Mary Poppins Returns

Previously (7/3/14) I had occasion to review the original 1964 “Mary Poppins” with Julie Andrews in the title role, which I combined with a review of “Saving Mr. Banks”, the 2013 film which portrayed how Walt Disney (Tom Hanks) managed to pry the rights to Mary Poppins away from the original author, Pamela Travers (aka Helen Goff), played by Emma Thompson.   Incidentally, that’s two “Saving” movies Hanks has done, with the Private Ryan version being a bit more exciting than his portrayal of Walt Disney. 

Now there’s a new movie, “Mary Poppins Returns”, with Emily Blunt in the title role.  It takes place years after the original, the original children now adults, the boy being a widower with three young children of his own.   Sadly, the family is facing the repossession of that same house to the same bank the father – now a deceased grandfather – worked for in the original film.   Remarkably, but not surprisingly, Mary Poppins descends from the London sky by talking umbrella and takes care of the children on yet more magical adventures while Michael Banks (Ben Whishaw) and his sister Jane (Emily Mortimer) attempt to un-f**k their financial dilemma. 

The cast itself impressed me.  David Warner – who I most affectionately remember as Sark in “Tron” and Jack the Ripper in “Time After Time” – is here as the neighboring admiral blasting away on the hour.  Colin Firth – the rabid Arsenal fan in the original “Fever Pitch” and George VI in “The King’s Speech” – is here in a rare unsympathetic role as a bank manager, Wilkins.  Even Dick Van Dyke – hold on, he’s still alive?? – is back, albeit NOT as a chimney sweep or gaslighter.  “Cockney rhyming slang” is invoked here:  in my case, I’m a septic tank (Yank).  Oh, and we shouldn’t forget Meryl Streep as Cousin Topsy – including a musical segment – or Angela Lansbury in a more modest role as a balloon lady towards the end of the film. 

Yes, there is a major animated sequence in the middle, putting some live action characters into proper animal format (Firth turns into a wolf).   Not “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” but along the same lines.   “You can’t judge a book by its cover” is the highly pertinent lesson imparted thereby.   In addition to the animated/live action sequence being suitably evocative of the original is the highly amusing business wherein Poppins discusses the matter with the children once they return to their bedroom.  One child accurately describes the events in question, only to have Poppins dismiss said events as “just a dream”.  Hold on, assert the other two:  we had exactly the same dream!  Never mind implausible, how is that even possible? [Expect the impossible…]

Predictably, the financial issues are resolved, Wilkins disposed of properly, and “there was much rejoicing”.  Oddly, the original took place in 1910, at least 10-15 years must have passed for Michael and Jane to be their current ages, but London still looks like it’s before WWI and not the 1920s or 30s (and no references to the “Great War”, which is what WWI was called before WWII came around – moreover, Michael’s age suggests he would be old enough to be a veteran of the trenches), with the exception of Cousin Topsy, who appears to be a flapper (1920s single woman).   Overall, an excellent sequel which faithfully understands its source material and what a sequel should be.  Bravo!

Finally, the picture above is taken from what I found to be a highly informative Vanity Fair article discussing the new movie, and invoking a familiar Disney film with Angela Lansbury, “Bedknobs and Broomsticks”, https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2018/12/is-mary-poppins-returns-based-on-the-books

Decriminalization < > Legalization

I’m trying to avoid incessantly blogging about drugs, but confusion about Denver’s recent action has induced me to revisit the issue again to clarify the issue, mainly because it pisses me off when people say that Denver legalized psychedelic mushrooms, because it didn’t.

Denver (the city) not the entire state of Colorado, decriminalized psychedelic mushrooms.   They remain illegal.  However, if you are caught with them, instead of going to jail, you are simply hit with a fine.   Since they’re still on Federal Schedule I, all bets are off for getting caught by the FBI, though I’m not aware that federal authorities are prosecuting anyone hit with civil fines on decriminalized drugs.   Decriminalization doesn’t mean legalization, it just means that possession of modest amounts considered plausible for personal consumption, incurs a civil penalty and not criminal sanctions.  Larger amounts still incur misdemeanor or felony charges and jail time. 

Legalization (except as noted below) means you can buy and sell it – and so far, that means in dispensaries which are heavily regulated and collect the state taxes on the transactions.  Many states have decriminalized marijuana but not legalized it, so people still have to either buy it from illegal dealers or grow it themselves.  As a practical matter, the police rarely bother to enforce the law once it reaches this threshold.  This is probably the #1 benefit of decriminalization:  while ordinary people with no source for these drugs can’t purchase them from a dispensary, those who do have a source can buy and sell with little or no concern about unwanted intervention by the authorities – at least the local authorities.   

DC and Maine legalized possession, but not sale, of marijuana.  This means you have to grow it yourself.  The police might be inclined to ignore sales IF the parties get clever by selling other items of nominal value and including the market value of MJ in the transaction as a “free gift”, e.g. buy this otherwise worthless sticker for $60 and we’ll throw in a quarter ounce of marijuana for free.  This seems to be the case in DC.  While it violates the spirit of the law, it does adhere to the letter of the law.  The lawyer in me considers this a form of corruption, while the libertarian in me, who believes all drugs – even heroin – should be legal, views this as a rare occasion when the authorities reach an accommodation with private citizens which moves in the proper direction and counteracts laws which are improper and immoral. 

Maryland has recently legalized medical marijuana, and the statute allows a physician to prescribe marijuana, full blown with THC as opposed to non-psychoactive CBD, if he/she believes that the benefits in treating the patient’s condition, whatever it might be, outweigh the risks.  Given there are no risks associated with MJ, that means literally any condition would qualify, not just cancer or glaucoma.  Medical marijuana dispensaries are now open, including two in Rockville alone.  Sadly, Maryland also ruled that having a medical MJ bans you from owning guns, but that restriction may end up overcome by court rulings – we do have the Second Amendment, remember?   Stay tuned.  Like the selling a sticker and a quarter ounce, these loosely drafted medical marijuana laws act as a de facto loophole to counteract an otherwise bogus law.  Yet again, the libertarian in me applauds this. 

Oddly, many recreational marijuana dispensaries, such as in Colorado and Massachusetts, will sell to non-residents.  In MA, the stipulation is that all such MJ sold must be consumed in Massachusetts.  There’s a dispensary in Springfield, just up the road from Connecticut, where MJ remains illegal.  MA also borders New York, Rhode island, Vermont, and New Hampshire.  Guess what – those states are now seriously considering legalizing now.  Because there’s really no effective way to make sure that no one takes all that MA-purchased MJ into a bordering state.  D’oh!  Do we want that tax money going to Boston - or Hartford, Providence, Concord, Montpelier, or Albany?

What’s funny is that I know people who live in Colorado – and none of them smoke MJ.   Same with my friends in Massachusetts, Nevada and Canada.  Simply because you legalize it doesn’t mean everyone will do it.  We’ll see what happens in Denver, which now has a marginally larger array of mind-altering substances to sample.  Shrooms won’t be sold in dispensaries – yet- but the penalties for possessing smaller amounts will be substantially reduced, at least in Denver.   :D 

As noted earlier, even marijuana is still illegal at the Federal level.  Under Obama, the Feds took the position that they would hold off on enforcing federal marijuana laws in states such as Colorado and Washington which had legalized recreational MJ.  Jeff Sessions, until recently Donald Trump’s Attorney General, made noises that he would change that, but to my knowledge the Feds have yet to do so.  For his part, Trump himself varies from one day to the next, so I’m ill-inclined to pay attention to his position (as it changes by the hour, it seems).  Moreover, Chuck Schumer and others in Congress are proposing to end the Federal ban on MJ, which will not only make this a moot issue, but also allow MJ sellers to enter the banking system.  I won’t hold my breath, but overall the trends seem to be positive.  

DesertFest NYC 2019

As noted earlier, it’s not my policy to blog about literally every concert I attend, unless I feel it’s somehow noteworthy.  A three day stoner rock festival in Brooklyn, New York may well qualify.  So here goes.

I’d been meaning to see a band called Elder, from Boston, Massachusetts, which has 4 albums out.   They come off as an intriguing mix of prog and stoner, with 9-12 minute songs which jam out a little.   Finally, the opportunity came:  DesertFest NYC, to occur on April 26 (Friday) through April 28 (Sunday).  The Friday show was at the Saint Vitus Bar in northwest Brooklyn, the Saturday and Sunday shows at The Well, also in Brooklyn, close to the Montrose St. station on the L line.  It’s a large enough venue with a large outdoor area, the immediate area in front of the stage protected by a canopy.  This neighborhood is industrial, due east of Williamsburg.

Before I go further: thank you to Dave and Loni for making this adventure possible, each in their own way.  Thank you.

Anyhow.  For reasons most plausibly related to the desert jams out in California with which KYUSS is most closely related, many of these stoner rock festivals invoke “DESERT” in their name even if the locale, downtown Brooklyn, is thousands of miles away from any desert.  Like DC, the NYC area is more like a swamp than a desert.   It was never a desert and if mankind vanishes from the city letting nature retake it, things will probably be flooded and swampy until the Sun expands into a red giant billions of years from now and we’re all long gone (except for Keith Richards).     

For logistical reasons I did not catch Friday night’s lineup, in reverse order from headliner to “who the hell are these guys?”:  Black Cobra, Here Lies Man, High Tone, Son of a Bitch, Heavy Temple.  I think I have some Black Cobra CDs, vaguely recalling them as stoner rock.  The rest I don’t recognize.  In any case I wasn’t there.

Saturday & Sunday had alternate stages full of bands which I ignored. 

Saturday (again, reverse order): Windhand, Weedeater, The Skull, Danava, Electric Citizen (main stage), Steak, Mirror Queen, Worshipper, Tower (second stage).    My prime concerns were The Skull, Eric Wagner’s post-Trouble band, and Danava, who I had never seen before. 

Electric Citizen have a female singer and a worried looking lead guitarist who reminds me of William H. Macy.  They’re not bad, but not particularly memorable, and may well be doomed to perpetual opening band status.  We’ll see. 

Danava are from Portland, Oregon, and have three albums:  self-titled, UnonoU, and Hemisphere of Shadows.  They’re another band that seems to take Black Sabbath as a starting point and change it up with a modest dose of weirdness. 

The Skull gave us the same awesome riffage we might expect from Trouble, for obvious reasons.  Mr. Wagner was in high spirits and shared that energy and enthusiasm with the crowd.  I got to shake his hand twice.  I’ve seen Trouble once with him on vocals (years ago) and saw The Skull more recently at Café 611 in Frederick, Maryland.  While the big four of Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax got most of the attention from thrash fans back in the 80s and 90s, a few lesser known but quality thrash bands were putting out albums if you had the good fortune to know about them.  Trouble added some 60’s psychedelic vibe to distinguish themselves from the others, Manic Frustration (1992) being my favorite album.  Dave Grohl is also a big fan, and said that for him, buying Psalm 9 (the first album) was like buying Sgt. Pepper.    If you’re into Trouble, by all means check out this band, who have two albums of their own: For Those Which Are Asleep, and The Endless Road Turns Dark. 

Weedeater gave me too much of a NASCAR-METH vibe and their cover of Skynyrd’s “Gimme Back My Bullets” was unrecognizable.   Another band with decent tuneage marred by abysmal vocals, thanks to bassist/vocalist Dave “Dixie” Collins.  I have their most recent album, Goliathan, and listened to the prior four albums, all of which sound pretty much the same.  Maybe they should just follow Karma To Burn, whose songs are 80% instrumentals, though confusingly named by number.    

Having seen Windhand in DC in January, I left after Weedeater.  Like The Sword, Windhand are a band with decent enough studio material but live, seem to believe that simply getting up on stage and playing the material is sufficient.  Sadly, neither band has appreciable stage presence.   

Back again for more the next day!

Sunday’s lineup:  Elder, Monolord, ASG, Ruby the Hatchet, Fatso Jetson (main stage); Mick’s Jaguar, Duel, Green Milk From the Planet Orange, Sun Voyager (second stage).   Sun Voyager had a cool dugout/onehitter for sale, but as I had ignored all the second stage bands, and had a King Buffalo one already, I had to pass.

I missed Fatso Jetson and ignored Ruby the Hatchet, another band with a chick singer, in their case a woman who looks like a metal version of Britney Spears.  Like Electric Citizen they’re ok, just not particularly different or memorable, and may well share the same fate of perpetual opening band.  Intriguing that the promoters saw fit to put them on different days. 

ASG.  I had Survive Sunrise and Blood Drive (newest and second newest albums) both of which I liked.  When I saw them on the bill, it was another incentive to catch this show.  Lead guitarist Jonah Citty plays something I’ve never seen, a left-handed Gibson Flying V.   I can’t describe their difference from the baseline of Black Sabbath, but it was enough to discern if not to articulate.  Not bad.

Monolord.  I had seen them a few months back.  They’re from Gothenburg, Sweden, and the guitarist/singer Thomas Jager plays a Greco Flying V.   He has a BOC cross tattooed on his arm.  Slow and drudgy, a bit repetitive, you have to be in the mood for “Into the Void” or “Under the Sun” type songs.  Hell, he was tuned to C, down from E, so he had to retune between each song.   I have all their albums!  In reverse order, Rust, Vaenir, Empress Rising, and Lord of Suffering/Die in Haze. 

Elder.  Finally.  This band is led by Nick DiSalvo, who plays a weird guitar I don’t recognize – usually he’s shown playing an SG.   I had actually purchased their first album, Elder, soon after it came out, followed by Dead Roots Stirring, Lore, and now Reflections of a Floating World, but hadn’t been able to see them live until now.  They start off with a riff, then plunge into an intense jam, and come back again.  Now repeat that for the next four songs in the set….and you have Elder, who blend stoner rock with some prog and jam band elements for an alluring mix. 

Overall an excellent show, which I’m glad I made the effort to visit the NYC area again to attend.   My next out-of-the-area shows are TOOL at Hampton Coliseum in southeast Virginia, May 10, followed by the third Earth Rocker festival in northeastern West Virginia, on July 13, the main attraction being Maryland band Clutch. 

The Vest.  I’m noticing more rock fans showing up with vests adorned with patches.  Usually there’s a large back patch, the rule seeming to be that the patch size is inversely proportional to the fame and fortune of the band.  A band I like, REZN, whose recent stop at the Sidebar in downtown Baltimore was sparsely attended (fortunately myself included) is selling large back patches on its website.   I snagged two smaller patches.  In fact, I’ve accumulated enough patches to start a vest, but at this point I can’t help considering it an affectation.  I still have a denim jacket from Paris around, which dates from my high school days.  The large, central back patch on that is Black Sabbath. 

Oddly, the merchandise options at the Desertfest were fairly modest.  Bands seem to vary in how diligent they are in offering such things, ranging from the basic t-shirts all the way to things like patches – Sleep are the best at that – and grinders or onehitters, again Sleep being the best as well.  Sadly, many of us fans would gladly open our wallets and buy these things.  At the very least you would imagine a band would release tour t-shirts with the current tour’s dates on the back, but I’m seeing that to be the exception and not the rule.  Not my problem, of course, but word to the wise…..

Fantastic Magic

I recently saw “Fantastic Breasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald”, the sequel to the earlier Harry Potter prequel movie, “Fantastic Breasts and Where to Find Them”.

I actually read the original seven Harry Potter books and did a blog about them in 2007, around the time of Order of the Phoenix (#5) and before Half Blood Prince (#6) and the pair of “Deathly Hallows” films, which cover book #7 but serve as movies 7 and 8.   I haven’t read anything after Deathly Hallows.

I was pleasantly surprised by “FB” and also liked “Grindelwald”.  Both are prequels and neither feature Harry Potter himself.  Younger Dumbledore makes his appearance in “Grindelwald”, played by one of my favorite actors, Jude Law.  Johnny Deep plays Grindelwald himself.  Warning, Dumbledore describes his relationship with Grindelwald as “closer than brothers”, meaning, “they’re gay, but don’t worry, we won’t see them kissing.”  [“Not that there’s anything wrong with it.”]

Both focus on Newt Scamander, played by Eddie Redmayne, and here’s why I like it: almost all of the characters are adults AND the movie takes place in New York City.  FINALLY we have some acknowledgement that the United States exist.  As for adults, I suppose had I been a kid when the Potter books came out I’d have liked them more.  But no, I’m an adult, and to me these are kid’s stories and movies.  So pushing the focus on adult characters really pushes it more into my preference range.

The third thing is PARIS.   “Grindelwald” starts off in NYC again – 1927, so even the Chrysler Building isn’t around yet – but gives us some London (ZZZ) but lots of Paris.   And this is a Paris rich in Art Nouveau.  I’ve gone off about Paris umpteen times, mainly because I used to live there.   The Paris angle I DON’T LIKE is this 1920s “American in Paris” crap with Hemingway, Stein, and all the pretentious expatriate writers hanging out there after World War I.   And “Midnight in Paris” with Owen Wilson was all about that – except when his female friend Adriana (Marion Cotillard) dragged him to 1890s Paris.  Anyhow.  Fortunately the movie makers give us more Art Nouveau than Art Deco and spared us Hemingway and his friends.   Thank you!

Part of the fun is giving us young Dumbledore (Law) and many of the writers of the Hogwarts textbooks as actual characters in their youth.  While I can’t say I have the patience to re-read the original 7 books to catch up, many of the names sound vaguely familiar. 

Note: there will be a third film released in 2020, for a total of five films.  I have to wonder where the next three will take place, because we’ve hit NYC (Fantastic Breasts) and Paris (Grindelwald).   May I suggest Rio de Janeiro?  And what about magic in communist countries?  Dare we see what Moscow looked like in 1928, with Stalin and Trotsky still battling it out for control of the Soviet Union?  What does the MagiCheka look like? 

Better yet, if the series continues into the 1930s, in particular past January 30, 1933, perhaps Berlin could be a setting.  Because we all know that the Nazis’ fascination with the occult is a topic which is long overdue for a movie, right?

Stay tuned.

Old Man

“…and we liked it!”  was Dana Carvey’s refrain on SNL, eons ago, as the grumpy old man accusing today’s youth of being soft, citing his own generation’s implausibly difficult circumstances.  Ironically, Carvey himself must be getting on in years but hasn’t been visibly active on screen these days, at least so far as I can see.

I hit the big 5-0 back in January.   Naturally that has me thinking.  Here are some of those thoughts.

Middle Aged?  For some reason I took as a given that life expectancy was a nice, round 100.   And many people do live that long these days, but so far as I know current life expectancy in the First World remains around 75.   So 50 isn’t middle aged, it’s 67% of the way through.  Oops.

Reincarnation.   PROG Magazine features a column by none other than famous keyboardist Rick Wakeman, whose commentary is invariably humorous and witty, but in this case he went on about reincarnation.  I find the whole premise of reincarnation so thoroughly implausible and ridiculous as to be not worth discussing even in theory.  There are billions of people alive today, far more than have ever died.   Reincarnation as a human is a non-starter.  For his part, he was discussing animals, which in addition to being implausible is also silly.  Funny how no animals, even dolphins, have made any effort to communicate with us.   If Uncle Ted was reborn as an animal, wouldn’t he tap, in morse code, somehow?    Really a total waste of time for anyone to consider.

Stem Cells.   I had a chiropractor in my office and we discussed this.   According to him, nerve damage from even minor accidents is permanent.  After puberty, these types of cells do not regrow.  I asked him if stem cells could fix that, and he said that in principle they could, but the technology to allow them to do so is decades away. 

Then I asked him about immortality, and he gave me the “good news”/”bad news”.  The good news is that in theory, stem cells could allow us to replace aging tissue and ensure, effectively, eternal youth.  The bad news is that the state of stem cell technology as of 2019 is such that even if it ever did reach that point, anyone alive today, and certainly him and I, would be long dead by that time.  Sigh…

Falling Apart.   My metabolism has gone down substantially.   My weight has gone up.  I used to be able to run on the treadmill at 7 mph.  Now I’m lucky to be able to do a brisk walk at 4.5 mph, or briefly run for 5-10 minutes at 6 mph.  As for strength, though, I’m lifting as much as I ever was at 25.

My hair still seems to be hanging in there, though some of it (less than 25%) is grey.   I’m feeling more aches and pains than ever before, not sure whether it’s wear and tear, arthritis, or – as the chiropractor suggested – auto accident injuries manifesting themselves years after the accidents occurred.  Unfortunately ObamaCare effectively pushed me out of the health insurance market:  $300 a month with an $8000 deductible, such a bad deal that the adjusters told me not to bother with it.  Whatever health care I do get is paid out of pocket as I go.  

Fortunately in other departments I’m still doing OK.   President John Tyler, #10, who served from 1841-45, remarkably has living two living grandsons today [https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/heir-raising-experience/].   I’ve long since given up hope on having children – and even if I somehow fathered any today, I would be 70 when they were in college.   My interest at this point is more the obvious part of the childbearing procedure from the male perspective and no real expectation of producing children. 

On the other hand, the Romans were big on adoption, refusing to rely on the randomness of childbirth AND having children who weren’t screwups; they interviewed decent kids of other parents and adopted the ones they felt were worthy.  Not a bad idea….

Mind Reading.  Not sure if this belongs here, but it's a minor power I seem to have picked up in the last year or so.  I've noticed when watching TV or a movie I've never seen before, I'm able to predict what the characters will say, sometimes verbatim.  And no, we're not talking about common catchphrases.  I picked one from "Two Mules For Sister Sara" (remarkable western with Clint Eastwood and Shirley MacLaine) literally word for word.  I suppose there's a finite array of vocabulary and maybe a critical mass of movies which makes this possible, who knows.  Not that I'm complaining.

Cassettes

I originally addressed this issue in a blog from 2008, when cassettes were still a dead and obsolete format.  Now, after vinyl, cassettes are making a comeback.   I addressed the vinyl comeback in 2014, now I’ll tackle this second resurgence.

First, I’d like to address vinyl one more time.   I think I’ve found the reason so many people swear that vinyl sounds better than CD.  Rather, two reasons.

“The Emperor’s New Clothes.”   The Vinyl Prophet cynically believes that arrogantly asserting a counterintuitive claim – “I’m wearing clothes when it appears I’m not” OR “vinyl is superior to CD” – can be achieved with a surplus of confident arrogance.  “I know something you don’t!” i.e. only people as smart as I am can recognize that I’m right. 

There is NO logical reason why vinyl should sound better than CD.  CD technology is more advanced – digital, from the 1980s and later – whereas vinyl technology, in the form of 33 1/3 RPM LPs, dates from the late 1940s, and the basic technology dates from the early twentieth century.   180 grain vinyl is still the same technology, just a thicker slab of vinyl, that’s all.  It’s purely analog no matter how thick the vinyl.

“Thank you, Colorado.”  Another reason may be that the listener is enhanced by THC.   You can’t listen to vinyl in your car, at the gym, walking down the street.  You have to listen to it at home, on a turntable going through a stereo.  When you’re at home you’re also at liberty to indulge in any herbal remedies you might otherwise enjoy in that private environment.  Combine the two together and you have a rich and enjoyable musical experience, but perhaps also the erroneous conviction that vinyl is better than CD.   Nope, that’s the THC talking, another example of what I call “recreational stupidity”.  Not that weed makes you stupid, temporarily or otherwise, but to non-stoners it may appear that way, especially when you utter faux-profound statements under the influence which impress only others feeling the same way.

Cassettes.  Back to these.  In the 1950s, the prevailing methods of listening to music were vinyl and reel-to-reel.  Neither of these were practical for cars, which up to this point were limited to radios.  Bill Lear, of Lear Jet fame, invented 8 track cartridges (the “car” in “cartridge” referring to automobiles) expressly for the purpose of having a format which was practical in cars.  By 1962, Phillips had invented cassettes, and by the late 1970s cassettes defeated 8 tracks as the preferred format for car stereos. 

Cassette Deck.  I have a Pioneer dual deck, which I wound up removing since I wasn’t listening to tapes anymore.  It still works, it’s just gathering dust in my closet.  Crutchfield sells a TASCAM dual deck for $500 which will allow you to convert your cassette tapes into digital files. 

Car Stereo.  I got my driver’s license in 1986, and my first car, a 1984 Chevrolet Cavalier, in 1988.  It had a Delco (OEM) auto-reverse deck which worked most of the time.  My 1992 Pontiac Firebird (base model, loaded with all the options) had a deluxe tape deck, my 1992 Pontiac Firebird Formula 350 (only option: the 5.7L V8) the bare bones OEM tape deck, which I replaced with a Pioneer unit from Crutchfield.   I remember my buddy Phil with his early 70s Mercedes 450SLC with only a radio.  Aside from hearing Pink Floyd’s “One of These Days” for the first time thanks to either DC101 or 98 Rock, mostly the distinction was not having a tape deck. 

My current car, a 2009 Dodge Charger, has the stock CD player.  I’m seeing cars these days from the factory with no CD player at all, just AUX and USB inputs for iPods, etc.  Fortunately Crutchfield is still around… 

Boom Box.   A large, portable cassette deck with big speakers.  Ostensibly de rigeur for those whose relatives originally came from Africa and now prefer to share their urban-oriented music with everyone else within earshot, you could of course boom anything from a boom box:  “Sinner”, by Judas Priest, or classical music should you be so inclined.  But not everyone will appreciate your sharing….

Walkman.  In the early 1980s Sony came out with the Walkman, the first practical and popular personal cassette player with headphones.  I got one for my confirmation (Catholic thing) gift.  It kept my school bus journeys in high school more fun, then later trips on the SNCF (French railroad, local commuter lines) to school as well.   With headphones, this meant that unlike a boom box, you could enjoy your music more discreetly without involuntarily inflicting your particular taste in music upon everyone else around you.   

Mix Tapes.  If you’ve seen “Guardians of the Galaxy” you’ll notice Star Lord (Chris Pratt) has his mix tape and even in the distant future, across galaxies, keeps a cassette deck – probably the only one in the universe – for the express purpose of listening to his cherished tuneage.  Before CD-Rs came by, this was a major selling point for cassettes.  I myself made a few, a Heavy Mix and a Ram Air Mix.  Maybe someday they’ll use mine for the third GotG movie’s villain to inflict Black Sabbath, Sleep, and other noxious stoner rock upon everyone.

FYI, here are the mixes for GotG1 and 2.  The story is that his mom made these of songs she liked, and he keeps them because they remind him of her.   Sadly, with all the great bands around during the 70s to choose from – Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, the Grateful Dead, Grand Funk Railroad, KISS, etc. – his mom had to listen to the following mediocre mom-rock tunage. “Awesome Mix”?  Not even close.  See below:

GotG1.  Hooked on a Feeling (Blue Swede); Go All The Way (The Raspberries); Spirit in the Sky (Norman Greenbaum); Moonage Daydream (David Bowie); Fooled Around and Fell in Love (Elvin Bishop); I’m Not In Love (10cc); I Want You Back (The Jackson 5); Come And Get Your Love (Redbone); Cherry Bomb (The Runaways); Escape (The Pina Colada Song) (Rupert Holmes); O-o-h Child (The Stairsteps); Ain’t No Mountain High Enough (Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell).

GotG2.  Mr Blue Sky (Electric Light Orchestra); Fox on the Run (The Sweet); Lake Shore Drive (Allotta James Jeremiah); The Chain (Fleetwood Mac); Bring It On Home To Me (Sam Cooke); Southern Nights (Glen Campbell); My Sweet Lord (George Harrison) (a good song, but come on – not his best); Brandy (You’re A Fine Girl) (Looking Glass); Come A Little Closer (Jay & The Americans); Wham Bam Shang-a-Lang (Silver); Surrender (Cheap Trick); Father and Son (Cat Stevens); Flash Light (Parliament) (I’d have gone with “Maggot Brain”); Guardians Inferno (The Sneepers).

Comeback.  Speaking of stoner rock.  Those bands seemed most inclined to release their material on vinyl.  Case in point, my most recent acquisition, SLEEP live at Third Man Records, a 4 LP set.  Now in addition to vinyl, these bands are releasing their material on cassette.  As noted above, there are plenty of useful idiots pedantically claiming that vinyl is a superior format to CD and digital.  The next person who expresses any such opinion with regard to cassettes will be the first.  So far as I can tell, this is an indulgence purely for nostalgic purposes. 

Of my own collection, a recent review shows that 95% of what I have on cassette I have on CD.  Of the 5% remaining, that’s almost all bootlegs, which I haven’t listened to in ages – one Pink Floyd, a few Blue Oyster Cult (1976, Eric Bloom bitching to Carter about the 55 mph speed limit), Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, etc. – and few mix tapes.  The little boom box I have next to my bed has a tape deck, so I should listen to these again….

Jordan Peterson's 12 Rules For Life - An Antidote to Chaos

This is Jordan Peterson’s bestselling “how to” book on life.    I recently finished it at the request and/or suggestion of my brother Matt, with whom I generally share not merely interests and genes but also values.   His part of the bargain is to complete the Three Body Problem trilogy.   Ahem.

Almost all of these are fairly straightforward and could be described as “enlightened self-interest”. 

Oddly, throughout this whole book, absolutely no reference is made to Ayn Rand, though the essence of his advice is the same:  look out for your own interests but not at anyone else’s expense.  I notice many references to fascism and communism, not in favorable terms; those discussions were enjoyable on their own merits.  Also, there’s a fair dose of religion in here, but more as a reference and not as a source of morality.  Dante referred to “virtuous pagans”, and sadly too many religious people tend to be hypocrites and less “moral” than others who affect either atheism or merely an indifference to organized religion and going to church every Sunday.   Peterson fits right in here, advising us to be moral – above all, consistently so – without invoking God or retribution to back it up, virtue for its own sake.  Throughout the whole thing I found little or nothing to disagree with. 

Here are the 12 Rules:  

Rule 1.  Stand up straight with your shoulders back.

Rule 2.  Treat yourself like someone you are responsible for helping.

Rule 3. Make friends with people who want the best for you.

Rule 4. Compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not to who someone else is today.

Rule 5. Do not let your children do anything that makes you dislike them.

Rule 6.  Set your house in perfect order before you criticize the world.

Rule 7. Pursue what is meaningful (not what is expedient).

Rule 8.  Tell the truth – or at least, don’t lie

Rule 9. Assume that the person you are listening to might know something you don’t

Rule 10.  Be precise in your speech.

Rule 11.  Do not bother children when they are skateboarding.

Rule 12.  Pet a cat when you encounter one on the street.

Fairly straightforward and sensible enough.   He really needs to wake up and read Atlas Shrugged.