Magic.....

This will make me sound old (I am), even though I still listen to a lot of new music (mostly in the metal genre).

I've been saying for the last few years that the era of the truely great "rock" band is over.  Music has changed drastically in the past twenty years or so.

The way that it's changed?  Music use to be about a bunch of guys, and there were guys (other than the lead singer) that contributed so much to the sound of the band - that each guy had a strong sonic signature, and the band wouldn't sound the same without each member contributing in some ways.

Think about a band like Led Zeppelin.  Of course, Robert Plant's voice is unmistakable, but Jimmy Pages riffs, John Paul Jones' bass and keyboard playing, and John Bonham's drumming were signature to their sound.

Or think about Metallica - every guy in Metallica (in the early days, at least) played as though they were trying to be the star - Lars was unmistakable, James had those driving rhythm guitar, Kirk played in his unique style, and Cliff did his distorted bass thing.

Roth-era Van Halen (or even Hagar era) was the same.

Even post 1990 bands had some strong musicianship - Nirvana, Rage Against The Machine, Green Day - all of those bands had such recognizable sonic styles from each of their members.

And of course, the Beatles were the first (and arguably the best).

Other favorites of mine include Slayer, Sepultura, Pantera, and more recently, Decapitated and  Cannibal Corpse.

Then over the span of a few years, music changed.  Bands had a unique sound, but their instrumentalists were exchangeable.  Bass players didn't stand out, like, say, Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers.  Or drummers didn't rock the way that Taylor Hawkins from the Foo Fighters does.

I'm not saying one is better or worse, but I think I gravitate towards bands where the musicianship is strong all around, and the songwriting is awesome.

Here's one of my favorite videos of all time - The Who doing Who Are You.  I love how crazy Keith Moon is.

The Life Changing Magic of Tidying up - Marie Kondo

I had previously attempted to read Marie Kondo's "Spark Joy" but found it a little weird, so I didn't finish it.

I started into this book not had high expectations.  It was at times, a bit odd, and I don't think I'll be talking to my clothes any time soon, but I understand why she feels appreciation for inanimate objects.

She does have valuable insight into letting go of items that you're keeping for sentimental reasons, and overall, throwing out things that you don't love or that don't make you feel happy.

I plan to use the things that I learned in this book towards de-cluttering my life.

The Beginner's Guide To Meditation - Shinzen Young

This seems more like a "how to" Podcast rather than an audiobook.

Young talks about meditation as concentration to produce equinimity that allows an insight into the self.  This allows one to serve the world with love and compassion.

He talks about when and how to practice.  He talks about sitting upright and finding time alone, and then the next part is intended to be listened to while meditating - he talks about focusing on breathing, relaxation, and then loving kindness.

I thought this was a pretty good book about the basics of meditation.  I think I'm going to try incorporating this into my life.

A Force For Good - the Dalai Lama's Vision for Our World - Daniel Goleman

I really enjoyed this book.  I love the Dalai Lama's message.  My reading of the Dalai Lama followed a (coincidentally) logical progression - from finding your own internal happiness (The Art of Happiness), followed by finding a broader sense of joy (The Book of Joy), then his internal thoughts and philosophies (A Profound Mind), ruminations on the link between science and spirituality (The Universe in a Single Atom), and then this book - A Force For Good.

In this book, Daniel Goleman describes various acts that one can perform to make positive changes in the world.  It's a great book, and I plan to look into joinaforce4good.com.

Fu pei guen

I love bean curd!  It's the residual stuff that you'd get from processing soybeans into tofu.

They sell this in dried sheets in Chinatown.  It's typically use in dim sum restaurants to wrap various meats and vegetables, and then the rolls are cooked.

I wanted to try making a vegan version of these rolls, which are called fu pei guen.

I sort of made my own recipe.  I started with diced firm tofu, minced shiitake and wood ear mushroom, shredded bamboo, and green onions, and seasoned with some mushroom seasoning, xiaozhing cooking wine, sesame oil and white pepper.  I wrapped them, fried them in a little bit of canola oil, then steamed them in a bamboo steamer.  The gravy is made with mushroom bouillon, more cooking wine, sesame oil and white pepper, thickened with cornstarch.

I really loved these!

First Invite Love In - Tana Pesso with Penor Rinpoche

I borrowed this book because it has a foreword by the Dalai Lama.

It's an interesting book, but a little strange.  In some of the first exercises, I found myself at peace and smiling, but as I read through the remainder of the exercises, I almost laughed at some of the ideas - specifically that everyone that you visualize was your mother in a past life, including rabbits, etc.

Conceptually, I understand developing compassion and empathy through identification with sentient beings, but how this book describes the visualizations ranges from profound to kind of silly.

Still though, like any book, I like to incorporate and learn from the things I like about it.  I only got about 30% of this book, but it will help me in developing compassion.

I'd rate this book maybe a 6 out of 10.

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption - Laura Hillenbrand

This book chronicles the life of Louis Zamperini, from a young troubled child, to an olympic runner, a military bombadier, and for most of the book, an American POW in the South Pacific and Japan.

It's a long book and often troubling, but it reflects Zamperini's strength, defiance, and forgiveness.  It was a very inspirational story, even just from the standpoint of physical exertion (it motivated me to walk 9 miles on the day I finished it!), but also for the message of forgiveness.

For its inspiration, it was my favorite book that I've read this year.

Wild - From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail - Cheryl Strayed

Wild is about Cheryl Strayed's expedition from Southern California to the top of Oregon.  She traverses the trail on a quest to deal with the loss of her mother, and throughout the memoir reflects back upon her issues with her mother, step-dad, siblings, ex-husband, and other various people in her life.

It reminded me a little bit of "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" with the distinction being that I actually cared for Strayed vs. the pompous author of Zen.

I borrowed this book thinking I could read it over a few weeks, but ended up finishing it over a weekend.

I really liked this book - maybe one of my favorites this year so far.

R.I.P., Chester

My day got dark today.  Chester Bennington, one of my favorite singers, hung himself at the age of 41.  He left behind six children.

Chester had an incredible voice, and I admired both his note dynamic ranges, from melodic singing to angry screaming.  I loved his music, and the anger in his voice and lyrics hit even harder as I read about his traumatic abuse as a child and his subsequent drug use and talk of suicide.

I was sad when I found out that Chris Cornell killed himself, but Chester Bennington's suicide hit me pretty hard today.

Rest in peace, Chester.  You may be gone, but your music will live forever.

How the internet became my stage. | Meytal Cohen | TEDxBocaRaton

I've heard of Meytal, and have watched her drum cover videos.  She's a really good drummer, but having said that, there are a lot of "good" drummers (side note - and they are all still better than me).

There are a lot of people on YouTube criticizing her for being average but getting her success through her looks.  On the one hand, I feel that it's true that people pay her videos attention because of her looks and that she is a really good drummer, but not phenomenally amazing.  On the other hand, she seems humble and is making music that connects with people, and not blatantly over-sexualizing her videos, so I don't begrudge her success a single bit.

When I watched this TEDTalk, her humility was confirmed when she said that she's not the greatest drummer, and her message of making a living playing drums on the internet is inspirational.

America Again (Re-Becoming The Greatness We Never Weren't) - Stephen Colbert

In this second audiobook, Colbert addresses the topics of jobs, health care, Wall Street, energy, elections, justice and food.  Again, he potrays his conservative pundit persona in lampooning these subjects, though it's not as funny or engaging as his first book.  I still laughed out loud though.

I Am America (And So Can You) - Stephen Colbert

Stephen Colbert is both really intelligent and really comedically clever.  Listening to this audiobook is engaging, as his quips and one-liners hit you again and again and make you think.

He doesn't directly address politics per se as he did in the Colbert Report or in his Late Show opening monologues.  Rather, he tackles Family, Old People, Animals, Religion, Sports, Sex & Dating, Homosexuals, Higher Education, Hollywood, The Media, Class War, Race, and Immigrants, all with the political satire of his former mock-right wing pundit persona.

I find myself smiling and chuckling while listening to this book.

My favorite "new" drummers

This list is mostly drummers that are relatively newer, so it excludes some of my all time favorites like Dave Lombardo and Iggor Cavalera.

I just discovered Krihm, who has played with Decapitated and Behemoth.  He plays with a lot of power and his technique is solid:



I've also really loved the playing of Dave Suzuki, who was formerly with Vital Remains.  This guy is insanely fast:



Tim Yeung is a killer drummer who has played Dave Suzuki's parts in Vital Remains.  He has also played with Morbid Angel, Hate Eternal, and Divine Heresy:



Eloy Casagrande is Sepultura's "new" drummer, and he has so much energy and technique.



John Dette has filled in with Slayer and Anthrax, and he's so good, you don't miss their regular drummers.



Inferno is one of my favorite drummers of all time, and I love "Slaves Shall Serve".

Frames of Mind - The Theory of Multiple Intelligences - Howard Gardner

Spider-Man Homecoming

I wasn't sure what to expect of this latest Spider-Man reboot.  When I saw in the opening that it was still under Sony, I lowered my expectations.  I was surprised that this movie was really great, despite some of the negative reviews I was seeing about it.

It was a great modern retelling of a classic story.  The multi-cultural cast was interesting, but not knowing the ethnic makeup of people in New York, I couldn't tell if it was trying too hard to be modern, or if it was an accurate portrayal of who Peter Parker's friends would be in real life.

The movie wasn't a super traditional Marvel type blockbuster.  The fight scenes were good, and the CGI was virtually undetectable.  I liked that more of the action scenes revolved around saving people, rather than fighting the main villain - the Vulture.

I thought the plot was a great coming of age superhero story, something that's lacking in recent Marvel movies, and really made you feel the youth of Peter Parker.

I would say this was my favorite Spider-Man movie yet, and quite possibly one of my favorite movies of the past few years.

Without You, There Is No Us - Suki Kim

This audiobook was a great listen!  Suki Kim goes double undercover, as she poses as an undercover missionary teaching English at Pyonyang University of Science and Technology.

She teaches and grows attached to a group of privileged elite young North Korean boys, and describes their culture and philosophy, which is shaped by the North Korean regime.  She sometimes  compares and contrasts their worship of Kim Jung-Il with the worship of God by her missionary counterparts.

I loved this book.  Kim documents the sometimes odd behavior of the North Koreans and provides a first hand look and sometimes speculation behind the way that they behave.  But she doesn't do this in a cold way - she actually grows quite enamored of her students.  This is one of my favorite books of the year so far.

The Healthiest Diet on the Planet - Dr. John McDougall & Mary McDougall

I was much more convinced of McDougall's theory after reading this book, versus when I read "The Starch Solution".  Perhaps it's the overall tone of the book, or perhaps I was more familiar and thus more receptive, but believe that the elimination of animal proteins is a good thing.

I still think it's best to reduce overall consumption of food as a whole, and now I think the next step is changing the way we eat - and having meals centered on plant based foods.

Hidden Brain - "Is He A Muslim?"

I heard an interesting Hidden Brain podcast this morning that said that more terrorism in the United States was carried out by non-Muslims than Muslims, but people more readily classify Muslim violence as "terrorism".

Although I generally trust NPR's programs to have integrity and objectivity, the independent thinker in me researched the subject more.

I found an article from the Atlantic that states that "Between 1975 and 2015, the “annual chance of being murdered by somebody other than a foreign-born terrorist was 252.9 times greater than the chance of dying in a terrorist attack committed by a foreign-born terrorist,” according to Nowrasteh."


The New York Times reports that "Since Sept. 11, 2001, nearly twice as many people have been killed by white supremacists, antigovernment fanatics and other non-Muslim extremists than by radical Muslims"
 
Business Insider estimates that the odds of being killed by a foreign-born terrorist are lower than being killed by a sharp object accident.

One could argue that the relatively low statistics could be attributed to the government's efforts to thwart attacks, but the added cost-benefit ratio of a travel ban seems quite disproportionate, and ignorant of statistics.

New albums to check out

Gravebloom - The Acacia Strain
Hydrograd - Stone Sour
Unparalleled Universe - Origin
Vengeful Ascension - Goatwhore
Slime and Punishment - Municipal Waste
Wrong One to Fuck With - Dying Fetus