Building Castles on the Beach

I feel bad about this. I really do. How can I be so negative about a book that helps teens get through tough periods in their lives? A book that even saves lives? My wife says it's because I just don't like people. I'll concede that. But I still don't like this book. Published four years ago, Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher is the kind of book that gains traction with teens, then their parents read it, and suddenly it's a thing. This year the  EW published an article about how it's affecting readers. And now a website asks teenagers to write their responses to the book where they can benefit from each other's stories. So I ask again, how can I hate on a book that's practically its own "It Gets Better" movement? The story is that a boy named Clay gets a package containing seven audio cassettes. When he listens to the first one, he's shocked to hear the voice of Hannah Baker, the girl at school who recently committed suicide. She p

This particular list began over the summer when I realized how much I was enjoying the new Duran Duran album. I really haven't listened to any new Duran Duran since "Ordinary World" in 1993. But All You Need Is Now sounded to me like the album that should have followed Seven and the Ragged Tiger . After the pleasant Duran Duran surprise, over the next few months these albums dropped from other 80's alumni. None of them are recreating any hit sounds of the past, and they're not breaking much new ground here, either. They are not regaining a once-held popularity, or you all would have heard of them by now. However, they all deserve some accolade for persevering through the years and still creating some great, memorable music. Without further ado, The Sticktoitiveness Awards go to: Duran Duran, All You Need Is Now If you don't know who these guys are, then never mind. You can go back to your Drake and Rhianna. Erasure, Tomorrow's World

Giving toddlers a reason to walk since 1990.   Xander took his first step two days before his first birthday. I was holding a Seinfeld DVD that he wanted (such good taste already, right?), and he forgot to hold onto the bed as he reached for it. It's a little over a month later and we've had to reconfigure the house. We have many surfaces in our small dwelling, the better to stack books and soda cans and iPods. He can now get to the lower level surfaces: coffee tables, end tables, corner cabinets and shelves. One shelf is restocked at least five times a day with his Boynton board books that end up on the hallway floor every couple hours. He also ends up in the kitchen cupboards. Our Tupperware cabinet has never seen such disarray. Well, are you? So we've had to move things around. Hide our books. Block access to the Christmas tree. We bought a fancy "look ma, no hands" gate for the basement staircase. (We could have just put the actual door back on th

Each week, follow through on this becomes more difficult. I would never survive some kind of NaNo or ABC challenge certain bloggers can't get enough of. But it's done. Here's some more of the best music from this year. Ladytron, Gravity the Seducer After four or five albums of icy dance tunes, Ladytron put out their most sophisticated album. Still icy, still dancey, but they've added layers and atmospherics that kind of make them sound all grown up. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Belong  Their first album showed that these guys were the rightful successors of shoegaze goodness that hit a high 20 years ago with My Bloody Valentine and oozed around the nineties until The Jesus and Mary Chain were done. With their second album, they continue in the tradition of hooky melodies buried under fuzzy bass and guitar feedback. Must listen to loudly and repeatedly. St. Vincent, Strange Mercy St. Vincent is Annie Clark, and (forgive the obscu

I'm a day late and way more than a dollar short, but I'll continue with my December recounting of music from 2011 blogfest or whatever, whether you like it or not. I'll try to keep it short. (Remember, I'm not in it for the videos. Ignore them. Just click play and turn up the volume.) Destroyer, Kaputt Super smooth production for another throwback sound. This time it's the seventies, mixing horns aplenty with a contemporary electropop sound. If that doesn't make any sense, just give the meandering "Bay of Pigs" a listen for 11 minutes of bliss. Florence + the Machine, Ceremonials Some people say Adele is the voice of the century. I say it's Florence Welch. Each song builds to a worthy climax of a crashing sounds and her perfect, brawny voice. Friendly Fires, Pala I liked their first album, but there was something too forced about the efforts. Pala , however, sounds so easy, so fluid. Friendly

So begins my own blogfest of one. Wherein each Monday in December I present some of the best albums of the year in alphabetical order. Bon Iver, Bon Iver A couple of years ago, Bon Iver's album For Emma, Forever Ago was widely hailed as a neo-folk masterpiece. It was nice, but this self-titled album from 2011 is better. Building off of the stripped-down sound of For Emma , Bon Iver includes layers of horns and keyboards over an ambient sound that's highlighted by Justin Vernon's illustrious vocals. The whole thing has definite retro vibe to it, which is a commonality among many of my favorites this year. The last song, called Beth/Rest, is a shameless, unironic take on 80's pop, complete with Casio keyboards and sax solos. I would have hated this had I heard it in the 80's. Now I love it. Apparently, on the "Delux" version of the album, each song comes with video accompaniment, and each is a visual treat complementing the music beautifully. You s