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Book 23 (of 52) – The Lincoln Highway

The Lincoln Highway – Amor Towles

After serving his sentence for manslaughter, a young man returns home to find his father has died and the family farm has been repossessed.  Deciding to head west to California to start a new life with his younger brother, instead he’s forced to head to New York when a couple of friends from his time away “borrow” his car to settle some scores of their own.

The Lincoln Highway was the first transcontinental highway in the United States, running coast-to-coast from Times Square in New York City to Lincoln Park in San Francisco.  The local portion runs less than a mile north of my house, so when I became aware of Amor Towles’ The Lincoln Highway, I figured it would be worth a read.  Given the name of the book and the fascination of one of the characters, very little time is actually spent travelling the Lincoln Highway.  I don’t know if I’ll dip my toe back into the Towles pool, but I did enjoy this incursion.

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Yet Another Mix Tape Monday – Volume 19

33 years ago, during my sophomore year of high school, I put together the first of what would eventually become a nearly 20 volume collection of mix tapes, containing my favorite songs that I had gathered either from the radio, a cassette tape, or (eventually) CD.  Today, we revisit those mix tapes for the fourth time and see how, or if, the soundtrack of my youth still resonates in today’s digital world and how much has changed over the past four years.

I’ve done some crazy things over the years in an attempt to impress a girl that I liked.  One of the earliest was to buy tickets for a concert I really had no interest in attending just because my crush at the time liked the band’s one hit.  I had a couple things working against me: 1) she already had a boyfriend and 2) they were going to an earlier show on the tour and thus she saw the band the week before.  This is the story of I how I ended up at the Metro on the day after my 21st birthday watching Tripping Daisy with a couple hundred of my closest friends.

One of the upsides of a global pandemic and my subsequent move to remote work is that I don’t come across people  and thus no longer have any crushes to try and impress.  Saves me both time and money.

Volume 19 stretches from late summer 1995 and into the fall semester of the first of my two senior years of college.  Again, it mostly features what was considered alternative music, with Coolio interjecting some street flavor for good measure.

Side A

Tripping Daisy – I Got A Girl
iTunes stats: 14 plays, most recently on 12/10/2021

The one hit for Tripping Daisy, who I saw in concert the day after my 21st birthday, managed to make its way into my rotation a mere three times over the last four years.

Foo Fighters – This Is A Call
iTunes stats: 37 plays, most recently on 6/4/2021

Written a few months after the death of Kurt Cobain, the debut for Dave Grohl’s new venture earned eleven additional plays over these past four years.

Pearl Jam – Whipping
iTunes stats: 14 plays, most recently on 11/10/2022

Six new listens for the final appearance of Pearl Jam on these collections, which received plenty of airplay on Q101 despite not being officially released as a single.

Hootie and the Blowfish – Only Wanna Be With You
iTunes stats: 15 plays, most recently on 3/23/2022

Hootie’s ode to, among other things, the Miami Dolphins added seven new listens in the past four years.

Elastica – Stutter
iTunes stats: 12 plays, most recently on 5/20/2022

Originally released in November 1993, it was re-released the following year, made its way to radio in 1995, and doubled its listens over the past four years.

Cranberries – Ridiculous Thoughts
iTunes stats: 13 plays, most recently on 11/19/2019

Four listens for the latest from the Cranberries, though none since the world stopped thanks to COVID.

Green Day – J.A.R.
iTunes stats: 17 plays, most recently on 7/9/2022

Green Day’s contribution to the Angus soundtrack picked up a mere four listens over the past four years.

Alanis Morissette – Hand In My Pocket
iTunes stats: 21 plays, most recently on 11/20/2021

Hitting #4 on the Billboard charts, the second release from the juggernaut that was Jagged Little Pill added seven listens in the past four years.

Side B

Continue reading →

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Fitbit IX – Week 18

A pretty steady week, as I managed to extend my streak of days over 4000 steps to thirteen while crossing the 30,000-step plateau for the second consecutive week.  Things got off to a decent start on Sunday, a trip to Guaranteed Rate Field left me needing just 32 additional steps to get to 5500.  A decrease on Monday pushed me down to 4200 steps.  A smaller drop on Tuesday put me at 4100 steps.  Wednesday saw a nice bounce back up to 6200 steps thanks to a post-work trip to Wrigley Field.  Micahel’s high school graduation on Thursday pushed me up over 4600 steps.  The start of the long holiday weekend on Friday left me just 18 steps shy of 4100.  Saturday ended the week with 4100 steps.

Total steps: 32,884

Daily average: 4697.7

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Post Mortem – The Flash

Premiering on The CW on October 7, 2014, The Flash ran for nine seasons and, alongside its progenitor Arrow, built what would become known as the Arrowverse, which included at least six different DC-based programs and multiple crossovers, providing at least 36 seasons of programming for the network.  However, with new owners on board looking to make a quick buck, the end of The Flash looks to be the end of the Arrowverse as well.

At this point, I have not seen most of the abbreviated ninth and final season, which ended earlier this week.  Ever since the Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover, I’ve been catching up once the season hit Netflix, which I’m sure I will do here as well.  Whatever the actors move on to next, I’m sure I will be willing to give it a chance.  Which is more than I can say for what is coming next on The CW.

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Post Mortem – Dead To Me

Dead To Me, which debuted in May of 2019, came to a conclusion with its third season, released in November of 2022 on Netflix.  The final season of the show, starring Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini, had contended with COVID delays and Applegate’s multiple sclerosis diagnosis which pushed filming back multiple times.

I started watching the show during the pandemic shutdown of 2020, getting through the first two seasons.  I finished the show up this spring, wrapping up season three a few weeks back.

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Fitbit IX – Week 17

After a slow start, I managed to put together a six-day streak of days over 4000 steps while crossing the 30,000-step plateau for the first time in over a month.  Things got off to a really slow start on Sunday, where 18 additional steps were needed just to get to 2200.  A big increase on Monday pushed me up close to 4700 steps.  A small drop on Tuesday put me at 4000 steps.  Wednesday saw a nice bounce back up to 4500 steps.  An afternoon trip to the ballpark on Thursday pushed me up over 5100 steps.  Michael’s graduation from JJC on Friday saw me fall just shy of 4900 steps.  Purdue Alumni day at Guaranteed Rate Field helped keep things rolling on Saturday, ending with 4800 steps.

Total steps: 30,241

Daily average: 4320.1

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Yet Another Mix Tape Monday – Volume 18

33 years ago, during my sophomore year of high school, I put together the first of what would eventually become a nearly 20 volume collection of mix tapes, containing my favorite songs that I had gathered either from the radio, a cassette tape, or (eventually) CD.  Today, we revisit those mix tapes for the fourth time and see how, or if, the soundtrack of my youth still resonates in today’s digital world and how much has changed over the past four years.

Volume 18 covers the summer of 1995, the first summer that I worked at First Suburban National Bank in Maywood.  I would end up spending three summers working there, the first two as a teller and the third attempting to create a database to track their safe deposit boxes.  I met a lot of interesting people from many different backgrounds, some of whom became friends for a time.

After I graduated and started working towards my career, my involvement at the bank started decreasing.  For a while, I kept my bank account there and would occasionally pop in to see how the old gang was doing, but eventually the on-site branch of a much-larger banking institution got my business.  By October of 2010, when the bank was closed by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, I no longer had any contact with anyone from the bank.

Side A

Stone Temple Pilots – Dancing Days
iTunes stats: 37 plays, most recently on 12/22/2022

A radio hit despite never being officially released as a single, the Led Zeppelin cover added ten new listens to its impressive total over the past four years.

PJ Harvey – Down By The Water
iTunes stats: 24 plays, most recently on 5/26/2021

Eight new plays for the surprise mainstream hit by the indie darling, which hit #2 on Billboard’s Modern Rock Tracks chart.

R.E.M. – Strange Currencies
iTunes stats: 12 plays, most recently on 9/9/2022

Nearly left off the Monster album due to its rhythmic similarities to Everybody Hurts, the song picked up five new plays over the past four years.

Live – All Over You
iTunes stats: 22 plays, most recently on 6/7/2022

Hitting #4 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart despite never being released as a single in the US, Live’s latest has more than doubled its plays in the last four years.

Soul Asylum – Misery
iTunes stats: 18 plays, most recently on 3/1/2022

Originally recorded off of Q101, the debut single from Soul Asylum’s follow-up to their breakthrough album added seven new listens over these past four years.

Collective Soul – December
iTunes stats: 18 plays, most recently on 5/13/2022

Peaking at #20 on the Billboard charts, the second single from the band’s second album more than doubled its output over the last four years.

Elastica – Connection
iTunes stats: 21 plays, most recently on 5/9/2022

The first US hit from Elastica, peaking at #53 on the Billboard charts, added just four listens in the last four years.

Juliana Hatfield – Universal Heart-Beat
iTunes stats: 21 plays, most recently on 12/22/2022

Hitting #5 on the Modern Rock Tracks charts, the solo release from Juliana Hatfield garnered eight additional listens in the last four years.

Side B

Continue reading →

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Book 22 (of 52) – Friends, Lovers, And The Big Terrible Thing

Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing – Matthew Perry

Matthew Perry, one of the stars of TV’s Friends, checks in with this memoir to tell us of his addictions, trouble maintaining a relationship, and how the two tie together in being caused by what he was lacking in his childhood.  Finally clean and sober, for the moment, although due mostly in part to an exploded colon which left him in a coma for two weeks and with a colostomy bag for the better part of a year.  If he is unable to resurrect his career, at least he has all that Friends money to fall back on.

Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing is my first audiobook of 2023 and my latest attempt to enjoy a celebrity memoir and coming away at least somewhat disappointed.  Perry is a deeply flawed person and has gotten, and squandered, more chances than you or I might see.  But, because Chandler Bing was part of one of the biggest hits in television history, everyone, at least professionally, forgives if not forgets, until the show is over.  It’s tiring, to be honest.

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Post Mortem – Fantasy Island

Recent re-imaginings of Fantasy Island have tended to learn towards the supernatural, if not downright macabre, whether it was the 1998 revival starring Malcolm McDowell or the 2020 horror film starring Michael Peña.  The most recent attempt to revive the brand stayed closer to the original, in both story and theme.  Roselyn Sánchez starred as Elena Roarke, grandniece of Ricardo Montalbán’s character from the original, who oversees the fantasies enjoyed by the visitors to the island.

The show lasted two seasons before being cancelled last month by FOX.

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The CW Upfronts

It’s another year of change at The CW, which was sold to Nexstar and is cutting programming costs in a bid for more profitability.  Monday starts off with All American, the only returning scripted show, followed by 61st Street., starring Courtney B. Vance and previously airing on AMC.  Tuesday is all “new” comedy night, with three imported Canadian series, Son of a Critch, Run the Burbs, and Children Ruin Everything, followed by Everyone Else Burns, a British comedy.

Canada provides more content for Wednesday night, with Sullivan’s Crossing, starring Chad Michael Murray, followed by The Spencer Sisters, starring Lea Thompson.  Thursdays goes all-reality, with two episodes of the Nikki Glaser-helmed FBoy Island, recently dumped by HBO Max.  Friday remains the same, with Penn & Teller: Fool Us followed by an hour of Whose Line Is It Anyway?  Saturday goes back-to-back with two episodes each of Masters of Illusion and World’s Funniest Animals.  The Sunday night offering is I Am, a collection of documentary features.

Waiting in the wings for midseason are the fourth season of Walker and FGirl Island, which, ok.  Whatever.

Lost to the sands of time are DC’s Stargirl, The Flash, Kung Fu, Nancy Drew, Riverdale, Walker Independence, and The Winchesters.  The fates of Superman & Lois and Gotham Knights are undecided at this point.