My 2014 Mixtape

It's that time of the year, where I go through all of the music from 2014 and narrow it down to my top 20 songs of the year. First, some notes:
1. Only one song per artist
2. song had to be released in 2014, no late 2013 entries.
3. I had to discover the song in 2014.
4. 2014, for me, was an off year for music. I don't remember the last time I had to try so hard to find 20 songs worth putting on this list. Maybe I didn't look hard enough, but I found myself very underwhelmed with the quality of music last year.

With that said, let's get to the music:

Album of the Year: Aloe Blacc - Lift your Spirit. This was pretty much the only album that I was inspired to listen to on a repeat basis this year, but it's still a damn good R&B album.

Honorable mention -

Cover song of the year: "They're Coming to Take Me Away" by Butcher Babies. A heavy metal cover of one of the creepiest novelty songs of all time? Yes please!

AND NOW, IN PLAYLIST ORDER, THE 2014 MIXTAPE:

1 - Title - Meghan Trainor : Her debut album is quickly becoming one of my favorite albums of 2015, but this track of her 2014 EP is catchy as hell and is ideal for dancing around the house.

2 - Uptown Funk - Mark Ronson feat. Bruno Mars : Ummm, this is the best Prince song in years, too bad he didn't record it. In any case, this is an absolute gem of a song, one that is sadly destined to be played to death before the end of February. Might as well enjoy it while I can though.

3 - Bang Bang - Jessie J, Ariana Grande, and Nicki Minaj : Jessie J is my favorite pop singer right now, and she can sing her face off. Nicki Minaj is a master at the guest rap verse, and I don't understand all the hate towards Ariana Grande, she seems perfectly adequate to me. This is like a "Lady Marmalade" for 2014.

4 - Classic - MKTO : You may be noticing a throwback theme here. That's because I was raised on music from the 60s and 70s, when they played instruments. So I'm a sucker for a hook played on piano or horns, or even ukelele. If you can't enjoy the simple pleasures of this song, then you and I just don't understand each other.

5 - Stay Gold - First Aid Kit : Shifting gears a bit, I had to throw in a track from my second favorite album of the year. This Swedish duo does Americana folk rock better than anyone. A gorgeous song from a gorgeous album.

6 - No Rest for the Wicked - Lykke Li : I really like the empty space in this song, it's a nice palette cleanser, especially after listening to a lot of Top 40 style music. Also, I have no idea how to pronounce her name.

7 - When We're Fire - Lo-Fang : This was the last song to make the list, and that's mostly because I didn't like it for most of the year. This was one of those weird songs for me where I hated it, hated it, hated it, and then all of a sudden something clicked and I realised I loved it. I also need to give a shout out to my wife for introducing this song to me.

8 - Riptide - Vance Joy : It's a pretty standard indie pop song, but it's just so damn catchy, I can't stop tapping my feet.

9 - Can You do This - Aloe Blacc : I've just decided that Aloe Blacc is Bruno Mars for Grownups. This is the most fun song on a stellar album, but I had a really hard time picking which Aloe Blacc song would make this list. I went with this one because I reminds me of "Do You Love Me" by The Contours.

10 - Love Runs Out - OneRepublic : Remember when I said that this was a bad year for music? Yeah, you know it's a down year when not only do I enjoy a OneRepublic song, but nobody has the decency to write enough good songs to keep it off my end of year list....I'm so ashamed, but I'm still dancing to it.

11 - The Miracle (of Joey Ramone) - U2 : I wasn't too upset when I got a free U2 album. I didn't get what all the fuss was about. I mean, I would never intentionally spend money on a U2 song in the first place, so I appreciated the way they admitted to us all that what they do is essentially worthless. But for the second time this year, I was pleasantly surprised to enjoy a song by one of my least favorite bands of all time. To put this in perspective, I normally consider U2 and OneRepublic to be of the same quality as Creed or Nickelback. I don't know how they both overachieved so wildly this year, but I guess even a crappy band can write a good song from time to time.

12 - Birth in Reverse - St. Vincent : I need to spend more time with this album, but St. Vincent has always been one of those sleeper artists for me. I never look out for her music, but I always enjoy it when I hear it.

13 - Water Fountain - tUnE yArDs : This is the happiest song about living in poverty ever! Seriously, try to find me another song about living without potable water that makes you want to dance around in your socks.

14 - KONGOS - Come With Me Now : This album was released in the US for the first time in 2014, so it qualifies for the list. It also has the distinction of being one of the few hard rock songs that features an accordion, and was the theme song for a WWE pay-per view event months before all the hipster radio stations picked it up and decided it was cool. That's right, wrestling fans discovered something cool before the hipsters did. Stick that in your ironic pipe and smoke it!

15 - Back to the Shack - Weezer : Frankly, I've enjoyed almost every Weezer album, but I do appreciate any song where a band apologizes to its fans for being to gimmicky. It also helps when that song is a great rock song by itself.

16 - Follow Me Down - The Pretty Reckless : At a time when most of the male hard rock bands are pretty toothless and boring, it's nice to see the ladies rock with a little emotion and attitude. Try to keep up fellas.

17 - Break the Fall - Laura Welsh : I'm not even sure how I ended up with this song, but I sure do like it. It's like a better version of Boom Clap by Charli XCX.

18 - Rather Be - Clean Bandit : Somehow, they made early 90s dance music sound fresh again. I don't know how they did it, but it is delightful.

19 - Am I Wrong - Nico and Vinz : As I was finalizing this list, I opted to give the last two spots to songs that I had a personal connection two. I turned 30 this year, and it just so happened that I was at the Mall of America on my birthday and Nico and Vinz were putting on a free concert. They also get bonus points for being from Norway (one of them anyway). It was a great free show on what was a great birthday.

20 - Back Home - Andy Grammer : I get to meet a lot of cool people at my job, and I had a lot of great memories from last year. But it's always fun when a client introduces me to a new song and I get to see them shout out all the words while they celebrate with their closest friends and family. It's seeing people create those kinds of memories that helps get me through the days when my job is more stressful. Also, it's a great end song if you put this list on repeat, because it blends back into the first song on the list very well.

So that's my top 20 for this year. They're all good songs, but I wish I had more truly great songs to put on this list. If you discovered something awesome in 2014, let me know in the comments.

COTNFQ: Night of the Living Dead, Black Sunday, The House at the End of the Street, Dredd, Carrie

Yay free weekend! Big lineup today, so let's get started:

Night of the Living Dead: Wow, this movie made me feel really bad for the state of minority characters in movies over the last, well the entire history of cinema. The main character turns out to be a black guy who behaves as you'd expect any practical thinking man in a desperate situation to act. At no point is his "blackness" a conversation point or a "character trait." He's just a man who happens to have a dark skin tone. What made me so sad about this movie was just how normal he was and the fact that I noticed it. He isn't the first one to die, he doesn't make jokes about not being the first one to die, he isn't forced to speak in awkward slang, and there are no awkward attempts at race relations in the midst of the zombie apocalypse. He's just a dude trying to help board up a house and develop a survival strategy. Even the token asshole character isn't racist, he's an asshole to everybody, including his own wife. I guess what I'm saying is that this movie should be included in any film class that studies representations of race in cinema. As for the other parts of the film, the gore effects are pretty impressive for the time period, and the movie is very well paced. I must admit, I got a kick out of the scenes with the news reporters. It was very amusing for me to see a news station where they were simply trying to report the facts to viewers and convey information to them. It's just straightforward,"there's some weird stuff going on, stay safe and await further instructions....Ok, the stuff is really bad, please head to a safe zone as quickly as possible.....here's how to kill any zombies you come across and how to dispose of the bodies." No commentary, no twitter crawl, no pundits yelling for attention.... As far as the news goes, I'm pretty sure the people of the 1960's would do much better in a zombie apocalypse than we would. The more I think about this movie, the better I like it.
B : It would rate a little higher, but Barbara and her brother bug the crap outta me.

Black Sunday: Italian Director Mario Brava's movie about vampire witches. Some cool gore effects in an otherwise very forgettable movie
C-

The House at the End of the Street: Ever see a movie that is so bad that you just turn it off and read the synopsis off of IMDB and then you realize that the time it took you to read a synopsis that dumb was still too much of a life suck. And then you bother to blog about said cinematic turd and you think, "WHAT THE HELL I'M I DOING WITH MY LIFE!?"
F-

Dredd: So I'm starting to learn that the 5 star rating system on Netflix has been calibrated to my tastes and that after gathering data on my viewing habits for about 6 years now, it has developed a pretty great batting average when it comes to recommending films. Dredd is the latest example. This is a fantastic action movie. If you are in the mood for a gorey, goofy, but not too goofy shoot-em-up, check this out. The best part? Olivia Thirlby plays the female rookie who can take care of herself. There is not damsel in distress motif here, just lots and lots of 'splosions.
A

Carrie (2013) This remake is far, FAR superior to the original. There. I said it. If you disagree, watch them in the order they were released. The original Carrie doesn't hold up at all. Sissy Spacek is the bright spot in what is an otherwise unwatchable movie. While not as otherworldly looking, Cloe Grace Moretz does an awesome job in the title role and her surrounding cast, if not oscar-worthy, is at least competent. Julianne Moore is a more terrifying Margaret White, and she delivers several cringe-worthy moments. The special effects are obviously much improved over the original with the level of destruction edging closer to the book. If you wrote this off as a cheap, money grab remake, you should really give it a shot. And if you don't like it, I dare you to rewatch the original and tell me with a straight face that it is a better film
B+

COTNFQ: Rubber, Hellraiser II: Hellbound

Rubber is a movie about a sentient tire with telekinetic powers that goes on a killing spree. It's also a commentary about the stupidity of a movie about a tire with telekinetic powers, and it's directed by a French guy and Fat Neil from Community is in it. I haven't decided if it's the dumbest thing I've ever seen or if it is the pinnacle of human existence....or maybe it's just a weird-ass movie....

B

Hellraiser II: Hellbound - It wasn't the worst movie about evil demons summoned by a puzzle box. Why the acting was almost adequate a time or two and the writing was merely boring and forced instead of wince-inducing.

D+

Clean out the Netflix Queue: Leprechaun, Friday the 13th part 7: New Blood

Yes, I put a lot of horror movies on my netflix queue and they've been sitting there for a while now.

Leprechaun: I like to think of this movie more as the origin story of Rachel Greene than anything else. Jennifer Aniston is essentially playing an early version of the roll that would make her an A-list celebrity. The rest of the movie is complete and utter crap. They seem to be trying for a horror-comedy but all of the jokes fall flat and the acting is terrible. I don't understand how these movies get to so many sequels....
D-

Friday the 13, Part 7: New Blood - what a crappy film
worked more on this Haiku than
they did on the script
F

Clean out the Netflix Queue: Hellraiser & Haunter

Part of what happens when you commit to watching everything on your netflix queue is that you immediately regret all the stupid crap you put on there. Case in Point: Hellraiser is a terrible, terrible movie. From what I've seen so far, this series is solely based on the fact the Pinhead is a really cool character design. Unfortunately, the guy has about 3 lines of dialogue in the whole movie. the other 89 minutes is filled with awful acting and people acting in ways that no human has acted ever. This is a movie where you can't wait for everyone to die just so the movie will be over.

F-

On the other hand, sometimes you find that you've put a truly hidden Gem on your list. Haunter is a fantastic ghost story from director Vincenzo Natali and starring Abigail Breslin. This movie has moved onto my top 10 horror movie list. I put it on with the idea that I would just have it on in the background, but I got sucked in very quick and soon I was jumping at every noise I heard. I'd love to tell you all about it, but I won't. Just search for it in Netflix and hit play.

A+

Clean out the netflix queue - a new project

I like projects with start and end goal, but after the last project, I've chosen one without a timeline. The goal? watch everything currently sitting in my netflix queue. Here are the rules:

1. Anytime I watch Netflix alone, I can ONLY choose a title from my list. I can watch other things, but I have to get it somewhere else.

2. My wife can watch whatever she wants, and I can join her, we just have to use her profile

3. For TV series, I only have to finish 6 episodes. I'm not going to watch all 260+ episodes of magnum PI

4. I cannot add any new titles until my list is empty.

The idea behind this stems from the 100 book project. I ended with a longer reading list than I started with. Since books or video games are a more substantial time investment, I thought I would pick something manageable, but not too restrictive. I want it to be fun after all.

With that out of the way, here is the first entry:


Nightmare on Elm St 2: Freddy's Revenge & Never Sleep Again:

These two fit hand in hand since Never Sleep Again turned out to be a 4 hour documentary chronicling the whole Nightmare on Elm st. series through Freddy vs. Jason. Nightmare 2 was terrible, but kind of charming in the way terrible movies are when you can tell that everyone involved was trying to make something good. It's also a not very subtle allegory for a young gay teen coming to terms with his sexuality. The documentary referred to it as the TOP GUN of 80s horror and pointed out that it was voted at the most unintentionally gay horror movie of all time. I didn't think it was that obvious until they showed all of the offending scenes in a montage. The documentary turned out to be very well done and is a good companion piece to anyone who was a fan of some of the movies. There are lots of great interviews with the actors and they spend plenty of time on each movie. It is put together with a lot of love, but it also acknowledges the series' shortcomings.

Never Sleep Again: A+

Nightmare 2: C-

100 by 30 - Wrap up

So I've taken a few weeks off since completing my 100 book project. It's the busiest time of year for my day job and I've needed to take a little break. But I'm back with a couple of planned posts about the project and what's next. So here's a few things I learned during this project:

100 books is lot: well duh. But I was surprised at how many books that actually is when you try to read them with a time limit

But 100 books isn't THAT many: As any avid reader can tell you, you will never really be able to shrink your reading list. After reading 100 books, I took a look at the books I want to read and I think it's gotten bigger.

I'm not a speed reader: I've always thought I was a pretty quick reader, but I quickly found out that I'm not that fast. With the time commitment needed to stay on schedule, combined with my other responsibilities/interests, I grew to resent this project from time to time....

But you can get faster with practice: One of the biggest surprises to me was that reading is like a muscle, and if you exercise it, you will get better.

My book tastes are very nerdy: When you condense reading into a time limit, you need to pick books that will hold your interest so you can keep the momentum and enjoy yourself. I assumed that I would be picking all different kinds of books, but I quickly got into a rhythm of sticking to stories in the sci-fi/fantasy genre. I think it all comes down to the fact that their is enough stress and drama in the real world that if I'm gonna sit down to read, I want to be transported to somewhere else.

Teen/young adult books are awesome: While I read a few stinkers, I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised at the quality books available to kids and teens. While I love a good long book for adults, Teen/YA fiction seems to have a better sense of story structure. Plots and Character development always seem to be moving forward at a nice pace and there is less filler. They also tend to keep the gorier/more extreme elements just off the page, which makes them feel more effective to me. If you hint at something horrific and let me fill in the blanks rather than going into extreme detail, I promise you what I'm imagining is worse (unless you're George RR Martin)

Graphic Novels deserve more credit: Holy cow you guys, there are some fantastic stories being told in the graphic novel format right now. I was continually surprised at the level of depth and nuance you can find in this format.

I didn't get to read things I've been looking forward to: My post-project reading list is filled with 600-900 pages epic novels and non-fiction history books that I've had to avoid due to time constraints. These are the kinds of books that require a time commitment that didn't really work with staying on a reading schedule.

Lastly, I was reminded that I really love reading: While I'm very excited to be done, I'm also really excited for all the new books I have to look forward to. I've started the Wheel of Time saga, and I've got several other books started as well... and the best part is that I will finish them whenever the heck I feel like it. I've also started listening to audiobooks again to help speed things along. The audio format had been a great help in moving forward in the first wheel of time book as it has proven to be a very slow burn. With the audiobook, I can get chores done or take the dog for a walk while the book moves forward anyway and I can use my reading time for books that move a little faster.

100 by 30 Book 96 - The Phantom of the Opera

Yay! Let's end the project by writing about a tragically misunderstood genius and the woman he loves.....oh wait, that's not what this book is about at all. My thoughts could best be described in a short scene performed by Harry and Lloyd from Dumb and Dumber:

Harry: Wow. I thought Phantom of the Opera would be a little more romantic than this.

Lloyd: I was thinking the same thing. That Andrew Lloyd Webber's full a shit man.

AND, Scene.

So yeah, for those of you only familiar with the musical version of the tale, basically they cut out the whole part where the Phantom is a raving psychopath who loves to torture people to death for fun....lots of people. He's basically a singing version of Jigsaw from the Saw movies. I must admit I was a little thrown at first by the writing style. Like The Time Machine and Jekyl and Hyde, the book is written as a reporting of events after the fact by a person not caught in the middle of the events. Once I adjusted to the style, it became much easier to read and I found the book to be quite entertaining. The torture room was quite inventive and I enjoyed the way it was slowly revealed that way the events transpired, it became easy to believe that the phantom had never existed and that the strange events surrounding Christine Daae could be explained by placing blame on her lover Raul rather than a deformed madman in the bowels of the Paris Opera house. It's a nice switcheroo, and I would definitely recommend this for anyone looking for a less sappy version of the story. It takes a little bit to get going, but stick with it. It gets much better.

9/10

100 by 30 Book 95 - Epileptic by David B

So I have one more blog to write after this. I saved another one so I didn't have to end on a downer (it also helps that I'm watching Dumb and Dumber as I write)

Epileptic is an autobiographical graphic novel told from the perspective of a middle child who has an older brother and a younger sister and then the older brother develops epilepsy. The story chronicles the trials of the family has they see a parade of doctors and healers in a search for a cure. For those of you familiar with my family, you will probably be aware that this story hits a little too close to home for me. While there are some wild differences, (the story takes place in France from the 1960s through the 1990s and the parents are obsessed with finding cures with crazy hippy healers to name a few things) There are some personal moments that will really hit home for anyone who has had a family member deal with this disease. In the book, the disease is often pictured as a monster that is slowly consuming the whole family, and the various family members struggle to deal with something that is just so unpredictable. The author, writing from his perspective as a child, uses the graphic novel medium to try to figure out where his brother goes when he has a seizure. He also imagines encasing himself in armor to protect himself from the outside world. He pulls aways from the world and buries himself in his art as a way to escape reality and process his feelings. This book feels very much like an attempt by the author to find a way to come clean to his family and to try to process the way his family's life was forever changed. It is intensely personal and I got the feeling that I was being shown things that most people would have a hard time speaking to a therapist about, let alone putting in a book for millions of people to read.

Fortunately for my family, we've had many more bright spots, and my brother got to be my best man at my wedding and continues to be one of the coolest people I know. He has become a source of inspiration for me and I cherish every moment we get to spend together. For any family members reading my blog, you should know, this book was very, very hard for me to get through, so I'm hesitant to recommend it. I did get some comfort in knowing that I wasn't the only person who had to deal with the complex emotions that come when you try to love and care for a family member dealing with a terrifying condition, but be warned that this book does not have a neat and tidy ending. The book ends in the mid-1990s when epilepsy research was just beginning to improve and effective treatments for severe cases were hard to find.

So that's that book. I'm glad I read it, but it wasn't what I would call a pleasant experience.

9.5/10

100 by 30 Book 99 - The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde

Well this wasn't like the musical at all. It's actually a nice mystery tale, which kinda gets ruined when you already know the ending. In any case, Robert Lewis Stevenson is a pretty good writer so this is still worth your time. Since the book is quite short, this post will be too.

7/10

100 by 30 book 97 - How to Train Your Dragon

First of all, I LOVE the How to Train Your Dragon movies. I cried like a baby multiple times during the second movie. With such a rich world, and great characters, my expectations were sky high for the book series. This book....was not what I expected. Apart from character and location names, the books and movies have almost nothing in common. Most upsetting, Toothless, the main dragon in the movie, is a whiny little runt in the book. I guess this book is ok, but if you are looking for some depth and emotion, you need to look elsewhere.

4/10

100 by 30 Book 98 - Alice in Wonderland

I've never really liked this story in any of the versions I've seen it, but I thought I'd give the original source material a shot.....nope, I still hate this story. I like a good amount of nonsense and word play as much as the next guy, but this story is about as much fun as listening to an annoying coworker tell you about a really weird dream they had. If you must read a book about Wonderland, I think you'd be much better off reading the smutty parody version instead.

1/10

100 by 30 Book 94 - Shadow on the Mountain by Margi Preus

Shadow of the Mountain is a Young Adult novel that tracks a young teen in Norway during the Nazi Occupation. He and his friends get involved in the resistance movement and young Espen gains crucial intelligence about a Nazi command facility that causes him to take flight over the mountains in an attempt to reach the safety of Sweden. It's a thrilling tale of an often overlooked part of World War II. The story is based on real people and sticks very close to actual events. Much like NUMBER THE STARS, there is an epilogue at the end of the book that goes more in depth with the people who inspired the story and even includes a number of photographs from the period. For anyone looking for an entry into the underground spy networks of WWII, this is a great introduction.
9.5/10

100 by 30 Book 93 Dragon * Princess by S. Andrew Swann

Dragon * Princess is a fantasy adventure about a lovable rogue, Frank Blackthorne, who takes a job rescuing a princess in order to help clear up a little misunderstanding with a demon worshipping cult. Unfortunately, the rescue attempt is a set up and our manly hero suddenly finds himself in the body of the princess and the princess in now in the body of a dragon. What follows is an adventure across kingdoms as Frank tries to get everyone back in the body they're supposed to be in. There's also the problem of the dragon having a serious gambling debt with the elves, a relentless white knight, a gentle giant, and that nasty demon worshipping cult. While I did enjoy the book and found it to be mostly successful, I was very disappointed in the lack of quality female characters. It's just such a wasted opportunity to do something interesting with gender identity and relationships and it never really got deeper than, "boy, it's sure weird to have boobs. Oh and everyone wants to rape me, LOL." (it's not quite that bad, but close). I wasn't really looking for a women's studies thesis, but there's just SO much you can do creatively with a male character who suddenly has to live as a woman in a fantasy world. What the book ends up suggesting is that having a woman's body is kind of lame. If you go in with measured expectations, it's a nice, light read, but it could have been so much more.
7/10

100 by 30 Book 92 - The Very Nearly Honorable League of Pirates #1: Magic Marks the spot by Caroline Carlson

Whoa! I feel like I just came back from the future where I finished this project with 3 days to spare and know I have to tell everyone what happened....Oh wait, never mind. Turns out I just like the review part of this project get way backed up. Time to do some house cleaning.

The Very Nearly Honorable League of Pirates (VNHLP for short) Have a strict no girls allowed policy, which is a problem if you are 10 year old Hilary Westfield and you have been training to be The Terror of the Southlands your entire life. It also doesn't help if your father is Admiral of the Queen's navy and wants to get rid of all pirates. But Hilary is not to be deterred. With the help of her trusty Gargoyle, she runs away from finishing school to join a crew and search for buried treasure. This is a delightfully silly book that keeps everything fairly carefree and fun. It's basically about all the things a 10 year old would think pirates do. I loved the female characters in this book, especially Hilary's governess. This is one of the only times I can think of where we get to see that the authority figure for a child character has other ambitions in life than scolding and prohibiting fun. Hilary's governess actually wants to own a bookshop by the sea, and is only strict with Hilary because, well, that is what she gets paid for. It's nice to see children's authority figures with a little more depth than mean guardian or wacky teacher. The book also has a delightful sense of humor. If you're in the market for a nice, fun read, this is a great option.
9.5/10

100 by 30 - Book 100 - The Time Machine by HG Wells

I. DID. IT! I finished with three days to spare! I will post the missing books in the next few days, but I wanted to be sure to mark my accomplishment as soon as I finished it.

So anyway, let's get to the review of The Time Machine. As you will notice, I ended this project on a series of classics that I really had no direct knowledge of. Time machine was published in 1895 and follows what seems to have been a trend in the storytelling of the day in that the author is merely giving us an account of the incidents of the story as they were told to him. It's an interesting style that gives the book a sense of realism, but you lose the more immersive feeling of a traditional third person novel where we are often privy to the innermost thoughts of the characters. The Time Machine is a slight book, but it is big on speculation about the ultimate fate of man. Turns out, we are all doomed. While I actually found the majority of the novel to be a little dull for my taste, it was the descriptions of the end of the solar system, and the one, solitary life form struggling to move as the sun began to die that really struck me. It's a hauntingly lonely image, and it made the whole book worth it for that one little paragraph. I'll leave it there for now, it's a short read, and I really enjoyed reading a very early science fiction novel. The shear faith in man's greatness and ability to conquer the world with science is a little inspiring, and I'm starting to understand why that era is so popular for steam punk stories. I hope you've enjoyed this little journey with me. I will be posting the missing books soon and I am planning at least one wrap up article in the near future. Cheers!

6.5/10

100 by 30 Book 91 - Crap Kingdom by DC Pierson

Tom would love to be sucked away from his dull life and become The Chosen One in a fantastical other world. The problem is, his life doesn't suck enough. He gets ok grades, his family cares about him and he doesn't have to worry about bullies. It's not that he's popular, he just isn't interesting in any way to warrant being the kind of person that those kinds of things happen to...until it does. Tom gets whisked away into a fantastical world made mostly of old clothes and used junk from earth. And the king sits on a throne made of towels and an Igloo cooler, and his Chosen One duties consist of cleaning the snot out of the rats noses....so Tom quits being the chosen one because the kingdom is, well, crap. Then a new Chosen One is called, and it turns out to be Tom's best friend Kyle. Kyle learns to do all kinds of awesome magic and the citizens of Crap Kingdom love Kyle, and Tom gets a little jealous. There's accidental betrayals and power struggles and dimension hopping.

It's a very funny book, and an enjoyable read, but the book does suffer from the author's poor descriptive skills. I'd never really appreciated good world building in novels until now. When we venture into a strange world in the final third of the book, I found myself very confused as to the generally geography. I couldn't really picture anything that was being described and it bummed me out because it seemed like the author had something neat in mind. Between that, and the rather abrupt ending, a rather well done book ended on kind of a low note.

7/10

100 by 30 Book 90 - The Perks of Being a Wallflower

I have to give props to my wife for recommending this book to me. This is the second time I have read it and it remains one of my all time favorites. The book is a series of letters that Charlie writes to an anonymous stranger about his struggles through his first year of high school. Charlie's best friend committed suicide the previous year, and Charlie already suffers from some emotional / mental health issues. As someone who went through some fairly stressful and alienating times in my high school years, Charley was extremely easy to relate to, and I felt like he was describing my own life at times. Most of my high school friends were older than me, and I did make some dumb choices from time to time. Charley's issues are a lot more serious than mine (my close friends never killed themselves, I didn't have to stay in a mental health facility and I wasn't molested, all good things to miss out on) but his loneliness and awkwardness have to be an almost universal experience. This is a perfect book for anyone who had a rough time at school before finding that group of weirdos who make you feel "infinite." Reading it this time, I also noted that Charlie is an excellent party DJ because he watches the crowd and matches the music to their mood, which is something I actually do for a living. If you've ever felt like an outsider or a weirdo, then you need to read this book.
10 / 10

100 by 30 Book 89 - Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

And now for something COMPLETELY different. After the last book, I kind of felt the need to read something a little more serious. Since the library was out of copies of THE GIVER, I decided to pick up another award-winning book by Lois Lowry: Number the Stars. I remembered reading this book back in grade school and that it was about the Holocaust, but that was about it. The story is about a young girl in Nazi-occupied Denmark and her family's efforts to save their Jewish neighbors from being relocated by the Nazis. It gives a worm's eye view of some of the most horrific events in human history, but it is ultimately a story of triumph over evil. The final escape attempt takes up almost the last half of the book and it is riveting reading. Even if you are very familiar with World War II history, this book highlights the remarkable way the people of Denmark were able to save thousands of their Jewish neighbors and smuggle them safely to Sweden. It's a very quick read, but well worth your time, regardless of your age. There is even a great author's note at the end that explains the inspiring truth behind this story.

9/10

100 by 30 Book 88 - Fifty Shades of Alice in Wonderland

Part of the goal of this project was to read some things I normally wouldn't. Book 88 Certainly isn't the kind of book I ever thought I'd read. Fifty Shades of Alice in Wonderland by Melinda DuChamp is essentially a literary porn parody. Thankfully, it has nothing to do with the 50 Shades of Grey trilogy other than the title (from what I understand, those books promote an extremely unhealthy view of sexual relationships) Ms. DuChamp's little book is more of a goofy how-to guide for exploring adult fantasies.

The story follows Alice, a young woman unsatisfied with her love life with her fiance, Lewis. Lewis gives her a "rabbit" to spice things up a bit. When Lewis Falls asleep, the "rabbit" runs away and Alice chases him down the rabbit hole and into a wonderland of goofy characters who spend a good deal of their time being naughty little monkeys. As far as I can tell, the book follows the format of the original Alice in Wonderland with the exception that most of the creatures have been replaced by hunky dudes and hot babes. Lest you think the book is promoting rampant infidelity, the book ends with the reveal that it was all a crazy dream and Alice and Lewis live happily ever after.

Apart from the massive amount of puns and silly jokes, this book is also careful to promote healthy ways to explore roleplaying and other games. Everyone is nice and considerate, and boundaries are always respected. This isn't to say that the book is chaste by any stretch because Oh My, they do some weird stuff. But the writer's sense of fun for her topic is palpable, and you almost forget that you are reading a smutty, smutty book. In fact, I was shocked that this book is actually pretty well written. Erotica and Romance books aren't renowned for their quality writing (at least that's what I learned from watching Alison Janney in 10 Things I Hate About You and that episode of FRIENDS where Joey finds Rachels dirty book) The parody was well thought out, and some of the jokes were actually quite clever. I looked into a bit and discovered that Melida DuChamp is a pen name for an author who has published over 50 novels under her real name. The pen name is to protect her from the embarrassment of her family finding out that she likes to write dirty books, which makes sense. I mean, people don't like to admit to reading these kinds of books, let alone admitting that you wrote a porny book. (which also explains the romance novel boom that has happened since the advent of the Kindle. Now no one has to know that you aren't reading War and Peace) Overall, I thought this was an interesting read, and I suppose you could do a lot worse than read a dirty parody of a literary classic that treats it women like people with thoughts and feelings rather than just an object of desire.