Re-Reading Harry Potter

Image via Wikipedia

I've decided that I'm going to re-read Harry Potter. I'm going to start with the first book and read them all, one right after the other. When I first read them of course I had to wait for each one to be published, so a lot of time passed inbetween reading each book. I want to read them all at once, so to speak, and experience them as one long story. I had to go out and buy the first two books, when I started looking for the books around my house I found the last five, but could not find those first two for anything. I think I loaned them out. Anyways I went out and bought the first two books today and am going to start tonight.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince Featurette Online (themovieblog.com)
• 'Harry Potter' London Premiere Has Stars Prepping Their Goodbyes (socialitelife.celebuzz.com)
• Epic Two-Minute Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince Clip (cinemablend.com)

Paul McCartney on Letterman

Image via Wikipedia

This Wednesday night Paul McCartney returns to the Ed Sullivan theater where he made history years ago with a few other friends. He appears this Wednesday on the David Letterman show.

Related articles by Zemanta

• McCartney Talks Dylan Collaboration (idiomag.com)
• Howard Stern Hates On Leno, Lauds Letterman For His Loyalty (VIDEO) (huffingtonpost.com)
• Paul McCartney Addresses Made-Up Media Story (idiomag.com)
• "The Beatles: Rock Band's brilliant mini-movie" (gointothestory.com)

Quit and Get on the Cover of Time

Image by AlaskaHDTV.com via Flickr

Sarah Palin resigns as Governor of Alaska and she makes it on the cover of Time Magazine! One reason she quits is because she doesn't want to be a lame duck governor. One, I guess she figures that she can't win a second term in her own home state and two, does that mean if she was President and was in her second term she would quit because she was a lame duck president? Can this woman get any dumber?

Related articles by Zemanta

• Official Press Release: Sarah Palin Resignation (manolith.com)
• Fox News Contributor Rips Into Palin: "The Woman Is Inarticulate, Undereducated" (VIDEO) (huffingtonpost.com)
• Alaska Governor Palin to resign (news.bbc.co.uk)
• Page Six: Levi Johnston Writing Book About Sarah Palin (shoppingblog.com)
• Palin Blames Obama for Troubles (politicalwire.com)
• Why Sarah Palin really quit us. (slate.com)

A Personal Milestone

This Sunday I turn 50.

Throughout your life there are certain birthdays that are supposed to be special. A sort of milestone that marks your place in life as you travel towards the end. But it's never been that way with me. Birthdays were never that important to me. Yes, I enjoy people fussing over me and giving me presents, but I never felt like they represented any special significance just because of certain numbers. You know the numbers, 21, 30, 40...those numbers that are supposed to make you pause and take reflection in your life.

To me they were just one more birthday. Another number. I guess I never looked at those growing numbers with the alarm that some people do, maybe because I never thought about how old I am. This is either going to sound cliche or like I'm already experiencing a mid life crisis, but it really is neither, but I never acted my age. I don't mean I was one of those older guys that try to be twenty years younger than they are and act like an idiot.

I don't think I look my age (and that's not really due to anything on my part except for inheriting good genes from my parents) and I don't act my age. Lots of what other people my age think as important I'm not that interested in. I still want to discover new things, I want to hear a new sound that thrills me, read a new book that makes me question life, watch a movie or tv show that makes me weep.

I've tried to live my life with the understanding that the feelings of others are just as important as mine.

I've lived my life I hope with as much truth as I could. I'm not going to claim that I've never hurt anyone or lied. I've tried not to, but sometimes things happen that you wish you could undo later. I've done somethings I wish I could redo, but nothing that I'm ashamed of.

I don't drink. I don't do drugs. In fact I've never done either. Ok, I take it back. Once in my wild younger years I drank a beer. Didn't agree with me. Now while I don't drink or do drugs I don't think others should necessarily follow my example. In fact I lean more towards legalization of drugs, our war on drugs has been lost years ago. And it's not that I feel some higher power is telling me not to do either. It's just a decision I made years ago and have followed through. It works for me, it doesn't work for everyone.

I don't curse. I have had friends try to get me to swear, just to hear me say a swear word. I just don't. Now I know I'm starting to sound like some sort of prude or religious nut, but really I'm not. I just made some decisions that I wanted to follow. I'm not a prude. In fact I favor letting people do what they want with each other as long as it doesn't hurt others. And as far as a religious nut, that I'm definitely not.

Mark Twain said "If one truly believes there is an all-powerful Diety, and one looks around at the condtion of the universe, one is led inesapably to the conclusion that God is a malign thug." I guess I don't have to say much more about my religious beliefs.

Why am I going into such lengths about all this? Because for once I'm finding myself thinking about a number as I approach my fifitieth birthday. Odds are that once I hit this Sunday I'm on the downhill side of my life. Except for my Dad who died because of smoking both sides of my parents family live long lives, into their ninties. But even if I follow that path I'm still looking at less years than I've already lived.

Am I satsified with my life? Of course not completely. There are still lots of things I want to do. Am I where I thought I'd be back when I hit that first milestone birthday of 21? No. I was thinking I'd be writing for a living now, but all our dreams don't come true. I've tried to live the life I've made as completely as I can and still have not given up on my dreams. Am I happy with my life? Yes I would say so. Like I said, there are things I wish had turned out differently, some things I wished had happened that haven't, but you play the hand you're dealt and I've enjoyed the past years.

Still with this birthday coming I've found myself pausing and wondering.

Maybe this is what a mid life crisis feels like.

Allen Klein Dies

Picture is Copyright AP

Everyone blames Yoko Ono for the break up of the Beatles, but I think if anyone outside the group itself is to blame it's probably Allen Klein. Klein was a manager hired by John Lennon and than agreed to by George and Ringo, but fiercely opposed to by Paul McCartney. This had more to do with their eventual split than anything Yoko did.

Klein started his career as an accountant. His first major act was Sam Cooke, who he managed to get Sam Cooke the rights to all his future recordings. Later he bought out Andrew Long Oldham, the manager of the Rolling Stones, to become the Stones manager. Within a few years the Stones fired him, but he managed to retain the copyrights to the majority of their songs recorded before 1971.

He started a company, ABKCO (Allen and Betty Klein Company) that ended up owning the copyrights to thousands of popular songs, from the Stones to the Animals, Herman's Hermits, Chubby Checker and many others.

Klein died July 4 in New York City of Alzheimer's Disease.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Beatles, Stones ex-manager Allen Klein dies (cbc.ca)
• Beatles original contract to be won in competition (idiomag.com)
• The Beatles - The Fab Four From Liverpool (psychedelichippiemusic.blogspot.com)

Independence Day

Karl Malden R.I.P.

Image via Wikipedia

Evidently Karl Malden had died today. He was 97 years old and died of natural causes at his home. I remember him more for the television show from the seventies The Streets of San Francisco, which also started a young Michael Douglas. There also was his tv commercial for American Express...."Don't leave home without it." The commercial grew out of his role from the police show. More recently he guest starred in an episode of The West Wing as President Bartlet's priest.

Besides tv he was an accomplished movie actor, playing roles in movies such as A Streetcar Named Desire and Patton.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Hollywood actor Karl Malden dies (news.bbc.co.uk)

Stand By Me

For the making of this video go here.

Some Good Words About Charter

Image via Wikipedia

I've complained on this blog enough times about Charter Communications that I figured when they did something good I should mention it. I decided to drop my cable services and go with Direct TV. At the time I was getting the basic cable package, which pretty much meant local stations and a bunch of shopping channels. For about ten dollars more than what I was paying for this package I could get a package from Direct TV with about a hundred channels. Yes, I know, of those 100 channels a lot will be junk, but I'll get USA, Sci-fi, FX and some others that have some of the shows I want to watch. Plus for the first three months I get Showtime free...which means Weeds and Dexter.

I decided to keep my internet connection through Charter. After talking to some people, including some people at Best Buy, I was told that they offered the best service and best deal with the internet.

I went to the Charter's office with my cable box and explained to the lady behind the desk that I wanted to cancel my cable subscription but still wanted to continue my internet connection. She clicked on a few things and told me that they were offering a special on internet connection for $29.99 for 24 months. I was currently paying $44.99 a month for the same internet speed. And 24 months was 2 years! So she switched me to this new plan.

So for the extra ten dollars or so I was going to spend on Direct TV I'm now saving on my internet connection, which should make the total of all this to be about what I was paying before.

Like I said at the start of this post, I've made more than my share of complaints about Charter Communications, so just had to share with everyone when they do something really good.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Time might be right to cap cable bills: CTV boss (ctv.ca)
• CTV floats idea of capping cable bills (thestar.com)
• 10 Confessions Of A Charter Customer Service Representatives [Insiders] (consumerist.com)

The GIrl With The Dragon Tattoo

This book just came out in paperback and I picked it up after reading a few good reviews of it. The book is written by Swedish writer and journalist Stieg Larsson. It's the first in a trilogy, written and turned in to his publisher just before he died. In Swedish the title of the book is translated as "Men Who Hate Women," but it was changed to the current title when it as translated into English.

This was one of those books that when I started to read it I found it ok, but not really caught up in it. But as I continued to read I found myself being drawn in. It's one of those books that quietly reachs out and grabs you. I found that I didn't want to put the book down.

It's a mystery that spans decades and is a locked room whodunnit that instead of taking place in a locked room takes place on an island that no one could get in or off of when the crime takes place. The two main characters are the journalist Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander, a very unique character and the girl in the title with the dragon tattoo.

If you have a chance to read this book do so. The second volume is out now in hardback, The Girl Who Played With Fire.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Review of The Girl Who Played with Fire (Stieg Larsson) (brothersjudd.com)
• Swedish crime wave sweeps European book charts (guardian.co.uk)
• Not your normal Swedish sleuth (guardian.co.uk)

A Few Words About Michael Jackson

It's been more than a few days now since Michael Jackson died. I was going to write something as soon as I heard, but I kept putting it off. Michael Jackson was one of the most influential musicians on the planet, in fact his influence went beyond just that of musician. He was one of those few of such supreme talent that we rarely see the like of it.

I wanted to write about that Michael Jackson, but it's hard to ignore the past decade or so of his actions. Somewhere along the way he lost his way and to put it bluntly became more of a joke than anything else.

And while I know he was cleared in the jury trial years ago and everyone should be presumed innocent until proven guilty...it's hard not to wonder. Why was he paying families of some of those children? I really don't want to believe something like that, but it's hard not to.


I know the world will be filled with stories of Michael Jackson's accomplishments and what a loss he will be to the world, but my thoughts went to those children and what it might mean to them.

So I really can't find myself writing too much about the whole thing, I'll let others write about Michael Jackson and what he meant to the world.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Tribute To Michael Jackson (prep4md.blogspot.com)
• Michael Jackson Death By Demerol? (idiomag.com)
• Remembering Michael Jackson's Better Days (idiomag.com)
• News: More Rockers Comment On The Death Of Michael Jackson (idiomag.com)

June Carter Cash

Eighty years ago June Carter Cash was born.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Buddy & Julie Miller Walk the Line (pastemagazine.com)
• Sat Eye Candy: Johnny Cash (jambase.com)
• Heidi Newfield Takes "Johnny and June" to the ACMs (cmt.com)
• Johnny Cash's First Wife Reminisces in Memoir (cmt.com)
• John Carter Cash Shares Vibrant Family Legacy (cmt.com)