VENI, LEGI, CONCIDI

From Steven Taylor comes his Friday Fun Meme: ‘Books I Couldn’t Finish.’ Forthwith, here are mine:

1. The Lord of the Rings. Never even made it through the first book. This, combined with the fact that I’ve never watched a full episode of Star Trek, puts a serious dent in my geek credentials.
2. Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. I tried to read this one twice. It’s sort of in my field, after all. But I couldn’t get past the first 100 pages. I’m guessing they were trying to be cheeky.
3. The Novel by James Michener. If I couldn’t finish this, I figure I’ll never finish any of his other, heftier books.
4. A Man In Full by Tom Wolfe. Eventually, I got to the point where I stopped caring about how–or even if–this mess would all tie together.
5. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. Given the number of people who have told me this is one of their favorite books of all time, I feel terrible that I’ve never finished it. But there just must be something I don’t get.
6. The Gospel of Thomas. It’s interesting for a while, then it just makes my brain hurt. There are parts of John’s Gospel, I’ll admit, that smack of John adding in some extra words to prove a point. But the whole Gospel of Thomas feels that way to me. Well, at least the parts of it I’ve read.

THE NEW PROJECT

I’m starting a blognovel, Bringing In The Sheaves. Hope you like it . . .

DA-DAAAA!!!!

WE’VE DONE IT!

TBP has hit 100,000 SiteMeter hits. #100K is someone on Qwest who was referred to this site by Dr. Taylor over at PoliBlog. This naturally unlocks the TBP 100,000th Hit Spectacular, starting with a look at what Spandau Ballet tracks are most popular with the users of AudioScrobbler.

As always, thanks for reading TBP, and stay tuned for more upcoming 100K goodness.

THE COACHES MUST BE CRAZY

The first USA Today coaches’ poll is out today, and while it contains few surprises (U$C is number one, f’rinstance), I’ve got to admit there are a couple head-scratchers. Tennessee, which finished last year at #15, is ranked #3, while Michigan has jumped from #12 to #4. Either these teams finally got rid of some of those boat-anchor starters they had last season, or you’re seeing Traditional Powers Hegemony at work.

Another true puzzlement is Alabama (6-6 last season) at #25, and Utah (12-0 last year) at #28. Since Urban Meyer is apparently worth 14 poll slots (viz. Florida’s jump from #25 to #11), I think Utah should still be ranked. Meyer is a good coach, but he didn’t play a single snap for the Utes last season. Utah lost a lot of players, I know, but still, I would have a hard time (I will have a hard time) putting Bama ahead of Utah right now.

And did Oklahoma get two slots worse through graduation? I have my doubts.

NEVER MEANIN’ NO HARM

Dave Barry once said, “There are few joys as great as seeing a really good critic tee off on a really bad movie.” In that spirit, I recommend you go read Roger Ebert’s review of The Dukes of Hazzard.

Here is a lame-brained, outdated wheeze about a couple of good ol’ boys who roar around the back roads of the South in the General Lee, their beloved 1969 Dodge Charger. As it happens, I also drove a 1969 Dodge Charger. You could have told them apart because mine did not have a Confederate flag painted on the roof.