Category: Reviews

Having a blog means having an opinion. This category groups reviews of technology, concerts, books, food – essentially all things consumable.

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Book Review: The Night Eternal (Strain Trilogy)

( #StrainTrilogy, #vampires )

The Night Eternal is the final book in a vampire trilogy by author Chuck Hogan and director Guillermo Del Toro. You would think Vampires and Del Toro would equal awesome, not so much. The first book was decent but got into Jerry Bruckheimer territory towards the end (explosions, catch phrases, etc). The second book just kept the Bruckheimer vibe going. I was undecided on reading the third book, but I find that trilogies tend to sag in the middle to justify three books and the third usually ends strong. That theory was proven wrong with the Night Eternal.

The book is all over the place. Even at 250ish pages, it seems long and drawn out. Hogan introduces characters that are completely unnecessary to the plot and then discards them with little detail or interest (several members of the Hispanic gangs). Had more of the interesting characters from the second book (like the Lucha Libre wrestler – I know it is odd, but it worked) remained alive, there would have been better emotional payoff in the final book. The book also suffers from the passage of time. Two years has passed since the end of the second book and Hogan has to show the psychological damage the characters have endured during that time. The main character as a broken man searching for redemption is such a cliche it needs a new word to describe it.

The Night Eternal introduces a whole religious element to the origins of the vampires which started off interesting but quickly became… a bit of a mess. Hogan and Del Toro do such a convincing job of stacking the odds against the humans, the only way for them to win is to get God involved at a few key moments. I would not have an issue if there was a clear connection to Christian beliefs made in the previous books, this “revelation” comes out of left field and makes me think the authors didn’t have an exit strategy for the book.

Once again, my beef with trilogies is at the root of my issues with this book. If this idea was contained in one book, it would have been awesome. Instead, it was watered down into three, packed with filler that just detracts from what could have been a fun read in the vein of World War Z, instead it is a failure and makes me feel like a dumbass for buying three books (two of which I didn’t like).

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Concert Review: The Jayhawks @ The Keswick Theater (Glenside, Pa)

( #TheJayhawks )

Opening Act: Tift Merritt
Date: Saturday, October 22nd, 2011
Location: Keswick Theater – Glenside, Pa

The Jayhawks are one of those bands that most people might not know well, but have probably heard a few of their tunes. Musicians like them because they are a band that focuses on harmony and they do it very well. Over the years, I really appreciate what Gary Louris has done with the band after Mark Olson’s departure, but it was a treat to see “classic” line-up…

[Opening Act: Tift Merritt]

Tift Merritt played a short and sweet set, which is considerate of any opening act. I had no prior knowledge of Merritt prior to the concert, so I listened with no expectations. Tift has a strong singing voice that reminded me of Sheryl Crow (that salt and honey sound). She was backed by two solid musicians, one that played pedal steel most of the set. Outside of the natural talent of the whole band, the set fell flat due to material. Most of the songs were downer relationship cliches that put the audience to sleep. The efforts of the pedal steel player gave the tunes a needed brightness, but not enough to keep me interested.

Bottom Line: Tift Merritt has talent and a good ear for musicians but would do well with brighter, faster paced songs that varied from the standard topics of old boyfriends.

[Main Event: The Jayhawks]

The first half of the Jayhawk’s set on Saturday night was sloppy. Somebody was really out of tune the first three songs and the harmonies that I was looking forward too took a while to sync up. That being said, when the band got their shit together, they were very good.

The band did a nice job mixing up older Olson tunes in with Louris’ material after Mark left. The crowd went nuts for “Miss Williams’ Guitar” which produced several whispers stating “they didn’t expect the band to play that song”. A nice surprise was a song sung by the drummer who had a great voice and got the crowd pumped. There was not much banter with the (very animated) crowd and any attempts to do so seemed… confused. Olson kept referencing the fact that they were playing the Keswick Theater and alluded to some history with the stage, but they didn’t let the newbies know what it was (if any reader knows, feel free to share). My buddy assured me that weed most likely played into the equation…whatever gets you through the night.

The band came out for a quick encore and called it a night. In total, they played about 90 minutes. As I mentioned before, once the band was on stage for about a half hour, they started to gel and play much better, but it looked like Louris was a little pissed off until the encore and Olson looked a little out of it.

Bottom Line: Overall, it was a good concert, not great, but definitely good.

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2011 California Vacation

I went on a trip to the California wine country and I found America. I wasn’t looking for her by any means. I wasn’t interested in finding picturesque landscapes that would make pretty post cards, but I found them and in a very American way: in a car and just driving.

As soon as we landed in San Fransisco International, we scrambled to get the rental car and we just went. My wife and I drove almost 100 miles away from the city and then took the whole route back on the iconic Route 1 coastal highway. There are miles of unmolested landscape and ocean. Mountains, fields, and for huge stretches, no people… it was fantastic. We stopped and stretched our legs, checked out some scenic stops and then we kept moving on. We had some authentic Mexican food at little road stop and then we continued to Napa for the night (and got snagged in a few hours of iconic American traffic).

The next morning we headed off to Sonoma for a private tour of MacMurray Ranch. This ranch was owned by Fred MacMurray, star of “My Three Sons”. The scope of this place blew my mind. It is 1100 acres of fields and mountains. The Gallo family purchased the property in the late 1990s after MacMurray died and converted it into a vineyard. Fred’s family is still involved with the property which is a nice touch.

The idea of holding that much property is astounding to me (not in a critical way). Past generations seemed to understand that you can’t over manage the land. Fred MacMurray left hundreds of acres alone (Gallo actually has a policy about that as well which is very cool). After we toured the ranch, we were taken down the road to see one of Gallo’s other non-public vineyards that was massive. I am going to do an actual write up about these places for Drinking Made Easy, but for the sake of this post, just walk away with the idea of land as far as the eye can see with mountains, trees, and in some cases grapes. I think I understand the imperial-land-grabbing-blood-lust of our forefathers.

The primary reason we went to California was to see Ryan Adams. I covered that already (read here). The show was great and the venue was small and intimate. It was a perfect night.

The next day we headed to San Francisco. We spent most of the day walking around the city without an objective. We went to China Town and Little Italy. We ate a nice dinner recommended to us by one of the local bakery owners (Michelangelo’s if you need to know). By the time we finished it was dark, so we took a cab back to the hotel and called it a night.

Tuesday morning we found ourselves on Golden Gate Bridge. We walked across as far as we could but didn’t get to the end because it was closed. We spent some time in the Golden Gate Park, walking up and down hills before it was time for lunch. We wanted to do Dim Sum. We went to an authentic dim sum place. Too authentic. I was excited when we walked in and saw only Asian people – I knew this place was the real deal. But then I noticed no menu and servers walking around with carts. Nobody really spoke English and I didn’t know what I was ordering. I managed to get my hands on some beef soup during the 30 minutes we were in there (one bowl), before we decided to split (paying was also interesting, I don’t think I was supposed to get up and pay myself – oh well). We ended up back in Little Italy which was not the plan at all, but we had a nice lunch at the Stinking Rose and we were served by Count Dracula, who was very nice (no I will not explain any further).

We walked around the city some more to burn off lunch and then went back to the hotel to clean up. I booked dinner reservations at “The House of Prime Rib” and decided that I needed to get in an extra run to burn off what I knew we going to be a calorie fest in the evening. I managed to get the gym completely empty and it overlooked the city in a small panoramic room. It was dusk and I was able to overlook the city which is a nice way to spend time on a treadmill.

Dinner was completely insane. This place served only one thing: Prime Rib. Salad, two sides. That’s it. It was perfect. Going back to my ghosts of America, this place was a call back to another time. Martinis and red meat. Baked potatoes and Yorkshire pudding. Classic.

In the morning, we found a nice little place (Honey, Honey) to get a simple breakfast and got ready for our flights home. Of course the flights were delayed and we ended up in Vegas, but that is all part of travel in the modern age. It is hard to get mad when you look down and see hundreds of miles of untouched landscapes and realize that there is still room to grow.

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Concert Review: Ryan Adams @ The Uptown Theater (Napa, Ca)

( @theRyanAdams, #Napa, @JasonIsbell )
Opening Act: Jason Isbell
Date: Saturday, October 15th, 2011
Location: Uptown Theater – Napa, Ca

When Ryan Adams announced he was taking a break a few years ago I really wondered if he was going to play live again. Articles about Meniere’s disease and burn out made it seem like it could be a long time before a tour would be a reality. In the spring, Ryan announced select dates in Europe and I started putting away some money for a trip to California (Europe was too expensive, and I figured he might do a few dates near his home), he surprised many with a full blown tour. Long story short: I get to see him twice this year, as you can see in this review, I have no complaints.

[Opening Act: Jason Isbell]

Normally, I do a little research on opening acts, but I have been so busy with work that I completely forgot to do it. When Jason Isbell walked on stage and announced he was Muscle Shoals, Alabama I whispered to my wife “I wonder if he is in The Drive By Truckers” thanks to an piece I heard about them on NPR. He quickly confirmed my suspicions.

Isbell was sublime. I am so glad that I didn’t know much about him or his material because I had a chance to absorb his performance without any expectations. He is an outstanding guitar player and singer. Isbell has a natural way of bantering with the audience that comes from experience. Jason did a song that was based on a conversation with his dad that really sent a shiver up my spine. I can’t wait to get home and track down this guy’s back catalog because he is such a good songwriter.

[The Main Event: Ryan Adams]

Ryan Adams was excellent in every way last night. Since the venue held under 1,000 people and the show was billed as an acoustic performance, it was a very intimate. The one thing that stood out to me (after having gone to several Ryan Adams concerts) – is just how good his voice sounded. Ryan’s ability to convey emotion through his voice is often overlooked in favor of his prolific songwriting, but his voice might be the greatest weapon in his arsenal.

This was most definitely a thank you show to the fans. He played the perfect mix of “greatest hits”, new tunes, and fan favorites. Since he was solo, he tweaked several songs to make up for the lack of a band. The subtle changes were welcome and kept me listening for the changes. Ryan did a really nice solo at the end of “I see Monsters” that was new but fit perfectly. I am not going to rattle off every tune Adams played, but I am happy to have witnessed live performances of “Winding Wheel” and his piano version of “New York, New York” (they were awesome).

Ryan bantered with the crowd throughout the show. There was no tension. A few people in the crowd shouted out requests, but Ryan took it in stride and moved on with his set list. He broke out several improvised songs about people moving around going to the bathroom (it was funny, he kept asking them to come back, “Its not 2004!”). And the end of the main set, Adams soaked in the applause of the crowd. I have been to several Ryan Adams concerts in the past where he ran off the stage at the end of the show, it was nice to say thank you properly this time.

Ryan came back out and did a few tunes with Jason Isbell. He ended the show with an old Whiskeytown song “Jacksonville Skyline” – it was a fitting and satisfying ending to a memorable performance.. This show was a mutual love note between Ryan and the crowd and I am really glad I had a chance to witness it.

[The Curse]

I can’t do a concert review without sharing crowd experiences. I thought I was going to break the curse last night and not have any issues with an audience member because this was a fan oriented show. Wrong. There were four girls in front of us that talked THE ENTIRE TIME. At first the main offender was trying to keep it low, so it was easy to ignore her, but as the night progressed they all got sloppy drunk. She had to sing every song. She was told several times to quiet down, but as they got drunker she just laughed. Did I want to push her down the steps at the end of the night? I can’t say (yes). Oh well – at least she knew the words…

UPDATE:
Ryan posted this clip from the show on his facebook page

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Customer Service: Pep Boys

( @pepboysauto, #repairs )

I had an interesting couple of days with our cars. On Thursday, my friend known as GTT texted me to tell me that my wife’s car in the driveway had a flat tire. I was in the office and could not deal with it until I got home (my wife and I carpool). Long story short, there was a screw in the tire and I decided to wait until the next day since we were both working from home.

The next morning, we got the spare on and I followed Allison over to Pep Boys so she could get the tired repaired. Heading down Woodbury-Glassboro Road in Pitman, the cops decided to have a check-point. Allison got through with no issue, but my car had a brake light out, and when they pulled me over I informed them that my driver-side window was broken. This thing has been giving me trouble for months (it kept getting stuck). Long story short, I got stuck with the cops for a while, but didn’t get a ticket. I knew I had to get this thing properly fixed. So after her car was fixed, we left mine. I knew this was not going to be cheap.

This is where I will pause and pose a question that I generally get: “Why do you take your car to Pep Boys?”

My answers are many and there will be several in the course of this little story:
1. They are close
2. They are a corporation, so should I get poor service (which I have not), there is a chain of command I can follow to get my issues resolved.
3. They always have parts
4. They are much much better than Firestone (I have a whole story with them for another day).

One other thing about this particular chain (Glassboro, NJ), they have done several small fixes for my wife and I at no cost. A month ago, a heat shield half fell off my car and they removed it and cleaned up the area at no cost (and told me I didn’t need anything else to be done even though I was willing to get repairs done). They also fixed my wife’s flat at no charge (but I think that comes with their tire service when you buy from them – but either way, it was nice).

Back to my story, the manager called me and told me the repair was not going to be cheap (over $500) because the motor in the window had to be replaced. As I said, I was expecting this. They had to get a part from another store, but the car would be done that day. THAT DAY. When the car was done and I went in to pay, they let me use a 10% off coupon and the cashier noticed I had a $30 mail in credit that I didn’t think I could use in combination (so I didn’t mention it), but they saw it in my hand and let me use. Pep Boys sends coupons for service almost every month. Its smart of their part but also works out well for the consumer.

I figured I would put this out there since several popular blog posts document my negative experiences with car rental places, ticketmaster, and other retail outlets. I always have decent experiences with Pep Boys and never feel like I got taken advantage of. Their monthly coupons are smart because they keep us thinking about services for our cars. They execute a nice mix of good service, good marketing, and availability. Well done.