Fan Boy

Again, Seriously?

It is a Monday, so I guess I really shouldn't be surprised, but we're having yet another downpour here this morning. Getting to be quite a habit, and this storm is bad enough that it has already knocked out my DirecTV signal...

At least Rose Red gets a nice bath out of it.

"Is this one of those rains that the farmers like, or not?"

I haven't got the slightest idea...

Part of the 'Game'

It will hardly come as
a shock to readers that
I am a big fan of HBO's epic drama series Game of Thrones, since the very name of this blog is inspired by the show.




Part and parcel of being a fan of this show is accepting that characters will be killed off with great regularity, including characters of whom you might be fond.

Still, some of those deaths occur quite unexpectedly, and under circumstances that can be emotionally devastating. There was such a death in last night's episode, "The Door," and for me it was one of the most shocking, heart-breaking demises in the show's six seasons to date.

With all of the misery we experience in real life, it is fascinating that we would consider such a program "entertaining," but it is. And much as I was saddened by last night's episode, I can still admire the storytelling skills of everyone involved (writers, directors, actors). It is a testament to their art that I was so distraught over what is, in fact, just an episode of a fictional story. Well done.

My wingman didn't take last night's development very well, either....

My New Favorite State

While it may be foolish, I still cling to the hope that delegates to the Republican National Convention in Cleveland in July will come to their senses and decline to nominate asshat Donald Trump, whose selection would forever tarnish the Party of Lincoln.




At the Republican State Convention in Washington this past weekend, 40 of the 41 RNC delegates selected went not to Trump by to Texas Senator Ted Cruz.

Thank you for standing tall for principles, Evergreen State!

Life On the Road

Although my beloved Kansas City Royals lost yesterday to the White Sox in Chicago, they won that three-game series 2-1, their third straight series win.

They'll begin a three-game series tonight against the struggling Minnesota Twins at Target Field as the road trip winds up. The Royals could really use a sweep, but I don't want to get greedy.

"Since when?"

Mind you own business...

Eco-Friendly?

From the perspicacious pen of Henry Payne, who editorial cartoons you should read often, as I do.

Until Next Time...

If you had asked me to name a favorite rock band as my sophomore year of high school was winding down in the spring of 1969, I'm not sure what name I would have given you. Probably The Beach Boys, maybe The Doors, possibly Creedence Clearwater Revival. I had just begun a fascination with Jethro Tull as well.

British rockers The Who would have rated a mention, perhaps, but while I had enjoyed many of their singles (especially 1967's "I Can See For Miles" and 1968's "Magic Bus")
I considered them lightweight, not really one of the top bands of that time. Just before my summer vacation began, that changed dramatically, and they became my favorite band almost overnight.

On May 23, 1969 the band released Tommy, band leader and guitarist Pete Townshend's ballyhooed "rock opera." To say that it was unlike anything the band had released before would be a colossal understatement, but I was nonetheless completely captivated from first listen onward.

The Who had always been a rock band aiming for a somewhat more cerebral audience than most, a very different audience than what, say, the Rolling Stones appealed to. I had always liked that, but the ambitious Tommy project vaulted them to the top of that list.

Of course, as time went on the intellectual content of the album lost some of its appeal, but my affection for the group would only be cemented over the years to come. By the time the 1970s ended they were easily my favorites, and I have seen them in concert three times. None of that would have happened if Tommy hadn't come along at just the right moment in my adolescent life.

Today's send-off is the 2013 remastered version of the album's first track, "Overture."
It ends abruptly because on the album there was no gap between this song and the next. Enjoy...