Jason Toney

52 Books in 52 Weeks: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

"Underneath the moon, the tumult forces me to action" - Breakbeat Era, Breakbeat Era

**This is my non-spoiler thoughts on the book so as not to face the wrath of Death Eaters, Dementors or any Unfavorable Curses that you slow readers might attempt to throw at me.**

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by JK Rowling (Scholastic). So, Bill & Fleur, huh?

I enjoyed it more than Order of the Phoenix but not as much as Prisoner of Azkaban. Harry is likeable again. I was wrong in my guesses about who the half-blood prince was and no, I don't take the ending at face value.

Of course, highly highly highly recommended. Reading time (minus distractions, work and other annoyances) about 12 hours.

Feel free to discuss at length in the comments. Those who haven't read to the end, enter the comments at your own risk.

Disengaged

"Watch how you talk, watch where you walk, nigga" - Mr. Cheeks, Supposed To (featuring Floetry)

We're just under two months shy of the anniversary of Aaron's death. In a week, it will be exactly a year from our last conversation (online, of course. It was a Saturday night. We talked Justice League Unlimited and our shared curse of falling in love with "crazy" women). This week, I've been thinking a lot about how I've interacted with the online world, the blog world, since his passing.

In general, I've disconnected from my emotional connection with a lot of the 'virtual' people. This space has become far less intimate. With LAist (and at work), I've turned blogging into a job. It is a job I love and enjoy but it is no longer a complete digital representation of who I am.

It wasn't by design, necessarily. I made a conscious decision to detach a bit. I couldn't deal with the weirdness of attempting to deal with the very real emotions of anger, sadness and frustration in this unreal place. I simply no longer wanted to read and write about my friend who died in a way I can't, don't and won't understand.

And, apparently, I didn't want to risk feeling trapped like a ghost in a machine again. I haven't made any new strictly online friends in that time. I read fewer and fewer blogs that act as diaries. With rare exception, I've pulled back from old virtual relationships. Not by design, necessarily, but I've been protecting myself.

I realized that this week as another blog world birthday approached and I was at a loss for words. At a loss for connection and relavence. I felt separate, am separate, from most of those with whom I once talked with every day.

Hell, I don't even write in my livejournal anymore and only like 5 people read that.

I'm not sure if I'm hiding, if I've just found the balance between the real world and this one that works for me or if this will pass and I'll return to the journal with bloggish tendencies that negro please once was.

I seriously doubt the latter.

I miss it and I don't.

It's almost a year since Aaron died and  359 days since he and I last talked and I'm just taking stock of how weird this virtual world has gotten for me without him in it.

52 Books in 52 Weeks: Sin City (volumes I - VII)

"Her daddy was a hustler so she loved them." - Common, Testify

Sin City by Frank Miller (Dark Horse). These really should all be counted separately but, like I said, I have a problem. I can only justify adding Sin City if I count all 1000 pages (give or take) as one story. That kind of thinking does a disservice to the amount of work Miller put in to making these hard boiled tales (and how much time I've spent getting through the dense dialogue and intricate art) but, yeah, it is what it is.

My Sin City revival (and growing Frank Miller obsession), of course, is a direct effect of the exceptional film adaptation. I wanted the source material. Sin City on film is manic and hyper-violent. The comic books are even more so. The characters are even less sympathetic. The bent moral compass of Basin City is so off-kilter that good deeds never go without a usually fatal price. One indiscretion is likely to put you in the path of a blue dressed assassin without even knowing it. Disrespect a woman and Miho will bring you down. There is no gray (quite literally in the art) in this world of black and white.

My favorite of the long form stories was also my favorite in the film - The Hard Goodbye. Marv is the perfect archetype of the Sin City man and a constant presence throughout the series. The best of the books overall, though, is probably Booze, Broads & Bullets. B, B & B is essentially a short story collection featuring the poetic Rats and Blue Eyes. The truly fucked up Blue Eyes.

Taken separately or as a whole, Miller's dark city is worthy of being called a novel. His artwork only enhances the story and never detracts.

And maybe I will stop turning up my nose at the graphic novel. If the storytelling is there, it matters not if its in a panel or a paragraph, right?

Highly recommended.

52 Books in 52 Weeks: Batman: Year One

"Is it too late to tell you that I don't mind?" - The Decemberists, I Don't Mind

Batman: Year One by Frank Miller and David Mazzacchelli (DC Comics). I don't know why it is such a struggle for me to include graphic novels as legitimate titles on my 52 in 52. I don't know why the addition of illustration somehow makes compelling story less of a "book" in my mind but it does. I need to get over it. Especially considering how much of it I've been reading. I'm making some mental justifications for what can get included. Batman: Year One makes it because its hard bound, it initially was the base material for what (for the most part) was the very cerebral Batman Begins of this summer -- competing with Kung Fu Hustle as my favorite film of the year -- and because Frank Miller is just very good.

I like the idea of looking at the world of Gotham mostly through the eyes of Jim Gordon - an upstanding policeman new to a wholly corrupt police force and city. I like a Batman knew to crime fighting. Unlike the film, we don't follow the moral trajectory of Bruce Wayne much in the graphic novel. His story is more a physical one. He's not as prepared for the criminal element as he thought he was. He realizes he can't do it alone. He begins searching for an ally in a sea of enemies. All while Jim Gordon, just a man, is bending under the pressures of his seriously screwed up life.

I like all of that. I'm just not a fan of Mazzucchelli's art. It is a throwback style reminiscent of the early days of comics. Square jaws, soft strokes, sloppy but intricate detail. The dark and heavy inks are more contemporary but it isn't the style I like in my comics (although, oddly, I kind of enjoy it in Powers). This is a minor quibble, though, because I see why he was chosen. Batman looks more human than hero. These characters look like real people in a real world of grit and grime. A world in need of people willing to take risks in the face of so much evil.

Maybe this is why I've been so drawn to the world of comics lately. We are a world so desperate for people willing to take a risk for right...and not lose their humanity in the process. That might be the true morality play of Year One.

Recommended.

52 Books in 52 Weeks: The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous & Broke

"Make moves then your life will really improve" - The Perceptionists, 5 O'Clock (featuring Phonte)

The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous & Broke by Suze Orman (Riverhead Books). I suck with money. I always have. For what I make, for what I pay in taxes, I really should have money in the bank and a retirement plan and probably some other long term investments. I don't know where the money goes. One day with Suze Orman's book and my money life is changed.

I know my FICO score. What?! Shit, I practically know what I was eating for breakfast in July of 1995 considering all the information Experian has on me. I know what a Roth IRA is and why I should have one. I want to talk about money market accounts. I want to change my insurance deductibles and get down to the nitty gritty on my debt to credit ratio. Suze talks some money shit straight to me about buying drinks for everybody and footing the bill at dinner. I don't even care that she writes the book like a junior high school science text. I can get with the word problems and the colored boxes. That makes sense to me.

Or is it making cents for me?

Suze Orman has me making bad puns about money, y'all.

If you're broke like me and don't know why, highly highly highly recommended.

p.s. I only picked it up because Tiffany B Brown was talking about it on 43 things.

10 after 6

"They're busting down the big wall and sounding the horn!" - M.I.A., Bucky Done Gun

I did this last year (complete with mp3s and itunes links and all that good stuff). I've been trying to get this together all week and now, at 1am on the 4th of July there is finally time.

The Top 10 albums from the first half of 2005. In Order.

1. Arular - M.I.A. I don't want to start talking about Arular by mentioning The Emancipation of Mimi but there's a debate raging in my ears. Arular is a live grenade. It is packed with politics and passion and power. M.I.A. rages on the dance floor. She marries innocence and confidence, awareness and arrogance. In her sing-songy UK rhyme style (a la Estelle and Ms. Dynamite) and Diplo's adventurous production, there is the embodiment of the current youth culture of our multicultural world. She's a worldwide sociopolitical dance party. Arular is where I go to riot and revolt all while doing the robot and the running man (and maybe a little Rerun but don't tell nobody)...

2. The Emancipation of Mimi - Mariah Carey. ...But I listen to Mariah more. And there lies the debate. Arular is likely to be the best of popular genre bending forward thinking music we see this year but The Emancipation of Mimi is a pop masterpiece. I want to genre-fy that but the reality of music right now is that the R&B and Hip Hop that is Mariah Carey's album is what pop music is right now. If Gwen Stefani can have a "crossover" hit with "Hollaback Girl" (which isn't really crossover as it is completely a hip hop Neptunes beat and Gwen is invoking her punk rap girl chops) and Mariah isn't making "rhyme break free" versions of her songs for radio anymore than I can leave the genres at the door. And I can put the best tracks of the album (which, as time goes on, includes just about everything except that sore thumb of a song with Nelly) on repeat again and sing along. "Circles" and "Joy Ride" and "Stay the Night" creep into my head all the time and let's not even talk about "We Belong Together" and its remix which, while currently ubiquitous, hasn't lost any of its lustre. Everytime she sings that second verse -- "wait a minute this is too deep" -- I get caught up. I have to take a breath. I rewind. "And then I hear babyface". Its one of those rare pop albums that feels both contemporary and timeless. I can see myself calling it up on my digital media marvel of the future and being transported. So, I'm left wondering...why is this #2?

3. Be - Common. I'm old in hip hop terms. At 30, I'm irrelevant to the equation. As I said last year with The Grind Date, I want my dad rap. I want my hip hop  -- and I do mean "my hip hop", your young-ass mileage may vary -- to grow with me. I love that Common makes love records. I love that Be is reflective instead of reflexive. I love "Testify". My god I love "Testify". I'm a little tired of the sped up soul sample kind of production but "Testify" is a showcase of how a tight, hot record can be created with just that one perfect sample and a banging drum beat. I love "The Corner" which is on the top of my list of 2005 singles. That generational connection in that song between The Last Poets and Common is something woefully lacking and underrepresented in our popular culture and it is refreshing. The Last Poets aren't trotted out as some revered war horses from a time gone by -- quaint but irrelevant. No, they are participants in the conversation. They are active in this world, this life, this community. I shouldn't be surprised by this on a common record. His father takes center stage on every album at least once but when I stop to think about it...that black male bond is so rarely seen. And neo-soul be damned, I'll take this kind of good dripping with classic soul hip hop any day.

4. Motown Remixed - Various Artists. Taking a page from Verve and Blue Note, Motown goes the remix album route with surprising success. They made some jams! The cast of DJs and producers they assembled do a great job of giving some really familiar tunes a very fresh look. Both Jackson 5 reworkings are hot but I'm particularly fond of the Martha Reeves' "Love is a a Heatwave" remix that might only be on the iTunes version of the album. Martha Reeves wasn't really on my radar before this album and now she's music I seek out. I think that's what these types of albums should really do. Not only showcase what these current knob turners can do with full access to some of the finest recorded music ever put to tape but to also find a fresh audience for forgotten stars. Motown is creepin' on a comeback I think.

5. The Woods - Sleater-Kinney. Who knew Sleater-Kinney would become maybe my favorite rock band in the world? I've already seen them twice in two different states this year. That seems ridiculous but Carrie, Corin and Janet rock in the truest sense of the word. The Woods doesn't surpass One Beat as my favorite S-K album but it does showcase their ample musical talents and their always improving vocal skills better than any album previous. The leap to Sub-Pop seems to have given them the freedom to spread out a bit. To take some risks and to challenge themselves as not just artists (genre defining artists) but as musicians. Carrie shines brightest this time out and its fresh and welcome. Are we at 10 years with S-K? It doesn't really seem possible but I guess even Riot Grrls grow up.