Monday, June 30, 2025

Bone Handbook by Jeff Smith: Book Review

 (Book Review--Bone Series)


(This is my first time reading this book, so according to my new rules, I'm doing this as a video only review.)





I was able to read this book thanks to the Michigan statewide state-wide interlibrary loan service called MeLCat, which may be in danger thanks to a Presidential executive order.  If you, like me, enjoy using MeLCat, contact your local representatives and let them know. 

Did you enjoy this review? Consider supporting me on Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/joelswagman

Support me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/JoelSwagman

Check out this book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/40wTuFU             (This is an Amazon Associate's Link.  If you buy anything through that link, I get a commission.)
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Sunday, June 29, 2025

Now that I'm back in America, I'm listening to the the American radio again.  
When I first got back to America, I was only listening to NPR in the car.  Or sometimes I would use my phone and listen to my podcasts.  But the past few weeks, I've started switching over to music stations, because when the wife and kids are in the car, it's nice to have music on for background.
Radio in America has of course changed since I've been gone.  Although not as much as I thought it had.  I had been under the impression that oldies radio stations were permanently gone from the cultural landscape, but oldies and classic rock stations are actually still around.  They've changed, of course.  I feel like the Doo-wop songs from the 1950s and early 60s are gone.  (e.g. when I was a kid, it wasn't unusualy to hear a song like Bristol Stomp on an oldies station, but you'd never hear this song on the radio nowadays, would you?)


(BTW, I'd completely forgotten this song even existed until Family Guy reminded me of it.  But once upon a time, it used to be a staple of oldies stations.)
But while the 1950s seems to have fallen off the radar,  oldies stations seem to have increased in their scope on the other side.  I've noticed that when I listen to oldies and classic rock stations, songs from the 1980s and 1990s are now considered oldies.  Well, fair enough I suppose.  Time has moved on.  Those songs are objectively old now.
But what does confuse me is how I seem to keep hearing the same songs over and over again.  Now that oldies/classic rock has expanded to include the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s, I would expect that these stations would have a lot more songs to draw on, and I would hear a new song each time I turned on the radio.  But instead, it seems to be the same 10 songs over and over again.  Another Brick in the Wall by Pink Floyd seems to be always on.  Sweet Emotion by Aerosmith is another one that I think I've heard 3 times this week already.  

As always, take everything I say with a grain of salt, because I've only been back a short time, and these are just my observations from the past few weeks of listening to the radio.  Those of you who've been listening to the American radio for the past few years will know better than me, I'm sure.

Nevertheless, despite my complaints about how repetive the classic rock stations have gotten on the radio, I have encountered a few songs the past week that I've not heard in years, and it's reminded me of how good some of these songs are.  And I may start sharing them on this blog as part of my Sharing Music I Like project.
Stay tuned for future posts.
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Tukulti-Ninurta Epic translated by Benjamin R. Foster (from Before the Muses): Summary & Discussion





Related Playlists




* Before the Muses: An Anthology of Akkadian Literature Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x4Cvg1Yw4LQyKEXIwDwo1m0&si=X6OZ7Ectw-fzHbCn

* Akkadian Literature: The Mature Period 1500-1000 BC Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x545tikwEDqcgD_qmFqtLUF&si=XlI2gaYNnh1HGPyf

I was able to read this book thanks to the Michigan statewide state-wide interlibrary loan service called MeLCat, which may be in danger thanks to a Presidential executive order.  If you, like me, enjoy using MeLCat, contact your local representatives and let them know. 

Did you enjoy this review? Consider supporting me on Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/joelswagman

Support me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/JoelSwagman

Check out this book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/4k08VgZ            (This is an Amazon Associate's Link.  If you buy anything through that link, I get a commission.)
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Saturday, June 28, 2025

Revolutions Podcast by Mike Duncan: Review

(Podcasts--History) 

Started this project: November 9, 2021
Started my final runthrough of this podcast: September 19, 2024

(This is my first time reviewing this podcast on this blog. So, according to my new rules, I'm doing this as a video only review.)





Notes:
I've gone back and forth on whether or not I was going to do one or two listenings for my final runthrough of the podcast.  But in the end, I decided one final listening was enough.  My listening progress, for anyone who is interested, is chronicled on my started post and also listed below:

Listening Progress
September 19, 2024--1.1- The Kingdoms of Charles Stuart
September 20--1.2- Personal Rule
September 21--1.5- Cavaliers and Roundheads
September 22--1.8- Checkmate
September 23--1.11- The Crowning Mercy
September 24--1.12- In The Name of God Go
September 25--1.15- The Good Old Cause
September 26--2.1- The Thirteen Colonies
September 27--2.2- The Stamp Act
September 29--2.4- The Boston Tea Party
September 30--2.5- The Guns of Ticonderoga
October 1--2.6- Independence
October 2--2.7- Crossing the Delaware
October 3--2.8- Saratoga
October 5--2.12- Yorktown
October 6--2.15- The Rising Sun
October 7--3.1- The Three Estates
October 8--3.4- Necker and the Necklace
October 9--3.7- The Séance Royale
October 10--3.9- What is the Third Estate?
October 11--3.10- The Tennis Court Oath
October 12--3.14- The Women's March on Versailles
October 13--3.17- A Temporary Summit
October 14--3.19- The Massacre of the Champ de Mars
October 15--3.21a Supplemental- Talleyrand
October 16--3.27- Advance and Retreat
October 18--3.29- The Purge of the Girondins
October 20--3.30- The 250th Episode
October 21--3.31- The Man of Blood Part Deux
October 22--3.33- The Geography of Terror
October 23--3.34- Saturn's Children
October 25--3.34a- The Republican Calendar
October 27--3.35- The Law of 14 Frimaire
October 28--3.37- The Republic of Virtue
October 29--3.38- Thermidor
October 31--3.41- Bread and the Constitution of 1793
November 2--3.43- The Conspiracy of Equals
November 5--3.47- The Directorial Terror
November 7--3.50- The Second Coalition
November 8--3.52- There is Your Man
November 9--3.55- The Retrospective
November 10--4.03- Free and Equal
November 11--4.05- The Citizens of April 4
November 13--4.07- The Citizens of June 20
November 14--4.12- Toussaint's Clause
November 15--4.15- The Leclerc Expedition
November 20--4.16- Dying Like Flies
November 21--4.17- Independence
November 23--4.19- The History of Haiti
November 25--5.01- The Conquest
November 26--5.03- The Precursors
November 27--5.06- The Abdications of Bayonne
November 28--5.07- The First Cry For Liberty
November 29--5.08- The Patriotic Society For The Development of Agriculture and Livestock
November 30--5.10- War To The Death
December 1--5.12- The Desired One
December 2--5.13- The Letter From Jamaica
December 3--5.15- The Centaur of the Plains
December 4--5.16- Over The Mountains
December 5--5.17- The Big Rock On The Side Of The Road
December 6--5.17a- Supplemental Gregor MacGregor
December 7--2016 Fundraiser!
December 8--5.18- Liberation
December 11--5.19- The Army of the Andes
December 12--5.22- The Guayaquil Conference
December 13--5.23- Ayacucho
December 14--5.24- The Republic of Bolivar
December 15--5.25- The Tangled Swords
December 16--6.02- Charles The Simple
December 17--6.03- Help Yourself And Heaven Will Help You
December 18--6.05- The Barricades
December 19--6.06- The Duc d'Orleans
December 21--6.07- The Last King of France
December 22--6.8a- The Fait Accompli of 1830
December 23--6.08c- Metternich
December 24--6.08e- The June Rebellion
December 25--The Storm Before The Storm: Chapter 1- The Beasts of Italy
December 26--7.03- The German Confederation
December 27--7.04- The Austrian Empire
December 28--7.06- The Kingdom of Hungary
December 29--7.07- The Hungry Forties
December 30--7.12- The Provisional Government
January 5, 2025--7.13- The Spectre of The French Revolution
January 9, 2025--The Calm Before the Storm Before the Storm
January 11--Politics & Prose Oct 28: The Storm Before the Storm Book Event
January 19--7.14- The Fall of Metternich
January 20--7.15- Slaves No More
January 21--7.16- We Crawled On Our Stomachs
January 22--7.17- The Five Days of Milan
January 25--7.18- Democracy In Action
January 26--7.19- The June Days
January 31--7.20- Where Do You Draw The Line?
February 12--7.21- Cracking Down and Backing Down
February 16--7.22- The April Laws
February 22--7.23- The First War of Italian Independence
February 23--7.24- The Turn of The Tide
February 24--7.25- The Parliament of Professors
February 25--7.27- The Flight of the Pope
February 26--7.28- Prince President Bonaparte
February 27--7.29- The New Emperor
February 28--7.30- The Crown From the Gutter
March 1--7.31- The Assembly of the Damned
March 2--7.32- The Bitter End
March 3--7.33- What the Heck Just Happened
March 4--8.2- The Franco-Prussian War
March 5--8.3- The Government of National Defence
March 6--8.5- The Cannons
March 7--8.6- The Commune
March 9--8.7- Year 79
March 10--8.8- The Bloody Week
March 11--9.02- The Cry of Dolores
March 12--9.04- The Porfiriato
March 13--9.06- The Presidential Succession of 1910
March 15--9.09- The Tiger
March 17--9.11- Not Quite President Madero
March 18--9.13- The Plan of Ayala
March 19--9.15- The Constitutionalists
March 20--9.16- The Legend of Pancho Villa
March 21--9.19- The Conventionists
March 24--9.21- Death To The Gringos
March 25--9.24- Swinging From A Tree
March 26--9.26- The Last Caudillo
March 27--9.27- The Institutional Revolution
March 28--10.1- The International Working Men's Association
March 29--10.3- The Three Pillars of Marxism.
March 30--10.4- Historical Materialism
March 31--10.7- Paris Commune Revisited
April 1--10.9- The Third Rome
April 2--10.12- The Decembrists
April 8--10.13- Orthodoxy, Autocracy, Nationality
April 9--10.14- The Tsar Liberator
April 11--10.15- The Tsar Must Die
April 12--10.16- The Russian Colony
April 13--10.17- The Emancipation of Labor Group
April 14--10.20- The Liberal Tradition (Such As It Is)
April 15--10.24- The Union of Struggle for The Emancipation of the Working Class
April 16--10.26- The Far East
April 17--10.28 The Spark
April 18--10.31 A Big Mistake
April 21--10.33- Bloody Sunday
April 22--10.35- Sinking Ships
April 23--10.37 The General Strike
April 24--10.39- The End of Part I
April 25--10.40- Relaunch and Recap
April 28--10.42- The Stolypin Reforms
April 29--10.44- Bolshevik Bank Heist
April 30--10.46- The Permanent Revolution
May 1--10.48- The Death of Reform
May 2--10.52- What You Already Know About The Origins of WWI
May 5--10.54- War or Revolution
May 6--10.55- Whatever Happened To The International?
May 7--10.58- Inflation and Scarcity
May 8--10.60- The Abyss That Lies Ahead
May 9--10.62- International Women's Day
June 3--Appendix 1- Coming Full Circle
June 4--Appendix 3- From Equilibrium to Disequilibrium
June 5--Appendix 7- The Entropy of Victory
June 6--Appendix 9- The Second Wave
June 7--Appendix 10- The Revolution Devours its Children
June 8--Appendix 11- Meet the New Boss
June 9--Appendix 12- Coming Full Circle One Last Time
June 10--11.1- The Colonization of Mars
June 12--11.2- In With the Old
June 15--11.4- The Election of 2244
June 17--11.5- The New Protocols
June 18--11.7- The Annulment of Contracts
June 19--11.10- Red Justice Red Freedom
June 20--11.11-The Three Days of Red
June 23--11.14-The Mutual Blocade
June 24--11.28-Bloody Sunset

Did you enjoy this review? Consider supporting me on Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/joelswagman

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Friday, June 27, 2025

Revolutions Season 11: The Martian Revolution by Mike Duncan: Review (plus other thoughts)

(Podcasts--History) 


(This is my first time reviewing this podcast on this blog. So, according to my new rules, I'm doing this as a video only review.)




Did you enjoy this review? Consider supporting me on Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/joelswagman

Support me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/JoelSwagman
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Thursday, June 26, 2025

Mission Impossible 8: The Final Reckoning: Movie Review


This is my first time watching this movie, so according to my new rules, I'm doing this as a video only review.



Did you enjoy this review? Consider supporting me on Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/joelswagman

Support me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/JoelSwagman
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Wednesday, June 25, 2025

Gilgamesh the King by Robert Silverberg: Book Review


Started: May 25, 2025

(This is my first time reading this book, so according to my new rules, I'm doing this as a video only review.)




Related Playlists:



I was able to read this book thanks to the Michigan statewide state-wide interlibrary loan service called MeLCat, which may be in danger thanks to a Presidential executive order.  If you, like me, enjoy using MeLCat, contact your local representatives and let them know. 

Did you enjoy this review? Consider supporting me on Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/joelswagman

Support me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/JoelSwagman

Check out this book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/44uJf7z          (This is an Amazon Associate's Link.  If you buy anything through that link, I get a commission.)
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Started: Oldest Stories Podcast

For various reasons, I'm changing my system for podcasts.  Instead of listening to each podcast through 3 or 4 times, I'm going to try listening to them only twice, and then reviewing them.
The reasons are as follows:
1) This will allow me to get through more podcasts.  In the past, I've not been able to review a lot of podcasts since it takes me forever to get all the way through them.  (For example, I've been stuck on Mike Duncan's body of work since 2020, instead of branching out to other podcasts.) 
2) I don't enjoy listening to podcasts 3 or 4 times through.  The first time through I love.  The second time through I like it.  But by the third time through, I'm beginning to get tired of it.
3) Related to the above point, I get less benefit from the 3rd and 4th listening.  I pick up a few things that I missed on the first and second listening, but by the 3rd listening there are diminishing returns.
4) The idea behind listening to a podcast 3 or 4 times is to try to absorb everything.  (Sometimes when I listen to podcasts, my mind wanders and I miss stuff.  So I want to listen to it lots of times so by the end, I've absorbed everything.)  But I've noticed that often times, my mind will wander off at the same point in the podcast each time, even if I listen to it 3 times.  (There are some sections that I just have trouble absorbing, for whatever reason.)  

Now, this will mean that perhaps moving forward I'll have absorbed each podcast a little less thoroughly than if I had listened to it 3 or 4 times, but I think I'm willing to take that trade-off.

I'll keep track of my progress down below.
1st Listening
June 25, 2025--Episode 12 – Anunnaki 3 Enlil Lord of Wind
June 27, 2025--Episode 16 – Lagash 2 Reform and Corruption in Lagash
June 28, 2025--OS 17 - Sargon Rising
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Sunday, June 22, 2025

Akkadian Literature: The Classical Period 1850-1500 B.C. (from Before the Muses by Benjamin R. Foster)




These are the works contained within this section:
--To Ishtar
--To Nany
--To Papulegarra
--Self-Praise of Ishtar
--Sargon, King of Battle
--The Sargon Letter
--The Siege of Apishal
--The Great Revolt
--Sin-Kashid, King of Uruk
--Naram-Sin, King of Eshnunna
--Hammurabi, King of Justice (i.e. prologue and epilogue to Hammurabi's Code of Laws)
--Hammurabi, for Whom Do You Wait?
--Will Hammurabi Be Victorious
--Samsuiluna, King of Babylon
--To Zimri-lim, King of Mari
--To Ibalpiel II, King of Eshnunna
--At the Cleaners
--Lament for a City
--The Faithful Lover
--Nany and Muati
--Nany and Rim-Sin
--Where Has My Lover Gone
--A Lover's Riddle
--Come in, Shepherd
--Your Heartbeat Is My Reveille
--She Has Never Given Birth
--The Child's Arms Are Bound
--To Calm a Baby
--Anu Begot Her
--She is Fierce
--A Demon
--Against the Evil Eye
--Various Diseases
--All Diseases
--Against an Infant Illness
--Against a Mote in the Eye
--Against Joint Pain
--Against a Disease of Sheep and Goats
--Against Gas Pains
--Against Stomach Ache
--Against Arousal
--Against Hunger and Thirst
--Against Witchcraft
--Against a Noxious Herb
--Against Dogs
--Against Snakes
--Against Flies
--Against Scorpions
--Against a Water Monster
--Against a Bleating Goat
--Horns of Gold
--Look at Me!
--To the Gods of Night
--To Shamash and God of the Night
--The Cedar
--The Lamb
--Will Ur-Utu be Alive and Well
--Kussulu to the Moon-god
--Ur-Nanshe to Ninsianna
--Apil-Adad to "God My Father"
--Ninurta-qarrad to Ninmug
--Ahushunu to the Guardian of Life
--To Zimri-Rim, King of Mari
--A Ghost's Entreaty
--A Letter Writing Exercise
--A Declaration of War
--Ishtar, Harasser of Men
--To a Passer-by
--Priestly Abuse of Office

Related Playlists




* Before the Muses: An Anthology of Akkadian Literature Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOY-0V_l_9x4Cvg1Yw4LQyKEXIwDwo1m0&si=X6OZ7Ectw-fzHbCn


I was able to read this book thanks to the Michigan statewide state-wide interlibrary loan service called MeLCat, which may be in danger thanks to a Presidential executive order.  If you, like me, enjoy using MeLCat, contact your local representatives and let them know. 

Did you enjoy this review? Consider supporting me on Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/joelswagman

Support me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/JoelSwagman

Check out this book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/4k08VgZ          (This is an Amazon Associate's Link.  If you buy anything through that link, I get a commission.)
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Saturday, June 21, 2025

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged: Review of a Stage Play


I saw the Circle Theater production of this play.  Click HERE for more information or to get your tickets.

I had never heard of this play before, although my parents say they saw it 25 years ago in London.  According to Wikipedia, it dates back to the 1980s.  

The production I saw was very high energy.  The 3 actors were constantly running around and jumping and yelling, and I'm sure by the end they must have been absolutely exhausted.  But when the premise of the play is that only 3 actors perform all of Shakespeare in 97 minutes, then I guess you expect the actors to get their work-out.  To their credit, though, they looked like they were also having a ball doing it, so it's good they enjoy their work.
The play had a kind of maniac Marx Brothers type energy to it.  There were lots of jokes packed into every minute.  Some of them were funny, some of them weren't, but the jokes were flying out so fast that at least some of them were bound to land, and a number of them did.
The characterization seemed to me a bit inconsistent--the actors were constantly changing back and forth between who was the straight man and who was the buffoon. (An actor would appear to be highly knowledgably about Shakespeare one minute, and a complete ignoramus the next).  But when you've only got 3 actors to play off, then I guess you need to switch things around a lot.  
There were a lot of local references and topical references in the play that I saw, which couldn't have been part of the play in the 1980s.  But according to Wikipedia:  

The fourth wall is nonexistent in the performance, with the actors speaking directly to the audience during much of the play, and some scenes involve audience participation. The director and stage crew may also be directly involved in the performance and become characters themselves.

The script contains many humorous footnotes on the text that are often not included in the performance. However, improvisation plays an important role and it is normal for the actors to deviate from the script and have spontaneous conversations about the material with each other or the audience. It is also common for them to make references to pop culture or to talk about local people and places in the area where the play is being performed. Also, the authors' notes strongly encourage performers to update outdated references and jokes so that the material doesn't come off as out of touch. As a result, performances differ, even with the same cast.


As the above indicates, this is one of those plays that involves a lot of interaction with the audience.  But in the age of television, that's what you want from a stage play, right?  If all you wanted to do was to sit back and watch characters perform, you can do that at home with your TV.
And speaking of Wikipedia, the Wikipedia summary of the plot is pretty accurate.  It's a very good summary of the play that I saw.  If you're curious, you can read it.  Or, if you want to avoid spoilers, don't read it, and go see the play for yourself.

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