U218 was released in 2006 and ended up being the seventh best selling music CD of that year. U218 includes 16 songs that were released as singles plus the 17th track is a cover version of The Skids‘ “The Saints Are Coming“, recorded with Green Day to benefit Hurricane Katrina charities. The 18th and closing track was a new song entitled “Window in the Skies“.

Some might consider U218 as a “Best of” CD, but too many of U2’s iconic songs are missing. No “Angel of Harlem” or “All I Want is You.” But, for U2 fans, there are some rarities here, like alternate single versions of songs that differ from the album versions, to make U218 worthwhile. Are you a U2 fan? See any of your favorites here? GRADE: B+

TRACK LIST:

Wonderful Beth Fedyn sent me a copy of Mark Polanzak’s The OK End of Funny Town. The OK End of Funny Town‘s 19 stories feature characters like a giant who sets up camp in the middle of a city (freaking everyone out!) and a complicated and annoying little robot that you don’t know whether you should love or hate. Mark Polanzak plays with magic, surrealism, and whimsy in these stories. If you’re looking for tales out of the realm of the familiar and normal, take a trip to The OK End of Funny Town. Thanks, Beth! GRADE: B

Table of Contents

I. MEET FABULOUS STRANGERS!
1. Giant — 11
2. Complicated and Annoying Little Robot — 16
3. Genie — 25
4. The Mime — 30
5. Unidentified Living Object — 46
II. TRAVEL TO FANTASTIC PLACES!
6. The OK End of Funny Town — 63
7. Our New Community School — 71
8. Camp Redo — 79
9. A Proper Hunger — 83
III. WITNESS MAGICAL THINGS!
10. Porcelain God — 101
11. Gracie — 112
12. An Exact Thing — 116
13. Test — 125

14. How You Wish — 135

IV. EXPERIENCE SURREAL TIMES!
15. Out of Order — 151
16. Ready Set — 160
17. Oral — 169
18. Kind Eyes — 179
19. Used Goods — 187

Acknowledgements — 191

About the Author — 193

Colophon — 196

MARVEL’S M.O.D.O.K., is an American adult animated stop motion television series created by Jordan Blum and Patton Oswalt for the streaming service Hulu, based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. The series is produced by Marvel Television, with Blum serving as showrunner.

Patton Oswalt stars as M.O.D.O.K., a supervillain struggling to handle his company and family. Aimee Garcia, Ben Schwartz, Melissa Fumero, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Beck Bennett, Jon Daly, and Sam Richardson also star. Genius M.O.D.O.K., frustrated after spending years failing to gain control of the world and battling superheroes like Iron Man (and losing!), finds himself removed from his company A.I.M. after it falls into bankruptcy and is sold to a rival company, GRUMBL. M.O.D.O.K. begins to deal with his troubled family while facing a mid-life crisis. This is silly stuff, but I found it mildly entertaining. This is one case where Father DOES NOT know best! GRADE: B

Mike Hayes writes about his experiences as a Navy SEAL and his post-SEAL experiences working in the White House for both Bush and Obama. Hayes includes stories of his work for a hedge fund and his current job as Chief Digital Transformation Officer at VMware.

The parts of Never Enough (2021) that resonated with me were Hayes’s descriptions of his SEAL missions in Kosovo, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Some of Hayes’s SEAL teams took horrendous damage by explosives, ambushes, and hand-to-hand fighting. Hayes discusses what it’s like on the battlefield and what decisions he and other commanders had to make under extreme conditions.

If you want to gain insight into what our armed forces deal with in our dangerous world and learn how the SEALs make their difficult decisions, I highly recommend Never Enough. GRADE: A

Table of Contents

Author’s Note ix

Introduction 1

Section I Never Excellent Enough

Chapter 1 Choose the Hard Path-Excellence in Knowledge and Capacity 17

Chapter 2 Build Comfort with Discomfort-Excellence in Strength and Control 43

Chapter 3 Live with Incredible Confidence and Extreme Humility-Excellence in Accountability and Orientation 63

Section II Never Agile Enough

Chapter 4 Be a Leader and a Follower, and Know When to Be Which-Agility in the Roles You Play 87

Chapter 5 Learn How to Think, Not What to Think-Agility in the Decisions You Make 114

Chapter 6 Gain Authority by Giving It Away-Agility in the Organizations You Lead 136

Section 3 Never Meaningful Enough

Chapter 7 Push Your Values Out into the World-Finding Meaning as an Individual 169

Chapter 8 We Live and Die for People, Not Causes-Meaning in the Bonds We Build with Others 195

Chapter 9 Make Differences Where They Will Count the Most-Meaning in Contribution to the World 219

Acknowledgments 229

Frederick Kaufman believes that money has incredible power. He takes a historical approach to explore how humans went from trading goats for chickens to trading goats for sea shells, to exchanging goats for gold coins. And then Kaufman goes through the evolution of paper money.

Not surprisingly, Kaufman believes digital currencies like Bitcoin are the future of money. Right now, there are over 2000 crypto-currencies circulating in today’s world economy.

I found Kaufman’s approach to money as a metaphor very convincing. If you’re interested in money–now and in the future–The Money Plot lays it all out in clear, concise, and understandable language. GRADE: A

Table of Contents

I Small Money

Behind the Curtain 3

1 The Shell Game 7

2 The Trophy Wife 37

3 Acts of Violence and Other Words 55

4 The Soul of Money 69

5 The Crusade 87

II Big Money

The Silver of Count Hieronymus von Schlick 127

6 Money Wants to Be Free 131

7 The Buck Starts Here 145

8 The Float 179

9 How to Make Money 211

10 The End of Money 243

Acknowledgments 253

Timeline 255

Glossary of Selected Terms 261

Bibliography 267

Illustrations 287

Two for the Money (2021) includes the first two Nolan novels: Bait Money (1973) and Blood Money (1973). The Nolan novels are a pastiche of “Richard Stark” (aka, Donald E. Westlake), the professional thief, Parker. Like Parker, Nolan is a craftsman of crime, executing heists with precision and caution. In Bait Money (aka, First and Last Time)–Max Allan Collins’ first published book–Nolan wants to retire from his criminal profession and work a legitimate job like running a nightclub.

But Nolan has baggage. Nearly 20 years ago, Nolan killed the brother of a Mafia member. Although time has passed, the Mafia member wants revenge on Nolan. Nolan realizes he needs to settle this score in order for his retirement to happen.

The deal Nolan works out requires Nolan to pull off another caper: a bank robbery. But, since professional thieves can’t work with Nolan because of Mafia rules, Nolan has to pull of the heist using two young man and a young woman who have never robbed a bank before. I enjoyed all the planning and complications that lead up to the crime. The aftermath of the robbery is explosive.

Blood Money continues the story with Nolan avenging the murder of two of his friends. But with his money stolen, Nolan needs to track down the murderers and the cash they took from him. Once again, the plot is twisty with plenty of surprises. If you like Richard Stark’s Parker novels, you’ll enjoy these wonderful pastiches! GRADE: B+

NOLAN SERIES:
   1. Bait Money (1973)
   2. Blood Money (1973)
   3. Fly Paper (1981)
   4. Hush Money (1981)
   5. Hard Cash (1981)
   6. Scratch Fever (1982)
   7. Spree (1987)
   8. Mourn the Living (1988)
   9. Skim Deep (2020)
   10. Double Down (2021)

I was a big fan of Al Stewart’s “Year of the Cat” back in the mid-1970s. The surreal lyrics and the sax solo thrilled me. Apparently, “Year of the Cat” thrilled a lot of people which resulted in this re-mastered (by Alan Parsons) 45th Anniversary Edition. If you want to learn how the song came about, just click here. Are you an Al Stewart fan? GRADE: A

This 45th Anniversary edition of this special album includes a complete, previously unreleased concert recorded at the Paramount Theater, Seattle in October 1976 on the YEAR OF THE CAT tour over two CDs and a new mix of the track ‘Belsize Blues’, recorded at Abbey Road Studios in September 1975.

TRACK LIST:

DISC ONE
YEAR OF THE CAT
RE-MASTERED BY ALAN PARSONS

1. LORD GRENVILLE
2. ON THE BORDER
3. MIDAS SHADOW
4. SAND IN YOUR SHOES
5. IF IT DOESN’T COME NATURALLY, LEAVE IT
6. FLYING SORCERY
7. BROADWAY HOTEL
8. ONE STAGE BEFORE
9. YEAR OF THE CAT

BONUS TRACK
10. BELSIZE BLUES

(RECORDED AT ABBEY ROAD STUDIOS IN SEPTEMBER 1975)

DISC TWO:
LIVE AT THE PARAMOUNT THEATER,
SEATTLE – OCTOBER 1976
PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED
1. APPLE CIDER RE-CONSTITUTION (LIVE 1976)
(PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED)
2. THE DARK AND THE ROLLING SEA (LIVE 1976)
(PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED)
3. ONE STAGE BEFORE (LIVE 1976) (PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED)
4. SOHO (NEEDLESS TO SAY) (LIVE 1976)
(PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED)
5. NOT THE ONE (LIVE 1976) (PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED)
6. ON THE BORDER (LIVE 1976) (PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED)
7. BROADWAY HOTEL (LIVE 1976) (PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED)
8. ROADS TO MOSCOW (LIVE 1976) (PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED)

For years I used to take Solgar’s Oat Bran tablets. They provided fiber each day and also reduced my cholesterol numbers. But for some unknown reason, Solgar discontinued their Oat Bran tablets and I was unable to find an acceptable substitute…until this month. I was searching on AMAZON for some health products when I stumbled onto these tnvitamins OAT BRAN TABLETS.

I ordered a bottle and started taking one tablet each day. I’ll be going for routine blood work in a month in preparation for my bi-annual doctor’s exam. I’ll be curious to see if my cholesterol numbers fall. Where do you get your fiber?

In Army of the Dead, Las Vegas is a walled city (of shipping containers) where inside the perimeter thousands of zombies shamble around looking for someone to eat. The U.S. Government plans to drop a tactical nuclear bomb on Sin City and destroy the zombie apocalypse once and for all.

But the owner of one of the ruined casinos hires a team of misfits to sneak into Las Vegas before the bomb hits to retrieve $200 million in his casino’s safe. The leader of the team, Scott Ward (played by Guardians of the Galaxy’s Dave Bautista), recruits Tig Notaro as a helicopter pilot and Matthew Schweighofer as a safe-cracker. There are other characters on the team, but they’re mostly muscle.

As the caper progresses, more things go wrong. Plenty of gunfights and mayhem result. In typical Zach Snyder fashion, Army of the Dead has TWO fake endings which makes the last 10 minutes of this movie painful to watch. Unless you really love zombie movies, skip this. GRADE: C