I want to thank all of you for making this blog possible. Without Jeff, Patti, Rick, Deb, Drongo, Beth, Art, Bill, BV, Evan, L.A., Bob, Todd, James, Scott, Fiona, Jerry, Gloria, Dan, Steve, Karl, Michael, and all the rest of you out there most of the energy and interest here would soon evaporate. I consider this blog a collaborative enterprise. I appreciate your visits and your comments. They motivate me to Do Better. Around June, I’ll be undergoing a total knee replacement operation, but I hope to have enough postings generated so there won’t be any break in the daily stream of reviews while I undergo the 4-6 weeks of rehab.

David E. Kelley (no relation) has a new TV series on NBC tonight: Harry’s Law. Kelley produced Allie McBeal, The Practice, and Boston Legal. Harry’s Law was supposed to be about a cranky, quirky male lawyer, but Kelley and his crew couldn’t find the right actor for the role. Then, they decided to open it up to female actresses and Kathy Bates won the part. I watched the pilot last week. Ho-hum. But Kelley’s creations tend to start out bland and become weird in a hurry once the suits stop observing. I’ve always considered Kathy Bates an underrated actress. I hope this series gives her a chance to really stretch her wings.

The NFL, the richest and best-run sports league in the world, finds itself with two attractive match-ups to decide which two teams will be going to the Super Bowl. My heart says, “The Jets” but my head says, “The Steelers at home.” Could the Jets win a third straight playoff game on the road? I think not. I’m openly rooting for the Green Bay Packers to beat the Chicago Bears. Spending 10 years in Wisconsin turned me into a “Packer Backer.” And what could exorcise the demon of Bret Favre better than a trip to the Super Bowl without him!

Yesterday, I reviewed Nick Flynn’s first memoir, Another Bullshit Night in Suck City. The sequel (just published), The Ticking is the Bomb, lacks the previous book’s power and energy. In a series of reveries, Nick Flynn thinks about old girl friends, failed relationships, torture, The Story of O, his mother, his father, and his new baby (yes, Flynn becomes a father!). Yet, the seeds of destruction are everywhere. Flynn has a baby with Inez, yet he still has “feelings” for Anna. On dating two women at the same time, Flynn opines: “For me, ‘dating’ often felt like reading Tolstoy–exhilarating, but a struggle, at times, to keep the characters straight.” Coming from a guy who’s part of a family of chronic substance abusers, this should come as no surprise. Flynn’s alcoholic father, the “star” of Another Bullshit Night in Suck City, is threatened with eviction from his rat-infested, government-subsidized, apartment. Nick Flynn tries to delay the inevitable by removing 60 trash bags of clutter from the apartment, but in the end his father ends up in a nursing home. Flynn needed to go through The Ticking is the Bomb and remove the clutter from this book, too. GRADE: C+

Nick Flynn’s memoir of his alcoholic father and his mentally disturbed mother makes horrific reading on many levels. Flynn is honest enough to show his own drift into drug smuggling and drug abuse. I haven’t read a more dispassionate description of the slide into homelessness. Flynn opens his electrifying story with his homeless father trying to spend the night in a Boston ATM enclosure. Later, Flynn’s father shows up at the homeless shelter where Flynn works. The story bounces around from Flynn’s Mom’s demons to Flynn’s problems staying in college (and staying drug-free) to Flynn’s father’s stint in a federal prison. You won’t soon forget reading Another Bullshit Night in Suck City. Compelling!

Ted Conover won a National Book Critics Circle Award for Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing, the story of Conover working as a prison guard. The Routes of Man: How Roads Are Changing the World and the Way We Live Today is just as good. Conover strikes me as one of those restless people who can’t stay in the same place very long. He rambles around the world, traveling on good roads (in China) and terrible roads (in Africa). The most interesting journey Conover takes is a trip to South America to see where mahogany comes from. Several times while reading this book, I thought Conover was going to be shot or stomped or violated (the prostitutes in Africa found Conover very attractive). Conover goes into countries full of violence and AIDS to show how the spread of the disease is directly affected by roads and the long-haul truckers who populate them. If you’re interested in high-level reporting, you’ll find The Routes of Man fascinating. GRADE: A

Robyn’s Body Talk blends dance music and techno into an astounding CD. Robyn released some of these songs in early 2010 as Body Talk: Part 1. Then, later in 2010, Body Talk: Part 2 came out. You can get Body Talk: Part 3 as an expensive import. Now, this final version, Body Talk, emerges with the strongest songs from the previous CDs. But, some songs were left off so if you’re a completist (which I am), you’ll have to go back and buy Part 1 and Part 2 and Part 3 (if you can find it). I think Body Talk was one of the best pop music CDs of 2010. Take a listen below.
TRACK LIST
1 Dancing On My Own Radio Version / Version 4:39
2 Fembot 3:34
3 Don’t F***ing Tell Me What to Do 4:11
4 Indestructible 3:40
5 Time Machine 3:36
6 Love Kills 4:28
7 Hang With Me 4:21
8 Call Your Girlfriend 3:47
9 None Of Dem 5:11
10 We Dance To The Beat 4:27
11 U Should Know Better 4:01
12 Dancehall Queen 3:38
13 Get Myself Together 3:40
14 In My Eyes 3:57
15 Stars 4-Ever 3:59

To commemorate Martin Luther King Day, I decided to read Eugene Robinson’s insightful Disintegration: The Splintering of Black America. You may have seen Eugene Robinson’s appearances on MSNBC. Robinson strikes me as an intelligent, incisive commentator. And his book reflects Robinson’s thoughtfulness when considering the issue of race. Robinson suggests Black America has been broken into four parts: the Mainstream (basically the black middle class), the Abandoned (the black poor), the Transcendents (Oprah, Jay-Z, Barack Obama, etc.), and the Emergents (basically two groups: black immigrants from Africa and the Caribbean, and mixed race individuals). Robinson illustrates his points with examples of his Katrina reporting, his analysis of the movie Precious, and his interview with Barack Obama. If you want a Reality Check on race relations in the U.S., read Disintegration. GRADE: A

I’m sure most of you have seen Willow Smith’s classic video, “I Whip My Hair.” But, you may not have seen Jimmy Fallon (impersonating Neil Young) do a completely different version of the song (which I like a lot better than Willow’s). Watch a bit of the original and then watch Jimmy Fallon channel his inner Neil Young and completely transform the song. And, if you watch the Fallon video long enough, you’ll see a Special Guest! Just click below.

whip my hair bruce springsteen & jimmy fallon as neil young
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