I’m taking Diane to her favorite local restaurant for a Valentine’s Day dinner with friends. Hope your Valentine’s Day plans are just as sweet!

Diane and I drove to the Sheas’s Performing Arts Theatre at 5:00 P.M. and joined 2000+ Jim Gaffigan fans for Gaffigan’s Barely Alive Tour. Gaffigan had five performances in Buffalo–including an 8:00 P.M. show after our 5:00 P.M. show–and all of them sold out. Clearly, Western NY is Jim Gaffigan Country.

For those of you who watched Gaffigan’s 2023 Dark Pale comedy “Special” on AMAZON Prime Video (you can read my review here), some of those routines were recycled on the Barely Alive Tour stand-up comedy.

Gaffigan repeated his jokes about Pat Sajak of Wheel of Fortune and told the story of his family getting a dog…despite his wife’s allergies to dogs. Gaffigan also explained his weight loss. He’s on Mounjaro (“Way better than Ozempic!”). However, people come up to Gaffigan’s wife asking, “Does Jim have cancer? He’s lost so much weight!”

Ted Alexandro, a comic who told us that he’s been doing stand-up for 30 years, 6 of those as the opening act for Jim Gaffigan, had the audience laughing for about 25 minutes. Most of his jokes concerned the life-style of being a 60 year-old comic married to woman who does psychic readings. They also have two toddlers.

Alexandro, followed by Gaffigan, delivered about 90 minutes of humor to an appreciative audience. Are you a Jim Gaffigan fan? GRADE: B

Peter Attia’s Outlive: The Science & Art of Longevity focuses on how to live better longer. A long life without quality of life is just existing. Attia explores the recent medical research and advances that give us more control over our long-term health.

Attia believes adjusting your diet can produce positive health effects. The big culprits are sugar and high fructose corn syrup. Research shows how sugar and high fructose corn syrup adversely affect our glucose levels leaving us sluggish and drained of energy.

Heart disease is the biggest killer in America. Attia suggests several strategies to improve heart health. The two easiest strategies to reduce your risk of heart attacks and stokes are daily exercise and a Mediterranean diet.

Check out the graph below. As we age, our immune systems weaken and the chances of contracting cancer increases. Cancer is most deadly to people over 70 years of age. But Attia provides recommendations to reduce cancer risk later in Life. One factor that can help is sleep. As we age, sleep becomes more elusive. Quality sleep recharges our immune system to fight off cancers and other diseases.

Our most powerful tool for preventing cognitive decline is exercise. As we age, our physical capacity erodes. Our cardio respiratory fitness declines, we lose strength and muscle mass over the years, and our bones grow fragile as our joints stiffen and our balance falters. Daily exercise can stave off physical decline and keep our brains healthy. I found Attia’s advice useful. If you want to improve your quality of Life and age more sensibly, I highly recommend Outlive. GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Introduction 1 

Chapter 1 The Long Game: From Fast Death to Slow Death 7 

Chapter 2 Medicine 3.0: Rethinking Medicine for the Age of Chronic Disease 20 

Chapter 3 Objective, Strategy, Tactics: A Road Map for Reading This Book 36 

Chapter 4 Centenarians: The Older You Get, the Healthier You Have Been 59 

Chapter 5 Eat Less, Live Longer: The Science of Hunger and Health 73 

Chapter 6 The Crisis of Abundance: Can Our Ancient Genes Cope with Our Modern Diet? 88 

Chapter 7 The Ticker: Confronting-and Preventing-Heart Disease, the Deadliest Killer on the Planet 111 

Chapter 8 The Runaway Cell: New Ways to Address the Killer That Is Cancer 140 

Chapter 9 Chasing Memory: Understanding Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Neurodegenerative Diseases 177

Chapter 10 Thinking Tactically: Building a Framework of Principles That Work for You 209 

Chapter 11 Exercise: The Most Powerful Longevity Drug 216 

Chapter 12 Training 101: How to Prepare for the Centenarian Decathlon 235 

Chapter 13 The Gospel of Stability: Relearning How to Move to Prevent Injury 263 

Chapter 14 Nutrition 3.0: You Say Potato, I Say “Nutritional Biochemistry” 291 

Chapter 15 Putting Nutritional Biochemistry into Practice: How to Find the Right Eating Pattern for You 307

Chapter 16 The Awakening: How to Learn to Love Sleep, the Best Medicine for Your Brain 349 

Chapter 17 Work in Progress: The High Price of Ignoring Emotional Health 377 

Epilogue 409 

Acknowledgments 413 

Notes 417 

References 431 

Index 471 

The Marvels is the 33rd movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The budget for The Marvels was around $270 million according to a report from Forbes, making it the fourth most-expensive MCU movie and the highest budget for a non-Avengers film. With just an $80 million gross at the domestic box office, “The Marvels” is the only MCU film to fail to cross the $100 million mark—falling more than $50 million behind the $134 million grossed by the domestic box office’s second-worst performer, “The Incredible Hulk.” Now The Marvels is featured on Disney+.

The director of The Marvels, Nia DaCosta (“Little Woods,” “Candyman”), who co-wrote the screenplay with Megan McDonnell and Elissa Karasik is going to find it difficult to direct another MCU movie with the poor showing of this film.

Brie Larson plays Captain Marvel a.k.a. Carol Danvers, a former Air Force pilot who inadvertently picked up superpowers. Marvel should have just stuck with Captain Marvel instead of adding Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeau, and Iman Vellani as Kamala Khan / Ms. Marvel,to an over-plotted, overextended, overstuffed movie.

Part of the problem of The Marvels is the necessity of taking a lot of time on the screen to bring the audience up-to-date on all the backstories necessary to explain what the heck is going on. The Kree attack The Skrulls and Captain Marvel and her two buddies need to fix the disaster affects before the Universe is damaged.

Did The Marvels need a dance number? Why do all the fight scenes seem lame? Why does this $270 million movie look like it was made for TV?

As one of those Marvel fans who has seen all 33 MCU movies and watched the Ms Marvel TV series as well as WandaVison, I found The Marvels tedious. Maybe this is one of reasons Disney stock is down. GRADE: C

Fred Chappell, the great writer and teacher, died on January 4, 2024. Chappell wrote in a number of genres, but the one that I was most interested in was Chappell’s stories of Lovecraft pastiches. I’ve mentioned Chappell’s “The Adder” in several posts. It’s one of the most convincing and terrifying Lovecraftean stories I’ve ever read.

Dagon was first published in 1968. Dagon was awarded the Best Foreign Book by the French Academy. In 2009, Boson Books reprinted Dagon and its story of a man who encounters one of Lovecraft’s Gods. Dagon presides over the Deep Ones, a hidden amphibious humanoid race that resides in the Earth’s oceans, and is worshipped by the Esoteric Order of Dagon, a secret cult based in Innsmouth. He is the consort of Mother Hydra.

Peter Leland inherits a farm and discovers he has some very strange neighbors. In a series of chilling scenes, Leland slowly finds himself in the grip of a power that takes over his world. Leland doesn’t realize it, but readers recognize the eerie power of Dagon is at work.

With almost psychedelic intensity Chappell’s prose maps the Fate of Leland as he changes and declines into state that prepares him for a meeting with Dagon. If you’re in the mood for a mysterious and sinister encounter with one of Lovecraft’s fiendish Gods, give Dagon a try. GRADE: B

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, I thought two CDs of love songs would be appropriate for this post. The first is a traditional collection of instrumental love songs, An Arthur Fiedler Valentine (2001) performed by The Boston Pops with Arthur Fiedler conducting. I love “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes,” “Love Me Tender,” and “I Want to Hold Your Hand.”

For those of you who prefer love songs with a little more energy, I’ve included Love Bites: More Romantic Power Ballads (1998). There’s a range of songs with various performers and groups. I’m sure you’ll recognize many of the songs on this CD (but, you may not like them). Do you have any Valentine’s Day plans? GRADE: B (for both)

TRACK LIST:

1		Moonlight Serenade	4:18
2		Smoke Gets In Your Eyes	4:21
3		Love Is A Many Splendored Thing	3:18
4		Michelle	3:40
5		Embraceable You	3:15
6		Love Is Blue	4:16
7		Love Me Tender	4:02
8		Days Of Wine And Roses	3:31
9		A Man And A Woman	3:56
10		Laura	2:54
11		In The Mood	3:24
12		Star Dust	3:09
13		And I Love Her	2:21
14		Love Is Here To Stay	2:47
15		The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face	5:12
16		You Are The Sunshine Of My Life	3:18
17		Moon River	3:42
18		I Want To Hold Your Hand	2:16

TRACK LIST:
1 Poison –Every Rose Has Its Thorn

2 Meat Loaf–Two Out Of Three Ain’t Bad

3 Pat Benatar–Fire And Ice

4 Cinderella –Nobody’s Fool

5 Corey Hart–It Ain’t Enough

6 Enuff Z’Nuff–Goodbye

7 Starship –Sara

8 Europe –Carrie

9 Bonnie Tyler–Total Eclipse Of The Heart

10 Toto–I’ll Be Over You

11 Firehouse –Love Of A Lifetime

12 Styx–Lady

13 The Babys–Every Time I Think Of You

14 Kingdom Come –What Love Can Be

15 Mr. Big–To Be With You

16 Night Ranger– Goodbye

Sherlock Homes: The Sign of Seven includes seven longish pastiches. My favorite story is Stuart Douglas’s “Death of a Mudlark.” Holmes and Watson investigate the death of a man who scavenges muddy and stinky tunnels. Holmes, of course, finds some intriguing clues the leads the investigation into some surprising twists and turns.

In the other stories Holmes attends a deadly séance that may prove a man’s guilt; visits a dark carnival with an unusual menu; solves the murder of an Egyptologist’s butler; uncovers the shocking secret of a tobacco dealer; sets sail for America to investigate the death of a cult leader and settles an old score for his famous associate Inspector Lestrade! If you enjoy Holmes pastiches, this anthology will delight you. GRADE: B+

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Introduction — Martin Rosenstock — 1

Death of a Mudlark — Stuart Douglas — 5

The Adventure of the Deadly Seance — James Lovegrove — 99

The Adventure of the Heroic Tobacconist — Derrick Belanger — 167

The Dark Carnival — Andrew Lane — 229

The Moncton House Mystery — David Stuart Davies — 295

The Adventure of the Koreshan Unity — Amy Thomas — 365

Our Common Correspondent — Lyndsay Faye — 429

About the Editor — 507

About the Contributors — 509

In the past six months Diane and I have gotten a Covid-19 Booster shot, a flu shot, and an RSV shot. Now I’ve just had a Prevnar 20 injection at my local Rite Aid Pharmacy. Diane had her yearly physical last week and her doctor recommended the Prevnar 20 shot even though we both got the two pneumonia shots before the Pandemic.

Prevnar 20 is a vaccine approved for the prevention of invasive disease caused by 20 Streptococcus pneumoniae strains (1, 3, 4, 5, 6A, 6B, 7F, 8, 9V, 10A, 11A, 12F, 14, 15B, 18C, 19A, 19F, 22F, 23F, and 33F) in individuals 6 weeks and older.

Sadly, Diane and I saw a dozen family and friends die of pneumonia in the past few years so we want all the protection we can get. Are you up-to-date on your shots?

“This is the story of the moment when American democracy began to unravel. It is the story of the men and women who fought to save it, and of the enablers and collaborators whose actions ensured the threat would grown and metastasize. It is the story of the most dangerous man ever to inhabit the Oval Office, and of the many steps he took to subvert our Constitution.” (p. 3)

I don’t agree with Liz Cheney’s conservative politics, but I admire the steps she took against Donald Trump and the Republicans who remain loyal to him…which ended up costing Liz Cheney her seat in the House of Representatives. And made her the target of numerous death threats.

Taking a chronological approach, Cheney describes the shenanigans Trump and his minions were up to after the 2020 Election. The lies, the frauds, the misinformation grew and grew as Cheney and a few other Republican colleagues grew concerned with the toxic tactics of the White House. Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, and Peter Navarro were espousing conspiracy theories on FOX NEWS claiming the Dominion voting machines were rigged (we all know how that turned out: a $700 million judgement against FOX NEWS).

Cheney documents Kevin McCathy’s double dealing. She also shows that Mike Johnson–who would become Speaker of the House–worked to get the House members to reject the results of the 2020 Election and not certify the results. What a weasel!

McCarthy and Devin Nunes–the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee–joined Trump in defending the online platform PARLER because it was conservative. Here’s some of the hideous posts on PARLER:

“We need to act like our forefathers did Kill [Black and Jewish people] all Leave no victims or survivors” and “After the firing squads are done with the politicians the teachers are next.” (p. 169-170)

Cheney and others grew more worried with the approach of January 6th as Trump rallied his supporters. Some of the most harrowing chapters in Oath and Honor tell the story of what happened on January 6th as the crowd chanted “Hang Pence!” and trashed the Capitol. Cheney calls out the political hacks who supported the invasion: Josh Hawley and Jim Jordan.

Cheney was only one of the 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Donald Trump. And, of course, that triggered Cheney’s removal from the Number 3 position in House leadership. Cheney’s participation on the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol sealed her political fate in the GOP.

Liz Cheney pulls no punches in her tale of the Trump attempt to overturn the Election and the aftermath of January 6th. If you really want to know what was going on–and it’s shameful!–I highly recommend Oath and Honor. GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Prologue — 3

Part I: The plot against America: Election Day 2020 to January 5, 2021

The only thing that matters is winning — 9

Put up or shut up — 18

Someone is going to get killed — 27

The blood of patriots & tyrants — 37

The oath — 48

The secretaries of defense — 53

Just humor him — 58

More sinister than I was prepared for — 63

Fake electors — 67

Powder keg — 73

Part II: The attack: January 6, 2021

The oath does not bend or yield to popular sentiment — 81

This is because of you! — 88

It turned out Kevin was lying — 98

These are the things that happen — 108

He was going to let the travesty go on — 112

Part III: A plague of cowardice: January 7 to June 30, 2021

Impeachment and 25th Amendment are real — 117

A vote of conscience — 125

Impeachment — 133

Trump lied. People died — 144

Trump’s not eating — 147

RemoveLiz.com — 150

They stared down at their desks — 159

This isn’t their party anymore — 164

But what if he is our only hope? — 167

That we love our country more — 175

The inescapable force of freedom — 181

A personal favor — 184

The power of propaganda — 186

Select committee — 193

Part IV: No half measures: Summer 2021 to Spring 2022

A different world — 197

McCarthy withdraws his nominees — 205

I was electrocuted again and again and again — 214

Hideaway — 220

Winning in court — 224

The Meadows text messages — 230

Presidents are not kings — 238

Legitimate political discourse — 241

Taking the 5th — 244

The illegality of the plan was obvious — 248

Trump thought Pence deserved to be hanged — 252

To the best of my recollection, I don’t recall — 258

Not the mastermind — 263

Part V: The relentless march of evidence: May to December 2022

Seven-part plan — 269

I was slipping in people’s blood — 282

A grave disservice to the country — 285

Tantamount to a revolution — 292

Conspiracy theories and thug violence — 297

It may have spiraled us into a constitutional crisis — 305

Hideaway 2.0 — 308

Ketchup on the wall — 315

We did our duty and we stood for truth — 318

President Trump is a 76-year-old man. He is not an impressionable child — 324

Freedom must not and will not die here — 333

You’re welcome, @KariLake — 344

They knew — 347

State of mind — 351

Never again — 353

Unfit for any office — 355

Epilogue — 363

Acknowledgments — 369

Notes — 373