Making Myself Useful

It's been a few days since I last posted, so I thought I'd drop off a few recommendations and point to some links this morning.

1. Run out and buy a copy of The Golem's Eye and then read it. If you haven't read the first book, The Amulet of Samarkand, then by all means get that one first. The point here is to read what promises to be an excellent fantasy series set in a distopian society where people who conjure spirits rule the British Empire. The characterization is excellent and the plot is exciting and fast-paced. My wife is now reading Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell and I hope to grab it when she is done. This month looks like "Alternate British History With Magic" month to me!

2. Listen to Ray Charles' Modern Sounds of Country and Western Music. Mr. Charles' southern drawl and easy vocal style suits these C&W standards perfectly. Some of the arrangements are a little "poofy" for my taste (a lot of strings threaten to bump this music into the easy listening category) but the 12-bar blues backbone is always a welcome addition to any popular music.

3. Listen to the Franz Waxman score of The Bride of Frankenstein, which was recently re-recorded by the Westminster Philharmonic (cond. by Kenneth Alwyn). This music and Philip Glass' score to Dracula (the Bela Lugosi version) is the perfect mood-setter for the upcoming Holloween holiday.

4. Finally, update your browser to Firefox 1.0PR and your email client to Thunderbird 0.8. Firefox now makes it easier to set up RSS feeds for your favorite web sites and blogs (although not this one...yet). It is fast, free and more secure than IE.


TTFN (Ta Ta For Now)!