POLITICAL CORRECTNESS IS KILLING AMERICA

So I ran off the road and straight into their sign. No, I didn’t. That would insult the jeep. But a piece of me died when I read that ignorant sign because I’m pretty sure that HATE is what is killing America. Or maybe APATHY or CORPORATE GREED or UPPITY WHITE PEOPLE WHO THINK THEY KNOW WHAT’S BEST FOR EVERYONE ELSE.

grumblegrumblegrumble

Of all the snakes I’ve seen at the park and made their picture, this tiny baby water mocassin has scared me the most. It was so super tiny that 200 senarios of me or my dog accidentally stepping too close to one of these tiny, nearly invisible monsters, and them unloading all of their snake venom into our feet and legs, ran through my head in 3 seconds.

I am a casual Metallica fan. What I mean by that is I own several of their albums (4) and I’ve never been to one of their concerts. So a real metalhead would probably think I’m not a fan at all, but I think I’m a fan because:

A. Metallica rocks; I know this.

B. The first guitar bit I ever learned to play was the damn intro to Unforgiven, so all you metalhead snobs just need to back off, okay? And don’t you, “But The Black Album doesn’t count” me. I will fight you on this.

If you are a super fan or just a casual fan, like me, I think you’ll enjoy this book, especially the first part where the author writes about heavy metal history and the bands that came before Metallica and the bands that came after. Each band gets a couple of paragraphs so the author covers a lot of ground but the writing isn’t bloated with too much information. He gives you just enough info so you can go dig deeper on the bands that you are interested in and not be bogged down with a bunch of tedious whatnot about bands you don’t care anything about. Also, Mr. McPadden was able to come up with 6,000 different adjectives, metaphors, and similes for the same thing: rocking out. Every time I read a new description I marveled at how he was constantly saying the same thing but in a different way.

So the historical parts I really liked. The films and books section I thought were kind of weak. I think at least 90% of the films were picked because there was a Metallica song on the soundtrack. I’m assuming that if you like Metallica you probably know what albums are out there and probably which soundtracks they’re on? The book section had the same kind of problem, 90% of the books were books about Metallica. I would assume that Metallica fans can work their way through a book search for Metallica on Amazon.com. I did like the chapter title Read the Lightning though, that made me smile.

The first seven chapters were really great. The last three didn’t seem to have as much thought put in them. Overall, I really had fun reading this book. If you like metal, or have a metal fan in your life I’d recommend this book. It would be a pretty cool gift.

I loved this book.

As spring arrives in the far north of Sweden, a young woman’s body surfaces through the breaking ice of the River Thorne. At the same time, visions of a shadowy figure haunt the dreams of Rebecka Martinsson, a prosecutor in nearby Kiruna. Could the body belong to the ghost in her dreams? And where is the dead girl’s boyfriend?

Joining forces once again with Police Inspector Anna-Maria Mella, Rebecka finds herself drawn into an investigation that stirs up long-dormant rumors of a German supply plane that went missing in 1943–and of Nazi collaborators in the town, where shame and secrecy shroud the locals’ memories of the war.

And on the windswept shore of a frozen lake lurks a murderer who will kill again to keep the past buried forever beneath half a century’s silent ice and snow.

The abduction of five-year-old Matthew Farraday provokes a national outcry and a desperate police hunt. And when his face is splashed over the newspapers, Frieda cannot ignore the coincidence: one of her patients has been having dreams in which he has a hunger for a child. A red-haired child he can describe in perfect detail, a child the spitting image of Matthew. She finds herself in the center of the investigation, serving as the reluctant sidekick of the chief inspector.

She gets involved with the solving of a kidnapping and her very ordered lifestyle gets a bit stirred up. This worked well because the kidnapping story was really tense and emotional, so having Frieda’s life get a bit wonky with having to deal with people invading her home life was a great way to reduce the tension in the story. I especially loved how Josef insinuated himself into her life. He is a handyman from Ukraine who is always being mistaken for being Polish, hijinks ensue. This character reminded me of Assad in The Keeper of Lost Causes. They both bring a bit of humor as well as mystery because they both seem to have secrets, but are loyal to the main characters.

I loved Blue Monday. It was a perfect psychological thriller. There were plot twists, but none of them seemed tricky; they really worked. And the ending? So great, so creepy, and I can’t wait for the next book in the series!

This book is not only about Tony, but about several other psychopaths as well as the business of mental illness in general.

 The book is very readable, the way Ronson insinuates himself into the research is very entertaining. When he starts his research about madness and psychopathy he starts with, of course, murders and such, but then he also explores the possibility of psychopaths in the business and political world. He meets Robert Hare and learns his Psychopathy Checklist-Revisited, and then proceeds to score everyone he knows and some he doesn’t. It is hilarious.

But it’s a kind of trap, this book, because you’re being so entertained at first, and then the book gets to exploring some really sad, upsetting ideas: are the people with the most power and who are in charge of corporations, governments, etc. psychopaths? Are we as a society too quick to diagnose children with bipolar disorder? It’s obvious that pharmaceutical companies do not have our best interests at heart so why do we keep taking medicine that isn’t curing us?

Great book. You won’t be able to put it down.

Also, you can check out this episode of This American Life.

I’m not sure how old these red-shouldered hawks are, but they kept crying and weren’t flying away like mature hawks do, so I don’t know if these guys can fly yet or not. I have to admit, when I saw them in the nest together I thought they were kind of adorable even though I hate birds. But then I remembered I’m off the hook because I do like birds of prey (BoP) and the ridiculous Great Blue Herons (GBH) so my bird hate can suck it, this time.

When I was taking the pictures I only noticed the two hawks that were standing up, so I was pleasantly surprised when I got home to find that the camera caught three of them in the nest. Boosh! Instead of a twofer I got a threefer.

I go to that park almost every day, and I’m shocked at how I see different things all the time. It’s a small park but it is filled with so much of God’s creation. It’s humbling really.

All right, enough of that. Everyone get back to your tweeting and fart jokes and whathaveyou.

1. If you’re talking to an old man ask him about cars.
Look, you don’t have to know shit about cars for this to work okay? I’m not saying you should debate the oldster on the supremacy of the Chevy Big-Block over Ford’s 428 or anything, that is something that old men talk to other old men about. All YOU need to ask is something like, “What kind of car did you learn to drive on?” or “What was the first car you ever bought?” and then let the oldster talk.

2. If you’re talking to an old lady you have 2 choices:
A. Ask the old lady if she’s read the new book about the Kennedy’s. This will work because if she asks you what new book, all you have to say is you can’t remember the title, technically you will not be lying because THERE IS ALWAYS A NEW KENNEDY BOOK. If she takes the bait, let her prattle on about the Kennedy’s. When she slows down throw out a Kennedy name to get her started, say something like, “Eunice was a saint.” and let her take it from there.

B. The second choice may not be for everyone, but it is a fact that 90% of old women know shit about true crime/kidnapping stories. So if you can stomach it, name drop some true crime and let her run with it.

My pal told me that anything relating to Princess Diana will work as well, I’ve not used that topic myself, but I totally trust her on this.

So let the old people talk, look attentive, and chances are you might learn something. I usually learn stuff when I listen to old people.

***

BTdubs, there IS a new Kennedy book out called After Camelot and it is great. I’ve not finished it yet, but so far it is super readable and dishy enough to be interesting but not tacky. Is it your grandma’s birthday? Buy it for her.

I went looking for snakes at the park, and I found this cottonmouth on what I think is a beaver dam in one of the creeks. When I tried to get closer it slithered into all the branches and debris. For some reason when I lose sight of the venomous ones I get nervous. So I quickly moved on.
Still, not a bad find.

This book did make me sad, a lot. Because it was like reading a train wreck of terrible hook ups. Every time she’d start a new “relationship” I’d want to yell, “No girl! Don’t do it! You’re too good for this shit!”

I love her honesty. I love her feminism. I love her bravery.

The ending felt really rushed, and I don’t think it was very good. The whole book is her talking about the decade or so of terrible dating mistakes she’s made and the ending was one little part that was all, “But now I’m in a healthy relationship. See ya!” I just would have liked a more detailed ending about how she had grown and matured.

Other than that I really liked the book.

Her podcast is amazing. You should give it a listen.