In the movie Little Miss Sunshine Uncle Frank (played very well by Steve Carell) calls high school "your prime suffering years. You don't get better suffering than that." I'm not sure I'd go that far (my bet is with middle school if you want to kick the whole suffering thing up a notch.)

There were moments in high school I actually enjoyed...times with friends, certain parts of class (both humorous and academic) that made up for the more painful stuff (trig, geometry, algebra...the whole math thing).  We'll skip the unrequited crushes, the out-of-sync-with-the-rest-of-the-world cloud that often followed those of us who were mostly loners and that horrible melodramatic overload of hormones and mixed emotions.

I mention high school because of what I'm currently reading. Elizabeth Berg's newest book (aptly titled The Last Time I Saw You) captures some of what makes high school reunions both scary and utterly fascinating. I just started it, but hope to return soon with thoughts on it...

...A few hours later and I've had time to read more. I love this passage: By the time she was in high school, she spent all her money on record albums and on paperback books--she couldn't get enough of either. Why moon about not being invited to a party when you could listen to Bob Dylan? What date could compare with Nine Stories?  The major reason I usually end up liking a book is because there is a least one character so relatable to you it's almost eerie...(except, when I was in high school I didn't listen to Dylan.)

So I've been battling a cold this past week and last night I think I might have taken just a little too much NyQuil (best thing ever for trying to sleep while sick!) 'cause I got to thinking how great Die Hard 2 is (it was my first time watching it so I'm not sure if it's the cold medicine or the movie)...Though I'm sure my liver won't thank me for all the OTC medicine I've been using lately, I love that numbing feeling that spreads through your limbs and mind once the NyQuil takes over...thankfully, though, I've never reached that point where I take NyQuil even when I don't have a cold...

some sorta scary NyQuil facts

that explains those feelings...

The "in between reality and sleep realm," whether induced from NyQuil or a sleep aid or that moment right before you fall asleep, has always been fuzzily pleasant for me....neither conscious or un...just "there." Sometimes, when little things are all you can really count on, that kind of buzz is just beautiful...

"Pumped Up Kicks" by Foster the People is one of the catchiest songs I've heard in a while. I must have hit repeat at least four times while driving around today (it's a great car song!) and now I'm dying to dance around in my living room to it, but it's almost one in the morning and I don't want to disturb the neighbors.

The words don't really matter, though I can imagine it has some kind of theme. It's the beats (oh God, the beats!) and the haunting, fading vocals (wish I knew the technical term for it) and the whistling (that makes the huge 2007 hit "Young Folks" by Peter Bjorn and John sound just a little too quaint). And no matter how often you play it, it always sounds so fresh and invigorating.

Incredible stuff and you can hear it here....wish I knew more about the band. I first read about them on NME magazine's website but as far as I can tell there's not much talk of them here in the U.S.

"You gotta be kidding" read of the day (via Mother Jones magazine)...an anonymous blogger calling himself the Vigilant Citizen believes Lady Gaga videos are part of an elaborate plot (involving the CIA, Freemasons and possibly the occult) to brainwash the public...into doing what the article didn't say, but now those outfits in "Bad Romance" make a little more sense to me!:)

My favorite line from the article : "A superstar clotheshorse who is unwittingly the tool of an evil yet very silly conspiracy...wait, isn't that the plot of 'Zoolander' ?" MJ gives the theory 5 out of 5 on their "kookiness" meter!

Ah, Conspiracy Theorists...people with WAY too much time on their hands!!As someone somewhere has probably said before about mindless, but catchy, beat-driven music: just enjoy the music and dance!:)

Grabbed this up at Borders Express last night...pure guilty pleasure...can't put it down...Amazon is loaded with positive reviews, including this terrific one:

142 of 144 people found the following review helpful:


5.0 out of 5 stars MHI, February 2, 2008

By Kevin J. Coolidge - See all my reviews

(REAL NAME)



This review is from: Monster Hunter International (Paperback)

Monster Hunter International



It's your average, everyday Wednesday evening; I had just stopped by to pick up the latest issue of the Wellsboro Gazette. Suddenly, I found myself able to fulfill the American dream. No, not the one with the nude roller derby girls, the other "American" dream. I got to run over my boss. Understand, I felt obligated to burn hot rubber across his hairy back. No, I didn't wake up that morning and plan on killing my boss with my Subaru. It's really much more complicated than that. I would never have considered doing something that sounded so crazy. Heck, I work in a bookstore. My idea of danger is getting a paper cut. I didn't want to save the world. I didn't want to have to replace my headlight. I didn't want my insurance rates to skyrocket. I didn't want to know my boss was a werewolf...



It turns out that monsters are real, and that's why I found myself devouring Monster Hunter International by Larry Correia. Creatures from myth, legend, and B-movies are out there. Lurking in the shadows, seeking our destruction, or just plain hungry. Monster Hunter International is the number one agency for eradication of evil.



Our story starts with one Owen Zastava Pitt. He's your average, everyday working stiff. He just wants to work hard, get himself a wife and 2.5 kids, and settle in the suburbs, but when his boss literally tries to bite his head off, Owen is thrust into a world that he never knew existed - a world where monsters are exist, and there is good money to be made killing them. Welcome to Monster Hunter International.



MHI,a remarkable group of misfits that has banded together. They do more than dare to raise a candle to the darkness. They pack napalm-fed flamethrowers and lots of firepower. There's specialized body armor, big guns with unusual ammunition, and bloodsucking fiends. You'll also find some likable, well-developed heroes that bleed, and a full-speed action yarn that's funny as Hades.



I picked up this first novel because it sounded like a fun, fast read, and it is. Larry is a certified weapon instructor and it shows in his writing. He knows guns and weapons and he likes to blow things up, and have a lot of fun doing it. He also loves B movies, and has a twisted sense of humor, and it all makes for a highly entertaining read. It's not perfect. There are some rough spots, and at 452 pages, it's a little longer than is needed. The action slows down after a great intro that grabs your attention, but quickly jumps back to the fight. If you like SF, military fiction, or horror, you'll find yourself staying up late at night to finish, and anticipating the next novel. You aren't going to find MHI on the New York Times bestseller list, or Oprah any time soon, but maybe she should lock and load and lighten up...



Kevin Coolidge columnist Wellsboro Gazette
 
for more go here