Owen Garratt (everyone's favorite Pencilneck ®)

Destroyer

So why this album? Good question Grasshopper; because it was almost 32 years ago that The Music Bug bit me.

'The Paul Lynde Halloween Special', marked the network television debut of the band KISS. And as an impressionable 3rd Grader, their performances of 'Beth', "Detroit Rock City' and 'King of the Nighttime World' inspired me with awe and reverence%u2026even though I'm quite positive now that they were lip-synching.

Amazon Price: $9.99 (as of 12/22/2009)

Drive

September 24th, 2008 marked the fifth anniversary of the death of my absolute musical hero, Robert Palmer, who died in Paris in 2003 of a heart attack at the age of 54.

Robert Palmer supplied the soundtrack to my life for the last 23 years and when he died, literally hundreds of people, many of whom I hadn't heard from in years, sent a quick email when they heard the news.

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Taylor Hicks

Wow.

That was my first reaction to hearing his audition on American Idol 5. I looked at The Colonel and said "I've got goosebumps..."

And this little litmus test has been and will always be the very first test; The Mighty Goosebump.

Amazon Price: $6.99 (as of 12/22/2009)

Zenyatta Mondatta

Since I've also blogged about The Police concert last July, I thought I'd do a review of a Police album, and Cuzin Steve and I had the heated serious diehard debate as to what our favourite album was.

They're all different, and all excellent, but the one that had the most influence on me was Zenyatta Mondatta.

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Please Write for Details

by: John D. MacDonald

John D MacDonald is hands down my favorite author of all time.

He died during heart surgery in 1986 and for some reason is largely unknown today, but is best remembered for his Travis McGee series, and for writing the book that 'Cape Fear' was based on.

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Sherlock Holmes V. Dracula

by: Loren D. Estleman

Take the two biggest characters from the Victorian Era and splice them together; the timeline and location are perfect!

Loren Estleman has done a pretty good job of this, including the nifty technique of claiming that this was really written by Watson, and he was merely 'the editor' who found the transcript in London Ontario at the estate auction of Sherlock Holmes's last living relative.

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The Worst-Case Scenario Book Of Survival Questions

by: Joshua Piven

In light of Hudson's and my little camping adventure this month, I thought it fitting to profile the latest of 'The Worst Case Scenario' books.

They're sound bite style info on things such as what to do when you're attacked by a shark, or a bear, or how to cross a frozen river, or the best way to remove a leech, or how to land a plane, or how to deliver a baby in an elevator, or how to wrestle an alligator, or how to kick down a door, or how to escape from a car that's sinking under water.

Amazon Price: $10.85 (as of 12/22/2009)

Holmes on the Range (Holmes on the Range Mysteries)

by: Steve Hockensmith

Montana in 1893, and is the first in many novels about Big Red and Old Red, two brothers who're big fans of The World's Greatest Detective*, Sherlock Holmes, and they set out to emulate their hero as a mystery unfolds at the VR ranch.

Amazon Price: $3.97 (as of 12/22/2009)

Broken Music

by: Sting

I'm a biased fan, but I'm not an automatic fan; Sting has laid his share of eggs. There have been periods of genius and emotion since The Police broke up, but there's been some gasbaggy, overdone, over emoted, self righteous, stuff too.

But man ... when he gets it right ...

Amazon Price: $11.20 (as of 12/22/2009)

Legend of Boggy Creek

The Legend of Boggy Creek is a 1972 documentary-style film dealing with an alleged creature known as the "Fouke Monster", a Bigfootish like being seen in and around Fouke, Arkansas (get it?) since the 1940s.

I saw it when I was 4 or 5 and it was the first real scary movie I'd even seen. It scared the hell out of me and interfered with camping trips until I was in my 20's%u2026kind of like what 'Jaws' did for me in the water, and like 'Jaws', I'd held a nostalgic place for this movie in my memory bank.

It was also a major influence on the makers of 'The Blair Witch Project'.

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The Prestige

The movie follows the rivalry of two magicians in turn-of-the-20th-century London. Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman) is a terrific showman but a mediocre magician. To contrast, his rival Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) is all about the art and is indifferent to commercial success. They begin as friendly rivals but a tragic accident begins a vicious cycle of one-upmanship and hatred and revenge that becomes compulsive to on both sides.

This is a terrific movie. You have to pay attention to it, and it kind of depends on you being able to accept an outlandish plot device towards the end where Nickola Tesla (David Bowie) provides a 'scientific breakthrough' that's a bit farfetched but ...

Amazon Price: $11.99 (as of 12/22/2009)

Reservoir Dogs

After several years of hearing the artsyier people I knew talk about how 'awesome Reservoir Dogs' was, and how 'awesome Quentin Tarantino was' and having that damn-I -missed-out-again feeling that you get when people are talking about a movie or music or a book that you've never even heard of, I thought I'd finally give it a go.

This was Tarantino's first movie that he wrote and directed, and seen in that light, it's pretty good. I've always wondered about the tendency we have to make allowances for newcomers. Is it good, or not? If you didn't know it was his first, would you be as forgiving?

Amazon Price: $11.99 (as of 12/22/2009)

Identity

Identity starts with nighttime thunderstorm in the Nevada desert. The roads are washed out in both directions. The phone lines are down. A family of three is stopped by a blowout. While the father tries to change the tire, his wife is struck by a passing limousine. Despite the protests of the spoiled movie star in the back, the driver takes them all to a nearby motel. Soon a cop transporting a killer arrives seeking shelter, and ultimately there are 10 people holed up%u2026for a while.

Amazon Price: $14.94 (as of 12/22/2009)