Thursday, March 22, 2012

Eek E-books

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For as long as e-books have been around, one friend or another has tried making me a convert to this medium of reading. I have refused to indulge in the e-book craze for a number of reasons. Not in any particular order, but they include:
  1. I love holding a book in my hands and flipping the pages. This doesn't matter whether it is a slim volume like the book I am reading now The Murder at the Collective or a tome like Ken Follet's Pillars of the Earth at a gargantuan 1008 pages. 
  2. When I love the story, I keep checking the number of pages that are left creating an early mourning as I approach the end cover. When I don't care for the story, but am too stubborn to put it down, I check the pages to see how much longer this suffering is going to continue.
  3. American Express uses the slogan "Never leave home without it." I apply that to a book. There is a book in my bag 98% of the time.
  4. Perhaps it is because I do so many things on computers, including reading thousands of pages of students' work during a semester, I don't want to stare at a screen for reading pleasure. I can barely get through a news articles from the NY Times without feeling overwhelmed. Give me a real paper and I can be content for hours. That said, I do have a Galaxy Tab 10.1 and a Samsung smartphone, which I do use to read US Today and CNN News when I know I will not have time to pull out my book.
  5. There is something emotionally stimulating about browsing the books in a bookstore that will never be replaced by browsing online. Although some browse bookstores and order online, I try not to do this as brick and mortar bookstores need all the support they can get, especially independents.
  6. Yes, you can get instant access to e-books on a variety of devices, but for me it is more satisfying to either discover a book I have never known I wanted while in a bookstore or to order one online and having the anticipation build until it arrives.
  7. One of the first things that catches my eye when visiting others are the books they have around. There is much to be learned about a person from the books or lack of books. I doubt I could learn as much by asking if I could browse someone's Kindle for example.
  8. A book can be lent or borrowed by anyone when there is mutual agreement. You can give the book away, sell it, or heaven forbid and damn you if you do, toss it away. For most e-book devices, this is either not possible or your share buddy has to have the same device as you, limiting opportunities.
  9. Last of all, the cost of e-books is increasing as popularity grows. There is a computer newsletter that I read with a religious fervor and have for years, though the branding has changed over time. This is a quote from the latest newsletter.
http://winnews.com/
 
"So I went from e-book skeptic to e-book believer. And I still love them, but lately I've been buying fewer and fewer. And that's because of the increasingly (in my opinion) outrageous prices. I grumbled when the typical price of a new release novel in electronic format was $9.99. I was highly annoyed when that climbed to $12.99. Then I started seeing bestsellers by big name authors such as James Patterson and Tom Clancy priced at $14.99. When I paid $16.00 for Stephen King's latest, I decided maybe it was time to go back to paper - at least for the "big ones." Amazon was selling the hardcover version at the same time for $17.48.

I'm sorry, but that just doesn't compute. Regardless of what they say, I believe it costs publishers far less to produce and deliver an e-book, without the cost of paper, printing, storage, transportation, etc. I believe they're taking advantage of customers, assuming if we have the money to spend on high-tech devices, we'll pay close to the same prices for intangible electronic files as we pay for physical books that work with no electricity, don't require proprietary technology to be read and can be loaned or sold to whomever we want.

Now it appears I'm not the only one who thinks publishers are gouging the customer. The U.S. Department of Justice is accusing Apple, along with five major publishers, of colluding to keep the price of electronic books up. And this isn't just an "American thing" either. The EU is conducting its own investigation into the matter."

Yes, you are reading this blog online, but it is free, available on many devices, and shareable without restrictions.
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Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Bad Timing - Mixed Messages

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New five-star Buddha Bar hotel to open in downtown Budapest next month - Read more here.

and 

Malév shutdown hits Budapest five-star hotels - Read more here.

I think that April or May is very optimistic considering the global economy and the fact that major hotels occupancy has been down considerably for two years now.
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Monday, March 19, 2012

Ben & Jerry's Does a Gay Theme

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English: Ben Greenfield and Jerry Cohen, found...
Image via Wikipedia
For those who are not from the US, first a quick lesson. Ben and Jerry were two old hippies who decided to change the way business worked. They created their business in Vermont, using fresh products from local producers and farmers. They paid fair wages and had a standard on the ratio between their salary and the lowest  paid worker, which would make any CEO laugh to death today. Another words, they built their business model on what they believed in: ethics, fairness, and customer service. These are traits we didn't often see in business when they started nor do we see them now. 

They also made ice cream with weird names and sometimes strange combos: Cherry Garcia, Chubby Hubby, and Chunky Monkey are some.

If this law is passed in Britain, they may have to make one called Apple-ly Ever After with my Chubby Hubby who really supported Ben & Jerry with his purchases.  

This teaser is from the LA Times. You can read the full article here.

Ben & Jerry's wants gays to live "apple-y ever after" in Britain.

As the British Parliament starts debating legalizing gay marriage this week, the British arm of the American ice cream company has changed the name of its apple pie flavor to Apple-y Ever After. The carton, which is available only in select stores in Britain, has a picture of two men in tuxedos standing on top of a wedding cake.

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Árpád Writes In

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Árpád has left a new comment on your post "Hungarian Transportation In the News":

I am told that Budapest’s 4th metro line has been in the pipeline since before I was born. It has gotten its own website since then, but that only helps as much as rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic. Nonetheless, one should not be despondent. Metro 4 will probably have been operating by the time we pay for our tickets/passes in Euro rather than HUF.


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Saturday, March 17, 2012

Happy St. Patrick's Day

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Would someone PLEASE send me a corned beef sandwich. I really am part Irish. Happy St. Patty's Day!!!




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No One Left to Mind the Store

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This is a social commentary on the state of the economy here in Budapest, but reflected worldwide. Dare I say on this St. Patrick's Day that the luck of the Irish was not with them?



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Hungarian Transportation In the News

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There could very well be more than this, but this is what I came across in transport news. 

The Budapest Airport Authority is seriously considering closing down what used to be called Ferihegy I Airport. It had since been renamed Liszt Ferenc International Airport Terminal I, but it may be again renamed as Redundant! It seems that with the demise of Malév Hungarian Airlines, there is now a whole lot of empty space at Terminal 2. This would mean transferring the budget airlines into the full service airport. What I hope it doesn't mean is higher fees for these airlines, which prompted so many of the past to cut Budapest from their radar.

The other loss here is transportation. The train from Nyugati Railway Station only extends to terminal 1. The tracks were never completed to make it to terminals 2A and 2B. Budget air passengers who opt for the train, will have to get off at the old terminal 1 stop and then continue by bus to the airport. The question lingering is whether or not the train will even maintain this stop if there is no longer a functioning airport.

Changing gears and modes of transport, yesterday Ron and I were waiting for a metro at Blaha Lujza. This shiny white tube-like apparition appeared with fancy new red seats. It stopped, but the doors never opened. There was a disenfranchised voice going blah, blah, blah or maybe it was Hungarian, but either way, we had no clue as to its meaning. A few minutes later, the old and familiar blue Russian train appeared to carry us off to our destination. Perhaps in our lifetime we will get to ride on the new cars that have been promised for the last four years. I have given up hope of ever riding on the new Metro 4 line.
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Friday, March 16, 2012

A Week in Review

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Some weeks fly by so fast, you barely remember what the day happens to be at any given moment. This week was one of those weeks. 

Wednesday night we were to meet our friend and tenant Jeff Frawley at the Odean Theater for the Funzine Film Club. I am not even certain what movie we were supposed to see, but we had done this film club as a monthly ritual when he was here on a Fulbright accompanied by his girlfriend, the lovely Allison, and the delightful Dr. Karla Kelsey, an additional Fulbrighter. We arranged to meet Jeff at the movie by 7:30pm for the 8pm show. He had invited a fellow teacher Julius. As it turned out, the film club had been canceled do to the film not arriving or some such. We could not make sense of the explanation, but the replacement film was a Hungarian nature show. We enjoyed our beer from the lobby cafe, talked, and went our different ways.

Thursday was a holiday. It was the Remembrance of the 1848 Revolution Day - The main demands of Hungarians were: freedom of the press, and the establishing of a Hungarian parliament in Pest with its government, freedom of religion, a jury, a national bank, a Hungarian army, and the withdrawal of foreign military presence from the country. You may notice some similarities to the current situation in Hungary. 


Ron and I took advantage of the weather to walk around the city. Todd Berliner, a Fulbrighter told us about a chocolate café where the hot chocolate is so thick you need to spoon it out. There are a dozen ingredients that can be added to it too. We hunted it down, found it, but it only opened at 3pm. We walked the city, noting the mobs of people disseminating from various events, carrying flags. To idle away some of the time, we stopped at Csendes, a coffee shop extraordinaire. It looks like a bomb went off inside an old antique/junk store
and everything inside was plastered to the walls. A visual delight.


Finally, we returned to the chocolateria and found it open for business. Ron had dark chocolate with orange and I had the same chocolate with peanuts, a drink I could do some spooning with.

Later that evening, we had been invited to a Beat Poetry gathering sponsored by the seductive W. Hunter Roberts, a minister of a different stripe. She holds these monthly poetry shindigs where costume is required. We begged out of it for two reasons. 1. I hate costume functions. 2. I really dislike poetry. This even could have been palatable, given it focused on the Beats. Though they were before my time by a half a decade, I had read and enjoyed Ginsberg and thought his poetry was a Howl. Instead, we had Todd Berliner, a current Fulbrighter over for the screening of the movie, Game Change. Todd alone, but also when accompanied by his wife Dana, are delightful company.

Friday, I was sick as dog in the morning. We had lunch scheduled with a former student for whom I had been the thesis adviser. He had invited Ron and I for a "thank you" meal and chose Hard Rock Cafe, since he had never been to one. This was perfect since I wanted to include it as a new entry in my Hungary chapter for the Frommer's Europe book. For a short time, it didn't seem I would live to eat another meal, let alone lunch which at the time was four hours into my future.  I recovered sufficiently to put on a happy face for a happy meal in a happy place, so all went happily.


Speaking of Frommer's, I shared readers' complaints with my editor that Hungary was included in the Eastern Europe book; she told me not to be too concerned. They are no longer going to have an Eastern Europe book. Three editions and it is the end of the story, so if you have one, hold on to it.


All this and yes, once again it happened. Wednesday night when I shut down the main desktop computer, Windows installed updates. Thursday when I turned it on, it would not boot yet again. When I finally did get it to boot, it started doing a Chkdsk on drive G. It is still running and still checking. Yikes!
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Sunday, March 11, 2012

I Want One

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This advertisement really gets my goat, but after looking at it for some time, it does make me a little rammy myself. I do wonder what he will look like when he is an old goat and why are the people clamoring at his feet? They know what the woman must know:

Goats make great pets. I want one of these new fangled goat breeds.

  •  Goats were one of the first animals to be tamed by humans and were the most popular herd animal 9,000 years ago.
  • Goats have no front top teeth- instead they have what is called a 'dental pad' or hard gums. They have 8 lower teeth and 24 back molars for grinding food.
  • Goats can live up to 20yrs if well kept.
  • Goats can easily be housebroken , much the way a puppy is.
  • Goats are smart and can learn and respond to their given name in less than a week.The pupil in the goat's eye is rectangular in shape instead of being round like those of most other mammals.
  • Goats have excellent night vision.
  • Goats have a 4 chambered stomach and chew cud, (a plug of partially digested food stored in the largest compartment of the stomach called the rumen).
  • Goat feces has little to no odor, produced in small pea sized pellets.
  • Goats do not charge people and try to use the horns as instruments of mass destruction.
  • Goats are fastidious eaters and typically will not eat dirty or spoiled food.
  • Goats have relatively few diseases, very few which as zoonosis (no more than any other pet animal)
  • Goat milk is the most easily digested milk from any animal and quite often used by those who are lactose intolerant.
  • Soaps made with goat milk is often used for patients with skin disorders such as excema

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Time is on My Side, Yes It Is

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If that title rings some bells, either you are showing your age or you are musical historian. As for me, time is on my side, because I goofed up and gave wrong advice on Friday night. 

We had hosted a Fulbright gathering, getting a few of the best and brightest of them with a smattering of others who are not Fulbrighters to co-mingle in a social environment. We had a splendid bunch and the evening was as fun and fulfilling as any of the past years. However, when people started to leave, I with all good intentions, I announced what I had read earlier in the day. This was the weekend to spring forward into Daylight Savings Time. 

It should have been a red flag when Todd Berliner, this semester's distinguished chair Fulbright scholar, commented "Oh, really? It is the same in the US." To which I have to further counter with "I thought the US was weeks apart in time changing."  We all talked some more and eventually everyone left and I did not think anything of it on Saturday. 

Come Saturday night, I set my alarm clock an hour ahead. My assumption was that my Galaxy Tab would reset itself once turned on with an Internet connection. I know the computers do this automatically. What I was curious to see is if my watch changed time automatically. It has GPS tracking so that it will change time automatically from one time zone to the next if I travel. 

When I woke this morning, not one of my electronics had changed. I was disappointed in technology. When the computer finally booted and that had not changed either, I was suspicious. Europe does not change until March 25th this year.

What to do? Call everyone who was here to tell them to change their clocks back if they had do it? Send an apology e-mail? Wait to see who responds to me and then tell them I was getting practice for April Fool's Day?

I am letting it slide and letting them forget the whole thing, since Time is on My Side, just like it was for the Rolling Stones.
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Saturday, March 10, 2012

Why Computer Technicians Taunt Me

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I cannot help my insatiable appetite for change. I grew up at a time when all advertising targeting children always started with "Hey kids, be the first of your block to ..." followed by the sale pitch. I bought into that slogan and have lived it ever since. If it is new, I want it. If it is experimental, I want to play with it. If more than ten people that I know have it, I no longer want it until the next generation comes out. 


When I am wasting time, like sitting on the metro, waiting in a line, things like that, I am reading the tech news on my phone. This is when I discovered the beta version of the next Window OS is available for download. 


The specs say that from the time you press the computer's on button to full boot up, ready to tackle the world is less than 60 seconds. To give to you another way, it is about the same amount of time that you first realize you are going to sneeze. That annoying tickling sensation starts in the back of your nose, you feel it sliding back and forth down you nasal passages, not sure if is wants to commit or not both teasing you while giving you a false sense of security that the coast is clear. Then it suddenly erupts like a volcano's gushing lava spraying out of your nasal holes.


We all know what a problem I have been having with the desktop computer, though it has improved. It now only takes 1 hour and 14 minutes to boot up whereas before it was half the day. I thought maybe, just maybe Windows 8 may improve the performance, so I downloaded it and installed it. When W8 installs, it turns the computer on and off several times. Well this sucker takes so long to restart, W8 threw in the towel or rather raised the white flag of surrender and just gave up. Okay, I thought. I will leave well enough alone. 


However, being naturally curious, I had to continue to investigate. My netbook, which I have been using extensively has Win XP. Microsoft is not going to support XP much longer. Let's face it. After using Windows 7 for so long, using XP is like going on vacation alone with your grandmother and taking her out clubbing with you. There is just something  wrong with this picture. 


After Googling, I found the exact article I wanted. How to upgrade an Asus eeePC HA1000 from XP to W8. The guy starts out with saying that his net-book is yesterday's news, about 4 years old. Four years in computer years is like 8 in dog years. You are ready to have it put down. He showed the entire process and advised that the only other thing he needed to do was increase the screen resolution beyond the capabilities of the net-books natural state. He did this by installing a new driver and gave two links. 


My net-book has a partition, so I thought I would install W8 on one partition so I could dual boot. It didn't work that way, because the program didn't give me a choice of location for installation. By this time, I was so anticipating this new toy that I threw caution to the wind, letting it do its own thing, while once again ignoring that inner voice that was screaming at the top of its lungs "Stop it, stop it now, before it is too late".


As predicted, nothing would work because the screen resolution was too low. After downloading the driver, it still would not increase the size W8 demands. After much Goggling, I finally found a hack and got it to work. What seemed to pass me by in my state of attention deficit disorder was that this preview OS would obliterate the existing one and all of your programs that once resided there. 


Goodbye MS Office Suite. That is the one I will miss the most. Sure, I can reload it. I have legal disks for it, but the net-book doesn't have a CD/DVD drive. The time I installed it, I had to borrow someone's external unit. Do I want to bother with that again? Nay! Why bother with a computer that is so ancient being in its fourth year. I may just have to spill a cup of tea on it again to try to put it down.

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Thursday, March 08, 2012

Make Money Through Adversity

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A close up of statue bust of Hungarian king Be...
Image via Wikipedia
I am updating the Hungary chapter for the Frommer's Europe book. One small piece of the chapter discusses Esztergom, the capital of Hungary until King Bela IV moved it to Buda in the mid 13th century. The primary reason for visiting for the majority of tourists is to see the cathedral or capital of Hungarian Catholicism. 


I had been to this quaint little town a number of times to explore in general, and then later as research for various books I was working on at various times. However, this time, not only am I short on time, but the section is too paltry to warrant a visit. The next best thing was to get a student to make calls for me, navigating the Hungarian language where I cannot in order to get to the heart of the matter with brevity of time in mind. She did an excellent job, but one thing that seemed to be such a glaring mistake it rattled my attention after gaining it. 


The quest was to find out if bus numbers 1 and 6 still go from the train station to close to the cathedral and if they still charged 150 Huf and 180 Huf respectively. They are from two different companies, hence the difference in fees. The response returned to me was that all public transport in the city has ceased to exist as of July 2011. The only buses on the road now within the city are those that go from point A to the hypermarkets and return. There is no other transportation. 


I was incredulous; how could a city survive without any public transportation? This is nearly impossible. Oh heck, wait a minute, I have been out of the US for too long. Most towns and cities have no to very little public transportation. Duh!


Trusting this student was not a issue. I have known her for a time and trust her implicitly, but some things you just need to hear for yourself. I Googled, I searched, I read, I explored. Either there was nothing about public transport in the articles I found or for those that did refer to it, showed the last update as pre-2007.


Could I trust the tourism office when they cannot decide if they are TourInform or Budapestinfo Point? I called the national tourism number, taking a risk on honesty and integrity. Golly gee, I was informed that all public transport went out of business in July 2011 due to the economy. The only buses are those for grocery shopping.


Here is the deal. During tourism season for those not in the know, you can do one of two things. Sell cheap walking shoes at the train station or offer rides in a golf cart to and from the church. Let adversity pay off for a change.  Is it any wonder why King Bela IV looks so sad in this picture?
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Wednesday, March 07, 2012

For Your 411

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The lives of ex-pats are far from peaches and cream. Two days ago, we received postcards from United Parcel Service stating they attempted to deliver to us, but could not find our name on the doorbell. Easy remedy, call and give them the name of our business which is on the doorbell. Problem solved. 


What they had for us was our new Diners Club - MasterCard cards with...are you ready for this, a microchip. Now I am impressed since European and Asian credit cards have been using the chip for almost a decade now. We ran into a problem using our card in Malaysia once, because they only use the chipped cards, so they did not know how (or did not want) to use it the old-fashioned way, but swiping it or even more old-fashioned, call it in for approval. 


The difference with this chip card is that you need to know your pin number each time the card is used in a chip terminal. Well, that is a hassle, remembering yet another code. Still, I am applauding one US company for getting on the band wagon of modernity. Now, I need to call in to confirm receipt of the card to activate it. On the letter and the card itself, it states for calls from outside of the US, call us collect at 1-514-877-1577. 


I have mastered collect calling from Hungary. First I call AT&T at 06-8000-1112. A friendly automated female sing-songy voice states "AT&T", then a second sing-songy voice from an obvious second woman commands "Please enter the number you are calling...NOW!" Emphasis on now. I have often wondered why one woman didn't get both gigs to record the messages. Maybe one was the winner and the other a first runner up or understudy when woman 1 gets as sore throat. I entered 1-514-877-1577 after which the AT&T lady starts to get greedy with the prompt "Enter your calling card number and pin or your credit card number and 4 digit expiration date NOW!" You just have this sense she is ready to start working the cash register as you rack up a bill making this call. The trick here is not to touch the keypad of the phone. This moves you into the next prompt. "Please say calling card, credit card, operator, collect, NOW!" By this time, I am never sure whether I should salute at the NOW command or just do Heil Hitler. 


Experience has taught me that if you say collect, you are setting yourself up for another go around of calls. Almost 100% of the credit card companies have robots answering their phones to is that sicking sweet voice sharing "Welcome to Diners Club! If this is an overseas operator, YESSSSSS, we will accept the call." Their yes makes them sound like you have been kidnapped and they have been waiting for the ransom call. The AT&& robot doesn't play nice with others, so instead of trying to communicate, it turns to you and says "It seems as if we have reached a machine. Please hang up and try your call again later." What a hypocrite coming from a machine. 


I made my call using 1-514-877-1577, saying operator instead of collect. This is where the bait and switch is really evident. Until now, all the voices were like your Italian grandmother's welcoming you to the Sunday dinner. Once you get a real person, you can go one of two ways: the Wicked Witch of the West or your Fairy Godmother. My first attempt with this call was the witch. 


Me- "Yes, operator this is a collect call, but it will be answered by a machine. I need you to stay on the line." 
Witch - "I don't' handle collect calls to Canada." Click, she hangs up on me.
Me - Scratching my head, thinking Canada? What is she talking about? This is Diners Club US I am calling. Maybe I dialed it in wrong, so I call again.
Fairy Godmother - "I am sorry, but I cannot handle collect calls to Canada."
Me - "You mean that the 514 area code is Canadian? But it says right here on my card to call this number collect if you are outside of the US. I am outside and far away. They said on the literature with the card that I could call this number toll free from anywhere outside of the US. What do I do now?"
Fairy Godmother - "That may be, but I cannot do collect calls to Canada, only US numbers. You will have to have a Hungarian operator place the call for you."
Me - "Apparently AT&T has not heard about NAFTA. Thanks anyway. One last thing, do you know the number for a Hungarian operator?"


411 is the number for calling telephone information anywhere in the US. Now I have to hunt one down for Hungary. I asked 7 Hungarians how to reach an operator to make a collect call and not one could tell me.

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Saturday, March 03, 2012

Wednesday, A Monkee Died

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Before you try to make a mockery over my monkee, it is true. My favorite Monkee died and a piece of my personal history flashed before my eyes shortly after hearing the news. Davy Jones was the lead singer for The Monkees. If you are not familiar with the Monkees, you must have been born much later than 1965 when the band debuted. They were a bit of artificial insemination into the music world as the band was created as the foundation of a television sitcom that followed a real band.

Davy died of a heart attack at the age of 66 years old. That alone is worthy of a pause when someone goes by natural causes at such a young age. Of the four Monkees, Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork, Davy was my favorite. Perhaps is was his Manchester accent, those familiar, yet unfamiliar British notes that had sharps and flats in unexpected places for my ear.

Although they started as a made to order band, they were real musicians in every sense of the word. Their hits included "Daydream Believer," "Last Train to Clarksville" and "I'm a Believer", which still run through my mind on occasion bringing a smile as I remember exactly were I was when I heard the song the first time. I had all of their albums, a rarity for me. I was not what anyone would call a musicologist by any degree. Just listening to these again, has me in tears for a number of reasons: the death of man who was not old by today's standards, the passing of my own life, all mixed with memories of pleasures past.

Thank you Davy and the rest of you!





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Friday, March 02, 2012

One for the Money

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One for the Money (novel)
Image via Wikipedia
If anyone knows Janet Evanovitch's Plum series, her protagonist is Stephanie Plum, a half-hearted bond recovery agent. Each book is numbered.  Evanovitch is a funny author, as in her writing is comical and meant to be such. However, by book nine or ten, they started to wear down. Stephanie was getting redundant like an Alzheimer's patient who is living through the movie Groundhog Day. The books should be titled Deja vu 10, Deja vu 11 and so on. 

The only thing that kept me reading was the fact that it took place in NJ in an Italian neighborhood. Being from NJ and an Italian neighborhood, it had an aroma of my youthful home.

The current offering being hawked is Explosive Eighteen. The only reason I keep reading is because I hoped this dip in talent was only a momentary curse that would be remedied by the next number. Numerology has not helped. Stephanie is still incompetent even after 18 books; her sidekick HO named Lulu is still fat and outlandish aside from being lazy; her Hungarian Grandma is still attending funerals for fun and assurance that she is not laid out in the casket.

We early Plum fans were promised a movie based on the book years ago, but it never seemed to get off of the ground.Finally, filmed and released, we watched the long awaited One for the Money based on Janet Evanovitch's first Plum book. As much as I like Katherine Heigl as an actress for the most part, she is not Stephanie Plum, Jason O'Mara playing an Italian down to the last gene? I think not! Daniel Sunjata might be handsome, but he doesn't live up to the commanding darkly dangerous figure that Ranger is portrayed as in the books. This was such a major disappointment, I could only barely watch it to the end. Even Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 2%, but IMDB was a bit more generous with a 4.9 vote.

Evanovitch needs to hang up her pen or retire her computer if she is going to be a sell out like this. Even book 18 has received horrendous reader reviews on Amazon with 129 one starred comments. It seems she is just Plum worn out.

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Thursday, March 01, 2012

Official Recognition

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One of my former students has graduated and was generous enough to send me a snippet of what is on his diploma. They are officially recognizing the program I created (after being a bit strong armed) and have developed now over three years. There was a promise to have something on the diplomas, but they have changed their mind on the rules and regulations concerning the specialization, one never knows. The only thing is that they "misspelled" specialization and program.


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