February 2013

Product Review: Morning Star Farms

One of my favorite things to eat is cheeseburgers.  When bzzagent approached me to try a veggie burger, I was hesitant.  I love my meat and I’ve also tried other veggie burgers in the past in an effort to start eating healthy and was never impressed with anything that I tried.  It took us 3 tries to find the burgers in store (Stop & Shop didn’t have them, Shop Rite was listed on the Morning Star website but we couldn’t find them, and finally we were able to find them at Target.) and we went home and made them right away.  The burgers are really good and the part that I liked is that you can see what vegetables you are eating – there were chunks of mushrooms as I was biting in to the burger and other great veggies as well.  It wasn’t just some mysterious veggies all mushed together.  They tasted great, they didn’t have the consistency of card board and despite them having NO meat – it is something I will be buying again.

I received a coupon for a free box of MorningStar veggie burgers for being a bzzagent. I was not otherwise compensated and all opinions in the review are 100% mine.

Book Review: Untimed

Romance. Action. History. This book has it all.  The book is about a boy named Charlie – who is seemingly invisible.  No one can remember his name – not even his MOM! She has to leave post it notes around the house to remind herself to call him Charlie.  He is frustrated also that he can’t get any girls to notice him – but hey when you’re seemingly invisible that’s how it works, right?

Things seem pretty normal until he ends up tumbling through a hole after a clockwork man and ends up leaving Philly and landing back in time in London!  Way back in time, 1725 to be exact.  There he meets Yvanie and she actually pays attention to him and remembers his name.  She is also traveling through time.  They hit it off but there is one big problem – she can only travel into the future and he can only travel in to the past.

There are some illustrations between chapters and a few during chapters too which kind of helps set the scene if you weren’t able to picture it yourself, or to help enhance the scene going on in your mind.

Overall this was a good read, though not the light and quick and easy read I usually pick out with my young adult novels.  What’s interesting is that this is probably in the genre of  ‘steampunk’, which I love visually in art but up until this book haven’t really read any books in this genre.  It is considered a Young Adult novel, but I wouldn’t let the younger range of the Young Adult range read it due to some language.  It’s not really bad, but just a few words here and there.  (You may want to read it yourself first and use your best judgement too – I don’t have kids so I may be totally off base with what they hear at school and the like!)

I received a free e-copy of this book in order to write the review and participate in the blog tour. I was not otherwise compensated.

About the Book

Charlie’s the kind of boy that no one notices. Hell, even his own mother can’t remember his name. And girls? The invisible man gets more dates.

As if that weren’t enough, when a mysterious clockwork man tries to kill him in modern day Philadelphia, and they tumble through a hole into 1725 London, Charlie realizes even the laws of time don’t take him seriously.

Still, this isn’t all bad. In fact, there’s this girl, another time traveler, who not only remembers his name, but might even like him! Unfortunately, Yvaine carries more than her share of baggage: like a baby boy and at least two ex-boyfriends! One’s famous, the other’s murderous, and Charlie doesn’t know who is the bigger problem.

When one kills the other — and the other is nineteen year-old Ben Franklin — things get really crazy. Can their relationship survive? Can the future? Charlie and Yvaine are time travelers, they can fix this — theoretically — but the rules are complicated and the stakes are history as we know it. And there’s one more wrinkle: he can only travel into the past, and she can only travel into the future!

 

Andy Gavin‘s Bio: 

Andy Gavin is a serial creative, polymath, novelist, entrepreneur, computer programmer, author, foodie, and video game creator. He co-founded video game developer Naughty Dog and co-created Crash Bandicoot and Jak & Daxter. He started numerous companies, has been lead programmer on video games that have sold more than forty million copies, and has written two novels.His first book, The Darkening Dream, has been well-received by fans and critics alike. Publisher’s Weekly called it “gorgeously creepy, strangely humorous, and sincerely terrifying.” Untimed is an even more ambitious follow-up. It is a lavish production with a cover by acclaimed fantasy artist Cliff Nielsen and twenty-one full page interior illustrations by Dave Phillips.

Product Review: Hair Shadz & Sun Shadz


Recently, I signed up on Tomoson to try out HairShadz and SunShadz.  I had anticipated having it in time for Jamaica because it provides sun protection for your hair and scalp.  Since I didn’t  bring a hat on the trip, this would have been perfect because a lot of people don’t realize or forget that your head and scalp are also able to be sun burned and this is probably the worst place to get a sun burn because it is incredibly painful. (I speak from experience)  Unfortunately there were some delays so I can’t really tell you how well it works in the sun because since I’ve gotten home we’ve had a blizzard and it really hasn’t been go outside and it is super sunny type weather.

I was sent the “clear” sun shade but it is available in 8 colors so you can find your best color match.  In addition to keeping you protected it also can blend your roots from the 2nd to 5th weeks of colorings.  It is made from mineral powder and can help absorb oil in your hair between shampoos and enhance your hair color.  It is not oily or alcohol based like some sunscreens.

SunShadz is dermatologist approved, clinically tested for safety and is irritation free and the ultra light minerals leave the hair and scalp feeling natural. (Refills are available)

It is a super easy product to use, simply uncap it and there is a brush.  You just give it a shake,  rub the brush on your scalp and the minerals are applied.  I had to rub it in a bit for them to blend and really be “clear” but was satisfied that you could not see that I had any product in my hair.  (My hair is not dyed so there was really no need to have any color to match to my hair since I don’t have roots to hide)  The bottle with the minerals also slides up so that you can get the cap back on over the brush to store it for the next time you want to use it.

The product

Uncapped

Ready to be re-capped

An attempt to show the “clear” minerals on my hand.  You can kind of see it. (Which I guess is the point since it is clear)

I only applied it to the front of my part, but you can’t see it at all and it got great coverage of my scalp

Find out more at: http://www.monimay.com/

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Book Review: Fringe Science

I loved the show Fringe, I tried to make sure that I watched it every week and was bummed that it recently came to an end.  However, I was able to have it live on a little bit longer when I read Fringe Science.  The book is a series of essays from various professionals diving a little bit deeper into the world of Fringe.  There’s so many cool things from the show that are explained and talked about in more detail and it is all just really, really interesting.

One of the chapters compares Fringe to the X-Files another FOX sci-fi drama – Fringe premiered almost to the exact same day that the X-Files did, just 15 years later. It talks about the similarities with the FBI and also the “no-nonsense female lead”, you have to love those!  It also talks a bit about how the X-Files dealt with ghosts, mediums, werewolves and stuff similar to that – and Fringe has not dealt with any of those.  So while the two shows may be somewhat the same, they are also very different in their subject matter.

There is also a breakdown on what type of paranormal activities go on in the show – these are made obvious by the words that float by during the show – Psychokinesis, Teleportation, Nanotechnology, Artificial Intelligence, Cybernetics, ESP, Genetic Engineering – just to name a few.

One chapter tries to find the ancestors of the characters of Fringe in other literature and works.  J.J. Abrams admits to revisiting the Frankenstein idea but with trying to tell it legitimately.  Other comparisons are to Poe, and many others.  If you are into this genre – you’ve probably already checked out everything mentioned, but on the off chance you haven’t, it mentions some great other works to check out that are in the same realm as Fringe.

The chapter I found most interesting was the parallel universes one – simply because it began by asking if there was another version of myself reading this same article deciding whether or not to continue on reading it?  Could that really be possible?  It is fascinating stuff and really makes you think.

If you loved the show Fringe or just love interesting science-y stuff – then definitely check out this book, it has a lot of interesting and thought provoking stuff in it, all of which somehow relates back to the show Fringe. I wish it was still going to be on!

I received a free e-copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in order to write this review, I was not otherwise compensated.

About the Book

Fringe has always been more than the sum of its parts—but its parts, too, are worth a closer look. The show combines a surfeit of mad science, some old-school sci-fi flair, and a dash of strawberry-milkshake whimsy to create the challenging, fascinating Pattern that keeps us coming back season after season and universe after universe.

Now, in Fringe Science, cutting-edge scientists, science writers, and science fiction authors and historians provide a smart, savvy, and accessible look at the world(s) of Fringe.

– MIT physics professor Max Tegmark illuminates the real-life possibilities of parallel universes
– Stephen Cass, founding editor of Discover‘s Science Not Fiction blog and a Senior Editor with Technology Review, unravels Fringe‘s use of time travel
– Award-winning science fiction historian Amy H. Sturgiswalks us through the show’s literary and television ancestors, from the 1800s on
– Television Without Pity staff writer Jacob Clifton looks at the role of the scientist, and scientific redemption, through the ever-shifting role of Massive Dynamic
– Garth Sundem, bestselling author of Brain Candy, explores the mysterious way that memory works, from why Walter forgets to how Olivia remembers
– And more, from lab cow Gene’s scientific resume to why the Observers should be wearing white lab coats

Maroon 5 Overexposed Tour

Friday night Maroon 5 brought their Overexposed tour to the Mohegan Sun Arena.  I had been owed tickets through the fan club due to a mix up with a contest I won last year so I had no idea where our seats would be until we picked them up and was excited to see they were 2nd row!  The stage set up was an M and there was a general admission pit up by it.  Those in the pit were split with different colored wristbands which allowed them to stand either on the left side or the right side of the point of the M.  There was also a walkway about 4 seats away from us and then another stage further in the back.  For a while I was convinced Adam was going to walk right by us, I was almost right… but I’ll explain more later (and if you’re going to a show and don’t want to be spoiled, you may not want to read that part.)

The first opening act was Owl City and they (he?) played from 8-8:30 I really wasn’t that impressed with his set and there were also a TON of strobe lights used during the set so I had my head down and eyes closed for a good majority of it because the flashing was bothering me.

Next up was Neon Trees who I was excited to see. Unfortunately it was difficult to get any photos because I didn’t want to stand up and the couple in front of me seemed to be like a brick wall with arms that they waved in the air like they just didn’t care and cameras up in the air recording pretty much everything, ever. (I’m not against taking videos but when you record nearly the WHOLE SHOW… you should maybe take time and enjoy the moment you are actually in.) Neon Trees played from 9-9:30 and I enjoyed their set much more.

At 10pm it was time for the main event – Maroon 5! There was a big screen set up and it played videos on it, but most of it I couldn’t make out. You heard someone dialing a phone and a sorry the number cannot be completed as dialed recording, so of course the first song they did was Payphone. The set was a 90 minute set and was high energy for nearly the entire show. They did quite a mix of songs from all the albums – almost an equal amount from each of the albums (by my count/memory). I also thought that Adam did a great job dividing his time on the sides of the Ms – obviously he was in the middle the most (which is what we were closest too) but I never had a feeling that he was neglecting to our right in order to be on the far left which I sometimes get at shows.

When Adam introduced the rest of the band, he grabbed the camera and was taking shots of the audience and then zoomed in waaaay in the back and said thanks to modern technology they were not very far away. His camera work pretty much made me sea-sick (and he even admitted he was not very good at it!) but he took the camera around to get close ups of the rest of the band when he introduced each of them, which was pretty funny.

For 2 of the songs (Wake Up Call and Moves Like Jagger) the band was joined by Rozzi Crane (www.rozzicrane.com). She was really good on the duets and also did great at getting the crowd to participate with some ‘yeah yeah yeah’ sing a longs.

Here is the encore details and if you don’t want to be spoiled stop reading right now! After 13 songs, the lights went out and I noticed there was a lot more security coming to the walk way that I thought Adam would be going down. I knew something was going to be happening soon. It turns out, there was a huge bridge up at the ceiling that came down from the sky and for the encore Adam walked across it (and sometimes sang on it) and made the 60th row the 1st row. He did 3 songs of the encore back there / on the bridge – Stereo Hearts, She Will Be Loved (when we got split in to groups to sing – it sounded awesome and I always love doing stuff like that) and Daylight. Then he came back to the main stage for Moves Like Jagger. The rest of the band was on the main stage but Jimmy V did join him for a little bit out on the end stage.

I have been going to Maroon 5 shows for 10 years now (it is CRAZY to think about that) the first time that I saw them was opening up for John Mayer in late 2002. No one really knew who John was and even less people knew who Maroon 5 was. I immediately fell in love and have seen them several more times through the years since then. (I think I’ve missed a couple of their tours). It is amazing to see how they have evolved through the years to now be this HUGE super star band. The show was absolutely amazing and the best part was at the end – Adam said they would be back in the summer! I can’t wait!

Payphone
Makes Me Wonder
Lucky Strike
Sunday Morning
If I Never See Your Face Again
Wipe Your Eyes
Won’t Go Home Without You
Love Somebody
Harder To Breathe
Wake Up Call
One More Night
Misery
This Love

Stereo Hearts
She Will Be Loved
Daylight
Moves Like Jagger

Idol Thoghts: Vegas


This week Idol did a new round – sudden death – 10 contestants will sing,  will go home immediately until we get to the Top 20 and then America will vote.  A little bit confusing since it is new, but we’ll see how it goes!  (I’ve also heard it called the longest sudden death EVER since it will be 4 episodes over 2 weeks!)

Contestant can choose any song they want in any genre for this round.  And here we go!

Jenny – I liked her dress but I wasn’t sure that her vocals were really that strong. I guess we’ll see how the rest go.  (And big shocker but I kind of agreed with Nicki – and I haven’t been digging Nicki as a judge)

Tina – I don’t know that I liked the song choice but I liked her singing.

Adriana – Best one so far!

Brandy – A decent performance but nothing too amazing.

Shubha – I was hoping for a more up beat song from someone tonight but this was not what I was hoping for.

Karmaria – Something was off about this performance.

Kree – I like kree, the performance didnt blow me away but I dont think its bad enough for her to go home.

Angela – Another great performance. I think she is one of my favorites.

Isabelle – Another good performance! (I sound like a broken record)

Amber – And another one! Wow, how am I going to pick the 5 to go home? (A few are obvious… the rest, not so much!)

I’d say Jenny, Shubha, Karmaria, Brandy, Tina should go home.  (That was not as easy as I thought it would be when the show started!)

The judges were unanimous with their decision and made the following decision:
Staying – Tina, Kree, Angela, Amber, Adriana
Going –  Jenny, Brandy, Isabelle, Karmaria, Shubha

4/5, Not too shabby!

Thursday night it was time for the boys! Same rules apply.

Paul – Not great, not a good song choice I dont think.

Johnny – ok so maybe im a little biased but i loved it.

Jda – I really enjoy the more up beat songs. This was a great and entertaining performance!

Kevin – Some parts seemed off in this song, but when it was good it was good.

Chris – This started off good but I think it lost steam. Maybe not enough to send him home though.

Devin – I’m torn on this performance. Parts of it just seemed off and like he couldn’t end words but then other parts were just amazing.

Elijah – Id say this was another middle ground performance. Not sure if it’s good enough to stay.

Charlie – I think his nerves took over at points (you could even see him shaking) and it just was not good.

Jimmy – I wasnt really impressed with this performance

Curtis -Great performance to end the night

My picks for who is going home: Paul, Kevin, Elijah, Charlie, Jimmy

The judges decision was as follows (with 1 split decision)
Staying – Curtis, Elijah, Paul, Charlie, Devin
Going –  Jimmy, Kevin, Jda, Chris, Johnny

SERIOUSLY????  2/5 AND MY FAVORITE IS GONE?  I am going to have to think long and hard if i am going to continue watching this season.  Nicki makes it an unpleasant experience and with no favorite… I don’t know.

 

 

Book Review: It’s Game Time Somewhere

“Cards on the table – yours truly is not quite right.

How else could you explain the fact that I spent a year of my life attending and writing about 100 uniquely different sporting events involving 50 separate sports? But that’s what I did, and literally thousands of readers helped me keep score. And when it was done, we all knew more about sports in America than it was thought to be humanly possible. Or at least I did, anyway.

“But why?” you ask. Well here’s my story and I’m sticking to it…

As Bill Cosby once said, I started out as a child. A child inexorably drawn to sports – the organized kind andespecially the disorganized kind favored by my circle of friends. Consequently I grew up chasing a ball. It didn’t matter what size or shape, I chased them all. I was fortunate enough to have come of age in a time when kids themselvesscheduled their own games and “officiated” them via the kid’s code of sports ethics – an arcane collection of arguments, declarations, and insults that inevitably led to the Do Over. Or somebody taking their ball and going home.

On those occasions when a quorum wasn’t available for even the most streamlined of games, I played them solo. Some might call it “practicing”, but I knew it as “having fun”. And as is the case with many things one repeats endlessly, I managed to develop some level of skill. So it came to be that I went to college on a basketball scholarship.

Annoyingly enough, they don’t let you just major in Basketball – well, not in 1977 anyway, and not in any conference that, like mine, did not start with the word “Big”. So I chose to pursue a degree in Psychology. Don’t ask me why. And when my undergraduate days ended, I decided to obtain an MBA, because, well…because.

The ironic thing was that neither Psychology nor Business Administration would have even been in the race had Sports Management been an academic option. Ubiquitous now, at the time that I entered college there was no such degree program. And so, a career match made in heaven went by the boards…for the time being, anyway.

In my mid-30’s, having acquired over a decade of experience in Corporate America, I became vaguely aware of the fact that people were getting paid to work in sports! Having thus discovered the existence of what was rightfully MY chosen field of work, I spent the next several years alternating between a state of agitation over having been born a decade too early, and thoughtful rumination on how I could still pull off a second half rally and transition to my natural calling.

At the age of 40, the confluence of a certain set of circumstances, not the least of which is the most understanding wife in the cosmos, enabled me to take the plunge. I enrolled in an accredited four semester program that rewarded me upon completion with an Associate’s Degree in Professional Golf Management. I was on my way – a little late out of the gate, but with a full head of steam and ready to use my transferrable skills to claw my way to the top of the sports business.

Nearly a decade later, having come to know quite well the good, the bad and the ugly about pursuing a second career within the sports industry, I was innocently confronted one day with the following question:  ”After working in the industry for ten years, do you still love sports?”

Hmmmm…great question. One I honestly didn’t have an answer for. As you can imagine though, it became critically important for me to find one. And thus began germinating the idea of a “sports walkabout” – an effort to reconnect with my ball-chasing, sports-loving roots.

I went to a game. And then another. And another. Big games, little games. Tournaments, matches, meets and bouts. Men’s games, women’s games. Professional. Amateur. High School. College. Games that I was intimately familiar with. Games that I didn’t have the faintest idea as to their rules.

To those that virtually accompanied me I offered to share everything that I found – both positive and…not so positive. I promised to keep it light-hearted, and they in turn agreed to laugh, learn and share the link with others. This blog, this portrait of Americans at play, became a love letter to sports, warts and all. My friends at Google Analytics tell me that it has been read by thousands of people all over the world.

I hope it brings a smile of pleasure and recognition to your face as well. Because it’s always game time somewhere.

To read more of my stories, please visit:
http://itsgametimesomewhere.com/the-igts-tour/the-stories/

It’s Game Time Somewhere Book Summary:

Tim Forbes was like many Americans: painfully unsatisfied in his corporate job but making too much money to walk away. But then, one momentous day, he and his wife struck the Deal, leading to a career in the one field he loved more than anything: sports.Years later, having carved out his place in the sports business, he was surprised when a friend asked, “Do you still love sports?”…And stunned when he didn’t know how to reply. Of course he still loved sports! Didn’t he? Was it possible that walking away from a perk-filled Corporate American life had all been for nothing?His year-long quest to find that answer started with a single game. But what he discovered there soon led to an unlikely coast-to-coast “sports walkabout” involving 100 more games and 50 different sports—from major-market events to the smallest of the small. Poignant, irreverent, and ultimately inspiring, It’s Game Time Somewherechronicles one man’s search for the love of the game.

 

Tim Forbes’s Bio: 

Alternately blessed and cursed by the notion that everyone should do what they love for a living, Tim Forbes creates and writes about the games that people play.Tim grew up in the farmlands of northern Connecticut, and went on to earn a bachelor’s degree from Ithaca College—where he played Division III basketball in front of literally tens of people. He received an MBA from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and an Associate’s Degree at the Professional Golfers Career College in Temecula, CA. Yes, in that order.After 15 years spent meandering about in Corporate America, Tim went on to work for three professional golf tours: the Symetra Futures Tour, the LPGA Tour, and the PGA Tour. He also served as general manager for golf clubs in Nashville, Tennessee and Orlando, Florida. In 2009, he founded Outside the Mode, a sports marketing and production company based in his adopted home of Los Angeles.

Tim lives in Redondo Beach, California with a perennially underachieving fish named Halo, a cat, and a wife he fondly calls Bird.

Book Review: S.E.C.R.E.T

S.E.C.R.E.T is about Cassie, a widowed waitress.  One of her regulars drops a notebook and Cassie picks it up.  To see who it belongs to, she reads a few pages and what she finds in it intriques her.  It is a bunch of sexual encounters in the notebook.  After returning the notebook she is approached by S.E.C.R.E.T, the group that was helping the customer and asked to join – this group will make all her fantasies come true.

She is given a bracelet and as she finishes each of the steps, she will receive a charm to add to her bracelet.  Cassie decides to join the group and through each of her fantasies she sees herself becoming more like herself – the real her that had been hidden inside.

Meanwhile, it appears that she and her boss have always had a bit of a thing for each other.  Will they end up hooking up for good?

The ending was a bit surprising and not something that I really saw coming.  It was an interesting book. I actually picked it based on the cover alone – I liked the bracelet! There was no snippit of what the book was about when I chose it.  Hading known what it was about I may have been more hesitant to choose it, but I am glad I did read it.

I received a free e-copy of the book from the publisher through NetGalley in order to write this review. I was not otherwise compensated.

About the Book

In S.E.C.R.E.T there are…
No judgments. No limits. No shame.

Cassie Robichaud’s life has been filled with regret and loneliness since the death of her husband. She waits tables at the rundown Café Rose in New Orleans, and every night she heads home to her solitary one-bedroom apartment. But when she discovers a notebook left behind by a mysterious woman at the café, Cassie’s world is forever changed. The notebook’s stunningly explicit confessions shock and fascinate Cassie, and eventually lead her to S∙E∙C∙R∙E∙T, an underground society dedicated to helping women realize their wildest, most intimate sexual fantasies. Cassie soon immerses herself in an electrifying journey through a series of ten rapturous fantasies with gorgeous men who awaken and satisfy her like never before. As she is set free from her inhibitions, she discovers a new confidence that transforms her, giving her the courage to live passionately. Equal parts enticing, liberating and emotionally powerful, S∙E∙C∙R∙E∙T is a world where fantasy becomes reality.

Book Review: Showtime

Showtime: Meet the People Behind the Scenes is all about the other people in the music business who help make that big show go off without a hitch.  These are stories about real people who hold these jobs, not just hypothetical.  This is a way to let you know what other music related jobs might be out there for you if you don’t want to be the one on stage!

I was pleasantly surprised when the first chapter was about Choreography Bradley Rapier.  I remember him because he did the choreography for one of 2gether’s music videos!  While that credit was not listed in his chapter, a lot of other great information on him was so I learned a lot!  Also at the end of each chapter it has a list of things that you might do that might make you a good choice in having each of the jobs.  Choreographer? Probably (ok, definitely) not for me!

One of the jobs I’d love to do but probably don’t have the patience for? Set Designer.  Machico Weston does some amazing work that you can see in the book.  (I actually have this dream and I’ll probably really never end up doing it – but I wanted to make a model of the Foreman’s house from That 70s show!)  It also turns out that by just having this blog I am on my way to becoming a critic.  Not sure I’d really want to do that though because I’d have to write about all types of shows and I find it more fun just to write about the shows I want to write about ;).

The final chapter talks more about who you’ll see at the venue – security, guest services, etc.  While this book is geared towards kids I found it interesting.  While I knew about most of these people going in to tours I didn’t exactly know what all their jobs were and this book definitely explained that and in such a way that it was easy to understand.  If you have a kid who might be wanting to go in to the music industry but more “behind the scenes” definitely have them check out this book.  Or if you’re an adult and want to change your career or just find out more about what it takes to putting on a huge concert – check it out as well.

I received a free e-copy of this book in order to write this review.  I was not otherwise compensated.

About the Book

Find out about the other “stars” in show business.

It takes a lot more than a star to make a show happen. Behind the scenes at a concert, play, or dance performance are dozens of people who work hard to make the show a success. In this book, kids will meet some of those people.

There’s set designer Machiko Weston who meticulously creates miniature 3D sets that capture the smallest detail of what the actual stage will look like. Costume designer Maggi Yule has created everything from a rock star’s sequined outfit to historically accurate clothes for period plays. And even long-haul truckers like Ben Pinel play an important role as they ensure that instruments, lights, and speakers get from one venue to another safely and on time. The more than a dozen show business careers highlighted in this book also include songwriter, promoter, graphic designer, choreographer, and vocal coach.

For those who think they might like to pursue any of the careers described, each chapter ends with suggestions of what kids can do now to prepare themselves. Colorful photos, sidebars, and quotes from the people interviewed combine to make this an engaging and informative book that anyone interested in show business should read.

CD Review: Kelly Clarkson The Smoakstack Sessions Vol 2.

I Never Loved a Man
Your Cheatin’ Heart
Walking After Midnight
That I Would Be Good / Use Somebody
Lies

The Smoakstack Sessions Volume 2 was released as a companion album with Greatest Hits Chapter One that was released in November 2012.  (Volume 1 was released as a companion with her album release of Stronger).  All the songs were recorded at The Smoakstack recording studios in Nashville, TN, hence the title of  the EP.

The EP is 6 covers which Kelly had previously done on her tour in 2009.  It is an interesting mix of songs, but I believe that Kelly can pull off just about anything that she tries so it is a nice EP to have in my collection.

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