A Touch of Evil

For those of you who haven't seen Orson Welles' Touch of Evil, you should check it out. It's a great film noir with Welles, Charlton Heston and Janet Leigh. I recently wrote a review for it on Amazon under the title:

Welles and film noir: a perfect combination

It's one of the best films ever. Check it out.

A Song of Ice and Fire

One of the more popular ongoing epic fantasy series that has caught my interest is the A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin. It takes the fantasy elements normally associated with epic fantasies (such as magic, dragons, otherworldly creatures, quests, etc..) and pushes these ideas into the background, if they are incorporated at all. Instead the plot focuses more on creating a believable political, geographical, and historical reality for the realm of Westeros. In order to do this, Martin draws heavily on medieval and other historical events (the War of the Roses) to create a story that focuses more on political intrigue, competition between noble families, and competition over the throne of Westeros. While there are still some fantasy elements spread throughout, most of the novel deals with the fighting that occurs between rival factions and their armies. Basically it's Lord of the Rings meets Braveheart/any Shakespeare play about royalty. Recently I joined a forum that focuses on this series which can be found at:

http://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php?act=idx

Check it out if you're interested.

Not new but new to me (and maybe you too)

Recently I have become obsessed with Solomon Burke, one of the unsung kings of Rock and Roll/R & B. He has been in the music business since the 60's, making him one of the oldest and longest practicing singers of soul in the U.S. His songs have been covered by renowned artists including Otis Redding and The Rolling Stones. Lately he has been finally receiving the recognition he deserves. In the early 2000's he even received a Grammy for his lifetime of dedication and his recent release of a modern masterpiece, Don't Give Up On Me.

In 2002 Solomon Burke released this album, putting his own powerful spin on songs originally composed by industry greats Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello, Van Morrison, Tom Waits, and more. Burke puts on a dazzling display of his wide range in this album, covering the diverse tastes and talents of each of these different songwriters. Burke goes from a wonderful blues croon on Dylan's "Stepchild", a haunting soulful scream on Costello's "The Judgement", the church-inspired gospel of his organ-laden "Fast Train", to a lively heart-filled plea on "None of Us Are Free". This album illuminates what the rest of the world should know: that Solomon Burke has more talent, more range, and more soul than most popular singers of Soul and Rock and Roll. No matter what your taste in music is, you are bound to find a song and genre on this album that will rattle around in your head for days, leaving you empty when it finally fades. With an album this good the only solution to this problem would be to pop the CD back in and explore the soulful landscape of Solomon Burke.

You can find this album on Amazon at:

http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Give-Up-Solomon-Burke/dp/B000068CTE/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1224032866&sr=1-3

The Wire

You may have noticed my link to the HBO show The Wire's website. Quite simply put, it's the best television show ever. I recently wrote a review for it on Amazon, which you can find at:

It's not TV, it's not even HBO, it's better,