Random Questions and Ramblings

* When I was in junior high and high school, I generally didn’t mind reading the assigned books (assuming that I liked the books), but I definitely didn’t enjoy writing book reports. Now, I read about a book or two a month, and I want to share how much I enjoyed them. While I’m not going to write a book report today, I just want to share that I highly recommend these books that I’ve read over the last few months.

"Playing Through the Whistle: Steel, Football, and an American Town" by S.L. Price

"The Club: How the English Premier League Became the Wildest, Richest, Most Disruptive Force in Sports" by Joshua Robinson and Jonathan Clegg

"Evvie Drake Starts Over" by Linda Holmes

Say nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe

"American Pain: How a Young Felon and His Ring of Doctors Unleashed America's Deadliest Drug Epidemic" by John Temple

Very different books on a variety of subjects but all worth reading.

* On Monday night, Rontez Miles Sr. of the New York Jets (and Woodland Hills High School) and Eric Kush of the Cleveland Browns exchanged jerseys after the game. Both players graduated from California University of Pennsylvania. While I assume that the players will likely put the jerseys in frames, what if they wanted to wear them? Let's say that I play in a celebrity basketball game. (It could happen!) After the game, I’m looking to exchange jerseys with someone closer to my height like Kevin Hart or Muggsy Bogues, not Shaquille O'Neal.

* Pedro Tulo's kindergarten class has had a “Brown Bear Brown Bear, What Do You See?” theme at school based on the Bill Martin/Eric Carle book. The idea is to wear a different colored shirt each day based on the color such as Yellow Day and my favorite, Green Day. (I'm not sure how an American Idiot T-shirt would have gone over.) Earlier this week was Black Day where the kids were supposed to wear a black T-shirt. That day was also Constitution Day where the whole school is supposed to wear red, white, and blue. Therefore, there was a dilemma on what to wear: black or red, white, and blue. I felt ridiculous doing this, but I emailed the teacher about this dilemma. She (rightly) replied that we should choose whatever we want. My wife ended up just having him wear a faded Pirates T-shirt where the black looks more gray. I think we failed this assignment. Oh, and to get in the patriotic spirit, The Moose (now in 3rd grade) wore a Messi Barcelona jersey with red and blue and just a little white for the sponsors. Nothing makes you think constitution like a Messi jersey!

* Mr. T is famous for his mohawk hair (and his catchphrase). Would he be permitted to grow out his hair or shave his head or would his agent stop him?

* One of the key metrics used in baseball is exit velocity. It got me wondering if baseball executives also monitor the exit velocity when players bunt the ball. Is the slower exit velocity while bunting considered better? Is there one player (likely a pitcher) highly regarded for his extraordinarily low exit velocity while bunting?

* I recently found about a dozen papers written during my first two years in college in classes like Introduction to Theatre, Media and Politics, Chinese Politics, and an introductory Freshman seminar course related to Sociology. Although I generally keep way too much stuff, I recycled all of these papers. They won't even make a Found In My Basement post!

* The Pirates currently have pitchers Parker Markel and James Marvel on the roster. Has anyone with names so close but not identical ever been on the same team?

Best Books For Every Age

The Washington Post recently put together a really cool feature where they highlighted the best books to read at every age, from 1 to 100. I thought it would be fun to share the list and see how many of these books I have read (in bold). I also included a few of my own thoughts here and there. Please leave your number and any thoughts about the books and list in the comments section below.

Age 1
“The Very Hungry Caterpillar” by Eric Carle

Age 2
“Llama Llama Red Pajama” by Anna Dewdney

Age 3
“Where the Wild Things Are” by Maurice Sendak

Age 4
“Charlie Parker Played Be Bop” by Chris Raschka

Age 5
“The Giving Tree” by Shel Silverstein

Age 6
“Ramona the Pest” by Beverly Cleary, illustrated by Jacqueline Rogers

Age 7
“The Complete Calvin and Hobbes” by Bill Watterson

Age 8
“Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” by J.K. Rowling

Age 9
“Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing” by Judy Blume

Age 10
“Smile” by Raina Telgemeier


Age 11
“Ghost” by Jason Reynolds
Sean's note: I saw this movie with Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore, and Whoopi Goldberg. Not sure it it's appropriate for an 11 year old though.

Age 12
“Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry” by Mildred D. Taylor

Age 13
“I Am Malala” by Malala Yousafzai

Age 14
“The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky
Aaron Brame's favorite book!

Age 15
“The Hate U Give” by Angie Thomas

Age 16
“Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Brontë

Age 17
“Once Upon a River” by Bonnie Jo Campbell

Age 18
“A Gate at the Stairs” by Lorrie Moore

Age 19
“The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood

Age 20
“The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao” by Junot Díaz


Age 21
“The Sun Also Rises” by Ernest Hemingway

Age 22
“Democracy in America” by Alexis de Tocqueville

Age 23
“The Autobiography of Malcolm X” by Malcolm X and Alex Haley

Age 24
“Atlas Shrugged” by Ayn Rand

Age 25
“I Capture the Castle” by Dodie Smith

Age 26
“Americanah” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Age 27
“The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen R. Covey

Age 28
“Sister Outsider” by Audre Lorde

Age 29
“In Defense of Food” by Michael Pollan

Age 30
“The Joy of Sex” by Alex Comfort


Age 31
“Mastering the Art of French Cooking” by Julia Child
Does seeing Julie and Julia count?

Age 32
“The Grapes of Wrath” by John Steinbeck
Partial credit since I've read "Of Mice & Men.

Age 33
“Becoming a Man: Half a Life Story” by Paul Monette

Age 34
“Beloved” by Toni Morrison

Age 35
“How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk” by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish

Age 36
“Life Among the Savages” by Shirley Jackson

Age 37
“The Joy Luck Club” by Amy Tan

Age 38
“The Sportswriter” by Richard Ford

Age 39
“What Alice Forgot” by Liane Moriarty

Age 40
“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” by Jean-Dominique Bauby


Age 41
“Rabbit, Run” by John Updike

Age 42
“The Woman Upstairs” by Claire Messud

Age 43
“Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston

Age 44
“The Goldfinch” by Donna Tartt

Age 45
“Where’d You Go, Bernadette” by Maria Semple

Age 46
“Salvage the Bones” by Jesmyn Ward

Age 47
“Stretching” by Bob Anderson

Age 48
“Bossypants” by Tina Fey
It's nice to see another book that I've read on the list again! Unfortunately, this may be the last one.

Age 49
“Walden” by Henry David Thoreau

Age 50
“Fifty Shades of Grey” by EL James

I just felt like adding a picture at the half-way mark.

Age 51
“Who Do You Think You Are?” by Alice Munro

Age 52
“Men Without Women” by Haruki Murakami

Age 53
“A Man Called Ove” by Fredrik Backman
Not to be confused with "A Man Called Ovi" about the Washington Capitals player.

Age 54
“The Denial of Death” by Ernest Becker

Age 55
“Olive Kitteridge” by Elizabeth Strout

Age 56
“When Things Fall Apart” by Pema Chödrön

Age 57
“Remains of the Day” by Kazuo Ishiguro

Age 58
“The Plague of Doves” by Louise Erdrich

Age 59
“Dynamic Aging” by Katy Bowman

Age 60
“The Five Years Before You Retire” by Emily Guy Birken
Seems like I should probably read this when I'm 70.


Age 61
“Fear of Dying” by Erica Jong

Age 62
“Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand” by Helen Simonson

Age 63
“Our Souls at Night” by Kent Haruf

Age 64
“Old in Art School” by Nell Painter
With this last name, you sort of have to write a book about art.

Age 65
“65 Things to Do When You Retire” edited by Mark Evan Chimsky
Again, I'll need the book of 75 Things to Do When You Retire.

Age 66
The “Outlander” series by Diana Gabaldon

Age 67
“Don Quixote” by Miguel de Cervantes
I think I've read this, but I'm not 100% sure.

Age 68
“The Year of Magical Thinking” by Joan Didion

Age 69
“I Remember Nothing” by Nora Ephron

Age 70
“Master Class: Living Longer, Stronger, and Happier” by Peter Spiers


Age 71
“Midnight’s Children” by Salman Rushdie
He was fantastic in Bridget Jones's Diary.

Age 72
“Love in the Time of Cholera” by Gabriel García Márquez

Age 73
“The Years of Lyndon Johnson” four volumes, by Robert Caro

Age 74
“Paris in the Present Tense” by Mark Helprin

Age 75
“The History of Love” by Nicole Krauss
The working title was You Can't Hurry Love.

Age 76
“Women Rowing North” by Mary Pipher

Age 77
“Gilead” by Marilynne Robinson

Age 78
“Charlotte’s Web” by E.B. White

Age 79
“The Coming of Age” by Simone de Beauvoir

Age 80
“Coming Into Eighty: Poems” by May Sarton


Age 81
“Devotions” by Mary Oliver

Age 82
“The Summer of a Dormouse” by John Mortimer

Age 83
All the thrillers and mysteries
I think The Post mailed this one in. All the thrillers and mysteries? Here's the description from the story:

If you haven’t yet acquainted yourself with Easy Rawlins, Mrs. Pollifax, Maisie Dobbs, Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and Commissario Guido Brunetti, invite them over. They’re great company.

Age 84
“The Last Unknowns” Deep, Elegant, Profound Unanswered Questions About the Universe, the Mind, the Future of Civilization, and the Meaning of Life edited by John Brockman

Age 85
“Ravelstein” by Saul Bellow

Age 86
“Old Filth” by Jane Gardam

Age 87
“King Lear” by William Shakespeare

Age 88
“Nearing Ninety: And Other Comedies of Late Life” by Judith Viorst, illustrated by Laura Gibson

Age 89
“A Carnival of Losses: Notes Nearing 90” by Donald Hall

Age 90
“Beachcombing for a Shipwrecked God” by Joe Coomer



Age 91
“Selected Poems: 1988-2013” by Seamus Heaney

Age 92
“Nothing to be Frightened Of” by Julian Barnes

Age 93
“Sapiens” by Yuval Harari

Age 94
“This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto Against Ageism” by Ashton Applewhite

Age 95
The Neapolitan novels by Elena Ferrante

Age 96
“Somewhere Towards the End” by Diana Athill

Age 97
“My Own Two Feet” by Beverly Cleary

Age 98
“Life Is So Good” by George Dawson and Richard Glaubman

Age 99
“Little Boy” by Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Age 100
“Sailor and Fiddler: Reflections of a 100-Year-Old Author” by Herman Wouk


I'm pretty good in the books before you reach the age of 10. After that...not so much. Overall, my total number is 11.5 since I can't remember whether or not I read Don Quixote.

Just for fun, take a look at the top 100 list of books Entertainment Weekly put out a few years ago and see how this list compares.

Baby Bird

As a first-grader, The Moose brings home several books from school each night to read, and he brought this particular book home earlier this week:

Full disclosure: I did not read this book. I only know what my wife told me and the following summary:

Derek finds a wounded baby bird. He brings it home and gives it water and food. Grandpa cautions him that the baby bird probably won't live, but Derek is hopeful. When the bird dies during the night, Grandpa assures Derek he did his best and comforts him with a big hug.

My first response is what the heck kind of book is this for a first grader? Oh what a cute book about a boy caring for an injured bird. I'm sure this will have a happy ending. Wait, the bird died!?!?

Let me go back here. When my son was about to get his adenoids out, we got several kids books about going to the hospital. Therefore, I'm sure there are plenty of books about death geared towards kids, particularly about the loss of a pet. In the case of the hospital books, that was something we sought out to read to him. Maybe my issue here is that this book seems really sad and not all that appropriate as a general reading book. Actually, maybe it is appropriate. What do I know? My outrage has certainly decreased significantly since I started writing this post!

So with all of this written, um, if you're looking for a book about a dead bird to read to your kid or have him/her read to you, Baby Bird by Beth Johnson is it!

The Library Book

You are reading the blog written by a proud owner of an Arlington Public Library book! Actually, proud is not the correct word here. I recently checked out a book titled The Arena: Inside the Tailgating, Ticket-Scalping, Mascot-Racing, Dubiously Funded, and Possibly Haunted Monuments of American Sport by Rafi Kohan.

The book covers everything around stadiums and arenas from public financing to ticket scalping and stadium operations to mascots. While I haven't finished reading the book yet, there doesn't seem to be an overall theme or message, but rather a closer look at things associated with sports and entertainment venues that you probably don't give much thought. This isn't a book review though. This is how I now own this book since my three year old (Pedro Tulo) decided to do this:

In case it's not clear by the picture, pages 33-36 are now no longer attached to the book. Ripping pages of books are generally frowned on, especially when it's a library book. I showed the results of Pedro Tulo's work to the librarian, and he asked if I checked it out in this condition. While I could have said yes and been in the clear, first that would have been a lie and second, I was the first person to check out this book, so any investigation would have found that it was me. I don't think I could interrogation by a library detective!



So I now own this book and have to buy a new hardcover version so that other Arlington, Virginia residents and community members can enjoy it. Any suggestions on where to buy a copy or is Amazon the best source?

Publish or Perish: I'm Published!

In college and particularly grad school, I heard the phrase "publish or perish" on occasion. Basically, if you become a professor and want to get tenured, you must get published. If not, you're in danger of losing your job. While I'm not a college professor or play one on the internet, this phrase has stayed with me. I actually explain this phrase to my infant during nighttime feedings. I certainly hope that my wife turns off the monitor during these conversations.

Anyway, despite writing this blog for 10 years and having a dream of writing a book one day, I've never been published...until now. John Chamberlin of the Ya Jagoff! website recently wrote Above the Fries, "a culmination of silly, stupid jagoffery stories from the blog and a few un-published stories too." John asked to use my guest post about airport family restrooms (and also posted on my blog) as part of the book. I said that he could in exchange for $1 million.

He said no. Eventually, we settled on me getting a free copy of the book. Clearly, I won this negotiation!

So if you want to see my post in a paper (or Kindle) format, purchase Above the Fries from Ya Jagoff or Amazon today. Plus, you can read dozens of other stories from John along with an introduction by the legendary Rick Sebak.

You can also hear John's interview on HumorOutcasts Radio.

The All-Time Greatest Books

You may remember a few weeks ago when I went through the top 100 movies compiled by Entertainment Weekly. Today, I'm going through the top 100 books as listed by EW. I've highlighted the books that I've read from start to finish in bold below. I apologize for any misspellings since there was a lot of typing here.

1. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
2. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
3. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin
4. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
5. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
6. My Antonia by Willa Cather - I read some Cather in high school, but I don't think it was this book.
7. The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling - I read all seven, so I feel like this should could as seven.
8. The Rabbit quartet by John Updike
9. Beloved by Toni Morison
10. Charlotte's Web by E.B. White

11. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
12. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
13. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee - In my mind, this could be #1.
14. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
15. Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow
16. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
17. The Road by Cormac McCarthy - I'm sure folks will disagree, but I feel like this book is overrated.
18. Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
19. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
20. Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry

21. An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser
22. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
23. The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
24. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
25. Bleak House by Charles Dickens
26. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
27. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
28. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy - Did you know that the original title of this book was "War, What Is It Good For?"
29. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
30. Native Son by Richard Wright

31. Blindness by Jose Saramago
32. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Sallinger
33. Maus by Art Spiegelman - I've had this book for nearly 20 years and never read it. I'm not even sure where it is right now.
34. The World According to Garp by John Irving
35. A Personal Matter by Kenzaburo Oe
36. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
37. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
38. The Regeneration trilogy by Pat Barker
39. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
40. A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth

41. Go Tell It on The Mountain by James Baldwin
42. The Stand by Stephen King
43. The Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
44. His Dark Materials by Phil Pullman
45. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
46. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
47. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Harold Murakami
48. The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith
49. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
50. Snow by Orhan Pamuk - This should not be confused with Informer by Snow

51. The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
52. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
53. Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
54. Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain - This book came out in 2012 yet I've never heard of it.
55. A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
56. Sophie's Choice by William Styron
57. The Children of Men by R.D. James
58. Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
59. Dracula by Bram Stoker
60. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

61. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez - Best book of all time with cholera in the title.
62. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain - I don't think I actually finished this book.
63. Portnoy's Complaint by Philip Roth - Mr. Brame is not going to be happy about this. While I've read some Roth, I don't know if I completed this book or not.
64. Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
65. Herzog by Saul Bellow - I'm still waiting for the sequel, Leyland.
66. Howards End by E.M. Forster
67. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon
68. Middlemarch by George Eliot
69. Money by Martin Amis
70. Neuromancer by William Gibson

71. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
72. The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
73. The Spy Who Came in From the Cold by John le Carre
74. Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
75. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
76. The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing
77. Tom Jones by Henry Fielding
78. A House for Mr. Biswas by V.S. Naipaul
79. Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel
80. Swann's Way by Marcel Proust

81. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
82. Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee
83. The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields
84. Clockers by Richard Price
85. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
86. A Home at the End of the World by Michael Cunningham
87. White Teeth by Zadie Smith
88. The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe
89. Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne
90. The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers

91. The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa
92. The Glass Bead Game by Hermann Hesse
93. Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison
94. The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
95. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
96. If on a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino
97. The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
98. Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. by Judy Blume - If only Superfudge made this list.
99. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
100. The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

How does Brave New World not make this list? Where is Homer?

Anyway, since we're only counting the Harry Potter books as one, sadly, I've only read 8 of these 100 books. Pathetic. It looks like I have some reading to do.

So how many of these books did you read? Please leave your answer and any other thoughts in the comments section below. In addition, please let me know what books I need to read immediately.

Book Review: How Winning the Lottery Changed My Life

With the Mega Millions jackpot at $540 million in March, I wrote a post stating that I didn’t want to win the lottery. Essentially, I didn’t want to deal with the media and people asking me for money. Based on this post, a publicist contacted me about “reviewing a memoir written by a true lottery winner.” Since I’m never one to pass up free stuff, I said sure.

Let me preface this review by writing that I expected to read a book. While I wasn’t expecting War & Peace, I was surprised that How Winning the Lottery Changed My Life by Sandra Hayes contained only 42 pages with 18 chapters. In my opinion, this is a pamphlet, not a book. Anyway, Sandra Hayes describes how she played the lottery with her co-workers dubbed the “Lucky 13,” including how she discovered that she won, the details about what happens after you win the lottery (meetings with the Missouri Lottery Commission and an attorney) and her stint on a reality show.

Are you curious about how much money Hayes won?

The truth is no one knows, but me. Each Lucky 13 Missouri Powerball Winner’s winnings are different. We all invested our winnings differently.

Then, two pages later, Hayes wrote the same thing.

The truth is no one knows how much money the Lucky 13 received. Each Lucky 13 Missouri Powerball winner’s winnings were different because we all invested our winnings differently.

In only 42 pages, how can you write the same thing so close together? This is probably a very minor point, but this was frustrating to me.

When discussing the reality show pitch, Hayes wrote, “My jaw dropped later that day when we met [the actors considering producing a reality show] in the conference room because I had had no idea one of my favorite actors would be standing that room.” Unfortunately, Hayes never revealed the actor’s identity. Are we talking Denzel Washington? Dustin Diamond?

After the reality show aired and included negative statements from family and friends about Hayes, she writes that she didn’t talk to some of these people for a year. Later in the same paragraph, Hayes states, “even today a few people do not like me because of the reality show. Who cares? Cut and paste – it was just a reality show.” Well, apparently she cared if she didn’t talk to folks for a year based on comments made on a reality show.

I’m happy that Hayes won and seems to have invested well. I also liked how Hayes shared that she once received food stamps and depended on a charitable organization to support her family and then gave back to that organization after she won the lottery. However, while I wanted to know more about Hayes’ experience (again, only 42 pages!), I really didn’t want to know more about Hayes’ experience. Hayes writes several times that she values her privacy, yet she went on a reality show and now wrote a book.

Spoiler alert: Hayes closes by asking the question "Is the downside of my life worth the wealth I have accumulated? My answer is yes." That’s probably all you need to know about this book and winning the lottery.

I Cheated

If I was Catholic, I would go to confession. I assume that I would start by saying to the priest, "Forgive me Father, for I have sinned." (People really say this, right, or is this just what I've learned from television and movies?) When I moved to the DC area in 2001, I immediately entered into a relationship. Despite moving to different areas of Northern Virginia, the relationship continued, and I've been faithful throughout the past 11 years. Obviously, there have been ups and downs in the relationship. There were times that I was neglectful and not always around. Conversely, there were times when perhaps I was needy and overstayed my welcome. Nevertheless, the relationship was always there, and I was never swayed to cheat...until yesterday.

I'm embarrassed to write this, but I feel that I need to come clean. Although I've been loyal to the Fairfax County Public Library system and got a library card almost immediately after moving to Northern Virginia, I now have a library card through the Arlington County Public Library. I just finished a book and have several that I'd like to read including Don't Put Me In, Coach: My Incredible NCAA Journey from the End of the Bench to the End of the Bench by Mark Titus; Taft 2012: A Novel by Jason Heller; and Manhunt: The Ten-Year Search for Bin Laden--from 9/11 to Abbottabad by Peter Bergen. Yes, this is an eclectic group of books. Anyway, FCPL doesn't have the first two books in their catalog while they only have 4 copies of the Peter Bergen book. I'm currently #144 on the hold list. Meanwhile, Arlington County Public Library has all three books in the catalog. The Jason Heller book is available immediately, the Mark Titus book should be available soon and there are 12 copies of the Peter Bergen book where I'm #40 on the hold list. I should mention that the Fairfax County Public Library system is much bigger and serves a much larger population. Therefore, I don't know why they appear to be lagging significantly behind the Arlington County Public Library system.

In case you're wondering, I'm not leaving the Fairfax County Public Library system. I support the library through my taxes and have attended several books sales over the years. I also look forward to taking my child to programs there this summer. However, I'm no longer in an exclusive relationship. To FCPL, I'd say that it's not you, it's me, but in this case, it truly is you.

I Want My MTV

Although I don’t update the “What I’m Reading” section of my blog very often, I continue to read books regularly. I’m currently reading I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution by Craig Marks and Rob Tannenbaum. While the history of creating and starting MTV is interesting (who knew that Michael Nesmith of the Monkees “fueled the origins of MTV?”), I truly enjoy reading the behind the scenes descriptions of making the videos. Here are a few portions of the book I feel like sharing (along with the videos):

Daryl Hall: People loved to spend my money. This is a good story: Somebody decided the “Maneater” video wouldn’t be complete unless we had an actual panther, a man-eating animal, in the video. It appeared for a second and a half in the video and probably cost $10,000. This South American black panther was wired to the floor so it wouldn’t attack everybody. Of course, it got loose in this gigantic studio in LA and went in the rafters, fifty feet up. Nobody could get it down. That’s when I left the building.



The panther got at least 10 seconds of air time!

Jazz Summers (Wham!'s manager): Wham!’s “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” is a bit camp. Two young boys dancing around in shorts. I thought it was tacky, and said so. I tried to talk them out of it, but my management partner, Simon Napier-Bell, was more camp than a row of tents. He thought it was lovely. And MTV really got behind it.

Debbie Gibson: Being a gay-boy magnet even at fourteen, I was in love with George Michael. I'd come home from school and turn on MTV - and there was "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go.



I'm confused. Is Debbie attracted to gay boys or are gay boys attracted to her?

Nigel Dick (music-video and film director): Roland Orzabal told me what he envisioned for "Head Over Heels": "I see myself in a library, there's a beautiful girl, we'll grow old together, and there's all this random stuff like a rabbi and a chimp." And I'm rapidly scribbling on a piece of paper: "Chimp. Rabbi."



Is this the only video featuring a rabbi and a chimp?

Bryan Adams: The whole budget for the "Run to You" video went into building a tree. Lightning was supposed to hit the tree, and create a big, long lightning storm. Imagine the shock and horror on set when the [f'n] thing burns in about a minute. We stood there, looking at this tree up in flames. And Steve Barron's (the video's director) going, "Oh. S#!t." This is probably my worst video.



The real problem is that Adams doesn't run at all in the video. The Bangles walked like Egyptians (sort of) walked in their hit. If the song title is "Run to You," you run!

There are a lot more stories I could share particularly about Van Halen, Paula Abdul, and Billy Squire, but this could end up being my longest post!

Please note that this is not a sponsored post. I'm just really enjoying the book.

Book Suggestions Requested

Over the weekend, I installed a new feature on the right column* to share what I’m currently reading. This is something that Dan has had on his blog for years, and I am stealing/borrowing this from him. The reason that I’m adding this now is because I read a lot during my commute to and from work. With the recent move, my commute is slightly longer but where I had to drive during part of my commute previously (where reading is frowned on), my new trip is entirely on the bus and Metro. That means even more time for reading.

So I’m asking for suggestions on what to read. They can be new books or classics. In case you’re wondering, here are books/authors that I’ve recently read or are on my hold list at the library:

The Beckham Experiment by Grant Wahl
Malcolm Gladwell
Chuck Klosterman
Daniel Silva
Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell
Nick Hornby
Jon Krakauer's book about Pat Tillman

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!


* Despite having a blog for five years now, I’m still not very good with the HTML so please excuse the fact that part of the book cover is missing.


UPDATE: I figured that I would compile a list of books I read and featured in What I'm Reading.

- The Financial Lives of Poets by Jess Walter

- Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman by Jon Krakauer

- The English Assassin by Daniel Silva

- Rules of Prey by John Sandford

- The Partly Cloudy Patriot by Sarah Vowell

- Eating the Dinosaur by Chuck Klosterman

- Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde

- The Confessor by Daniel Silva

- What the Dog Saw and Other Adventures - Malcolm Gladwell

- A Safe Haven: Harry S. Truman and the Founding of Israel by Allis Radosh and Ronald Radosh

- The Game From Where I Stand by Doug Glanville

- Talking to Girls About Duran Duran: One Young Man's Quest for True Love and a Cooler Haircut by Rob Sheffield

- To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

- The Ones Who Hit the Hardest: The Steelers, the Cowboys, the '70s, and the Fight for America's Soul by Chad Millman & Shawn Coyne

Books I Want To Read

This is the most self-explanatory title I may I have ever written. If I continue this trend, the title of my next post will be "Please Buy My California Tortilla Burrito Coupons. I’ll Give You a Great Deal." Anyway, there have been several times over the last few years when I have asked for suggestions on books to read. For the first time possibly forever, I’m not looking for suggestions. Instead, I figured I would share my list and see if anyone has read any of these books. In addition, feel free to share what books you are reading or books you recommend in the comments section. Maybe this will turn into a book club (well, maybe a book club where people suggest books)

Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions by Ben Mezrich.

This book may be better known now as the movie 21. I’m guessing that the book does not contain a line where Kevin Spacey’s character says "Don’t call me dude."

Absurdistan by Gary Shteyngart

Recommended by one of my trivia teammates. This is the summary:

Misha Vainberg is an obese 30-year-old Russian heir to a post-Soviet fortune. After living in the Midwest and New York City for 12 years, he considers himself "an American impounded in a Russian body." But his father in St. Petersburg has killed an Oklahoma businessman and then turned up dead himself, and Misha, trying to leave Petersburg after the funeral, is denied a visa to the United States.

Andy Roddick Beat Me with a Frying Pan: Taking the Field with Pro Athletes and Olympic Legends to Answer Sports Fans' Burning Questions by Todd Gallagher

I read about this through one of Gene Weingarten’s Washington Post chats. This should be a fun and funny book.

God Save the Fan: How Preening Sportscasters, Athletes Who Speak in the Third Person, and the Occasional Convicted Quarterback Have Taken the Fun Out of Sports (And How We Can Get It Back) by Will Leitch

Leitch is the founding editor of Deadspin, the best spots blog in the world. I enjoy reading his work everyday, so I expect nothing less from this book.

Jews and Judaism in the 21st Century: Human Responsibility, the Presence of God and the Future of the Covenant by Edward Feinstein

Just in case I want a change of pace.

X Saves the World: How Generation X Got the Shaft and Can Still Keep Everything from Sucking by Jeff Gordinier

The premise of this book is that members of Generation X are not slackers. I like where the book is headed! Plus, Nick Hornby wrote that he loved the book. That seals the deal for me. I actually considered going to see Gordinier do a reading of his book when I was on vacation in Seattle.

Are You There, God? It's Me. Kevin by Kevin Keck

Keck offers his drug-induced view on living life with as little effort as possible while delving into the possibility of God and organized religion versus spirituality. He recalls his past 10 years, explaining the influence of his family (his crazy mother who wakes him up by putting a butcher knife to his throat) and his unfulfilled decision to descend into priesthood (It was cool to tell people you were becoming a priest, especially if you had a beer in your hand). He gets roped into teaching Sunday school, where he delivers half-baked sermons on evolution and abortion, yet the church parents can't stop raving about the positive impact he's had on their children.

I don’t think Keck is a member of Generation X.

Anything by David Halberstam. I bought Summer of '49 at a used book sale from the library last year, so this is the one I should probably read. Halberstam is one of my favorite authors.

My Life by Bill Clinton.
I don’t remember how I got this book, but it’s in my house. The problem is that the hardback book is over 1000 pages making it a little heavy for the bus & Metro.

My wife bought The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. Dan wrote about this book a few weeks ago in that it is #1 on the best-seller list. Pausch is the terminally ill CMU professor who is now known internationally. Just for fun, I placed this book on hold through the Fairax County Public Library system. I am currently #213 in the queue. This has to be the highest number since the seventh Harry Potter book.

In case you were wondering, I’m currently reading All the King’s Men, Robert Penn Warren’s loosely fictionalized account of Governor Huey Long of Louisiana. This book may be older than the other 10 on the list combined.

Again, feel free to leave your comments below. Maybe this will turn into the Ramblings book club!