10-List: Firewater’s Favorite AC/DC Tracks

Every 10-List that I compile is what I refer to as a “production” post. While the resulting product may seem like something I slapped together in a white-hot rush, it actually takes time for me to create it. If I have integrity at all, I have to demonstrate it to myself first. Before I can […]

Looking Forward (February 2023 Update): Music Soothes the Savage Beast

This is the quadmonthly happiness report for February 2023. Our belief here at FirewaterCorp is that happiness is defined as always having something to look forward to. In our world, choices in entertainment play a huge role in this pursuit. Our company motto is “Read. Play. Watch. Listen.” And then, of course: “Write About It.” […]

10-List: Firewater’s Favorite Rush Songs

The death of Neil Peart in 2020 inspired me to listen to all of the Rush studio albums, both again and for the first time with some of the later releases. First, I assembled a list of my Top-25 tracks (the other fifteen are in the “honorable mentions” below). I was surprised that there were […]

Looking Forward (October 2022 Update): How I Spent My Summer

This is the quadmonthly happiness report for October 2022. Our belief here at FirewaterCorp is that happiness is defined as always having something to look forward to. In our world, choices in entertainment play a huge role in this pursuit. Our company motto is “Read. Play. Watch. Listen.” And, then, of course: “Write About It.” […]

**10-List: Firewater’s Favorite Blue Öyster Cult Songs**

Back in the 1970s, I discovered the early novels of Stephen King, beginning with his 1978 masterpiece The Stand, which is still my favorite King story. A couple of epigraphs in that novel introduced me to musical artists who were not yet familiar to me. First was Bob Dylan, whose “Shelter from the Storm” was […]

Cognitive Dissonance (or: a brief digression about God, the Scientific Method, a family history with alcoholism, and a belated requiem for The Cars’ Benjamin Orr)

According to Psychology Today, the term cognitive dissonance is defined thusly: Cognitive dissonance is a term for the state of discomfort felt when two or more modes of thought contradict each other. The clashing cognitions may include ideas, beliefs, or the knowledge that one has behaved in a certain way. I’ve been aware of the […]

10-List: My Favorite Iron Maiden Songs

I listen to all kinds of music. Jazz, country, blues, rap, surf rock, New Wave, punk . . . you name it. However, as you can tell by reading my Looking Forward quadmonthly reports, the music I return to time and again is hard rock and heavy metal. This was the music I was listening […]

Looking Forward (June 2022 Update): Are You Not Entertained?

This is the quadmonthly happiness report for June 2022. Our belief here at FirewaterCorp is that happiness is defined as always having something to look forward to. In our world, choices in entertainment play a huge role in this pursuit. Our company motto is “Read. Play. Watch. Listen.” And, then, of course: “Write About It.” […]

VERSUS: Episode 11: Rock Album Deathmatch: World Super Series Bowl Cup: We Have a Winner!!

Previously, on VERSUS . . . The second-place albums in our previous episodes battled it out for a shot in the playoffs as wildcard entries. Two albums managed to fight their way back into the contest: The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (David Bowie) and Screaming for Vengeance (Judas […]

Looking Forward (February 2022 Update): New Year, Same Pathology

This is the quadmonthly happiness report for February 2022. Our company motto is “Read. Play. Watch. Listen.” And, then, of course: “Write About It.” “Read” Since the October 2021 update, the following books were completed: Supernatural: Heart of the Dragon, by Keith R.A. DeCandido (urban fantasy/media tie-in) Big Damn Hero (Firefly #1), by James Lovegrove […]

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