Book Review: Servant Of The Bones by Anne Rice

     Anne Rice lures the reader into her world with velvet and silk, gold and diamonds. Her characters speak in lush, sensuous sentences with moist full lips. In the first half of the book she had the main character, Azriel, telling the story through a dialogue with the narrator, Jonathon, which resulted in too much clunky dialogue. She abandoned this device about half way through, after she had established the history and had Azriel narrate the story himself more directly toward the reader. This allowed the story to flow much more smoothly into the modern day timeline.
     SOTB is a ghost story wrapped in a mystery. The spirit named Azriel has been summoned and he doesn't know why. He needs to put together the pieces of a puzzle.  He is here to learn and at the same time teach the other characters as much as he can about himself and the world in which they find themselves.  Along the way, he makes the reader think: What is a ghost? What is a spirit, an angel? We find out that there are stupid ghosts, and smart ghosts. There are upper echelons of spirits, and even angels, and of course pagan gods.  The idea that these forms all inhabit the same realm and intermingle is just glorious, and delicious.  If we see a ghost, is it evil or is it good? Or is it just lonely and bored? What if the ghost of Christmas Past could talk to Apollo? What would that conversation be like?
     As wonderful as Rice is, sometimes she reaches too far. Passages where she has Azriel explain things about modern times that the reader already knows become encyclopedic and boring. Fortunately, they are few and Rice has sense enough to cut herself off as if to say, but enough about that...let's get back to the story.Occasionally her brush stroke is too broad when it comes to any one religion, or moral, or ethic. It's best when Rice doesn't put too fine a point on it. When she does, it turns into a rant about the government, or ecology, or even humanity itself. And no one really wants to hear that.
     I have read Interview With A Vampire, The Vampire Lestat, and Queen Of The Damned. Yet nothing prepared me for this...I long for Azriel to tell me where he is and what he has seen since last we met.

Book Review: Jarhead by Anthony Swofford

   Swofford's Jarhead is not one of those dodgy, gauzy, misty-foggy memoirs. It takes the reader back to a specific place and time.
     It reminded me where I was and what I was doing when the Iraq invaded Kuwait. One day my boss came in the door all excited. 'We're going to war', he said. I put my nose back in my stack of veterinary medical records and continued what I was doing. I paid no attention to him because he was an idiot and a liar. In this instance he turned out to be right.  I was living in Arlington DC at the time, which is basically a bedroom community for our nations government. Fort Myer Army base and Henderson Hall Marine Barracks were right down the street from my house. 
    Back in the late eighties the term jarhead, while not exactly a term of endearment, was usually spoken with a slight roll of the eyes, perhaps a wink and a nod with a small downward smile. The Jarheads were considered the bad-boys in town, the class bullies. While they were usually harmless, one kept one's distance. 
     For example, one day I was walking to my neighborhood 7-11 for a soft drink and some snacks. I saw two jarheads walking up the street towards me. As they approached, one of them suddenly stepped toward me and popped me in the jaw hard enough to send me sprawling against a nearby railing. A group of Japanese tourists scrambled to their car, afraid to get caught in the possible melee that would ensue. I was just pissed off enough to confront them about it.  I yelled at them, "What'd you do that for?!" The one who hit me seemed taken aback that I even said anything, and he came up with a quick lie. He said, "Aren't you Joe? I thought you were Joe." He smirked at his buddy and kept walking.
    Swofford describes in granular detail what it was like to be on the front line. These guys were pumped, the adrenaline was flowing, somebody was going to get hurt.  I have read the book, and watched the movie. (I saw the movie first in the interest of full disclosure). The interesting thing was that the parts in the movie that seem so surreal are the same parts that seem surreal in the book; such as Swofford's run with his buddy, and the oil rain scenes. This surreal element may cause some people to doubt whether or not it is true.
     Based on my personal experience with jarheads, I believe that Swofford believes what he says is true.

Music: Metric vs Blondie

   I don't know. I'm a big eighties fan.

   Don't get me wrong, I love Metric, with songs like 'Gold Guns Girls' and 'Stadium Love' they break the mold. Yet they've tapped into a whole vibe that seems archaic and retro now, but that vibe used to be called punk and  new wave. Today it is called 'alternative'. Why is that?  Why is eighties music still relevant now? Metro is playing on college radio the way Blondie played on college radio back in the day

I'm posting both videos as a comparison. Notice the stiff legged dance, the shoulder shrug,  the color of the dress (black and gold stripe?), the shots of the band...the hair color of the lead singer.

and now Blondie...

Did they think nobody would notice? Which do you prefer? Please comment.

Travel: Roxbury NY, 2011

     People may wonder why I go to the Catskills. What is there to do? Where is there to go? The short answer to that is...The Roxbury Motel. The Roxbury Motel is the Disneyland of the Catskills.  Each room has a different theme. Think about your favorite escape. Is it: science fiction, comedy, drama? Then you will find it here. The attention to detail is exquisite and you will find yourself looking around your room to find a new detail you may have missed. All of the amenities are here, wet sauna, dry sauna, hot tub, reading room, conference room, continental breakfast room, the list goes on and on. And if you're feeling especially adventurous, schedule a massage in your own private treatment room. If you're the outdoorsy type (like me) then you'll want to find the closest hiking trail which is located down the street at the local park.  Ask any local and they will point you in the right direction.

http://www.theroxburymotel.com/ 

     Of course, you have to eat sometime. Then you could walk down the street to The Public, a storied restaurant. You will learn more by reading the menu. I recommend the personal pizza, and a beer.

http://www.publiclounge.net/ 

If you're looking for finer dining, then you will find it at The Andes Hotel, about a 30 minute drive from Roxbury. I recommend the Grilled Portabella Sandwich from the Tavern Menu, bite into it and you will swear you are eating a delicious roast beef sandwich.

http://www.andeshotel.com/

When you're ready to get out and about you might consider the various antique stores, art galleries, and used book stores that abound in the nearby villages. One of my favorite things to do is visit the Hobart Book Village.  I highly recommend the Bibliobarn which is excellent for those rainy afternoons which frequently occur in the Catskills.

http://www.hobartbookvillage.com/ 

Anyway, these are a few of the reasons I go to the Catskills, you will find many, many more.

Travel: Canajoharie, NY

Spring is a beautiful time to travel through the Mohawk Valley, and the Catskill Mountains. The trees are budding and give the valley a chartreuse glow, as forsythia bushes add yellow highlights. My travel buddy Craig and I arrived in Canajoharie, NY, the home the Beech-Nut Factory where wholesome foods like peanut butter, and baby foods were manufactured. The founders of the Factory were benefactors to the community and created the Arkell Museum which is located next to the factory. Another unique aspect of the museum is that it is combined with the local library to form a special learning experience.

http://www.arkellmuseum.org/

   During the time that I was there, a senior citizen group was visiting and they were rather chatty and noisy. It was a little distracting. There was a very good exhibit of Homer paintings that captured the bucolic settings of the area.

My hosts for the night were our friends Alfonso and Bruce who own a beautifully restored turn of the century farm house complete with a barn and all of the out-buildings. We were joined for dinner by a couple more friends and we shared wine out in the gardens until dinner was served. Alfonso and Bruce are vegetarians so the dinner was healthy, and filling! We had pasta with mushroom sauce, corn on the cob, tomato and cucumber salad and a delicious baked beet with fetta cheese dish. For dessert, Craig brought a rum cake baked by his mother. The cake was oozing with rum. The wine and conversation flowed into the evening. I finally crashed in a quilt covered bed, as the lights from across the valley twinkled through my bedroom window.


    The next morning we were treated to a brunch of grilled cheese sandwiches, and broiled asparagus. A perfect meal to send us on the next leg of our journey.

more soon...
Preston

COFFEE REVIEW: Starbucks X-BOLD French Roast

    A co-worker gave me a bag of Starbucks coffee that she decided she didn't like. She thought the X-Bold on the label referred to the caffeine content rather than the flavor. This fuzzy logic makes sense if you consider that she works the over night shift, and anything that might help her stay awake would be preferable. When I opened the bag, my first impression was that it smelled like dried cat piss. Similar to when a male cat sprays an area, but you don't know exactly where until several days later you put your nose to the spot and suddenly you think...a cat peed here. That's what it smelled like. I politely took it and explained to her that I no longer drank coffee due to digestive problems, but I would pass it on to a friend who was an avid coffee drinker who might appreciate its bold french roast flavor. I lied, I still drink coffee. I didn't want her to feel bad because her coffee smelled like urine. 
     On my day off, I became curious about this X-BOLD coffee. Maybe I was being too judgmental. I decided to brew a pot. I used a little less of it in order to water down some of its boldness. I tried to pretend it made my apartment smell like a trendy downtown coffee house, but I knew it was only make it smell more like cat piss than it already did because of my cat Donald's litter box. I added milk, and sugar to mask the taste, yet it still tasted like coffee that had sat on the burner all after noon long. Why would anyone drink coffee that already tasted burnt?
     I finished one pot, and decided to make another. I added more coffee to this one thinking that perhaps I had spoiled it by watering it down the first time. By now I had been drinking coffee all afternoon and I was beyond buzzed. I was caffeine drunk. I felt disoriented, couldn't focus and had this strange urge to play Lady Gaga on Napster. I began to wonder if maybe there wasn't a secret ingredient, an X factor that they added to this coffee...so I made a third pot. Then I lost three hours. I don't know where they went. All I know is that I looked at my watch and it was 7:30 in the evening, and I could have sworn it was only 4:30 in the afternoon. I either blacked out, or discovered the secret to time travel.
     After this, I've decided to avoid caffeine for a while.