Reviews and Comments

So I figured this was just going to be a "Top 10 worst moments in Wrestling" YouTube video from back before that was a thing. I have a watched a lot of those, so I assumed it would be little new to me. While there certainly some items I had heard many times, Hogan is a giant jerk, Giant was thrown off the Cobo Center roof and we thought he died but he had no problem wrestling the main event, etc. I actually did find a lot of information that was new to me. I'm going to ahead and add a few of Hogan's "bad movies" to my DVD queue because they sounded just like the kind of movies I like to watch when I'm in a mood for a "bad movie"

I didn't know that much about Lamar Hunt prior to reading this biography. I knew him primarily as the guy the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup soccer tournament and trophy is named after. I knew they had re-named the Open Cup after him due to his work to bring soccer to main stream USA, but I didn't realize just what impact he had on American Spector sports that take up so much entertainment time/value of so many people. returnreturnTurns out Hunt was the of an oil Barron who could have done most anything he wanted to. Most of what he wanted to do was play American football.returnreturnHe went to a boarding school were he made the football team because daddy was a large donor. He did well enough there to make the team at Southern Methodist (SMU) but rode the bench.returnreturnUpon graduation he went to queen for dad in the oil business but his love for sports was so strong he wanted desperately to be involved past his playing career. He tried to purchase a second NFL team, with dad's money, but the good old boys declined. He found enough others that he started the American Football League ( AFL). When his Dallas Texans couldn't compete with the cowboys he was forced to move to Kansas City and rename them the Chiefs. For the rest of his life the Chiefs would be his primary love, his first wife lost to the team.returnreturnHe was the one who coined the name Super Bowl, and after 10 years his Chiefs one that game, and the AFL merged with the NFL.returnreturnHe fell in love with soccer and was instrumental in founding the NASL of the 60s-80s most known for bringing Pelé to the American public.returnreturnAt the same time he worked on professionalising tennis. As with the Olympics at the time Tennis claimed to be ammature, but was in name only, but the good old boys again when against him and again he started his own leauge the World Championship of TENNIS (WCT). Just when that leauge was starting to make a profit the players revolted and started their own tournament as the PFA had in golf years earlier.returnreturnAfter NASL folded his b love for driver continued never missing a world cup with ridiculous travel schedules to make as mentioned games as possible. Thankfully his second wife loved games as much as he so he could jet set while enjoying her company.returnreturnHis family lost most of their fortune during the silver crisis of the 80s, Lamar had to sell his mantion in Dallas and get a regular house, but they still had their penthouse at Arrowhead stadium in Kansas City. The silver crisis didn't hit him as hard as his brothers.returnreturnHe was instrumental in bringing the World Cup to the states in '94. Part of that deal was to establish a Division I Leauge in the USA. Learning from his mistakes in NASL he was the one who came up with the single entity system that MLS is so known for. Most of the football ⚽ world derided it, but it allowed soccer to not fold. Those first years were hard with many "owners" opting out after a few years due to the cysts of ruining a soccer team in a football 🏈 market . Eventually only 3 owners were left for 10 teams. But they made it and today, though still not the highest quality of play, MLS us the most competive leauge in the world, and has like 6 of the 10 most valuable teams.returnreturnHe ends his life much as he loves it, watching the Kanas City Chiefs, though on TV in a hospital rather than at his beloved Arrowhead. Last thing he tells his son, make sure mom goes to the Super Bowl to keep her streak going of being at more Super Bowls than any other woman.

I was really disappointed by this book. I had looked forward to it for sometime after it had been highly recommended to me base on how much I loved The Probability Broach a story about a new dimension created by one small change during the revolutionary war. (Though it takes most of the story to learn that's what the world is).

This is somewhat similar. I can see why the recommendation, but there wasn't much of a story there. It was really short, just over 100 pages. There weren't really any characters to speak of. The first half of the book particularly where really written for civil war buffs. I have no clue what is the same and what is different. Until the south wins the battle of Gettysburg.

Kantor argues that with such a victory the north would just give up, and they chose to stop fighting. Not long after economic windfall is greater than ever because of the fewer lives lost. Texas leaves the CSA because they can. But World Wars show that the three nations need each other. But the race issue is a non-issue because as long as its not being brought upon them by oppressors, they get rid of slavery on there own by 1870 and full rights by 1950s.

Lots of feel good southern pride from around the time of the American civil rights movement when rivisionist history of the civil war was quite popular.

This booklet is a short supplement to Rosenberg's larger work specifically addressing communication between parents and offspring. It is very challenging even for only 22 pages. It is written in the language of NVC which can be hard to follow if you aren't already familiar with it. The first page includes this line "I'd first like to call to your attention to the danger of the word 'child,' if we allow it to apply a different quality of respect than we would to someone who is not labeled a child"

Like the other stories in Heinlein's "Scriber Juveniles" series our protagonist is an 18 year old boy who just graduated from high school. This time he's a guy who has decided to join the army. Except in the future of 2043 the Army is called the Patrol and their job is to stop war from happening (though superior fire power of course). returnreturnI struggled with how to rate this one because the idolization of national service is always dangerous, particularly for young people, and even more disturbing from someone many believe to be one of the forefathers of libertarianism. returnreturnBut the story was good. I particularly liked the character of Tex and the never seen character of his uncle brodie. Great comedy.

This book was fantastic, just like everything I have read by Danny Duncan Collum. returnreturnThis book was the first fiction of his that I have read. returnreturnTommy Jackson is just a normal working class white boy from rural Mississippi. Like any 1950s teenager he likes driving around with his friends and getting drunk when mom isn't looking. One day a black boy in town is disrespectful to a white girl, and later that night Tommy inadvertently witnesses his murder. returnreturnFor the rest of his life he tries to pretend he didn't. returnreturnWhen in college in Jackson, Mississippi in the 60s the freedom riders come to town, and he thinks he has found a way to make up for what he didn't do in high school. returnreturnBeing the only white southern boy involved in the movement ends up making him a target for all the locals, and the sit ins don't go as expected. returnreturnIt's really a fantastic tale of race, love, family, friendship, religion, God and the long arm of the law. returnreturnThe end was a bit rushed but that was the only downside I had.

I found this book absolutely wonderful. Levi looks a wrestling from a whole new angle. Granted occasionally I felt she was seeing things that weren't there, but that is true of almost any academic work. returnreturnMuch of the book is based on her experience, as an American Sociological Academic, training to be a luchadora in Mexico City. Its the way she really get to see how training happens gets to actually have real conversations with Luchadores. returnreturnI found it incredibly suprsing how Lucha Libre had developed quite differently from its American counterpart primarily because it had been banned from being on TV for almost 40 years. returnreturnHer take on the class struggle was interesting and how it relates to various characters and takes on this sport. Her emphasis on the sport of lucha, not sport-like, not sports entertainment was also interesting, always while acknowledging the match outcome is pre-determined still argued it was less corrupt than every other sport in Mexico. returnreturnThe only thing that prevented a 5 star from me was her huge obsession with homosexuality in Mexico and insinuating that ever "straight" man in Mexico City would glady do another guy in the rear, but would never take it. I almost skipped chapter 4 completely because of it, but then it got into gender roles related to luchadoras and it made a lot more sense, would have been better if the chapter took the ladies first and the gays later. returnreturnI wanted to add every book in the bibliography to me "queue" but most of them where in Spanish.

Probably was one of my least favorite in Heinlein's "Scribner's Juniors" "series". Like the others it's really a stand-alone story amongst a series of similar tales. (Young adults leading scientific adventures). returnreturnThis one is about two teenage twin boys finishing school and invited to a symposium by the "long range foundation" a private non-profit company that can focus on funding endeavors that don't have to make investors happy with quick returns, nor be at the will of fickel politicians, they can work on projects that will be years, decades or centuries before a return, if any occurs. returnreturnThe project the LRF is now working on is to deal with the overpopulation of the planet. The 1954 written book is very concerned that in the future (maybe 200 years from now?) the world population is unsustainable with over 4.5 billion people (never mind that 75 years from when ti was written we are doing just find with 8 billion). returnreturnIn order to explore what planets beyond or solar system may be suitable for habitation they need to find a way to communicate back to earth that is faster than the near light speeds of the ships. Ta-da the proof of telepathy that distance cannot substitute, primarily available between identical twins. returnreturnA little far-fetched but certainly interesting. I appreciate how Heinlein brings about theoretical ideas including those like over taxing large families etc. returnreturnSome of the story is pretty unbelievable though, like giant sea monster attacks in space, that could have been prevented with encoded messages from light years away being approved to be sent 2 days earlier. returnreturnThe ending was anticlimactic to say the least, but all and all I still liked it.

I was really pretty disappointed by this audibook. Contrary to what the subtitle says this is not a novel, but a collection of short stories. I kept hopting they would all come together in the end, but alas no. One of the characters from teh second story takes a leading roll for the last story, but nothing satisfactory occurs. returnreturnMost of the stories just kind of end, no climax, and certainly no happy ending. From rich man's kid dies, to servant girl gets fired, to someone MIGHT have found out wear the dancing bear guy lives. returnreturnThe best story was the second story about an Indian guy who lives in Britain who gets his employer to pay for his annual trip home under the guise of writing an authentic Indian breakfast cook book travel to each state and sampling their unique cuisine. It was interesting and made me hungry but alas no good ending.

I thought this audiobook was fine. The copy I have is from the National archive for the library from the blind. So it is all one very long MP3. Thankfully my listening didn't get interrupted otherwise that could have been a pain. returnreturnHaving been a Sci-Fi fan since I first saw Star Trek on reading Rainbow, and a member of the class of 2001 I had heard of this story for a long time, but never actually read it or watched the movie till now. (Though I did see the movie sequel 2010: The Year We Make Contact because that's what our video store had). returnreturnThis story was certainly better than that one. returnreturnLike much "hard" science fiction it is too slow and has very little action, as the adventure isn't the point its the exploring of science. returnreturnIt starting with a time pre-garden of Eden is pretty hard to believe, claiming that God didn't make man, but rather we are the result of an experiment by a superior race that gave us the ability to make tools. returnreturnIn the introduction the author claims their goal here was to make believable science fiction that didn't suck. Set less than 40 years in their future what might space travel look like. Well they certainly are doing more of it than we are, so that's ahead of where humanity is 60 years after it was written, but it seems all other technology is significantly behind. returnreturnFor example the greatest consumer device ever invented seems to be basically an iPad that can only access news websites. Even as long ago as 2001 our BlackBerries where better than that. returnreturnIt seems the cold war still continues but rather than the USA vs. the Soviets of the 1960s it has changed into the USA AND the USSR together against the Chinese. returnreturnI really enjoyed Clarke's description of Saturn, even if he indicated in the intro that everything about Saturn is actually wrong, and that's a good reason that they went to Jupiter in the movie. returnreturn2001 is interesting in that neither did the book come first and then a movie was made based on it, nor was their a movie made that had a novelization after the fact, but the screenplay and the novel where developed simultaneously. It probably would have worked better if the book came out 6 months before the movie rather than 6 months after it. returnreturnThe computer HAL had less influence on the story line than I had expected from the often quoted lines of the movie such as "I can't let you do that Dave" All in all an important part of American Sci-Fi history and probably worth reading for that, but nothing to get too excited about storywise.

This audiobook was an interesting one, but I didn't ever feel the need to stay and the car and find out what happens next. I guess that's why it only gets 3 *'s. returnreturnBoba Fet is yet again hired for another murder, he runs into Hann, who is also trying to murder someone? His son is now leading the galactic army against his father's home world, all while slowly (or maybe not so) turning to the dark side while being led by an enemy of Uncle Luke's past. returnreturnFet is in search of a long lost relative who may have a solution to his aging problem, only for them to try to murder him too. Then the story ends abruptly, because we've got another book to sell.