We kick off the second half of 2024 with a photo of Angelina putting together a jigsaw puzzle from last Thanksgiving.
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Book 25 (of 52) – The 22 Murders Of Madison May
The 22 Murders of Madison May – Max Barry
When a reporter finds herself at particularly grizzly crime scene, her investigation leads her to a strange place: a different version of Earth where her live-in boyfriend now likes to cook and her cat no longer exists. She eventually learns the truth: a man is moving through the multi-verse, killing off different versions of a young woman named Madison May. After jumping through a number of different universes, she comes up with a plan to stop him and save Madison, at least this latest version of her, and to make a new home for herself. She just needs to stop him before he gets to this Madison.
The 22 Murders of Madison May is the latest from Australian author Max Barry. It has been 17 years since I’ve read anything from Barry, and this was a nice return to his work. While things started kind of slow, it picked up and was a nice mix of sci-fi and mystery. I may need to pick up some more of his work before another 17 years goes by.
FB10: Week 22
A mid-week holiday followed by a few days off almost pushed me back over the 30,000-step plateau. Things got off to a slow start on Sunday, leaving me with 3800 steps. Things improved a bit on Monday, pushing me up over 4100 steps. Tuesday needed an additional 6 steps to reach 4000 The Juneteenth holiday on Wednesday saw me go back over 4000 steps. A trip to Guaranteed Rate Field to see the White Sox battle the Astros on Thursday turned out to be the highpoint of the week, finishing with 5900 steps. Friday crashed back down, ending with just 3700 steps. The week ended on something of a high note on Saturday, as I jumped back up to 4200 steps.
Total steps: 29,899
Daily average: 4271.3
Walking In Memphis
With the ninth pick in the 2024 NBA draft, the Memphis Grizzlies selected Zach Edey, the two-time National Player of the Year from Purdue. While this may have been a stretch according to many so-called draft experts, the Grizzlies were determined to get a center and they saw Edey as the best option on the board. We will have to wait and see how Edey’s game translates to today’s NBA.
A Half Of Futility
As the 2024 season reaches its midway point, the White Sox are a wretched 21-60. Assuming they replicate this effort in the second half, they would finish 42-120, which would be the worst season in franchise history and one of the worst in MLB history. But, with the trade deadline fast approaching on July 30, anyone playing well will likely be shipped off to a contender, making the White Sox even worse down the stretch.
The worst team in White Sox history is, depending on your definition, the 1970 squad, which lost 106 games, or the 1932 team, who lost “only” 102 games but, due to the shorter season, had a lower winning percentage at .325. The current pace of the 2024 team would blow both of those records away.
Post-1900, the high-level mark for losses in a single season is 120, reached by the expansion Mets in 1962. The 1916 Philadelphia A’s managed a .235 winning percentage, holding the futility mark in that regard. The 2024 White Sox currently have a .259 winning percentage, so they do have some breathing room, but not a whole lot.
Fifty Years Of Music – 1997
Fifty years ago, I made my first appeared on the Earth. In celebration, we are going to take a look at the year-end Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for each year of my life and see what songs resonated with me at the time and if they continue to do so to this day.
We continue our look back at the music of my lifetime with 1997, the year I graduated from college, started working at my current company, and celebrated my 23rd birthday. Thanks to my newly acquired hour plus commute, you’d think I’d have picked up more of the music of the day, but the numbers keep going down. A mere 25 songs remain familiar to me today, with 15 of them appearing in my collection in one way or another.
#95: The Cranberries – Free to Decide
iTunes stats: 16 plays
The group’s final charting hit in the US, it peaked at #8 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart and #22 on the Hot 100.
#94: Aqua – Barbie Girl
iTunes stats: N/A
Leading to a lawsuit from Barbie’s corporate masters, the song reached #7.
#87: Madonna – Don’t Cry for Me Argentina
iTunes stats: N/A
Recorded for the Evita soundtrack, with Madonna in the title role, it went to #8 and was the first song to originate in a stage musical to hit the top ten since 1985.
#82: Los del Rio – Macarena (Bayside Remix)
iTunes stats: N/A
The #1 song of 1996 returns for its second straight year end chart.
#81: Luscious Jackson – Naked Eye
iTunes stats: 13 plays
Hitting #36, it remains the band’s lone charting single.
#69: Chumbawamba – Tubthumping
iTunes stats: 31 plays
The only single from the group to chart in the US, it peaked at #6.
#67: Eric Clapton – Change the World
iTunes stats: N/A
A 43-week stay on the Hot 100 gives Clapton a second year-end spot for his final top ten hit.
#64: Donna Lewis – I Love You Always Forever
iTunes stats: 12 plays
A nine-week stay at #2 propelled Lewis to the year-end chart for the second year in a row.
#63: Sarah McLachlan – Building a Mystery
iTunes stats: 22 plays
The Grammy winner for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 1998, it reached #13.
#60: Sheryl Crow – Everyday Is a Winding Road
iTunes stats: 30 plays
Featuring background vocals from Neil Finn of Crowded House, it went to #11 on the Hot 100.
#55: Sheryl Crow – If It Makes You Happy
iTunes stats: 14 plays
Spending 27 weeks on the Hot 100 across 1996 and 1997, it made the year-end chart both years.
#50: Celine Dion – It’s All Coming Back to Me Now
iTunes stats: N/A
Recorded three times, by Pandora’s Box, Dion, and Meat Loaf, Dion’s most was the most successful, charting at year-end for the second straight year.
Book 24 (of 52) – The Rumor
The Rumor – Elin Hinderbrand
Rumors abound on the small island of Nantucket. When Madeline, a best-selling author, has trouble coming up with an idea for her new book, she looks to get back her investment in a group of houses being built by her best friend Grace’s husband, which the rumor mill then turns into the two of them having an affair. Grace, meanwhile, is having an affair, with the landscaper she is working with on her award-winning yard, which the rumor mill turns into her being pregnant with his love child. In the midst of all this, Grace’s husband Eddie is broke and looking to make a quick buck to get himself back on his feet. When a shady opportunity falls into his lap, he decides to go along with it, which ultimately puts him in a bad position.
First published in 2015, Elin Hilderbrand returns to my bookshelves with The Rumor, another in her string of summer beach reads set on her home island of Nantucket. Written while Hilderbrand was undergoing treatment for breast cancer, this outing, while good, felt like it was missing a little something to me. A lot of these rumors could have been cleared up with a simple conversation, but plot contrivances kept them from happening.
Say Hey
Last night, during the slate of games on the night’s schedule, the Giants issued a statement that Willie Mays, the 93-year-old Hall of Famer, had passed away earlier in the day. The 24-time All Star spent 23 seasons in the majors, batting .301 with 660 home runs, 339 stolen bases and 3,293 hits. He won only two MVP awards, despite leading the NL in WAR nine times.
Mays began his career in the Negro Leagues, when he was just 16. He played with the Birmingham Black Barons for three seasons, prior to joining the Giants, and was originally scheduled to appear at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, the same stadium he played in 75 years earlier, along with the Giants this week to honor the legacy of the Negro Leagues, but he announced he would not attend late last week.
Both local teams were home and playing last night, with the Cubs hosting the Giants and the White Sox, with Mays’ former teammate Steve Stone in the booth, hosting the Astros. The Cubs held a moment of silence between innings, the first notification some of the Giants starters, including pitcher Logan Webb, had that Mays had passed. On the White Sox broadcast, Stone told stories of his time as a young rookie pitching with the Hall of Fame center fielder behind him.
Mays leaves behind a tremendous legacy, not just in New York and San Francisco, where he starred for those 23 seasons, but across all of baseball. The Say Hey Kid may now be gone, but his spirit lives on and he will never be forgotten.
Post Mortem – Perry Mason
HBO started developing a new version of Perry Mason, based on the character from the series of novels written by Erle Stanley Gardner, moving the setting from the 1950s of the classic Raymond Burr-led series back to the Great Depression-era of the earliest books. With Matthew Rhys on board to play the title character, the show premiered in June of 2020, in the middle of a global pandemic.
A much grittier presentation than the classic show, it was quickly renewed for a second season. Delays, due to behind-the-scenes reshuffling and the ongoing pandemic, pushed the second season to March of 2023. Despite mostly positive reviews, the delay may have taken away any steam the show had built up in its first season and, in June of 2023, HBO pulled the plug.
Fifty Years Of Music – 1996
Fifty years ago, I made my first appeared on the Earth. In celebration, we are going to take a look at the year-end Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for each year of my life and see what songs resonated with me at the time and if they continue to do so to this day.
We continue our look back at the music of my lifetime with 1996, the year I should have graduated from college had I settled on a major earlier, went back to the bank for a second summer, returned to Purdue for my fifth and final year of college (at least for now), and turned 22. Only 33 songs on the Hot 100 are familiar to me today, with 24 of them appearing in my collection in one way or another.
#99: Hootie & The Blowfish – Only Wanna Be with You
iTunes stats: 16 plays
Returning for its second straight year-end chart, the track peaked at #2 on the Album Rock Tracks chart and #6 on the Hot 100.
#98: Los del Rio – Macarena
iTunes stats: N/A
The original Spanish language version of the tune, it reached #23.
#94: Ace of Base – Beautiful Life
iTunes stats: 28 plays
Topping out at #15, it was the lead single from the group’s second album in Europe and the second single in the US.
#92: Metallica – Until It Sleeps
iTunes stats: 15 plays
The band’s lone top ten hit, it went to #10.
#81: Toni Braxton – Un-Break My Heart
iTunes stats: N/A
Spending eleven total weeks atop the Hot 100, it ruled the charts from December of 1996 through mid-February of 1997.
#76: Sophie B. Hawkins – As I Lay Me Down
iTunes stats: 16 plays
Hitting the year-end chart for the second time, it peaked at #6.
#75: Sheryl Crow – If It Makes You Happy
iTunes stats: 14 plays
The lead single from Crow’s sophomore album, it reached #10 and remains her most recent top ten solo release.
#68: No Doubt – Just a Girl
iTunes stats: 38 plays
The band’s first charting single in the US, it spent 29 weeks on the Hot 100, topping out at #23.
#67: BoDeans – Closer to Free
iTunes stats: 23 plays
Hitting #16 and becoming the band’s biggest hit, it was used as the theme song for Party of Five.
#66: Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen – Theme from Mission: Impossible
iTunes stats: N/A
Recorded for the first Tom Cruise Mission: Impossible film, it peaked at #7.
#56: Oasis – Wonderwall
iTunes stats: 25 plays
The fourth single from the group’s second studio album, it spent a then-unprecedented ten weeks atop the Modern Rock Tracks chart and reached #8 on the Hot 100 in March, becoming their lone top-ten hit.
#50: Hootie & The Blowfish – Time
iTunes stats: 14 plays
The fourth single from the group’s breakout debut, it topped out at #14.