What's In Your Library?

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As I cast about for a topic, the Muse kept saying, "Hey, it's snowing." Not wanting to revert to talking about the weather (as Skip says, when in doubt, you can always talk about the weather), I realized that I could do another "favorite things" post. Books! What do I do when the weather is crappy? I sit inside and read a book.

So here ya go, books.

As you may well imagine, I have a number of favorite books, if I was forced to pick four all-time favorites (why four, why not five, um, I dunno), that would be these four -

Two non-fiction (both concerning the First French Empire) and two fiction, one about Japan during the period leading up to the Tokugawa Shogunate (the main character Mr. Clavell chose to call Toranaga, played by none other than one of my favorite actors, Mifune Toshirō¹), the other about a fictional Soviet submarine. That last one shocked a few people in the intelligence world. Surprises me how the cloak and dagger types often don't know how many of their secrets are out there for all the world to see. (Used to read Aviation Week, which we Air Force types liked to call Aviation Leak, with some good reason.)

I go through moods in my reading, there are times that I want non-fiction, usually (heck, 99.99% of the time) that means an historical work, like those first two on my list above. Then, hey it happens, I get tired of reading history and will read a few novels, just to keep my sanity. Usually though, those novels will have a military or historical theme. (I think I've read everything by Bernard Cornwell, you might know him as the author of the Sharpe series.)

So that's my drug of choice, a good book and a comfy chair.

As it's snowing outside, I may just do that tonight (as I write). I'm still working my way through Andrew W. Field's Waterloo series. I highly recommend them. (Looking at you David!))

What do you like to read?²

¹ You will see him listed in the west as Toshiro Mifune, in many Asian countries the family name comes first, Mifune in this case. Of course in Japan he would be listed as 三船 敏郎.

² This type of blogging feels like cheating, I throw a topic out there, with a little something to start it off, then let you, the readers, actually write the bulk of the post in the comments. Easy for me, fun for everyone. Yes?

Now Do Music ...

Dean Martin in 1958
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Paintings, places, movies ... What's next?

Music seems fitting. So here we go.

Dean Martin was a guy my brothers and I heard a lot of when we were kids. It was some of my Dad's favorite music. When we were little we listened because Dad listened. Here's one I love now, not sure how I felt about it when I was young. (I think Dad had one Dean Martin album, which he played over and over.)

We all thought it rather corny, but catchy. I heard that tune many years later in, of all places, Tuscany. Everybody on our tour bus, along with our Italian guide Carmine, belted it out. It brought a bit of a tear to my eye. Dad had been gone for two years at that point, but his music lived on.

We "suffered" through my parents' musical tastes for quite a while¹.  Then the British invaded.

We watched that show live, much to my Father's chagrin, we all, save him, loved it. (Mom did as well!) So for many a year we listened to The Beatles and only The Beatles. (I listened to the Rolling Stones at the suggestion of a school mate, I thought they were just "all right.")

High school led me to the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Led Zeppelin, Ten Years After, and a few other bands. I still listen to a lot of that music. (Heh, I listen to a lot of the Stones now as well.)

Those who've been here a while probably know my love of the Foo Fighters. Word on the street is that they will be touring again this summer. While I look forward to it, I wonder who will be behind the kit. Can't really replace Taylor Hawkins. (Can you image Rush without Neal Peart? I can't.)

Lately I've been listening to a lot of Sons of Apollo and The Winery Dogs, the two bands share a drummer and a bass player, both of whom are fantastic. I highly recommend them to you ...

I like this guy as well, fellow Scot he is -

I'd play some bagpipes for you, but I don't want dear Buck spinning in his grave. (He always gave me static for my love of the pipes. God do I miss that old fellow, a great friend he was!)

So now it's your turn, what do you like to listen to? I'm betting this crowd leans towards the classics, and I don't mean classic rock. But who knows, maybe you do.

Take it away lads and lassies!

¹ Turns out I love a lot of that music now!

A Few of My Favorite Things ...

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Uh, what's that, Sarge? Are you channeling Julie Andrews in the Sound of Music, what in the wide world of sports are you on about?

Well ... Not exactly.

It does seem that my Muse, being on vacation somewhere in the world with no cell service (or any other form of communication that I can discern), having deserted me has led me to write about other things. Like favorite paintings, favorite places to live/visit and the like. Well, this is part three, I guess, of what seems to pass for entertainment round these parts.

I guess you could call this post, Let's Go to the Movies, but I went in a different direction, title-wise.

So yes, movies. One of my absolute favorites is Last of the Mohicans, with Daniel Day-Lewis (that's the fellow in that opening photo, portraying Hawkeye, aka Natty Bumppo, from James Fenimore Cooper's novel of the same name. Yes, I read the book ...) and Wes Studi (that intense dude below, who, as a matter of fact, is one of my all time favorite actors) who portrays Magua, the bad guy so to speak.

I think I've watched Last of the Mohicans five times, yet never in the theater (I was in Germany when this came out, back in '92 of the last century - geez, I'm old ...). It was breathtaking on my TV, I have the Blue Ray and my old Sony TV is gigantic, by early 2000s-standards, though probably not by today's.

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I want to visit western North Carolina based solely on watching this film, scenery is spectacular, story is outstanding, and the acting is superb. But maybe that's just me.

So yes ... Oops, before I forget, head on over to  Toirdhealbheach Beucail's place and read this.  You readers have made the old Sarge a very happy (and may I say, proud) fellow. Your stellar behavior has been noticed by others. TB visits us daily (as I visit his place) and he's noticed that y'all are a fairly well behaved bunch. Proud of youse I am, damned proud. (As I commented over there, his folks are pretty well-behaved as well, kindred spirits, no doubt.)

Now, where was I, oh yeah, movies. Or films if you prefer, I can go either way on that. If ya want to talk about mini-series as well (those are just a really long movie broken into multiple segments if you will, kinda like the Russian version of War and Peace, which I believe takes two days to watch in the theater, but don't quote me on that), go for it.

What kind of film floats your boat? I gauge a film by how engrossed I am by the story, does it take me away to some other place and suspend my current realty, I guess you could simplify that by asking: "Does it entertain you?"

Any genre of film is fine, heck even musicals (of which I only really like three, which I might confess to someday). Here's a short list of my favorites, in no particular order:

• Last of the Mohicans
• Patton
• Tora, Tora, Tora
• Blazing Saddles (the funniest movie ever made, bar none, change my mind ...)
• Doctor Strangelove, Or How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Bomb
• Doctor Zhivago (The previous one reminded me of this, because both involve doctors and Russians, I suppose.)
• Saving Private Ryan
• Hunt for Red October
• Crimson Tide
• True Lies
• In Harm's Way
• We Were Soldiers
• Glory
• Braveheart
• The Patriot
• Dances With Wolves
• Wind River
• The Godfather
• The Godfather Part Two
• Heat
• etc., etc...

Yes, I like a lot of movies, that list merely scratches the surface.

What do you like?