Album Review: Soul Punk

In the time between 2009, when his band Fall Out Boy went on an indefinite hiatus, and today, vocalist Patrick Stump has broken away from the pudgy, good-boy punk rocker every girl would pass over to stare at Pete Wentz to someone entirely new: a tall, lanky young man with a dance-rock, soulful edge to his music and lyrics.

Breaking away from his previous musical style with Fall Out Boy, Stump has created what he considers a new genre of music: "soul punk", hence the title of the album. It has a heavy dance beat and lots of synthesizer, but each track is special and unique in the drum patterns, guitar patterns, or just mood. Stump singlehandedly wrote all the lyrics and recorded every layer of every track on this album. If that's not impressive, I don't know what is.

The track list is as follows:

1) Explode

2) This City

3) Dance Miserable

4) Spotlight (New Regrets)

5) The "I" in Lie

6) Run Dry (X Heart X Fingers)

7) Greed

8) Everybody Wants Somebody

9) Allie

10) Coast (It's Gonna Get Better)

11) BONUS TRACK: This City (feat. Lupe Fiasco)

"Explode" is a fun number, definitely a "get pumped" kind of song. The fast beat and catchy lyrics stick with you. Like "Ferris Bueller's Day Off", the second track of the album "This City" pays homage to Stump's own hometown, Chicago. "Dance Miserable" and "Spotlight (New Regrets)" both encourage the listener to get out and do their own thing, a sort of 'forget the haters' type deal. In contrast, "The 'I' in Lie" isn't such a happy, upbeat song. It's about a couple who are having an illicit affair, separate of their significant others, although it's tastefully written. "Run Dry" chronicles the life of an alcoholic. It is painfully catchy, as I find myself singing it in the car, and then have to stop myself because it's not socially acceptable to sing about your drinking addiction. "Greed" is almost aggressive, the lyrics especially clever as it critiques our societal affliction with, well, greed. "Everybody Wants Somebody" isn't a love song, or a breakup song; it's simply about a fact that many of us are all to familiar with: everyone wants somebody who doesn't want them. "Allie" is a catchy tune, describing a teenage relationship gone wrong. And "Coast (It's gonna Get Better)" is perhaps the best song on the album, reminding the listener to never give up, that there is always an out and there is always a positive future ahead.

Overall, "Soul Punk" is a genuinely unique album with the same heavy, funky dance beats that everyone loves on the radio with a brilliant lyrical integrity that, let's face it, no one expects when they hear the audio tracks. Definitely worth a listen for anyone who likes something catchy, something meaningful, and something just a little bit unexpected.

--as a bonus track, Patrick Stump invited Lupe Fiasco to rap about the city of Chicago over a shortened version of "This City". It's rap. It's social justice. It's awesome.

Review: Watchmen by Alan Moore

Back in the good old days, they were masked vigilantes, fighting crime in capes: Nite Owl, Silk Specter, Captain Metropolis and many others.  Now, the even though it's been years since government the government forced the heroes into retirement, the "masks" are slowly being picked off.
Watchmen, written by Alan Moore and with drawings by Dave Gibbons,  is the superhero graphic novel.  It's widely considered to one of the best in its genre, and Time magazine even ranked it as one of the greatest novels of all time.  The story is not your usual comic book fare; it's dark, very dark, believable, and unnervingly down to earth.  The caped crusaders of the novel are not superhuman (with one notable exception).  The eclectic style of graphic novel panels interspersed with prose excerpts fleshes out the world of the Watchmen in emotional detail.  Taken as a novel, Moore's story works remarkably well and won't be forgotten quickly.
Don't let the comic book label deceive you: Watchmen is not for young children.  The tense, realistic atmosphere is set with lots of honestly portrayed violence, sexual material, and language; although none felt gratuitous, it was quite disturbing at times.

Pros:

*Well written

*Contains lots of food for thought

*An essential in the superhero lit cannon

*Well-drawn characters

*Will make watching The Incredibles even more enjoyable

Cons:

*Quite a bit of sexual material

*Quite a bit of violence

*Quite a bit of language

*A thoroughly bizarre ending dampens the drama and suspense 

that was built up throughout the rest of the novel

Looking For Alaska by John Green

I (that is, Kat) just finished up reading John Green’s first novel, “Looking for Alaska”. I enjoyed it far more than I thought I would. It’s not a big book, only about 220 pages (maybe the length of a longer-ish NaNo), but all kinds of powerful things happen within the covers.

The story focuses on Miles (ironically nicknamed Pudge, despite his tall, skinny lankiness), a kid who has zero friends in his Florida hometown but has a great fascination with the dying words of other people. His junior year, he decides to transfer to Culver Creek, the boarding school in Alabama his father attended, supposedly to pursue the meaning of Francois Rabelais’ last words: “I go to seek a Great Perhaps.”

At Culver Creek, he makes friends with a number of other students: Chip, a short stocky kid who goes by the name “The Colonel”; Takumi, a gifted rapper; Lara, a sweet and soft-spoken Romanian girl from his precalc class; and the titular Alaska, an impulsive and reckless (though very clever) girl his age.

Pudge, along with the others, focuses on classes, attends basketball games (despite the fact that the school’s team sucks), and even gets involved with the pranks that Alaska and the Colonel devise. They sneak around campus, avoiding getting caught by the dean of students (nicknamed “The Eagle”) whilst making mischief, and all of them—especially Pudge—grow to enjoy and look forward to the surprisingly interesting Religious Studies course, taught by the ancient Dr. Hyde.

Pudge is always fascinated by the being that is Alaska Young, however. He is enraptured by her—physically, she’s a gorgeous specimen, and mentally, she’s a brilliant girl. She has a passion for reading, for poetry and art. He compares people to rainstorms at one point, and decides that if Alaska were rain, she’d be a hurricane. It only takes a few months for him to fall in love with her.

One thought that Alaska fleetingly mentions is from a line spoken by Simon Bolivar about a great labyrinth. She thought it might be life or death, but she was never sure. Pudge ponders this, but stores it away.

Halfway through the year, tragedy strikes the school. Pudge leans heavily on his friends for support and the question of the labyrinth—what is it and how do we escape it—looms in the front of his mind.

The whole book fascinated me, I won’t lie. I had expected, from some of the hype, that it wouldn’t be as riveting or well-written as it had been made out to be, but it was and I’m glad I gave it a chance.

John Green has truly made me think. Not just about what will happen when I die, but about interpersonal connections I have with other human beings (do they really know me? Do I really know them?), about the concept of enlightenment (a Buddhist belief that I’m absolutely fascinated by), the words I will leave this world with as a parting reminder that I existed (and as a writer, I’m enraptured by anything word-related), but most importantly, how will I escape my own personal labyrinth?

This book is absolutely fantastic. I loved it from page one until the end and when I finally closed it I felt a little shocked, like I had been cut off (though from what, I’m not entirely sure).

PROS:
-well-written characters
-feminist main character (awww yeaaa!)
-mostly realistic portrayal of personal relationships between high school students
-friendships
-seriously, like, these characters are tighter than a fat guy in spandex
-makes the reader think about concepts larger than their own lives
-a tiny glimpse at Buddhist beliefs (which are, in fact, very interesting)
-the whole concept of a labyrinth (although that kinda goes with “big concepts”…)
-Takumi’s fox hat
-Maxx/Dr. William Morse

CONS:
-explicit sexual content
-underage substance abuse
-hazing/socially unacceptable peer interactions (so bullying, pretty much)
-porn
-language
-death
-the amount of ease with which this particular group of friends gets away with making mischief feels unrealistic…

Ender's Game Movie

They've finally done it: http://insidemovies.ew.com/2011/12/21/harrison-ford-abigail-breslin-enders-game/


I must say, I'm excited.  I've enjoyed the work of the cast and production team before, so this should be an enjoyable adaptation, at the very least.  

Book Review: The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Long time, no reviews!  Ah, well.  I've started multiple books but haven't finished very many.  That's what holidays are for: catching up on reading!


It seems as if everyone is reading Kathryn Stockett's The Help.  I've seen it advertised everywhere; it's in bookstores and superstores all over the country; NPR claims it's the best book of its kind since To Kill a Mockingbird.  Released in 2009, the book shot to the top of the New York Times best sellers list.  A movie adaptation with Emma Stone followed soon after.
Is this simple story about three southern women and their controversial book really all it's being touted as?  Will it be required freshman reading twenty years from now?
I think the answer is 'yes'.  As long as Stockett pulls through a recent law suit , this book will continue to be read for years to come.
Stockett is a talented writer.  Her villains have their good sides; her heroes have dark moments.  Just like To Kill A Mockingbird, the narrative is beautifully while unflinchingly honest and occasionally quite funny.  It presents all of life, not just the nice parts.
While the Civil Rights era isn't over written, readers are often shown stories from the same perspective, but Stockett takes us in a different direction.  In The Help, two out of three view point characters are black maids.  Instead of just reading a book about one of America's turbulent periods, we're shown what it might have been like to write such a book.  The Help defies boundaries and shows readers a different side of a little-explored story.
I'm not suggesting this book is perfect.  The one white POV character, Skeeter, came to 'enlightenment' too quickly.  Likewise, while the black maids' speech is peppered heavily with slang, the white characters almost never use southern vernacular.  All of the problems seem small, though, relative to the powerful characters and the story that they tell.  Recommended.

Pros:
*Well-written
*Good characters
*Engaging, unique story
*Actually deserving of it's NYT Bestseller title

Cons:
*Language
*Sexual material
*Other dramatic/thematic material that's not appropriate for young readers
*Skeeter's aforementioned character development issue
*Aforementioned dialogue issue

Book Review: Goliath

Following the adventures recorded in Leviathan and Behemoth, Goliath takes readers on a round-the-world adventure heavy with giant bears, dangerous inventors, and romantic tension.  For fans of the first two books, Goliath is a satisfying conclusion to a unique steam-punk trilogy.
Westerfeld takes loose ends and ties them up nicely in this 500+ page book.  Although I'll attempt to not give too much away, Goliath is heavy on the romance and relationships.  (When one of the love interests has been dressed as a boy for the last two books, there's a bit of catching up to do.)  Westerfeld mixes sweet moments in with plenty of political intrigue.  Fictional characters are mixed with alternate interpretations of historical facts; through these pages we meet William Randolph Hearst and watch The Perils of Pauline.  Keith Thompson's drawings add to the mood of the book and catch the characters perfectly.
Neither I nor Westerfeld have to convince past fans to read Goliath, but I would recommend that new persons interested in the series start with Leviathan, as most of Goliath's power comes from relational and political tension built up in the first two books.  The ending is bitter-sweet and satisfying, gently closing the door on the series.  Fans with withdraws can look forward to an upcoming guide to the universe, set to be published in August 2012.


Pros:
All the pros from the earlier books, plus...
*More historical characters/happenings!  Yay!
*A trip to America
*Incredibly sweet scenes
*Clean prose
*All the back knowledge you need without copious info-dumps
*Heroics
*Very perspicacious lorises

Cons:
*A little mild swearing
*Some violence
*Some creepy pictures (although if you're young enough to be scared of the pictures, you probably shouldn't be reading this book anyway)
*Dialogue occasionally sounds stilted/unrealistic

Guest Review: Howl's Moving Castle by Dianna Wynne Jones

"Chapter 6, In Which Howl Expresses Himself with Green Slime": This was one of the most interesting chapter titles that I ran across while lying in bed deeply engrossed in the novel Howl's Moving Castle. Earlier that night, my sister had slapped a book in front of me and said, "Read this." Having nothing else to do, I decided to give it a try. This book is now one of my favorites ever, and Dianna Wynne Jones is one of my favorite authors. Moving Castle is written so that it draws you in and keeps you reading. Some books do this through action, but Howl's Moving Castle does it through insane characters, plot twists, and humor. In no other book have I encountered an old lady who is actually a young lady living in the same house as an evil wizard who actually isn’t evil and, well, I had probably stop there. Overall, "Howl's Moving Castle Was" was a delightfully fantastic read that has earned a place in my heart.~Ethan Reeves

Pros:

*Engaging writing style

*Madcap plot

*Humor

*Unforgettable characters

Cons:

*Occasional mild swearing

*Ending feels slightly rushed (but you don't really care, because...oh, just read it!)

Editor's Note: Howl's Moving Castle is one of three books that form a loose trilogy.  The other books are Castle in the Air and House of Many Ways.  Jones has written many, many other books though, and they come highly recommended.  Howl's Moving Castle was made into a (very different but also quite wonderful) movie by Hayao Miyazaki.

Review written by Ethan Reeves, with supplementary material and editing by Renee Reeves

Book News for Late August, 2011

1) Westerfeldian updates
Head over to http://scottwesterfeld.com/ to see Scott's tour schedule.  Also check out the fan art posted under the schedule (you might recognize someone).

2) The Hunger Games 
View pictures and cast list (and other goodies) here.

3) Other books-to-movies
Coming soon to theaters, Hollywood adaptations of:  Anna Karenina; The Monster of Florence; The Hobbit; Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy; City of Bones; The Maze Runner; On the Road; The Lorax; The Great Gatsby; The Alchemist; A Wrinkle in Time.

4) More reviews coming soon!

Top 100 Sci-Fi and Fantasy Pics (According to NPR)

If it's published on NPR, it's official.  The top 100 speculative fiction books ever, as determined by 60,000 NPR listeners, are listed at this link.  With trepidation, we shall look to the list and attempt to analyze and fill the holes in our education.
Predictably, the epic Lord of the Rings trilogy tops the list.  In second is a polar opposite to Tolkein's master piece: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.  Sprinkled through the list are true genre classics (1984, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Frankenstein) alongside a hefty dose of novels recently adapted to the big screen (Stardust, The Road, I Am Legend, The Time Traveler's Wife).  Given NPR's knowledgeable  and generally grounded audience, none of that is much of a surprise.
It was to my geeky glee, then, that I discovered personal favorites such as I, Robot and The Princess Bride listed in the top twenty.  The beautifully written but little known (and overtly Christian) Space Trilogy by C. S. Lewis landed squarely at the bottom of the list.
On the recommendations of readers all over the US, I've added a few titles to my own literary bucket list, including The Eyre Affair, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, and Neverwhere.
Agree or disagree with the pics?  Comment away.

Press Release from Westerblog: Uglies Movie

[As mentioned above, this is a press release.  It can be found here.]

DAVIS ENTERTAINMENT AND LOLA VFX TEAM TO PRODUCE SCOTT WESTERFELD’S NEW YORK TIMES BEST-SELLING FUTURISTIC TRILOGY. “UGLIES” BEING PREPARED AS FIRST OF THE PLANNED LIVE ACTION FEATURES

Project Signals Premier Visual Effects Company Move Into Film Production

LOS ANGELES (JULY 24, 2011) – Producer John Davis and the founders of Lola Visual Effects (Lola VFX) will team to finance, develop and produce a theatrical, live action feature based on Scott Westerfeld’s New York Times best-selling “Uglies,” the first of his futuristic trilogy first published in 2005.

The filmmakers have also acquired Westerfeld’s PRETTIES and SPECIALS, the remaining trilogy installments published by Simon Pulse, a Simon & Schuster company, with total sales of over 3 million copies. Jacob Forman (“All The Boys Love Mandy Lane”) will write the screenplay.

UGLIES will be produced by John Davis (“Mr. Popper’s Penguins,” “I, Robot”) and Jordan Davis (“Jump In”), along with Colin and Greg Strause via their Hydraulx Entertainment banner. Lola’s Edson Williams and Thomas Nittmann will executive produce along with Adam Schroeder

Lola is the groundbreaking visual effects company paving the way for an entirely new level of story-telling, most recently transforming Chris Evans into the 90-pound weakling Steve Rogers for CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER. The company was founded by Colin and Greg Strause, Edson Williams, and Thomas Nittmann.
?
Set in an Orwellian future in which teens undergo surgery on their sixteenth birthdays to become supermodel “pretty,” UGLIES is the story of Tally Youngblood, one such “ugly” teen who is forced by authorities to forgo her transformation until she infiltrates The Smoke, a community of rebels who choose to retain their appearance and live outside of normal society. Tally soon discovers appearance isn’t everything and her world is not all that it seems.

“’UGLIES’ is a smart, youthful, and edgy trilogy peopled by sophisticated characters who have to navigate through a dangerous but fascinating world,” stated John Davis. “We are at this time in the development of cinema magic where we have the proper technology to fully realize Scott’s vision for the screen.”

In addition to CAPTAIN AMERICA, Lola is the company behind Brad Pitt’s youthification in THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON and flawless twining of Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss in THE SOCIAL NETWORK.  With this technology and expertise, Lola will handle the dramatic transformation of characters into the “pretty” versions of themselves while Hydraulx will create the futuristic world of UGLIES, an exquisite yet eerie dystopian future.

Stated Greg Strause: “With UGLIES, Scott created a visually stunning world that capitalizes on the strengths of both Lola and Hydraulx.  Our partnership demonstrates the expanding possibilities of enhancing creative storytelling with innovative visual effects.”

Hydraulx is an award-winning visual effects facility with work including 300, THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW, 2012, BATTLE LOS ANGELES, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES, and AVATAR, the latter two films in 3D.  Founded by Colin and Greg Strause, the company leverages the Brothers’ extensive filmmaking experience to provide a comprehensive and unparalleled photographic and photorealistic approach to visual effects.

DAVIS ENTERTAINMENT
Chairman of Los Angeles-based Davis Entertainment, John Davis has been a producer on more than 80 feature films and movies for television that have earned more than $4 billion worldwide.
Davis’s three divisions–-feature film, independent film, and television-–develop and produce film and television projects for the major studios, independent distributors, networks and cable broadcasters. The Company, established in 1986, has enjoyed a long-standing first-look production deal at 20th Century Fox, though also  produces projects for all studios and mini-majors.

Some of Davis’s films include the Jim Carrey starring “Mr. Popper’s Penguins,”  “Gulliver’s Travels” starring Jack Black; the hit sci-fi thriller “I, Robot” starring Will Smith; “Norbit,” starring Eddie Murphy (in their fourth film together) for DreamWorks/Paramount; “Garfield,” which earned $200 million at the worldwide box office, for Fox; the $100 million-plus hit Eddie Murphy comedy “Daddy Day Care;” the blockbuster “The Firm,” starring Tom Cruise; “Courage Under Fire,” starring Denzel Washington; “Waterworld,” starring Kevin Costner; “Predator,” starring Arnold Schwarzenegger; the two hugely successful “Dr. Dolittle” films, starring Eddie Murphy; the Jack Lemmon/Walter Matthau trilogy “Out to Sea,” “Grumpy Old Men,” and “Grumpier Old Men;” “Alien vs. Predator,” an action thriller combining the two classic creatures, and its sequel “AVP2,” for Fox, among many others.

Book Review: Leviathan (and Behemoth)

The year is 1914. Europe is on the cusp of war. Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie have just been assassinated.

And Prince Aleksander of the Austria-Hungary Empire is right in the middle of it.

Meanwhile, thousands of miles away, Deryn Sharp stands in line with the other recruits for the Royal Air Service, trying hard to get into the military.

Only problem is, Deryn is a girl. And girls are not allowed in the military.

The meeting of the two will forever change history.

---

This trilogy by Scott Westerfeld, set at the very beginning of World War I, is every steampunk-loving history-fanatic's dream. Westerfeld's world, an alternate history of our own, is set between two clashing ideals: "clankers", the nations using mechs, giant metal warriors and the "land dreadnaughts" to fight their wars  (Germany and Austria-Hungary), and "Darwinists", who use Darwin's studies of evolution and DNA to literally create war machines out of animals.

Westerfeld weaves true historical facts in with his own science and mechanical world. Wonderfully written, often switching between Deryn and Alek's point of view, this novel will give you a little more insight as to what happened at the dawn of World War I.

The author teases the avid 'shippers throughout the entire first two books with Deryn's developing feelings towards Alek.

Featuring a variety of characters, ranging from teenage rebel to archduke to scientist, Leviathan is certain not your average historical fiction. It feels somewhat reminiscent of works by Dianna Wynne Jones (Howl's Moving Castle, Castle in the Air, House of Many Ways) or some of acclaimed director Hayao Miyazai's films (Castle in the Sky, Porco Rosso, Kiki's Delivery Service).

The last book of the trilogy, "Goliath," is set for US release in October of 2011.
EDITOR'S UPDATE:  New release date is September 20, 2011

Pros:
-science
-flying whales
-Westerfeld's characteristically wonderful world building
-...and great invented dialect
-fencing
-gorgeous illustrations

Cons:
-minor language
-some sexual situations that are fairly minor but, ah, not mainstream
-some violence (not really graphic or disturbing)
-evolutionary theory may not sit well with some

Reading List: What Rin is Reading

Sorry I haven't posted in a while.  I tried to make it better with the Teenage Liberation Handbook review, and Kat posted a wonderful music review soon after.  But I thought I'd update you about my reading habits, in case you were interested (or just bored).  If and when I post reviews, I'll edit this and link to the articles for you.

Non-Fiction:

Do Hard Things by Alex and Bret Harris (*****/5)
How to be a Hepburn in a Hilton World by Jordan Christie (****/5)
The Bible by God (it makes me happy every time I get to type, "by God" like that.  Any way, veryone should read it, although you might not want to take it on Genesis straight to Revelation your first time. *****/5)
The Case for Faith by Lee Strobel (*****/5)
Mere Christianity by C S Lewis (*****/5)


Fiction:

The Flavia de Luce books by Alan Bradly
*The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (****/5 stars)
*The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag (****/5)

The Sword in the Stone by T H White (not yet finished)
The War of the Worlds by H G Wells (****/5)
The Secret Sharer & Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (not yet finished)

Album Review: Sigh No More

Mumford & Sons, a folk-rock group from West London, has recently taken the alternative music scene by storm. The quartet was formed in 2007 and has finally released an album--"Sigh No More"--in 2010 here in the US.

"Sigh No More" has twelve tracks, each one unique but still somehow very fitting to the other songs on the album. The take the power and energy behind your average rock song by, say, Kings of Leon or Green Day, and fuse it with instruments like banjo, piano, guitar, fiddle, and even trumpet on a few tracks. They have a distinct folk/country sound that sets them apart from many other bands.

Their sound is not the only thing that's unique about Mumford and Sons; their lyrics, too, are mind blowing and more than a little unusual. The band makes references to Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing" in the titular track and uses phrases such as "the flesh that lived and loved will be eaten by plague" in "Winter Winds". In "The Cave" there are references to Plato's "Allegory of the Cave" and Homer's "The Odyssey". Christian and biblical hints are prevalent throughout the entire album, as well.

Tracks:
1) Sigh No More
2) The Cave
3) Winter Winds
4) Roll Away Your Stone
5) White Blank Page
6) I Gave You All
7) Little Lion Man
8) Timshel
9) Thistle and Weeds
10) Awake My Soul
11) Dust Bowl Dance
12) After the Storm

Overall, the album is inspiring and full of hope, heartbreak, and everything in between.

PROS:
-Fantastic musicality
-Folk/rock
-Trumpets. Oh, yes.
-Lyrics with meaning
-Songs not just about love

CONS:
-Occasional adult themes
-Language (especially in track 7)
-The tracks, after a while, start to blur into one
-Not much different musically

RATED T+ FOR LISTENERS AGE 14 AND UP!

Book Review: The Teenage Liberation Handbook

Hate school?

Can't stand your teacher?

Don't see the point in all of those late nights spent on Chem 101?

Quit school.

     That's exactly was Grace Llewellyn advocates in her Teenage Liberation Handbook.  Llewellyn, an ex-school teacher who went through school herself, presents a rarely considered option to typical school: unschooling.  Following in the footsteps of John Holt and John Gatto, Llewellyn explains the horrible way American compulsory schooling attempts to teach young adults.  TLH presents autodidactism, or self-teaching, as a legitimate and deceptively simple way to prepare for life.

     The book is not perfect; in teens who cannot leave school it could make a bad situation unbearable.  Some of the language feels like it's coming from a hippie who has not yet out grown peace and natural living, however I thought it refreshing to hear someone saying something that desperately needs to be said to someone who desperately needs to hear it.

     I am already a largely self-taught homeschooler, but this book made me excited about my education all over again.  I had been content with my four-years-of-high-school-then-go-to-college-get-married-etc. plan. Suddenly, I wanted to travel the world, start a business, and go to college early.  That sounded so much more interesting than school!  Come to think of it, it might even be considered more "educational".

Pros:

*Explains the evils of the formalized school and provides a clear alternative.

*Presents practical advice and answers many questions.  (About parents, legality, college, among others.)

*One of the few homeschooling or unschooling books that speaks directly to teenagers.

*Demonstrates how life counts as education.  (I have a small gardening business, lets see, that's economics, writing, marketing, biology, agriculture. . . .)

Cons:

*Has the potential to make you feel horrible if you're still in school, went to school, are sending your kids to school, heck, even if you're a relaxed homeschooler.  (Good if you can fix your situation, BAD if you can't.)

*Occasionally comes off as condescending or hippie-ish.
*Mild language.

*It costs an awful lot on Amazon.  (Get it at your library.)

Album Review: Sleepless by Kate Rusby

     Kate Rusby has a magical talent: she breaths new air into traditional tunes, but endows her own compositions with a timelessness so perfect as to blur the line between old and new.
     Sleepless, the second album from South Yorkshire native Rusby, is a melancholy-sweet collection of folk from the British isles.  Songs range from the sassy, original jig 'The Cobbler's Daughter" to the slightly creepy traditional aire, "The Unquiet Grave."  Rusby's voice is one-of-a-kind, soft, quiet and almost husky.  Her piano and guitar accompaniments complement her arrangements without being simplistic.
     Is there anything bad I can say about this album?  Is it overproduced or overly simplistic?  No.  Too long?  Too short?  No.  Obnoxious guest artists?  Again, no.  This flawless album is a gem in the world of folk.

Pros:
*Beautiful voice
*Beautiful music
*Nice variety of songs

Cons:
*A murder by an over protective mother
*A ghost
*A cow stalker
*A duke with a twisted sense of humor
*A drunk tinker (the butt of the aforementioned duke's prank)
*A maid who learns, too late, that her lover is already married
[Basically, it's English folk: just what you'd expect.]

Album Review: Illuminations by Josh Groban

I will not lie: I am a Josh Groban fan.  I own Awake, Closer, Josh Groban and the "best" songs from Noel, and Josh's live album.  As soon as I discovered a new album in the works early in 2010, I found myself constantly checking Josh's website for details.  Illuminations was released without much to-do on November 15, 2010.  So, naturally, I bought it...November 15. And it has already been well listened to.

Obviously, I'm pleased with the new album.  But, lyrically and musically, how does it stand up to Josh's earlier releases?  Does this album stand alone?  Or am I being seduced by Josh's rich, lyrical voice?

Illuminations will be enjoyed by long time fans of classical/pop crossover, and will hopefully attract some new listeners as well.  Those who complained that Josh only produces "sweet and corny love songs" will find Illuminations a bit more down to earth.  Long time fans will be pleased that Josh's voice still shines in four different languages, and the thirteen songs will leave listeners satisfied but not overwhelmed.  The instrumentation seems simultaneously grander and more raw.  Do I like it?  Yes, I do.  Will you?  I don't know, but this might help:

Song Break Down:

1) The Wandering Kind (Prelude)  An instrumental piece is an interesting way for a vocal artist to start an album.  Even so, it's one of my favorite tracks.  Piano driven in the beginning, it dissolves into a pretty little piece that reeks of romantic melancholy.  Good noveling music.

2) The Bells of New York City  Pretty, romantic, sad...hey, sounds like The Wandering Kind!  Not much to it lyrically, but the music is beautiful.  Every time this song starts, I think it's something by Phillip Glass.  According to my mother (who is also a Groban fan), it's a disguised Christmas song.

3) Galileo (Someone Like You)  Unfortunately, I don't like this song at all.  The lyrics aren't really there and don't seem to match the music.  Sorry, Josh, but this one's a dud.

4) L'Ora Dell'Addio  Slow and a little sad, this song show's Groban's voice nicely.  Some parts feel like lyrically cramming.  

5) Hidden Away  Please don't keep your love hidden away.  A sweet song requesting a girl to show her love, instead of hiding it.  This song reminds me of You Are Loved

6) Au Jardin Des Sans-Puorquoi  It's French.  Nothing else, good or bad, sticks out about this song.

7) Higher Window  One Amazon.com reviewer complained that this song "sounded religious".  It does, but it's subtle and I can't decide what religion it's referring to.

8) If I Walk Away A "poppier" tune than some on this album.

9) Love Only Knows  Another pop influenced song.

10) Voce Existe Em Mim  Possibly the coolest non-English song I've ever heard (it's in Portuguese, if you were curious).  I love it.  Go listen to it.

11) War At Home  Sad but encouraging without sappiness.  This is one of my favorites.  Two ambiguous uses of the word "hell".

12) London Hymn  Composed of a creepy choir.  Moody and pretty, but lacks depth because, well, it lacks lyrics.

13) Straight to You Other than some lyrics-not-matching-the-music problems, this is a wonderful song.  It also has a few phrases that might make Christians uncomfortable (Heaven has denied us it's kingdom/

The saints are drunk and howling at the moon/ And the chariots of angels are colliding).

Book Review: Reckless by Cornelia Funke

German author Cornelia Funke has quite the resume:  The bestselling Inkheart trilogy (Inkheart, Inkspell, Inkdeath), The Thief Lord, and two movies based on her books, just for starters.  Her newest novel, Reckless, the first in a series, was released mid-2010.
When he was younger, Jacob Reckless discovered a portal in his father's office.  Over the next ten years he spent more and more time in the mirror world and less in the real world.  One day, his younger brother Will follows him through the mirror and is fatally wounded.  (Fatally, in this case, refers to turning into a stone monster.)  Even though he has seen little of his brother over the past few years, Jacob is determines to reverse the damage and send Will and his girlfriend, Clara, back through the mirror.
Put plainly: Funke's latest novel shines.  The mirror world is dark and rich.  The three "normal" characters are realistic and driven.  Funke gives us just enough description to flesh out her world, leaving the rest of the imagining to us.  The plot parallels Jacob's one-track mind, pushing relentlessly toward the end.  Instead of leaving us worn out or bored, the urgency pushes us through the 300+ page book at, well, reckless speeds.

Pros:

*Amazing world building

*Believable, honest characters

*Eloquent story telling

*Intriguing pictures that add to the story

Cons:

*Some implied sex (mentioned so that young readers would probably not catch it)

*Some mild language

*Some violence.  Main kill often and characters nearly die.

*Some dishonest dealings.

*Could be a bit dark or intense for young readers.

Steampowered Stories [Album Review]

Some time ago in a city run solely on steam...

"Gather round now, everyone hear,
Hear of incredible things
We'll tell you the stories of people we've met
And creatures with clockwork and springs!"

The Cog is Dead is a steampunk band. Under the premise of a time-traveling band from the 1890s, the musical quartet manages to embrace all of the charm and themes of steampunk (romanticism of the Victorian era mixed with mechanics, clockwork, and "modern ingenuity") as well as a variety of different musical themes, ranging from a nineteen-twenties swing to reggae to a pop-rock feeling.

1. Steam Powered Stories (Intro)
The first track on this album is, as the title suggests, an introduction. Setting the premise of a radio show, the Cog is Dead sets the feeling for the entire album; whimsical, and in the words of Monty Python, "something completely different" with bright electric guitar and lyrics that just kind of throw you for a loop.

2. Blood, Sweat, and Tears
"Some time ago in a city run solely on steam..."

The second track on the album is a dark contrast to the first, which promises a cheerful listen.

This is one of those growing ever-so-rare "tell a story" songs that describes the power plants of steam-powered stories. After describing the conditions and job that the workers have, the song begins to tell the unfortunate tale of Frederick Worthington, who "clocked into work, and went to his station not knowing the danger that lurked".

Accordion is a fantastic stand-in for a pipe organ, equally as creepy, and brilliant sounding trumpets accompany the accordion wonderfully.

3. Loverboy
"Oh, loverboy, that woman's heart is not a toy..."

Why, yes, it IS one of those songs! You know the type; girl falls for guy, guy fools around, girl leaves guy, guy is heartbroken. Except old-timey and a tiny bit goofy.

I can't tell if its a banjo or a guitar; whatever it is, it adds extreme lyrical/musical dissonance; the song is about heartbreak and, as they put it, "running around", but the music is extremely upbeat and generally fun to listen to.

The old-timey radio voice saying "loverboy" intermittently towards the end, however, is a lovely touch. The Cog is Dead gets brownie points for that one.

4. The Copper War
The third track of the album feels very much like a Western movie. Starting off with a fast guitar and a whistled melody, the song is like its predecessor and tells the story of copper in a Western town. Not really much else to say; the lead singer does get a wonderful, rich, Southern sound out of his voice, though.

5. Aimee
"A girl sweet and pure like no other
With dreams just as big as the sea..."

"Aimee" is the song from a man, in love with a mechanic, to Aimee, who is away, exploring the ocean in her submarine. The song begins with a strong, loud organ, and suddenly switches to piano and slowly crescendoes to the chorus, which brings in the rest of the band.

The lyrics are adorable, sad, and most definitely steampunk, in all of its glory. (Really, how often do you hear a song about a girl practically in love with her machinery?)

An electric guitar solo comes in just before the end and somehow keeps the charm and feeling of the rest of the song. Finally wrapping up with just the lead singer and his piano, the song is definitely one of my favorites on the album.

6. Let Me Be Your Man
"Honey, I've known you for quite a while
My heart gets all a-flutter every time I see your smile
Darlin', won't you let me hold your hand
And say that I can be your man!"

Track six is an adorable nineteen-twenties style song, complete with the banjo-sounding guitar and adorable lyrics, a wonderful contrast and follow-up to "Aimee". It tells the story of a man madly in love, willing to do whatever it takes to be with his dream girl.

Jeez, so many adorable love songs on this album, its so easy to forget sometimes that its steampunk.


7. Mechanical Menagerie
A song with a pop feel to it, "Mechanical Menagerie" starts off sounding more like a Barenaked Ladies song than a steampunk piece of music. The typical "ooh-ooh-ooh-ing" and four guitar chords repeated over and over again start off the song.

Describing a "mechanical menagerie", a plethora of robots and clockwork animals created and put on display by a man in London, the song seems to fit the "radio show" feeling set by the first track on the album, almost like an advertisement for the Mechanical Menagerie. All in all, an adorable song.

WARNING: This song is an earworm! One listen and you'll be rockin' out to it all day in your head. Don't say we didn't warn you.


8. The Depths Below
"There's an ancient legend, an oceanic tale
An underwater monster not a fish and not a whale..."

Ahh, at last, the steampunk train rolls on! The "The Depths Below" is one of those legends that old sailors might have told to each other set to a creepy piece of music, begun with bells, like those on a xylophone.

Telling the story of something that "isn't quite a creature and isn't quite machine," it describes a mighty sea monster that, so far, has never let any ship survive its wrath.

9. Time Machine
Another sad love song telling the story of a man whose lover is dying of a currently incurable disease. Her boyfriend (perhaps husband, the song doesn't ever specify) is so distraught by the idea of losing her that he builds a mighty time machine to go to the future and retrieve a cure so that she'll live and be able to stay with him.

This song follows a steampunk timeline; diseases (consumption and the like) had no cure or treatment during the Victorian era. (Another steampunk band, the Clockwork Quartet, wrote a song about a woman who had such a disease and whose husband went mad trying to find a cure for it; more on that, perhaps in a later post.)

The song begins with a plucked guitar and violins playing pizzicato, shortly joined by a cello before the lead singer begins.

I'm telling you now, this song is a bit of a tear jerker. Have a box of tissues at the hand, ladies and gentlemen.

10. The Inventor's Daughter
"I once knew a girl with a heart of gold
To legs of silver and arms of chrome
The prettiest girl I ever knew,
I loved each rivet, bolt, and screw"

A bright contrast to "Time Machine", this next song is about a man who falls in love with a robot girl, referred to as the daughter of an inventor. Its the story of how they met and fell in love and decided to elope, before getting dragged back to the Inventor's house, where he locks his daughter away from her lover.

The song is whimsical, starting up with whistles and a cheery, lighthearted melody. A bright guitar solo in the middle manages to keep the charm and fun mood of the song.

Suddenly, at the end of the song, we hear a special news bulletin, informing us of...

11. The Death of the Cog
The band takes on a suddenly dark, grim tone with "The Death of the Cog", from whence their name comes. (Or was it their name that spawned the song...? Hm, who can say?)

The song is directed at one Mr. Hamilton, inventor of the digital clock. The storyteller, supposedly the band's lead singer "John Sprocket", an English clockmaker, is stricken with grief and is furious with Hamilton for causing the "death of the cog".

Three words for you: epic accordion solo.

12. I Want Only You
Hey, look, another mood change! "I Want Only You" is a reggae love song, from the storyteller to a Victorian girl, who's said to have a charming combination of a parasol and goggles.

The aforementioned lyrics, folks, is what steampunk is all about.

Bob Marley-esque, as one might expect. Not my favorite track, but a definite earworm (beware the earworm!) so watch out!

13. A Letter to Michelle
This is the final part of the radio show premise, excluding the reprise/outro of "Steam Powered Stories".

Track 13 tells the story of an airship pilot attacked by pirates and writing home to his wife about his fate. A beautiful song, certainly a bit of a tear-jerker. (Hope you didn't put away the tissues just yet.)

14. Steam Powered Stories (Reprise)
A lovely little wrapping up of the whole album, keeping with the theme of a radio show. Very much like its counterpart, the intro.

BONUS TRACK:
Giiiiiiirl.... It's a '90's R&B song..."
Yes, there is a reason why the band skipped this genre.

SO...
All in all, a charming, fun debut CD with a different style. And epic album artwork. Definitely a fantastic (rare) concept album, surprisingly clean and appropriate for listeners of all ages, a definite plus. If you have the chance, check out their website here.

Book Review: The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

     Religious symbolism expert Robert Langdon is urgently summoned to the Louvre to investigate a bizare murder.  The grandaughter of the deceased knows that it is a sting operation and Langdon is the prime suspect.  Sophie and Robert run through Paris and London, unravelling clues while staying ahead of the authorities.     
There are very few people in America who haven't heard of Dan Brown's best-selling thriller The Da Vinci Code.  The "conspiracy thriller" is based on the premise that the Church (meaning the Catholic church) has surpressed critical, non-Biblical facts about the life of Christ.
     If you claim that Jesus was married and had a child, you will get flack no matter how many copies you sell.
The Da Vinci Code is a well-spun mystery (I hesitate to call it a thriller) that makes big claims backed up with almost completely phony research.  Even liberal reviewers gave Brown a hard time.  When attacked by historians, Brown affirmed that every thing in the book was fact.
     I've gotten different opinions from Christian who have read the book or seen the movie.  Some feel threatened, but Brown's dull axe, if you will, is only a threat to those unwilling to research.  The majority of Christians I've talked to enjoyed the story and left the theology.
     The final word?  Read if you are willing to do some extra research.  If you decide to read or watch The DaVinci Code, add The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel and Cracking the DaVinci Code (or a similar book) to your home library.

Pros:

*Exciting plot

*Believable dialougue

*Decent prose style (those who bash Brown's style have had the luxury of never reading truly ban prose)

*Clues and riddles actually solveable by real people

Cons:

*Religious sexual content (the worst is at the end of chapter 74)

*Language (not horrible; probably one mild every other chapter)

*Mild alchohol

*Heavily unbiblical theology and world views

*Occasional clunky language (once again, it's not as bad as many negative reviews make out.

*Evil Albino trope is getting old

Fullmetal Alchemist [Hagane no Renkenjitsushi]

Humankind cannot gain anything without first sacrificing something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is alchemy's first law of Equivalent Exchange.

It's like that myth about the hero. He made wings out of wax so he could fly...
But when he got too close to the sun...
To God...
The wax melted and he crashed to the ground.

In those days, we really believed that to be the world's one and only truth.

Look at me, Rose! This is what happens when you use alchemy on humans... This is what happens to sinners who trespass in God's domain!

Alchemy is the science of deconstructing, analyzing, and reconstructing matter; essentially, turning one thing into something else. The practice that makes you feel like you're magic. It can even turn lead into gold. However, alchemy is not an all-powerful art. One cannot make something out of nothing. Alchemy is a science and so must follow certain laws and rules, the most important being "Equivalent Exchange". To obtain, something of equal value is paid in retrobution. There is a taboo among alchemists, and that is human transmutation. It is forbidden. For what could equal the value of a human soul?

Two brothers, naiive and innocent, choose to challenge this law. In an attempt to resurrect their dead mother, Edward and Alphonse Elric learn the reason why human transmutation is forbidden. Alphonse, only nine years old, looses his body. Edward, the elder by a year, looses his left leg. Desperate, he sacrifices his right arm to bind his younger brother's soul to a suit of armor. Fitted with steel prosthesis called "automail" to replace his missing limbs, Edward and his brother journey to the capital city of Central, where 12-year-old Edward takes the State Alchemist's exam and becomes the youngest member of the military in the history of the military dictatorship of Amestris, earning himself the rank of Major, the title of Fullmetal Alchemist and Hero of the People, and Flame Alchemist Colonel Roy Mustang as his superior officer, one of the few men who knows the secret of their failed transmutation.

Fast forward three years. Edward is now fifteen years old, loud and obnoxious, with gaudy taste and the mouth of a sailor, but is still a prodigy and genius. We learn that he is searching for the Philosopher's Stone, a fabled object which is said to give alchemists the power to bypass the law of Equivalent Exchange, in order to return his Alphonse's body, as well as his own limbs (after all, automail has a lot of problems). While searching for this fabled stone, Edward and Alphonse meet all manner of people, including the doting father and crazed Lieutenant-Colonel Maes Hughes, the muscular and over-emotional Major Alex Louis Armstrong, "trigger-happy" Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye, a mysterious serial killer called Scar, Twelfth Son of the Emperor of Xing, Ling Yao and his entourage, as well as an androgynous being named Envy, a deranged former state alchemist named Zolf J. Kimblee, and many others.

Finding the Philosopher's Stone, the Elrics soon realize, is the least of their problems. The two deal with love and loss, worrying over the life of their childhood friend Winry, who happens to be Edward's automail mechanic, Alphonse's "humanity", dealing with their estranged father, who left them when they were small, and the fate of their entire nation.

This unique fantasy is a manga, or a type of art-meets-literature sort of comic from Japan. Hiromu Arakawa's art is fantastic, her characters are unique and believable, the story is littered with witty moments, and the plotline is riveting and wonderfully complex. Arakawa's world, set in a post-industrial revolution-styled nation (rather similar to an eastern European nation, like Germany) is a balance of fantasy and reality, of history and modern culture, humor and drama, and mystery galore. Arakawa-sensei's whole idea of alchemy surpassing Newton's Laws is unique and clever and she brings a whole new light to the dead practice of alchemy.

Pros:
-brotherly love
-fast-paced plot
-Mustang's gloves
-Garfiel
-the Homunculi
-the relationships between characters
-Winry's wrench
-the art
-well-developed characters
-Alphonse and his kittens
-the age-old good vs. evil dilemma
-Edward
-witty humor
-action
-love
-the idea that "revenge only leads to more revenge" and should not be a justification for anything

Cons:
-language (nothing too bad, but enough to constitute a "rated T for teen" sticker)
-merciless slaughter
-some light sexual content
-war
-violence
-lots of character death

Other FMA Merch and Stuff:
-Fullmetal Alchemist (52-episode 2003 television series)
-Fullmetal Alchemist: Conqueror of Shamballa (2005 film based off of 2003 television series)
-Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood (64-episode 2009-2010 television series)
-FMA: Brotherhood Untitled Movie Project (film to follow up FMA: Brotherhood)
-various Original Video Animations (side stories to go with the series)
-FMA spin-off novels