May 5, 2008

I turned 49 years old today, the same age my father was when he baptized me in 1967. (My father, were he still alive, would turn 90 in another week and a half.) Last year, some journalist whose name I don't remember now put some rather withering perspective on the passage of time by noting that the same number of years -- forty -- had passed since the so-called "Summer of Love" in 1967 as had gone by in 1967 since the height of the Roarin' Twenties. I often go back in my mind to earlier times in my life that perhaps I'd like to re-live; however, as I've often said, there hasn't been any part of my life that I'd care to revisit if it meant that I'd also have to live out all the intervening years again. It's been a long journey to get where I am in life, and if I'm not always happy with the road I've taken, at least I'm smart enough to realize that there's no turning back now. I just wish I felt assured that the rest of my life -- whether it be five years or forty -- will be worth living, because from my perspective I see only more and more of the same. Such is the pall that a long-term sleep disorder casts over someone's existence.

Late April Update

Lately I've been running out of topics about which to write essays. I find that irksome, although it was more or less inevitable that this blog, to the extent that I continued to post to it, would devolve into a diary of sorts. Thus I feel a need to write something about what is happening in our family right now. I seem to be doing pretty well with my new sleep meds; the most critical thing in the short term was to get off Temazepam, but I think I'll also be able to get off Lunesta soon as well, which will leave me taking only Rozerem. And I think it will be much easier to wean myself off Rozerem than it would have been to go "cold turkey" off the combination of Temazepam and OTC "Simply Sleep" that I was taking every night. The "VPAP Adapt SV" machine, apart from "curing" my problem with complex sleep apnea, has the added benefit of filtering out most of the nasty pollen that permeates the air in Albuquerque at this time of year.

Dorine, who works for the Albuquerque Public Schools, will have the summer off work. She's our ward YW camp director this year, and of course she's playing softball again this summer with her team the "Lady Saints" -- although she only actually plays when she has to fill in, as softball for her is much more a social event (giving her a chance to see and converse with friends whom she doesn't otherwise see much) than an athletic one. I usually go with Dorine to the games, as I enjoy keeping score and engaging in a little badinage with the team.

Kristy and Chris are about to move from their current rental home into a newer, larger one (belonging to Jimmy Romero, a member of our bishopric, and his wife Joy), which will be a boon to them and their suddenly large family. Their kids are all doing well, and the twins are thriving, although I'm certain Kristy can't wait for them to start eating solid food so that they'll sleep more at night.

Heidi and Dion are likewise doing well. Heidi will probably work more shifts this summer in her job as labor-and-delivery nurse at Presbyterian Hospital, now that Dorine will be more available to babysit Kayla. Dion's business installing satellite-TV systems is as "dynamic" as usual, and he stays pretty busy. Kayla is still a lot of fun, at least when her mother isn't around and she has no reason to be fussy.

Devery and Easton will be living with us this summer as Devery does another student internship at Sandia National Labs. With Devery working at Sandia (and Easton beating the bushes to find summer employment here as well), and with their living rent-free in our home for 2-3 months, they saw that they could save quite a bit of money to help get them through next school year at BYU. (Devery hopes to graduate in December, and Easton reportedly has another year of school after that.) And, of course, we're really happy to have them and look forward to doing some fun things with them this summer.

Darren's missionary companion Elder Herrera is about to finish his mission and go home, and we're anticipating that Darren will stay in the same area and receive his first assignment as senior companion. (I'm hoping he has at least a few baptisms in the first 2-3 weeks to get him off on the right foot as senior.)

Kiley just received an academic letter from her high school and is working hard to prepare for her audition for the Albuquerque Youth Symphony cello section on May 12. She's also trying to log enough driving hours this summer to get her provisional driver's license by the time school starts up again in August.

I look forward to this summer -- hiking, bouldering, a trip to the cabin in early June, family camping trips, a vacation trip in late June and early July, maybe a little overnight backpacking in the Sandias, the stake youth handcart trek in the latter half of July, maybe a trip to Ft. Stanton Cave, and hopefully a backpacking trip with Bob Maes to the Pecos Wilderness in the early-September timeframe. I need all the outdoor activities!

Sleep Disordered, Part 4

I've now gone back to see the nurse practitioner at our primary-care physician's office about trying to kick my dependency on sleep meds. For months, I'd had to take a combination of one 30mg Temazepam (Restoril) capsule and two caplets of "Simply Sleep," (Tylenol-PM without the Tylenol, or diphenhydramine hydrochloride [i.e., benadryl]) to sleep through the night. Temazepam is a pretty nasty med when used habitually, and it was starting to have a few side effects that made it clear I needed to get off it. The NP has prescribed a protocol that at least will get me off Temazepam and on Rozerem, which supposedly isn't a sedative but, rather, is supposed to help restore the body's natural sleep rhythm. For the first two weeks, I'll be taking 2mg Lunesta with 8mg Rozerem, then cutting down to 1mg Lunesta with 8mg Rozerem, then cutting down to just the 8mg Rozerem. Eventually, I'd like to take nothing (and like it!), but we'll see. I've been on the new protocol for three nights, and each night seems to be better than the last; I think I'm actually suffering a few mild withdrawal symptoms for leaving off the Temazepam, but that could be simply the effect of the mulberry pollen that's at high levels in Albuquerque currently.

My Favorite Websites

I probably spend too much time on the Internet, although nowadays it is far and away my biggest source of news and information. Over time I've tended to gravitate to a central core of websites, and here are my favorites:
1. National Review Online (http://www.nationalreview.com). I regard National Review Online as my most-indispensable website. The quality and quantity of conservative political commentary on NRO is extremely high, and the tenor of the articles is almost always thoughtful and measured.
2. SteynOnline (http://steynonline.com/). Mark Steyn is simply the wittiest, most cogent, and most tell-it-like-it-is political writer of our time. His prose must be the envy of every left-leaning pundit in America.
3. Best of the Web Today (http://online.wsj.com/article/best_of_the_web_today.html). "Best of the Web Today" is really just a feature of the larger Wall Street Journal website, written by James Taranto. Taranto is masterful at deconstructing other people's writing and putting it in a logical context.
4. YouTube (http://youtube.com/). I'm constantly amazed at all the old video clips of bands from the 1960s and 1970s that can be viewed on YouTube. Just one example: Someone uploaded several clips from Finnish TV of the Spencer Davis Group (featuring a very young Steve Winwood) performing live in 1967. Who could have imagined, even ten years ago, that video that old, from that obscure a source, would find a world-wide audience?
5. Real Clear Politics (http://www.realclearpolitics.com/). A great source of political commentary from across the philosophical spectrum.
6. Lucianne.com (http://lucianne.com/). Lucianne.com is, in essence, a conservative version of DailyKos, where one can post links to articles and then comment on them. The quality of the commentary isn't always great (although it's certainly much less profane than that found on DailyKos), but it's often as instructive and insightful as the articles themselves.
7. eBay (http://www.ebay.com/). I've sort of reached a saturation point in terms of buying things on eBay, especially as sellers in general have become more savvy about the market value of the items they sell (thus making bargains increasingly hard to come by). In short, I buy things that I perceive I need or want (and can afford), and gradually I've met all those needs and wants; however, eBay remains a great place to find merchandise that you can't find at the local Wal-Mart.
8. SuperTopo Climbing Forum (http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/forum.html). SuperTopo is a commercial concern started by Chris McNamara, aid-climber extraordinaire, to sell rockclimbing "topos," or route maps/descriptions. The forum, despite being the cyber-hangout of scores of burnt-out old hippies with paleo-liberal views (and the inevitable ad hominem attacks that seem naturally to flow therefrom), is special for two reasons: (1) the regular participation of dozens of living rockclimbing "legends"; and (2) the posting of many interesting and hard-to-find climbing photos and articles.
9. Weekly Standard (http://www.weeklystandard.com/). The Weekly Standard is another conservative political site that often contains even-better content than NRO; I rate it lower, however, due to the limited quantity of online articles.
10. Classmates.com (http://www.classmates.com/). This site embodies a great concept -- bringing old school friends and acquaintances back together -- but it has two drawbacks from a practical perspective. The first is that much of the content is only available to paying members. The second is that most people's level of participation is so low (or non-existent, in the case of many of the folks I'd really like to know about) that the content isn't really worth paying for. (I'd say people generally aren't all that interested in being contacted or in revealing much about themselves, perhaps with good reason.)
11. ESPN (http://espn.go.com/). I used to visit this site much more often than I do now, but it's still the best overall Internet source for sports-related news and commentary.
12. ICECAP (http://icecap.us/). A great place to find articles and commentary concerning the overblown nature of herd-science's claims about anthropogenic climate change.
[13. Albuquerque Tribune (http://www.abqtrib.com/). The Trib website used to be one of my favorites, at least until the paper folded and they stopped updating the website. I liked the layout, the high level of content (we took the paper itself, but really only so that Dorine could do the puzzles), and, especially, the forum that followed each and every article, which was much nicer than having to write to the editor.]

[Update 1/14/2011: At this late date I'd include Facebook and Amazon.com in this list, and I probably would leave Classmates.com off but for the yearbooks it has uploaded to its site, which is its only feature worth paying for.]

My Fifty Favorite Films

For some time, I've been considering making a list of my favorite movies and writing about why I like them. Here goes..

1. The Sting (1973): I've watched The Sting so many times now that I'm tempted to shove it further down the list; however, if I had to take one movie with me to a desert island, this one would be it. Simply put, I love the way it captures perfectly both a moment in American history and the Depression-era "con man" criminal subculture. Its plot twists do seem pretty manipulative after the first couple of viewings, but that's my only criticism of it. (Favorite line: "Sorry I'm late, guys.  I was taking a crap!")

2. North By Northwest (1959): I regard North By Northwest (followed closely by Rear Window and Psycho) as the pinnacle of Alfred Hitchcock's film art. The plot grows increasingly unbelievable as the movie goes on -- culminating in the contrived chase scene across the face of Mt. Rushmore -- but Cary Grant as Roger Thornhill makes a great protagonist, and no film villain was ever better than James Mason as Phillip Vandamm. It wasn't a period piece when it was made, but it has turned into the perfect snapshot of the late 1950s as the U.S. was then experiencing the Cold War. (Favorite line: "Now, what can a man do with his clothes off for twenty minutes?")

3. My Favorite Year (1982): Most people would consider this film an obscurity, at best, but it's probably my favorite movie comedy. Peter O'Toole is masterful as the aging ex-movie idol Alan Swann, and Mark Linn-Baker makes the perfect "little jiminy-cricket pest bastid" -- the young TV writer Benjie Stone. The film is full of memorable one-liners and physical comedy, and I never tire of watching it. (Favorite line: "This is for ladies only!"  (zip!) "And so is this, ma'am, but every now and again I have to run a little water through it.")

4. Lord of The Rings (Trilogy) (2001-2003): I won't even try to distinguish among the three parts of the trilogy (The Fellowship of The Ring, The Two Towers, The Return of The King); except for the nine-plus hour length of the complete story (and the fact that it comes on three DVDs), I regard it as seamless. I've tried several times to read the book, but I always get bogged down in Tolkien's insufferable minutiae; the film, in contrast, distills the essence of the story -- and all its good parts, changing them as necessary -- down to a great epic-movie tale. (I do have one question, however: If it's so easy for Gandalf and his eagles to come rescue Frodo and Sam on Mount Doom in Mordor after the Ring of Power is destroyed, couldn't they simply have surreptitiously flown Frodo there in the first place?) (Favorite line: "Fool of a Took! Throw yourself in next time and rid us of your stupidity!")

5. The Odd Couple (1968): I remember going to see this movie three times when it first ran in Albuquerque's Hiland Theater in 1968. (What a different world it was when a mother could drop off her precocious nine-year-old at the movies on a Saturday and not have to worry about him for several hours!) The film is a classic of humorous dialogue and, again, the perfect snapshot of a time (late 60s), a place (Manhattan), and a circumstance (the effect of divorce on middle-class joes). (Favorite line: "Never mind, I can't wait that long. How about five quick minutes behind the cash register?")

6. Dumb and Dumber (1994): Many people would regard D&D as coarse and disgusting (if they could bring themselves to watch it at all), but I've always been a fan of ironic humor, and this film fairly drips with it. It combines two time-honored types of cinema, the buddy film and the road film, but it is Lloyd and Harry's (Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels, respectively) utter cluelessness that gives rise to most of the humor. My favorite sequence is where Lloyd, while driving, fantasizes about sweeping Mary (Lauren Holly) off her feet; it includes one bit of scatological humor, which is hilarious not on its own terms but because the audience realizes Lloyd is imagining that sophisticated people would find it entertaining. (Favorite line: "What happened, Harry? Some little filly break your heart?" "Nah, it was a girl.")

7. Shrek (2001): Shrek was a groundbreaking film in various ways. Not only was the computer-generated animation astounding in its day, but the script's humor operated on multiple levels, allowing almost everyone to find it funny. The movie sort of falls a little flat after Shrek and Donkey rescue Princess Fiona from the dragon's lair -- that is, when it turns from a humorous adventure into a beauty-and-beast love story -- but over time it will go down as a film classic. (Favorite line: "All right, you're going the right way for a smacked bottom!")

8. Murder On the Orient Express (1974): I love the star-studded cast, the fact that the movie takes place mostly on a train, and the intricate details of the conspiracy leading to the killing of the gangster Ratchett. Some of the music seems incongruous for a murder-mystery, but then it quickly acquires an ominous air at appropriate moments. Some people don't like Albert Finney's portrayal of an epicene, overly conceited (and no-neck) Poirot, but it wouldn't be the same movie with another actor and a different interpretation of the character. (Favorite line: "Now you have accidentally said something valuable!")

9. A Knight's Tale (2001): This film, starring the ill-fated Heath Ledger, works on a number of levels. It's a history of medieval knighthood and jousting tournaments. It's a love story. It's a rags-to-riches tale of "changing one's stars." It's a vehicle for presenting 1970s-era "classic" rock music to a new generation. And it sketches out a number of memorable characters. (Favorite line: "Yes, Master Falhurst, I'm well aware a good fonging is on the way.")

10. Casino Royale (2006): This film is an inspired take on the James Bond series, featuring less camp, more depth to the character, Daniel Craig (a real man's Bond), three-dimensional villains who seem nearly invincible, a heck of a poker game, and a constant reminder that Bond stays alive by the slimmest of margins, relying not only on his wits but also happenstance. (Favorite line: "You like married women, don't you?" "It keeps things simple.")

11. Harry Potter (Series) (2001-): The Harry Potter movies, much like the J.K. Rowling book series on which they are based, started wandering off-track after the fourth installment, leaving me without much hope for the last two episodes. However, the magical backdrop of Hogwarts and the friendship and adventures shared by Harry, Ron, and Hermione sort of stand above the mounting over-seriousness of the story line (as well as its obvious flaws, such as why no one thinks to seek official sanction to administer "veritaserum" to Harry in Year 5 to ascertain whether he's telling the truth about the return of you-know-who, not to mention the notion -- if, as the story suggests, magical "combat" is necessarily reduced to a question of who can attack with the quickest draw, the best aim, and the baddest curse -- that people wouldn't be dropping dead in droves from the "Avada Kedavra" killing curse). (Favorite line: "You've got dirt on your nose, by the way. Did you know?")

12. Monty Python and The Holy Grail (1975): This movie marked a milestone in irreverent humor -- heck, it even makes fun of itself all the way through -- and thus I can't help but love it. (Favorite line: "Oh, Lord, bless this Thy hand grenade, that with it Thou mayest blow Thine enemies to tiny bits...in Thy mercy.")

13. Indiana Jones (Trilogy) (1981-1989): I love a good adventure film, particularly if it plays light, has well-defined characters, and produces a bit of laughter. The second film in the trilogy (Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom) becomes a little dark for my tastes once Jones leaves China and ends up in India, but otherwise I like what came of the material, particularly the supernatural angle that each of the three movies has. (Favorite line: "It's not the years, honey -- it's the mileage.")

14. From Russia with Love (1964): I regard this film as the best of the early James Bond films, before all the gadgets and puns wore thin. I confess that I probably wouldn't like it as much if it didn't have the long sequence on the Orient Express, as Bond and Tania try to escape Istanbul with the Russian decoding machine; however, I love how Sean Connery, about to be dispatched by Robert Shaw, plays to the latter's greed and tricks him into opening a "Q"-supplied briefcase and spraying himself with tear gas. (Favorite line: "By good fortune, I was resting on the settee for a moment.")

15. The Shawshank Redemption (1994): It's hard to recommend this film with all the bad language (the f-bombs are just the start), although of course profanity is probably an integral part of prison life. However, the manner in which Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) deals with adversity, and the patience and determination he displays in ultimately escaping from prison and turning the tables on his corrupt captors -- and, more importantly, in elevating the spirits of his fellow prisoners (especially Red [Morgan Freeman], from whose perspective the story is told) -- amounts to nothing less than a complete triumph of human will. (Favorite line: "I've had some long nights in stir. Alone in the dark with nothing but your thoughts, time can draw out like a blade." [Okay, so the dangling modifier in the second sentence is pretty egregious -- it's still a good line.])

16. A Hard Day's Night (1964): I didn't see this movie for the first time until several years ago, when I bought a DVD of it. It is nothing short of amazing, especially given the low expectations one would otherwise have of the "rock 'n' roll film" genre. All of the Beatles were natural actors and comedians -- never mind musicians and songwriters -- and it's no wonder their popularity soared after this piece was released in 1964. As Roger Ebert has noted, many aspects of this film, revolutionary at the time, have become fundamental elements of the film-maker's craft. (Favorite line: "Hey, look at the talent. Let's give 'em a pull!")

17. A Christmas Story (1983): An absolute comic masterpiece about childhood and growing up, this film has dozens of great lines that have become ingrained in the American dialect. (My wife and kids accuse me of having the entire movie memorized.) (Favorite lines: [1] "My old man's spare tires were actually only 'tires' in the academic sense: they were round; they had once been made of rubber." [2] "Over the years, I got to be quite a connoisseur of soap; my personal preference was for Lux, but I found Palmolive had a nice, piquant after-dinner flavor -- heady, but with just a touch of mellow smoothness. Lifebuoy, on the other hand....")

18. Beetlejuice (1988): Still Tim Burton's best film and the high point of Michael Keaton's acting career, this offbeat comedy about the afterlife, and the weirdness of the still-living, has always appealed to the eldritch part of my sense of humor. (Favorite line: "I wonder where a guy, an every-day joe like myself, could find a little action.")

19. Napoleon Dynamite (2004): Everything that can be said about this movie has already been said, but I love Jared Hess's deadpan directorial style and the understated acting of Jon Heder, Tina Majorino, et al. (Favorite line: "I see you're drinking one-percent.  Is that 'cause you think you're fat?")

20. Dead Poets Society (1989): This movie really captured my fancy when it came out, as I could identify with prep-school students trying to discover their individuality in a cookie-cutter world and being guided on the way by a non-conformist teacher. However, the suicide of Neil Perry (Robert Sean Leonard), and Mr. Keating's (Robin Williams) ultimately being blamed for it, is a complete downer that negates most of the romance of the first three-quarters of the treatment, despite the small tribute that some of the boys pay to Keating at the end. (Favorite line: "Now, medicine, law, business, engineering -- these are all noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love -- these are what we stay alive for.")

21. This Is Spinal Tap (1983): I've loved This Is Spinal Tap ever since its first run in the theaters in 1983. I think a lot of aging rock stars felt, and continue to feel, just a tad uncomfortable with how close all the film's irony came to hitting the mark, but almost everyone can get a few good laughs out of it. (Favorite line: "The musical growth rate of this band cannot even be charted. They are treading water in a sea of retarded sexuality and bad poetry.") I also like the Mormon-themed take-off of Spinal Tap that Will Swenson did, 2004's Sons of Provo.

22. Groundhog Day (1993): A wonderful tale of redemption and making oneself worthy of the love of another, this movie traces Bill Murray's path from narcissistic misanthrope to suicidal depressive to all-around great guy. (Favorite line: "I really don't know. They've been hitting on me all night.")

23. The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976): I remember thinking, when this film first came out, that it was too fantastic and over-the-top, but curiously it's now my favorite of the entire Pink Panther series. Peter Sellers as Chief Inspector Jacques Clouseau is one of the great comic characters of modern cinema, and he's funniest in this episode. (Favorite line: "I thought you said that your dug does not bat!" "That is not my dog.")

24. American Graffiti (1973): For my money, American Graffiti is still the best film George Lucas ever made, propelling Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Cindy Williams, et al., to stardom. It's a great document of the early-1960s cruising scene in central California and how much impact one night can have on the lives of an entire circle of friends. (Favorite line: "What a babe! What a bitchin' babe!")

25. Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid (1969): I'm not overly fond of this picture after the point where Butch, Sundance, and Etta arrive in Bolivia, but the first half of the film is priceless for its humor and, especially, the sequence where Butch and Sundance are being chased by a super-posse hired by the railroad. (Favorite line: "Think you used enough dynamite there, Butch?")

26. The Princess Bride (1987): I'm almost surprised that I like this movie as much as I do, given that it's more fairy-tale than action-adventure; I think it's the characters (and the actors who play them) that give it added life. (Favorite line: "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.")

27. Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964): A nice send-up of Cold War tensions and the inherent absurdity of mutually assured destruction. I always get a kick out of the characters' names: General Buck Turgidson, President Merkin Muffley, General Jack D. Ripper, Soviet Premier Kissov, Major "King" Kong, Colonel Bat Guano, etc. (Favorite line: "I do not avoid women, but I do deny them my essence.")

28. Forrest Gump (1994): Forrest Gump was another film that fired my imagination when I first saw it, filling me momentarily with compassion for the human race and all its constituent members. Its basic question about our existence -- whether it has meaning independent of the moment or is a completely random notion -- obviously struck many other people equally hard, given the awards it won. (Favorite line: "Have you ever been on a real shrimp boat?" "No, but I've been on a real big boat.")

29. Rear Window (1954): My second-favorite Hitchcock picture after North By Northwest, this movie contains an amazing amount of action (and interaction) considering 99% of the story takes place either in L.B. Jeffries' (James Stewart) apartment or looking out its large back window. As others have noted, Grace Kelly looks simply stunning in her role as Jeffries' girlfriend Lisa Fremont. (Favorite line: "Nothing has caused the human race so much trouble as intelligence.")

30. Charade (1963): This movie is a mere frolic filled alternately with comedy and suspense, but it's notable for its sophisticated humor and romance, as well as its Paris setting. Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn had great screen chemistry. (Favorite line: "Any morning now you could wake up dead.")

31. Jeremiah Johnson (1972): I guess I like this movie because I can identify with the twin notions of (a) wanting to get back to nature, and (b) wanting to be alone. I wouldn't have either the "proper wit" or the "adventurous spirit" required to be a mountain man, but the idea is sort of an appealing one nonetheless. (Favorite line: "The injuns put you here?" "'T'wern't Mormons!")

32. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962): The screenplay does a good job of wringing the essence of the story out of the novel. I now think that Gregory Peck was a little too "earnest" in his interpretation of Atticus Finch, but perhaps that was intentional; after all, the story is told in hindsight from his daughter's perspective, and she obviously remembers him as a serious person of few words but courageous actions. (Favorite line: "Not until Atticus agrees to play football for the Methodists!")

33. The Kids Are Alright (1979): Being a life-long fan of The Who, I couldn't help falling in love with this documentary, for which principal photography ended shortly before Keith Moon, the group's drummer, died of drug-related causes in late 1978. Jeff Stein, the director, did a great job of juxtaposing various stages of their career, in search of an artistic thread, and of intercutting footage shot specifically for the film. (Favorite line: "You can't write a ten-minute song! Rock songs are two minutes fifty, by tradition!")

34. The Commitments (1991): Another movie laced with f-bombs, but funny as the dickens. This film is notable for the fact that Alan Parker took young Irish musicians/singers and taught them to be passable actors, instead of the reverse. The soul band giving the picture its name is Ireland in microcosm: full of promise but torn apart by internal strife. (Favorite line: "There's a band around called 'Free Beer' -- they always pull a big crowd.")

35. Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1987): Even after twenty years, this film seems fresh and up-to-date, pitting impossibly boring high-school teachers and administrators against impossibly bored high-school students. (Favorite line: "Oh, he's very popular, Ed. The sportos, motorheads, geeks, sluts, bloods, wastoids, dweebies, dickheads -- they all adore him. They think he's a righteous dude.")

36. Animal House (1978): Dirty, dirty, dirty, but funny, funny, funny. The perfect college spoof, this flick has every larger-than-life stereotype imaginable in it. I remember I felt guilty when one of my brothers took me to see it two weeks before I started my church mission, but I felt a little better when the most "spiritchal" elder in my MTC district confessed to me in a candid moment that he'd seen it eight times. (Favorite line: "But that doesn't relieve you from your responsibility for this material...I'm waiting for reports from some of you. I'm not joking! This is my job!")

37. The Trouble With Angels (1966): This movie was a childhood favorite of mine; I guess I've always been a sucker for films set in boarding schools! It provided Dorine and me with a name for the first daughter we had together -- Devery, the last name of Mary Clancy's (Hayley Mills) sidekick Rachel (June Harding). (Favorite line: "Cloister Tours will show you that mystery of mysteries: where Mother Superior sleeps!")

38. Ocean's Eleven (2001): Full of improbabilities and even impossibilities (e.g., the idea that one underground vault could connect the Bellagio, the Mirage, and the MGM Grand in Las Vegas), this picture is still filled with fun, intrigue, and cool, interesting characters. (Favorite line: "I hope you were the groom.")

39. Amadeus (1984): One of the best period pieces ever made -- even if it's full of historical inaccuracies -- Amadeus is made special by F. Murray Abraham's astounding performance as Antonio Salieri. (Favorite line: "Aw, shut up! I'm sick to death of that tune!")

40. Hasta el viento tiene miedo (1968): This movie is a cheesy Mexican horror film, but it's loads of fun and pretty scary, too (at least I found it so when I first saw it in a theater-style setting at BYU in 1981). The fact that it has a totally gratuitous striptease scene (heck, what else would upper-crust Mexican girls do to entertain each other in a strict boarding school?) makes it clear what kind of audience the movie was aimed at, but, weirdly, it all works. (Favorite line: “¿No sería bueno preguntarle a la Silvia?  Ella sabe interpretar los sueños – ha leído a Freud.” “¡Por eso es tan loca! ¡A mí me dijo que yo tenía una frustración sexual!” “¿Y no?” “¡Mensa!”)

41. Mrs. Doubtfire (1993): Robin Williams at his best. It's a stretch to think that his wife and kids wouldn't recognize him and his voice despite the cross-dressing disguise and "muddled" English accent, but if anyone is capable of suspending our disbelief, it's Williams. (Favorite line: "If I find the misogynistic bastard that invented heels, I'll kill him.")

42. Blazing Saddles (1974): Sophomoric but satisfying, this comedy does precisely what it was intended to do -- skewer the traditional movie western through the heart. (Favorite line: "'S'cuse me while I whip this out!")

43. Casablanca (1942): Atypical of the standard studio fare of the time, this film is both smart and unflinching in its treatment of complex matters of the heart. Who, having watched this film even one time, can forget characters like Rick, Ilsa, Laszlo, Renault, Sam the piano man, Major Strasse, Karl, et al.? (Favorite line: "How extravagant you are, throwing away women like that. Someday they may be scarce!")

44. Citizen Kane (1941): No true movie aficionado's list of favorite films would be complete without a mention of Citizen Kane, a piece that broke ground in so many ways that one cannot count them all. And, of course, what's truly astounding is that Orson Welles was a complete novice at making movies when the RKO studio gave him carte blanche to make this one. (Favorite line: "I have a hunch it might turn out to be something pretty important -- a document, like the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution...and my first report card at school.")

45. JFK (1991): Bad history but great art, this film represents Oliver Stone at the height of his creativity. (And boy oh boy, does he get creative -- he's got about nine or ten internally inconsistent and mutually exclusive conspiracy theories going on at one time in this movie!) (Favorite line: "I find your story simply not believable." "Really? What part?")

46. Caddyshack (1980): The prototypical "snobs vs. slobs" comedy, this film has a number of memorable tableaux, and Rodney Dangerfield, playing a nouveau-riche and extremely gauche contractor, completely steals the show. (Favorite line: "I've sentenced boys younger than you to the gas chamber -- I didn't want to do it, but felt I owed it to them.")

47. It's a Wonderful Life (1946): I can certainly identify with James Stewart's character in this movie, the smart guy who, due to inbred generosity and selflessness, fails to fulfill his talents and dreams and then is left wondering what it was all for. "No man is a failure who has friends" -- words to live by, I guess. (Favorite line: "And I'm gonna have a couple of harems, and maybe three or four wives.")

48. Die Hard (1988): This film is the gold standard of action-adventure movies, even if various references in the script, as well as certain elements of the art direction, will always date it to the late 80s. I love the me-and-my-wits-against-a-group-of-major-baddies premise, the high-rise setting, and Bruce Willis's take on a NYC cop caught up in an international conspiracy to commit high-dollar robbery in LA. (Favorite line: "Actually, I was always partial to Roy Rogers. I really dug those sequined shirts.")

49. Dr. Zhivago (1965): This movie is somewhat depressing in that it leaves all the major characters dead, unhappy, or unfulfilled (or, in the case of Rod Steiger's evil Victor Komorovsky, unimpeded), but it is a wonderful work of art nonetheless. It is best understood as both a history and an indictment of the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the conditions that provoked it. (Favorite line: "Good marriages are made in heaven, or some such place.")

50. The Wizard of Oz (1939): I can remember the days when this movie came on network TV precisely one Sunday evening every year, usually during church. To millions of American kids, it was every bit as big an event as the Super Bowl has become since that time; even today, the film stands out in the crowd of family-friendly movies. (Favorite line: I could while away the hours, conferrin' with the flowers, consultin' with the rain/And my head I'd be scratchin', while my thoughts were busy hatchin', if I only had a brain.)

Sleep Disordered, Part 3

This photo illustrates how I sleep at night these days -- with a full-face mask strapped tightly to my face. (You should see the deep creases and indentations it leaves when I take it off every morning!) The Resmed "VPAP Adapt SV," which I've described in previous posts, completely resolves my problems with complex sleep apnea; unfortunately, I was sort of counting on the machine to help me kick my dependency on sleep meds, a misplaced hope at best. I may not need the meds anymore to sleep at night, but falling asleep is a different matter, and at this point I just can't shut my mind down enough to become drowsy without chemical assistance. I need to get off the meds, however, which leaves me with a choice between (a) weaning myself off them gradually (a process that could have indefinite duration, theoretically), and (b) going "cold turkey," staying awake (for 72 straight hours? 96?) until my body gives up its aversion to sleep. (I keep flashing on the scene in The Two Towers where Gandalf exorcises Saruman from the body of King Theoden of Rohan.) Neither is a happy alternative, but I'm almost leaning toward the latter, even though I'd need to take at least a week off work to accomplish it -- I don't even want to think about how unpleasant it would be.

The 1972 Honda CL-70

I mentioned in a previous post that my parents bought a Honda CL-70 motorcycle for me in the summer of 1972, when I was thirteen years old. Here's a photo of the cover of the brochure that Honda published that year for that particular model. I remember that I wanted an SL-70, but when we went to the dealer (the old "Wheel World" Honda dealership down on Carlisle north of Menaul), it was too small for me, as I was already about 5'10" even at that tender age. Therefore, the salesman suggested either the CL-70 or the SL-100, which would have to be de-tuned to 5 horsepower to qualify as a "motor scooter" under then-existing New Mexico law. If I'd been possessed of any patience at all, I'd have gone with the SL-100, which was better-suited not only to my body frame but also to the off-road riding I wanted to do; however, it cost $502, in contrast with the CL-70's $363 price tag, and my mother said she'd have to wait and save a little more. No way was I going home empty-handed, so I immediately warmed to the CL-70. (I guess I did go home empty-handed in a literal sense, given that the dealer didn't actually deliver the bike to our house until a couple of days later.)

The CL-70 wasn't exactly Honda's finest engineering achievement -- it had wiring issues and burned through points and condensers on an annoyingly regular basis -- but it would be nice to have something similarly fuel-efficient to ride to work these days. (It got something like 150 miles per gallon and generally could stay up with normal in-town traffic, although it probably wouldn't do so with today's 215-lb. version of me sitting on it.) Inasmuch as gasoline in those days cost $.25/gallon, I often found sufficient gas money in one of the living-room sofas!

As much as I loved to ride my CL-70 as a young teenager, I've never really felt the desire to own a motorcycle as an adult; I haven't stopped and thought about why, but I'm sure it's primarily a matter of safety. But man, was it exhilarating to ride all around the "mesa" (undeveloped, and generally unrestricted, open space) that used to exist east of Tramway Road!

Our Home

This photo shows our home in northeast Albuquerque, near the intersection of Indian School Road and Chelwood Park Boulevard. We've lived here since buying the home in 1991; it was our first home and we didn't plan on living here forever, but that's the way it's worked out. The house (which was built in 1967 and thus is over forty years old) wasn't really big enough for our family, having only three bedrooms, and the need for additional space became even more acute after we had Kiley in 1992 and Kristy had Nicole in 1995; however, somehow we survived the years of living on top of each other. (It's ironic that the home seemed very spacious after we lived for six years in a 900 sq. ft. apartment at the Greenbriar co-op on Nakomis Street and Constitution Avenue; it didn't take long for that illusion to be dispelled, however.) We only have one child living at home now, so needless to say we're in better shape at present.

The trend these days is to build 3,000 sq. ft. houses on 1/5-acre lots -- the complete antithesis of our home, which is 1,700 sq. ft. on something close to 1/2 acre. (We have a lot bigger back yard than I wish to care for, which explains why it always looks like heck.) It would be lovely in some ways to have a newer, bigger home, but at least we've done a lot to our house over the years to make it more liveable. A lot remains to be done, especially to the exterior, but it will probably have to wait until we pay off our mortgage in three years. (My dream is to add on to the back and have a pool table and spa.) In these days of young LDS couples tending to buy more house than they can easily afford, sometimes I feel like we're the only ones following the prophet's counsel regarding debt and frugality!

[Update 11/24/11: Here's a Google Earth view of our house.] 

 

(R)efined F(a)tness

This photo shows me at my home away from home, our gym Defined Fitness on Juan Tabo Boulevard north of Candelaria Road in Albuquerque. Inasmuch as I never have more than an hour to spend at the gym on any given day (and given that I generally only go there four times a week), I stick to doing that which gives me the most rigorous workout -- running on a treadmill. My usual regimen is three miles a pop, but occasionally, if Dorine and I are behind schedule, I'll do two miles at a faster pace. I like to run at 8:30/mile pace, at least, if I'm doing three miles, and at 8:00/mile pace if I'm doing two miles.

(That statement is somewhat misleading, since I generally run downhill, setting the treadmill I'm on at a 2.0% decline. It's a long story, but Defined Fitness used to have treadmills that felt comfortable to me at 8:30/mile pace on a "level" setting, whereas the ones it has now feel like they're going uphill on "level." I'm not so self-deluded as to believe I could run three successive 8:30 miles on, say, an outdoor track -- I know the machines the gym has now probably are level at "0.0%" -- but my morale was going to take a beating if I had to slow down; therefore, I made a deal with myself, deciding to continue running at 8:30/mile pace and setting the machine's cant as required to enable myself to do that. I realize it's a wussy thing to do, but no one seeing me drenched with sweat after a run could say I didn't have a good workout.)

I don't call running a "hobby" or "recreation," since it hurts too much to fall in those categories for me; I've always had a below-average oxygen-transfer system, something I first discovered when I was a schoolboy half-miler and continually barfed my guts out after races. However, I'm sort of addicted to running, anyway, as it's one of a mere handful of pursuits in my life that weigh on the side of producing a sense of well-being and self-esteem. I've been going to Defined Fitness (or "Refined Fatness," as my brother-in-law once referred to it) for over eight years now, and I've literally run thousands of miles there in that time. The gym is currently oversold and under-outfitted with cardio equipment (an expansion is planned but has been postponed at least twice), but, given my sleep disorder and other health concerns, I don't know where I'd be without it.

Nicole's Adoption Hearing

Here's a photo that Dorine took on Tuesday, March 18, at the hearing in Bernalillo County Children's Court to rule on our son-in-law Chris F______'s petition to adopt our granddaughter Nicole. Nicole's biological father first contested the adoption, leading to a lot of otherwise-unnecessary expense; however, at some point he experienced a change of heart and elected to relinquish his parental rights. Therefore, what was originally scheduled to be an evidentiary hearing turned into an informal gathering affording the judge an opportunity to sign off on the adoption, much to our great relief and delight. Now Nicole is officially a F______ and their family is complete, barring one more step: Nicole's being sealed to Kristy and Chris in the temple. (Front, L-R: Alexis, Zach, Nicole, Chris, and Chris's attorney Judith Holbrook-Farrell; Back, L-R: Heidi and Gloria Finnemore.)

More on the Twins - and Nicole

I got to see Kristy and Chris's new babies Maddison and Hailee last night when Dorine and I went to the hospital. Both are extremely cute babies and are doing well. As reported, they look very different from each other, Maddy being blond, fair-complected, and (probably) blue-eyed, and Hailee having dark hair, dark eyes, and a darker complexion. This picture shows Dorine with Hailee (left) and Maddy (right). We're happy that all went according to Kristy and Chris's fondest wishes: Kristy got her doctor for the delivery, and both babies (Maddy coming first, head-first but face-up, and Hailee coming second, feet-first) were delivered normally with no complications whatsoever.

Moreover, a hearing was held this morning in Children's Court in which the judge entered a judgment of adoption, making Chris Nicole's father -- and on her thirteenth birthday, no less. So now she is officially Nicole F_____ and we can look forward to another sealing in the temple, hopefully in a few weeks. I don't know if Chris ever contemplated gaining three children in the space of less than 36 hours, but he and Kristy are the parents of five now!

Hailee and Maddison Have Arrived!

At long last, Kristy and Chris's twins, Hailee and Maddison, were born early on the morning of March 17, 2008 (which is also Devery's birthday). They each weighed close to 6 lbs., so Kristy was carting around almost 12 lbs. of baby; as you can tell from the first photo (taken on Saturday, March 15), she looked it. (Poor woman!) Hailee and Maddison are fraternal twins and each reportedly looks quite different from the other; Maddison (left) has lighter hair and looks more like her father, and Hailee (right) has darker hair and looks more like her mother. We were all concerned about the fact that the first baby (Maddison) was head-down and the other (Hailee) was breech, but everything went well and no c-section was required. Kristy won't be able to attend the court hearing tomorrow concerning Chris's petition to adopt Nicole (which we anticipate will result in a judgment of adoption), but at least we know now that Chris can be there.

Trip to Utah - March 2008

Wow, I really haven't written in a while! It's mostly due to my having to make this blog "private"; somehow I'm less-motivated to write when I know my audience is limited and I'm not addressing "the world." Anyway, I wanted to write about my trip to Utah with my mother over the long "weekend" of March 6-9, 2008. The trip had multiple purposes, the first of which was simply to fulfill my intense desire to get out of town and out on the road somewhere. The second was to see my daughter Devery H_____ and her husband Easton, who will still be attending BYU in Provo for some time yet. The third was to spend an extended amount of time with my mother. And the fourth was to enable my mother to see her other four sons (Roger, Robin, Jeff, and Kelly), all of whom live and/or work in Utah Valley. (Dorine and I would almost certainly have gone to Utah during the Albuquerque Public Schools' spring break [March 24-28, 2008] -- as we have done for each of the last three years -- except that our daughter Kristy F_____ is about to give birth to twin girls and Dorine needs to be at hand when that happens.)

Mom and I traveled in my Toyota Tacoma, which unfortunately is the most roadworthy vehicle Dorine and I own at present. We left town on Thursday the 6th before 8:00 am and stopped off in Farmington to visit with Mom's brother Wayne before heading on; we took the "standard" route through Shiprock, Cortez, Monticello, Moab, and Price. Weather is always a concern this time of year, but it stayed nice for the entire trip. We got to Provo too late to go see Devery and Easton's co-ed intramural soccer game, but we did take them out for pizza after we checked into our hotel, the Cottontree Inn on University Parkway by the Provo River. (The Cottontree Inn is a decent hotel with a nice continental breakfast and an indoor pool and spa.)

On Friday morning, the 7th, Mom and I drove up to DME Health Services, my brother Jeff's home medical supply company that he runs in Pleasant Grove with my other brothers Roger and Robin. We visited with them for a while before going with Roger on a few of his "rounds." Later, Mom and I went back to the hotel, where I "checked out" a pass to Gold's Gym in Orem and went and ran three miles on a treadmill -- a heck of a lot nicer machine than I'm accustomed to using at Defined Fitness in Albuquerque! -- before coming back to the hotel for a short swim. Mom and I then drove down to Devery and Easton's apartment in south Provo, where they cooked dinner for us. (I was pleased to find that their apartment -- see the bottom photo above -- is actually fairly decent as BYU "married" housing goes.) Finally, Mom, Devery, and I drove up to Robin and his wife Karolyn's house in Pleasant Grove to see their daughter Meredith and her six-month-old twins, Aidan and Alexander (see top photo above).

On Saturday, the 8th, Mom and I went up with Roger to the big Cabela's store in Lehi to shop for a while. I wanted to buy something for Mike Prairie, who, in addition to being a great guy, is the senior manager at Sandia National Labs to whose group I provide financial and admin support. (Mike, who is currently undergoing chemotherapy for a brain tumor, is a big-time hunter and outdoorsman, and from previous conversations I knew that he liked to shop at Cabela's; I ended up getting him a ballcap and a fleece-lined jacket, which he seemed very pleased with when I gave them to him this week.) Later, Mom and I went with Roger to his home in Pleasant Grove, where we visited with him and his wife Lynnea for a few hours; Roger and I watched old rock 'n' roll video clips on Youtube before all of us watched The R.M. on DVD. Still later, Devery and Easton came to the hotel for a swim before we piled into Devery's car to drive up to Jeff and his wife Marlyn's house in North Salt Lake for an extended-family get-together, where we finally got to see my brother Kelly and his wife Kit, in addition to various nieces and nephews and their families.

We lost an hour on Saturday night due to the beginning of Daylight Saving Time, so Mom and I got away fairly late on Sunday morning to come back to Albuquerque. However, aside from my cruise control's turning itself off periodically (it would only come back on when I restarted the engine) and some yokel's almost pulling out in front of me on U.S. 491 east of Monticello (which caused me to brake hard and dump my drink all over the floor of my truck), the trip passed without incident. (On the return trip, we took the "scenic" route through Mancos, Hesperus, and La Plata, bypassing Shiprock and the Navajo reservation.) I enjoyed having a chance to talk to my mother for a few hours coming and going, so the trip filled all of the above-referenced purposes, although I'm still going to miss going up during spring break. (Hopefully I'll have news to tell about Kristy's babies here in a week or so.)

The Sandia Mountains - My Spiritual Home

All of my adult life, I've loved the Sandia Mountains east of Albuquerque. In the mid-to-late 1980s, when I was attending law school and graduate business school at the University of New Mexico, I often went hiking a couple of times a week, generally by myself, as a means of clearing my head and working off pent-up emotions. Thus I became familiar with most of the major hiking trails in the Sandias. These days I'm lucky to take more than three or four hikes a year of any substantial distance, with maybe one or two being of seven or more miles; my "big" hike in 2007 was to go up and down the La Luz Trail in October, a total distance of about 15-16 miles (with an elevation change of 4,400 feet in either direction, which is where the real "brutality" enters into the equation). However, I still regard the Sandias as my spiritual home, where I go to heal emotional wounds and feel divine influences.

I have plans to do two long hikes this summer in the Sandias. The first will be to hike up Chimney Canyon -- an offshoot of the La Luz Trail that presents a much wilder, steeper, and more direct route to Sandia Crest -- then back down the La Luz. (This is a hike I've done perhaps eight or nine times previously, sometimes by myself; however, I will probably only do it this summer if I can find a hiking companion or two.) The second will be to gain South Sandia Peak via Whitewash Canyon (or, more likely, the massive ridge between Whitewash Canyon and Embudo Canyon), Bear Pass, and the upper part of the Embudito Trail. (While I've reached South Sandia Peak on various occasions via multiple routes, the portion of my proposed route between the first little promontory at the head of Whitewash Canyon and Bear Pass is terra incognita for me, which is part of why it appeals to me.)

Update on Darren's Mission

Darren has now moved to a new area in Comayagüela, Flor del Campo, and has a new companion, Elder Herrera, from El Salvador. They've already enjoyed a little more success than Darren had in his first area, in terms of converts to the church, which I'm sure is gratifying. This photo shows him with Elder Herrera (far left), a member fellow named Joab, Joab's wife Ibeth (the one being baptized), their three kids (in front), the ward mission leader (in back), and Joab's friend (far right). It's still only February, but Darren looks positively baked in the recent photos he's sent us. With two native-Spanish-speaking senior companions in a a row, he must be learning a lot about the language; I just hope he's finding lots of opportunities to insert himself in conversations, as he'll need that experience later on when he's assigned to be a senior companion himself.

Performing at the Ward Party

This photo shows me performing at our ward party on February 23, 2008. I sang two numbers: my song "Changes," a lover's lament that I originally wrote in 1983 (portions of which I had to re-write because I'd long forgotten the words), and the old Julio Iglesias song "Pregúntale," which was a hit in the Spanish-speaking world in 1979. I used my new "Classic 60s" Fender Stratocaster, my Line 6 Spider 112 amplifier, my Squier PA system (which I've had for nearly a year but had never used before in public), and an "On Stage" microphone/mic stand that I bought from Guitar Center for $20 (total). I always have great difficulty remembering lyrics to songs -- which is aggravated by the nervousness I feel when performing in public -- so you can see I had to use cheat sheets taped to my mic stand. I made a few slight boo-boos, but at least I made it all the way through both songs with no major breaks! I think most people at the party were significantly more entertained by the karaoke and the limbo-dancing than by me, but that's typical. (Photo courtesy of Steve Plimpton.)

My Rock 'N' Roll Favorites - the 'T's through the 'Z's

Talking Heads: “Making Flippy Floppy” – I look back on the popularity of Talking Heads and ask myself, “What were people thinking?” However, I can still listen to “Making Flippy Floppy,” which by itself makes it my favorite TH song.
Thin Lizzy: “Angel from the Coast” – I once owned Thin Lizzy’s Jailbreak album on 8-track, and despite the popularity of “The Boys Are Back in Town” and “Jailbreak,” I’ve always regarded “Angel from the Coast” as the group’s best song.
Three Dog Night: “Nobody” – Three Dog Night was originally a great, mostly white R&B outfit before they gave into some inexplicable urge to record bubble-gum pop. “Nobody,” from their first album (now given the title One) exemplifies the harder sound they had at first.
Toto: “Georgy Porgy” – I can’t listen to most of Toto’s stuff these days, so “Georgy Porgy” is my “favorite” by default.
Trower, Robin: “Day of the Eagle” – Robin Trower, as others have noted, served as an important link between Hendrix and Eddie Van Halen (and progeny), keeping the guitar-hero phenomenon alive in the mid-1970s. James Dewar, Trower’s singer/bassist, had a very fine baritone voice as well.
U2: “Mysterious Ways” – U2 is another group that has successfully reinvented itself several times, demonstrating a profound level of creativity. While I like tunes from several stages of their career – I regard “Pride (In the Name of Love)” as perhaps the finest musical tribute ever paid anyone (viz., MLK) -- “Mysterious Ways” stands out for me.
Uriah Heep: “Poet’s Justice” – One of my brothers once had the Demons and Wizards album, and this was the best cut on it.
Van Halen: “Feel Your Love Tonight” – I didn't care for much of Van Halen’s later work. “Feel Your Love Tonight” was the highlight of their first album, which came out at a time when I could appreciate Eddie Van Halen’s guitar virtuosity (i.e., before he had thousands of imitators).
Ventures, The: “Walk Don’t Run” – The Ventures were a perfect fit for the rock instrumental (RI) period of the early 1960s; they weren’t the greatest musicians around, but they did great arrangements of various popular numbers. Their first hit, “Walk Don’t Run,” is my favorite.
Walsh, Joe: “Rocky Mountain Way” – I’ve already mentioned Walsh as a member of the Eagles and the James Gang, but some of his solo work was nice, too.
Who, The: “Bargain” – The broad dynamic range of this song, combined with the near-sociopathic, obsessive lyrics, make it a great rock song. Pete Townshend was once quoted as saying that one of the things that most fascinated him about rock music was its ability to produce spiritual uplift even in its most nihilistic forms. This song perfectly illustrates that notion.
Winwood, Steve: “Spanish Dancer” – Steve Winwood was a teenage prodigy of the first order, with both great instrumental talent and a voice to die for. “Spanish Dancer,” from his (much later) solo album Arc of a Diver, is a great example of his ability to interweave various keyboard parts into a terrific whole.
Wishbone Ash: “Blowin’ Free” – I loved Wishbone Ash’s Argus album, with all its images of medieval kings and knights and epic struggles; however, I am most fond of the cut “Blowin’ Free.”
Yes: “Long Distance Runaround” – I thought Yes kind of went off the deep end of jazz-rock for a period, but the Fragile album had some cool music. The level of musicianship in the group was fairly unprecedented for the era in which it was released, which makes the album still very interesting today.
Young, Neil: “When You Dance I Can Really Love” – I remember reading where a journalist asked Neil Young the secret to his sound, and he replied that he and his group simply get drunk and play really slow. This tune, which appears on his memorable After the Gold Rush album, has a certain simplicity but, paradoxically, a touch of compositional complexity as well; it all adds up to a wonderful tune.
Zappa, Frank: “Don’t Eat the Yellow Snow” – Zappa, of course, was a prodigious talent in several ways, but his sense of humor was impeccable, as evidenced by this song.
ZZ Top: “Backdoor Love Affair” – ZZ Top was a great band in the early days, and I still like their first three albums the most. “Backdoor Love Affair” will always remind me of my time in the LDS Church’s Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah in early 1979; I can remember having the power chords from the end of this song playing endlessly in my head as I tried to memorize the missionary discussions.

My Rock 'N' Roll Favorites - the 'Q's through the 'S's

Queen: “Tie Your Mother Down” – Queen’s best rocker, bar none. I also like the period piece “Crazy Little Thing Called Love.”
Ramones, The: “Pinhead” – Gabba Gabba Hey! I got in on the Ramones late, but, having now acquired a greatest-hits compilation, I like several of their early numbers, like “We’re a Happy Family,” “I’m Against It,” “Rockaway Beach,” and “I Wanna Be Sedated.” However, “Pinhead” is my favorite.
Rascals, The: “Good Lovin’” – The (Young) Rascals were a little too blue-eyed soul for my tastes, but, forced to choose a favorite, I'd say it’s the up-tempo “Good Lovin’.”
REO Speedwagon: “Roll with the Changes” – REO was a very over-rated band. I remember liking this song a lot when it first came out, but when I finally realized that the lame-o lead guitar on it probably represented Gary Richrath’s best effort, it sort of fell off my radar.
REM: “Can’t Get There from Here” – REM was another vastly over-rated group, but I like this tune despite the typically wimpy 80s guitar tonality.
Rolling Stones, The: “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” – Many people will disagree, but everything that was/is good about the Stones is contained in this song. From the insistent beat, the classic guitar riff, the defiant I’m-still-here lyrics, to the seamless blending of bass and organ, “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” was everything a rock song should be.
Ronstadt, Linda: “You’re No Good” – This song will always remind me of teenage sleep-overs at my friend Ken Foley’s family’s apartment in the summer of 1974. Ken always kept his radio on all night, whereas I had trouble sleeping with music playing; thus the layered stereo guitar parts on this tune conjure up all sorts of late-night memories for me.
Rush: I know lots of people who like Rush, but I’ve never come to appreciate them much; therefore, I have no favorite song of theirs. I don't think much of Alex Lifeson as a guitarist or Geddy Lee as a singer, but I will admit that Neil Peart is a great drummer.
Santana: “Soul Sacrifice” – I love to watch Santana’s performance of “Soul Sacrifice” at Woodstock in 1969, particularly the drumming of Michael Shrieve, who was only 19 years old at the time. In fact, I regard it as the highlight of the entire Woodstock festival.
Seger, Bob: “Hollywood Nights” – Great syncopated guitar, combined with outstanding drumming, make this tune Seger’s best.
Simon & Garfunkel: “Scarborough Fair/Canticle” – I’m less of a Simon & Garfunkel fan now than I was thirty years ago, but I still very much like “Scarborough Fair.”
Simple Minds: “Stand By Love” – I always thought that Jim Kerr the songwriter had his good days and his bad days, but “Stand By Love” was among his best.
Smithereens, The: “House We Used to Live In” – This song was definitely a high point of the late 80s for me. The Smithereens kept the fire going by playing very straight-up rock ‘n’ roll in an era of drum machines and synthesizers.
Springsteen, Bruce: “Tunnel of Love” – Bad drum machine, but great metaphor: love as a scary amusement-park ride that can easily become one’s worst nightmare.
Standells, The: “Dirty Water” – Possibly the greatest rock ‘n’ roll song ever recorded, it had it all: snotty lyrics, the quintessential guitar lick, great beat, nice supporting organ, etc.
Steely Dan: “Peg” – I like various Steely Dan songs for the guitar solos (e.g., “Kid Charlemagne,” “Reelin’ In the Years,” “Rikki Don’t Lose that Number,” et al.), but “Peg,” apart from having the great Jay Graydon guitar solo, also holds special memories for me.
Steppenwolf: “Magic Carpet Ride” – I could live without the “psychedelic” intro and instrumental break, but the “meat” of the song is great: fantastic rhythm and a cadence in the vocals that any rapper should envy.
Steve Miller Band, The: “Jungle Love” – I hated this song at first, as the next-door neighbors in my dorm at BYU (during my freshman year), played it over and over at high volume; however, I came to appreciate it over time.
Stewart, Rod: “Every Picture Tells a Story” – My brother Kelly had Stewart’s Every Picture Tells a Story album on 8-track, and although I associate it with what was perhaps the worst period of my life (seventh grade), I still like the title song and “(I Know) I’m Losing You.”
Stills, Stephen: “Do For the Others” – A great song about breaking up, and an example of Stephen Stills’ songwriting at its best. I always associate his first solo album with highway travel, as one time my older brothers took me with them to a church volleyball tournament in Thatcher, Arizona, and we listened to it in the car for hours on end.
Sting: “If I Ever Lose My Faith In You” – I’m about the farthest thing from a Sting fan in general, especially his singing and songwriting, but he managed to come up with something special in this tune.
Styx: “Cold War” – The fact that I would pick a song off the otherwise lamentable Kilroy Was Here album should indicate what I think of Styx in general; however, Tommy Shaw was a light in the darkness, and “Cold War” was a pretty decent song.
Supertramp: “Long Way Home” – This is another tune that reminds me of my time as a missionary in La Cisterna, Chile, which in some ways was the darkest period of my mission. My companion had Supertramp’s Breakfast In America album on cassette, and I came to like most of the cuts on it.
Sweet, The: “Fox on the Run” – I could never quite comprehend why a competent rock band would try to make a career out of mostly insufferable bubble-gum pop compositions. “Ballroom Blitz” was probably their best pure rock song, but “Fox on the Run” holds better memories for me.

My Rock 'N' Roll Favorites - the 'M's through the 'P's

Madonna: “Ray of Light” – Madonna, notwithstanding her ever-evolving-but-always-slutty image, has done some great work over the years. I pick “Ray of Light” here because it’s yet another nice running song for the treadmill.
Mamas and the Papas, The: “I Saw Her Again Last Night” – I almost picked “Creeque Alley,” the M&Ps’ musical autobiography, but I still regard “I Saw Her Again Last Night” as their best song.
Mason, Dave: “To Be Free” – Dave Mason has to be the King of the Intro, as most of his songs have tremendous lead-in hooks; unfortunately, the intro is usually the best part of the song.
Mellencamp, John: “ROCK In the USA” – Typically insipid Mellencamp lyrics, but he still made some of the best “guitar” records of the 80s and early 90s.
Missing Persons: “Destination Unknown” – Still one of my absolute favorite new wave songs, “Destination Unknown” reminds me of the fun times I had in the old Albuquerque 11th Ward, the LDS singles ward I attended for a couple of years in the early 1980s.
Monkees, The: “Pleasant Valley Sunday” – A great pop tune! The lyric about someone having a TV in every room to reinforce his affluent image is a tad out of date (who doesn’t have three or four TVs these days?), but otherwise the song’s message still seems timely.
Moody Blues, The: “You and Me” – This song is a vastly overlooked cut from Seventh Sojourn, one that most people, even some Moody Blues fans, aren’t aware of; however, it’s probably the best example of Justin Hayward’s amazing stereo-guitar sound.
Motley Crue: “Dr. Feelgood” – Possibly the greatest tune from the hair-band era, not that that’s saying much.
Mutemath: “Typical” – I’m going to indulge myself here: Mutemath probably isn’t most people’s idea of a “significant” rock band at this point in time, but I went with my son Darren to see them in concert at the Albuquerque’s Sunshine Theater in April 2007 and was very impressed. Not only is “Typical” a fantastic song, but it has a great message as well.
Night Ranger: “You Can Still Rock In America” – It’s sounding like an old refrain at this point, but this was the only song by this group that I liked.
Nirvana: “Smells Like Teen Spirit” – I actually like Weird Al Yankovic’s spoof “Smells Like Nirvana” better. I never understood the whole grunge-rock phenomenon, notwithstanding my being properly angst-ridden.
Oingo Boingo: “Weird Science” – There’s no mistaking the fact that this song came out in the 80s, but the arrangement, the instruments, and Danny Elfman’s vocals are so tight that the tune more than stands up today.
Osbourne, Ozzy: “Crazy Train” – Randy Rhoads’s stellar guitar work definitely stands out on this tune.
Paul Revere & The Raiders: “Hungry” – As stated in the liner notes to the Nuggets collection, Paul Revere & The Raiders was one of the great American bands of the 1960s, although their antics on Where the Action Is and other television shows probably caused them not to be taken seriously in any musical sense. I like a number of their songs, but “Hungry” sort of stands out.
Pink Floyd: “Another Brick In the Wall” – David Gilmour’s fantastic guitar solo sets this tune apart from the rest of Pink Floyd’s music for me.
Poison: This band represents the nadir of the hair-band era, and I can’t make myself listen to anything they did. “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” starts out as a nice ballad, but then C.C. DeVille’s guitar solo kills it dead.
Police, The: “De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da” – I can remember hearing this song a lot during the last few months of my time in Chile in 1980; I can remember thinking the vocals sounded like Chicago, so I was mildly surprised to find out later that it was the Police, a band I’d never heard of before. I regard most of their lyrics as silly these days, but at least this tune still takes me back.
Presley, Elvis: “A Little Less Conversation” - This song was a perfect fit for the movie Ocean's Eleven and its Vegas setting; I also liked the remix that somebody did to give it some zing.
Pretenders, The: “Night In My Veins” – I liked some of the Pretenders’ earlier music, but much of it sounds a little lame today due to the wussy guitar sound that prevailed in the 80s; in contrast, “Night In My Veins” is not only a great song, but it has a big sound as well.
Prince: “1999” – Prince’s prediction of end-of-millenium doom didn’t pan out, but it’s still by far his best song.