Author: SilentBen

Not often silent, but undoubtedly always Ben.

Changes

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I will try my best not to spoil anything with this review, but it will be difficult.  I am going to assume, though, that if you are reading this review you already read the previous books.  So if you haven’t I apologize if I spoil anything from one of them.

When we left Harry last, the wizarding world was still deeply entrenched in a war with the vampire Red Court, he had helped bring the existence of the Black Council into the light, and had the White Council, some of his close friends, and himself from grave peril.  But it was not without costs and consequences – Thomas (Harry’s half-brother and ally in the vampire White Court) ended up embracing his demonic nature, Murphy ended up in even thinner ice than usual in the CPD, many White Council members died including the warden that Harry had committed to exonerate, and Harry and McCoy set out to start a Gray Council (a secret subset of the White Council that acknowledges the Black Council as a force to be reckoned with).

Now in the midst of the maelstrom that follows the previous events, something comes up that drags Harry away from all of it for something even more personal (spoiler here:   a daughter that Susan had kept secret from him who is now being held by the Red Court – not much of a spoiler since it is revealed in the first few sentences of the book).  And Harry goes to all lengths to deal with this threat – calling on every ally and asset, calling in every favor, and even makes personal sacrifices he wouldn’t otherwise have considered.  He also ends up making an array of sacrifices that he would rather have avoided.

As I read this and as I’m now reading the second book in Jim Butcher’s other series, The Codex Alera, I can’t help but be increasingly impressed and enamored with this author.  In this series, he has a great and subtle way of peppering in a few pop culture references that only readers of my generation are likely to pick up on (which you have to pick up on them or you’ll miss them as they are not at all explained).  And with both series’ Butcher shows as they progress that he had clear long-term plans in each, yet neither include volumes that are too incomplete to enjoy on their own or too reliant on past story to follow without pretext.

In a word, this latest book was brilliant.  I enjoyed every sentence of it from start to finish (even the ending that left me in shock and ready to cry).  I really hope that there will be more in this series.  I know that Jim is releasing a collection of all of the Dresden short stories that he has written over the years (including a new one related to this latest volume) which I will definitely be purchasing and reading when it hits the shelves in November.  But I cannot except that this story might be over – especially with so much still unresolved (e.g., the Black Council still at large, some of the swords still unallocated).  There has to be more in store for Harry and his intrepid companions.  So I will be waiting patiently, Mr. Butcher.  The ball is in your court.

Food Horizons

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I was always a finicky eater.  As a kid I probably disliked more foods than I liked.  I would eat spaghetti with butter and grated cheese rather than sauce.  I wouldn’t eat anything that contained onions, peppers, mushrooms, or beans.  I’ve gotten better over time both through some forceful nudging by my parents and my own expanded spirit of food exploration.  And at this point there are very few things I won’t eat (though I’m still not a huge fan of peppers or onions – mostly a texture thing, though – I don’t mind the flavors).

But now I have kids of my own, and the last thing I want to do is to pass my own food aversions on to them.  So I’ve made a point of exposing them gradually to a variety of foods in these formative years and trying not let my own food preferences influence their own.  I’m currently working on gradually breaking down Cricket’s spice aversion (she is learning that spices aren’t always spicy, and can make foods tastier), and exposing them to some vegetable options my own parent never pushed on us (e.g., brussel sprouts).  I also recently fooled her (and myself) into eating mushrooms by finely chopping some and replacing a 3rd of the meat in a lasagna with them (I also added a good amount of spinach – it was quite good and I didn’t tell her until after she was finishing a second helping).

Grasshopper is a bit of a different nut t o crack, though.  He will actually eat a number of veggies without a problem.  And whereas Cricket I need to force to drink milk every day, Grasshopper will chug it day and night.  But he is not a big fan of meat.  This is not truly a bad thing – there is nothing wrong with a diet of mostly produce as long as the proteins get in there somewhere.  He is only 3, so I figure it is a phase he will eventually (at least partially) outgrow.  I can now add another non-meat protein source to the list of things he likes, though.  My mom came to visit for the weekend, and due to her own digestive health she came with groceries.  Upon departure, we were left with two cartons of Silk soy milk (one chocolate, one vanilla).  I’m not really a fan and neither is my wife, but I’d hate to just toss it.  So as an experiment, I gave some to Grasshopper the next time he asked for ‘choca-milk’ – he guzzled it down as if it were no different.  And both last night and this morning, he asked for a cup of ‘soil milk’.

I’m sure my kids will develop their own tastes and food aversions – we all have them (I know I still do).  I’ll continue to fight the important food fights (e.g., wanting a treat every time the ice cream man drives down the street).  But luckily so far neither of them are too finicky (at least not as finicky as I was).

And Another Thing …

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Last week I wrote about a music group that I’ve recently been exposed to and come to enjoy.  I extolled their covers of popular songs as well as their original compositions.  I commented on the lovely vocals of Nataly Dawn and catagorized Jack Conte’s musical arrangements as quriky and ecclectic (in a very positive way).  As it turns out, I severely undersold Jack’s musical talents.  After reading more about the VideoSong concept that they employ in all of their music videos (there are two rules:  1. What you see is what you hear (no lip-syncing for instruments or voice). 2. If you hear it, at some point you see it (no hidden sounds), I have to say that I’m becoming more impressed with both the group and the man.  I then took some time to explore some of his independent works on YouTube, and this has become one of my new favorite songs.

The song is a mashup of Incubus’ Warning and Green Day’s Brain Stew and it is pieced together brilliantly.  It helps that they are both songs that I greatly enjoyed even before this fusion.  In addition to a number of artful covers and mashups, you can find a number of original songs of his (both lyrical and instrumental) on YouTube and much of it can also be purchased on iTunes.

So now after two weeks, anytime I’m listening to music, it is either something by Pomplamoose, Nataly Dawn, or Jack Conte (eventually I’ll move on, but what’s the hurry).  Hopefully some of you are also finding their music enjoyable (either through my introduction or your own musical discoveries).

Put Your Hands Up

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Music is a very important part of my life.  I listen to it in many aspects of my life and it is both a mood ring and a recovery tool for my emotional state.  Many of the most important moments of my life can be and have been set to music.  So it is incredulous that I don’t write more about it.  I aim to change that starting here.

I’m always seeking new music to listen to.  While my wife is also very musically oriented, she has not pursued it as fervently as I tend to recently, so it was a welcome surprise last week when she turned me on to a new artist.  Before last weekend, Pomplamoose was no more than the French word for grapefruit (albeit a somewhat phonetically spelled version of the word).  It started with her playing the video for this quirky cover of Beyoncé’s “All the Single Ladies”.  After only a few iterations of it and hearing a few other covers, I found myself spending some downtime at work the following Monday investigating some more of their music including their originals.  By the next day I had purchased and downloaded every track I could find from the band as well as some of the singer’s solo tracks.  And for the rest of the week I listened to little else.

Pomplamoose’s sound is very indie, with Nataly Dawn’s vocals being very earthy and reminiscent of Beth Orton, and Jack Conte’s arrangements being very eclectic (including elements such as toy xylophones, triangles, and facial percussion).  But there is also a solid sense of a polished product – while the videos present a sense that all of their songs are recorded in an apartment, the sound is well produced and complete (even in the seemingly purposefully included snafus and antics).

Their covers include some original instrumental interpretations that make the songs their own and their originals are solid arrangements on their own.  I love the coy message in “If You Think You Need Some Lovin“, the subtle metaphors in “Expiration Date” (I especially like the line “when did you start complimenting in past and future tense”).  And while it could be argued that their video style seems single-threaded, Nataly’s near constant half-smile and Jack’s unique instrumentation and video antics make them all very watchable.

That being said, I encourage you to watch them all.  If you like what you hear, I also encourage you to patronize them as well.  While I don’t necessarily support the nature of the RIAA machine, I do fully believe in supporting real musicians that are trying to make a living.  I hope you at least enjoy a listen – currently it seems that their cover of Lady Gaga’s “Telephone” is at the top of the YouTube playlist, which I enjoy listening to more than anything actually by Lady Gaga herself.

Circus of Heroes

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In the beginning of this season of Heroes – the show that I used to love, started to hate, came to enjoy again and am now ambivalent about – the writers did what they needed to do by immediately injecting new characters and twists to the saga that was turning a little to telenovella-esque. The characters we had known and loved were able to evolve forward(-ish) and react to these new elements. Unfortunately at times even this new line feels stretched, stale, or overly tangled. And even with all that, there always seem to be some loose ends that threatent to unravel the tenuous hold the show seems to have on my patience. But tonight this chapter finals comes to an end. The big question is will the end tie a nice bow on the season or be the noose by which the series draws its own demise.

[me watching the Heroes season finale]

Okay. I will start with the positive. Most of the mainstays ended up either where I hoped/expected or in a place I can accept. Some got there with more hoopla than generally necessary, but they got there none the less. The writers were also good to avoid huge cliffhangers for next season (well, perhaps one). In general, with exception to some of the Sylar in Parkman’s head moments from earlier in the season, I’ve enjoyed his character arc this season and it’s correlation with Peter’s; the finale did well in completing that arc. All in all, this close was very reminiscent of the season one capper.

As for negatives, there actually are fewer than I expected. Samuel was a sociopath to the bitter end, but i’d anticipate no less. It is odd how full of himself he can be and how much if a manipulator he is, and yet he does so through coersion and omission and almost never seems to blatantly lie.  But really the negatives in my mind are more with the season than with the finale.  Where the season occasionally suffered from convoluted story arcs that didn’t always circle back as expected, the season closer did not suffer as such.

So to sum up:

Heroes Chapter 4:  C-
Heroes Chapter 4 Finale:  B+
Heroes Chatper 5 Outlook:  B?