Patrick – Page 65 – They're Just Words

Posted on January 1, 2018December 27, 2017 by Patrick

Battle Of The Bands

THE COMPLETELY-BIASED, BEST 108 MUSICAL ACTS OF ALL TIME

What follows is a completely biased, flawed list of the top 108 musical acts of all time. Music – in this view – is predominantly defined as classic rock and heavy metal derived from the blues, so those types of acts dominate the list. Still, many acts that stray from this formula are included because they are simply too good or influential to leave out. So where does the bias come in? Essentially everywhere. If I don’t like an act they simply aren’t on the list regardless of what society says, including vastly overrated acts like U2, Guns N Roses and ZZ Top, limited-shelf-time acts like Blind Faith and acts that are obscure within their sub-genre like Johnny Winters (blues) and Gerry & The Pacemakers (British invasion). At least I tried. Feel free to start an argument about it. (Edited December 27, 2017.)

See The List

Posted on December 31, 2017December 26, 2017 by Patrick

2017 & The Five-Star Books

As I approach my 500th book review on Goodreads it strikes me how rare a “five-star” book really is. Goodreads.com is a nice place to find a new book and I especially like it because it allows me to create a digital archive, an online library of all the books I’ve read. This site lets you rate books on a scale of one-to-five stars. If a book only rates one or two stars then it’s crap and, well, it means you’re shitty at picking out books. I’ve never rated a book as “one star,” but, alas, I’ve stumbled and had to endure a couple of “two stars.” It turns out that most of the books I read, in the final evaluation, rate three or four stars. A “three-star” book, in my estimation, is a solid read but just not as compelling as I’d hope; a “four-star” book is a damn fine book just short of greatness.

Posted on December 30, 2017December 7, 2017 by Patrick

Old School

In January 1836 James Smithson, an obscure English amateur scientist who had never been to America, died and bequeathed $500,000 ($11 million in today’s dollars) to the U.S. government for science.

Selfless, random, forward-thinking, generous, thought-provoking, legendary – Smithson is worthy of American Idol status. Smithson wasn’t prescriptive in any way about the execution of his final wishes. Here’s some money, spend it on science. A complete stranger did America an incredibly-enduring solid: Put his money where his mouth is – from the grave.