying too much attentiion.  Later I hear Albeline by Dave Alvin.  It was only after I heard Absolutely Sweet Marie by Dylan and than by Jason and the Scorchers that I realized that it was playing all the songs in alphabetical order.  I've left it, it's interesting.  I'll hear different versions of the same song, sometimes by the same singer, sometimes by different artists.  So far Acuff-Rose by Jeff Tweedy has had the most versions.  I didn't realize how many live versions of it I had by him, and than a couple by Uncle Tupelo and I think even at least one by Wilco.  But I'm still in the A's.  Lots of songs with After as the first word in the title.

Five on Friday: Alejandro Escovedo

This weeks' 5 on Friday is in honor to my Ipod losing all the music for Alejandro Escovedo.  I had all his albums on my Ipod and with all the problems I've been having between the new computer and the Ipod they've vanished.  Luckily I still have all the physical albums so I can go back and put them on.  

One of my favorite concerts I've seen was by Mr. Escovedo.  It was at the Parish over the House of Blues and it was just Escovedo and one other guitar player.  They sat on stools and played his music while he talked to us and gave the audience a history of the songs.  An amazing night.

Remember go check out Trav's site for more 5 on Friday.

And So It Begins Again....

Here comes Bonnie.

Rizzoli and Isles

The new TNT series Rizzoli and Isles is bases on a series of novels by Tess Gerritsen.  I watched the first episode mainly because I like Angie Harmon and Sasha Alexander and was interested in seeing them in something new.  Unfortunately the show isn't that original.  In many ways it's just another buddy cop show, this one starring two female leads.  There's a few bright spots, mainly the two characters and their relationship.  Hopefully they'll continue to improve the show and it will get better.

The show did make me pick up one of the books and let me tell you how much I enjoyed the book.  Enough that I went out and bought five more volumes in the series.  I think I"m only missing two of the books right now.  I've already read three of them.  These are really good.  Where the tv show lacks in originality the books more than make up for them.  The two characters are so strong in the book, I really hope the tv shows ends up showing more of that.

I'll keep reading the books and I'll watch the show for awhile longer, hoping it gets bettter.

My Ipod is Back!

At least it seems to be.  It's been the worst time trying to get my music from my Ipod to my computer and back to my Ipod after I bought a new computer.  I cannot understand why Apple makes this so difficult.  Don't they think people will buy a new computer now and then?  I ended up buying and downloading Media Widget to transfer the music back and forth, but at first that didn't seem to work either.  (I tired the one you suggested Holly, but realized it was Mac only, I have a PC, but thanks for the suggestion.)

It took forever once it started working, but I seem to have my music back on the computer and the Ipod.  Except I have noticed at least one artist missing.  I had about ten albums of Aljerando Ecscovedo and for some reason they aren't on there.  I'm going to have to investigate more, but it said it downloaded 21,000 and change songs, so I know that was the majority of them.  Still it's a pain that I'm going to have to go back and download some things again.

But overall I'm happy.  This has been a major headache for the last week or two.

Where's the comics?

While on the subject of the Comic Con.   Last week's issue of Entertainment Weekly was their Comic Con Special.   So you would have thought they might have actually mentioned comic books.  Maybe talked a little about comic books.   Nope, all their talk was about tv shows and movies.  Yes, they were shows or movies based on comic books, but still.....if you're going to do a Comic Con Special, at least talk a little about comic books.

Comic Con

The San Diego Comic Con International started today.  This is the big one.  Over 100,000 people will be there. It's been seven years since I've went and in that time it's grown by leaps and bounds.  There is serious talk about moving to L.A. or even Las Vegas, the con has taken over the entire convention center and needs more room to grow.  The sell out of tickets to the four day even almost a year ahead of time now.

Fiction Wise Who I Write Like

I decided to try the Who I write like again.  The first time I used some writing from a blog post.  This time I figured I would use something from some fiction I've done.  I used a few paragraphs from "Last Fair Deal" and this time I got someone that I am more than just familiar with, but someone that I am a big fan of.  I could only wish I write like him.

I write like
Neil Gaiman

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Amanda Shaw at Louisiana Music Factory

This was from back around Jazz Fest time.  I didn't make it to Jazz Fest this year, but Louisiana Music Factory had a show that consisted of Amanda Shaw, Shannon McNally, Lil Band of Gold and Theresa Andersson and I did manage to make it there.  This is from Amanda's set and she starts off with what I think is one of her best songs "Good Southern Girl."  And the guy in the black and white ball cap with the blue shirt in the front is me.

Who Do You Write Like?

To see who you write like go here.  Now this is who it says I write like.  I guess I should go buy something by Cory Doctorow and actually read what he writes.  I know the name, he's a science fiction writer, but I haven't read too much in that genre in years.

I write like
Cory Doctorow

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

5 on Friday

I really feel bad about not joining this before.  My friend Travis over at Trav's Thoughts started this longer ago than I want to think about.  I've always meant to play, but somehow never managed to get around to it.  So I plan to make up for it now.  Hopefully this will become a Friday staple around here now.

For my first 5 on Friday I have picked five songs from one of my favorite singers that not enough people have heard about.  His name is Will Hoge and he's from Nashville.  If you had to classify his sound I guess it would fall into the genre of Americana, good luck figuring out what that actually is.  To me Will just makes great music and has put on some of the best shows I have ever seen.  If you've ever visited my site Voices to hear you know how big a fan of Will I am and I consider his show at Bonnaroo one of the best shows I have ever had the privilege to experience.

Trav's rules are pretty simple if you want to play:

1. Grab the banner, make your post title Five on Friday, and be sure to link back here.
2. Go to Playlist.com to make your play list of five songs. You may choose a particular theme to share with us, or post random tunes if that's your vibe for the day. You can simply post the play list, or you can add a little summary about what you are sharing.
2a. Don't feel restricted by the tracks listed on Playlist.com. And don't be discouraged if the Embed code won't work. You're welcome to use any type of media to share your Sets.
3. Be sure to sign Mr Linky so everyone can visit your Set.
4. No tags, but feel free to invite your friends to play along if they need a post topic on a Friday.

Bettye LaVette

This woman has an amazing voice.  I saw her at Jazz Fest a few years ago and she puts on a great show.  This is from her new album Interpretations; The British Rock Songbook.

Evo and Iphone

Whatever you say about Apple, one thing you can't deny is that they know how to promote their products.  I'm not an Apple hater, I have an Ipad and Ipod.  If the Iphone wasn't on AT&T  I would probably own an IPhone. But I have an Evo, an Android phone from Google on Sprint.  Some people don't like Google either.  I don't have an issue with them either.  I really like my Evo.  (I know, I know, I said the same about my Pre.)

But look at the two commercials.  The Evo was actually first out with the front facing camera.  But who will be known for it now?  The Evo commercial isn't bad, but the Iphone one reaches out and grabs you.  A year from now the Evo will be a memory of a phone out of many while the Iphone will be still going strong.

I'm Hating Apple Right Now

Why does Apple have to make it so hard to transfer your music from your Ipod to a new computer?  I bought a new computer and now am trying to get the music from my Ipod to the new computer so it will go back on the Ipod when I hook it up with the new computer.  This all makes my head hurt.   I have a lot of it transfered but for some reason it refuses to put all the music on the computer, so for every artists I'm missing songs.  And when you start off with over 20,000 songs on the Ipod that adds up to a lot of missing music.

Why can't Apple make it easy?  They have to know that people change computers.

Happy 4th

A Great TV Series

I ordered this from Amazon.com last week and it just came it today.  One of the all time classic TV series.  Normally it sells for close to two hundred dollars for he entire series, but last week I caught it just before it ended its sale for less than $75.00 for the entire series.  I've been wanting this series for awhile, just haven't wanted to pay that price, so at the sale price I couldn't pass it up.