This isn't a book review. This is an order to go out and buy Andre Agassi's autobiography. I'm only 100 pages in (it was a Christmas gift from me, to me), but it is amazing.

Now, I played tennis from age 8 to 18. Andre Agassi is my favorite tennis player ever. His wife, Steffi Graf is hands-down my favorite female tennis player. As a kid, I wanted to BE Andre Agassi, and I tried to mimic certain parts of my game after him. SO, I'm biased in recommending this. BUT, if you EVER watched Agassi play and were impressed or found it enjoyable, you need to read this book... That's all.

Joanne Shaw Taylor

Hi blog-readers. Let me introduce you to my new favorite musician of the moment, Joanne Shaw Taylor, who I will refer to as JST for the duration of this post.

JST is fucking awesome, and once again, I must thank Sirius for introducing me to a kickass artist.


Last week, I was driving home from work when I decided that I needed to hear some "different" music... Now in spite of all the channels Sirius has, I personally think that the selection of what is played on those channels has gone noticeably downhill ever since the merger with XM. That said, I have been exploring the other channels in hope of finding another "go-to-option" when everything being played on the channels I normally listen to is trash. So, I decided to switch over to the BB King Blues Channel. AND THEN, JST came on...

... this song in particular:



This song floored me because:
a) JST has an awesome voice
b) JST is ridiculously good at guitar
c) This is the exact same style of guitar playing that I want to be very good at, at SOME POINT in my life.
d) Just in general, I think the song has all the makings of a PERFECT bluesy song.
e) Also, further research into JST revealed that she's BRITISH! Yeah... what?! a female BRITISH blues singer?! This has to be as rare as a unicorn.

I encourage everybody to go and download this album. Also, if you haven't figured it out yet, buy your MP3 albums from Amazon instead of iTunes because they are cheaper. I've been so impressed by her album that I checked her tour dates, and am now seeing her play in Annapolis at the Rams Head Tavern (insanely cool small venue) in February. It will be fantastic!

Back from Hiatus! Let's Talk Christmas!

I know I know... EVERYBODY has been freaking out because this hasn't been updated in ages... Fear not! I am back!

I've been a busy beaver! I have lots to blog about! I will be posting quite a bit for the next couple weeks so stay tuned!

Let's cut to the chase though and talk Christmas. This is my list of demands... er... requests for Christmas.

1. The Ultimates Omnibus- I've been out of the comic book game for many-a-year now, but I just discovered (I'm late to the party, I know) that Marvel puts out these so-called Omnibus-es (or Omnibii??? whatever...) Basically, these are 700+ page hardcover bound full color collections of entire runs of certain comics... The Ultimates is the primary one I want. It was a great run, and it was turned into two animated movies that I loved.

2. New X-Men Omnibus- Okay, I'll save you the suspense, and cut to the chase and say that the next several items are comics. This particular Omnibus apparently runs $200+ new due to the fact it is out of print. Nevertheless, the whole run is available in paperback format for a total of about $70 (spread over 3 or so volumes)... I may have to go that route.


3. Astonishing X-Men Omnibus- More X-Men... not much else to say here, other than that this volume is priced normally ($50ish) since it is still in-print. I should mention that I love the X-Men. I used to watch the cartoon and read the comics as a kid. Unfortunately the movies have sucked, but this and the last Omnibus are supposed to represent a whole new take on the series, and they both have received critical acclaim (probably from other nerds).
4. Daredevil Omnibus- Daredevil is a unique Marvel superhero that I never really knew too much about... I didn't read the comics as a kid, but I've always been curious to see exactly how badass he is. I have the feeling the answer is "VERY."


I mean... he's a blind dude that sees through infra-red vision or something, and has all sorts of brutal fighting ability!

5. Assasin's Creed II- I know nothing about this game other than that it is supposed to be absolutely phenomenal. Now, I have somewhat of a backlog in my video game playing- I still have to beat Batman: Arkham Asylum, and take my FIFA franchise to greatness, but I'm sure I can squeeze in time for this one!


6. Chamakh- This is a little bit of a stretch as a gift, but I would like Arsenal to pick up Marouane Chamakh the second the Transfer Window opens. From all indicators, he would be the second coming of Christ, and so I welcome this addition to the team!